Category Archives: National Government

Navy conduct sea rescue for Rebel Heart

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rebelheartThe Navy has sent the frigate USS Vandegrift to the Rebel Heart to rescue a one-year old child who fell ill on the stalled 36-foot Hans Christian boat.

At last report, the California National Guard sent rescuers who parachuted onto the vessel, but the child did not respond to medications. The child is suffering a fever and an unknown rash.

Although the boat is said to be repaired, the Vandegrift should reach the Rebel Heart by tonight or early Sunday to take the crew off of the boat. The crew consist of San Diego residents Eric and Charlotte Kaufman with their daughters, Lyra, 1, and Cora, 3.

USS Vandegrift

USS Vandegrift

More at UT San Diego

Jeremiah A. Denton Jr., Vietnam POW and former U.S. senator, dies at 89

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obit0331395960841MARCH 28 – Jeremiah A. Denton Jr., a retired Navy rear admiral and former U.S. senator who survived nearly eight years of captivity in North Vietnamese prisons, and whose public acts of defiance and patriotism came to embody the sacrifices of American POWs in Vietnam, died March 28 at a hospice in Virginia Beach. He was 89.

The cause was complications from a heart ailment, said his son Jim Denton. Adm. Denton was a native of Alabama, where in 1980 he became the state’s first Republican to win election to the Senate since Reconstruction.

Adm. Denton lost a reelection bid six years later. But he remained widely known for his heroism as a naval aviator and prisoner of war, and particularly for two television appearances that reached millions of Americans through the evening news during the Vietnam War.

In the first, orchestrated by the North Vietnamese as propaganda and broadcast in the United States in 1966, he appeared in his prison uniform and blinked the word “torture” in Morse code — a secret message to U.S. military intelligence for which he later received the Navy Cross.

Read more at The Washington Post

Michael Behenna released from U.S. Disciplinary Barracks

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Left: Michael Behenna is hugged Friday by his father, Scott Behenna, as his grandmother, Betty Zemp, looks on after his release from prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Photos by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman SARAH PHIPPS -

Left: Michael Behenna is hugged Friday by his father, Scott Behenna, as his grandmother, Betty Zemp, looks on after his release from prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Photos by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman SARAH PHIPPS –

Former U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna is returning to Edmond after being released Friday, having served five years for killing an Iraqi.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — Nervous energy coursed through the Behenna family Friday morning as they waited in a parking lot just outside the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. The ominous walls of the historic military prison loomed behind them as they scanned a nearby street for a white van.

“He’s supposed to come from that way,” Vicki Behenna said pointing east toward the main prison entrance. “But who knows with this place. He could come from anywhere.”

Just then, a white van approached on a side road from the opposite direction, turned into the lot and crawled to a stop in front of the small group of supporters.

Read more at NewsOK

Glenn McDuffie, World War II Vet in Iconic Kissing Photo, Dies

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glenn-mcduffie-600A man who became known for claiming he was the sailor kissing a woman in Times Square in a famous World War II-era photo taken by a Life magazine photographer has died. Glenn McDuffie was 86.

McDuffie died March 9 in a nursing home in Dallas, his daughter, Glenda Bell, told the Associated Press.

After World War II, McDuffie, who was born in Kannapolis, N.C., and moved to Houston in 1960, became a mail carrier and semi-professional baseball player.

But his life became more exciting about six years ago when Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson was able to identify him as the young man leaning over the woman in his arms to kiss her.

Read more at People

Supreme Court skeptical of greenhouse gas permits

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Justices appear to be leaning toward a ruling that would eliminate just one method the Environmental Protection Agency uses to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources

1372376433000-ourviewWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday appeared headed toward restricting the federal government’s authority to require permits for major emitters of greenhouse gases.

Such a ruling from the court’s conservative wing wouldn’t affect an effort by the Obama administration to regulate the sources of global warming, but it would eliminate one method of doing so.

At issue is the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to change the threshold in the Clean Air Act for the amount of emissions from a power plant, refinery or other stationary source that requires a permit. Liberal justices said it was a reasonable move to avoid an absurd over-regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, but conservatives said it went too far.

Read more at USA Today.

Air Force will take ‘appropriate action’ over viral POW/MIA emblem photo

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By Jon Harper
Stars and Stripes

pow-imageWASHINGTON — The Air Force is “disappointed” in the airman who appeared in a photo that is being circulated of her posing with her tongue in the mouth of the prisoner of war depicted on the iconic black-and-white POW/MIA emblem.

“We do not yet have all the details behind the photo, but it certainly is a concern; it’s a concern any time someone shows disrespect for prisoners of war and those missing in action,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody said in a statement. “They deserve our utmost respect and we must always remember their sacrifice and the legacy they’ve left for us as men and women serving our nation.

“I want to make it clear that this is not a reflection of Airmen who wear this uniform; it is a case of poor judgment of one Airman … to say we are disappointed would be an understatement. We are gathering all the details and will take appropriate action at the appropriate level,” he said. “Our Airmen fully understand the significance of the POW/MIA flag and the sacrifice of the men and women it honors.”

Read more at Stars and Stripes

More than 1,800 vets’ records intentionally destroyed or misfiled by 2 clerks

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The National Archives at St. Louis has shelving that reaches 29-feet high for the storage of military records.

The National Archives at St. Louis has shelving that reaches 29-feet high for the storage of military records.

By Robert Patrick
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS —More than 1,800 personnel records for U.S. veterans were destroyed or misfiled by two student employees of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis County, federal criminal court documents show.

One of the student employees, Lonnie Halkmon, 28, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. The other, Stanley Engram, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 7. Both pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government records and faced probation to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Engram’s guilty plea says that 241 military records were found in the woods near the center on July 3, 2012, with 300 names and Social Security numbers visible on the documents.

The records were traced to Engram, who admitted disposing of the records found in the woods, “abandoning” files in the center and throwing them away at home. In all, he admitted destroying or purposely misfiling more than 1,000 records.

Read more at Stars and Stripes

3 Bodies Found at Fort Hood (2 Children)

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wpid-Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Ambulances_outside_Fort_Hoods_Soldier_Readiness_Processing_CenterMark Hastings; Universal Free Press
(CNN)—The bodies of three people, two of them children, were discovered at an on-base residence in Fort Hood, Texas, the Army said in a news release.

The bodies — one man and two children — were found about 8:15 a.m. ET, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command has launched a probe, according to the release.

No further details were available, and the identifications of the deceased won’t be released until the next of kin is notified, the Army said.

Chris Grey, spokesman for the criminal investigation command, could not provide further details but said, “We do not believe there is any further threat to the community at this time.”

N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

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By DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKERJAN. 14, 2014

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.

While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.

The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target.
Related Coverage

The radio frequency technology has helped solve one of the biggest problems facing American intelligence agencies for years: getting into computers that adversaries, and some American partners, have tried to make impervious to spying or cyberattack. In most cases, the radio frequency hardware must be physically inserted by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user.

The N.S.A. calls its efforts more an act of “active defense” against foreign cyberattacks than a tool to go on the offensive. But when Chinese attackers place similar software on the computer systems of American companies or government agencies, American officials have protested, often at the presidential level.

Read more at The New York Times
Related: Obama to Place Some Restraints on Surveillance

Current legislation of interest to veterans.

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Veterans and current military members are certainly aware of the reduction of retiree pay while blocking Republican efforts to close tax credits for illegal aliens.

The Air Force Sergeants Association Facebook page has compiled a list of current legislation of interest to the military and veterans.

Many of the efforts address the reduction in veteran retirement in one fashion or another. Democrat Daniel B. Maffei of New York, for example, would restore military pay while closing “corporate tax loopholes.”

The list from the Air Force Sergeants Association is as follows:

H.R. 3787, by Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., would repeal of annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62. Note: This bill would restore $6 billion to replace the cuts in military retirement by combining DoD and VA drug-buying power, that Lankford contends would save an estimated $7 billion.

H.R. 3788, by Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., (and 45 cosponsors), would repeal the reductions in military retirement benefits made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013; and require inclusion of the taxpayer’s social security number to claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit.

H.R. 3789, by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., (and 120 cosponsors), would exempt the retired pay of certain disabled veterans from the reduced adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62; and prevent any adverse impact of the reduced adjustment on annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan based on retired or retainer pay.

H.R. 3790, by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., (and 87 cosponsors), would repeal of annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

H.R. 3792, by Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-Va., would bill to repeal the reduction in the annual percentage increases of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

H.R. 3793, by Rep. Daniel B. Maffei, D-N.Y., (and 36 cosponsors), would restore full military retirement benefits by closing corporate tax loopholes.

H.R. 3794, by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., would repeal the annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

H.R. 3797, by Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., would repeal an annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

H.R. 3798, by Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., would repeal an annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

H.R. 3801, by Rep. Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif., would repeal the reductions in military retirement benefits made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013; and authorize the United States Postal Service to implement a modified Saturday delivery schedule.

S. 1869, by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., would repeal section 403 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, relating to an annual adjustment of retired pay for members of the Armed Forces under the age of 62, and provide an offset.

S. 1872, by Sen. Mark L. Pryor, D-Ark., would provide that the annual adjustment of retired pay for members of the Armed Forces under the age of 62 under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 shall not apply to members retired for disability and to retired pay used to compute certain Survivor Benefit Plan annuities.

S. 1880, by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would provide that the annual adjustment of retired pay for members of the Armed Forces under the age of 62 under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 shall not apply to members retired for disability and to retired pay used to compute certain Survivor Benefit Plan annuities.