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On Thursday, Governor Kay Ivey held a bill signing ceremony, marking the successful enactment of Alabama’s 2024 Military Bills Package. The package, recommended by Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s Military Stability Commission, positions Alabama’s defense communities for further growth, and provides tangible quality of life improvements for Alabama military members, veterans, and their families.

Since being established in 2011, the Alabama Military Stability Commission and its action arm—the Military Stability Foundation—have executed against their charter to support, protect, and expand Department of Defense roles and missions assigned in the state. Partnering with the state legislature, the governor’s office, state agencies, and defense communities to pass pro-military and pro-veteran policies has been a keystone of the Commission and Foundation’s work.

While the work of the legislature is most visible during the Spring regular session, the package is the culmination of work spanning back to early 2023. Throughout the year, the Commission and Foundation teamed with defense communities and legislators to visit Alabama’s military installations to identify the most pressing challenges and opportunities requiring state support. These fact-finding missions give policymakers a first-hand view of the incredible work of military missions throughout the state as well as providing direct engagement with military members and veterans on the issues that matter most to them.

In tandem, the Foundation works closely with the Pentagon to identify and prioritize policy issues relevant to the state and its specific military and veteran needs. And, most importantly, the legislative package addresses the direct feedback and needs of the state’s military leadership, the Department of Veteran Affairs, veteran service organizations, the private sector, and local defense communities and chambers of commerce to ensure that the legislation meets their needs and complements local initiatives.

Pivotal throughout the process are the chairmen and members of the Alabama House and Senate committees overseeing military and veterans’ issues. Representative Ed Oliver and Senator Andrew Jones lead those committees and worked closely with the legislative leadership, the Lt. Governor’s office, and individual bill sponsors to blaze a trail through the crowded and complex road to successful legislation. Representative Kenneth Paschal, vice chair of the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, also provided critical support and leadership to see the package over the finish line. 

The legislative package is unique in the State House, as it is both bi-cameral and bi-partisan with 20 bill sponsors from both political parties and dozens of co-sponsors working in tandem. Each bill is introduced in both the House and Senate to maximize awareness and support as the package progresses through dozens of working meetings, hearings, legal reviews, and floor votes during the three-month legislative session.

This year, the state legislature passed 10 pro-military bills addressing several policy areas to further solidify Alabama’s status as one of the most military and veteran friendly states in the country. This years’ package included:

Tax Relief for Deployed and Mobilized Servicemembers

Veterans’ Mental Healthcare Improvement

Military Dependent Education and Legal Needs

Military Spouse Occupational Licensure

Statute and Program Modernization

While these laws provide greater authority, resources, and relief to Alabama’s military communities, the effort to ensure Alabama remains the most military and veteran friendly state in the country will always remain unfinished. The strong collaboration of stakeholders must continue as the needs of those who serve our country constantly evolve. No one group or community can single-handedly address all challenges or achieve all goals, so we are blessed in Alabama to have a formidable team, devoted and capable of achieving common goals for America’s best. 

Throughout the halls of Congress and the State House and Capitol, in every military community from Redstone to Novosel, from the most senior officer down to the newest enlisted servicemember, within every military family, and through the patriotic citizens of Alabama, our state has the team in place to continue this vital work. 

Alabama remains committed to serving those who serve us, finding every way to attempt to repay the unpayable debt we owe those who sacrifice so much for our freedom.

To contact or learn more about the Military Stability Commission and Foundation, as well as view a full list of commissioners and Foundation board members, please visit almsf.org.

Jake Proctor is the Executive Director of the Alabama Military Stability Foundation. Jake previously served as a military and veterans policy staffer in the Alabama congressional delegation as well as an intelligence officer in the Pentagon.

Last week, President Joe Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense policy bill which gained final approval in Congress earlier this month. In a boon for South Alabama’s shipbuilding industry, the bill includes authorization for almost $600 million to procure two Expeditionary Fast Transport ships – known as the EPF – built by Austal USA in Mobile. The inclusion of two ships is welcome news for thousands of shipbuilders who rely on consistent workload – particularly given the Navy’s failure to include any EPFs in its budget request earlier this year.

At the helm of this effort is Representative Jerry Carl (AL-01) who represents Mobile and serves on the House Armed Services Committee and its subcommittee overseeing Navy programs. Carl likely received much needed support in this effort from Representative Mike Rogers (AL-03) who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and wields considerable influence over military programs and policies.

Rogers is expected to take over as chair of the House Armed Services Committee if Republicans win back the House in upcoming midterm elections.

Carl, a former businessman and first term congressman, has made supporting workload for Alabama’s shipbuilders a top priority. After successfully securing a coveted seat on the Armed Services Committee, the inclusion of a second EPF in the $768 billion defense bill is likely a welcome indication of his hard work paying off.

Carl and Rogers also received support in the effort from several other Alabama representatives who serve on the Armed Services Committees, including Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who was able to secure authorization for one EPF in the Senate’s version of the defense bill. That insertion gave the conference committee – a group of members from the House and Senate charged with resolving differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill – the political cover needed to ensure two ships were included in the final authorization legislation.

Now that the funding for the ships has been authorized, Congress must now appropriate actual dollars to fund the military programs and activities. Thankfully for Alabama’s defense industry, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), who is set to retire after his current term, and Representative Robert Aderholt (AL-04) are both senior members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees respectively. Their positions and tenure on the Appropriations Committees position them well to ensure the EPFs and other priority Alabama defense programs are fully funded. Debate and consideration of appropriations legislation will pick up in the new year as current funding for the entire government expires on February 18.
For background, the EPF is a non-combatant transport ship built by Austal USA for the Navy. In addition to its critical transportation role, the Navy is utilizing the ship to explore advanced technologies for the future naval force. These include a $44 million contract awarded to Austal USA in June to prototype autonomous vessel technology on the USNS Apalachicola (EPF 13).

In addition to the EPF, Austal USA also builds one variant of the Littoral Combat Ship, known as LCS, a small-surface combatant currently deployed in both the South China Sea and in Latin America. While Austal will continue to build the remainder of authorized and funded LCS vessels, the company was unsuccessful in its bid to build the next generation frigate, the follow-on program to the LCS.

That loss makes it even more critical that Alabama’s congressional delegation ensure a consistent workload for Alabama shipbuilders in this year’s NDAA. As the Senate and House consider appropriations legislation in the new year, you can be sure the Alabama delegation will have all hands on deck to bring the effort over the finish line.

Jake Proctor is a former intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency and previously held staff and defense policy positions for U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Luther Strange (R-AL), and Joni Ernst (R-IA). He currently works in business development at software company in Washington, D.C., focusing on the company’s intelligence community and defense work. He is a Birmingham native and graduate of the University of Alabama and the U.S. Air Command and Staff College.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I remember my first-grade teacher telling us there had been a plane crash in New York City. After school, I went to a friend’s house where we watched the footage of the planes hitting the towers along with the smoke rising from the Pentagon and the final resting place of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

At that age, I did not truly understand the implications of those events, but I do remember them. It’s just something you don’t forget.

Years later, I remember sitting in my high school algebra class when the superintendent’s voice came over the school’s intercom system. He announced that Thomas Rivers, a Marine, a graduate of our high school, and friend of my brother, had been killed in Afghanistan.

I remember attending his funeral. Despite having grown up in an era of constant war in Afghanistan and the Middle East, this was the first time I truly felt the sadness that has plagued so many in our nation over the last 20 years. Again, it’s just something you don’t forget.

In addition to Thomas Rivers, over 100 service members from Alabama have given their lives in service to their country in Afghanistan. Hundreds if not thousands more have been injured in combat, and these numbers do not account for the American intelligence officers and diplomats also killed and injured in America’s longest war. T

hese unknown numbers include the first American killed in Afghanistan, Mike Spann, who was a CIA paramilitary officer from Winfield, Alabama.

While much less is public about the intelligence community’s efforts during the war, I can testify to the patriotism and selflessness of the thousands of American intelligence officers who served silently – often in some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the country.

In my career, I have had the honor to know and work with many American heroes who have served in Afghanistan. When I worked on Capitol Hill, the halls of Congress were filled with military fellows and staffers who had served in the war. Some of them remain close friends and mentors of mine, having taught me innumerable lessons about national security – and life – and I’ll be forever grateful for their service.

During my time in the intelligence community, many of my colleagues had served in Afghanistan, either as intelligence officers or through prior service in the military. While on rotation at the joint staff, I regularly participated in a daily briefing for senior Pentagon leaders where we would “go around the world” briefing intelligence on various geographic accounts.

While my account did not include Afghanistan, it was rare that my briefing was not preceded or followed by a briefing on the latest intelligence and analysis on the war. I could always tell when the briefer had served in Afghanistan. They just sounded different. More passionate and more invested. They always stayed professional, but you could tell it was personal to them.

Even now in the private sector, I continue to meet veterans and former intelligence officers who served in Afghanistan and make me even prouder to be an American. Even outside of the military and government, many of these individuals have remained in contact with their brothers and sisters in arms, including for some their Afghan interpreters and partners from the war.

These last few weeks have been especially hard for them, although there have been moments of ultimate relief when they learned that their friends had made it out of Afghanistan safely.

Those reading this article probably have many of the same experiences as me. They come fresh to the mind whenever you hear mention of the war, 9/11, or the withdrawal. They’re incredible Americans who you just don’t forget.

And now, despite our politics, we need to be there for those that sacrificed so much for us. This is particularly true for those, like me, who never stepped foot in Afghanistan. We don’t know or understand what they have been through, but we can have their backs in whatever way they need.

Reach out to your friends and family who served in the war. Thank them for their service, for their sacrifice, and for the safety they have provided us for the last 20 years. Tell them their service made a difference – because it truly did. Tell them our nation is forever indebted to their service – because we truly are. And, probably most importantly, carry their service as a lesson. Live every day in honor of those who never came home from Afghanistan.

It’s just something we can’t forget.

Jake Proctor is a former intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency and previously held staff and defense policy positions for U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Luther Strange (R-AL), and Joni Ernst (R-IA). He currently works in business development at software company in Washington, D.C., focusing on the company’s intelligence community and defense work. He is a Birmingham native and graduate of the University of Alabama and the U.S. Air Command and Staff College.

In late April, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) announced he would cosponsor the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. The bill would reform how sexual assault crimes are prosecuted within the military. At a press conference at Dannelly Field in Montgomery on June 3, Tuberville said the bill would make positive changes to how the military prosecutes sexual assault cases but also said the bill maintained the authority of commanders to maintain law and order.

As he has been well known to do, Tuberville related the changes to football, saying it paralleled the needs of a head coach to discipline players. Football references aside, the bill is a historic opportunity for Congress to assert its authority over rampant sexual assault cases in the military. While a popular measure, it faces grounded opposition from key Senate leaders that could stall its momentum in the red zone (OK, that was the last one). (more…)

Over the last two weeks, violence between Israel and Palestinian terror factions in Gaza spiked following disturbances in the Old City of Jerusalem. With congruent Israeli and Islamic holidays underway, clashes and riots broke out culminating with Israeli security services conducting a raid at al Aqsa Mosque. In response, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading Israel to conduct retaliatory strikes. The cycle of violence continued to escalate with militants launching more than 4000 rockets and Israel conducting targeted killings of senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders. Israel undertook a campaign against Palestinian military and intelligence infrastructure in the Gaza strip, including destroying 60 miles underground tunnel networks and hundreds of rocket launchers and rocket manufacturing and storage facilities. By the time Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire on Thursday, 230 Palestinians and 12 Israelis had been killed.

This article seeks, at a high level, to explain the context, drivers and actors involved in the violent escalation as well as the outlook for continued Israel-Gaza conflict.

Who is Hamas, and how did they come to power in the Gaza Strip?

Hamas is a Sunni Islamist U.S.-designated terror organization that seeks the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state. The group, based in the Gaza Strip, was founded by Muslim Brotherhood members in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising, known as the First Intifada. (more…)

A bipartisan bill in Washington could bring a welcome influx of cash and resources to South Alabama’s shipbuilding industry. Senators and representatives from Mississippi, Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire and Wisconsin have introduced the Supplying Help to Infrastructure in Ports, Yards, and America’s Repair Docks (SHIPYARD) Act, which would appropriate $25 billion toward shipyard infrastructure improvements (you can always count on Congress to fit a tongue-tying, mouthful of a bill title into a catchy acronym).

While the lion’s share of the dollars would go to public shipyards outside of Alabama, $4 billion is reserved for work at private new construction and repair shipyards. Austal’s shipyard in Mobile and the Ingalls facility in Mississippi — which employs scores of Alabamians — fall into both of those categories.

The measure comes amid efforts within Congress and the Pentagon to grow the U.S. Navy as a response to the growth of China’s military power. In 2020, the U.S. Navy released its 30-year shipbuilding plan, which aims to grow its current fleet of fewer than 300 ships to a whopping 546 ships by 2050. Doing so will require an estimated $25.6 billion per year over that period.

While that growth seems sharp and expensive, for Washington seapower advocates, the Navy cannot grow fast enough. In 2017, Congress passed, and President Donald Trump signed, a bill stating that established a U.S. policy to achieve a 355-ship Navy. Under the Navy’s plan, the U.S. will not hit that mark until the mid-2030s. (more…)

Foreign investment in Alabama is not a bad thing. In fact, it should be encouraged under the right circumstances. However, as state leaders consider solicitations from foreign countries to bring business to Alabama, particularly from China, they should be vigilant and consider the long-term impacts it could have on America’s national security and Alabama businesses.

The good news is that business has been booming in Alabama, and business leaders expect that to continue. The influx of investment, much of it coming from companies based overseas, has strengthened and diversified Alabama’s economy and provided thousands of good-paying jobs in the state. Pro-business policies championed in the state have been a large catalyst to the growth, as have federal policies rewarding companies for keeping their operations within the United States rather than abroad.

This growth has led many state leaders to develop closer relationships with foreign countries, particularly with the communist People’s Republic of China. This has taken the form of seemingly harmless trips to China for state officials, sister state and sister city programs further linking Chinese officials to their counterparts in the United States, and lucrative investments in American states.

However, before getting into bed with China, state leaders should consider the warnings from the federal government about China’s influence operations in the United States. As the saying goes: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. (more…)

Most people know that Alabama’s defense industry is a key driver of the state’s economy and major employer of Alabamians across the state. What can be less apparent is the impact that federal and state politics and polices have on the defense sector. With U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), the top Republican on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, set to retire at the end of this term, many federal, state and industry leaders are concerned that the flow of federal dollars could dry up.

The first two articles in this three-part series focused on the major challenges the Alabama congressional delegation and state leaders face to maintain North and Central Alabama’s defense sectors. This article will dive into the issues confronting Southwest Alabama, particularly the Gulf Coast’s shipbuilding industry.

The key programs that have driven the shipbuilding industry in Alabama are the Littoral Combat Ship, known as LCS, and the Expeditionary Fast Transport ship. The LCS program has been the more prominent of the two, sustaining thousands of jobs and $1.8 billion in economic impact in the Mobile area. While work continues on previously contracted ships, its builder, Austal USA, fell short in a bid to secure a contract to build the next generation of small surface combatants for the U.S. Navy. Austal will need to secure future contracts to remain afloat (pun intended). (more…)

With the approaching retirement of U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), along with several new faces in Alabama’s congressional delegation, the state’s defense industry and leaders are rightly concerned about the flow of federal dollars running dry in the coming years. However, with a little under two years left of Shelby’s term and the remainder of the Alabama delegation well positioned to cement his legacy securing key defense funding for the state, it is not all doom and gloom.

This is the second of a three-article series covering the top challenges for Alabama’s state and federal leaders to ensure the state’s continued dominance as a defense industry powerhouse. While the first article focused on North Alabama and the effort to maintain U.S. Space Command’s basing in Huntsville, this article will cover the needs of the broadly defined Central Alabama defense industry.

Unlike North Alabama, Central Alabama’s defense equities are spread across a wide geographical area. For the purposes of this article, this area starts northeast of Birmingham at the Anniston Army Depot and runs as far south as Fort Rucker in the Wiregrass. The third article in this series will cover the defense issues of the Alabama Gulf Coast, which is confined to Alabama’s First Congressional District. (more…)

It is no secret that Alabama contributes heavily to the U.S. national defense. From rocket manufacturing facilities and Redstone Arsenal in North Alabama to the shipbuilders and Coast Guard base on the Gulf Coast, Alabama is key to the military, intelligence community, law enforcement and space sectors.

What many may not know is how reliant these industries are on politics and policy at the federal and state levels. For decades, the Alabama congressional delegation, led by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), has consistently secured authorization and funding for major defense and space projects to be completed in the Yellowhammer State. These efforts require countless hours of appropriations and policy negotiations in Washington, enabled by Shelby’s seniority on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

With Shelby set to retire in 2022 and several new faces in the congressional delegation, the Alabama defense industry and state leaders are concerned about the flow of federal dollars running dry in the coming years. However, it is not all doom and gloom. U.S. Representatives Mike Rogers (AL-03), Robert Aderholt (AL-04) and Mo Brooks (AL-05) continue to hold key positions which will help continue Alabama’s dominance in the defense industry. In addition to these veteran lawmakers, newly elected U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and U.S. Representative Jerry Carl (AL-01) secured key committee and subcommittee assignments which will further aid in these efforts.

This article is the first of three covering the major challenges and opportunities the Alabama congressional delegation and state leaders will face to maintain Alabama’s preeminence in national security. Covering all of Alabama’s defense interests would take a more in-depth and lengthy study, so this is by no means intended to serve as an encyclopedic record of all the incredible work being performed in the state. (more…)