Daily Report

The Air Force has fully implemented 23 of the 46 recommendations service officials drafted to prevent sexual misconduct at basic military training, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Jan. 23. He...

Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that he expects every commander to contribute to efforts to reduce sexual assaults in the Air Force. “If they don’t get actively engaged, I...

Air Force officials intend to restrict the amount of time airmen can serve as military training instructors at JBSA-Lackland, Tex., from four years to three years, saying the challenges for instructors at Basic Military Training can create a “corrosive” environment...

Libyan weapon stocks unleashed by the 2011 revolution in Libya have made their way to other conflicts, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers on Wednesday. Testifying on security lapses in Benghazi, Libya, last summer, Clinton stated to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "one of the reasons we and other government agencies were present in Benghazi" was because "we had a concerted effort to try to track down and find and recover as many MANPADS [man-portable air defense systems] and other very dangerous weapons as possible." The weapons "liberated" by the fall of Muammar Qaddafi's regime "went on the black market, were seized by militia, seized by other groups, and have made their way out of Libya into other countries in the region, and have made their way to Syria, we believe," said Clinton during the Jan. 23 hearing. Likewise, she said, anti-government opposition forces in Syria could capture Syrian government stores of chemical or biological weapons. Accordingly, she said, the United States is working to "coordinate closely with a number of like-minded nations, neighbors, and partners" to prevent those weapons "from falling into the wrong hands—Jihadist hands, Hezbollah hands—but also to try to work with the [Syrian] internal opposition for them to understand the dangers that are posed." There's "no doubt" Algerian terrorists and Malian Islamists "have weapons from Libya, so we have to do a much better job" of containing the proliferation of such arms, she said. (Clinton's prepared remarks)

Congress should beef up the capabilities of US Africa Command, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Testifying on the terrorist attack that killed four State Department officials in Benghazi, Libya, last year, Clinton said weapons "liberated" from Libyan stocks are a "Pandora’s box" making the Middle East and North Africa "the source of one of our biggest threats." These weapons have made their way to Algeria, Mali, Syria, and other places, she said, highlighting the need for US engagement in Africa. AFRICOM has in recent years been scaled back as a Pentagon cost-cutting move. Recent conflicts and terrorist actions make it plain now, Clinton asserted, that "we need to pay much more attention to AFRICOM, to its capacity inside Africa." The command is based in Germany "for all kinds of complicated, logistical, and political reasons," she observed. And while Army Gen. Carter Ham "has been a very dedicated leader of AFRICOM during his time there . . . we're going to see more and more demands on AFRICOM, and I think that's something else that the Senate and House are going to have to address," she said during the Jan. 23 hearing. (Clinton's prepared remarks)

Technicians last week installed the first of 1,440 planned upgraded engines for the KC-135 tanker fleet, announced Air Mobility Command officials in a Jan. 23 release. The first installation of the CFM Propulsion Upgrade Program engine occurred on Jan. 15...

Officials opened five new and renovated facilities at Goodfellow AFB, Tex., including a dining facility, dormitory, learning center, student center, and marines’ training building, according to a base release. Base personnel held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 17 to mark...

Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters deployed to the United States for two months of exercises and training, announced the British air arm on Wednesday. This deployment will include the British fighters’ debut next month at a Red Flag aerial combat...