Politico
The House Intelligence Committee is urging the U.S. spy community to track, preserve, and, whenever possible, declassify information about potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine. The request, contained in a letter signed by all 23 members of the panel and sent this week to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, comes amid growing global concern about Russia’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine as well as Moscow’s veiled warnings about using chemical and biological weapons in the country.
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The New York Times
Aerial dogfights. Top Gun-style duels. Ukraine’s fighter pilots are badly outnumbered but have so far kept Russia from controlling the skies.
Defense One
How much will Russia’s war change the Pentagon’s immediate plans? When Defense One reporters began conducting interviews for this year’s State of Defense special report, Vladimir Putin was still amassing forces outside of Ukraine. U.S. military planners were laser-focused on the Pacific, rethinking the roles their service branches would play in a new threat matrix that for the first time since September 2001 did not include Afghanistan as an existential concern but more than ever included space and cyber threats. One month later, the world has been rattled by Putin’s war in Europe. So where does that leave the military services?
SpaceNews
The U.S. military traditionally relies on a core group of defense contractors to ensure it has access to critical supplies and equipment at all times. But as space becomes increasingly important to military operations, DOD should address supply risks in the space sector given the volatility of the market, experts said at the Satellite 2022 conference.
Air Force Times
The Defense Department updated its physical fitness and body composition program guidelines March 10. The changes open the door for each military branch to revamp their own policies if they so choose, a move that the services have been consistently working toward in recent years.
Air Force Magazine
Defending against missile threats launched in, at, or through space has never been more challenging—or important. Learn more on Air Force Magazine’s Missile Warning & Defense page.
Breaking Defense
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton announced the formal creation of the country’s Defense Space Command, the formal launch of a new Space Strategy, and millions of dollars of investment in an aging military base—the next wave in a flurry of announcements from the incumbent Liberal party as it gets closer to election day. Dutton made the announcement at the Royal Australian Air Force’s Air Force and Space Power Conference in Canberra.
Breaking Defense
The Defense Department is wrapping up a study on how to streamline and better protect its vast array of often incompatible ground terminals for satellite communications, with an eye to launching some changes next year, DOD’s SATCOM chief said.
KPTM
At Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., Maj. Eric Armstrong can hardly believe it’s been three years since massive flooding pounded the base. “It’s really unbelievable.” In 2022, it's out with the old and in with the new. “As things ramp up, we’re looking at having around 1,200 contractors.” Call it a fresh start here. After about one-third of the base went under water, 24 new facilities will eventually get installed.
DOD release
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced the establishment of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, which will address and prevent suicide in the military, pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022. The committee will review relevant suicide prevention and response activities as well as actions underway on addressing sexual assault and recommendations of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military, to ensure SPRIRC’s recommendations are synchronized with current prevention activities and capabilities.
One More Thing
Military.com
In a sign of the continued decline of COVID-19 across the country, the Defense Department on March 16 skipped its update of coronavirus case numbers—data it faithfully has published weekly since July 2021. The department released the information three times a week during the first year of the pandemic, while states across the U.S. reported the data daily. But as case numbers have dwindled, more than a dozen states have cut their output to once or twice a week, and it appears DOD is following suit.
