GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The head of the U.S. National Guard said strengthening multinational military partnerships is critical to preventing future calamities.
Gen. Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said with the growing complexity of threats around the world, developing strong military relationships between nations is key to the prevention of disasters, the Air Force reported.
McKinley, speaking at the George C. Marshall European Center for European Security Studies in Germany, said the National Guard's State Partnership Program, which has fostered partnerships between California and Ukraine, among others, is a vital avenue for international collaboration on countering evolving threats around the world.
"You start by preventing the things that can go wrong, and you start preventing by meeting and sharing ideas with people," McKinley said in a statement.
"We are living in complex and challenging times. … The integrated efforts between our governments will be critically important to all of us."
