Carrying through with its plan to root out military capabilities duplication, the House Armed Services Committee has formed a panel to investigate the state of roles and missions. In a joint statement, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), committee chairman, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) announced the bipartisan membership for the new Roles and Missions Panel. Congressman Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) will lead the effort, joined by ranking member Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). The House Armed Services Committee proposed in its version of the 2008 defense authorization bill that DOD conduct a mission scrub every four years. Skelton says, “Ensuring that the military services are working on the appropriate roles and missions is key to our national security, and Congress has an important role to play in this effort.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.