Democrats were able to swat back scores of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., highlighted some wins, including a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.

This year’s spending bills were divided into two packages. The first one cleared Congress two weeks ago, just hours before a shutdown deadline for the agencies funded through the bills.

Now Congress is focused on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for the Defense Department, a more than 3% increase from last year’s levels. The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others.

“Congress must now race to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Nondefense spending will be relatively flat compared with the prior year, though some agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, are taking a hit, and many agencies will not see their budgets keep up with inflation.

When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and financing the country’s rising debt.

The House is expected to take the measure up first on Friday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., urged Republicans to vote for the measure, noting that more than 70% of the spending goes to defense.

“At at time when the world’s on fire, more than ever, we need to make sure that we are properly funding our nation’s defense and supporting our troops,” Scalise said.

Then it would move to the Senate where senators would have to agree on taking it up expeditiously to avoid a partial shutdown. Usually, such agreements include votes on proposed amendments to the bill.

Johnson described the bill as a serious commitment to strengthening national defense while expanding support for those serving in the military. The bill provides for a 5.2% pay increase for service members.

In promoting the bill, Republicans cited several ways it would help Israel. Most notably, they highlighted a prohibition on funding through March 2025 for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which is the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza.

Republicans are insisting on cutting off funding to the agency after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency were involved in the attack that Hamas conducted in Israel on Oct. 7.

But the prohibition does concern some lawmakers because many relief agencies say there is no way to replace its ability to deliver the humanitarian assistance that the United States and others are trying to send to Gaza, where one-quarter of the 2.3 million residents are starving.

Democrats emphasized that humanitarian assistance will increase globally though, by about $336.4 million.

Sen. Patty Murray, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also highlighted a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. Democrats also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.

“We defeated outlandish cuts that would have been a gut punch for American families and our economy,” said Murray, D-Wash.

She also said Democrats successfully fought off numerous policy measures, known as riders, that House Republicans were seeking to add.

“From Day 1 of this process, I said there would be no extreme, far-right riders to restrict women’s reproductive freedoms — and there aren’t, she said.

Among the policy provisions that House Republicans did secure was a requirement that only allows for the American flag and “other official flags” to fly over U.S. diplomatic facilities. Under the Biden administration, U.S. embassies have been invited to fly the pride flag or light up with rainbow colors in support of the LGBTQ community.

There is also a provision that prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves. But the White House has said President Joe Biden would not support a ban, and the commission, an independent agency, says no such ban was in the works.

The spending in the bill largely tracks with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers Thursday that last year’s agreement, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save taxpayers about $1 trillion over the coming decade.

McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from the speaker’s role a few months after securing the debt ceiling deal. Eight Republicans ended up joining with Democrats in removing McCarthy as speaker. And some of those unhappy with that deal also expressed misgivings about the latest package.

“I hope there will be some modest wins. Unfortunately, I don’t expect that we will get much in the way of significant policy wins based on past history and based on our unwillingness to use any kind of leverage to force policy wins, meaning a willingness to walk away and say no,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.

Work on the spending bills has been more bipartisan in the Senate. Murray issued a joint statement after the bill’s release with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, urging colleagues to vote for it.

“There is zero need for a shutdown or chaos — and members of Congress should waste no time in passing these six bills, which will greatly benefit every state in America and reflect important priorities of many senators,” Murray and Collins said.

Johnson said that after the spending package passes, the House would next turn its attention to a bill that focuses on aiding Ukraine and Israel, though lawmakers are scheduled to be away from Washington for the next two weeks. The Senate has already approved a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but Johnson has declined to bring that up for a vote.

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The 30-day review was submitted to Austin on Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said portions of the review are classified but the department will release what it can of the review.

Austin has been scrutinized for keeping secret his prostate cancer diagnosis in early December, his surgery and his hospitalization on Jan. 1, when he began suffering complications from the procedure.

Ryder has acknowledged that he and other public affairs and defense aides were told on Jan. 2, that Austin had been hospitalized but did not make it public and did not tell the military service leaders or the National Security Council until Jan. 4. Only then did President Joe Biden find out.

It took another four days before the reason for his hospitalization was disclosed.

And while he transferred decision-making authorities to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks during his initial surgery on Dec. 22, and then again when he was in intensive care in early January, he did not tell her why.

The review was directed on Jan. 8, by Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, and was done by Jennifer Walsh, the Pentagon’s director of administration and management.

In a memo released at the time, Magsamen said the review should include a timeline of events and notifications after Austin was taken to the hospital by ambulance on Jan. 1. She said it must examine the existing process for when a secretary transfers decision-making authorities and who should be notified, and make recommendations for improvement.

Magsamen’s memo also made some interim changes to vastly expand the number of people who must be notified in future transfers of authority and that they must provide a reason.

Officials have said that the reason has never been included in routine transfers. According to the memo, a wider array of officials will be notified, including the Pentagon’s general counsel, the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commanders, service secretaries, the service chiefs, the White House Situation Room, and the senior staff of the secretary and deputy secretary.

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The $886 billion bill was approved by a vote of 310-118 and now goes to President Joe Biden after the Senate had overwhelmingly passed it Wednesday. It is likely the last piece of major legislation Congress will consider before leaving for the holiday break, though negotiations continue on a bill to aid Ukraine and Israel and boost border security.

The spending called for represents about a 3% increase from the prior year. The bill serves as a blueprint for programs Congress will seek to fund through follow-up spending bills.

Lawmakers have been negotiating a final defense policy bill for months after each chamber passed strikingly different versions in July. Some of the priorities championed by social conservatives were a no-go for Democrats. Negotiators dropped them from the final version to get it over the finish line.

That did not go over well with some Republican lawmakers, though most did end up voting for a bill that traditionally has broad, bipartisan support. About twice as many Republicans voted for the bill as voted against it.

“You almost feel like a parent who’s sent a child off to summer camp and they came back a monster,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said in opposing the bill. “That’s what we’ve done. This bill came back in far worse shape.”

As an example, Gaetz said the House bill eliminated the position of the chief diversity officer at the Defense Department, but the final measure did not include that provision.

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, chided the bill’s critics for what he described as an unwillingness to compromise.

“Apparently, you don’t like democracy because that’s what democracy is. You compromise and you work with people and you do it all the time,” Smith said.

Most notably, the bill does not include language sought by House Republicans to restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender service members and it does not block the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy, which allows reimbursement for travel expenses when a service member has to go out of state for an abortion or other reproductive care.

Republicans did win some concessions on diversity and inclusion training in the military. For example, the bill freezes hiring for such training until a full accounting of the programming and costs is completed and reported to Congress.

One of the most divisive aspects of the bill was a short-term extension of a surveillance program aimed at preventing terrorism and catching spies. The program has detractors on both sides of the political aisle who view it as a threat to the privacy of ordinary Americans.

Some House Republicans were incensed that the extension was included in the defense policy bill and not voted upon separately through other legislation that included proposed changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

The extension continues a tool that permits the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country to gather foreign intelligence.

U.S. officials have said the tool, first authorized in 2008 and renewed several times since then, is crucial in disrupting terror attacks, cyber intrusions and other national security threats. It has produced vital intelligence that the U.S. has relied on for specific operations, such as the killing last year of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

But the administration’s efforts to secure reauthorization of the program have encountered strong bipartisan pushback. Lawmakers are demanding better privacy protections for those Americans caught up in the monitoring. They wanted a separate vote on legislation making changes to the program.

“The FBI under President Biden has been weaponized against the American people and major reform is needed,” said Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont. “FISA should not be combined with our national defense. And it is unacceptable that leadership is bypassing regular order to jam members by forcing them to vote on two unrelated bills with one vote.”

Matthew G. Olsen, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, praised the passage of the extension.

He said: “We cannot afford to be blinded to the many threats we face from foreign adversaries, including Iran and China, as well as terrorist organizations like Hamas and ISIS,” or the Islamic State group.

Enough opposition to the bill had developed within the GOP ranks that it forced House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to tee up the defense policy bill for a vote through a process generally reserved for noncontroversial legislation.

Under that process, at least two-thirds of the House had to vote in favor of the legislation for it to pass, but going that route avoided the prospect of a small number of Republicans blocking it from the floor.

Consideration of the bill comes at a dangerous time for the world, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and as China increasingly flexes its military might in the South China Sea.

On Ukraine, the bill includes the creation of a special inspector general for Ukraine to address concerns about whether taxpayer dollars are being spent in Ukraine as intended. That’s on top of oversight work already being conducted by other agency watchdogs.

“We will continue to stay on top of this, but I want to assure my colleagues that there has been no evidence of diversion of weapons provided to Ukraine or any other assistance,” GOP Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told lawmakers this week in advocating for the bill.

Ukraine’s supporters in Congress have argued that helping Kyiv now could prevent a wider war if Russia were to invade a member of NATO, the military alliance that maintains that an attack against one member nation is considered an attack against all.

The bill includes provisions by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that says the president must get the advice and consent of the Senate or an act of Congress before withdrawing U.S. membership from NATO. That seems to have in mind former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, who has said he will continue to “fundamentally reevaluate” NATO’s purpose and mission.

On China, the bill establishes a new training program with Taiwan, requires a plan to accelerate deliveries of Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Taiwan, and approves an agreement that enables Australia to access nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and more capable than conventionally powered vessels.

__

Associated Press staff writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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The Space Development Agency is working with the Army to provide alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities that are not dependent on GPS through its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, SDA Director Derek Tournear said.

Tournear said the Army has an alternate PNT signal that can be picked up by the Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Increment 2 chips. Once fielded, the MGUE chips will be able to use M-code — a new military signal that is jam-resistant and more secure.

“We’re working very closely with the Army, who’s been pioneering the alt-PNT across the Department of Defense,” Tournear said at a National Security Space Association event last week. “We’re working with them to be able to broadcast that same signal so it can be picked up by existing, fielded and planned user equipment, so there’ll be no modifications.”

The Defense Department mostly relies on GPS to provide accurate PNT data, but given GPS’ vulnerabilities, the military services have been pursuing alternative technologies to be used in environments where GPS is not accessible or is being disrupted.

The ability to broadcast the Army’s alt-PNT signal is “a little ways in the future,” starting in SDA’s Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 transport layer. The transport layer will be crucial to the department-wide Joint All-domain Command and Control, and Tranche 2 is scheduled to launch in 2026.

In the meantime, the agency will begin putting a navigation message into the Link-16 payloads.

“Link 16 has been around for that since the 80s, right, before GPS was used in combat. Link 16 is what we were going to use for our navigation and timing during that time before GPS,” Tournear said.

“It still has that capability; you can embed a navigation and timing signal into Link 16 and you can use it for that. It’s not nearly as good as GPS, but it does give you an alternate. And we calculate our own position navigation and timing onboard our satellites independent of GPS just by doing timing transfer between the satellites,” he added.

This effort would not require any changes to user equipment, but the agency is looking into ways to broadcast an alt-PNT signal over L- band or over S-band that would require new user equipment in the future.

“For that, we would not buy that and field that. We’re working with the services to make sure that they are in lockstep with us so that they would field such terminals in their equipment, either before or right after we would field a space capability. So we’re working with them,” Tournear said.

Tournear said that the agency plans on getting 161 satellites into orbit starting next year, and while Tranche 2 will build off of Tranche 1, it has yet to have specifics for Tranche 3 and Tranche 4.

“The beauty of the spiral development approach …I really don’t know what’s in Tranche 3 and Tranche 4. Tranche 3 will launch in September of 2028. It’ll be hundreds of satellites. The specifics of those capabilities aren’t yet defined, and they’re not defined for two reasons. Number one, I don’t know exactly what the state of the art of the technology will be in that timeframe. And number two, the threats change,” Tournear said.

“We’ll snap the line on what the minimum viable product is for Tranche 3 in about a year. At that point, we’ll start acquisition for Tranche 3. And then, of course, Tranche 4, we won’t know until another couple of years,” he added.

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Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira is accused of leaking highly classified military from the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts where he worked.

The punitive actions range from relieving personnel from their positions, including command positions, to non-judicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Teixeira, who’s 21, has been behind bars since his April arrest on charges stemming from the most consequential intelligence leak in years. He is charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified national defense information. He has pleaded not guilty, and no trial date has been set.

Prosecutors said in a court filing last week that the two sides have not yet engaged in “substantive” plea discussions.

Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019. He shared military secrets he illegally collected from his intelligence unit with other Discord users, authorities said — first by typing out classified documents he accessed and then sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings.

In its investigation of the leaks, the Air Force inspector general found both security gaps occurred in part because personnel had access to classified documents without supervision, and because in instances where Airman 1st Class Teixeira was caught violating security policies none of the personnel who either witnessed the violations or had responsibility for Teixeira took the actions necessary in response.

Teixeira worked as a cyber transport systems specialist, essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. As such, Teixeira had often unsupervised access as part of a three-person team at night to Top Secret-Secret Compartmentalized facility to perform maintenance inspections. Teixeira remains in the Air National Guard in an unpaid status, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said.

“At times, members were required to perform preventive maintenance inspections and other tasks, which required individuals to be on their own for hours, unsupervised in other parts of the facility,” the IG found. “Further, no permission controls were in place to monitor print jobs, and there were no business rules for print products. Any night shift member had ample opportunity to access (classified) sites and print a high volume of products without supervision or detection.”

Inside Teixeira’s 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron, members had what the IG described as a “more complete” picture of the breadth of Teixeira’s active unauthorized intelligence-seeking but “intentionally failed to report the full details of these security concerns” because they thought security officials might overreact, the IG found.

For example, in fall 2022 Teixeira was seen writing down notes from a classified document onto a Post-It note. While he was confronted about the note, there was no follow up to ensure the note had been shredded and the incident was not reported to security officers.

It was not until a January 2023 incident that the appropriate security officials were notified, but even then security officials were not briefed on the full scope of the violations.

If any of the personnel had taken the appropriate actions, “the length and depth of the unauthorized and unlawful disclosures by several months,” the IG found.

Those unit officials “who understood their duty to report specific information regarding A1C Teixeira’s intelligence-seeking and insider threat indicators to security officials, intentionally failed to do so.”

But the IG also said the unit’s own policy, which encouraged its tech support service members to attend intelligence briefings “to better understand the mission and the importance of keeping the classified networks operating,” was improper and problematic because it exposed the service members to higher levels of classified material than they needed to know.

The documents released on social media revealed sensitive U.S. intelligence on the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East and an array of other topics.

As a result of the security breach, Col. Sean Riley, 102nd Intelligence Wing commander, received administrative action and was relieved of command and the 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group commander Col. Enrique Dovalo, received administrative action for concerns with unit culture and compliance with policies and standards.

The Air Force also said previously suspended commanders from the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron and the detachment overseeing administrative support for airmen at the unit mobilized for duty under Title 10 USC were permanently removed.

The Air Force took the intelligence mission from the 102nd after Teixeira’s leaks were discovered and the group’s mission remains reassigned to other units.

___

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Boston.

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While the total number of deaths decreased overall, suicides among active-duty troops went up slightly, fueled by significant spikes in the Marine Corps and the Air Force. And because the active-duty force is smaller now, the rate of suicides per 100,000 service members inched up, according to U.S. officials.

The officials said the suicide rate for the National Guard and the Reserve decreased a bit. The relatively stable numbers across the force come on the heels of a sharp drop in suicides in the Air Force, the Marines and the Navy from 2020 to 2021, and a similar decline for Army soldiers in the first six months of 2022.

Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the findings before the report’s public release. They said that due to the decreasing size of the active-duty force, they believe the rate of suicides, rather than the number, is a more accurate measure. More broadly, they said the changes in the suicide rate were not statistically significant and they are not enough to determine yet if prevention and treatment programs are working.

Instead, defense officials said the long-term trend still points to increasing deaths, although the relative stability in the numbers for 2022 gives them some cautious encouragement.

Historical similarities in who dies by suicide and how they do it continue. Young, male troops still make up the vast majority of the suicides — at 93%. And 70% of the time, troops use a firearm. But the department has so far shied away from any major gun safety changes.

An independent committee recommended earlier this year that the department implement a series of gun safety measures to reduce suicides in the force, including waiting periods for the purchase of firearms and ammunition by service members on military property.

The panel said the department should also raise the minimum age for service members to buy guns and ammunition to 25 and should require anyone living in military housing to register all privately owned firearms. In addition, the panel said the department should restrict the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dorms.

Last month, however, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released a new campaign to address suicides in the force, and the department chose not to implement the key firearm changes suggested by the panel. Instead, the Pentagon said it would “incentivize” secure firearm storage, provide more storage locations and do more public education on how to safely store guns — similar to steps that officials have talked about in the past.

The Defense Department officials said there are a number of legal challenges to enacting some of the gun safety measures. They said the department has been working on the issue for several years and believes a better, modern education campaign tailored for the young military audience can help.

In addition, they said there are restrictions on doing an anonymous survey on the matter to glean more information from the force and determine what would be effective changes. They said the department hasn’t ruled out taking additional steps in the future.

Austin, however, did agree to enact a number of other recommendations made by the panel, including efforts to modernize suicide prevention training, expand counseling, reduce the stigma of seeking mental health assistance and increase the number of staff and health providers.

The Defense Department has been grappling with widespread shortages of mental health personnel and a difficult push to reduce the stigma of seeking help. A number of military bases have also enacted a wide array of new programs, which range from required counseling visits to stress relief education and recreational outings.

The new report found that family stress, including relationship problems and behavioral health issues, are common factors.

Suicides among family members differ in that more than half of the spouses who die are female. And while there are far fewer male spouses across the military, at just 14%, they represent 48% of spousal suicides.

According to the latest data, there were 492 suicides among active duty, Guard and Reserve troops, down from 524 in 2021. And suicides among family members dropped from 202 in 2020 to 168 in 2021. The family death totals are a year behind the service member data, because they come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the active duty, there were 331 suicides in 2022, compared with 328 in 2021. Of those, Army suicides dropped from 175 in 2021 to 135 in 2022. The Marine Corp saw the biggest increase, from 43 to 61, followed by the Air Force, which increased from 51 to 64, and the Navy went from 59 to 71. The Space Force had none.

The Army National Guard also saw a large decrease, from 105 to 82, while the Air Guard remained the same, at 15. The Reserves dipped from 76 to 64, with only the Air Force Reserves showing an increase.

___ The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

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Removing the fuel is a key step toward shutting down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility as demanded by the state of Hawaii. The November 2021 spill poisoned the Navy’s water system serving 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The leak continues to threaten an aquifer used by Honolulu’s municipal water utility to serve 400,000 people on Oahu.

“I want the community to know that my team and I understand the enormity and the significance of this mission,” Vice Admiral John Wade, the commander of Joint Task Force-Red Hill, said at a news conference.

Work to drain the 104 million gallons (394 million liters) remaining in the tanks was scheduled to begin on Monday.

Each tank is 250 feet (76 meters) tall and 100 feet (30 meters) wide. Gravity will feed fuel into fuel lines connected to the lower part of the tanks. The fuel will then flow downhill through pipelines for 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) to a tanker ship waiting at Pearl Harbor pier. It will take more than two days to fill each tanker.

Wade said it would take three months to remove 99.9% of the fuel. Then, work will begin to remove a residual amount of an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 gallons that will have accumulated in low-point drains and bends. That work is expected to be finished in the spring.

The moment is bittersweet for Lacey Quintero, whose Navy family was among the thousands who suffered health problems after drinking contaminated water in 2021. She’s happy the fuel is being removed but the operation has stirred memories as the two-year anniversary of the spill approaches.

“The timing of it, coupled with the dangers that are present during defueling — there’s fear,” she said.

She’s concerned that more fuel could spill into the Navy’s drinking water well and poison the aquifer. She’s also worried about possible explosions.

Quintero and her husband, who is in the Navy, and their two children moved to Hawaii in November 2021 from California. They fell sick soon after moving. Her youngest, who was then 3 years old, vomited uncontrollably. The entire family complained of diarrhea and itchy skin. Quintero’s arms and legs went numb and she struggled with chronic fatigue.

Her husband is still stationed in Hawaii but they have moved to private housing off base which uses Honolulu municipal water. Yet she still suffers from stomach pains, migraines and skin issues. She has PTSD.

“I have flashbacks of feeding my daughter this poison soup and watching her vomit it up,” she said.

Quintero is one of 6,750 claimants seeking compensation from the U.S. government for what they experienced. Their attorney, Kristina Baehr, said claims for the first group of six plaintiffs were due to go trial in March.

The state of Hawaii ordered the military to drain the tanks after the 2021 spill, saying they posed an imminent threat to the aquifer underneath. The Department of Defense challenged that order in court, but eventually acquiesced. It’s spent the past year repairing the tanks and pipes so the fuel can be safely removed without additional leaks.

For years the military said the tanks were vital to national security and resisted calls to close the facility or to move it. Military officials repeatedly reassured the public that Oahu’s water was safe — even though the tanks had a history of leaks.

The spill upset a broad cross-spectrum of Hawaii, and precipitated a crisis for the military in the islands. Many Native Hawaiians have been angered given the centrality of water in Hawaii’s Indigenous traditions.

A Navy investigation pinned the cause of the spill on a series of mistakes.

First, operator error caused a pipe to rupture on May 6, 2021, when fuel was being transferred between tanks. This caused 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill. Most of it flowed into a fire suppression line and sat there for six months, causing the line to sag.

Then on Nov. 20, a cart rammed into the sagging line, releasing 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters.) A team thought they recovered all of this fuel, but they missed about 5,000 gallons (19,000 liters) which flowed into a French drain and from there into the drinking water well.

The Navy reprimanded three now-retired military officers for their roles in the spill but didn’t fire nor suspend anybody.

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Rear Adm. Keith Davids, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, announced the new program Friday in a message to his force, calling it necessary to protect their health and military readiness. The Navy will be the first to begin random testing, but Army Special Operations Command said it will soon follow suit, although no start date has been set.

The Army and Navy have the largest and most well known special operations forces, including the Navy SEALs and Army’s Delta Force, Green Berets and Ranger Regiment. They are often called on to do the military’s most sensitive and dangerous missions. The physical and mental challenges of getting through their selection and training programs and the pressures of the risky missions can lead to some to use performance-enhancing drugs, although officials say the numbers are small.

The use of these drugs has been a somewhat limited but persistent problem across the military, but leaders have balked at increased testing because it is highly specialized, costly and requires contracting with the few labs that do such work. The military services have done occasional tests when they perceive a problem with an individual service member, but they must get special permission from the Pentagon to do routine, random testing.

The Air Force and the Marine Corps special operations commands said they have not yet requested a similar policy change.

According to the Navy command, four units will be randomly selected each month, and 15% of each will be tested. That will amount to as many as 200 sailors monthly, and those testing positive face discipline or removal.

A driving factor in the announcement, which has been in the works for months, was the death of a Navy SEAL candidate early last year.

Kyle Mullen, 24, collapsed and died of acute pneumonia just hours after completing the SEALs’ grueling Hell Week test. A report concluded that Mullen, from Manalapan, New Jersey, died “in the line of duty, not due to his own misconduct.” Although tests found no evidence of performance-enhancing drugs in his system, a report by the Naval Education and Training Command said he was not screened for some steroids because the needed blood and urine samples were not available, and that multiple vials of drugs and syringes were later found in his car.

The NETC’s broader investigation into SEAL training flagged the use of performance-enhancing drugs as a significant problem among those seeking to become elite commandos and recommended far more robust testing.

Investigations in 2011, 2013 and 2018 into suspected steroid use by SEAL candidates led to discipline and requests for enhanced testing. The use of hair follicle testing was denied at least twice by Navy leaders over that time, and random testing for steroids wasn’t authorized by the Defense Department.

Davids requested the policy change to allow the screening, and in January, the Pentagon undersecretary for personnel approved an exemption authorizing random testing within the Naval Special Warfare force. The testing only affects the roughly 9,000 active-duty military personnel and reservists on active-duty orders in the command. Civilians are not included.

The, random force-wide testing initiative, Davids said, is a commitment to the long-term health of every member of the Naval Special Warfare community.

Lt. Col. Mike Burns, spokesman for Army Special Operations Command, said it also has been approved for random testing and is working on developing a program.

The Navy has provided $225,000 to fund the testing contract through the end of this month, and it’s expected to cost about $4.5 million per year for the next two years.

Noting that the drugs are illegal, Davids has told his force that any number above zero is unacceptable, whether during training or downrange when sailors are deployed. He has urged sailors to talk to their teammates and commanders about the drugs and their risks.

“My intent is to ensure every NSW teammate operates at their innate best while preserving the distinguished standards of excellence that define NSW,” he said in his message to the force.

According to the command, personnel will still be allowed to get prescription medication to treat legitimate medical conditions.

Command leaders also stress that there is only anecdotal evidence of performance-enhancing drug use within the ranks.

Between February 2022 and March 2023, the Naval Special Warfare Center conducted more than 2,500 screening tests and detected 74 SEAL or Special Warfare Combat Crewmen with elevated testosterone levels, the command said. It said three candidates ultimately tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. The testosterone tests are more common but less precise, and additional screening is needed to identify steroid use.

The new random testing will require that sailors provide two urine samples. One will be sent to the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, a cutting-edge lab used by international sports to test for doping, and one will go to the Navy Drug Screening Laboratory Great Lakes to check for standard drugs.

If the test result is positive, the sailor will be notified, there will be a preliminary inquiry and if there is no legal reason for the drugs, the sailor will be subject to discipline and removal from the force. A SEAL or SWCC candidate will be removed from training.

Under Navy procedures, all SEALs and SWCC are informed of the substance ban and sign an acknowledgement of the prohibition.

The NETC report released earlier this year suggested that SEAL candidates may have gotten conflicting messages about the use of performance-enhancing drugs. In one case, it noted that during a discussion about the policy with Mullen’s class, an instructor, who was not identified, told sailors that all types of people make it through the course, including “steroid monkeys and skinny strong guys. Don’t use PEDS, it’s cheating, and you don’t need them. And whatever you do, don’t get caught with them in your barracks room.”

The report said that after an “awkward silence” the instructor added, “that was a joke.” It said some candidates interpreted it as an implicit endorsement of using the drugs. And it noted that routine barracks inspections have found the drugs or sailors have admitted their use.

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Biden announced during last week’s Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that the U.S. would join the F-16 coalition. His green light came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent months pressing the West to provide his forces with American-made jets as he tries to repel Russia’s now 15-month-old grinding invasion.

Long shadowing the administration’s calculation were worries that such a move could escalate tensions with Russia. U.S. officials also argued that learning to fly and logistically support the advanced F-16 would be difficult and time consuming.

But over the past three months, administration officials shifted toward the view that it was time to provide Ukraine’s pilots with the training and aircraft needed for the country’s long-term security needs, according to three officials familiar with the deliberations who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Still, the change in Biden’s position seemed rather sudden.

In February, Biden was insistent in an interview with ABC’s David Muir that Ukraine “doesn’t need F-16s now” and that “I am ruling it out for now.” And in March, a top Pentagon policy official, Colin Kahl, told U.S. lawmakers that even if the president approved F-16s for Ukraine, it could take as long as two years to get Ukrainian pilots trained and equipped.

But as the administration was publicly playing down the prospect of F-16s for Ukraine in the near term, an internal debate was heating up.

Quiet White House discussions stepped up in February, around the time that Biden visited Ukraine and Poland, according to the U.S. officials.

Following the trip, discussions that included senior White House National Security Council, Pentagon and State Department officials began on the pros and cons and the details of how such a transfer might work, officials said. Administration officials also got deeper into consultations with allies.

In April, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin heard from defense leaders from allied countries during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group who were looking for U.S. permission to train the Ukrainians on F-16s, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Austin raised the matter during the NSC policy discussions and there was agreement that it was time to start training.

Austin also raised the issue with Biden before the G7 summit with a recommendation “to proceed with approving allies” to train the Ukrainians and transfer the aircraft, the department official said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also was a strong advocate for pushing forward with the plan during the U.S. policy talks and conveying to Biden increasing European urgency on the issue, officials said.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to London on May 8 for talks with British, French and German allies on Ukraine, and F-16s were high on the agenda. They got into the nitty gritty on how to go about provide training and which countries might be willing to transfer jets to Ukraine. It was agreed that the focus would be on training first, according to one of the officials.

Sullivan, before leaving London, spoke by phone with his counterparts from the Netherlands and Poland, both countries that have F-16s and “would be essential to any efforts to provide Ukraine jets for any future use.” Denmark also could potentially provide the jets, the official added.

Biden and Sullivan discussed how the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima could provide a good opportunity for him to make the case to key allies on the administration’s shifting stance on fighter jets.

They also discussed Biden backing allies providing jets to Ukraine — a line he had previously appeared not to want to cross out of concern that it could draw the West into what could be seen as direct confrontation with Moscow.

Biden, in private talks with fellow G7 leaders on Friday, confirmed that the U.S. would get behind a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 and that as things went on, they would work together on who would provide them and how many would be sent.

State, Pentagon and NSC officials are now developing the training plan and “when, where and how to deliver F-16s” to Ukraine as part of the long-term security effort, the official said.

U.S. officials say it will take several months to iron out details, but the U.S. Air Force has quietly determined that the actual training could realistically be done in about four months. The Air Force based the far shorter estimate on a visit by two Ukrainian pilots to a U.S. air base in March, where they got to learn about the F-16 and fly simulators. The training, officials say, would take place in Europe.

White House officials have bristled at the notion that Biden’s decision amounted to a sea change.

The administration had been focused on providing Ukraine with weapons — including air defense systems, armored vehicles, bridging equipment and artillery — that were needed for a coming counteroffensive. There also were concerns that sending F-16s would eat up a significant portion of the money allocated for Ukraine.

What changed, the official added, is that other allies got to a point where they were willing to provide their own jets as part of a U.S.-based coalition.

The Biden administration is still examining whether it will directly provide its own F-16s to Ukraine. Regardless, it needed buy-in from other allies because the U.S. wouldn’t be able to provide the full fleet of jets Zelenskyy says is needed.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the F-16 will give Ukraine a key capability for the long term but it won’t be a “game changer.”

Kendall told a gathering of reporters on Monday there has been an awareness that “we needed to go there at some point, but we didn’t have a sense of urgency about this. I think we’re at a reasonable place to make that decision now.”

Another potential wrinkle in the F-16 conversation involves Turkey.

Turkey wants to buy 40 new F-16s from the U.S., but some in Congress oppose the sale until Turkey approves NATO membership for Sweden, which applied to join the alliance in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has objected to Sweden’s perceived support of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the leftist extremist group DHKP-C and followers of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara claims was behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Erdogan is facing opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff election on Sunday. If Erdogan wins, as expected, White House officials are increasingly hopeful that the Turkish leader will withdraw his opposition to Sweden’s membership, according to the U.S. official.

If Erdogan drops opposition to Sweden joining NATO, it could lead to Turkey getting its long desired F-16s and may eventually add to the number of older F-16s in circulation, which could benefit Ukraine.

—

Associated Press White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed reporting.

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The training is part of a U.S. and European effort to get the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for its defense against invading Russian forces.

The announcement came as President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to commemorate Ukraine’s Independence Day and to reiterate support for the effort to fight back Russian troops.

The two discussed the F-16 training, and Biden assured Zelenskyy of an expedited approval for other nations to transfer their F-16s to Ukraine once training is completed, the White House said in a statement.

Zelenskyy thanked Biden, Congress and “all Americans” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “The U.S. took the lead in rallying global support for Ukraine. This crucial leadership enabled our struggle and bent the arc of history toward good.”

U.S. military officials stress it takes years of training to be able to field F-16 squadrons, limiting the impact the aircraft will have on Ukraine’s defense for the near future.

“This is about the long-term support to Ukraine,” the Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, told reporters in Washington. “This is not about the counteroffensive that they’re conducting right now.”

The training will take place at Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson, Arizona. The pilots will first undergo English instruction at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to bring their fluency up to the level needed to operate the aircraft, starting next month, Ryder said.

Ukraine has long pressed for the American fighter jets to help defend its cities and forces from Russian artillery and aviation. Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway announced in recent days they would supply the aircraft to Ukraine.

Ryder said the U.S. decided to join European allies in the training to avoid bottlenecks in bringing Ukrainian pilots up to speed.

The U.S. training would accommodate “several” Ukrainian fighter pilots and dozens of maintenance people for the jets, he said.

For experienced pilots, training can range around five months, Ryder said. He sketched out courses covering the basics. In addition to flying the advanced craft, they include formation flying, operating weapons, air combat and suppressing air defense systems, on top of centrifuge training on the ground to help pilots withstand the g-forces of an F-16 cockpit.

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The change would put the Connecticut service academy in line with policies at Department of Defense military academies. The U.S. Coast Guard is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

The legislation comes amid recent revelations that the service did not widely disclose a six-year internal investigation it conducted, known as Operation Fouled Anchor, into dozens of cases of sexual assault and misconduct between 1988 and 2006. The Coast Guard also apologized for not taking “appropriate action” years ago when it failed to adequately handle cases of sexual assault and harassment at the academy in New London.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, whose district includes the academy, noted in a statement how the Department of Defense “swiftly implemented” a policy change preventing cadets at its service academies from receiving punishment for minor offenses when they report sexual assault or harassment. He said such protections must be extended to the Coast Guard Academy cadets as well.

“This is one step in the process to care for our cadets as I continue to engage with Coast Guard leadership on the path forward following its failure to disclose the investigation into its history of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy,” said Courtney, the bill’s lead proponent.

His co-sponsors include Republican U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi and Democratic Reps. Rick Larsen of Washington and Salud Carbajal and Nanette Diaz Barragan of California.

“I know how important it is for our Coasties to have the same rights and protections against sexual misconduct as other members of our military,” Carbajal, a veteran and the top Democrat on the House subcommittee overseeing the U.S. Coast Guard, said in a statement. “This bill is simple and straightforward, bringing all military service academies under the same umbrella of safety and accountability to protect the next generation of servicemembers.”

The National Defense Authorization Act in 2021 required the Department of Defense to implement the Safe-to-Report Policy for a midshipman or cadet who is a victim of an alleged sexual assault at a DOD military academy and has committed a minor offense such as underage drinking or violating curfew.

In June, U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has oversight of the Coast Guard, was not informed of the probe until an informal briefing with Senate staff. They demanded documents and records related to the investigation, which identified 62 substantiated incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment that occurred at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy or by academy cadets.

The internal Coast Guard investigation was first reported by CNN.

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U.S. Army Special Operations Command, in a lengthy study, reported a wide range of “overtly sexist” comments from male soldiers, including a broad aversion to females serving in commando units. The comments, it said, are “not outliers” but represent a common sentiment that women don’t belong on special operations teams.

“The idea that women are equally as physically, mentally and emotionally capable to perform majority of jobs is quite frankly ridiculous,” said one male commenter. Others said they’d quit before serving on a team with a female, and that serving in such a situation it would create problems and jealousy among their wives.

The blunt and sometimes crass comments ring familiar to many who have watched the difficult transition as women moved into the military’s front line combat jobs. And they paint a disturbing, challenging picture for leaders.

The exhaustive report surveyed more than 5,000 people assigned to Army special operations forces units, including 837 female troops, 3,238 male troops and the rest defense civilians.

It revealed that “the vast majority” of the negative attitudes toward women serving in special operations “unfortunately did come from senior noncommissioned officers. So it does seem to indicate that it is generational,” Command Sgt. Maj. JoAnn Naumann, the most senior enlisted soldier in the command, said in a call with reporters Monday about the findings.

However the negative sentiments revealed the 2023 report echo sharp opposition voiced by special operations troops across the services in 2015, when surveyed on whether women should serve in the dangerous commando jobs. Later that year, in a landmark decision, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered all combat jobs open to women.

That change followed three years of study and debate, and reflected a formal recognition that thousands of women had served — and many were wounded or killed — on battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, women have made significant strides throughout the military, gaining high level command posts, but the report underscores that significant biases remain.

“I think people’s perspectives change when they interact and see the awesome soldiers that are out there,” said Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, USASOC commander. “I’m talking about personal interactions that I’ve had with female special operations aviators that have performed some of the most daring denied-area-of-penetration rotary wing insertions in history,” Braga said, referring to how special operations pilots carry forces into areas where they are under fire or under threat.

“I don’t think anyone in the back of this helicopter is like, ’Man, I wish there was a male pilot. No, they want them to be an awesome pilot.”

Two years ago, Army special operations leaders ordered a study to identify and eliminate barriers to females serving in their force. USASOC is the first to do this type of study of its specialized force. It’s unclear if other services will do similar reviews.

The Army study focused on women serving in operational roles such as Green Berets, Ranger Regiment, aviation and psychological and civil affairs teams. The study and meetings, however, also included women in a wide array of support jobs such as engineers, mechanics, fuelers and communications and intelligence personnel who work with or sometimes accompany commandos on missions. The recommended changes are designed to benefit all females in the command.

The report, which is only now being released, identified a number of major issues, as female soldiers complained of sexism, isolation, poor-fitting and inadequate equipment, and lack of child care and health care, particularly involving pregnancy. They also expressed an overwhelming belief that they are passed over for jobs that are then given to less qualified men and that they have to do more and be perfect to get respect.

“I have to work hard to prove my excellence, while men have to work hard to prove their mediocrity,” one female soldier said.

Many male soldiers said female soldiers are respected and have the same chance for promotions as men. But the numbers dip when asked if woman have equal skills.

One male soldier dismissed any idea that women were pursuing career goals, saying women asking for special operations assignments “are looking for a husband, boyfriend or attention.” But there also were some who countered that men with negative opinions hadn’t worked with women, and that once they did they would realize their value.

All together there are roughly 2,200 female soldiers in USASOC — or nearly 8% of the 29,000 active duty soldiers. There also are 427 female civilians. Of the 2,200, a bit more than 250 are in what would be considered operational jobs with the Green Berets, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Ranger Regiment and psychological and civil affairs teams.

Four women have passed the grueling course to become Green Berets, and several are serving in those jobs. Seven females are serving in the Ranger Regiment, which totals about 3,000 soldiers.

The report made 42 recommendations. Several involving increased training and messages to the force to expand awareness of sexual harassment, mentorship, health care and other issues, have been done. Other changes are in progress.

Overall, the report said that gender bias is “deeply embedded” in staffing and equipping the special operations force.

And, it reflected confusion. While there is solid agreement that standards cannot be lowered for females, many interpret that as prohibiting any gender-specific accommodations.

“Women may require different tools than men to perform the same task,” the report said. “A mentality change is necessary to modify the archaic attitude that supplying tools to female service members is an act of accommodation versus simply providing our warfighters with the right tools for the job.”

Key examples are body armor, helmets and rucksacks that are often too big for female soldiers and small-stature men. The Army has been struggling for years to address the body armor problems, and two years ago began distributing short and longer small-sized protective vests and combat shirts designed to better fit women.

The new report, however, said that USASOC has too few of those scalable vests, and efforts to address the helmets and rucksacks are ongoing.

Sexual harassment is a common, but complicated complaint.

While nearly every woman in focus groups said she had experienced sexual harassment, only 30% called it a challenge and very few were willing to report or publicly acknowledge it. According to the report, 25 sexual harassment complaints were filed by female special operations command soldiers between 2016 to 2020.

Women said they fear reprisal and don’t trust commanders to take action because of a “good ol’ boys club.” And female officers said they’re told to develop a “thick skin” so they can survive in a man’s world.

In contrast, male soldiers said that sexual harassment training has made them fear interaction with women because a joke or comment could end their careers.

___

AP writer Tara Copp contributed to this report

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It was not immediately clear when the first F-16s might enter the conflict, but Ukrainian pilots will first have to undertake at least six months of training on the aircraft, according to officials.

Ukraine has long pleaded for the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge. It recently launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s forces without air cover, placing its troops at the mercy of Russian aviation and artillery.

Even so, Air Force Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. air forces in Europe and Africa, told reporters in Washington he did not expect the F-16s to be a game-changer for Ukraine. Getting F-16 squadrons ready for battle could take “four or five years,” he said.

But in eastern Ukraine, attack helicopter pilots welcomed the news. They said Russia has a clear advantage in the skies, but the introduction of better fighter jets could dramatically shift the balance of power Kyiv’s way.

Ukrainian air forces supporting infantry are using decades-old Soviet-era planes, which are vulnerable to air-to-air missile attacks from Russian fighter jets, Capt. Yevgen Rakita, a spokesman for the 18th Army Aviation Brigade, told The Associated Press.

“A modern war cannot be won without aviation” capabilities, Rakita said.

In making the decision on F-16 deliveries, Washington aims to ensure warplanes can be provided to Ukraine as soon as its pilots complete training, according to a U.S. administration official who was not authorized to comment and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sent a letter to his Dutch and Danish counterparts earlier this week, offering formal assurance that the U.S. would fast-track approval of all requests from third parties to transfer F-16s to Ukraine.

Danish Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said Friday that the training of Ukrainian pilots is starting this month.

A coalition of 11 Western countries — the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom — pledged in July to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s.

Denmark will hand over some of its F-16s only after receiving its new F-35 jet fighters. The first four F-35s are due to be delivered on Oct. 1.

Washington’s blessing for the plane donations to other countries is needed because the aircraft are made in the United States.

Ukraine’s Western allies have at times moved slowly on granting Kyiv the military support it has requested.

President Joe Biden’s authorization last May for allies to train Ukrainian forces on how to operate the warplanes, and eventually to provide the aircraft themselves, was preceded by months of debate in Washington and quiet talks with allies, officials said.

The administration had concerns that the move might escalate tensions with Russia. Also, U.S. officials argued that learning to fly and logistically support the advanced F-16 would be difficult.

Though delivery is likely months away, Washington says the F-16s — like the advanced U.S. Abrams tanks — will be crucial for Ukraine’s long-term security.

Ukraine has been relying on older aircraft, such as Russian-made MiG-29 and Sukhoi jets. F-16s have newer technology and targeting capabilities. They are also more versatile, experts say.

In other developments:

— Russian air defenses stopped drone attacks on central Moscow and on the country’s ships in the Black Sea, officials said Friday, blaming the attempted strikes on Ukraine. It was not possible to verify the claims.

— A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that set sail this week along a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping safely reached the coast of Istanbul on Friday. The voyage was closely watched to see whether the Russian navy would allow the Joseph Schulte container vessel to pass unmolested.

___

Kullab reported from eastern Ukraine and Olsen from Copenhagen. Aamer Madhani and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington and Jim Heintz from Tallinn, Estonia.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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U.S. officials said the academies must train student leaders better to help their classmates, and upend what has been a disconnect between what the cadets and midshipmen are learning in school and the often negative and unpunished behavior they see by those mentors. The review calls for additional senior officers and enlisted leaders to work with students at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies and provide the expanded training.

The report, which was released Thursday, says that too often discussions about stress relief, misconduct, social media and other life issues take place after hours or on the weekends. The report recommends that those topics be addressed in classes and graded, to promote their importance.

The study comes on the heels of a report this year that showed a sharp spike in reported sexual assaults at the academies during the 2021-22 school year. It said that one in five female students said in an anonymous survey that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact. The survey results were the highest since the Defense Department began collecting that data many years ago.

Student-reported assaults at the academies jumped 18% overall compared with the previous year, fueled in part by the Navy, which had nearly double the number in 2022, compared with 2021. The anonymous survey accompanying the report found increases in all types of unwanted sexual contact — from touching to rape — at all the schools. And it cited alcohol as a key factor.

In response to the spike in assaults, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered on-site evaluations at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland, the Air Force Academy in Colorado and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York, to explore the issues and identify solutions. The new report, expected to be released Thursday, makes several immediate and longer-term recommendations to improve assault and harassment prevention and eliminate toxic climates that fuel the problems. Austin is ordering quick implementation of the changes.

In a memo, Austin acknowledges that the academies “have far more work to do to halt sexual assault and harassment.” He says the increase in assaults and harassment “is disturbing and unacceptable. It endangers our teammates and degrades our readiness.”

Elizabeth Foster, executive director of the Pentagon’s force resiliency office, told reporters Thursday that the study will set up ways to measure whether the changes are working. But she cautioned that “not only are they going to take time to implement, but cultural change does take time.”

Foster and Andra Tharp, the senior prevention adviser for the force resiliency office, said that while the academies offer a lot of strong programs, toxic and unhealthy command climates make them less effective. When cadets and midshipmen learn one thing about leadership or prevention in the classroom, but they don’t see it reinforced in other settings, it sends mixed messages about what to expect, about how to be treated and how to treat others.

Such mixed messages, they said, create cynicism and distrust.

The report points to the Air Force Academy’s longstanding system that treats freshmen differently and badly, promoting hazing and an unhealthy climate. Tharp said those students may leave the academy with a poor sense of what good leadership looks like.

“What was striking was that the message was, this is okay here and this is how we treat each other,” Tharp said. “Unfortunately, that didn’t stop once they left their freshman year.”

The officials added that a contributing factor to the behavior problems is that — like other college students around the country — many more cadets and midshipmen are arriving at the academies with previous bad experiences, ranging from assaults and harassment to thoughts of or attempts at suicide. On top of that, the report says incoming students then face a lot of stress as they grapple with their education and the military training.

In many cases, the report says that student leaders aren’t trained or equipped to handle those issues or provide proper support to the students.

Another problem, officials said, is the ever expanding influence of social media, where bullying and harassment can go on unchecked. The report pointed to Jodel, an anonymous social media app that focuses on a specific location and is in wide use by academy students.

The report said students can get inaccurate information about assault prevention, reporting, resources and military justice from the app, making them less likely to seek help.

It said training at the academies has not kept pace with change, including the ever-evolving social media platforms and how students differ today from in the past.

The report also noted that alcohol plays a significant role in misconduct. Asked about additional alcohol restrictions, Tharp said the academies can “implement all the alcohol prevention or responsible drinking as much as we want,” but if those policies are implemented in a toxic command climate they won’t have the intended impact.

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“We really didn’t see that it was dangerous at the time,” she said. “It was just part of the mission. So we had to get it done.”

But then her sinus problems began, only worsening after she returned home, where she sometimes found herself gasping for breath at night. She remembered thinking, “This wasn’t who I was before I got in.”

Although Leger already received disability benefits for post-traumatic stress, migraines and a hip fracture, it wasn’t until President Joe Biden signed legislation known as the PACT Act last year that her monthly payments expanded to take into account the impact of the burn pits. Now 34 years old, Leger and her fiancé have moved out of a cramped townhouse and into a larger home in a suburb of Tampa, Florida, where their four children can each have a bedroom.

“I still wake up pinching myself,” she said.

Leger is one beneficiary of the largest expansion of veterans assistance in decades, and the administration is racing to sign up as many people as possible as the first anniversary of the law approaches. Although there’s no deadline to apply, anyone who files a claim or simply signals the intent to do so by Wednesday could collect payments retroactive to last year if the claim is approved.

Under the law, certain cancers and ailments are presumed to be connected to the burn pits that were used to dispose of trash and potentially toxic materials. For veterans who served during the Vietnam War, hypertension and other conditions were added to the list of problems presumed to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange, which was used by the U.S. military to clear vegetation.

Biden will mark the law’s anniversary at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City on Thursday. According to administration statistics, the Department of Veterans Affairs has received nearly 786,000 disability claims under the PACT Act, processed almost 435,000 and approved more than 348,000.

About 111,000 veterans who are believed to have toxic exposure have enrolled in VA health care since the law was enacted. In addition, more than 4.1 million veterans have completed toxic screenings, which are questionnaires to analyze their potential exposure and determine whether additional tests are required.

Implementing the legislation has proved challenging for the VA despite hiring new staff to accommodate a historic influx of claims. The backlog is about 266,000, meaning waits of at least four months for claims to be processed, and the list is expected to grow to 450,000 in October and 730,000 in April. During a recent oversight hearing. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., expressed concern about “bad trends.”

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said his agency is doing better than expected based on internal projections and is using new technology to process claims faster.

“Am I satisfied? I’m not,” he said in an Associated Press interview. “Until every veteran in this country knows what is available to him or her, and has come in and filed a claim, and then we’ve awarded that claim for him or to her, I won’t be satisfied.”

Despite the growing backlog, the VA has kept up its outreach efforts. It has spent $7.5 million on advertising, including a billboard in New York’s Times Square, and hosted events around the country. Comedian Jon Stewart, who played a leading role in pushing for the PACT Act, has chipped in by posting videos on social media.

“The VA could have slow rolled it to make their job easier,” said Allison Jaslow, a former Army captain who leads the advocacy organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “But to their credit, they didn’t.”

Jaslow said the department is “doing a pretty incredible job given the influx of claims that came in.”

The outreach is paying off. Eli Feret, a 36-year-old former Army captain who lives outside of Denver, said he did not apply until a few days ago. After expecting a more archaic process, Feret said he was “pleasantly surprised” that he could complete his claim on his smartphone in a half-hour.

Cole Lyle, a 33-year-old former Marine corporal in Alexandria, Virginia, who leads the advocacy organization Mission Roll Call, made a similar decision. “I was getting barraged by Jon Stewart on Twitter and a couple other folks, and I thought, I really ought to file,” he said.

“I see the growing backlog not as a good thing,” he added, “but I think it’s a good thing that veterans are, in fact, applying.”

For a moment last year, it looked like the PACT Act might not get approved. The legislation unexpectedly stalled when Republicans balked, leading some advocates to start camping outside the Capitol. Biden had contracted the coronavirus and could not visit in person, so he sent McDonough with pizza and he talked to the veterans over FaceTime.

The pressure campaign worked, and Congress passed the measure. It was a bipartisan success but also a personal victory for Biden, who has long believed that his eldest son, Beau, developed fatal brain cancer from serving near burn pits in Iraq as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard.

McDonough sees the PACT Act as a turning point for the VA, making the nation’s largest health care system more agile, robust and competitive.

“The president has been very clear to us that this new law can be the largest expansion of VA benefits and care in the history of the VA,” he said.

The legislation authorized the VA to expand its facilities through 31 leases, and it is pursuing them in 19 states. VA employees can now receive higher bonuses and more help with student loans than before. There are additional incentives for recruitment, retention and relocation.

In the past year, the VA has expanded by more than 21,000 health care workers and 4,300 employees for processing benefits.

But officials said the process remains too slow. Bringing on a new health care worker can take several months as the VA checks backgrounds and certifications, a delay that can lead candidates to find jobs elsewhere.

McDonough said the agency is not “where we need to be,” adding that “we’ll keep working on that.”

When former Army National Guard Sgt. Iona Bussiere turned 40 last year, she had her first mammogram and discovered breast cancer — stage 3 on one side, stage 2 on the other.

Since then it has been a blur of treatments, including months of grueling chemotherapy — “for the last three weeks I was like a zombie,” she said — and a recent mastectomy. Bussiere, who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, is starting radiation and expects to be taking pills for years to come.

Under the PACT Act, breast cancer is presumed to be caused by serving in proximity to burn pits. Bussiere said they were “everywhere” during her deployments in Iraq and Kuwait.

Although she wishes that the VA had started providing cancer screenings earlier, she said the benefits also provide “a lot of relief.”

“I’ve heard horror stories about people who get cancer and are unable to work and the bills are piling up,” Bussiere said.

Marcellus Beasley, 60, served in the Air Force during the first Gulf War, when he was based in Turkey and traveled to Iraq. He said there was always sand, dirt and smoke, sometimes from burn pits. When he blew his nose in the mornings, black stuff would come out.

“It’s almost like you worked in a chimney,” he said.

Beasley found the VA cumbersome and frustrating after he left military service.

“You always thought the VA was against you,” he said. “Like, they didn’t want you to get paid.”

But he said recent changes have made services more efficient, particularly at his location in Wilmington, Delaware, where a worker helped clue him in about the PACT Act. He applied for help with his psoriasis, a skin condition, and his disability benefits expanded.

“It’s been a huge impact for me,” he said.

It is not just veterans who receive benefits through the PACT Act. More than 16,000 surviving family members have submitted claims. One of those who have qualified for compensation is Ailyn Colby, 59, whose husband, Glenn, died of colon cancer six years ago.

He was 51 years old and a former major in the Rhode Island National Guard who served in Iraq.

“He never really talked to me about his experience because maybe I would worry too much about him,” said Colby, who lives near Hartford, Connecticut.

After his death, she filed for survivor benefits and was denied, describing it as “a horrible experience.”

But when she reapplied under the PACT Act in April, the claim was approved.

“I thought, they still remember the family,” she said.

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