When National Guard Bureau chief Gen. Joseph Lengyel looks back at his time as the senior US defense official in Cairo from June 2011 to August 2012, he sees how quickly the region has changed. In his role, he attended a one-year anniversary celebration of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s ousting and said the crowd rushed him and demanded US involvement in Syria because 2,000 people had been killed in the growing unrest there. “I think back to that time and how much has happened along the lines, it’s been an amazing unfolding of events across the Middle East and in Syria,” Lengyel told the Defense Writers Group in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Lengyel said the intervention request was discussed “immensely,” but noted it was made a long time ago. The years-long civil war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
2026 NDAA: 5 Highlights for Airmen and Guardians
Dec. 18, 2025
President Donald Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 18, a day after Congress passed the annual defense policy bill for the 65th consecutive year. Here’s what it means for the Air Force and Space Force.
