March 29, 2024

US Hit in New Spying Hack

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners.

Suspected foreign hackers have breached nine organizations in the defense, energy, health care, technology, and education sectors — and at least one of those organizations is in the US, CNN reports on findings from security firm Palo Alto Networks. Company executive Ryan Olson said the nine confirmed victims are the “tip of the spear” of the apparent spying campaign. Security agencies aggressively expose this type of cyber espionage to limit its damage by warning other corporations and burning the hackers’ tools in the process.

Addressing the reasons DoD is so bad at buying software, FCW reports that the request for tangible change is intensifying. Although reforming budget and acquisition processes is a well-worn topic on Capitol Hill and across DoD, with weapons systems becoming more reliant on software than hardware, the need is becoming more pressing.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has published a new strategy intended to encourage the intelligence community to leverage more commercial solutions moving forward, reports C4ISRNET.

China is “clearly” developing aviation and maritime capabilities to counter the US in Indo-Pacific, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby reiterated this week, telling USNI.org that the Pentagon is worried about China’s “increasing intimidation” and “coercive behavior” throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

Senators introduce a bill to address sexual misconduct at the US Marine Academy, reports gCaptain. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have introduced a bill aimed at providing additional safeguards for midshipmen at the academy, currently embroiled in the ongoing Midshipman X sexual assault and sexual harassment scandal.

The military is failing to comply with federal law in sexual assault cases, reports CBS News. A draft Pentagon report reveals failure to provide survivors support. The analysis of almost 450 military special victims cases filed from 2018 to 2020, found that 64% were not assigned properly trained prosecutors.

The US cybersecurity firm McAfee will be sold to an international group of investors for more than $14 billion, just over a year after going public, reports Bangkok Post. The purchasing consortium led by Advent International Corporation and Permira Advisers will pay about $12 billion in cash to acquire all of McAfee’s outstanding shares, with the cost rising to more than $14 billion when the company’s debt is added. The investor group also includes Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canadian pension fund CPP Investments, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund.

The VA secretary promises quicker action on burn pit benefits and veteran suicide, reports Military Times. VASec Denis McDonough acknowledges the frustration that the topics are still at the top of his agency’s to-do list. Department officials in August announced that for the first time, some veterans exposed to harmful burn pit smoke while serving in overseas war zones will get presumptive disability benefits, a move that could speed up help for tens of thousands of veterans of the most recent wars.

Turner Classic Movies revived its tradition of devoting its Veterans Day and Memorial Day programming to military movies, reports Military.com. Turner Movie Channel invited retired Army MAJ Jeremy Haynes and retired Army CAPT Leslie Smith as this year’s veterans to select a favorite military movie and present it to the TCM audience. Their selections, “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) and “G.I. Blues” (1960) are joined by “Sergeant York” (1941) and “Mister Roberts” (1955) to fill the 2021 Veterans Day schedule tomorrow, November 11.

The Navy has selected the first woman to go directly into flying the F-35C after earning her wings, reports Navy Times. LTJG Suzelle Thomas earned her Wings of Gold last month. Three women in the Navy transitioned from other aircraft to fly the F-35C. Thomas is the first to have her initial assignment be an F-35C squadron.

XINHUANET.com reports Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed bilateral ties and cybersecurity among other issues with Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns in a telephone conversation, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

 

 

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Nov. 8, 2021

A metallurgist admits faking steel-test results for Navy subs, reports Navy Times. Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, WA, pleaded guilty to fraud Monday after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was being used to make US Navy submarines. Thomas was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls.

DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair but now needs to grab four in a half-hour, reports Defense News. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Dynetics caught an X-61A Gremlin drone and brought it aboard a C-130A mothership. The Dynetics’ Gremlins program manager Tim Keeter said the program now must prove it can recover multiple drones repeatedly, reliably, and quickly enough for real-world operations.

The World Economic Forum reports on an analysis of more than 235 cyberattacks against the health care sector across 33 countries and warns action is needed from cybersecurity firms and governments to ensure access to health care. Calling the study a fraction of the full scale of such attacks, the analysis found over 10 million records have been stolen, of every type, including Social Security numbers, patient medical records, financial data, HIV test results, and private details of medical donors. On average, 155,000 records are breached during an attack on the sector, and the number can be far higher, with some incidents reporting the breach of over 3 million records.

The Pentagon has announced it will help troops with family trapped in Afghanistan get them out, reports Military.com. Troops can help by reporting names of those family members, which will be shared with the State Department as the Biden administration struggles to evacuate remaining Americans and others more than two months after a total US withdrawal. Last month, veterans groups and alarmed lawmakers in Congress worked frantically to help at least 48 service members in the Army and Marine Corps who had 509 relatives stuck in the country.

Iran wants US assurances it will never abandon the nuclear deal if revived, reports Reuters. Iran said on Monday that the US should provide guarantees that it will not abandon Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers again, if talks to revive the agreement succeed. Indirect talks between Iran and the United States, which stalled in June after the election of hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, are set to resume on November 29 in Vienna to find ways to reinstate the 2015 accord.

A Canadian woman could be the first person diagnosed as suffering from “climate change,” reports The Hill, after doctors said heatwaves and poor air quality brought on acute breathing problems. Kyle Merritt, an emergency room doctor in Nelson, British Columbia, who was responsible for the diagnosis, told Glacier Media that it was the first time in a decade he had determined a patient’s cause of suffering to be climate change. Merritt added that the patient, who is in her 70s, was diagnosed in the summer shortly after a heatwave in June sent temperatures soaring past 121 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lingering COVID impacts on sufferers could unlock clues to chronic fatigue and other poorly understood conditions, reports The Washington Post.

Contracts:

Ashford Leebcor Enterprises IV LLC, Williamsburg, Virginia (N69450-22-D-0002); CCI Solutions LLC, Anchorage, Alaska (N69450-22-D-0003); Dawson Enterprises LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii (N69450-22-D-0004); P&S Construction Inc., Chelmsford, Massachusetts (N69450-22-D-0005); Southeastern Industrial Barlovento JV-2 LLC, Destin, Florida (N69450-22-D-0006); VHB LLC, Boyds, Maryland (N69450-22-D-0007); Walga Ross Group 3 JV, Joplin, Missouri (N69450-22-D-0008); and WEB LLC, doing business as WEBCO, Springfield, Virginia (N69450-22-D-0009), were awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, design-build and design-bid-build multiple-award construction contracts with a combined maximum value of $249,000,000 for construction projects primarily in the east area of operations of Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southeast. These eight contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. No task orders are being issued at this time. Each awardee was awarded $1,000 in order to satisfy the minimum guarantee. Work will be performed Florida (34%); Georgia (33%); and South Carolina (33%), and is expected to be completed by November 2026. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,000 were obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); and operation and maintenance (Navy) funds. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.sam.gov website, with 30 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Nov. 8, 2021)

Progeny Systems Corp., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $21,061,344 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-6267 to exercise options for engineering design development services, supporting material and travel procurements. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (85%); and Charleroi, Pennsylvania (15%), and is expected to be completed by December 2022. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,100,000 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.

Ashford Leebcor Enterprises V LLC, Williamsburg, Virginia, was awarded a $22,771,439 firm-fixed-price contract for interior renovation and mechanical/electrical infrastructure. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Fort Gordon, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 25, 2023. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $22,771,439 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W912HN-22-C-3000).

Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been awarded a $25,055,242 modification (P00003) to previously awarded FA8227-21-F-0056 for temporary aircraft maintenance structures (TAMS). This modification provides for the purchase of Phase II of the TAMS project which was separately priced and competed under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 24, 2023. Fiscal 2022 Dynamic Multi-Asset Growth Capital Investment Funds in the amount of $25,055,242 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Sustainment Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. 

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