The U.S. Navy is planning to relocate a specialized attack squadron currently stationed on the eastern seaboard, leaving Washington D.C. and other large American cities vulnerable to electronic warfare threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, and other rogue nations, sources said.
The Navy’s premier reserve electronic attack squadron, known as VAQ-209, has been ordered by the Pentagon to move from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Whidbey Island in Washington State, according to documents obtained by the Free Beacon.
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“We’re going to leave the entire east coast unprotected from electronic attack, a major vulnerability in the most critical area of this country,” one former intelligence officer for the squadron told the Free Beacon. “All of it is now unprotected.”
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“The squadron is the only one of its kind in the U.S. military—a melting pot of the Navy’s top aviators and electronic countermeasure officers with the Capitol-Beltway region’s wealth of civilian knowledge and expertise in the ever-growing critical national security arena that is electronic warfare,” said the intelligence officer.
“This squadron is the Navy’s premier reserve electronic attack [EA] squadron, which draws in reserve experts who literally work on developing the next generation jammers and develop the jamming techniques themselves,” the source added. “The move means the biggest ‘brain drain’ the U.S. military has ever seen in one of the most vital areas of our national defense.”
Full article: The Vulnerable Coast (Washington Free Beacon)
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