The U.S. Air Force has identified four candidate bases that could house the first set of first Reserve-led F-35 fighter jets and a set of criteria to find potential bases for two Air National Guard squadrons that will receive F-35A variants.

The Air Force said Tuesday it will announce its choice in the fall between Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas and Whiteman AFB, Missouri.

The first Reserve-led location and the Air National Guard squadrons will start to receive their F-35A aircraft in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Criteria to select candidate bases for the squadrons includes mission requirements, space and facility features, environmental requirements and cost considerations.

Candidate bases will be chosen from Guard installations with runways of approximately 8,000 feet and operational A-10, F-16 or F-15.

Air Force leaders will identify installations in the summer and those locations will be subsequently visited by the Air Combat Command and Air National Guard to perform site surveys.

The U.S. Navy has named Rear Adm. Kevin Kovacich as the new director of plans and policy for U.S. Cyber Command under the Joint Staff J5.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson announced Tuesday the appointment of Kovacich, who currently serves as the director of strategy, plans and programs for U.S. Africa Command.

Kovacich has completed more than 4,000 flight hours throughout his stints with the Golden Intruders of VA-128, Carrier Group One, Black Lions of VF-213, Flying Eagles of VFA-122, VF-211 Checkmates, Carrier Air Wing Eight and Carrier Strike Group 12.

He has also served in various staff tours across the Navy and Joint Staff.

He has received a number of service awards including the James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

Kovacich, a certified public accountant, holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the California State Polytechnic University and a master’s degree in political science from Auburn University.

The U.S. Navy has appointed Rear Adm. Roy Kelley, formerly commander of Carrier Strike Group 12, as director of its newly created Joint Strike Fighter Fleet Integration Office.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced Tuesday the new role of Kelley, who will be responsible for the integration of the F-35 aircraft into the military branch’s combat inventory.

Kelley will also work to help Navy equities meet initial operational capability requirements in coordination with the joint program office, partner nations and industry.

Kelley joined the military in August 1986 as a naval aviator at Naval Air Station Kingsville in Texas and has held various roles during his flying, shore and command tours.

He previously served as chief of naval air training between 2013 and 2015 and has supported the Navy’s Operation Inherent Resolve activities aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt as part of his tenure as the Carrier Strike Group 12’s chief.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter went on an official visit to India from April 10 to 13 in an effort to expand U.S.-India defense collaboration and revisit existing agreements through talks with Raksha Mantri Shri Manohar Parrikar, India’s defense minister.

The Defense Department said Tuesday Carter and Parrikar met in Goa to review steps for the bilateral defense agreement signed in June and discuss future moves to be prioritized by each country for the coming year.

The defense heads discussed plans to expand partnership under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, bolster U.S. support for the Indian government’s Make in India program and explore opportunities in maritime security, DoD said.

Carter and Parrikar also announced an agreement in principle to ink a logistics exchange memorandum of agreement that seeks to build on military cooperation and technology sharing, the department added.

They also expressed interest in moving forward with a “white shipping” arrangement that will work to enhance data sharing on commercial shipping traffic as part of the India-U.S. Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, DoD said.

Rear Adm. Christian Becker, program executive officer for C41 and space systems at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, has been chosen to lead the command that oversees procurements of information warfare technologies for the U.S. Navy.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, announced Becker’s appointment in a Defense Department release posted Tuesday.

Becker has managed SPAWAR’s C4I and space systems programs since July 2013.

Prior to his current role, he served as deputy PEO of enterprise information systems at Navy, chief engineer of the Navy’s Integrated Strike Planning and Execution Systems Program Office and commander of SPAWAR’s Space Field Activity.

He has also managed a national security space system program for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Earlier in his military career, the Navy assigned him the roles of EA-6B electronic counter measures officer and plank-owner of the Joint CREW Composite Squadron 1 that was established as part of the branch’s efforts to integrate electronic warfare into its anti-improvised explosive device operations.

A report by the chief Freedom of Information Act officer at the Defense Department says some agencies under DoD encounter a substantial number of FOIA requests or disparate requests from one or two individuals, the Federation of American Scientists reported Monday.

Steven Aftergood wrote in a FAS blog that one particular individual has submitted more than 400 initial FOIA requests and 54 appeals to the office of the secretary of defense/Joint Staff in the last two years.

“This process adversely affects initial request processing which usually leads to more litigation and disgruntled requesters who do not understand why the requester service centers and public liaisons cannot provide more satisfactory solutions,” according to the report obtained by FAS.

Aftergood suggested that Congress should ask the Government Accountability Office to develop cost estimates of the demand for FOIA requests from individuals.

“Then Congress could decide either to appropriate that amount of money, or to adjust the requirements of the law to match the available resources,” he added.

FBI Director James Comey has called on the U.S. government and the public to work together and identify ways to discuss issues of security and privacy related to encryption.

Comey noted in a speech delivered Wednesday at the Center for the Study of American Democracy Biennial Conference at Kenyon College in Ohio that it is challenging to establish conversations about the impact of encryption on national security and law enforcement.

“Ubiquitous strong encryption is bringing significant change to the way we think about liberty and security,” Comey said.

“We should try to have a thoughtful conversation about what we do about it as a people.”

He also discussed how the litigation between the U.S. government and Apple over the iPhone 5C of a terrorist involved in the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California incited several individuals to look for ways to get encryption data from the phone.

Comey also cited his views on the issue of privacy at the conference.

“You may still end up disagreeing with the government, but starting from the position that privacy should be absolute is just not a fair-minded place to be in my estimation,” he said.

“It’s also not the case I believe that any infringement on privacy is to be feared,” Comey added.