White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the U.S. Space Force “absolutely” has the “full support of the Biden administration,” Axios reports.

“Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed hundreds of members of the Pentagon’s policy advisory boards Monday, ousting last-minute Trump administration nominees as well as officials appointed by previous administrations,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“By removing members, effective Feb. 16, Mr. Austin avoided selectively firing those appointed by the Trump administration.”

The Intercept: “Tensions ran so high at the Department of Homeland Security’s oversight wing that one senior official fantasized about Arya Stark, the fictional assassin in Game of Thrones, ‘taking care of’ the agency chief.”

“The investigation, conducted in 2020 by an outside law firm, reveals bureaucratic infighting so bitter that it drove out an agency head and led to an array of startling allegations, including that a high-level official made threatening comments about a concealed weapon during a meeting. The investigation paints a picture of DHS’s Office of Inspector General in chaos.”

“The commander of the D.C. National Guard said the Pentagon restricted his authority ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, requiring higher level sign-off to respond that cost time as the events that day spiraled out of control,” the Washington Post reports.

“Local commanders typically have the power to take military action on their own to save lives or prevent significant property damage in an urgent situation when there isn’t enough time to obtain approval from headquarters.”

“But Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said the Pentagon essentially took that power and other authorities away from him ahead of a pro-Trump protest on Jan. 6. That meant he couldn’t immediately roll out troops when he received a panicked phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that rioters were about to enter the U.S. Capitol.”

“President Joe Biden is set to issue an executive order to reverse a Pentagon policy that largely bars transgender individuals from joining the military, dumping a ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office,” the AP reports..

“Biden has been widely expected to overturn the Trump policy in his early days in office. The White House could announce the move as early as Monday.”

An NPR analysis has found that nearly 1 in 5 people charged over their alleged involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol appear to have a military history.

The House is expected to vote Thursday on a waiver to permit retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense in the Biden administration, CNN reports.

“Austin, who would be the first African American to run the department, needs to be granted a waiver from a law requiring a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job.”

The Senate confirmed Avril Haines, President Biden’s pick to lead the sprawling U.S. intelligence community Wednesday, delivering the newly inaugurated president his first Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Associated Press: “Two U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. A U.S. Army official and a senior U.S. intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias.”

“No plot against Biden was found.”

“The FBI privately warned law enforcement agencies Monday that far-right extremists have discussed posing as National Guard members in Washington and others have reviewed maps of vulnerable spots in the city — signs of potential efforts to disrupt Wednesday’s inauguration,” according to an intelligence report obtained by the Washington Post.

“The document, a summary of threats that the FBI identified in a Monday intelligence briefing, warned that both ‘lone wolves’ and adherents of the QAnon extremist ideology, some of whom joined in the violent siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6, have indicated they plan to come to Washington for President-elect Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony.”

“U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event,” the AP reports.

“The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. And it underscores fears that some of the very people assigned to protect the city over the next several days could present a threat to the incoming president and other VIPs in attendance.”

The National Security Agency is “moving forward” to install Michael Ellis, a former GOP political operative and White House official, as the agency’s top lawyer, the Washington Post reports.

It comes just a few days before President Trump leaves office, and complicates the Biden administration’s options for immediately replacing him.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS News that he doesn’t believe President Trump should receive intelligence briefings after he leaves office, as he “can’t be trusted” with the nation’s secrets.

Said Schiff: “There is no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing — not now, not in the future. I don’t think he can be trusted with it now, and in the future he certainly can’t be trusted.”

Acting defense secretary Christopher Miller ordered the director of the National Security Agency to install on Saturday a former GOP political operative as the NSA’s top lawyer, the Washington Post reports.

It is unclear what the NSA will do.