Collision with a super quiet French diesel-electric sub, running on batteries.seacoaster wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 7:21 am What is the most likely cause of the damage to the Connecticut?
Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
...they live in the Hillsmere section of Annapolis, right next to my dog park. Fine people. They served the country.old salt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:43 amTypical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
The wife has been a faculty member for 10 years at the Key School which is also located in Hillsmere.
He mentioned difficulty with the translation. I wonder if it was French.
Another report noted lights on in the house & dogs barking.
More dogs headed to the Anne Arundel County Animal Shelter.
https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland ... story.html
A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife, who live in Annapolis, have been arrested on charges of trying to pass secrets to a foreign government, according to a federal court document unsealed Sunday.
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were taken into custody Saturday in Jefferson County, West Virginia, on espionage charges, the Justice Department said in a news release.
A federal court filing alleges the pair traveled to sites in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania over the course of this year, where Jonathan Toebbe dropped off memory cards with secret information that he believed an official of the foreign government would collect.
“The complaint charges a plot to transmit information relating to the design of our nuclear submarines to a foreign nation,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “The work of the FBI, Department of Justice prosecutors, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Department of Energy was critical in thwarting the plot charged in the complaint and taking this first step in bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
Toebbe, 42, a former naval officer, held a top-secret security clearance and had worked on projects related to naval nuclear propulsion of submarines since 2012. He was assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, also known as Naval Reactors.
His wife, 45, is a humanities teacher, according to the court filing. In a statement Sunday afternoon, the Key School in Annapolis confirmed she was on its Upper School faculty and had worked there for 10 years.
According to the filing, Jonathan Toebbe sent a package in April 2020 to the foreign government, which was described only as “COUNTRY1,” containing a sample of restricted data. An FBI official in that country obtained the package in December 2020 and began communicating with Toebbe, posing as an official from the foreign government.
The document said the package included a letter reading, “I apologize for this poor translation into your language. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax.”
During the months of negotiations that ensued, the complaint alleges, Toebbe expressed multiple concerns about secrecy and safety. The complaint quoted him as writing this spring: “Is there some physical signal you can make that proves your identity to me? I could plan to visit Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend. I would be just another tourist in the crowd. Perhaps you could fly a signal flag on your roof?”
The undercover FBI contact responded that “We will set a signal from our main building observable from the street.” The FBI then placed a signal “at a location associated with COUNTRY1″ over Memorial Day weekend, it said. Within days, the complaint said, Toebbe confirmed he’d received the signal and was ready to go ahead with a dead drop.
Toebbe allegedly agreed to provide data in exchange for thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. With his wife, Toebbe drove June 26 to a location in West Virginia to drop off an SD card, wedged in a peanut butter sandwich, containing restricted material that cannot be shared under the federal Atomic Energy Act, the complaint said. Diana Toebbe appeared to be “acting as a lookout” as her husband left the material, according to the court filing.
The next month, Toebbe and his wife drove to a location in south-central Pennsylvania and allegedly dropped off another SD card with hundreds of pages of schematics, drawings and other documents. The complaint described it as sealed in a Band-Aid wrapper on this occasion.
“This information was slowly and carefully collected over several years in the normal course of my job to avoid attracting attention and smuggled past security checkpoints a few pages at a time,” the FBI quoted Toebbe as messaging them. “I no longer have access to classified data so unfortunately cannot help you obtain other files.”
In late August, Jonathan Toebbe allegedly dropped off another SD card in Virginia, concealed in a chewing gum wrapper.
“There is only one other person I know is aware of our special relationship, and I trust that person absolutely,” the FBI said he wrote in an attached message. The court document said authorities believe that person was his wife.
When he and his wife arrived Saturday in Jefferson County, allegedly for another drop-off, they were arrested.
The complaint said Jonathan Toebbe told the person he was in contact with regarding leaking the data to that he had “considered the possible need” to leave the U.S. on short notice.
“Should that ever become necessary, I will be forever grateful for your help extracting me and my family. I surmise the first step would be unannounced travel to a safe third country with plans to meet your colleagues. We have passports and cash set aside for this purpose,” the document quoted him as writing.
Also Saturday, FBI agents were at the Toebbes’ home in the Hillsmere Estates neighborhood of Annapolis, FBI spokeswoman Samantha Shero said. The Toebbes bought the three-bedroom, split-level in 2014 for $430,000, according to state real estate records.
It’s three blocks from the private Key School, where Diana Toebbe taught. In its statement, the school said: “Key School is in no way connected to the investigation nor any personal criminal activity involving the Toebbes. Diana Toebbe has been suspended from Key School indefinitely pending the outcome of the investigation.”
The head of school, Matthew Nespole, said in his statement that the school was “shocked and appalled to learn of the charges.” He said the school didn’t know anything about the couple’s alleged criminal activities but would cooperate with the investigation if asked.
Neighbors huddled together across the street Sunday from the Toebbes’ home. While swapping stories about what they knew about them and what happened Saturday, they declined to give their names, but reported more than 15 police cars and at least 25 agents swarmed the brick house with light-brown siding for more than eight hours.
A woman who lives across the street got out a pair of binoculars and said agents took photos of everything. Other neighbors recounted how officers “ransacked” a white Mini Cooper: Everything was taken out, including the seats and a GPS computer.
Two FBI agents knocked on every door in the quiet, kid-friendly tree-lined neighborhood. They mostly wanted to know about the couple’s “patterns of life,” how they acted or whether they ever heard any arguing, the neighbors said.
The neighbors said they weren’t much help. The couple, who had two children, mostly kept to themselves. A man who lives two houses down from the Toebbes on the same side of the street said he’d try to greet them as he helped his wife tend their garden. But they usually didn’t acknowledge him.
The information Jonathan Toebbe allegedly provided during the sting included information about Virginia-class nuclear submarine reactors, according to a court document.
The Navy on late Sunday afternoon provided a summary of Toebbe’s military career that said he joined the service in 2012 in Denver, studied at the Officer Training Command in Newport, Rhode Island, and was a nuclear engineering officer based in northern Virginia and Pittsburgh. He became a lieutenant in 2016 and left active duty in 2017. He was a human resources officer in the reserves until he left the Navy in December 2020.
The court document noted that he had his top-secret clearance renewed in March 2020, just five days before he allegedly sent his package offering secret information to the foreign government.
It does not describe how the FBI obtained what it said was Toebbe’s original communication to COUNTRY1, nor how the FBI arranged to signal him over Memorial Day weekend from a location in Washington associated with that country.
The Toebbes are due to appear Tuesday in court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, according to online court records.
Messages left Saturday at two phone numbers listed in Jonathan Toebbe’s name were not returned.
More details.Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:47 amFine people. They served the country.old salt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:43 amTypical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
The wife has been a faculty member for 10 years at the Key School which is also located in Hillsmere.
He mentioned difficulty with the translation. I wonder if it was French.
Another report noted lights on in the house & dogs barking.
More dogs headed to the Anne Arundel County Animal Shelter.
Happens in Baltimore all the time. Grandmother will step in.old salt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:49 amMore details.Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:47 amFine people. They served the country.old salt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:43 amTypical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
The wife has been a faculty member for 10 years at the Key School which is also located in Hillsmere.
He mentioned difficulty with the translation. I wonder if it was French.
Another report noted lights on in the house & dogs barking.
More dogs headed to the Anne Arundel County Animal Shelter.
https://news.usni.org/2021/10/10/fbi-ar ... more-89026
2 kids. I wonder how old. Their lives are shattered. I hope they have family to take them in.
Yep. Real Patriots. Viva La Resistance & a BLM yard sign leaning against the front of the house.Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
old salt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 8:53 pmYep. Real Patriots. Viva La Resistance & a BLM yard sign leaning against the front of the house.Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
https://www.foxnews.com/us/wife-navy-nu ... m-feminism
Probably selling secrets to Nigeria!
They were dealing with a "friendly" country who contacted the FBI.old salt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 8:53 pmYep. Real Patriots. Viva La Resistance & a BLM yard sign leaning against the front of the house.Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:07 pm https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/navy- ... nment/amp/
Patriots
https://www.foxnews.com/us/wife-navy-nu ... m-feminism
https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-fr ... 1632166702
America Should Be Frank With France
The two nations need each other, despite French anger over the Aussie defense deal.
Connoisseurs of fine French pique enjoyed a rare feast last week as France reacted volcanically to its exclusion from the Aukus defense partnership and the cancellation of its $40 billion submarine pact with Australia by recalling two ambassadors. Usually Paris calls back only one when in this mood (see Turkey 2020 and Italy 2019). Better still, as a supreme expression of contempt and disdain, the French hit on the novel punishment of leaving its ambassador to the U.K. in place.
To be sure, the loss of contracts valued at more than $60 billion after cost overruns is a staggering blow to France, whose total defense budget was just above $50 billion in 2020. But its agreement with Australia meant much more than money, and Canberra’s decision to drop a long-term defense relationship with Paris to form the Aukus partnership with London and Washington cuts deep.
It is, to begin with, a massive public humiliation for Emmanuel Macron just as the next French electoral campaign begins to heat up. President Macron and his government were blindsided by a development of vital importance to French interests and international standing. The French Foreign Ministry has accused the Aukus powers of “backstabbing” and even treachery, but it’s the business of a country’s diplomatic, military and intelligence establishments to prevent such surprises. The French don’t elect their presidents to be hapless patsies hornswoggled by stupid Americans, provincial Australians and unspeakable Brits.
But this is bigger than Mr. Macron. The submarine contract was a centerpiece of Paris’s strategy for the 21st century. Building on its military strength, diplomatic acumen and technological sophistication to defeat Japan in the original competition for the Australian submarine contract, France felt it had established a position of lasting influence in the heart of the Indo-Pacific. Better still, it had outmaneuvered Britain and broken into the Anglophone world of the Five Eyes to become a privileged defense partner of Australia.
The collapse of this glorious dream hits the French hard and triggers deep-seated fears of decline. With Germany ever more dominant in the European Union, and the Anglophone countries marginalizing French influence in much of the rest of the world, what role is left for France? As the French position in Africa continues to weaken in the face of Chinese competition and jihadist violence, and as the limits of its Mediterranean influence from Libya to Lebanon become steadily more evident, the world as seen from Paris grows more grim. With Francophiles like Antony Blinken and John Kerry playing leading roles in the State Department of an anti-Brexit Irish Catholic president, France hoped for better relations with Washington. The French certainly didn’t expect the Biden administration to anoint Boris Johnson as its privileged partner in Europe.
Given the French reaction, Team Biden has been taking friendly fire from liberal internationalists for both the substance of the new partnership and the handling of its formation. Disarmament advocates are horrified by the administration’s apparent intention to supply Australia with the weapons-grade nuclear fuel needed to power advanced nuclear submarines. NATO advocates and Europeanists wonder what has happened to Mr. Biden’s promises to rebuild the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Those concerns are misplaced. Substantively, the formation of Aukus is a major step forward for America’s Indo-Pacific policy, and while the U.S. could have been more tactful, there are few elegant ways to cancel a wedding. Indeed, the perception that Washington is willing to risk alienating an important European partner to advance its Pacific strategy sends an important signal to friends and foes alike.
Aukus is more than an agreement about improving Australia’s submarine fleet. The three countries have also committed in the pact to cooperate across a range of cutting-edge technologies, initiating a period of intensifying military and political cooperation among these already-close allies. Enthusiastically applauded in Tokyo and Taipei, the partnership reassures key regional allies that America’s pivot to the Indo-Pacific is real.
That said, France’s many friends in the U.S. need to think hard about what comes next. Paris is a high-maintenance ally, and it is only natural that some Americans relish the discomfiture of a country that so frequently and stridently lectures us on our shortcomings. But without the contributions of a strong France, many of the most serious problems in American foreign policy—maintaining the stability of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and constructing a stable order in the Indo-Pacific—become significantly more difficult.
Paris aspires to occupy a significant place in world affairs, and it is in America’s interest to help the French find and fulfill it. But the Franco-American strategic dialogue has been superficial. It needs to become deeper and more frank if the West is going to cohere.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/aukus-indo ... 1632775481
Aukus Is the Indo-Pacific Pact of the Future
Imagine if Japan, India, Taiwan and the bloc swap tech and coordinate defense.
International summits almost inevitably end in grandiose joint communiqués, most of which are quickly forgotten. This month’s announcement of the Aukus partnership by President Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison won’t be. This isn’t because the pact made France unhappy or even because it highlights America’s long-term commitment to the Indo-Pacific. Aukus is a deep but flexible partnership between leading tech powers that could shape the 21st century and serve as the model for U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific.
The impetus for the agreement, Prime Minister Morrison told me in an interview during his recent trip to Washington, came from the Australians. After years of escalating pressure, last November Chinese diplomats in Canberra warned that to enjoy better relations with Beijing, Australia’s government must address 14 Chinese grievances. It must, among other things, stop funding “anti-China” research, refrain from provocative actions like requesting a more thorough World Health Organization investigation of the origins of Covid-19, stop opposing strategic Chinese investments into Australia, and block private media outlets from publishing “unfriendly” news stories about China.
Meanwhile, the size and speed of China’s naval buildup had forced Australian defense planners to rethink their national defense strategy. One casualty of that review was confidence in Australia’s strategic partnership with France which was anchored by the now-cancelled submarine program. Faced with a relentless and rising China, the Australians concluded that only closer ties to the U.S. could provide the deterrence and protection they need.
As the Morrison government cast about for ways to stave off Beijing, it hit on a novel approach. There is little appetite in the Indo-Pacific for a formal regional security pact like NATO, but Australia wanted something more solid and durable than the kind of loose ad hoc coalition of the willing that American diplomat Richard Haass famously calls a “posse.” Instead, the Australians would persuade the British and U.S. partners to use the deep trust that the members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence partnership (America, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) have built up over the decades since World War II to create something new.
Between the intelligence sharing over terrorism following 9/11 and more recent cooperation over China, the Five Eyes had never been more robust. Why not, the Australians thought, expand the partnership from intelligence to include research and defense planning? A model for this cooperation already existed: The U.S. shared highly sensitive nuclear propulsion technology with the British submarine program. The Australians thought joining that program and proposing further tripartite collaboration in fields ranging from quantum computing to artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, missiles and cyber could offer economic as well as military and diplomatic benefits.
With strong support from the Biden administration, especially from Jake Sullivan and Kurt Campbell at the National Security Council, and the enthusiastic embrace of a U.K. prime minister eager to put substance behind his “Global Britain” slogan, the agreement came together, by the standards of international diplomacy, at blistering speed.
What comes next will be more difficult as the three countries struggle to bring their unwieldy national-security bureaucracies into alignment and get the private sector to buy in to the process. Describing the level of cooperation he’d like to see, Mr. Morrison is ambitious. When it comes to defense and security planning, he says, “we want to be in on it before it’s even thought of. . . . We want to be in the thinking of the group about what the [defense and technological] needs are.” That won’t happen overnight, if it happens at all, but whatever form it ultimately assumes, Aukus has a unique flexibility and depth. And in an age when the link between information technology and defense capability has become critical, the centrality of cooperative research and development massively enhances the value of this new kind of alliance.
These are all reasons Aukus is a better model for pacts with Indo-Pacific powers than the alliances that fought the Cold War. Indo-Pacific countries are less interested in pooling sovereignty and creating rule-driven, bureaucratic structures than many European states are. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is looser than the European Union, and the Quad is looser than NATO. If Chinese behavior continues to drive its neighbors into closer partnerships with the U.S. and each other, Japan and Taiwan may enter deeper and more Aukus-like arrangements—and perhaps into Aukus itself. A bloc that shares technology and coordinates defense policies that includes Japan, India, Taiwan and the Aukus countries would be a formidable force.
Kismet wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:33 am Salty's hero former-General Flynn and his family lost their $75 million defamation suit against CNN yesterday. A magistrate judge said it wasn't defamatory to call them QAnon followers and wrote in his opinion -
"The Flynns’ own statements establish that they meet the dictionary definition of a follower of QAnon."
Stupid is as stupid does. Morons.
