President Joe Biden hasn’t named his Air Force Secretary pick yet, or someone to serve as assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration. But when they arrive, they’ll need to hit the ground running. Once a new Secretary is nominated, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the ...
Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 25 ceremonially swore in new Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III at the White House, days after he started the job and has already announced multiple changes to the Defense Department. “Secretary Austin’s integrity, experience, and intimate knowledge of ...
Approximately 5,000 National Guard troops will remain on the streets of Washington, D.C., with most protecting the U.S. Capitol for almost two more months, in response to requests from federal agencies and local police who anticipate additional unrest. As of Jan. 25, there were about ...
A new team of acting leaders in the Defense Department and the Department of the Air Force took command at 12:01 p.m. Jan. 20, leading the military on a temporary basis while Biden administration nominees await confirmation. Immediately after President Joe Biden took the oath ...
Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Pentagon, spent his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 19 pressing his civilian bona fides to lawmakers, with some pledging opposition to the waiver Austin would need to become the nation’s first Black Defense Secretary. Austin spent ...
The Pentagon has changed the combatant command responsible for operations involving Israel, from U.S. European Command to U.S. Central Command, following White House-brokered accords between the country and multiple Persian Gulf states. The update to the Unified Command Plan came as the Trump administration finished ...
The Pentagon is reckoning with the growing presence of ideological extremists in its ranks, especially white supremacists and militia members who target troops to bolster their organizations’ credibility. A group of lawmakers on Jan. 14 called on the Defense Department to launch a “comprehensive” investigation ...
Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal is the preferred new home of U.S. Space Command, the Air Force said Jan. 13, signaling a major move from the longtime center of military space operations in Colorado Springs, Colo. After the Air Force vetted several cities as prospective SPACECOM headquarters ...
The top three leaders in the Department of the Air Force have received their first coronavirus vaccinations, as the shot rolls out across U.S. military bases worldwide. Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. were ...
Experts warned the Senate Armed Services Committee at a Jan. 12 hearing that approving a waiver for retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as Defense Secretary would damage the norm of civilian control of the military and cautioned against relying on veterans to lend ...
The Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol by President Donald J. Trump's supporters, who were looking to interrupt the certification of electoral votes, calling the attack “a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol building, and our ...
The Defense Department is moving out with its first strategy to coordinate and plan for future threats posed by small drones at home and abroad. The Jan. 7 strategy comes after the military has contended with years-long proliferation of quadcopters and other cheap, widely available ...