Government Cyber Warnings Continue
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.
Microsoft and NSA say a security bug affects millions of Windows 10 computers, reports Tech Crunch. This only a week after Homeland Security warned Firefox users to update due to hacking fears, reports FastCompany.com. The Windows 10 vulnerability is found in a decades-old Windows cryptographic component, known as CryptoAPI. The component has a range of functions, one of which allows developers to digitally sign their software, proving that the software has not been tampered with. But the bug may allow attackers to spoof legitimate software, potentially making it easier to run malicious software — like ransomware — on a vulnerable computer.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute findings prompt a call for increased efforts in the military to combat Russian attempts to influence troops online, reports Military.com. Russian misinformation efforts are reaching into the military ranks, leading some to view the country as more friend than foe, according to the findings of a survey commissioned by the Reagan Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to promoting the legacy of the late commander in chief. Voice of America first reported on the 2019 findings. The survey shows that nearly half of military households polled in October 2019, 46 percent, said they view Russia as a US ally. More than a quarter of active-duty households polled in the organizations annual survey said they had an unfavorable view of NATO.
Three allied frigates arrive at Norfolk, VA, ahead of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group deployment, USNI News reports. A composite training unit exercise for the Eisenhower CSG is scheduled later this month. The French anti-submarine frigate FS Normandie (D651), Royal Danish Navy frigate Iver Huitfeldt (F361), and Canadian Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec (FFH 332) arrived in port last week, according to photos of the ships arriving at the naval base.
New video shows two Iranian missiles hit Ukrainian plane, reports The New York Times. The security camera footage shows two missiles fired 30 seconds apart took down Flight 752, killing all aboard.
Airbus Beluga XL enters service at long last, reports CNN. You won’t be able to travel in it, but the super-transporter cargo plane is designed by Airbus to fly its aircraft components between production sites in Europe and its final assembly lines in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Jan. 13, 2020.
Two Major League Baseball managers gone in two days, reports ESPN. The Boston Red Sox decided not to wait and fired manager Alex Cora a day after his name was mentioned 11 times in the commissioner’s report on the Houston Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal — when Cora was the team’s bench coach. The report implicated Cora as the mastermind. He follows GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, fired by the Astros for involvement in the same sign-stealing scandal.
A DoD inspector general audit finds some military hospitals issued potentially dangerous amounts of opioids, reports Military Times, over-prescribed opioids to patients with chronic pain from 2015 and 2017, placing them at risk for addiction and overdose. No policies or procedures were in place to track patient prescriptions until 2017, a decade after the opioid crisis had begun.
HELL ON WHEELS: Hackers on the other side of the world can take over your vehicle, reports TexarkanaGazette. Today’s cars are essentially computers on wheels. That’s why automakers in Detroit, Germany, France, China, and Japan are aggressively working to monitor technology protections in private cars, trucks, and SUVs connected to the global internet to provide navigation assistance and so much more.
A BRAC-like advisory panel recommends selling 12 high-value federal properties, reports Federal News Network. A 73-year-old archive and records center in Seattle, a former missile site in Gaithersburg, MD, and a fisheries science facility built to withstand the strongest earthquakes in California are among the dozen federal properties a panel of experts have recommended the federal government sell.
Air Force agents raided a military-housing landlord’s office for evidence of illegal asbestos flooring removal, reports Military Times. The action stems from an EPA subpoena for the Tinker Air Force Base offices of Balfour Beatty Communities.
National Guard triples force in Puerto Rico as New York prepares to send troops, reports Stars and Stripes. Puerto Rico has activated more than 650 of its National Guard members with 115 more preparing to travel from New York to help construct and support tent shelters across the southern region of the island where thousands of residents continue to sleep outdoors for fear of another major earthquake.
Contracts:
Bechtel National Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $35,709,723 modification (P00184) to contract W52P1J-09-C-0012 for the increased permitting requirements request for equitable adjustment at Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant as a result of additional work in the sample management office, waste plan analysis and odor monitoring. Work will be performed in Pueblo, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of July 12, 2020. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $35,709,723 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
