Air Force and Army intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance experts gathered at McChord AFB, Wash., in December, according to a Feb. 13 Air Combat Command release, to pursue cooperative ISR training initiatives. Over two days, one thing the soldiers and airmen concluded they can do more to share needs and capabilities, starting in technical schools and continuing through pre-deployment training. Already, the services are exchanging instructors at service intelligence schools, and the Air Force sends intel liaison officers to help deployed Army units reap the full advantage of Air Force ISR assets. An earlier ISR meeting led to a new mobile training course, called ISR TopOff, in which Air Force and joint instructors teach deploying soldiers about the ISR capabilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. The course “has turned out to be the most requested pre-deployment training course in the [Army Force Generation] training cycle,” said Arta Cavazos, ACC Directorate of Intelligence ISR integration analyst. (ACC report by SSgt. Travis Edwards)
Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Pentagon, spent his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 19 pressing his civilian bona fides to lawmakers, with some pledging opposition to the waiver Austin would need to become the nation’s first Black Defense Secretary. Austin spent 40 years in the military…