The Pentagon hopes to build on a good thing—the long-running bi-national North American Aerospace Defense Command—so has established the Bi-National Planning Group to determine whether it’s conceivable to create other such compacts with Canada. The goal: to reduce the red tape during responses to terrorist threats or natural disasters. Two Navy captains are leading the effort: US Navy Capt. Kendall L. Card and Canadian Forces Navy Capt. Richard J. Bergeron. So far the group has drafted several plans to address missions for joint and combined defense, as well as civil authority aid operations. Whether these plans, if approved, would lead to new organizations with full-time American and Canadian military staffs—as with the 50-year-old NORAD—is very much up in the air. “We can’t rush the process,” said Bergeron.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.