President Obama signs the Fiscal 2012 defense authorization act into law and with it provides a permanent seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
In a nighttime ceremony contrived to continue concealment of many of its features, the new B-21 bomber rolled out of Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif. plant Dec. 2. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the aircraft's advanced technology represents "deterrence, the American way."