DoD to Troops: Don’t Share Classified Info
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A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman was arrested on Thursday in connection with the leak of Pentagon intelligence, reports Army Times. Jack Teixeira, 21, is being charged under an Espionage Act provision that makes it a crime to remove, retain, or transmit national defense information, reports The Associated Press. Teixeira is a cyber transport systems journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base. Teixeira was in court Friday. He did not enter a plea and is detained pending a hearing Wednesday, reports The Washington Post. The government is seeking continued detention.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force BRIG GEN Pat Ryder called the disclosure “a deliberate criminal act” during a briefing last week.
A memo was sent to US troops to remind military members of their responsibilities in handling classified information, reports Military Times. “Personnel with access to classified information are trusted stewards of that information and the responsibility to safeguard classified information is a lifetime requirement for each individual granted a security clearance,” wrote Deputy DefSec Kathleen Hicks.
DoD is moving to tighten rules over who is allowed to access the most sensitive intelligence, reports The Guardian, amid mounting criticism of the Pentagon’s policies for access to highly classified materials.
While in Vietnam on Saturday, SecState Antony Blinken said cooperation between the US and its allies was not affected by the leak of the classified documents that detailed information about the war in Ukraine and US intelligence operations, reports The Hill.
The US Navy has canceled a planned industry competition to manufacture a large unmanned undersea vehicle, known as a Snakehead, reports Breaking Defense. The program, the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle has been in development for more than a decade and has produced at least one prototype vessel.
Army National Guard and Air National Guard pilots are not getting enough flight hours to fly safely, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. The shortcomings are translating into pilot error-induced mishaps, reports Army Times. The Guards need a strategy for better helicopter safety, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine.
NASA said it is ready to try out its new 1,700-square-foot Mars simulated habitat, reports Capital News Service. A team of four crew members soon will embark on a one-year mission inside the Mars Dune Alpha at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as part of the agency’s preparations for future human missions to the red planet.
A former Afghan interpreter has graduated from the US Marine Corps. PFC Aimal Taraki said he was inspired to join the Corps by his time working with the US military in Afghanistan, reports Task & Purpose.
USS Cleveland, the last of the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships launched on Saturday, reports Interesting Engineering, closing a chapter on one of the most controversial classes of vessels in the US Navy.
NATO will hold Air Defender 2023 on June 12-23. It will be a massive training opportunity and show of force as war rages in Ukraine, reports The Drive. The exercise will test the Air National Guard’s “ability to rapidly deploy and rapidly employ [forces],” similar to what the US would have to do if the Ukraine war spreads to NATO, said LT GEN Michael Loh, director of the Air National Guard. “It is the largest transatlantic movement we’ve done,” reports Defense One.
Romania will buy F-35 fighter jets to boost the country’s air force as Russia’s war against Ukraine drags on, reports Breaking Defense. Interest in the F-35 has risen globally among US allies and partners.
To maintain its neutrality in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, China said it will not sell military weapons to either country, reports AP.
King County officials in Washington state said they have seen a 37% drop in veteran homelessness between January 2018 and the end of 2022, reports The Seattle Times. They said their program model, which builds on long-standing relationships with the federal VA, the local housing authorities and nonprofits, shows that with the right resources and coordination, shrinking the number of homeless people is possible.
Other jurisdictions are having success with veterans housing programs. A project in Minneapolis, MN, called Housing for Heroes, is providing temporary housing for vets and their families, reports KSTP.com. An eighth home is under construction through the program, with three more in Minneapolis slated for this year. Bethlehem, PA, zoning officials have approved a group home for male veterans who are transitioning out of homelessness. The Changing Lives Center will house 13 residents in a 14-month program, reports lehighvalleylive.com. The program is designed to help them return to life in the community through education and job-readiness training. The Tampa/Hillsborough Homeless Initiative in Florida is planning a ribbon-cutting in July for 36 veterans who are currently homeless to move into new apartments, reports CBS News. The initiative’s CEO expects the program, which recently received a federal grant, will be able to help reduce veteran homelessness in the Hillsborough County by 50% by Veterans Day.
A US Marine Corps veteran, retired CAPT Grady Kurpasi, who volunteered to fight in Ukraine and had not been seen alive in a year, has been declared dead, reports Marine Corps Times. The US State Department confirmed last week that Kurpasi had been killed in action.
After 30 years at Arlington National Cemetery, the remains of a former Navy lieutenant Andrew Chabrol, who kidnapped and murdered a sailor who rebuffed his attentions, will be disinterred, reports Military Times. Chabrol secured above-ground burial for himself at Arlington while awaiting his execution by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1993 for the murder of Petty Officer 2nd Class Melissa Harrington. A provision in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act made the disinterment possible.
Where are the state’s deadliest roads? A new Maryland Crash Sata Dashboard tracks every fatal crash in Maryland, reports WTOP News. Preliminary data shows that for the second year in a row, exactly 563 people died on Maryland roads in 2022. In 2022, 135 pedestrians died on state roads, up by four from 2021. Eleven bicyclists were killed, up five from 2021.
Some Republican members of Congress want to know why a group of Catholic priests was barred from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center just before Easter week services, reports Military Times. The lawmakers called the situation “utterly unconscionable” for troops at the medical campus. Center officials said the contract with the college providing the priests had expired after military officials opted to partner with a different firm.
The 2023 Maryland General Assembly session, which ended last week, saw a group of legislators more representative of the state in terms of race, gender, party affiliation, and age than a decade ago, according to a Capital News Service analysis. The legislature has gradually become more diverse in recent years.
Contracts:
Manhattan Construction Co., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $108,862,913 firm-fixed-price contract for to construct an operations complex at Arlington National Cemetery. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 27, 2026. Fiscal 2022 cemeterial construction expenses, Army funds in the amount of $108,862,913 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W91236-23-C-2022).
Archer Western Construction LLC, Tampa, Florida, was awarded a $59,565,868 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a replacement bascule bridge. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of April 17, 2026. Fiscal 2023 Civil Work Plan funds and non-federal sponsor-contributed funds in the amount of $59,565,868 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W91236-23-C-2001).
Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $17,238,360 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-6258 to exercise options for system production and associated components in support of all new-construction and in-service class submarines. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (74%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (23%); Andover, Massachusetts (2%); and Arlington, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed by July 2027. Fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,204,116 (30%); fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) spares funds in the amount of $4,420,516 (26%); fiscal 2023 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,086,720 (18%); fiscal 2022 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,298,280 (13%); fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,615,000 (9%); and fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $613,728 (4%) 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, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Dulles, Virginia, has been awarded a $45,959,668, firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00005) to contract FA8814-22-C-0004 for the Rapid On-orbit Space Technology Evaluation Ring 4 (ROOSTER-4), a self-propulsive secondary payload adapter for deploying small satellites. The contract modification incorporates effort required to develop, deliver, launch, and perform initial on-orbit support for ROOSTER-4. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $62,008,243. Work will be performed in Dulles, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by May 29, 2026. Fiscal 2023 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $29,132,816 are being obligated at the time of award. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $62,008,243. The U.S. Space Force, Space Systems Command, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity.
Agile Research Group LLC, Plano, Texas (W91QF4-23-D-0004); Apex Analytics Group Inc., Leavenworth, Kansas (W91QF4-23-D-0005); Core Government Services Corp., Purcellville, Virginia (W91QF4-23-D-0006); MKS2, Lakeway, Texas (W91QF4-23-D-0007); Nemean Trideum JV LLC, doing business as NTSS JV, Sierra Vista, Arizona (W91QF4-23-D-0008); SWMG Productions Inc., doing business as nFocus Solutions, Phoenix, Arizona (W91QF4-23-D-0003); and Training Technologies and Support, Leavenworth, Kansas (W91QF4-23-D-0009), will compete for each order of the $145,150,000 firm-fixed-price contract to support the US Army Combined Arms Center mission to develop and produce training and education strategies, scientific human subject studies, doctrine, concepts, instruction, and products for the current and future force. Bids were solicited via the internet with 25 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 12, 2028. US Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Guidehouse Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded an $89,976,905 time-and-materials contract to support the Army Working Capital Fund infrastructure. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Washington, DC; and Redstone, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of April 19, 2028. Fiscal 2023 Army Working Capital Funds in the amount of $11,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-23-C-0004).
