March 29, 2024

Action Demanded on Sewage Release into Chesapeake

The Patapsco River in downtown Baltimore. Photo credit: Chesapeake Bay Program. Licensed by Creative Commons.

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

After discovering that two wastewater treatment plants in Baltimore have been releasing millions of gallons of partially untreated sewage into the Chesapeake Bay, an environmental watchdog group has sent the city a notice that it may file a lawsuit to force improvements, reports Maryland Matters. Wastewater treatment plants are subject to penalties of up to $10,000 per day for water pollution violations, according to Maryland Department of the Environment.

A Marine F-35B landed on a Japanese ship for the first time, reports Marine Times. The F-35B from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242, from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, landed on the Japanese ship Izumo. Some modifications were made to the ship that allowed the short takeoff and landing version of the F-35 to safely operate off the vessel.

Aviation Week (Paywall) says the shortage of Pratt & Whitney F135 engines  will continue to worsen and that the year-old crisis has driven some lawmakers to call for replacing the F135 with an advanced new engine. Popular Mechanics reported in July one in seven F-35s were grounded: 46 F-35s worldwide were grounded, awaiting parts: 41 USAF F-35As, one Navy F-35C, one Marine Corps F-35, and three international F-35 customers.

Two-thirds of 2,116 surveyed military teens say they plan to serve in the military, reports Military Times. Troubling findings indicated 42% of teens showed signs of emotional distress; one-third experienced food insecurity; and 11% experienced domestic abuse or violence in their homes. The results surprised teens and family advocates who designed the survey online for two weeks in May, reports Military Times.

China is testing experimental armed drone ships at a new pier in Dalian, off Liaodong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea, reports USNI. Construction of the new pier started in early 2016 and took about a year, according to satellite photos. Since then it has been used intermittently by the Peoples Liberation Army Navy.

China carried out beach landing and assault drills in the Fujian province directly across the sea from Taiwan, according to a statement Monday from China’s military, reports CNN. It did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taipei. Fujian would be a key launching site for any Chinese invasion of Taiwan due to its geographical proximity.

Unable to find cuts, the Pentagon’s top science official adds to the military’s tech-breakthrough wish list, reports Defense One. Heidi Shyu, R&D undersecretary, went looking for tech areas to trim. She found some vital areas had been overlooked, some key areas missing, and all areas vital to deter China. “Initially, I thought I could reduce the number,” she said, “but I ended up adding to it.”

This Compass Call squadron is coming home after 20 years of hacking and jamming enemies in CENTCOM, reports Air Force Times. These EC-130H crews have flown about 14,750 sorties in US CENTCOM — more than 90,000 hours in the air. The 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron formally shut down September 28, marking another milestone in the US military’s withdrawal from war against the Taliban and other insurgent forces in Afghanistan. The unit reverts back to the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron when not deployed.

Do you know what it takes to be awarded one of these five unofficial Navy “certificates” for the seasoned sailor: Shellback variations, Order of the Sparrow, Order of Magellan, Order of the Square Rigger, or Double Centurions? Military.com spells it out.

Cyber awareness may seem fairly obvious, says Security Intelligence, but here are some every day office security gaffes that can open the door to attack.

 

 

Big tech sweeps up Hill staffers — just when Congress needs them the most, reports Politico. Silicon Valley and the telecom industry are snatching up some of the top Democratic policy experts on Capitol Hill — just as Congress gears up for fights with the companies. They’re leaving members’ personal offices as well as the Senate and House committees that oversee agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, along with topics like broadband, online speech, and data privacy.

The US military’s development of climate change strategies is improving, reports Defense One. The Pentagon’s 2021 Climate Adaptation Plan is much better than the DoD’s 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, says John Conger, who as acting deputy under secretary of defense for installations and environment, led the development of the 2014 effort.

Some parents don’t want to go back to the office, reports BBC News. For years, parents have called for more autonomy regarding where and when they work, and to construct their working week around care for their children. The pandemic granted some of those requests, but transitioning to pre-pandemic habits has many companies asking their employees to come back into the office full time.

Working toward its self-imposed November 22 deadline, the Pentagon has begun vaccinating civilian employees against the coronavirus. But as of yet, it has no system to verify who’s gotten the jab, reports Roll Call. There are 763,000 civil servants at the DoD and just 42% of them, or just under 319,000, are fully vaccinated, according to the Pentagon’s public data. But those figures are largely unverified.

In March 2020, the Navy IT shop stood up a telework solution in a matter of weeks, reports Federal Scoop. Now the challenge is turning that into a lasting operational state, said Aaron Weis, the Navy’s top IT official. The focus is on paring disparate systems, enhancing the workforce, and rethinking its approach to cybersecurity.

The Afghan interpreter who helped rescue then-Sen. Joe Biden in 2008 is rescued, reports Military Times. Aman Khalili was left behind as US troops exited Afghanistan. The Human First Coalition flew him and his family to safety to be picked up by US military aircraft in Islamabad, Afghanistan, concluding a months-long journey.

Leave A Comment