Air Force Vet Indicted for Leaking Secrets on Weapons ‘Vulnerabilities’

Air Force Vet Indicted for Leaking Secrets on Weapons ‘Vulnerabilities’

June 28, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

An Air Force veteran and former civilian employee was indicted this week for leaking classified information on USAF aircraft and weapons. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced the grand jury indictment of Paul J. Freeman on June 27, after Freeman had been arrested and made his initial appearance in federal court. 

Federal officials allege Freeman “transmitted classified national defense information about United States Air Force aircraft and weapons to people not authorized to access the information” repeatedly in 2020 and 2021. A nine-count indictment states Freeman shared information “related to the vulnerabilities” of U.S. Air Force aircraft and weapons. 

Freeman is scheduled for a detention hearing on July 1 at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola, Fla. 

An Air Force spokesperson identified Freeman as a retired lieutenant colonel and developmental engineer who entered service in 1975 as an enlisted Airman, was commissioned an officer in 1984, and retired in 2003. His last active duty station and title was operations officer with the 46th Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is nearby his listed residence Niceville, Fla. 

Freeman appears to have rejoined the service as a civilian after retiring. Records from a separate court case in 2019 indicate an individual identified as Paul J. Freeman of Niceville, Fla., was hired as a civilian in 2003 as an engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The Air Force could not confirm if the two cases involve the same individual. The Department of Justice declined to release any further information beyond its release and indictment. 

According to court records of the 2019 case, Freeman sought court relief after the Air Force fired him from his job in AFRL’s munitions directorate. The records show Freeman was involved with a Special Access Program, meaning it fell into a class of highly classified programs with extra safeguards and controls. Working on that program from 2007 to 2012, the records say, Freeman “sent two emails with classified information from his personal computer … to unauthorized recipients, including several news outlets, government agencies, public officials, and military commanders who were not cleared to receive such information.” The records say Freeman refused to report to his worksite following a 10-day suspension. 

Special Access Programs require individuals to sign nondisclosure agreements and follow other protocols. 

Freeman did not contest that he sent the emails, according to court records, but argued in his appeal that his disclosures were covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, and said he refrained from returning to work because he feared for his safety. A panel of judges from the federal circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals denied his appeal, ruling that Freeman neither qualified for whistleblower protections nor faced any danger in returning to work. 

The unauthorized disclosure of classified information remains a major concern among military and national security leaders. Just this week, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, raised alarms about China’s continued efforts to exfiltrate technological secrets from U.S. defense contractors, for example. And the ongoing case of Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman alleged to have shared hundreds of top secret and classified documents to online chatrooms via his Discord screen name and persona, prompted the Pentagon to undertake several reviews of its security programs and how it tracks insider threats. 

At the same time, officials have warned that China is seeking to recruit U.S. military pilots and operators to train their own aviators and to gain insights into American tactics, techniques, and procedures. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a bulletin earlier this month warning of such moves, and in February the Air Force warned that the Chinese are recruiting U.S. “pilots, maintainers, air operations center personnel, and a variety of other technical experts” to build up their expertise. 

‘A Chunk Taken Out of His Spine’: F-16, KC-46 in Refueling Incident over Europe

‘A Chunk Taken Out of His Spine’: F-16, KC-46 in Refueling Incident over Europe

June 28, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter and a KC-46 Pegasus tanker were involved in an aerial refueling incident off the coast of the Netherlands on June 27, service officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The incident was first noticed by a user on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, who posted audio from the aircraft radio and air traffic control. Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed the recording is authentic.

A KC-46, callsign “Kanza 91” was refueling an F-16 with a “Warhawk” callsign when problems erupted. Someone on the radio frequency says an F-16, “Warhawk 3,” has aerial refueling “door damage” and “a chunk taken out of his spine due to a too close breakaway incident” between the fighter and the tanker. The person later indicates the damage to the spine of the aircraft is aft of the aerial refueling door. An Airman aboard Kanza 91 then says their aircraft was “damaged and unable to refuel” and asked another aircraft to see if there were cables flying from the back of the aircraft. The response was not recorded.

The aircraft involved were an F-16 was assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and a KC-46A from the 931st Air Refueling Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit based at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., that is forward deployed to Europe, a spokesperson for the 52nd Fighter Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“The incident is currently under investigation. Pilots and aircrew returned safely,” the spokesperson said.

The Air Force did not address questions regarding possible damage to either the KC-46 or the F-16.

The 480th Fighter Squadron, nicknamed the Warhawks, is the only fighter unit stationed at Spangdahlem. Open-source flight tracking data reviewed by Air & Space Forces Magazine shows that the KC-46 also took off and landed at Spangdahlem, which often acts as spillover base for airlift and tanker aircraft.

Flight tracking data shows the KC-46 circled near Spangdahlem at roughly 8,000 feet for just short of an hour before landing around four hours after it took off. The aircraft were flying over the Netherlands to participate in an exercise with the Dutch Air Force.

“The aircraft incident did not affect Exercise Turbo Weasel, an incredible training opportunity between the United States and Dutch Air Forces, which occurred during the week of 24-28 June,” the 52nd Fighter Wing spokesperson said.

The KC-46, made by Boeing, has been plagued by problems with its refueling system. The Air Force and Boeing are currently working to resolve multiple Category I deficiencies, including a “stiff” boom and the Remote Vision System (RVS), a setup of cameras and monitors the boom operator uses to connect the tanker to the refueling aircraft. The system washes out or blacks out in certain conditions, such as in direct sunlight. The RVS system can also cause issues with boom operator’s depth perception, which creates the risk of the boom operator accidentally hitting the aircraft the KC-46 is refueling.

However, the cause of the incident on June 27 is unclear.

China ‘Actively’ Working to Disrupt U.S. Defense Industry

China ‘Actively’ Working to Disrupt U.S. Defense Industry

June 27, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

China and other adversaries are actively seeking to disrupt the U.S. defense industrial base, the head of U.S. Cyber Command warned June 25. 

Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh said the People’s Republic of China is “engaging thousands of intelligence, military, and commercial personnel” to steal U.S. intellectual property and disrupt defense firms business processes. Speaking at the 2024 AFCEA TechNet Cyber conference, Haugh cited Volt Typhoon, a Chinese hacking enterprise, for moves to infiltrate critical industries. 

The Department of Defense released its first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy in January, and followed up with a Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Strategy in March. That strategy noted that China is “conducting a focused campaign to undermine the nation’s operational effectiveness and obtain information on sensitive DIB acquisition programs in technology.” 

China has long sought to harvest U.S. defense companies’ expertise. In 2019, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper accused China of “perpetrating the greatest intellectual property theft in human histor,” while other experts have long suggested that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s premier J-20 fighter jet incorporates numerous stolen design secrets.  

Today, however, “adversaries are operating with greater scope, scale and sophistication,” Haugh said, and the threat is not limited to intellectual property theft, but now encompasses efforts to disrupt supply chains and critical infrastructure.  

“The PRC is engaged in deliberate and sustained campaign to challenge the United States and our allies technologically, while holding our critical systems and national infrastructure at risk, posing a threat to our defense industrial base,” he said. 

Asked to describe what kinds of increased cyber activity aimed at the U.S. he has seen, Haugh cited Volt Typhoon as “the most concerning area.” 

“Our concern has been that these targeted operations have gone at critical infrastructure and have been viewed as holding that critical infrastructure at risk,” Haugh said. “So that’s a serious concern, not just to the United States, but also to our allies.” 

U.S. Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, U.S. Cyber Command commander and director of the National Security Agency/chief, Central Security Service said China seeks to exploit vulnerabilities in the U.S. defense industrical base, June 25, 2024. Photo by David Marin/Defense Information Systems Agency

For the most part, concern around Volt Typhoon has centered on how the group has penetrated civilian infrastructure networks like energy, water, and communications. Other officials have said hackers penetrate military networks and regularly target areas around U.S. military bases and nearby industrial base facilities. 

“Cybersecurity is not the top priority for many of the companies within the defense industrial base,” Haugh lamented. “It’s just not their primary focus. These companies and entities focus on manufacturing, innovating and developing the tools that win this country’s wars.”  

Closer partnerships between the industrial base and CYBERCOM and NSA could ease the risk, he suggested.

“U.S. Cyber Command has been delegated the authority to enter into arrangements with private sector entities to share threat information,” Haugh noted. “One such industry collaboration occurs through an effort called ‘Under Advisement.’ With Under Advisement. U.S. Cyber Command maintains ongoing relationships with cybersecurity firms, researchers, and individuals across the cyber ecosystem and the defense industrial base by exchanging information and working collaboratively.” 

NSA, meanwhile, has started providing cybersecurity support to industry through its Cyber Collaboration Center, which Haugh called “a pretty radical change” from past practice. Still, cyberattacks and intrusions will continue. It will take a dynamic, responsive defense—built on the industry- and growing defense standard known as “zero trust,” an approach that demands networks continually verify users and devices to ensure appropriate access and to protect vital data. The defense industrial base will have to follow those same best practices, he said, in order to ensure a robust and resilient defense. 

New Training Program Gives One MQ-9 Maintainer the Skills of Three

New Training Program Gives One MQ-9 Maintainer the Skills of Three

June 27, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

A new training initiative at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., is helping MQ-9 maintainers expand their specialties, essentially giving one Airman the skills of three to be able to generate sorties with minimal crews.

The program helps maintainers learn how to handle avionics, weapon systems, and aircraft power generation (crew chief work) for the hunter-killer drones. It is set to graduate its first cohort of Multi-Capable Airmen (MCA) next month.

“This program was born from the idea of potential combat in the Pacific theater in future conflicts, where we would need to island hop to propel the flying mission forward,” Tech Sgt. Cory Westerfield, 29th Aircraft Maintenance Unit aircraft section noncommissioned officer in charge, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We have already had success in sending MCA-qualified individuals on temporary duty and being able to send smaller teams since skill sets now overlap, especially for avionics and crew chief specialties.”

The Air Force has used the terms Multi-Capable Airmen and Mission-Ready Airmen to describe its push for service members to learn skills outside their main speciality, allowing the service to generate more airpower with smaller teams.

Holloman’s MQ-9 program kicked off in March, featuring four cycles each lasting 4 weeks. During each cycle, members from avionics, aircraft power generation, and weapons specialties in each unit rotate through training in each other’s specialties.

“An avionics technician who specializes in electronic systems used on aircraft would normally not be a part of airframe and engine maintenance,” Master Sgt. Michael Nistler, 29th AMU section chief, said in a release. “The MCA program allows them to learn launch and recovery procedures, tire and brake assembly replacements, engine theory of operation, and component replacements in addition to weapons systems.”

On July 3, by the end of the fourth cycle, the program expects to produce 33 MCA-qualified Airmen, adept in avionics systems operations, communication tasks, launch and recovery procedures, engine theory, and more. The training prepares physically separated aircrew and maintainers to collaborate effectively for unified combat and ISR operations.

“You get the overall knowledge about how the aircraft functions and how other sections work together and communicate with each other,” said Airman 1st Class Kennedy Richardson, 29th AMU avionics technician, who is currently undergoing the training.

The long-term goal is to “minimize the number of maintainers” required for deployment, Westerfield explained. Such a move fits with the service’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept, emphasizing rapid deployment of small teams to adapt quickly in challenging environments.

“ACE and MCA can go hand-in-hand with smaller, cross-section teams able to perform required maintenance,” said Nistler.

Reaper operations used to require launch and recovery aircrews at each location. Recent upgrades to the aircraft include Automatic Takeoff & Landing Control (ATLC) and Satellite Launch & Recovery (SLR), reducing the number of on-site Airmen needed.

Westerfield added that starting last fall, Holloman has exclusively used Satellite Launch & Recovery for daily operations to train Airmen in this capability.

“SLR removes the need for launch and recovery aircrews at deployed locations, as maintainers can now set up the aircraft to connect to the satellite network in coordination with the MCE (Mission Control Element) aircrew that will be piloting the aircraft during the mission,” said Westerfield. “Moving locations quickly without having to move a lot of equipment infrastructure is beneficial to the efficiency of the mission, saving man hours, refueling trucks and equipment.”

Maintainers prepare the aircraft for satellite connectivity, then hand control over to Mission Control Element crew for piloting. Using Automatic Takeoff & Landing Control (ATLC), the MQ-9 drones can autonomously take off and land based on pre-defined or newly scanned airfield waypoints.

“Our unit has become capable of upholding the Agile Combat Employment initiative, both with the execution of satellite launch and recovery of aircraft and the MCA concept,” said Nistler.

The MQ-9, a long-endurance drone, is designed for reconnaissance and strike missions, primarily targeting time-critical and high-value targets in various environments. The U.S. has deployed a number of Reapers to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war to gather information about hostages held by militants, and for combat operations.  

Air Force Confirms Its F-35As Were Mission Capable About Half the Time in 2023

Air Force Confirms Its F-35As Were Mission Capable About Half the Time in 2023

June 27, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The F-35A mission capable rate for fiscal 2023 was 51.9 percent, with the Air Force blaming spare parts availability for the decline from the previous year’s figure of 56 percent.

Mission capable rates measure the percentage of time an aircraft is able to perform at least one of its core missions.

The service previously reported the fiscal 2022 MC rate as 65.4 percent, a figure Air & Space Forces Magazine included in its annual almanac. Now, however, officials say that figure was inaccurate.

Asked about the significant discrepancy and the reason for the error, a service spokesperson said “the reason for the inaccurate number last year isn’t immediately available, but we shared a correction as soon as we realized the error. In order to be consistent, the MC capable rates we report each year measure the same criteria.”

The new figures match those published in an April audit of F-35 sustainment costs from the Government Accountability Office. In that report, the GAO said the F-35A’s mission capable rate peaked in 2020 at 71.4 percent, then declining to 68.8 percent in 2021, 56 percent in 2022, and 51.9 percent in 2023, as the Air Force brought on more jets at the rate of about 40 per year. The GAO quoted the Air Force’s “minimum performance target” MC rate for the F-35A at 80 percent, and its “objective performance target” as 90 percent.

In the audit, the GAO noted that “none of the variants of the aircraft (i.e., the F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C) are meeting availability goals,” but allowed that the services “have made progress in meeting their affordability targets (i.e., the amount of money they project they can afford to spend per aircraft per year for operating the aircraft). … This is due in part to the reduction in planned flight hours, and because the Air Force increased the amount of money it projects it can afford to spend” on its F-35As.

The GAO report states the Air Force now expects to pay $6.6 million annually per tail to operate and sustain the F-35A, a roughly 34 percent increase over the figure it cited in June 2023 of $4.1 million per airplane. The service also told the watchdog agency it would continue to operate the F-35 about eight years longer than originally planned but fly each aircraft less often. The service expects to fly each F-35A about 187 hours per year, versus the original plan of 230 hours per year.

While the Air Force has in previous years stated an MC goal rate of between 75 and 80 percent for most its aircraft types, it has abandoned that practice, a service spokesperson said.

“The Air Force does not have an overall [MC] goal or standard,” she said.

Mission capable rate “‘goals’ are specific to the wing/unit flying the aircraft, derived from either syllabus sortie requirements (training) or home-station training and real-world operation requirements (ops bases),” the spokesperson added.

The service has said the way it measures mission capability rates has changed in recent years, with more focus on readiness of aircraft either already deployed or about to deploy and less on stateside aircraft. The spokesperson reiterated that stance, claiming MC rates “do not equate to Air Force readiness rates.”

“They are just one component assessed at the unit level to help determine how ready a squadron is to meet the threat,” the spokesperson said. Instead, the service measures readiness “by how well the Air Force can carry out its missions, which requires more than mission-capable aircraft. It also requires trained and ready air crew, maintainers and other airmen, as well as enough spare parts and resources.”

The Air Force declined to offer explanations for significant declines in mission capable rates for various fleets, such as the C-5 Galaxy, B-1 Lancer, and other platforms where huge resource investments in maintainability and reliability have not paid off in aircraft availability. Overall, MC rates for most Air Force fleets—44 of 64 types—declined in fiscal 2023 over 2022.

Air Force Releases First Video of XQ-67 Drone, a CCA Prototype, in Flight

Air Force Releases First Video of XQ-67 Drone, a CCA Prototype, in Flight

June 27, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force released the first video of a new experimental drone in flight on June 26, offering a potential preview of the service’s future fleet of autonomous collaborative combat aircraft.

Air Force Research Laboratory published a 90-second clip of General Atomics XQ-67A’s inaugural flight, which occurred in February at the company’s Gray Butte facility in Palmdale, Calif. General Atomics, the Air Force’s main drone manufacturer for the past 30 years, was awarded one of two design contracts for the first autonomous collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) in April. The company called the XQ-67A a “CCA prototype” when it won the contract.

The XQ-67A is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Platform Sharing (LCAAPS) program to test a so-called Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS), which is exploring data-sharing technologies hosted on an autonomous drone. The aircraft is piloted remotely but capable of autonomous flight. It is the Air Force’s follow-up to Kratos’s XQ-58A Valkyrie, which was originally developed under the USAF’s Skyborg autonomous aircraft program and is now being tested by the U.S. Marine Corps.

General Atomics said in a release April 24 that the XQ-67A had completed three test flights since its first takeoff on Feb. 28. The company has trumped the aircraft as a preliminary version of a CCA.

“This program focused on building several aircraft variants from a common core chassis,” General Atomics, also known as GA-ASI, said in a release after being awarded the CCA Increment 1 design contract. “Since then, this prototype for CCA has successfully completed two additional test flights, laying the groundwork for a successful production and flight test program. GA-ASI’s CCA production representative design is based upon the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station developed by GA-ASI for the AFRL.”

The Air Force is also testing out its autonomous technology, in part, on the X-62 VISTA, a modified F-16. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall rode in an AI-piloted VISTA last month in simulated dogfights against a human pilot.

“Designed, built, ground tested, and flown in just over two years, AFRL’s XQ-67A builds on the success of the XQ-58A Valkyrie and complements the Air Force Test Center’s X-62 VISTA and F-16 VENOM efforts to speed fielding of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA,” ARFL said in its release.

The Air Force leaders say their intent is to move at the pace of technology and not fall behind by developing CCAs as traditional aircraft programs.

“As we’re looking at leaning into human-machine teaming and developing these collaborative combat aircraft, we’re trying to do three things in parallel, which sometimes we had done serially,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in May. “We developed a platform … and then afterwards, we’ll figure out how we’re going to do the rest of DOTMLPF [doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities] spectrum, and how we’re going to actually employ it and how we’re going to base it, etcetera. We’re doing those all at once now.”

Allvin doubled down on those comments earlier this month at an AFA Warfighters in Action event, noting the Air Force is making “big bets” on human-machine teaming, which was informing how the service thought other types of aircraft, not just drones. He said the service was thinking through how it might use and perhaps discard particular CCA technologies in as little as a decade rather than follow a model based on traditional aircraft programs that span may span 30 years or more.

The XQ-67 is based on a similar philosophy.

“This provides an alternate acquisition approach for ACP [autonomous collaborative platforms] aircraft using a product line philosophy that enables faster development, lower costs, and opportunities for frequent technology refreshes,” AFRL said in its release.

SPACECOM Boss Wants Satellites That Can Maneuver to and from New Orbits

SPACECOM Boss Wants Satellites That Can Maneuver to and from New Orbits

June 26, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

U.S. Space Command is interested in orbits around Earth outside the traditional regions where satellites operate, and commander Gen. Stephen N. Whiting sees refuelable spacecraft as a possible key to getting to them. 

Not every satellite needs to be refuelable, Whiting adding during a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event on June 24. But for key missions, having the ability to run away from a threat or get closer to another spacecraft to inspect it will be important, the SPACECOM boss said. Vast regions of space that are relatively unoccupied now but could become important in the future, he noted.

“I want the ability to survey and to get to non-traditional orbits,” Whiting said. “Space is massive, there’s all this volume of places you can go, but we tend to operate in kind of these four areas. One is low-Earth orbit, out to about 800 kilometers, then medium-Earth orbit, where the GPS satellites are, and then Geosynchronous and then some at highly elliptical orbits.” 

There are many reasons why governments and businesses gravitate toward those four main orbital regimes, said retired Space Force Col. Charles Galbreath, a senior fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute.  

“There are some natural conditions we try to avoid,” Galbreath said of space. “ … There’s radiation from the sun and from cosmic sources. There’s micrometeorites, etc. It’s a nasty place. And there are the Van Allen Belts, where there are pockets of additional radiation that is collected, and that can make it difficult to operate in that region for a long period of time.” 

However, it is possible to harden satellites against radiation, and as places like low-Earth orbit become more and more congested, new orbits present opportunities. But it may not make sense to position satellites there permanently, Whiting suggested. That’s where the concept of Dynamic Space Operations comes in. 

“We want a maneuvering capability that allows us to maneuver through multiple orbital regimes,” he said. “We think that will help limit the opportunity for operational surprise. So it is a mission-by-mission, orbit-by-orbit determination, but absolutely we see certain missions, certain orbits where Dynamic Space Operations, sustained space maneuver makes great sense for the nation.” 

Whiting has endorsed the idea of maneuverable satellites before, and the idea has gained traction among Pentagon officials. Right now, satellites minimize movement in orbit as much as possible to conserve fuel. Once they run out, their service life is over. 

“It’s time to bring dynamic space operations and on-orbit logistics and infrastructure to the space domain,” Whiting said in April at the annual Space Symposium. “The days of energy-neutral positional operations in space need to end.” 

At the time, Whiting added that such a move would open up new tactics and operating concepts for SPACECOM operators. During the Mitchell Institute event, he offered examples of what those could be. 

“Imagine now, you’re a singular high-value satellite in geosynchronous orbit, for example, and maybe you’re being targeted by a red capability,” Whiting said. “And what if that red capability can refuel but you can’t. Now it can persistently chase you until you run out of fuel. And that’s not a state you want to be in. You want to be able to continue your mission.” 

Being able to maneuver between different orbits could offer several advantages in such a scenario, Galbreath suggested.  

“It may be just a transitory activity to get out of the way of a threat that maybe doesn’t have the fuel to follow you, or doesn’t have the radiation hardening to survive in a Van Allen Radiation Belt or something like that,” he said. 

An artist rendering shows a Blue Ring spacecraft, developed by Blue Origin, focused on providing in-space logistics and delivery. Blue Ring will serve commercial and government customers and can support a variety of missions in medium-Earth orbit out to the cislunar region and beyond. The platform provides end-to-end services that span hosting, transportation, refueling, data relay, and logistics. Blue Origin

Alternatively, should an adversary like Russia or China choose to deploy a satellite to a new orbit, the U.S. needs to have satellites of its own that can inspect the threat, Whiting said. 

“There’s a lot of volume of space in there to be surprised, and we want to reduce the opportunity for strategic surprise by being able to surveil and get to those,” he said. 

Top military space officials have said space domain awareness is a top priority given the evolving threat, and maneuverability is tied to that mission area, Galbreath suggested. 

“If we improve the maneuverability of our space domain awareness assets, we’ll be able to observe different regions of space and different activities going on in space, so it can help us improve domain awareness,” said Galbreath. “But on the other side, moving from a sort of energy-neutral position where you’re following Keplerian orbits and you’re very predictable, that reduces the requirements on domain awareness. Moving to a dynamic space operation … makes it much harder to know where you’re going based off of where you’re observed right now. And so that can complicate an adversary’s space domain awareness. And if they’re doing it to us, it could complicate ours.” 

Of course, maneuvering, refuelable satellites may not be the answer in every scenario, Whiting and Galbreath both noted. A proliferated constellation in low-Earth orbit, for example, puts up new satellites with such short service lives that refueling wouldn’t be worth the effort. But generally speaking, maneuvering satellites could take the U.S. out of “positional warfare” in space, Whiting said. 

“From a warfighting perspective, having the ability to maneuver is a valid requirement today,” Galbreath added. “It’s an unmet requirement by and large, but it is still a requirement that would help [SPACECOM] immediately. And so as soon as services, particularly the Space Force and industry, can demonstrate some means to increase the maneuver capability of satellites, the better for Space Command.” 

New DOD Security Clearance Czar Wants to End Years of Mismanagement

New DOD Security Clearance Czar Wants to End Years of Mismanagement

June 26, 2024 | By David Roza

The new head of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency told lawmakers he aims to reverse years of poor management of DCSA’s background check modernization effort, which is already more than five years behind schedule and half a billion dollars over budget.

“We’re 8.5 years into a three-year program. We spent $1.345 billion on a $700 million program,” DCSA director David Cattler told a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability subcommittee at a June 26 hearing. “It’s unacceptable that we’ve gotten to where we are and we need to turn this thing around.” 

Cattler was specifically referring to the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) program, which underpins a larger reform of personnel vetting called Trusted Workforce 2.0. The reforms began after a massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management in 2015 exposed the data of about 22.1 million federal employees, contractors, and others with personal data on the office’s network.

NBIS is supposed to replace legacy background investigation information technology systems and serve as the federal government’s “one-stop-shop IT system for end-to-end personnel vetting,” complete with better data protection, integration, and usability. 

The system was supposed to be fully functional in 2019, and DCSA took charge of it in 2020. But four years later, it is still a long way from complete. The Government Accountability Office blamed the delays on DCSA, which it said ignored multiple recommendations since 2021 to implement basic management principles such as developing a reliable schedule and cost estimates and enhancing oversight, particularly for cybersecurity controls.

“These are key fundamental program management principles, and in the past the program has been so focused on moving out to deliver capabilities that they had told us it was an administrative burden and a waste of time, frankly, to develop a schedule or a cost estimate,” Alissa Czyz, GAO’s director for defense capabilities management, told lawmakers. “ … Well, now they’re years late and behind schedule and over cost too.”

In the meantime, the DOD suffered one of its largest intelligence leaks ever in 2023 when Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, a member of the Air National Guard, shared classified material on a social media site. The incident raised questions about insider threats and the vetting process for individuals requesting a security clearance.

Teixeira was not referenced in the hearing, but DCSA provides vetting services for 95 percent of the federal government, which equates to 2.7 million investigations per year, Cattler said in his testimony. The personnel vetting system and its outdated IT infrastructure has long been afflicted by “skyrocketing processing times which created a towering backlog of qualified individuals who could not start serving in national security roles,” said subcommittee ranking member Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.).

Mfume cited a January GAO report showing that 17 out of 31 federal agencies did not trust each others’ security clearance processes, leading to duplicative, time-intensive vetting at each agency.

“Extensive wait times force talented agency recruits to pursue employment outside of the government when their security clearance stretches for months and sometimes years,” Mfume said. “And can you really blame them?”

As the “one-stop shop” for personnel vetting IT systems, NBIS forms the “lynchpin” to Trusted Workforce 2.0, said Czyz. When it slows, so too does the overall reform effort. 

At this point, DCSA does not expect to fully sunset its legacy systems until fiscal 2028, but Czyz expressed confidence in Cattler, who became director of DCSA in March. She recalled the new director quoting from GAO’s past reports when GAO representatives visited DCSA in Quantico, Va., about six weeks after Cattler took the seat.

“He asked us point-blank how his agency had interacted with GAO in the past and that he was committed to having a collaborative relationship in implementing our recommendations,” Czyz said. “So I think we are very encouraged by his early leadership here.”

Indeed, when asked about accountability, Cattler said DCSA has “had some people move on,” and “fundamentally” changed internal and external communications, and taken “punitive measures” against some employees and contractors since he came on board. 

The agency is nearly at the end of a 90-day NBIS recovery plan which began April 1. Cattler expects the plan to yield a new roadmap for the system, a new leadership team, a reliable funding profile, an audit conducted by the DCSA inspector general, acquisition oversight from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and other actions meant to reset the process.

“While it’s not my fault, it is my responsibility to make sure DCSA delivers on this set of requirements,” Cattler said. “It’s critical that we do so.” 

B-52s Take Off from US Base with JASSM Cruise Missiles for ‘Unique’ Exercise

B-52s Take Off from US Base with JASSM Cruise Missiles for ‘Unique’ Exercise

June 26, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La.—Airmen at this sprawling bomber base carried out an unusual exercise earlier this month in which they loaded AMG-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, or JASSMs, onto B-52H Stratofortresses to test their ability to conduct long-range airstrike missions.

JASSMs were not launched during Bayou Warrior, which ran June 10-13. But the exercise enabled the personnel to practice executing a conventional strike with live munitions, something the Air Force rarely does with these weapons, which cost upwards of $1 million dollars apiece.

The B-52 has deployed a diverse variety of weapons throughout its 60-year history, and the platform still inspires awe as a symbol of U.S. nuclear might. 

But the Stratofortress has only been employed as a conventional bomber, and its likely future lies not with high-altitude gravity bombing or low-level penetration strikes but with the use of standoff cruise missiles from its bomb bay and massive wings.

“This one was a unique flavor,” Col. Michael D. Maginness, the commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing, which conducted the exercise, said in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We actually flew the weapons, which was an outstanding opportunity for our aircrew.”

Wing leadership was also involved in the exercise as the Crisis Action Team went through the paces as if his bombers were actually employed in combat, Maginness said.

Air Force Global Strike Command’s inspector general office evaluated weapons loading and maintenance during the exercise. The 2nd Bomb Wing is AFGSC’s largest bomber wing and the host unit at Barksdale, which houses the major command’s headquarters.

“They’re going to come in, and they’re going give you a hard look at, “Are you ready to go?” said Col. Bryan J. Walter, who previously served as the deputy inspector general for AFGSC before taking command of the 2nd Operations Group at the end of May.

Maginness said the crews would benefit from the scrutiny. 

“I’d be scared if we didn’t find anything, to be honest, because it means we weren’t looking hard enough,” Maginness added. “This is like getting a math problem wrong on the test, except when you do, you owe the teacher back how you’re going to fix it for the future and then prove to her that it’s fixed.”

While the details of the simulated combat were classified, wing officials said that it replicated a real-world scenario. 

“We’ll develop some intelligence-based scenario that would drive us towards something where we would get a conventional tasking,” said Lt. Col. Amanda Goncalves, the 2nd Operations Support Squadron commander and the former inspector general of the 2nd Bomb Wing. “Here’s the U.S. response. This is how you got to this situation in this scenario. You are now being asked by a combatant command to generate so many aircraft, so many weapons, in so much time. So that sets the tone. That sets that real-world scenario for our crews, that, no kidding, you have a period of time you have to get these jets ready, loaded, and airborne.”

A B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing takes from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., June 11, 2024, as part of exercise Bayou Warrior. Photo by Chris Gordon/Air & Space Forces Magazine

For the B-52, each sortie is no small feat. Most hangers are far too small to fit the bomber, so the ramp at Barksdale is flush with B-52s. Just over half of Air Force B-52s are “mission capable” at any one time, according to Air Force figures, which the service defines as being able to perform at least one of its core missions.

Airmen acknowledged the challenges of getting a 60-year-old jet ready for simulated combat, comparing it to getting a team ready for a playoff game. 

“It’s a very old aircraft. It’s a lot of work, but our guys are great at their job,” said Master Sgt. Nickolas Shelton, production superintendent with the 2nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “It’s about time management, people management, parts management. It’s nothing to worry about. The airplane’s going to make a decision on if it breaks or not. We just fix it.”

Air Force exercises and the process to improve are well established. Less so is the opportunity to train with the high-end weapons B-52s might employ.

Those weapons crews train with an array of inert weapons, including AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs), which are a key element of the nuclear weapons arsenal. But putting actual JASSMs on a B-52 was a rare experience.

“Due to some of the characteristics of the JASSM, the airplane flies a little different,” said Maginness, who has roughly 3,700 flight hours—400 of them in combat—on B-52s. With JASSMs on the wings, B-52s carry fuel in specific parts of the aircraft as ballast to keep the center of gravity in line.

“Getting to actually interface with the real weapon, and seeing the weapon, the weapon generated launch regions, and the weapon data on the screens, that’s a huge training opportunity,” Maginness added.

His Airmen agreed.

“It’s not that common for us to actually fly around with JASSMs on the pylons,” said Capt. Timothy Walraven, a weapon systems officer with the 20th Bomb Squadron who has participated in a live-fire JASSM test. “So this is a big deal because there are some differences between the indications of simulation in the jet versus actually having the shapes on the jet. It’s good for aircrew to fly with this because it makes them more proficient in the sense that they have a better idea of what they’re going to see, so that way, we can be ready to go anytime.”