The anti-affirmative-action group Students for Fair Admissions filed lawsuits this fall seeking to end the use of race in admissions at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Students for Fair Admissions asked the two judges assigned to the lawsuits to ban affirmative action in the institutions immediately, before the cases went to trial.

But the judges put off making a decision on the contentious issue of affirmative action in the service academies, instead opting to let the lawsuits run their course.

To answer whether the use of race in admissions at West Point was constitutional, Judge Philip Halpern of the Southern District of New York wrote in his opinion Wednesday that he would need to see the “full factual record,” rather than just the early filings in the case.

West Point educates future Army officers, while the Naval Academy is for future Navy and Marine officers. Pentagon data from recent years has shown that, overall, civilian universities’ ROTC programs are the leading source of officers’ commissions.

The lawsuits against the academies came a few months after the Supreme Court declared it was unconstitutional for civilian universities to provide a boost to applicants on the basis of their race. In that landmark decision, the court stopped short of banning affirmative action in the service academies, citing their “potentially distinct interests.”

Students for Fair Admissions, the same group that successfully challenged affirmative action in civilian universities at the Supreme Court, argued the service academies’ admissions policies amounted to illegal racial stereotyping. The group urged the judges to act now to prevent certain white applicants from undergoing what it characterized as an unfair process during the current admission cycle.

Halpern declined to do so, on the grounds that it was too early in the lawsuit to make that kind of decision. West Point hadn’t gotten the chance to lay out its argument and facts fully, so the judge was unwilling to provide “the extraordinary and drastic remedy” of a preliminary injunction, a step that would have upended the academy’s approach to admissions mid-cycle, he wrote in his opinion.

Judge Richard Bennett, of the District of Maryland, relied on similar logic in his Dec. 20 opinion explaining why he wouldn’t grant a preliminary injunction banning affirmative action in the Naval Academy.

Students for Fair Admissions is appealing Halpern’s decision not to issue a preliminary injunction in the West Point case, according to court documents.

The group has argued that affirmative action is a discriminatory and illegal policy that erodes internal and external trust in the military. The academies and their supporters have countered that affirmative action — by increasing racial diversity in the officer corps — prevents internal strife, builds faith in the military among the public, and aids recruitment and retention.

Defenders of affirmative action in the academies have noted that the officer corps is less racially diverse than the enlisted ranks: Nineteen percent of enlisted active-duty service members in 2022 were Black, compared to 9% of officers, according to Pentagon data.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is representing West Point, and the Justice Department’s Civil Division is representing the Naval Academy. Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the New York office, declined to comment.

The Justice Department’s Civil Division and lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions did not respond to a request for comment by Military Times’ deadline.

But when the five-year veteran entered civilian life and turned her sights towards higher education, she felt lost.

“Most veterans spend years giving their all to the military careers, but when it’s time to separate they get a week of separation counseling and then are left to figure everything out on their own,” said Coppick, who found much-needed support at the private ECPI University in Virginia Beach, where she’s earning a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity.

At ECPI, Coppick discovered camaraderie at the Student Veterans of America Club, relished in the year-round class schedule that allowed her to maintain a military-like routine, and got priceless assistance from specially trained university staff who helped her navigate complex GI Bill benefits.

“Being surrounded by veterans who understand each other and are willing to help each other academically as well as personally has been an absolute blessing,” she said.

ECPI is just one of the colleges and universities that offers resources tailored to fit the needs of veterans, reflected in the 2023 Military Times Best for Vets Colleges rankings, where ECPI finished in 21st place. The rankings evaluate higher education institutions on their programs, training and support infrastructure for veterans, who often face challenges that are significantly different from civilian students.

In San Antonio, No. 1 ranked University of the Incarnate Word’s Military and Veteran Center provides annual training and guidance to staff, faculty and students with a “Military 101″ course. Similar training is offered at No. 2 University of Texas at Arlington, where the Department of Military and Veteran Services hosts cultural competency training called “Serving Those Who Served.” Tenth-ranked California State University-San Bernardino offers employee training focused on military-related disabilities.

UTA’s Molly Albart said the “Serving Those Who Served” course helped her do better as assistant vice president for student transition and success.

MILITARY TIMES’ 2023 BEST FOR VETS: COLLEGES RANKINGS

“Not having been in the military myself, it was helpful to know some of the challenges related to mental health, family, stressors and acclimating to civilian life,” Albart said. “I feel better prepared to support the veterans I encounter in my work.”

A focus on training

At No. 1 Incarnate Word, staff training and efforts like the Military Strategic Priority Committee are especially important as the number of military-connected students grows — currently 21 percent of all students, said Jonathan Lovejoy, senior director for military and veteran affairs.

“We make a concerted effort every day to make sure our veterans and their families feel welcome and supported,” he said.

Belinda Guerra, a petty officer in the Navy Reserve who served five years on active duty, is pursuing a nursing degree at Incarnate Word. She says the support veterans get from understanding university staff allow her to stay dedicated to both her service and her studies.

“Being here at UIW is a literal dream come true for me,” said Guerra, a first-generation college student. “The Military and Veteran Center here at UIW has made the transition from service member to student incredibly easy with their resources and knowledge. They provide a warm environment to all the veterans attending which creates an amazing support system and friends, just like the military did.”

Incarnate Word’s “Military 101″ course material is provided to all faculty and staff, giving them a basic overview of military branches, culture and transition to civilian life. Those who complete the course receive a sticker for their door or bulletin board and an “Honoring All Who Served” plaque for display. Even part-time instructors receive training, including how to help veteran students handle unexpected circumstances.

Incarnate Word’s rankings were boosted by adding a Space Force ROTC program as well as maintaining robust veteran services and mental health services for military students.

The university makes it a priority to make sure all staff understand military policies, which are listed on the school’s websites, in the catalog and syllabi. Reminders about best practices when working with military-connected students are sent regularly.

UTA grad Sawyer Howard is an Air Force veteran hired this spring as a coordinator by the university’s Office of Military and Veteran Services. He said his experience — first as a veteran student and then as an employee going through the specialized training to help fellow vets attending college — has given him a unique perspective.

“The most gratifying part of the job is hearing someone sigh in relief knowing they’ll have what they need to make it through the semester,” Howard said, adding that veteran students often send thank you notes for help navigating stressful or unique situations.

“It’s not something you do to be thanked, but the thanks are a very welcome reminder that we’re truly helping people,” Howard said.

Agustin Ramirez, director of the Veterans Success Center at California State University-San Bernardino, said the staff training programs there, particularly for nonmilitary folks, have made a world of difference.

Ramirez pointed to a “very generous” leave of absence policy crafted by the dean of social and behavioral sciences after attending a training as just one example.

“I enjoy having staff approach me after training and explain that they feel less overwhelmed by, more welcoming of and more comfortable with the military-affiliated student population and benefits. I especially love when they say something like, ‘I just didn’t know, and now I do.’ Those moments make me appreciate the work we do,” he said.

Besides “Military 101,” the California university offers training focused specifically on financial aid for military families. The Veterans Success Center also presents at the annual Student DisABILITY Awareness Fair, where staff talk about the most common disabilities associated with military service: tinnitus, sciatica, migraines, mental health, back pain and prosthetic limbs to name a few.

“It uncovers, demystifies. It urges cultural awareness, creates empathy and encourages dialogue,” Ramirez said. “Most importantly, it humanizes our service members and their families, and promotes an understanding of their sacrifices and contributions to our nation and our society.”

Meeting veterans’ needs

Coppick, the cybersecurity student at ECPI, said the staff training has paid off in unexpected ways for her. She never expected to be able to use GI benefits for an advanced degree, but plans to pursue a master’s in business administration.

“I would not have been aware of the extra resources available to me had it not been for the amazing support and expertise of the ECPI staff,” she said.

The schools that dominate the list had the staff training programs in common.

But they also support veterans as they transition from the military to college life, offering veteran-specific orientations, providing veteran-specific mentoring, veteran-specific financial aid offices, advocacy programs and help navigating into full-time careers.

Coppick finds these things invaluable.

“This is essential to the veteran community. When we separate from the military, many of us struggle to adjust to civilian culture.

A community of like-minded veterans who can empathize with both the highs and the lows of the transition experience really makes the adjustment easier,” she said.

‘The best job’

Bill Brown, executive director of military education at ECPI, said he has “the best job in the world, working with and helping our military and veteran students.”

He still stays in touch with a graduate who struggled as a student with the effects of a service-related head injury, which caused him to miss classes and assignments.

“There were times he ended up in the hospital or just could not focus,” said Brown.

He recalled how he personally talked the student through the situation and how the university made accommodations. The vet eventually graduated at the top of his class and is working at a cybersecurity job he loves.

“Knowing that just spending some time talking and helping a student makes such a difference, it means a lot,” Brown said. “Sometimes our military and veteran students just need to know that there is someone there for them that understands what they have been through.”

— Hilary Niles compiled all survey results and charts. She also contributed to the story.

Some even paid out of pocket or had to forego other student aid for their college courses.

“As of 15 July, 131 educational institutions, including 23 of the 25 most attended institutions, have completed uploads of their degree plans and enrollment files,” said Army University officials in a press release. “All Soldiers whose educational institutions have uploaded their course enrollment files can now request tuition assistance for future courses in ArmyIgnitED.”

Approximately 70 percent of tuition assistance enrollments will be live in the new system once an additional 33 schools complete their in-progress data uploads, the release said.

Many soldiers were unable to receive their tuition assistance after the Army deactivated the old portal, GoArmyEd, in March and before ArmyIgnitED — contracted through Deloitte — was ready to go live.

Harry Sarles, an Army University spokesperson, told Army Times that GoArmyEd was sunset “because no additional contract extensions were available. GoArmyEd’s Authority to Operate was set to expire.”

The service said it will begin processing “unpaid tuition assistance enrollments to reimburse educational institutions” on Monday. Sarles said more than 40,000 exception-to-policy enrollments are included in this group.

“Pending payment of invoices from [GoArmyEd] are almost complete in terms of reimbursing educational institutions,” said Sarles. NBC News previously reported those payments would be complete by the end of June.

For some soldiers, the financial impacts of the delayed tuition assistance are already here.

Some, including one Hawaii-based NCO who spoke with Army Times, had their unpaid tuition bills covered by other federal student aid, such as Pell Grants, which normally would be refunded directly to the student.

“I’m in an [information technology] major,” said the NCO, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about his experience. “So I need to pay for lab software and textbooks [using the Pell Grant money]. It’ll be more than $300 for a class.”

The soldier had used a personal credit card to cover those expenses, expecting to receive the Pell money, which the school instead applied to the tuition bill that the Army didn’t pay.

“I’m definitely upset about it,” he said. “I have soldiers myself who don’t even want to sign up for school right now because this whole process has been a nightmare.”

Other soldiers sounded off in the Facebook comments on posts made by the ArmyIgnitED page.

One soldier said his university is withholding the degree that he just earned because the Army hasn’t paid the outstanding balance on his account.

Another said she’s still waiting on the Army to reimburse the school for two semesters’ worth of courses.

Some soldiers who have paid out of pocket asked why the Army can’t just reimburse them directly.

“[In accordance with Defense Department] policy, tuition assistance is established to pay the educational institutions directly,” said Sarles. “There is no authority to directly reimburse soldiers for tuition costs.”

Sarles also said the Army reached out to individual educational institutions that were asking soldiers to pay out of pocket. But an unknown number of soldiers paid anyways, fearful of losing their classes or being unable to graduate.

The Hawaii-based NCO said that tuition assistance is too valuable of a program for the Army to let soldiers fall through the cracks.

“TA is one of the best things the Army has to offer…and this whole ordeal has stopped people from taking college classes, and from bettering themselves professionally,” he said. “I feel like somebody dropped the ball, big time, when they transitioned from GoArmyEd to the IgnitED system. And I feel like no one’s gonna really take the blame.”

Among key issues veterans face include navigating VA healthcare and benefits, acquiring and maintaining employment, adjusting back into civilian culture, and the myriad financial struggles that can stem from each.

Adding to that navigational difficulty is the fact that there are currently more than 45,000 nonprofits in the U.S. providing veteran services that range from housing and mental health to food security, according to a 2015 report from the nonprofit GuideStar.

Veterans Dan Brillman and Taylor Justice saw this fragmented system firsthand.

Brillman, an Air Force reserve pilot who deployed to the Middle East in 2010 and 2012, first met Justice, who was medically discharged in 2007 after serving as an Army infantry officer, in 2012 at Columbia Business School.

“Within about five minutes [of meeting] we both realized a shared passion and vision for what was needed,” says Justice.

For veterans attempting to navigate the world of healthcare and social services, the delays and administrative nightmares alone can be enough to discourage seeking help, they said. Some agencies, Brillman and Justice found, were even working with outdated modes of sticky notes and word of mouth to communicate with other agencies.

“When you’re working with someone dealing with PTSD or other mental health needs, putting them into an environment that is super frustrating can be triggering,” says Justice.

So, In 2013, Brillman and Justice co-founded the technology company Unite Us, with the intention of bridging the gap of coordinated care and providing an access point to community, healthcare, and other veteran services. Today, Unite Us supports 42 states across the country and offers software accessible to any military member, veteran, or military family member, regardless of discharge status.

Brillman and Justice recently spoke with Military Times to discuss how the technology can help veterans streamline access to care.

MT: Can you discuss your backgrounds and how the idea for Unite Us came to be?

Dan Brillman: I went to Yale for undergrad before joining the Air Force as a pilot. I’ve been in the military for 14 years now as a reservist. In my first five or six years I deployed multiple times. After I came back from my first deployment, I went to Columbia Business School. Veterans I served with overseas started calling me for all health and social service issues as if I could solve them. I guess they thought I was smart, but I had no experience in the industry. [It] amounted to a lot Google searches.

I was trying to call agencies across the country to help reservists back in their hometowns with issues ranging from housing and post-traumatic stress to health insurance, because they weren’t eligible for the VA. It was very siloed. When I called an agency they would typically say, “Sorry, I can’t help them, but call my friend Jane down the street.” They were giving me these kind of offline referrals to four to five partners they knew in the community that could maybe help this person.

I became very frustrated about it, so like every good MBA does, I wrote a paper about the fragmentation and how technology could solve that.

Taylor Justice: I graduated from West Point 2006, was commissioned as an infantry officer, and unfortunately, was medically discharged. So, a lot of the experiences Dan just explained, I was trying to navigate those for myself: dealing with the VA, finding a new job, finding a place to live. I was fortunate enough to be able to rely on the West Point network, and landed in Philadelphia where I found my first job.

I’d gotten involved as a volunteer with a veteran nonprofit organization called Team Red, White, and Blue, and founded the Philadelphia chapter of this national nonprofit. The organization is focused on physical fitness and social activities, but as the chapter grew from about five of us to over 600, people came in with needs outside of what we could facilitate.

If a veteran needed assistance with housing, employment, and food, there were three different organizations that provided those services — they were coordinating care through sticky notes, emails, phone calls. It was an administrative nightmare.

When I was applying to Columbia Business School, I was randomly paired with Dan to talk about admissions to the program. Within about five minutes we both realized a shared vision for what was needed. We started Unite Us at the beginning of 2013 to deploy software into communities to better coordinate care specific to the veteran and military population, but it has grown into supporting all populations, and now, in 42 states across the country.

Over the last two years, Unite Us has moved into Medicare and now serves the civilian population. How have you been able to remain focused on your original mission with veteran communities?

Brillman: There are two parts in how it’s evolved in the military community. The networks we built have taught the larger population agnostic networks how to do this work. because we’ve been doing it for the longest period of time with them. What does success look like? How do we get data driven around closing gaps of services? Things like that.

In North Carolina, for example, we brought together all the veteran leaders who were leading these networks and said, “here’s how we want it to function.”

At the same time, what we really found was most of the organizations using our platform weren’t just veteran organizations. They had a program that was specific to veterans, but they served all populations. That made the expansion of our product and our services easier.

Justice: The word expansion is really important to us. When you’re in the tech industry, everyone throws out buzz terms, saying, “Oh, you pivoted away from veterans.” That’s not the case. The veteran and military community are the perfect petri dish of American society when you look at age, race, and socioeconomic status. The same issues that we deal with, they deal with.

But in some cases, you don’t have access to those services. So, what do you do? We saw the veteran community was the perfect proving ground to provide a solution for all citizens, regardless of what their background was. If you have multiple organizations that need to coordinate care around a single individual, we’ve got a solution for you.

To use one of those buzzwords and “pivot back” to veterans –– major issues the veteran community faces include getting access to mental health and homelessness, among others. How has Unite Us helped bridge those gaps?

Brillman: When you think about the needs of veterans, what we know and what we surveyed is that it’s not so much about the mental health, it’s the issue of navigating all these silos of healthcare, government, and social services.

As a client in need, that is the most frustrating part. To remove those barriers is the key. It’s not like those services do not exist at all, it’s about creating the right infrastructure to access those services efficiently.

The most important part before we ever could do that was build a supply chain to get them connected and communicating. It isn’t just about mental health. There are underlying housing or unemployment issues. It requires all these organizations to work together and reduce the frustrations of navigating the health sphere.

Justice: To Dan’s point, navigating these resources can be extremely frustrating. When we look at solutions, it’s not just “how do I address housing?” or “how do I address mental health?” It’s “what are those issues that are causing those other things?”

I can pay for someone’s rent for a particular amount of time, but if I don’t address the employment need, or some other root cause of that issue, they’re going to be back into that same cycle within a short period of time.

What we’re doing is building that ecosystem so that when you plug into that one network, it’s going to work for you.

Does Unite Us coordinate with the VA?

Brillman: We have the VA using our system on the inbound side. One of the things the VA really wants to do is get more veterans enrolled. So, we want to create a way into the VA that would otherwise not be there via community organizations. The VA only really does one or two things, right? They provide primary health care, medical services, and some behavioral health services. Everything outside of that they cannot facilitate, so they need those connections in the community.

The other thing we’ve also brought on and catalyzed was the DoD, the National Guard, and appointment centers on installations, because they are also access points. It doesn’t have to be restricted to when you are transitioning or already a veteran. Activating those organizations and access points was really important.

How has COVID-19 impacted your mission?

Justice: I think one of the big things we realized was the lack of appropriate public health infrastructure. The first order of the pandemic was to address the clinical response to COVID-19. But the second and third order was the unprecedented stress on human and social service systems.

You have people out of work or community-based organizations that had to shut their doors. You had children who lost access to food because school was shut down. That pressure put on these local systems made it hard to then navigate services with sticky notes, brochures, and phone calls. What was needed was an appropriate supply chain.

We were in the fortunate position to be able to respond to state needs and deploy infrastructure. Prior to 2020, we had only one statewide network (in North Carolina) — meaning a statewide partnership with health systems and health plans in the community. We were able to replicate that 16 times in 2020 because the need was so great.

So, we’re just continuing to build this end-to-end solution for communities where we can identify those in need, enroll them into the appropriate services, and track that they received those services, with the goal of ultimately moving this sector down a path where social care is at the same priority level as health care.

Who do you frequently see being served by your software?

Justice: I think the true north of this work is, “Can I prove that someone received the services or not?” The technology must be accountable and efficient. That supply chain is really important because people will think, “If I have the most up to date resources all I need to do is give that to the veteran or their family.” But you can’t just give someone the resources, you have to build an infrastructure, prove that the veteran actually got there, and then continue to course correct and optimize that network over time.

I think that’s the difference that we’re seeing in the market right now from the pandemic. It’s no longer good enough to just say, “Hey, here are the resources.” You need to prove that they actually work.

How do you get veterans on board when there is a mistrust in the system?

Brillman: I think the theme is meeting veterans where they are versus trying to build a system they may not trust. A lot of this is based around the community — the VFW or a local rotary. We try and find the access points. It’s not just a medical problem, right? It’s about trust.

Justice: Trust is so important, but trust moves at the speed of innovation, right? If I finally get that Vietnam veteran to show up and say, “Hey, you know what, I need assistance,” and then it takes 30, 60, 90 days to even follow up or take care of them, is that creating an environment where they trust that system?

We’re in a world now where technology can do a lot of things for us and help us operate more efficiently. We wanted to create a network so that once that person shows up and is willing to receive help, you plug them into a network that’s going to be efficient and work for them.

For the final, hard hitting question, Military Times recently posted on social media a classification of military branches as sandwiches. Army was a grilled cheese sandwich. The Air Force was described as a French dip. Do you agree with this ultra serious classification? And if not, why?

Justice: We always used to say that Air Force bases were built on golf courses, so the fact that it’s going to be a French dip sandwich is fitting.

Brillman: I think it’s perfect. It’s fancy I’ll tell you that.

Justice: I thought the Army one would be like a macaroni and cheese MRE. It’s reliable. [Laughs] But a grilled cheese sandwich? Hell yeah, I’m on board.

About 9,000 students out of the projected 69,000 student enrollment will attend virtual school in the fall, said Will Griffin, a spokesman for DoDEA. Students enrolled in the virtual option commit to at least one semester, but can transition to attending classes in person at the beginning of the second semester if their installation is in Health Protection Condition A or B, Griffin said.

Those estimated 69,000 students attend 160 schools in 11 countries. There are DoDEA schools at 13 bases in seven states in the continental U.S.. An estimated 8,700 educators work throughout DoDEA.

Officials are still working on further analysis of the data, but there are increased virtual enrollments in some communities that are still in HPCON C, with substantial sustained community transmission of COVID-19, Griffin said. Any DoDEA schools that are located on installations under HPCON C will start the school year using remote learning with their brick-and-mortar classroom teacher for all students.

Union leaders, citing health and safety concerns, had urged DoDEA parents to choose the virtual school option if DoDEA didn’t decide to do remote-only openings at all its schools.

Parents of DoDEA students had until July 28 to sign up for the virtual school option for their child, then DoDEA officials extended that deadline to July 30. Officials needed a cutoff date to allow enough time to ensure there’s enough staffing and resources for the virtual school, and those resources are in place before the start of classes on Aug. 24, Griffin said.

Parents weren’t asked to provide any justification for their selection of a virtual school option, so officials don’t know if students had an underlying health condition, he said.

In an announcement last month about the reopening plans, DoDEA Director Tom Brady said the preferred option is for students to learn in the physical setting, but schools “will remain flexible and prepared for any contingency.” Officials also provided parents the option to enroll in virtual school.

Parents who selected the virtual option for their students filled out a virtual learning request form, Griffin said. Asked if parents had to affirmatively choose one option or the other, he said parents go through a ‘registration’ or ‘re-registration’ process every year to some degree. “With the highly transient nature of military-connected students, this ensures our student information is correct and up to date,” Griffin said.

Information was not immediately available about how many students were enrolled in the DoDEA virtual school in the 2019-2020 school year, before the pandemic. Previously, the majority of virtual school students were also enrolled in physical schools, and were taking virtual classes that they couldn’t attend at their regular school because of scheduling or availability, Griffin said.

The virtual school is different from remote learning. DoDEA has long had a fully accredited virtual high school, for grades 9 to 12. DoDEA high school students all over the world have taken classes with teachers who themselves are in a variety of locations. The school system is expanding the virtual school to include elementary grades K to 5, and middle school grades 6 to 8.

Remote learning, which is what most students were doing this spring, happens if local COVID-19 infections escalate and the installation goes to HPCON C. The remote learning involves students staying at home and continuing their learning with their local classroom teacher.

Teachers unions representing DoDEA teachers are concerned about the health and safety of teachers, students and parents. Those unions have been asking DoDEA questions about the precautions they’re taking regarding cleaning and other health and safety precautions, “and we’re not getting answers that make us feel comfortable they have a coherent and well-thought-out plan,” said Gary Hritz, spokesman for the Federal Education Association.

“We still firmly believe a remote opening is the best plan,” Hritz said.

DoDEA officials have outlined guidance for health and safety precautions regarding classrooms, corridors and common areas, cafeterias, buses, playgrounds and large group events at schools on installations under Health Protection conditions Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, in a publication called “Ensuring a Safe and Healthy Return to School.”

“The health and safety of our students and employees remains a top priority and has been a primary consideration throughout the planning and preparation for a safe return to school,” DoDEA’s Griffin said.

The change announced Monday aims to reduce the hardships resulting from layoffs, furloughs and other economic disruptions caused by shutdowns now affecting most of the country.

“It is important that we ensure trusted security clearance holders, or applicants who may suffer financial hardships as a result of the virus, are not unduly penalized because of circumstances beyond their control,” the National Counterintelligence and Security Center wrote in a memo.

Specifically, the policy calls for security clearance reviews to take a broad interpretation of the “mitigation factors” that provide special consideration for people whose “financial problems were largely beyond the person’s control (e.g. loss of employment, a business downturn, unexpected medical emergency, a death, divorce or separation, clear victimization by predatory lending practices or identify theft)”.

Traditionally, security clearance reviews have frowned on debt and personal financial problems as a risk factor because it can increase an individual’s susceptibility to bribes or blackmail or increase the risk of being coerced into espionage.

About 4.2 million people are cleared to have some access to restricted information for work with the federal government and government contractors; around 3.6 million of those are Defense Department employees or contractors, according to defense officials.

Last year, the Defense Department had a backlog of about 200,000 security clearance reviews.

Thorough reviews for security clearances are conducted every five years for those with Top Secret clearances. Reviews can also be triggered at any time if overseers identify new risk factors such as missing credit card payments, missing child support payments, getting sued or involvement with the criminal justice system. The precise factors that can trigger a review are classified.

The changes to the policy may be especially helpful for veterans who are transitioning out of the military and are seeking to hold onto their clearance while they look for post-military jobs in the government and private sector.

The revised guidance for security clearance reviews comes after a request from Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, who feared that people could risk losing their positions if they heed the advice of health professionals and subsequently lose out on a paycheck in order to self-quarantine.

“I write to ask you to issue guidance directing agencies to exercise appropriate leniency in considering how the coronavirus (COVID-19) may be negatively impacting adjudications for a security clearance or determination of trust,” Warner wrote on March 11.

1. Can children get COVID-19?

Children can catch the virus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, the disease that has infected more than 121,000 and caused more than 4,000 deaths. However, for reasons that we public health officials and physicians do not understand, most children do not seem to get very sick from the infection. In fact, some children may not display any symptoms at all.

In China, where the best clinical data are available, fewer infections were documented in children and teenagers than in older people. This same pattern was seen during the 2002-2003 outbreaks of SARS coronavirus, a virus that is closely related to SARS-CoV-2.

It is not clear whether children may be less susceptible to the virus, meaning that they are less likely to catch it, or if they just have milder symptoms than adults on average, and thus are less likely to be detected as cases.

It’s also important to note that there have been no reports of fatal cases of COVID-19 in children under the age of 10. In older children and teenagers, there has only been a single documented death to my knowledge.

So, kids are much less likely to get COVID-19 than adults and if they do catch it, they typically have mild illness.

2. What role do schools play?

Respiratory viral diseases are spread when people come into contact with one another. This means that any place where people gather in close proximity can lead to viral transmission.

One of the best ways that we have to help control epidemics or pandemics of viruses like influenza is to close schools. This is because children tend to be very susceptible to common human respiratory viruses. They shed, or pass on, virus at higher levels and for longer than adults, which makes them more likely to transmit the disease.

And they typically have poorer hygiene habits than adults.

Thus, most countries’ pandemic plans include plans for school closures. But, it’s important to note that school closures are not guaranteed to reduce transmission.

Timing of the closure is very important. Closures early in the epidemic are more likely to be effective, and they may be ineffective if children just gather in other locations.

3. Why close schools if children do not get very sick with COVID-19?

While SARS-CoV-2 appears to rarely cause severe disease in children, it is still possible that children play an important role in transmission. It is important to note that people who have symptoms of respiratory diseases, such as coughing and sneezing, are generally considered to be more infectious than those who are not showing symptoms.

That is because the virus spreads when a person coughs or sneezes.

COVID-19 transmits very efficiently, and people do not have pre-existing immunity. Without controls, a large proportion of the population will become infected in any area where the virus circulates. And because of the severity of this virus in older adults, this would cause substantial severe illness and death.

In areas where large outbreaks occur, the health system may become overwhelmed, leading to an increasing fatality rate for COVID-19 and an increase in deaths from all causes.

The severity of the situation thus requires communities to do what they can to limit transmission.

4. If closing schools might help, why not just close them all now?

It is important to remember that there are a lot of economic and social costs that come with school closures.

When schools are closed, children miss out on learning. Extended closures may lead to children falling behind. They also cause an increase in worker absenteeism when parents have to stay home with their kids. That in turn affects the economy as a whole and may undermine key services, such as health care and law enforcement.

From a social perspective, low-income and single-parent households are particularly affected. Employers may not grant paid sick time to workers, leaving parents to choose between leaving children in less-than-ideal care or unsupervised, or not being able to pay for basic needs.

Schools often also serve as an important social support, providing hot meals and needed services to low-income and homeless children. Indeed, for this exact reason, New York City leaders have announced that they see school closures as a last resort.

Thus, the decision to close schools and when to close them is very complicated and will depend on a number of factors.

Dr. Aubree Gordon is an associate professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the feature and transmission of influenza in Nicaragua. She’s also collaborated on several ground-breaking studies on dengue, Zika and chikungunya. Navy Times has published another column she’s written about a future COVID-19 vaccine.

The new Naval Education for Seapower Strategy was released Monday and Chief Learning Officer John Kroger told Navy Times that the service is considering three groups of enlisted students, totaling between 300 – 600 personnel, for courses that are expected to begin January 2021.

“We’ll have a mixed cohort of students from the Marine Corps cyber and information warfare communities, a group of students from the Navy’s nuclear program — so these are enlisted sailors who operate the nuclear reactors — and a cohort likely to come from the intelligence communities in the Navy and Marine Corps,” Kroger said.

Establishing a free community college to offer accredited associate degrees for all enlisted students is part of a push to streamline how the sea service educates all its personnel, including commissioned officers and civilian employees.

“At the end of the Cold War, the United States possessed a massive economic and technological edge over all potential opponents,” the strategy says. “Today, for the first time in decades, we are competing on a much more level playing field and our advantage is declining.”

To help remedy that, the new plan calls for pegging officer promotions to educational attainment, with an eye on potentially bringing similar requirements to enlisted sailors and Marines hoping to advance.

“The strategy currently doesn’t call for any changes in the evaluation or promotion system for the enlisted force. Those changes are really focused on officers,” Kroger said. “Part of that is we recognize it’s not going to be a one size fits all solution on the enlisted side.”

As an example, Kroger said an infantry Marine might not need an associate degree to advance but a sailor in cyber warfare or information technology might need to show continued learning to get ahead.

The overhaul also looks to bridge gaps in war fighting curriculum for junior and mid-grade officers and boost the numbers of commissioned personnel in professional military education programs.

According to the report, 2.9 percent of naval officers in Fiscal Year 2019 attended in-residence programs while 6.7 percent sought out online or executive learning opportunities.

By Fiscal Year 2026, the service wants to increase those to 3.9 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Former Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer declared plans for the community college early last year while unveiling several directives under the Education for Seapower report.

The study, completed by a team formed by Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, was the most comprehensive review of naval education in a century. At the time of the study, Modly was then serving as undersecretary.

Developing the service’s brainpower — what Modly calls “gray matter” — has been a frequent subject for the acting secretary. In his latest “vector,” a weekly message to the fleet, he again addressed the importance of learning, which he called “the most essential tool in the organization’s arsenal for sustained competitive advantage.”

“We must similarly understand that in order to deter and, if necessary, outfight our adversaries, we must learn how to out-think them,” Modly wrote.

The new education strategy calls for pulling the community college, the U.S. Naval Academy, Marine Corps University, the U.S. Naval War College and the Naval Postgraduate School under one system. That will help planners identify redundancies and share ideas through faculty exchanges and visiting professorships.

In addition to a curriculum reviews, the strategy also directs Navy education leaders until June to come up with a plan to address aging infrastructure at the Naval Academy, Postgraduate School and War College.

Although the community college will have an administrative base in Quantico, at Marine Corps University, it will focus on delivering classes online to meet the needs of enlisted sailors, according to Kroger.

The service recently completed interviews with candidates hoping the become the college’s first president.

“We had a great applicant pool and so I’m really excited about the candidates we had to choose from,” Kroger told Navy Times. “We’ll be working with the Secretary of the Navy over the next few weeks to make those final decisions and the job offer.”

There could be a Marine Corps that requires staff noncommissioned officers to receive college degrees in order to fulfill the commandant’s design for the Marine Corps.

At least, that’s the Marine Corps that the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, can envision in the not too distant future.

The commandant’s vision for the future Corps involves a highly distributed force spread across the Pacific, relying on small units taking on larger roles than ever before. Those distributed operations will put more of a leadership and decision-making burden on small unit leaders like Marine noncommissioned officers and staff noncommissioned officers.

“Frankly, as we think about how we develop especially our staff NCOs in the future as they take on more and more critical thinking responsibilities of junior officers, we are going to need staff NCOs that are collegiate minded,” Black told Marine Corps Times in an exclusive interview at the Pentagon on Monday.

The top enlisted Marine enlisted leader will host a summit in early February with enlisted personnel from around the Marine Corps to discuss how to ensure enlisted Marines can get degrees, as well as adjusting courses enlisted leaders already are required to take.

The summit will be held from Feb. 3 to Feb. 7 at the Marine Corps University aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and will have representatives from all three Marine Expeditionary Forces and the Marine Corps reserves.

While the focus will look into the various leadership courses Marines are required to take as their career advances, ensuring their curriculum provides the leadership and troop welfare training required in the Marine Corps, the summit will spend a lot of time discussing collegiate opportunities for enlisted members.

Black said the current focus is on making it possible for noncommissioned officers and staff noncommissioned officers to get degrees, creating programs that will work with the long and often unpredictable schedule of the average Marine.

“There is no college in the world right now that’s giving a 30-day break,” Black said, “but what if they could?”

Black said the Marine Corps University along with the Navy’s chief learning officer currently are working to create an accredited program that will not punish or fail Marines for going long periods of time without internet connection, be it on a training exercise, combat deployment or aboard a ship.

The Naval Community College is also a major part of Black’s plan to get enlisted Marines degrees.

The college will work to provide real credits to training the Marines already have received, while having accredited classes available to fill in any gaps the Marine has in their transcript.

So far, Black is purely focused on providing the infrastructure to Marines to get degrees.

But he said he can “envision some years down the road where we might start looking at some sort of associates or bachelor’s degree as some criteria we may consider for promotion or we may consider for retention.”

This is part 1 in a three-part interview series with Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Troy Black.

By next summer, officials from the Departments of Education, Veterans Affairs and Defense must submit new reports to Congress on how changing the “90/10 loophole” would affect those schools, with a specific focus on how many for-profits may be forced into financial problems if they lose access to the benefits.

Under current law, schools cannot receive more than 90 percent of their tuition dollars from federal sources. But military and veterans’ education benefits are not counted against that cap, making those students potential targets for institutions looking to maximize stable revenue sources.

“For-profit colleges often target servicemembers and veterans with aggressive marketing and recruiting,” the budget legislation states. Lawmakers need “an authoritative data set” on which to rely for future policy decisions regarding the benefits.

The move comes just a few weeks after new bipartisan legislation that would close the loophole over a three-year period. The proposal has proven controversial in the past, with supporters of for-profit colleges arguing it unnecessarily targets their schools instead of mandating better education options for all veterans.

But at least 37 veterans groups have offered public support to changing the 90/10 rule, saying that steps need to be taken to protect veterans and their benefits.

An analysis by the Brookings Institution earlier this year found that based on 2015 data, colleges serving 24 percent of all for-profit students would have failed the 90/10 rule. They predicted a change in the law could produce significant financial distress for the for-profit education industry.

But Congress wants its own analysis of the potential effects, and also what shifting the requirements to an 85-15 split would mean for those institutions.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the budget bill into law later today. The report on for-profit colleges is due to Congress by July.