DefSec Contemplating Institutional Overhaul
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Defense Secretary Ash Carter delivered a major address Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and unveiled the first moves to revamp how the US. military fights and who has authority to do what, Breaking Defense reports.
Among institutional realignments, SecDef Carter is considering turning the US Cyber Command into a full combatant command, an acknowledgment that cyber warriors are today not just defending military networks but joining in combined-arms attacks on the enemy, Defense One reports. US Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) is currently a sub-unified command under US Strategic Command.
The Navy’s effort to adopt gender-neutral language by eliminating job titles ending in “-man” has been advancing and NavSec Ray Mabus is soon expected to approve numerous title changes (i.e., “mineman” to “mine specialist”). But one term defies alteration: yeoman, reports the New York Times.
The Navy’s gender-neutrality initiative extends to apparel, Navy Times reports. Women at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Illinois, were fitted this week for the classic “Dixie cups” at uniform issue. For the first time, Navy recruits will don the same covers, as part of a junior enlisted uniform overhaul led by NavSec Mabus to promote gender equality in appearance. Women in the fleet have until Oct. 31 to switch out their covers.
Defense Minister Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon told visiting Lockheed Martin executives and test pilots Tuesday that Israel’s planned F-35I force would allow it to preserve the nation’s qualitative military edge (QME) against regional adversaries, Defense News reports.
World military expenditure totaled almost $1.7 trillion in 2015, an increase of 1 percent in real terms from 2014, according to new figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The US remained the top spender in 2015, even though its military outlay declined 2.4 percent to $596 billion.
The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeing growing demand for its Space Weather Prediction Center that provides free space weather products and services, Satellite Today reports.
World leaders have privately told President Obama of their concern over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments about deploying nuclear weapons, The Economist reports.
Tax relief: This year, you’ve got three extra days to file your taxes, due not on April 15 but on April 18, reports the Washington Post. That’s because of Emancipation Day, celebrated in the District of Columbia but considered a federal holiday. On April 16, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed about 3,100 slaves living in the District. This year April 16 falls on a Saturday, so the holiday will be observed on Friday, April 15.vv
