Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will attend the US-Gulf Cooperation Council defense ministerial in Saudi Arabia this week where he is expected to address “common regional security challenges,” such as “Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby on Friday. It will be the first US meeting with the GCC since 2008, according to a May 9 release. “It is an opportunity for the Secretary to underscore US security commitments in the Middle East and to reinforce the United States’ unstinting policy of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and further destabilizing the region,” said Kirby. Hagel will then travel to Jordan and then Israel. In Israel he will meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon to discuss “critical regional and bilateral security issues, including the United States and Israel’s cooperation on rocket and missile defense,” said Kirby.
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.