Gen. Charles Flynn — the younger brother of former National Security Advisor and coup-endorser Michael Flynn — assumed command of the U.S. Army’s forces in the Pacific, Stars and Stripes reports.

Bellingcat: “For U.S. soldiers tasked with the custody of nuclear weapons in Europe, the stakes are high. Security protocols are lengthy, detailed and need to be known by heart. To simplify this process, some service members have been using publicly visible flashcard learning apps — inadvertently revealing a multitude of sensitive security protocols about U.S. nuclear weapons and the bases at which they are stored.”

“The flashcards reveal not just the bases, but even identify the exact shelters with ‘hot’ vaults that likely contain nuclear weapons. They also detail intricate security details and protocols such as the positions of cameras, the frequency of patrols around the vaults, secret duress words that signal when a guard is being threatened and the unique identifiers that a restricted area badge needs to have.”

An unnamed senior official on the National Security Council gave an extraordinary first-hand account of a suspected directed energy attack near the White House last November to the New Yorker.

Said the official: “It came on very suddenly… In a matter of about seven minutes, I went from feeling completely fine to thinking, ‘Oh, something’s not right,’ to being very, very worried and actually thinking I was going to die.”

I wonder if the U.S. is engaged in silent retaliation for these attacks.

U.S. Army leaders rallied around a soldier featured in a recruitment video that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) mocked as representative of an “emasculated military,” reports Stars and Stripes.

Cruz retweeted a video that featured Cpl. Emma Malonelord, an air defense system operator stationed in South Korea.

Said Gen. Robert Abrams of Malonelord: “A superstar by any measure…exceptionally sharp, professional, technical expert, highly respected by her peers, superiors and subordinates.”

Associated Press: “The push to remove Confederate names from Pentagon properties, including storied Army posts, could eventually affect hundreds of items and facilities, the chair of the congressionally chartered Naming Commission said Friday.”

A commander in the Space Force was removed from his post following comments he made while promoting his self-published book, which argues that Marxist ideologies are becoming common in the military, Military.com reports.

“Mysterious episodes that caused brain injuries in spies, diplomats, soldiers and other U.S. personnel overseas starting five years ago now number more than 130 people, far more than previously known,” the New York Times reports.

“The number of cases within the C.I.A., the State Department, the Defense Department and elsewhere spurred broad concern in the Biden administration.”

Associated Press: “For 50 years the Minuteman missile has been armed and ready, day and night, for nuclear war on a moment’s notice. It has never been launched into combat from its underground silo, but this year it became the prime target in a wider political battle over the condition and cost of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.”

“Minuteman was not intended to last half a century, so it’s overdue to be replaced or refurbished. Some see this as a moment to push for scrapping it altogether, abandoning one leg of the traditional nuclear ‘triad’ — weapons that can be launched from land, sea and air. Most in Congress favor keeping the land-based leg by replacing Minuteman with a new missile; President Joe Biden’s position is not yet clear.”

“In a breakthrough for an eight-year-long effort, two senators behind legislation to revamp the way the military handles sexual assault cases and other serious crimes say the bill has the bipartisan votes to gain passage,” NPR reports.

“New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst said on Wednesday that the legislation would, for the first time, move cases out of the chain of command to trained, military prosecutors. Such cases would remain under military oversight, but instead be handled by criminal justice attorneys with relevant expertise, as opposed to commanders who often lack legal training.”

“A briefing on suspected energy attacks on US intelligence officers turned contentious last week, as senators demanded more information about the mysterious incidents from the CIA and accountability for how the agency has handled them,” CNN reports.

“Senators on the Intelligence Committee were baffled that they were just learning about significant developments for the first-time and they were also frustrated that they were not given more details. The classified briefing was one of the most contentious in the committee’s recent memory.”

“In a potentially significant shift in the debate over combating sexual assault in the military, the nation’s top general says he is dropping his opposition to a proposal to take decisions on sexual assault prosecution out of the hands of commanders,” the AP reports.

“Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped short of endorsing the changes recommended by an independent review panel. But in an interview, Milley said he is now open to considering them because the problem of sexual assault in the military has persisted despite other efforts to solve it.”

Garrett Graff: “The full story of how, and why, America’s top security officials decided to pull the trigger that night in May has never been told. This oral history—the story inside the West Wing and U.S. intelligence agencies as Neptune’s Spear coalesced over the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011—is based on extensive original interviews with nearly 30 key intelligence and national security leaders, White House staff, and presidential aides—including some who have never spoken publicly before, and roughly half of those pictured in Souza’s famous photograph.”

Associated Press: “President Joe Biden intends to keep the watchdog overseeing the U.S. intelligence community, a longtime intelligence official who rose to the post after his predecessor was fired by President Donald Trump for his role in Trump’s first impeachment.”

“Biden on Tuesday announced that he intended to nominate Thomas Monheim for Senate confirmation as the permanent inspector general.”

“A Pentagon panel is recommending that decisions to prosecute service members for sexual assault be made by independent authorities, not commanders, in what would be a major reversal of military practice and a change long sought by Congress members,” the Associated Press reports.