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J. Trevithick, TWZ
Harpoons would give AC-130Js a dedicated tool for engaging enemy ships and fit well with plans to boost their capabilities with new radars.

Castillon, RCD
In the military, due process is not a luxury—it’s a fundamental right

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Last week marked the 22nd anniversary of one of the greatest strategic blunders of the 21st Century United States. On May 1, 2003 aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, then President George W Bush made the following proclamation marking the end of ‘major combat operations’ in Iraq:
“THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. (Applause.

From Elon Musk to Sen. Bernie Sanders, there is widespread agreement that the Department of Defense is way too slow in how it develops, acquires, deploys, maintains, and upgrades technology. However, the analysis behind this agreement often stops at point solutions and fails to wrestle with the systemic disconnect between a centrally-planned Defense Department and a decentralized free market. And until recently, the conversation has largely failed to recognize one of the most important voices in the defense ecosystem — the joint warfighter, as embodied in the combatant commands.

There’s been an exodus of senior leaders and other technical employees from the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office in recent months as the organization’s future remains in limbo, according to multiple current and former government officials who spoke to DefenseScoop on the condition of anonymity this week. 
“At a time when [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth] wants to prioritize the use of AI to modernize the Defense Department, it’s more important than ever to have a highly effective and motivated CDAO team,” a source said Wednesday.

Within the first three days that Kaitlin and Jeremy Kuykendall enrolled their 15-month-old daughter in a Navy-run daycare near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, her “smile disappeared as we started walking down the hallways,” Kaitlin Kuykendall remembers.
By the third day at the facility, her daughter held Kaitlin’s hand tighter as they walked closer to the daycare center. When a bruise appeared on her daughter’s thigh, the couple reported it to the director of the Child Development Center, or CDC.

We are sharing a free episode of Thinking the Unthinkable with you all due to fast-moving events between India and Pakistan. This episode features host Ankit Panda and guest Sameer Lalwani discussing the risks involved in a military conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. This episode was recorded after the April 22 attack in Kashmir that prompted the current round of tensions and before India launched strikes on Pakistan, and digs into the risks in the event of an attack.

Twelve runners representing Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) – America’s leading health and wellness community for the military-connected community – kicked off the first-ever Old Glory Ultra Relay on May 2 on the USS Midway. The mission? Set a world record for relaying a single American flag across the country while raising $1 million for Veteran health and wellness.
The 3,000-mile cross-country relay will see the veterans make history by carrying a single American flag while running 7-8 minute miles nonstop from San Diego to Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump has nominated Kirsten Davies to serve as the next chief information officer of the Department of Defense.
The nomination was submitted to Congress on Tuesday and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee for consideration, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.
The Defense Department CIO “is the principal staff assistant and senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense for information technology (IT) (including national security systems and defense business systems), information resources management (IRM), and efficiencies.

In 2019, Michael Bustamente of the University of Miami was critical of the first Trump administration’s maximalist approach toward Cuba. Six years on, as successive presidential administrations have not significantly altered America’s approach toward Cuba and a second Trump administration has taken power, Bustamente reassesses his argument.  Image: Cuban state media You wrote your 2019 article, “Chronicle of a Failure Foretold: Trump Turns the Screws on Cuba,” shortly after Miguel Díaz-Canel became Cuba’s head of state during heightened U.S.-Cuban tensions.