Study: Most US service members lack enough sleep — it can be deadly
Getting enough sleep is important, especially when a country’s national security depends on it. A new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the majority of U.S. service members surveyed reported less than 6 hours a night, despite the Department of Defense’s recommended minimum of 7 hours a night.
The new data shows a lack of sleep is also dangerous. The survey found that fatigue led to deadly accidents and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to ships, vehicles and aircraft.
Survey respondents described how sleep issues impacted their work as well. One respondent said that a lack of sleep caused them to nearly collide with another aircraft and one reported falling asleep on the job.
While some of the problems were physical, others were mental.
“I could kill someone because I’m not getting the right sleep,” one anonymous responder said.
The right sleep is important too. Roughly half of the study’s respondents reported poor sleep, even if they did achieve the recommended hours.
In total, the GAO offered nine recommendations for the Department of Defense to implement. One of the recommendations was for the DOD to take steps to address fatigue-related issues, like creating guidance on fatigue management. Researchers also said that the DOD needs better oversight and collaboration when it comes to tackling fatigue in its ranks.
In addition, the study recommends fatigue-related oversight structure and a list of all related research projects to help the DOD learn about the impact of fatigue on service members and operations. The GAO said implementing new policies that help reduce fatigue could save lives and money for the DOD.
The GAO study looked into health data from 2005 to 2018, and interviewed pilots, aviation maintenance workers and missileers.
Mexico busing migrants north despite vow to help US alleviate border crisis
Near Mexico’s southern border, hundreds of families wait for buses headed north to Mexico City. It’s just one stop on a nearly 1,800-mile migration into the United States.
This is a new stop. Buses are available for $80 a ticket to families who may or may not have appointments with immigration officials.
Mexican officials opened the site last month hoping to reduce the risks migrants face traveling north. However, the move appears to be having deadly consequences.
The most recent bus crash killed at least 16 Venezuelan and Haitian migrants. It departed from an immigration center in southern Mexico. The move is also in direct opposition to recent agreements with the U.S.
A crashed bus sits attached to a tow truck the side of the road near Villa de Tepelmeme, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. At least 16 migrants from Venezuela and Peru died early Friday in the bus crash, authorities said. Source: AP Images.
“Almost all of them pass through Mexico, and we must take care of migrants and protect them, but we must avoid an increase in the migrant flux because there is a risk,” Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
The Mexican government’s migration authority said it has deployed over 260 buses and vans to disperse over 8,000 migrants from the southern city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, to other parts of the country.
Mexican authorities had promised to help deport certain migrants to their countries of origin, not help them seek asylum.
“We will continue to take strong actions and measures, including efforts already in place about assisted returns, coordinating the dismantlement of trafficking, human trafficking network,” Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena Ibarra said at a joint press conference.
Bárcena Ibarra added that Mexico receives about 6,000 migrants daily at its southern border, with 1,500 crossing the Darien gap from Colombia, and more than 8,000 people arriving at the country’s northern border daily.
In a statement, Mexico’s National Migration Institute didn’t specify when the deportations would begin or how long they would last. Instead, it emphasized its intention to initiate negotiations with neighboring countries to ensure the orderly repatriation of its citizens to their respective countries.
The institute added from January to September 2023, federal immigration agents have rescued over 1.4 million migrants. More than 788,089 of them have been returned to their countries.
Government officials take action
This move has sparked action by senior government officials from both countries to congregate during the third U.S.-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue — a chance for officials to promote binational safety and security.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will join Mexican government counterparts. It’s a joint meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities.
“For our part, the United States is increasing refugee resettlement and we’re expanding legal pathways,” Blinken said. “Including launching our Safe Mobility initiative, so that people can find out whether they’re eligible to come to the United States from their own countries without having to make the journey to our borders.”
Since 2008, under the framework, $3 billion in aid has been allocated to Mexico. The aid addresses issues related to transnational organized crime and human trafficking.
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), this initiative encompasses various major U.S. contributions, including personnel training and checkpoint equipment aimed at addressing Mexico’s security challenges.
Other programs have focused on providing training and assistance to Mexican officials from the justice sector, border security, military and law enforcement. Mexico has 54 migration stations throughout its 32 states.
Source: Reuters.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) representatives have offered Mexican authorities assistance to address the immigration issue at airports and train stations to reduce the numbers of people who use these routes.
U.S. relations with Mexico
The growing relationship relies on Mexico to help manage cross-border crime and migrant smuggling, while Mexico relies on the U.S. to mitigate the flow of firearms into Mexico and decrease U.S. demand for drugs.
Despite ongoing security assistance, safety in Mexico has significantly worsened over the last 15 years. The United Nations says between 2007 and 2021, the homicide rate in Mexico more than tripled. Deaths rose from eight homicides to 28 per 100,000 people.
According to Mexico, fentanyl seizures have topped nearly 25% of the world’s supply. Simultaneously, more than 200,000 firearms enter Mexico every year in return.
Actions taken by U.S. government
The Department of Homeland Security has announced executive actions allowing border wall construction to continue in southern Texas to mitigate the migration surge.
In addition, DHS has expanded the Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) program. The program expidites the removal of families without a lawful basis to remain. Families are placed into expedited removal proceedings to occur within 30 days. Launched in May, this program has processed over 1,600 families and continues to scale up.
Navy spends tens of millions of dollars on old ships that may never sail again
The U.S. Navy is under scrutiny after a report by a government watchdog found that the military branch is spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars repairing warships that are spending less time at sea. According to the Government Accountability Office, from 2011 to 2020, operating and support costs across 10 ship classes studied increased by $2.5 billion, which includes a $1.2 billion bump in maintenance costs.
For the past six years, the USS Vicksburg has been sitting in a Norfolk, Virginia, shipyard as the Navy spent hundreds of millions of dollars to modernize the 567-foot missile cruiser.
It is unclear whether the USS Vicksburg will ever return to sea, as it is one of 11 vessels the Navy is asking Congress for permission to retire. Each year, the Navy gives a list of ships it hopes to retire to Congress, and this is not the first time the Vicksburg has been on it.
However, Congress does not make it easy for the Navy to get rid of old ships. Repair work means jobs at shipyards in members’ districts, and Congress wants the Navy to keep a high number of ships in its fleet regardless of condition as it races with China for naval superiority in the South Pacific.
Pentagon explains how government shutdown would impact defense
Efforts to approve military and government funding are at a standstill in Congress. The House failed to approve the rules for debate on a bill to fund the military twice — lawmakers didn’t even get to the final vote.
A small group of the chamber’s most conservative Republicans banned together to stop the bill from advancing.
“This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. It doesn’t work,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters.
The Pentagon does not insert itself into politics. Military and civilian officials don’t like to comment on ongoing negotiations, but they aren’t afraid to explain how a government shutdown or continuing resolution will impact them.
“Many of us have been through shutdowns. They are extremely damaging to our readiness, retention and morale,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during the Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
Kendall had a request for Congress.
“Do not put us under a continuing resolution for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Now the ship may have sailed on this request, but CRs of any length are hugely inefficient and delay much needed modernization,” Kendall said.
Kendall said the military could manage a short-term continuing resolution, but anything beyond December would do serious damage to national security. In particular, it would delay funding the Pentagon needs to advance programs meant to deter adversaries including China, Russia and Iran.
The 2024 Defense Authorization Act also authorizes the improvement and replacement of barracks that are low quality in an attempt to improve morale and retention. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that some military barracks had sewage overflows in bathrooms, mold and cracked pipes.
Watchdog: US troops living in unsafe barracks with sewage, methane gas, filth
A government watchdog has announced its findings after studying the living conditions in U.S. military barracks, a concern it said goes back decades. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) began looking into the Department of Defense’s housing management after reports of poor living conditions in barracks surfaced.
According to the report released Tuesday, Sept. 19, The GAO found that the Department of Defense does not reliably assess living conditions, and some barracks “pose potentially serious health and safety risks.”
According to officials, thousands of U.S. service members live in substandard living conditions. The 118-page report details a slew of issues, including broken fire systems, black mold, sewage, squatters, poor water quality and pests.
“One installation we visited in October 2022 had recently closed barracks due to legionella bacteria found in the building plumbing systems — an issue that has been challenging to remediate, according to officials,” the report read.
In some instances, the watchdog reported the smell of methane gas seeping through aging sewage pipes that routinely crack and need to be replaced.
The investigation also found that at one installation, “service members are responsible for cleaning biological waste that may remain in a barracks room after a suicide.”
In the report, the GAO says that the Department of Defense does not have complete funding information, adding that the DOD requested around $15 billion for facility sustainment for 2024. However, according to the report, the department “could not identify” how much of that money would be spent on barracks, or how much has been spent on housing allowances for service members who didn’t live in the barracks due to poor living conditions.
These findings come after the GAO examined and analyzed DOD policies and budgets, conducted interviews with DOD housing officials, and toured barracks at military bases in Texas, California, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.
The Government Accountability Office has given the DOD 31 recommendations to remedy the poor living conditions in which thousands of service members preside. All 31 recommendations are listed as “open,” meaning action has not yet been taken.
Watchdog: COVID pandemic unemployment fraud was up to $135B
A government watchdog agency found that about 15% of all unemployment benefits from the government have been claimed illegally since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. That equates to around $135 billion of the $900 billion in benefits paid from April 2020 to May 2023.
The watchdog’s revelation points to a flawed expedited process with little oversight in paying unemployment benefits as claims increased during the pandemic.
The federal government focused on extending and expanding government assistance relief to make it easier for Americans who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 to apply for and receive benefits. But the rollout of new relief increased the risk of fraudulent claims. Officials in the Government Accountability Office said it is impossible to know the full extent of the fraud.
The investigation concluded the federal government wrongfully paid about 15% of claims. The Labor Department disputes the watchdog’s report and conclusion, questioning the study’s methodology and asserting that it overstated the level of fraud.
The federal government has been heavily scrutinized for the amount of taxpayer money that went to fraudulent schemes for COVID-19 relief.
The Justice Department had a three-month-long sweep of over 50 U.S. attorney’s offices and dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
In August, department officials revealed that the federal government charged 3,195 defendants for pandemic fraud-related charges, seizing over $2.4 billion in COVID-19 relief funds.
More than $200 billion in relief loans and grants were also fraudulently spent. According to the Inspector General for the Small Business Administration, Hannibal “Mike” Ware, that’s almost 20% of all loans disbursed during the pandemic from March 2020 to January 2022.
Russian cyber attack hits US government agencies: June 16 rundown
A global cyber attack linked to a Russian ransomware group has targeted U.S. government agencies, and deadly tornadoes tore through the Texas panhandle. These stories and more highlight the rundown for Friday, June 16, 2023.
U.S. agencies hit in global cyber attack
A global cyber attack has hit several U.S. government agencies. U.S. officials say a Russian ransomware group is to blame.
According to national security, the ransomware group compromised a “vulnerability” in a widely used software. That software makes it convenient for governments and businesses to move large files.
Impacted institutions include:
The U.S. Department of Energy
Multiple Johns Hopkins hospitals
The University of Georgia
British Airways
The Minnesota Department of Education
Officials suspect there could be hundreds of more companies affected. According to U.S. cybersecurity officials, no federal data has been leaked so far in the hack.
The Russia ransomware group suspected of being behind the attack is known to demand multimillion-dollar ransoms. While stolen data is often used for extortion, none of the agencies have reported demands for money.
Teixeira indicted over discord leaks
Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents on the social media app Discord, has now been indicted. He’s facing six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The leaked documents contained information about the war in Ukraine as well as other top national security issues. In May, a judge deemed Teixeira a flight risk and ordered him to remain in jail as he awaits trial.
Tornado kills 3 in Texas panhandle town
A series of spring storms came down hard on the south Thursday, June 15. At least 3 people have died and about 100 people were injured after a tornado came barreling through the Texas panhandle.
This tornado devastated the small town Perryton, Texas. Trailer houses were destroyed, communication towers were torn down, and dozens of people were injured from the high-speed winds and thrown debris.
Meanwhile. Pensacola, Florida saw its share of devastation caused by a series of severe thunderstorms. At least one person died after a tree fell on top of their home.
The latest round of severe weather follows tornadoes that touched down in Alabama earlier this week.
U.S. submarine arrives in South Korea
The U.S.S. Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 tomahawk missiles, arrived in South Korean waters on Friday. The arrival is the first of its kind in 6 years.
It’s part of a recent agreement between the U.S. and South Korea to increase the U.S.’s presence along the Korean peninsula. The two countries’ Navies were set to conduct drills meant to boost their special operations capabilities.
The arrival comes just a day after U.S. and South Korean troops conducted joint live-fire drills at a firing range in South Korea. The goal of the drills are to counteract the growing threat of North Korea’s advancing nuclear program. In protest of the live-fire drills, the North launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast June 15.
“These launches are a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, and they demonstrate the threat of unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the region, to international peace and security, and to the global nonproliferation regime,” State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said Thursday.
Ticketmaster, SeatGeek agree to end hidden fees
Tcketmaster and SeatGeek announced they will no longer have hidden fees applied to their ticket sales. This means the full costs of tickets will be visible to customers up front.
The announcement came the same day President Joe Biden hosted executives from Ticketmaster, SeatGeek and other companies to tout the administration’s work cracking down on “junk fees.”
According to the Government Accountability Office, hidden fees cause the price of an event ticket online to increase by 27% on average.
Pope Francis released from hospital
Pope Francis has been discharged from the hospital nine days after he underwent surgery to repair a hernia in his abdomen. The 86-year-old pope was greeted Friday with a wave of supporters outside the hospital. The surgeon who did the procedure said Francis is “better than before” the hospitalization.
The pope traditionally takes the full month of July off from travel and public appearances. While Francis still plans to attend Sunday blessings, he will have the rest of June and July to rest before he travels to Portugal in August.
