Author Archive

Thomas Novelly

Senior Reporter

Thomas Novelly
Thomas Novelly covers air and space warfare as a senior reporter for Defense One. He was previously a reporter for Military.com, where he covered Air Force and Space Force personnel and policy. Before that, he was the military and politics reporter for The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina. He lives in Washington, D.C. Reach him on Signal at tomnovelly.01.
People

Push for new Cyber Force service branch narrowly fails in the Senate

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s amendment aimed to place a new service under the Army.

  • By Thomas Novelly
Emerging Tech

In apparent first, Navy drone boat rescues helicopter crew downed at sea

The unmanned vessel, made by Texas-based Saronic, was sent to the region in March.

  • By Thomas Novelly
Exclusive Cybersecurity

Cyber Force? Senator pushes to create service branch under the Army

Ideas for a cyber service have been floated before. Some experts argue now is the right time.

  • By Thomas Novelly
Defense

Golden Dome’s projected cost just jumped $10 billion. Experts fear that’s just for starters.

Three prime contractors have been named to build the project's command and control layer.

  • By Thomas Novelly
People

Trump’s CISA nominee to exit Coast Guard role, but still in running to lead cyber agency

Sean Plankey has been serving in a Coast Guard advisory role for some months and is still set to be the nominee to lead CISA.

  • By David DiMolfetta and Thomas Novelly
Modernization

Experts see promise, risk in Pentagon’s draft acquisition reforms

A draft memo is circulating ahead of SecDef Hegseth’s Friday speech.

  • By Patrick Tucker, Lauren C. Williams and Thomas Novelly