Hang It On the Commission: The co-chairs of the Senate National Guard Caucus—Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)—asked the Commission on the Guard and Reserves to include in its initial 90-day report a favorable recommendation on the caucus proposal to elevate the position of the National Guard within the Pentagon. If the commission finds it a “worthwhile proposal,” said Bond, then he and Leahy will get legislation started. Leahy remarked that the commission’s support would provide “enormous momentum.” He doesn’t know whether it would succeed this year or next, but he is “convinced that such legislation will eventually pass.”
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.