The Defense Department on Friday identified two Americans killed in an Oct. 19 insider attack in Afghanistan as Army Sgt. Douglas J. Riney and civilian Michael G. Sauro. Riney, 26, was assigned to the Support Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and Sauro was assigned to the Defense Ammunition Center at McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, Okla. The two were killed as they came under attack while inspecting an ammunition supply point on the edge of an Afghan National Army base. The team was conducting a routine inspection, when they came under attack at the entry control point of the base, said Army Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, the deputy chief of staff for communications for the Resolute Support Mission, during a Friday briefing. The attack was brief, and the shooter was killed. He was wearing an Afghan National Army uniform, Cleveland said.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.