Defen
se Secretary Robert Gates traveled to Moscow April 22 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials to discuss the planned deployment of US missile defense systems in Eastern Europe. Despite repeated assurances from US officials that the deployment poses no threat to Russia, Putin and other Russian officials have remained in strong opposition. US officials have been in negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic as sites to position long-range ground-based interceptors and missile defense radars to help counter potential threats from Iran or any rogue nation.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…