Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
Annual Pentagon Sexual Assault Study Shows Increase in Navy Reports, Overall Trends Unclear
Sexual assault reporting by service members increased around 1 percent between Fiscal Year 2021 and 2022, according to the annual Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Report released Thursday.
In FY 2022, there were 8,942 reports, according to the annual report. The Navy reported receiving 2,052 reports, up 9 percent over the previous fiscal year, according to the Navy-specific report. Of the reports, 1,363 were unrestricted, meaning the case can be forwarded on to criminal and prosecutorial...
GAO Report on Contested Information Environments
The following is the Jan. 26, 2023, Government Accountability Office report, Contested Information Environment: Actions Needed to Strengthen Education and Training for DOD Leaders.
From the report
What GAO Found
Department of Defense (DOD) guidance for operating in a contested information environment continues to evolve as DOD works to develop and prepare leaders to make effective decisions. The information environment––that is, the aggregate of factors that affect how humans and automated...
https://news.usni.org/2023/01/31/gao-report-on-contested-information-environments
Australia Should Work Closely With U.S. to Master Nuclear Submarine Building, Congressmen Say
Royal Australian Navy submarine HMAS Sheean arrives alongside during a logistics port visit of Hobart, Tasmania on April 1, 2021. Royal Australian Navy Photo
Australians should now work shoulder to shoulder with Americans in mastering the building of nuclear submarines while their countrymen serve on deployed U.S. Navy attack submarines to master their operations at sea, two members of the House Armed Services Committee said Friday.
Australia has no history of nuclear energy and no industrial...
Red Hill Defueling Could Take from Four Months to 30 Days Says New Plan
Matt Cornman, a Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command contractor, performs a routine visual inspection on a Red Hill Well water pipe. US Navy Photo
The Pentagon says it could take between 30 days and four months to empty Hawaii’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, according to the latest version of the defueling plan.
The Department said it is continually reevaluating the timeline for the defueling, with the current thinking projecting four months to remove all fuel from Red Hill. The...
Defense Secretary Austin to Meet with Red Hill Team in Hawaii
A firefighter, attached to Federal Fire Department Hawaii, conducts environmental testing during a spill response exercise at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on Sept. 22, 2022. US Navy Photo
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will travel to Hawaii to meet with Indo-Pacific partners and get an update on the effort to defuel the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a Pentagon spokesman announced Tuesday.
While in Hawaii, Austin will visit with Rear Adm. John Wade, who the defense secretary...
https://news.usni.org/2022/09/27/defense-secretary-austin-to-meet-with-red-hill-team-in-hawaii
GAO Report on Information Threats to National Security
The following is the recently released Government Accountability Office report, Information Environment: Opportunities and Threats to DOD’s National Security Mission.
From the report
What GAO Found
Given the ubiquitous nature of the information environment, both DOD and adversaries can conduct operations and activities in the information environment from anywhere in the world. Additionally, with DOD capabilities dependent on IT and the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), its ability to conduct...
https://news.usni.org/2022/09/23/gao-report-on-information-threats-to-national-security
Austin Names Navy Rear Admiral to Lead Red Hill Commission
Rear Adm. John Wade, commander, Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC), delivers remarks in 2017. US Navy Photo
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin named Rear Adm. John Wade as the commander of the Joint Task Force – Red Hill, according to a Monday statement from Austin.
Wade is currently the director of operations, J3, for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, a role he’s had since October 2020. As the commander of the task force, which was set up to oversee the defeuling of the Red...
https://news.usni.org/2022/09/19/austin-names-navy-rear-admiral-to-lead-red-hill-commission
