I’M INCREASINGLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE STATE OF OUR NAVY: There is Dysfunction, and then there’s USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crews in 2023. “You know those stories that the more you read it and the more you ponder it, the worse it looks? And then, when you see the reaction of the Navy to it, it just makes less sense? Well, this is one of those stories. . . . At the bottom of the post, look at the CV of Marrero. She knew the danger she was putting the ship in, not to mention the outright insubordination floating around in a stew of ethical, legal, and yes moral failures. This isn’t just a bunch of junior Sailors being Sailors. Not by a long shot. I can understand an individual failure, but an entire Chiefs’ Mess? . . . Unauthorized Wi-Fi systems like the one Marrero set up are a massive no-no for a deployed Navy ship, and Marrero’s crime occurred as the ship was deploying to the West Pacific, where such security concerns become even more paramount among heightened tensions with the Chinese. . . . Here is a funny side-note, as of the evening of September 3rd, Senior Chief Marrero’s bio showing her as still the Command Senior Chief is still on SURFPAC’s website. In case they take it down soon or overnight, here’s the screenshot.”

Still up as of the morning of 9/5. The Chiefs used to be the solidest part of the Navy. The new Pentagon management seems to have put an end to that.

UPDATE: Related: The Future of War Is Electronic: An audacious Ukrainian incursion into Russia shows why. Is the Pentagon paying enough attention? “Think of electronic warfare as casting spells on an invisible battlefield. Combatants strive to preserve their own signals, while disrupting those of the enemy. In Kursk, the Ukrainians took advantage of their technical knowledge to achieve a leap in battlefield tactics. Using a variety of electronic sensing systems, they managed to figure out the key Russian radio frequencies along the invasion route. They jammed these frequencies, creating a series of electronic bubbles that kept enemy drones away from Ukrainian forces, allowing reconnaissance units, tanks and mechanized infantry to breach the Russian border mostly undetected. This is the chaotic way of modern combat: a choreography of lightweight, unmanned systems driven by a spiderweb of electronic signals. . . . America has a reputation as a global innovator, yet it trails in the dark arts of electronic warfare. Improvised jamming systems and dozens of counter-drone systems have created a spectral environment that the U.S. military isn’t yet prepared to navigate. American drones and munitions frequently can’t overcome the jamming of their guidance systems. Yet we send them to Ukraine, where the Russians often scramble them before they reach their targets.”