Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) last week asked Air Force Secretary nominee Deborah James during her confirmation hearing if it’s OK for an airman to have a Bible on his desk or an Air Force chaplain to end a prayer “in Jesus’ name.” He said each example—just two of 42 incidents he would detail for her—was “a documented case” where individuals were barred from those actions. “A lot of us are very concerned about what, in our opinion, is political correctness run amok on steroids, quashing legitimate exercise and expression of religion in the military,” said Vitter to James during the Sept. 19 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. James said she was “not familiar with those cases,” but would look into them and report back to the committee. In principle, “having a Bible on your desk, that doesn’t seem like it should be barred,” she said. As for the chaplain’s prayer, James said “it certainly does not trouble me.” She added, “Something that may not be troubling to me personally may be to others, and the idea of dignity and respect for all religions, to include those who have no religion at all, it’s all equally important.”
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.