NewzIntel.com

Category: Military Intelligence

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reed Condemns President Trump’s Midnight Purge of Federal Inspectors General

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed

    WASHINGTON, DC — U.S Senator Jack Reed, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s firing of nearly every Cabinet-level agency Inspector General, including the U.S. Department of Defense:

    “Why would someone round up all the non-partisan watchdogs and terminate them at midnight unless they were trying to prevent them from sounding the alarm?  These mass-firings appear politically motivated to undermine accountability and transparency.  Every member of Congress, regardless of party, should be concerned.  Administrations change and if this becomes the new norm it’ll be detrimental to taxpayers.

    “Clearly, the Trump Administration is willing to flout the law, ignore legal requirements, and systematically circumvent checks and balances.  Instead of going after waste, fraud, corruption, and abuse, Trump is laying the groundwork to shield his administration from independent oversight. 

    “Trump already appears to have violated the law that requires him to provide 30-days notice and an explanation before removing any inspector general.

    “Congress must fulfill its role as a check against the excesses of the presidency. 

    “Trump’s opening directives make it clear he is not focused on strengthening the economy or addressing people’s basic needs.  Instead, he’s firing independent watchdogs and undermining the checks and balances built into the Constitution.”

    Under federal law, a president is supposed to give Congress a 30-day notice before firing inspector generals, who function as independent watchdogs charged with investigating waste and abuse in their departments.

    In fiscal 2023, inspectors general identified approximately $93.1 billion in potential governmental savings for U.S. taxpayers through audits, investigations, and recoveries.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: From Humans to Canines: NMRTC Twentynine Palms corpsmen cross-train with Army vets

    Source: United States Navy (Medical)

    Naval Medical Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Twentynine Palms corpsmen have been participating in cross-training sessions with Army veterinarians at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), enhancing their readiness to provide medical care to military working dogs (MWDs) in field and deployed settings.

    The initiative, spearheaded by Army Capt. Andrea Lin, Officer in Charge of the MCAGCC Veterinary Section, and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Neal Petersen, provides corpsmen with hands-on experience in veterinary care. Since September of 2024, corpsmen have been invited to attend bi-monthly training sessions to observe and practice key veterinary techniques, including intravenous (IV) catheter placement, endotracheal intubation, and anesthesia monitoring. These skills are critical for providing point-of-injury care and stabilizing MWDs when veterinary specialists are unavailable.

    “This cross-training is invaluable for fostering collaboration and ensuring we’re prepared to care for MWDs,” said Lin, who joined the Army two years ago after working as a civilian veterinarian for over eight years. “It’s also a great opportunity for our team to develop leadership skills and confidence by teaching others.”

    The Veterinary Section at MCAGCC is responsible for the medical care of the installation’s MWDs, including 24/7 emergency services and routine health maintenance. The team also ensures food safety for service members, families, and civilians by inspecting commissaries, mess halls, and other food facilities on base.

    During recent training sessions, corpsmen observed and assisted with various procedures, including a spay (ovariohysterectomy) on a husky, a neuter (orchiectomy) on a shepherd mix, and suturing a laceration on a visiting MWD. These sessions also included detailed comparisons of medications and techniques used in human versus veterinary medicine.

    MWDs are indispensable members of the armed forces, serving in roles ranging from explosive detection to patrol. However, they face unique health challenges, including musculoskeletal injuries, paw pad lacerations, and heat-related conditions. Cross-training ensures that corpsmen can provide immediate, effective care in the absence of veterinary staff.

    “There are not enough Veterinary Corps Officers (VCOs) or Army Veterinary Care Specialists (68T) to provide all MWD care in a deployment setting. We rely on the first line medics such as Army 68W and Navy Corpsmen to know and apply Canine TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) in the field,” explained Lin. “Training like this bridges gaps and enhances inter-branch collaboration.”

    “Training with the corpsmen allows for better care in the field when there may not frequently be an Army vet staff member present, so that the working dogs can get the immediate first aid that they need before they can be transferred to a better location for more extensive treatment,” added Pfc. Amelia Knosp, an Animal Care Specialist from Fremont, Nebraska. “Personally, it has also allowed me to interact with more of my peers on base and given me opportunities to teach that I may not have gotten in other settings, especially as a lower enlisted member.”

    Corpsmen participating in the program have brought a wealth of enthusiasm and curiosity, impressing the Army veterinarians with their skills and confidence.

    “The corpsmen are a lot of fun to work with,” expressed Angela Adkerson, an experienced civilian Animal Health Assistant from Brisbane, Australia who moved to Twentynine Palms with her family in 2014. “While they may not know the ins and outs of veterinary medicine, many of them enjoy noting the differences between human medical care and animal medical care. They enjoy the new opportunities they get to try, like using our model dog as a learning tool for things such as IV placement, intubation, and CPR.”

    The training has also allowed corpsmen to draw parallels between human and veterinary medicine.

    “The vets were great with medical education. They allowed me to help them with procedures and observe their work. I saw how preoperative and postoperative care are similar,” said Hospitalman Jessica Sanderson from San Tan Valley, Arizona. “My takeaway from this experience is you’ll never know what kind of patient you’ll have. Being ready with proper training will help with future triaging and understanding that there can always be something new to learn.”

    “The most challenging aspect of observing the surgeries was learning about the anatomical differences between canines and humans, especially while finding landmarks for intubation and with the actual spay or neuter,” explained Hospitalman Hailey Alaguena, a corpsman from San Jose, California. “It was interesting as well to learn about how certain medications used in the clinic have reversal agents that would otherwise not work if administered to humans.”

    “I observed how quickly and efficiently veterinary teams must work to minimize an animal’s time under anesthesia,” said Hospitalman John Udanoh, a corpsman from Detroit, Michigan. “Working closely with a veterinary team teaches you a lot about precision, quick decision making and the unique aspect of animal care. As a corpsman, this helps improve our adaptability and overall skills.”

    The cross-training program not only enhances medical readiness but also fosters camaraderie and mutual respect among service members from different branches.

    “We’re all on the same team,” said Lin. “Collaborating in this way prepares us to better support each other in a deployed setting.”

    As the program continues, the participating corpsmen at NMRTC Twentynine Palms are gaining valuable skills that will enhance their ability to provide comprehensive care to animals when needed, helping ensure mission readiness across both branches of service.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-Evening Report: As the Myanmar junta’s hold on power weakens, could the devastating war be nearing a conclusion?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia

    It has now been four years since the Myanmar military launched its cataclysmic coup against the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 2021, starting a civil war that has devastated the country.

    Suu Kyi remains locked up, as do countless other activists and regime opponents. There is no easy resolution in sight.

    Indeed, the country is at a nadir. The war has sparked an economic crisis that has destroyed Myanmar’s health and education systems. Half the population now lives in poverty, double the rate from before the coup. The deteriorating electricity network causes widespread blackouts.

    According to the United Nations, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed and 3.3 million people have been displaced by the fighting. More than 27,000 people have also been arrested, with reports of sexual violence and torture rife.

    Nevertheless, opposition forces – including ethnic armies and the People’s Defence Force militias drawn from the civilian population – have been gathering strength, with a string of victories against the junta’s army.

    The regime now controls less than half the country. And recent strategic losses are weighing heavily on the military leaders, raising questions about whether the government could suddenly collapse like the Assad regime in Syria late last year.

    As the war enters a fifth year, there are two significant things to watch that could determine the country’s future – the battleground gains made by the opposition forces and the state of the failing economy.

    Junta under pressure on the battlefield

    Following the opposition Three Brotherhood Alliance’s battleground successes in late 2023, China brokered a ceasefire between the junta and alliance in northern Shan State.

    When that ceasefire ended last June, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), one of the members of the alliance, captured the key trading town of Lashio, as well as the junta’s nearby Northeast Regional Military Command. It was the first time one of the 14 regional military commands had fallen to an opposition group in more than 50 years of military rule.

    China has recently brokered another ceasefire between the MNDAA and the military, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. The terms have not been made public, but unless the insurgents relinquish Lashio and the military command – which is unlikely – it won’t alter the balance of power.

    In December, the military lost another command centre in Rakhine State in western Myanmar to the Arakan Army, another member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance. The Arakan Army now controls 14 of that state’s 17 townships.

    The Arakan Army, too, said recently it is open to political dialogue to potentially end the fighting. But it, too, is only likely to stop its military offensives for extremely favourable terms.

    In a major study undertaken in late 2024, the BBC assessed the junta only had full control of 21% of Myanmar’s territory. Ethnic armies and other opposition forces controlled 42% of the country, while the remaining areas were contested.

    In response, the junta has intensified its “scorched earth” tactics in areas outside its control, including indiscriminate and deliberate strikes against civilians. With dwindling reserves of willing fighters, air power is the main combat advantage it holds over the opposition forces.

    Economic woes

    Myanmar’s economic situation four years after the coup shows, starkly, just how much has been lost.

    Myanmar is now experiencing a full-blown economic and currency crisis.

    The incremental gains in economic development, education, nutrition and health care of recent decades have been reversed very quickly. Three-quarters of the population is now living a subsistence existence.

    Many young people are fleeing abroad, joining resistance groups, or eking out dangerous livelihoods on the margins. To make matters worse, the junta activated a longstanding but dormant conscription law last February to boost its dwindling forces. Those who refuse the draft face five years in prison.

    In response to the Arakan Army’s successes, the junta is also isolating much of Rakhine State. This is contributing to widespread poverty and a looming famine, which could affect two million people.

    And in an attempt to control the digital space, the junta enacted a sweeping new cybersecurity law earlier this month. People can now be imprisoned for using a virtual private network or sharing information from banned websites, among many other offences.

    Could Myanmar fall apart?

    The ASEAN regional bloc, chaired by Malaysia this year, has done little to solve the crisis, although it hasn’t accepted the junta’s hollow plans to hold elections this year.

    Disagreements among the ASEAN members over strategy have ensured that little progress has been made. Thailand recently broke ranks to invite the junta’s foreign minister to regional talks about border security, even though the junta currently controls few of the country’s borders.

    An accelerated economic deterioration could contribute to further unrest and drive even more migrants to neighbouring countries. Already, the millions of Myanmar migrants living in Thailand have precipitated anti-migrant protests and mass arrests.

    So, given the combustible state of the country, could the junta’s hold on power suddenly collapse like the Assad regime in Syria last year?

    It’s not likely. Unlike Syria, the opposition in Myanmar is not heavily backed by major international players. China’s support for various insurgent actors comes and goes depending on political calculations, while the United States and European Union have provided little material support.

    In addition, the military has been effectively running Myanmar for 60 years and is well practised in counterinsurgency strategies. Although defections from the military continue, the conscription law is bolstering its numbers of – mostly reluctant – soldiers.

    However, the fall of Syria’s oppressive government – as well as the government in Myanmar’s neighbour, Bangladesh – demonstrates how fragile long-standing regimes can be, particularly when faced with persistent challenges from armed groups and a motivated population.

    And as in Syria, there are fears – particularly within China – that Myanmar could splinter along ethnic lines. The deteriorating security situation has led China to send its own private security corporations to secure its strategic investments in the country and become an active ceasefire deal-maker.

    Even if the junta can be ousted, creating a workable federal system that involves power-sharing among the complex patchwork of ethnic groups will be a difficult task. The question of how to reintegrate nearly a million Rohingya displaced across the border in Bangladesh is another daunting challenge.

    However, for the first time in years, there is optimism that opposition forces could eventually succeed in vanquishing the junta. Then begins the arduous task of rebuilding a shattered nation.

    As a pro vice-chancellor at the University of Tasmania, Nicholas Farrelly engages with a wide range of organisations and stakeholders on educational, cultural and political issues, including at the ASEAN-Australia interface. He has previously received funding from the Australian government for Southeast Asia-related projects and from the Australian Research Council. Nicholas is on the advisory board of the ASEAN-Australia Centre, which is a new Australian government body, and also deputy chair of the board of NAATI, Australia’s government-owned accreditation authority for translators and interpreters. He writes in his personal capacity.

    Adam Simpson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. As the Myanmar junta’s hold on power weakens, could the devastating war be nearing a conclusion? – https://theconversation.com/as-the-myanmar-juntas-hold-on-power-weakens-could-the-devastating-war-be-nearing-a-conclusion-247987

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Cameroon could do with some foreign help to solve anglophone crisis – but the state doesn’t want it

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Julius A. Amin, Professor of History, University of Dayton

    What began in late 2016 as a peaceful protest by lawyers and teachers in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions quickly turned violent and developed into what’s become known as Cameroon’s anglophone crisis.

    The protest was instigated by perceived marginalisation of Cameroon’s anglophone region, which makes up 20% of the nation’s 29 million people.

    The conflict has resulted in immense destruction and casualties. Cameroon’s military responded to the protest with arrests and torture. Voices that called for complete secession of the anglophone regions from the Republic of Cameroon gained momentum.

    They created a virtual Ambazonia Republic and an interim government in exile, and vowed to fight back. They formed a military wing, Ambazonia Self-Defence Force, which attacked and disrupted economic and social services in the region.

    As of October 2024, over 1.8 million people have needed humanitarian assistance. Over 584,000 have been internally displaced. Over 73,000 have become refugees in next-door Nigeria. Over 6,500 have been killed.

    Read more: Cameroon: how language plunged a country into deadly conflict with no end in sight

    And the conflict still rages.

    One possible avenue that could be pursued to end the impasse is mediation, with help from other countries. But the Cameroonian government has repeatedly rebuffed intervention from organisations such as the African Union, arguing that the conflict is an internal affair.

    It also ended a government-sponsored mediation by the Swiss in 2022.

    It is clear to me, as a historian who has studied Cameroon foreign policy for the past three decades, that Cameroon’s leadership will not look to external actors to help solve their crisis.

    Founding leader Ahmadou Ahidjo, and later his successor Paul Biya, did not respond to external pressure to address issues. Cameroon’s diplomatic relations are based on respect of national sovereignty and nonintervention in each other’s internal affairs.

    My research shows that the Cameroonian leadership rejects outside intervention on issues it regards as within its sovereignty and internal affairs.

    Removing Cameroon from aid programmes such as the United States Agency for International Development programme and the African Growth and Opportunity Act has not deterred its leaders.

    An understanding of this background is crucial in the search for solutions to the ongoing anglophone crisis.

    Read more: Cameroon spends 90% of Chinese development loans on its French region: this could deepen the country’s divisions

    Use of force

    In the 1960s, Ahidjo used brutal force against a nationalist organisation called the Maquisard. His presidency was characterised by murders, imprisonments and torture.

    Political rivals were imprisoned or forced to go into exile. Biya, who served in Ahidjo’s government, learned that repressive measures work. As president, he used similar tactics against rivals and the opposition.

    But the use of force as a response to the anglophone protest was a miscalculation. The Biya regime failed to see the crisis in its context of changing times, misunderstood the sources of the conflict, and misread the role of social media in protest activities in the 21st century.

    The crisis originated from a series of grievances: poverty, unemployment, political and economic neglect of the anglophone region, failure to treat French and English as equal languages in the country, and disrespect and disregard of English-speaking Cameroonians.

    At the beginning protesters were generally peaceful, but things changed in 2017. Biya stated that Cameroon was being hijacked by “terrorists masking as secessionists” and vowed to eliminate them.

    To anglophone leaders it was a formal declaration of war, and the message spread quickly on social media. The Biya team did little to slow or stop its spread, and anglophones inside and outside the country accepted the message as fact. It mobilised the region. And few took the time to read the full text of his remarks.

    The brutality of the war on both sides intensified. Everything had all happened so quickly, and most did not anticipate the intensity of the violence.

    Read more: Cameroon after Paul Biya: poverty, uncertainty and a precarious succession battle

    Resistance to outside intervention

    In its diplomatic relations, Cameroon has a long history of protecting what it sees as its own business.

    One example was in 1992, after the US administration criticised Biya for electoral fraud. The Cameroon government fired back. Biya withdrew Cameroon’s ambassador from Washington DC, and informed the US ambassador that America should stay clear of Cameroon’s internal affairs.

    In 2008, tension erupted again when Biya changed Cameroon’s constitution to eliminate presidential term limits. The US ambassador criticised the move in the Cameroonian press. Again, Cameroonian officials pushed back, asking the ambassador not to interfere in the nation’s internal politics.

    America’s disposition towards the anglophone crisis has been one of non-interference. Other major powers have responded similarly, asking both sides to end the violence.

    The Cameroon government has rebuffed initiatives from Switzerland and Canada, both friendly to the country, publicly stating it asked no nation to mediate.

    The rejection of the Swiss initiative was surprising, given that Biya spends much time in that country. Unlike the Swiss plan, in which conversations began, the Canadian initiative did not even take off.

    Read more: Cameroon’s rebels may not achieve their goal of creating the Ambazonian state – but they’re still a threat to stability

    Looking ahead

    Measurable indicators show that the Biya regime is failing to end the anglophone crisis. The killings – including those of law enforcement officers – kidnaps, brutality and ransom demands are now normalised in the anglophone region, especially in rural areas.

    Biya’s Grand National Dialogue and National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism have failed to address the sources of the crisis. Locals dismiss them as a joke.

    People are exasperated by public service announcements about what the government has achieved. Their condition remains much worse than it was in the pre-crisis period.

    Ordinary people are focused on bread-and-butter issues and the desire for dignity and respect. But they don’t see it.

    Young Cameroonians need to see both anglophone and francophone residents at every level of government, on every rung of the business ladder, in every management position, at every school — even on every billboard advertisement.

    Only such a widespread and visible approach can convincingly challenge Cameroon’s pattern of discrimination and exclusion.

    The Biya regime must commit to doing that and not be distracted by supporters urging him to be a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

    It is important to track and bring to justice the apparent sponsors of the killings in the country. This must be done while government keeps its promises to make things right for those living in the anglophone regions.

    Finally, given China’s investment in Cameroon, it can do more to engage the Biya regime on the anglophone crisis. Like Cameroon, China’s policy also stipulates a policy of nonintervention, but it has repeatedly changed course when its strategic interests are threatened.

    Major power status demands major responsibilities, and showing the will to stop chronic human rights violations remains an important obligation.

    – Cameroon could do with some foreign help to solve anglophone crisis – but the state doesn’t want it
    – https://theconversation.com/cameroon-could-do-with-some-foreign-help-to-solve-anglophone-crisis-but-the-state-doesnt-want-it-244770

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: More Than $100M Awarded to Pro-Housing Communities

    Source: US State of New York

    January 28, 2025

    Albany, NY

    Governor Kathy Hochul today announced new investments of more than $100 million for projects located in certified Pro-Housing Communities, part of a total $123 million allocated as part of the latest round of the State’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Governor Hochul’s Pro-Housing Communities initiative allocates up to $650 million each year in discretionary funds for communities that pledge to modestly increase their housing supply; to date, 273 communities across New York have been certified as Pro-Housing Communities. This year, Governor Hochul is proposing an additional $110 million in funding to cover infrastructure and planning costs for Pro-Housing Communities.

    “There’s only one solution to New York’s housing affordability crisis: we’ve got to build more housing,” Governor Hochul said. “The Pro-Housing Communities initiative is delivering the incentives communities are looking for, and this latest round of grant funding will make a real difference in every region of New York. We’re proud of all the certified Pro-Housing Communities in New York and look forward to seeing their continued growth.”

    Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “The Round XIV awards demonstrate how local priorities align with the state’s economic development goals – especially in our Pro-Housing Communities. The overwhelming response to the new Capital Improvement Grants program reflects how municipalities are eager to strengthen their foundations while addressing critical housing needs. Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, we continue to create new and dynamic opportunities to create jobs and generate sustainable and equitable growth throughout New York State.”

    New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “Governor Hochul has been clear – municipalities who share our vision for smart housing growth will be rewarded. Through these $100 million awards announced today, Pro-Housing Communities will receive a financial boost to their efforts to upgrade infrastructure, strengthen their economies, and embark on projects that improve the quality-of-life for New Yorkers. We thank the Governor for her continued leadership and applaud our partners at the local level who are working diligently in every region of the state to find solutions to the housing shortage.”

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    Regional Economic Development Council Round XIV

    Round XIV of the Regional Council initiative further advanced Governor Hochul’s housing agenda by including a new program featuring funding earmarked for projects located in Pro-Housing Communities, as certified by Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). The Capital Improvement Grants for Pro-Housing Communities Program, administered by Empire State Development (ESD), made up to $40 million available to municipalities, counties and not-for-profits to support capital improvement and placemaking projects within Pro-Housing Communities. Due to an overwhelming response in applications and high demand, more than $55 million is being awarded to support these projects, reflecting the strong pro-housing commitment of the State’s municipalities.

    Three other programs in Round XIV were included in the Pro-Housing Community designation: ESD’s Grants and Market New York programs, and HCR’s New York Main Street program. Additionally, more than $9 million in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits have been awarded to support the job creation and investment goals in projects located throughout the State. In the coming weeks, more than $250 million will be awarded to Pro-Housing Communities from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, New York Forward and Mid-Hudson Momentum Programs.

    Select projects in Pro-Housing Communities from Round XIV include:

    • Capital Region – Schenectady Community Action Program – SCAP Campus: In partnership with DePaul Properties, Inc., SCAP will construct a building to house a new child care center, program space and administrative offices for its wide array of family support services, including employment services, supportive housing services and individual and family crisis intervention. The new site is in a New York State-designated child care desert and will provide new classrooms for comprehensive child care slots. The building is expected to be part of a larger mixed-use redevelopment that will create a one-of-a-kind campus in the City of Schenectady where housing, child care and family support services are co-located. ESD Grant – $4.975 million; Total Project Cost – $12.4 million.
    • Central New York – SEED Syracuse, Inc. – Chimes Building: The not-for-profit group will redevelop the Chimes Building into a mixed-use, mixed-income building. The project will create several residential units available to a mix of incomes and includes commercial space to house telecommunications tenants that serve as a fiber optic hub, providing internet access for roughly half of the City of Syracuse, including hospitals, fire departments, local businesses and residential users. ESD Grant – $1.25 million; Total Project Cost – $40.7 million.
    • Finger Lakes – Rochester Housing Authority – Fernwood Avenue Library & Mixed-Use Development: The project includes building a new branch of the Rochester Public Library System within a four-story, 80,000 square foot mixed-use building that includes affordable housing. The site will include 65 housing units with space for the new library to also provide support services, computer training and workforce development. Community Action Agencies will help coordinate and administer an integrated system of support services, creating new opportunities for success through targeted education and training efforts. The new building will be located on a Brownfield site. Capital Improvement for Pro-Housing Communities – $775,000; Total Project Cost – $4 million.
    • Long Island – Town of Riverhead – Downtown Riverfront Amphitheater: The Town will create a riverfront amphitheater and public park. Due to their location below the flood plain and increasing flood risks from climate change, the buildings will be relocated to the northern end of the property and elevated on new foundations. The southern end, with a 13-foot slope, will be converted into tiered seating with a stage and bandshell near the Peconic River. This design leverages the natural slope to protect the buildings while creating a flood barrier. The amphitheater will double as a public park, hosting activities like exercise classes, movie nights and children’s events. Capital Improvement Grant for Pro-Housing Communities – $1.4 million; Total Project Cost – $2.8 million.
    • Mid-Hudson – Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, Inc. – Taylor Ave. Development: Working in partnership with the City of Poughkeepsie, HFHDC will undertake the site preparation and construction of a mixed-use development that includes a child care center and housing units, with a portion of the units dedicated to senior and workforce housing. The project involves comprehensive site planning, modular townhouse designs, and the integration of necessary infrastructure such as roads, utilities and green spaces. ESD Grant – $1.6 million; Total Project Cost – $14.5 million.
    • Mohawk Valley – Municipal Housing Authority of the City of Utica (People First) – THRIVE Cornhill: This project will integrate two mixed-use buildings in the Cornhill section of Utica, offering two Community Impact Centers and several mixed-income apartments. The Impact Centers will support community-focused programs including a multipurpose gym, urban grocery, coworking space, test kitchen, entrepreneurial incubator, dance, art space and a courtyard. Capital Improvements for Pro-Housing Communities – $3 million; Total Project Cost – $17.6 million.
    • New York City – Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation – Center for Planetary Health: The Center will establish a cutting-edge biotech innovation hub at Newlab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. C4PH is purpose-built to accelerate the commercialization of non-therapeutic life sciences that can be applied to address climate change. The Center will be able to support over 30 companies, focusing on sectors like agriculture, textiles and building materials. ESD Grant – $1.6 million; Total Project Cost – $8 million.
    • North Country – Village of Massena – Raw Water Capital Project: The Village will construct a secondary raw water transmission line from the Massena Intake Dam to the water treatment plant. The new line will provide redundancy in the case of an emergency or routine maintenance, should the older main line fail. It will provide critical water service to residential, commercial, and industrial users in the Village and Town of Massena, plus Norfolk and Louisville. The line will also include new taps for the extension of raw water service to the proposed Air Products Green Hydrogen Facility. Capital Improvement Grant for Pro-Housing Communities – $2.34 million; Total Project Cost – $4.69 million.
    • Southern Tier – Village of Dryden – Water and Sewer Infrastructure Improvements: The Village will upgrade its water and sewer infrastructure as the first phase in having several hundred workforce apartments being built as Ezra Village in Tompkins County. The water improvements include extending water mains, and the sewer infrastructure upgrades include replacing several thousand feet of pipeline. Capital Improvements for Pro-Housing Communities – $1.82 million; Total Project Cost – $3.64 million.
    • Western New York – Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo, Inc. – Workforce Child Care Initiative: The project includes the construction of a two-story child care center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus that will provide much needed service and provide specialized space for children with special needs. Partnerships within the campus like BestSelf Behavior Health and Buffalo Hearing and Speech will enable the new center to offer specialized resources and services to children in need, and a space to host these services for parents and their children. ESD Grant – $3 million; Total Project Cost – $8.2 million.

    More information on the projects awarded through the 2024 Regional Economic Development Council initiative, including a full list of awardees, is available here.

    There’s only one solution to New York’s housing affordability crisis: we’ve got to build more housing.”

    Governor Hochul

    Governor Hochul’s Housing Agenda

    Today, Governor Hochul announced that 273 municipalities have been certified as Pro-Housing Communities. The Governor is committed to addressing New York’s housing crisis and making the State more affordable and more livable for all New Yorkers.

    As part of her 2025 State of the State, Governor Hochul proposed a bold plan to make owning and renting a home more affordable. The Governor proposed bolstering the Pro-Housing Community Program by investing $100 million to support critical housing infrastructure projects and providing $10.5 million technical assistance grants to help communities adopt pro-housing policies. The Governor also proposed creating the State’s first revolving loan fund to spur mixed-income rental development outside of New York City, as well as legislation to address rent-price fixing collusion by landlords, increase the effectiveness of State tax credits that support affordable housing development, and extending security deposit protections that market rate tenants currently have to rent-regulated tenants.

    Additionally, Governor Hochul proposed new steps to make homeownership more accessible and affordable to all New Yorkers, including funding for starter home development and first-time homebuyer downpayment assistance, and disincentivizing private equity firms from buying single-family and two-family homes across the State. The State of the State also proposes increased support for supportive housing that serves some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

    As part of the FY25 Enacted Budget, the Governor secured a landmark agreement to increase New York’s housing supply through new tax incentives for Upstate communities, new incentives and relief from certain State-imposed restrictions to create more housing in New York City, a $500 million capital fund to build up to 15,000 new homes on State-owned property, an additional $600 million in funding to support a variety of housing developments statewide and new protections for renters and homeowners.

    In addition, as part of the FY23 Enacted Budget, the Governor announced a five-year, $25 billion Housing Plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide, including 10,000 with support services for vulnerable populations, plus the electrification of an additional 50,000 homes. More than 55,000 homes have been created or preserved to date.

    Embedded Flickr Album

    State Senator Brian Kavanagh said, “Addressing our statewide housing shortage requires that we use all the tools we have. Today’s announcement by Governor Kathy Hochul underscores our collective commitment to fostering vibrant, sustainable communities, while incentivizing localities to be open to producing more housing. I am proud to support the State budget that makes these funds available and I commend the Governor, Housing Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas, and their colleagues in the administration for effectively implementing and growing the Pro-Housing initiative.”

    State Senator Sean Ryan said, “New York’s housing affordability crisis is a problem we can solve, but it’s going to require creative ideas and consistent support for a wide range of programs to deal with this problem’s many causes. I thank Governor Hochul for her commitment to meeting this challenge, and I look forward to continuing to work together to implement solutions that address the unique problems facing Upstate communities.”

    Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal said, “Communities in every region of the state need to step up to the plate to build a more affordable New York. With the latest round of funding awarded by the Regional Economic Development Council, public housing authorities and non-profit organizations will be able to create much-needed affordable housing for those who are struggling to stay financially afloat in the Empire State. As we look toward the start of another budget season, I am once again committed to fighting for every available cent to build and preserve our state’s affordable housing stock. I applaud the Governor’s tenacity in addressing the housing crisis and her continued partnership on this critical issue.”

    Assemblymember Al Stirpe said, “Today’s announcement of ESD Round XIV grants truly benefits the Pro-Housing Communities as well as addresses critical needs throughout the state. Here in Central New York, SEED Syracuse, Inc. received funding for their project creating mixed income housing and commercial space in the City of Syracuse by redeveloping an iconic 1929 office building. Funding local projects in Pro-Housing Communities strengthens the fundamental economic base in these municipalities. Whether it is supporting child care, water infrastructure, innovative technologies, or libraries, all contribute to enhancing the daily lives of New Yorkers and the health of their neighborhoods and the region. Governor Hochul has taken the lead to address the state’s housing needs while, at the same time, reinforcing job creation and a spectrum of economic development opportunities.”

    Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara said, “This initiative is about more than housing—it’s about creating opportunity and building a foundation for families to thrive. Growing up in the City of Schenectady, I saw how challenging it was for families like mine to get by without the resources we’re now able to provide. Investments like these in affordable housing, child care, and support services give families the tools they need to build a brighter future. I’m grateful for the collaboration and shared vision that made this possible, and I look forward to seeing how these projects transform our communities for generations to come.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Cameroon could do with some foreign help to solve anglophone crisis – but the state doesn’t want it

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Julius A. Amin, Professor of History, University of Dayton

    What began in late 2016 as a peaceful protest by lawyers and teachers in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions quickly turned violent and developed into what’s become known as Cameroon’s anglophone crisis.

    The protest was instigated by perceived marginalisation of Cameroon’s anglophone region, which makes up 20% of the nation’s 29 million people.

    The conflict has resulted in immense destruction and casualties. Cameroon’s military responded to the protest with arrests and torture. Voices that called for complete secession of the anglophone regions from the Republic of Cameroon gained momentum.

    They created a virtual Ambazonia Republic and an interim government in exile, and vowed to fight back. They formed a military wing, Ambazonia Self-Defence Force, which attacked and disrupted economic and social services in the region.

    As of October 2024, over 1.8 million people have needed humanitarian assistance. Over 584,000 have been internally displaced. Over 73,000 have become refugees in next-door Nigeria. Over 6,500 have been killed.



    Read more:
    Cameroon: how language plunged a country into deadly conflict with no end in sight

    And the conflict still rages.

    One possible avenue that could be pursued to end the impasse is mediation, with help from other countries. But the Cameroonian government has repeatedly rebuffed intervention from organisations such as the African Union, arguing that the conflict is an internal affair.

    It also ended a government-sponsored mediation by the Swiss in 2022.

    It is clear to me, as a historian who has studied Cameroon foreign policy for the past three decades, that Cameroon’s leadership will not look to external actors to help solve their crisis.

    Founding leader Ahmadou Ahidjo, and later his successor Paul Biya, did not respond to external pressure to address issues. Cameroon’s diplomatic relations are based on respect of national sovereignty and nonintervention in each other’s internal affairs.

    My research shows that the Cameroonian leadership rejects outside intervention on issues it regards as within its sovereignty and internal affairs.

    Removing Cameroon from aid programmes such as the United States Agency for International Development programme and the African Growth and Opportunity Act has not deterred its leaders.

    An understanding of this background is crucial in the search for solutions to the ongoing anglophone crisis.



    Read more:
    Cameroon spends 90% of Chinese development loans on its French region: this could deepen the country’s divisions

    Use of force

    In the 1960s, Ahidjo used brutal force against a nationalist organisation called the Maquisard. His presidency was characterised by murders, imprisonments and torture.

    Political rivals were imprisoned or forced to go into exile. Biya, who served in Ahidjo’s government, learned that repressive measures work. As president, he used similar tactics against rivals and the opposition.

    But the use of force as a response to the anglophone protest was a miscalculation. The Biya regime failed to see the crisis in its context of changing times, misunderstood the sources of the conflict, and misread the role of social media in protest activities in the 21st century.

    The crisis originated from a series of grievances: poverty, unemployment, political and economic neglect of the anglophone region, failure to treat French and English as equal languages in the country, and disrespect and disregard of English-speaking Cameroonians.

    At the beginning protesters were generally peaceful, but things changed in 2017. Biya stated that Cameroon was being hijacked by “terrorists masking as secessionists” and vowed to eliminate them.

    To anglophone leaders it was a formal declaration of war, and the message spread quickly on social media. The Biya team did little to slow or stop its spread, and anglophones inside and outside the country accepted the message as fact. It mobilised the region. And few took the time to read the full text of his remarks.

    The brutality of the war on both sides intensified. Everything had all happened so quickly, and most did not anticipate the intensity of the violence.



    Read more:
    Cameroon after Paul Biya: poverty, uncertainty and a precarious succession battle

    Resistance to outside intervention

    In its diplomatic relations, Cameroon has a long history of protecting what it sees as its own business.

    One example was in 1992, after the US administration criticised Biya for electoral fraud. The Cameroon government fired back. Biya withdrew Cameroon’s ambassador from Washington DC, and informed the US ambassador that America should stay clear of Cameroon’s internal affairs.

    In 2008, tension erupted again when Biya changed Cameroon’s constitution to eliminate presidential term limits. The US ambassador criticised the move in the Cameroonian press. Again, Cameroonian officials pushed back, asking the ambassador not to interfere in the nation’s internal politics.

    America’s disposition towards the anglophone crisis has been one of non-interference. Other major powers have responded similarly, asking both sides to end the violence.

    The Cameroon government has rebuffed initiatives from Switzerland and Canada, both friendly to the country, publicly stating it asked no nation to mediate.

    The rejection of the Swiss initiative was surprising, given that Biya spends much time in that country. Unlike the Swiss plan, in which conversations began, the Canadian initiative did not even take off.



    Read more:
    Cameroon’s rebels may not achieve their goal of creating the Ambazonian state – but they’re still a threat to stability

    Looking ahead

    Measurable indicators show that the Biya regime is failing to end the anglophone crisis. The killings – including those of law enforcement officers – kidnaps, brutality and ransom demands are now normalised in the anglophone region, especially in rural areas.

    Biya’s Grand National Dialogue and National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism have failed to address the sources of the crisis. Locals dismiss them as a joke.

    People are exasperated by public service announcements about what the government has achieved. Their condition remains much worse than it was in the pre-crisis period.

    Ordinary people are focused on bread-and-butter issues and the desire for dignity and respect. But they don’t see it.

    Young Cameroonians need to see both anglophone and francophone residents at every level of government, on every rung of the business ladder, in every management position, at every school — even on every billboard advertisement.

    Only such a widespread and visible approach can convincingly challenge Cameroon’s pattern of discrimination and exclusion.

    The Biya regime must commit to doing that and not be distracted by supporters urging him to be a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

    It is important to track and bring to justice the apparent sponsors of the killings in the country. This must be done while government keeps its promises to make things right for those living in the anglophone regions.

    Finally, given China’s investment in Cameroon, it can do more to engage the Biya regime on the anglophone crisis. Like Cameroon, China’s policy also stipulates a policy of nonintervention, but it has repeatedly changed course when its strategic interests are threatened.

    Major power status demands major responsibilities, and showing the will to stop chronic human rights violations remains an important obligation.

    Julius A. Amin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Cameroon could do with some foreign help to solve anglophone crisis – but the state doesn’t want it – https://theconversation.com/cameroon-could-do-with-some-foreign-help-to-solve-anglophone-crisis-but-the-state-doesnt-want-it-244770

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Armenia and Azerbaijan are at loggerheads again – here’s why tensions are rising

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Svante Lundgren, Researcher, Lund University

    Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, has launched a fierce verbal attack on Armenia, which he has called a fascist state. “Fascism must be destroyed,” he said in an interview on local TV networks on January 7. “Either the Armenian leadership will destroy it, or we will.”

    This rhetoric is strongly reminiscent of baseless claims used by Vladimir Putin about Ukraine to justify Russia’s invasion. He has claimed that Ukraine must be “denazified”.

    There are also reports that Azerbaijan’s acquisition of advanced Israeli weapons have increased recently, according to Israeli journalist Avi Sharf, national security, cyber and open source intelligence editor at Israeli news outlet Haaretz.

    Armenia and Azerbaijan have a long history of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within Azerbaijan until recently mainly populated by Armenians. The first war between them in the 1990s led to the establishment of a self-proclaimed Armenian republic, which no country recognised.

    Then, after a 44-day war in 2020, Azerbaijan took control over most of the enclave. The rest was conquered in September 2023, prompting Armenians living there (more than 100,000 people) to flee to Armenia.

    In the last few months Aliyev accused Armenia of preparing a “war of revenge”. Since its devastating defeat in the second Karabakh war in 2020, Armenia has taken steps to strengthen its defences. Among other things, it has made significant arms purchases from France. This has also provoked Aliyev to criticise France and its president, Emmanuel Macron.

    But, although Armenia has been trying to reduce Azerbaijan’s military advantage through reforms in the army and arms purchases, the country is still militarily inferior to its neighbour. Any military confrontation is likely to result in an early defeat for Armenia.



    Read more:
    Future of Russian gas looking bleak as Ukraine turns off taps and Europe eyes ending all imports

    The argument from Azerbaijan is clearly that if there is conflict in the region, it will be part of an Armenian “preparation for a war”. Baku suggests that therefore the responsibility for any conflict would lie with Armenia and those who arm the country (in particular, France). It’s possible that this rhetoric is intended to legitimise some kind of military action.

    Because of escalating tension in the past few years, Armenia invited the European Union to monitor the border between the countries. This was to help address Azerbaijani accusations that Armenia was preparing for war, and to monitor, and prevent, shootings along the border.


    Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock

    Over the past two years Azerbaijan has denied these unarmed EU observers permission to operate on its territory, so they were only able to work from the Armenian side. It has also strongly condemned the EU for this mission.

    The EU monitors have been in place since February 2023, and should be due to withdraw next month. Armenia has suggested the EU monitors continue but Baku has made clear it wants them removed.

    So, why might Azerbaijan want to reignite tensions with Armenia? One point of contention between them is access to the “Zangezur corridor”, a land connection between Azerbaijan and its autonomous republic, Nakhichevan,.

    Long-running regional conflict

    Azerbaijan has long demanded access to, and control of, this route. The natural corridor runs through Armenia’s Syunik region (in Azerbaijani “Zangezur”, hence the Zangezur corridor). Armenia has declared its willingness to open up transport connections throughout the region – including between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan – but opposes a corridor through its territory that it does not control.

    The south Caucasus (the region including Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) has long been an area that Putin sees as part of his sphere of influence. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia tried to keep the region relatively calm, but in 2020 Putin allowed the war to continue until Armenia was defeated, before putting pressure on Aliyev to stop. Three years later, Azerbaijan took what was left of Nagorno-Karabakh while Russian peacekeepers looked on.

    Armenian concern over what it sees as Russian bias towards Azerbaijan has led Yerevan to increasingly turn towards the west. On January 14 2025, a “strategic partnership charter” was signed between Armenia and the US, which includes an economic and defence partnership, but whether the new Trump administration will want to build on, or even ignore, that relationship is not yet clear.

    In what is considered an important symbolic move Armenia is also currently negotiating with Russia over the removal of its Federal Security Service (FSB security service) guards along the Armenian border in an attempt to reduce reliance on Moscow for its security. Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said in 2024 that the nation would pull out of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization in another move that signals Armenia’s increasingly fragile relationship with Moscow.

    Will there be a war?

    The EU has meanwhile strengthened relations with Armenia.

    While Azerbaijan may have escaped international fallout over the attack on Nagorno-Karabakh in the autumn of 2020, and over the ethnic cleansing of the enclave’s Armenian population in 2023. But if a new war led to a large-scale attack on Armenia it would unlikely to be ignored by the west.

    Despite the west’s minimal reactions to Azerbaijani incursions across the Armenian border in May 2021 and September 2022, in 2025 there is more international focus on the region and on the potential consequences of ignoring what’s going on around Russia’s borders.

    Although military intervention from the west is unlikely, the possibility of sanctions against Azerbaijan could be enough of an incentive for Aliyev to try to maintain the peace.

    Svante Lundgren does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Armenia and Azerbaijan are at loggerheads again – here’s why tensions are rising – https://theconversation.com/armenia-and-azerbaijan-are-at-loggerheads-again-heres-why-tensions-are-rising-247533

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Omagh bombing: why a public inquiry is being held more than 25 years after the atrocity

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Peter John McLoughlin, Lecturer in Politics, Queen’s University Belfast

    The 1998 Good Friday agreement is commonly seen to have ended what were euphemistically termed “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland. However, just four months after the peace accord was signed, an attack on the town of Omagh resulted in the greatest loss of life in any single incident of the conflict.

    The bombing, on August 15 1998, killed 29 people and injured an estimated 220 more. Among those who lost their lives were nine children and a woman who was pregnant with twins.

    A group called “the Real IRA” claimed responsibility for the atrocity. It was one of the so-called “dissident” republican factions which broke away from the mainstream IRA after its political wing, Sinn Féin, turned toward peaceful politics. The Real IRA’s assault on Omagh was clearly intended to derail the Northern Ireland peace process and destroy the Good Friday agreement.

    It could be argued, however, that the bombing had the opposite effect. The atrocity encouraged Northern Ireland’s politicians to come together and redouble their commitment to the peace process.

    Public outcry over the attack also forced the Real IRA to announce a ceasefire. It later returned to violence, but widespread revulsion against the Omagh atrocity would undermine the support base that any dissident republican faction might draw upon.

    Political representatives of the Real IRA and other such groups have never been able to mobilise electoral support in the way that Sinn Féin was able to, in spite of its association with the IRA.

    The Omagh bombing also aided the ability of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and others to steer mainstream republicans towards purely peaceful politics. The atrocity had shown the utter futility of violence.

    Adams’ condemnation of the attack provoked accusations of hypocrisy as he had previously defended IRA violence. Nonetheless, Adams continued to lead republicanism in ways that would cement its commitment to peaceful methods.

    The indiscriminate nature of the Omagh attack also helps explain the galvanising effect that it had on the peace process. People from both sides of the communal divide in Northern Ireland were killed, and from both sides of the Irish border. Two Spanish tourists also died visiting a region which the Good Friday agreement seemed to have made safe.

    The visit of Bill Clinton a month after the attack also brought global attention to Omagh. The US president had first visited Northern Ireland following the paramilitary ceasefires of 1994, receiving a rapturous reception when he turned on the Christmas lights in Belfast.

    But his return was as sombre as his first visit had been joyous. Despite this, the obvious sincerity of Clinton’s words and actions in Omagh would encourage the people and politicians of Northern Ireland to continue their efforts to build a peaceful society.

    Bill and Hillary Clinton visit the site of the Omagh bombing with Tony and Cheri Blair.
    Clinton Digital Library

    Unanswered questions

    More than 25 years on from the attack, they have largely succeeded in this endeavour. However, serious questions remain about the Omagh atrocity. Authorities in both parts of Ireland have been criticised for their response.

    In Northern Ireland, a former policing watchdog has argued that the security services failed to properly act on intelligence that might have prevented the attack.

    In the Irish Republic, where the bomb was constructed, the only person that was ever jailed over the attack would later see his conviction overturned. The latter ruling was also seen to result from the mishandling of evidence, this time by the Irish police.

    This explains why survivors and families of those killed and injured in the Omagh bombing have fought long and hard for an independent investigation into the attack. Neither the British nor the Irish government seemed eager to allow this, but legal action by members of the Omagh families led to a ruling by Belfast’s High Court in July 2021 which found it plausible that the attack might have been prevented by security services. This bolstered support for a public inquiry.

    Finally, in February 2023, the British government acceded and Lord Turnbull, a senior Scottish judge, was appointed to chair the investigation. The Irish government has not followed suit, but has committed to supporting the British inquiry.

    The inquiry officially opened in July of last year, but is only now beginning in earnest with a period of commemorative and personal statement hearings.

    Over four weeks, it will receive testimony from people who were injured, those who responded to the attack, or who were simply witnesses to the atrocity and its aftermath. Each submission will be read by Turnbull, and he has said that they will “inform the direction and approach of the Inquiry”.

    The inquiry begins

    There has, however, been some controversy regarding contributions to the investigation, and specifically that of a former British Army agent who infiltrated republican paramilitaries. This operative took legal action after being refused key status at the inquiry, a role which would have entitled him to make opening and closing statements, and to propose lines of questioning.

    He was instead granted witness status, and the inquiry will naturally be expected to examine evidence relating to information passed on to the police in the time leading up to the bombing.

    As a result, Turnbull has sought to assure those who might doubt the value of the investigation: “My inquiry may be the final opportunity to get to the truth of whether the bombing could have been prevented by the UK state.”

    Survivors and victims’ families will surely hope that this is the last time that that they will have to relive their trauma, and that the end result will indeed establish the truth as to what exactly the authorities knew about the Omagh attack. Then, the families may finally experience some closure, and be able to move on from what remains the deadliest attack in Northern Ireland’s history

    Peter John McLoughlin has received funding in the past from the AHRC, Leverhulme Trust, the Irish Research Council, and the Fulbright Commission. He is a member of Greenpeace.

    – ref. Omagh bombing: why a public inquiry is being held more than 25 years after the atrocity – https://theconversation.com/omagh-bombing-why-a-public-inquiry-is-being-held-more-than-25-years-after-the-atrocity-248192

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cramer to Chair Senate EPW Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
    Click here for audio. Click here for video.
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee announced U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) will serve as Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure  (T&I) Subcommittee for the 119th Congress. Cramer previously served as Ranking Member of the subcommittee from 2021 to 2024.
    The T&I Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water projects and management, public buildings, and regional economic development. During Cramer’s tenure on EPW, the committee has debated and unanimously passed the most substantive highway bill in history and three consecutive Water Resource Development Acts, all of which were signed into law.  
    “The T&I Subcommittee is one of the few places left in Congress where bipartisanship and regular order are the norm, and why not? Americans expect and they understand their roads, bridges, waterways, and efficient interstate commerce is both a federal responsibility and a priority,” said Cramer. “My goal on the committee is to improve the nation’s infrastructure by getting the next highway bill and the Water Resources Development Act done on time and, at the same time, right-sizing this bloated federal real estate portfolio that we have. We have a lot to do and I’m look forward to working with Chairman Capito, and Ranking Member Whitehouse, and my colleagues on the committee, and of course the Trump administration to get the job done.”
    Cramer will serve on the Senate Environment and Public Works Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Innovation and Safety Subcommittee as well as the Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Subcommittee.
    More information can be found here and on the EPW website.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Fort Belvoir woman pleads guilty to brutally beating her 10-year-old child

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Fort Belvoir woman pled guilty yesterday to assault with a dangerous weapon; assault by striking, beating, and wounding; and cruelty to children.

    According to court documents, on Oct. 8, 2024, China Ashley Charles, 38, was enraged at her 10-year-old child because his bedroom was messy. She struck him with a chair, dresser drawers, a hot iron, a charging wire, a hairbrush, and a large serving spoon. She attempted to strike his face with the iron, but he blocked it with his hands.  When Charles hit the child with the charging wire, his finger was cut and began bleeding.

    Charles tried to hide her crime by making the child sit in a cold bath and splashing cold water on his face.

    The child dropped onto the roof from his second-floor bedroom and then jumped down from the roof and fled. He was recovered by police with substantial bruises, abrasions, a knot on the back of his head, and a cut and bleeding finger. The child was transported to the emergency room at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital by ambulance.

    Law enforcement recovered numerous items from China’s residence, including the iron, chair, hairbrush, spoon, multiple dresser drawers, and a sweater and a shirt with “I’M ON PUNISHMENT” written on them in black marker. Several of these items appeared to have blood on them, and further examination confirmed that the child’s blood was located on the iron and at least one dresser drawer.  The child’s sister reported that China had been beating him for the past four years.

    Charles is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9 and faces up to 16 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jake Cameron, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys April N. Russo and Marc J. Birnbaum and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire M. Horrell are prosecuting the case.

    A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:24-cr-248.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Mattermost to Deliver AI-Powered Collaboration for Azure Secret and Top Secret Environments

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Palo Alto, California, Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — At the AFCEA West 2025 conference, Mattermost, the leading collaborative workflow platform for air-gapped edge operations, today announced its intent to develop an AI-ready platform for Azure Secret and Top Secret cloud environments. This initiative will leverage the power of Azure AI, including OpenAI’s GPT-4o, which recently received authorization for use in Microsoft’s Azure Government Top Secret cloud, as announced by Microsoft on January 16, 2025.

    Mattermost is purpose-built for disconnected, edge-based environments, enabling secure collaboration and workflow execution even in the most isolated and sensitive operations. This includes one-to-one and group messaging, file sharing, systems integration, automation, audio calling, and screen share. This new initiative will extend these capabilities to Azure’s air-gapped cloud environments, empowering defense and intelligence agencies to leverage the latest advancements in AI while maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance.

    Key Use Cases:

    • Out-of-Band Incident Response: Securely coordinate and manage incident response activities in disconnected environments. This is critical for maintaining communication and operational continuity when primary communications infrastructure may be breached or unavailable, especially in emergency situations to prevent data spillage of classified information to other platforms.
    • Red Team and Pen Test Workflows: Facilitate collaboration and information sharing for red teaming and penetration testing exercises within a protected, segregated environment designed to manage highly sensitive classified information about vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.
    • DevSecOps in Classified Environments: Enable secure collaboration and automation for software development and security operations, including integrations with continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) platforms and popular developer infrastructure like on-premise versions of GitLab, GitHub Enterprise, Jira, Jenkins, and other similar platforms.
    • Mission Operations and Command and Control: Provide a reliable and secure platform for critical communications and coordination.

    Key Features and Benefits:

    • Secure Collaboration: Enables secure chat operations, file sharing, audio calling, and screen sharing, along with integration with legacy and custom systems, automation and customization, all within classified environments.
    • Workflow Automation: Streamlines repetitive tasks, boosts efficiency with secure workflows and digital playbooks, and speeds up the execution of standard operating procedures, training, and onboarding.
    • AI-Powered Assistance: Acts as a force multiplier to address talent and personnel shortages by leveraging Azure AI and OpenAI to provide real-time analysis, automated workflows, and intelligent insights, alleviating the stress of spreading mission-critical teams too thinly across responsibilities.
    • Integration with Microsoft Teams: Offers interoperability options with Microsoft Teams, allowing for collaboration across different security domains.
    • Compliance with Stringent Standards: Meets the rigorous security and compliance requirements of Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 503. 

    “The material rise in geopolitical instability and the dramatic increase in global cyber threats, including adversarial use of AI and digital attack vectors, requires rapid augmentation of capabilities within air-gapped environments to more rapidly detect, analyze, and defend against new categories of threats,” said Corey Hulen, CEO of Mattermost Federal Inc. “This initiative represents a significant step forward in our commitment to providing the secure and innovative solutions required for mission success in this challenging environment.”

    About Mattermost:

    Mattermost is the leading collaborative workflow platform for air-gapped edge environments. We serve national security, government, and critical infrastructure enterprises, from the U.S. Department of Defense, to global tech giants, to utilities, banks and other vital services. We accelerate out-of-band incident response, DevSecOps workflow, mission operations, and self-sovereign collaboration to bolster the focus, adaptability and resilience of the world’s most important organizations.

    Our enterprise software and single-tenant SaaS platforms are built to meet the custom needs of rigorous and complex environments while offering a secure and unrivaled collaboration experience across web, desktop and mobile with channel-based messaging, file sharing, audio calling and screen share, with integrated tooling, workflow automation and AI assistance.

    For more information visit mattermost.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: Operation Southern Spear: Latest Development in Operationalizing Robotic and Autonomous Systems

    Source: United States Navy

    MAYPORT, Fla.  –  U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet is advancing the Navy’s Hybrid Fleet Campaign through Operation Southern Spear, which will start later this month in U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility (USSOUTHCOM AOR) and at U.S. 4th Fleet Headquarters at Naval Station Mayport.
     
    “Southern Spear will operationalize a heterogeneous mix of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking while learning lessons for other theaters,” said Cmdr. Foster Edwards, 4th Fleet’s Hybrid Fleet Director. “Southern Spear will continue our (4th Fleet’s) move away from short-duration experimentation into long-duration operations that will help develop critical techniques and procedures in integrating RAS into the maritime environment.”
     
    Specifically, Operation Southern Spear will deploy long-dwell robotic surface vessels, small robotic interceptor boats, and vertical take-off and landing robotic air vessels to the USSOUTHCOM AOR. 4th Fleet will operationalize these unmanned systems through integration with U.S. Coast Guard cutters at sea and operations centers at 4th Fleet and Joint Interagency Task Force South. Southern Spear’s results will help determine combinations of unmanned vehicles and manned forces needed to provide coordinated maritime domain awareness and conduct counternarcotics operations.
     
    U.S. 4th Fleet is conducting Operation Southern Spear in support of our Navy’s Project 33 targets to operationalize RAS. Using RAS to increase presence in, and awareness of, strategically and economically important maritime regions will help decision-making, strengthen sovereignty, and facilitate regional cooperation.
     
    “Operation Southern Spear is the next step in our Hybrid Fleet Campaign,” said Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet. “We look forward to the results of Southern Spear. Hybrid Fleet operations increase our collaboration with partners in the region while furthering the Navy’s tactics, techniques, procedures, and processes.”
     
    U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet is the trusted maritime partner for Caribbean, Central and South America maritime forces leading to improved unity, security and stability.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Sudan and Eastern DRC: Foreign Secretary’s statement

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The Foreign Secretary made a statement to the House of Commons on the situation in Sudan and Eastern DRC on 28 January.

    With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the situation in Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    The latest conflict in Sudan has now lasted twenty-one months.

    This weekend, the Rapid Support Forces attacked the last functional hospital in the besieged city of El-Fasher, in Darfur.

    The World Health Organisation assess some seventy patients and their families were killed.

    This attack is far from isolated.

    In recent weeks, the RSF shelled the ZamZam camp, where displaced people are trapped outside El-Fasher.

    While there are widespread reports of extrajudicial killings by militias aligned to the Sudanese armed forces in Wad Medani.

    The Government condemns these attacks in the strongest possible terms.

    They show a callous disregard for international humanitarian law and innocent Sudanese civilians.

    Exact figures for those killed and displaced in Sudan are hard to come by.

    But we know aid is being blocked from reaching those in need.

    And this is without a shadow of a doubt one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes of our lifetimes.

    I saw this for myself, Madam Deputy Speaker, last week in Adré, on the Chad-Sudan border.

    This was the first ever Foreign Secretary to visit Chad.

    I felt it was my duty to confront the true horror of what is unfolding.

    To bear witness.

    And raise up the voices of those suffering, mainly women, so horrendously.

    88 per cent of the refugees at Adré are women and children.

    I met nurses in a clinic, fighting to save the lives of starving children.

    I met a woman who showed me her scars.

    She had been burned.

    She had been beaten.

    She had been raped.

    Turning to DRC, conflict there has gripped the east for over thirty years.

    An M23 rebel offensive at the start of this year had already seized Masisi and Minova.

    This weekend saw them enter Goma, the region’s major city, which M23 last occupied in 2012.

    Brave UN peacekeepers from South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay have tragically been killed.

    And with hundreds of thousands having already fled M23 to Goma, there is potential for a further humanitarian catastrophe.

    I have not yet travelled as Foreign Secretary to meet those fleeing Eastern DRC

    But the reports speak for themselves.

    This is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman or girl with children as young as nine reportedly attacked and mutilated by machete-wielding militias. 

    Around a quarter of DRC’s population are facing acute food insecurity.

    And frequent bombardment of the makeshift camps which shelter those who have fled their homes.

    I regret to say, Madam Deputy Speaker, that Foreign Secretaries updating the House on conflicts in Africa is something of a rarity.

    As I discussed yesterday with African Ambassadors and High Commissioners, the surge of conflict globally includes the number in Africa almost doubling in the past decade.

    This is causing untold damage and holding back economic growth – the bedrock of our future partnership with African countries.  

    But where is the outrage?

    Again and again in Adré, I was asked:

    What is the world doing to help us?

    The truth is, if we were witnessing the horrors of El-Fasher and Goma on any other continent, or, for that matter, seeing the extremist violence in the Sahel and Somalia anywhere else in the world, there would be far more attention across the Western world.

    Indeed, one recent survey of armed conflict in 2024 contained spotlights on Europe, Eurasia, Asia and the Americas, but none on Africa.

    There should be no hierarchy of conflicts, but there is one.

    Every human life is of equal worth.

    The impact of these wars, Madam Deputy Speaker, is clear for all to see.

    You only have to be willing to look.

    I could not see atrocities such as these, and shrug my shoulders.

    However, the House will also understand the UK’s national interest in addressing these conflicts.

    Irregular migration from Sudan to Britain alone increased by 16% last year. 

    Unscrupulous smuggling gangs are looking to profit from the misery in places such as Sudan and DRC. 

    And the longer these wars last, the greater their ripple effects.

    Neighbours like Chad and many others are working hard to manage this crisis alongside others nearby.

    But further escalation only increases instability and the risks of conflict elsewhere.

    With Sudan sitting along the major trade routes of the Red Sea and eastern DRC one of the most resource-rich regions in the world.

    This is something we cannot tolerate.

    This Government therefore refuses to let these conflicts be forgotten.

    Working with Sierra Leone, the UK prepared a UN Security Council Resolution on Sudan to address the humanitarian catastrophe.

    Shockingly, despite support from every other member, including China, Russia wielded their veto.

    But Russian cynicism will not deter us.

    We will continue to use our Security Council seat to shine a light on what is happening and work with our African partners on broader UN reform.

    We have also doubled UK aid, supporting over one million displaced people.

    I saw our impact at the Adré crossing, and announced a further twenty million pounds to support food production and sexual and reproductive services.

    The UK is the third largest humanitarian donor on the crisis, having offered almost 250 million pounds in support this financial year.

    We have been redoubling our diplomatic efforts as well.

    In the spring, I am looking to gather Ministers in the UK to galvanise international support for peace.

    We need to see three things.

    First, the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces committing a permanent ceasefire and protection of civilians.

    Second, unrestricted humanitarian access into and within Sudan, and a permanent UN presence.

    And finally, an international commitment to a sustained and meaningful political process.

    Instead of new and even more deadly weapons entering the conflict, we want to see consistent calls for all political parties to unite behind a common vision of a peaceful Sudan.

    We will engage with all those willing to work on bringing the conflict to an end.

    On DRC, the UK, has also reacted quickly to the current crisis, we now advise British Nationals not to the Rubavu district in Western Rwanda on the border with Goma.

    And we are continuing our humanitarian assistance , having provided 62 million pounds this financial year.

    This enables lifesaving assistance such as clean drinking water, treatment for malnourished children, and support for victims of sexual violence.

    Ultimately however, we need a political solution.

    We know that M23 rebels could not have taken Goma without material support from Rwandan Defence Forces.

    My Noble Friend, Lord Collins of Highbury, and I have been urging all sides to engage in good faith in African-led processes.

    Lord Collins spoke to the Rwandan and Angolan Foreign Ministers last week.

    And in the last few days, I have spoken to both Rwandan President Kagame and South African Foreign Minister Lamola.

    For all the complexities of such a long-running conflict, we must find a way to stop the killing.

    Madam Deputy Speaker, civilians in Sudan and eastern DRC must feel so powerless.

    Power seems gripped by those waging war around them.

    The Government, our partners, cannot simply will a ceasefire into being.

    But this is not a licence for inaction.

    As we have seen in Gaza, it can take hundreds of days of diplomatic failure to reach even the most fragile of ceasefires.

    So for our part, Madam Deputy Speaker, the UK will keep doing all in our power to get the world focused on these conflicts.

    And, somehow, to bring them to an end.

    I comment this statement to the House.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 January 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Duchess of Edinburgh opens Sandhurst facility for army musicians

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    A new band facility on the Sandhurst Estate, Surrey has been formally opened by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh.

    HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh talks to some of the musicians during her visit. (MOD Crown Copyright)

    Her Royal Highness opened the facility in her role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Corps of Army Music (RCAM).

    The new purpose-built band facility – named The Duchess of Edinburgh Hall – houses two distinguished bands from RCAM: the Band of the Coldstream Guards and the Army Engagement Ensemble. The building provides a modern, sustainable acoustic space for rehearsals and performances.

    The RCAM, which performs at State Ceremonial events, has received significant MOD investment under the £5.1 billion Defence Estate Optimisation (DEO) Portfolio.

    The facility was delivered by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) contracting to Willmott Dixon, Pick Everard and HLM Architects. It was funded under the DEO Army Programme, which makes up the largest share of the DEO Portfolio, and is delivering a better structured and more sustainable defence estate. This supports military capability and enhances the lived experience of service personnel.

    Major General Richard Clements CBE, Director of Basing and Infrastructure, said:

    The new band facility at Sandhurst will enable army musicians to carry out their supporting state and ceremonial duties and national and international engagement for defence, both today and into the future. It is a fantastic example of the significant investment we are making to deliver benefits for our people, support military training and capability, and build a more sustainable estate.

    Combining modern buildings with the refurbishment of existing infrastructure, the Duchess of Edinburgh Hall comprises a glass-roofed atrium for ensemble performance practice, rehearsal rooms, an instrument store, music library, offices, storage space and a crew room. The design also includes solar panels and air source heat pumps.

    Sherin Aminossehe, MOD Director of Infrastructure and the Senior Responsible Owner for the DEO Portfolio, said:

    DEO is committed to delivering the highest quality buildings that improve the lived experience of our military personnel. This is evidenced in these impressive new facilities being opened today, which not only provide bespoke and very modern spaces for these prestigious bands to train in, but do so in a way that carefully integrates itself within the existing infrastructure to preserve the important history of the site.

    Historic stables dating back to the 1800s have been transformed into modern changing facilities, including the refurbished ‘Sullivan Block’, which is named after Thomas Sullivan who served as Bandmaster at The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst from 1845 to 1857. He was the father of Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan of ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ fame. 

    Warren Webster, DIO MPP Army Programme Director, said:

    It’s fantastic to see this excellent new facility being opened by HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh. The different elements of the facility were carefully designed to meet the needs of army musicians and it was a pleasure to see Her Royal Highness’s reaction to them. The musicians have been making great use of the Duchess of Edinburgh Hall since its completion and we look forward to hearing their music fill these spaces for decades to come.

    The Band of the Coldstream Guards is a 54-piece symphonic wind band that supports a variety of high-profile events, including state ceremonies, public duties, commemorative and celebratory events, and repatriations. Additionally, it contributes to the UK’s defence efforts both domestically and internationally through community engagement and events. The Army Engagement Ensemble focuses on recruitment, supporting Recruiting Group and the army’s main effort to attract future soldiers.

    Major Justin Teggarty, Director of Music and Officer Commanding, Band of the Coldstream Guards said:

    This new facility is perfect for the Band’s needs. The quality of the design and finish is highly impressive, and we now have a comfortable, purpose-built, modern building in which to rehearse, collaborate and function to the highest standard. I am particularly impressed with the acoustics in the atrium: it is fantastic to be able to play together in a space that does justice to the talent and professionalism of army musicians.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 January 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warren Writes Fox News Digital Op-ed Challenging Elon Musk to Cut $2 Trillion in Waste By Taking On Billionaires and Giant Corporations

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
    January 28, 2025
    “Here’s something President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and I agree on: the federal government throws away trillions of dollars on wasteful spending.”
    “Instead of cutting help for people who rely on Medicare, Social Security and the VA, let’s focus on the billionaires and billionaire corporations who are feasting off the American taxpayer.”
    Warren Op-Ed in Fox News Digital
    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, published an op-ed outlining her recommendations for cutting government waste to make government more efficient and save taxpayers money. In a public letter last week, Warren proposed 30 recommendations for President Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, to cut at least $2 trillion in government waste over the next decade. 
    Musk has already walked back his goal of $2 trillion of cuts. Unlike the Republican plans, none of these recommendations would cut access to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and other programs that tens of millions of Americans count on–and instead focus on waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending. 
    Read the full op-ed here and below: 
    Senator Elizabeth Warren: Trump, Musk and I agree on something important. And I’ve got 30 ways to get it doneJanuary 28, 2025
    Here’s something President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and I agree on: the federal government throws away trillions of dollars on wasteful spending. I have spent years trying to squeeze government waste out of our budget, and I’m ready to work with Musk to make government more efficient and save taxpayers money. But here’s the thing: we need to focus in the right place. Instead of cutting help for people who rely on Medicare, Social Security and the VA, let’s focus on the billionaires and billionaire corporations who are feasting off the American taxpayer.
    After promising his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would cut $2 trillion in government waste, Musk’s ambition is rapidly shrinking. Within weeks, he cut his goal in half to $1 trillion– all before he’s actually cut a single dollar. I don’t want Musk to fold so quickly. I crunched the numbers and found $2 trillion that we could cut over the next 10 years by focusing on the guys who are getting rich off our government. Last week, I sent Musk my blueprint to do just that. 
    Congressional Republicans’ initial plans call for cuts to government programs that millions of Americans rely on to pay their bills each month – things like Social Security, money to cover nursing home costs, and help buying private health insurance. Scrapping essential services is not efficiency; it is cold-hearted cruelty. Tossing old folks out of nursing homes or telling people that their insurance has been cancelled won’t save money; it just makes lives tougher for the families that struggle to pick up the slack. If Musk and the Republicans take that route, it will be a disaster for working people and I will fight back.
    But we don’t have to cut the programs Americans rely on. We can eliminate at least $2 trillion of government waste over the next decade without cutting programs that help our grandparents, our veterans, and our children. In fact, I have 30 specific proposals to do just that. I’ll share a few of them now, but you can read all about them in my letter to Musk here.
    Here are a few examples of government waste we could start with. First, we could negotiate better contracts for the Department of Defense. In 2023, the DoD spent $440.7 billion on contracts – and giant contractors overcharge us on nearly everything. The Air Force pays over 7,500% more on soap dispensers than regular Americans do. The Army pays $71 for pins that should cost less than a nickel. Spending is so out of control at DoD that it is the only agency in government that cannot pass a simple audit. American taxpayers are sick of getting scammed by overpaid military contractors. My recommendations on Defense spending alone would save nearly $200 billion in the next 12 years. 
    Taxpayers are also getting swindled by for-profit health insurance companies. Right now, about half of all seniors have been lured into a privatized Medicare program called Medicare Advantage. This program was started to lower costs for seniors, but over time the insurers figured out how to boost their profits by manipulating claims and denying coverage. It’s so bad now that the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimates that privatized Medicare insurers overcharged taxpayers by nearly $83 billion in 2024 alone, while other independent researchers put the dollar figure at $140 billion. Rooting out their dirty tactics could save more than a trillion dollars over ten years without cutting Medicare benefits by one penny.
    Cracking down on health care profiteering isn’t a partisan issue. I’ve partnered with Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri to claw back billions more from corporations that are cheating the government on health care costs. He’s not the only Republican who agrees that we need to stop corporations from overcharging taxpayers for lifesaving medications: President Trump has voiced support for another one of my proposals to cut wasteful spending, Medicare price negotiations. By expanding this program to bring the prices down for the most expensive drugs covered by Medicare, the government could save taxpayers another $200 billion over the next decade.
    We can bring down the deficit by cutting spending, but we can also improve our financial position by making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share. Hedge funds and private equity companies use loopholes to avoid paying anywhere between $1.4 billion and $18 billion each year – that’s an easy fix. By closing just one big estate tax exemption loophole abused by the ultra-rich, the US government could save another $60 billion per year. We should close those loopholes – and fully fund the IRS to catch wealthy tax cheats who think they’re above the law.  
    My list of cuts and loophole closers will save $2 trillion. So where are Elon Musk, Donald Trump and the DOGE project? Why give up so quickly on beating back the defense contractors, health insurance giants, and other huge companies that are ripping off the American people? If Musk and Trump have the courage to cut this waste, I’ve got a plan and 30 specific recommendations to get it done.
    Democrat Elizabeth Warren represents Massachusetts in the United States Senate.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Canada and Greenland aren’t likely to join the US anytime soon – but ‘GrAmeriCa’ is a revealing thought experiment

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Peter A. Coclanis, Professor of History and Director of the Global Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    For some time now, pundits have been debating whether to take Donald Trump “seriously” or “literally,” as the clever binary coined by journalist Salena Zito in 2016 has it.

    This choice comes to mind when I think about the 47th president’s frequent comments recently about incorporating Greenland and Canada into the United States. A few cases in point: Before delivering an inaugural address in which he vaguely but forcefully expressed a desire for the U.S. to expand its territory, Trump raised the issue on a confrontational phone call with the prime minister of Denmark, which handles Greenland’s international affairs. More recently, he spoke of Canada becoming a U.S. state to reporters on Air Force One.

    It’s hard to imagine a plausible scenario in which either, let alone both, joins the United States. The governments of Canada and Greenland alike have made it clear that they’re not for sale.

    But as an economic historian, I believe that thought experiments can be a useful way of understanding truths about the world. And one such truth is that Greenland and Canada play a key role in the global economy. If the U.S. were to absorb either or both, it would be a strategic, economic and political game changer.

    So, for a moment, let’s take Trump both seriously and literally. Below, I’ve laid out some very rough measures of how a reconstituted megastate including the U.S., Canada or Greenland would look in comparison to other leading countries and blocs.

    Bigger, but not more crowded

    At first glance, the most obvious thing to note about the new country would be its physical size. Today the U.S. is the third-largest nation-state in terms of area – about 57.5% of the size of Russia, by far the world’s largest country.

    By incorporating Canada, the second-largest country in the world in terms of area, the U.S., so reconstituted, would be 14% larger than Russia. If both Canada and Greenland became part of the reconstituted U.S., the country would be 22% larger than Russia.

    How about China? Today, China is slightly smaller than the U.S. in area, but China would be less than half the size of a combined U.S. and Canada, and only about 44% of the size of the U.S.-Canada-Greenland. And the European Union? It would be less than 20% of the size of a U.S.-Canada-Greenland combo.

    Incorporating Canada and Greenland into the U.S would have less of an impact in demographic terms, adding just under 40 million people to the current U.S. total of 342 million.

    Similarly, if the U.S. absorbed Canada and Greenland — two countries that are wealthy, but not nearly as wealthy as the U.S. — it wouldn’t have much of an impact on gross domestic product per capita. Why not? Because the U.S. would comprise about 90% of the total population of the new megastate. Given the figures for GDP per capita (PPP, international dollars) in Canada and Greenland and weighting for population, GDP per capita in the megastate would be about $79,000.

    A strategic shift

    The biggest effects of absorbing either country into the U.S. would come in the geopolitical, strategic and resource realms. Here, the changes would be seismic. First, by incorporating both countries into the U.S., the new entity would not only consolidate its already considerable power in the Western Hemisphere, but it would also establish a much more formidable position in the Arctic region. This is increasingly important as sea lanes are opening up with climate change.

    By adding territory, the U.S. could potentially enhance its strategic and defense posture, forcing its principal adversaries, Russia and China, to pursue more cautious tacks. These geopolitical and strategic effects would be magnified by the bounty of natural resources in the new megastate.

    Consider that the U.S. is already the largest oil-producing country in the world – producing over 13.3 million barrels a day in 2023 – and Canada is No. 4, with 5 million. Together, the two countries produced over 18 million barrels per day in 2023, while Russia produced about 10.3 million, Saudi Arabia about 9 million, and China 4.2 million. In other words, the U.S. and Canada together produce 8 million barrels of oil more than Russia does each day – a staggering differential.

    The U.S. is also by far the largest producer of natural gas in the world, with Russia a distant second. Incorporating Canada, currently the fifth-largest producer, would add considerably to the U.S. lead.

    Nor does the resource bounty begin and end with oil and natural gas. Greenland is rich in minerals of all types, particularly the rare earth elements in such demand for batteries, electronics and the like.

    And perhaps most important of all is the impact of integration regarding freshwater resources. Integrating the U.S. and Canada would bring that new entity into a virtual tie with Brazil as the leading repository of freshwater resources in the world. Canada and the U.S. are currently Nos. 3 and 4, respectively, in the world in freshwater resources; together, their freshwater stock far surpasses Russia, which is currently No. 2.

    And this doesn’t factor in Greenland, with its massive – if declining – freshwater ice shield. In any case, given the increasing demand for water around the world, control over freshwater resources will prove more and more important for the overall security posture of the U.S. going forward.

    So what do we make of this little exercise? One thing seems clear: “GrAmeriCa” would be amazingly rich in resources, as the president likely knows well. But should we take Trump literally or seriously – or both – on this issue? It may be a case of “Too soon to tell,” to invoke Zhou Enlai’s famous line about one or another revolutionary upheaval in France. But the world will know soon enough.

    Peter A. Coclanis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Canada and Greenland aren’t likely to join the US anytime soon – but ‘GrAmeriCa’ is a revealing thought experiment – https://theconversation.com/canada-and-greenland-arent-likely-to-join-the-us-anytime-soon-but-gramerica-is-a-revealing-thought-experiment-248214

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Maris-Tech Announces First Customer Conference: Edge of Tomorrow – Video & AI at the Frontier of Defense Innovation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Join industry leaders and innovators on February 27, 2025 for a day of industry insights and networking opportunities

    Rehovot, Israel, Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Maris-Tech Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTEK, MTEKW) (“Maris-Tech” or the “Company”), a global leader in video and artificial intelligence (“AI”) based edge computing technology, is thrilled to announce its first annual customer conference, Edge of Tomorrow – Video & AI at the Frontier of Defense Innovation. This exclusive event will place on February 27, 2025, in Rishon LeZion, Israel, and will gather industry professionals, thought leaders and collaborators to explore cutting-edge developments in edge computing and its central role in defense operations.

    Attendees will gain valuable insights into the future of video and AI acceleration, with a sharp focus on how this innovation is reshaping defense operations, enabling faster decision-making and independent functionality in challenging environments.

    The conference agenda features keynote presentations by renowned guest speakers, in-depth technical sessions, and live product demonstrations during session breaks. Attendees will also have the chance to network with peers, engage with Maris-Tech’s expert team, and gain hands-on experience with the Company’s innovative solutions.

    “We are very excited to present our first customer conference,” said Israel Bar, Chief Executive Officer of Maris-Tech. “It’s an honor to host some of the most influential guest speakers in our field and to welcome our valued customers and partners. This event will represent a unique opportunity to foster collaboration and share knowledge about the cutting-edge technologies driving the future of defense innovation.”

    For more information, to view the agenda, and to register, visit the event’s official webpage: https://maris-tech.forms-wizard.co/users/new.

    About Maris-Tech Ltd.

    Maris-Tech is a global leader in video and AI-based edge computing technology, pioneering intelligent video transmission solutions that conquer complex encoding-decoding challenges. Our miniature, lightweight, and low-power products deliver high-performance capabilities including raw data processing, seamless transfer, advanced image processing, and AI-driven analytics. Founded by Israel technology sector veterans, Maris-Tech serves leading manufacturers worldwide in defense, aerospace, Intelligence gathering, homeland security (HLS), and communication industries worldwide. We’re pushing the boundaries of video transmission and edge computing, driving innovation in mission-critical applications across commercial and defense sectors.

    For more information, visit https://www.maris-tech.com/

    Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

    This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect”,” “may”, “should,” “could,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “estimate,” “anticipate” or other comparable terms. For example, the Company is  using forward-looking statements when it is discussing the conference and the Company’s expectation for the benefits of the conference and anticipated opportunities to foster collaboration and share knowledge about the cutting-edge technologies driving the future of defense innovation; and the benefits and advantages of video and AI acceleration. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: our ability to successfully market our products and services, including in the United States; the acceptance of our products and services by customers; our continued ability to pay operating costs and ability to meet demand for our products and services; the amount and nature of competition from other security and telecom products and services; the effects of changes in the cybersecurity and telecom markets; our ability to successfully develop new products and services; our success establishing and maintaining collaborative, strategic alliance agreements, licensing and supplier arrangements; our ability to comply with applicable regulations; and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on March 21, 2024, and our other filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

    Investor Relations:

    Nir Bussy, CFO
    Tel: +972-72-2424022
    Nir@maris-tech.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Reinstates Service Members Discharged for Refusing the COVID Vaccine

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    RESINSTATING THE UNJUSTLY DISCHARGED: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to reinstate service members who were dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine, with full back pay and benefits.
    The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Defense to reinstate all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine and who request to be reinstated.
    Those who are reinstated will receive their former rank and full back pay with benefits.

    CORRECTING AN INJUSTICE: In spite of the scientific evidence, the Biden Administration discharged healthy service members—many of whom had natural immunity and dedicated their entire lives to serving our country—for refusing the COVID vaccine. Government redress of these wrongful dismissals is overdue.
    From 2021 to 2023, the Biden Administration and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discharged over 8,000 troops solely due to their COVID-19 vaccination status.
    Such dismissals likely had a chilling effect on recruitment, with the Department of Defense missing its collective recruiting targets by around 41,000 recruits in FY2023.
    After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin.

    CHARTING A NEW COURSE FORWARD: In 2024, President Trump declared that “there should have never been a [COVID vaccine] mandate. That should have never happened.” 
    President Trump went on to lament that, due to the mandate, “we’ve lost some of our best people in the military too.”
    President Trump duly promised in 2024 that he “will rehire every patriot who was fired from the military with…backpay. They will get their backpay…”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restores Merit and Lethality to America’s Armed Forces

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    ELIMINATING RACE- AND SEX-BASED DISCRIMINATION WITHIN THE ARMED FORCES: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to restore merit and lethality to America’s fighting force. 
    The Executive Order bans the use of discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences by any element of the Armed Forces, the Department of Defense, or the Department of Homeland Security.  
    This Order also abolishes any remnant of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy within the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

    The Secretary of Defense will task the Department of Defense with conducting an internal review of all instances of race- or sex-based discrimination based on Department of Defense DEI initiatives.
    This Order also requires the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to review the curriculum at the United States Service Academies and other academic institutions to ensure these institutions eliminate radical DEI and gender ideologies.

    ENDING AN ERA OF ASSAULT ON MILITARY DISCIPLINE AND CULTURE: Foreign adversaries are strengthening their fighting forces every day while the United States has deliberately been focused on radical ideology like DEI. The world is watching. 
    Prior to harmful changes introduced by the Obama and Biden administrations, the United States military offered equality of opportunity to every American capable of and interested in serving their country. Yet these two administrations exploited the military in favor of identity politics—harming our national defense, undermining the non-political nature of our military, and eroding morale and recruitment.
    Due to this “woke” assault, the Services together logged their lowest recruiting records since 1940 with a 41,000-troop shortfall in 2023.

    Today’s Order moves our military away from this dark period and renews esprit de corps, readiness, and focus. It returns the Pentagon to the warfighter.
    This Order also combats ideologies that seek to divide our Armed Forces by race, sex or other immutable characteristics and thus tear at cohesion and military efficacy.
    RESTORING A WARFIGHTING MINDSET: The Armed Forces of the United States exist to preserve our freedom and the American way of life. 
    President Trump is committed to a merit-based system of sex-neutral policies and colorblind recruitment, promotion, and retention that will return our military to greatness.
    President Trump vowed to get rid of the “woke” generals who prioritize social experiments over warfighting. He stated in his 2024 reelection campaign that “…[y]ou can’t have a woke military…You need people that want to win. They want to win wars. That’s what their purpose is, to win wars, not to be woke… but we do have great military.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Ensures Military Excellence and Readiness

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    PRIORITIZING SERVICEMEMBER INTEGRITY, LETHALITY, AND HEALTH: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Department of Defense to update its guidance regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.
    The Executive Order will require the Secretary of Defense to do the following:
    Update all Department of Defense medical standards to ensure they prioritize readiness and lethality.
    Take action to end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns in the Department of Defense.

    The Executive Order also prohibits males from using or sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.
    The provisions in the Executive Order also apply to the Coast Guard.
    The Executive Order revokes Biden Administration Executive Order 14004 and all policies, directives, and guidance pursuant to that order.
    Executive Order 14004 called for accommodating “gender identity” in the military—to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.

    RESTORING SANITY IN OUR MILITARY: During the Biden Administration, the Department of Defense allowed gender insanity to pervade our military organizations, family, and culture. This included not only permitting the military to increase the number of individuals not physically or mentally prepared to serve, but also ordering the Department of Defense to pay for servicemembers’ transition surgeries, as well as those of their dependent children—at a cost of millions of dollars to the American taxpayer.
    The United States imposes rigorous standards on all military servicemembers to ensure they are prepared to take on the challenges required of them.
    Fitness, health, welfare, and readiness standards must ensure that our military members are able to deploy, fight, and win.
    On the battlefield there can be no accommodation for anything less than resilience, strength, and the ability to withstand extraordinary physical demands.
    Individuals who are unable to meet these requirements are unable to serve in the military. This has been the case for decades.

    Unit cohesion requires high levels of integrity and stability among servicemembers.
    It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy narcotics.
    During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements.

    A LETHAL FIGHTING FORCE: President Trump’s priority to have a ready, able, and lethal military will remain a core tenant of his second term.
    During his first term in 2018, President Trump’s Department of Defense took action to ensure trans-identifying servicemembers did not serve in capacities that undermined unit cohesion and lethality.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: KnowBe4’s Top 10 Tips to Take Charge of Your Data on Data Privacy Day

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TAMPA BAY, FL, Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KnowBe4, the world-renowned cybersecurity platform that comprehensively addresses human risk management, celebrates Data Privacy Day with practical and impactful recommendations to help individuals and organizations take charge of their data security.

    In an age where data is constantly collected, shared, and monetized, Data Privacy Day serves as an annual reminder about the importance of protecting and facilitating online privacy. Data Privacy Day began in the United States in January 2008 as an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration in Europe and is officially led by NCSA in North America. The National Cybersecurity Alliance has expanded it into Data Privacy Week, with the 2025 theme ‘Take Control of Your Data’, which encourages individuals to reclaim their digital autonomy through simple, actionable steps to make informed privacy choices. For organizations, the message emphasizes the need to respect and prioritize users’ data privacy.

    Data privacy is more critical than ever, especially when social media platforms, AI chatbots and connected devices have increased publicly available digital footprints. This creates opportunities for the misuse of personal information and data traces which can lead to incidents of identity theft, financial fraud, and even psychological harm.

    Recognizing the shared responsibility of safeguarding data, DePaula shares the 10 top tips for individuals and organizations to help take control of their data in 2025:

    Tips for Individuals

    1. Vet your apps and tools: Before using new apps, check their data usage policies, control options, and origin to ensure they are trustworthy.
    2. Optimize IoT device privacy: Adjust settings in your IoT device apps to enhance privacy, such as disabling voice recordings, limiting data storage, or controlling ad preferences.
    3. Educate your family: Discuss online safety with family members, especially children, covering topics like avoiding sharing personal information, recognizing suspicious links, and managing location sharing.
    4. Set up a reputable password manager: Use it for critical accounts and generate strong, unique passwords.
    5. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA): Activate MFA, preferably with a FIDO token, for critical accounts as an added layer of protection.

    Tips for Organizations

    1. Minimize data collection: Only collect and store data that is essential for business operations. Eliminate unnecessary personal or payment information.
    2. Communicate transparency in privacy policies: Clearly explain what data is collected, how it is used, and with whom it is shared.
    3. Train employees: Educate all employees on data protection regulations, while training them to recognize the latest social engineering attacks and other security risks.
    4. Encrypt personal data: Protect personal data—at rest and in transit—from unauthorized access or exposure.
    5. Vet vendors and partners: As a ‘responsible party’, your organization is responsible and accountable for protecting the data of its subject – even if the processing is outsourced to third parties. Ensure that any external parties handling your organization’s data maintain a high standard of privacy and protection.

    “The new year brings a wave of challenges, especially with the rapid advancements and creation of AI-driven technologies,” said DePaula. “For AI to function effectively, it relies on vast amounts of data being collected and utilized, which raises important questions about privacy, transparency, and ethics. It is up to every organization to take responsibility, not just in regards to how data is handled, but in fostering a culture of accountability. “We have an obligation to build and maintain trust as we navigate our digital landscape.”

    For more insights and best practices on data privacy, visit www.knowbe4.com.

    About KnowBe4

    KnowBe4 empowers workforces to make smarter security decisions every day. Trusted by over 70,000 organizations worldwide, KnowBe4 helps to strengthen security culture and manage human risk. KnowBe4 offers a comprehensive AI-driven ‘best-of-suite’ platform for Human Risk Management, creating an adaptive defense layer that fortifies user behavior against the latest cybersecurity threats. The HRM+ platform includes modules for awareness & compliance training, cloud email security, real-time coaching, crowdsourced anti-phishing, AI Defense Agents, and more. As the only global security platform of its kind, KnowBe4 utilizes personalized and relevant cybersecurity protection content, tools and techniques to mobilize workforces to transform from the largest attack surface to an organization’s biggest asset.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Gilat Receives $4M in Orders for Advanced Portable Satellite Terminals from Global Defense Customers

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PETAH TIKVA, Israel, Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ, TASE: GILT), a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions, and services, announced today that its wholly owned US-based subsidiary, Gilat DataPath, has been awarded $4M contracts from global Defense customers. These orders, for the company’s CCT200, CCT120 and QCT90 portable terminals, are slated for delivery over the next 12 months.

    Gilat DataPath’s C-Series and Q-Series Portable Satellite Antenna Terminals (PSATs) are renowned for their robust performance and rugged design. Engineered to withstand harsh environmental conditions such as wind, rain, dust, and extreme temperatures, these terminals are rigorously tested to meet the MIL-STD-810G standard while maintaining a compact and sleek design.

    The advanced antenna technology powering the CCT200, CCT120, and QCT90 ensures reliable, high-speed connectivity in even the most challenging operational environments. These follow-on orders reflect the continued trust and satisfaction of defense organizations worldwide with Gilat DataPath’s solutions.

    “The global defense landscape demands reliable, high-performance communication solutions capable of operating seamlessly under extreme conditions,” said Nicole Robinson, President of Gilat DataPath. “Gilat DataPath portable SATCOM terminals are meticulously designed to meet these requirements, offering exceptional durability, ease of transport, and operational simplicity. These terminals empower Ministries of Defense with the critical connectivity they need to support diverse and dynamic military operations.”

    Gilat DataPath innovative SATCOM solutions continue to strengthen its position as a trusted partner for defense organizations around the globe, ensuring mission-critical communications are always within reach.

    About Gilat
    Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT, TASE: GILT) is a leading global provider of satellite-based broadband communications. With over 35 years of experience, we create and deliver deep technology solutions for satellite, ground, and new space connectivity and provide comprehensive, secure end-to-end solutions and services for mission-critical operations, powered by our innovative technology. We believe in the right of all people to be connected and are united in our resolution to provide communication solutions to all reaches of the world.

    Our portfolio includes a diverse offering to deliver high-value solutions for multiple orbit constellations with very high throughput satellites (VHTS) and software-defined satellites (SDS). Our offering is comprised of a cloud-based platform and high-performance satellite terminals; high-performance Satellite On-the-Move (SOTM) antennas; highly efficient, high-power Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA) and Block Upconverters (BUC) and includes integrated ground systems for commercial and defense, field services, network management software, and cybersecurity services.

    Gilat’s comprehensive offering supports multiple applications with a full portfolio of products and tailored solutions to address key applications including broadband access, mobility, cellular backhaul, enterprise, defense, aerospace, broadcast, government, and critical infrastructure clients all while meeting the most stringent service level requirements. For more information, please visit: http://www.gilat.com

    Certain statements made herein that are not historical are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “estimate”, “project”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gilat to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, inability to maintain market acceptance to Gilat’s products, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications, rapid changes in the market for Gilat’s products, loss of market share and pressure on prices resulting from competition, introduction of competing products by other companies, inability to manage growth and expansion, loss of key OEM partners, inability to attract and retain qualified personnel, inability to protect Gilat’s proprietary technology and risks associated with Gilat’s international operations and its location in Israel, including those related to the war and hostilities between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Yemen and the instability in the middle east; and other factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Gilat’s most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions contained in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Gilat undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Contact:
    Gilat Satellite Networks
    Hagay Katz, Chief Products and Marketing Officer
    hagayk@gilat.com

    Alliance Advisors:
    GilatIR@allianceadvisors.com
    Phone: +1 212 838 3777

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CFS follows up on beverages that might contain high levels of chlorate

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    CFS follows up on beverages that might contain high levels of chlorate
    CFS follows up on beverages that might contain high levels of chlorate
    **********************************************************************

         The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is very concerned about media reports on some batches of several kinds of beverages of the Coca-Cola Company that might contain higher levels of chlorate which are being recalled in certain areas in Europe. The CFS today (January 28) has contacted local importers and retailers to follow up on the incident. A preliminary investigation by the CFS revealed that Swire Coca-Cola HK Ltd has not imported or sold the affected batches of products.     Chlorate is a pesticide and a disinfectant against bacteria. Long-term intake of excessive chlorate may affect the thyroid function. Members of the public are advised not to consume the affected batches of the products if they have purchased any overseas. The trade should also stop using or selling the products concerned immediately.     Details of the products concerned are as follows:(1)Brand: FUZE TEAProduct name: BLACK TEA PEACH HIBISCUS, GREEN TEA MANGO CHAMOMILE, SPARKLING BLACK TEA LEMONProduction code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 200ml glass, 250ml can and 330ml can(2)Brand: FANTAProduct name: ORANGE, ZERO SUGAR ORANGE, AGRUMES, EXOTIC, LEMON, ZERO SUGAR PINEAPPLE GRAPEFRUITProduction code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 200ml glass, 250ml can and 330ml can(3)Brand: MINUTE MAIDProduct name: MULTIVITAMINS, APPLE Production code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 200ml glass and 150ml can(4)Brand: COCA-COLAProduct name: ORIGINAL TASTE, ZERO SUGAR, ZERO SUGAR NO CAFFEINE, LIGHT, CHERRY, ZERO SUGAR CHERRY, ZERO SUGAR VANILLAProduction code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 200ml glass, 1 litre glass, 150ml can, 250ml can and 330ml can(5)Brand: NALUProduct name: ENERGY GREEN, EXOTIC, BOTANICAL YUZU ROSEMARY, FROST, BOTANICAL STRAWBERRY RHUBARBProduction code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 250ml can and 330ml can(6)Brand: ROYAL BLISSProduct name: TONIC WATER, AGRUMES YLANG YLANGProduction code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 250ml can(7)Brand: SPRITEProduct name: LEMON-LIME, ZERO SUGAR Production code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 250ml can and 330ml can(8)Brand: TROPICOProduct name: L’ORIGINALProduction code: 328GE to 338GEPackaging: 330ml can     The CFS will closely monitor the progress of the incident. An investigation is ongoing.

     
    Ends/Tuesday, January 28, 2025Issued at HKT 19:43

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI: RecycLiCo Battery Materials Engages Carmot Strategic Group and Penney Capital for Grants and Cooperative Funding Consultation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SURREY, British Columbia, Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc. (“RecycLiCo” or the “Company”), (TSX.V: AMY | OTCQB: AMYZF| FSE: ID4), a pioneer in the field of lithium-ion battery recycling technology, is pleased to announce that it has engaged Penney Capital and Carmot Strategic Group, Inc. to assist in the company’s efforts to identify, and qualify for, government funding opportunities that could be used to further RecycLiCo’s critical mineral recovery activities in the U.S. and Canada, including research to enhance and find new applications for its current intellectual property and know-how and the continued exploitation of its upcycling technology.

    Carmot Strategic and Penney Capital advisory companies have won multiple federal grants to develop domestic sources of Critical Minerals, from mining and processing to advanced materials manufacturing, as well as developing innovative financial instruments to integrate these materials into U.S. supply chains.

    “We are very pleased to have Carmot Strategic and Penney Capital working with us,” said Richard Sadowsky, RecycLiCo’s Interim Chief Executive Officer. “Critical mineral recovery and reuse are becoming increasingly important, especially in terms of national security. The RecycLiCo Board has mandated that we explore new ways to exploit our recovery expertise and, at the same time, continue to offer high-quality upcycling of battery materials. We hope, with Carmot and Penney’s assistance, to establish relationships with government agencies that will support increases in the pace of both R&D and deployment.”

    About RecycLiCo

    RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc. is a battery materials company specializing in sustainable lithium-ion battery upcycling and materials production. RecycLiCo has developed advanced technologies that efficiently recover battery-grade materials from lithium-ion batteries, addressing the global demand for environmentally friendly solutions in energy storage. With minimal processing steps and up to 99% extraction of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. RecycLiCo’s hydrometallurgical process turns lithium-ion battery waste into battery-grade cathode precursor, lithium hydroxide, and lithium carbonate for direct integration into the re- manufacturing of new lithium-ion batteries.

    About Penney Capital

    Founded in 2017 by President & CEO Clark Penney, Penney Capital excels at navigating, connecting, and expanding new development opportunities and large-investment infrastructure projects.

    Prior to founding Penney Capital, Clark Penney began his career working on energy and defense committees with the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. and with the president pro tempore. Later, he branched into the finance industry for over 10 years: co-founding Cypress Wealth Management, a private wealth management firm now with over $1 billion in assets under management and offices in Alaska and California, where he remains a partner.

    Today, Penney Capital’s resume includes leading economic development with The State of Alaska, new development projects worth over $2 billion, and other areas of expertise including resource development, financial technology firms, cryptocurrency, campaigns, wireless technology, and manufacturing.

    About Carmot Strategic Group

    Established in 2008 by Daniel McGroarty, Carmot Strategic Group, Inc. is an issues management firm focused on Critical Mineral development, based in the Washington, D.C. area.

    A recognized subject matter expert on Critical Minerals, Daniel McGroarty serves on the advisory boards of several companies developing U.S.-based Critical Mineral projects. He has testified on Critical Mineral issues before both U.S. Senate and House committees on energy and natural resources and served a term as Independent Advisory Board Member of the Critical Materials Institute, the Department of Energy’s Energy Innovation Hub. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, he served in senior positions in the U.S. Government, as special assistant at the White House and Presidential appointee at the Department of Defense.

    For more information, please contact:
    Teresa Piorun
    Senior Corporate Secretary
    Telephone: 778-574-4444
    Email: InvestorServices@RecycLiCo.com

    Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain “forward-looking statements”, which are statements about the future based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward–looking statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate or true. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hear the experts give the real facts on California water

    Source: US State of California 2

    Jan 27, 2025

    LOS ANGELES — Scientists, water managers, state leaders, and experts throughout the state are calling out the federal administration’s ongoing misinformation campaign on water management in California. Here is a snapshot of what water leaders and media are saying in California and nationally:

    State water officials and water districts weigh in 

    Association of California Water Agencies: “Water supply has not hindered firefighting efforts. Reservoirs in California are at or above average storage levels for this time of year, thanks in part to years of proactive water management.” 

    Deven Upadhyay, Metropolitan Water District: “The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has enough water in storage to meet roughly three years of water demand. We can deliver what our agencies need.”

    Marty Adams, former general manager and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power or DWP: “ There’s way more water in local storage than you could ever fight a fire with.”

    Jennifer Pierre, general manager, State Water Contractors: “The policies currently in place overseeing the movement of California water maximize supply in compliance with the law and based on best available science.”

    Leading state researchers and university professors 

    Tom Holyke, Fresno State University political science and water policy professor: “There is no ‘valve…’”

    Letitia Grenier, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center: “The transfer of water from Northern California to Southern California is not related to water availability to fight the fires in the Los Angeles area. Currently, reservoirs in the Los Angeles area are mostly full.”

    Stephanie Pincetl, director of the California Center for Sustainable Communications at UCLA: “We’re finger pointing away from the problem.  We have really no lack of water. What we have is an infrastructure that is not made to fight cataclysmic fires, biblical-size fires.” 

     Community voices push back on misinformation

     Peter Gleick, hydro-climatologist and co-founder of the Pacific Institute: “[Trump’s order on California water policy] is what you get when you mix bluster, ignorance, and disinformation. There are no ‘enormous amounts of water’ that can be redirected legally, economically, or environmentally to different users in California ….” 

    John Buse, general counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity: “It’s difficult to explain what he’s talking about because nobody knows what he’s talking about. The idea of a valve and water will just flow is preposterous.”

    Mark Gold, water scarcity director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: “Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people’s lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible, and it’s happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency. It’s not a matter of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire….”

    “Los Angeles has access to more than enough water to fight the fires. I can say with great authority, we have as much water stored as any time in the history of our agency.”

    LA Water Keeper: “There is no need to increase water deliveries from the Bay-Delta or any other source from which LA imports water for the region to be able to fight the current fires.”   

    Miles Johnson, Columbia Riverkeeper: “That idea [of a valve] is completely far-fetched and detached from reality.”   

    Jason Wise @jasonjourneyman, water and environment influencer: “LA has plenty of water, reservoirs are near full because of the last two years of heavy rain. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to score political points off a tragedy.”

    State and national elected leaders defend California water, rebuke false claims

    Senator Alex Padilla: “Trump is fixated on false claims about California’s water supply. And he’s using it to withhold disaster aid from wildfire victims…Let’s get one easy thing out of the way. There’s no ‘valve’ that needs to be turned.”

    California State Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan: “I hope while Trump is in California he takes us to the giant faucet that he says releases all the water. I chair the state Natural Resource Committee and I’d love to see it. It’s got to be huge. We could turn it on together.”

    Fact checks in the media

    ✅ POLITIFACT: “Experts said that statewide, there are no major reservoirs that have been dry for more than 15 years, and most of California’s reservoirs are above their historic average storage.”

    ✅ New York Times: In California Fires, Trump Blames Newsom for Withholding Water. Experts Say He’s Wrong

    ✅ Wall Street Journal: The LA Fires have sparked waves of criticism and misinformation. Here’s what really happened with the fire hydrants and California’s water system.

    ✅ Washington Post: Trump says a ‘valve’ can fix California’s water. It’s not that easy 

    ✅ Los Angeles Times: Trump wants to alter California water policy. Experts say it could do harm

    ✅ The Guardian: ‘Chaos agent’ Trump revives California water wars as experts warn of turmoil

    ✅ Calmatters: Fact check: Donald Trump’s claims about LA fires and water

    ✅ USA Today: Of fish and men: Trump’s California water order takes aim at Newsom and troubled smelt

    ✅ Capital Public Radio: Conspiracies are rife about water and the LA fires. Here’s what experts say

    ✅ KQED: Trump again wades into California water use fight, drawing skepticism from experts

    ✅ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Fact check: Trump’s blame claims about wildfire response

    ✅ Associated Press: Trump targets California water policy as he prepares to tour LA fire damage

    Get the facts 

    FACT: California pumps as much water now as it could under prior Trump-era policies.   

    FACT: Water reservoirs in Southern California are at record levels. There is no shortage of water in Southern California.

    FACT: Most of Southern California’s water does not come from Northern California. In fact, Southern California gets roughly a third of its water from Northern California, a third from the Colorado River, and a third from local sources.

    FACT: State water operations have nothing to do with the local fire response in Los Angeles. The federal administration’s statements have been repeatedly fact-checked and debunked. 

    FACT: There is no spigot to magically make water appear at a wildfire, despite the administration’s false claims. 

    Recent news

    Jan 25, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Bret Ladine, of Sacramento, has been appointed Director of the Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal). Ladine has been General Counsel at the California State…

    Jan 24, 2025

    News What you need to know: Governor Newsom welcomed President Trump to Los Angeles and pledged to work together to support survivors and secure federal assistance.  LOS ANGELES – Today, Governor Gavin Newsom met with President Trump on the tarmac at Los Angeles…

    Jan 24, 2025

    News What you need to know: Governor Gavin Newsom today met with firefighters who have been on the frontlines battling ongoing flames from the initial Los Angeles firestorm. Los Angeles, California – Taking a moment to reflect on the profound response effort to…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: DOD Media Release: HAWAI‘I AIR NATIONAL GUARD TO CONDUCT EXERCISE SENTRY ALOHA

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    DOD Media Release: HAWAI‘I AIR NATIONAL GUARD TO CONDUCT EXERCISE SENTRY ALOHA

    Posted on Jan 27, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

    STATE OF HAWAI‘I

    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

     

    HAWAI‘I DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

    KA ʻOIHANA PILI KAUA

    OFFICE OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL

    JOSH GREEN, M.D.

    GOVERNOR

    KE KIAʻĀINA

    MAJOR GENERAL STEPHEN F. LOGAN

    ADJUTANT GENERAL

    KA ʻAKUKANA KENELALA

    BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIP L. MALLORY

    DEPUTY ADJUTANT GENERAL

    KA HOPE ʻAKUKANA KENELALA

     

     

    HAWAI‘I AIR NATIONAL GUARD TO CONDUCT EXERCISE SENTRY ALOHA

     

     

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    January 27, 2025

    #2025-001

    JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawai‘i – The Hawai‘i Air National Guard (HIANG) will be hosting a Sentry Aloha fighter exercise from Wednesday, Jan. 29 through Feb. 12. O‘ahu residents, particularly along the island’s southern coast, may see an increase in military aircraft during takeoffs and landings at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. The public may hear more jets and there is a possibility of short flight delays.

    Sentry Aloha is an ongoing series of exercises hosted by the HIANG’s 154th Wing enabling tailored, cost-effective, and realistic combat training for Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force, and other Department of Defense services. It provides U.S. warfighters with the skill sets necessary to perform homeland defense and overseas combat missions.

    Sentry Aloha exercises have been conducted by the HIANG for more than 20 years. This iteration of the exercise, Sentry Aloha 25-1, will involve approximately 800 personnel and over 28 aircraft from four states.

    Visiting units include the F-35C Lightning II’s from California, and KC-135 Stratotankers from Washington and Mississippi. The visiting aircraft will take part in simulated combat exercises with the 199th and 19th Fighter Squadrons’ Hickam-based “Hawaiian Raptors.”

    The 199th Fighter Squadron is part of the 154th Wing, the largest wing in the Air National Guard. The Hawai‘i Air National Guard comprises nearly 2,500 personnel whose federal mission is to be trained and available for active duty Air Force operational missions.

    # # #

    Media contact:

    Maj. (Ret.) Jeffrey D. Hickman

    Director, Public Affairs

    State of Hawai‘i Department of Defense

    Office: 808-441-7000

    Direct: 808-779-8008

    Email: [email protected]

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: DRC: warring parties must prioritise civilian protection and humanitarian access amid ‘devastating violence’ in Goma

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s regional and international partners must put pressure on all parties to the conflict in the east of the country — including the Rwandan-backed M23 fighters, the Rwandan and Congolese armies, and their allies — to prioritise the protection of civilians in the aftermath of the recent fighting in Goma, Amnesty International said today.

    Responding to the escalation of violence in the region, Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said: 

    “Thousands of Congolese civilians are once again fleeing for their lives, in desperate need of safety and humanitarian aid.

    “Civilians face a grave risk of human rights violations amid this latest escalation. Over the past year, both sides have ramped up their use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas, with devastating consequences for civilians.

    “The M23, backed by Rwanda, must comply with international humanitarian law. They must ensure the safety of civilians, including human rights defenders and journalists, and those critical of Rwanda and the M23.

    “Amnesty International calls on all parties to the conflict to prioritise the protection of civilians amid this devastating violence.  With thousands in and around Goma seeking shelter, food, water, sanitation and healthcare, the parties to the conflict must allow the passage of safe and unrestricted humanitarian access to all those in need.”

    Devastating violence

    On Monday (27 January), the M23 declared that it had seized control of Goma, the DRC’s third-largest city and home to nearly two million people. This development occurred despite the UN Secretary General’s call for Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the DRC and cease its support for the M23 fighters. Reports from the city described ongoing gunfire and explosions, alongside unverified reports on social media and by journalists of looting, indiscriminate shooting, and shelling in the city. The DRC government has not officially acknowledged losing control of Goma.

    Humanitarian organisations, including Medecins Sans Frontieres, report that over 400,000 people were displaced in January due to the ongoing conflict in the region. Many sought refuge in and around Goma, a city that was already sheltering over 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).

    Reports from Rwandan media indicated that Rwanda has received several civilians seeking refuge, while others fled Goma to Bukavu, provincial capital of South Kivu, via Lake Kivu. Following the capture of Goma, the M23 ordered the suspension of all activities on the lake, which could hinder the movement of people fleeing the fighting in Goma. Certain areas of the city are without access to water and electricity, as the conflict has damaged critical infrastructure.

    Military operation

    On 18 January, the M23, backed by Rwandan forces, launched a military operation to expand its territory, violating a ceasefire agreement between Rwanda and the DRC established through the Luanda Peace Process. On 21 January, the M23 claimed to have captured several cities, including the strategically important supply city of Minova in South Kivu province, located about 20 kilometres from Goma across Lake Kivu.

    On 24 January, heavy fighting was reported near Sake, more than 20 kilometres north-west of Goma, where the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC), supported by the Southern African Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIRDRC), UN forces (MONUSCO), and a coalition of militia groups, were seeking to halt the M23’s advance toward Goma. The same day, a spokesperson for the M23, as well as Rwandan media, said the military governor of North Kivu, General Peter Cirimwami, was shot while visiting troops on the frontlines near Sake. His death was later confirmed by Congolese officials.

    According to a statement issued on 25 January by the South African National Defence Force, nine South African soldiers deployed under SAMIRDRC and UN forces were killed in the fighting. Malawi authorities also reported the deaths of three of their soldiers serving in the SAMIRDRC.

     

    The UN Security Council met on 26 January to assess the situation in North-Kivu. The next day, M23 rebels said they had taken control of Goma. In its statement, the Security Council condemned M23’s advances in North-Kivu and called on the armed group to stop its offensive as it gave rise to a major humanitarian crisis and called for the protection of civilians. The Security Council also called for the withdrawal of the external forces from DRC and re-affirmed the sovereignty of the DRC. The Security Council’s decisions should be respected and implemented by all parties.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: 76th Republic Day celebrations to come to a close with the melodious Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk

    Source: Government of India (2)

    76th Republic Day celebrations to come to a close with the melodious Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk

    All Indian tunes (30) to be played by the bands of the three Services & CAPF

    Posted On: 28 JAN 2025 12:54PM by PIB Delhi

    In the majestic backdrop of a setting sun over the Raisina Hills, the iconic Vijay Chowk is set to immerse in the melodies of Indian tunes during the Beating Retreat ceremony, marking the culmination of 76th Republic Day celebrations on January 29, 2025. The bands of the Indian Army (IA), the Indian Navy (IN), the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will play 30 foot-tapping Indian tunes before a distinguished audience, comprising President Smt Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, other Union Ministers, senior officials and the public.

    The ceremony will begin with the massed band’s ‘Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja’ tune, followed by captivating tunes such as ‘Amar Bharati’, ‘Indradhanush’, ‘Jai Janam Bhumi’, ‘Nati in Himalayan Valley’, ‘Ganga Jamuna’ and ‘Veer Siachen’ by the Pipes & Drums band. The CAPF bands will play ‘Vijay Bharat’, ‘Rajasthan Troops’, ‘Aye Watan Tere Liye and ‘Bharat ke Jawan’.

    ‘Galaxy Rider’, ‘Stride’, ‘Rubaru’ and ‘Millennium Flight Fantasy’ will be the tunes played by the band of IAF, while the IN band will play ‘Rashtriya Pratham’, ‘Nishak Nishpad’, ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, ‘Spread the Light of Freedom’, ‘Rhythm of the Reef’ and ‘Jai Bharati’. It will be followed by IA band which will play ‘Veer Sapoot’, ‘Taqat Watan’, ‘Mera Yuva Bharat’, ‘Dhruv’ and ‘Faulad Ka Jigar’.

    The Massed Bands will, then, play the tunes ‘Priyam Bharatam’, ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ and ‘Drummers Call’. The event will come to a close with the ever-popular tune of ‘Sare Jahan se Acha’ to be played by the Buglers.

    The principal conductor of the ceremony will be Commander Manoj Sebastian. The IA Band conductor will be Subedar Major (Honorary Captain) Bishan Bahadur, while M Antony, MCPO MUS II and Warrant Officer Ashok Kumar will be the conductors of IN and IAF respectively. The conductor of CAPF band will be Head Constable GD Mahajan Kailash Madhava Rao.

    The Pipes & Drums band will play under the instructions of Subedar Major Abhilash Singh, while the Buglers will perform under the leadership of Naib Subedar Bhupal Singh.

    ***

    SR/Savvy

    (Release ID: 2096921) Visitor Counter : 100

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: English rendering of PM’s speech at NCC Rally at the Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 27 JAN 2025 8:08PM by PIB Delhi

    My colleagues in the Union Cabinet, Shri Rajnath Singh Ji, Sanjay Seth Ji, CDS- General Anil Chauhan Ji, Chiefs of the three Armed Forces, Defence Secretary Shri, DG NCC, other guests and my dear friends from NCC!  Best wishes to all of you on the occasion of NCC Day. Today, around 150 cadets from 18 friendly countries are also present here among us. I welcome all these cadets. I also congratulate the colleagues of Mera Yuva Bharat, MY Bharat, associated with the country.  

    Friends,

    Being selected for the Republic Day parade is an achievement in itself. This year’s parade was also special because our republic has completed 75 years. Friends, these memories will stay with you for life. In the future, you will definitely remember that when the Republic completed 75 years, we took part in the parade. My heartiest congratulations to those friends who have received the Best Cadet Award. I recently got the opportunity to flag off many NCC missions here. Such efforts of NCC connect India’s heritage with youth aspirations. I wish all the best to the cadets involved in these missions.

    Friends,

    NCC was established during the period when the country got independence. In a way, the journey of your organization started even before the Constitution of the country. In the 75 years of the Republic, the Constitution of India always gave democratic inspiration to the country and explained the importance of civic duties. Similarly, NCC also always inspired the youth of India to build the nation and explained the importance of discipline to them. I am satisfied that in the past years, the government has done a lot of work to increase both the scope and responsibility of NCC. NCC has been expanded in our border areas, the districts adjoining the sea border. 

    Today, NCC has reached more than 170 border talukas and nearly 100 coastal talukas of the country. I would also like to congratulate the three armies. You took the responsibility of specially training the young NCC cadets of these districts. Today thousands of youth living on the border have benefited from this. We are also seeing the result of reform in NCC in the number of cadets. In 2014, the number of NCC cadets was approximately 14 lakh. Today this number has reached 20 lakh. It is a matter of pride that there are more than 8 lakh girl cadets, our daughters. Today our NCC cadets are playing an important role in disaster management. NCC cadets are also flying their flag in the world of sports. I am proud that NCC is the world’s largest uniformed youth organisation.

    Friends,

    You are going to determine the development of India and the world in the 21st century. The youth of India are not only a force for India, but also a force for global good. Today the world is accepting this. Recently a report has been published in the newspapers. What has been told in it is very important. In the last decade, the youth of India have created 1.5 lakh start-ups and more than 100 unicorns. Today more than 200 big companies of the world are led by people of Indian origin. These companies are contributing millions of crores of rupees to the global GDP, helping to change the lives of crores of people. Indian scientists, Indian researchers, teachers of India are also accelerating the progress of the world. That is, be it any sector, it is difficult to imagine the future of the world without the youth power of India, without the talent of India. And that is why I call all of you a force for global good.

    Friends,

    Be it a person or a country, its strength increases when it overcomes unnecessary obstacles. I am satisfied that in the last 10 years, we have worked to remove all the obstacles that the youth of India faced, whatever they were. This has increased the strength of the youth of India, the strength of the country. In 2014, you would have been 10 or 12 or 14 years old, just ask your family what the situation was earlier, for example, attestation of documents. Earlier, whether it was admission, examination, recruitment, filling any form, one had to get the documents attested by a gazetted officer, and there used to be a lot of running around in this. Our government removed this difficulty of the youth, and trusted you, now you can verify your documents by self-attesting. Earlier, the youth used to face a lot of difficulties in applying for scholarships, getting scholarships. There used to be a lot of manipulation in the scholarship money, the money did not go to the children’s accounts. Now the single window system has eliminated all the old problems. Earlier there was another big problem regarding the selection of subjects. If you took a subject while studying after the board, then it was difficult to change it. Now the new National Education Policy gives you the flexibility to change subjects as per your wish.

    Friends,

    There was a time 10 years ago when young people could not get bank loans easily. Banks used to say that if you want a loan, first give some guarantee. In 2014, when the people of the country gave me the opportunity to serve as the Prime Minister, I said, I will take the guarantee for the youth of my country. We started the Mudra Yojana which gives loans without bank guarantee. Earlier, loans up to Rs 10 lakh were available without guarantee. Now in the third term of the government, we have increased it to 20 lakhs. In 10 years, we have given more than 40 lakh crore rupees under Mudra loan. Lakhs of youth like you have started their business by taking help from this loan.

    Friends,

    Another important issue related to the future of the youth is the electoral system of the country. Just two days ago, we celebrated National Voters’ Day. Many of you have become first-time voters. The purpose of Voters’ Day is that the maximum number of voters should participate and use their right. Today, the world’s biggest elections are held in India, but another aspect of this is that elections keep happening in India every few months. After independence, it used to happen for a long time when Lok Sabha and Assembly elections used to be held simultaneously. But then this pattern broke, the country has suffered a lot due to this. In every election, the voting list is updated, a lot of work is done, and you must have seen that our teachers are often put on duty in this, due to which studies are affected, preparations for exams are affected. Due to frequent elections, there are also difficulties in governance. Therefore, a very important debate is going on in the country these days. Everyone is giving their views on this subject and this deliberation is very necessary in democracy, everyone should express their views, this is necessary, and what is debate – One Nation One Election. Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be held together, and every 5 years when the time is fixed, it should be held. So, there will be relief from the new works that get stopped in between. 

    Today, I especially request the youth of India, I request the NCC cadets, I request the volunteers of MY Bharat, I request the NSS comrades, wherever we are, we should conduct this debate, take the debate forward, lead the debate, we should participate in this debate in large numbers. This is a subject directly related to your future. Even in a country like America, the date of formation of a new government is fixed, there elections are held every four years. In your own college or school also, the student council elections are completed in one go. Just think, if elections keep happening every month, will it be possible to study in a university or college? Therefore, you should lead the debate on One Nation-One Election; there should be a nationwide discussion so that the country can decide to move in the right direction.

    Friends,

    Today, the world of the 21st century is changing very fast. Today, the demand of time is that we also have to move forward at a very fast pace. All of you, the youth of the country, have a big role in this. In every sector, in every field, whether it is the field of art, research, innovation, you have to create new energy with your innovative ideas, creativity. Another such important field is politics. The youth of our country should come in the field of politics as much as possible, come with new suggestions, come with new energy, come with innovative ideas. This is the need of the country today. That is why I have said from the Red Fort that one lakh youth should come into politics. What is the power of youth, we have also seen this during the Vikas Bharat: Young India Dialogue. Lakhs of youth from across the country have given their invaluable suggestions, expressed their views for the creation of a developed India.

    Friends,

    During the freedom struggle, people of every profession in the country had set their only goal – the freedom of the country, and the youth participated in it with great enthusiasm, made sacrifices, and spent their youth in jails. Similarly, in this Amrit Kaal, we have to keep only one goal – developed India. The criterion of every decision of ours, the criterion of every work, should be a Developed India. And for this, we have to always remember our Panch Pranas. Pancha Prana means – we have to make a developed India, we have to get freedom from every thought of slavery, we have to be proud of our heritage, we have to work for the unity of India, and we have to perform our duties honestly. These Panch Pranas are the ones who give direction to every Indian, they are the inspiration of every Indian. The wonderful cultural performances that you have given now also reflect this. The feeling of one India – the best India is a great strength of the country. The Maha Kumbh that is going on in Prayag these days, there too this reflection of the unity of the country is visible. Therefore, this Maha Kumbh is a Maha Kumbh of unity. This unity is necessary for the progress of the country.

    Friends,

    You also have to always keep your duties in mind. A grand and divine developed India will be built on the foundation of duties.

    Friends,

    Today when I have come amongst you, I am seeing your zeal and enthusiasm, I had written some lines at one time, those lines are coming to my mind today, I had written at one time-

    असंख्य भुजाओं की शक्ति है, हर तरफ देश की भक्ति है

    तुम उठो तिरंगा लहरा दो, भारत के भाग्य को फहरा दो

    कुछ ऐसा नहीं जो कर ना सको, कुछ ऐसा नहीं जो पा ना सको

    तुम उठ जाओ, तुम जुट जाओ

    सामर्थ्य को अपने पहचानो, कर्तव्य को अपने सब जानो !

    Friends,

    Once again, I wish you all the best for your bright future and many thanks to you all. Say it with me-

    Bhaarat maata kee jai.

    Bhaarat maata kee jai.

    Bhaarat maata kee jai.

    Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram.

    Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram.

    Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram.

    Vande Mataram

    DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Threat detection systems on Royal Navy warships upgraded

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    More than 200 UK jobs will be supported through a new contract to boost the Royal Navy’s warship combat systems and increase their ability to track, analyse and respond to threats in combat.

    More than 200 UK jobs will be supported through a new contract to boost the Royal Navy’s warship combat systems and increase their ability to track, analyse and respond to threats in combat.  

    The contract, worth £285 million, has been awarded to BAE Systems, to maintain and modernise vital combat management systems (CMS) on Royal Navy vessels, including Type 23 frigates, Type 45 destroyers, Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and Type 26 frigates.

    Such systems provide warship crews with all the information they need to track, analyse and respond to threats in combat. The contract will support hundreds of jobs across the UK delivering on the government’s Plan for Change. 

    Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Maria Eagle MP said:

    This significant investment in our industry is another example of how our Government is making defence an engine for growth.  

    We are strengthening the UK’s defences while supporting growth, with hundreds of high-skilled jobs, to help deliver on our Plan for Change.   

    By working with British industry we’re ensuring our Royal Navy has the advanced technology it needs while strengthening our domestic defence industrial base.

    The project, dubbed RECODE (Real-time Combat System Open Data Enablers), will sustain more than 200 highly skilled UK jobs at BAE Systems in Filton, Dorchester, New Malden, Frimley and Portsmouth. It will also create additional investment in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and high-tech suppliers across the UK.  

    The CMS is the primary method for Royal Navy operators to interact with weapons and sensors. The system supports operators in their Decide and Enable functions by providing a range of tools including:  

    • Situation awareness.
    • Tactical picture compilation.
    • Threat evaluation and weapon assignment.
    • Navigation and blind pilotage.
    • Weapon direction and control.

    The upgrades announcement comes just a week after the Royal Navy was tracking a Russian spy ship, Yantar, in British waters. The Royal Navy was able to follow its every move before the Russian ship left for the Mediterranean waters.  Crucial upgrades such as RECODE will further improve the Royal Navy’s crucial deterrence capabilities.  

    This builds on the strategic aims of the Government’s upcoming Defence Industrial Strategy, aligning national security with a high-growth economy to support the Plan for Change.   

    The combat management systems provide Royal Navy crews with essential situational awareness and operational capabilities. The new contract builds on 25 years of BAE Systems’ combat management expertise supporting the Royal Navy.  

    The Government is developing a full Defence Industrial Strategy, which the Defence Secretary launched in December, to ensure Defence is an engine for UK growth.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 January 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –