The Defense Department‘s senior leadership council has met to discuss “continued preparedness” ahead of DoD’s transition to new leadership, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Karen Parrish writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters that the meeting included briefings on regional issues such as North Korean and Russian aggression; the Islamic State militant group; change in the Asia-Pacific region; and countering Iran’s influence.

Carter added DoD leaders “will continue to make an important and lasting contribution to the future of our military.”

DoD’s senior leadership council includes heads of combatant commands and services.

The U.S. Marine Corps will transfer the homeport of an F-35B squadron from the military service’s air station in Yuma, Arizona to the branch’s station in Iwakuni, Japan.

MCAS Iwakuni will become the first location to accommodate the Lockheed Martin-built F-35B aircraft of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 as part of the service branch’s worldwide deployment effort, the Marine Corps said Tuesday.

Defense News reported Tuesday Capt. Kurt Stahl, a Marine Corps spokesman, said 10 F35Bs are scheduled to arrive at MCAS Iwakuni by Thursday and an additional six jets will eventually relocate to Japan to join VMFA-121.

The U.S. Air Force also looks to permanently station its first F-35A squadron at Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in England in 2020, according to the report by Valerie Insinna.

Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation at the Defense Department, has said that President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration should launch a comprehensive review of the F-35 program to examine “well-documented deficiencies” in the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft’s combat systems, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Anthony Capaccio writes Gilmore told Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) in a letter that the F-35 program office does not plan to “adequately fix and verify hundreds of these deficiencies using flight testing within its currently planned schedule and resources.”

Gilmore’s annual report on F-35 says military services identified 276 combat performance issues in the aircraft’s 3F software and that less than half of the deficiencies have been addressed, Capaccio reported.

DoD’s office of independent cost analysis has estimated that it will cost up to $1.12 billion to extend F-35’s development phase to as late as 2020 from the scheduled flight test completion in September 2017.

The F-35 program office said the phase could extend to May 2018 and will require an additional $530 million to complete.

Gilmore said combat tests that are currently scheduled to start in August will more likely be concluded in 2020, according to the report.

FBI Director James Comey has told Senate Intelligence Committee members at a hearing  that Russian hackers also targeted Republican data in the 2016 election campaign and that the documents revealed were less than the unveiled emails of Democrats, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Devlin Barrett writes Comey discussed incidents of alleged Russian hacking when he testified along with other intelligence chiefs during the committee meeting Tuesday.

The report said that part of the hearing tackled implications of Russia hacking and propaganda against U.S. democracy.

“There were successful penetrations of some groups and campaigns, particularly at the state level on the Republican side of the aisle, and some limited penetration of old [Republican National Committee] domains,” Comey told lawmakers.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) noted that Russian hacking aimed to make electoral candidates fight against each other and question the legitimacy of the elections.

Eight new Republican lawmakers have joined the House Armed Services Committee for the new session of Congress.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House panel, said in a statement released Tuesday the new HASC members will work to help reform and rebuild the U.S. military.

The new members of the House committee include:

• Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee
• Ralph Abraham of Louisiana
• Trent Kelly of Mississippi
• Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin
• Matt Gaetz of Florida
• Don Bacon of Nebraska
• Jim Banks of Indiana
• Liz Cheney of Wyoming

The House Armed Services Committee is responsible for the annual defense authorization bill that covers the Defense Department’s operations and the Energy Department’s national security functions.

The House panel has jurisdiction over programs and laws related to the armed forces, service personnel’s compensation and allowances, public contracts, National Guard, national defense and war, as well as shipping.

General  John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, has stressed the need for military modernization to help prevent nuclear threats in the future, Redstone Alabama reported Sunday.

Jeff Martin writes that to make General Hyten’s point he pointed out that the Defense Department’s latest ballistic missile submarine was commissioned in 1997, the newest land based intercontinental ballistic missiles were created in the 1970s and the U.S. Air Force still flies the legacy 1950s and 1960s era B-52 bombers.

The DoD could begin construction for the Columbia-class submarines intended to replace the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines in 2021 after the Columbia-class submarines entered Milestone B, the report says. However General Hyten warned that the results could be tough if the program is delayed.

“If the Ohio Class Replacement program gets delayed a year, every year that it gets delayed, I lose as the commander, or my successor, I’ll lose one submarine from the strategic force. Hyten Two years go by, two submarines drop out. At some point, you lose the sea element of that triad” Hyten told Redstone Alabama.

The “triad” he’s referring to is the strategic deterrent triad. Sea-based nuclear ballistic submarines provide one, nuclear-armed bombers provide a second, and nuclear-tipped ICBMs provide a third.

General Hyten added that modernization work for those programs is underway, Martin reports.

North Korea has said it has developed the capacity to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at any time and location that leader Kim Jong-Un dictates, Reuters reported Monday.

Jack Kim and Ju-min Park write the North Korean government indicated its arms development efforts are in response to U.S. policies.

Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has noted that North Korea’s ballistic missile defense and nuclear weapons programs reflect a “serious” threat to the U.S. and its allies and that U.S. defense forces are prepared to intercept potential missile launches or tests.

The report said the White House added it will employ diplomatic pressure and defensive measures such as anti-ballistic missile facilities across the Pacific to address the threat from North Korea.