A panel of former senior military and diplomatic officials is advocating a substantial change to the organization and focus of the military’s geographic combatant commands, arguing the current structure and function “are relics of a bygone era.” The report, issued July 22 by the Atlantic Council, calls for a much greater role for the State Department in the command structure and functioning of the six regional COCOMs in order to apply a “whole of government” approach to the nation’s international security challenges. With only the military commands empowered “to execute foreign and defense policy in key regions of the world,” the report reads, “US government regional actions often are uncoordinated and disconnected.” Led by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, a former commander of US European Command, and including three retired Air Force generals, the panel proposed to give the State Department’s regional assistant secretaries “the authority to integrate the full range of foreign and security policy as well as diplomatic resources to execute foreign policy on a regional scale.” That would include putting a senior diplomat into each COCOM headquarters. It also urged renaming the commands to “unified regional commands” to indicate a broader role “than strictly a war-fighting approach.”
B-21 Bomber Shelter May Reveal Size of Secret Jet
March 3, 2021
The Air Force may have inadvertently revealed the size of the secret B-21 bomber with the release of an image of a temporary shelter for the airplane. The service is evaluating several designs for temporary shelters for everyday use and deployment to temporary operating locations. If the B-21 fully fits…