​​Last evening, ​World Affairs Council of the Desert’s speaker, Lt Col Dakota Wood (ret), Defense Programs Senior Research Fellow with the Heritage Foundation shared his first-hand experience of the need for increased strategic deployment of America’s military forces. Lt Col Wood is seen frequently on cable news advocating American global military strength. Imperative that we not lose our edge in gaining ground against rising national security threats. Nature of external threats—Russia’s continued aggression, China’s sustained bullying cyber-espionage, N Korea’s long-range missiles and failure to denuclearize and Iran’s sustained terrorist groups. We have made significant improvements in readiness but are still undersized and limited to regionalized responses. Much of our equipment is aging and outdated. In 1989 we had 770,000 troops on active duty — today 480,000. We need to step up our response capabilities.
Nancy DeLuna

World Affairs Council of the Desert added a special luncheon event January 30th at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert. Speaker Lt Colonel Rick Francona discussed, “Czars, Sultans and Mullahs: Syria and the Aftermath of the Arab Spring.” Lt.Col Francona retired after 27 years as a USAF intelligence officer primarily in the Middle East. He is an author and commentator having served multiple tours of duty with the NSA and CIA and is featured on NBC, CNBC and CNN as a military analyst. Recruited in 2002 for the Pentagon Military Analyst program as someone influential to help sell a wary public on a possible Iraq invasion. An engaging speaker who taught us to distinguish Sunni from Shia. WACD President Jim McFarlin, himself a former Air Force officer, welcomed the sold-out crowd.
Nancy DeLuna

What were your feelings about our November 17th dinner/speaker program? Please share with us, in detail, regarding the speaker, the venue, the food, etc. Thank you so much for your time.