Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the Defense Department must identify an organizational framework that will allow the U.S. military to keep pace with new and emerging threats, DoD News reported Monday.

“We need to make sure in the context of transregional, multidomain, multifunctional conflicts that we have the right command-and-control construct in place to integrate joint capabilities and support rapid decisionmaking by national command authorities,” Dunford told DoD News.

Jim Garamone writes Dunford added U.S. military leaders will examine the department’s Unified Command Plan and submit recommendations to the defense secretary and Congress.

UCP was developed out of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, a defense reorganization law enacted in 1986, Garamone reports.

Dunford told reporters during a visit in Stuttgart, Germany, he also believes the U.S. should pay close attention to Russia’s capability development efforts, according to a subsequent DoD News report.

He said he is willing to meet with his Russian counterpart Gen. Valery Gerasimov to discuss U.S.-Russia military relations and other significant matters, the report noted.

“No matter what the relationships are between states, it’s important to keep the lines of communication open,” Dunford added.

The U.S. Navy will remove one of its two reserve helicopter sea combat squadrons from service in March as part of a reorganization program, Navy Times reported Sunday.

Meghann Myers writes the military branch has decided to decommission the Norfolk, Virginia-based HSC-84 Red Wolves and retain the San Diego-headquartered HSC-85 Firehawks.

HSC-84 has performed special operations with HH-60H helicopters and is a recipient of 120 Air Medals with Valor, 13 Bronze Stars and three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Myers reports.

Lt. j.g. Kara Yingling, a Navy spokesperson, told the publication that the branch also plans to establish two tactical units to fly MH-60S helicopters and support missions on the East Coast and West Coast.

“The TSU construct is still being finalized, but each TSU might have up to billets for 79 officers and enlisted,” Yingling added, according to the report.

The Defense Department is seeking to adopt joint enterprise licensing agreements in a move to reduce program costs, Federal Times reported Wednesday.

John Edwards and Eve Keiser write JELAs require DoD to combine all project requirements into a single agreement that addresses all of the defense organizations’ needs.

Organizations with similar requirements will forge licensing agreements with government contracting companies under the approach, according to the report.

Federal Times reports DoD wants to apply JELAs to high volume deployments as part of the department’s transition to commercial cloud and cyber.

U.S. Navy Capt. David Manero, special assistant to the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been appointed defense attache to Russia.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, announced Manero’s new assignment in a Defense Department news release published Thursday.

The Navy Attache Affairs office screens and selects the candidates who will represent the service branch to international governments.

President Barack Obama also endorsed Manero’s promotion to the rank of rear admiral in April 2015.

The nearly 30-year Navy veteran also serves as integration branch head for international affairs at the chief of naval operations office.

He previously served as chief of the Europe division and security cooperation programs division of the U.S. European Command.