Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) expressed concern during a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday about a letter Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley sent to the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. Leahy, who apparently had read a copy of the letter, interpreted it as expressing Moseley’s discomfort with the Guard’s dual mission and other issues. However, Moseley assured Leahy, who is co-chair of the National Guard Caucus, that his only concern was that the CNGR in its recommendations did not damage the USAF-ANG working arrangement. Moseley’s wish: “Don’t break my Air National Guard and my relationship with my Guard.”
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.