The Air Force has temporarily suspended L-3 Communications’ special support programs division (formerly known as the joint operations group) from receiving new federal contracts after finding that it improperly monitored e-mail traffic on the government’s computer network for its “own private corporate intelligence-gathering” purposes. The decision is pending the completion of a criminal investigation into the matter. According to a June 3 memo from the Air Force’s deputy general counsel, L-3 JOG “purposefully and intentionally” monitored the e-mails of its employee, other government contractors, and even US government employees, using US Special Operations Command’s computer network. The memo states that the company “has admitted to conducting the surveillance.” None of these actions were appropriate or adhered to the standards of ethical business conduct, states the memo. (Air Force memo) (See Reuters news wire service June 10 report)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.