President Joe Biden on Feb. 10 announced a new Defense Department quick-paced review of the military’s overall strategy toward China. Over the next “few months,” the Department of Defense China Task Force will work to define new priorities and “decision points so that we can ...
SECDEF
Anthony P. Reardon is performing the duties of the under secretary of the Air Force under Acting Secretary John Roth, pending permanent nominations to the positions, the department announced Feb. 9. Roth officially designated Reardon as the first assistant to the under secretary of the ...
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 ...
The Defense Department on Feb. 4 issued an order requiring all service members and civilians on U.S. military installations—whether indoors or outdoors—to wear a mask to try to limit the spread of COVID-19, with limited exceptions. However, vaccines against the new coronavirus remain voluntary, and ...
The Pentagon is sourcing a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy military personnel to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine, an expected increase to the more than 20,000 Guard personnel already helping across the country. The FEMA request, sent to the Defense Department ...
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 ...
The Senate Armed Services Committee will consider the nomination of retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III to be Defense Secretary on Jan. 19. Because Austin retired from the Army in 2016, from the position of commander of U.S. Central Command, Congress must approve a ...
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III to be his Defense Secretary, the transition team announced Dec. 8. Austin, who left the military in 2016 as the four-star head of U.S. Central Command, would be the first-ever Black man to ...
Michèle A. Flournoy, the former under secretary of defense for policy, has emerged as the frontrunner to take over as Defense Secretary once the presumptive President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January. If nominated and confirmed, she would lead a Pentagon facing down either flat ...
President Donald J. Trump on Nov. 9 fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, announcing on Twitter that he was appointing Christopher C. Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to serve as the acting Pentagon boss. “Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper ...
Troops can now wear their physical fitness clothing inside base commissaries and exchanges, according to a memorandum from Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper released this week.
The Defense Department “collected nearly 11,000 units” of COVID-19 convalescent plasma by the end of fiscal 2020—almost 3,000 units more than its original goal—Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced during an Oct. 15 Heritage Foundation event. Donations of blood plasma containing antibodies for the new ...