The Naval Brief: Strategic guidance; Legal trouble; Catholic vaccine refusal; and more...

Welcome to The Naval Brief, a weekly look at the news and ideas shaping the sea services’ future. 

Providing guidance. China is the most significant challenge for the naval services, out of four challenges cited by Carlos Del Toro in his strategic guidance as the Biden administration’s first Navy secretary, Defense One reports. The guidance is meant to bring the naval services together with a common vision during President Joe Biden’s administration.

Legal woes. A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife could face life in prison for trying to share secrets about nuclear submarines with an unnamed foreign country, the Washington Post reported. FBI agents who posed as foreign spies received data cards from the couple in various containers, from a Band-Aid wrapper to half a peanut butter sandwich. 

Scheller case. Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, who criticized senior leaders for the Afghanistan withdrawal, is expected to plead guilty to several charges at his court martial Thursday and ask for a discharge that allows him to retain some military benefits, the Washington Post reported.

Diocese weighs in on vaccines. Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio issued a memo stating that Catholic troops should be allowed to refuse the vaccine “if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience,” Defense One reports. As of Wednesday, 94% of active-duty sailors are fully immunized, according to the Navy.

Sign up to get The Naval Brief every Thursday from Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One’s military services reporter. On Wednesday, the Navy celebrated its 246th birthday. Marking the occasion were Del Toro, who fired a cannon aboard the USS Constitution, and few people who used images of foreign warships in their congratulatory messages.

From Defense One

An Afghanistan Evac Flight Was Almost Hijacked, Air Force Reveals // Tara Copp: While the chaos at HKIA is over, the effort to evacuate Afghans is not. Here’s how the U.S. is still getting people out.

Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan Is Inspiring Americans Online, FBI Says // Jacqueline Feldscher: “That’s where they see this rallying cry and their opportunity. Now it’s ‘time to buy a gun, run people over with a car,’ do whatever they’re going to do,” an FBI official said Tuesday.

CIA Creates China Center To Shift To Great Power Competition // Jacqueline Feldscher: “It’s taking the top slot from the counterterrorism mission over the past 20 years,” said John Doyon, executive vice president of INSA. is the third digital factory opened by the world’s largest defense contractor this year.

The Inventor of the Taser and the Body Cam Wants to Put Them on Drones // Patrick Tucker: His pitch: non-lethal, robotically deployed Tasers can change the face of war.