Month: June 2024

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Defense News: Enhancing Force Health Protection: NECE and Rattlesnake Conservancy Conduct Venomous Snake Handling Training at Naval Air Station Jacksonville

Source: United States Navy

NECE is the premier training site for Hospital Corpsman in the field of pest control. While their primary focus is on arachnids and insects, its curriculum also includes vertebrate pests such as snakes and mammals. The training course underscores NECE’s commitment to force health protection by equipping Sailors with the skills necessary to handle and mitigate the risks posed by venomous snakes in various environments.

In deployed settings, Navy preventive medicine technicians and entomologists are responsible for controlling invertebrate and vertebrate pests. Because venomous snakes pose a significant threat to force health protection, NECE felt it was important to conduct this training to better prepare preventive medicine teams.

The Rattlesnake Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is dedicated to education, research, and partnership. Their research programs aim to create lasting impacts for rattlesnakes, and their education programs to promote conservation.

“The instructors were all very patient and commutative with all attendees. They made the course fun and exciting. I personally think the snake handling course is necessary especially for the personnel at NECE since we would be the ones called to deal with a snake problem. It was a very thorough course that taught everyone how to properly handle snakes in the field to ensure everyone is safe,” said Engineman 2nd Class Jakob Ireland.

Sailors from NECE as well as the Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 10 (MSRON 10), Navy Medical Readiness and Training Unit Mayport, and Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit Kings Bay also participated in the course, learning to handle five different snake species.

Ireland detailed the course, explaining, “On the first day we learned about how to identify, capture, and release snakes. The second day we practiced on non-venomous snakes to include a pine snake and rat snakes, and learned how to properly handle the snakes, getting them double secured in a bag and bucket. The third day we did the same thing but with venomous snakes. I actually had a copperhead bite the pole I was using and leave venom all over it!”

Ultimately, while it may seem unusual, snake handling is crucial in a deployed environment to ensure force health protection by mitigating the risk of venomous snakebites and maintaining operational readiness. It enables personnel to safely manage snake encounters, preventing injuries and disruptions to mission-critical operations. Additionally, effective snake handling training alleviates fear and anxiety, enhancing overall safety and morale among deployed forces.

Story originally posted on DVIDS: Enhancing Force Health Protection: NECE and Rattlesnake Conservancy Conduct Venomous Snake Handling Training at Naval Air Station Jacksonville 

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Defense News: Boy Bitten By Shark Thanks Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune for Care

Source: United States Navy

Blayne Brown was enjoying the last day of summer vacation with family when he was bitten by a shark in waist-deep water off the coast of North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

“I didn’t even see the shark,” said 14-year-old Brown. “I sort of blacked out, walked toward the beach, and laid down, screaming. It felt like the shark was still on me.”

Around 1 p.m. on June 23, 2024, Brown was transported to the Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune (NMCCL) Level III Trauma Center for care. Upon arrival, he was triaged and swiftly taken into surgery to repair several tendons in his lower leg and staple deep bite wounds.

A team of many health care providers with NMCCL cared for Brown during his stay at the medical center. From the emergency room, operating room, to the multi-service ward, Brown has had a cadre of physicians, corpsmen, nurses, and a physical therapist caring for him during his stay.

“I thank them for fixing me up and setting me up for a good recovery,” said Brown who will soon travel back to his home state of West Virginia.

Brown said he’s expected to receive a boot for his leg in the next several weeks, and NMCCL recommended physical therapy to help with a speedy recovery.

“We have a very talented, multi-disciplinary team,” said Lt. Cmdr. Alainna Crotty, department head for inpatient units at NMCCL. “Everybody has come together to deliver quality care to a patient in need who was out of his home area. It showcases what military medicine can do.”

Brown’s grandmother, Kandi Ramey, has been by his side during his medical center stay.  For Ramey, the incident will be something her family never forgets.

“I lost my granddaughter when she was six years old,” Ramey shared. “And I couldn’t live through that again.” 

According to North Carolina State University’s Sea Grant, shark bites will always be a present danger off the Carolina Coast, but the risk of shark bites for humans is small.

For Brown, he has no immediate plans to dip toes back into the ocean anytime soon.

“I’ll have these scars for the rest of my life, so maybe just ankle deep for a while.”

NMCCL has cared for warfighters and beneficiaries at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune for more than 80 years. NMCCL is home to a Level III Trauma Center that has provided care for civilian beneficiaries in Eastern North Carolina since 2018.

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Defense News: Global TransPark Breaks Ground On Facility Slated For Incoming FRCE Workload

Source: United States Navy

Groundwork on the 75-acre site began in April to prepare the area for new construction. When complete, the multi-structure, purpose-built facility will provide more than 700,000 square feet of space planned to support FRCE’s work on the Navy and Marine Corps C/KC-130J Super Hercules and C/KC-130T Hercules and Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II.

FRCE Commanding Officer Capt. James M. Belmont said the groundbreaking represents years of preparation and determination by dozens of stakeholders within the Navy, the Global TransPark and the state of North Carolina.
“It’s so gratifying to see years of planning and effort come to fruition at this moment,” he said. “Bringing this new workload into FRC East will allow our team to continue supporting the nation’s warfighters well into the future by doing what we do best: providing our military aviators with the best quality products, delivered on time and at the best cost.

“Through this service to the Fleet, we’ll be able to directly impact mission readiness and results, and we’re proud to shoulder this responsibility,” Belmont continued. “But we wouldn’t be standing here today without the hard work of key players across the Navy and our partnership with the state of North Carolina, and it’s important that we recognize that.”

The initiative, an innovative partnership between the state of North Carolina and FRCE, is the first of its kind within the Department of Defense. Leaders anticipate it will offer economic growth opportunities in the Eastern North Carolina area and save millions of taxpayer dollars that fund military aircraft maintenance. Belmont noted that the partnership with the state wouldn’t have been possible without support from stakeholders in Navy organizations including FRCE, Naval Facilities Command and the offices of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and the Environment and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.

Stephen Barrow, head of FRCE’s Centralized Coordination Department, played an instrumental role in securing the partnership between the depot and the state. He said the additional workload is planned to provide FRCE
with up to 616,000 additional labor hours per year, which translates into a considerable economic impact in the region.

“It’s a big win for the local economy,” he explained. “High-paying technical jobs aren’t easy to come by in Eastern North Carolina, and FRCE will be looking to fill positions to support these additional labor hours. In addition to the payroll impact, this initiative will bring in additional revenue from a tax perspective, which could entice retailers and other commercial entities to move to the area, as well. All of these factors can help the community grow.”

Barrow said the initiative is already making a positive impact within the Naval Aviation Enterprise.

“Bringing the C-130 workload back into the Naval enterprise will provide more visibility, control, a higher level of service and ultimately an increase of readiness,” he said. “Additionally, the move will save significant amounts of funding, thus increasing the ‘buying power’ of the fleet. With these projected savings, the Naval enterprise will be saving millions per aircraft, tens of millions per year and hundreds of millions over a five-year period.”

Matthew McCann, head of the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Logistics Department at FRCE, said housing the additional workload at the Global TransPark will benefit the community well into the future.

“Current projections have the aircrafts’ service lives stretching until 2064,” he said. “That means we’re looking at about four decades of workload coming through, which will allow FRCE to provide long-term economic impact in the area and continue serving the warfighter for generations to come.”

While the facility represents the largest partnership to date between FRCE and the Global TransPark, the depot already has a footprint on the campus. FRCE leases buildings from the Global TransPark to house its UH-1N helicopter production line, where it services the aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. The relationship that developed between the command and the Global TransPark during this process helped pave the way for the new initiative.

The project is part of a $350 million state investment in the Global TransPark, one of the largest single items in the state’s current budget. The TransPark is a multi-modal industrial and business park that holds an array of aviation industry and manufacturing entities, in addition to the depot’s UH-1N line and the future aviation maintenance facility.

“I can’t stress enough how critical the state of North Carolina’s support and cooperation have been in developing this initiative,” Belmont noted. “Our lawmakers see what we’re doing at FRC East, and they understand how critical it is to both the economy in eastern North Carolina and to national defense. They’re willing to invest taxpayer dollars in our mission, and our command is ready to prove to them what a good investment that will turn out to be.”

Navy officials announced FRCE’s selection as the designated repair point for the C-130 in March 2023, and the Air Force selected the depot as the HH-60W’s designated repair point in December 2022. Work on the C-130 is scheduled to begin as soon as the end of fiscal year 2026, with the HH-60W workload coming as soon as the start of fiscal year 2027.

The Marine Corps uses the KC-130J Super Hercules for multiple mission types, including refueling, personnel and cargo transport, tactical medical evacuation, imagery reconnaissance and close air support. The HH-60W Jolly Green II is the Air Force’s new combat rescue platform, with a primary mission of conducting personnel recovery operations in hostile environments to ensure rapid retrieval of downed aircrew and other isolated personnel.

FRCE is North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.

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WikiLeaks Founder Pleads Guilty and Is Sentenced for Conspiring to Obtain and Disclose Classified National Defense Information

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Julian P. Assange, 52, the founder of WikiLeaks, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with Chelsea Manning, at that time a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, to unlawfully obtain and disclose classified documents relating to the national defense. After obtaining classified national defense information from Manning, and aware of the harm that dissemination of such national defense information would cause, Assange disclosed this information on WikiLeaks.

The guilty plea concludes a criminal matter that dates back to March 2018, when Assange was first indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia. There, and in superseding indictments, Assange was charged with conspiring with Manning, then a “Top Secret” U.S. security clearance holder, to further Manning’s unlawful acquisition and transmission of bulk classified information, including Manning’s use of a government computer to illegally download hundreds of thousands of classified documents and transmit them without authorization to WikiLeaks.

Assange was detained in the United Kingdom based on the U.S. charges for the last 62 months, while he contested extradition. As part of the plea agreement, Assange was transported to the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands to enter his felony guilty plea and be sentenced on the morning of June 26 (Saipan local time) in a U.S. courtroom, with the venue reflecting Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States to enter his guilty plea and the proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to Assange’s country of citizenship, Australia, to which he will return. At today’s proceeding, Assange admitted to his role in the conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act and received a court-imposed 62-month time-served sentence, reflecting the time he served in U.K. prison as a result of the U.S. charges. Following the imposition of sentence, he will depart the United States for his native Australia. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Assange is prohibited from returning to the United States without permission.

Beginning in late 2009, Assange and WikiLeaks actively solicited United States classified information, including by publishing a list of “Most Wanted Leaks” that sought, among other things, bulk classified documents. As set forth in the public charging documents, Assange actively solicited and recruited people who had access, authorized or otherwise, to classified information and were willing to provide that information to him and WikiLeaks—and also solicited hackers who could obtain unauthorized access to classified information through computer network intrusions. Assange publicly encouraged his prospective recruits to obtain the information he desired by any means necessary, including hacking and theft, and to send that information to Assange at WikiLeaks.

Between January 2010 and May 2010, in the course of the conspiracy with Assange, Manning used U.S. government computer systems to download hundreds of thousands of documents and reports, many of them classified at the SECRET level and relating to the national defense, which signified that unauthorized disclosure could cause serious damage to United States national security. In total, Manning downloaded four nearly complete U.S. government databases that contained, among other things, approximately 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activity reports, 800 Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF GTMO) detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables. Manning also downloaded files regarding rules of engagement in the Iraq war, most of which were classified at the SECRET level and which delineated the circumstances and limitations under which United States forces would initiate or conduct combat engagement with other forces. 

After downloading digital reams of classified documents and files, Manning electronically sent them to Assange to be publicly posted on WikiLeaks’s website. During Manning’s bulk exfiltration and passage of classified materials to WikiLeaks, Manning and Assange communicated regularly via online platforms about Manning’s progress and what classified information Assange wanted. For example, after sending the classified JTF GTMO detainee assessment briefs to Assange, Manning told Assange “thats [sic] all I really have got left.” To encourage Manning to continue to take classified documents from the United States and provide them to Assange and WikiLeaks without authorization, Assange replied, “curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”    

In or about 2010 and 2011, Assange publicly disclosed via the WikiLeaks website hundreds of thousands of documents that Manning had taken without authorization and given to him, including approximately 75,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, classified up to the Secret level; 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activity reports, classified up to the Secret level; 800 JTF GTMO detainee assessment briefs, classified up to the Secret level; and over 100,000 State Department cables, some of which were classified up to the Secret level.

Unlike news organizations that published redacted versions of some of the classified documents that Assange obtained from Manning and then shared with those organizations, Assange and WikiLeaks disclosed many of the raw classified documents without removing any personally identifying information. Specifically, in many instances, the classified documents Manning unlawfully provided to Assange were later released publicly by Assange and WikiLeaks in a raw or unredacted form that placed individuals who had assisted the U.S. government at great personal risk. Assange’s decision to reveal the names of human sources illegally shared with him by Manning created a grave and imminent risk to human life. For example, the State Department cables that WikiLeaks disseminated included information from journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents who had chosen to provide information to the United States in confidence at significant risk to their own safety. By publicly releasing these documents without redacting the names of human sources or other identifying information, Assange subjected these individuals to serious harm and arbitrary detention. Assange even acknowledged in public statements that he knew that publicly disclosing unredacted classified documents containing the names and other identifying information of people who had shared information with the U.S. government in confidence could put those people at risk of harm. 

The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing Assange’s arrest and in litigating Assange’s extradition. The United Kingdom’s Crown Prosecution Service, National Extradition Unit (and its predecessor in the Metropolitan Police Service), and Central Authority also provided significant assistance to the extradition proceedings over the past five years. Logistical support was also provided by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency’s Joint International Crime Centre, U.K. law enforcement agencies, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES), U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia handled the case. U.S. Attorney Shawn N. Anderson for the District of Guam and NMI, CES Deputy Chief Matthew McKenzie, and National Security Cyber Section Trial Attorney Jacques Singer-Emery represented the United States in the NMI proceedings. CES Trial Attorneys Nicholas Hunter and Adam Small, and Trial Attorney Rachel Yasser and Legal Advisor/International Affairs Coordinator Amanda June Chadwick of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided substantial assistance.

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Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking

Source: United States Department of Justice

A Tennessee man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.

According to court documents, from December 2021 through March 2022, Charles Cunigan, 31, and his girlfriend, Latesha Gardner, transported the victim, who was a minor throughout the timeframe of the conspiracy, across state lines from Tennessee to Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas for the purpose of causing her to engage in commercial sex acts. Cunigan advertised the victim for commercial sex on websites, kept the money the victim made from commercial sex transactions, required the victim to earn a daily quotas from commercial sex, and restricted the victim’s access to food.  Cunigan also tracked the victim’s location using a cell phone application and told her that he would find and kill the victim if she ever tried to leave.

Cunigan used violence to accomplish the scheme. For example, if the victim did not comply with Cunigan’s demands, he would beat the victim, which Cunigan did when he punched and kicked the victim during an altercation in February 2022. On occasion, Cunigan also directed Gardner to use physical force against the victim. 

Cunigan is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 24. If the court accepts the guilty plea, the government and Cunigan have agreed that Cunigan will be sentenced to 22 years and six months’ imprisonment. Cunigan has also agreed to pay $48,750 in restitution to the victim. As a result of his conviction, Cunigan must participate in the sex offender registration and notification program upon his release from custody.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana; and Deputy Special Agent in Charge Eric DeLaune of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New Orleans made the announcement.

HSI New Orleans investigated the case. 

Trial Attorney Melissa E. Bücher of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria M. Carboni for the Eastern District of Louisiana are prosecuting the case.