The Defense Department will no longer require fully vaccinated personnel to wear masks at DOD facilities. The guidance applies to all those who are two weeks beyond their final dose, both indoors and outdoors, according to a May 13 memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense ...
U.S. aircraft will continue to provide support for Afghan forces through the withdrawal process beginning May 1. The Pentagon’s No. 2 official said she is confident that modernized technology and processes mean “over-the-horizon” support from outside the country will be effective. “It’s not 2001—it’s 2021,” ...
The Missile Defense Agency on March 23 awarded Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin contracts worth a total of $7.6 billion to develop technology for the Next Generation Interceptor, which will replace aging ground-based interceptors and serve as the first layer of defense against intercontinental ballistic ...
Advanced cruise missiles and potential hypersonic weapons will challenge North American Aerospace Defense Command’s legacy warning systems, so the command needs to improve awareness to provide earlier warning. USAF Gen. Glen. D. VanHerck, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, told the Senate Armed Services ...
Kathleen H. Hicks on Feb. 9 reported to work as the highest-ranking woman in Pentagon history, starting as the deputy secretary of defense the day after being confirmed by the Senate. Hicks immediately met with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and received updates on ...
Kathleen H. Hicks, who will oversee decisions related to nuclear modernization if confirmed to be the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, assured lawmakers during her confirmation hearing on Feb. 2 that she is committed to all three legs of the nuclear triad. Since Defense ...
Membership on congressional committees that oversee defense spending and policy is beginning to take shape almost a month into the new session. Leadership has named new Republicans and Democrats to the House Armed Services and Appropriations Committees, while the Senate is still working through the ...
Experts warned the Senate Armed Services Committee at a Jan. 12 hearing that approving a waiver for retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as Defense Secretary would damage the norm of civilian control of the military and cautioned against relying on veterans to lend ...
Presumed President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Nov. 10 revealed the first Pentagon transition team members who will review the agency’s operations and begin the process of handing it off to new leaders in January. Kathleen H. Hicks, director of the international ...