National Governors Association announces new agreement with Pentagon

The National Governors Association said today it will work with the Defense Department to "better realize more economic value from defense assets" under a new, two-year cooperative agreement.

"The NGA Center for Best Practices will work with the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) to help states develop and execute strategic, evidence-based action plans for promoting a resilient national defense industry, economic vitality and increased resiliency within the defense industrial base," NGA said.

The two organizations will put together seven reports and topical and regional workshops in 2020 and 2021, according to the announcement.

"During their collaboration, NGA and OEA will explore topics such as quality of life for military families, defense workforce development, defense industry resilience, installation resilience, defense spending by state and other issues critical to states' role in national defense," NGA said. "NGA will highlight promising state initiatives and lessons learned for enhancing the state role in national defense."

The goal, the association added, is to help states "move toward measurable policy, programmatic and practice outcomes."

NGA and the Pentagon will host a virtual workshop Sept. 16-18 focused on federal and state collaboration to improve the experiences of veterans, military spouses and students with military connections.