Hegseth Seeks Government Housing; Faces Questions
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DefSec Pete Hegseth is looking to live in military family housing and requested to use $137,000 in taxpayer funding for repairs — including nearly $50,000 for an “emergency” paint job, reports Military.com. The Independent reports Democrats have asked Hegseth to justify why he needs the government-provided home, why it needs to be improved, and how much he plans to pay in rent.
Hegseth arrived in Brussels this week for two days of meetings with European allies. Changes could be in store for defense spending, the war in Ukraine, and American troop levels on the Continent, reports Stars and Stripes. Military Times reports that during the secretary’s visit Tuesday to US Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, he said the US is committed to having a presence in Europe, but the responsibility of securing the region should not fall on America alone.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to severely curtail hiring once the current freeze is lifted and develop new plans to implement widespread layoffs across government. NextGov.com reports the order will place Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency at the center of the efforts.
Musk can find “billions of dollars” in savings within the military, Hegseth said, according to Military.com.
A representative from Musk’s DOGE now works at Veterans Affairs with access to contracting systems as well as information on VA operations and information technology systems, reports Military.com. “The DOGE employee will be solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency and will not have access to veterans’ or VA beneficiaries’ data,” VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said.
The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence, reports Politico, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) the only member of his party to vote against Trump’s nominee. No Democrats voted in support for the former lawmaker.
The first jobs report of Trump’s second term showed a rise in the unemployment rate for all veterans from 2.8% in December to 4.2% in January, even as the jobless rate for all Americans ticked down from 4.1% to 4.0%. Military.com reports the unemployment rate for the post-9/11 generation of veterans bumped up from 3.9% in December to 4.7% in January. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report found 143,000 jobs added in January, below the forecasts of 190,000 or more.
US consumer sentiment dropped unexpectedly in February to a seven-month low and inflation expectations rocketed as households feared it may be too late to avoid the negative effects on their purchasing power from threatened tariffs. Reuters reports households reflect economists’ expectations of inflation over the next year surging to 4.3% — the highest since November 2023 — from 3.3% last month. Over the next five years they saw inflation running at 3.3% — the highest since June 2008 — from 3.2% in January.
The Senate Armed Services Committee unofficially kicks off their work on the annual defense authorization bill today, Thursday, looking at challenges facing Northern Command and Southern Command, reports Military Times. House Armed Services Committee officials said they expect to begin their work on the legislation by the end of this month, hopefully after a few more key DoD officials are confirmed by the Senate.
The Senate Budget Committee has released a budget blueprint that could add $150 billion in new funds for defense. Breaking Defense reports the bill lays out four main focus areas: maintaining military readiness; growing the Navy and strengthening the shipbuilding industrial base; building an integrated air and missile defense; and investments in the nuclear enterprise.
Apple renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on its maps Tuesday after Trump’s renaming order was made official by the US Geographic Names Information System. AP News reports the move follows Google, which announced last month that it would make the change once the official listing was updated and wrote in a blog post Sunday that it had begun rolling out the change. In Google’s case, the company said people in the US will see Gulf of America and people in Mexico will see Gulf of Mexico. Everyone else will see both names.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing are advancing competing designs for next-generation military communications satellites, an estimated $2.5 billion initiative, even as some experts question whether the Pentagon should instead pivot to commercial alternatives, reports Space News. Each company received $66 million in January 2024 for the US Space Force program’s initial phase.
The Air Force’s effort to stitch two damaged F-35s into a single stealth fighter is nearing its final stages, with successful functional check flights now complete, says Air & Space Forces Magazine. The “Franken-bird” made its inaugural flight Jan. 16 and is now at Lockheed’s assembly plant at Fort Worth, TX, for additional tests before it returns to combat status.
The Pentagon will deploy roughly 1,500 more active duty soldiers to the southern border to support the expanding crackdown on immigration, reports AP News. That would eventually bring the total to about 3,600 active duty troops at the border.
Air Force crew members and security forces on deportation flights are not wearing their name tape or unit patches, says Military.com. The Air Force is the only branch involved in the border mission to not disclose the number of service members or what units they’re coming from, citing safety and security concerns.
The Coast Guard is conducting regional flights to shuttle migrants to expulsion hubs where Air Force cargo planes await to remove them from the United States. In the past two weeks, the Coast Guard has conducted at least seven C-130 Hercules flights that spanned California, Texas, and Washington state, taking migrants to US locations where they are transferred onto Air Force C-17 and C-130 aircraft for international flights to their original countries or ones willing to accept them, reports Stars and Stripes.
The Navy declined to disclose how frequently it has used the Panama Canal or how much the service pays for tolls, reports Military.com, making it difficult to accurately determine just how much money the DoD spends transiting the canal every year and how much value a renegotiated agreement would have.
Veteran advocates are asking recently confirmed VASec Doug Collins to investigate why the millions of dollars spent to prevent suicides has failed to significantly curtailed the number of veterans who take their own lives. The VA received an estimated $571 million for suicide prevention efforts in FY24, and requested more money for this fiscal year. “We’re looking at 156,000 of our brothers and sisters that have taken their lives over the last 20 years,” Tim Jensen, president of Grunt Style Foundation, told Task & Purpose. “That is just frankly unacceptable.”
There have been at least seven drill instructors’ suicides in the past five years, reports Military.com, following a pattern described in a 2019 study completed by the Marine Corps, which found 29 drill instructors either ended their lives or openly acknowledged they had contemplated doing so during the previous decade. In 2023, three occurred at Parris Island within less than three months.
Trump said Monday he fired the boards of visitors at the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard service academies, claiming they had been “infiltrated by woke leftist ideologies.” Military Times reports former President Joe Biden asked for the resignation of 18 members of the advisory boards who were appointed by Trump during his first term.
A week after ordering thousands of civilians and service members back to full-time, in-person work, the Air Force exempted some employees due to a shortage of workspace in the DC region and Air and Space Force bases in the US and overseas. Acting AFSec Gary Ashworth said the department “will review significant facility requirements” including large-scale facility sustainment, building maintenance, repairs, and leases, Air and Space Force Magazine reports.
The Pentagon has clarified that service members can have their out-of-state travel costs for in-vitro fertilization treatment covered, after previously announcing on Jan. 29 that the program had been revoked, reports Task & Purpose.
Democratic women on the House Armed Services Committee are demanding the DoD explain why some military services have paused sexual assault prevention training amid a review of whether materials run afoul of Trump’s orders to scrub anything related to diversity and gender identity. Military.com reports, in a letter to Hegseth, the lawmakers noted the sexual assault prevention training is required by law and called on him to answer how exactly Trump’s orders led to the pause.
Most nurses, doctors, and other staff caring for military veterans through the VA are not eligible for the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, reports Military.com. Nurses had been among those who received the original offer, but their unions had discouraged them from accepting, saying an exodus would directly and immediately affect the care of its 9.1 million enrolled veterans.
Washington Technology reports attorneys representing the Trump administration confirmed Friday that upward of 2,200 USAID employees, many of whom are stationed overseas, would have been put on administrative leave Friday night, absent a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge in Washington, DC.
The Communist Party of China has conveyed that Beijing is prepared to provide support if critical areas in Nepal are affected by Trump’s executive order halting all humanitarian assistance for the next 90 days, reports The Annapurna Express.
Ukraine has offered to strike a deal with Trump for continued American military aid in exchange for developing Ukraine’s mineral industry, which could provide a valuable source of the rare earth elements that are essential for many kinds of technology, reports AP News.
Federal prosecutors moved to drop their case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams Monday, which would clear him of all corruption charges as he seeks reelection in June. A top Justice Department official directed a dismissal of the charges in a memo stating the case has “improperly interfered” with the mayor’s reelection campaign and could hurt his ability to support Trump’s immigration agenda. Politico reports the move was first reported by The New York Times.
China has forged nearly two-dozen pacts with African nations in its bid to surpass the US in space. Investments in satellites and infrastructure are winning friends – and giving China more eyes on the skies – as America slashes help for developing countries, reports Reuters.
Contracts:
SOLUTE, San Diego, California, was awarded an $11,553,284 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost modification to previously awarded contract N00024-24-C-6301 to exercise options for the Autonomy Baseline Manager to support oversight and management of autonomous systems development and the associated central software repository for unmanned autonomy artifacts, processes, and procedures. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by February 2026. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington DC, is the contracting activity.
AEG Group Inc., Grayslake, Illinois, is awarded a $49,742,406 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract procures Motorola ultra-high frequency, very high frequency, and multi-band radios and accessories for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Webster Outlying Field Special Communications Mission Solutions Division in support of Commander, Navy Installations Command Enterprise Land Mobile Radio technical refresh of first responder equipment. Work will be performed in Saint Inigoes, Maryland, and expected to be completed in February 2030. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competed with seven offers received. NAWCAD, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N6833525D0005).
Analytic Services Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, has been awarded an $8,176,121 firm-fixed-price contract (HQ0034-22-F-0027) to provide technical support services for enhancing Department of Defense Information Technology Enterprise goals, mission effectiveness, cyber security, and efficiency to the DOD Chief Information Office. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,176,121 are being obligated at the time of the award. The cumulative total of the contract is $18,512,763, and if all options are exercised the total will be $19,015,384. The estimated completion date is Feb. 28, 2027. Work will be performed at the Pentagon, Washington, DC. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, was awarded a $114,162,885 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-6117 to exercise options for the Navy’s procurement of hardware to support sound navigation and ranging systems. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (65%); Clearwater, Florida (32%); Syracuse, New York (2%); and Marion, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed by May 2031. Fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $73,526,137 (64%); and fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $40,636,748 (36%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 6, 2025)
CACI Inc.-Federal, Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded a $10,059,842 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-23-C-4122) to exercise options for an additional year of technical engineering services and program support for the River Class Destroyer Program. Work will be performed in Washington, DC, and is expected to be completed by February 2026. Foreign Military Sales (Canada) funds in the amount of $5,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
NCS Technologies Inc., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $31,804,662 delivery order issued against NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (NNG15SD51B). This procurement is for the fiscal 2025 enterprise-wide general-purpose laptops (GPLs) with docking stations refresh for the Marine Corps. The order includes an initial requirement for 35,891 GPLs. Separate option contract line item numbers to purchase up to an additional 10,371 GPLs are available. A quantity of 46,262 GPLs will be procured via this order if all options are exercised. The GPLs will be delivered to Enterprise Staging and Delivery, Norfolk, Virginia. Delivery, if all options are exercised, is expected to be completed by Dec 31, 2025. Fiscal 2025 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $24,674,704 will be obligated under this delivery order award. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the NASA SEWP website. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-25-F-4002).
