Trump Administration, Biden Team at Odds After DOD Postponement
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MILITARY MILITARY MUSIC Top enlisted soldier at No casualties in Swift's ‘evermore’ is Fort Hood suspended rocket attack on more 'folklore' — pending investigation Bagram Airfield for better or worse Page 3 Page 4 Page 12 Oregon hands No. 13 USC 1st loss in Pac-12 championship ›› Page 24 stripes.com Volume 79 Edition 175B ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY,DECEMBER 20, 2020 Free to Deployed Areas Cause for joy? No-drama corona-Christmas has some secretly celebrating BY LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press NEW YORK — Corritta Lewis has a huge extended family. Her mom is one of 12 sib- lings. Usually, Christmas means that she, her wife and their 2-year-old son dig out their cold-weather gear for the schlep from home in sunny Southern California to Ohio and days of holiday chaos. Not this year. “We’re happy to be saving money, spend- ing more time together, and to just have a less stressful holiday,” said the 31-year-old human resources analyst in Oceanside. “We don’t have to deal with the crowded airports, stores and overall mania that the holiday brings. We’re going to lie in our pa- jamas and watch movies all day.” SEE JOY ON PAGE 6 A man walks by a store window displaying Christmas cards, records, and costumes in Wilmette, Ill., on Friday. NAM Y. HUH/AP Trump administration, Biden team at odds after DOD postponement Washington Post quired support” to the transition on Friday were a surprise to the and the DoD will deliver AS IT WASHINGTON — The Trump team, and that defense officials Biden team. ALWAYS HAS,” Miller said in his administration and the Biden were working to reschedule “ap- Miller said that the meetings statement. team were at odds on Friday after proximately 20 interviews with 40 can be held after a “mutually- But the Biden team said they the acting Pentagon chief abrupt- officials until after January 1.” agreed upon holiday pause,” and are concerned about delays. ly postponed transition meetings Those meetings, initially sched- that he is “committed to a full and Yohannes Abraham, the execu- and Biden’s representatives ex- uled for Friday, were postponed transparent transition” with the tive director of the transition, said pressed concern about the deci- after legal officials in the Penta- Biden team. His “key focus” over in a call with reporters that there sion and described pockets of re- gon raised concern that they could the next two weeks, he said, is sup- “was no mutually agreed upon ho- sistance to cooperation within the MANUEL BALCE CENETA/AP not keep up with the work, said a porting requests for information liday break” and while the Biden Pentagon. Acting Pentagon chief senior U.S. official, who spoke on about the U.S. military’s involve- team has received “widespread Acting defense secretary Chris- Christopher Miller, seen the condition of anonymity due to ment in the effort to distribute cor- cooperation on transition,” there topher Miller said in a statement receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the sensitivity of the issue. The onavirus vaccines, and other pan- have been “pockets of recalci- that the Defense Department abruptly postponed transition Pentagon did not dispute that demic information, he said. “will continue to provide all re- meetings until after Jan. 1. Miller’s decision about meetings “This is what our nation expects SEE ODDS ON PAGE 4 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Sunday, December 20, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER Stocks slide as wait continues for COVID deal EXCHANGE RATES Military rates So. Korea (Won) 1099.51 Associated Press Hope that Congress may be quarter ahead of the electric car Switzerlnd (Franc) 0.8839 Euro costs (Dec. 21) $1.20 Thailand (Baht) 29.85 Wall Street capped a solid week nearing a deal to offer more finan- maker’s entry into the S&P 500, ef- Dollar buys (Dec. 21) 0.7951 Turkey (NewLira) 7.6354 British pound (Dec. 21) $1.32 of gains on a down note Friday as cial support for the economy has fective Monday. In addition, Fri- Japanese yen (Dec. 21) 101.00 (Military exchange rates are those available the wait drags on to see if Congress helped stocks set more record day was also “quadruple witching South Korean won (Dec. 21) 1070.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger can reach a deal to send more cash highs. The S&P clocked its 31st all- day,” Wall Street-speak for the many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur to struggling workers and busi- time high this year on Thursday. quarterly expiration of stock op- Britain (Pound) 1.3507 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2788 your local military banking facility. Commercial nesses. Enthusiasm about vaccines for tions and futures contracts, which China(Yuan) 6.5370 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.0763 The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, a day after COVID-19 has also fueled traders’ forces traders to tie up loose ends in Egypt (Pound) 15.7101 when buying currency. All figures are foreign it and other major indexes return- optimism. contracts they hold, leading to par- Euro 0.8169 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7521 pound, which is represented in dollarsto ed to record heights. The decline Friday’s selling came on a par- ticularly heavy trading volume. Hungary (Forint) 292.18 pound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2371 snapped a three-day winning ticularly busy day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Aver- Japan (Yen) 103.31 INTEREST RATES streak for the benchmark index, Index funds were expected to snap age lost 124.32 points, or 0.4%, to Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3042 Norway (Krone) 8.5956 Prime rate 3.25 but it still notched a 1.3% weekly up more than $80 billion worth of 30,179.05. The Nasdaq composite Philippines (Peso) 48.07 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.65 Federal funds market rate 0.09 gain that more than made up its pri- shares in Tesla as they moved to re- gave up 9.11 points, or 0.1%, to Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7519 3month bill 0.08 or week’s loss. balance their holdings for the 12,755.64. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3280 30year bond 1.70 WEATHER OUTLOOK SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SUNDAY IN EUROPE MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 36/23 Kabul Seoul 50/36 37/23 Baghdad 66/43 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 39/23 48/28 64/34 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 34/30 48/40 45/30 Iwakuni Kuwait City 50/34 Bahrain Brussels Zagan Sasebo Guam 68/52 79/65 Ramstein 40/31 50/41 47/38 45/40 85/79 Riyadh Lajes, 69/45 Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 64/59 49/37 77/65 Aviano/ 43/36 Vicenza 43/35 Naples 56/37 Okinawa Morón 64/60 60/53 Sigonella Rota 57/48 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 65/57 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 84/76 64/52 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Comics .........................15 Crossword ................... 15 Movies ......................... 14 Music...................... 12-13 Opinion ........................ 19 Sports ................... 20-24 Sunday, December 20, 2020 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY Pentagon maps out plan for more diversity Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has en- dorsed a new slate of initiatives to expand diversity within the ranks and reduce prej- udice, calling for more aggressive efforts to recruit, retain and promote a more racially and ethnically diverse force, The Associ- ated Press learned on Friday. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller on Thursday signed a memo order- ing the implementation of 15 broad recom- mendations that include a plan to crack down on participation in hate groups by service members and draft proposed changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The AP obtained a copy of the me- mo on Friday. The plan, however, skirts the more politi- cally sensitive issues that have roiled the nation and the Trump administration this year, such as the renaming of bases that honor Confederate leaders or removing Confederate statues. Such steps are ex- pected to get quick attention from Con- gress or President-elect Joe Biden’s incom- ing administration next month. “I expect all leaders to take an aggres- sive approach to embed diversity and in- clusion practices into the core of our mil- itary culture,” Miller said in the memo. “We must not accept — and must intention- DANIELLE MCBRID/U.S. Air Force ally and proactively remove — any barriers Second Lt. Isaiah Brown, a coordinator for the virtual town hall, listens to Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic to an inclusive and diverse force and equi- Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, speak about current world issues in June at Beale Air Force Base, Calif. table treatment of every service member.” The recommendations were submitted policies and called for improved training The military’s ties to Confederate gener- testers decrying racism targeted Confeder- by the Pentagon’s Board on Diversity and and data collection on diversity. als and symbols, however, have been much ate monuments in multiple cities, and Inclusion, which was created by previous Based on 2018 data, roughly two-thirds of more difficult to untangle. many monuments have been removed. Defense Secretary Mark Esper earlier this the military’s enlisted corps is white, and After extensive wrangling and debate, Ten major Army installations are named year and ordered to deliver recommenda- about 17% is Black, but the minority per- Esper this summer issued a directive that for Confederate Army officers, mostly se- tions by last Tuesday.