Roger That: Pentagon may establish center to defend U.S. spy satellites against attacks

The U.S. Defense Department and the intelligence community are developing war plans and an operations center to fend off Chinese and Russian attacks on U.S. military and government satellites, according to an article in DefenseOne.com

The ops center, to be opened within six months, will receive data from satellites belonging to all government agencies, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said Tuesday at an annual intelligence conference sponsored by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.

“(We) are going to develop the tactics, techniques, procedures, rules of the road that would allow us … to fight the architecture and protect it while it’s under attack,” Work said. “The ugly reality that we must now all face is that if an adversary were able to take space away from us, our ability to project decisive power across transoceanic distances and over match adversaries in theaters once we get there … would be critically weakened.”

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The Pentagon’s top officials are expected to make final decisions about whether to open all combat jobs to female service members, according to Military Times.

More than two years have passed since then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stunned the military community by announcing plans to change the longstanding rule technically excluding women from serving in combat roles — more than 300,000 jobs in all, many of Army and Marine Corps infantry and armor units.

Deadlines looming later this year will force the military’s top brass either to clear a path to eliminate all gender restrictions, or serve up a good reason why not by requesting a formal waiver to the forcewide policy.

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The U.S. Navy has selected more than three dozen female enlisted sailors to qualify to serve aboard a submarine in a historic first for the sea service as part of a plan to more fully integrate women into the undersea force, according to Military.com.

In total, 38 women made it through the competitive application process for screening to join the crew of the USS Michigan, an Ohio-class guided missile submarine based in Bangor, Washington. The sailors include four chief petty officers and 34 positions of E-6 and below across two crews, according to the Navy.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the amount of interest shown by enlisted women in wanting the opportunity to serve in the undersea warfare domain,” Rear Adm. Charles Richard, commander of Submarine Group 10, said in a statement. “It’s an exciting time in the submarine force, as we continue to move forward in shaping the future of our force, drawing from the best pool of talent possible.”

This story was originally published June 24, 2015 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Roger That: Pentagon may establish center to defend U.S. spy satellites against attacks."