The Defense Department agrees with the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves that the chief of the National Guard Bureau should be elevated to four-star status and named a senior advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and through him, the Secretary of Defense, reports CongressDaily’s Megan Scully, who obtained a copy of the DOD review document used to brief Congressional staffers Wednesday. DOD apparently also agrees with the commission that the NGB chief should not have a seat on the JCS, however it doesn’t express wholehearted agreement with much else, according to Scully. The DOD position likely will further inflame the National Guard Caucus. (More in our report at right, “No Joy for Caucus or DOD.”)
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.