US Joint Forces Command is likely to fall victim to the Pentagon’s belt tightening, but that won’t affect the US relationship with NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, which is also based in Norfolk, Va. That according to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who spoke to defense reporters in Washington D.C., Tuesday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that President Obama close JFCOM, but “We have no plans to move ACT, and personally I do believe that it makes sense to have a NATO headquarters also in the United States, not only in Europe,” said Rasmussen.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
