Approximately 33 US active duty military, reservists, and civilians have returned from African Lion 2006 in the Sahara desert, where they performed medical services and humanitarian visits for more than 9,400 Moroccans. “I left a piece of my heart in Morocco,” says Air Force Capt. Alvin Barber, adding, “The people were the most grateful I have ever seen.” Barber is a physician assistant with the 435th Medical Squadron, Ramstein AB, Germany. During African Lion, the US medics worked with the Moroccan military and saw an average of 1,300 patients per day.
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”