Rear Adm. Brian Antonio, former program executive officer for the U.S. Navy‘s littoral combat ships, has officially taken over the role of PEO for aircraft carriers during a change-of-command ceremony Wednesday.

The Navy said Wednesday Antonio has succeeded Vice Adm. Tom Moore, who will serve as commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson announced Antonio’s appointment in May.

Antonio brings more than 30 years of engineering experience from ship maintenance, modernization and acquisition assignments.

His previous roles include work as executive assistant and naval aide to the Navy assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition and as major program manager for future aircraft carriers.

PEO CV handles the construction, maintenance and modernization of aircraft carriers in support of aircraft delivery requirements.

The U.S. Coast Guard promoted Vice Commandant Charles Michel to the rank of admiral  during a ceremony held Wednesday at the Coast Guard headquarters in a move to follow the leadership structure of other services.

As vice commandant, Michel leads the Coast Guard’s senior operational and mission support commanders and headquarters staff, the service branch said Wednesday.

He previously served as deputy commandant for operations at the service branch and oversaw operational strategy, policy, guidance and resources, before he took the vice commandant role in August last year.

Michel held flag officer assignments with the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Joint Interagency Task Force South, the Coast Guard’s governmental and public affairs directorate and the Department of Homeland Security.

He also served as a commanding officer aboard USCGC Resolute, executive officer for USCGC Dauntless, commanding officer of USCGC Cape Current and deck watch officer for USCGC Decisive.

Michel was also a chief of the Office of Maritime and International Law, staff attorney for the Eighth Coast Guard District, head of the operations division for the Office of Maritime and International Law and legislative counsel for the Office of Congressional and Governmental Affairs.

The Defense Department has made its leader training module available online and on DVD at deployed and shipboard facilities to help educate personnel on the Pentagon’s new retirement system, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Karen Parrish writes the Blended Retirement System contains four modules such as the leader training conducted on Wednesday, installation and command financial counselors training set for the fall, current service members training scheduled in January 2017 and training for enrollees in January 2018.

Army Sgt. Maj. Luther Thomas Jr., senior enlisted advisor to DoD’s manpower and reserve affairs division, told DoD News that the first round of training is available to members not yet in the leadership roles as well as to leaders.

The BRS program covers service members with fewer than 12 years of active duty or with fewer than 4,320 retirement points in the reserve component aside from the more than 12-year active duty members, according to the report.

BRS also provides automatic enrolment for service members that join the program after Jan. 1, 2018, DoD News reports.

The leader training module is available on the Joint Knowledge Online and the MilitaryOneSource websites, Parrish reports.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has sent letters to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asking them to brief the panel about the offices their departments established in Silicon Valley, California.

The panel told Carter in a letter published Tuesday they want information on the goals, mission and functions of the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental as well as the organization’s manpower and funding levels.

The panel seeks similar information from Johnson regarding the Department of Homeland Security‘s Silicon Valley-based satellite office in a separate letter published Tuesday.

Chairmen and ranking members of the House oversight committee and its subcommittees called for a briefing on the matter by June 14.

The Defense Department launched DIUx last year in an effort to increase DoD’s partnership with technology companies and seeks to open a second outpost in Boston.

DHS established its SVO to help foster government-industry research and development partnerships, especially on cybersecurity.

U.S. Southern Command leader and U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd has outlined the security challenges posed by illicit networks in Latin America and the Caribbean, DoD News reported Thursday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes criminals and terrorists use illicit networks for smuggling drugs, wildlife, bulk cash, weapons, people, illegal logging and mining activities to raise money.

The report said the U.S. military collaborates with its partners such as other federal agencies and allies, diplomatic, law enforcement, and intelligence organizations to detect, illuminate and disrupt networks.

“The disruption piece is almost always going to be by partner-nation law enforcement organizations, or by partner-nation military organizations, so that drives a lot of our activities where we work closely to build their capacity to deal with these networks,” said Tidd.

Southcom deploys more than 7,000 service members in the region weekly to support the cooperation of 45 nations and territories of Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea, the report added.

Pellerin also noted that Southcom supports national and multinational efforts to address Zika virus through research on the transmission vectors, assistance on eradication efforts and supporting the international medical research effort to develop a vaccine.