President Joe Biden outlined a return to a diplomacy-intensive foreign policy in a speech at the State Department Jan. 4. He pledged to “push back” against Russian and Chinese aggression, and said the U.S. will no longer aid Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, to include withholding “offensive” arms sales. The U.S. will again stand against human rights abuses and authoritarianism, and make its alliances its top military priority, Biden said.

The Defense Department on Feb. 4 issued an order requiring all service members and civilians on U.S. military installations—whether indoors or outdoors—to wear a mask to try to limit the spread of COVID-19, with limited exceptions. However, vaccines against the new coronavirus remain voluntary, and a number of military family members have told Blue Star Families they don't plan on getting a shot.

The Air Force Research Laboratory is kicking off 2021 with plans to forge closer ties with the fledgling Space Force and a new focus on digital engineering. AFRL boss Brig. Gen. Heather L. Pringle laid out the lab’s priorities in a Feb. 4 talk with AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. As AFRL now covers science and technology initiatives for two of the armed forces instead of just one, she said they’re working to align programs with Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond’s top research needs: space security, space domain awareness, combat power projection, information mobility, and mobility and logistics in space.

Congressional defense committees are moving forward on their work in 2021 with the addition of a few new faces and subcommittees. Senate leadership has hammered out the details of an organizing resolution that dictates how the evenly divided chamber will operate, opening the door for committee chairmanships to flip to Democratic control and for members to shuffle on and off the legislative panels. And the House Armed Services Committee is bringing on more than a dozen new members and splitting an existing subcommittee into two new groups.

U.S. and coalition aircraft closed out 2020 with a slight increase in airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, as the group lingers in the region and attempts to regain power. Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, coalition aircraft conducted 25 strikes, consisting of 41 engagements. This included 10 strikes against ISIS in Iraq, consisting of 25 engagements killing 49 ISIS fighters and destroying one defensive fighting location, according to a Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve release. In Syria, the coalition conducted 15 strikes, totaling 16 engagements. This compares to 14 total airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in November, according to OIR data.

“An unauthorized individual” breached Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Feb. 4, a base spokesperson confirmed to Air Force Magazine via email. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is leading the investigation into the incident, they said.

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.