US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
Just reading through my weekly e-mail "jane's news brief"
It is a little old but wasn't posted here before, so I decided to do so.
The metal cutting of the first C has also begun in December, and two GPS projectiles were test-fired back in october '06.
It is a little old but wasn't posted here before, so I decided to do so.
The metal cutting of the first C has also begun in December, and two GPS projectiles were test-fired back in october '06.
Last edited:
Two Nigerian scammers in the USN busted!
Two Navy men, civilian charged in scheme of identity theft
By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
© December 19, 2006
NORFOLK — Two Navy men have been charged in an identity theft scheme accusing them of fleecing more than $200,000 from financial accounts, including two individuals’ home equity credit lines.
Henry N. “Ike” Ihienkonye, a seaman in the personnel department at Norfolk Naval Station, faces a 15-count federal indictment that includes charges of conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Alhaji K. Sesay , a petty officer 2nd class also known as “Lil’ J,” was charged with eight counts in the scheme.
A third suspect, Antravious D. “Dirty” Beal, was charged with four counts. He is a civilian.
The suspects, who are in their 20s and live on the Peninsula, are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court. They each were arrested in the past 12 days.
According to the indictment, the scheme unfolded a year ago when Ihienkonye and Sesay stole credit card statements, checks and other documents from mail receptacles.
In May, they along with Beal used the personal identifying information from those documents to transfer or withdraw the victims’ cash, the indictment says.
In one example cited in the indictment, the suspects are said to have contacted the Navy Federal Credit Union pretending to be one of the victims. By providing the victim’s date of birth, social security number and other personal information, they were able over the course of several days to transfer $83,000 from that person’s home equity account to his savings account, the court papers say.
They transferred about $65,000 of those funds to accounts belonging to Beal and an unindicted co-conspirator, the indictment says, and those funds were then withdrawn and distributed among the suspects and others, who were not named.
Ihienkonye also is charged with committing a similar banking fraud in 2004. In addition, Ihienkonye and Sesay are accused of stealing credit card convenience checks from the mail and cashing them for about $40,000, the indictment says.
The trio appeared in U.S. District Court last week for bond hearings.
Ihienkonye, who was born in Nigeria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, was ordered jailed pending trial. A federal magistrate cited Ihienkonye’s ties to Nigeria, noting that the defendant planned to fly there this month to visit his wife.
Sesay, who was born in Sierra Leone and is a naturalized citizen, also was ordered jailed without bond pending trial. The magistrate cited Sesay’s ties to Sierra Leone, where he has family.
Their attorneys did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.
Beal, who told the court he is unemployed, was released on a personal recognizance bond. His attorney, Otis K. Forbes III, said he could not comment because he had not yet met with his client.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment outside of what’s in the indictment. The case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI.
Two Navy men, civilian charged in scheme of identity theft
By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
© December 19, 2006
NORFOLK — Two Navy men have been charged in an identity theft scheme accusing them of fleecing more than $200,000 from financial accounts, including two individuals’ home equity credit lines.
Henry N. “Ike” Ihienkonye, a seaman in the personnel department at Norfolk Naval Station, faces a 15-count federal indictment that includes charges of conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Alhaji K. Sesay , a petty officer 2nd class also known as “Lil’ J,” was charged with eight counts in the scheme.
A third suspect, Antravious D. “Dirty” Beal, was charged with four counts. He is a civilian.
The suspects, who are in their 20s and live on the Peninsula, are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court. They each were arrested in the past 12 days.
According to the indictment, the scheme unfolded a year ago when Ihienkonye and Sesay stole credit card statements, checks and other documents from mail receptacles.
In May, they along with Beal used the personal identifying information from those documents to transfer or withdraw the victims’ cash, the indictment says.
In one example cited in the indictment, the suspects are said to have contacted the Navy Federal Credit Union pretending to be one of the victims. By providing the victim’s date of birth, social security number and other personal information, they were able over the course of several days to transfer $83,000 from that person’s home equity account to his savings account, the court papers say.
They transferred about $65,000 of those funds to accounts belonging to Beal and an unindicted co-conspirator, the indictment says, and those funds were then withdrawn and distributed among the suspects and others, who were not named.
Ihienkonye also is charged with committing a similar banking fraud in 2004. In addition, Ihienkonye and Sesay are accused of stealing credit card convenience checks from the mail and cashing them for about $40,000, the indictment says.
The trio appeared in U.S. District Court last week for bond hearings.
Ihienkonye, who was born in Nigeria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, was ordered jailed pending trial. A federal magistrate cited Ihienkonye’s ties to Nigeria, noting that the defendant planned to fly there this month to visit his wife.
Sesay, who was born in Sierra Leone and is a naturalized citizen, also was ordered jailed without bond pending trial. The magistrate cited Sesay’s ties to Sierra Leone, where he has family.
Their attorneys did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.
Beal, who told the court he is unemployed, was released on a personal recognizance bond. His attorney, Otis K. Forbes III, said he could not comment because he had not yet met with his client.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment outside of what’s in the indictment. The case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI.
Why is Australia making so many aircraft purchases? It doesn't seem like they need them. Any thoughts?
Chengdu J-10
Junior Member
Australia is feeling threatened by the constant regional crisis around them. (Indonesia, Fiji, PNG) They require a larger airforce to assert peace to the neigbouring country as well as protecting their own country. Since Australia has a small airforce, and its F-111 is being retired soon to be replaced by the JSF it will take some time to convert. So the F-18 is both to temporaly fill in the gap and to create a bigger airforce for protection. Maybe another crisis that I watched on local news is that their aint enough fighters aircrafts for the RAAF pilots to fly.
US to "test" selective service(draft/conscription) system
Will conscription be returning to the US military anytime soon? Only the President and congress inact a US military draft(conscription)
Military Draft System to be Tested
Associated Press | December 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Selective Service System is planning a comprehensive test of the military draft machinery, which hasn't been run since 1998.
The agency is not gearing up for a draft, an agency official said Thursday. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009.
Meanwhile, the secretary for Veterans Affairs said that "society would benefit" if the U.S. were to bring back the draft and that it shouldn't have any loopholes for anyone who is called to serve. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson later issued a statement saying he does not support reinstituting a draft.
The Selective Service "readiness exercise" would test the system that randomly chooses draftees by birth date and the network of appeals boards that decide how to deal with conscientious objectors and others who want to delay reporting for duty, said Scott Campbell, Selective Service director for operations and chief information officer.
"We're kind of like a fire extinguisher. We sit on a shelf" until needed, Campbell said. "Everyone fears our machine for some reason. Our machine, unless the president and Congress get together and say, 'Turn the machine on' ... we're still on the shelf."
The administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that its position had not changed.
A day earlier, President Bush said he is considering sending more troops to Iraq and has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to look into adding more troops to the nearly 1.4 million uniformed personnel on active duty.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, increasing the Army by 40,000 troops would cost as much as $2.6 billion the first year and $4 billion after that. Service officials have said the Army wants to increase its force by 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps would like 5,000 more troops.
The unpopular war in Iraq, where more than 2,950 American troops have already died, complicates the task of finding more recruits and retaining current troops - to meet its recruitment goals in recent years, the Army has accepted recruits with lower aptitude test scores.
In remarks to reporters in New York, Nicholson recalled his own experience as a company commander in an infantry unit that brought together soldiers of different backgrounds and education levels. He said the draft "does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving."
Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who has said minorities and the poor share an unfair burden of the war, plans to introduce a bill next year to reinstate the draft.
House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi has said that reinstating the draft would not be high on the Democratic-led Congress' priority list, and the White House said Thursday that no draft proposal is being considered.
Planning for the Selective Service exercise, called the Area Office Mobilization Prototype Exercise, is slated to begin in June or July of next year for a 2009 test. Campbell said budget cuts could force the agency to cancel the test, which he said should take place every three years but hasn't because of funding constraints.
Hearst Newspapers first reported the planned test for a story sent to its subscribers for weekend use.
The military drafted people during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. An agency independent of the Defense Department, the Selective Service System was reincorporated in 1980 to maintain a registry of 18-year-old men, but call-ups have not occurred since the Vietnam War.
Will conscription be returning to the US military anytime soon? Only the President and congress inact a US military draft(conscription)
Military Draft System to be Tested
Associated Press | December 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Selective Service System is planning a comprehensive test of the military draft machinery, which hasn't been run since 1998.
The agency is not gearing up for a draft, an agency official said Thursday. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009.
Meanwhile, the secretary for Veterans Affairs said that "society would benefit" if the U.S. were to bring back the draft and that it shouldn't have any loopholes for anyone who is called to serve. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson later issued a statement saying he does not support reinstituting a draft.
The Selective Service "readiness exercise" would test the system that randomly chooses draftees by birth date and the network of appeals boards that decide how to deal with conscientious objectors and others who want to delay reporting for duty, said Scott Campbell, Selective Service director for operations and chief information officer.
"We're kind of like a fire extinguisher. We sit on a shelf" until needed, Campbell said. "Everyone fears our machine for some reason. Our machine, unless the president and Congress get together and say, 'Turn the machine on' ... we're still on the shelf."
The administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that its position had not changed.
A day earlier, President Bush said he is considering sending more troops to Iraq and has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to look into adding more troops to the nearly 1.4 million uniformed personnel on active duty.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, increasing the Army by 40,000 troops would cost as much as $2.6 billion the first year and $4 billion after that. Service officials have said the Army wants to increase its force by 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps would like 5,000 more troops.
The unpopular war in Iraq, where more than 2,950 American troops have already died, complicates the task of finding more recruits and retaining current troops - to meet its recruitment goals in recent years, the Army has accepted recruits with lower aptitude test scores.
In remarks to reporters in New York, Nicholson recalled his own experience as a company commander in an infantry unit that brought together soldiers of different backgrounds and education levels. He said the draft "does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving."
Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who has said minorities and the poor share an unfair burden of the war, plans to introduce a bill next year to reinstate the draft.
House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi has said that reinstating the draft would not be high on the Democratic-led Congress' priority list, and the White House said Thursday that no draft proposal is being considered.
Planning for the Selective Service exercise, called the Area Office Mobilization Prototype Exercise, is slated to begin in June or July of next year for a 2009 test. Campbell said budget cuts could force the agency to cancel the test, which he said should take place every three years but hasn't because of funding constraints.
Hearst Newspapers first reported the planned test for a story sent to its subscribers for weekend use.
The military drafted people during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. An agency independent of the Defense Department, the Selective Service System was reincorporated in 1980 to maintain a registry of 18-year-old men, but call-ups have not occurred since the Vietnam War.