According to Sen. Carl Levin, Democrat from Michigan, the wobbly state of three of the nation’s top automakers could spill over onto defense supply chains. Crain’s Detroit Business reports that Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and who supports an automaker bailout with strings, said, “This is a national security issue as well as an economy issue.” But, he added, “First and foremost, it’s a jobs issue.” According to the newspaper, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking at a Michigan symposium last week, expressed less concern, but he did say, “It certainly has the potential to diminish it [supply chain]; and, so we’re watching that situation very closely.”
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.
