MIL-OSI – Page 398 – MIL Security Engine-1

April 20, 2026

Defense News: Nordhaus underscores National Guard’s indispensable role

Source: United States Army

WASHINGTON– In the span of a single year, the men and women of the National Guard conducted precision airstrikes to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, rescued dozens of children from rising Texas floodwaters, repelled cyber intrusions targeting critical infrastructure and surged thousands of troops to restore order and safety in American cities.

Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense alongside reserve component chiefs today, the chief of the National Guard Bureau underscored the Guard’s indispensable dual role as a warfighting and response force.

“Our dual mission as the primary combat reserve of the Army and the Air Force, while also serving as the military first responders in domestic crises, is a challenge we accept,” Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus said. “2025 was a remarkable year for the National Guard, defined by the scale and simultaneity of our operations.”

When President Donald J. Trump called for action against Iran’s nuclear program last June, National Guard aircrews contributed to the War Department’s Operation Midnight Hammer, the largest operational B-2 strike in U.S. history. This mission began not at a forward operating base, but in Missouri, where the Air National Guard’s 131st Bomb Wing has spent years working side by side with the U.S. Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing.

This year, National Guardsmen have participated in Operation Epic Fury, flying strike missions against Iranian targets alongside Joint Force partners. U.S. forces, including Guardsmen, remain postured as U.S. combat power continues to build, while Iranian combat power declines.

In January’s Operation Absolute Resolve, Guard forces were employed to counter narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, back home, Guardsmen logged more than 2.4 million hours of direct support to American citizens in response to domestic crises, from natural disasters to civil emergencies.

Congressman Ken Calvert, the HAC-D chairman, praised the Guard’s counterdrug efforts in the homeland, which Nordhaus said were responsible for removing $15 billion in illicit narcotics from American communities in 2025.

“Every dollar you give the National Guard, you’re getting huge bang for your buck,” Nordhaus said. “Because our Guardsmen are professional, they’re experienced, and they use their civilian skill sets to come into those programs and make us stronger.”

Today, about 42,000 Guardsmen are currently engaged in the homeland and worldwide, supporting every combatant commander across the globe. Nordhaus said sustaining this operational tempo requires continued investment in facilities, equipment, medical readiness and people.

The CNGB emphasized that the Guard will remain a credible warfighting partner if it modernizes alongside the active component.

“To sustain strategic dominance, we must modernize concurrently with our services to aggressively outpace and overmatch tomorrow’s threats,” he said, calling for robust investments in flying hours, weapons systems sustainment, facilities maintenance, base operations support and the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account, or NGREA.

Nordhaus also asked Congress to address a funding gap created when Guard forces are called into state active-duty status to respond to domestic emergencies. Under current policy, reimbursement funds for those activations are returned to the Treasury rather than restored to the units that spent them on training and equipment.

“When we use these resources to serve our citizens in a state active-duty status, current policy sends reimbursement funds back to the Treasury,” he said. “We ask for your support in restoring that readiness directly back to our formations.”

One of the most persistent challenges facing the Guard is a personnel system that has not kept pace with the demands placed on the force.

Guard leaders have called on Congress to advance duty-status reform, a long-sought effort to simplify the patchwork of legal authorities under which Guardsmen are ordered to active duty, and to ensure that equal work is compensated with equal pay and benefits regardless of duty status.

Last month, during a roundtable review of crime reduction in Memphis, Tennessee, President Trump announced that some National Guardsmen currently activated around the U.S. will soon receive deployment pay and benefits equal to those of active-duty troops.

Perhaps the most cost-effective security cooperation tool in the War Department’s portfolio is the National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, which pairs individual National Guard elements from every state, territory and the District of Columbia with partner nations for training, exercises and military-to-military engagement.

The program now connects the Department with nearly 60% of the world’s countries at just 1% of the theater security cooperation budget. Nordhaus told lawmakers, “Your help with flexible, multi-year budget authority will allow us to sustain the pace of these highly effective engagements.”

The CNGB closed by thanking the committee for its support and calling on Congress to continue investing in the Guard’s warfighters and capabilities.

“We are powered by our core advantage: the Citizen-Soldier and -Airman,” Nordhaus said. “They combine the warrior ethos with civilian-acquired skills, creating an organization that is as innovative as it is lethal, a force that is community-based and globally engaged.

“We will always keep our promise to the Nation and to our citizens: Always Ready, Always There.”

Tallahassee Pair Federally Indicted for Mail Theft

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tallahassee, Florida – Christy Cody Holgate, 49, and Kim Demetrius Benson, 52, have been indicted in federal court. Both were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail theft. Also, Holgate was charged with four counts of theft of mail and Benson was charged with one count of theft of mail.

April 20, 2026

Aneth Man Found Guilty on all Counts of Child Sex Crimes

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ST. GEORGE, Utah – A federal jury in St. George returned a guilty verdict Friday, April 17, 2026, against a San Juan County, Utah, man after he received and possessed child sexual abuse material (CSAM) while already on supervised release for a 2015 conviction of possession of child pornography.

April 20, 2026

Alleged Conspirators Arrested for Running St. Thomas Strip Club as Prostitution Ring and Harboring Illegal Aliens

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands – Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper announced today that U.S. law enforcement arrested three members of an alleged conspiracy running a prostitution ring and harboring illegal aliens in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. A federal judge in the District of the Virgin Islands issued a criminal complaint and authorized arrest warrants charging Hussein Jamil, a.k.a. Hussian Jamil Suarez, a.k.a. “Tony,” 56, of St. Thomas, USVI; Magda Castro Santos a.k.a. “Tatiana,” 39, of St. Thomas, USVI; and Julio Hidaldo De Pena 65, of St. Thomas, USVI, for their alleged respective roles in a variety of criminal activities centered around an establishment known as Tootsys Gentlemen’s Club (“Tootsys”).

April 20, 2026

Texas Man Sentenced For Drug Trafficking Crime

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JERRY D. SMITH (SMITH), 52, was sentenced on April 16, 2026, to 63 months imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier, after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

April 20, 2026

Guatemalan Illegal Alien and Convicted Felon Sentenced To 24 Months Imprisonment For Illegal Re-entry Offense

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney David I. Courcelle announced today that United States District Court Judge Brandon S. Long sentenced FEDERICO MENDEZ-FRANCISCO a/k/a “JORGE SANTOS ARROYO,” a/k/a “JORGE A. GORDILLO,” a/k/a “FEDERICO MENDEZ,” a/k/a “FREDERICO MENDEZ,” a/k/a “FEDERICO MENDEZ FRANCISCO,” (“MENDEZ-FRANCISCO”), on April 14, 2026 to twenty-four (24) months imprisonment. MENDEZ-FRANCISCO, age 44 and a native of Guatemala previously pled guilty to illegal re-entry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a). The Court ordered that MENDEZ-FRANCISCO’s term of imprisonment be served consecutively to any other sentence. MENDEZ-FRANCISCO must serve three (3) years of supervised release upon his release from prison and pay a mandatory $100 special assessment cost.

April 20, 2026

Defense News: New Haven soldier identified 81 years after vanishing in the Italian mountains finally goes home

Source: United States Army

CAMP DARBY, Italy – For nearly 70 years, a white marble headstone marked “Unknown” stood in the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, overlooking the rolling Tuscan hills. Thousands of visitors passed it, never knowing that the soldier buried there was a 30-year-old from New Haven, Connecticut, who disappeared during a grenade charge in the final months of World War II.

We now have a name: Army Pfc. St. Clair M. Gibson.

“After taking care of this unknown Soldier for all of these years, it was a profound honor to be able to place a rosette by his name knowing he has been identified and returned home to his family,” said Eryth Zecher, Florence American Cemetery superintendent.

After 81 years, we finally have an answer to what happened in those brutal mountains. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has officially identified Pfc. Gibson, closing a chapter that started in the rugged peaks of the Apennines back in 1944.

Gibson was a “Buffalo Soldier” with the 371st Infantry Regiment, part of the segregated 92nd Infantry Division. These Black service members were on the front lines, fighting to push German forces out of Italy even while facing segregation back home.

On Nov. 18, 1944, Gibson went missing during heavy combat near Monte Canala. Because the terrain around Seravezza was so steep and dangerous, his unit couldn’t recover him before the battle lines shifted.

After the war, investigators found remains on that battlefield, but 1940s technology wasn’t enough to identify them. They labeled him “Unknown X-272 Castelfiorentino” and buried him in the cemetery at Impruneta. By 1949, the Army basically gave up, declaring him “non-recoverable.”

Everything changed in 2017 when researchers decided to exhume “Unknown X-272.” Using modern DNA and dental records, they finally confirmed it was Gibson on May 7, 2025.

“As with all of the service members we watch over, this reaffirms their sacrifices will be remembered and their stories preserved for future generations,” Zecher said.

If you visit the Florence American Cemetery today, you’ll see his name on the “Tablets of the Missing.” Soon, a small bronze rosette will be placed next to it – a quiet symbol that he’s no longer lost.

While his name remains engraved in the stone at Impruneta, Gibson finally went home. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on March 10, 2026.

If your travels take you through the heart of Tuscany, make sure to carve out time for a visit to the Florence American Cemetery. It’s a deeply moving site where 4,392 white marble headstones rest among the iconic cypress trees and rolling hills just south of the city. While the cemetery is a peaceful place to visit any day of the year, it truly comes to life during the annual Memorial Day ceremony. Every May, locals and visitors join military members and officials to honor the fallen with heartfelt service, colorful floral wreaths, and a flyover that echoes across the Greve River valley. To know more visit: https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/about-florence-american-cemetery/

April 17, 2026

West Virginia Man Found Guilty of Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child Abroad

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Today a federal jury in the Southern District of West Virginia convicted a West Virginia man for aggravated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between September 2006 and December 2006, Dustin Stover Bowles sexually abused a minor known to him while he babysat the minor at his home. The victim disclosed the abuse to several trusted adults in 2020, as well as Army criminal investigators. Bowles was later charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. At the time of his criminal conduct, Bowles had been on active duty with the United States Army, stationed in Hanau, Germany. In addition to the victim identified in the indictment, three additional victims testified that Bowles sexually abused them while they were asleep.

The jury convicted Bowles of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 12 while abroad as a member of the armed forces. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 3 and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

“Because of the victim’s courageous disclosure, years after being abused, the jury held Dustin Bowles to account,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case demonstrates the Department’s commitment to protecting children from abuse and exploitation, even abuses committed decades ago and overseas.”

“Bowles preyed on a child entrusted to his care and committed a calculated, predatory act that shattered that trust in the most unforgivable way,” said United States Attorney Moore Capito for the Southern District of West Virginia. “This was not a mistake — it was a deliberate exploitation of the most vulnerable. The courage of this victim stands in stark contrast to the cruelty of the offender. Those who target children will be found and brought to answer for it — wherever they are and no matter how long it takes.”

“No matter the circumstances, no matter where you are in the world, the FBI will investigate, find, and bring to justice those who think they can prey on the most vulnerable members of our community. Tarnishing the nation’s uniform makes these actions all the more egregious,” said Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office. “The FBI and our international partners will not hesitate to pursue justice across time and borders to protect our children.”

The FBI and the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Eduardo Palomo of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald from the Southern District of West Virginia are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

April 17, 2026

Chicago Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Foreign Terrorist Organization

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Chicago man was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) by using social media to encourage attacks on ISIS’s enemies and recruit ISIS members.

Ashraf Al Safoo was a leader of Khattab Media Foundation, a sophisticated online organization that swore allegiance to ISIS and created and disseminated threats and ISIS propaganda on social media and other online platforms. Al Safoo and other members of Khattab created and posted pro-ISIS videos, articles, essays, and infographics at the direction of, and in coordination with, ISIS. Much of Khattab’s propaganda promoted violent jihad on behalf of ISIS, which has been designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization. In one posting, Al Safoo encouraged Khattab members to post pro-ISIS information “to cause confusion and spread terror within the hearts of those who disbelieved.” In another posting, Al Safoo wrote, “Work hard, brothers, edit the issue into short clips, take the pictures out of it and publish the efforts of your brothers in the pages of the apostates. Participate in the war, and spread terror, the [Islamic] State does not want you to watch it only, rather, it incites you, and if you are unable to, use it to incite others.”

Many of Khattab’s postings included images of violence, celebrations of terrorist attacks and mass shootings in the United States, and encouragement for “lone wolf” attacks in western countries.

Al Safoo, 41, has been in federal custody since his arrest in Chicago in 2018. Al Safoo immigrated to the U.S. in 2008 and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2013.

After a bench trial last year in U.S. District Court in Chicago, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey found Al Safoo guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate commerce, conspiracy to intentionally access a protected computer without authorization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. Judge Blakey imposed the 25-year prison term during a hearing today in federal court and ordered that it be followed by ten years of court-supervised release.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Peabody of the Northern District of Illinois and Trial Attorney Andrew J. Dixon of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

April 17, 2026

Justice Department Secures Settlement in First-Ever Lawsuit Enforcing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Housing Rights Subpart

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today the settlement of United States v. David Montanus and Lisa Montanus, the first lawsuit filed by the Civil Rights Division to enforce the Housing Rights Subpart of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA), 34 U.S.C. § 12495.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire in May 2025, alleges that Defendants David and Lisa Montanus violated VAWA when they unlawfully penalized the complainant by evicting her after she sought police assistance for domestic violence. The settlement requires the Defendants to comply with VAWA and prohibits them from making adverse credit reports regarding the complainant’s tenancy. If the Defendants acquire rental properties during the three-year term of the settlement, they must report those acquisitions to the United States and undergo VAWA training. The Defendants must also pay $25,000 to compensate the complainant and her minor children.

“Tenants have a right to request law enforcement and emergency services when they need assistance,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “No one should be faced with the choice of calling for help or losing her housing.”

“Violence against women will never be tolerated in New Hampshire,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan for the District of New Hampshire. “Penalizing survivors of violence with eviction for seeking help revictimizes them. We will use all available legal tools to protect the civil rights of victims.”

“I will not allow women seeking police intervention in a domestic violence situation to later be victimized with an eviction because they sought the assistance of our brave police,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor. “Secretary Turner’s HUD is dedicated to protecting women from violence and ensuring that the fair housing rights of all Americans are protected.”

In 2022, Congress reauthorized VAWA and added provisions that strengthened housing protections for people who require emergency assistance at their homes, including survivors of domestic violence. VAWA provides a right to seek law enforcement or emergency assistance, and prohibits housing providers from taking adverse actions, including eviction or threat of eviction, when a tenant, resident, occupant, or guest seeks emergency assistance.

The case was referred to the Civil Rights Division after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received a complaint, conducted an investigation, and issued a charge of discrimination.

If you have been penalized by a housing provider for seeking law enforcement or emergency services or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination, call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online. You may also file a report with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by calling 1-800-669-9777 or submitting a complaint online. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt.