Today's D Brief: Army to replace CID chief; More noms expected; UK details carrier group; Iran harassed USCG ships; And a bit more...
U.S. Army to replace CID chief. The Army has decided to replace the commander of its Criminal Investigation Command less than a year after naming Maj. Gen. Donna Martin to the position, Defense One’s Tara Copp reports. Martin became provost marshal general of the Army and commanding general of Army Criminal Investigation Command last July, just 10 days after Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s body was found outside Fort Hood, Texas.
Her replacement: Martin will be replaced by Brig. Gen. Duane Miller, who is currently deputy provost marshal general and deputy commanding general of CID, Miller confirmed to Defense One in a phone interview.
Sudden turnover. It’s the second time in as many years that the Army has replaced its top law enforcement officer, Copp writes. “Since 1971, CID has been led by only 15 commanding generals, most of whom served three years or longer. Martin replaced Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, who also served only a year in the post.”
Army: This is normal. Spokeswoman Col. Cathy Wilkinson said Martin's departure was part of a normal rotation of officers and that Miller's assignment had been announced in February. She said a follow-on assignment for Martin had not been identified. Read on, here.
From Defense One
US Army to Replace Criminal Investigations Chief In Wake of Guillen’s Death // Tara Copp: The service’s Criminal Investigation Command has faced criticism for its lax casework on soldier deaths, assaults and suicides.
Former NGA Head to Join Satellite-Imagery Firm // Patrick Tucker: An intelligence chief who embraced transparency says AI will shape the next chapter of imagery analysis.
How to Think About Counterinsurgency After Afghanistan // Steven Metz: Realistic policy depends on a closer look at costs, benefits, the objectives of would-be counterinsurgency partners.
One Vaccine to Rule Them All // James Hamblin, The Atlantic: What if a single vaccine could protect us against SARS, MERS, COVID-19, and every other coronavirus-related disease, forever and ever?
Welcome to this Tuesday edition of The D Brief from Bradley Peniston and Jennifer Hlad. And if you’re not already subscribed to The D Brief, you can do that here. OTD 2018: North and South Korea issue the Panmunjom Declaration, declaring their intention to end their war. Little progress has since been made.
Iranian boats harassed two U.S. Coast Guard ships. On April 2, three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fast-attack craft and a 180-foot ship, Harth 55, zoomed past the USCG ships patrolling in the Persian Gulf, Navy officials said. “The larger vessel repeatedly crossed in front of the bows of the two U.S. vessels, the Monomoy and the Wrangell, coming as close as 70 yards away, officials said. That forced the Wrangell to make defensive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” Wall Street Journal’s Gordon Lubold reported.
It was the first such incident in a year. “The incident occurred April 2, just as the U.S. and Iran announced they would conduct negotiations toward renewing the 2015 multilateral nuclear accord. Those talks began earlier this month in Vienna. The episode hasn’t been previously disclosed,” Lubold wrote, here.
UK dispatches largest Royal Navy task force in almost four decades. The maiden deployment of a strike group built around HMS Queen Elizabeth will head to the Indo-Pacific region next month, “as the British government seeks to raise its presence in the Far East,” Defense News’ Andrew Chuter writes.
The deployment “has been on the cards for months but this is the first time the MoD has detailed the destinations, ships, aircraft and submarines involved.” Read on.
A Coast Guard ship is headed to the Black Sea, U.S. Navy Europe tweeted early Tuesday morning.
Report: Frank Kendall to be tapped as Air Force secretary. Defense News: “The Biden administration is expected on Tuesday to nominate Frank Kendall to serve as secretary of the Air Force, Defense News has learned. At the same time, the White House will announce the nomination of Gina Ortiz Jones for undersecretary of the Air Force, sources indicated.”
Kendall led Pentagon acquisition under Obama. Some background on his service, from Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber:
- Hagel’s Right-Hand Man on Acquisition Reform, 2014
- Obama’s New Look Pentagon Trio of Carter, Work, Kendall Excites Defense Industry, 2014
- The Complicated Relationship Between John McCain and Frank Kendall, 2017
And a 2018 oped from the man himself: Five Myths About Pentagon Weapons Programs.
Other expected noms, Defense News reports, include:
- Heidi Shyu, defense undersecretary for research and engineering.
- Meredith Berger, assistant defense secretary for energy, installations and environment.
Today on the Hill: The Senate is to vote late Tuesday afternoon on the nomination of Colin Kahl to be deputy defense secretary for policy. Opposed by Republicans for tweets and his positions on Middle East policy, Kahl squeaked past objections on Vice President Kamala Harris’ first tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
Live, now: SASC hearing into the Defense Department’s management challenges and opportunities.
Military tracking COVID-related heart inflammation: More than a dozen people who receive their healthcare through the military have developed heart inflammation after receiving one of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines, and the Pentagon has been tracking those cases since March, Military.com reports. DOD spokesman Peter Graves said one of the 14 developed the condition, called myocarditis, after the first shot, while the other 13 developed it after the second dose.
Such inflammations are known to be caused by COVID itself; it is not clear whether they are linked to the vaccine.
Recovering: Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One’s global business editor, also developed myocarditis after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. (He’s doing better now, thank goodness.)
DoD has administered more than 2.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine already, and is getting ready to start administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine again later this week, per Stars and Stripes.
U.S. to help India. As cases of coronavirus surge in India, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. military will send tests, personal protective equipment and other supplies to help.
COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are declining, with 29 percent of the population fully vaccinated and 42 percent of people in the U.S. having received at least one shot. Those percentages include children, who aren’t eligible for the shot yet.
And lastly today: Odd SOCCENT tweet a mistake, not a hack, command now says. Military Times’ Howard Altman covers that walkback, and offers a brief history of other times military commands have appeared to want to blame someone else for their social-media screwups. (Military.com’s Hope Hodge Seck called it two days ago: “Well, claims of Twitter hacks have never panned out before, but I’m an eternal optimist.) See you on Wednesday!