Army Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as part of a five-nation trip to recognize and strengthen National Guard security relationships with eastern European and Baltic nations.

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited soldiers training with Ukrainian troops to commend their work and talk about the value of the National Guard and its State Partnership Program.

Although the Russians have made incremental gains in the Donbas, it does not appear that they have encircled the city of Lysychansk, a senior Defense Department official said.

The upcoming NATO summit in Madrid will be transformative, as leaders meet to discuss Russia and China among other defense-related topics, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

In the last month, the U.S. pledged more than $1.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. Some of that assistance is aimed at helping the Ukrainian military better defend their coast and waterways. 

President Joe Biden has given DOD authorization for a drawdown of up to $450 million to meet Ukraine's critical arms needs in the face of the Russian invasion — the 13th presidential drawdown of DOD stocks since August 2021.

Technology with capabilities to censor and to send data back to the Chinese government is a security risk for the U.S. government and military, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy said.  

With a brutal war raging in neighboring Ukraine and wary of nearby Russia, the Eastern European democracy of Moldova is rapidly strengthening its national defense — and looking to the North Carolina National Guard for help. 

A Department of Defense official strongly urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to quickly approve the request of Finland and Sweden to join NATO. 

Even before COVID-19, the Defense Department had identified supply chain vulnerabilities for things like microelectronics. But the pandemic also highlighted other critical shortages in the U.S., some of which affect national security.