State looks toward defense spending

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana officials are starting an effort to attract more military spending to the state at the same time the Defense Department is facing billions of dollars in automatic federal budget cuts.

Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann on Monday announced that a longtime civilian executive at southern Indiana's Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center will lead the state's new Office of Defense Development.

Duane Embree will head up the office that Gov. Mike Pence created by executive order in January.

Embree says it could be a couple months before defense contractors know how much their project will be scaled by under the military spending cuts.

Ellspermann says the defense development office will be small and based in Bloomington to be near Crane and the National Guard's Camp Atterbury and Muscatatuck Center.