Around the Force

Hagel confirmed as
new defense secretary
American Forces Press Service
Just before his private swearing-in ceremony Feb. 27 as the 24th secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel and his wife, Lilibet, arrived at the Pentagon and were greeted by Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, military assistant to the secretary of defense.
Family members and his immediate office staff attended the ceremony, during which Hagel was sworn in by Director of Administra-tion and Management Michael Rhodes.
Defense Department alerts
governors of budget cuts
American Forces Press Service
Sequestration will have serious and real effects for people, and to hammer that point home Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has sent warning letters to the governors of the states that will suffer most.
The letters alert the governors of sequestration’s impact on military bases their states, and both the direct and indirect impacts of sequestration. The 10 states most affected are: California, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Alabama and Washington.
Sequestration means the department must cut $47 billion from its fiscal year 2013 budget—meaning $47 million by the end of September. All states will be affected, but these 10 states will bear the largest brunt.
Senior leaders, governors
call for better cooperation
American Forces Press Service
Senior Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security leaders met Feb. 25 with representatives of the Council of Governors to find how the entities can work together better, officials said in a read out of the meeting.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with leaders of the council at the Pentagon.
The council is a bipartisan group designed to strengthen the relationship between DoD, Homeland Security and the states and territories.
Napolitano briefed the governors on the president’s executive order and policy directive on improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity and resiliency. Those attending agreed to improve cooperation on the issue.
They also agreed to a consultative process between DoD and the states for programming and budgetary proposals affecting the National Guard.
Air Force cancelling all
air shows, cites budget
U.S. Air Force
As the U.S. Air Force braces for the sequester, leadership has cancelled all aviation support to public events for at least the remainder of the fiscal year and is standing down the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team to save flying hours to support readiness needs.
Effective Friday, active-duty, Reserve and Guard units ceased all aviation support to the public. This includes the cancellation of support to all air shows, tradeshows, flyovers (including funerals and military graduations), orientation flights, heritage flights, F-22 demonstration flights and open houses, unless the event includes only local static assets.
Additionally, the Air Force will cancel the Thunderbirds’ entire 2013 season beginning April 1.
For more information, contact Air Force Public Affairs at aerial.events@pentagon.af.mil or (703) 695-9664. For information specific to the USAF Thunderbirds, please call Air Combat Command Public Affairs at (757) 764-5007.
Electronic records project
progressing well
American Forces Press Service
The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are making progress on integrating the health records of service members and veterans, senior government officials told the House Veterans Affairs Committee Feb. 27.
President Barack Obama directed the two departments to create a seamless system of integration for medical records.
“The direction was clear: When a member of the armed forces separates from the military, their electronic records, medical, personnel and benefits will transition and remain with them forever,” said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
Woodson detailed the tasks the two departments need to complete. First, they need to integrate health data for individuals into a single electronic health record. Second, they need to modernize the departments’ legacy health information systems.
It also means moving VA data centers to the Defense Information System Agency. Woodson called this an important step for efficiency.
Finally, Woodson said, the two Cabinet agencies are implementing a joint graphical user interface that displays information from both the DoD and VA systems at the same time.
The scope of this project is huge. Valerie Melvin, the Government Accounting Office’s director of information management and technology resources issues, said the records are projected to provide coverage to about 9.6 million service members and their beneficiaries and to 6.3 million veterans.