Maj. Gen. (confirmed for a third star) Michael Peterson, USAF’s new Chief Information Officer, tells Government Computer News that the reorganization of the Air Staff functions that deal with information operations—CIO, warfighting integration, and communications operations offices—into a single entity—the Networks and Warfighting Integration-CIO Directorate—was a natural. (Read our item on the merger here.) He says the functions had worked closely together previously, so they “didn’t lose the momentum on [any] initiatives. In fact, he says, “things have speeded up.” So far so good.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.