VA Cemeteries Across US Commemorate 9/11
Burial area at Baltimore National Cemetery.
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To commemorate Patriot Day, 60 Veterans Affairs cemeteries are holding volunteer events, welcoming all who want to honor the fallen from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by helping restore and beautify the burial places of the nation’s veterans and loved ones, reports Military.com. A list of participating national VA cemeteries is here.
Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35s shot down Russian drones as part of a NATO mission to help protect Polish air space, according to Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans. Aviation Week reports Polish Air Force F-16s were reportedly involved in the operation as well. “We are most likely facing a large-scale provocation,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sept. 10 on social media. “This is the first time Russian drones have been shot down over NATO territory. All our allies treat this situation with the utmost seriousness.”
Increased US military operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean have drawn DefSec Pete Hegseth and USAF GEN Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Puerto Rico, a week after hundreds of US marines deployed there for a training exercise, reports Military.com. Puerto Rico’s Gov. Jenniffer González said their visit supported that training.
Over the last week of August, in the southern Caribbean, a mix of airmen practiced seizing an airfield to use as an operational base for widespread search and rescue operations, island-hopping reconnaissance, and raiding missions. The drills had been planned in advance, but the showcase of how quickly aerial commandos could deploy took place at the same time that the US military was moving a large naval force into the southern Caribbean, reports Task & Purpose.
Coast Guard law enforcement operations in the Caribbean Sea continue as the Pentagon formulates its mission following a lethal military strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat, USNI News reports. Currently, the service has multiple cutters in the Caribbean in addition to the eight US warships in US Southern Command.
Military.com reports that 10 F-35s are due in Puerto Rico by the end of the week for operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations operating in the southern Caribbean.
Two Venezuelan F-16s flew conducted the aggressive maneuver over the USS Jason Dunham, an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer, in a clear “show of force,” reports Military Times, two days after the US said it struck a Venezuelan drug vessel.
Both chambers of Congress are navigating hundreds of amendments this week, trying to advance the annual defense authorization bill, reports Military Times. The must-pass military legislation includes spending plans for military programs including payroll and benefits.
Part of a Treasury Department initiative launched with the General Services Administration rewards federal employees with up to $10,000 for identifying wasteful spending in the tax agency’s contracts that leads to cost reductions, reports NextGov/FCW.
The Navy has awarded contracts to four major aerospace prime contractors—Anduril, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Atomics—for “conceptual designs” for a carrier-based autonomous combat drone, reports Breaking Defense.
It appears the long-anticipated cyber-compliance requirement will apply to all Pentagon contracts as of Nov. 10, 2025, reports DefenseScoop. The final rule posted to the Federal Register for public inspection on Tuesday. The mandate’s publication marks the near end of a years-long effort to enforce new cybersecurity standards set by the Pentagon for defense contractors.
The US needs a “whole-of-nation approach” to deterring and warding off cyber attacks backed by foreign states, newly confirmed National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said this week, warning that such attacks will continue until officials impose more severe consequences on bad actors, reports Defense One. The nation “must send a message this behavior is unacceptable” and will come at a cost, Cairncross said.
Sailors aboard the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS St. Louis (LCS 19) recently completed an at-sea engine repair, previously requiring contractor assistance. Keeping the ship on mission with crew-led maintenance advances the Navy’s effort to improve operational readiness of the LCS fleet, reports Seapower Magazine.
USS Santa Barbara (LCS-32) and USS Canberra (LCS-30) quietly left San Diego, CA, March 10, with the long-awaited mission packages that will replace the Navy’s aging mine hunting ships and aircraft, USNI News learned last week. Task & Purpose says that after more than two decades of controversy, cost overruns, and early retirements, the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is finally doing one of the things it was originally intended to do: hunt mines. The growing threat now includes growing numbers of uncrewed underwater and surface vessels able to loiter, track targets, and detonate like a smart mine. The LCS’s own unmanned systems, high-resolution sonar, and airborne sensors give it a fighting chance against these threats.
Veterans maintained a remarkably low 3% unemployment rate in a cooling economy, according to the first report since Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner over data showing that hiring had cratered. The BLS reported the national unemployment rate up from 4.2% to 4.3%, which was the highest rate recorded since October 2021, reports Military.com.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday that he’s sending 316 members of the state’s National Guard to Washington, DC, later this month in the latest indication that President Donald Trump’s law enforcement operation in the nation’s capital will drag on, says Military Times.
Ukrainian officials look to ease weapons export restrictions to pave the way for cooperation with Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as the UK and the Netherlands, reports Defense News. Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has embargoed arms exports to direct all supplies to its defensive efforts. Lawmakers are considering lifting some constraints to generate revenue into the local arms industry.
The White House says the US military notified Trump ahead of Israel’s strike against Hamas leadership in Qatar, reports Defense News. “The president views Qatar as a strong ally of the United States. He feels very badly about the location of this attack,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. “He assured them [Qatar] that such a thing will not happen again on their soil,” she added, calling it an “unfortunate incident.”
Palestinian attackers opened fire on people at a bus stop at during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people and wounding another 12, reports Military.com. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the scene some two hours after the shooting. Netanyahu was supposed to be in court on Monday for his ongoing corruption trial, which was delayed due to the attack.
The Israeli military issued a sweeping evacuation order for Gaza City on Tuesday, signaling that it was moving ahead with its full-scale invasion of the largest city in northern Gaza, reports The New York Times. The order will force hundreds of thousands of people to decide whether to risk staying in the city or to flee south to areas that are already overcrowded. Many of those areas are also in ruins.
Spain on Monday banned ships and aircraft carrying weapons to Israel from calling at Spanish ports or entering its airspace due to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, measures the Israeli foreign minister denounced as antisemitic, reports Reuters.
The Space Force is renaming Space Operations Command, with its Trekkie sounding SpOK acronym, Combat Forces Command to emphasize its warfighting mission, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Reston-based CACI’s appeal of the $42 million it was ordered to pay for contributing to the torture and mistreatment of three former detainees at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, opened this week, reports Military Times. The appeal centers on whether the lower court had proper jurisdiction. A jury awarded Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili, and Asa’ad Al-Zubae $3 million each in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages. The three men testified at last year’s trial that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity, and other cruel treatment and that CACI interrogators conspired with military police to “soften up” detainees with harsh treatment.
Pvt. Deron J. Gordon, 20, was sentenced Friday to to 75 months in prison, total forfeiture of pay and allowances, reduction in rank to E-1, and a dishonorable discharge from the Army in the first conviction on charges against four service members that they sexually assaulted a female ROTC student during a barracks party last year. Stars and Stripes reports Gordon agreed to testify in the courts-martial of the three other soldiers charged in the incident: Pfc. Kallon Curiel, Spc. Jadon Bosarge, and Cpl. Pedro Angel Ruiz.
The Trump administration has restored the rank of retired Navy doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) to rear admiral despite a government watchdog finding that he abused subordinates, drank on the job, and made sexual comments about a woman while serving as the top White House physician, reports Military.com.
Trump has tapped RADM Heidi Berg to command US Fleet Cyber Command, Navy Space Command, and 10th Fleet, the Pentagon announced Friday, reports Defense Scoop. If her nomination is confirmed by the Senate, she’ll also pin on a third star.
Trump has nominated Army LTGEN Michele Bredenkamp to lead the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, reports Defense Scoop. NGA is a principal member of the US intelligence community and a Pentagon combat support agency that supplies the military, IC, and first responders with data and intel. Bredenkamp currently serves at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the director’s advisor for military affairs.
Contracts:
Northrop Grumman Corp., Charlottesville, Virginia, is awarded a $25,729,881 cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost modification to a delivery order under a previously awarded contract (N00024-20-D-5230) for the low-rate initial production and engineering of surface navigation processor module configurations and associated maintenance assistance module kits. Work will be performed in Charlottesville, Virginia (89%); Baltimore, Maryland (6%); Salt Lake City, Utah (1%); Annapolis, Maryland (1%); Sykesville, Maryland (1%); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (1%); and Woodland Hills, California (1%), and is expected to be completed by February 2028. Fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,302,168 (25%); fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,094,370 (24%); fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,705,421 (23%); fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,436,133 (14%); fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,047,185 (12%); and fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $388,948 (2%), will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
NCS Technologies Inc., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $25,551,907 firm-fixed-price delivery order issued against NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide procurement (SEWP) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract NNG15SD85B. This procurement is for Phase Three of the fiscal 2025 enterprise-wide general purpose laptops (GPLs) with docking stations refresh for the Marine Corps. The order includes a total requirement for 37,754 GPLs, all options will be exercised with the base award. The GPLs will be delivered to Enterprise Staging and Delivery in Norfolk, Virginia. Delivery is expected to be completed by June 30, 2026. Fiscal 2023 procurement (Marine Corps) (PMC) funds in the amount of $96,105; fiscal 2024 PMC funds in the amount of $13,536; and fiscal 2025 PMC funds in the amount of $25,442,265, will be obligated under this delivery order award. Fiscal 2023 PMC contract funds in the amount of $96,105 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured as a 100% set-aside for small business competition via the NASA SEWP website. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-25-F-4061).
Linquest Corp., Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III Task Order, with a not-to-exceed price of $98,715,100, for the development of a collaborative digital engineering ecosystem. This contract provides for the collaborative digital engineering ecosystem known as the Integration Accelerator, as well as analytical and technical decision support to improve and enhance the methodologies, processes, and outcomes related to acquisition and deployment of future Space Force integrated testing and training. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 7, 2028. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,500,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Space Systems Command, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity (FA2553-25-F-B004).
CDW Government LLC, Vernon Hills, Illinois (W519TC-25-D-A012); CTG Federal LLC,* Reston, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A013); Wildflower International LTD,* Santa Fe, New Mexico (W519TC-25-D-A014); New Tech Solutions,* Fremont, California (W519TC-25-D-A015); Braxton-Grant Technologies,* Hanover, Maryland (W519TC-25-D-A016); Trace3 Government LLC,* Colorado Springs, Colorado (W519TC-25-D-A017); World Wide Technology LLC, St. Louis, Missouri (W519TC-25-D-A018); Lyme Computer Systems Inc.,* Lebanon, New Hampshire (W519TC-25-D-A019); BEAMITNTS Corp,* Walnut Creek, California (W519TC-25-D-A021); IMPRES Technology Solutions Inc.,* Round Rock, Texas (W519TC-25-D-A023); GovConnection Inc., Rockville, Maryland (W519TC-25-D-A024); MicroTechnologies LLC,* Delray Beach, Florida (W519TC-25-D-A025); Koi Computers,* Downers Grove, Illinois (W519TC-25-D-A026); Anacapa Micro Products Inc.,* Oxnard, California (W519TC-25-D-A027); VAE Inc.,* Springfield, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A029); Blue Tech Inc.,* San Diego, California (W519TC-25-D-A030); Transource Service Corp,* Phoenix, Arizona (W519TC-25-D-A031); CACI idt LLC, Ashburn, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A033); Affigent LLC,* Herndon, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A034); American Wordata Inc. (AWData),* Tampa, Florida (W519TC-25-D-A035); GovTec Ventures LLC,* Annapolis, Maryland (W519TC-25-D-A036); CounterTrade Products Inc.,* Arvada, Colorado (W519TC-25-D-A037); Dell Federal Systems LP, Round Rock, Texas (W519TC-25-D-A038); Presidio Government Solutions LLC, Reston, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A039); Strategic Communications LLC,* Louisville, Kentucky (W519TC-25-D-A040); Dynamic Systems Inc.,* El Segundo, California (W519TC-25-D-A041); iT1 Source LLC,* Tempe, Arizona (W519TC-25-D-A042); Insight Public Sector Inc., Chandler, Arizona (W519TC-25-D-A043); GovSmart Inc.,* Charlottesville, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A044); Better Direct LLC,* Tempe, Arizona (W519TC-25-D-A045); Integrated Technologies Group Inc.,* Falls Church, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A046); FedData Technology Solutions LLC,* Annapolis Junction, Maryland (W519TC-25-D-A047); Epoch Concepts LLC,* Littleton, Colorado (W519TC-25-D-A048); Software Information Resource Corp.,* Washington, D.C. (W519TC-25-D-A049); Paragon Micro Inc.,* Buffalo Grove, Illinois (W519TC-25-D-A050); FCN Inc.,* Rockville, Maryland (W519TC-25-D-A051); Atlantic Diving Supply Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A052); iGov Technologies Inc.,* Reston, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A053); Blazar Technology Solutions LLC,* Gardnerville, Nevada (W519TC-25-D-A054); Iron Bow Technologies LLC, Herndon, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A055); Red River Technology LLC, Chantilly, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A056); Sterling Computers Corp.,* North Sioux City, South Dakota (W519TC-25-D-A057); ACE Computers (JC Technology),* Des Plaines, Illinois (W519TC-25-D-A058); Optivor Technologies LLC,* Orlando, Florida (W519TC-25-D-A059); Copper River Technologies LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska (W519TC-25-D-A062); Swish Data Corp.,* McLean, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A064); NCS Technologies Inc.,* Manassas, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A066); Norseman Defense Services Inc.,* Elkridge, Maryland (W519TC-25-D-A067); and ThunderCat Technology LLC,* Reston, Virginia (W519TC-25-D-A070), will compete for each order of the $10,000,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-4 Hardware (ITES-4H). Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 18, 2035. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Parsons Government Services Inc., Centreville, Virginia, has been awarded a $30,989,406 modification (P00023) to cost-plus-fixed-fee contract HR001122C0027 for additional work within scope of the Blackjack program. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $49,368,687 from $18,379,281. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado (83%); Centennial, Colorado (8%); Los Gatos, California (7%); Florham Park, New Jersey (1%); Littleton, Colorado; Lafayette, Colorado; and Denver, Colorado (totaling 1%), with an expected completion date of October 2028. Fiscal 2025 research and development funds in the amount of $2,538,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
*Small business
**Large business
