Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has said conflicts on Earth can reach space in the future and the U.S. is preparing to address that possibility.

James took part in a breakout session at the Center for a New American Security’s annual conference in Washington to discuss U.S. views and strategies on the space enterprise, the U.S. Air Force said June 20.

James told discussion moderator Elridge Colby that space has become “contested” and “congested” due to an increase in commercial enterprises and countries that engage in space missions.

“From the standpoint of the United States, we are particularly concerned because we see that there are some countries around the world that are investing and testing in ways that are worrisome to us,” said James, a 2016 Wash100 recipient.

“There’s been a lot of momentum that has occurred just in the short two and a half years that I’ve been a direct observer on the scene in terms of strategy and budget and getting our heads around the fact that a future conflict on earth one day could extend to space.”

James further noted potential space attacks can be addressed with military, economic and diplomatic responses which the president will determine after possible consultation with international allies.

The U.S. Air Force is considering whether to adopt United Technologies‘ ACES 5 ejection seat for the F-35 fighter jet as a replacement for the Martin-Baker US16E version, Defense News reported Monday.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the service branch’s lead uniformed acquisition officer, told Defense News the service branch sent a letter to the F-35 Joint Program Office to learn the potential costs and challenges of switching ejection seats, according to the report by Aaron Mehta.

“We believe it is prudent to look at what it would take to qualify the ACES 5 seat as a potential risk mitigation step if additional things happen as we go through the testing of the Martin-Baker seat,” Bunch said.

“We have to have a seat that covers the whole envelope, all the demographics, from lightweight pilots to people who are [heavier], to be able to cover and allow them to be able to get out of the aircraft that we’re going to ask them to operate,” he added.

The F-35’s current ejection seats raised concerns inside the Air Force on safety when the branch learned that pilots weighed under 136 pounds were at a higher risk of injuries during ejection, Mehta noted.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection has begun to collect public comments on a proposal to add a question to U.S. arrival and departure record forms in order to collect information on foreign travelers’ social media identifiers.

CBP said in a Federal Register notice posted Thursday that it will also add the proposed question to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization in compliance with the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 that President Barack Obama signed into law in December as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016.

ESTA is designed for use by foreigners who plan to travel to the U.S. through the Visa Waiver Program.

CBP said in the notice that it plans to collect foreign travelers’ social media data to aid its investigation of “possible nefarious activity and connections.”

The agency noted that it will summarize and submit the feedback to the Office of Management and Budget to facilitate the review and approval process for its data collection request in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Comments to the proposal are due Aug. 22, according to the notice.

President Barack Obama has nominated U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dolan, commander of U.S. Forces Japan and Pacific Air Forces’ Fifth Air Force, as operations director (J-3) for the Joint Staff.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced his nomination in a DoD notice posted Friday.

Dolan will support the Joint Staff chairman, provide advice to Obama and Carter to guide combatant commanders and communicate operations and plans between the president, the defense secretary and combatant commanders in his new role.

He has held various positions in a number of overseas and domestic assignments, including as 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander in Iraq, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing and Kandahar Airfield commander in Afghanistan and the Pentagon’s deputy director of the legislative liaison for the Air Force.

He was the U.S. Pacific Command chief of staff prior to his current assignment.

U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, joint force development director on the Joint Staff, has testified during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing for a possible promotion as head of U.S. Africa Command, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Jim Garamone writes Waldhauser, who was nominated to serve as Africom commander in April, will also receive his fourth star and succeed Army Gen. David Rodriguez if confirmed to lead the combatant command.

The report noted Africom’s tasks involve helping build the capacity of allied nations to handle security as well as guard U.S. interests in the African continent.

“Terrorist organizations and terrorist activities conducted by such groups as the Islamic State in Libya [and] al-Shabab in Somalia are present and active across the continent,” Waldhauser said at the confirmation hearing.

“We have two significant objectives for the United States: one is to get the government of National Accord up and running, and the second is to disrupt [the Islamic State] inside Libya.”

Africom continues to work with African partners to develop environments that support partners in addressing security concerns, the report said.