Defense Secretary James Mattis has said he expects the Defense Department‘s general purpose forces to perform missions currently designated to special operations teams such as support activities in Iraq and Syria, DoD News reported Friday.

Mattis noted the changes will be the result of policy changes as well as the advancement of general purpose forces’ capacities which will involve technologies previously used exclusively by special operations teams including remotely piloted vehicles.

He added the evolution of general purpose forces’ tasks is a product of lessons learned from war and the DoD will work to distribute equipment for troops who will help address current challenges.

The Defense Secretary also said the experiences of war since the 9/11 incident happened have made it difficult to differentiate conventional operating forces from their special operations forces peers.

The first members of the Iraqi Border Guard Force have completed 12 days of training under the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve.

The Defense Department said Sunday the Iraqi Border Guard Force was formed to strengthen border security against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Members of the guard force underwent a program in which they were trained to use new equipment designed to support border security.

Officials said that the guard force was given over $300 million worth of pre-packaged shipping containers that each stored defensive barriers, first aid, metal detectors, a generator, a tent and vehicles.

“Coalition trainers at Besmayah Training Complex are instructing border guard units in the employment of this new system, which is scheduled for distribution along Iraq’s western border during the coming year,” said Col. Brian Ellis, partner force development director for the CJTF-OIR.

Training was led in cooperation with the Spanish Civil Guard.

Robin Swan, deputy director of the U.S. Army‘s office of business transformation, has said that the military branch should change its culture to spur innovation.

Swan stated at the 2017 Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition that the Army’s current culture is risk averse, prompting program managers to avoid high-reward but high-risk approaches, the service branch said Friday.

He added that the Army should allocate a portion of its budget to high-reward, high-risk strategies in critical areas to encourage disruptive technology development.

Innovation could also be fostered through talent management and an incentive program that would give innovators monetary rewards or recognition from top Army leaders, according to Swan.

The deputy director noted that the military branch’s leaders should encourage soldiers and civilian personnel to move forward with their ideas even if there is a risk of failure.

The Army unveiled three efforts meant to support innovation in the past year, including the “Army Innovation Strategy 2017-2021,” which aims to optimize the service’s planning and program resourcing processes.

A digital crowdsourcing program called the Army Ideas for Innovation was also launched to seek ideas from the Defense Department community on how the Army can boost innovation.

The military branch also created the Army Futures Command that includes eight cross-functional teams tasked to shorten the Army’s requirements development process from five years down to one.

The U.S.-led Global Coalition against the Islamic State militant group has liberated 98 percent of the territories claimed by ISIS in 2017.

The Defense Department‘s Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve said in a year-end review posted Monday that the coalition’s 70 member nations and four member organizations helped free cities in Iraq and Syria, including Mosul, Hawijah, al-Qaim, Tal Afar, Raqqah and Tabqah.

Lt. Gen. Paul Funk, commanding general of CJTF-OIR, stated that more than 23,700 square miles of territory were retrieved from ISIS.

“This means more than 4.5 million people were liberated from [ISIS] oppression in 2017 – a remarkable achievement by our partners leading to a grand total of 7.7 million people over the three years of Operation Inherent Resolve,” Funk added.

He noted that ISIS militants might still be able to return and the group’s permanent defeat can only be achieved through coalition and international efforts.

The Iraqi government will continue to rebuild the country over the next year and the Syrian military will engage in the final phases of efforts to liberate the middle Euphrates River valley, CJTF-OIR said.

The Coalition aims to build on the training of Iraqis and Syrian forces as well as support international initiatives to mitigate ideology-based terrorism and boost global security.

The U.S. Navy has returned the USS Frank Cable submarine tender to working status following a series of repairs and upgrades in the amount of $56 million.

Vigor Industrial performed the maintenance, repair and modernization procedures under Frank Cable’s dry-dock repair availability before the ship’s departure on Dec. 21, 2017 from Portland, Oregon, the Navy said Thursday.

Sailors and members of the Military Sealift Command worked together to support the ship’s maintenance and repairs during a span of over eight months.

The Frank Cable received main reduction gear foundation repair, collection holding tank replacement and over 600,000 pounds of new steel.

“The Navy and Military Sealift Command crew worked very hard during this shipyard period to maximize repairs and material conditions,” said Master Capt. Patrick Christian of MSC Ship.

“Now we are ready to rejoin the fleet and get back on our mission,” he added.

Guam Repair Sailors who are temporarily designated to Frank Cable’s sister ship, the USS Emory S. Land, will rejoin the underway crew to follow the two-tender concept.

The concept entails the Frank Cable’s and Emory S. Land’s respective crews to collaborate with each other for repair and resupply procedures.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said he met with Ellen Lord, top acquisition chief at the Defense Department; and Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency; to determine ways on how to accelerate the foreign military sales process, Defense News reported Friday.

Shanahan told reporters in a Dec. 21 interview that DoD considers the Middle East, Japan and South Korea as the three focus areas to expedite the FMS process.

Lord, meanwhile, introduced six pilot Procurement Action Lead Time programs in an effort to award a contract within 210 days of the solicitation’s release.

Tom Crosson, a spokesman for DSCA, wrote in an email that Hooper aims to expand partnerships with industry in 2018.

“The agency is now coordinating with industry partners to conduct more in-depth briefings to allow the director to better understand the partner’s short-term objectives, long range strategies and how these are related to DSCA’s role in building partner capacity,” Crosson noted.