Overnight Defense: Military reports second active-duty death due to COVID-19 | Pentagon, State Department among agencies hit by cyberattack

Happy Tuesday and welcome to Overnight Defense. I’m Ellen Mitchell, and here’s your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. CLICK HERE to subscribe to the newsletter.

THE TOPLINE: An active-duty U.S. soldier died last week from COVID-19, the Army confirmed Tuesday, marking the military’s second active-duty death and 14th death overall during the pandemic.

Sgt. Setariki Korovakaturaga, a 43-year-old soldier assigned to the 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 2nd Theater Signal Brigade in Baumholder, Germany, died last Wednesday while en route to the hospital, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a news release.

More on the case: Korovakaturaga, who had previously tested positive for the coronavirus, had been quarantining at home when he began experiencing worse symptoms, according to the Tuesday release.

Stars and Stripes, which first reported the death, cited a local police spokesperson as saying he died while his wife drove him to a U.S. military hospital despite roadside rescue efforts from German emergency personnel and U.S. military police.

“We were shocked and deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of Staff Sgt. Setariki Korovakaturaga last week. He was a tremendous soldier and teammate in our unit,” Lt. Col. Jason Kendzierski, 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion commander, said in a statement.

A growing list of names: Korovakaturaga, who was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, is the first active-duty COVID-19 death in the Army.

Prior to Korovakaturaga, the only other active-duty service member to have died from COVID-19 was Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., who died in April. Thacker was one of more than 1,000 sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier who contracted the virus.

In addition to Thacker and Korovakaturaga, seven reservists and five guardsmen have died from the disease.

Timing: The Pentagon has been grappling with a spike in virus cases in recent weeks amid the nationwide surge of the pandemic.

Germany has also been struggling to contain its own new wave of coronavirus cases.

As of Monday, the Pentagon has reported 140,654 cases of COVID-19 among service members, civilians, dependents and contractors.

More than 90,000 service members have gotten the virus, including 874 who have been hospitalized and 56,316 who have recovered, according to the chart the Pentagon maintains on its website.

In addition to the service members who have died, 95 civilians, nine dependents and 37 contractors have died, according to Monday’s data.

 

PENTAGON, STATE DEPARTMENT AMONG AGENCIES HACKED: Branches of the Department of Defense and the State Department were among the agencies hacked as part of a massive espionage attack aimed at the federal government by a nation state that came to light this week. 

The New York Times reported that both agencies were among the groups successfully breached by hackers as part of the attack on IT company SolarWinds, an Austin, Texas-based organization that said this week that hackers had accessed its Orion software between March and June of this year. 

SolarWinds counts all five branches of the military among its customers, along with many other federal agencies and 425 of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies. 

Brought to light: Reuters first reported on Sunday that the company had been hacked by a nation state, and that the Treasury Department and a Commerce Department agency had been among those successfully breached. On Monday, reports emerged that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had also been successfully breached.

The Pentagon’s response: Defense Department spokesperson Russell Goemaere said in a statement to The Hill that “the DoD is aware of the reports and is currently assessing the impact.”

Goemaere pointed to guidance and directives recently issued by the National Security Agency and the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Network to help agencies defend against cyber threats. 

“For operational security reasons the DoD will not comment on specific mitigation measures or specify systems that may have been impacted,” Goemaere said. 

A spokesperson for the State Department declined to comment Tuesday. 

Russians blamed: The Washington Post reported Sunday that a Russian military intelligence hacking group known as “Cozy Bear” was responsible. The same group was previously accused of hacking into the State Department during the Obama administration, and of targeting COVID-19 vaccine research earlier this year. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday described the incident as a “consistent effort by the Russians to try to get into American servers, not only those of government agencies but of businesses” during an interview with Breitbart News Radio on SiriusXM Patriot. 

Lawmaker response: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed extreme alarm around the incident, which is already being viewed as one of the largest cybersecurity incidents in U.S. history.  

The Senate Commerce Committee briefed by the Commerce Department on Monday on the issue, while the Senate Armed Services Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee received a classified briefing from the Department of Defense on its cybersecurity operations on Tuesday.

“Cyberattacks by nation states like Russia and China threaten our economy and national security. Our response should be swift and clear,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said in a joint statement following the Commerce Department briefing.

 

GRAHAM WANTS TO REPEAL TECH LIABILITY SHIELD TARGETED BY TRUMP: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would repeal a key tech liability shield by 2023 as debate over the protection has put a top defense bill in jeopardy. 

Graham’s bill would implement a sunset for Section 230, the 1996 law that grants legal protects to tech platforms for third-party content posted on their sites. The law has come under fire from lawmakers of both parties, and President Trump has threatened to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense policy bill, because it does not include a Section 230 repeal.

Why he wants it gone: Trump has increasingly railed against the law as social media platforms flag his false posts claiming election fraud cost him a second White House term, and Republicans have long said the protections allow tech platforms to discriminate against conservative users, though they have failed to back their claims up with evidence. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also said repealing the law could serve as a check on increasingly powerful companies such as Facebook.

“The time has come for these largely unregulated Big Tech giants to either be broken up, regulated, or subject to litigation for their actions,” Graham said in a statement. “It’s time we put the Section 230 protections these companies enjoy on the clock.”

A time limit: Graham said he hopes Congress will be able to address Section 230 before 2023 but that his legislation would set a date after which the law would be repealed should lawmakers be unable to find an alternative solution.

“My legislation will repeal Section 230 on January 1, 2023, unless Congress acts sooner. Congress will have two years to find an acceptable alternative or allow the legal liability protections to go away,” said Graham. “I’m hopeful that there will be bipartisan support for this approach.”

The NDAA issue: The bipartisan chorus of voices against the tech protection has grown in recent weeks, but lawmakers in both chambers and both parties have said repealing the law should be separate from the NDAA and that including it in a defense bill would be inappropriate.

Both chambers of Congress passed the NDAA with veto-proof majorities last week, though it is unclear how many Republicans would buck Trump if he actually follows through on his veto threat.

 

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

The Atlantic Council will how its virtual forum on “Renewing American Leadership: Shaping the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy,” at 9 a.m. 

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will hold a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Forum with retired Lt. Gen. Richard Formica, former commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense; and retired Brig. Gen. Kenneth Todorov, former deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency, at 10 a.m.

U.S. Space Force Director of Staff Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno will speak at the Washington Space Business Roundtable virtual discussion, “One Year Anniversary of the Space Force: Achievements and Future Challenges,” at 12 p.m.

The National Defense Industrial Association will hold a webinar on “Special Operations: Irregular Warfare and Unified Action,” with Daniel Roh, principal director for special operations and combating terrorism in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy; and David Stephenson, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Office of Irregular Warfare, at 1 p.m. 

The Heritage Foundation will hold a virtual event on “Building Tomorrow’s Army Today: Modernizing with Science, Technology and Engineering,” with Maj. Gen. John George, commanding general, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, at 2 p.m. 

 

ICYMI

— The Hill: Krebs to testify during Senate hearing on election security this week

— The Hill: Trump offered $850 million to terrorism victims to save Sudan-Israel deal

— The Hill: Rouhani says Iran would rejoin nuclear pact an hour after US does

— The Hill: Top GOP lawmakers call for Swalwell to be removed from Intelligence Committee

— The Associated Press: Congress authorizes new Arctic icebreakers for Coast Guard

— Stars and Stripes: First military health care workers receive coronavirus vaccine