US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

FORBIN said:

I believe P-8 squadron get 7 aircraft ? i have not number for P-3C in one squadron. if anyone get it please.
OCU different ofc in general about the double minimum.

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Six Poseidons assigned to Patrol Squadron Sixteen (VP-16) “War Eagles” are planned to deploy to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan in December.

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Army drops number of paratroopers
Nov. 30, 2013 - 06:00AM
By Brett Barrouquere
The Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — The legendary Pathfinders have taken their final jump and the Red Devils aren’t too far behind.

The two paratrooper units — formally known as the 5th Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division and the 508th Infantry Regiment — are closing out long histories as a result of the U.S. Army’s reconfiguration and budget cutting. Among the changes being made is a reduction in the number of parachute positions across the service.

“You have to make the best use of resources across the Army to make sure we’re using tax dollars as best we can,” said Jim Hinnant, a former 1st lieutenant and paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg and spokesman for U.S. Army Forces Command.

The military is capping parachute positions at 49,000 as part of the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance, a plan detailing the development of military forces through 2020. The plan calls for some units, including paratrooper units, to change their focus.

Lt. Col. Don Peters, the team chief for Operations, Intelligence and Logistics with Army Public Affairs, told The Associated Press the reductions are being made in part because of reduced budgets and to reach the mandated maximum number of paratrooper slots 49,000. Peters said 24 units accounting for 2,600 soldiers across the country were removed from jump status. That includes 12 units with the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the Company F (Pathfinder), 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell, Ky.

“However, paratroopers continue to train and maintain readiness to execute airborne operations should a mission arise, and the impact on the reduction of paid parachute positions will not degrade the capability of the Army,” Peters said.

The Army kept three standing pathfinder companies: Company F (Pathfinder), 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); and Company F (Pathfinder), 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Aviation Brigade, both at Fort Campbell, Ky.; and Company F (Pathfinder), 2nd Battalion, 82d Aviation Regiment at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The Pathfinder units are dropped into place in order to set up and operate drop zones, pickup zones, and helicopter landing sites for airborne operations, air resupply operations, or other air operations in support of the ground unit commander. They also handle rescues of downed pilots and helicopters.

In the case of the Pathfinders at Fort Campbell and the Red Devils at Fort Bragg, their units trace their history back to being among the first to drop into Nazi-occupied France at Normandy on D-Day during World War II, helping set the stage for the allied siege that eventually drove the Germans out of the country.

Current soldiers are aware of that history and what the loss of jump status means to their roles in the Army’s future. Some are dismayed by the changes, but generally believe the units can still carry out the missions.

“History is history. Being on jump status is history. It’s out of my control,” said Sgt. 1st Class Bryan Beville of Cheyenne, Wyo., a member of the Pathfinders. “We’ll continue to fine-tune what we do.”

Staff Sgt. Ryan Savage, an Elk Rapids, Mich., native and Pathfinder member, said soldiers prepare for every scenario imaginable and while no longer jumping in ahead of ground troops, they’ll be ready to tackle their duties without helicopters.

“It’s a real fancy and pretty way to do it,” Savage said of jumping from helicopters. “But, for every soldier, you still have to train and prepare to do the same mission.”

The cutbacks have some airborne alumni worried about the future of paratroopers at various posts. Kenneth “Rock” Merritt, a retired command master sergeant major with the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C., said the military’s focus on special forces could be detrimental to units such as the one he served with until retiring in 1977.

“My big concern is ... I just wonder how long they’re going to keep the 82nd Airborne on airborne status,” Merritt said. “I’m wondering if some day, somebody’s going to get the bright idea and the 82nd Airborne is going to go back to the 82nd Infantry.”

Army officials haven’t publicly spoken about pulling units from airborne status. Current soldiers hope one day they’ll be allowed to return to making air jumps.

“We’re ready for anything,” said Sgt. Shea Goodnature of Clarksville, Tenn.

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U.S.: American fighters in Syria a security risk
Dec. 1, 2013 - 09:15AM
By Emery P. Dalesio
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal officials say Americans are joining the bloody civil war in Syria, raising the chances they could become radicalized by al-Qaida-linked militant groups and return to the U.S. as battle-hardened security risks.

The State Department says it has no estimates of how many Americans have taken up weapons to fight military units loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad in the conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people over 2 ½ years. Other estimates — from an arm of the British defense consultant IHS Jane’s and from experts at a nonprofit think tank in London — put the number of Americans at a couple dozen. The IHS group says al-Qaida-linked fighters number about 15,000, with total anti-Assad force at 100,000 or more.

This year, at least three Americans have been charged with planning to fight beside Jabhat al-Nusrah — a radical Islamic organization that the U.S. considers a foreign terrorist group — against Assad. The most recent case involves a Pakistan-born North Carolina man arrested on his way to Lebanon.

At a Senate homeland security committee hearing this month, Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., said: “We know that American citizens as well as Canadian and European nationals have taken up arms in Syria, in Yemen and in Somalia. The threat that these individuals could return home to carry out attacks is real and troubling.”

The hearing came about two weeks after the FBI and other officers arrested Basit Sheikh, 29, at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport on charges he was on his way to join Jabhat al-Nusrah. Sheikh, a legal resident of the United States, had lived quietly, without a criminal record, in a Raleigh suburb for five years before his Nov. 2 arrest. A similar arrest came in April in Chicago. And in September, authorities in Virginia released an Army veteran accused of fighting alongside the group after a secret plea deal.

In August, outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller told ABC News that he was concerned about Americans fighting in Syria, specifically “the associations they will make and, secondly, the expertise they will develop, and whether or not they will utilize those associations, utilize that expertise, to undertake an attack on the homeland.”

Current FBI Director James Comey said this month that he worried about Syria becoming a repeat of Afghanistan in the 1980s, after the Soviet invasion, with foreign fighters attracted there to train. The FBI refused to say whether it’s directed agents to increase efforts to stop Americans bound for Syria.

In the case of Sheikh, his North Carolina home isn’t considered a breeding ground for terrorist activity. But Aaron Zelin, who works for both the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, notes that Sheikh lived about three hours from the hometown of Samir Khan, the editor of an English-language al-Qaida magazine who was killed in a drone attack in Yemen.

Sheikh is charged with planning to assist a group the State Department has declared a terrorist organization. It’s not illegal for Americans who also hold citizenship in another country to fight in that country’s military. But American citizenship can be lost for voluntarily serving in foreign armed forces hostile to the U.S.

For five months this year, Sheikh didn’t know he was being monitored as he posted messages and videos on Facebook expressing support for jihadi militants fighting Assad’s forces, according to a Nov. 2 sworn affidavit by FBI Special Agent Jason Maslow in support of the warrant to arrest Sheikh.

In August, Sheikh commented to an undercover FBI employee’s posts on a Facebook page promoting Islamic extremism. The two struck up an online relationship, the affidavit said. Sheikh told the informant he planned to trek to Syria to join “a brigade in logistics, managing medical supplies.” Days later, Sheikh said he’d bought a one-way ticket to travel to Turkey in hopes of making contact with people who would get him to Syria.

Sheikh said he backed out because “he could not muster the strength to leave his parents,” the affidavit said. Sheikh said he had traveled to Turkey last year hoping to join the fight in Syria, but became dispirited by his experience with people who claimed to be part of the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army. After Sheikh expressed online support for Jabhat al-Nusrah and interest in traveling to the war zone, the FBI employee suggested Sheikh contact a person with the group — another FBI informant.

Sheikh made contract, describing Jabhat al-Nusrah as the most disciplined group of anti-Assad fighters, the affidavit said. “I’m not scared,” Sheikh wrote, according to the affidavit. “I’m ready.”

Two federal public defenders appointed to represent Sheikh are barred by local court practice from discussing their cases, spokeswoman Elizabeth Luck said. Sheikh’s father, Javed Sheikh, said his son was falsely accused but that he trusts U.S. courts to find the truth.

A federal magistrate ruled that Sheikh should be detained until his trial because there was clear evidence that he wouldn’t appear if released on bond and that there was a “serious risk” to the community if he were freed.

Basit Sheikh’s arraignment is scheduled for January. He could face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

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Kongsberg completes JSM fit check on F/A-18

By: DOMINIC PERRY LONDON 11:19 29 Nov 2013 Source: PRO

Kongsberg and Boeing have completed a successful fit check of the Norwegian manufacturer's developmental Joint Strike Missile (JSM) on to a F/A-18F Super Hornet.

Performed at the US airframer's St Louis facility, the JSM was successfully installed on the fighter's external hardpoints, says Kongsberg. The two companies will early next year conduct a wind-tunnel test of the long-range munition fitted to a Block II Super Hornet.

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"The completion of the fit-check on the F/A-18 F further validates the JSM's compatibility with the existing fleet of aircraft and provides a near-term strong capability against advanced threats," says Harald Ånnestad, president of Kongsberg Defence Systems.

Integration work is also under way to allow the stealthy munition to be utilised on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Designed to take on both land and sea targets, the JSM features a low-observable radar signature and autonomous target recognition.

Additionally Kongsberg has signed a deal with New Zealand for an undisclosed number of its Penguin Mk 2 Mod 7 anti-ship missiles and associated equipment. These will be deployed on the eight new Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters to be acquired by the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Flightglobal's Ascend Online Fleets database records the service as fielding five examples of the Kaman rotorcraft, but has indicated it will acquire eight new aircraft from 2014-16, with the older models to be retired.

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U.S. Leads International Defense Aircraft Suppliers In Asia Pacific
By Michael Fabey [email protected]
Source: AWIN First

November 26, 2013
Credit: USAF
The U.S. ranks as the leading supplier of defense aircraft for Asia-Pacific partners and allies, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics.

The U.S. will have sold about $79.2 billion worth of defense aircraft and related equipment, including both development and production costs, between fiscal 2009-2023 to Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, the analysis shows.

Italy ranks second with about $48.7 billion during that time, while India ranks third.

There is ample room for changes as some major programs, especially in the outlying years, have yet to be solidified and budgetary constraints or other issues could affect funding or schedule. For some countries, there is simply little known for certain about acquisition plans in the latter years of the analysis. For example, the defense aircraft supplier for about $218.2 billion worth of work during the analyzed time is unspecified or unknown.

Still, the higher percentage of U.S. investments for known suppliers in the region will help the nation as it continues its Pacific pivot of shifting more military resources back to the Asia Pacific as it withdraws forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Operationally, that pivot has not impressed many regional analysts, who say the two biggest associated U.S. moves thus far — a commitment of more Marines to Australia and the Western Pacific deployment of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom to Singapore — do not represent major displays of power.

U.S. Navy officials contend their “small-footprint” moves indicate more regional presence, which, they say, can be just as important as power in the Asia Pacific, as China reasserts itself as a political, maritime and military power there.

China was far eclipsed by the U.S. for Asia-Pacific defense aircraft programs, the analysis shows. China ranks eighth among known suppliers with $6.5 billion in programs.

Of course, that number does not include internal Chinese investments, and defense analysts say the Asian giant’s funding for its own military programs could be equal to the rest of the Asia-Pacific nations combined.

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Honor, deception in secret air academy spy system
Dec. 2, 2013 - 01:23PM By Dave Philipps
The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette via AP
FILED UNDER
News
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, COLO. — Facing pressure to combat drug use and sexual assault at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force has created a secret system of cadet informants to hunt for misconduct among students, The Gazette of Colorado Springs reports.

Cadets who attend the publicly funded academy must pledge never to lie. But the program pushes some to do just that: Informants are told to deceive classmates, professors and commanders while snapping photos, wearing recording devices and filing secret reports.

For one former academy student, becoming a covert government operative meant not only betraying the values he vowed to uphold, it meant being thrown out of the academy as punishment for doing the things the Air Force secretly told him to do.

Eric Thomas, 24, was a confidential informant for the Office of Special Investigations, or OSI — a law enforcement branch of the Air Force. OSI ordered Thomas to infiltrate academy cliques, wearing recorders, setting up drug buys, tailing suspected rapists and feeding information to OSI. In pursuit of cases, he was regularly directed by agents to break academy rules.

“It was exciting. And it was effective,” said Thomas, a soccer and football player who received no compensation for his informant work. “We got 15 convictions of drugs, two convictions of sexual assault. We were making a difference. It was motivating, especially with the sexual assaults. You could see the victims have a sense of peace.”

Through it all, he thought OSI would have his back. But when an operation went wrong, he said, his handlers cut communication and disavowed knowledge of his actions and watched as he was kicked out of the academy.

“It was like a spy movie,” said Thomas, who was expelled in April, a month before graduation. “I worked on dozens of cases, did a lot of good. And when it all hit the fan, they didn’t know me anymore.”

The Air Force’s top commander and key members of the academy’s civilian oversight board claim they have no knowledge of the OSI program, The Gazette reports.

Academy commanders declined multiple requests for interviews. OSI declined requests for comment, saying in a statement that it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the program.

Gen. Mark Welsh, chief of staff of the Air Force, the service’s top officer and the only commander with authority over the academy and OSI, said he was unfamiliar with the cadet informant system.

“I don’t know a thing about it,” he said in October.

Members of the academy’s civilian oversight board, which includes members of Congress, also said they had not heard of the program.

The Gazette confirmed the program through interviews with multiple informants, phone and text records, former OSI agents, court filings and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Records show OSI uses FBI-style tactics to create informants. Agents interrogate cadets for hours without offering access to a lawyer, threaten them with prosecution, then coerce them into helping OSI in exchange for promises of leniency they don’t always keep. OSI then uses informants to infiltrate insular cadet groups, sometimes encouraging them to break rules to do so. When finished with informants, OSI takes steps to hide its existence, directing cadets to delete emails and messages, misleading Air Force commanders and Congress, and withholding documents it is required to release.

The program also appears to rely disproportionately on minority cadets such as Thomas.

“Their behavior in (Thomas’) case goes beyond merely disappointing and borders on despicable,” Skip Morgan, a former OSI lawyer who headed the law department at the academy, said in a letter to the superintendent of the academy in April. Morgan is now Thomas’ attorney. The superintendent did not reply.

The Air Force also has not replied to a letter sent by Thomas’ senator, John Thune of South Dakota, in September asking officials to meet with Thomas.

While the informant program has resulted in prosecutions, it also creates a fundamental rift between the culture of honesty and trust the academy drills into cadets and another one of duplicity and betrayal that the Air Force clandestinely deploys to root out misconduct.

The Gazette identified four informants. Three agreed to speak about their experience with OSI. Each had been told he was the only informant on campus but eventually learned of more, including one another. Because of the secretive nature of the program, The Gazette was unable to determine its scope, but the informants interviewed said they suspect the campus of 4,400 cadets has dozens.

“It’s contradictory to everything the academy is trying to do,” said one informant, Vianca Torres. “They say we are one big family and to trust each other, then they make you lie to everyone.”

Records show, for a time, Thomas was at the center of it. He worked major operations that netted high-profile prosecutions. OSI documents said he was “very reliable” and “provided OSI with ample amounts of vital information.”

The three informants who spoke to The Gazette said the system needs reform.

“I hate it,” said a third cadet who said he became an informant in 2011. The cadet, who graduated in May and is now an officer, did not want to be identified because he feared retribution by the Air Force. He said being an informant was the worst thing he has ever done. “It puts you in a horrible situation: lying, turning on other cadets. I felt like a rat. OSI says they will offer you protection, have your back. Then they don’t. Look what happened to Eric.”

Thomas said his life as an informant started after an off-campus cadet party in 2010.

The Air Force Academy is hardly known as a party school. Incoming cadets face a barrage of rules. Any slip-up earns a cadet punishment and demerits. A cadet who amasses 200 demerits gets expelled. Any illegal drug use is grounds for immediate dismissal. They pledge to an honor code: “We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.” Telling a lie can get a cadet expelled.

Even so, some cadets throw illegal parties off base, usually at houses rented for the weekend by a third party.

In fall 2010, Thomas, a sophomore, went to a house party near Divide. It was a typical college bash, he said, with pounding music, beer and cadets on the back porch smoking pot and synthetic marijuana.

The party was busted by civilian police. About two weeks later, the then-21-year-old said he was ordered to report to OSI for questioning.

The academy has about 12 agents, but cadets say few students know OSI exists.

An OSI agent named Mike Munson brought Thomas into a small interrogation room, Thomas said. The agent wanted to know who did what at the party. At first, Thomas gave vague answers, but Munson pressed harder, grilling the cadet for more than three hours: It was the cadet’s duty to tell the truth. Under the honor code, not turning in spice smokers was the same as smoking spice.

At the end of Thomas’ interrogation, Munson told him that the Air Force wanted him to become a confidential informant. Thomas asked whether it would mean breaking the honor code. He said Munson told him there was no cadet honor code in this line of work. Thomas agreed to help OSI.

Agents made him sign non-disclosure papers and told him he could be thrown in a military prison if he talked about his work. He could not even tell his commanders, they said. OSI would notify them instead.

Thomas worked his way in with the party kids, troublemakers and other cadets whom OSI called “targets.” He would call OSI to report his findings.

Informing took a toll. Thomas said he often would not get back from meetings until after midnight, leaving little time to do homework. His grades dropped, and he was put on academic probation. Because of the company he kept, he said he got a bad reputation.

Eventually Thomas, who had been informing on a cadet suspected of sexual assault, was punished for infractions including sneaking off base and having a female in the dorm, actions connected to the surveillance. Thomas said he assumed he would be protected by OSI. He wasn’t. Air Force records show the academy’s vice commandant knew of Thomas’ OSI involvement and ordered a special hearing officer to privately review the case. It never happened.

Thomas’ squadron commander recommended expulsion. Thomas was stripped of rank and restricted to base.

The discipline boards recommended that Thomas be expelled. OSI told him not to worry, he said. They were taking care of things behind the scenes. He just had to keep his mouth shut.

Thomas’ work with OSI didn’t stop when he got in trouble. It intensified. He was pivotal in a major bust that made headlines and led to the expulsion of one of the football team’s star players, he said.

At the end of August 2012, Thomas’ case went to a closed hearing, the final stop on the way to expulsion. His handler assured him he would speak on Thomas’ behalf. The agent never showed up. The board voted unanimously to expel Thomas.

Thomas texted and called OSI during the next few days, but agents stopped responding.

Files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that OSI “terminated” Thomas on Sept. 10, 2012, because he “no longer had access to targets.”

Thomas moved back in with his family in South Dakota. He has appealed to the office of the secretary of the Air Force, Eric Fanning, saying he was wrongfully dismissed.

“It needs to change,” Thomas said. “I am not saying people shouldn’t work for OSI. We did a lot of good work. But they need protection. They need guidelines. Someone needs to be watching this. Otherwise, look what happens.”

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Star of 'Red October' returns from last deployment
Nov. 30, 2013 - 06:00AM

By Jennifer McDermott
The Day of New London (Conn.) via AP

Submarine USS Dallas completes last deployment
GROTON, CONN. — The submarine that starred in “The Hunt for Red October,” the Dallas, returned from its last overseas deployment Monday. Next year, after 33 years in the fleet, the Dallas will be inactivated.

Tom Clancy’s Cold War thriller made the Dallas famous, but in Navy circles it is better known for being the first attack submarine to carry a dry-deck shelter, which houses a vehicle for launching and recovering special operations forces.

“Of all the submarines that would be finishing up their service life, there are a couple out there that people know by name, and Dallas is one of them,” said Capt. David A. Roberts, who commanded Dallas from 2007 to 2009. “It kind of adds to the moment. ‘The Hunt for Red October’ submarine we all know and love from the movies is going to be finishing up its service life soon.”

But, Roberts said, he always tells people who ask about the Dallas that it has “done a lot more than just being in the movies.”

“Think about how the world has changed,” said Roberts, who now leads the Submarine Learning Center. “The missions Dallas was built for initially back then, in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, are so much different than in 2013. And she has stood the test of time and been able to keep step with the changing world, the challenging world.”

The Dallas returned to the Naval Submarine Base on Monday after operating in Europe and the Middle East and traveling more than 34,000 miles during nearly seven months at sea.

While all deployments are memorable, Cmdr. Jack Houdeshell, the current commanding officer of the Dallas, said the last deployment comes second only to the maiden deployment for a submarine.

And on this deployment, Houdeshell added, the crew and the ship “showed the world what we can still do.”

The Dallas will continue to support training and other missions until September, when the preparations begin in earnest for the decommissioning, Houdeshell said.

One of 42 Los Angeles-class attack submarines remaining in the fleet, the Dallas was commissioned in 1981 as the seventh member in a class of 61 submarines. It has deployed to every operational theater around the world ever since.

The submarine circumnavigated the globe and transited the Panama Canal in 1984 and participated in Operations Desert Shield/Storm in the early 1990s.

Master Chief Electronics Technician Tomas A. Garcia, who was the chief of the boat on Dallas from 2010 to 2012, said the Dallas was known for delivering Navy SEALs, but the equipment was removed shortly before he reported aboard. Guided-missile submarines and some Virginia-class submarines carry the dry-deck shelters now, he added.

Roberts, Houdeshell and Garcia all said serving aboard Dallas was the highlight of their careers.

Garcia, a Texas native who is now the department master chief for Basic Enlisted Submarine School, led about 100 Naval Submarine School students to the pier on Monday so they could attend a submarine homecoming for the first time.

“There is no better way for them to really get a full appreciation for what it means to deploy on a submarine,” Garcia said.

Seeing the families and feeling the excitement of the homecoming, Garcia added, “really drives home” the importance of the submarine force’s missions and of the family support at home. Garcia said he also watched “The Hunt for Red October” with his family on Sunday night to celebrate the Dallas’ impending arrival.

Seaman Jose Cruz, 19, cheered “Hooyah, Dallas” with his classmates as the Dallas arrived next to the pier. Cruz said he felt as if he was being welcomed into the traditions of the submarine force.

“For all of us,” he said, “this will be something to remember.”

Houdeshell said Monday was an emotional day because he was thrilled to see his family and see the sailors reunited with their families, especially in time for Thanksgiving, but he also knew that after he brought his ship in “she’s not going to go out and do it again.”

“I think the real measure of the Dallas is the crews that served on the Dallas and have gone out throughout the fleet,” he said. “Even when the ship is gone you will still have the Dallas spirit out in the fleet from the sailors that served on board.”

The submarine itself may live on too, as a centerpiece for a maritime museum. A nonprofit foundation, the Dallas Maritime Museum Foundation, plans to build a museum featuring Navy ships and other vessels named after the city.

“As much as I hate to see my old ship eventually be decommissioned,” Roberts said, “I think memorializing her in Dallas would be a perfect ending to a great career.”

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Obama names Christine Fox acting deputy defense secretary
Dec. 3, 2013 - 10:45AM


By Marcus Weisgerber and Vago Muradian
Staff writers Military Times network
FILED UNDER
News
Congress & DOD
WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented move, President Obama has appointed Christine Fox, the Pentagon's former chief program and budget analyst, to serve as acting deputy defense secretary while the search continues for a candidate to fill the position on a full-time basis, defense sources said.

When she replaces Ash Carter, who steps down Wednesday after two years on the job, she will become the senior-most woman to hold a DoD post. After leaving the Pentagon in June she became a senior adviser to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, but remained an unpaid consultant to Carter, allowing her to keep current on DoD issues.

Since the Senate confirmation process typically takes months, it is highly unlikely a replacement would be in place before the end of the year. Bringing back Fox allows other DoD senior officials to remain in their roles at a pivotal time as the Pentagon develops its FY '15 budget and as even steeper defense spending cuts loom and launches the latest Quadrennial Defense Review — in which she will play an integral role.

The search for a full-time, deputy secretary nominee continues and remains a top priority for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a senior defense official said. Former Navy Undersecretary Robert Work, who stepped down earlier this year to become the CEO of the Center for New American Security think tank, is said to be a leading candidate for the deputy secretary position.

Fox served as the director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) for four years, working closely with Hagel on the Pentagon’s Strategic Choices and Management Review earlier this year, where they “developed a strong, effective working relationship,” the senior defense official said.

“Secretary Hagel has deep trust in her judgment,” the senior defense official said. "Of anyone in the defense constellation, she brings the deepest analytical experience, which I think is going to be critical as we have to make tough choices ahead, particularly should sequestration continue.”

The Federal Vacancy Reform Act allows the president to designate a senior agency employee to serve in an acting capacity for any vacated Senate-confirmed position. The law allows the appointment of an official that has previously served in the department 90 days of the past 365 days.

The law allows Fox to serve in an acting capacity for 210 days prior to the submission of a nomination for the position. She can serve for an indefinite period once a nomination is made.

As a formality in advance of becoming the acting deputy defense secretary, Fox on Monday was quietly made a member of the senior executive service within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

While Fox will “have all rights and responsibilities that the deputy secretary of defense would have,” she will not be in the line of succession, the senior defense official said. Army Secretary John McHugh, the senior most service secretary, is first in the line of succession.

Carter refereed to Fox as being “remarkably brilliant” during his Monday farewell ceremony at the Pentagon.

Fox — a former president of the Center for Naval Analyses — will play an integral role in the development of DoD’s 2015 budget proposal and Quadrennial Defense Review.

While at CAPE, Fox worked behind the scenes, rarely speaking at public events or agreeing to interviews with reporters. However, since leaving DoD, she has been much more visible.

Fox spoke out against defense spending cuts through the sequestration process in an opinion article published by Defense News on Sept. 16.

The move of naming an acting deputy secretary is extremely rare. Gordon England served in an acting role from May 2005 until January 2006 while he awaited confirmation. President George W. Bush put England in the job officially though a recess appointment.

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General denies conflict of interest motion in Brezler case
Dec. 3, 2013 - 12:06PM |


By Hope Hodge Seck
Staff writer
Military times
Generals' emails raise questions in Marine officer's legal case
The commanding general of Marine Forces Reserve has found that his own actions regarding a high-profile Marine officer’s legal proceedings do not constitute a conflict of interest and do not require him to recuse himself as convening authority in the case.

Lt. Gen. Richard Mills denied a 22-page defense motion in the case of Maj. Jason Brezler that requested Mills be removed as convening authority because of emails he sent to other general officers regarding the case. A reserve officer and New York City firefighter, Brezler is accused of sharing classified information through improper channels after he emailed a file to Marine colleagues about a corrupt Afghan policeman with ties to the Taliban and a history of pedophilia. Soon after, one of the thug cop’s child victims grabbed a rifle and killed three Marines. Brezler is also accused of taking some 100 classified documents back from deployment with him on a personal hard drive.

The conflict of interest motion, filed by Brezler’s defense attorney, Kevin Carroll, alleged Mills tried to discourage another general officer from writing a letter in support of Brezler by telling the general “no one is getting pilloried ... (Brezler) could have been court-martialed.” Mills also wrote four other generals, including commandant Gen. Jim Amos, saying that Brezler “could possibly have been sent to a court-martial as he would have been on orders at the time he took and transported the classified material out of theater.”

In a Dec. 2 letter to Carroll, Mills formally denied the request regarding his own alleged actions.

“I have ... given the request proper consideration in light of the nature of the allegations, all the facts and circumstances surrounding this Board of Inquiry, and the requirements outlined in the reference,” he wrote. “I find no legal basis to support the request. Therefore, I am denying the request for removal of the convening authority.”

Marine Corps Times also reviewed a Nov. 26 document from Maj. Chip Hodge, senior trial counsel for reserve matters, recommending that the conflict of interest request be denied.

According to MARFORRES spokesman Col. Fran Piccoli, the decision Mills made is within his purview as convening authority on the case.

“The general officer that is designated as a show cause authority is empowered to make all decisions regarding the initiation and conduct of boards of inquiry consistent with the regulation,” Piccoli said via email. “Any issues regarding the initiation and conduct of the board of inquiry may be addressed to the Secretary of the Navy post-board as part of the review process.”

But Carroll, a reserve Army officer who is representing Brezler pro bono for the firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Washington, D.C., said Brezler has been singled out for punishment.

“It is unfortunate that without explanation, General Mills refuses to recuse himself as the convening authority for Major Brezler’s Board of Inquiry, despite his unethical statements and conflict of interest,” he said in an emailed statement. “If General Mills was not the convening authority for this case, he would likely be a witness.”

Carroll said he has received Marine Corps data showing there have been 125 reported spillages of classified information, of the sort Brezler is accused of, since his July 2012 email.

“None of these spillages, to our knowledge, resulted in preliminary inquiries, boards of inquiry or courts-martial — except for Brezler’s,” he said.

The fate of Brezler’s career will be decided at an administrative board of inquiry hearing later this month at MARFORRES headquarters in New Orleans. Three MARFORRES officers have been tapped to preside over the hearing, Carroll said: Col. James Iulo; Col. Bart Pester; and Lt. Col. Todd Manyx.

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The Aviationist said:

U.S. Navy VP-16 has just begun the first deployment with the new Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft.

The first aircraft departed from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, on Nov. 29. Destination, Kadena, Okinawa, one the largest U.S. airbases in the Asia-Pacific region, located about 400 chilometers East of the disputed Senkaku islands (Diaoyu for China).

The deployment was planned months ago and officially announced on Oct. 3, when US Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida and Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera, agreed to base two US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey squadrons in Okinawa, as well as detach US Navy P-8 maritime patrol aircraft beginning in December.

However, the situation in the region, with the growing tensions following the establishment of a Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and an incresing amount of aircraft and warships operating around the disputed islands, give a different meaning to the first deployment of the Poseidon, a derivative of the Boeing 737, capable to carry the Mk-54 airborne torpedo and the Harpoon anti-ship missile, and to perform ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) missions as well as ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) tasks.

Poseidons belonging to the VP-16 War Eagles squadron will not only keep an eye on Chinese submarines or perform intelligence missions, but will probably assist rescue efforts in the Philippines, supporting Operation Damayan.

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NORAD: No fighter escorts for Santa
Dec. 4, 2013 - 10:20AM |

As it has every year since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command will be tracking Santa on his whirlwind journey to deliver presents to all the good little boys and girls around the world.

But he won’t be escorted by armed fighter jets.

When NORAD recently launched its yearly online Santa tracker, the site featured a video showing the jolly old elf being escorted by U.S. fighter jets “bristling with missiles,” as the Boston Globe put it.

That caused a minor earthquake in the Twitterverse about why Santa would need an armed escort. The answer: Russia.

But a NORAD spokesman confirmed to Military Times that the “missiles” are actually fuel tanks.

“Guilty as charged, we tried to give it a more operational feel this year; that was purposefully done to try to highlight our mission sets,” said Lt. Cmdr. Bill Lewis. “If you look at the second promo video we have where it talks through a mock training exercise, it really lays out what our different missions are and shows the different radar sets.”

So while NORAD will be tracking Santa’s flight this Christmas, if St. Nick gets into a tussle with some MiGs, his only defense will be the evasive capabilities of his reindeer.

The decades-old tradition began when a local Sears ad in Colorado, which meant to list a phone number for children to call “Santa,” mistakenly listed the number for NORAD’s Colorado-based predecessor, the Continental Air Command, instead. When children began calling to talk to Santa, staffers at the command played along, and a tradition was born.

Each year since, the command has issued news and updates about Santa’s preparations for his mission and has tracked his position after he takes off.

This year, NORAD has partnered with Microsoft to give the site an extensive makeover.

The site,

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, not only has a countdown ticker to Christmas, but a new online game is being released each day until Dec. 25. (Shoot hoops with Santa!) There are also videos, hoiliday music and background information on the Jolly Old Elf himself.

On Christmas Day, the site will map and monitor the location of Santa and his reindeer.

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Air Force to base F-35 squadrons in Utah, Vermont
Dec. 3, 2013 - 06:00AM |

By Brian Everstine
Staff writer

Group joins fight to delay F-35 basing in Vt.
Vermont city buys insurance amid F-35 debate
The Air Force will base the first operational F-35As at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and the first National Guard unit at Burlington International Airport, Vt., the service announced Tuesday.

The announcement ends about four years of study and deliberation, including multiple environmental impact studies looking at the long-term impact of basing the next generation fighters and both public support and opposition to the plans in Vermont.

Hill will receive the first operational F-35As, and was selected because of its location near training ranges and because the base is home to the F-35 depot.

“Hill AFB is ideally suited to assure a successful path to Initial Operational Capability,” said Timothy Bridges, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, in a release. “The nearby Utah Test and Training Range provides access to one of the largest and most diverse airspace and range complexes in the Air Force. Access to high-quality airspace and ranges is essential for the first operational F-35A wing.”

Hill is home to the active-duty 388th Fighter Wing and the reserve 419th Fighter Wing, and will be flown by both components.

“Flying F-35s alongside our active duty counterparts is a great example of the Air Force’s ‘Total Force’ vision, which seeks to increase capability from new technology while leveraging the experience, stability, continuity and cost effectiveness of our Reserve personnel,” said Col. Bryan Radliff, 419th Fighter Wing commander, in a release.

Construction on the base will start immediately, with F-35s arriving beginning in 2015. The base will receive 72 F-35As, which will replace 48 F-16s already assigned to Hill.

Vermont is expected to receive 18 F-35As beginning in 2020. The basing of the jets faced opponents who raised concerns about potential safety issues with a new jet near a population center, and potential noise issues.

“Burlington Air Guard Station (AGS) was selected because it presents the best mix of infrastructure, airspace and overall cost to the Air Force,” Bridges said. “Burlington’s airspace and ranges can also support projected F-35A operational training requirements and offers joint training opportunities.”

The state’s political leadership announced the decision Tuesday, praising it as a continuation of the Air National Guard’s presence in the state. The base currently has 18 of the oldest variants of the F-16 and an active-duty associate unit assigned to the Guard that will also transition to F-35s when they arrive.

“The Air Force has made clear that this aircraft, which will anchor our national air defenses, is the Air Force’s future,” the delegation said in a statement. “Now the men and women of Vermont’s Air National Guard have been chosen for a vital role in that future. The decision ensures the Vermont Air Guard’s continuing mission and protects hundreds of jobs and educational opportunities for Vermonters while securing its significant contribution to the local economy.”

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The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with funding from SwampWorks at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Department of Defense Rapid Reaction Technology Office (DoD/RRTO) demonstrated the launch of an all-electric, fuel cell-powered, unmanned aerial system (UAS) from a submerged submarine. From concept to fleet demonstration, this idea took less than six years to produce results at significant cost savings when compared to traditional programs often taking decades to produce results.

Deployed from the submerged submarine USS Providence, the NRL developed XFC unmanned aircraft is vertically launched from a 'Sea Robin' launch vehicle (bottom right). The folding wing UAS autonomously deploys its X-wing airfoil and after achieving a marginal altitude, assumes horizontal flight configuration.

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An unmanned target ship demonstrates the effects of the second successful flight test of a Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) prototype, conducted November 12 off the coast of Southern California. The test reinforced the results of LRASM’s first successful free-flight transition test (FFTT) on August 27, which verified the prototype’s flight characteristics and assessed subsystem and sensor performance. Both tests achieved all of their objectives after the prototypes used their respective onboard sensors to detect, engage and hit the moving 260-foot target ships with inert warheads.

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