Pentagon restricts use of fitness trackers, other devices
A new Pentagon order says military troops and other defense personnel on certain sensitive bases and warzone areas won’t be allowed to use fitness tracker or cellphone applications that can reveal their location.
The memo stops short of banning the fitness trackers or other electronic devices, which are often linked to cellphone applications and can provide the users’ GPS details to social media. It says technologies on personal or government-issued devices that can pinpoint a person’s location present a significant risk to military personnel, so those capabilities must be turned off in certain operational areas.
Military leaders will determine if their troops can use the GPS function, based on the security threat in their region.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo, which was signed Aug. 3. AP
U.S. Navy: Welding problem found on missile tubes for new subs
The U.S. Navy says there’s a problem with welds on missile tubes that are going into new submarines.
The Naval Sea Systems Command said Aug. 7 the welding issue was identified on missile tubes that have been delivered to General Dynamics Electric Boat for new ballistic-missile submarines for the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy, and on tubes for weapons being manufactured for new U.S. attack submarines.
The command said BWX Technologies, Inc., a subcontractor to Electric Boat, found the quality control issue. Defense News first reported the story.
Electric Boat is based in Groton, Conn., and has a manufacturing facility in Rhode Island. BWX Technologies is headquartered in Virginia.
The tubes have not been installed on any submarines.
The Navy is working with the Electric Boat to address the issue. AP
Contract employee agrees to pay $124,000 for fraud allegations
An executive with a Hanford Nuclear Reservation private contractor has been accused of taking more than $40,000 in illegal kickbacks.
The U.S. Department of Justice says Richard Olsen, vice president of finance for Mission Support Alliance, has agreed to pay about triple that amount, $124,440, to the federal government to settle civil allegations of accepting kickbacks from Lockheed Martin.
The Tri-City Herald in Richland, Wash., reported Aug. 6 that Mission Support Alliance, once owned by Lockheed, provides a variety of information technology services at the Hanford, Wash., site.
As part of the settlement, Olsen agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
But his attorney says he did not admit any wrongdoing in connection with the investigation.
Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons and now is engaged in cleaning up the waste. AP