US Joint Forces Command sees great value in its new Joint Public Affairs Support Element, or JPASE, which it sent forth on three occasions over the past five months. A JPASE team covered task force commander needs for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan. In the past, PA support has been ad hoc, according to JPASE director Army Col. Steve Campbell. The new approach provides a “seasoned team on call” tailored to the job at hand that can “manage a task force’s PA processes while the combatant command evaluates the long-term outlook,” says Campbell. The JPASE team serves as an initial responder that turns over a “functioning public affairs apparatus to follow-on forces.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.