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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]