March 29, 2024

DHS Asks to Extend Border Deployment

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.

The National Guard chief says Homeland Security has requested troops stay at US-Mexico border beyond September, reports Stars and Stripes (Paywall). During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on National Guard and Reserve forces, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she supports keeping troops at the border due to the influx of migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States. About 4,000 Guard troops provide infrastructure support, operational support, detection and monitoring support, and air support. About 180 Guard troops in Arizona and 600 Guard troops in Texas also perform state missions along the border.

The Pentagon pushes back on a bogus report of anti-extremism social media surveillance program, reports Military Times, saying the DoD does not plan to troll troops’ social media accounts for extremist activity, contrary to a report about a pilot program to that effect.

The US Senate leader backs big changes for how the military handles sexual assault, reports Reuters. After years of thwarted efforts to take prosecution of such cases out of the hands of commanders, legislation to make prosecution of military sexual assault cases the responsibility of independent prosecutors has been gaining support in Congress.

Members of a Senate cyber panel want to know why Homeland Security wasn’t alerted to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that set off panic-buying of gasoline and whether the Pentagon could have taken measures to stop it before it happened, reports USNI. The hacker group DarkSide, which the FBI said was behind the attack, was paid $5 million in cryptocurrency.

 

 

The Afghanistan withdrawal is up to 20% done, reports The Hill. US forces have shipped about 115 C-17 loads of equipment out of the country, turned over more than 5,000 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency to be destroyed, and officially handed over five facilities to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, according to the US Central Command.

Lawmakers are frustrated over the White House’s “total lack” of urgency in helping Afghan interpreters, reports Politico. Afghans who aided US troops are in danger of being hunted down by the Taliban. House lawmakers are increasingly frustrated with the Biden administration’s lack of progress in expediting special immigrant visas for thousands of Afghans who have worked with the US as the deadline to withdraw all US troops approaches.

No major Taliban attacks so far amid Afghanistan withdrawal, but force protection measures will continue, reports Stars and Stripes (Paywall.) The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad  told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the drawdown “so far has taken place without incident and we expect this to continue. … However, we are prepared to respond forcefully if attacked and have made this clear.”

The House passes a bill to combat hate crimes against Asian Americans, reports The Washington Post. The legislation aggressively investigates hate crimes, especially those targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, that have increased during the coronavirus pandemic. The vote was 364 to 62; all the votes in opposition came from Republicans. The legislation heads to President Biden for his signature.

Navy Times introduces the sailor who wants to make your coverall name tag look less crappy., LT Mitchell Kempisty invented and patented the “Industrial Reinforcement for a Wearable Identification,” that keeps sailor name tags looking crisp and professional.

A major sex trafficking case could trigger investigations of North Carolina Marines, reports Marine Times. A Marine veteran, Jesse Gabriel Marks, 38, a drug-dealing sex trafficker has been sent to prison but evidence from the investigation is headed to police agencies in and around Camp Lejeune, NC, that could help identify his clients, both civilian and military.

An F-15QAEagle bound for Qatar declared an emergency Tuesday upon landing and leaving the runway in St Louis, IL; USAF pilots eject safely, reports Air Force Times. The aircraft had recently been accepted by the Air Force from Boeing and was to be transferred to the Qatari Air Force through the Foreign Military Sales program.

Competition, not war, with China is the future, reports Marine Corps Times. War with China is not inevitable, but it will take an all-of-government approach to deter it, Marine Corps Commandant GEN David Berger said. “You can look at a map from 10 years ago and a map from today you can see what they are trying to do,” Berger said at an online event about the future of Marine Corps warfare held by the Brookings Institution in Washington. “We need to be in a position to hold the freedom both the seas and the airs and really all the domains.”

Contracts:

KBR Wyle Services LLC, Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $28,918,883, cost reimbursable, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides field maintenance services in support of fleet area controls and surveillance facility air control tracking systems and AN/FYK-39(V) radar warning receivers. Additionally, this contract provides an automated air traffic control and surveillance capability relying on digitized radar data and utilizing color graphic displays OJ-753U(V)2, stand-alone radar console OJ-753U(V)1, integrated range status system, a variant of the AN/FYK-39 radar warning receivers, specifically adapted for use at Marine Corps range facilities; and standard terminal automation replacement system, for use at Navy facilities. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (30%); San Diego, California (15%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (15%); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (10%); St. Inigoes, Maryland (6%); Twentynine Palms, California (4%); Okinawa, Japan (4%); Townsend, Georgia (4%); Camp Pendleton, California (4%); Jacksonville, North Carolina (2%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (2%); Yuma, Arizona (1%); Bridgeport, California (1%); Quantico, Virginia (1%); and Fort Bragg, North Carolina (1%), and is expected to be completed in June 2026. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042121D0022).

Peraton Inc., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a competitive firm-fixed-price, single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for electromagnetic spectrum services applied engineering, spectrum and electromagnetic environmental effects engineering analysis support in support of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)/Defense Spectrum Organization. The ceiling value is $36,692,424, with the $500 minimum guarantee funded by fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds. Primary performance will be at DISA Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland; and the Mission Partner Defense Spectrum Organization (DSO), Annapolis, Maryland. Proposals were solicited via the beta.sam.gov, and four proposals were received. The period of performance is May 19, 2021, to May 18, 2026. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, National Capital Region, is the contracting activity (HC1047-21-D-0002).

Federal Prison Industries, doing business as UNICOR, Washington, DC, has been awarded a maximum $9,723,120 fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for physical fitness uniform trunks. This was a competitive procurement with seven responses received. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are New Jersey, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado and Washington, DC, with a May 18, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-21-D-1472).

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