Top 5     Read the 14-point memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran (Defense News) The memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran includes a 60-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a copy of the text obtained by Military Times. It also paves the way for sanctions relief and a $300 billion reconstruction incentive for the Islamic Republic – contingent upon a final deal being agreed.       Air Force identifies 8 people killed in B-52 crash (Military Times) The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday identified eight people killed in a B-52 Stratofortress crash at Edwards Air Force Base, California.       Vietnam War Recon Marine, James Capers Jr, to receive Medal of Honor (Task & Purpose) Nearly 60 years after he led his reconnaissance team through a harrowing ambush in South Vietnam — ignoring his numerous serious wounds — retired Maj. James Capers Jr. will finally be honored with the U.S. military’s highest award for valor on Thursday.       Doorstep grocery delivery expanding to all US commissaries (Military Times) Eligible customers will soon have access to doorstep delivery from all 178 commissaries in the United States, commissary officials announced Tuesday.       GM and Lockheed sign pact aimed at accelerating weapons production for US military (Stars and Stripes) General Motors and Lockheed Martin have agreed to explore ways to accelerate the production of American military equipment.   US Strikes in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific     A list of US military strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels (Military Times) Since early September 2025, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in support of what the Pentagon has called continued counternarcotics efforts.   Operation Timeline     The human impact of policy changes at the DOD and VA (The War Horse) An ongoing timeline of the Trump administration’s actions focusing on the military and veterans.   Pentagon     The Pentagon can’t fully track whether suicide prevention training is helping (Federal News Network) "There is no single entity that has a complete picture of suicide prevention training completion across the department," said Rashmi Agarwal.       Pentagon demands human performance data from services in fitness overhaul (Military Times) The Pentagon has quietly set in motion a yearlong strategy to unify the military services’ approach to boosting human performance and reaching “Total Force Fitness,” emphasizing a data-driven approach to achieving the desired results.   Congress & Politics     Senate NDAA rejects White House’s tiered military pay raise, proposes 3.6% increase (Federal News Network) The Senate’s support for a flat 3.6% military pay raise could complicate the White House’s effort to implement tiered pay increases in fiscal 2027.       Congress seeks to limit US Navy vessels built in foreign shipyards (Military Times) The Trump administration’s recent push to buy foreign-built warships is being waylaid by congressional defense committees who are seeking to limit the executive office’s ability to tap overseas construction yards to build out America’s naval fleet.       Pentagon’s ability to supply Ukraine with more Patriot interceptors questioned by Congress (The War Zone) Concerned with Ukraine’s ability to protect itself from the onslaught of Russian missile and drone attacks, the Senate Armed Services Committee is demanding to know if the Pentagon can increase deliveries of Patriot air defense system interceptors to that war-torn nation. This comes against the backdrop of extreme U.S. and allied demand on dwindling supplies of these weapons.       Senate, House defense bills seek to prevent renaming of US Navy vessels (Military Times) Congress is seeking to limit the authority of the Navy Secretary when it comes to changing the names of U.S. Navy vessels.   Your Military     Fair winds, INDOPACOM: Pentagon returns command name to US Pacific Command (Military Times) Another Pentagon-led name change was unveiled Tuesday, when it was announced that the military’s U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would be dropping “Indo” from its name and reverting back to the long used U.S. Pacific Command, or USPACOM.       Has the military been miscalculating spouse unemployment? (Military Times) For decades, military spouse employment policy has revolved around a single, stubborn statistic: unemployment.   Army     US Army’s ‘Tropic Lightning’ Division ponders transformation lessons from Philippine war games (Defense News) The U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division (25th ID) has undergone a veritable metamorphosis in the past few years, but Maj. Gen. James Bartholomees, its commanding general, explained even more transformation is coming.       Army ‘Most Wanted’ fugitive caught after 30 years on the run (Task & Purpose) Earlier this month, Nick Ricigliano finally came face to face with a fugitive he’d been tracking since 2019 and whom the Army had been after for nearly 30 years.   AIr Force     Air Force updates chaplain, maternity uniform guidance (Military Times) The U.S. Air Force now requires chaplains to wear the chaplain rank insignia and allows pregnant airmen to sport a maternity wrap dress.   Defense Industry     Air Force selects both General Atomics and Anduril for CCA production (Air & Space Forces Magazine) The Air Force has selected both General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Anduril Industries to build its first fleet of semi-autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft, based on their YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A drones, respectively.       Poland weighs joining X-BAT autonomous vertical-takeoff fighter program (Defense News) California-based defense technology firm Shield AI has offered Poland a role in its X-BAT autonomous vertical-takeoff fighter jet program, with the country potentially hosting some of the manufacturing activities for the aircraft, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.       Size matters: KNDS pitches long-barreled artillery for 60-kilometer base range (Defense News) KNDS, the French-German maker of the Leopard tank and the Caesar truck-mounted gun, pitched a new howitzer with a barrel longer than any NATO production artillery, which the company said gives the weapon a range of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) with standard high-explosive shells.   International     UK officials expect Russia to retaliate for seizure of shadow fleet oil tanker (The Guardian) No formal warning issued to captains or ship owners, but industry body says they are exercising greater vigilance       Iran sends tankers loaded with oil past US military blockade (BBC News) Three Iranian tankers loaded with crude oil have passed the US blockade line in the Gulf of Oman, ship-tracking data shows.       G7 hails unity on Russia as Trump signals tougher line on Moscow (France 24) G7 leaders welcomed growing unity on Wednesday in efforts to increase pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, amid signs US President Donald Trump is taking a tougher line on Moscow. Later, at the candlelit dinner in Versailles, Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East.       Japan’s defense chief challenges China’s military spending data (Bloomberg) Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi questioned the accuracy of China’s official military spending figures in a fresh sign that Tokyo is taking a tougher line in response to Beijing’s claims that its regional rival is pursuing “new militarism.”   Military Culture & History     Beyond the battlefield: How 3 Marine Raiders turned combat lessons into a healing mission (Military Times) Open this season of the video game “Battlefield 6,” and you might find yourself dropping into a firefight as one of the Strix Raiders, the special operations team at the center of the shooter’s “Nightfall” update.       Vietnam War Recon Marine, James Capers Jr., to receive Medal of Honor (Task & Purpose) Nearly 60 years after he led his reconnaissance team through a harrowing ambush in South Vietnam — ignoring his numerous serious wounds — retired Maj. James Capers Jr. will finally be honored with the U.S. military’s highest award for valor on Thursday.   Video     Ukrainian President Zelenskyy posts images of drones hitting Russian plants (Defense News) Watch Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian assets.       We need a bigger Navy’ — Fleet Forces commander talks ‘Golden Fleet,’ shipbuilding (Defense News) Adm. Karl Thomas, commander of the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, says expanding the U.S.’s ability to expand the fleet is key to long-term goals.       Autonomous undersea mapping: Terradepth wants to change the way the Navy sees the sea (Defense News) While every inch of terrestrial land on earth is mapped, the sea floor remains a mystery in many places. Terradepth wants to shed some light on the problem.       How much can you lift? Military Sealift Command takes lessons from Iran war (Defense News) Facing issues in supply lines with an enemy as sophisticated as Iran, the Military Sealift Command is fast learning lessons in contested logistics.       June 16th US military strike on suspected drug boat (Defense News) On June 16, U.S. Southern Command takes out suspected narco-trafficking vessel in Eastern Pacific strike. One killed, two survivors rescued.   Commentary & Analysis     Peace deal unlikely to stem Iran's hackers, US officials say (Defense One) The preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement reached over the weekend likely won’t stop cyber operations launched by Tehran and Iran-aligned hacking groups at American systems, five current and two former U.S. officials said.       Where things stand with the Pentagon’s $350 billion reconciliation request (Air & Space Forces Magazine) With key members of Congress wavering on the possibility of a $350 billion defense reconciliation bill, defense experts told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the Pentagon is likely drawing up budget backup plans—but such plans would face hard choices between high-end weapons and low-cost drones and other programs in U.S. military’s autonomous arsenal.       Why human intelligence matters more in an AI world (The Cipher Brief) An impending casualty of artificial intelligence, we are told, is the human spy. The conventional wisdom is that in our AI future, there’s little need to recruit agents, plan secret rendezvous, or conduct dead drops—the old-school tradecraft of espionage. “Human spies in the field will become rare,” wrote David Ignatius after surveying the growing field of AI intelligence startups. “The future of espionage is written in zeros and ones.”       A Marine walked into rehab like he owned the place, but learned you can’t BS a horse (The War Horse) No one ends up in rehab on a winning streak, but my collapse had been pretty spectacular.       AI is speeding up intelligence, but not the system around it (The Cipher Brief) AI is compressing parts of the intelligence cycle, but modernization is occurring unevenly across collection, analysis, validation, dissemination, and policymaker integration. The resulting friction—not the technology itself—creates the defining opportunity for IC leaders.