🚨INTENTIONAL SABOTAGE OF SUBMARINE SHIPBUILDING withheld during Congressional Hearing to request more funds for budget gap
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro met with Congress in a closed hearing last Thursday to ask for more money to close a $2 billion budget gap needed to fund the building of two new submarines.
According to Stars and Stripes, Del Toro was “met with…accusations of withholding information” during the hearing.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel, “accused the Navy of keeping lawmakers in the dark about the submarine funding shortfalls for months and offering inconsistent information about scheduling delays.”
I wonder what Rep. Calvert would think if he knew Del Toro was asking for more money while hiding sabotage at the shipbuilding facility.
On Tue, Sep. 24, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, Nickolas Guertin, sent an email to SECNAV Del Toro and CC’d ADM Franchetti with the subject line: “Initial Report: Welding Quality Issues at HII-Newport News.”
Within the email, which I’ve personally reviewed, Guertin states: “BLUF: I have been made aware of a welding issue at HII-Newport Newport Shipbuilding that appears to affect in-service and new construction VIRGINA (sic), COLUMBIA and CVN hulls.”
He goes on to state: “welders at NNS not following proper in-process techniques” and states that while some issues appear to be unintentional, in some cases, it’s due to “intentional actions.”
“Priority is being given to potential impacts to operations ships and those with near term certification/trials events.”
Guertin states that impacts to in-service ships have been “assessed as having joints that were not on critical structures” and goes on to give a timeline of completion with a “set of repair plans to be in place shortly thereafter.”
Guertin informs Del Toro the Navy will be heavily engaged in the investigation, and “given the potential legal implications of intentional misconduct, NNS has notified the Department of Justice.”
It’s imperative the DOD and Navy are held accountable for (possible) intentional omissions to Congress when asking for more tax payer funds, especially if sabotage is suspected.
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