US Joint Forces Command sees great value in its new Joint Public Affairs Support Element, or JPASE, which it sent forth on three occasions over the past five months. A JPASE team covered task force commander needs for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan. In the past, PA support has been ad hoc, according to JPASE director Army Col. Steve Campbell. The new approach provides a “seasoned team on call” tailored to the job at hand that can “manage a task force’s PA processes while the combatant command evaluates the long-term outlook,” says Campbell. The JPASE team serves as an initial responder that turns over a “functioning public affairs apparatus to follow-on forces.”
A Defense Department team on the ground in Ukraine has been assessing what the country needs to protect itself from air, naval, electronic, and cyber warfare threats as Russian troops have gathered on multiple fronts, a senior Ukrainian defense official told Air Force Magazine, describing an emphasis on what assistance…