In May 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a carefully worded joint statement about the deepening military ties between the two countries. The deletion apparently indicates the Chinese leadership’s attempt to stabilize its relations with Japan, a U.S. security ally, amid an intensifying confrontation between Beijing and Washington. In the document endorsed by the two …

Private military contractors have a long, and some would say checkered, history in Africa. Their story is still being written today. Mercenaries have long shaped the course of African warfare, from Pharaoh Ramses II reportedly employing over 10,000 mercenaries in the 13th century B.C. to Carthage in the 5th century B.C., which heavily relied on hired soldiers from Iberia, Gaul, …

Within hours of its posts looking for “Humanitarian Liaison Officers”  and “Team Managers,” dozens of would-be private military contractors submitted applications on LinkedIn. Another position on offer a week ago but has since closed is for a “Team Deputy/Manager” to support “day-to-day management, planning, and mission execution.” A liaison officer position appears to be analytically focused. It says that hires …

Burn pit Defense Base Act benefit claims are independent from VA disability burn pit claims. But just like private military contractors overlap with regular servicemembers, the injury claims overlap as well. Just like the following conditions make VA disability benefits easier to obtain, they also make Defense Base Act benefits easier to obtain. Under U.S. law, exposure to burn pit …

A prominent American researcher believes that psychedelic drugs can effectively treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She wants the government to let her test her theory. “Initially, I discouraged them and rolled my eyes thinking about it,” remarked Dr. Sue Sisley, whose training taught her to view only approved drugs as medicines. “I lacked sympathy for their claims and thought they …

At Barnett, Lerner, Karsen & Frankel, P.A., we represent injured workers covered under the Defense Base Act (DBA), longshoremen under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, crew members under the Jones Act, and workers protected under state workers’ compensation laws. Coverage for Civilian Contractors The DBA extends Longshore protections to civilian contractors injured while working overseas. Benefits include medical …

Haiti is on the verge of “total chaos” as coordinated gang violence continues to escalate, the UN’s top Haitian envoy warned on Monday, April 21, 2025. Special Representative María Isabel Salvador told ambassadors in the Security Council that a “deliberate and coordinated” campaign is being waged by organized crime groups to expand territorial control and paralyze the capital, Port-au-Prince.   Recent …

The first of thousands of Marines currently stationed on Okinawa Island may take up residence in their new digs in Guam as early as June 2025, according to a base spokesperson. Maj. Diann Rosenfeld said that “current planning efforts support the commander’s priority to begin moving Marines and Sailors into the barracks aboard the Main Cantonment,” she wrote. “The barracks …

A prominent scholar is one of the first voices to sound the alarm over China’s growing and unregulated military presence in Africa. “Domestic laws in China lack jurisdiction over mercenaries operating abroad, and the enforceability of international laws remains a formidable challenge,” according to Habib al-Badawi, a professor at Lebanese University. “The absence of a robust regulatory framework raises concerns …

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, …