Chuck Hagel, in his first official to Israel as U.S. Secretary of Defense, stressed that "military-to-military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel is stronger than ever, and will only continue to deepen in the future." Secretary Hagel and Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe "Boogie" Yaalon agreed that the United States will make available to Israel new advanced military capabilities, including anti-radiation missiles and advanced radars for its fleet of fighter jets, KC-135 refueling aircraft, and most significantly, the V-22 Osprey, which the U.S. has not released to any other nation. Secretary Hagel visited Yad Vashem and met with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Soldiers from Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command greet the Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud. The soldiers are participating in Austere Challenge 2012. Austere Challenge 2012 (AC 12) is a large-scale air defense field training and command post simulation exercise designed to improve interoperability between the U.S. and Israeli militaries.

Seyran Ohanyan, the Minister of Defense for the Republic of Armenia, visited the state of Kansas March 20. During the brief visit, Ohanyan and select members of his delegation toured multiple Kansas National Guard facilities, as well as the state capitol.

Dutch Defense Minister Hans Hillen came to Fort Hood Jan. 10 to meet with his troops training here under the 21st Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat).

This coming week, the 28 Ministers of Defense of the NATO alliance will gather in Brussels for meetings and discussions. They will be accompanied by another 22 Ministers from additional troop contributing nations in Afghanistan — in essence, the entire coalition will be represented.

Yet, at the moment, I am thinking about a superb international event that happened last week: the International London Conference on Afghanistan. Last week, I wrote about my last trip to Afghanistan as we prepared for it. The media has thoroughly covered the conference (here’s a sample of recent coverage, based on an interview with me), and you can watch key presentations online, like this one from Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s review of the conference on his video blog. So rather than reiterating what's already been said, I thought I'd share with you some personal thoughts and impressions, and my interpretations of the atmospherics.