Congress on Jan. 21 approved a waiver clearing the way for Lloyd Austin to be the next Defense Secretary, with a confirmation vote expected as early as the morning of Jan. 22. Austin, who retired from the Army in 2016 as the four-star commander of U.S. Central Command, needed Congressional approval for a waiver to the law requiring former uniformed military members to wait seven years before leading the Pentagon. The Senate approved the waiver by a vote of 69-27, immediately after the House approved it by a vote of 326-78, with 28 members not voting. The approval is the second time in four years that Congress waived the requirement. Retired Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis received a waiver in 2017, becoming former President Donald J. Trump's first Defense Secretary.

Female Airmen and Guardians will soon be able to let their hair down—at least a little. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. recently approved a recommendation by the Air Force uniform board to allow women to wear their hair in one or two braids, or a single ponytail, about as long as their shoulder blades, according to a Jan. 21 release. The new grooming standards will go into effect in February.

E-11A aircrew shut down the wrong engine during an in-flight emergency and were unable to restart the aircraft’s powerplants, causing the Jan. 27, 2020, crash that killed both pilots in Afghanistan, an Air Force investigation found. The crash killed Lt. Col. Paul K. Voss and Capt. Ryan S. Phaneuf, both assigned to the 430th Expeditionary Combat Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. The E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, a modified Bombardier Global Express business jet, serves as a “wi-fi in the sky,” connecting troops using multiple communications platforms. “This tragic accident and the loss of these two Airmen will not be forgotten,” said Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly in a release.

The National Guard Bureau is working with states to drawdown “close to 15,000” of the nearly 26,000 troops still in the nation's capital following President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Of that total, about 10,600 were still on duty as of the evening of Jan. 21, NGB wrote in a release. The bureau said it expects to finish mapping out and executing the force withdrawal within 5-10 days, but some 7,000 Guard members will remain in D.C. “through the end of the month” to provide backup to agencies that have asked for “continuity of operations, additional support, and recuperation time for their forces to regroup.”

The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado plans to send more students to the Space Force in 2021 than it did in the first cohort last year, the school’s superintendent said Jan. 21. About 115 USAFA cadets will head to the Space Force upon graduation in May, up from 86 last spring, according to Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark. The class of 2020 graduated the first group of USSF-bound second lieutenants after the new service was created in December 2019.

The Air Force on Jan. 20 awarded Boeing a $2.1 billion contract for the seventh KC-46 production lot, covering 15 aircraft. The award means there are now 94 KC-46s on contract, and the Air Force plans to buy 179 of the aircraft. It comes just eight days after Boeing received $1.7 billion for production lot six. “Our KC-46 fleet is growing, and we’re ready to extend the reach of next-generation air refueling to more of our Airmen,” said Col. Jason Lindsey, U.S. Air Force KC-46 System program manager, in a Boeing release.

The Biden administration is reportedly tapping Stefanie Tompkins to run the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, spurring the third leadership change at the secretive Pentagon organization since January 2020. Defense One first reported Tompkins’s “pre-decisional” appointment to the post on Jan. 19. The White House did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Former director Victoria Coleman's last day at the agency was Jan. 20, after four months on the job.

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.

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.