Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary, has said that approximately 7,500 sailors will depart San Diego as part of a regularly scheduled deployment to boost U.S. presence in the western Pacific, DoD News reported Thursday.

Karen Parrish writes Cook added the sailors from the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group will head to the region to conduct maritime security operations, bilateral exercises and theater security cooperation efforts.

The report said that the U.S. will also implement a series of actions to reflect the country’s commitment to collective security and help NATO allies maintain peace and stability.

“Tanks, trucks and other equipment are scheduled to arrive in Europe this weekend, beginning a nine-month rotation of U.S. Army forces supporting Operation Atlantic Resolve,” said Cook.

“This effort is part of our European Reassurance Initiative to maintain persistent, rotational presence of air, land, and sea forces in Central and Eastern Europe.”

He noted that troops and equipment from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division will be relocated throughout Europe for training and exercises with allies in the region.

The U.S. Navy has subordinated the Center for Information Warfare Training’s learning sites under training commands in a move to increase oversight of the facilities.

The service branch said Tuesday that CIWT’s 12 learning sites will be renamed “information warfare training sites” and placed under the control of Information Warfare Training Commands in Virginia Beach, Corry Station, Monterey and San Diego.

CIWT detachments at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Goodfellow, Texas will continue to report directly to CIWT, the Navy added.

“The goal is to bring the sites closer to where the training happens,” said CIWT Commanding Officer Bill Lintz.

Lintz added the reorganization will work to optimize control over the quality of training and give sites “an immediate superior that can provide the greatest level of assistance.”

CIWT aligned each IWTS to an IWTC based on mission and proximity.

The center was established to provide trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services.

The Defense Department will conduct a feasibility study on the use of locking vials to prevent opioid pilfering and abuse in an effort to comply with a provision in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

Safe RX said Thursday the Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act also provides funds to state and local government agencies to research the impact of dispensing controlled substances in locking repositories.

The National Narcotics Officers Association, D.A.R.E. and the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse have urged Michael Botticelli, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, to persuade federal agencies to support the use of lockable containers for dispensing of controlled substances.

Safe RX president and CEO Milton Cohen said that locking prescription vials are projected to prevent drug abuse in as many as five million teenagers and return $56 billion to U.S. economy over a 10-year period.

President Barack Obama has assured the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman and military commanders that there would be continuity of leadership during during the U.S. government’s transition to a new administration, The Hill newspaper reported Wednesday.

Kristina Wong writes Obama made the statement in his last meeting with U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff; Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman; and combatant commanders.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure the next president will benefit from the same kinds of outstanding advice and service that these people around the table have provided me,” Obama said.

PBS reported Wednesday that the U.S. military also honored Obama during a farewell ceremony held at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia, where Defense Secretary Ashton Carter presented the Medal of Distinguished Public Service to the outgoing president.

President-elect Donald Trump currently works with his advisers on the development of a plan to restructure the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Damian Paletta and Julian Barnes write Trump also looks to modify the Central Intelligence Agency structure and relocate employees from the CIA headquarters in Virginia to field positions around the world.

“The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world has become completely politicized,” an anonymous source who is familiar with the planning group told the Wall Street Journal.

The report said that the incoming president has doubts over the CIA’s accuracy due to previous instances of faulty intelligence such as reports on Iraq’s weapons programs in 2002 and 2003.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) said that a collapse of ODNI may result in national security problems and management and integration will help agencies such as the CIA focus on its specific tasks.