Pipelines Face Cyber Reporting Mandate
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In a shift from the current system of voluntary reporting, Homeland Security is expected to issue a “security directive” this week requiring pipeline companies to report cyberattacks to the federal government, reports CNN. Two weeks ago Colonial Pipeline was hit with a paralyzing ransomware attack that led the company to halt operations at one of America’s most important pipelines, causing gas shortages in the Southeast.
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in June, reports Defense News, in Geneva, in a face-to-face encounter the White House hopes will help bring some predictability to a fraught relationship that is steadily worsening. The June 16 summit is being tacked onto the end of Biden’s first international trip as president. He will visit Britain for a meeting of Group of Seven world leaders and attend a NATO summit in Brussels.
United States troops and their NATO allies intend to be out of Afghanistan by early to mid-July, well ahead of Biden’s Sept. 11 withdrawal deadline, military officials told The New York Times about what has turned into an accelerated ending to America’s longest war.
Democrats are warning time is already running out for Biden’s agenda, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) isn’t in any rush, reports Politico. Manchin is the key 50th vote in the evenly divided Senate and he, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and several other moderates are straining to see if a bipartisan approach can work in the upper chamber.
Chesapeake Bay blue crab prices are poised to start high and remain high, reports WBOC News. The annual winter crab survey released last week shows the overall population in the Chesapeake is down, which means smaller harvests, which turns into higher prices.
Gaps in domestic violence reporting threaten troops’ safety, reports Military Times. Lawmakers and victims’ advocates blasted defense officials this week accusing them of an incomplete and inadequate response to domestic violence incidents that may undermine faith in military leadership that routinely overlooks large numbers of cases.
WHO reports a 14% drop in global COVID-19 cases, reports CNN. There were 4.1 million global COVID cases reported in the week ending May 23 — a 14% decrease from the previous week, according the World Health Organization, which also reported 84,000 new COVID deaths worldwide, a 2% decrease from the prior week. The largest decline in new cases and deaths was in the European region.
US Navy says it has met the deadline on spent nuclear fuel stored at its east Idaho facility, reports Navy Times, 18 months ahead of a required schedule in a 2008 agreement with the state of Idaho. The agreement was an addendum to a much broader 1995 pact that Idaho reached with the US Department of Energy following a series of lawsuits. The 1995 agreement is widely seen as preventing Idaho from becoming a nuclear waste dump.
The Navy is overhauling its primary flight training curriculum for the first time in more than 50 years to produce stronger aviators, reports Navy Times. The prototype flight training program aims to strengthen abilities of student pilots while reducing the time it takes to send them to the fleet.
Air Force secretary nominee Frank Kendall pledges to tackle the enduring pilot shortage and other personnel issues, reports Air Force Times. The pilot retention problem has lasted decades and is now a top concern for another new service secretary. Kendall is the former Pentagon acquisition boss and Biden’s pick to oversee the Air Force and Space Force.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt wraps up its second deployment in 16 months, reports USNI, pulling into its berth at NAS North Island, CA, on Tuesday, after leaving San Diego in October 2020 for a final set of pre-deployment training exercises before officially beginning deployment operations in the 7th Fleet and 3rd Fleet regions. The strike group included Carrier Air Wing 11, Destroyer Squadron 23, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Russell (DDG-59).
A $23 billion F-35 sale to the United Arab Emirates is imperiled over US concerns about the emirate’s ties to China, reports The Wall Street Journal. Reports of transport flights unloading crates of undetermined materiel, along with other signs of nascent security cooperation between Beijing and the UAE have alarmed US officials. After review, the Biden administration proceeded with the $23 billion sale of as many as 50 F-35 fighter aircraft, 18 Reaper drones, and advanced munitions, all approved in former President Donald Trump’s final hours in office.
Northrop Grumman is testing a portable expeditionary control station to assist operation of the Navy’s unmanned MQ-8C helicopter from sea and ashore, reports USNI News. The Mission Control Station Expeditionary MCS-X is being tested on the Navy’s MQ-8C Fire Scout.
