#Department of Defense

Hawaiʻi US Sen. Mazie Hirono led Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats in demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provide a full accounting of US military casualties from Operation Epic Fury, citing inconsistencies in the Pentagon’s public reporting on deaths and injuries in the Iran conflict. In a letter sent this week to Hegseth, Joint Chiefs […]

Hawaiʻi US Rep. Ed Case is asking President Donald Trump to extend a waiver of the Jones Act for another 60 days, warning that its expiration next month could worsen fuel supply disruptions and drive up energy costs across Hawaiʻi. The current waiver, which allows international shipping vessels to deliver oil and other energy products […]

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chair Kaialiʻi Kahele is leading a delegation to Washington, D.C., this week to engage with congressional leaders and senior Department of Defense officials on critical issues impacting Native Hawaiians, including the future of military-leased lands in Hawaiʻi and proposed federal funding cuts to key Native Hawaiian programs.

US Rep. Ed Case (HI-01), a member of the key House Committee on Appropriations, responsible for all federal discretionary funding, today supported House passage of three of the four final annual appropriations bills for the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 (commencing Oct. 1, 2026) but opposed the fourth.

The US House has passed the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act without granting the military any authority to condemn public or private land in Hawaiʻi — an outcome US Rep. Jill Tokuda maintains is critical to protecting the state’s open spaces and community trust.

“Investments in DOD infrastructure, military readiness, and support for our servicemembers are all crucial to bolstering our national security,” said Hirono. “This year’s NDAA makes those critical investments, including funding to facilitate the permanent closure of Red Hill, as well as over $1.1 billion to support infrastructure projects in Hawaiʻi.”

US Rep. Jill Tokuda led 44 bipartisan members of Congress in urging the Secretary of Defense to protect the collective bargaining rights of educators and educational support staff at the Department of Defense Education Activity. The letter requests a response no later than Thursday, April 10, 2025. 

The Senate Judiciary and Ways and Means committees have recommended passage of a House bill that would put into state law fire safety recommendations arising from a Hawaiʻi Attorney General investigation of the August 2023 Maui wildfire disaster. The bill has passed second reading and moves on to third reading in the Senate. House Bill […]

Maui County highlights in the House Finance Committee draft budgets for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 include $1.6 million in both fiscal years for Kamehameha III temporary school in Lahaina and $12 million in fiscal 2026 and $6 million in fiscal 2027 for Maui Health System.

US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) voted on Wednesday to pass the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act in the US Senate, which includes several key provisions for Hawaiʻi and the Indo-Pacific region, US military service members and the maintenance and modernization of Department of Defense infrastructure.

US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) secured several key priorities for Hawaiʻi and the US military during the Committee’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.

Hawaiʻi has formally received a Sentinel Landscape designation, the Trust for Public Land announced today. Hawaiʻi’s designation ensures that, under existing federal conservation and the Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration programs, the state’s key conservation efforts will receive priority consideration for funding. 

On Tuesday night, State legislators approved a final version of the State’s Supplemental Budget. This measure includes operating, capital improvement projects (CIP), and grants-in-aid monies for fiscal year 2024-2025 (FY25).

Small-business owners are invited to a Spring Mentor-Protégé Program Workshop from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 26 at the Maui Economic Development Board’s Malcom Center in Kīhei.

“UH is demonstrating an autonomous surface vehicle. We developed a technique for trying to have a rapid response after a tsunami or hurricane comes into a harbor,” said Margo Edwards, UH Applied Research Laboratory Director. “We want to be able to get sensors out in the water before we put any boats or people out there that might get harmed.”

US Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) was part of a coalition of senators who sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to step up efforts to demilitarize the police.

The continuing spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has prompted travel restrictions for domestic Department of Defense (DoD) travel, according to a memorandum from the Deputy Secretary of Defense released on Friday.

The monthly test of the all-hazard Statewide Outdoor Warning Siren System, coordinated with the test of the Live Audio Broadcast segment of the Emergency Alert System, is scheduled for today, Feb. 3, 2020 at 11:45 a.m. 

The new Schatz law will help the Pentagon stop the unacceptable use of the Defense Department’s (DoD) network to view, possess, trade, procure, and even produce child pornography.

Over 1,000 vases from the Maui Veterans Cemetery that were placed in storage during a gravesite restoration project in May 2014 are now being returned to their graves.