https://www.foxnews.com/politi...rship-prompted-secur
Grisel Marrero lied to commanding officers about the network at least three times

By Morgan Phillips | Fox News
Published September 4, 2024 3:39pm

A U.S. Navy command senior chief was demoted for conspiring with other Navy chiefs to install an illegal Wi-Fi network on a warship that they used to check sports scores and watch TV shows.

Grisel Marrero, a senior enlisted Navy officer, reportedly installed a Starlink network on the USS Manchester called "STINKY."

The command senior chief installed and operated the unauthorized network during a deployment in 2023. She charged the $1,000-a-month cost of the network to a leadership association debit card.

Marrero lied and misled her commanding officer about the network at least three times, according to a charge sheet reviewed by Fox News Digital.

As the Manchester prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, Marrero conspired with the ship’s chief to install the secret network. It would be exclusive to them: They didn’t share it with rank-and-file sailors who were forced to deploy without connectivity.

The chiefs used the network to check sports scores, text and stream movies, according to an internal investigation obtained by Navy Times.

Marrero was demoted from senior chief petty officer to chief petty officer after being found guilty of dereliction of duty and providing false official statements to commanders on May 29. Before her trial, Naval Surface Force Pacific, or SURFPAC, quietly relieved her of her leadership position aboard the Manchester, according to Navy Times.

SURFPAC spokesman Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson told Navy Times that other sailors were disciplined in connection to the unauthorized WiFi but declined to provide further details.

Using such a wireless network for entertainment could cause a serious security breach, the investigation warned: "The danger such systems pose to the crew, the ship and the Navy cannot be understated."

Prosecutors said Marrero "failed to prevent the USS Manchester’s exposure to operational security risk, as it was her duty to do."

Marrero had paid for the $2,800 Starlink dish on her personal credit card and was the network administrator. She and another chief installed the dish during an "aloft" time period when duties aren’t recorded in the ship’s logs, according to Navy Times.

She named the network "STINKY" to make it sound like a wireless printer, though there were no such printers on the ship.

When junior sailors and commanding officers began to notice the network, Marrero denied its existence, according to the sheet. She also altered a data display image for the Starlink account to reflect lesser data usages.

The Starlink dish was discovered on Aug. 18 of that year by a civilian installing an authorized satellite communication system.

"The gig is up," Marrero texted a crew member at the time, according to the investigation.

After being confronted, she and the other chiefs tried to remove the dish, then told commanders they only used it while in port.

Marrero finally admitted to being behind the illegal network to her commanding officer on Aug. 26, 2023.

Court records show Marrero pleaded guilty to two counts of dereliction of duty and one count of obstruction of justice.

Chiefs being fucking idiots.

Whodathunk.

Demoted? Court martial and a dishonorable discharge after a year in the brig is more like it.

Unreal

And it's "The jig is up", Grisel, and not "The gig is up". Fucking rocket surgeon all around, this one.

OK, not just a WiFi network, but freaking Starlink satellite internet connection complete with a satellite dish. I’m fairly sure the Navy frowns upon broadcasting unapproved/unauthorized signals into space from their ships. How stupid do you have to be to think setting up your own satellite communications system would be OK or that you could get away with it?

She attempted to cover it up from the beginning and lied when confronted.

Court martial

Brig

DD

That's a Navy warship, not a Chuck E. Cheese, which, by the way, is where she should be working.

They are a disgrace to the Navy and the chief’s mess. It’s been discussed some on the Goat pages I’m in on FB. Even worse, it seems most if not all of the mess knew about it and even the ones who didn’t partake didn’t say anything. That was hard to accept, that’s not the Navy or the mess I was part of. I know things have changed, but damn.

And the starlink puts the whole ship at risk. I can’t believe anyone thought that was right.

Not sure why Fox took so long to report this, a buddy sent me this back in June.

Command senior chief busted for secretly setting up Wi-Fi on US Navy combat ship

In the Navy, no, you cannot have an unauthorized WLAN. In the Navy, no, that's not a good plan

Matthew Connatser
Tue 4 Jun 2024 // 20:04 UTC

The US Navy has cracked down on an illicit Wi-Fi network installed on a combat ship by demoting the senior enlisted leader who ordered it to be set up.

Now-former Command Senior Chief Grisel Marrero was tried and convicted in March, according to the Navy Times, which acquired documents pertaining to her trial. Marrero served on the USS Manchester, a littoral (near-shore) combat ship assigned to the US Naval Surface Force Pacific (SURFPAC), part of the larger US Pacific Fleet.

Spokespeople for the Navy today told The Register the report on Monday was accurate, adding in a statement:

The command senior chief of USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crew, Senior Chief Grisel Marrero, was relieved of her duties due to a loss of confidence in Marrero’s ability to serve as the senior enlisted leader. Navy senior enlisted leaders are held to high standards of personal and professional conduct. They are expected to uphold the highest standards of responsibility, reliability and leadership, and the Navy holds them accountable when they fall short of those standards.

Between March and August last year, during her stint as Command Senior Chief on the Manchester, Marrero "willfully coordinated the procurement, installation and use of an unauthorized and unapproved Wi-Fi system," her charge sheet read.

The specific wording of the charge implies that Marrero wasn't acting alone, and in fact other sailors were said to be punished in relation to Marrero's Wi-Fi network...

Complete article:

https://www.theregister.com/20..._ship_chief_demoted/

Demoted one whole entire pay grade? How harsh!

quote:

Complete article:

https://www.theregister.com/20..._ship_chief_demoted/

That article doesn’t mention the Starlink Satellite internet setup where the Fox News article does. Setting up a WiFi network that isn’t connect to anything but local devices is one thing, but setting up a satellite communications system takes it to a whole different level.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Demoted one whole entire pay grade? How harsh!

Well the Navy is very low on sailors right now.

Senior Chief......doesn't mean what it used to. Disgraceful. Optics over readiness, ability and discipline, welcome to Obama's military.

Any reason she set it up in the first place? What scrutiny was she and the other chiefs trying to avoid? Seems all of them should have faced punishment for their complicity.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:
Senior Chief......doesn't mean what it used to. Disgraceful. Optics over readiness, ability and discipline, welcome to Obama's military.

A shooting war will shake all that shit out of US armed forces.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
She attempted to cover it up from the beginning and lied when confronted.

Court martial

Brig

DD

That's a Navy warship, not a Chuck E. Cheese, which, by the way, is where she should be working.

We’ve got a lot of retired career Navy in the Forum. Does her treatment jive with your experience for something like this, or is this the “new Navy?”

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Demoted one whole entire pay grade? How harsh!

Well the Navy is very low on sailors right now.

She's still a member of the Khaki Mafia. Should have been busted to E-6 or lower.

quote:

Originally posted by uvahawk:
Any reason she set it up in the first place?

"They didn’t share it with rank-and-file sailors who were forced to deploy without connectivity."

Sounds like they didn't have internet access on the "Warship".

She lied, misappropriated (stole) Navy resources, and jeopardized an entire warship for her own personal entertainment. She should be doing several years of hard time followed by a dishonorable discharge. Losing one stripe is a joke...not only is she still in the Navy, but she's still in a leadership position. How are her subordinates ever supposed to respect her after that?

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
She lied

That's the surprising one- Seems she lied multiple times and to the CO. How can they trust her?

She deserved a BCD and time in a Federal Prison.

What she got was a slap on the wrist.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
She attempted to cover it up from the beginning and lied when confronted.

Court martial

Brig

DD

That's a Navy warship, not a Chuck E. Cheese, which, by the way, is where she should be working.

We’ve got a lot of retired career Navy in the Forum. Does her treatment jive with your experience for something like this, or is this the “new Navy?”

Must be the new Navy. The one I was in would have given her a BCD and probably brig/federal prison time.