Unfathomable Submarine Quote of the Month (29 AUG 2016)

BACKGROUND

MELBOURNE, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A French shipbuilder plans to seek an injunction to prevent further publication of information contained in 22,400 secret documents about stealth submarines built for India. 

UNFATHOMABLE Quotes  

First, with previously hidden Scorpene data now revealed...

"Any leak of information is viewed very seriously. We have viewed the leak of Scorpene data very seriously and we have asked (French firm) DCNS to launch an urgent investigation into this." - Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Indian Navy 

Yet, before mitigation measures are even identified and certainly unimplemented... 

"This is not a matter of much worry. The committee is analysing and they will see what data has been compromised and what mitigation steps have to be taken." - Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Indian Navy 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ <>_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Retired Rear Adm. John Padgett, former commander of U.S. Pacific fleet Submarine Force, warned the leaks would undermine confidence in ability of French companies to protect classified information. Padgett, also the current president of the U.S. Naval Submarine League, said, "It is never good for an opponent to have your playbook."

He said "aggressive action" is needed to investigate the leak and France should share the outcome with Australia.

M. E. Comment:  According to today's NDTV article (Press Trust of India),  the high-level review committee responsible for analysing risks connected with the leak(s) will issue its findings to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in three weeks ( by September 20 ).
Also, some of the pages leaked cover top secret data on the capabilities of six highly advanced submarines being built for the Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with French company DCNS in a project worth more than $3 billion. DCNS also recently won a contract to design Australia's new $50 billion submarine fleet.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Answers to Submarine Q.O.T.W. from AUG 11, 2016

Related information, photo(s) and links for questions are found in the original posting. 

Questions of the Week (Q.O.T.W.) with ANSWERS

1 - Which, if any, of the 5 closures on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were major naval installations?
ANSWER:  Two - (1) Naval Submarine Base New London and, (2) Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

2 - Which, if any, of the major naval installations on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were submarine related installations?   ANSWER:  Originally, Naval Submarine Base New London and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, but both were later removed from the original closure list. [ibid]

3 - How many members are appointed to serve on the BRAC Commission?  ANSWER: The latest (2005) Defense Base Closure and Realignments Commission (BRAC) was comprised of 9-members.  [ibid.]

4 - Who chaired the 2005 BRAC Commission?  ANSWER:  Anthony Principi 

5 - When did a SecDef last seek a new BRAC Commission, and who was he?  ANSWER:  On March 2015,  Defense secretary Ashton Carter directed his (acting) Asst. Secretary of Defense, John Conger to request authority for another BRAC during Congressional testimony.  

6 - What high ranking Navy appointee spoke very recently of a new BRAC round?   ANSWER:  Navy Seretary Ray Mabus was quoted August 9th as supporting another Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round.   

 7 -  State officials recently claimed that there are national security interests in keeping waterways clear for the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.  What state expressed such a claim, and in what context was that claim made?  ANSWER: Connecticut, of course, made the national security claim to defend its controversial plan to relocate dredged materials into New York state Long Island Sound.    

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine QOTW 11 AUG 2016

Background

BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) is the federal government's method of assuring Department of Defense efficiency in use and upkeep of U.S. military installations. More than 350 installations have been closed in five BRAC rounds since 1988.  The current process was created in 1988 to reduce pork barrel politics when facilities in Congress's home states face reduction.

The most recent process began in May 2005, when the U.S. Secretary of Defense forwarded his recommendations for realignments and closures to the  BRAC Commission.  The BRAC Commission removed 5 major installations from the Secretary of Defenses's closure list.

Questions of the Week

1 - Which, if any, of the 5 closures on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were major naval installations?

2 - Which, if any, of the major naval installations on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were submarine related installations?

3 - How many members are appointed to serve on the BRAC Commission?

4 - Who chaired the 2005 BRAC Commission?

5 - When did a SecDef last seek a new BRAC Commission, and who was he.

6 - What high ranking Navy appointee also spoke recently of a new BRAC round?

7 -  State officials recently claimed that there are national security interests in keeping waterways clear for the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.  What state expressed such a claim, and in what context was that claim made? 

ANSWERS:  Monday, 15 August

Submarines are always silemt and strange.

Submarine Quote of the Month (August 2016)

Background 

“It’s very clear (the Defense Department) as a whole has excess capacity, you need something to shrink that,” said Mabus in an interview with the Connecticut Mirror. “I’m sure we’d have something (on the base-closure list), but I don’t know what that would be.”

He said all Navy facilities, including sub bases like the one in New London, would be scrutinized in a new BRAC round, but he indicated the impact on the Navy and Marine Corps would be less severe than on the Army or Air Force.

Submarine Quote of the Month

Washington —

“The last BRAC round was in 2004, and the first several years I was here, I was still writing checks for that,” Mabus said. “If you are going to do something like this, you have to be more the ‘C’ than just the ‘R.’  If you just realign, it’s going to take a long time to save money…you actually have to close things.”  - Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, "Outgoing Navy secretary still urging a base-closing round",  Connecticut Mirror,  August 9, 2016.

Braggadocio [exaggerated talk of someone trying to sound very proud]

Mabus set a Navy goal of 308 battle force ships, consisting of aircraft carriers, submarines, surface combatants, amphibious, combat logistics, and support ships. That plan includes an increase of 10 Virginia-class attack submarines built by Electric Boat. The fleet today numbers 273 ships and subs.

“When I got here the fleet was declining, declining precipitously,” said Mabus, who took the reins of the Navy in 2009.  [implying the U.S. Navy is declining no longer]

Questions of the Week

1 - When did the U.S. Navy's fleet last have 273 ships?  1930 (eleven years before WW2)
2 - When did the U.S. Navy's fleet last have 308 ships?  1931 (ten years before WW2).
3 - Did Secretary Mabus brag in hopes of a future Democrat Navy Secretary naming a naval combatant the USS Ray Mabus?

Submarines are always silent and strange.
 

Prediction of the Next 5 Years

Background

The final sentence summarized our previous post:

"In other words, POTUS and his State Department will have plausible deniability if some portion of  it [the $400 Million in Cash from U.S. to top state TERROR sponsor] is sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS." 

Conflicted Analyses

Administration's Opinion

US Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN on Sunday that recent terror attacks by Islamist extremists were a result of ISIS being “on the run”.

Contrarian View 

“These guys have all the energy and unpredictability of a populist movement.”   - Michael Hayden, retired Air Force general who led the CIA from 2006 to 2009.  Analysts expect further attacks are likely to continue and are likely to become worse.  source

Our Analysis 

The current Washington administration has habitually employed public deception (lies), incentivization (bribery) and threats (extortion) to hide fecklessness in affairs of state. Even the former head of our U.S. State Department often lied publicly according to details confirmed by FBI Director Comey.   

Barack Obama wishes above all else to preserve his presidential legacy.  Did payment of $400 Million to Iran require a commitment from Hassan Rouhani to assure no part of the $400 Million reaches Ansar al-Khilafah #Brazil until Brazil's Summer Olympic games are over? 
No, that promise had to be even longer, at least until a year when Obama will have had not a single day in office (plausible deniability) --- 2018 at the earliest. 

M.E.'s Prediction

"Millions will be sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS."  

Will the Latin American recipient of Iran's $Millions via Venezuela be Ansar al-Khilafah #Brazil?  Not Brazil for two reasons:

1. Brazil's huge off-shore oil deposits are uneconomical in the current economy.  After Brazil'z Summer Olympics Ansar al-Khilafah #Brazil could become a terrorist relic, but...
2. ISIS affiliated groups rejoice in spreading geographically as much as in dealing fear. South America offers more lucrative sources of ongoing terror financing than Brazilian oil.  By 2019 the names of new ISIS groups in countries such as Argentina and Chile may be as familiar to North Americans as Nigeria's Boko Haram, which  pledged allegiance to ISIS in March 2015, and then expanded its attacks to neighboring countries. 

Will North Americans remember what Islamist apologist Obama did to help ISIS grow and spread?

Such memories are irrelevant to the media (never again to be mentioned) when plausible deniability created by lawyers has been approved by more lawyers. 

A recent example of plausible deniability is what has prevented Hillary Clinton's prosecution for intentional violation of U.S. secrecy laws which could not be proven to the satisfaction of Director Comey's FBI.  Instead, Clinton was branded as grossly negligent, which for any Republican would instantly signal incompetence. 

Think how much better U.S. leadership will become if the public consciously prevents crafty, scheming, ambitious attorneys from winning so over half of elected offices.    

Submarines are always silent and strange.

 
 

 

Worse Than Ransom: $400 Million in Cash from U.S. to top state TERROR sponsor

Background

April 9, 2013 - "Hugo Chávez’s Death: Implications for Venezuela and U.S. Relations" - Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov [pdf],  Mark P. Sullivan, Specialist in Latin American Affairs

"Some observers have criticized the Obama Administration for making overtures to engage with Maduro, contending that U.S. policy should focus on attempting to ensure that the upcoming election is free and fair. A Washington Post editorial from early March 2013 contended that 'further wooing of Mr. Maduro should wait until he survives the scrum in his own party, wins a free vote and demonstrates that he is more than a Castro puppet.' ”

April 24, 2013 - U.S. News & World Report  | Iranian-Sponsored Narco-Terrorism in Venezuela: How Will Maduro Respond?
New Venezuelan president at a crossroads for burgeoning threat to U.S.

According to a 2015 study by the Financial Action Task Force, ISIL's primary sources of revenue are (in order decreasing significance):

• proceeds from the occupation of territory (including control of banks, oil and gas reservoirs, taxation, extortion, and robbery of economic assets)

• kidnapping for ransom

• state donations  ... often disguised as meant for "humanitarian charity." 

• material support provided by foreign fighters

• fundraising through modern communication networks

Jan 10, 2015 - IRAN NEWS AGENCY | Nicolas Maduro visits Tehran: Iran, Venezuela stress expansion of all-out relations  

March 17, 2015 - The Washington Times |  Lawmakers warn of links between Cuba, Iran, Venezuela
[M]embers of the Senate panel said further action must be taken against Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro for suppressing anti-government protesters.

June 2, 2016 | Washington (CNN) - "The State Department on Thursday released its annual report on global terrorist activity, listing Iran as the top state sponsor of terrorism and labeling ISIS "the greatest threat globally." 

Current News

AUG. 3, 2016   WASHINGTON —  $400 Million Cash Payment to Iran Fuels Latest Campaign Dispute ... On Wednesday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that the news reports noting that the payments were made in cash did not bolster claims by critics that they amounted to a ransom payment.

RED FLAG [WARNING]

Cash payment as opposed to a routine wire transfer implies far worse than a U.S. ransom payment, which invites more kidnapping and is poor policy.  Wire transfers entail interbank transactions and allow traceability by account numbers, amounts, and eventual outflows. Cash, on the other hand, makes tracing proceeds to end receivers extremely difficult. 
 
What will IRAN do with $400 Millions in euros, Swiss francs and other currencies flown to Tehran on a cargo plane?  Future distributions of the $400 Millions will be very difficult to trace without IRAN's cooperation.  In other words, P.O.T.U.S. and his State Department will have plausible deniability if some portion of it is sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Unburdened by Incompetence, Deceit and Distrust

Stronger Together: Obvious...

Even Stronger and Happier Unburdened: NOW Obvious

 

Have you seen this Endangered Species?

Physics and the Problem With No Name --Again?

BACKGROUND  (CANADA, 2007)



A similar incident had occurred earlier in August (same month) in the central Canadian province of Manitoba, where 12 people were injured.  Company spokesman John K. George said at the time he did not know why the balloon caught fire shortly after takeoff. 

Helpful Suggestions:

• Weigh passengers and their carry on en masse
• Comply with mfr. safety charts incorporating air temperatures versus total safe lift
• Observe recommended safety margin of (least 50%)

RECENT REPEAT  (LOCKHART, Texas | July 30, 2016)

No survivors after hot air balloon catches fire, crashes in Texas 
Sixteen people were confirmed dead after a hot air balloon caught fire  ...According to FAA officials, "the hot air balloon crashed after striking a high-voltage power line in the area and catching fire".

Pilot died with all his passengers. What will be cited by FAA / NTSB authorities who appear to have ignored Canada's 2007 accidents, as an immediate cause?

• Pilot error  
• Overloading
• Other (e.g. global warming: safety data outdated)
• NTSB/FAA Bureaucratic paralysis 

Translation of "the hot air balloon crashed after striking a high-voltage power line in the area and catching fire":  The overloaded balloon could not rise quickly enough to avoid fatal contact with a nearby power line, which was only 40 to 50 above ground.

How many Helpful Suggestions were followed by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides?  Here's a clue:

"It’s unknown whether the NTSB recommendations in an April 2014 letter to the FAA could have averted Saturday’s crash. But the incident is likely to spark debate over how balloon operators are regulated and what can be done to prevent accidents."  source

Really?  A huge, bureaucratic government that currently cannot decide which agency is accountable constantly tells its taxpayers why it must grow even bigger.  Bumbling, bureaucratic politics and unaccountabilty promotes fraud, waste, and abuse. Have not seen much of that lately, have we?

Submarines are always silent and strange.  Hot air balloons need not be.