Early Bird Brief

Navy leaders see power evolution with information warfare

"We are in the middle of another epochal change,” Adm. Samuel Paparo recently said.

Lawmakers grill Lloyd Austin over hospitalization

Austin was hospitalized on Jan. 1 after complications from a surgery for prostate cancer.

Mitch McConnell, staunch Ukraine advocate, to step down as Senate Republican leader

McConnell is the longest serving leader in the Senate's history.

Mental health outreach efforts need more focus on women vets: report

Female veterans account for nearly 10% of veterans in the VA system. 

Pentagon releases review on Austin’s hushed-up hospitalization

The review comes days before Austin is set to testify before Congress on the incident.

Pentagon wants industry to transform to meet demands for wars in Ukraine, Israel

The Pentagon’s new defense-industrial strategy calls for “generational” investment in the industrial base.

Navy chief charged with spying for foreign government

Chief Fire Controlman Bryce Steven Pedicini faces eight espionage charge specifications for alleged crimes that occurred between November 2022 and May.

Inside the Navy’s quest to fix the recruiting crisis

Navy leaders hope to reverse a troubling trend that culminated in the service falling well short of its annual recruiting goal for the first time

Pentagon indicates Iran-backed Houthi rebels shot down a US drone

The drone-downing is only the latest in a string of attacks on the shipping lanes in the Red Sea vital to the global economy. 

From Red Sea to Ukraine, use of missile defense batteries increases

Reporter Jen Judson and analyst Tom Karako discuss growing worldwide air and missile defense activity from Patriot batteries in Ukraine to persistent Red Sea attacks to what might be needed to prevent another Tower 22-like attack.