U.S. Soldiers Test New Modular Handgun System at Fort Polk

Sgt. Ryan Tatum from the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade offers the below piece:

FORT POLK, La., Jan. 23, 2018 — Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade familiarized themselves and qualified with the XM17 handgun at the Joint Readiness Training Center here, Jan. 19-20.

According to the Army, the XM17 and XM18 handgun systems are replacing the M9 pistol. The “X” in “XM” stands for experimental and will be used until February 2018 when the weapons complete Type Classification. Afterwards, the weapons will be referred to as the M17 and M18. The XM18 is the compact version of the XM17. Both weapons are capable of firing 9 mm rounds.

Army Maj. Lucas Leinberger, the chief range office from 3rd Battalion, 353th Armor Regiment, provided insight on the range and some of the fundamentals in basic marksmanship.

Familiarizing Training

“We are working with members of the 1st SFAB to get some familiarization with the M17 pistol,” Leinberger said. “Part of that training is going through fundamentals such as sight picture, proper grip and trigger squeeze.”

The Army currently has plans to buy approximately 238,000 units of the new pistol system.

“Personally, I noticed a better balance in the overall weapon -- how it feels in your hand compared to the M9 and the M11 [service pistol] both unloaded and loaded with a full magazine,” Leinberger said. “I believe it is much easier to use; it is more ergonomically correct. I believe it will make anyone who is firing the weapon more combat effective.”

The main reason for the change in weapon systems is to make the soldier and units more lethal. The XM17 and XM18 modular handgun system program is one of the first in what is expected to be a whole line of modernization efforts that the Army will pursue over the next few years, according to the Army.

Army Sgt. Max Gilbert, a combat engineer with 2nd Battalion, 1st SFAB, has learned about the weapon and put his trust in it to make him more lethal in combat.

“The instructors here at the range were professional,” Gilbert said. “Yes, I feel that I am combat effective and combat ready.”

Note: In the top photo taken by Sgt. Ryan Tatum, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Curtis Graham demonstrates how to properly shoot the new XM17 pistol from the prone position at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La on Jan. 19, 2018.

On This Day In History North Korea Seized The U.S. Spy Ship Pueblo

As History.com notes, on this day in 1968 the North Koreans seized the USS Pueblo.

The U.S. intelligence-gathering ship Pueblo is seized by North Korean naval vessels and charged with spying and violating North Korean territorial waters. Negotiations to free the 83-man crew of the U.S. ship dragged on for nearly a year, damaging the credibility of and confidence in the foreign policy of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/north-korea-seizes-u-s-ship-pueblo?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2018-0123-01232018&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=309268626&kx_EmailCampaignID=18400&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2018-0123-01232018&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa 

You can also read my Washington Times review of  Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the spy ship Pueblo via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/02/my-washington-times-review-of-act-of.html 

Semper Cop: Happy 81st Birthday To Joseph Wambaugh

Happy belated birthday to Joseph Wambaugh.

The former LAPD detective sergeant, who turned 81 yesterday, is the author of The Choirboys and other classic crime novels, as well as classic true crime books, such as The Onion Field.

You can read my interview with Joseph Wambaugh via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/11/semper-cop-interview-with-novelist.html 

  

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of Joseph Wambaugh’s Hollywood Station   below: 

Mob Talk 12

Veteran organized crime reporters George Anastasia and Dave Schratwieser offer another Mob Talk video. 

The two reporters discuss reputed Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Joseph Merlino’s upcoming racketeering trial in New York and other organized crime news.

You can watch the video via the below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk4FLsIMJDw

Chinese National Sentenced For Economic Espionage And Theft Of A Trade Secret From U.S. Company

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

Xu Jiaqiang, 31, formerly of Beijing, China, was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison, for economic espionage and theft of a trade secret in connection with Xu’s theft of proprietary source code from Xu’s former employer, with the intent to benefit the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China.  Xu previously pleaded guilty to all six counts with which he was charged.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana J. Boente and U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York made the announcement.  The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas in White Plains, New York federal court.

“Xu, a Chinese national, is being held accountable for engaging in economic espionage against an American company,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Boente. “Xu not only stole high tech trade secrets from his U.S. employer – a federal crime – he did so both for his own profit and intending to benefit the Chinese government.  Xu’s sentence clearly demonstrates that the National Security Division will not hesitate to pursue and prosecute those who steal from American businesses.  I thank the many people who worked hard to bring this result.”

“As he previously admitted in federal court, Xu Jiaqiang stole high-tech trade secrets from a U.S. employer, intending to benefit the Chinese government,” said U.S. Attorney Berman.  “The laws governing economic espionage and trade secrets exist, in part, to protect the sanctity of American ingenuity and property.  Xu’s prison sentence should be a red flag for anyone attempting to illegally peddle American expertize and intellectual property to foreign bidders.”

According to the allegations contained in the Complaint and the Superseding Indictment filed against Xu, as well as statements made in related court filings and proceedings:

From November 2010 to May 2014, Xu worked as a developer for a particular U.S. company (the Victim Company).  As a developer, Xu enjoyed access to certain proprietary software (the Proprietary Software), as well as that software’s underlying source code (the Proprietary Source Code).  The Proprietary Software is a clustered file system developed and marketed by the Victim Company in the United States and other countries.  A clustered file system facilitates faster computer performance by coordinating work among multiple servers.  The Victim Company takes significant precautions to protect the Proprietary Source Code as a trade secret.  Among other things, the Proprietary Source Code is stored behind a company firewall and can be accessed only by a small subset of the Victim Company’s employees.  Before receiving Proprietary Source Code access, Victim Company employees must first request and receive approval from a particular Victim Company official.  Victim Company employees must also agree in writing at both the outset and the conclusion of their employment that they will maintain the confidentiality of any proprietary information.  The Victim Company takes these and other precautions in part because the Proprietary Software and the Proprietary Source Code are economically valuable, which value depends in part on the Proprietary Source Code’s secrecy.

                                                                                       

In May 2014, Xu voluntarily resigned from the Victim Company.  Xu subsequently communicated with one undercover law enforcement officer (UC-1), who posed as a financial investor aiming to start a large-data storage technology company, and another undercover law enforcement officer (UC-2), who posed as a project manager, working for UC-1.  In these communications, Xu discussed his past experience with the Victim Company and indicated that he had experience with the Proprietary Software and the Proprietary Source Code.  On March 6, 2015, Xu sent UC-1 and UC-2 a code, which Xu stated was a sample of Xu’s prior work with the Victim Company.  A Victim Company employee (Employee-1) later confirmed that the code sent by Xu included proprietary Victim Company material that related to the Proprietary Source Code.

    

Xu subsequently informed UC-2 that Xu was willing to consider providing UC-2’s company with the Proprietary Source Code as a platform for UC-2’s company to facilitate the development of its own data storage system.  Xu informed UC-2 that if UC-2 set up several computers as a small network, then Xu would remotely install the Proprietary Software so that UC-1 and UC-2 could test it and confirm its functionality.

In or around early August 2015, the FBI arranged for a computer network to be set up, consistent with Xu’s specifications.  Files were then remotely uploaded to the FBI-arranged computer network (the Xu Upload).  Thereafter, on or about Aug. 26, 2015, Xu and UC-2 confirmed that UC-2 had received the Xu Upload.  In September 2015, the FBI made the Xu Upload available to a Victim Company employee who has expertise regarding the Proprietary Software and the Proprietary Source Code (Employee-2).  Based on Employee-2’s analysis of technical features of the Xu Upload, it appeared to Employee-2 that the Xu Upload contained a functioning copy of the Proprietary Software.  It further appeared to Employee-2 that the Xu Upload had been built by someone with access to the Proprietary Source Code who was not working within the Victim Company or otherwise at the Victim Company’s direction.

On Dec. 7, 2015, Xu met with UC-2 at a hotel in White Plains, New York (the Hotel).  Xu stated, in sum and substance, that Xu had used the Proprietary Source Code to make software to sell to customers, that Xu knew the Proprietary Source Code to be the product of decades of work on the part of the Victim Company, and that Xu had used the Proprietary Source Code to build a copy of the Proprietary Software, which Xu had uploaded and installed on the UC Network (i.e., the Xu Upload).  Xu also indicated that Xu knew the copy of the Proprietary Software that Xu had installed on the UC Network contained information identifying the Proprietary Software as the Victim Company’s property, which could reveal the fact that the Proprietary Software had been built with the Proprietary Source Code without the Victim Company’s authorization.  Xu told UC-2 that Xu could take steps to prevent detection of the Proprietary Software’s origins – i.e., that it had been built with stolen Proprietary Source Code – including writing computer scripts that would modify the Proprietary Source Code to conceal its origins.

Later on Dec. 7, 2015, Xu met with UC-1 and UC-2 at the Hotel.  During that meeting, Xu showed UC-2 a copy of what Xu represented to be the Proprietary Source Code on Xu’s laptop.  Xu noted to UC-2 a portion of the code that indicated it originated with the Victim Company as well as the date on which it had been copyrighted.  Xu also stated that Xu had previously modified the Proprietary Source Code’s command interface to conceal the fact that the Proprietary Source Code originated with the Victim Company and identified multiple specific customers to whom Xu had previously provided the Proprietary Software using Xu’s stolen copy of the Proprietary Source Code.

*                *                *

 Mr. Boente and Mr. Berman praised the FBI’s outstanding investigative efforts.  Mr. Berman also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Allee and Ilan Graff of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from Trial Attorney David Aaron of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, are in charge of the prosecution.

On This Day In History Edgar Allan Poe Was Born

As History.com notes, on this day in 1809 American writer Edgar Allan Poe was born.

You can read about Poe via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/edgar-allan-poe-is-born?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2018-0119-01192018&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=307565352&kx_EmailCampaignID=18205&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2018-0119-01192018&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Poe via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/04/my-first-on-crime-thrillers-column-for.html 

The Defense Department Seeks To Connect With America Through ‘This Is Your Military’ Initiative

Lisa Ferdinando at the DoD News offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2018 — The Defense Department is launching an initiative  called “This Is Your Military” to highlight the work of service members, dispel myths about military service, and increase awareness among the American people, the deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for outreach announced today.

The effort, which kicks off Feb. 1, aims to introduce the American people to the 1 percent of the population serving, Amber Smith said at a Bipartisan Policy Center panel discussion titled “Warrior Caste: Who Will Serve in America’s Future Military?”

"We want to showcase how the military is relevant to Americans’ lives on a daily basis, and how innovative the department is, and how we’re a force for good," she said.

Internal data indicate the civilian-military divide is expanding, she noted. "That ultimately is a threat to the viability and the sustainability of the all-volunteer force, which in the long term has some national security risks,” Smith explained.

Sharing the Military Story

The “This Is Your Military” effort will highlight missions the American people might not connect the military to, Smith said, such as hurricane relief efforts in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico.

Further, Smith said, DoD wants to dispel misperceptions about military life – for example, that people leave service physically or emotionally broken. Also, she said, incorrect information is out there about what jobs women can serve in and that characterizes military life as lonely and not family friendly.

“We just want to get the facts out there, and in doing so, balance the scale,” Smith said. “So, yes, people might still be familiar with the negatives, but they're also familiar with the positives that come along with serving.”

The effort aims to reach people who are not familiar with the military or may not know the positives of service, she explained. “We really want to articulate a message of what the military is doing, tell that military story to a nonmilitary audience, and really create some interest for people who don't necessarily care,” she added.

External Outreach on Various Platforms

Outreach efforts will include coverage of sporting events and military engagements, as well as videos, photos, graphics and other products, Smith said.

The initiative will conduct outreach on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, all tied together with the #KnowYourMil hashtag. 

Each month, the initiative will highlight an aspect of military life such as military jobs and benefits, entrepreneurism and innovation, global missions and family life.

The initiative will work with all the military services and leverage their existing outreach programs as well, she said.