Japanese delegation hosted by Air Force Global Strike Command on Barksdale
BOSSIER CITY, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Air Force Global Strike Command on Barksdale hosted a delegation from Japan last week strengthening international security ties.
According to Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs, the gathering is called Extended Deterrence Dialogue (EDD) and it happened on June 5-6.
The EDD brought together defense and foreign affairs officials from both nations. Global Strike Public Affairs says the U.S. side was represented by officials from the State Department and the Department of Defense, while the Japanese side was comprised of officials from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and the Japanese Embassy in Washington.
General Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, assisted in showing the delegation AFGSC training facilities and engaged in bilateral discussion.
Global Strike Command Public Affairs says these talks have taken place at key sites within the U.S. nuclear triad since 2022.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Project 2025 Coauthor: Trump Tariffs Could Endanger Health Care
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump is right to play hardball on trade with Europe. The European Union targets leading American companies with rules, fines, and other punitive actions that undermine their ability to do business in EU countries and deliver technologies to their citizens and small businesses. However, there are some lines that we should not cross in response to trade tensions—like the tariffs President Trump is expected to impose on imported medicines any day now. The president can levy so-called Section 232 tariffs on imports deemed a threat to national security. While that rationale may apply to medicines from China, imports from Europe and Japan pose no such threat. Tariffs on European and Japanese medicines would harm Americans who rely on prescription drugs. They would disrupt the small firms that underpin our health care system—disproportionately hurting early-stage biotech startups, specialized manufacturers, and independent pharmacies, especially in rural communities. These companies operate lean and are laser-focused. Most emerging biotechs, in fact, revolve around a single drug candidate. They have small teams, tight budgets, and years of regulatory hurdles ahead. Many rely on active pharmaceutical ingredients sourced from Europe to develop their therapies. Tariffs on those imports wouldn't just slow medical progress—they could stop it in its tracks. That's because small firms aren't on the sidelines of drug development. They are the front line. In 2024, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. clinical trials were launched by emerging biopharma companies. Last year, small businesses developed 85 percent of newly approved drugs and brought more than half to market on their own. Breakthroughs require reliable, affordable inputs. A full one-third of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in Americans' medicines come from Europe. Building new U.S. pharmaceutical plants can take up to a decade and cost $2 billion. Waiting that long isn't an option for a startup betting everything on one product. Even established manufacturers aren't immune. Many of America's nearly 1,600 domestic facilities—which produce approximately one-half of U.S. medicines—still depend on European ingredients. Tariffs would spike their costs and strain an already fragile supply chain. Some may be forced to pull workers off the factory floor. WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 02: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a 'Make America Wealthy Again' trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2,... WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 02: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a 'Make America Wealthy Again' trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. MoreThen there are the pharmacies. Unlike big chains, independent pharmacies often can't negotiate bulk deals or absorb sudden price hikes. A steep tariff could erase already thin margins, forcing many to shut their doors, including in underserved and rural communities that already lack sufficient access to pharmacies. In 2023 alone, the U.S. imported close to $130 billion in pharmaceutical products from Europe. A tariff, of 25 percent for instance, could translate to tens of billions in new costs for our health care system. Those dollars won't just hit corporate balance sheets. They'll show up in Medicare and Medicaid budgets, insurance premiums, and out-of-pocket costs for seniors and working families. Placing tariffs on medicines is not like taxing handbags or hubcaps. There's often no clear "substitute" for the medicine that works best for a particular patient. If a treatment is made in Ireland or Switzerland, a tariff doesn't create a U.S. version. It creates delay, financial strain, or worse—outright loss of access. Developed countries have long treated medicines as off-limits in trade disputes for one simple reason: patients' lives should never be used as leverage in a trade war. If President Trump's goal is to keep America from relying on adversaries like China for key medicines, life-saving European drugs shouldn't be caught in the crossfire. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are not asking for special favors. They merely want predictability, light government intervention, access to markets, and a fair shot. Drug tariffs will inject turmoil into a sector that needs stability. For biotech startups and other small businesses, these tariffs aren't just a cost increase—they are an existential threat. President Trump is right to confront trade inequities, intellectual property theft, and other countries' lack of compliance with previous trade deals. But when it comes to medicines, tariffs will cause broad-based harm. Practically speaking, tariffs will not build domestic capacity any time soon and they will not protect American innovation. Medicines must remain exempt from tariff actions against allies like Europe and Japan. American patients and the small businesses powering our health care system need this stability and assurance. Karen Kerrigan is president and CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ( in Washington, D.C. She was the author of Project 2025's chapter on the Small Business Administration. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
4 hours ago
Okinawa marks 80 years since WWII battle ended, pledges to share its tragic history
TOKYO -- Okinawa marked the 80th anniversary of the end of one of the harshest battles of World War II fought on the southern island. With global tensions escalating, its governor said on Monday it is the Okinawan 'mission' to keep telling the tragic history and its impact today. The Battle of Okinawa killed a quarter of the island's population, leading to a 27-year U.S. occupation and a heavy American troop presence to date. Monday's memorial comes one day after U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, adding to a sense of uncertainty on the island about the heavy American military presence and in its remote islands, already worried about getting embroiled in a potential conflict in Taiwan. Gov. Denny Tamaki, noting the escalating global conflicts and nuclear threats, made a resolve to contribute to global peace studies, disarmament and the preservation of war remains. 'It is our mission, as those living in the present, to preserve and pass on the reality and lessons to future generations." U.S. troops landed on the main Okinawa island on April 1, 1945, beginning a battle in their push toward mainland Japan. The Battle of Okinawa lasted nearly three months, killing some 200,000 people — about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of them Okinawan civilians including students and victims forced into mass suicides by Japan's military. Okinawa was sacrificed by Japan's Imperial Army to defend the mainland, historians say. The island group remained under U.S. occupation until its reversion in 1972, two decades longer than most of Japan. Monday's memorial was held at the Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, where the remains of most of the war dead reside. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was in a hot seat when he attended Monday's ceremony. Weeks earlier, one of his ruling party lawmakers Shoji Nishida, known for whitewashing Japan's wartime atrocities, denounced an inscription on a famous cenotaph dedicated to students as 'rewriting history' by portraying the Japanese army as having caused their deaths, while Americans liberated Okinawa. Nishida also called Okinawa's history education 'a mess.' His remark triggered an uproar in Okinawa, forcing Ishiba days later to apologize to the island's governor, who had criticized the remark as outrageous and distorting history. The Himeyuri Cenotaph commemorates student nurses who were abandoned near the end of the battle and killed, some in group suicides with teachers. Japan's wartime military told the people never to surrender to the enemy, or die. Nishida's remarks add to concerns about the whitewashing of Japan's embarrassing wartime past as memories of the tragedy fade and ignorance about the suffering grows. Ishiba, at Monday's memorial, said Japan's peace and prosperity is built on the sacrifices of Okinawa's history of hardship and that it is the government's responsibility to 'devote ourselves to achieve a peaceful and prosperous Okinawa." Okinawa remained under U.S. occupation from 1945 until the 1972 reversion to Japan. The U.S. military maintains a heavy presence there due to Okinawa's strategic importance for security in the Pacific. Their presence serves not only to help defend Japan but also for missions elsewhere, including in the South China Sea and the Middle East. Private properties were confiscated to build U.S. bases, and the base-dependent economy has hampered the growth of local industry. Fear of a Taiwan conflict rekindles bitter memories of the Battle of Okinawa. Historians and many residents say Okinawa was used as a pawn to save mainland Japan. There are also ancient tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1879. Okinawa remains home to the majority of about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land, hosts 70% of U.S. military facilities. Even 53 years after its reversion to Japan, Okinawa is burdened with the heavy U.S. presence and faces noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops, the governor said. Nearly 2,000 tons of unexploded U.S. bombs remain in Okinawa, with some regularly dug up. A recent explosion at a storage site at a U.S. military base caused minor injuries to four Japanese soldiers.
Hamilton Spectator
4 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Okinawa marks 80 years since end of one of harshest WWII battles with pledge to share tragic history
TOKYO (AP) — Okinawa marked the 80th anniversary of the end of one of the harshest battles of World War II fought on the southern island. With global tensions escalating, its governor said on Monday it is the Okinawan 'mission' to keep telling the tragic history and its impact today. The Battle of Okinawa killed a quarter of the island's population, leading to a 27-year U.S. occupation and a heavy American troop presence to date. Monday's memorial comes one day after U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities , adding to a sense of uncertainty on the island about the heavy American military presence and in its remote islands , already worried about getting embroiled in a potential conflict in Taiwan. Gov. Denny Tamaki, noting the escalating global conflicts and nuclear threats, made a resolve to contribute to global peace studies, disarmament and the preservation of war remains. 'It is our mission, as those living in the present, to preserve and pass on the reality and lessons to future generations.' Fierce battle and civilian deaths U.S. troops landed on the main Okinawa island on April 1, 1945, beginning a battle in their push toward mainland Japan. The Battle of Okinawa lasted nearly three months, killing some 200,000 people — about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of them Okinawan civilians including students and victims forced into mass suicides by Japan's military. Okinawa was sacrificed by Japan's Imperial Army to defend the mainland, historians say. The island group remained under U.S. occupation until its reversion in 1972 , two decades longer than most of Japan. Monday's memorial was held at the Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, where the remains of most of the war dead reside. Remembering the tragedy Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was in a hot seat when he attended Monday's ceremony. Weeks earlier, one of his ruling party lawmakers Shoji Nishida, known for whitewashing Japan's wartime atrocities, denounced an inscription on a famous cenotaph dedicated to students as 'rewriting history' by portraying the Japanese army as having caused their deaths, while Americans liberated Okinawa. Nishida also called Okinawa's history education 'a mess.' His remark triggered an uproar in Okinawa, forcing Ishiba days later to apologize to the island's governor, who had criticized the remark as outrageous and distorting history. The Himeyuri Cenotaph commemorates student nurses who were abandoned near the end of the battle and killed, some in group suicides with teachers. Japan's wartime military told the people never to surrender to the enemy, or die. Nishida's remarks add to concerns about the whitewashing of Japan's embarrassing wartime past as memories of the tragedy fade and ignorance about the suffering grows. Ishiba, at Monday's memorial, said Japan's peace and prosperity is built on the sacrifices of Okinawa's history of hardship and that it is the government's responsibility to 'devote ourselves to achieve a peaceful and prosperous Okinawa.' Postwar years and growing fear Okinawa remained under U.S. occupation from 1945 until the 1972 reversion to Japan. The U.S. military maintains a heavy presence there due to Okinawa's strategic importance for security in the Pacific. Their presence serves not only to help defend Japan but also for missions elsewhere, including in the South China Sea and the Middle East. Private properties were confiscated to build U.S. bases, and the base-dependent economy has hampered the growth of local industry. Fear of a Taiwan conflict rekindles bitter memories of the Battle of Okinawa. Historians and many residents say Okinawa was used as a pawn to save mainland Japan. There are also ancient tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1879. Burden of history Okinawa remains home to the majority of about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land, hosts 70% of U.S. military facilities. Even 53 years after its reversion to Japan, Okinawa is burdened with the heavy U.S. presence and faces noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops, the governor said. Nearly 2,000 tons of unexploded U.S. bombs remain in Okinawa, with some regularly dug up. A recent explosion at a storage site at a U.S. military base caused minor injuries to four Japanese soldiers. Remains of hundreds of war dead are still unrecovered on Okinawa, as the government's search and identification effort is slow to make progress. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
