For our purposes, the most important thing the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act does is extend the workers’ compensation benefits in the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act to employees who work on the outer continental shelf. Most of these individuals work in energy exploration and production, two of the most hazardous industries in terms of workplace injuries. However, this …

In March 2025, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. That CR eliminates $22.8 billion in burn pit and toxic exposure injury benefits.  The six-month government spending package, which largely holds federal spending at fiscal year 2024 levels, would cut the Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF) for the VA next year. The controversial fund was …

From 1953 to 1987, contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, a U.S. Marine Corps base in North Carolina, exposed hundreds of thousands of people to harmful toxins. Two of the base’s eight wells—serving Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace—were tainted with chemicals known to cause cancer and other severe illnesses. These contaminated systems supplied water for everyday activities such as drinking, …

On March 26, 2025, authorities arrested multiple suspected ISIS members in a series of well-coordinated raids executed throughout the country. Carried out in coordination with ground forces, the directorate conducted operations in al-Anbar, Kirkuk, and Nineveh, leading to the capture of seven suspected ISIS members, an official statement confirmed. Security forces reportedly set up ambushes and raided militant hideouts, resulting …

A meeting which probably would have focused on the refugee crisis was cancelled at the last minute due to “concrete warnings by German security authorities of a terrorist threat.” Germany’s Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, and a German military plane was supposed to fly Faeser’s delegation into Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning, …

President Donald Trump plans to expel millions of immigrants in the United States without proper documentation. Private military companies say they are available to help, for the right price. In March 2025, Academi head Erik Prince put together a memo and logistics plan to help the Trump administration deport millions of people. He said that if the Trump administration wants …

For many years, doctors believed that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder randomly affected some people who went through extremely stressful situations. Although the latest science has clearly debunked that idea, many doctors still cling to the old ways. Extreme stress causes a chemical imbalance in the brain, much like a loud noise, like an explosive blast, causes a traumatic brain injury …

Thousands of people live at a strategically vital military base that has a controversial past. Most people know nothing about this base or its past. In the words of Robert Kaplan, the Indian Ocean will be “center stage for the twenty-first century.” “Like a microcosm of the world at large, the greater Indian Ocean region is developing into an area …

In February 2025, incoming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had a brief but productive telephone conference with Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, according to a DoD News release. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin …

In February 2025, a  North Carolina-based company announced it would pay U.S. special forces veterans $1,100 per day, and a $10,000 signing bonus, to staff a checkpoint in Gaza. The contractors will staff the checkpoint at a key intersection in Gaza’s interior, said the spokesperson, who confirmed the authenticity of the email. The rules of engagement governing when UG Solutions …

American diplomats proposed replacing Israeli forces in southern Lebanon with private military contractors, an idea that others quickly rejected. The U.S., which co-brokered the ceasefire deal, offered to deploy private contractors in Netzarim, according to an American diplomatic source. This region includes several strategic areas. Al-Oweida hill, located between the Lebanese border towns of Meis al-Jabal and Blida, oversees many …

Open-air waste disposal pits (burn pits) dotted Afghanistan and Iraq during those long wars. Those conflicts are over now, but the private military contractors who lived and worked near these burn pits still suffer serious ill effects, some of which are outlined below. In most cases, burn pit-related illnesses are debilitating or fatal. The DoD reasoned that, since burn pits …