21 Feb 2020

Military.com | By Hope Hodge Seck

The newest weapon in the Navy's arsenal is a laser dazzler that can stymie enemy drones threatening surface ships. And now it's installed aboard an active destroyer.

The system was installed aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Dewey in November, but not announced until this week, officials with Naval Sea Systems Command told Military.com.

Called Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy, or ODIN, the system is the technological successor of the Laser Weapons System, or LaWS, a 30-kilowatt laser installed on the amphibious transport dock Ponce in 2014. The ship conducted experiments in the Persian Gulf before the Ponce returned home for decommissioning in 2017; LaWS in its current form was never fielded.

The capabilities and specifications of ODIN have been closely guarded; a NAVSEA official declined to share additional information about how the system will be tested or what it can do.

Photos of the Dewey published on The Drive in November show a small turret mounted on the ship's deckhouse, in an area the publication notes is typically left open.

Officials have said plans call for two of the systems to be installed aboard destroyers in the near term.

"Going from an approved idea to installation in two and a half years, ODIN's install on Dewey will be the first operational employment of the stand-alone system that functions as a dazzler," officials said in a news release. "The system allows the Navy to rapidly deploy an important, new capability to the Navy's surface force in combating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) threats."

Hostile drones are a complex and growing threat to U.S. forces worldwide. In 2017, during a reporting trip to the carrier George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf, the ship's then-commanding officer, Capt. Will Pennington, noted that Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles were being used to gather information on Navy movements.

Dewey's upcoming experiments and operations with the laser will inform installation of ODIN aboard other ships and further development of Navy laser weapons, officials said.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/21/navy-has-installed-first-drone-stopping-laser-destroyer.html

A Former JBLM Soldier Has Been Sentenced to 15 Years for Child Pornography Production

23 Feb 2020

The News Tribune | By Alexis Krell

A former Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for child pornography production, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

John F. Rindt, 50, was a U.S. Army chief warrant officer.

He was living in Lacey in 2012 when he took video of himself molesting a young sleeping child, according to court records.

Rindt pleaded guilty to child pornography production last year.

A sentencing memorandum filed on his behalf with the court said that Rindt is remorseful and understands that he deserves punishment, and it noted his distinguished military service.

The sentence will be concurrent to a 10-year term he was already given by a military tribunal.

Rindt also must pay $9,900 to cover costs of counseling for the child.

He also will have to register as a sex offender and will have lifetime supervision upon his release.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/23/former-jblm-soldier-has-been-sentenced-15-years-child-pornography-production.html

McConnell Air Force Base Finds High Levels of Chemical Made Famous in 'Erin Brockovich

21 Feb 2020

Special to McClatchy Washington Bureau | By By Tara Copp

WASHINGTON – The cancer-linked compound made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich" has been found in dangerous levels inside an aircraft hangar at McConnell Air Force Base, including its breakroom, according to documents exclusively obtained by McClatchy.

Hexavalent chromium can be used as an anti-corrosion agent and "it is found in paints and primers used on the KC-135 and to a lesser extent the KC-46," both tanker aircraft that are based at McConnell. Contamination from the chemical compound was documented in multiple base memos from October 2019 to January 2020 that were obtained by McClatchy

More than 50 personnel may have been exposed to the chemical, an October memo warned. A November test found that an airman had been exposed to levels almost six times higher than the permissible exposure limits set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Exposure to hexavalent chromium can cause respiratory diseases, kidney, liver or abdominal damage and various cancers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has warned.

"The risk of developing lung, nasal, and sinus cancer increases with the amount of hexavalent chromium inhaled and the length of time the worker is exposed," OSHA said.

While exhaust filters and protective gear should have limited contamination and risk of exposure to the area where painting took place, "we determined that Cr(VI) dust contamination is present on most surfaces in hangar 1124 North and presents a contact hazard to unprotected workers." The Cr(VI) mentioned in the memo refers to hexavalent chromium.

"Additionally we noted inadequate control of Cr(VI) dust due to the detection of Cr(VI) in the breakroom and on the floor near the shop supervisor's desk," an October 2019 memo reported.

A notice was issued in October to personnel warning of the hangar contamination and underlined "NO FOOD OR DRINK are authorized in the North Bay of Hangar 1124."

The base encouraged any personnel who believe they were exposed to the chemical to report it.

Air Force personnel exposed to similar hexavalent chromium contamination at a maintenance hangar at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi have said they think that exposure is responsible for multiple cancer deaths among the maintenance crew that was tasked with removing old paint and corrosion from C-130 "hurricane hunter" aircraft at the base.

McConnell Air Force Base conducted a round of tests at a paint booth area in the hangar in November 2019, monitoring levels of hexavalent chromium exposure that took place while a service member sprayed aircraft wheel components.

Test results found that the service member, a senior airman, had been exposed to levels of hexavalent chromium that were almost six times higher than the permissible exposure limits set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In a statement, McConnell Air Force Base said it is aware of the exposure hazard and has taken steps to protect personnel working in the hangar, the base said. In the documents obtained by McClatchy, the base has also recommended a different configuration in the paint booth to improve air filtration.

"Only mission essential personnel trained to work with hexavalent chromium have access to the hangar. The hangar also is limited to a single entry control point with specified decontamination zones and rigorous cleaning procedure, and exposure-level testing is conducted regularly," according to a statement released by McConnell Air Force Base to McClatchy.

However, a Jan. 29 email obtained by McClatchy shows that the contamination may have spread, and could affect operations there.

"OSHA inspector for B1124 called my cell phone today," the email from a base bioenvironmental engineer to a chief medical officer said. "She's confirmed that HexChrome used in B1124 South Bay has broken out of the regulated areas. The implication is that people who enter the facility are exposed to the chemical hazard whether or not they enter the paint area."

"I don't know what the impact to the mission will be at this point," the engineer wrote.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/21/mcconnell-air-force-base-finds-high-levels-chemical-made-famous-erin-brockovich.html

Is this some of the new cures, that are not so new but being revealed? Regardless interesting news

Paint' that Purports to Regrow Wounded Troops' Bones Moving Toward FDA Testing

20 Feb 2020

Military.com | By Dorothy Mills-Gregg

The latest proposed bone regenerative therapy is a paint-like substance that coats implants or other devices to promote bone regrowth. It’s designed for use in treating combat injuries and lower back pain, among other issues.

After about $9 million in grants from the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the substance, called AMP2, made by the company Theradaptive, is moving onto the next trial phase, a step ahead of testing on humans. Creator Luis Alvarez, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served a year in Iraq, said coating an implant is much better than the current, more dangerous therapy for bone regrowth.

Without this product, the alternative is to use the type of protein that is liquid," Alvarez said. "And you can imagine if you try to squirt a liquid into a gap or a defect in the bone, you have no way of controlling where it goes."

This has caused bone regrowth in muscles and around the windpipe, which can compress a patient’s airway and nerves leading to the brain, he said.

AMP2 is made out of that same protein that promotes bone or cartilage growth in the body, but it's sticky. It binds to a bolt or other device to be inserted into the break, potentially letting surgeons salvage limbs by reconstructing the broken, or even shattered, bone, Alvarez claims.

He said veterans could find the new product beneficial as it may be used in spinal fusions to treat back pain or restore stability to the spine by welding two or more vertebrae together. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the goal of this surgery is to have the vertebrae grow into a single bone, which is just what AMP2 is intended to facilitate.

Alvarez created his product after finding out halfway through his career that wounded soldiers he served with ultimately had limbs amputated because they couldn't regrow the tissue needed to make the limbs functional.

"To me, it felt like a tragedy that that would be the reason why you would lose a limb," he said. "So when I got back from Iraq, I went back to grad school and the motivation there, in part, was to see if I could develop something or work on the problem of how do you induce the body to regenerate tissue in specific places and with a lot of control?"

Alvarez, who graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering, said AMP2 has shown a lot of promise: A recent test showed bone regrowth that filled a two-inch gap. And its potential is not limited to combat injuries, he added.

"The DoD and the VA are actually getting a lot of leverage from their investment because you can treat not only trauma, but also aging-associated diseases like lower back pain," Alvarez said. "It's going to redefine how physicians practice regenerative medicine."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/20/paint-purports-regrow-wounded-troops-bones-moving-toward-fda-testing.html

more slush funds and financial malfeasance st the Pentagon

Pentagon Awarded $876M in Contracts Meant for Disabled Vets to Ineligible Companies says IG

20 Feb 2020

Military.com | By Richard Sisk

Small businesses owned or run by disabled veterans may have been cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars in Defense Department contracts by unscrupulous firms who were ineligible for the awards, the Pentagon's Inspector General reported Thursday.

The IG's audit found that the DoD "awarded $876.8 million in contracts to ineligible contractors and did not implement procedures to ensure compliance with the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) subcontracting requirements after the contracts were awarded."

At least 16 of the 29 contractors reviewed in the report who received business from the DoD on the basis that they met the disabled veteran requirements were found to be ineligible, the IG's office said.

Unless the DoD conducts better oversight, "service-disabled veterans may be in jeopardy of not receiving contract awards intended for them, and the DoD will be at risk of misreporting the amounts for SDVOSB participation," the 29-page report states.

The IG's report followed on warnings in a Government Accountability Office report last November that some firms seeking business with the DoD were setting up shell companies with "opaque ownership structures that may conceal who owns, controls, or benefits from the company."

"We identified fraud and national security risks to DoD from opaque ownership such as ineligible contractors receiving contracts and foreign firms receiving sensitive information through U.S.-based companies," the GAO's report said.

Under an executive order, the DoD and all government agencies have been directed to boost opportunities for service-disabled veteran businesses to get contracts, with a goal of having at least 3% of all federal contracting dollars go to firms owned by disabled veterans.

The rules require that the SDVOSB be at least 51%-owned by one or more service-disabled veterans, and one or more service-disabled veterans must be in control of the management and daily business operations of the business.

However, the IG's report found that the DoD had been awarding contracts intended for disabled veterans to some contractors who "did not have a service-disabled veteran as the owner and highest ranking officer in the company or whose publicly available information and contracting documentation did not support that they met the requirements for SDVOSB status."

In addition, the contracting personnel at the DoD "did not perform the oversight necessary to verify compliance with the SDVOSB subcontracting requirements," the report said.

It did not name any of the questionable firms but cited the example of one identified only as "Contractor A," who had received a $5 million SDVOSB contract based on the contractor's "self-representation" as a disabled veteran-owned business.

The report said that "we were unable to confirm" with the Department of Veterans Affairs that the individual named as Contractor A's president was actually a service-disabled veteran.

The report also cited the case of "Contractor B," who had received three SDVOSB contracts worth $209.6 million.

"However, we determined that evidence did not exist to support that a service-disabled veteran was the majority owner and highest ranking officer or in control of the company," the IG's report said.

Only one member of Contractor B's business was a service-disabled veteran, and that person "lived over 2,000 miles away from the contractor's location," according to the report.

It recommended that the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) at the DoD require contractors to submit valid documentation to support their SDVOSB status before contracts are awarded, and perform periodic reviews to verify eligibility.

In response to the report, OSBP Acting Director J. Scott Baum disagreed with the findings and declined to address the recommendations, the IG's office said.

In addition, Baum "stated that his office was not primarily responsible for procurement policy or contract operations," according to the report.

In his memo to the IG's office, Baum said it is the Small Business Administration, and not his office, that is "responsible for determining eligibility and ensuring compliance" with the SDVOSB rules.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/20/pentagon-awarded-876m-contracts-meant-disabled-vets-ineligible-companies-ig.html

The US Navy Just Got Its Hands on a New Kind of Iranian Missile

19 Feb 2020

Military.com | By Gina Harkins

A pair of Navy ships have for the first time nabbed a new kind of Iranian surface-to-air missiles during recent arms seizures in the Middle East.

U.S. weapons experts have gotten their first look at a new "uniquely Iranian-designed missile," Navy Capt. William Urban, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday. Sailors aboard the destroyer Forrest Sherman and cruiser Normandy confiscated eight of the new 358-missiles during separate weapons seizures in the Middle East.

The Forrest Sherman got five of the surface-to-air missiles in November and the Normandy seized three more earlier this month. Both operations took place in the Arabian Sea.

Urban declined to talk about the new missile's capabilities or what the U.S. has learned about it. The eight missiles – along with anti-tank missiles, pieces for land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles, high-explosive warheads, drone parts, blasting caps and other items – were on their way to war-torn Yemen.

"The United States is confident that these weapons fit the pattern of weapons smuggling to the Houthis in Yemen, which Iran has been engaged in for five years," Urban said. "The latest two seizures add substantial support to the body of evidence that Iran continues to smuggle advanced weaponry into Yemen."

The new Iranian missile has been used in the Yemeni battle space, Urban added. The Houthis have also used some of the Iranian-developed weapons outside of Yemen, firing missiles at U.S. warships and attempting to attack civilian targets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he said…

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/19/us-navy-just-got-its-hands-new-kind-iranian-missile.html

I’m convinced there’s rampart fraud and opioid abuse through these Telehealth compamies

Granting VA Disability Claims by Remote Questionnaire Led to Fraud, Report Shows

20 Feb 2020

Military.com | By Dorothy Mills-Gregg

A North Carolina veteran completed a public-use disability benefits remote questionnaire for a Department of Veterans Affairs claim for a mental health condition arising from three service-connected conditions.

Ultimately, the VA awarded about $6,500 in disability to the veteran, despite the fact that an examination by a licensed clinical psychologist ruling there was no direct relationship between the veteran's symptoms and conditions. That's according to a new VA inspector general report released Tuesday, finding that use of questionnaires administered remotely increased bad rulings and led to fraud.

In this case, the veteran went through a private provider in Puerto Rico via teleconference to fill out the questionnaire. The VA prohibits staff from using questionnaires completed remotely by non-VA doctors when determining benefits.

The report suggested that the Veterans Benefits Administration "determine whether public-use disability benefits questionnaires continue to be an effective means of gathering evidence to support claims for benefit entitlement and, if not, take steps to discontinue their use."

The VBA created the questionnaires for public use a decade ago to address its claims backlog by letting veterans undergo a private, non-VA provider examination. But several years later, over concerns of fraud raised by the IG, the VBA stopped accepting "telehealth" examinations – health care delivered remotely via phone or internet – by non-VA providers or contractors when determining a disability claim.

But IG staff found VBA claims processors have used the telehealth questionnaires to make decisions in more than half of the claims it reviewed, adding up to about $613,000 in payments from April 2017 through September 2018.

VBA staff have alerted 225 potential fraudulent claims relating to these public-use questionnaires to the IG as of December 2018.

"VBA claims processors improperly used disability benefits questionnaires completed by private providers to determine benefit entitlement without evidence the examination was done in person," IG staff wrote in the report. "VA lacks the ability to easily identify private provider telehealth examinations and takes no actions to correct claims where such examinations are improperly used to provide benefits."

The report added that "numerous" organizations have been using these telehealth questionnaires to exploit veterans, charging them fees or taking some of their disability compensation benefits in exchange for filling out the questionnaires. IG staff also reported hearing reports that veterans were being coached on what to say to maximize their benefits.

In addition to lacking checks, the IG report pointed out neither the VBA's website nor its forms informed users that telehealth questionnaires filled out by private providers could not be used for deciding benefit entitlements.

VA staff told the IG it would take time to change the form and website because of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the requirement to obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget. This process takes more than a year to complete so public-facing forms, including public-use questionnaires, will be outdated.

VBA staff concurred that a broad review should be done, along with subsequent changes if they decide to keep the questionnaire - adding a spot to say it was completed via a telehealth examination and update VBA procedures so staff know what to do if they suspect a questionnaire was completed via telehealth.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/20/granting-va-disability-claims-remote-questionnaire-led-fraud-report-shows.html