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 ...
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 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 ...
An independent academic team will assess how ready the F-35 is for full-rate production, and its findings will be integrated into a new program timeline, the Joint Program Office reported. The move follows a full-rate production delay by Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen M. ...
Democrats appear poised to run defense policy in both congressional chambers for the first time in 10 years, as the party has won control of the Senate with narrow victories in two Jan. 5 Georgia runoff races. The results come at the end of a ...
In a first, the Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council will give the services requirements they must meet to fulfill joint electromagnetic spectrum and electronic warfare demands, JROC chairman and Joint Chiefs Vice Chair Gen. John E. Hyten said. The recent EMS strategy specifies capabilities that ...
The head of U.S. Strategic Command said he welcomes a new review of nuclear policy, but extending the life of the MInuteman III should not be considered. Experts have said the Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent effort, the massive program to replace the Minuteman ...
SpaceX will carry data-transport and missile-tracking satellites to orbit for the Space Development Agency, the Pentagon said Dec. 31. SpaceX won a $150.5 million contract for two launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., starting in September 2022. The entire constellation of up to 28 ...
The Pentagon has formally created a group of defense companies that can get broader access to classified programs, hoping that more insight will make contractors more efficient and cost-conscious. In a Dec. 15 memo to the defense industrial base, Pentagon acquisition boss Ellen M. Lord ...
The Air Force's in-house software factories have become hacking targets because they are accelerating the service's fielding of new capabilities, and must be defended as the "crown jewels" they are. The Pentagon needs to apply "Zero-Trust" technology in its data systems, not only keeping hackers ...