Marine Corps Wants More Cyber Teams

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.

USMC Cyberspace Command’s main priority is to “secure, operate, and defend” the corps’ networks, C4ISRNET reports. And to meet that goal, the Marine Corps wants to have 13 fully operational cyber teams. Right now, it has nine teams defending networks and conducting operations in cyberspace.

Japan and the US Department of Homeland Security have agreed to deepen their sharing of cyber information. Tokyo will participate in the DHS’s Automated Indicator Sharing platform that allows two-way sharing of cyber threat indicators between the US government and the private sector as well as other organizations around the globe, The Hill reports.

The House of Representatives has voted to impose new sanctions on North Korea targeting its shipping industry and use of slave labor, Military Times reports. The measure now heads to the Senate.

North Korea is accusing US and South Korean spy agencies of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on leader Kim Jong Un, CNN reports.

The first Italian-built short take-off/vertical landing version of the F-35 rolled out Friday in Cameri, Italy, executivebiz.com reports. The F-35B is expected to take its first flight in late August.

The chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee has called the Navy’s decision to slow down its Littoral Combat Ship frigate program “reassuring,” Breaking Defense reports. Delaying contract award from 2019 to 2020 gives the service more time to do “due diligence” on the designs, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) said.

The new American Health Care Act, which passed the House by a 217-213 vote with no Democratic support, is designed to replace the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010. Republicans maintain that the new law won’t affect any veterans’ access to health care and related tax credits, Military Times reports, but Democrats believe it could jeopardize access to care for millions of vets.

Lockheed Martin has clocked in 400 hours of flight time as it develops a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle. What makes the HALE different than Boeing’s Phantom Eye or Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk is that it doesn’t need a runaway. It only needs a catapult, engadget.com reports.

The Air Force adds the Joint Direct Attack Munition, a GPS-guided bomb, to the Reaper drone force, dropping the first one in a combat strike in Operation Inherent Resolve last week at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, Breaking Defense reports.

Diplomatic talks between the US and Russia aimed at improving relations are due to begin today, May 8, The Virginian-Pilot reports. The meeting will mark the start of a dialogue that SecState Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to last month in Moscow.

The Trump administration’s second Army secretary nominee, Mark Green, has withdrawn his name from consideration, reports The Washington Times.

NAS Pax River’s commanding officer Capt. Scott Starkey and executive officer Capt. Jason Hammond recognized numerous base personnel with awards during command quarters April 27, The Tester newspaper reports. To view photographs from the event, click here.

Contracts:

Blue Cord Design and Construction LLC, Orlando, Florida (W91278-17-D-0029); Construction Services Group Inc., Charleston, South Carolina (W91278-17-D-0030); ESA South Inc., Cantonment, Florida (W91278-17-D-0031); GBD JV, Aberdeen, Maryland (W91278-17-D-0032); Valiant Construction LLC, Louisville, Kentucky (W91278-17-D-0033); Patriot Construction LLC, Dunkirk, Maryland (W91278-17-D-0034); Royce Construction Services LLC, Reston, Virginia (W91278-17-D-0035); and Terra Construction Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (W91278-17-D-0036), will share in a $49,000,000 firm-fixed -price contract for repair and minor construction in support of US Army Medical Command, Southern Region. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 11 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 4, 2022. US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.