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Defense News: Everyone Fights: Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG), CSG-12 Units Come Together for First Integrated, At Sea Training Event

Source: United States Navy

With five ships, more than 60 aircraft and roughly 5,500 sailors, the Gerald R. Ford CSG – as other Navy strike groups – provides combatant commanders and America’s civilian leaders a highly-capable force that deter adversaries, reassures Allies and partners, and underpins American security and economic prosperity.

Group Sail was first training opportunity for the entire Gerald R. Ford CSG team – USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2, and the Information Warfare Commander and his team – to integrate as a cohesive warfighting team at sea.

“A dedicated training period like Group Sail focused on strike group integration was invaluable for our entire team down to our tactical watch standers,” said Rear Admiral Thomas P. Moninger, commander, CSG 12, Gerald R. Ford CSG. “We will increase our tactical proficiency at a higher-level in upcoming training events as the result of this at sea period. I am proud of the work that our Sailors are doing, and am grateful for the dedication of their families as we prepare for deployment.”

Carrier Strike Group 4 led the event as the officer in tactical command as part its mission to train, mentor, and assess CSGs, amphibious ready groups, and independent deployers for global combat against peer competitors. The civilian and military team provided support from the ship and ashore to complete the Group Sail training schedule.

“The Gerald R. Ford CSG Group Sail represents hard work from our civilian and uniformed staff to deliver high-quality, integrated warfighting training early in the work up cycle,” said Rear Adm. Max McCoy, commander, Carrier Strike Group 4. “Training events and exercises led by our headquarters along with Tactical Training Group Atlantic (TTGL), Training Support Vessel Squadron (TSVRON) 4, and CSG-4 Navy Reserve units accelerate tactical proficiency and provide competitive advantage to strike group commanders, warfare commanders, and their teams sailing into harm’s way.”

Group Sail is the first at-sea element in carrier strike group integrated phase training led by CSG-4 and their subordinate commands, and was preceded by an in port Warfare Commander’s Conference. After Group Sail, Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group will participate in Fleet Synthetic Training (FST) – Group Commander and FST – Joint in preparation for their final at sea certification event – Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX).

At sea and ashore, CSG-4 led training incorporates elements of Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) training throughout through close alignment with Fleet Forces Command’s Hefti Global LVC Operations Center and the expertise of TTGL and Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona.

Planning and preparation for integrated phase training starts approx. six months prior to the commencement of training, often in parallel to unit basic phase certification and warfare commander advanced phase training through the Navy’s Warfighting Development Centers.

“Completing Group Sail immediately after SWATT and Live Fire With a Purpose gave use the chance to take lessons observed and begin to turn them into lessons learned,” said Capt. James Von St. Paul, commodore, DESRON 2. “What has most impressed me across our team is the willingness to critically self-assess, identify mistakes or shortfalls, and to rapidly move out as a team to correct those issues. In my experience, that’s the difference between good teams and truly great teams.”

CSG-4’s mission is to train, mentor, and assess carrier strike groups, amphibious ready groups, and independent deployers for global combat against peer competitors.

CSG-12 is comprised of USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2, USS Winston Churchill (DDG 81), and the Information Warfare Commander.

DESRON 2 ships in CSG-12 are the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Mitscher (DDG 57), USS Mahan (DDG 72), USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98).

The squadrons of CVW-8 include Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 37, “Ragin’ Bulls,” Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 213, “Blacklions,” Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 31, “Tomcatters,” Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87, “Golden Warriors,” Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142, “Gray Wolves,” Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 124, “Bear Aces,” Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9, “Tridents,” Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 70, “Spartans,” and Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40, “Rawhides.”

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Defense News: U.S. Marine Squadron Conduct First Combat Strikes Using F-35C Platform

Source: United States Navy

VMFA 314, assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), conducted multiple strikes on Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen. The facilities housed conventional weapons, including anti-ship missiles. The Iranian-backed Houthis used these weapons to target U.S. and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

“The F-35C demonstrated its warfighting advantage by transiting contested airspace and striking targets in the heart of Houthi territory over multiple days,” stated Lt. Col. Jeffrey “Wiki” Davis, commanding officer of VMFA-314. “My Marines are honored to be first to fight with the F-35C.”

The F-35C is a fifth-generation, long-range stealth fighter jet used by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, and is a multi-role aircraft able to perform a variety of missions, including air-to-air combat, air-to-ground strikes, reconnaissance and electronic warfare.

“The offensive and defensive capabilities of the F-35C absolutely enhance our air wing’s striking arm,” said Capt. Gerald “Dutch” Tritz, commander, CVW 9. “The now battle-tested Air Wing of the Future has proven itself a game changer across all carrier air wing missions.”

Other variants of the aircraft include the F-35A and the F-35B. The F-35B first saw combat in 2018 when units assigned to the Essex Amphibious Ready Group conducted airstrikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria. Air Force F-35A’s first combat mission was completed the year after against ISIS targets in Iraq.

The “Black Knights” of VMFA-314, based out of Miramar, Calif., transitioned from the F-18 to the F-35C in 2020, making them the first fleet squadron in both the Navy and Marine Corps to operate the 5th Generation fighter aircraft. VMFA 314 was also the first operational Marine squadron to fly the F-4 Phantom and F-18 Hornet.

VMFA 314, part of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is the only deployed F-35C squadron in the Marine Corps.

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Defense News: SECNAV Del Toro Highlights Bipartisanship with Naming of Ship Sponsors for USS Congress (FFG 63) on Capitol Hill

Source: United States Navy

Del Toro made the announcement during a reception amongst members of Congress and local civic leaders at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in Washington DC, on Nov. 19.

“It is in the spirit of bipartisanship that I am honored to announce the sponsors of the future USS Congress (FFG 63) represent both institutions of Congress and both major political parties,” said Del Toro. “There is no one better than Senator Baldwin, Senator Ernst, Representative McCollum, and Representative Kiggans to connect Congress with the highly capable frigate that will bear its name.”

Sponsors are selected by the Secretary of the Navy and hold a unique role by maintaining a lifelong relationship with the ship and crew. Senator Ernst was previously invited to serve as sponsor by 77th Secretary of the Navy, Kenneth Braithwaite. The additional co-sponsors added by Secretary Del Toro enable the ship to be represented by sponsors from both congressional institutions.

“We honor the institution that has been at the heart of our Democracy,” said Senator Ernst. “I am humbled by the responsibility of standing as her sponsor, not just for the men and women who will serve on board, but for the country we are sworn to protect.”

Senator Tammy Baldwin, from Wisconsin, joined Secretary Del Toro for the announcement.

“I am truly honored to serve as one of the sponsors of the future USS Congress alongside a bipartisan group of my colleagues,” said Senator Baldwin. “I take great pride in representing Wisconsin’s shipbuilding industry in Washington because our workers have helped sustain America’s security for generations, boasting a successful history of building ships for our nation’s defense. The USS Congress will play a critical role in continuing that tradition. Wherever the USS Congress takes our flag, she will be a symbol of America’s strengths – strength of our brave service men and women who will assume command of the ship, but also the hard-working Wisconsinites that will make the USS Congress a reality.”

Providing remarks after Senator Baldwin, Representative McCollum shared her thoughts on the distinction of being named a sponsor alongside her fellow members of Congress.

“It is my honor to be asked alongside with three colleagues to serve as ship sponsor for the new USS Congress,” said Representative McCollum. “The USS Congress name is a long and proud lineage including one of the six original frigates of the US Navy.”

Representative Jen Kiggans, a Navy veteran, also participated in the announcement and highlighted the honor and meaning behind the naming of the ship.

“It is truly a privilege to be selected as a sponsor of the USS Congress,” said Representative Kiggans. “This ship, named in honor of one of the original six frigates of the U.S. Navy, will ensure our sailors can continue to fulfill their commitments to our citizens, our nation, and freedom around the globe.”

The U.S. Navy’s second Constellation-class frigate FFG 63, was named USS Congress by the 77th Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite. The name honors the first six heavy frigates of the U.S. Navy.

The ship naming honors the rich history and legacy of the Navy. Congress was among the six original frigates authorized by Congress in the Naval Act of 1794, which established the U.S. Navy as an agile, lethal and ready force and cemented the enduring partnership between the sea service and our nation’s elected legislative officials.

The Constellation-class guided-missile frigate represents the Navy’s next generation small surface combatant. This ship class will be an agile, multi-mission warship, capable of operations in both blue-water and littoral environments, providing increased combat-credible forward presence that provides a military advantage at sea.

The Constellation-class will have multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations.

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Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks on 15th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

OPENING REMARKS

Good afternoon. My name is Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. I am honored and proud to be with you for this important commemoration of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, one of our most powerful tools in our efforts to combat violent bias-motivated hate crimes in America today.

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that for many people, anxiety levels are high right now. This is an uncertain time, and we might reasonably wonder what kind of rhetoric will soon dominate our country, and what kind of conduct that rhetoric might foster. In the last week, we have seen HBCU students and high school students targeted with racist texts. My hope is that the Justice Department’s firm commitment to confronting hate can offer both reassurance and motivation.

Today we hold space together to honor the memories of people harmed or killed by bias-motivated violence. We affirm that their lives mattered. We also acknowledge the work we and our partners have done to bring justice to the people who caused that harm. And we look toward a future in which we prevent such crimes and in which we continue to hold perpetrators accountable.

Recent statistics from the FBI tell us in no uncertain terms that hate crimes persist and are rising. We need only read the news to confirm this:

  • Nonprofit employees receiving death threats and verbal abuse because they were members of the Sikh faith.
  • Property destroyed at a university center because it served Islamic students.
  • Buildings set on fire, shot at, attacked, damaged or destroyed because they were Jehovah’s Witness Halls.
  • People followed home from a grocery store or restaurant or gas station, robbed at gunpoint or carjacked because they were Hispanic.

While I could provide countless examples, I want to take a moment to honor the memory of the two men whose tragic deaths led to the law we commemorate today.

Matthew Shephard was a 21-year-old gay university student who loved fishing, horses and theater. James Byrd Jr. was a 49-year-old Black man, a people-person who loved music and his family. Tragically, both men met gruesome, hate-motivated deaths in 1998, solely on the basis of their background and identities.

As you know, those deaths, followed by courageous and tireless effort from their family members, led to the adoption of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a law that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has called the Justice Department’s “most effective statute for hate crime prosecution.”

The act changed history. It gave us greater capacity to defend members of vulnerable communities from violence. It expanded the range of identities we protect. It lifted restrictions on the circumstances surrounding prosecutable crimes. And it directs critical funding and technical assistance to state and local law enforcement. In other words, this is a law that has helped to send a strong message about our principles and values as a nation — a nation that stands for diversity and inclusion of all people and rejects hate, exclusion and vitriol.

This crucial law would not exist without Matthew’s and James’ family members. We are indebted to these family members and their decade-long fight to bring about the act — as well as for their continued involvement. We will hear from Matthew Shepard’s parents shortly. James’ family, who also contributed invaluable advocacy, is represented by sister Louvon Byrd-Harris who has provided recorded remarks.

At the Justice Department, we firmly enforce the Shepard-Byrd Act. Since January 2021, we have charged more than 150 hate-crime defendants in more than 135 cases, obtaining more than 125 convictions. But our work goes beyond prosecution.

We have improved reporting, provided training and testimony, investigated and prosecuted criminal acts of hate and educated the public and law enforcement. With our United Against Hate initiative, every U.S. Attorneys’ Office takes action to build and strengthen ties between communities and law enforcement. We’re fortunate to have several U.S. Attorneys with us here today: Dena King for the Western District of North Carolina, Philip Sellinger for the District of New Jersey, and Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia.

These proactive measures, along with everything Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer mentioned earlier, yield real results, but so far, of course, they haven’t outright eliminated bias-fueled lawlessness. That’s why we use every tool at our disposal in seeking out justice for victims and families.

Our work includes the prosecution of defendants responsible for an alarmingly high number of hate-fueled mass shootings that we have seen in recent years, including charges against the man responsible for the tragic mass killings of 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York; prosecution of the man responsible for killing 23 and wounding 22 Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas; prosecution of the man responsible for the murder of 11 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; prosecution of the person responsible for murdering five, wounding 19, and attempting to kill 26 others at Club Q, an LGBTQI+ establishment in Colorado Springs, Colorado and much more.

We are also increasingly aware of the transnational dimensions of hate, amplified by the weaponization of social media and digital messaging platforms. Just two months ago, a federal grand jury in California charged two leaders of a transnational terrorist group called the Terrorgram Collective on 15 criminal counts. Our indictment alleged that defendants solicited others to engage in hate crimes and terrorist attacks against Black, immigrant, LGBT and Jewish people, and more. The defendants’ alleged goal was to ignite a race war, “accelerate” the collapse of what they viewed as an irreparably corrupt government and bring about a white ethnostate. They used the internet platform Telegram to post messages promoting their white supremacist “accelerationism.” Our work here makes clear the new technological face of white supremacist violence — as those seeking mass violence expand their online reach to encourage, solicit and facilitate terrorist activities. But as technology evolves, we keep up.

But today we will focus on the ways in which hate crimes disrupt society and destroy lives.

In a South Carolina case you will hear more about today, a jury convicted the man who murdered Dime Doe, a Black transgender woman, of a hate crime. He received a life sentence.

In Virginia, a man was charged with a hate crime for attempting to kill congregants at a church.

In Kansas, a man received an 80-month sentence for making death threats against a person he believed was in an interracial relationship and for threatening two young Black men at a gas station.

Hate mongers fueled with racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQI or xenophobic motivations have no place in America today. Rest assured, we will keep moving towards an inclusive and more peaceful America while holding accountable those responsible for senseless, vile and hate-filled crimes.

Hate crimes are message crimes. Their perpetrators understand that such violence touches many more people than their individual victims. It instills fear in communities, and it sows trauma in the hearts and bodies of the loved ones left behind.

We listen to and we hear the survivors of hate crimes. We center their experiences and we acknowledge their trauma in our work. Today, we’ll hear from some of them, and from those who work every day to preserve others from the kind of pain they experience.

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Former Senior Manager of Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading and Making False Statements

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Virginia man pleaded guilty today for committing insider trading and making false statements about his trading to his employer, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (FRBR).

According to court documents, Robert Brian Thompson, 43, of Mosley, worked as a bank examiner and senior manager with supervisory duties for the FRBR. Due to his position, Thompson was privy to confidential information about certain financial institutions under FRBR’s supervision, including confidential supervisory information (CSI), which is the property of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. As an employee of the FRBR, Thompson was also required annually to file a “Form for Employees Involved with Supervision and Regulation,” which is also called a “Form D.” Among other things, Form D requires employees to disclose if they have any assets, including any equity interest in any banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System and/or bank holding companies.

From October 2020 through February 2024, Thompson misappropriated confidential information, including CSI, to execute trades in publicly traded financial institutions. In total, Thompson executed 69 trades in seven different publicly traded financial institutions for a total of approximately $771,678 in personal profits. To conceal the scheme, in each year from 2020 through 2024, Thompson falsely represented on the FRBR’s Form D that he had no assets, including no equities in any publicly traded financial institutions, and that he had not engaged in any activity that would constitute conflicts of interest, violations of FRBR policies, or violations of law.

Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading and one count of making false statements. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the insider trading count and five years in prison on the false statements count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Special Agent in Charge John Perez of Headquarters Operations, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-OIG) made the announcement.

FRB-OIG is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Della Sentilles and former Assistant Chief Leslie S. Garthwaite of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Garnett for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.