Navy

The president highlighted the issue in an address at the U.S. Naval Academy.

President Obama is expected to address the increase in military sexual assaults during his commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday, according to CNN.

Earlier this month the Pentagon released a report that found the number of estimated sexual assaults had increased by more than a third in 2012 to 26,000.

At a press conference following the report's release Obama said the administration must "step up our game" to root out sexual assault in the military.

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) is demanding that the Navy face up to fiscal realities by overhauling its shipbuilding plan. 

A bipartisan group of more than two-dozen lawmakers say Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel should “change course” and allow the Navy to avoid furloughing its civilian employees.

The 27 House lawmakers wrote a letter to Hagel on Tuesday calling his decision to require civilian furloughs across the services “misguided.”

“The idea of mandating civilian furloughs across the DOD flies in the face of implementing sequestration prudently,” the lawmakers said in the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.).

Navy leaders are pushing to get the service's shipbuilding workforce off the hook from looming furloughs. 

After spending billions to get the Navy's premiere warship ready for combat, the vessel is still falling short of expectations.  

Read more...

Adm. James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, and chief of U.S. European Command, has been appointed a dean at Tufts University.

Stavridis was named dean of the university’s Fletcher School, a graduate school for international affairs, the university announced Monday.

Stavridis will begin at Tufts after he retires from the Navy this summer.

A top House Republican is pushing for a massive increase in Navy shipbuilding that would bump spending to levels last seen in the mid-1980s.

Rep Randy Forbes (R-Va.), who is chairman of the sea power subpanel of the House Armed Services Committee, said his goal in the 2014 budget deliberations is to rebuild the Navy’s fleet, not just preserve it.

"We are entering the decade of sea power ... [so] what is the risk to the United States" if naval power continues to fall by the wayside, Forbes asked during a hearing.

Forbes’s move sets the stage for a battle over the Armed Services panel’s spending plan for fiscal year 2014.

A substance on a suspicious letter tested negative for hazardous material and the Arlington, Va., building reopened, the Navy said.

Adm. James Stavridis has been appointed chair of the board at the U.S. Naval Institute, a position he will take over when he retires from the military later this year.

Stavridis will move into the new role in mid-summer, after he completes his tenure as NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and head of U.S. European Command, the Naval Institute said Thursday.

The Naval Institute is an independent association that serves as a think tank and historical organization focused on the Navy.