1 00:00:01,209 --> 00:00:06,060 - Defense News is proudly sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union. 2 00:00:06,060 --> 00:00:12,040 If you're a member of our nation's armed forces, the Department of Defense, or if your family 3 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:15,230 is, we'd be proud to serve you too. 4 00:00:15,230 --> 00:00:18,880 - On this episode of "Defense News Weekly," we learn about a misinformation campaign that 5 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,300 hit our publications aimed at you, the audience. 6 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:25,509 We look at what's on the horizon for the defense industry as a new administration takes office 7 00:00:25,509 --> 00:00:29,509 and get the inside scoop on a last minute deal to sell F35s in the Middle East. 8 00:00:29,509 --> 00:00:33,200 We also check out the impacts of a string of long missions at sea for some Navy crews 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,890 and get the latest on the transgender ban across the military. 10 00:00:35,890 --> 00:00:48,070 With the latest news and analysis from the Pentagon to the platoon, this is "Defense 11 00:00:48,070 --> 00:00:56,960 News Weekly". 12 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:10,299 Let's get rolling. 13 00:01:10,299 --> 00:01:11,680 Welcome back to "Defense News Weekly". 14 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,500 I'm Ben Murray in for Andrea Scott. 15 00:01:13,500 --> 00:01:17,350 There's a lot happening around the military and defense world and we begin this week with 16 00:01:17,350 --> 00:01:20,360 a disinformation campaign that hit close to home. 17 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:24,420 One of our reporters' stories about the defense secretary's nomination was digitally altered 18 00:01:24,420 --> 00:01:27,700 and posted to social media sites as a misinformation tactic. 19 00:01:27,700 --> 00:01:30,340 Our Defense News team has more. 20 00:01:30,340 --> 00:01:34,439 - Just the other day, Defense News congressional reporter, Joe Gould had readers asking if 21 00:01:34,439 --> 00:01:35,820 one of his stories was true. 22 00:01:35,820 --> 00:01:40,979 They showed him screenshots of what looked like his story with an absurd headline, suggesting 23 00:01:40,979 --> 00:01:45,500 that President Biden's pick to leave the Pentagon was in favor of disbanding the largest US 24 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:46,590 military service. 25 00:01:46,590 --> 00:01:51,609 And spoiler alert, the headline was fake and it took on a life of its own. 26 00:01:51,609 --> 00:01:54,340 With more, here's Defense News' Aaron Mehta and Joe Gould. 27 00:01:54,340 --> 00:01:58,770 - All right, Joe, thanks for joining me for what's one of the weirder stories, I think, 28 00:01:58,770 --> 00:02:00,729 that either of us has seen. 29 00:02:00,729 --> 00:02:03,369 Certainly the weirdest one that I think you've been involved in. 30 00:02:03,369 --> 00:02:08,910 Walk me through how you ended up being featured in a disinformation meme that's been going 31 00:02:08,910 --> 00:02:11,210 around the internet. 32 00:02:11,210 --> 00:02:12,210 - Sure. 33 00:02:12,210 --> 00:02:17,410 We're talking about a hoax news story that had multiple lies in it, that the new Defense 34 00:02:17,410 --> 00:02:24,740 Secretary Lloyd Austin was considering defunding, maybe disbanding the Army and that he was 35 00:02:24,740 --> 00:02:28,920 considering relying on China for America's national defense. 36 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:34,390 It had my byline on it and it looked like a Defense News story but it was anything but. 37 00:02:34,390 --> 00:02:37,720 There was no story, it was a doctored image file. 38 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,870 I got an email on Friday afternoon asking whether this thing was true. 39 00:02:41,870 --> 00:02:45,920 And over the course of the weekend, I got about five dozen emails like that. 40 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:51,680 I watched it reproducing on Facebook dozens and dozens of times. 41 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:59,250 4Chan, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe, but also Telegram, and that's an app popular with the 42 00:02:59,250 --> 00:03:03,170 QAnon conspiracy community from what I learned. 43 00:03:03,170 --> 00:03:08,580 Anybody who follows the military like we do or is in the military knows that all of that 44 00:03:08,580 --> 00:03:11,320 is totally laughable. 45 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:18,200 You can watch Lloyd Austin's confirmation hearing and see that that's all lies but people 46 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:25,520 who are detached from reality, consuming right-wing and other conspiracy theories are predisposed 47 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:26,870 to believe that kind of thing. 48 00:03:26,870 --> 00:03:31,540 - Yeah, one of the things that was really interesting about how you wrote the story 49 00:03:31,540 --> 00:03:36,140 up, which folks can find on defensenews.com is how you actually reached out to a number 50 00:03:36,140 --> 00:03:37,620 of these people and your interactions. 51 00:03:37,620 --> 00:03:40,790 Some of them were, you know, interactions where people said, "Whoa, sorry. 52 00:03:40,790 --> 00:03:42,290 I'm glad you pointed that out." 53 00:03:42,290 --> 00:03:43,480 Some of them were a little different. 54 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,620 What was that like for you? 55 00:03:45,620 --> 00:03:51,650 - Well, look, there's research out there that backs up the adage that a lie spreads more 56 00:03:51,650 --> 00:03:52,850 quickly than the truth. 57 00:03:52,850 --> 00:03:59,950 And what that research also shows is that it's not bots sharing information, it's people. 58 00:03:59,950 --> 00:04:04,790 And you know, I tried to notify people on Facebook but it was like trying to put out 59 00:04:04,790 --> 00:04:07,350 a forest fire with a teacup. 60 00:04:07,350 --> 00:04:12,241 And it was only when Facebook finally got around to sweeping the memes off that they 61 00:04:12,241 --> 00:04:13,800 started to disappear. 62 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:20,060 You know, one woman who posted it was embarrassed when I alerted her and I told her, "We're 63 00:04:20,060 --> 00:04:21,590 both victims. 64 00:04:21,590 --> 00:04:27,490 This was a meme that was crafted to deceive her by hijacking my identity and my credibility." 65 00:04:27,490 --> 00:04:34,490 Journalists like you and me work to deliver the truth, inform the public. 66 00:04:34,490 --> 00:04:38,880 Somebody was doing the opposite in my name and that was motivating. 67 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:44,440 But so were all the emails I was getting from people who either suspected it was fake and 68 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:49,250 reached out for confirmation or who were scared it was true. 69 00:04:49,250 --> 00:04:54,870 But as you pointed out, there were some people who are not so curious, not so intellectually 70 00:04:54,870 --> 00:04:56,100 honest. 71 00:04:56,100 --> 00:05:01,469 And when I told them who I was, that they had posted a fake meme, some of them got defensive 72 00:05:01,469 --> 00:05:06,150 and they said that they were gonna keep it posted because it revealed some larger truth 73 00:05:06,150 --> 00:05:08,280 that they believed about Joe Biden. 74 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:14,930 And that kind of ignorance and persistent lying was disheartening but it also gives 75 00:05:14,930 --> 00:05:20,449 you a sense of the problem. 76 00:05:20,449 --> 00:05:24,430 - So obviously this impact a lot of civilians, but I mean, we've seen stuff like this spread 77 00:05:24,430 --> 00:05:25,430 in the military. 78 00:05:25,430 --> 00:05:28,729 We know there's concerns about disinformation about military members. 79 00:05:28,729 --> 00:05:34,639 Obviously this matters because it was dealing with the Secretary of Defense but how is the 80 00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:35,639 military gonna have to deal with this? 81 00:05:35,639 --> 00:05:38,310 Is this an issue that you think is gonna keep spreading going forward? 82 00:05:38,310 --> 00:05:39,870 - The story is not about me. 83 00:05:39,870 --> 00:05:46,409 It's about lies that were spread about Lloyd Austin echoing the Defund the Police slogan 84 00:05:46,409 --> 00:05:49,250 used by the Black Lives Matter movement. 85 00:05:49,250 --> 00:05:52,680 These memes target the fault lines in our society, race is one of them. 86 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,009 And he's the first black Secretary of Defense. 87 00:05:55,009 --> 00:05:58,969 I don't think this is the last time we'll see something like this. 88 00:05:58,969 --> 00:06:06,280 Another thing is that there was a Air Force General who was impersonated on Telegram which 89 00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:08,030 was spreading the meme. 90 00:06:08,030 --> 00:06:12,469 And when I reached out to him, he said that the account didn't belong to him. 91 00:06:12,469 --> 00:06:18,479 So something for military members to think about is that they could potentially be impersonated 92 00:06:18,479 --> 00:06:19,479 online. 93 00:06:19,479 --> 00:06:22,620 And their credibility hijacked just like happened to us. 94 00:06:22,620 --> 00:06:23,620 - Yeah, absolutely. 95 00:06:23,620 --> 00:06:26,639 Joe thanks for joining us to talk about this issue and shed some light on it. 96 00:06:26,639 --> 00:06:28,779 I'm Aaron Mehta, we'll see you next time. 97 00:06:28,779 --> 00:06:30,330 - Thank you gentlemen. 98 00:06:30,330 --> 00:06:35,570 And now for defense industry headlines There aren't a lot of nail biters in the contract 99 00:06:35,570 --> 00:06:38,060 world but here's one that slipped in at the last minute. 100 00:06:38,060 --> 00:06:43,370 The United Arab Emirates signed off on a deal to purchase up to 50 F35 Joint Strike Fighter 101 00:06:43,370 --> 00:06:47,719 Aircraft and 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones from the United States. 102 00:06:47,719 --> 00:06:49,410 The deal has been estimated at some $24 billion. 103 00:06:49,410 --> 00:06:52,060 Here's the thing. 104 00:06:52,060 --> 00:06:55,699 The agreement was one of the final acts of the Trump administration, occurring just an 105 00:06:55,699 --> 00:06:58,689 hour before President Joe Biden was inaugurated. 106 00:06:58,689 --> 00:07:03,490 A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed separately to Defense News that the US and 107 00:07:03,490 --> 00:07:07,590 UAE officials on Wednesday signed that letter of agreement that solidified the terms of 108 00:07:07,590 --> 00:07:10,490 a foreign military sale between two nations. 109 00:07:10,490 --> 00:07:15,840 A problem with the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle is causing a supply chain delay. 110 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,969 The Army is designing and testing a solution to address overheating and toxic gas production 111 00:07:19,969 --> 00:07:24,120 in the newest version of the vehicle's turret battery but its material release is delayed 112 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:25,529 by almost a year. 113 00:07:25,529 --> 00:07:28,250 That's according to the service's Bradley Program office. 114 00:07:28,250 --> 00:07:32,020 The problem itself was discovered during a test at Fort Hood, Texas. 115 00:07:32,020 --> 00:07:34,870 Kenya will be getting vehicles to combat militants. 116 00:07:34,870 --> 00:07:40,180 The military has ordered 118 four-wheel-drive personnel carriers from Turkish armored vehicle 117 00:07:40,180 --> 00:07:41,530 manufacturer Katmerciler. 118 00:07:41,530 --> 00:07:46,570 A Kenya Defense Forces spokesperson said the Ministry of Defense is finalizing the deal 119 00:07:46,570 --> 00:07:52,520 for the mine-resistant, ambush-protected Hizir vehicles through Turkey's export credit agency. 120 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:56,270 The Kenyan military will primarily deploy the Hizir vehicles for counter-terror operations 121 00:07:56,270 --> 00:07:58,819 against the Al-Shabaab militant group. 122 00:07:58,819 --> 00:08:02,569 Sources told Defense News, a contract might be inked within weeks and it could be worth 123 00:08:02,569 --> 00:08:05,229 up to $73 million. 124 00:08:05,229 --> 00:08:10,280 The US Army organization responsible for modernizing the service's tactical network will soon have 125 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:11,520 a new leader. 126 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:16,349 The Army Chief of Staff announced Monday that Brigadier General Jeth Ray, the J-6 of Central 127 00:08:16,349 --> 00:08:21,009 Command will replace a Major General Peter Gallagher as director of the network cross-functional 128 00:08:21,009 --> 00:08:25,090 team, a critical piece of the Army's modernization efforts. 129 00:08:25,090 --> 00:08:29,289 Plans for the team include increasing network resiliency, increasing broadband, and connecting 130 00:08:29,289 --> 00:08:35,290 the service's enterprise network in the offices with its tactical network on the battlefield. 131 00:08:35,290 --> 00:08:37,460 - That's it for this week's headlines from the defense world. 132 00:08:37,460 --> 00:08:41,630 When we come back, we'll learn about the impacts a string long, at-sea deployments has had 133 00:08:41,630 --> 00:08:43,681 on sailors and ships in the Navy. 134 00:08:43,681 --> 00:08:57,000 And later in the show, a look at defense industry priorities as a new administration takes over. 135 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:58,080 Welcome back. 136 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:02,190 In your military news this week, we begin in the Navy, where a combination of high-operations 137 00:09:02,190 --> 00:09:06,530 tempo and COVID-related measures created major impacts on parts of the fleet. 138 00:09:06,530 --> 00:09:10,330 A combination of long, at-sea missions and quick turnarounds created tough conditions 139 00:09:10,330 --> 00:09:13,440 for sailors and put long miles on some ships. 140 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:22,070 Navy Times' Geoff Ziezulewicz has more on the story. 141 00:09:22,070 --> 00:09:27,560 - 2020 was a hard year for everybody, of course, but within the US Navy was arguably even harder. 142 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:32,280 Navy leadership struggled to keep ships at sea COVID free after the aircraft carrier, 143 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:36,410 Theodore Roosevelt, suffered a mass infection in the spring of 2020. 144 00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:42,010 The COVID mitigation measures for the US surface fleet in particular involved no more port 145 00:09:42,010 --> 00:09:48,070 calls or stepping on dry land sometimes for record-breaking stints at a time. 146 00:09:48,070 --> 00:09:53,790 This meant several ships in 2020 broke the record for consecutive days at sea. 147 00:09:53,790 --> 00:10:00,710 The US warship, Stout spent 215 consecutive days at sea which is a modern record. 148 00:10:00,710 --> 00:10:06,220 It limped back into port in Norfolk, rusted out, and with a crew that was obviously ready 149 00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:07,220 to hit dry land. 150 00:10:07,220 --> 00:10:12,710 So basically you had a couple things going on in 2020 with the Navy. 151 00:10:12,710 --> 00:10:18,250 You had COVID which meant sailors have to isolate before they get on the ship for a 152 00:10:18,250 --> 00:10:23,390 few weeks, taking them away from their families right before deployment. 153 00:10:23,390 --> 00:10:28,260 Then they get on and they basically can't leave the ship for the entire deployment because 154 00:10:28,260 --> 00:10:30,650 of the risk of bringing COVID back. 155 00:10:30,650 --> 00:10:37,240 And then at the same time, the Navy and the Pentagon didn't slow down the pace of operations 156 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,290 in 2020 due to the pandemic. 157 00:10:39,290 --> 00:10:43,390 Somewhere in the Pentagon decision-making rings, there was a thought that you still 158 00:10:43,390 --> 00:10:48,250 needed to push ships and aircraft carriers out to the Middle East and to the Pacific 159 00:10:48,250 --> 00:10:52,950 and to other areas to showcase, you know, American military presence. 160 00:10:52,950 --> 00:10:59,250 And so that's kind of what 2020 had wrought for the surface fleet and appears to be continuing 161 00:10:59,250 --> 00:11:05,720 into 2021. 162 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:09,210 Before a carrier strike group goes on into deployment, normally they do something called 163 00:11:09,210 --> 00:11:13,290 a Comp 2X, which is like a kind of predeployment exercise. 164 00:11:13,290 --> 00:11:18,180 In pre-COVID times, you'd go do a Comp 2X and then be able to go back to your family, 165 00:11:18,180 --> 00:11:22,270 you know, for a few weeks before the official deployment started. 166 00:11:22,270 --> 00:11:27,760 But the Navy has opted to keep sailors aboard the ship between the Comp 2X and the actual 167 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:29,340 start of the deployment. 168 00:11:29,340 --> 00:11:35,060 And then that therefore leads to, you know, nine-month deployments as opposed to seven 169 00:11:35,060 --> 00:11:36,410 or eight month deployments. 170 00:11:36,410 --> 00:11:43,580 Now, once they're at sea, a critical kind of pressure release valve for crews is port 171 00:11:43,580 --> 00:11:44,580 calls. 172 00:11:44,580 --> 00:11:53,500 You know, if you're steaming through Asia, you might stop in Vietnam or Japan, or just 173 00:11:53,500 --> 00:11:54,500 get off the ship. 174 00:11:54,500 --> 00:11:59,600 But in the days of COVID, for now at least, as we record this, that's not the case and 175 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:01,090 those poor calls aren't happening. 176 00:12:01,090 --> 00:12:07,620 So, you know, a sailor is seeing their rack, their workspace and the endless horizon of 177 00:12:07,620 --> 00:12:10,780 the seas around them for months on end. 178 00:12:10,780 --> 00:12:17,440 Based on our reporting, these long deployments in the time of COVID are really taking a toll 179 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,970 on sailors and their families. 180 00:12:19,970 --> 00:12:24,000 To be frank, a lot of sailors and families are feeling pretty screwed by big Navy at 181 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,480 this point. 182 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:30,990 These deployments, the double pumps, especially of the Theodore Roosevelt and the Eisenhower, 183 00:12:30,990 --> 00:12:34,490 are leading a lot of sailors and families to question their future in the Navy. 184 00:12:34,490 --> 00:12:39,480 Several of them have told us that they planned to do 20 years, they planned to make a career 185 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:44,810 in the sea service, but 2020 has just changed that calculus for them. 186 00:12:44,810 --> 00:12:50,200 - Our experience is that sailors will do amazing things and they'll try very hard to accomplish 187 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:51,200 their missions. 188 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:56,460 They're by and large great humans who do their very best, but it's a lot to ask of somebody 189 00:12:56,460 --> 00:13:01,800 to be under way continuously for 211, 212 days without a port visit. 190 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:11,280 And it's a lot to expect of them to be sequestered prior to getting under way and sequester after 191 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:17,180 coming back, and it would not be at all surprising to find that there's less willingness to stay 192 00:13:17,180 --> 00:13:22,680 in the Navy after these things, these types of deployments take place. 193 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:27,340 - It remains to be seen, you know, how these deployments and this operation's pace and 194 00:13:27,340 --> 00:13:31,850 the COVID mitigations will affect either recruitment or retention. 195 00:13:31,850 --> 00:13:36,550 But anecdotally, we're being told by spouses and sailors that, you know, this is a breaking 196 00:13:36,550 --> 00:13:41,320 point. 197 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:47,510 - An aircraft carrier is a marvel of human engineering but it's a zillion parts that 198 00:13:47,510 --> 00:13:49,600 need maintenance and care. 199 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:55,350 And when you push any ship back out to sea without adequate maintenance time, it's gonna 200 00:13:55,350 --> 00:13:57,590 take time off the ship's life. 201 00:13:57,590 --> 00:14:03,990 But analysts tell us that that's even more pronounced with a vessel like an aircraft 202 00:14:03,990 --> 00:14:04,990 carrier. 203 00:14:04,990 --> 00:14:11,050 So there's a lot of fear among those who have served before and now kind of make their living 204 00:14:11,050 --> 00:14:16,970 analyzing the Navy that double-pumping the Ike and the TR is ultimately gonna send those 205 00:14:16,970 --> 00:14:18,970 ships to an early grave, so to speak. 206 00:14:18,970 --> 00:14:23,350 It's going to take years off of their service life, potentially. 207 00:14:23,350 --> 00:14:25,790 And it just erodes readiness in general. 208 00:14:25,790 --> 00:14:30,870 And the fear is that if you push these carriers back out to sea only a few months after they 209 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:36,950 came home, perhaps they might not be available, God forbid, should an actual war breakout 210 00:14:36,950 --> 00:14:39,400 where they're needed. 211 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:47,870 - In terms of the overall impact on the ship, it comes back to this spiral of a ship comes 212 00:14:47,870 --> 00:14:51,750 back from a long deployment with a lot of problems that have to be fixed. 213 00:14:51,750 --> 00:14:57,070 It goes into a maintenance availability and that takes time. 214 00:14:57,070 --> 00:15:02,290 And it frequently, more often than not, it's the case that the availabilities go longer 215 00:15:02,290 --> 00:15:04,190 because so much has to be fixed. 216 00:15:04,190 --> 00:15:09,123 And as a result, the schedule for the next ship is affected and then the next one, and 217 00:15:09,123 --> 00:15:10,720 the next one, and the next one. 218 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:17,600 It's very hard for the Navy, the Surface Navy, in this case for the aircraft carrier or submarines 219 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,790 or anything else to get out of that. 220 00:15:19,790 --> 00:15:25,130 So not only is it potentially affecting the morale and the well being of the crews, it 221 00:15:25,130 --> 00:15:32,630 is definitely potentially having an impact on the ability to get ready for some major 222 00:15:32,630 --> 00:15:33,630 contingency. 223 00:15:33,630 --> 00:15:34,630 - Thanks, Geoff. 224 00:15:34,630 --> 00:15:39,820 For more on that story, visit NavyTimes.com And in other military news this week, President 225 00:15:39,820 --> 00:15:44,350 Joe Biden is set to remove a ban on transgender people joining the military. 226 00:15:44,350 --> 00:15:48,950 The restriction put in place by former president, Donald Trump, in 2017, reversed the policy 227 00:15:48,950 --> 00:15:54,760 from the Obama administration allowing transgender troops to enlist and serve openly in the military. 228 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,900 And in one of his first actions as newly confirmed Secretary of Defense, retired general, Lloyd 229 00:15:58,900 --> 00:16:03,420 Austin III, ordered an immediate review of measures to reduce sexual harassment and assault 230 00:16:03,420 --> 00:16:04,740 in the ranks. 231 00:16:04,740 --> 00:16:08,400 Austin gave senior leaders until February 5th to provide a summary of current measures 232 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,970 with an eye toward aggressive reform and prevention. 233 00:16:11,970 --> 00:16:16,040 And finally, the Army is set to buy a large number of next-generation sniper rifles in 234 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,570 coming years according to a release from the Army Contracting Command. 235 00:16:19,570 --> 00:16:24,500 The release confirms that nearly 3000 troops will receive the multi-role adaptive rifle 236 00:16:24,500 --> 00:16:26,600 made by Barrett over the next five years. 237 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:31,100 The rifle had previously been approved for Special Operations units. 238 00:16:31,100 --> 00:16:35,070 - When we come back, we'll hear some tax tips for military families by personal finance 239 00:16:35,070 --> 00:16:36,070 expert, Jeanette Mac. 240 00:16:36,070 --> 00:16:39,940 And later, we'll look at the state of play in the defense industry as the Biden administration 241 00:16:39,940 --> 00:16:49,820 takes over. 242 00:16:49,820 --> 00:16:53,790 On this edition of Money Minute, Navy Federal Credit Union personal finance expert, Jeanette 243 00:16:53,790 --> 00:16:59,310 Mack offers some tips for military families as the 2021 tax season arrives. 244 00:16:59,310 --> 00:17:04,569 - The new year brings the promise of new beginnings and the joy of filing your taxes. 245 00:17:04,569 --> 00:17:07,350 Hold on, there can be some joys in that too. 246 00:17:07,350 --> 00:17:10,959 If you're an active-duty service member or a part of a military family, there are some 247 00:17:10,959 --> 00:17:15,120 tax benefits that can help put some extra cash back in your pocket. 248 00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:19,439 If you've PCS-ed in the last year, you can deduct your moving expenses. 249 00:17:19,439 --> 00:17:22,510 Moving isn't cheap and not all of those costs are reimbursed. 250 00:17:22,510 --> 00:17:27,490 And since the IRS allows you to write off reasonable costs associated with relocation 251 00:17:27,490 --> 00:17:30,370 and moving, you absolutely should. 252 00:17:30,370 --> 00:17:35,000 Also, research the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act. 253 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,749 It allows military spouses to only pay income tax for their official state of residence 254 00:17:39,749 --> 00:17:42,120 rather than where you're currently living. 255 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:46,460 And it can mean a pretty good tax break if your home state tax rate is lower than where 256 00:17:46,460 --> 00:17:48,370 you're currently stationed. 257 00:17:48,370 --> 00:17:52,350 And don't forget the cost of any uniforms you've bought, gotten cleaned or had to get 258 00:17:52,350 --> 00:17:53,350 fitted. 259 00:17:53,350 --> 00:17:55,549 That can be deducted too. 260 00:17:55,549 --> 00:18:00,100 Tracking these expenses all year long can make things easier on you at tax time. 261 00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:02,520 It's a small thing to do to get big returns. 262 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,929 - Thanks, Jeanette, we'll see you next time. 263 00:18:05,929 --> 00:18:10,299 To get more of our coverage, be sure to visit our websites at Army, Navy, Air Force, and 264 00:18:10,299 --> 00:18:12,009 MarineCorpsTimes.com and defensenews.com. 265 00:18:12,009 --> 00:18:17,360 For our curated top stories in your inbox every day, subscribe to our Early Bird Brief. 266 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:21,159 And to keep up to Date with all our coverage be sure to visit our Facebook, Twitter and 267 00:18:21,159 --> 00:18:22,159 YouTube pages. 268 00:18:22,159 --> 00:18:23,660 Also, it's that time of year again. 269 00:18:23,660 --> 00:18:28,370 Time to nominate your fellow soldier, sailor, airman or Marine for our annual service member 270 00:18:28,370 --> 00:18:29,370 of the year. 271 00:18:29,370 --> 00:18:31,990 Categories are also open for coastguardsman and veteran of the year. 272 00:18:31,990 --> 00:18:36,470 To nominate your fellow service member, head to servicemembersoftheyear.org/nominate. 273 00:18:36,470 --> 00:18:40,240 And when we come back, we'll learn about the latest in the defense industry from our Defense 274 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:50,580 News team of journalists. 275 00:18:50,580 --> 00:18:51,760 Welcome back. 276 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,730 As the new administration and Congress take over in the Capitol with new priorities and 277 00:18:55,730 --> 00:18:59,019 agendas, the field of play evolves for the defense industry. 278 00:18:59,019 --> 00:19:02,470 For a look ahead at what's on the horizon for the defense world, Defense News journalists 279 00:19:02,470 --> 00:19:04,969 lay out what they see as the biggest coming stories. 280 00:19:04,969 --> 00:19:07,460 - Welcome to this week's Reporters Round Table. 281 00:19:07,460 --> 00:19:08,730 I'm Aaron Mehta. 282 00:19:08,730 --> 00:19:12,320 With the Biden administration officially in office, we decided to have three of our Defense 283 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:16,779 News colleagues Jen Judson, David Larter and Valerie Insinna join us to discuss how the 284 00:19:16,779 --> 00:19:19,900 Biden administration might differ from the Trump administration in how it deals with 285 00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:20,950 the three military services. 286 00:19:20,950 --> 00:19:22,190 We're gonna start with Jen. 287 00:19:22,190 --> 00:19:24,530 Jen, you covered the Army very closely. 288 00:19:24,530 --> 00:19:27,570 What are you looking for out of the Biden ministration going forward? 289 00:19:27,570 --> 00:19:31,840 - Well, I think one of the things to watch out for with the Biden administration, is 290 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:37,009 I think we're already looking at a lower top line budget for the Army. 291 00:19:37,009 --> 00:19:40,679 The other services have a lot of priorities as well. 292 00:19:40,679 --> 00:19:45,830 So I think that there is a concern that the Army budget will go down and maybe even stay 293 00:19:45,830 --> 00:19:46,830 flat. 294 00:19:46,830 --> 00:19:52,830 If it were to stay flat, the Army would still lose about $13 billion in buying power from 295 00:19:52,830 --> 00:19:55,549 FY-19 to FY-22. 296 00:19:55,549 --> 00:20:03,129 So the Army is obviously going to have to maybe look at their modernization priorities 297 00:20:03,129 --> 00:20:07,900 and cut from those priorities or scale back some of their current plans. 298 00:20:07,900 --> 00:20:12,429 So we could definitely see some major changes in terms of what those modernization priorities 299 00:20:12,429 --> 00:20:15,139 may be if the budget is slashed. 300 00:20:15,139 --> 00:20:22,300 I think the other thing to look out for is, in the past administration, a four-star command 301 00:20:22,300 --> 00:20:25,799 was set up to handle modernization priorities called Army Futures Command. 302 00:20:25,799 --> 00:20:30,759 I think it will be interesting to see what Biden wants to do with that. 303 00:20:30,759 --> 00:20:32,789 Could it become a three-star or a two-star command? 304 00:20:32,789 --> 00:20:34,110 Could it be downscaled? 305 00:20:34,110 --> 00:20:36,629 Could it be moved from Austin, Texas? 306 00:20:36,629 --> 00:20:40,350 That's been a little bit controversial, putting the headquarters there. 307 00:20:40,350 --> 00:20:45,549 So I think it'll be interesting to see what they do there particularly in terms of giving 308 00:20:45,549 --> 00:20:49,490 power to the acquisition community and the modernization community and who's going to 309 00:20:49,490 --> 00:20:53,840 be responsible for what, because that's been a little bit difficult to organize. 310 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:55,559 - All right. 311 00:20:55,559 --> 00:20:59,730 David, same question for the Navy, which is a service that's kind of going through a bit 312 00:20:59,730 --> 00:21:01,830 of a transition right now, right? 313 00:21:01,830 --> 00:21:02,830 - Yes. 314 00:21:02,830 --> 00:21:08,440 I think what's going to happen in the first year of the Biden administration will be, 315 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:15,619 the Navy's gonna have to look at priorities in terms of where do they want to spend their 316 00:21:15,619 --> 00:21:16,619 money? 317 00:21:16,619 --> 00:21:24,980 The capacity of the fleet to handle its current workload is, I think, by all measures insufficient. 318 00:21:24,980 --> 00:21:32,500 The carriers are right now going out for, you know, these two deployments in one deployment 319 00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:33,500 cycle. 320 00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:34,500 We call them double-pump deployments. 321 00:21:34,500 --> 00:21:42,659 So in one 36-month readiness cycle, the aircraft carriers are going out twice which is an unsustainable 322 00:21:42,659 --> 00:21:47,130 pace of operations which speaks to a certain lack of capacity. 323 00:21:47,130 --> 00:21:52,100 Just not enough peanut butter to scrape across the bread, just not enough ships to do the 324 00:21:52,100 --> 00:21:53,940 workload that they have. 325 00:21:53,940 --> 00:22:04,450 During the last year, Mark Esper and the Pentagon and the Navy and OSD Cape which is the in-house 326 00:22:04,450 --> 00:22:11,990 think tank, took a look at some ways to try and creatively solve this problem. 327 00:22:11,990 --> 00:22:14,559 It didn't quite make it all the way up to the White House. 328 00:22:14,559 --> 00:22:16,360 The White House had their own ideas. 329 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:21,200 And I think everyone kind of got to the end of the line of a whole year of looking at 330 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,129 how are we going to fix the Navy's capacity? 331 00:22:24,129 --> 00:22:27,429 And we kind of ended up where we started. 332 00:22:27,429 --> 00:22:33,780 The idea is that OSD Cape we're putting forward had a lot to do with unmanned surface vessels, 333 00:22:33,780 --> 00:22:39,409 unmanned underwater vessels, as a means of boosting the Navy's capacity. 334 00:22:39,409 --> 00:22:43,809 But it remains to be seen if that's the way the Navy is gonna go forward. 335 00:22:43,809 --> 00:22:47,831 So I think the Biden administration in the first year is gonna have to wrestle all the 336 00:22:47,831 --> 00:22:50,710 same questions that we had wrestled with all last year. 337 00:22:50,710 --> 00:22:54,170 How are you going to fix this capacity problem? 338 00:22:54,170 --> 00:22:57,309 - So a little bit of, the more things change, the more things stay the same. 339 00:22:57,309 --> 00:22:58,309 All right. 340 00:22:58,309 --> 00:23:03,190 Val, I wanted to go to you last, partly because maybe the biggest legacy of the Trump administration 341 00:23:03,190 --> 00:23:07,999 on the military is gonna be the creation of the Space Force, the new branch of the military. 342 00:23:07,999 --> 00:23:08,999 That falls under your beat. 343 00:23:08,999 --> 00:23:13,009 As the Air Force reporter, how do you think the Biden team is gonna tackle that, and then 344 00:23:13,009 --> 00:23:15,429 what else might they be looking at? 345 00:23:15,429 --> 00:23:20,090 - Well, I think there's been a lot of speculation about whether the Biden administration seeks 346 00:23:20,090 --> 00:23:24,529 to dis-establish the Space Force. 347 00:23:24,529 --> 00:23:27,749 Every expert that I've talked to says that that's not going to happen. 348 00:23:27,749 --> 00:23:34,379 That it's far more likely that the Biden administration just continues on with the work that the Space 349 00:23:34,379 --> 00:23:35,480 Force has already been doing. 350 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:41,129 I think one thing that could come into question though, is the location of US Space Command. 351 00:23:41,129 --> 00:23:47,970 Right before Trump left office, it was decided that that new headquarters would be placed 352 00:23:47,970 --> 00:23:50,820 in Alabama. 353 00:23:50,820 --> 00:23:56,070 And that was a very controversial decision for a lot of reasons and one that the Biden 354 00:23:56,070 --> 00:23:58,779 administration could seek to open up. 355 00:23:58,779 --> 00:24:06,009 Another thing that I think might be big over the next year, is a discussion about fighter 356 00:24:06,009 --> 00:24:07,200 mix. 357 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,980 President Trump involved himself very, very directly in questioning, you know, "How many 358 00:24:12,980 --> 00:24:14,879 F35s should we buy? 359 00:24:14,879 --> 00:24:18,739 Should we buy more Super Hornets? 360 00:24:18,739 --> 00:24:22,010 Should there be fly-offs between this plane and that plane?" 361 00:24:22,010 --> 00:24:27,090 And I don't think we'll see that so out in the open in the Biden administration, but 362 00:24:27,090 --> 00:24:32,700 I do think that the Air Force will continue to have those discussions of, what's the proper 363 00:24:32,700 --> 00:24:38,099 mix between F15s, F35s and maybe even F16s. 364 00:24:38,099 --> 00:24:39,309 - Sounds right. 365 00:24:39,309 --> 00:24:40,809 Well, thank you all for joining me. 366 00:24:40,809 --> 00:24:45,289 Of course, as these stories develop or don't develop, we'll be tracking it all in Defense 367 00:24:45,289 --> 00:24:46,289 News.com. 368 00:24:46,289 --> 00:24:47,289 Again, thanks everyone for joining me. 369 00:24:47,289 --> 00:24:48,830 I'm Aaron Mehta. 370 00:24:48,830 --> 00:24:50,399 - That's all we have time for this week. 371 00:24:50,399 --> 00:24:54,809 Please visit us on militarytimes.com and DefenseNews.com for more coverage. 372 00:24:54,809 --> 00:25:03,320 Thanks for joining us and we'll see you next week.