Both Republican and Democratic governors are worried that the President’s surge of troops in Iraq will add pressure to National Guard units already “stretched to their limits,” reports Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Los Angeles Times. The Administration’s planned surge of ground forces in Iraq was to be the subject of discussion at the White House Monday by governors in town for a National Governors Association meeting.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.