National Guard Chief Hokanson to speak at Headliners Newsmaker, 10 am Thursday

Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will speak and take questions at a National Press Club in-person Headliners Newsmaker on Thursday, July 27, at 10 a.m. 

Hokanson's remarks will focus on how the 30-year-old State Partnership Program between Ukraine and the California National Guard created such close military ties that Ukrainians exchanged urgent phone calls between Kyiv and California in the opening hours of the Russian invasion and how the Guard’s global impact animates the National Defense Strategy.

The all-volunteer force turns 50 this year. 

As chief of the National Guard Bureau, Hokanson, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, oversees the training and deployment of more than 453,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel. He commanded the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Iraq and served as the chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix in Afghanistan.

The National Guard made headlines following the arrest in April of a  Massachusetts guardsman who repeatedly mishandled and exposed classified information. Hokansan recently told the Senate Appropriations Committee that he would put in place safeguards to prevent future intelligence breaches.

This Headliners event is open to credentialed media and Club members. Registration is appreciated. To submit a question for the speaker, please email [email protected] and put GUARD in the subject line. The deadline for submitting questions in advance is 9 a.m. on the day of the event.