Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work has issued a memorandum that lifts all restrictions on civilian hiring across the Defense Department and instructed all DoD officials to carefully examine recruitment activities, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Jared Serbu writes Work noted the Feb. 1 guidance on civilian hiring freeze exemptions is no longer in effect and that senior department leaders should follow the Office of Management and Budget‘s new hiring guidelines.

The White House lifted the federal hiring freeze in April after OMB released a set of recommendations to downsize the federal workforce.

Work also identified three factors department officials need to consider when they consider to fill job vacancies such as whether the position includes duties that meet mission requirements or can be transferred to lower levels of an organization with lower pay and can adapt any appropriate changes, according to the report.

He also urged DoD managers to use temporary employees to fill urgent recruitment needs and restrict hiring within the Senior Executive Service to meet a provision in the 2017 defense authorization bill that requires department to cut SES positions by 25 percent through 2022, the report stated.

The U.S. Air Force held an inaugural training exercise last month to help warfighters prepare for operations, problem-solving missions and potential space conflicts, Space News reported Wednesday.

Phillip Swarts writes the Space Flag event is based on the Air Force’s annual four-part Red Flag exercise and trained airmen on how to manage different in-orbit scenarios.

“Space Flag is the initial step to developing an advanced training program that parallels Red Flag, which prepares our combat air forces for success in the air domain,” said Col. DeAnna Burt, commander of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, told Space News.

“We know we need new systems to battle manage and command and control at the operational and tactical level of space operations, and Space Flag will point the way to fully describing the capabilities those future systems must provide,” Burt added, according to the report.

The service branch hosts air combat training exercises among U.S. military units from the U.S. and its allies as part of Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work has said the U.S. military’s superiority over potential competitors is beginning to wane due to adversaries’ level of investment and efforts to close the operational and technical gap, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Work testified before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee during a hearing Wednesday alongside William Roper, director of the Strategic Capabilities Office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Steven Walker, acting director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Work noted that artificial intelligence, autonomy and big data analytics will help the Defense Department operate stronger joint battle networks across all domains including cyberspace, electronic warfare and electromagnetic spectrum, Pellerin reported.

He added DoD must identify challenges that hinder the testing of new technologies.

Roper told the subcommittee that SCO re-imagines currently fielded military technologies in a push to create new functions and “regain the element of surprise,” according to report.

SCO works to evolve DoD’s playbook by updating systems to cross or blur domains; teaming systems to develop new warfighting concepts; and adapting commercial designs and technologies, Roper said.

Walker testified that DARPA’s work in the ares of physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, material science, electronics and engineering could help make U.S. the source of “strategic surprise,” Pellerin wrote.

He noted his written testimony describes more than a dozen examples of DARPA technologies that are transitioning to the military, the report stated.

An omnibus spending bill introduced by congressional appropriators would fund the modernization and procurement of AH-64 Apache helicopters for the U.S. Army to address recommendations from the National Commission on the Future of the Army, Defense News reported Monday.

Jen Judson writes the proposed bill allocates $262 million for seven new AH-64s and covers the annual operating costs of four attack helicopter battalions.

NCFA recommended that the Army National Guard maintain four Apache battalions amid a dispute between the active Army and Guardsmen over a 2013 decision to transfer all Apaches from the National Guard to active units.

The commission’s suggestions to retain an 11th Combat Aviation Brigade in South Korea and maintain a total force of at least 980,000 troops are also reflected in the spending package, Judson reported.

The bill would provide funds to upgrade existing Army Apaches; sustain a CAB in South Korea; and increase the military branch’s force size by up to 3,000 active soldiers, Guardsmen and reservists, according to the report.

House and Senate leaders on Sunday reached a $1 trillion budget deal to fund the government operations for the remaining months of its 2017 fiscal year.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Darrell Williams, commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Support Command and Sustainment Center of Excellence at Fort Lee, will take over as director of the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir.

DLA said Tuesday the Senate confirmed Williams’ new assignment as well as promotion to the rank of lieutenant general as he succeeds U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch, who will retire May 4.

The new DLA director returns to the agency where he served as commander of the land and maritime group based in Ohio from September 2010 to July 2012.

He has also held assignments as deputy chief of staff for Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal, director of logistics for engineering and security assistance at the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters, executive officer to the Army deputy chief of staff and deputy commander of the Coalition Forces Land Component Command at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

Williams has master’s degrees from the National Defense University, Army Command and General Staff College and Pennsylvania State University.