WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today praised Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s selection of Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base as one of the four stops—each dedicated to a different branch of the armed forces—of his farewell tour. After Secretary Hagel’s tour of the base, McCaskill released the following statement:

“Secretary Hagel made a fitting choice when he selected Whiteman Air Force Base to showcase the enormous prowess of the U.S. Air Force. The men and women who are stationed and work at Whiteman are critical to the defense of our nation’s interests, and the base itself is an important economic engine for the local community and the state.”

McCaskill has long-maintained that Whiteman Air Force Base is vital to national defense, both successfully defending against its possible closure and encouraging its continued growth.