The U.S. Navy is seriously cracking down on lax discipline and readiness issues. The public learned the results of an investigation this week which revealed that “Grisel Marrero, a command senior chief of the littoral combat ship USS Manchester, was demoted in either August or September 2023.” She was also relieved of her duties. Not only was she responsible for “having an unauthorized Starlink High Performance satellite dish installed” on the Manchester, she lied about it to her CO.
Navy cracks down
Information was released to the Navy Times in early September, revealing for the first time that information systems technician Grisel Marrero was formally disciplined.
She was a “command senior chief” of a littoral combat ship and knew what she was doing put her entire vessel and crew at risk. Email and movie streaming were more important.
She wasn’t in it alone. Several of her fellow Navy officers conspired with her.
According to the documents provided, Marerro “wanted the dish so she and other enlisted officers could better access social media, online content and sports scores.”
The group called the satellite receiver “stinky.” To cover their tracks on the network, she renamed the device to look like a printer.
Navy investigators were not happy to learn that she “lied to her superior officer” about the gear. She tried to forge some documents, too. Ones that showed the gear was used while underway at sea.
Fitted in April 2023
When she was first confronted about the dish, Marerro denied knowing anything about it. After they had more evidence, she claimed it was only used while they were in port. There are good reasons why the Navy restricts internet access while at sea, even to the officers. They sentenced her to “a reduction in rank.” It’s not clear what happened to the other officers involved.
They were all in on it, chipping in on the monthly subscription fee. The rest of the crew weren’t allowed to use it and weren’t even in on the secret.
One reason not to allow internet at sea is to “maintain bandwidth for military operations.” The other is a lot more important to Navy brass. “To guard against cybersecurity breaches.” They were operating in the Pacific and waving insecure Wi-Fi under the Pooh Bear’s nose.
When the group of officers bought the Starlink receiver it cost them $2,800. As soon as it arrived in the mail, they hooked it up in an inconspicuous place which wasn’t inspected often.
All they had to do was secure it to a wood platform with some bungee cords. When the Navy found out about it, they held a court-martial.
Marerro “pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and providing false official statements to commanders.“
