National & World Headlines

  • President Joe Biden has chosen Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Biden’s decision to tap Franchetti goes against the recommendation of his Pentagon chief. But Franchetti, the current vice chief of operations for the Navy, has broad command and executive experience. She was long considered by insiders to be the top choice for the job. In a statement Friday, Biden noted the historical significance of her selection and said “throughout her career, Admiral Franchetti has demonstrated extensive expertise in both the operational and policy arenas.”

    July 21, 2023
  • The House has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would give the Federal Aviation Administration more money to hire air traffic controllers. It also aims to address pilot shortages by raising the mandatory retirement age. The measure, passed Thursday, seeks to improve air travel and reauthorize FAA programs for the next five years. Lawmakers in both parties widely supported the bill as they respond to this summer’s wave of cancellations and delays. It passed by a vote of 351-69. The Senate is working on its own version of the legislation. Aviation programs are set to expire Oct. 1 unless Congress approves the measure.

    July 21, 2023
  • The Pentagon is announcing a new $1.3 billion package of long-term military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, including four air defense systems and an undisclosed number of drones. The new assistance comes on the heels of a meeting Tuesday by defense and military leaders from around the globe to discuss ongoing efforts to give Ukraine the weapons it needs in its battle to retake territory seized by Russian forces. The new aid is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. It includes money for four National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, and munitions for them.

    July 19, 2023
  • The Biden administration and major consumer tech players are launching an effort to put a nationwide cybersecurity certification and labeling program in place. The program announced Tuesday is to help consumers choose smart devices that are less vulnerable to hacking. Officials liken the new U.S. Cyber Trust Mark initiative to the Energy Star program, which rates appliances’ energy efficiency. The initiative will be overseen by the Federal Communications Commission. Industry participation is voluntary. Amazon, Best Buy, Google, LG, Logitech and Samsung are among industry participants. The labels are for products including baby monitors, home security cameras, fitness trackers, TVs and smart climate control systems. The labels could be ready by next year.

    July 18, 2023
  • The U.S. is sending additional fighter jets and a warship to the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman to increase security in the wake of Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships there. The Pentagon says the USS Thomas Hudner, a destroyer, and a number of F-35 fighter jets will be heading to the region. Defense officials last week announced the deployment of F-16s to the area over the past weekend and there have been A-10 attack aircraft there for nearly two weeks in response to the Iranian activity. The latest deployments come after Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the strait early this month, opening fire on one of them.

    July 17, 2023
  • The House has passed a sweeping defense bill that provides a pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with Republicans add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care.

    July 14, 2023
  • The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has defended her aggressive legal strategy toward the country’s biggest technology companies as she appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. House Republicans have charged that the agency has become overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden. Agency head Lina Khan appeared before the Judiciary Committee Thursday for the first time amid her court battles with the companies. Republicans said she is “harassing” Twitter since its acquisition by Elon Musk, arbitrarily suing large tech companies and declining to recuse herself from certain cases. Khan pushed back, arguing that more regulation is necessary as the companies have grown and that tech conglomeration could hurt the economy and consumers.

    July 13, 2023
  • U.S. officials say state-backed Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft’s cloud-based security and hacked the email of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month. The surgical, targeted espionage accessed the mailboxes of a small number of individuals at an unspecified number of U.S. agencies and was discovered by the State Department. Officials said none of the breached systems were classified. The hack was disclosed late Tuesday by Microsoft, which said email accounts were haced at about 25 organizations globally beginning in mid-May. A U.S. official said the number of U.S. organizations impacted was in the single digits.

    July 12, 2023
  • The Army officer tapped to be the service’s next chief of staff is outlining his plan to fix what he described as the service’s top challenge — rebuilding recruiting — as it becomes clear the Army will again fall short of its enlistment goal. Gen. Randy George, vice chief of staff of the Army, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the service is looking at short and long-term ways to improve how recruiters are chosen and deployed. He wants to better tailor marketing to attract young people. George’s confirmation is uncertain at best, due to a Senate dispute over military nominations.

    July 12, 2023
  • President Joe Biden’s pick to serve as America’s top military officer is warning senators of the difficulties posed by any potential conflict in Asia and describing how he would use lessons learned from the Ukraine war to help the U.S. military prepare. But Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. may not be able to apply those lessons anytime soon. His nomination to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is among more than 260 that are being stalled by a Republican senator in protest over Pentagon policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state for an abortion or other reproductive care.

    July 11, 2023
  • The U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century as Gen. David Berger stepped down as commandant and a Republican senator is blocking confirmation of his successor. Berger took over in July 2019, and must leave the job after four years. Gen. Eric Smith, the assistant commandant, has been nominated to be the next leader, but will serve in an acting capacity because he hasn’t been confirmed. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has stalled all senior military nominations because he disagrees with Pentagon policy that funds travel for service members to go out of state for an abortion or other reproductive care.

    July 10, 2023
  • The Pentagon is announcing its plans for tightening protections of classified information following the explosive leaks of hundreds of intelligence documents that were accessed through security gaps at a Massachusetts Air National Guard base. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has directed that all secure rooms where classified information is stored and accessed get increased levels of physical security, additional controls to ensure documents aren’t improperly removed, and electronic device detection systems. The security upgrades come as a lone airman, Jack Texeira, is accused of leaking highly classified military documents in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.

    July 05, 2023
  • A judge on Tuesday prohibited several federal agencies and officials of the Biden administration from working with social media companies about “protected speech,” a decision called “a blow to censorship” by one of the Republican officials whose lawsuit prompted the ruling.

    July 04, 2023
  • An Army combat veteran with extensive cybersecurity and counterterrorism experience is taking over as one of the nation’s top election security officials. Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, made the announcement Friday. In the position, Cait Conley will coordinate with federal, state and local officials responsible for ensuring elections are secure ahead of the 2024 election. Conley takes over duties from Kim Wyman, who will depart at the end of July. Wyman joined the agency after the 2020 election in which CISA leadership was blasted by former President Donald Trump for countering false claims about the vote.

    June 30, 2023