The D Brief: Crash near border kills 2 US troops; Pentagon axes two advisors for alleged leaks; Leadership shakeups continue; ACLU sues DoDEA over banned books; And a bit more.

Two American troops perished in a vehicle crash while deployed near the Mexico border on Tuesday. A third service member is in serious condition after the accident, which occurred near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, just before 9 a.m. local time, officials at Northern Command announced Wednesday evening. 

All three were Marines assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Border, which began operating along the border just last month, according to the New York Times.

“The accident occurred in a civilian vehicle, but no civilians were harmed in the incident,” a defense official told the Associated Press. The names of the deceased will be released once their families have been notified. 

ICYMI: “There are about 7,100 active duty troops under federal control currently assigned to the border and about 4,600 National Guard troops under state control,” AP reported Monday off White House plans to significantly expand militarization of America’s southern border. 

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Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson and Audrey Decker. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1945, nearly one million Soviet troops launched their final assault on Nazi-held Berlin. 

Around the Pentagon

New: Two top advisors for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were suspended Tuesday and escorted out of the Pentagon after an internal investigation into alleged leaks to the media, Reuters and Politico reported. 

Involved: Deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Hegseth adviser Dan Caldwell. “The leaks under investigation include military operational plans for the Panama canal, a second carrier headed to the Red Sea, Elon Musk’s controversial visit to the Pentagon and pausing the collection of intelligence to Ukraine,” Jack Detsch of Politico reports. 

Trendspotting: 

Developing: Most folks working at the Pentagon’s 14-person Defense Digital Services are resigning from their jobs, Politico reported Tuesday, citing “pressure from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.”

Background: “The Defense Digital Service was created in 2015 to help the Pentagon adopt fast tech fixes during national security crises and push Silicon Valley-style innovation inside the Pentagon. It built rapid response tools for the military during the Afghanistan withdrawal, databases to transfer Ukrainian military and humanitarian aid, drone detection technologies and more.” 

The DDS team “initially expected to be part of Musk’s efforts to automate the Pentagon’s operations and adopt AI,” Politico writes. But one former senior Pentagon official said, “They’re not really using AI, they’re not really driving efficiency. What they’re doing is smashing everything.” More, here. 

ICYMI: The Pentagon’s top policy wonk and noted China hawk Elbridge Colby began his new job last Thursday, Defense Department spokesman Tom Crosson said Tuesday. Since beginning last week, “he is busy reacclimating to the Pentagon and getting up to speed in his new role,” said Crosson. 

Colby’s message for the world: “Now is a time for realism: prioritizing addressing the greatest threats to the American people, above all defending our homeland and deterring China,” he wrote Tuesday morning on social media. “Central to this effort is revitalizing our defense industrial base. At the same time, we must ensure that America’s allies and partners step up—and enable them to do so.”

“If we had continued on the old path, disaster would have been the result,” Colby alleged. “That is why President Trump’s approach is so vital. His is a strategy that puts Americans’ interests first and will restore peace through strength—not just for a few years, but for decades to come. It is my privilege and duty to do my part to implement it.”

Leadership shake-up continued: Victor Minella, who was performing the duties of under secretary of the Navy, was let go of his duties, according to a Tuesday tweet from Navy secretary John Phelan. Brett Seidle, who’s currently the Navy’s acting assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, will take over until further notice. Hung Cao, a retired Navy officer, has been nominated to be the under secretary but is awaiting confirmation by Congress. The top enlisted leader of Air Force Special Operations Command was also recently fired, Task & Purpose reported Tuesday. Command Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green was relieved of duty for a “loss in confidence” amid an investigation, according to AFSOC. Officials did not disclose the nature of the investigation. AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Mike Conley made the decision “after careful consideration of the circumstances,” he wrote in a command-wide email. 

A years-long debate over SPACECOM’s headquarters was rehashed in a Tuesday report from the DOD inspector general. Pentagon officials initially chose Alabama over Colorado because it would be roughly $420 mil cheaper to construct the command’s headquarters there, the report found. But the Biden administration reversed that move in 2023, deciding to keep the headquarters in Colorado Springs. The IG was unable to interview key officials, like then-Air Force secretary Frank Kendall, so it doesn’t explain why the Biden administration changed the HQ to Colorado, but cited concerns from SPACECOM officials that the move would harm readiness. Following the investigation, Trump is expected to reverse Biden’s decision and move the command to Alabama by the end of the month, according to Alabama congressman Mike Rogers. Read more, here.

Union members at General Dynamics Electric Boat voted to strike on Tuesday, United Auto Workers announced Tuesday. UAW made the move amid an “ongoing labor dispute post the expiration of the members’ contract on April 4 at Electric Boat, a part of the defense contractor’s marine systems segment, which assembles nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy,” according to Reuters. 

General Dynamics is already years behind schedule on the Virginia-class submarine program because of supply chain problems and workforce shortages. “Inferior compensation at Electric Boat is leading to worker shortages and production delays,” UAW said.

Warning from Capitol Hill: America’s defense industrial base will be hurt by Trump’s trade war, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen writes in a new letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The tariffs will increase costs for U.S. companies and drive up costs for the DOD, which will “limit DOD buying power and ultimately harm the warfighter and our military readiness,” Shaheen said. The DOD needs to fully assess how many of its parts come from overseas, Shaheen said, asking Hegseth to respond to a slew of questions on the impact of tariffs to the industrial base. 

Related reading: “Boeing Hit From All Sides in Trump’s Trade War,” the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. 

And lastly: Trump’s Pentagon is facing a new lawsuit over its book bans across schools on military bases, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Tuesday. The litigation targets the military’s education agency known as the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA, with more than 150 schools across 11 countries and seven states, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico.

The bans were the result of three executive orders Trump signed in January to help launch his campaign against diversity, tolerance and pluralism. Some of the books banned at DoDEA schools include American literary classics “Fahrenheit 451” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as well as “The Antiracist Kid” and the 2012 award-winning book, “A Queer History of the United States.” 

The suit was filed on behalf of 12 students from six families that attend the schools as children of active duty servicemembers stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan. It alleges the “book removals and curricular changes following several executive orders from President Donald Trump violate their First Amendment rights,” the ACLU says.  

“Our clients have a right to receive an education that includes an open and honest dialogue about America’s history,” said Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky. “Censoring books and canceling assignments about the contributions of Black Americans is not only wrong, but antithetical to our First Amendment rights,” he said in a statement.  

For the record: “The Pentagon declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation,” the New York Times reports. 

Said one of the plaintiffs: “I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity…The implementation of these EOs, without any due process or parental or professional input, is a violation of our children’s right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities.” Read more from the ACLU’s suit (PDF), here. 

Defense One