N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue is in Washington today for a round of meetings with companies and military brass at a national defense industry conference.

Perdue said she wants more troops -- "boots on the ground" -- in North Carolina, Barb Barrett reports. She also hopes to bring more defense work to North Carolina and has been encouraging companies to consider how to transfer their technologies to civilian use as well. Perdue said she met with one small company that plans to relocate to the Triangle and two other companies that are considering North Carolina.

"I want the Army to understand we’ll bend over backwards to help them with soldiers and families and human services needs on their base," Perdue said in an interview between meetings. "We want defense jobs in our state. Not just associated with our bases, but we want all these companies to know North Carolina is a player and we have the workforce and the manufacturing capacity and the sites and the workers they need to meet the demands of an Army contract."

While in Washington, Perdue also met with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke about expanding broadband access into rural areas.