Directed-Energy: Secret No Longer
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River 
economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
Lawmakers, sworn to secrecy for five years, are castigating the intelligence community about the growing spate of so-called directed-energy attacks on Americans, reports Politico. As officials sound the alarm in closed-door briefings on Capitol Hill, members of Congress in both parties are panning a years-long failure to address the episodes and properly care for the victims.
NATO exercises are sweeping Europe amid Russian military escalation and rising tensions between Moscow and US, reports CNN. SEALs from Virginia Beach are in Romania this month as part of a contingent of American special forces taking part in the “Trojan Footprint” military exercises across five Eastern European countries that involve 600 NATO and non-NATO forces, including troops from Ukraine and Georgia, which have both been invaded by Russia in recent years. The training is taking place alongside this month’s much larger Defender-Europe 21 NATO joint exercises.
One of the only remaining inhabited areas affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the Narodychi District, is the location of the Chernobyl Spirit Company making “ATOMIK,” an alcohol distilled from slightly radioactive apples, reports Military Times. The first batch, on its way to the UK, was seized by Ukrainian authorities who accused the company of “using forged Ukrainian excise stamps, but this doesn’t make sense since the bottles are for the UK market and are clearly labeled with valid UK excise stamps,” said Jim Smith, an environmental science professor at Portsmouth University and the founder of The Chernobyl Spirit Company. “It’s an artisinal vodka, more lovingly referred to as a moonshine, which is completely safe, according to scientists. “This is no more radioactive than any other vodka,” Smith told BBC in 2019.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard refutes the US Navy’s claim of fast-approaching Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz sparking a tense encounter, reports Navy Times. The US said 13 armed Iranian speedboats approached its vessels, prompting a Coast Guard cutter to fire warning shots when two of the Iranian boats came dangerously close.
An upcoming decision on the Minuteman missile will shape US nuclear policy for decades, reports Defense News. For 50 years, the Minuteman missile has been armed and ready, but has never left its underground silo. It’s overdue to be replaced or refurbished, placing it into the political battle over the condition and cost of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Some endorse abandoning the land-base leg of the traditional nuclear land, sea and air “triad,” but most in Congress favor replacing Minuteman with a new missile.
The State Department OK’d the potential sale to Canada of four Lockheed Martin-made Aegis missile defense systems valued at up to $1.7 billion, reports Defense News. The Pentagon says the equipment would “significantly improve” Canada’s network-centric warfare capability for US forces operating globally alongside.
Top security experts warn of economic and military impacts from Russia’s plans for the Arctic, reports USNI News, saying Russia’s ambition to remain the sole Arctic superpower has economic and military implications far into the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) and committee member Michael Bennet (D-CO) pressed President Joe Biden to review the US Space Command move, reports The Hill, worried the decision did not fully account for “intelligence community dependencies and missions,” which work in tandem with Pentagon efforts to protect US satellites and other interests from threats.
A Chicago gun pipeline has been traced to three enlisted soldiers at Fort Campbell, KY, reports Army Times. Demarcus Adams, 21; Jarius Brunson, 22; and Brandon Miller, 22, were arrested by ATF and CID special agents after they allegedly purchased dozens of guns to be used on the streets of Chicago, including pistols found at a mass shooting that left one person dead and several others wounded earlier this year.
Current and former military officers are refuting a letter released by retired generals and admirals spreading the lie that Biden stole the election, reports Politico. The officers call the missive a dangerous new sign of the military being dragged into the trenches of partisan warfare.
Deputy DefSec Kathleen Hicks has directed that any DoD data is a resource for the whole agency, reports C4ISRNET. In other words, components must view data as a strategic asset and avoid trapping their valuable information in their own siloed storage systems. The directive is another signal of DoD’s recognition that harnessing data is the center of its future war-fighting concept to connect sensors and shooters across domains and services.
CENTCOM is releasing drawdown updates from Afghanistan, but they don’t include troop numbers, reports Military Times.
Military parents would get 12 weeks of leave to care for new children under a congressional proposal, reports Military Times. The Servicemember Parental Leave Equity Act, backed by a bipartisan group of 31 House members, would cover both primary and secondary caregivers, bringing military parental leave policies in line with other federal employees who saw their benefits boosted by Congress in recent years.
Expeditionary sea base Miguel Keith was commissioned by the Navy last week in Coronado, CA, reports Navy Times.
The Marine Corps rolls out a “mishap library” in the wake of deadly accidents, reports Marine Corps Times. The online portal is designed for future Marines to learn from past mishaps. The portal is already up on MarineNet and eventually will link past mishaps to “relevant” training and readiness standards.
A former VA nursing assistant has received a life sentence for murdering seven patients via insulin poisoning in 2017 and 2018, reports Military Times. She said she was helping them die “gently” although none of the victims faced life-threatening conditions. Reta Mays worked at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, WV, and pleaded guilty to seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
What is the military doing about UFOs? The Pentagon’s internal watchdog wants to know, reports Navy Times. No timeline is given regarding when the probe will wrap up, but in December 2020 the intelligence agencies were given 180 days to provide an unclassified report on UFOs to Congress’ Intelligence and Armed Services Committee.
Contracts:
Antech Systems Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia, is awarded a $91,848,919 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering and technical support; maintenance and material management; software engineering, development, and integration; and development of logistics packages in support of command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence operational maintenance and engineering training for the Navy, Air Force, Army and other government agencies. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (60%); and St. Inigoes, Maryland (40%), and is expected to be completed in August 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 (N0042121D0021).
Dynanet Corp., Elkridge, Maryland, was awarded an $8,615,669 hybrid labor hour/firm-fixed-price task order modification (P00002) to exercise an option on a contract (HS0021-20-F-00028) that was transferred to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in fiscal 2020. This order includes operations and enhancement services with associated skill sets to support the DCSA Program Executive Office’s applications systems development. Work will be performed in DCSA’s Theodore Roosevelt Building in Washington, DC; at other facilities in Macon, Georgia; and Boyers, Pennsylvania; and via remote work. This option is fully funded with DCSA defense working capital funds. The anticipated period of performance of this option is between May 13, 2021, and May 12, 2022. The total value of the contract, including a base year and option periods, is $32,276,985. The total DCSA obligated amount of the contract is $13,821,490. OPM issued the original award, containing a one-year base period plus four 12-month option periods and an optional six-month extension on May 10, 2019. That award was competed as a 100% small business set aside under NAICS 541511, custom computer programming services, via General Services Administration IT Schedule 70. Upon transfer to DCSA, OPM task order GS-35F-003CA/243226-19-F-0046 became DCSA task order GS-35F-003CA/HS0021-20-F-0028, dated Sept. 28, 2020. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is now the contracting activity.
Noble Sales Co. Inc., doing business as Noble Supply and Logistics, Rockland, Massachusetts (SPE8E3-21-D-0006, $562,500,000 [Zone 1 of the Pacific Region]); and PAE-IMK International LLC, Arlington, Virginia (SPE8E3-21-D-0010, $375,000,000 [Zone 2 of the Pacific Region]), have each been awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPE8E3-19-R-0001 for facilities maintenance, repair, and operations requirements. These were competitive acquisition with five responses for the first contract and three responses for the second contract, received. These are two-year base contracts with two 18-month option periods. Locations of performance are Massachusetts, Virginia, Japan, Okinawa, Diego Garcia, the Philippines, Thailand and the Republic of Korea, with a May 11, 2023, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Noblis, Inc., Reston, Virginia, is being awarded a $263,263,830 ceiling cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide advisory and assistance Services in support of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. This is a five-year contract with a one one-year base, four one-year options and a maximum six-month option to extend services. The effective date is May 12, 2021. Work will be performed in Lorton, Virginia; and Reston, Virginia, with an expected completion date of May 11, 2026. Fiscal 2019, 2020 and 2021 Cooperative Threat Reduction funds in the amount of $12,350,484 are being obligated at time of award. This award was a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HDTRA1-21-F-0033).
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, is being awarded a $9,887,466 ceiling cost-plus-fixed-fee option modification (P00045) to provide advisory and assistance services in support of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. This extension modification has a four month period of performance. The effective date is May 26, 2021. Work will be performed in Lorton, Virginia; and Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an expected completion date of Sept. 26, 2021. Fiscal 2019 and 2021 Cooperative Threat Reduction funds in the amount of $2,403,655 are being obligated at time of award. This award was a sole source acquisition pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 Only One Responsible Source, and the contract’s clause FAR 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HDTRA1-16-C-0012).
Huntington-Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded an $115,008,106 cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-2114 for engineering and technical support for USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79). Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by June 2024. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,700,000 (52%); and fiscal 2021 research, development, and testing (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,398,561 (48%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Web LLC, doing business as WEBCO, Springfield, Virginia, is awarded a $15,154,358 firm-fixed-price task order (N6945021F0280) under previously-awarded multiple-award construction contract N69450-19-D-1085 for the P253 air traffic control tower at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida. Work will be performed in Milton, Florida, and is expected to be completed by May 2024. Fiscal 2021 military construction (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,154,358 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Six proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $29,055,963 task order HR0011-21-F-0012 for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency enterprise support services for director’s office management, director’s office front office support, public affairs office support, legislative affairs office support, military operational liaison support, general counsel office support, strategic resources management support, international cooperation support, commercial strategy support, mission services office support, business processes directorate support, functional support to facilities and logistics directorate, and visual media services. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of May 2022. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $17,020,671 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
