Pentagon Launches Online Marketplace to Pair Small Firms with ‘Trusted’ Investors
(Federal News Network) The Defense Department has rolled out a new initiative meant to protect its future supply chain from investors that might seek to turn US intellectual property into foreign military capabilities.

US Army Taps Industry for Autonomous Drones to Resupply Troops
(Defense News) The US Army is tapping industry for drones that can deliver supplies to infantry brigade combat teams in the field, according to a request for information posted to the federal contracting website Beta.Sam.Gov on Jan. 13.

Air Force Recommends Space Command Move to Alabama
(Defense One) US Space Command should move from Colorado to Alabama, the Air Force secretary said on Wednesday, effectively announcing the winner of a hotly contested competition just one week before she is scheduled to resign with the rest of the Trump administration.

Court Upholds FMCSA Exemption of Trucking from California Rest Break Rules
(Transport Topics) The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 2018 determination that interstate motor carriers are exempt from California’s stringent meal-and-rest-break rules.

National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan Includes New Contract Mandates, Intel Sharing
(Homeland Security Today) The recently released five-year National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan focuses on new standards for port owners, shippers, and operators and forthcoming mandates that contractors meet cyber standards.

DOD Formalizes Program Giving Companies More Access to Classified Info
(Air Force Magazine) The Pentagon has formally created a group of defense companies that can get broader access to classified initiatives known as special-access programs, hoping that more insight will make contractors more efficient and cost-conscious.

Positive Train Control Ready Ahead of Schedule
(The BRAKE Report) The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration announced that positive train control (PTC) technology is in operation on all 57,536 required freight and passenger railroad route miles, prior to the statutory deadline set by Congress.

2021 Could Be a Huge Year for Space. Here’s What’s to Come from NASA, Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos
(The Washington Post) While 2020 was a bad year and will be remembered for the coronavirus, for space enthusiasts, it was actually quite a good year, providing bits of promising news amid the bleak headlines of disease, economic hardship, and protests. From a rover landing on Mars to more human spaceflight missions, big projects are in the works for 2021.

USAF Begins Basing MQ-9s in Romania
(Air Force Magazine) Air Force MQ-9s have a new permanent home in Romania. U.S. Air Forces in Europe announced Jan. 4 that Reapers and about 90 Airmen are now based at Romanian Air Force Base 71 at Campia Turzii.

Federal Pilot Program Would Open Long-Distance Trucking to 18-Year-Olds(The Washington Post) A federal agency is proposing a pilot program to allow people as young as 18 to drive trucks across the country, an idea enthusiastically supported by trucking companies as a way to open the door to recruitment in high schools but facing deep opposition from safety organizations that say it will lead to immature drivers causing more crashes.

NATO Secretary General: Our Alliance Must Remain Strong Militarily and Politically Across the Globe
(Defense News) COVID-19 has shown that our world is more unpredictable than ever. The only thing we can be certain of is uncertainty itself — and we must learn to deal with it. For NATO, this means we must remain ready to tackle any challenge, at any time, to keep our people safe — including during pandemics.

In a First, Congress Overrides Trump Veto of Defense Bill
(The Associated Press) Congress on Friday overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, a first by lawmakers since he took office nearly four years ago, ensuring that the measure becomes law.

In Europe, US Air Force Brings Back Cold War Mobility Concept

(Defense One) For the 100th Air Refueling Wing, pivoting away from counter-terrorism to great power competition means reverting to Cold War concepts such as highly mobile command centers.

A Grand Strategy Based on Resilience
(War on the Rocks) It is nearly inevitable that disruptive events will continue to take place in the future. Given this reality, the notion that resilience should be a cornerstone of American grand strategy has gained increasing attention.

The Logistics News That Shaped 2020
(Logistics Management) Read the stories that best summarize the wild ride of 2020 in logistics and transportation management.

Russian Government Hackers Are Behind a Broad Espionage Campaign That Has Compromised U.S. Agencies, Including Treasury and Commerce
(The Washington Post) Russian government hackers breached the Treasury and Commerce departments, along with other U.S. government agencies, as part of a global espionage campaign that stretches back months, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump Revives Threat to Veto Defense Bill, Teeing Up Battle with Lawmakers
(Reuters) US President Donald Trump on Sunday repeated his threat to veto a massive defense policy bill, setting the stage for a major battle with US lawmakers at a time when they are racing to hammer out a compromise on more coronavirus relief.

Five Things to Know About Lloyd Austin, Biden’s Pentagon Pick
(The Hill) Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to be Defense secretary, is seeking to put a history-making cap on a 40-year career that already saw him breaking several barriers along the way. To get there, Austin will need to convince a skeptical Congress to grant him a waiver to the law requiring Defense secretaries to be out-of-uniform for at least seven years.

Congress Fears DOD Not Prepared for NC3 Cyber Attacks
(Breaking Defense) A classified assessment of America’s nuclear command, control, and communications system (NC3) has rung alarm bells on Capitol Hill.  The assessment was mentioned in a provision crafted by the Senate Armed Services Committee for the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and accepted by the House in their conference deliberations.

The US Army is Adjusting Its Pre-Positioned Stock for More Than Just War
(Defense News) The U.S. Army is taking steps to ensure its pre-positioned stock in the European and Asia-Pacific theaters is right-sized not just for conflict but for strategic competition with Russia and China, according to the service’s new commander in charge of materiel.

Washington Braces for Clash Over Defense Budget
(The Hill) A clash over the $740 billion defense budget is poised to erupt in 2021, with Democrats set to battle among themselves over whether to reduce funding.

Navy, Marines Will Need Recapitalized Sealift, Logistics Capabilities to Succeed in Pacific Operations
(USNI News) The Navy and Marine Corps need to grow their capacity to move people and supplies to and around a contested sea space—using both manned and unmanned ships and aircraft—and the service leaders asked lawmakers today for help in creating a supply chain that can stand up to a peer competitor.

Air Safety Panel Recommends Flight Hour Increase, Emphasis on Maintenance, Steady Funding
(DOD News) The National Commission on Military Aviation Safety released its recommendations yesterday saying aviators need more flight hours, maintenance personnel need better training, and manning and supply chains need more and faster throughput.

The Next Administration Will Need to Fix Military Sealift
(The National Interest) The next administration will need to bite the bullet on recapitalization of the sealift fleet. In doing so, it needs to take a long-term view that includes the need to support domestic shipbuilding and to maintain an adequate number of merchant mariners.

Tankers Likely the First Aircraft to Receive ABMS Upgrades
(Air Force Magazine) The Air Force’s aerial refueling fleet could be the first platform to adopt new technologies developed under the Advanced Battle Management System effort, integrating pods complete with advanced communications and data links to feed information, along with gas, to combat aircraft as early as next year.

Appropriators Strike Deal on Funding Totals to Avoid December Shutdown
(Politico) Top House and Senate appropriators have clinched a deal on a bipartisan set of funding levels, paving the way for a $1.4 trillion spending package to avert a government shutdown on 11 December.

Railroads Approaching Positive Train Control Full Implementation, FRA Says
(Transport Topics) The automatic braking system Congress is mandating for the country’s railroads is almost implemented on the route miles required by law, according to federal regulators’ most recent update.

Starting Dec. 1, Cybersecurity Is No Longer Optional
(Breaking Defense) As the deadline nears for the first 15 contracts awarded in compliance with the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, the Pentagon made it clear that is just the beginning.

New Defense Chief Signals Potential Troop Drawdown: ‘All Wars Must End’
(The Hill) Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller signaled a potential U.S. troop reduction ahead in the Middle East in a memo sent to agency staff on Friday, saying, “All wars must end.”

Why Defense Firms Need to Get Systematic About M&A — Big and Small
(Defense News) After years of growth, defense budgets will likely flatten (or decline). In such a financial environment, the U.S. Department of Defense will consider trade-offs between funding modernization, sustaining legacy equipment, and preserving force structure.

Senate Committee Unveils Fiscal 2021 Transportation Funding Bill
(Transport Topics) The U.S. Senate committee that oversees funding across the federal government unveiled a plan for fiscal 2021 that will ensure operations continue uninterrupted across agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

America’s Forgotten Marine Highway Network That Could Green Global Freight Transport
(Forbes) Having a robust plan for how the U.S. will meet this 40% forecast increase in freight while addressing climate commitments set in the Paris Agreement will be a critical priority. It requires out of the box thinking, and a long-forgotten transport network could prove a vital part of the solution.

Esper Fired as Defense Secretary
(Defense News) US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been fired by President Donald Trump. Christopher Miller, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has been appointed Acting Defense Secretary.

Where President-Elect Joe Biden Stands on National Security Issues
(Military Times) After five days of counting votes, former Vice President Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the U.S. presidential election, unseating President Donald Trump. Read a few of his selected positions and how they differ from Trump.

Is Ending Protection of US Maritime a Bad Idea?
(Federal News Network) Should foreign maritime transportation competitors like China be permitted to ply U.S. commercial waters? For a century, the Jones Act has reserved that right for U.S. made ships and crews. Now the idea of ending the protection of the U.S. maritime is gaining traction. Bad idea, according to the vice president for legislative affairs at the Navy League, Jon Kaskin.

Prioritize Building the Flight Line of the Future
(C4ISRNet) Mission readiness depends on secure and reliable connectivity to successfully maintain electronic workflows. But, military airfields and airports located in very large areas typically have minimal connectivity.

In Military Logistics, New Pentagon Leaders Must Balance Low Costs with Resiliency
(Forbes) Obtaining foreign help has always been a centerpiece of American national security strategy. But foreign resources used in the past offered the US government flexibility for a cost that, even then, was unacceptable.

What’s Bad for Government Supply Chain is Bad for Industry Too
(Federal News Network) Hardly a day of Zoom conferences goes by without someone talking about supply chain security. But the government supply chain is ultimately also the supply chain of industry.

As Its Term Winds Down, Trump’s White House Plots a Major Naval Expansion
(Defense News) Sitting inside a restaurant just yards from Bath Iron Works shipyard on a blustery October day, President Donald Trump’s top national security aide has two things on his mind: pizza, and Chinese naval expansion in the Western Pacific. One solves a short-term problem. The other is a long-term menace.

Is Iraq’s Military Good Enough for US Troops to Leave?
(Defense One) After 17 years of fighting Saddam, AQ, and ISIS, officials say support for Baghdad and its security forces remains key to fending off Iran.

Cyber Solarium Commission Outlines Recommendations for Strengthening the Supply Chain
(C4ISRNet) On the heels of its capstone March report, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission has released a detailed follow-up with recommendations for how to secure the information and communications technologies supply chain.

$20 Billion Plan to Outsource Management of Military Household Moves Hits Roadblock
(Military Times) The government’s plan to outsource its management of military household goods moves hit a major roadblock after the Government Accountability Office decided in favor of two protesters of the contract, which had a potential cost of $19.9 billion over nine years.

FMCSA ‘Struggling’ with Under-21 CDL Pilot for Military Vets
(FreightWaves) At a recent American Trucking Associations conference, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Chief Wiley Deck reveals a lack of participation in a program meant to address a shortfall of drivers entering the trucking industry is forcing regulators to adjust.

Military to Play Logistics-Only Role in COVID-19 Vaccine Effort
(DOD News) US military personnel won’t be administering any COVID-19 vaccines to the American people once the vaccines are approved for use. But the US military will lend it’s experienced hand in logistics to ensure the vaccine is available across the nation.

NSA Warns Companies China is Exploiting 25 Unpatched Vulnerabilities
(Breaking Defense) In a warning sent this week, the National Security Agency warned companies that 25 already known exploits were being used by state-based intelligence services, including China’s, and should be patched as soon as possible.

Increasing Sealift Funding, Fixing Tankers Are 2022 Budget Priorities, Esper Says
(Defense News) The Pentagon plans to include funding in its fiscal 2022 budget request to increase military sealift capabilities, including through the use of commercial vessels, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in comments Thursday.

A 21st-Century Reality Is Dawning on NATO
(Defense One) Last week, Jens Stoltenberg delivered a remarkable speech in Bratislava. It could have been one of the speeches one so often hears from officials at security conferences, one about how the West should buy more tankers and fighter jets so as to better deter Russia. Instead, NATO’s Secretary-General spoke about ports, electricity grids, and telecommunications.

Everybody Matters. Really
(Forbes) No doubt about it. Truly successful organizations typically have happy people. Or put another way, to win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.

Preparing the Cyber Battlefield: Assessing a Novel Escalation Risk in a Sino-American Crisis
(War on the Rocks) Do cyber capabilities create novel risks of a future political crisis between the United States and China escalating into a conflict? This article outlines one potential pathway for interstate crises to escalate: the use of force in response to adversary hacking operations that could enable high-end cyber attacks.

Democrats Face Internal ‘Fight’ on Defense Spending, Says Smith
(Defense News) The Democratic split over the size of future defense budgets will come to a head in the new Congress, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., predicted Tuesday.

The Next Evolution of Supply Chains
(Supply Chain Management Review) The adaptation of supply chains to the new global world economy had already started before the U.S.-China trade war and COVID started, and these events have accelerated the process of redefining global supply chains.

The US Military Is About to Launch Its Largest 5G Experiments Yet
(Defense One) After months of expectation, planning, and consulting with the services and with industry, the Pentagon is finally ready to start testing new concepts for 5G communications at five bases across the country.

A Cyber Cautionary Tale: Unnamed Agency Suffers Sophisticated, Possibly Nation State, Attack
(Federal News Network) A virtual private network vulnerability that has been known since December. Stolen credentials of a power user. A poorly configured firewall. It didn’t take long for the hacker to own this unnamed federal agency.

The Pentagon is Eyeing a 500-Ship Navy, Documents Reveal
(Defense News) The Pentagon’s upcoming recommendation for a future Navy is expected to call for a significant increase in the number of ships, with officials discussing a fleet as large as 530 hulls, according to documents obtained by Defense News.

Air Force Taps AT&T 5G to Boost Network Services at 3 Bases
(FedScoop) The Air Force has inked a deal with AT&T to bring 5G wireless technology to three new bases in support of the service’s enterprise IT-as-a-service and network-as-a-service models.

Global Shipping in Crisis: World Leaders Ignoring the S.O.S.
(Forbes) How many more signals do world leaders need to see to believe that global shipping is an industry in meltdown?

New U.S. Government Rules Mean Rethinking Supply Chain Risk for Public and Private Sector Decision Makers
(Forbes) The United States Government is in the process of rolling out two far-reaching procurement changes aimed at securing the federal supply chain. Individually, each of these initiatives will have a substantial impact on federal purchasing. Together, they are the largest change in federal procurement practices in many years and have implications well beyond the direct provision of products and services to the U.S. Government.

House Stopgap Spending Bill Includes $1.6B for Columbia-Class Subs
(The Hill) The Navy would be allowed to buy the first two Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines under a stopgap government funding measure released by House Democrats on Monday. Typically, stopgap spending bills known as continuing resolutions (CR) bar any changes to existing funding, including preventing new purchases.

Bradley Fighting Vehicles Sent to Protect US Troops in Syria
(Military.com) U.S. Central Command has directed the deployment of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, advanced Sentinel radar systems, and other assets to northeastern Syria to protect the remaining few hundred U.S. troops against Islamic State attack, CENTCOM said in a statement Friday.

Marines and Mercenaries: Beware the Irregular Threat in the Littoral
(Center for International Maritime Security) The world is increasingly urban and littoral. This convergence between urbanization and the littoral, or littoralization, can lead to “the worst of both worlds” and may remake the littorals into hotspots of instability and conflict.

Expect US Election to Have Consequences for American Troops Overseas
(Military Times) President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden both say they want to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan. But their approaches differ, and the outcome of the Nov. 3 election will have long-term consequences not only for U.S. troops, but for the wider region.

DOD’s Forthcoming Data Strategy Focused on Joint Warfighting Approach
(FedScoop) The Department of Defense has been broadcasting its need to use “data as a strategic asset” for years now. But soon, it will give more weight to the phrase with a new data strategy that aims to empower every level of the DOD to more effectively use data.

China Has the World’s Largest Navy. And It’s Getting Better, Pentagon Warns
(Forbes) China has the largest navy in the world. And, according to a new DOD report, it’s not just big, but it’s getting better.

DOD-Dependent Movers Seeing Rebound in Revenue, But Uncertainty Lies Ahead
(Federal News Network) After a disastrous spring, moving companies are bouncing back and seeing revenues above average for August and September.

Pentagon, Defense Contractors Are Out of Step on Tech Innovation, GAO Finds
(Breaking Defense) The Pentagon wanted to fund ambitious research into future tech breakthroughs but contractors spend most of their money on safer bets, GAO has found.

DOT Plans Funding Boost, Regulatory Rollbacks in National Freight Strategy
(Supply Chain Dive) The Department of Transportation has released a National Freight Strategic Plan to help implement the National Multimodal Freight Policy. The plan outlines goals and strategies to guide multimodal freight policies, investments, and programs at the federal and state levels.

China Planning High-Speed Rail Freight Network to Help E-Commerce Sector
(South China Morning Post) China’s state-owned railway operator is planning to accelerate the development of a high-speed freight network in the hope of bolstering the e-commerce network.

The Next Supply Chain Challenge: How to Vaccinate the World
(Forbes) The next ‘real’ supply chain crisis however will be to vaccinate the whole world, safely, efficiently, and fairly. We have to get from formulating, to planning, to manufacturing and finally distributing billions of doses of vaccine.

America’s 355-Ship Navy Does Not Have to Be the Current Fantasy
(Defense News) Current law and presidential policy established 355 ships, including 12 carriers and 66 submarines, as the U.S. Navy force goal. Since few mission categories have support of law, budgets should reflect this priority. They have not.

Can AI Solve the Rare Earths Problem? Chinese and U.S. Researchers Think So
(Defense One) A joint U.S.-Chinese research team has shown that artificial intelligence can help find potent new combinations of materials to replace rare earth metals that are key to military technology.

For US Air Force Pilots, the Toughest Training Flights are Going Virtual
(Defense News) A new simulator campus at Nellis Air Force Base could be key for the U.S. Air Force as it grapples with the question of how it can train pilots against complex threats like Russia and China at a budget-friendly cost.

The Defense Industry Remains in Dire Straits. Congress Must Pass Another Relief Package
(Defense News) Pentagon officials have provided details on its stimulus funding request. It’s clear the defense, shipbuilding and aerospace industrial base—an “essential” workforce as designated by the Department of Homeland Security—is indeed in need of help.

An AI Just Beat a Human F-16 Pilot in a Dogfight—Again
(Defense One) In five rounds, an artificially-intelligent agent showed that it could outshoot other AI’s, and a human. So, what happens next with AI in air combat?

Pentagon Wins Brief Waiver from Government’s Huawei Ban
(Defense News) The Trump administration is granting the Pentagon a temporary waiver of a government-wide ban on contractors using Huawei and other Chinese-made telecommunications equipment, according to a memo obtained by Defense News.

DOD’s IT Supply Chain has Dozens of Suppliers from China, Report Finds
(FedScoop) A report from data analytics firm Govini shows that the Department of Defense‘s IT supply chains has dozens of Chinese companies in it. It is unclear how much work, products, or services come from these companies and in what way, but it still poses a significant risk.

Russia and China Playing Musical Chairs in Zero Gravity
(War on the Rocks) When SpaceX’s recent Falcon 9 rocket mission launched the first human spaceflight from U.S. soil since 2011 and the first ever for a commercial company, Russia saw its monopoly on putting humans in space fade rapidly into the background.

Here’s What Narcos Could Teach Marines, Sailors About ‘Cocaine Logistics’
(Marine Corps Times) The Navy and Marine Corps expect a big future fight in the Pacific, involving China, a lot of missiles, small islands, and far-flung units. Many people turn to history for lessons learned and future guidance, while others lean on high-tech superiority. But another direction might be sitting just south of us and come from a long-running U.S. adversary: narcotraffickers.

Ten Performance Gains the Ford-Class Carrier Will Deliver that a Nimitz Never Can
(Forbes) The USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship in a new generation of large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, has been criticized for taking too long, costing too much, and not living up to its advanced billing. However, the Ford class is so different from what came before that it is hard to keep track of all the ways in which it will out-perform the carriers populating today’s operational fleet.

An Aerospace Startup Just Won a Contract to Develop an Air Force One Jet that Can Travel at Mach 5. Here’s an Early Look at the Engine that Could Rocket from New York to Paris in 90 Minutes
(Business Insider) The Air Force One of the future might be getting a major speed boost. An aerospace company called Hermeus on Thursday announced a contract with the US Air Force and the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate to develop a hypersonic aircraft for the presidential fleet.

House Approves $1.3 Trillion Spending Package for 2021
(The Hill) The House has approved a $1.3 trillion package of spending bills for the 2021 fiscal year. The package includes the spending bills for defense; labor, health and human services, and education; commerce, justice and science; energy and water; financial services and general government; and transportation and housing and urban development.

What Will It Take to Move 12,000 Troops from Germany? Closures, Time and Lots of Money
(Stars and Stripes) Removing 12,000 troops from Germany will likely mean several base closures and cost billions of dollars for an operation that could begin in weeks but take years to complete.

NASA Hails Success of SpaceX’s 1st Astronaut Mission: ‘This is Just the Beginning’
(Space.com) The success of SpaceX’s first-ever crewed mission has NASA very optimistic about the future of human spaceflight.

The Air Force’s Latest GPS Alternative: Earth’s Magnetic Fields
(Defense One) Officials just launched a public challenge to help create the artificial intelligence needed to turn the planet’s magnetic fields into readable maps.

Secretary Elaine Chao Unveils Guidance Document for Regulation of Hyperloop Months Ahead of Schedule and Establishes Eligibility for Project Funding
(GlobeNewswire) US Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology Council have unveiled the guidance document on a clear regulatory framework for hyperloop in the United States. The guidance is the first of its kind in the world.

Milley Assigns Service Roles in All-Domain Ops Concept
(Breaking Defense) Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley has tasked each of the services to develop a specific piece of the overarching concept for future Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO), which envisions seamlessly lethal coordination across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.

Commanders Need to Know Innovative Acquisition
(War on the Rocks) Successful commanders were skilled in a lot of areas: leadership style, ability to communicate, forming relationships, and motivating troops. But, perhaps most importantly, the successful commanders all had the ability to navigate government bureaucracy — specifically the acquisitions process.

The Trump Administration Says Its Overhaul of an Unpopular Trucking Safety Law Will Save Taxpayers $4 Billion
(Business Insider) The Department of Transportation announced that planned reforms to the hours-of-service (HOS) law will save American taxpayers more than $4 billion over about 14 years—roughly $287 million a year—by reducing regulatory costs.

US May Need to Nationalize Military Aircraft Industry, USAF Says
(Defense One) The United States might need to nationalize parts of the military aviation sector if the Pentagon does not come up with new ways to buy planes that stimulate more competition in private industry, a top Air Force official warned.

Navy Automates Supply Chain Analysis for Microelectronics
(FedScoop) The small computer chips in just about everything from weapon systems to IT platforms often take a long and winding supply chain journey before joining Department of Defense networks. So, the Navy recently acquired a new supply chain risk assessment tool for quicker analysis of its microelectronics and to serve as an example in monitoring broader supply chains for IT-related products.

Military Sealift is America’s Achilles’ Heel
(Navy Times) A powerful Navy, capable of protecting global commerce and projecting power around the globe, has become the cornerstone of US national defense. This strategy has also meant fighting the vast majority of the nation’s armed conflict far from our shores, protecting the homeland from the terrible destruction that was a defining characteristic of war in the 20th century.

Expanded Cargo Preferences May Be the Easiest Way to Rebuild the U.S. Maritime Industry
(Forbes) The current high-cost structure of U.S. merchant shipping is directly related to the loss of economies as subsidized foreign carriers have driven U.S. ships from the marketplace. If U.S. shipping and shipbuilding made a comeback as a result of expanded cargo preferences, the cost structure would likely change.

Logistics Challenges, Opportunities Discussed During Lexington Institute Webinar
(US Department of Defense) Brig Gen Leonard Kosinski, USAF, Director of Logistics for US Africa Command spoke to international logistics experts during a recent webinar. Kosinski discussed the logistical challenges in Africa and the need to partner with commercial industry to help overcome challenges and leverage lessons learned.

‘Lightning in Her Veins’: How Katie Arrington is Convincing Defense Contractors to Love Cybersecurity
(C4ISRNet) Arrington’s title is clunky: chief information security officer for acquisition in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. Translated, she’s leading the Pentagon’s effort to add new cybersecurity requirements for the 300,000 companies that do business with the Pentagon. Her challenge, almost every day, is to convince industry it should embrace the Defense Department’s new auditing standards, which are aimed at improving cybersecurity.

USDOT Issues Final Rule for Transporting LNG by Rail Tank Car
(Progressive Railroading) The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in consultation with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), late last week issued a final rule authorizing the bulk transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail.

SECDEF Seeks to Reassure NATO Over U.S. Troop Plans
(Military Times) U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday sought to reassure allies at NATO that Washington will consult them on any future troop movements, after President Donald Trump surprised partners at the military alliance by announcing the withdrawal of thousands of personnel from Germany.

Pentagon Wants to Give Contractors an Extra Year to Remove Chinese Tech
(FedScoop) The Department of Defense is considering giving contractors an extra year to rid their networks of technology from Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese companies.

House Lawmakers Vote to Raise Mandatory Insurance Coverage to $2 Million
(FreightWaves) Lawmakers marking up the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the surface transportation reauthorization bill have approved an amendment to more than double the required amount of insurance coverage for truck owners from $750,000 to $2 million.

Democrats Unveil $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
(The Hill) House Democrats unveiled a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan Thursday that calls for a huge increase in funding to repair roads and bridges while expanding broadband access in rural areas.

Congress Has Less Than a Month to Ward Off Needless Harm to the US Military
(Defense One) The ranking member of the House’s Defense Appropriations panel lays out how it would hurt to start fiscal 2021 with a continuing resolution.

In War, Chinese Shipyards Could Outpace US in Replacing Losses; Marine Commandant
(Breaking Defense) “Replacing ships lost in combat will be problematic,” Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger writes in a forthcoming paper. “Our industrial base has shrunk while peer adversaries have expanded their shipbuilding capacity. In an extended conflict, the United States will be on the losing end of a production race.”

As a Global Superpower, America Depends on World-Class Logistics Providers
(The National Interest) One area where the United States has a significant advantage over any other nation, particularly potential adversaries, is in logistics.

TRANSCOM Pulls Back $7 Billion Contract to Privatize Military Household Goods Moves
(Military Times) A $7.2 billion contract for outsourcing the management of moving service members’ household goods has been pulled back by the U.S. Transportation Command.

Air Force Acquisition Chief Wants to Reshape Defense Industrial Base
(Federal Computer Week) The Air Force’s increasing interest in startups isn’t just to get a taste of innovation but completely change the defense industrial base by pivoting away from the defense prime model (while still working with those companies) and create a new industrial base that more easily allows tech companies to simultaneously work with the Defense Department and the commercial sector.

DOD Unveils Women, Peace, Security Strategy
(US Department of Defense) Global conflict is evolving, and to illustrate that the United States military needs the expertise and viewpoints of all members of society for success. DOD has published the Women, Peace and Security Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan as part of a national effort to promote the safety, equality and meaningful contributions of women around the world, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said.

Senate’s Defense Bill Looks to Pump Money into Shipbuilding Suppliers
(Defense News) Despite howls of criticism from Congress over the Navy’s seven-ship budget request earlier this year, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act stopped short of adding extra ships. Instead, lawmakers are opting to authorize the purchase of long-lead-time materials to keep the industrial base healthy.

Why the Jones Act is Still Needed 100 Years Later
(Defense News) One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson enacted a law that would become known as the Jones Act. Its purpose was to help the U.S. shipping industry recover after World War I. Yet few could have predicted how vital it would become to our national security and economic prosperity a full century later — especially during a pandemic.

D-Day Veterans Few and Far Between as Time Moves On
(Military.com) Saturday marked the 76th anniversary of D-Day. Historians say more than 4,400 Allied soldiers were killed on D-Day, including 2,501 Americans, that fateful Tuesday on the shores of France.

Defense Bill Turns into Proxy Battle Over Floyd Protests
(The Hill) A fight is brewing over the annual defense policy bill as the Trump administration’s response to the protests against racial injustices roils the nation.

House Democrats Release Nearly $500 Billion Infrastructure Bill
(Transportation Today) As the clock winds down on the current surface transportation authorization, Democrats on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have unveiled a nearly $500 billion package designed to fix a backlog of infrastructure issues, create jobs, and prop up public transit.

Fog of War: How Clever Technology Enables Military Pilots to See Through Smoke, Dust, Mist & Smog
(Forbes) The Pentagon figures that 58% of the rotorcraft it lost during the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq were traceable to mishaps caused by what professionals call “degraded visual environments” or DVE. But, until relatively recently, no comprehensive solution was available that would allow military pilots to see through every type of obscurant in every imaginable condition, from a raging sandstorm to a blizzard.

Ships! Ships! All We Need is Ships!
(War on the Rocks) The United States is at a significant crossroads in designing a future fleet to meet its maritime needs. But, the ability to project sea power must be a strategic priority for the entire government and not solely a U.S. Navy challenge to solve.

All Aboard the Sea Train!
(C4ISRNet) The current security environment has incentivized the Navy and the Marine Corps to move from a small number of exquisite, large manned platforms to a more distributed fleet structure comprised of smaller vessels, including unmanned platforms that can conduct surveillance and engage in electronic warfare and offensive operations.

CMMC Accreditation Body Close to Releasing Assessor Training Requirements
(Federal News Network) The leaked or mistakenly-made public details of the assessment and certification processes under the Defense Department’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program shed some initial bright light on the accreditation body’s (AB) thinking.

Exercise to Unite Four Combatant Commands to Test Homeland Defenses for the First Time
(Defense News) For the first time, four U.S. combatant commands are coming together this week for an exercise that simulates how the military would respond to an attack on its home turf.

5,000 National Guard Troops in 15 States and DC Activated to Help Quell Growing Civil Unrest
(Military Times) About 5,000 National Guard troops in 15 states and the District of Columbia have been activated to help quell the current unrest across the Nation. Another 2,000 Guard members are prepared to activate if needed.

EXIM Board Unanimously Approves Amended Financing of U.S. Exports to Mozambique LNG Project and Support of More U.S. Jobs in Additional States
(Export-Import Bank of the United States [EXIM]) The Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has unanimously voted to amend the agency’s previously approved September 2019 direct loan supporting U.S. exports for the development and construction of an integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) project located on the Afungi Peninsula in northern Mozambique. As a result, the transaction now will support an increased number—16,700—of estimated American jobs over the five-year construction period.

Irregular Warfare in a New Era of Great-Power Competition
(Modern War Institute at West Point) America’s strategic emphasis on great-power competition is changing when, where, and how the United States conducts irregular warfare—counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, counterinsurgency, foreign internal defense, and stability operations.

China Announces $178.2 Billion Military Budget
(Defense News) China has announced a 6.6 percent growth in its defense budget for this year, its lowest rate of increase for almost three decades.

ICYMI Force Projection: Port Diversification Generates Strategic Readiness
(US Army) If and when America goes to war, we will fight by, with, and through seaports. These critical nodes at home and abroad are key to projecting the nation’s decisive military force.

Navy Using ‘Digital Twins’ to Speed Innovation to the Fleet
(Federal News Network) The Navy has started to build virtual replicas of the systems that comprise the IT networks aboard its warships, starting with the ships in the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt strike group. The basic idea is to let developers build and test new ideas on those “digital twins,” letting them get new technology out to the fleet more quickly, and without the risk of breaking mission-critical systems.

The Air Force’s Secret Space Plane Is Part of A Plan to One Day Shoot Microwaves to Earth
(Defense One) Little is known about the X-37B space plane and what, exactly, it’s been doing during missions that now total nearly eight years in orbit. But recently, the U.S. Air Force revealed some of the satellite payloads and experiments it will carry aloft this month, including one that will try converting the sun’s energy into a form that can be sent to Earth.

The Pentagon Should Train for—and Not Just Talk About—Great-Power Competition
(War on the Rocks) The Pentagon has committed to competing with China and Russia—but it’s not training that way. If the United States is to be truly prepared for great-power competition, its forces need to train as they expect to operate in theater.

Virgin Orbit Gets Thumbs-Up for Space Force Launches From Guam
(C4ISRNet) VOX Space has received approval to launch payloads into orbit from Guam, the company announced May 7, and its first launch there will place experimental cubesats on orbit for various government agencies.

How the Navy’s CMV-22B Osprey Helps Make Distributed Maritime Operations a Reality
(Forbes) The U.S. Navy is developing a new warfighting concept called Distributed Maritime Operations that calls for dispersing warships over vast areas and coordinating their operations via a secure communications grid.

Is Automotive CyberSecurity a National Defense Issue?
(Forbes) Recently, the US Congress released a bipartisan draft of a new autonomous vehicle bill. One of the most interesting aspects of the bill was its emphasis on cybersecurity.

Amazon Wants to Train Veterans to Start Their Own Delivery Businesses
(Military.com) While Amazon reported massive growth in the first quarter of 2020, the online sales giant needs more delivery assets. And it wants American military veterans to be those assets.

South Korea: Kim Jong Un Did Not Have Surgery
(Politico) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not undergo surgery or any other medical procedure, a South Korean official said Sunday, amid speculation about his health that continues to linger even after he reappeared publicly in recent days.

Defense Travel Dispatch – Spring 2020 Edition
(Defense Travel Management Office [DTMO]) DTMO has published the spring 2020 edition of its quarterly newsletter, The Dispatch.

As Rumor Mill Goes into Overdrive, South Korea Insists Kim Jong Un is “Alive and Well”
(Slate) The rumors about the health of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un went into overdrive this weekend with some media outlets outright claiming he has died while others claim he is very sick and may even be brain dead. Amid all the chatter, some insist the reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated.

The Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Certification Plan Includes Continuously Monitoring Contractors
(Nextgov) The accreditation body overseeing the Defense Department’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program—the CMMC-AB—issued a request for proposal that provides insight into how the group plans to keep track of contractors outside of conducting physical audits.

The Future of Tactical Airlifts is Here and It Is Verticle
(War on the Rocks) Commanders will always want more airlift capacity and light airlifters have been effective in the past. However, there are more modern and more capable Marine and Army aircraft filling many of those roles now.

FCC to Approve Spectrum Plan that Pentagon Claims Will Harm GPS
(C4ISRNet) The Federal Communications Commission is poised to approve a draft order that would reallocate a specific portion of the radio spectrum for broadband communications, overruling a decade of strong objections from the Department of Defense. Senior Pentagon leaders warn that such a move will lead to “unacceptable” harm to the GPS system by creating new interference that could disrupt satellites critical to national security.

The Tanker Gap
(Air Force Magazine) The US Air Force’s budget seeks to swap capacity now for capability in the future, but USTRANSCOM is leery.

Plan B for GPS III Ground System Approved for Everyday Use
(C4ISRNet) Just hours after the Space Force announced it would pay hundreds of millions of dollars to replace the computer hardware in its next-generation GPS ground system, the service said the contingency program it has been relying on until that new system is ready has been approved for everyday use.

Trump Administration Must Produce 5G Security Strategy Under New Law
(Fifth Domain) President Donald Trump signed a 5G security bill March 23 that requires the executive branch to develop a strategy to secure and protect 5G and future generation networks.

Navy Shipbuilding: Increasing Focus on Sustainment Early in the Acquisition Process Could Save Billions
(US Government Accountability Office [GAO]) The GAO investigated every class of ships the Navy recently built and found 150 examples of systemic maintenance problems, which might have been prevented with some attention to future maintenance concerns when designing and building the ships. The GAO has made 11 recommendations to help the Navy focus on maintenance concerns earlier.

How China Is Militarizing the South China Sea With a Ton of Missiles
(The National Interest) Beijing has been conducting many tests as well as building military bases. Can China hold on to its artificial islands and threaten America’s carriers in the next war?

How the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and the Defense Appropriations Act Can Prepare the U.S. for Great Power Competition
(The Heritage Foundation) A new era of great power competition will require the U.S. military to prioritize China and Russia, while maintaining readiness and expanding current capabilities. Upcoming defense authorization and appropriations bills are vital tools for Congress to help implement the National Defense Strategy and address rising threats.

Allies and American Foreign Policy
(War on the Rocks) Brig. Gen. (ret.) Kimberly Field, discusses the notion of grand strategy in the context of alliance relationships. Specifically, she draws on her experience serving as a U.S. representative at the United Nations and as a general officer deployed to Afghanistan as part of the NATO alliance, to examine the role that allies play in supporting and enabling U.S. grand strategic vision.

Doing Right by Forgotten American Heroes of the Merchant Marines
(New York Post) United States Merchant Mariners suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service in World War II. In long overdue recognition, President Trump has now signed into law a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to those United States Merchant Mariners who served as the fourth arm of our national defense during World War II.

7 Military Move Changes Coming This Spring
(Military.com) Officials are rolling out a series of small changes aimed at making military moves a little less stressful, just in time for 2020’s busiest permanent change-of-station (PCS) period.

DOD Awards Contracts for Development of a Mobile Microreactor
(Department of Defense) The Department of Defense has awarded three contracts to begin design work on a mobile nuclear reactor prototype under a Strategic Capabilities Office initiative called Project Pele.

What Taiwan Can Teach the World on Fighting the Coronavirus
(NBC News) Taiwan put lessons it learned during the 2003 SARS outbreak to good use, and this time its government and people were prepared.

US Military Scientists Hope to Have Coronavirus Therapeutic by Summer
(Defense News) A US military research program that seeks a new way to boost a body’s immunity to viruses could change how governments and militaries prepare for pandemics—and might even arrive soon enough to help with the COVID-19 outbreak.

SpaceLogistics Teams with DARPA to Service Satellites on Orbit
(C4ISRNet) SpaceLogistics will work with DARPA to develop a robotic servicing spacecraft after the company successfully docked its mission extension vehicle with a commercial satellite on orbit. SpaceLogistics, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, will be DARPA’s commercial partner for the agency’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program.

The Pentagon’s First Class of Cybersecurity Auditors is Almost Here
(Fifth Domain) The Pentagon hopes to have the first class of auditors to evaluate contractors’ cybersecurity ready by April, according to a top Department of Defense official. The auditors will be responsible for certifying companies under the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).

Have Goods, Will Deliver: Materiel Command Modernizing to Build Readiness
(Association of the United States Army) While combat troops have always been the foundation of the Army, our strategic advantage has been our ability to mobilize, deploy, move and sustain the force. From management of installation infrastructure to mobilization operations, and from deployment to sustainment in the field and redeployment, the materiel enterprise has a significant role in building and delivering Army strategic readiness.

The US Military’s Investment Ecosystem is Missing in Action
(War on the Rocks) To succeed in this new environment, the US government should do more to foster defense innovation and strengthen critical industrial manufacturing capabilities, avoiding actions that push companies to move offshore, to allow themselves to be acquired by foreign competitors, or to exit the defense markets completely.

USS Eisenhower Leads Exercise to Clear Atlantic Shipping Lanes
(Breaking Defense) The Navy is doing something it hasn’t done since the 1980s—test its abilities to win in a contested crossing of the Atlantic.

Aerial Refueling, Sealift Capability Vital to Readiness
(DOD News) Aerial refueling and sealift forces require attention so they can meet current and future challenges, the commander of US Transportation Command told lawmakers.

Strengthening the US Defense Maritime Industrial Base: A Plan to Improve Maritime Industry’s Contribution to National Security
(Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments [CSBA]) A new report by CSBA finds that a robust maritime industry, and the policies that support it, are increasingly important in an era of great power competition. However, the maritime industry and the broader national security innovation base face a range of pressures that undermine their long-term viability, ability to innovate, and capacity to support future military operations.

How Do the Candidates’ Infrastructure Plans Compare?
(Transport Topics) A helpful chart compares the infrastructure plans of the candidates who are running for president in 2020.

State of Defense 2020: Special Report
(Defense One) Defense One’s annual service-by-service report takes a look at the big questions facing the US military.

New Adaptive Acquisition Policies for Defense Contractors
(Federal News Network) Contractors may not all be aware of the Defense Department’s new adaptive acquisition framework. But they should be. Eight acquisition policies are going to pop out of it in the next few months.

Sanctions in the Cyber Domain: Old Ways Won’t Win Today’s Wars
(US Army War College) In applying economic sanctions to financially motivated malicious North Korean cyber groups, U.S. policymakers display a shocking failure to understand strategic realities in the cyber domain, essentially fighting the last war.

A Century of Airpower Propaganda Was Just ‘Blown Up’ by an Air Force Think Tank
(The National Interest) A recent study on deterrence had some interesting results. It turns out that when we need to send a message of deterrence, nothing works better than the humble main battle tank.

Why Boeing’s T-7 Red Hawk Trainer is Shaping Up to Be a Breakthrough Success for the U.S. Air Force
(Forbes) If you look inside the T-7 program, it is apparent that something is going on here. Boeing and teammate Saab aren’t just developing a training system, they are fashioning what amounts to a prototype for the digital engineering revolution that is a top Air Force priority.

Report: U.S. Sealift Lacks Personnel, Hulls, National Strategy
(USNI News) An aging and inactive government fleet dependent on a shrinking pool of merchant mariners to get underway is how a new report describes the U.S. military’s strategic sealift capability.

Second Year of Audits Shows DoD Getting Better Grasp of Business Processes
(Federal News Network) After its first two years of full-scale financial audits, the Defense Department is starting to get some of its first concrete indications of how much work lies ahead of it before it can finally earn a clean audit opinion.

Used Ships Could Solve Sealift Readiness Issues
(DOD News) The aging vessels used to move personnel, equipment and supplies around the world pose a readiness concern, according to the Commander of US Transportation Command.

The Military’s Contractor Cyber Standards Are Officially Here
(FedScoop) The Pentagon has issued the final standards under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). Version 1.0 marks the first step towards implementing the new cybersecurity standards into all Department of Defense contracts.

DOD Budget Proposal Includes $7.8B in Cuts, Transfers from Defense Agencies
(Federal News Network) The 2021 budget the Pentagon will roll out next week will include $5.7 billion in program reductions across the dozens of agencies that make up the Defense Department’s “fourth estate,” and $2.1 billion worth of additional functions that DoD wants to move from Defense agencies to the military services.

The Air Force and Navy Have Stealth Fighters So Why Not Also Stealth Tankers?
(The National Interest) Key point: Washington needs to ensure its stealth fighters can have the range they need to reach enemy targets. But that won’t work if its tankers aren’t stealthy and give the game away.

Can Warfighters Remain the Masters of AI?
(War on the Rocks) The Department of Defense is engaging in a dangerous experiment: It is investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) equipment and technologies while simultaneously underinvesting in preparation for the workforce will need to understand its implementation.

Freight All Kinds: Making Military Logistics Work in the 2020s and Beyond
(FreightWaves) In the private sector, problems with supply chain agility and resilience might lead to a poor quarter or two. For the military, a lack of supply chain resilience can complicate the armed services’ capability to meet dynamic threats, diluting the nation’s global power and perhaps undermining its security.

Pentagon Should Explore Renting Refuelers Amid KC-46 Delays, General Says
(Military.com) The head of U.S. Transportation Command says the Pentagon should seriously explore an air refueling leasing program with the defense industry while the Air Force works with Boeing Co. to fix its newest tanker, the KC-46 Pegasus.

DoD Plans April Contract Award to Fix ‘Fundamentally Flawed’ Moving System
(Federal News Network) Officials at U.S. Transportation Command say they’re getting close to awarding a multibillion-dollar contract to overhaul the system for moving service members’ household goods across the country and around the world.

How the U.S. Navy’s Aging Sealift Fleet Could Lose America’s Next War in Eurasia
(Forbes) For much of U.S. history, the vast oceans separating America from Europe and Asia protected the nation against attack by foreign enemies. Today, those oceans are as much a hindrance as an advantage.

2020 Cybersecurity Predictions: Evolving Vulnerabilities on the Horizon
(The Hill) Cybersecurity threats are seemingly omnipresent in today’s hyper-connected, digital world. In fact — no surprise here — they will only continue to increase in sophistication, frequency, diversity, scale, and scope this year and in the near future.

Transportability Engineering is Vital in an Accelerated Acquisition Process
(U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center) As the design of military systems approaches the limits of the certain transportation assets, meeting the transportability requirements becomes critical.

Saudi Arabia’s Phone Hacking Shows We Need Better Encryption — Not Backdoors
(Defense One) Before the world learned that history’s richest man had been hacked by agents of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Saudi dissidents and human rights activists had received similar treatment. But the Bezos hack, and the others like it, show the limits of even good message security in the face of a known attacker.

Time to Revive Joint Concept Development and Experimentation
(War on the Rocks) Close air support has saved countless lives. The key to effective close air support is not the aircraft. It is the communication and coordination between controllers, deployed alongside soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines on the ground, and pilots from all four services in the air. In other words, it is the American military’s ability to conduct joint combat operations.

Treasury Tightens Foreign Investment Review Rules
(Politico) The Treasury Department has finalized two regulations that expand the power of the U.S. executive branch to block foreign investments in real estate or certain businesses involved in critical technology, infrastructure or personal data.

USDOT Announces $900 Million for Freight, Highway Grants
(Transport Topics) Transportation officials nationwide who are seeking a federal boost to help advance major freight or highway projects may find it in the form of a federal grant. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced this week that slightly more than $900 million has been made available for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, or INFRA, grants.

A New GPS III Satellite is Online. What Will It Bring to the Fleet?
(C4ISRNET) The first GPS III satellite is officially healthy and available for use by the military and civilians as of Jan. 13, thanks to a ground segment upgrade that provides the military command and control of the new, more powerful navigation satellite.

A Lance Corporal’s Phone Selfie Got His Marine Unit ‘Killed’ at 29 Palms
(Military.com) A junior Marine got his artillery unit into a serious bind after snapping a photo during a massive force-on-force training exercise in California’s Mojave Desert.

Suppose There Was a War and the Merchant Marine Didn’t Come?
(U.S. Naval Institute) In every conflict in U.S. history, the merchant marine has sailed and manned the ships loaded with the beans, bombs, and black oil needed for the fight. But what if the United States had a war and the merchant marine did not come?

Trump Kills Iran’s Most Overrated Warrior
(The New York Times) Suleimani pushed his country to build an empire, but drove it into the ground instead.

IMO 2020: Think Twice Before Finger Pointing
(Seatrade Maritme News) With the implementation of International Maritime Organization Low Sulphur Regulation (or IMO 2020), concerns keep on growing amid recently announced bunker adjustment factors by carriers and the apparently far-from-enough low-sulphur output from global oil refiners.

What Happens If the Air Force’s Command Center for All Its Tankers and Cargo Planes Gets Hacked?
(C4ISRNet) It’s 6 am, and the Air Force’s 618th Air Operations Center is quiet, its members working diligently to plan and control every transport, aerial refueling or aeromedical evacuation mission the service performs around the world. Suddenly, everyone’s computer screens go blank, as does the massive wall-sized projection that tracks air mobility missions worldwide.

FAA Plans New Safety Division as Post-Boeing Max Scrutiny Ramps Up
(CNBC) The Federal Aviation Administration is planning a new division that aims to improve aircraft certification, a development that comes as the agency is under increasing scrutiny for approving the Boeing 737 Max before two of the fast-selling planes crashed.

Bad Idea: Assuming the Small Wars Era is Over
(Defense 360) In seeking greater attention to the pressing challenges presented by peer and near-peer adversaries, those advocating for a strategic reorientation have (even if inadvertently) contributed to the dangerous notion that the United States need not continue to prepare to fight weaker adversaries like non-state militants and irregular forces and to conduct operations that fall below the threshold of major war.

The Army’s New Approach to People
(War on the Rocks) Gen. James C. McConville, the Army’s 40th chief of staff, has given his marching orders: The Army’s top priority is people—more specifically, overhauling talent management. How will future leaders be assessed, selected, and promoted?

SASC Chairman: We Must Build the National Security Innovation Base Our Defense Strategy Requires
(Defense News) Since World War II, the American people have believed our military has had the best of everything, but the technological superiority that kept us 20 years ahead of our competitors has rapidly diminished. In some cases, we’re already behind.

It’s Time to Rethink NATO’s Deterrent Strategy
(War on the Rocks) President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron don’t agree on much. The two leaders do, however, appear to agree on one thing—something is wrong with NATO.

Pentagon R&D Boss: The Challenge of Our Time
(Defense News)  What near-term risks are we willing to take and what current systems are we willing to let go so that we can invest in capabilities that will impose costs on our adversaries and deter them from starting a fight because they know they cannot win?

Hahn Air Gives Blockchain Booking a Test Run
(Travel Weekly)   Hahn Air, the Germany-based interline distribution specialist that also runs a tiny airline has flown what it says are the first passengers in the world whose tickets were enabled by blockchain.

US Senators Introduce ‘Women in Trucking’ Bill
(FreightWaves)   Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation that would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to take a formal role in supporting women drivers.

U.S. Postpones Military Exercises with South Korea in Nod Toward North Korea
(Politico) The United States and South Korea have indefinitely postponed a joint military exercise in an “act of goodwill” toward North Korea, according to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The move comes even as Japan’s defense minister, whose country feels threatened by repeated North Korean missile launches, told Esper “no one could be optimistic about” changing the North’s behavior.

Mobile Nuclear Power Will Enable a Logistics Revolution for the Army
(War on the Rocks) Future adversaries will certainly concentrate their attacks on fuel supplies as they know that America’s military needs energy to fight effectively. And this energy demand will only grow.

China and US Had ‘Constructive Discussions’ About Phase-One Trade Deal, State Media Says
(CNBC) Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer about a phase-one trade deal in a phone call Saturday morning, according to Chinese state media. The two sides had “constructive discussions” about “each other’s core concerns.”

Congress Hunts for Path Out of Spending Stalemate
(The Hill) Top negotiators are set to meet this week to try to break a stalemate over funding the government. Congress has until Nov. 21 to prevent the second shutdown of the year after a 35-day partial closure that ended in February.

‘This Could Get a Little Ugly.’ What to Watch for at the NATO Leaders Summit
(Defense News) When the leaders of the 29 NATO nations gather in London at the start of December, the focus will nominally be on a celebration of the past and a look to the future. But analysts agree that as much as the event is billed as NATO’s 70th birthday, politics could make the situation feel more like a funeral.

Congressional Dysfunction Threatens to Halt Trump Defense Buildup
(Forbes) The assumption typically is that Congress will eventually pass a real budget. This year, though, doubts are rising that a budget can be passed, given wrangling over funding for the president’s border wall and the very divisive impeachment process.

The Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) Releases Fall Dispatch
(DTMO) DTMO’s quarterly newsletter, The Dispatch, has just been released, featuring an update on travel system modernization, interviews with the team leads for both the Defense Travel Modernization prototype initiative and the DOD Preferred Commercial Lodging program, an overview of the Military Bus program, and more.

The Fight Over 5G Foreshadows the Great Decoupling
(C4ISRNet) How the Pentagon buys basic technology is suddenly a matter of national security. For everything from security cameras to printers to cellphone networks, the whole apparatus of modern office technology has now gained an air of ominous menace.

America’s Great-Power Problems Will Come Back to Haunt It in the Middle East
(The National Interest) In the past, when great powers exited a geopolitically critical region, a strategic vacuum ensued. Trump’s hasty withdrawal of troops in Syria, just like his predecessor’s pullout from Iraq, is no exception.

Report: Cyber Workforce Must Grow 145% to Meet Global Demand
(Nextgov) Demand for cyber expertise is skyrocketing across the U.S. as more organizations start prioritizing their digital security, but today there are only enough cybersecurity pros to fill about 60 percent of those jobs, according to a recent survey.

The Grades Are in for America’s Military Strength
(Defense News) America’s investments in military readiness are paying off, particularly for the Army, but its armed forces would be stretched dangerously thin if they participate in more than one large war at the same time, according to the Heritage Foundation’s 2020 Index of U.S. Military Strength.

Senate Democrats Block Defense Spending Bill Over Trump Wall
(The Hill) Senate Democrats blocked a defense spending bill for the second time this past week, underscoring the hurdles ahead of next month’s government funding deadline.

US Forces Could Learn from Intense Electronic War Battle in Ukraine
(Military Times) Ukrainian forces are under heavy assault by Russian drones and ground systems equipped with jammers and direction-finding technology honed to sniff out Ukrainian military positions—a near-peer battle offering lessons learned for American forces.

Russia Rolls Out Its ‘Sovereign Internet.’ Is It Building a Digital Iron Curtain?
(CNN) A controversial new law has taken effect in Russia: The so-called “sovereign internet” law, which mandates the creation of an independent internet for Russia. In effect, Moscow has given itself the power to erect a sort of digital Iron Curtain around its networks.

First, Manage Security Threats to Machine Learning
(War on the Rocks) Deception is as old as warfare itself. Until now, the targets of deception operations have been humans. But the introduction of machine learning and artificial intelligence opens up a whole new world of opportunities to deceive by targeting machines.

The Army is Finding New Ways to Airdrop Loads Large and Small, Even in Urban Terrain
(Army Times) The Army is testing and developing better ways to get supplies to soldiers in far-flung, austere places in both big and small packages.

US Logistics Boss Talks Risks to the Supply Chain and Protective Measures
(Defense News) Securing the supply chain can seem like a game of whack-a-mole involving cyberthreats, counterfeit goods and a shrinking industrial base. In the words of the DLA Director, LTG Darrell Williams, the supply chain “simply cannot afford to not be protected.”

GSA’s Simple Mantra Driving Modernization: Eliminate, Optimize and Automate
(Federal News Network) The General Services Administration is following a simple mantra to guide its agency-wide modernization effort—eliminate, optimize and automate. So far in just the Public Buildings Service alone, the EOA approach has saved almost $2 billion with a goal of saving $5 billion by 2024.

Trump Says Phase One of China Trade Deal Is ‘Ahead of Schedule’
(Politico) President Donald Trump said Monday that negotiations for the so-called phase one of the United States’ trade deal with China were “ahead of schedule.” The comments come ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile on Nov. 16-17.

Can Pentagon Acquisition Keep Up with Electronic Warfare?
(C4ISRNet) The cat-and-mouse nature of electronic warfare means systems need to always be up to date, but the Pentagon’s acquisition authorities don’t always allow for the Department of Defense to move fast enough, according to one senior acquisition official.

Despite Rising Awareness of Critical US Sealift Shortfalls, Solutions Are Elusive
(Defense News) The head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command couldn’t have been any clearer when he testified before the House Armed Services Committee in March: The U.S. absolutely must recapitalize its sealift fleet if its going to be able to support a war in the theater.

DLA, GSA to Review Federal Supply Chain for Streamlining Effort
(ExecutiveGov) The Defense Logistics Agency has partnered with the General Services Administration to review and streamline the federal supply chain. The DLA-GSA federal supply class review would tackle the 7 million items from across all 600 FSC categories, DLA said Wednesday.

Five Unintended Consequences of Trump’s Syria Withdrawal
(The Hill) President Trump’s decision last week to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to launch an offensive against Kurdish forces, has already had several unintended, albeit foreseeable, consequences.

The Case for a Three Tanker Air Force
(War on the Rocks) The U.S. Air Force is about to execute a plan that could have irreversible consequences, and time is running out to change course. Before it retires the KC-10 “Extender,” its long-distance, high-capacity aerial refueling plane, the Air Force should reconsider.

The US Army is Worried About a Potential Showdown with Russia, and It’s Practicing a New Way to Get to a Fight in Europe
(Business Insider) Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team started arriving in Europe this week for a nine-month rotation as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. While the rotation is the fifth by an armored brigade in support of Atlantic Resolve, the unit is the first “in recent memory” to use the port of Vlissingen in the Netherlands.