Staffers at the government-funded Voice of America news service can go back to work, following US District Judge Royce Lamberth’s preliminary injunction issued on Tuesday, halting part of an executive order that put 1,200 federal employees and contractors from VoA on administrative leave, reports The Washington Post. The loss of staff forced Voice of America to stop broadcasting for the first time since its founding in 1942.
Trump Extends Hiring Freeze into July
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River 
economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
President Donald Trump has extended his hiring freeze of all federal civilian positions until July 15, reports NextGov. Ordered on Jan. 20, and initially set to run through April 20, the freeze prevents federal agencies from hiring civilian employees for vacancies or new positions.
The owner of Old Fox Books, near the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, had already ordered a shipment of titles from the list of 381 books removed from the academy’s library for relating to race or gender, when retired Navy commander William Marks, a 1996 Naval Academy graduate, launched a fundraiser to purchase the books on the list for the students. Marks told The Washington Post he viewed the Navy’s decision to remove the fiction and nonfiction books as a first step toward cultivating military leaders more loyal to individual political leaders than the US Constitution. The titles are available for free at Old Fox Books to Naval Academy students.
The Navy has no way of knowing whether its commanders have created a suicide crisis plan as mandated, reports Stars and Stripes. A DoD Inspector General audit found no dedicated office to track the plans. The Navy has struggled for more than a decade with rising suicides. In 2022, 71 active-duty and seven reserve sailors took their lives, according to Navy statistics. In 2023, 68 active-duty and eight reserve sailors died by suicide.
Lockheed Martin received a $180 million contract modification April 21 to convert three F-35 jets to test aircraft, reports Air & Space Force. Testing delays have contributed to late deliveries of the fighter jet.
Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet told investors in a Tuesday earnings call the company is not going to challenge the Air Force’s award of its next-generation F-47 fighter aircraft to Boeing. Instead, Lockheed plans to fold the sixth-generation technology it developed for the F-47 into the F-35 and F-22 Raptor to create a “supercharged” fifth-generation fighter, reports Defense News.
A 60-foot-wide strip along New Mexico’s southern border with Mexico has been declared part of Fort Huachuca, AZ, which allows troops to arrest trespassers on military territory, reports Stars and Stripes. Troops can now temporarily detain, search, enforce crowd control, and provide medical treatment in the area referred to as the New Mexico National Defense Area, according to US Northern Command, which oversees the deployment of about 6,600 troops at the southwest border.
Lance Cpl. Albert Aguilera, 22, and Lance Cpl. Marcelino Gamino, 28, Marine combat engineers based out of Camp Pendleton, CA, were killed last week in a vehicle accident during a convoy near Santa Teresa, NM, while deployed to the southern US border, reports Military.com.
The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law, according to AP News. The court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
A new US intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, reports Military.com.
DefSec Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat, this one on his personal phone and including his wife, lawyer, and brother, reports CNN.
Military.com reports that Hegseth pulled the airstrike information he posted into Signal chats from a secure communications channel used by US Central Command, raising new questions as to whether the embattled Pentagon head leaked classified information over an open, unsecured network.
While defending on Tuesday his sharing of sensitive military details for a second time using the Signal messaging app, Stars and Stripes reports, Hegseth faulted Pentagon officials who were recently fired for leaking information. “Those folks who were leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda,” Hegseth told Fox News.
Three former senior advisers to Hegseth, Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick were escorted from the Pentagon over what they have called “baseless attacks” regarding a Pentagon probe on information leaks. AP News reports a joint statement shared by Caldwell on X said the three “… still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”
“It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon,” according to John Ullyot, the acting assistant to Hegseth for public affairs before resigning last week, reports The Hill. “From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot wrote in an opinion piece in Politico.
Hegseth has refurbished a green room as a makeup studio in the Pentagon for high-ranking officials to prepare before on-camera appearances, reports The Hill.
The military’s top enlisted adviser, a senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs chairman, Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, will depart the post and retire from military service after the newly confirmed Joint Chiefs chairman, Air Force GEN Dan Caine, chose not to renew Black’s posting for another two-year stretch, reports Military.com. Black’s predecessors served four-year terms, the SEAC job is actually a two-year post with an option to be extended two more years, which Caine will not be exercising.
As the Trump administration shifts cybersecurity to the states, many aren’t prepared, reports Stateline. Only 22 of 48 states in a Nationwide Cybersecurity Review met recommended security levels. Federal grant programs for states, localities, tribes, and territories to address cyber risks and threats are ending without renewal plans.
Douglas Matty is poised to assume the role of the Pentagon’s chief digital and AI officer this week, reports DefenseScoop. Matty previously founded the Army AI Integration Center under Army Futures Command, which he led between 2020 and 2022.
The State Department is urging other countries to avoid doing business with Chinese satellite firms, arguing that such contracts fuel military development and help Beijing gather sensitive intelligence from allies, reports NextGov. Talking points provided to US officials state that US providers offer more reliable services, but also acknowledge that US-based SpaceX — like other US firms — retains the right to restrict or withdraw its Starlink service as it has reportedly done in Ukraine.
Around 430 federally funded research grants totaling about $328 million, have been terminated in a realignment of priorities at the National Science Foundation, reports NextGov. Canceled grants included projects devoted to disinformation research, election security, cyber-physical systems protection, deepfake detection, and artificial intelligence advancement. The mass cancellation and NSF realignment coincided with the arrival of officials from DOGE on April 14.
The Defense Innovation Unit has released a solicitation for a large unmanned underwater vessel capable of supporting large payloads at range in contested environments, reports USNI. The Pentagon wants a commercially available system with the ability to “drop various payloads to the sea floor” and able to operate at distances greater than 1,000 nautical miles and depths of up to 200 meters.
An Associated Press analysis of an aviation safety database reveals that drones last year accounted for nearly two-thirds of reported near midair collisions involving commercial passenger planes taking off and landing at the country’s top 30 busiest airports. The first reports of near misses involving drones were logged in 2014. Over the last decade, drones accounted for 51% — 122 of 240 — of reported near misses, according to AP’s analysis.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jo Ellis has filed a defamation lawsuit against social media influencer Matthew Wallace for wrongly naming her as the pilot in the Jan. 29 collision at the Ronald Reagan Airport that took 67 lives, reports Military.com. Wallace, with 2.3 million followers on X, posted photos of Ellis saying she was driven by a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to conduct what he called a possible “trans terror attack.”
A measles outbreak in West Texas has reached Fort Bliss, with at least one confirmed case reported at the installation, reports Stars and Stripes. Officials at William Beaumont Army Medical Center said Wednesday that they will not release any further information about the measles case nor will they publicly confirm whether the base hospital is treating other cases “… because it can unintentionally impact mission assurance and force protection,” said Amabilia Payen, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
The remains of USS Yorktown within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, where it sank during the Battle of Midway in 1942. (Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration/Ocean Exploration Trust, Ala ʻAumoana Kai Uli)
Virginia reported its first measles case amid the nationwide outbreak. The patient is younger than 5 and could have exposed others at two health care facilities in Woodbridge and Fredericksburg, reports The Washington Post.
CBS News reports the USS Yorktown shipwreck has been well documented, but until Saturday was hiding a jeep inside. While exploring the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu, NOAA Ocean Exploration sent a remotely operated camera inside the shipwreck and told the Miami Herald they suspect the vehicle is a 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe “Woody” in black.
Contracts:
PCG-SMX JV, LLC, Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $532,138,874 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract This contract will provide support services for enterprise-wide applications, server, storage, data protection/recovery, data transport, and data environment engineering, operations, and hosting support services. Requirements include planning, engineering and design, acquiring, provisioning, operating, administering, troubleshooting, repairing and managing all aspects of Patuxent River Naval Air Station’s centrally and remotely located information technology solutions. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (87%); St. Inigoes, Maryland (5%); Jacksonville, Florida (5%); San Diego, California (1%); and Cherry Point, North Carolina (1%). Work is expected to be completed April 2030. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competed; five offers were received. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0080).
Schuyler Line Navigation Co. LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, is awarded a $12,908,000 firm-fixed-price, with pass through reimbursable elements, contract (N3220525C4012), for a time charter of the U.S. flag, vessel York to provide transportation services. This contract includes a 180-day base period with one 180-day option period which if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $24,428,000. The contract will be performed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with expectation of additional worldwide possibilities. The contract is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by May 2026. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $12,908,000 are obligated for fiscal 2025 and will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured as full and open competition with proposals solicited via the System Award Management website and nine offers were received. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $54,908,584 cost-plus-award-fee contract for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche Three program integration effort. This contract provides for system engineering and integration support activities enabling the delivery of the tranche 3 space vehicles for transport, tracking, and custody layers and their integration within the proliferated warfighter space architecture ground segment. Work will be performed in Washington, DC, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and five offers were received. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $6,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Space Development Agency, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (FA2401-25-C-0005).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a not-to-exceed $180,000,000 undefinitized cost modification (P00012) to a previously awarded contract (N0001923C0003). This modification adds scope to procure materials, parts, and components in support of the conversion of three production F-35 aircraft to flight science replacement aircraft. The new flight science aircraft are required to prevent any increase in the test capability gap, and allow for future, holistic flight science testing of block four capabilities for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) program partners, and Foreign Military Sales customer. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30%); El Segundo, California (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, Florida (10%); Nashua, New Hampshire (5%); Grenaa, Denmark (5%); and Baltimore, Maryland (5%), and is expected to be completed in December 2028. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $3,587,440; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,587,440; and non-U.S. DOD program partner funds in the amount of $8,772,866 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Deloitte & Touche LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $12,073,195 firm-fixed-price task order bridge contract for the Space Systems Command Contracting Directorate. This contract provides for the remediation of audit findings and improving financial management processes focusing on audit liaison and response, mission critical asset valuation, formal classroom training, strategic management and communication and data analysis. Work will be performed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California; Patrick Space Force Base, Florida; and Vandenberg SFB, California, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 20, 2026. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2024 procurement funds in the amount of $2,350,563 are being obligated at the time of award. Space Systems Command, Los Angeles AFB, California is the contracting activity (FA8802-25-F-0002). (Awarded April 21, 2025)
Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $135,483,386 firm-fixed-price contract for technical support services. This contract provides predictive analytics to logisticians and security forces, consolidation of duplicative Air Force A4 information technology systems, protecting and securing logistics and real property information technology systems, improvements to logistics and security forces data, modernizing base defense security systems and protection portfolio operations, and modernizing A4 information technology using artificial intelligence. Work will be performed in Washington, DC, and is expected to be completed April 24, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and two offers were received. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,540,705 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force District of Washington Contracting Directorate, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-25-F-0145).
Deloitte & Touche LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $82,515,112 firm-fixed-price contract for Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary Business Systems and Technology/Chief Information Officer Financial Improvement. This contract provides for audit remediation enterprise information technology and security control services. Work will be performed at the National Capital Region and expected to be completed by April 22, 2027. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $40,287,606 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-25-F-0149).
HGL-APTIM Technologies JV LLC, Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $29,611,383 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for environmental restoration, compliance and facility maintenance services at Defense Fuel Support Point, Ozol, California. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a four-year base contract with six one-month option periods. The performance completion date is April 30, 2029. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2025 through 2029 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE603-24-R-0504).
Butler Parachute Systems Inc.,* Roanoke, Virginia (W912CH-25-D-0029); Customfab Inc.,* Garden Grove, California (W912CH-25-D-0030); Mills Manufacturing Corp.,* Asheville, North Carolina (W912CH-25-D-0031); and Paradigm Parachute and Defense Inc.,* Pensacola, Florida (W912CH-25-D-0032), will compete for each order of the $276,874,811 firm-fixed-price contract for G-16 cargo parachutes and spare parts. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 23, 2030. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity.
Peraton Inc., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $206,523,543 firm-fixed-price contract for IT and computing services. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2030. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $12,210,756 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-25-F-0043).
UPDATE: The July 29, 2024, task order originally awarded to Centuria Corp., Reston, Virginia, for $83,184,747 is now awarded to DecisionPoint Corp., Gaithersburg, Maryland. DecisionPoint Corp. was awarded an estimated $83,088,429 firm-fixed-price task order for defensive cyber realization, integration and operational support II services. Work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas and Scott Air Force Base, Illinois and is expected to be completed May 13, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition and 10 offers were received. Fiscal year 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $437,830 are being obligated at the time of award. The Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8773-25-F-0040).
