Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain has considered the possibility of military base closures and consolidation to support the reduction of wasted Defense Department funds, The Hill newspaper reported Tuesday.

Kristina Wong writes McCain and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) have discussed the issue of base closure and realignment which will potentially consolidate excess military bases.

“I think we have to examine all of the options that we have to make our military, our defense at the lowest possible cost to the American taxpayers,” said McCain.

“We must continue our reform efforts to make the Department of Defense more effective and efficient, while cutting wasteful spending.”

Lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have voted against the consolidation of military bases because of the potential negative impact such actions could bring on local communities and constituents.

Frank Klotz, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has been asked by President Donald Trump to remain as NNSA chief until the administration names a successor to the post, Albuquerque Journal reported Monday.

Mark Oswald writes the decision comes after Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) wrote Trump a letter to raise concerns about the lack of continuity in leadership at NNSA and its potential impact on national security work at the agency.

Klotz said in a Thursday memo to staff that Madelyn Creedon, principal deputy administrator at NNSA, and the other seven “non-career appointees” at the agency have left their posts, according to Gizmodo.

NNSA oversees the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, Oswald reports.

Aaron Mehta also reports for Defense News that Rick Perry, former governor of Texas and Trump’s pick for the Energy Department secretary role, has expressed his intention to keep Klotz as NNSA head during his Senate confirmation hearing.

“I have sat down with [Klotz] and had a good conversation with him, and have sent the message that it would certainly be my desire to have that continuity,” Perry said.

NNSA is an agency under DOE and is responsible for the development, disposal and maintenance of nuclear weapons, the report added.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis has spoken with his counterparts from Canada and U.K. as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Soltenberg to discuss collaborative plans, partnerships and defense ties between the U.S. and its allies, DoD News reported Monday.

DoD News reports Mattis and Canadian defense minister Harjit Sajjan talked about a shared commitment to maintain North America’s defense networks.

Mattis noted that the U.S.-Canada partnership spans bilateral and multilateral security missions such as efforts to address threats in Iraq.

He also thanked Michael Fallon, U.K.’s secretary of defense, for the latter’s commitment and contributions to U.S. international security.

Fallon and Mattis also pledged to meet at the NATO defense ministerial in February as well as collaborate in the coming months on efforts aimed at addressing threats from the Islamic State militant group.

Soltenberg’s call with Mattis tackled NATO’s role on the sustenance of transatlantic security as well as shared values with regards to defense and security.

A new report from IHS Markit says militant attacks worldwide rose from 18,987 in 2015 to 24,202 in 2016 with Syria and Iraq accounting for 45 percent of those attacks.

IHS Markit said Tuesday the Islamic State organization constituted approximately 18 percent of the global militant attacks and accounted for 39 percent of all non-militant casualties in 2016.

The findings are based on IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center’s annual Global Attack Index and open source-based global database that covers over 250,000 militant attacks since 2009 and monitors at least 1,000 non-state armed groups across the world.

“In southeast Asia, there is an increased likelihood that the Islamic State will declare an official wilaya or province in 2017,” said Otso Iho, senior analyst at JTIC.

“The Islamic State could use the declaration as a way to project its influence globally at a time when its fortunes in Iraq and Syria are waning,” Iho added.

Matthew Henman, head of JTIC, said the Jabhat Fath al-Sham group, formerly called Jabhat al-Nusra, is likely to pose a threat in 2017.

The report noted that Jabhat Fath al-Sham claimed 687 attacks in 2016, a figure that represents a 20 percent rise from the previous year.

Militant-related violence in Ukraine rose to nearly 4,500 in 2016, while Turkey showed a 110 percent increase in insurgencies followed by Yemen at 76 percent.

The report also noted that an average of 86 militant attacks per day occurred in October 2016.

Rear Adm. Craig Faller, chief of legislative affairs for the secretary of the U.S. Navy in Washington, has been appointed senior military assistant to the Defense Department secretary.

Acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, announced Faller’s new assignment in a DoD news release published Monday.

Rear Adm. James Loeblein will replace Faller in his role at the Navy.

Faller assumed the role of chief of legislative affairs for the Navy secretary in 2014 where he served as a principal liaison between the leaders of the Department of the Navy and congressional members.

The 34-year Navy veteran is former commander and director of operations at the U.S. Central Command.

Faller has served in other leadership posts at the service branch that include chief of the Navy Recruiting Command, executive assistant to the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command and head of surface nuclear officer programs and placement at the Navy Personnel Command.

His sea assignments include roles as operations officer aboard the USS Peterson (DD 969), commanding officer of the USS Stethem (DDG 63), reactor electrical division officer on the USS South Carolina (CGN 37) and commander of the Carrier Strike Group 3.