Senior Department of the Air Force leaders have repeatedly tested negative for the coronavirus within the past several days, as news emerged early Oct. 2 that President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump contracted COVID-19. Top military officials, including Secretary of the Air Force Barbara M. Barrett, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond all attended a White House event on Sept. 27 to recognize Gold Star families. The officials all tested negative before that event, Air Force spokesperson Brooke Brzozowske said Oct. 2. Brown and Raymond again tested negative on Oct. 1 before meetings at Joint Base Andrews, Md., and Barrett tested negative on Oct. 2 as well, Brzozowske said.

The Defense Department lost 498 service members to suicide in 2019, according to the Pentagon's annual suicide report, released Oct. 1. The report provides a snapshot of suicide’s impact on personnel from the Active component, Reserve force, and National Guard in the previous calendar year. According to the report, the troops who took their own lives in 2019 were predominantly male, under the age of 30, enlisted, and Caucasian. Firearms played a role in most of those incidents.

“Irregular warfare” isn’t just for special operations forces. A newly published summary of an annex to the 2018 National Defense Strategy argues that after decades of asymmetric conflict—wars where enemies have exploited weaknesses in U.S. technology and tactics—the Pentagon is still underprepared for that kind of combat. The Defense Department says the entire military must get better at irregular warfare to not just fend off the rise of nonstate terror groups and cyber attackers, but to stymie Russia and China as well. “Our department’s shift towards great power competition does not signal an abandonment of the critical competencies we have developed to prosecute irregular warfare,” the summary said. “Instead, this shift gives us a vital opportunity to update our approach to irregular warfare and meet the full range of challenges posed by our adversaries and competitors today.”

President Donald J. Trump on Sept. 30 issued an executive order declaring U.S. dependence on China for rare-earth elements a “national emergency,” directing a multi-agency review and action before the election to establish domestic sources of the materials, which are used in a range of crucial defense and commercial applications. The order provides for loans and grants to domestic and possibly foreign mining companies and relaxation of environmental safety standards, aimed at reducing U.S. “vulnerability” to China and other suppliers.

Maj. Gen. John E. Shaw, the head of the Space Force's operations organization, is up for a promotion to be the deputy commander of U.S. Space Command, the Pentagon said Oct. 1. He would also rise to the rank of lieutenant general if confirmed by the Senate. Shaw currently holds complementary roles in the Space Force and SPACECOM.

On March 23, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Series event featuring Scowcroft Group Principal Frank Miller. At a time when nuclear modernization programs are accelerating around the world, proposals to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear arsenal are at the forefront of debates over defense spending. Miller will share his insights into the prospects for U.S. nuclear modernization programs and the value of nuclear deterrence in today's competitive security environment. The think tank will post event video on its website and YouTube page after the live event.