Tweet CHICAGO – Even before the Obamas held their official groundbreaking recently, Medill School of Journalism graduate students in the Politics, Policy and Foreign Affairs specialization took an exclusive tour this summer of the historic site where the Obama Presidential Center will rise in Jackson Park on the city’s South Side. Students in the PPFA Politics Seminar toured the site in late August right after the ground was broken by construction crews preparing the way for the center, while other students in the seminar watched live cellphone video and took part on Zoom. The students partici ..read more

Tweet SEOUL, South Korea — A former U.S. Army heliport and runway at Camp Walker in South Korea’s southeastern city of Daegu were found by a South Korean government agency to be contaminated with cancer-causing substances, potentially exposing service members on the base and thousands of residents living nearby to the toxic substances. The Daegu Citizens’ Coalition for Safety disclosed surface and groundwater contamination at the site, which the Army has given to South Korea, at a Feb. 19 press conference. The information was based on a field survey of Camp Walker’s 16.5 acres of runway and he ..read more

Tweet SEOUL – South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Suh Wook said research on military service by transgender individuals is necessary, a milestone in the LGBTQ rights movement in one of the least inclusive countries in East Asia where even the incumbent president, a former human rights lawyer, openly opposed homosexuality in 2017. During the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee session on Tuesday, Representative Kim Byungjoo, a former Army general, questioned whether the Ministry of National Defense is looking into military service by transgender people. Suh replied, “There has ..read more

Tweet SEOUL – United States Forces Korea’s failure to notify approximately 9,000 South Korean employees at the end of January as legally required if they may be facing furloughs may signal that a new defense cost-sharing deal is underway between the Biden administration and South Korea, a U.S. Naval War College expert says. The USFK is required by U.S. law to provide notice 60 days in advance of the start of any potential unpaid leave. Last year, the U.S. military issued a notice to South Korean employees and sent a press release on Jan. 28, two months before an administrative furlough began i ..read more

Tweet WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force’s top general said Wednesday that Americans generally find it “hard to understand” how the Space Force affects them, a day after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made light of what experts say is a vital military branch. “Space doesn’t have a mother. You can’t reach out and hug a satellite, you can’t see it, you can’t touch it,” Gen. Jay Raymond, the chief of space operations, said to reporters on a press call. “But there is a very, very, very strong connection between those capabilities and our way of life.” While Space Force does not have a public ..read more

Tweet WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden made clear Thursday in his dual speeches at the State Department— his first visit to a federal agency as president— that his administration recognizes it cannot promote democracy without shoring up alliances that have frayed and being tough on authoritarian regimes. “There’s no longer a bright line between foreign and domestic policy,” Biden said. “America is back. Diplomacy is back—It’s the center of our foreign policy.” Most previous presidents did not choose the State Department as the first agency on their post-inauguration speech tour, Stewart Patric ..read more

Tweet WASHINGTON — Jason Smedley remembers the pain of his 2000 attack by lower-ranking Marines during a training exercise he led as a lance corporal at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton’s School of Infantry. While some held Smedley, the others beat him, knocking out many of his teeth. “They just didn’t like taking orders from a Black guy,” Smedley said. As punishment, the group was barred from going out that weekend. Unable to speak after enduring multiple dental surgeries, Smedley fell behind in the training and almost had to start over. At his breaking point, Smedley planned to leave the ..read more

Tweet WASHINGTON – As the world witnessed President Joe Biden take his oath of office on Jan. 20, he vowed to “repair our alliances and engage with the world once again” as a “strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security.” At the Pentagon, that could mean foreign military training programs, some of which came under attack during the Trump administration, could regain their previous status as what former Defense Secretary Mark Esper called a “critical long-term investment.” These programs were harshly criticized in December 2019 when a Saudi trainee at the Naval Air Station Pensa ..read more

Tweet A government report on military housing released Monday revealed that the Department of Defense had miscalculated allowances for service members that cover the cost of suitable private housing, such as apartments and rental homes. Basic allowance for housing, abbreviated as BAH, was established to help servicemembers with the costs associated with living off-base. Depending on the amount of BAH allotment, servicemembers could save a few hundred dollars a month compared to living on-base. After examining one of the costliest parts of annual military compensation, the Government Accountabi ..read more

Tweet WASHINGTON — Chemical facilities would face fewer regulations under a proposed rule change from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that targets 49 explosive chemicals. These “Division 1.1” explosives, which include black powder and desensitized nitroglycerine, are currently regulated by both CISA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is an arm of the Justice Department. In its Jan. 6 filing for the proposed rule change, CISA said that removing the explosives from its “Chemical Facility A ..read more