Horizon cutting-room links: Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Today is Wednesday, 2 April 2025. At the Horizon, we covered Guantánamo’s $40 million price tag to house under 400 migrants and the Pentagon’s accelerated cuts to its civilian workforce, among other stories and protests. Here are your cutting-room links.

“New Defense Department experimentation series targets data integration,” Defense News

“The office runs a regular experimentation event every 90 days called the Global Information Dominance Experiment, or GIDE, which is focused on taking capabilities designed to connect forces across domains and test them in an operational context. … Sheppard said that while larger GIDEs function more as operational test demonstrations, the smaller events explore how the team can get after more discrete technical or systems integration issues that need to be resolved before conducting the larger experiments.”

“’If I kind of map out those smaller integrations that have to occur between the larger GIDE, I can then use the GIDE to really focus on, How do I get the leave-behind capability for the users,’ Sheppard said.”

“Pentagon to offer new round of voluntary resignations, retirements,” Defense News

“The Defense Department is going to offer a new round of voluntary resignations and retirements to the civilian workforce, but details are slim.

“In a brief memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would ‘immediately’ offer voluntary early retirements and begin another deferred resignation plan. He warned that ‘exemptions should be rare,’ but provided no specifics on what the offers will look like or say whether they would go out to the entire civilian workforce of more than 900,000.”

“FirstNet exceeds 7 million subscribers,” RCR Wireless News

AT&T's FirstNet network for first responders has surpassed 7 million subscribers and expanded its coverage to nearly 3 million square miles, while emphasizing the critical need for reauthorization of the FirstNet Authority by Congress to ensure continued access to essential communication tools. AT&T has added 20,000 square miles of terrestrial wireless coverage in the past year and currently operates over 11,000 indoor signal boosters to enhance connectivity for public safety officials, but the Horizon notes Verizon has long had inroads in emergency responder coms, and T-mobile is making a strong play with its 5G SA network.

“New FDA commissioner agreed to oust top vaccine regulator after private swearing-in,” Politico

“The forced removal was Makary’s first major act as commissioner and sent a powerful signal to a stunned Washington that was already anxious about the role vaccine skepticism would play under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department. Makary and Kennedy had previously agreed to push out Marks, who led the FDA’s vaccine division for more than eight years, as part of a broader overhaul of HHS leadership.”

“Amid the restructuring, Marks’ ouster has generated outsize concern within the FDA and across the health care landscape. Vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Novavax saw their stocks drop sharply when the market opened Monday.”

“Elon Musk Visits CIA to Discuss DOGE Cuts,” New York Times

“Elon Musk visited C.I.A. headquarters on Monday to discuss his efforts to downsize the government as a federal judge ordered the agency to reconsider its firings of employees who had been assigned to diversity recruiting.” ”Officials would not describe in detail the nature of Mr. Musk’s visit. But John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, has been shrinking the agency and considering a wider reorganization.”

“US approves sale of F-16s to the Philippines in $5.5bn weapons package,” Defense News

“The U.S. State Department has approved a prospective sale of 20 F-16 aircraft to the Philippines, part of a larger package that includes hundreds of medium-range, air-to-air missiles, bombs, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition, worth $5.58 billion.

“The official notice of the sale follows U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth’s trip to the Philippines last week, and it comes ahead of the annual Balikatan exercises, a joint military drill between the long-time treaty allies.”

“Air traffic controller charged after scuffle at Reagan National tower,” Politico

“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said its officers responded to an incident on March 27 where controllers got into a fight at the control tower, according to media reports. One person, Damon Marsalis Gaines — who works in controller operations, according to LexisNexis — has been charged with assault and battery.”

“It’s not clear exactly what happened to spark the fight, but controllers at the airport’s tower are still reeling from January’s midair disaster where an Army Black Hawk helicopter and PSA Airlines regional jet collided over the Potomac River, killing 67 people.”

“Korean Air joins hands with Anduril for autonomous drone development,” Korea Herald

“Korean Air Co., South Korea's flagship air carrier, said Wednesday it has signed an initial agreement with US defense technology company Anduril Industries Inc. for joint development in autonomous aerial vehicles.”

“Korean Air said it has been actively advancing AAV technology, including the production of medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles for the Korean military.”