Brent Scowcroft was active in defense of the United States for several decades. First, in the military, in which he became a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Air Force. And later as a civilian, including serving as the national security advisor under two different U.S. presidents.

Scowcroft was a Republican, although he would also advise Democrats. Aside from Bill Clinton, Scowcroft played a significant role under every president from Nixon to Obama. On August 6, he died in Falls Church, Virginia.

Brent Scowcroft was a native of Ogden, Utah.

He would graduate from the United States Military Academy and be commissioned an officer in the Army Air Forces. Shortly after, it broke away from the Army and became the United States Air Force. In the new military branch, Scowcroft was a P-51 Mustang pilot.

He would undertake a variety of duties during his military career. Scowcroft also obtained a master’s degree and later a doctorate from Columbia University in International Relations, CBS reports. His assignments included time with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another was as an assistant air attache in Belgrade, Serbia, at the American Embassy.

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An Army soldier involved in a military vehicle crash in June 2019, killing Cadet Christopher “CJ” Morgan and injuring others, was sentenced to three years of confinement after being convicted of negligent homicide, The New York Times reported on July 21. Staff Sgt. Ladonies P. Strong was driving the truck that overturned near West Point; she was also convicted of prevention of authorized seizure of property and was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter, reckless operation of a vehicle and two counts of dereliction of duty.

The case was tried in front of a military panel in Fort Stewart, Ga., where Strong’s unit of the 3rd Infantry Division is based. Strong will also receive a bad conduct discharge, according to The New York Times. The 3rd Infantry Division did not respond to a request for comment by press time on Aug. 4.

Morgan, who would have graduated from the military academy this year, was a West Orange High School graduate. A member of the wrestling and football teams at WOHS, he was also on the West Point wrestling team.

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Critical decisions on who will be first to get a possible COVID-19 vaccine have yet to be made, according to the director of Operation Warp Speed, the whole-of-government effort to develop and distribute a safe and effective immunization.

Despite early indications from government officials that the military, the elderly and other groups would get priority, Dr. Moncef Slaoui said he is in the opening stages of organizing an “independent scientific summit” to make recommendations on vaccine distribution, with the goal of keeping politics out of decisions.

He said Collins suggested having the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine lead a summit on the “ethical, epidemiology, and virological vaccinologist discussions around how to best serve the population, with all its diversity, with a new vaccine or new vaccines against COVID-19.”

“We are helping to generate the independent information to inform, and the science to inform, those important decisions” on distribution, said Slaoui, the former head of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccines department.

The summit’s purpose would be to discuss “how to best introduce new vaccines, who to immunize first, what kind of performance of vaccine is best suited to what kind of population with what we know,” he said.

Senior administration officials, speaking on background, have said that Operation Warp Speed would likely give priority to the elderly, those with underlying health conditions, workers in essential businesses and the military.

“Our role, as the federal government, is to ensure anyone who is vulnerable, [who] cannot afford it and desire it, can get it. Those critical to infrastructure get it, essential workers get it, and those associated with national defense get it. That’s our obligation,” a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in June.

“I hope we will have enough doses of [safe, Food and Drug Administration-approved] vaccines in the first two months of 2021 to immunize the at-risk populations in the U.S.,” Slaoui said, though he could not rule out having it sooner.

“So the data will dictate, the facts will dictate” when a vaccine is ready, he added. “We may have the end point in October. We may have it Nov. 4 — who knows? We may have it Dec. 15. … That’s the answer and to be honest, on a personal basis, I would resign instantly if I was forced to do something that I thought would be inappropriate.”

At a White House event in May, President Donald Trump named Slaoui to head up Operation Warp Speed and Army Gen. Gus Perna, a logistics expert and head of Army Materiel Command, to be its chief operating officer.

The task of overseeing the packaging, distribution and delivery of possibly 300 million doses of vaccine by early next year is enormous, but Perna has expressed confidence that the job can be done.

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The Pentagon is conducting its first survey in more than 30 years specifically focused on the reproductive health of female service members, according to an Aug. 4 release from the Military Health System Communications Office. It begins this month.

The Department of Defense Active Duty Women’s Reproductive Health Survey will assess the behaviors and experiences of active-duty female service members, which can affect military readiness, and help clinicians learn about women’s gynecologic and obstetrical care needs. Collecting current data on women’s health issues will help shape policy and access to care, the release adds.

The survey will focus on women’s experiences with military health care, as well as their needs and preferences for family planning and contraception, said Kimberly Lahm, program director for Patient Advocacy & Experience, Women’s, Child & Family Health Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.

“Participants have a great opportunity to provide feedback to help the military identify policies and practices that best meet their needs,” she added.

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