Air Force General Admits The US Can’t Stop Chinese Or Russian Hypersonic Missiles

A top United States Air Force general has admitted that the US is powerless against hypersonic missiles capable of killing millions of people. Air Force General John Hyten testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 20 and admitted the horrifying reality.

When asked about the effectiveness of US defenses, General Hyten revealed the country would be powerless against some state-of-the-art weapons, such as the hypersonic missiles currently in the hands of the Chinese and Russians. According to The Daily Star, hypersonic missiles can deploy warheads that travel at 20 times the speed of sound and can dodge air defenses as they loop through the skies.

“We have a very difficult – well, our defense is our deterrent capability,” said Hyten. “We don’t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us, so our response would be our deterrent force, which would be the triad and the nuclear capabilities that we have to respond to such a threat.” Hyten eluded that should the US be attacked with one such missile, that the military could respond with a nuclear attack.

These comments come as fears of a third world war continue to heighten and among the major advancements in the Russian and Chinese weapons technology. Both of these countries would be a force to be reckoned with should another world war break out.

The Russians have been accomplishing a great deal in stealth technology, especially with Kilo-class boats converted into stealth subs. Dubbed “the black holes of the Russian Navy,” these quiet refitted diesel subs with the stealth technology are starting to roll steadily off of the assembly lines.

The Chinese are also upgrading their submarine fleet from a technological perspective (the boat) and also making improvements in their missile systems.  Such actions come on the heels of American positioning in the Pacific. –SHTFPlan

Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military observer, previously warned of the dangers posed by the sophisticated technology. “Compared to conventional ballistic missiles, HGVs are more complex and difficult to intercept,” Zhou said. “The US, Japan, and India should be worried about China’s developments in HGV technology because it can reach targets quicker and more accurately, with military bases in Japan and even nuclear reactors in India being targeted.”

"Look At That Thing!" - The NYT Reveals The Pentagon"s Mysterious UFO Program

When tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theories cross paths with massive "defense" budgets and excited politicians, "stranger things" happen.

Welcome to The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

As The New York Times exposes, within the $600 billion annual Defense Department budgets, the $22 million spent on the program was almost impossible to find.

Which was how the Pentagon wanted it.

For years, the program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records obtained by The New York Times. It was run by a military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo, on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring, deep within the building’s maze.

The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. For the past five years, they say, officials with the program have continued to investigate episodes brought to them by service members, while also carrying out their other Defense Department duties.

The shadowy program — parts of it remain classified — began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time and who has long had an interest in space phenomena.

Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid’s, Robert Bigelow, who is currently working with NASA to produce expandable craft for humans to use in space.

And while the clapping of crony capitalism screams alod from those two last sentences, one watch of the following video (just one of many), suggests the boondoggle may be based in some kind of reality after all... (the footage from a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet showing an aircraft surrounded by some kind of glowing aura traveling at high speed and rotating as it moves. The Navy pilots can be heard trying to understand what they are seeing. “There’s a whole fleet of them,” one exclaims. Defense officials declined to release the location and date of the incident.)

Mr. Reid, who retired from Congress this year, said he was proud of the program.

“I’m not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going,” Mr. Reid said in a recent interview in Nevada.

 

“I think it’s one of the good things I did in my congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before.”

While not addressing the merits of the program, Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at M.I.T., cautioned that not knowing the origin of an object does not mean that it is from another planet or galaxy.

“When people claim to observe truly unusual phenomena, sometimes it’s worth investigating seriously,” she said.

 

But, she added, “what people sometimes don’t get about science is that we often have phenomena that remain unexplained.”

Read more here...

Argentine Navy Loses Contact With Submarine

The Argentine Navy has launched a search mission for the diesel-electric submarine ARA San Juan (S-42) after losing contract with it on Wednesday.

The 66-meter TR-1700 submarine has been in service since 1986 and carries a crew of about 40-44. Reports from the military indicate the vessel disappeared in the waters of Madryn, northern Patagonia, Argentina about 400km (250 miles) off the coast.

The last registered position of the vessel was on November 15 at 07:30 in latitude 46 ° 44 ‘south and longitude 59 ° 54 West, at the height of Puerto Madryn.

This is the internal radiogram about the disappearance of the ship:

Urgent 24, a local media outlet in Argentina reports military officials have not spotted the vessel on radar nor with any of the search vessels.

In a press conference, the spokesman of the Navy, Enrique Balbi , cleared doubts and rumors that transcended in the last hours: “Still we have not been able to have visual contact or radar with the submarine.

 

“It has been 48 hours since it disappeared. It is following an internationally approved plan, which after a time of not having contact. The bad weather conditions and the night they did not let us do an optimal search."

 

Balbi stressed: “Officially, we have no news of the fire or electrical problems or sinister in the area of ??batteries. It can also be a matter of equipment or antennas. I want to bring tranquility to family. Today with the clarity of the day we are going to power (improve the search) “.

ARA San Juan (S-42) (undated) at the Naval Base in Ushiaia Pier

Este es el ARA San Juan, el submarino perdido. Algunas fotos que saqué hace unos días cuando estaba, por maniobras, en el muelle de la Base Naval de Ushuaia pic.twitter.com/mOV2yZ1Cqk

— Nico Tamborindegui (@tambonic) November 17, 2017

ARA San Juan (S-42) diagram of the vessel

Recién me desayuno con esto ¿alguien sabe algo? INMENSO OPERATIVO PARA DAR CON LOS 37 TRIPULANTES DEL SUBMARINO ARA SAN JUAN DESAPARECIDO ESTA NOCHE pic.twitter.com/JPfq6geVf7

— ALICIA (@AliciaVery) November 17, 2017

Official version of the Navy: “The submarine ARA San Juan has not yet been found”

? Versión oficial de la Armada: "Aún no se ha encontrado el submarino ARA San Juan" https://t.co/ERZafwu4gA pic.twitter.com/mQPANJOFKg

— MDZ online (@mdzonline) November 17, 2017

*  *  *

Developing...

 

Fat Leonard Scandal

It’s one of numerous examples of deep-seated US public and private corruption.

Exposing some wrongdoing leaves most of it ignored and unchecked. Most often, ordinary people alone are held accountable for misconduct, much of it too minor to matter like illicit drug use and petty theft.

Targeting higher-ups when it happens is the exception proving the rule that most members of America’s privileged class are untouchable.

It’s especially so when guilty of high crimes like naked aggression, ecocide, and Wall Street grand theft, manipulating markets and scamming investors for big profits, making money the old-fashioned way by stealing it.

The Washington Post reported on the Fat Leonard scandal last year, much more on it this week.

In June 2016 it reported about 350-pound Malaysian national maritime tycoon dubbed Fat Leonard Francis’ dubious dealings – seducing US Navy admirals and other officers with bribes, sex, wining and dining, describing him as “legendary on the high seas for his charm and appetite for excess,” adding:

“For years, the Singapore-based businessman had showered navy officers with gifts, epicurean dinners, prostitutes and, if necessary, cash bribes so they would look the other way while he swindled the navy to refuel and resupply its ships.”

In September 2013, he was lured to San Diego, California, arrested in his hotel suite, along with others involved in his scam.

Documents incriminating his shenanigans were seized. His arrest “exposed…a staggering degree of corruption within the US Navy itself,” said WaPo.

In November 2013, one of my articles headlined Massive Pentagon Waste, Fraud and Grand Theft, explaining a black hole of Pentagon unaccountability, wasting trillions of dollars.

Sweetheart deals, bribes and kickbacks are commonplace. So is routine contractor over-billing. Unaccountability is standard practice. The Defense Department has a virtual blank check, mafia operations small business by comparison.

Huge Pentagon amounts are spent on what’s not needed, no congressional oversight checking out-of-control waste, fraud and abuse – $600 toilet seats and $7,600 coffee makers pocket change compared to big bucks scammed from taxpayers.

It’s been going on for decades, the Fat Leonard scandal a drop in a huge bucket.

On November 5, WaPo headlined “ ‘Fat Leonard’ probe expands to ensnare more than 60 admirals,” saying:

“(H)undreds of other US Navy officers under scrutiny for their contacts with” with Francis. His seduction included “alcohol-soaked, after-dinner parties, which often featured imported prostitutes and sometimes lasted for days, according to federal court records.”

Fat Leonard or Leonard the Legend was known in navy circles “for his wild-side lifestyle, spent decades cultivating relationships with officers, many of whom developed a blind spot to his fraudulent ways.”

“Even while he and his firm were being targeted by Navy criminal investigators, he received VIP invitations to ceremonies in Annapolis and Pearl Harbor, where he hobnobbed with four-star admirals, according to photographs obtained by The Washington Post.”

In 2013, Justice Department charges were filed against him and 28 others, including two admirals – the case called the worst corruption scandal in navy history.

Not exactly as explained above – out-of-control Pentagon corruption ongoing for decades, a multi-trillion dollar scam to this day.

The Navy Department is reviewing the conduct of 440 other active duty and retired personnel, including 60 current and former admirals, WaPo explained – only 10 individuals identified, few details provided.

Only five so far face charges, notably no admirals, 40 others for ethical misconduct, not accusations of criminality.

The Defense Department, Pentagon and military branches are notorious for coverup and denial of offenses that would land ordinary people in prison longterm.

The Fat Leonard scandal has been around for over four years. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to bribery and defrauding the navy of over $35 million.

He’s jailed in San Diego awaiting sentencing. His notorious activities and widespread over-billing was “an open secret for years,” said WaPo, complaints dating from 2006.

He’ll likely be imprisoned, perhaps paroled later on. Indicting and convicting culpable admirals is highly unlikely – other than perhaps one or two hung out to dry. Even then, they’re unlikely to end up behind bars.

With rare exceptions, small fries alone are prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, the way US “justice” commonly works.

The post Fat Leonard Scandal appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Is The U.S. Navy Being Truthful With Its Report On Recent Crash Incidents?

Authored by Duance Norman via Free Market Shooter blog,

Recently, Free Market Shooter (as well as the US Navy) questioned the cause of a string of crashes involving Navy destroyers and cruisers... all occurring this year:

Recently, the US military, unable to come up with a cause for the incidents, began investigating something else – “compromised computer systems”:

 

The military is examining whether compromised computer systems were responsible for one of two U.S. Navy destroyer collisions with merchant vessels that occurred in recent months, Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, said on Thursday.

 

Naval investigators are scrambling to determine the causes of the mishaps, including whether hackers infiltrated the computer systems of the USS John S. McCain ahead of the collision on Aug. 21, Tighe said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

 

The presumption that has been made is that these vessels are being hacked, China is the responsible party, given the proximity of the vessel crashes to the nation, as well as recent incidents where the US and China have butted heads.  But it is worth asking; are these vessels being hacked?  More importantly, if they are being hacked, who is hacking the vessels, and why?

However, this author did not discount other possible causes for the incidents, including complacent Navy sailors…

It is also worth noting that US Navy vessels do not broadcast an AIS signal (which can be seen on www.marinetraffic.com) with their respective position, like nearly all other vessels, due to obvious security/defense reasons. You almost never hear news of large commercial ships crashing into each other, which is due not just to AIS, but due to the fact that they actively try to broadcast their position by other means, such as running lights.

 

Which brings in the possibility of simple human error from US Navy operators as being the cause of these crashes.  Could it be that simple complacency and/or lack of proper training has resulted in these incidents? Given the professionalism of our military, that seems unlikely, but it wouldn’t be the first (and almost certainly won’t be the last) time it has happened.

…a theme which was commonly brought up in responses to this article after it was posted on The Burning Platform:

• Here’s a more likely scenario – its driven and manned by a bunch of incompetent sailors, who very well may have gotten there through some kind of affirmative action nonsense, or social promotion, where pople get qualifications on things they aren’t competent enough to handle because no CO wants to get accused of racism or sexism for failing a black/women/whatever person on the oral board for underway watches. I’ve never been in the Navy, but I’ve seen it, many times. People given way more responsiblity that they are competent to handle, and you just sit back and wait for them to do something stupid, while hoping no one gets hurt. Also, they are probably spending more time doing mandated training on SJW type nonsense than learning how to sail their boat.


• Never attribute something to highly complex malice when it can easily be contributed to stupidity and/or incompetence. Thats how Occam would slice it.


• A complete breakdown in seafaring culture, from top to bottom. The lookouts either failed or had their reports ignored. The radarmen failed to kep track. The bridge lookouts failed, the officer of the deck failed, and the C/O failed by not ensuring that he had competent people at every position. His C/O failed because he knew that the ship captain was incapable of taut management, and likely knew that many of the junior officers and petty officers were untrained and incompetent.


• A complete failure of culture. God help them if they become hard targets in a shooting engagement.


• I’ve worked on vessels in the oil field my whole life and have seen the decline in discipline and accountability. With so many wireless devices it’s almost impossible to keep people focused on their task. If they would disconnect the internet from these vessels and keel hull a few of the captains most of the problem would go away.


• Hacking, GPS spoofing, etc are all things that should be investigated. However IMO they are unlikely. What seems more likely to me is there is a breakdown of operational discipline.


• However this was brought on is open for much debate. A large factor that I think contributes, is the shift away from the military from being an instrument of death to our enemies to a global force for good and social engineering experiments.

And in the case of the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, the Navy has ruled that incompetence was indeed the cause of the incidents:

The collision between Fitzgerald and Crystal was avoidable and resulted from an accumulation of smaller errors over time, ultimately resulting in a lack of adherence to sound navigational practices. Specifically, Fitzgerald’s watch teams disregarded established norms of basic contact management and, more importantly, leadership failed to adhere to well-established protocols put in place to prevent collisions. In addition, the ship’s triad was absent during an evolution where their experience, guidance and example would have greatly benefited the ship.

 

The collision between John S. McCain and Alnic MC was also avoidable and resulted primarily from complacency, over-confidence and lack of procedural compliance. A major contributing factor to the collision was sub-standard level of knowledge regarding the operation of the ship control console. In particular, McCain’s commanding officer disregarded recommendations from his executive officer, navigator and senior watch officer to set sea and anchor watch teams in a timely fashion to ensure the safe and effective operation of the ship. With regard to procedures, no one on the Bridge watch team, to include the commanding officer and executive officer, were properly trained on how to correctly operate the ship control console during a steering casualty.

Is the Navy being truthful in its assessment of these incidents?  More than likely, yes.  But it should be acknowledged that the Navy could be “covering up” another cause of the incident, which could be anything from the aforementioned hacking, to problems with the Navy’s Aegis system, as was previously stated on Free Market Shooter:

A far more likely scenario is that there is a problem with the Aegis system and/or other navigation systems on US naval vessels. The US Navy, known to cover up all sorts of problems in the past, would have every reason to mask the true reason behind these collisions if they are tied to a defective weapons system. Notably, the unreliable nature of the US ground-based interceptor program under questionable test conditions has led many to believe that the system is just another failed defense project sucking up billions of taxpayer dollars.  It is not far-fetched to believe that one of our deployed systems is operating with a serious defect that has been swept under the rug by the DoD.

It is also worth acknowledging that if hacking indeed was to blame, the Navy would not acknowledge it publicly.  If hacking was the culprit, the Navy would not want the enemy to know that it had isolated the issue and corrected it, allowing the enemy to go along in the belief that they could continue to compromise Navy vessels.

However, in the cases of all of these US Navy crashes, the simplest explanation is likely the correct one, and the simplest explanation is the one that the Navy provided – a complete breakdown in seafaring culture.  Still, it has to be acknowledged that the Navy could be covering for a far larger problem. 

Goodbye Royal Marines

Authored by Matthew Jamison via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Over the course of the summer there was great fanfare and much to do from the British Secretary of State, Sir Michael Fallon MP, regarding the "completion" of two new British aircraft carriers called HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

Fallon, a thoroughly odious English Tory and old Cold War warrior, got punch drunk and completely giddy with the unveiling of the new aircraft carriers. Fallon got so excited he started spouting the most ridiculous anti-Russian nonsense such as this contrasting the Royal Navy’s new 65,000-ton carrier with what he called the “dilapidated” Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. Fallon went on in wild Cold War terminology to invoke the spectre of what he erroneously and egregiously called "Russian aggression" and absurdly claimed that the mighty Russian Federation was some how "jealous" of Britain"s two new aircraft carriers. Quite frankly, there is not much to be jealous about when one scratches beneath the Tory English anti- Russian surface.

As is so often the case with the English, in particular their most offensive incarnation in the form of the Tory Party, what the English say and what the reality of the situation is, the hard cold truth, are two very different matters that rarely, if ever, gel together. Fallon quoted the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [who actually had tremendous respect and admiration for and a very good working relationship with the last General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev] in trying to whip up stupid and offensive anti-Russian Cold War sentiment. Well, I am reminded of another one of Mrs Thatcher"s great quotations which I am fond of throwing back in ugly English Tory faces: "Such is presentation......how different from reality."

Fallon would not countenance any criticism of the new aircraft carriers, their cost, their Ministry of Defence project management, their sea readiness, their utility, and a whole host of other salient issues which deserved scrutiny by snapping that critics should "shut up." I"m sorry Fallon but the last time I checked the UK was supposedly a free liberal democracy with intellectual freedom and freedom of speech. Not some Gestapo State as your colleague Mrs May has attempted to create.

So let us examine closely how brilliant and what a great investment these two new British aircraft carriers are. Both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales have roughly cost the hard pressed, almost bankrupt UK taxpayer a combined 6 Billion Pounds. At the official launch of HMS Queen Elizabeth back in the summer Fallon boasted: 

"But Queen Elizabeth, the biggest and the greatest warship this country has ever built, will go on now from these trials to defend our country, to safeguard our sea lanes, to work with our allies and partners to keep the peace, and to save lives across all seven seas."

When pressed on what he would say to the "armchair critics", Fallon beat his meagre chest and said

"They should come and see this wonderful flagship of the Royal Navy, which will help keep this country safe for 50 years to come."

Not to leave any hostages to fortune and most certainly not to be modest Fallon went on:

 "This is a great day for Britain. There are only three other countries in the world building aircraft carriers - and we are building two."

Let us blow away the Fallon/Tory/English spin and Rule Britannia hyperbole and examine the truth.

While on a tour of the Royal Navy’s mighty new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, an intrepid journalist noticed that it is fitted with the exact same software that was hit by a massive cyber-attack only a few months ago. HMS Queen Elizabeth is the most expensive aircraft carrier ever to be built for the Royal Navy at over 3 Billion Pounds but it is running on the same IT software system used by the NHS that were targeted by cyber hackers earlier this year. Also HMS Queen Elizabeth is designed to house 36 fast jets. None of which have yet been built. What is the point of an aircraft carrier if there are no aircraft to land on it? As Jeremy Clarkson writing in The Sun put it: "Apparently, three of the Anglo-American F-35s will be delivered to the Navy in 2020, then six more the following year. Quite what the crew is supposed to do to defend itself in the meantime is unclear. Use rude gestures, perhaps?"

And there is the small matter about the usual serial incompetence of the utterly corrupt and incompetent UK Ministry of Defence and its budget planning and project planning when it came to the building and budgeting for HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The Ministry of Defence as usual can not organise a tea party in China. Thanks to these two new aircraft carriers there is now a massive 30 Billion Pound black hole in the UK Ministry of Defence"s budget. Several senior Ministry of Defence officials linked to UK defence procurement have in recent weeks resigned while the Ministry of Defence has now had to engage in a behind the scenes, classic Whitehall cover up cost cutting exercise.

The sacrificial lamb for plugging this massive financial black hole so Britain can have two utterly useless, good for nothing, football stadium aircraft carriers without any aircraft will be the Royal Marines and their beach landing ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. 

Churchill would be turning in his grave if he knew that Britain was sacrificing her ability to "fight them on the beaches" so Michael Fallon can swan around spouting rubbish about how Russia is "jealous" of these aircraft carriers and more anti-Russian garbage about how: "the resurgence of Russian aggression abroad...[is] undermining democracy wherever it can” and how these aircraft carriers represent "90% of it - British - 17 million parts. This ship is a floating showcase for British industry, British talent, British skills and British brainpower."

Fallon is not the only one spouting absolute lies and anti-Russian rubbish about these aircraft carriers. Sadly, a very weak naive former colleague of mine from the virulently anti-Russian Henry Jackson Society has been getting into Twitter spat after Twitter spat against RT defending these British aircraft carrier pieces of garbage. When will the anti-Russian propaganda of Fallon and James Rogers of the Henry Jackson Society stop. If it were not for the superior strength, grit, determination, continuous effort and heroic courage of the Russian people exemplified most vividly during the Battle of Stalingrad the simple fact is the UK would be the smallest province in the Nazi Third Reich now. But then Rogers is not an academically professionally trained historian. Perhaps some people need to go back to university and do a history degree.

Britain Draws Up Plans For War With North Korea

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

While the United States remains distracted and divided, Great Britain draws up plans for an upcoming war with North Korea.

Tossing major issues aside, Americans have all but forgotten that the world stands on the precipice of World War 3.

While the left is focusing on implementing more gun control and the right is worried about what athletes do during the national anthem, Britain is drawing up plans for a massive war with the rogue nation of North Korea. Britain is preparing for war in the event that the communist regime conducts another successful missile test and the United States responds with a strike.

North Korea is being closely watched right now, especially since the recent ratcheting up of tensions. Amid fears it could launch another long-range missile test on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the founding of its ruling party, some countries refuse to take the threat lightly. And bellicose rhetoric from Donald Trump has heightened tensions in the region in recent months, prompting British officials to draw up military plans for a response to a break out of hostilities  it was reported.

According to the Daily Mail, part of the wartime preparations include the deployment of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, before it has undergone flight trials.

“We have plenty of ships to send… the Type-45 destroyers, the Type-23 frigates. Britain’s new aircraft carrier could be pressed into service early if things turn south,” a senior Whitehall source told the newspaper.

Details of Britain’s secret operation plan have emerged after Donald Trump warned that “only one thing will work” when it comes to dealing with North Korea’s antics.

Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017

...hasn"t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017

The tyrannical fascist in power in North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, has continued nuclear and rocket tests despite widespread condemnation and sanctions.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, which arrived at its home in Portsmouth in August after extensive sea trials, is not due to enter service until 2020. But the possible move to deploy it ahead of schedule drew comparisons with the start of the Falklands War.

“In the Falklands, we had to react to an event and HMS Illustrious was accelerated to respond,” a Navy source told the Mail.

“This was a reaction to protect British territory, however. In this case [North Korea], the UK would be part of a united global coalition. We would see what support we could give.”

Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said last week that the UK should increase its military spending in the face of growing threats from states such as North Korea. Last month, Sir Michael told the BBC that Britain was at risk from Pyongyang’’s long-range nuclear missile programme.

“The US is fully entitled to defend its own territory, to defend its bases and to look after its people, but this involves us, London is closer to North Korea and its missiles than Los Angeles,” he said.

Mysterious Soviet Buoy Washes Up On Florida Beach

If you think this sounds like the plot of a cold-war era spy flick, well, you’re not wrong…

A mysterious 12-foot Soviet buoy washed ashore on Dania Beach in southern Florida following Hurricane Irma, the Sun Sentinel reports, mystifying authorities who have struggled to explain where it came from, or how it ended up in Florida.

Their best guess: The buoy was knocked loose by Irma and floated the 350 miles from Cuba to Florida.

As the Sun Sentinel notes, the buoy looks like it belongs in a James Bond movie. “?????????????? ????” - which the Library of Congress says is Russian for Hydrometrical Service of the USSR - is painted in black on its side.

The first word is an abbreviation for “Gidrometricheskaia,” which means “water-measuring,” like an instrument that measures water temperature, movement and depth, he said. Some Russian-language experts translate it as “Hydrometeorological,” referring to a branch of meteorology involving the study of water in the atmosphere.

Workers at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park pulled the buoy off the beach just days after Hurricane Irma swept through town. It almost immediately drew the attention of the Coast Guard, which tried to seize the buoy from the park.

According to the Sun Sentinel, Bill Moore, the park’s maintenance mechanic, spotted the buoy at the same time as the Coast Guard. He told the paper that his first thought was “You don’t find that too often.”

Officials from an administrative Coast Guard building located right next to the park tried to seize the buoy, but Moore retrieved it before they could take it. The buoy was too heavy to budge, so Moore tied a rope around it and with a skid-steer loader dragged it up the embankment and then brought it to the office’s parking lot.

“They tried to confiscate it.”

Robert Molleda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the buoy could have come from Cuba, given the geographical proximity.

“In Irma, the storm came from the south-southeast. And in a storm like that, something could get dislodged,” he said. “It could go adrift and easily wind up in Florida.”

Since the buoy showed up, strange things have been happening at the park, according to one employee. At one point, a group of men claiming to work for the Navy investigative team came to inspect the buoy and offered to haul it away, but never returned.

“I said, ‘leave your business card,’” but the men left — without leaving a card — and haven’t returned.

We expect that it will be appended to the Russia collusion narrative by Monday.

McMaken: Stop Wrapping The Flag Around Pro Sports

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

Desperate to fill hours and hours of air time on 24-hour news channels, media corporations have made sure the discussion of the correct posture of National Football League players has been front and center. 

Apparently, before grown men can chase a little toy around a grassy field for a few hours, it"s absolutely essential that they take part in a variety of pro-government rituals. This was not always the case, though, and prior to the twentieth century, it was hardly expected that a ballgame be preceded by a recitation of the national anthem or any other song of national allegiance.

Indeed, the current pantomime in which NFL players are expected to stand at attention for the national anthem is of extremely recent origin. As Tom Curran pointed out on Comcast Sportsnet, prior to 2009, football players "weren"t on the field for the national anthem and instead generally remained in the locker room." 

And why did players start making a display of their "patriotism" in 2009? It turns out the government gave them taxpayer money to do so: 

In 2009, Barack Obama"s Department of Defense began paying hundreds of thousands towards teams in a marketing strategy designed to show support for the troops and increase recruitments. The NFL then required all players and personnel to be on the sidelines during the national anthem, in exchange for taxpayers dollars. Prior, the national anthem was played in the stadium but players had the option of staying in the locker room before heading out to the field.

Furthermore, teams that showed "Veteran"s Salutes" during games were paid upwards of $5.1 million dollars.

In total, 6.8 million in taxpayer money was doled out to sports teams - mostly NFL teams - for so-called "paid patriotism." 

When the Pittsburgh Steelers elected to stay in the locker room during the anthem this past Sunday, this was denounced by many as "boycotting" the national song, although this would have just been standard practice a decade ago. 

Playing the Anthem: A "Tradition" Promoted by War

Not surprisingly, if we look into the history of playing the national anthem at sporting events, we find war was an important factor. 

Before the First World War, playing the national anthem or sporting events was quite rare. No one expected it to be done, and hiring a band was expensive. 

According to mlb.com, the most conspicuous early use of the national anthem was at game 1 of the 1918 World Series during World War I. Unexpectedly, during the seventh-inning stretch, a military band played the national anthem in an effort to liven up a reportedly surly and war-wearied group of spectators.  

Use of the anthem spread from there. The anthem"s use expanded even more during the Second World War, as Matt Soniak notes: 

During World War II, baseball games again became venues for large-scale displays of patriotism, and technological advances in public address systems allowed songs to be played without a band.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was played before games throughout the course of the war, and by the time the war was over, the pregame singing of the national anthem had become cemented as a baseball ritual, after which it spread to other sports.

But even after the war, the habit of playing the anthem at every game was not firmly in place until the Vietnam war. 

In most cases, the use of the anthem was not directly subsidized as it was with the taxpayer-funded paid-patriotism scam. Usually, team owners quite voluntarily employed the anthem as a marketing gimmick. In times of war, team owners were happy to use the anthem as a type of advertising to make an emotional connection between the customers — i.e., the spectators — and the team"s product. Wrapping a commercial product in the flag and apple pie to increase sales is hardly unique to pro sports. But pro sports may have used this tactic more successfully than any other industry. 

Unfortunately for the NFL, this tried-and-true marketing strategy may be backfiring as the teams" employees — and surely many spectators as well — see no problem with using the anthem ritual as an opportunity to make a political statement. The result has been a marketing nightmare for the league. 

Although this has been taken up by politicians such as Donald Trump as a matter of critical importance, it really should be viewed as just a private business matter. Tho Bishop has noted that, as private firms, each team should be free to discipline or fire any employee who might cause customer displeasure or a loss of revenue for the team. The question of course, is whether it might be even worse — in terms of earnings — for a team to eliminate its most talented athletes. That"s a business decision the owners will have to make. 

Everything Is Political

To a certain extent, though, the pro sports industry has called down the current controversy on itself. Having wrapped their product in the political garb of Old Glory and the national anthem for decades, team owners are now having to pay the piper. Since many of their customers now expect pro sports to be political — but only political in a way that matches their particular ideology — team owners now face a headache that could have been totally avoidable. 

It didn"t have to be this way. In recent years, many reasonable observers have complained that society is becoming increasingly politicized. Today, it"s easy to find ways in which once apolitical activities have been ruined by ideological posturing. Late night talk shows are now essentially hard-left propaganda. Selling tacos is denounced as "cultural appropriation," and every Hollywood awards show is now a series of political speeches. In the case of professional sports, however, there"s nothing recent about this sort of politicization.

For nearly a century, pro sports have been politicized through their habitual use of the American state"s symbols and songs. The Pentagon knows this, which is why it so enthusiastically shoveled millions of dollars of taxpayer money at the NFL as part of an advertising blitz. But even back in 1918, the US government knew the potential of politicizing sporting events. This is why, during the 1918 World Series, the Navy made sure it had a recruiting station at Wrigley Field. 

Never Forget: The US Government Has A Known History Of Using False Flags

Authored by Caitlyn Johnstone via Medium.com,

When it comes to 9/11, there are two groups of people: those who don’t know exactly what happened, and those who orchestrated it.

Nearly everyone on earth belongs in the former category, but a lot of folks like to pretend they have a rock solid understanding of the events which transpired on that fateful day in 2001. Scoffing mainstream adherents like to pretend they’re confident that the official narrative is accurate, but they aren’t. A lot of hardcore conspiracy analysts like to pretend they know the real story, but they don’t. There’s simply not enough publicly available information for anyone to be certain exactly how things went down that day; all we can know for sure is that (A) the official story is riddled with plot holes, and (B) the American power establishment has an extensive and well-documented history of using false flags and propaganda to manipulate the public into supporting evil acts of military interventionism.

If you think you know for a fact that the official story of what happened on September 11, 2001 is the true account and that all conspiracy theories have been “debunked”, you are ignorant.

If you think you know the precise details of how what really happened differs from the official story, you’ve spent way too much time diving down conspiracy theory rabbit holes and should probably ease off the weed. There’s no need to get all defensive and go bedding yourself down to one hard doctrine of certainty when the US power establishment has already discredited itself so thoroughly. It’s unnecessary to plunge deep into theory when these people’s track record is so firmly established in fact.

Here are just a few of the times the US government is known to have distorted the reality of events in order to manufacture public support for military intervention, which is per definition what a false flag is:

The False Nayirah Testimony

On October 10, 1990 a 15 year-old girl known only as Nayirah testified before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus about the horrors that Iraqi troops were inflicting upon the people of Kuwait. Her testimony that hundreds of babies had been taken out of their incubators and left to die on hospital floors was repeated as fact by Amnesty International, the mass media, numerous senators, and President H. W. Bush, tugging at the heartstrings of America and manufacturing support for American action in the Gulf War.

It was a lie. Nayirah was in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US, and her TV-friendly “removing babies from incubators” testimony was false. It never happened.

Former CIA Director Bush with the Kuwaiti Ambassador, who watched his daughter’s false testimony before congress

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

In 2005 a declassified historical study by the NSA revealed that one of the two incidents which were used to propel America into the disastrous Vietnam War happened the opposite of the way it was reported to have happened, and the second of the two incidents did not happen at all. The allegation that there were “deliberate” and “unprovoked” attacks upon the US Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2 and August 4 of 1964 was solemnly affirmed by President Johnson, which led to the swift passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing full presidential authority to commit US military power to the Vietnamese intervention.

In reality the August 2 incident was not in any way “unprovoked”, and it was in fact America’s USS Maddox which fired upon North Vietnamese boats first. On August 4 there was no engagement with any ships whatsoever, with Johnson privately admitting a year later that “For all I know, our navy was shooting at whales out there.”

The USS Maine

“But when the smoke was over, the dead buried and the cost of the war came back to the people in an increase in the price of commodities and rent?—?that is, when we sobered up from our patriotic spree?—?it suddenly dawned on us that the cause of the Spanish-American War was the price of sugar.”

~ Emma Goldman

This goes way back. The video above describes how the Spanish-American war was brought on by a highly suspicious explosion upon the USS Maine while it was docked at the Havana Harbor in 1898, combined with the anti-Spain narratives of the plutocrat-owned newspapers of that time. Like all US wars, it was extremely profitable and benefitted the very rich.

*  *  *

This tradition of using lies to rally the unwashed masses behind military endeavors on behalf of the rich and powerful has probably been going on since the dawn of civilization, and it is only humanity’s increasing adeptness at networking and sharing information which has enabled us to begin catching on to the deceitful manipulations of the people who rule us. Our history books are doubtless riddled with countless inaccuracies as to the real reasons underlying violent conflicts between various kingdoms and factions, because the few literate people who were permitted to write the official historic accounts of them had full control of the narrative at the time.

This is why we’ve been seeing increasingly blatant panic from existing power structures about alternative media. Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. It is only by general societal consensus that power exists where it exists, that money works the way it works, etc. At any time the public could stop honoring existing power structures and create an entirely different model for itself, deciding to distribute resources and allocate responsibilities in a way that benefits more people more efficaciously than the current paradigm. It is only by their ability to manipulate and control the mainstream narrative that powerful people have been able to keep this from happening.

If the power elites didn’t need the consent of the public to rule, they wouldn’t have to lie constantly about their reasons for war. The public would never consent to military interventions if politicians were allowed to appear on CNN and say “Yeah well America has become a stronghold for the most powerful plutocracy in the history of civilization and it needs to maintain its status as the world’s only superpower in order to protect the investments of that plutocracy. This is why we have to keep knocking the pillars of support out from underneath Russia and China, and why I get millions in re-election campaign donations.”

My more pessimistic readers won’t like hearing this, but the reality is that Americans are basically good people who generally want what’s best for the world. If they weren’t, the unelected power establishment which rules over them wouldn’t have to keep making up lies about babies in incubators and protecting their family from Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to secure US hegemony. If they ever told the public the truth, they’d be dealing with hundreds of millions of heavily-armed Americans telling them to get their sociopathic asses out of here.

Obama Urged Trump To Continue Neoconservative Foreign Policy#Trump #Obama #letter #neoconhttps://t.co/b4BMZqpof2

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) September 4, 2017

What this means is that those of us who want what’s best for America and the world instead of endless war and economic oppression are necessarily locked in a media war with the plutocracy and its cronies. The populist alternative media owned and operated by ordinary people is the natural enemy of the plutocrat-owned mainstream media designed to prop up the existing power structure with establishment propaganda. Our ability to win this media war increases the more networked and internet-literate our society becomes, which is why the oligarchs have been working overtime to shut us down with corporate censorship.

There is no reason to believe anything these lying sociopaths say, especially not about something that has served such a crucial role in their openly stated agenda to ensure US dominance over the world using its military and economic might. When you’ve got the extremely influential neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century saying in September of 2000 that it would require “a new Pearl Harbor” to advance this agenda, and then getting exactly that one year later in an American tragedy which was used to manufacture support for greatly expanded US military interventionism, there’s no good reason to take all that in with a trusting “Yeah, that sounds legit.”

These people are liars, and they are depraved. They have no problem using lies to kill a million Iraqis and thousands of US soldiers to advance their agendas, and there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t kill US civilians as well. There’s no harm in familiarizing yourself with all the details about the various conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 if that’s what you want to spend your brainpower on, but really all you need to know is that these people are known liars who have no problem slaughtering countless people to advance their agenda of global domination. There is no reason to trust them and many reasons not to. End of.

*  *  *

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The Saker Warns "Make No Mistake, The Latest US Thuggery Is A Sign Of Weakness, Not Strength"

Via The Saker,

For a while already the Russian diplomats have been openly saying that their American counterparts are ?????????????????? or “non-agreement capable”.  This all began under Obama, when Kerry flew to meet with Lavrov and declared ‘A’, then flew back to Washington, DC and declared ‘B’.  Then there were the cases in Syria when the US agreed to a deal only to break that very same deal in less than 24 hours.  That’s when the Russians openly began to say that their US colleagues are rank amateurs who lack even the basic professionalism to get anything done.

Now the US has slipped even lower: the Russians speak of US “hellish buffoonery” and “stupid thuggery”.

Wow!

For the normally hyper-diplomatic Russians, this kind of language is absolutely unheard of, this has never ever happened before.  You could say that the Russians are naive, but they believe that their diplomats should always be, well, diplomatic, and that public expressions of disgust is just not something a diplomat does.  Even more telling is rather than call the Americans “evil” or “devious”, they openly express their total contempt for them, calling them stupid, incompetent, uneducated and their actions unlawful (read Maria Zakharova’s statement to that effect on Facebook).

So let me explain what is happening here how the Russians interpreted the latest US thuggery concerning the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and the Russian diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York.

First, the Russians fully expected the Americans to retaliate after the Russian expulsion of US diplomatic personnel in Russia.  That, by itself, is not the problem.  The Russians understand that Trump is a cornered and weak President, that he has to show how “tough” he is.  Sure, they smile, but they think that this is ‘fair game’.  The Russians also know that, as a country, the USA cannot accept the biggest reduction in US diplomatic personnel in history without reacting.  Again, they don’t necessarily like it, but they think that this is ‘fair game’.

You know what really triggered the Russians off?  The fact that the Americans gave them only 2 days to vacate the premises they would seize and that they organized some kind of bizarre search operation.  Let me immediately explain that this is not a case of ruffled feathers by the Russians, not at all.  But here is how they would think about it:

“Why would they give us only 2 days?  Do they really think that we cannot clear the premises from anything sensitive in 60 minutes if needed?  Or are they actually trying to inconvenience our personnel?  If so, do they really think that we are going to break out in hysterics?  Do the Americans really think that they will find something?  What?  Papers proving that Trump is our agent? Maybe a hidden nuclear device?  Or the computers we used to hack in every server in the USA?” 

To a Russian, these questions can only have one answer: of course not. So what is going on here?  And then there is the only possible explanation left:

“We beat them is Syria, we are beat them in the Ukraine, they lost Afghanistan, they lost Iraq, their Navy apparently does not know how to use a radar, their soldiers are terrified to fight somebody capable of resistance, they failed to impress not only China, but even the North Koreans who are openly laughing at them.  Hezbollah laughs at them.  Even Venezuela refuses to be scared!  The Iranians openly threaten them with consequences if they back out of the deal they signed. Even Pakistan is openly expressing its disgust with the USA.  Ditto for Turkey.  Heck – the Americans are losing on all fronts and the very best they can do is try to feel good about illegally harassing our diplomatic personnel! Pathetic, lame, losers!”

And they are 100% correct.

The latest US thuggery against Russian diplomats is as stupid as it is senseless.  I think that US diplomats of the era of James Baker must be absolutely mortified to see the kind of idiocy their successors are now engaging in.

This is also the end of Rex Tillerson.  The poor man now has only two options left: resign (that would be the honorable thing to do) or stay and become another castrated eunuch unable to even deal with the likes of Nikki Haley, nevermind the North Koreans!

A “spokesperson” for the White House declared that Trump personally ordered the latest thuggery.  Okay, that means one of two thing: either Trump is so weak that he cannot even fire a lying spokesperson or that he has now fallen so low as to order the “thug life” behavior of the State Department.  Either way, it is a disgrace.

This is also really scary. 

The combination of, on one hand, spineless subservience to the Neocons with intellectual mediocrity, a gross lack of professionalism and the kind of petty thuggery normally associated with street gangs and, on the other hand, nuclear weapons is very scary.  In the mean time, the other nuclear armed crazies have just declared that they have a thermonuclear device which they apparently tested yesterday just to show their contempt for Trump and his general minions.  I don’t think that they have a hydrogen bomb. I don’t think that they have a real ICBM.  I don’t even think that they have real (usable) nuclear warheads.  But what if I am wrong?  What if they did get a lot of what they claim to have today – such as rocket engines – from the Ukies?

In one corner, the Outstanding Leader, Brilliant Comrade, Young Master and Great Successor, Kim Jong-un and on the other, The Donald, Grab them by the xxxxx and Make ‘Merica Great, the Grand Covfefe Donald Trump.  Both armed with nukes.

Scary, scary shit.  Really scary.

But even more scary and depressing is that the stronger man of the two is beyond any doubt Kim Jong-un.

All I see in the White House are vacancy signs.

Two Navy Veterans Team Up with Texas VFW Post Hurricane Shelter

A VFW Post in Texas is currently operating as a hurricane shelter and was close to running out of food. Two veterans took up that challenge and a large supply of food will be delivered soon. They are also donating water filtration bottles and water filtration straws.

Oath Keeper Chance Gibson of American Survival Wholesale and Ross Powell of Survival 401K teamed up to provide the food for close to 13,000 meals. Chance Gibson’s company is providing the food at cost, and Ross Powell has collected donations to cover those costs. The food supplies will be delivered by Oath Keepers members who are headed to Texas to help wherever they can.

The Cajun Navy is actively rescuing people from their flooded neighborhoods. Oath Keepers are helping with that and whatever else needs to be done. We have more members on the way.

We can all do something to help. Many of those affected by Hurricane Harvey have absolutely nothing left except the clothes they were wearing when they were rescued. Donations of $5 or $10 or more add up. If you can donate to a relief organization, please do. If you’re on facebook, you can forward information about relief efforts to reach a wider audience.

One of many groups that are sending help is Samaritan’s Purse. “President Franklin Graham has approved the deployment of five U.S. disaster relief units to southeastern Texas. These tractor trailers, stocked with emergency relief equipment and supplies, will help our staff and volunteers meet some of the mammoth needs created by Hurricane Harvey.”   https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/all-disaster-units-to-texas-hurricane-harvey/

Our sincere thanks to everyone who is actively helping to rescue people from flooded areas, helping with the day-to-day needs of those who had to leave their homes, and to all of those who can’t do that, but can contribute to defray the enormous expenses of this disaster. Special thanks to the two companies providing food for the Texas VFW Post hurricane shelter.

Evacuees fill up cots at the George Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, that has been turned into a shelter run by the American Red Cross to house victims of the high water from Hurricane Harvey on Aug. 28. ERICH SCHLEGEL/GETTY

Thank you!

American Survival Wholesale

http://www.americansurvivalwholesale.com/

Survival 401K

https://survival401k.com/

Chief Of Naval Operations "Looking Into" Possibility Ships Were Hacked

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Tragedy struck the USS John S. McCain on Monday, when the destroyer collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Singapore, leaving 10 sailors missing and five injured. The US Navy is still struggling to find all of the remains of the missing sailors, and has ordered an operational pause for all naval fleets around the world as investigators try to figure out exactly why this terrible accident occurred.

Among the possible causes that are being looked into, one has a raised a few eyebrows. Over the summer there have been two accidental collisions involving the 7th fleet, and a total of 4 similar incidents this year. This has led some Navy officials to suspect that a cyber attack may have been responsible for the crash, as well as other recent Naval accidents.

The Navy has not ruled out an intentional action behind the latest deadly collision between a Navy destroyer and a merchant ship, the chief of naval operations told reporters Monday.

“That’s is certainly something we are giving full consideration to but we have no indication that that’s the case—yet,” Adm. John Richardson, the CNO, said at the Pentagon.

“But we’re looking at every possibility, so we’re not leaving anything to chance,” he said.

Asked if that includes the possibility the electronic defenses on the guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain were hacked in a cyber attack, Richardson said investigators will look into all possible causes.

“We’ll take a look at all of that, as we did with the Fitzgerald,” the four-star admiral said, referring to another Navy warship collision with a merchant ship in June near Japan.

So far the Navy has made it clear that there currently isn’t any evidence that the neither USS McCain, nor any other naval vessel, has suffered from a cyber attack. However, there are quite a few top notch cyber security experts who think that all of these collisions probably have something in common.

“There’s something more than just human error going on because there would have been a lot of humans to be checks and balances,” Jeff Stutzman, an ex-information warfare specialist in the Navy, who now works at a cyber threat intelligence company, told McClatchyDC.

 

“When you are going through the Strait of Malacca, you can’t tell me that a Navy destroyer doesn’t have a full navigation team going with full lookouts on every wing and extra people on radar,” he said.

 

Itay Glick, the founder of cyber security firm Votiro, told news.com.au that the possibility of cyber interference was the first thing that came to his mind when he heard about the incident.

 

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Glick told the website.

 

“Both USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald were part of the 7th Fleet, there is a relationship between these two events and there may be a connection,” he added.

The only other question that remains is, if these collisions were caused by cyber attacks, who is responsible? One likely culprit seems to be China. For years the Chinese government has complained about the US Navy’s presence in the South China Sea, which they claim as their territorial waters. In fact, following the USS McCain’s accident, the Global Times, which is effectively a mouthpiece of the government, claimed that Chinese citizens were celebrating the collision.

It’s also important to consider the fact that many US Naval vessels are riddled with counterfeit parts from China. A Senate led investigation in 2012 found that our ships contained over a million counterfeit parts, mostly of Chinese origin. Obviously, this raises the possibility that the Chinese government may have used black markets to secretly funnel parts to the US Navy, which contain backdoors that are easily exploitable.

But perhaps what’s most telling, is how a state-run Chinese media outlet responded to the USS McCain collision, by suggesting that the US Navy has become a dangerous presence for commercial shipping in the South China Sea.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The U.S. navy’s latest collision at sea, the fourth in its Pacific fleet this year, shows it is becoming an increasing risk to shipping in Asia despite its claims of helping to protect freedom of navigation, an official Chinese newspaper said…

 

…The state-run China Daily said in an editorial on Tuesday that people will wonder why such a sophisticated navy keeps having these problems.

 

“The investigations into the latest collision will take time to reach their conclusions, but there is no denying the fact that the increased activities by U.S. warships in Asia-Pacific since Washington initiated its rebalancing to the region are making them a growing risk to commercial shipping,” it said.

There’s no proof that China has been hacking our ships, but the possibility can’t be ruled out.

US Navy Halts Pacific Fleet Operations As Historical Path Of Collided Warship Emerges

Following the second collision of US warships in two months, the US Navy"s Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) has calling for a comprehensive review of recent incidents in the Pacific in the wake of the USS John McCain collision with an oil tanker early Monday morning. In a video, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson called for an "operational pause" with commands and leaders across the fleet, and a deeper look into the training and certification of forces operating in  the Navy"s 7th Fleet - those in and around Japan.

#BREAKING: Statement from @CNORichardson on #USSJohnSMcCain collision. Operational pause and comprehensive reviewed directed. pic.twitter.com/OQFy0RGEAu

— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) August 21, 2017

"I have directed fleet commanders to immediately conduct an operational pause with commands and leaders across the fleet, to ensure we are taking all appropriate immediate measures to enhance the Navy"s safe and effective operation around the world.... This is the second major collision in the last three months, and is the latest in a series of major incidents, particularly in the Pacific theater," said Richardson. "This trend demands more forceful action."

That review "will examine the process by which we train and certify our forward deployed forces in Japan to be ready for operations and war," according to Richardson. "This will include, but not be limited to, trends in operational tempo, performance, maintenance, equipment and personnel. It will also focus on surface warfare training and career development, including tactical and navigational proficiency."

According to CBS, the investigative team will be diverse, including people from across the Navy (both officer and enlisted), and experts from outside the Navy and the private sector.

As shown earlier, the USS John S. McCain suffered extensive hull damage after colliding with the oil/chemical tanker called the Alnic MC. Five sailors were injured and another 10 remain missing.

Richardson noted that the review, led by Adm. Phil Davidson, Commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, will be on a "tight timeline" in order to address the problems and "quickly make corrective actions."

Earlier at a briefing in Amman, Jordan, Defense Secretary James Mattis offered his thoughts and prayers to the sailors and families of those on board the USS John McCain, saying an investigation is currently underway to determine what exactly happened and caused the crash.  Mattis added the CNO"s broader investigation will put together an inquiry into all related accidents incidents at sea to address all existing factors, including the USS Fitzgerald.

“He has put together a broader inquiry to look into these incidents and to determine any of the causal factors to determine what’s going on,” Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters while traveling in Amman, Jordan.

Meanwhile, courtesy of Bloomberg, the historical movement of both the USS John S. McCain and the Alnic MC tanker was revealed, swowing both the path of both ships as they ultimately collided just east of Singapore.