President Donald Trump has vowed to rebuild the U.S. military strength and called on lawmakers to fully fund defense operations and put an end to military spending cuts in his first state of the union address, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Trump cited the threats posed by foreign countries such as North Korea, Iran, China and Russia as well as terrorism to national security and pledged to launch “a campaign of maximum pressure” against North Korea’s nuclear missile initiatives.

“In confronting these dangers, we know that weakness is the surest path to conflict, and unmatched power is the surest means of our defense,” he said.

He also mentioned his administration’s military strategy in Afghanistan as well as the role of U.S. military missions against the Islamic State militant group in the Middle East, the report added.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, has said he believes the current DISA structure better supports clients because of the agency’s mission partner engagement model.

The retiring DISA director also credited the designation of responsibilities to individuals for each focus areas including business and development, operations and resource management as a factor in the development of the agency, the agency said Monday.

“I think [from when I first served at DISA to now] we have a much sharper focus on the customer … The agency wasn’t designed back then to support customers as well as it is now,” said Lynn.

“DISA is leaning forward and has put a mission engagement person in every mission partner organization,” he added.

He talked about three project he was proud to have been part of including the development of the DISA civilian workforce, the transformation of the Defense Department‘s mobility capacities and the creation of the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network.

DISA noted Lynn will retire from active duty following a 38-year career in service on Feb. 2.

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Nancy Norton will succeed Lynn for the DISA directorship role and command of the JFHQ-DODIN.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has called on Defense Department personnel to read and “internalize” the U.S. military’s new defense strategy, which was partially unveiled on Jan. 19, DoD News reported Monday.

Shanahan said the more than two million employees of DoD should understand the new National Defense Strategy to help boost the lethality of the joint force, reinforce existing alliances and create new partnerships.

He added that DoD is creating its fiscal year 2019 budget based on the strategy’s framework.

The National Defense Strategy would also serve as the foundation for DoD’s initiatives in FY 2020, according to Shanahan.

The deputy defense secretary noted that the strategy prioritizes investments in people in an effort to achieve “greater will and greater jointness.”

The Senate has confirmed Rickey Dale James, a manager at family farming business A.C. Riley Cotton Company, as assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for civil works and head of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Northern Kentucky Tribune reported Monday.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said James will help address water infrastructure needs across U.S. in his new role.

James has served on the Mississippi River Commission for 36 years beginning December 1981.

He was a member of the board of directors of the U.S. Bank of Sikeston in Missouri and the New Madrid County Board of Education.

James has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Kentucky.

Brig. Gen. Michael Schmidt, program executive officer for fighters and bombers at the U.S. Air Force, has been assigned to a new role as the service branch’s PEO for command, control, communications, intelligence and networks, the Defense Department announced Monday.

Schmidt has led efforts to develop, field, modernize, produce and sustain the Air Force’s bomber and fighter portfolio since April of last year.

His military career also includes various positions at the Special Operations Command,  Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, 696th Armament Systems Squadron and the Office of Air Force Legislative Liaison.

He also served as engineer and manager for the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, Joint Strategic Target Attack Radar System and F-22 programs.

The Air Force appointed Col. Heath Collins, formerly senior materiel leader and system program manager for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Systems Program Office at the Air Force‘s Nuclear Weapons Center, to succeed Schmidt as PEO for bombers and fighters.