US Navy admirals in bribery, prostitution scandal

This video from the Philippines says about itself:

Glenn Marine suspension

24 November 2012

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) suspended on Friday the operation of a Malaysian company over alleged dumping into the sea of hazardous wastes collected from US ships that joined military exercises in the Philippines recently.

SBMA chairman Roberto Garcia said, however, that there is no evidence that toxic, hazardous or domestic waste have been dumped in the waters of Subic Bay.

He said, though, that they are closely coordinating with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in determining possible violation of Glenn Defense Marine Asia relating to the absence of permit, the manner of discharge and other possible violation of the Philippine environmental laws.

The PCG earlier dismissed reports on the alleged dumping of wastes.

…

But Senator Chiz Escudero said earlier that if proven that Glenn Defense Marine Asia had indeed dumped toxic wastes it hauled from USS Emory Land into the open sea, the company can be made liable for violating Republic Act 9275, or The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, stressed, however, that Glenn Defense indeed violated existing environmental laws in its waste dumping activity.

She said it is clear that the company violated the Clean Water Act even if it dumped US Navy waste materials on the high seas because it is still covered by the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.

“I can see some infraction there,” she said.

Legarda also noted that the waste dumped by the company was toxic because it exceeded the toxicity level set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the company has no capacity to treat waste before it was dumped into the open seas.

Retired admiral Mateo Mayuga, who is chairman of Glenn Defense Marine Asia Philippines, earlier insisted that they were not under the jurisdiction of any local authority, but under the jurisdiction of the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission (VFACOM).

The US embassy and the VFACOM, however, denied this.

Mayuga was also questioned why he did not secure any permit from the PCG to dump waste in Subic Bay, but he said he was not aware they had to request a permit for this.

Legarda also hit him for saying that they were hauling treated water from USS Emory Land, even if the captain of the vessel said they have no treatment facility on board the ship.

Mayuga said they assume that the waste they were hauling was pretreated already.

Aside from its operation, the membership of Glenn Defense on the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce was also suspended.

By Alex Lantier:

US Navy intelligence chiefs suspended as bribery scandal spreads

12 November 2013

Two US Navy admirals were suspended last week in a spreading bribery scandal involving a Singapore-based defense contractor that services US Navy vessels in the Pacific Ocean.

Director of Naval Intelligence Vice Admiral Ted Branch and Navy Director of Intelligence Operations Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless were placed on leave Friday and their access to classified material suspended. They are under investigation for their ties to defense contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia, whose CEO Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis was arrested in September in a sting operation in San Diego. Francis was charged with bribing Navy officers into giving him classified information with cash, favors, and prostitutes.

Francis reportedly asked US officers to steer US warships towards ports with lax oversight, where Glenn Defense Marine Asia could overcharge the Navy for services such as providing tugboats, fuel, sewage disposal, and portside security—netting millions of dollars. He also obtained inside information on the US Navy’s initial investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia, which started in 2005, helping him evade charges.

The suspension of Branch and Loveless comes amid deep turmoil in the top ranks of the American military. Only a month ago, the Obama administration announced the sacking of high-ranking Air Force and Navy officials inside the US nuclear command, in what military officials acknowledged was an unprecedented crisis of the US nuclear forces. (See: “Shakeup continues in US nuclear command”)

Now, the top ranks of the US Navy and a broad layer of high-ranking officers in the US Pacific Fleet—the force at the heart of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia,” aimed at containing China—are being roiled by another scandal.

US Navy sources said they believed more Navy officers would come under suspicion in the affair. Yesterday, US Navy spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said: “We are going to let the facts take us where they may. We certainly expect that other naval officers, and perhaps even some Navy civilians, will be implicated.”

Glenn Defense Marine Asia has long-standing ties to the US Navy, having serviced US warships in the Pacific for a quarter century. It did $200 million in business with the US Navy in 2011.

As such, Leonard Francis developed contacts among a broad swathe of commanders, captains, and admirals who could now be under suspicion. The Washington Post noted that “Francis and his company were familiar faces to Navy brass, including the commanders of most vessels in the Pacific.”

Several such high-ranking officers are already facing charges. Two US officers, Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Supervisory Special Agent John Bertrand Beliveau, were arrested at the same time as Francis. They allegedly provided classified information in exchange for free travel, luxury accommodations, and prostitutes. All three face five years in prison.

Misiewicz, a former destroyer commander who was directing operations of the Japan-based US Seventh Fleet, reportedly e-mailed Francis classified schedules of US warship movements. Misiewicz helped “work Francis’ business plan,” according to the Singapore Straits Times, in exchange for prostitutes and free travel around Asia.

In one case, he helped divert the aircraft carrier USS George Washington from Singapore to Port Klang, Malaysia, where Leonard had arranged to prepare fake invoices to submit to the US Navy.

Beliveau faces charges of tipping off Leonard about the US Navy’s investigation of him, having downloaded documents from NCIS internal databases about investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia that he was not working on.

Another senior logistics officer for the Seventh Fleet, Commander Jose Sanchez, was charged last week with accepting prostitutes, luxury travel, and over $100,000 in cash from Francis in exchanged for classified information about US warship movements.

Scandal Widens Over Contracts for Navy Work: here.

On Thursday, military contractor Leonard Glenn Francis pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of fraud and bribery for his role in a scheme intended to fleece the US Navy out of tens millions of dollars. Francis must forfeit $35 million in funds obtained by the firm and faces up to 25 years imprisonment for his role. Including Francis, five naval officials and two other contractors have been indicted for their part in the affair: here.

THE NAVY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF WHO CAN’T SEE INTELLIGENCE “For more than two years, the Navy’s intelligence chief has been stuck with a major handicap: He’s not allowed to know any secrets. Vice Adm. Ted ‘Twig’ Branch has been barred from reading, seeing or hearing classified information since November 2013, when the Navy learned from the Justice Department that his name had surfaced in a giant corruption investigation involving a foreign defense contractor and scores of Navy personnel.” [WaPo]

The second collision in just over two months involving a US guided-missile destroyer and a large commercial vessel points to a crisis of morale and preparedness within the American navy and military as a whole: here.

The August 21 collision between the Navy destroyer USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker in the Strait of Malacca, near Singapore, is the fourth such collision this year involving a major vessel of the US Seventh Fleet, which conducts operations in the Pacific and Indian oceans: here.

THE NAVY RECOVERED THE REMAINS OF 10 SAILORS Missing after the USS John McCain collision. And military experts believe training shortfalls, sleep deprivation and the strain on the Navy’s fleet could be to blame for the rash of collisions this year. [Reuters]

The corruption scandal of Navy admirals has widened.

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• US suspends two admirals over major bribery scandal (telegraph.co.uk)
• Two U.S. Admirals – Incl. The Director Of Naval Intelligence – Face Probe In Navy Bribery Scheme (infiniteunknown.net)
• 2 U.S. Navy Admirals’ Classified Access Is Suspended In Navy Bribery Probe (Updated) (warnewsupdates.blogspot.com)
• ‘Fat Leonard’, Lady Gaga and the Navy: New details in bribery case (cnn.com)