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U.S. Directly Blames China’s Military for Cyberattacks, Espionage

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Photo Credit: Gary LerudeThe Obama administration on Monday explicitly accused China’s military of mounting attacks on American government computer systems and defense contractors, saying one motive could be to map “military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.”

While some recent estimates have more than 90 percent of cyberespionage in the United States originating in China, the accusations relayed in the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on Chinese military capabilities were remarkable in their directness. Until now the administration avoided directly accusing both the Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army of using cyberweapons against the United States in a deliberate, government-developed strategy to steal intellectual property and gain strategic advantage.

“In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the U.S. government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military,” the nearly 100-page report said.

The report, released Monday, described China’s primary goal as stealing industrial technology, but said many intrusions also seemed aimed at obtaining insights into American policy makers’ thinking. It warned that the same information-gathering could easily be used for “building a picture of U.S. network defense networks, logistics, and related military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rear Admiral Will Not Back Down From ‘My Right Under the Constitution’ to Share Faith

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Faith in the military took center stage Thursday at the 62nd observance of the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C, as lawmakers and faith leaders gathered on Capitol Hill.

After a series of speakers addressed those gathered at the Cannon Office Building, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. William D. Lee, took the microphone to represent Americans serving in the military. Lee told the crowd he had 10 minutes of carefully prepared remarks, but he decided to leave them in his chair and “speak from the heart” instead. Lee, who described himself as “a man of deep abiding faith who happens to wear a uniform,” went on to defy any efforts to stop military personnel from openly sharing their Christian faith—a topic sparking widespread controversy in the media this week. (See “Religious battle lines” by Edward Lee Pitts.)

Lee mentioned last year’s record high number of military suicides, 349—roughly one per day—and said every 65 minutes a military veteran will take his or her own life. “I want you to remember that number,” he said.

He recounted a recent meeting with a 24-year-old soldier who had attempted suicide but survived his self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Lee said when he heard the man’s story, he knew the rules said he should send the man to a chaplain, but his heart said to give him a Bible.

“The lawyers tell me that if I do that, I’m crossing the line,” Lee said. “I’m so glad I’ve crossed that line so many times.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Radicalizing the Military

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Photo Credit: D’oh Boy (Mark Holloway)There have been few sanctuaries of American values as steadfast as the American armed forces. “Duty, Honor, Country”. “Semper Fidelis”. “Service Before Self”. “Honor, Courage, Commitment”. “This We’ll Defend”. “Semper Paratus”. These are words that denote selfless dedication to a higher calling than the gratification of one’s own desires. The men and women who have served our country in the past, and who serve now, are without a doubt the finest of us. They are the face of America around the world, and we are blessed beyond measure that they serve our country with such grace and courage under the worst of external conditions.

Presently, however, they are under threat from within, and one cannot help but notice that our military is being forced, against centuries of American tradition, morals and example, to become a reflection of the left. This appears to be part of the plan to fundamentally transform the United States, and it carries dire consequences for our long-term survival.

Until recently, the military had seemed able to preserve its traditions and principles against radical outside influences. This was due largely to the fact that members voluntarily surrendered their self-interest. By enlisting, they accepted the limits and code of the service they joined, and implicitly made their individuality secondary to the greater good. When asked after the Civil War to bless a woman’s infant son, Robert E. Lee also told her, “Teach him he must deny himself.”

Now, along with every other aspect of our nation, our armed forces are being radicalized. Political correctness, social experimentation, and religious bigotry are jeopardizing the mission and cohesiveness of the military, and putting the long-term security of our country at risk. The left has happily made the military, which it loathes, a target of liberal social change. In addition to making service uncomfortable for some of those already in the ranks, these changes threaten to discourage those who might otherwise have joined from doing so. In an all-volunteer force, this is predictably fatal.

Read more from this story HERE.

So Much For Sequestration: Military Purchases Green Fuel at $59 per Gallon

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Photo Credit: GevoWith many claiming to feel the pangs of the sequestration, it appears a green company’s contract for a more expensive jet fuel was allowed to go through.

The renewable chemical and biofuel company Gevo in its first quarter investor relations report stated that it signed a contract with the Defense Logistics Agency to supply 3,650 gallons of renewable jet fuel.

The order, worth $215,350 total ($59/gallon), is set to be delivered by 2013′s second quarter and has the option to be increased to 12,500 gallons, which would cost up to $737,500.

Gevo calls this an “initial testing phase.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Pentagon Confirms that Christian Soldiers who Share their Faith may be Court-Martialed

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Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to “rape” and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is calling on the Air Force to enforce a regulation that they believe calls for the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.

President Mikey Weinstein and others from his organization met privately with Pentagon officials on April 23. He said U.S. troops who proselytize are guilty of sedition and treason and should be punished – by the hundreds if necessary – to stave off what he called a “tidal wave of fundamentalists.”

“Someone needs to be punished for this,” Weinstein told Fox News. “Until the Air Force or Army or Navy or Marine Corps punishes a member of the military for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression, we will never have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Fox News he was stunned that the Pentagon would be taking counsel and advice from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Read more from this story, including the Pentagon’s confirmation to Fox News that Christian soldiers who proselytize violate military regulations, HERE.

To sign a petition opposed to this outrageous policy, click HERE.

Pentagon taps Anti-Christian Extremist for Religious Tolerance Policy

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Photo Credit: Breitbart “Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”

Those words were recently written by Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), in a column he wrote for the Huffington Post. Weinstein will be a consultant to the Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Christian Gospel during spiritual counseling of American troops.

Weinstein decries what he calls the “virulent religious oppression” perpetrated by conservative Christians, whom he refers to as “monstrosities” and “pitiable unconstitutional carpetbaggers,” comparing them to “bigots” in the Deep South during the civil rights era.

He cites Dr. James Dobson—the famous Christian founder of Focus on the Family—as “illustrating the extremist, militant nature of these virulently homophobic organizations’ rhetorically-charged propaganda.” Regarding those who teach orthodox Christian beliefs from the Bible, Weinstein concludes, “Let’s call these ignoble actions what they are: the senseless and cowardly squallings of human monsters.”

Weinstein then endorses the ultra-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), who publishes a list of “hate groups.” Alongside truly deplorable organizations like the KKK, the SPLC’s list includes a host of traditional Christian organizations (for their support of traditional marriage) and Tea Party organizations (for supporting limited government). Weinstein says SPLC correctly labels them all as “hate groups.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Chaffetz Claims DHS has 1000 More Bullets Per Agent Than US Soldiers

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Photo Credit: APRepublican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is using roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition more per person than the U.S. Army, as he and other lawmakers sharply questioned DHS officials on their “massive” bullet buys.

“It is entirely … inexplicable why the Department of Homeland Security needs so much ammunition,” Chaffetz, R-Utah, said at a hearing.

The hearing itself was unusual, as questions about the department’s ammunition purchases until recently had bubbled largely under the radar — on blogs and in the occasional news article. But as the Department of Homeland Security found itself publicly defending the purchases, lawmakers gradually showed more interest in the issue.

Democratic Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., at the opening of the hearing, ridiculed the concerns as “conspiracy theories” which have “no place” in the committee room.

But Republicans said the purchases raise “serious” questions about waste and accountability.

Read more from this story HERE.

Military Blocks Access to Southern Baptist Website

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Photo Credit: Wesley FryerThe U.S. Military has blocked access to the Southern Baptist Convention’s website on an unknown number of military bases because it contains “hostile content” — just weeks after an Army briefing labeled Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics as examples of religious extremism, Fox News has learned.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination known for its support of the pro-life movement and its strong belief in traditional marriage.

Southern Baptist chaplains reported that SBC.net had been blocked at military installations around the nation. The censorship was made public after an Army officer tried to log onto the denomination’s website and instead — received a warning message.

“The site you have requested has been blocked by Team CONUS (C-TNOSC/RCERT-CONUS) due to hostile content,” the message read.

Team CONUS protects the computer network of the Dept. of Defense. The SBC’s website was not blocked at the Pentagon. Read more from this story HERE.

UPDATE:

Pentagon Blocks, Says it Will Free Access to Southern Baptist Website

The Pentagon blocked access to the Southern Baptist Convention’s website recently because it contained “hostile content” that was later determined to be malware, a military spokesman said Thursday.

“We determined that our web filters recently detected malware at the SBC website, which resulted in the block for some service members,” Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said in a prepared statement. “The department has verified that the Southern Baptist Convention website no longer contains malware that may pose a threat to our networks and will be unblocked today.”

Pickart denied the block had anything to do with the religious content of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.“The Department of Defense strongly supports the religious rights of service members, to include their ability to access religious websites like that of the SBC,” he said.

Hundreds of Southern Baptist military personnel and chaplains across the nation reported earlier this week they could no longer access the SBC.net website on base computers. Instead, they received a message saying the website had been blocked due to “hostile content.”

At the same time, soldiers reported they could access websites of other religious faiths and organizations. Read more from this story HERE.

Congress 'Astonished' by Military Smear of Christians

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Photo Credit: WND

Members of Congress have expressed astonishment that the U.S. Army Reserve would use a training brief that slams Catholics, evangelical Christians and others and are demanding the practice come to a halt – now.

“Our nation needs to have an honest conversation about religious extremism and what we can do to avoid religious violence. However, labeling these major world religions as extremists is wrong and hurtful,” said a letter by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., that was signed by dozens of other members.

It was addressed to Army Secretary John. M . McHugh at the Pentagon.

“We call on you to rescind this briefing and set the record straight on the Army’s view on these faith groups by providing a balanced briefing on religious extremism,” the letter said.

The letter was prompted by reports that soldiers were taught that evangelical Christians are an extremist threat to America along with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, KKK, Nation of Islam, al-Qaida and Hamas.

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska-Based Soldier Gets 16 Years in Spy Case

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Photo Credit: U.S. Army Alaska

An Alaska-based military policeman will serve 16 years in prison and will be dishonorably discharged for selling military secrets to a Russian agent, who was an undercover FBI agent, a military panel decided Monday.

A panel of eight military members from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage recommended a 19-year sentence for Spec. William Colton Millay, but that was dropped to 16 years because of a pretrial agreement. He will receive credit for the 535 days he’s been jailed since his Oct. 28, 2011, arrest. The panel also reduced him in rank to private and he will forfeit all pay and allowances.

Millay pleaded guilty last month to attempted espionage and other counts. A sentencing panel of male military members began deliberations late Monday afternoon.

Military prosecutors painted Millay as a white supremacist who was fed up with the Army and the United States, and was willing to sell secrets to an enemy agent, even if that would cost his fellow soldiers their lives. Defense attorneys said Millay was emotionally stunted, was only seeking attention and was a candidate for rehabilitation.

Millay’s attorney, Seattle-based Charles Swift, said they understand and accept the sentence. However, “We do intend to seek further clemency as this case goes forward for the reasons that were set forth in the trial: his mental state, his emotional age, and the motivation for it, and the circumstances.”

Read more from this story HERE.