Daily Report

Oct. 10, 2013

Airman Killed in Airplane Crash in Colombia

MSgt. Martin Gonzales, 39, died in the crash of a US-contracted DH-8 aircraft in Colombia, announced US Southern Command on Wednesday. The aircraft was monitoring for drug smugglers near the Panamanian border on Oct. 5 when it went down, reported...

Going Up Before Down

The number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and launchers in the US inventory grew slightly in the most recent reporting period, announced the State Department. As of Sept. 1, the United States had 1,688 deployed warheads and 809 deployed launchers...

Back and Forth

Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh are reviewing the Air Force’s responses to the second round of questions from Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) regarding the future of the A-10 fleet, service spokeswoman Maj....

Fisher House Steps Up to Help Families of Fallen

The Fisher House Foundation has agreed to offer families of US military members killed in combat an advanced grant to cover their death benefits. This announcement came following news that the Defense Department is unable to pay death gratuities directly...

Shutdown Hurting Veterans

If the federal government’s partial shutdown continues into late October, Veterans Affairs Department compensation in November for more than five million beneficiaries—including nearly 4 million military veterans—would halt, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told lawmakers on Wednesday. Further, “once mandatory funds...

Taking a Byte out of Cyber Operations

The federal government’s partial shutdown is impacting cyber security efforts and delaying progress on passing major cyber legislation, said several senior lawmakers. Some 60 percent of the intelligence community’s civilian workforce is currently on furlough,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman...

Defense Health Agency Opens

The Pentagon’s new Defense Health Agency, designed to streamline health care among the military services, has commenced operations. “This day has been a long time in coming, and represents a major milestone in the history of the [Defense] Department and...

Little Rock Unit Bids Adieu to Jodie

C-130 aircrews of the 62nd Airlift Squadron at Little Rock AFB, Ark., flew their last formation under their longtime call sign “Jodie,” according to a unit release. That fight took place on Sept. 27; now, with the onset of Fiscal...

Senate Eyes Closer Ties with Chinese Political Leaders

The Pentagon has been making inroads in improving its military-to-military relations with China. Now, at the political level, the Senate is looking to increase its ties with Chinese leaders, planning to launch the Senate US-China Working Group later this year,...