California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has petitioned President Bush to add money to the Pentagon’s 2008 budget for additional C-17s. In a letter dated Tuesday, California’s top executive noted that the closure of Boeing’s Long Beach production facility would mean the loss of nearly 11,000 jobs—about half at the plant and half at suppliers around the state. Boeing has said that today is the day it must make a decision to begin shutting down the production line.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.