Maj. Gen. Bradley Heithold assumed command of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency from Maj. Gen. John Koziol in a ceremony Feb. 11 at Lackland AFB, Tex. “We’ll do everything in our power to bolster ISR support for joint operations,” said Heithold, who served previously as Air Force Special Operations Command’s director of plans. Immediately following the change of command, Koziol was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. He has been tapped to become the Pentagon’s deputy undersecretary of defense (intelligence) for joint and coalition warfighter support. In a change, the AFISRA head will no longer serve the concurrent role as commander of US Strategic Command’s Joint Information Operations Warfare Command. Instead, each organization will now have its own commander. According to AFISRA, Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of STRATCOM, will lead the JIOWC until a new commander is announced, but the STRATCOM fact sheet on JIOWC lists the center’s executive director, Mark Johnson, as commander. (AFISRA report by Lt. Col. Amber Cargile)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.