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Defense News: SAMS graduates prepared for war's changes, pace

Source: United States Army

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas – The current nature of warfare is at historic levels of complexity and volatility.

The School of Advanced Military Studies’ latest graduating class, celebrated May 21, 2026, in a ceremony on Fort Leavenworth, spent 10 months preparing to be the strategic response to the military’s call for answers to the historic change of the national security picture.

Speed and unpredictability are foundational focuses of SAMS’ three programs Col. Dwight Domengeaux Jr., director, SAMS said, calling each a “warrior scholar prepared to meet the highest priority of the nation and allies.”

“These graduates are ready now. They’ll immediately help commanders in the operational force to fight and win in a complex environment. In fact, several members of the 2026 class departed early, and are already on their way to operational deployments, where commanders will expect them to perform on day one, and the soldiers on the line are depending on their confidence and leadership,” he explained.

A total of 129 master’s and doctorate degrees were conferred to graduates of the Advanced Military Studies Program, the Advanced Strategic Leadership Studies Program, and the Advanced Strategic Planning and Policy Program.

SAMS curriculum is practicum-driven, and experience focused to include nearly a dozen hands-on exercises, 800 contact hours, a 10,000-word monograph, and direct planning support to division and corps of Ukraine, U.S. Army Combined Arms Command and other combatant commands.

Guest speaker Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp, President and Commanding General, Army University, explained SAMS is a program with no joint-force equivalent, emphasizing the graduates’ educational significance to national security.

This level of strategic, operational thinking becomes a “habit of mind”, Bredenkamp said, that will be tested from day one.

“Be Ready. Be confident. SAMS has prepared you well. Senior leaders fight to receive SAM graduates. That is why they put you in the most challenging positions,” he said.

Bredenkamp’s wife is a SAMS graduate, which provided him a personal experience with senior leader expectations of SAMS planners.

To combat the potential pressures of their next assignments, Bredenkamp gave graduates three pieces of guidance; maintain an appropriate perspective, bring solutions, speak up.

He explained that perspective should remain beyond the tactical issue plaguing a command.

While more than capable of solving that level of problem, the investment in their careers lives beyond the obvious, he said.

“Your commander did not bring you in to solve the tactical problem. The reason they brought you onto the team is the second order problem that the tactical problem was hiding,” Bredenkamp said.

Solutions created by SAMS graduates may be imperfect, but are innate to their critical and creative thinking skills the joint force must capitalize on, Bredenkamp explained.

“You were trained to do something most staff officers cannot do, which is hold a complex problem in your head long enough to design a way through it,” he said.

Finally, the inaugural president of Army University challenged the graduates to communicate, specifically risk, with confidence.

“SAMs has prepared you to be the person to speak up when others are silent. You don’t have to speak loudly or theatrically. Just speak clearly. Truthfully, and with conviction, because that is what your commander deserves, and they will appreciate you. Maybe not the first time, but eventually,” he said.

“You are all part of a noble profession, and as SAMS graduates will be held to a higher standard where much is expected. I know you are up to the task,” Bredenkamp concluded.

This year’s ceremony also recognized the founder of SAMS, retired Brig. Gen. Huba Wass de Czege, who died November 25, 2025.

In addition, the following students were presented awards for their performance during their time at SAMS.

Iron Leader Award: Maj. Kory Osigian, U.S. Army

Presented to the student with the highest physical fitness as assessed by the highest overall score on the Army Fitness Test.

Lt. Col. Michael “Scott” Flurry Award: Lt. Col. Tyler Folan, U.S. Marine Corps

Presented to the top Joint Service graduate who best exemplifies the full spectrum of attributes embodied by distinguished former AMSP graduate—the late Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael “Scott” Flurry—and his legacy of academic excellence, physical fitness, and superior leadership.

Maj. Gen. Edwin Harding Award: Dr. Barry Stentiford and Maj. Ronald Apostle

Presented to one faculty member and one student for their outstanding contribution to professional military journals as assessed by the school leadership.

Col. Arthur D. Simons Center for the Study of Interagency Cooperation Award: Lt. Col. Jacob Griego

Presented to the author of the best monograph on an interagency topic

Best Class Monograph: Col. Joerg Vitoschek, Federal Republic of Germany

Presented to the student in both ASLSP and AMSP whose research paper is judged to be the best in the class

Best AMSP Monograph: Maj. Kaleb Castillo

Presented to the student with the best monograph from AMSP

Col. Thomas Felts Leadership Award: Maj. Karlos Esteban, U.S. Army

Presented to the student who best exemplifies all the desired attributes of an Advanced Military Studies Program graduate. Named in honor of Col. Thomas Felts, who graduated from AMSP in 1998 and was a student in the SAMS senior service program in 2005.He was killed in action in Iraq in 2006 while serving as an advisor to the Iraqi Army.

Watch the graduation ceremony on the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/live/3tCcBE1W_kI?si=zuBN2GAhDIiw9LKY

Additional photos from the event can be viewed on CGSC’s Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usacgsc/albums/

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Founder And Managing Director Of Investment Firm Sentenced For Fraud And Money Laundering

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Sean S. Buckley, Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, announced today that JOHN ARTHUR HANRATTY, the founder and managing director of a multimillion-dollar municipal tax lien investment firm, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield to 12 months and a day in prison for his role in a fraudulent scheme to steal nearly $20 million from a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”)-insured bank.

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Owner of Multinational Investment Company Sentenced in $2B Fraud, Money Laundering, and Bribery Schemes

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Greg Lindberg, 56, of Tampa, Florida, and the founder and chairman of Eli Global LLC and owner of Global Bankers Insurance Group (GBIG) was sentenced today to a combined 12 years in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy and multibillion-dollar fraud conspiracy that bankrupted multiple insurance companies with thousands of unpaid policyholder victims. 

According to court documents and evidence presented in court, from at least 2016 through at least 2019, Lindberg conspired with others to defraud various insurance companies, other third parties and hundreds of thousands of insurance policyholders. Lindberg and others conspired to deceive the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) and other regulators, evaded regulatory requirements meant to protect policyholders, concealed the true financial condition of his companies and improperly used insurance company funds for his personal benefit. Lindberg and his co-conspirators caused companies he controlled in North Carolina, Bermuda, Malta, and elsewhere to invest more than $2 billion in loans and other securities with his own affiliated companies and laundered the proceeds of the scheme. Lindberg directed the scheme and personally benefitted from the fraud in part by “forgiving” more than $125 million in loans to himself from the insurance companies that he controlled. Lindberg used his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying private jets, mansions and a 200-foot luxury yacht.

To carry out these conspiracies, Lindberg and others engaged in circular transactions among Lindberg’s web of entities using insurance company funds and misled or omitted material information from regulators, various ratings agencies, insurance companies and ultimately policyholders, regarding these transactions. 

As Lindberg’s fraud and money laundering conspiracies were beginning to unravel, from April 2017 to August 2018, Lindberg and others engaged in a bribery scheme for the purpose of causing the Commissioner of Insurance of the NCDOI to take official action favorable to Lindberg’s company, GBIG. Lindberg and others gave the Commissioner millions of dollars in campaign contributions and other things of value in exchange for the removal of NCDOI’s Senior Deputy Commissioner, who was responsible for overseeing the regulation and the periodic examination of GBIG. 

As a result of Lindberg’s conduct, his insurance companies, third-party entities and policyholders suffered substantial financial hardship, and multiple of his insurance companies have been placed in rehabilitation and liquidation. To date, thousands of individual policyholders and other victims are collectively still owed more than $1 billion. A special master was appointed by the court in the fraud case to assist with the restitution process and distribution of funds to victims. A separate restitution hearing will be set at a later date. 

In November 2024, Lindberg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and conspiracy to commit money laundering. In May 2024, Lindberg was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.  

The FBI Charlotte Field Office investigated both cases.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina; and Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis of the FBI Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.

Trial Attorney Lyndie Freeman of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Ryan for the Western District of North Carolina prosecuted the fraud case. Trial Attorney William Gullotta of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Washington for the Western District of North Carolina prosecuted the bribery case.

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New Orleans Man Guilty of Federal Offense for Sexually Abusing Fifteen-Year-Old Female Aboard Cruise Ship

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

NEW ORLEANS – KENDRICK WHITE, SR. (“WHITE”) age 43, a resident of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on May 26, 2026, before United States District Judge Darrel James Papillion to committing sexual abuse, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2242(3), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

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Georgia Man Sentenced To 37 Months After Pleading Guilty To Defrauding COVID-19 Era Economic Programs

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Brian Graham, 49, Lithia Springs, Georgia, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and was directed to pay restitution in the amount of $441,546.876, and forfeiture after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud.

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Justice Department Sues University of California for Antisemitic Hostile Educational Environment

Source: United States Department of Justice

Today, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against the University of California for its deliberate indifference to race and national origin discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students at its University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Now, the Department of Justice calls UCLA to account for its toleration of the equally appalling hostile educational environment against its Jewish and Israeli students.”

“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.”

After the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, antisemitic hatred against UCLA’s Jewish and Israeli students reached a point where students were physically assaulted, injured, excluded from campus, and deprived of educational opportunities because of their perceived Jewish or Israeli heritage. As alleged in the United States’ complaint, UCLA violated Title VI through its deliberate indifference to this pervasive on-campus antisemitism. UCLA also breached its funding contracts and grants with the United States by certifying the school’s compliance with its Title VI duties to protect all students from unlawful discrimination while allowing discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students to infect its campus.

UCLA’s tolerance of antisemitism reached a flash point in April 2024 when masked demonstrators erected an encampment outside of Royce Hall and slapped, kicked, beat with sticks, doused with pepper spray, and knocked unconscious Jewish and Israeli students. During this time, occupiers formed “human phalanxes” to block Jewish and Israeli students from entering academic buildings.

This lawsuit — filed in the Central District of California — stems from the Department’s investigation into reports of antisemitic incidents against students on UCLA’s campus and written findings concluding, in part, that UCLA failed to fulfill its legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in responding to those incidents.

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Rock Hill Man Indicted for Threatening the President

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a two-count indictment, presented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, charging John Alexander Bellue, 32, of Rock Hill, for threatening the President of the United States and for interstate communication of a threat to injure. 

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Straw Purchaser Sentenced to Over Five Years in Federal Prison for Numerous Firearm Purchases Made on Behalf of Others

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, Florida – Esai Pastrana Cruz (30, Puerto Rico) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington to five years and three months in federal prison for conspiring to and making false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer (“FFL”). Pastrana Cruz pleaded guilty on February 19, 2026. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.