US Charges China With Cyber Espionage
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The Justice Department charged members of the Chinese military on Monday with conducting economic cyber espionage against US companies, reports The Washington Post. The US has never leveled charges of this type against a foreign country. The alleged cyberspying by a military unit in Shanghai included American nuclear and solar energy companies and was designed to gain a competitive advantage for Chinese companies, including state-owned enterprises. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Obama administration, “will not tolerate actions by any nation that seeks to illegally sabotage American companies and undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market.” The China Foreign Ministry responded by saying the US government “fabricated facts” in the indictment, which it said “seriously violates basic norms of international relations and damages Sino-U.S. cooperation and mutual trust.”
The debate on Capitol Hill over whether the military or CIA should control America’s armed drone program is again on the front burner, reports Defense News. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he hopes to insert into the Senate’s version of the 2015 NDAA language that would give the DoD control over the controversial program. Sen. McCain says the military is best suited to continue killing terrorist suspects and moving the program under the Pentagon would increase transparency of the clandestine program. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) disagrees and is skeptical of the military’s ability to use what she views as the CIA’s rigorous decision process before carrying out armed strikes.
The government investigation into scheduling fraud charges at the Phoenix Veterans Administration care center will not be released until August, according to the Military Times. A “top priority” out of Inspector General Richard Griffin’s office seeks to discover if Phoenix’s electronic appointment waiting list purposely omitted veterans waiting for care and if veterans died as a result of delays.
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank says Veterans Administration head, Eric Shinseki, should step down from his post in the face of the growing scandal over delayed appointments that may have contributed to the deaths of about 40 veterans. Mr. Milbank acknowledges Mr. Shinseki’s service to his country as a twice-wounded officer in Vietnam, but believes his refusal to acknowledge any systemic problem and his continued inaction should lead to his resignation.
The Republican Party is taking a new approach in defense of the controversial F-35 stealth fighter by stressing that it is important to complete the effort because “we have international partners,” according to Defense News. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas believes that stiffing those countries on the international fighter-development program could create ill will that would make it harder to gain their support on any global missions or other efforts the US might attempt.
The Lockheed Fury 1500 unmanned aircraft is designed to perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tasks for deployed ground forces, reports Gizmodo. The UAV is deployed from a pneumatic launcher from both land and at sea and can stay in the air for 16 hours. It provides real time reporting through a SATCOM data link and can either be remotely piloted or execute its mission completely autonomously. When the Fury returns to its control station, it can either be snagged in a capture net or simply put down on water and fished out.
The Pentagon is utilizing drones as well as manned aircraft over Nigeria to locate the 200 schoolgirls who were recently abducted by Boko Haram militants, according to Press TV. The US has deployed the Global Hawk high-flying drone and the manned MC-12 Liberty aircraft for the mission.
