The Defense Intelligence Agency has launched the Defense Clandestine Service to bolster human intelligence collection and better integrate the agency into broader US Intelligence Community activities. “I think the practical result will be a rebalancing of our efforts and our focus on the human side of intelligence collection,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby April 24. “It’s also designed to further professionalize our intelligence workforce and offer some career progression inside the intelligence community,” he added. The new service is meant to complement existing intelligence efforts and is not about “supplanting anybody,” said Kirby. “It’s about making us better contributors to the overall team effort,” he noted. The bulk of the IC’s Humint capabilities have long resided within the CIA. (AFPS report by Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.