DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
CONTRACTS
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Thomas Instrument,* Brookshire, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $48,702,626 firm-fixed-price contract for aircraft winches. This contract is a sole-source acquisition. Location of performance is Texas with a May 2016 performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2014 Air Force working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., (SPRWA1-14-D-0002).
Coast Citrus Distributors,* San Diego, Calif., has been awarded a maximum $35,158,808 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruit and vegetable support. This contract is a competitive acquisition, and four offers were received. This is an eighteen-month base contract with two eighteen-month option periods. Location of performance is California with a Jul. 20, 2015 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPE300-14-D-P244).
Freeman Holdings of California, LLC, doing business as Million Air Victorville,* Victorville, Calif., has been awarded a maximum $28,455,164 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for into-plane jet fuel. This contract is a competitive acquisition, and one offer was received. Location of performance is California with a Mar. 31, 2018 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2018 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0007).
Valley Fruit and Produce,* Los Angeles, Calif., has been awarded a maximum $14,691,191 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruit and vegetable support. This contract is a competitive acquisition, and five offers were received. This is an eighteen-month base contract with two eighteen-month option periods. Location of performance is California with a Jul. 20, 2015 performance completion date. Using military services are non-Department of Defense schools and reservations. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPE300-14-D-S606).
Rockwell Collins-ESA Vision Systems (formerly Vision Systems International LLC), Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $14,666,736 firm-fixed-price contract for replenishment spare parts in support of the A/24A-56 joint helmet mounted cueing system. This contract is a sole-source acquisition. Location of performance is Texas, Oregon and Israel with a July 31, 2015 completion date. Using military services are Navy, Air Force, and Air National Guard. A portion of this contract is in support of foreign military sales for Canada, Chile, Pakistan, Portugal, Thailand and Iraq. Type of appropriation is Air Force fiscal 2013 investment funds, Air Force and Air National Guard fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds, Navy fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement funds and FMS funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., (SPRWA1-11-D-0007-0009).
AIR FORCE
General PAE Applied Technologies, LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $28,070,424 modification (P00027) on an existing contract (FA3010-13-C-0007) exercising the option for Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., base operations support services. Work will be performed at Keesler AFB, and is expected to be completed on Jan. 31, 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds will be obligated incrementally upon availability. The 81st Contracting Squadron, Keesler AFB, Miss., is the contracting activity.
Isometrics, Inc., Reidsville, N.C., has been awarded a $7,100,835 indefinite-delivery, requirements contract for the design and production of A/S32 R-11 aircraft refueling/defueling/hydrant servicing trucks. Work will be performed at Reidsville, N.C., and is expected to be completed by Sep. 30, 2015. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, small business set-aside, and three offers were received. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WNKBBB, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8533-14-D-0001).
NAVY
The Boeing Co., Jacksonville, Fla., is being awarded a $17,820,844 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity delivery order contract for remanufacturing activities and associated maintenance and sustainment capabilities in support of the F/A-18 A-F Depot Level Service Life Extension Program. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Fla. (92 percent) and St. Louis, Mo. (8 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2014. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $249,399 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting activity (N00019-14-D-0001).
Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Hurst, Texas, is being awarded $13,495,182 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order 0001 under a previously awarded contract (N00383-14-D-015N) for repair/overhaul work of five high priority items for the UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopters. Work will be performed in Hurst, Texas, and is expected to be completed by January 2017. Fiscal 2014 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $6,747,591 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.
EFW, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded an $11,666,579 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-13-C-0037) to exercise an option for the installation and procurement of helmet display tracker system (HDTS) kits for AH-1W aircraft, including nine HTDS P-kits, 29 AH-1W Helmet kits, and installation of 54 HDTS. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (42 percent); Camp Pendleton, Calif. (30 percent); and Cherry Point, N.C. (28 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2014. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $11,666,579 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting activity.
Rockwell Collins, Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded an $8,022,845 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-priced contract (N00019-09-C-0069) to exercise an option for the procurement of AN/ARC-210(V) Electronic Radios and ancillary equipment for a variety of aircraft. Equipment being procured includes 15 C-12561A/ARC; 65 MT-6567/ARC; 15 MT-7006/ARC; 15 AM-7526/ARC; 15 MX-11641/ARC; 50 AS-3972/A; 50 CV-4092/A, and 65 RT-1939(C)/ARC. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is expected to be completed in November 2014. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $8,022,845 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Cortana Corp.,* Falls Church, Va., is being awarded a $7,760,214 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-09-C-0028) to exercise an option for the research and development of sensors and systems in support of the Advanced Sensor Application Program and the Remote Environmental Sensor Program. Sensors and systems support a variety of naval aviation missions, including air-under-sea warfare, defense suppression, electronic attack, naval warfare and amphibious, strike and anti-surface warfare. Work will be performed in Falls Church, Va., and is expected to be completed in September 2014. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test, and evaluation, Navy funds in the amount of $525,000 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity
ARMY
L-3 Communications Corp, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $129,000,000 modification (P00106) to contract W58RGZ-10-C-0107 for maintenance and modification of the Army C-12/RC-12/UC-35 fixed wing aircraft fleet. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $88,076,758 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Jan. 31, 2015. Work will be performed in Madison, Miss. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. is the contracting activity.
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, LLC, Oak Brook, Ill., was awarded a $14,177,652 firm-fixed-price contract for deepening the Delaware River main channel. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $14,177,652 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Nov. 30, 2014. Bids were solicited via the Internet with four received. Work will be performed in Philadelphia, Pa. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (W912BU-14-C-0008).
Zyscovich, Inc., Miami, Fla., (W91236-14-D-0012); Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., (W91236-13-D-0044); and Schenkel & Shultz, Inc. Orlando, Fla., (W91236-13-D-0043) were awarded a $10,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery contract for architectural and engineering services to support DoD elementary and secondary schools within the continental United States and overseas trust territories, and in Europe, Cuba, Japan, and Korea. Funding and work performance location will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is June 26, 2017. Bids were solicited via the Internet with forty-five received. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity.
American International Contractors, Inc., Arlington, Va., was awarded a $9,788,000 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract for construction of the United Kingdom Maritime Component Command (UKMCC) including constructing a forward support unit warehouse and headquarters facility at Mina Salman Port, NSA II, Kingdom of Bahrain. Funds in the amount of $9,788,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is April 7, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet, with eight received. Work will be performed in Bahrain. Army Corps of Engineers, Winchester, Va., is the contracting activity (W912ER-14-C-0002).
EADS-NA, Herndon, Va., was awarded a $9,454,370 modification (00757) to contract W58RGZ-06-C-0194 for Lakota helicopter logistics support. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $9,454,370 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Dec. 31, 2014. Work will be performed in Herndon, Va. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.
U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND
NEK Services, Inc., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded an $8,232,079, firm-fixed-price task order in support of the Joint Exploitation Training Center (JETC), C. Company, 6th Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C. The contractor shall provide instructors and role players to support the JETC advanced skills training. The work will be performed in Fort Bragg, N.C, and is expected to be completed by January 2019. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 14 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,646,415 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was awarded utilizing procedures at FAR 8.405-6. A best value determination was made based on evaluation of qualifying criteria, technical, past performance and price. The requirement was posted via GSA E-buy seeking full and open competition under GSA Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) Federal Supply Schedule. Two offers were received. United States Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C., is the contracting activity
(H92239-14-F-0001).
MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., (LMSSC) Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a $33,018,000 modification (P00004) to firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract HQ0147-14-C-0004 to provide essential, highly specialized services to support Ballistic Missile Defense System flight test activities using LMSSC developed target hardware. The work will be performed at several LMSSC facilities, and government test sites and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2014. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity.
*Small Business
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
SATURN'S RINGS STUDIED WITH SPECIAL LIGHT FILTER
Although it may look to our eyes like other images of the rings, this infrared image of Saturn's rings was taken with a special filter that will only admit light polarized in one direction. Scientists can use these images to learn more about the nature of the particles that make up Saturn's rings. The bright spot in the rings is the "opposition surge" where the Sun-Ring-Spacecraft angle passes through zero degrees. Ring scientists can also use the size and magnitude of this bright spot to learn more about the surface properties of the ring particles. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 19 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 18, 2013 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 705 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 712,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-rings-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 7 degrees. Image scale is 43 miles (68 kilometers) per pixel. Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech-Space Science Institute.
GENEVA II CONFERENCE ON SYRIA: SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS
FROM: STATE DEPARTMENT
Intervention at the Geneva ll International Conference on Syria
Intervention
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Montreux, Switzerland
January 22, 2014
Thank you very much, Secretary Ban, and thank you, Ambassador Brahimi, for your commitment to helping the Syrian people find a new future. And I join with Foreign Minister Lavrov in thanking all of the countries around the table, all of the groups around the table. I thank President Burkhalter and the people of Switzerland for making this important meeting possible. And I thank the Russian Federation and Foreign Minister Lavrov for his cooperation and efforts together with us, working to try to initiate this process. I also want to welcome the leaders of the Syrian opposition, and I thank them for the courageous decision they’ve made. Everybody here knows the pressures that have existed.
Today is a beginning. It’s a beginning of what will obviously be a tough and complicated negotiation; peace talks to end a war and to end a struggle like this always are tough. Frankly, this is a test for all of us who support the Syrian people in their effort to end the extraordinary suffering that the world has witnessed, and which continues. And it is a test of the global community’s ability to come together and ultimately secure a Syria where people can live in dignity and not in fear.
I want to start by saying that I think it is impressive, I think it is significant in and of itself, that so many countries have come together, even though we know it’s for one day that all the countries will be here in this forum. But all of them have come together because everybody understands how critical it is for the world to prove that we have the ability to make a difference in this kind of a conflict.
Now, lost in the daily reports of violence is the fact that this revolution did not begin as an armed resistance. This started peacefully. It was started by schoolboys in Daraa who are armed only with graffiti cans, citizens who were peacefully and legitimately calling for change. And they were met almost immediately with violence. When their parents came out to protest the arrest of the children, 120 people died. That was the beginning.
And tragically, the Assad regime answered peaceful demonstration after peaceful demonstration with ever-increasing force. In the three years since then, this conflict has now left more than 130,000 dead, and it’s hard to count accurately. We all know that. The fact is that these people have been killed by guns, by tanks, by artillery, by gas, by barrel bombs, by Scud missiles. They’ve been killed by weapons almost exclusively of the magnitude not possessed by the opposition. Starvation has been used as a weapon of war. And most recently, we have seen horrific reports of systematic torture and execution of thousands of prisoners. This is an appalling assault, not only on human lives, but on human dignity and on every standard by which the international community tries to organize itself, recognizing the horrors of the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded, the destabilization of neighboring countries, and the endless exile of refugees.
As a result, the international community came together 18 months ago to support the Syrian people as they sought to change course. Now, this has taken a lot longer than many of us wanted to bring everyone together. But we have come here determined as ever to implement the Geneva communique. Sergey Lavrov just mentioned the Geneva communique; I reiterate the Geneva communique. And the Geneva communique can only be implemented through the concerted efforts of everybody in this room. Millions of people are relying on the international community’s ability to help find a solution that can save their lives and their country. And we see only one option: a negotiated transition government formed by mutual consent.
Now, we need to deal with reality here. We really need to deal with reality. Mutual consent, which is what has brought us here, for a transition government means that that government cannot be formed with someone that is objected to by one side or the other. That means that Bashar Assad will not be part of that transition government. There is no way – no way possible in the imagination – that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. One man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. The right to lead a country does not come from torture, nor barrel bombs, nor Scud missiles. It comes from the consent of the people. And it’s hard to imagine how that consent could be forthcoming at this point in time.
So just as there could be no place for the perpetrator of this violence, there could also be no place for the thousands of violent extremists who spread their hateful ideology and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people. And as we hear talk about terrorism today, make no mistake: It is the presence of the current intransigence within the existing government that makes this problem worse. That is creating a magnet for terrorists. And until a transition takes place, there is no prayer of reducing the increase of terrorism.
There is another way forward. We all know it. It is what this conference is organized around. It is the Geneva communique, which has the support of the international community as a peaceful roadmap for transition. And the only thing standing in its way is the stubborn clinging to power of one man, one family. I believe the alternative vision of the Syrian people is one that can gather the respect and support of people all around the world. It is a place that doesn’t force people to flee or live in fear, a Syria that protects the rights of every group. We have not only an opportunity, but we have an obligation to find a way forward so that the people of Syria can choose their leadership, know peace, and for 9 million refugees, finally be able to return home in dignity.
My final comment is this: There are, in this room, all of the players who have the ability, with the exception of one or two, to have an impact on the choices that are made here. People who are supporting different groups are here. These people have the ability to affect the outcome. And if we put our common energies together, we can forge a resolution that can provide peace to the region and peace to the people of Syria. And I hope we will succeed.
Intervention at the Geneva ll International Conference on Syria
Intervention
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Montreux, Switzerland
January 22, 2014
Thank you very much, Secretary Ban, and thank you, Ambassador Brahimi, for your commitment to helping the Syrian people find a new future. And I join with Foreign Minister Lavrov in thanking all of the countries around the table, all of the groups around the table. I thank President Burkhalter and the people of Switzerland for making this important meeting possible. And I thank the Russian Federation and Foreign Minister Lavrov for his cooperation and efforts together with us, working to try to initiate this process. I also want to welcome the leaders of the Syrian opposition, and I thank them for the courageous decision they’ve made. Everybody here knows the pressures that have existed.
Today is a beginning. It’s a beginning of what will obviously be a tough and complicated negotiation; peace talks to end a war and to end a struggle like this always are tough. Frankly, this is a test for all of us who support the Syrian people in their effort to end the extraordinary suffering that the world has witnessed, and which continues. And it is a test of the global community’s ability to come together and ultimately secure a Syria where people can live in dignity and not in fear.
I want to start by saying that I think it is impressive, I think it is significant in and of itself, that so many countries have come together, even though we know it’s for one day that all the countries will be here in this forum. But all of them have come together because everybody understands how critical it is for the world to prove that we have the ability to make a difference in this kind of a conflict.
Now, lost in the daily reports of violence is the fact that this revolution did not begin as an armed resistance. This started peacefully. It was started by schoolboys in Daraa who are armed only with graffiti cans, citizens who were peacefully and legitimately calling for change. And they were met almost immediately with violence. When their parents came out to protest the arrest of the children, 120 people died. That was the beginning.
And tragically, the Assad regime answered peaceful demonstration after peaceful demonstration with ever-increasing force. In the three years since then, this conflict has now left more than 130,000 dead, and it’s hard to count accurately. We all know that. The fact is that these people have been killed by guns, by tanks, by artillery, by gas, by barrel bombs, by Scud missiles. They’ve been killed by weapons almost exclusively of the magnitude not possessed by the opposition. Starvation has been used as a weapon of war. And most recently, we have seen horrific reports of systematic torture and execution of thousands of prisoners. This is an appalling assault, not only on human lives, but on human dignity and on every standard by which the international community tries to organize itself, recognizing the horrors of the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded, the destabilization of neighboring countries, and the endless exile of refugees.
As a result, the international community came together 18 months ago to support the Syrian people as they sought to change course. Now, this has taken a lot longer than many of us wanted to bring everyone together. But we have come here determined as ever to implement the Geneva communique. Sergey Lavrov just mentioned the Geneva communique; I reiterate the Geneva communique. And the Geneva communique can only be implemented through the concerted efforts of everybody in this room. Millions of people are relying on the international community’s ability to help find a solution that can save their lives and their country. And we see only one option: a negotiated transition government formed by mutual consent.
Now, we need to deal with reality here. We really need to deal with reality. Mutual consent, which is what has brought us here, for a transition government means that that government cannot be formed with someone that is objected to by one side or the other. That means that Bashar Assad will not be part of that transition government. There is no way – no way possible in the imagination – that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. One man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. The right to lead a country does not come from torture, nor barrel bombs, nor Scud missiles. It comes from the consent of the people. And it’s hard to imagine how that consent could be forthcoming at this point in time.
So just as there could be no place for the perpetrator of this violence, there could also be no place for the thousands of violent extremists who spread their hateful ideology and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people. And as we hear talk about terrorism today, make no mistake: It is the presence of the current intransigence within the existing government that makes this problem worse. That is creating a magnet for terrorists. And until a transition takes place, there is no prayer of reducing the increase of terrorism.
There is another way forward. We all know it. It is what this conference is organized around. It is the Geneva communique, which has the support of the international community as a peaceful roadmap for transition. And the only thing standing in its way is the stubborn clinging to power of one man, one family. I believe the alternative vision of the Syrian people is one that can gather the respect and support of people all around the world. It is a place that doesn’t force people to flee or live in fear, a Syria that protects the rights of every group. We have not only an opportunity, but we have an obligation to find a way forward so that the people of Syria can choose their leadership, know peace, and for 9 million refugees, finally be able to return home in dignity.
My final comment is this: There are, in this room, all of the players who have the ability, with the exception of one or two, to have an impact on the choices that are made here. People who are supporting different groups are here. These people have the ability to affect the outcome. And if we put our common energies together, we can forge a resolution that can provide peace to the region and peace to the people of Syria. And I hope we will succeed.
PATROLLING AFGHANISTAN
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
As seen through a night-vision device, U.S. and Afghan special forces soldiers patrol up a mountain during an operation in the Ghorband district of Afghanistan's Parwan province, Jan. 15, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Connor Mendez.
As seen through a night-vision device, an Afghan commando machine gunner prepares to return fire during a firefight from an insurgent’s high ground position during an operation in the Ghorband district of Afghanistan's Parwan province, Jan. 15, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Connor Mendez.
HAGEL LAUDS OUTREACH TO SUNNI TRIBAL LEADERS BY IRAQI GOVERNMENT
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Hagel Lauds Efforts Urging Iraqis to Evict Terrorists
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today lauded the Iraqi government’s continued outreach to local Sunni tribal leaders and officials to evict terrorist fighters from Fallujah and other parts of western Iraq, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
Hagel delivered the praise during a Pentagon meeting with Osama al-Nujaifi, speaker of Iraq’s Council of Representatives, Kirby said.
In a statement summarizing the meeting, the press secretary said Hagel provided an update on U.S. efforts to accelerate delivery of critical defense equipment to resupply the Iraqi security forces conducting missions in Anbar province. “The secretary also underscored the importance of proceeding with federal Iraqi elections as scheduled, and encouraged the government of Iraq's efforts to implement local and national political initiatives,” he added.
Hagel concluded the meeting by reaffirming the steadfastness of the U.S-Iraq bilateral relationship and the U.S. commitment to helping the Iraqi government ensure the safety and security of all Iraqi people, Kirby said.
Hagel Lauds Efforts Urging Iraqis to Evict Terrorists
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today lauded the Iraqi government’s continued outreach to local Sunni tribal leaders and officials to evict terrorist fighters from Fallujah and other parts of western Iraq, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
Hagel delivered the praise during a Pentagon meeting with Osama al-Nujaifi, speaker of Iraq’s Council of Representatives, Kirby said.
In a statement summarizing the meeting, the press secretary said Hagel provided an update on U.S. efforts to accelerate delivery of critical defense equipment to resupply the Iraqi security forces conducting missions in Anbar province. “The secretary also underscored the importance of proceeding with federal Iraqi elections as scheduled, and encouraged the government of Iraq's efforts to implement local and national political initiatives,” he added.
Hagel concluded the meeting by reaffirming the steadfastness of the U.S-Iraq bilateral relationship and the U.S. commitment to helping the Iraqi government ensure the safety and security of all Iraqi people, Kirby said.
GSA ANNOUNCES LARGE INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS
FROM: GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
GSA Announces Major Investments in the Nation’s Public Buildings
Washington, DC--- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Dan Tangherlini announced major investments in our nation’s infrastructure as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The legislation will provide important funding to repair and maintain our country's public infrastructure, pay rent for our leased buildings, consolidate offices to save money, and upgrade land ports of entry to secure the nation's borders and facilitate trade and economic growth. The more than $9.3 billion investment in the nation’s public buildings enables GSA to properly maintain and improve the real estate assets owned and paid for by the American people.
“By investing in our public buildings, a smaller federal footprint and improved border crossing stations, GSA will not only create savings for the American people, but also assist in providing them with the most efficient and effective government possible,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “These infrastructure projects will ensure that federal agencies can support economic and job growth in communities across this country.”
Investing in the Nation’s Public Buildings
As a result of consecutive years of reduced funding, GSA’s portfolio of facilities have had to forgo over $4 billion worth of capital improvements including major repairs and maintenance as well as critical additions to the inventory. The legislation is an important step in restoring GSA’s ability to meet the urgent needs of its real estate portfolio by investing more than $1 billion in repair and maintenance of more than 9,000 federal buildings across the country. These are critical investments in infrastructure that will create significant savings by preventing costly emergency repairs in the future.
Construction and Border Modernization Projects
The legislation funds several construction projects that will allow agencies to continue to provide critical services to the American people. One of those projects includes the consolidation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the St. Elizabeth’s campus in Washington, DC. With $155 million investment in the St. Elizabeth’s campus, GSA will continue to work to bring DHS into a single campus, which will save on leased space and enhance staff collaboration.
With the passage of the legislation, GSA’s request for a number of Land Port of Entry projects is fully funded. GSA will invest $295 million in critical border crossing and inspection modernization projects that will help expand trade and enhance border security. This includes:
$226 million to work on the next phase of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Southern California, the busiest border crossing in the world.
$61.6 million to expand and modernize the U.S. Land Port of Entry facilities at the Port of Laredo in Laredo, Texas.
$7.4 million in the project design phase to expand and modernize the border crossing in Columbus, New Mexico.
These projects will increase efficiency, create economic growth, and improve safety and security for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Making Federal Real Estate Smaller and More Efficient
The legislation includes $70 million to further GSA’s efforts to consolidate agencies within existing federally owned space. GSA’s consolidation program will save taxpayer dollars by reducing agency dependence on leased space, increase energy and water conservation, and reduce the total amount of space occupied by the government.
GSA Announces Major Investments in the Nation’s Public Buildings
Washington, DC--- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Dan Tangherlini announced major investments in our nation’s infrastructure as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The legislation will provide important funding to repair and maintain our country's public infrastructure, pay rent for our leased buildings, consolidate offices to save money, and upgrade land ports of entry to secure the nation's borders and facilitate trade and economic growth. The more than $9.3 billion investment in the nation’s public buildings enables GSA to properly maintain and improve the real estate assets owned and paid for by the American people.
“By investing in our public buildings, a smaller federal footprint and improved border crossing stations, GSA will not only create savings for the American people, but also assist in providing them with the most efficient and effective government possible,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “These infrastructure projects will ensure that federal agencies can support economic and job growth in communities across this country.”
Investing in the Nation’s Public Buildings
As a result of consecutive years of reduced funding, GSA’s portfolio of facilities have had to forgo over $4 billion worth of capital improvements including major repairs and maintenance as well as critical additions to the inventory. The legislation is an important step in restoring GSA’s ability to meet the urgent needs of its real estate portfolio by investing more than $1 billion in repair and maintenance of more than 9,000 federal buildings across the country. These are critical investments in infrastructure that will create significant savings by preventing costly emergency repairs in the future.
Construction and Border Modernization Projects
The legislation funds several construction projects that will allow agencies to continue to provide critical services to the American people. One of those projects includes the consolidation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the St. Elizabeth’s campus in Washington, DC. With $155 million investment in the St. Elizabeth’s campus, GSA will continue to work to bring DHS into a single campus, which will save on leased space and enhance staff collaboration.
With the passage of the legislation, GSA’s request for a number of Land Port of Entry projects is fully funded. GSA will invest $295 million in critical border crossing and inspection modernization projects that will help expand trade and enhance border security. This includes:
$226 million to work on the next phase of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Southern California, the busiest border crossing in the world.
$61.6 million to expand and modernize the U.S. Land Port of Entry facilities at the Port of Laredo in Laredo, Texas.
$7.4 million in the project design phase to expand and modernize the border crossing in Columbus, New Mexico.
These projects will increase efficiency, create economic growth, and improve safety and security for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Making Federal Real Estate Smaller and More Efficient
The legislation includes $70 million to further GSA’s efforts to consolidate agencies within existing federally owned space. GSA’s consolidation program will save taxpayer dollars by reducing agency dependence on leased space, increase energy and water conservation, and reduce the total amount of space occupied by the government.
U.S.-RUSSIAN LEADERS TALK
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| U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks with his Russian counterpart during a NATO meeting for defense chiefs in Brussels, Jan. 21, 2014. Dempsey is on a three-day trip where he is slated to meet with his NATO and Russian counterparts. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Hinton. |
U.S., Russian Leaders Discuss Afghanistan, Sochi, History
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
BRUSSELS, Jan. 21, 2014 – Two tankers who as young men could have squared off against each other on the East German border sat in the Russian Embassy here today and talked about ways their two nations could cooperate.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, with an eye to improving the military-to-military relations between the two nations.
Dempsey spoke of the shared military history of the two nations and proposed a ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the meeting of the U.S. and Russian armies at Torgau, Germany, in April 1945.
That meeting sealed the defeat of Nazi Germany.
On political tracks, the U.S.-Russia relationship is a bit bumpy, but on the military track, Dempsey noted, there are ways these two powerful forces can cooperate.
“I always find it encouraging when I can meet with my counterparts -- especially the most influential militarily around the world,” the chairman said following the meeting. “I was encouraged by his candor … and his warmth in seeking to find ways that we can continue to advance the issues where we agree and where we can contribute to resolving those on which we disagree.”
The two men also signed the 2014 Work Plan for the nations. It was the first time the chiefs of defense signed such a document. “We felt it important enough to come together and do it ourselves,” Dempsey said. The Work Plan calls for 67 activities in which military personnel from both countries will work together.
“These are generally staff exercises, not maneuver exercises, although there are maneuver exercises in all domains -- air, land, sea,” the chairman said during an earlier interview. “Maneuver exercises tend to be small -- battalion level or below.”
Some areas of disagreement exist between the two militaries, and ballistic missile defense tops that list. Russia is opposed to ballistic missile defense for political and technical reasons. “But I’m encouraged, because we’re still talking about it,” Dempsey said. “The alternative would be we would all go our separate ways and we would generate another form of an arms race on that particular issue, and nobody wants that.”
The points of disagreement have “never driven us to the point in our mil-to-mil contacts where we can’t have the conversation,” Dempsey added.
The chairman said he believes there is still room for a better understanding not only about the technical capabilities related to missile defense, “but also the threat and our intentions vis-à-vis our allies and protecting ourselves.”
But the nations agree on Afghanistan.
“We agree that a stable Afghanistan and an Afghanistan that is not a sanctuary for terrorism is in our common interests,” the chairman said. “They are concerned that if the Afghan security forces don’t continue to receive a certain amount of support, and if the environment in Afghanistan deteriorates to the point where the central government can’t control, or at least influence, events, they are concerned it will destabilize fairly quickly. [The Russians] are supportive of our continued presence there.”
The Russians asked a number of questions about U.S. retrograde activities from Afghanistan, Dempsey said, to “gauge how quickly events in Afghanistan could change.”
“In their view,” he added, “it does relate to the amount of structure that NATO continues to provide there.”
The Russians are looking for a tipping point in Afghanistan, the general said. “They didn’t share what they thought the tipping point is,” he continued, “but in their view, there clearly is one.”
Other areas of mutual interest include antipiracy and counterterrorism efforts and Arctic issues.
The two men also discussed security at the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The Russian military is working in support of civilian security organizations, and Dempsey heard Gerasimov’s assessment of the task. The Russian armed forces are bringing unique military capabilities to the effort, he said, including air defense, the maritime domain, chemical and biological defense, backup medical support for civilian authorities, management of the electronic spectrum and electronic warfare and the like.
“I reiterated the fact that we would favorably consider requests from them,” Dempsey said.
In a statement released yesterday, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said U.S. commanders in the region are conducting prudent planning and preparations should support be required. Air and naval assets,including two Navy ships in the Black Sea, will be available if requested for all manner of contingencies in support of -- and in consultation with -- the Russian government, Kirby said, noting that there is no such requirement at this time.
No matter where the Olympics were being held this year, it would be a problem, Dempsey said, as international terrorists would seek to disrupt the games no matter where they were held. But having the games near Chechnya and Dagestan brings its own set of threats, he noted.
Gerasimov has “a hand-picked, highly trained task force that’s been in place for some time,” Dempsey said. “He believes they have in place the intelligence apparatus, as well as the response apparatus, to deal with the threats as they know them this year in Sochi.”
And, the Russian general is interested in American technology for countering improvised explosive devices that the Russian military might be able to use, the chairman said. The United States would share technical information on the counter-IED efforts, he added, and if it is compatible with Russian equipment, will look to provide that information to Russia in time for the games.
The Russian military is holding a tank biathlon next year, and the United States will observe “with the eye on participating downstream,” Dempsey said. The biathlon, he added, could have a Russian T-90 tank competing against a U.S. M-1 tank sometime in the future.
TRANSITIONAL PRESIDENT OF C.A.R. WELCOMED BY U.S.
FROM: STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Welcomes Selection of New Transitional President of the Central African Republic
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 21, 2014
The United States welcomes the selection of Catherine Samba-Panza as Transitional President in the Central African Republic (C.A.R.). As C.A.R.'s first woman head of state since the country’s independence, and with her special background in human rights work and mediation, she has a unique opportunity to advance the political transition process, bring all the parties together to end the violence, and move her country toward elections not later than February 2015.
We also commend the Transitional National Council for conducting the selection process for the new C.A.R. Transitional President in a deliberate, open, and transparent manner that ensured the airing of a full range of views from C.A.R.’s civil society.
The United States has been deeply engaged in the work to help pull C.A.R. back from the brink, including the pivotal visits of Ambassador Power and Assistant Secretary Thomas-Greenfield less than a month ago. The United States, along with regional leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the African Union, and other members of the international community, hopes to support President Samba-Panza and call on the people of C.A.R. to work constructively with her, participate in the political process, and avoid any resurgence in violence.
U.S. Welcomes Selection of New Transitional President of the Central African Republic
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 21, 2014
The United States welcomes the selection of Catherine Samba-Panza as Transitional President in the Central African Republic (C.A.R.). As C.A.R.'s first woman head of state since the country’s independence, and with her special background in human rights work and mediation, she has a unique opportunity to advance the political transition process, bring all the parties together to end the violence, and move her country toward elections not later than February 2015.
We also commend the Transitional National Council for conducting the selection process for the new C.A.R. Transitional President in a deliberate, open, and transparent manner that ensured the airing of a full range of views from C.A.R.’s civil society.
The United States has been deeply engaged in the work to help pull C.A.R. back from the brink, including the pivotal visits of Ambassador Power and Assistant Secretary Thomas-Greenfield less than a month ago. The United States, along with regional leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the African Union, and other members of the international community, hopes to support President Samba-Panza and call on the people of C.A.R. to work constructively with her, participate in the political process, and avoid any resurgence in violence.
AN OPERATION IN AFGHANISTAN
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
A U.S. Special Forces soldier scans over the valley as a patrol of U.S. and Afghan army special forces return from clearing further compounds during an operation in the Ghorband district of Afghanistan's Parwan province, Jan. 15, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Connor Mendez .
A U.S. Special Forces soldier uses binoculars to survey the valley for any suspicious activity during an operation in the Ghorband district of Afghanistan's Parwan province, Jan. 15, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Connor Mendez.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
PRESIDENT'S LETTER: NATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPECTING TERRORISTS THREATENING MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Letter -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Terrorists Who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process
TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
January 21, 2014
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process is to continue in effect beyond January 23, 2014.
The crisis with respect to grave acts of violence committed by foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process that led to the declaration of a national emergency on January 23, 1995, has not been resolved. Terrorist groups continue to engage in activities that have the purpose or effect of threatening the Middle East peace process and that are hostile to United States interests in the region. Such actions continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process and to maintain in force the economic sanctions against them to respond to this threat.
Sincerely,
BARACK OBAMA
Letter -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Terrorists Who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process
TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
January 21, 2014
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process is to continue in effect beyond January 23, 2014.
The crisis with respect to grave acts of violence committed by foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process that led to the declaration of a national emergency on January 23, 1995, has not been resolved. Terrorist groups continue to engage in activities that have the purpose or effect of threatening the Middle East peace process and that are hostile to United States interests in the region. Such actions continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process and to maintain in force the economic sanctions against them to respond to this threat.
Sincerely,
BARACK OBAMA
12 COMPANIES SETTLE FTC CHARGES REGARDING INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF CONSUMER DATA
FROM: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC Settles with Twelve Companies Falsely Claiming to Comply with International Safe Harbor Privacy Framework
Twelve U.S. businesses have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely claimed they were abiding by an international privacy framework known as the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor that enables U.S. companies to transfer consumer data from the European Union to the United States in compliance with EU law.
The companies settling with the FTC represent a cross-section of industries, including retail, professional sports, laboratory science, data broker, debt collection, and information security. The companies handle a variety of consumer information, including in some instances sensitive data about health and employment. The twelve companies are:
Apperian, Inc.: Company specializing in mobile applications for business enterprises and security;
Atlanta Falcons Football Club, LLC: National Football League team;
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP: Accounting firm;
BitTorrent, Inc.: Provider of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol;
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.: Global developer of early-stage drug discovery processes;
DataMotion, Inc.: Provider of platform for encrypted email and secure file transport;
DDC Laboratories, Inc.: DNA testing lab and the world’s largest paternity testing company;
Level 3 Communications, LLC: One of the six largest ISPs in the world;
PDB Sports, Ltd., d/b/a Denver Broncos Football Club: National Football League team;
Reynolds Consumer Products Inc.: Maker of foil and other consumer products;
Receivable Management Services Corporation: Global provider of accounts receivable, third-party recovery, bankruptcy and other services; and
Tennessee Football, Inc.: National Football League team.
“Enforcement of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework is a Commission priority. These twelve cases help ensure the integrity of the Safe Harbor Framework and send the signal to companies that they cannot falsely claim participation in the program,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.
According to the twelve complaints filed by the FTC, the companies deceptively claimed they held current certifications under the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework and, in three of the complaints, also deceptively claimed certifications under the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor framework. The U.S.-EU and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor frameworks are voluntary programs administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission and Switzerland, respectively. To participate, a company must self-certify annually to the Department of Commerce that it complies with the seven privacy principles required to meet the EU’s adequacy standard: notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. A participant in the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework may also highlight for consumers its compliance with the Safe Harbor by displaying the Safe Harbor certification mark on its website.
The FTC complaints charge each company with representing, through statements in their privacy policies or display of the Safe Harbor certification mark, that they held current Safe Harbor certifications, even though the companies had allowed their certifications to lapse. The Commission alleged that this conduct violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. However, this does not necessarily mean that the company committed any substantive violations of the privacy principles of the Safe Harbor frameworks.
Under the proposed settlement agreements, which are subject to public comment, the companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or standard-setting organization.
Consumers who want to know whether a U.S. company is a participant in the U.S-EU or U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor program may visit http://export.gov/safeharbor to see if the company holds a current self-certification.
These cases are being brought with the valuable assistance of the U.S. Department of Commerce. These companies were also the subject of complaints filed in 2013 by Chris Connolly and Galexia, Inc.
The Commission votes to accept the consent agreement packages containing the proposed consent orders for public comment were 4-0. The FTC will publish descriptions of the consent agreement packages in the Federal Register shortly. The agreements will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through Feb. 20, 2014, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent orders final. Interested parties can submit written comments electronically or in paper form by following the instructions in the “Invitation To Comment” part of the “Supplementary Information” section. Comments in electronic form should be submitted using the following Web links:
Apperian, Inc.
Atlanta Falcons Football Club, LLC
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP
BitTorrent, Inc.
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.
DataMotion, Inc.
DDC Laboratories, Inc.
Level 3 Communications, LLC
PDB Sports, Ltd., d/b/a Denver Broncos Football Club
Reynolds Consumer Products Inc.
Receivable Management Services Corporation
Tennessee Football, Inc.
Comments in paper form should be mailed or delivered to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. The FTC is requesting that any comment filed in paper form near the end of the public comment period be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions.
NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000.
FTC Settles with Twelve Companies Falsely Claiming to Comply with International Safe Harbor Privacy Framework
Twelve U.S. businesses have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely claimed they were abiding by an international privacy framework known as the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor that enables U.S. companies to transfer consumer data from the European Union to the United States in compliance with EU law.
The companies settling with the FTC represent a cross-section of industries, including retail, professional sports, laboratory science, data broker, debt collection, and information security. The companies handle a variety of consumer information, including in some instances sensitive data about health and employment. The twelve companies are:
Apperian, Inc.: Company specializing in mobile applications for business enterprises and security;
Atlanta Falcons Football Club, LLC: National Football League team;
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP: Accounting firm;
BitTorrent, Inc.: Provider of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol;
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.: Global developer of early-stage drug discovery processes;
DataMotion, Inc.: Provider of platform for encrypted email and secure file transport;
DDC Laboratories, Inc.: DNA testing lab and the world’s largest paternity testing company;
Level 3 Communications, LLC: One of the six largest ISPs in the world;
PDB Sports, Ltd., d/b/a Denver Broncos Football Club: National Football League team;
Reynolds Consumer Products Inc.: Maker of foil and other consumer products;
Receivable Management Services Corporation: Global provider of accounts receivable, third-party recovery, bankruptcy and other services; and
Tennessee Football, Inc.: National Football League team.
“Enforcement of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework is a Commission priority. These twelve cases help ensure the integrity of the Safe Harbor Framework and send the signal to companies that they cannot falsely claim participation in the program,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.
According to the twelve complaints filed by the FTC, the companies deceptively claimed they held current certifications under the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework and, in three of the complaints, also deceptively claimed certifications under the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor framework. The U.S.-EU and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor frameworks are voluntary programs administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission and Switzerland, respectively. To participate, a company must self-certify annually to the Department of Commerce that it complies with the seven privacy principles required to meet the EU’s adequacy standard: notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. A participant in the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework may also highlight for consumers its compliance with the Safe Harbor by displaying the Safe Harbor certification mark on its website.
The FTC complaints charge each company with representing, through statements in their privacy policies or display of the Safe Harbor certification mark, that they held current Safe Harbor certifications, even though the companies had allowed their certifications to lapse. The Commission alleged that this conduct violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. However, this does not necessarily mean that the company committed any substantive violations of the privacy principles of the Safe Harbor frameworks.
Under the proposed settlement agreements, which are subject to public comment, the companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or standard-setting organization.
Consumers who want to know whether a U.S. company is a participant in the U.S-EU or U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor program may visit http://export.gov/safeharbor to see if the company holds a current self-certification.
These cases are being brought with the valuable assistance of the U.S. Department of Commerce. These companies were also the subject of complaints filed in 2013 by Chris Connolly and Galexia, Inc.
The Commission votes to accept the consent agreement packages containing the proposed consent orders for public comment were 4-0. The FTC will publish descriptions of the consent agreement packages in the Federal Register shortly. The agreements will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through Feb. 20, 2014, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent orders final. Interested parties can submit written comments electronically or in paper form by following the instructions in the “Invitation To Comment” part of the “Supplementary Information” section. Comments in electronic form should be submitted using the following Web links:
Apperian, Inc.
Atlanta Falcons Football Club, LLC
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP
BitTorrent, Inc.
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.
DataMotion, Inc.
DDC Laboratories, Inc.
Level 3 Communications, LLC
PDB Sports, Ltd., d/b/a Denver Broncos Football Club
Reynolds Consumer Products Inc.
Receivable Management Services Corporation
Tennessee Football, Inc.
Comments in paper form should be mailed or delivered to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. The FTC is requesting that any comment filed in paper form near the end of the public comment period be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions.
NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000.
READOUT: SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHUCK HAGEL'S MEETING WITH IRAQI SPEAKER
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
January 21, 2014
Readout of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's Meeting with Iraqi Council of Representatives Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby provided the following readout:
Secretary of Defense Hagel met with Iraqi Council of Representatives Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi today at the Pentagon.
The secretary lauded the Government of Iraq's continued outreach to local Sunni tribal leaders and officials to evict terrorist fighters from Fallujah and other parts of western Iraq.
Secretary Hagel provided an update on U.S. efforts to accelerate delivery of critical defense equipment to resupply the Iraqi Security Forces conducting missions in Anbar Province. The secretary also underscored the importance of proceeding with federal Iraqi elections as scheduled, and encouraged the Government of Iraq's efforts to implement local and national political initiatives.
The secretary concluded the meeting by reaffirming the steadfastness of the U.S-Iraq bilateral relationship and the U.S. commitment to helping the Iraqi government ensure the safety and security of all Iraqi people.
January 21, 2014
Readout of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's Meeting with Iraqi Council of Representatives Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby provided the following readout:
Secretary of Defense Hagel met with Iraqi Council of Representatives Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi today at the Pentagon.
The secretary lauded the Government of Iraq's continued outreach to local Sunni tribal leaders and officials to evict terrorist fighters from Fallujah and other parts of western Iraq.
Secretary Hagel provided an update on U.S. efforts to accelerate delivery of critical defense equipment to resupply the Iraqi Security Forces conducting missions in Anbar Province. The secretary also underscored the importance of proceeding with federal Iraqi elections as scheduled, and encouraged the Government of Iraq's efforts to implement local and national political initiatives.
The secretary concluded the meeting by reaffirming the steadfastness of the U.S-Iraq bilateral relationship and the U.S. commitment to helping the Iraqi government ensure the safety and security of all Iraqi people.
CDC WARNS HOSPITALS TO RESERVE ZINC SUPPLIES DURING NATIONAL SHORTAGES
FROM: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Zinc Deficiency–Associated Dermatitis in Infants During a Nationwide Shortage of Injectable Zinc — Washington, DC, and Houston, Texas, 2012–2013
Duke J. Ruktanonchai, M.D.
Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Public Health Service
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer
Texas Department of State Health Services
During national shortages of injectable zinc, hospitals should consider reserving supplies for infants at highest risk for deficiency. Injectable zinc, a vital component of parenteral nutrition (PN) formulations, was reported to be in short supply in 2012. Early reports resulted in the publication of a MMWR notice regarding the shortage and early reports of problems in premature infants. Premature and low birth weight (LBW) infants are especially vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies. This report discusses investigation into the effects of the shortage on a group of premature infants in two states. Through collaboration of CDC, FDA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, hospitals, and clinicians, public health actions were taken to prevent zinc deficiency disorders in vulnerable infants during the shortage.
Zinc Deficiency–Associated Dermatitis in Infants During a Nationwide Shortage of Injectable Zinc — Washington, DC, and Houston, Texas, 2012–2013
Duke J. Ruktanonchai, M.D.
Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Public Health Service
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer
Texas Department of State Health Services
During national shortages of injectable zinc, hospitals should consider reserving supplies for infants at highest risk for deficiency. Injectable zinc, a vital component of parenteral nutrition (PN) formulations, was reported to be in short supply in 2012. Early reports resulted in the publication of a MMWR notice regarding the shortage and early reports of problems in premature infants. Premature and low birth weight (LBW) infants are especially vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies. This report discusses investigation into the effects of the shortage on a group of premature infants in two states. Through collaboration of CDC, FDA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, hospitals, and clinicians, public health actions were taken to prevent zinc deficiency disorders in vulnerable infants during the shortage.
STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN ON SERVICES FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS RELEASED BY WHITE HOUSE
FROM: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Rebuilding Lives for Victims of Human Trafficking
In recognition of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the White House has released the first-ever Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States. The plan lays out a five-year path for increased coordination, collaboration, and capacity across the federal government and in partnership with other governmental and nongovernmental entities. It describes the steps that federal agencies will take to ensure that victims of human trafficking in the United States are identified and have access to the services they need to recover and to rebuild their lives. At the department, that means enhancing the ability of Wage and Hour investigators to detect potential cases and refer them to law enforcement partners. It also means enhancing the public workforce system's ability to provide employment and training services to survivors. The plan builds on commitments expressed by President Obama to provide support to trafficking victims, whom he addressed when he said, "We see you. We hear you. We insist on your dignity. And we share your belief that if just given the chance, you will forge a life equal to your talents and worthy of your dreams"
Rebuilding Lives for Victims of Human Trafficking
In recognition of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the White House has released the first-ever Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States. The plan lays out a five-year path for increased coordination, collaboration, and capacity across the federal government and in partnership with other governmental and nongovernmental entities. It describes the steps that federal agencies will take to ensure that victims of human trafficking in the United States are identified and have access to the services they need to recover and to rebuild their lives. At the department, that means enhancing the ability of Wage and Hour investigators to detect potential cases and refer them to law enforcement partners. It also means enhancing the public workforce system's ability to provide employment and training services to survivors. The plan builds on commitments expressed by President Obama to provide support to trafficking victims, whom he addressed when he said, "We see you. We hear you. We insist on your dignity. And we share your belief that if just given the chance, you will forge a life equal to your talents and worthy of your dreams"
U.S. SAYS SHIPS IN BLACK SEA AVAILABLE TO AID IN OLYMPIC SECURITY
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
January 20, 2014
Pentagon Press Secretary Statement on Olympic Winter Games Security
The following press release is attributed to Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, USN
The United States has offered its full support to the Russian government as it conducts security preparations for the Winter Olympics.
To that end, U.S. commanders in the region are conducting prudent planning and preparations should that support be required.
Air and naval assets, to include two Navy ships in the Black Sea, will be available if requested for all manner of contingencies in support of -- and in consultation with -- the Russian government.
There is no such requirement at this time.
January 20, 2014
Pentagon Press Secretary Statement on Olympic Winter Games Security
The following press release is attributed to Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, USN
The United States has offered its full support to the Russian government as it conducts security preparations for the Winter Olympics.
To that end, U.S. commanders in the region are conducting prudent planning and preparations should that support be required.
Air and naval assets, to include two Navy ships in the Black Sea, will be available if requested for all manner of contingencies in support of -- and in consultation with -- the Russian government.
There is no such requirement at this time.
USING FICTITIOUS POWERS OF ATTORNEY LANDS MAN IN JAIL FOR TAX REFUND FRAUD
FROM: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Check Casher Sentenced to Jail for Involvement in Fraudulent Tax Refund Scheme
David Haigler of Montgomery County, Ala., was sentenced today to serve 37 months in federal prison for his involvement in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division, U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Haigler was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $606,781. Haigler previously pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Sept. 6, 2013.
According to court documents, between November 2011 and July 2012, Haigler obtained 263 fraudulent U.S. Treasury refund checks and Refund Anticipation Loan checks totaling $606,781. The refund checks were in the names of different individuals and those individuals did not authorize Haigler to cash the checks. Haigler obtained fictitious powers of attorney in the names of the individuals on the checks, which purportedly appointed Haigler to handle financial affairs, including the cashing of checks. Haigler cashed all of the fraudulent refund checks at a store in Millbrook, Ala., and provided the store with copies of the fictitious powers of attorney. Haigler retained a portion of the checks and provided the remainder to the individuals who brought him the fraudulent checks.
This case was investigated by special agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service. Trial Attorneys Michael Boteler and Jason Poole of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown prosecuted the case.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Check Casher Sentenced to Jail for Involvement in Fraudulent Tax Refund Scheme
David Haigler of Montgomery County, Ala., was sentenced today to serve 37 months in federal prison for his involvement in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division, U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Haigler was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $606,781. Haigler previously pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Sept. 6, 2013.
According to court documents, between November 2011 and July 2012, Haigler obtained 263 fraudulent U.S. Treasury refund checks and Refund Anticipation Loan checks totaling $606,781. The refund checks were in the names of different individuals and those individuals did not authorize Haigler to cash the checks. Haigler obtained fictitious powers of attorney in the names of the individuals on the checks, which purportedly appointed Haigler to handle financial affairs, including the cashing of checks. Haigler cashed all of the fraudulent refund checks at a store in Millbrook, Ala., and provided the store with copies of the fictitious powers of attorney. Haigler retained a portion of the checks and provided the remainder to the individuals who brought him the fraudulent checks.
This case was investigated by special agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service. Trial Attorneys Michael Boteler and Jason Poole of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown prosecuted the case.
Monday, January 20, 2014
FOUR VIOLENT ROVING JEWELRY ROBBERS PLEAD GUILTY
FROM: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Four Members of Jewelry Theft Ring Plead Guilty
Four men have pleaded guilty for their roles in a highly sophisticated and violent organization that targeted jewelry couriers in Georgia and Texas. The defendants were caught as part of a national effort to find and prosecute roving groups of robbers who travel around the country targeting jewelry couriers and other business people.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman and U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia made the announcement.
Honorio Sanchez-Valencia, 46, of Gwinnett, Ga., and Jose Vicente Ramirez-Rodriguez, 38, John Rodriguez, 37, and Ali Alejandro Godoy-Maximo, 25, each of Los Angeles, Ca., pleaded guilty this week in the Northern District of Georgia to Hobbs Act robbery for participating in the robbery of a jewelry courier on Jan. 31, 2013, at a QuikTrip gas station in Buford, Ga. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In addition, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to being an illegal alien in possession of a handgun, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Sentencing has not been scheduled.
Court records show that on Jan. 31, 2013, as part of a plan to identify and rob a jewelry courier, the courier-victim was followed by Ramirez-Rodriguez to a QuikTrip gas station. As he was following the courier, Ramirez-Rodriguez contacted Sanchez-Valencia to help him with the robbery. Sanchez-Valencia, in turn, contacted the other defendants, all of whom came to the gas station together. When the courier was putting gas in his vehicle, two of the defendants approached him, with one restraining him with a knife while another smashed the vehicle window and took a briefcase containing over $125,000 in assorted jewelry.
Sanchez-Valencia also admitted his involvement in a similar robbery that occurred in Dallas on Aug. 27, 2012. In that robbery, two jewelry couriers were at a restaurant when Sanchez-Valencia briefly came into the restaurant to conduct surveillance on them and to determine the layout of the restaurant. Within a few minutes after Sanchez-Valencia left, three masked men with a gun came into the restaurant and robbed the jewelry couriers of two briefcases containing over $500,000 of jewelry. Some of that jewelry was recovered during the execution of a search warrant at a storage unit rented by Sanchez-Valencia.
This case was investigated by the FBI, ICE and the Gwinnett County Police Department, with assistance from the Dallas Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Laura Gwinn of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Dammers of the Northern District of Georgia.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Four Members of Jewelry Theft Ring Plead Guilty
Four men have pleaded guilty for their roles in a highly sophisticated and violent organization that targeted jewelry couriers in Georgia and Texas. The defendants were caught as part of a national effort to find and prosecute roving groups of robbers who travel around the country targeting jewelry couriers and other business people.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman and U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia made the announcement.
Honorio Sanchez-Valencia, 46, of Gwinnett, Ga., and Jose Vicente Ramirez-Rodriguez, 38, John Rodriguez, 37, and Ali Alejandro Godoy-Maximo, 25, each of Los Angeles, Ca., pleaded guilty this week in the Northern District of Georgia to Hobbs Act robbery for participating in the robbery of a jewelry courier on Jan. 31, 2013, at a QuikTrip gas station in Buford, Ga. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In addition, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to being an illegal alien in possession of a handgun, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Sentencing has not been scheduled.
Court records show that on Jan. 31, 2013, as part of a plan to identify and rob a jewelry courier, the courier-victim was followed by Ramirez-Rodriguez to a QuikTrip gas station. As he was following the courier, Ramirez-Rodriguez contacted Sanchez-Valencia to help him with the robbery. Sanchez-Valencia, in turn, contacted the other defendants, all of whom came to the gas station together. When the courier was putting gas in his vehicle, two of the defendants approached him, with one restraining him with a knife while another smashed the vehicle window and took a briefcase containing over $125,000 in assorted jewelry.
Sanchez-Valencia also admitted his involvement in a similar robbery that occurred in Dallas on Aug. 27, 2012. In that robbery, two jewelry couriers were at a restaurant when Sanchez-Valencia briefly came into the restaurant to conduct surveillance on them and to determine the layout of the restaurant. Within a few minutes after Sanchez-Valencia left, three masked men with a gun came into the restaurant and robbed the jewelry couriers of two briefcases containing over $500,000 of jewelry. Some of that jewelry was recovered during the execution of a search warrant at a storage unit rented by Sanchez-Valencia.
This case was investigated by the FBI, ICE and the Gwinnett County Police Department, with assistance from the Dallas Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Laura Gwinn of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Dammers of the Northern District of Georgia.
NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE SHOWN WITH ARTIFACTS AT SNA SYMPOSIUM
FROM: U.S. NAVY
Naval Artifacts Amplify Surface Impact at SNA Symposium
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Comerford, Naval History and Heritage Command Communication and Outreach Division
CRYSTAL CITY, Va. (NNS) -- Naval History and Heritage Command's (NHHC) archivists, curators, scientists and historians helped make the Surface Naval Association (SNA) Symposium an historic event by bringing artifacts and interactive learning to symposium visitors, Jan. 14-16.
NHHC's exhibit displayed an ever-changing array of artifacts, histories and personnel that engaged the SNA audience to paint an indelible picture of history's importance to the Navy's missions.
Alexis Catsambis (PhD), a scientist from NHHC's Underwater Archeology Branch, spoke to many visitors about the Sunken Military Craft Act, a law which provides protection of sunken U.S. military ships and aircraft wherever located, protection for the graves of lost military personnel and protection of sensitive archaeological artifacts and historical information. On display were brass uniform buttons, a rotator indicator and ale bottle from USS Tulip.
The ship was a wooden-hulled, steam lighthouse tender that sank in 1964, while en route to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs.
"The U.S. Navy's sunken military craft are a multi-faceted collection of approximately 17,000 sites located around the globe," said Catsambis. "It was particularly rewarding to observe that visitors and participants of the 2014 SNA symposium recognized the importance of protecting these sites due to their potential nature as maritime graves, their archaeological or historical importance, as well as for national security, public safety and environmental stewardship reasons."
Using such diverse learning methods as pamphlets, videos, three-dimensional interactive maps, presentations and artifact displays, NHHC continued the conversation on the impact history plays on Navy missions and provide a touchstone to the public and military personnel. It is integral to the command's mission that, not only do they collect the wide variety of information and objects to tell the Navy's story, but also that they instill pride in Sailors pride for their heritage and history.
Regina Akers (PhD), an historian with NHHC's Histories and Archives Division, talked with visitors about Navy history and her specialty - Navy diversity. Akers was particularly interested in one of her visitors, Vice Adm. Michelle Howard, deputy chief of naval operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy, who was a panelist for a discussion on the Pacific. A surface warfare officer, Howard was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 20 for promotion to admiral and to serve as the next vice chief of naval operations, making her the Navy's first female four-star admiral.
"She appeared to enjoy herself very much," Akers said of the vice admiral. "She had answered a question about Zumwalt right before [she visited NHHC's exhibit] and our team was thoughtful enough to have a volume with pictures of Zumwalt during a tour of duty."
Akers and Howard talked about former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. as they looked at the photo album, along with copies of Z-Gram 66 (Equal Opportunity). Published in December 1970, then-CNO Adm. Zumwalt expressed his "wholehearted support of the policies on equal opportunity," and also indicated that he was "distressed by the numerous examples of discrimination black families still experience" in finding housing, for example.
Akers believes that a new world has opened up to women that could not have been conceived of, when the academies opened their doors to women in 1975. When Howard graduated from the academy in 1982, she was in the third class of women to graduate since the act passed.
"I am sure if we looked at [Howard] or any one of those persons graduating from the early classes of women at the academy, we probably couldn't have anticipated the options and opportunities that women have today. Vice Admiral Michelle Howard, Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, deputy Fleet Forces Command, Vice Admiral Nannette Derenzi, Judge Advocate General of the Navy - we just could not have imagined it at that time."
Naval Artifacts Amplify Surface Impact at SNA Symposium
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Comerford, Naval History and Heritage Command Communication and Outreach Division
CRYSTAL CITY, Va. (NNS) -- Naval History and Heritage Command's (NHHC) archivists, curators, scientists and historians helped make the Surface Naval Association (SNA) Symposium an historic event by bringing artifacts and interactive learning to symposium visitors, Jan. 14-16.
NHHC's exhibit displayed an ever-changing array of artifacts, histories and personnel that engaged the SNA audience to paint an indelible picture of history's importance to the Navy's missions.
Alexis Catsambis (PhD), a scientist from NHHC's Underwater Archeology Branch, spoke to many visitors about the Sunken Military Craft Act, a law which provides protection of sunken U.S. military ships and aircraft wherever located, protection for the graves of lost military personnel and protection of sensitive archaeological artifacts and historical information. On display were brass uniform buttons, a rotator indicator and ale bottle from USS Tulip.
The ship was a wooden-hulled, steam lighthouse tender that sank in 1964, while en route to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs.
"The U.S. Navy's sunken military craft are a multi-faceted collection of approximately 17,000 sites located around the globe," said Catsambis. "It was particularly rewarding to observe that visitors and participants of the 2014 SNA symposium recognized the importance of protecting these sites due to their potential nature as maritime graves, their archaeological or historical importance, as well as for national security, public safety and environmental stewardship reasons."
Using such diverse learning methods as pamphlets, videos, three-dimensional interactive maps, presentations and artifact displays, NHHC continued the conversation on the impact history plays on Navy missions and provide a touchstone to the public and military personnel. It is integral to the command's mission that, not only do they collect the wide variety of information and objects to tell the Navy's story, but also that they instill pride in Sailors pride for their heritage and history.
Regina Akers (PhD), an historian with NHHC's Histories and Archives Division, talked with visitors about Navy history and her specialty - Navy diversity. Akers was particularly interested in one of her visitors, Vice Adm. Michelle Howard, deputy chief of naval operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy, who was a panelist for a discussion on the Pacific. A surface warfare officer, Howard was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 20 for promotion to admiral and to serve as the next vice chief of naval operations, making her the Navy's first female four-star admiral.
"She appeared to enjoy herself very much," Akers said of the vice admiral. "She had answered a question about Zumwalt right before [she visited NHHC's exhibit] and our team was thoughtful enough to have a volume with pictures of Zumwalt during a tour of duty."
Akers and Howard talked about former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. as they looked at the photo album, along with copies of Z-Gram 66 (Equal Opportunity). Published in December 1970, then-CNO Adm. Zumwalt expressed his "wholehearted support of the policies on equal opportunity," and also indicated that he was "distressed by the numerous examples of discrimination black families still experience" in finding housing, for example.
Akers believes that a new world has opened up to women that could not have been conceived of, when the academies opened their doors to women in 1975. When Howard graduated from the academy in 1982, she was in the third class of women to graduate since the act passed.
"I am sure if we looked at [Howard] or any one of those persons graduating from the early classes of women at the academy, we probably couldn't have anticipated the options and opportunities that women have today. Vice Admiral Michelle Howard, Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, deputy Fleet Forces Command, Vice Admiral Nannette Derenzi, Judge Advocate General of the Navy - we just could not have imagined it at that time."
HOW FDA REGULATES HUMAN TISSUE AND TISSUE PRODUCTS
FROM: FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
Tissue & Tissue Products
Human cells or tissue intended for implantation, transplantation, infusion, or transfer into a human recipient is regulated as a human cell, tissue, and cellular and tissue-based product or HCT/P. The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) regulates HCT/Ps under 21 CFR Parts 1270 and 1271.
Examples of such tissues are bone, skin, corneas, ligaments, tendons, dura mater, heart valves, hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells derived from peripheral and cord blood, oocytes and semen. CBER does not regulate the transplantation of vascularized human organ transplants such as kidney, liver, heart, lung or pancreas. The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) oversees the transplantation of vascularized human organs.
Parts 1270 and 1271 require tissue establishments to screen and test donors, to prepare and follow written procedures for the prevention of the spread of communicable disease, and to maintain records. FDA has published three final rules to broaden the scope of products subject to regulation and to include more comprehensive requirements to prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable disease. One final rule requires firms to register and list their HCT/Ps with FDA. The second rule requires tissue establishments to evaluate donors, through screening and testing, to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases through tissue transplantation. The third final rule establishes current good tissue practices for HCT/Ps. FDA's revised regulations are contained in Part 1271 and apply to tissues recovered after May 25, 2005. The new requirements are intended to improve protection of the public health while minimizing regulatory burden.
Tissue & Tissue Products
Human cells or tissue intended for implantation, transplantation, infusion, or transfer into a human recipient is regulated as a human cell, tissue, and cellular and tissue-based product or HCT/P. The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) regulates HCT/Ps under 21 CFR Parts 1270 and 1271.
Examples of such tissues are bone, skin, corneas, ligaments, tendons, dura mater, heart valves, hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells derived from peripheral and cord blood, oocytes and semen. CBER does not regulate the transplantation of vascularized human organ transplants such as kidney, liver, heart, lung or pancreas. The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) oversees the transplantation of vascularized human organs.
Parts 1270 and 1271 require tissue establishments to screen and test donors, to prepare and follow written procedures for the prevention of the spread of communicable disease, and to maintain records. FDA has published three final rules to broaden the scope of products subject to regulation and to include more comprehensive requirements to prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable disease. One final rule requires firms to register and list their HCT/Ps with FDA. The second rule requires tissue establishments to evaluate donors, through screening and testing, to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases through tissue transplantation. The third final rule establishes current good tissue practices for HCT/Ps. FDA's revised regulations are contained in Part 1271 and apply to tissues recovered after May 25, 2005. The new requirements are intended to improve protection of the public health while minimizing regulatory burden.
U.S. TRADE POLICY AND PROGRAMS AS OUTLINED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT
FROM: STATE DEPARTMENT
Trade Policy and Programs (TPP), led by Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Manogue, advances U.S. trade policy objectives by opening new export opportunities for American businesses, farmers, ranchers and workers through global, regional and bilateral trade initiatives - including free trade agreements (FTAs) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In partnership with agencies across the federal government, the more than 50 TPP professionals and staff work to maximize the benefits of open markets for global economic development, address and resolve trade disputes, strengthen intellectual property enforcement, and improve access for U.S. goods and services abroad.
TPP is composed of four offices:
Office of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade Affairs
Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs
Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement
Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs
Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade Affairs
The Office of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Textile Trade Affairs, led by Office Director Edward Kaska, supports and advances American agricultural interests, which are integral to the State Department’s critical global trade and food security goals. We address trade barriers to open markets for American farm products. In Fiscal Year 2013, the United States is forecasted to export $145 billion in agricultural products, which is $9.2 billion above fiscal 2012 exports, and have a trade surplus of $30 billion in our agricultural sector. We contribute to the development of effective food aid policies, promote rural development and increasing agricultural productivity through biotechnology, and handle issues within the State Department regarding textiles, including wool and cotton. We work to ensure the health and well-being of our consumers by monitoring food safety, animal health, and plant health. On food security, we bring stakeholders and policymakers together to address the needs of small scale farmers. Additionally, our office leads new agricultural technologies outreach to promote transparent, predictable, and science-based regulatory frameworks.
Bilateral Trade Affairs
The Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs (BTA), led by Director Robert Manogue, is at the center of U.S. bilateral trade relations with countries around the world. We are frequently called on by the Secretary, Deputy Secretaries and other senior officials because of our expertise in trade and economic relations with all the regions of the world. BTA plays a key role in the development, negotiation and implementation of Free Trade Agreements, Trade and Investment Framework Agreements, and trade preference programs. We also collaborate closely with State Department regional bureaus, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Departments of Agriculture, Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security. Additionally, we engage with Congress, foreign government officials, the private sector, academia, and think tanks.
Intellectual Property Enforcement
The Office of International Intellectual Property Enforcement (IPE) promotes U.S. innovation by advocating for the effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) around the world. IPE’s advocacy seeks to strengthen economic rules and norms, increase U.S. business and private sector growth and investment, and create market access for U.S. goods and services. The IPE team works closely with economic, commercial, and public diplomacy officers at the State Department’s embassies, consulates, and missions to ensure that the interests of American rights holders are represented overseas, and to highlight the integral role of IPR protection in supporting global economic stability.
IPE actively participates in multilateral and bilateral negotiations and discussions on IPR-related issues, and distributes training and technical assistance funds to help build IPR law enforcement capacity in developing countries. The office also directs an international public diplomacy initiative to broaden awareness of IPR’s important role in addressing international concerns, such as counterfeit medicines and internet piracy. IPE is also active in interagency efforts to combat trade in counterfeit and pirated goods worldwide.
Multilateral Trade Affairs
The Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs, headed by Director Paul A. Brown, leads the State Department's trade policy activities in multilateral institutions, including the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It provides technical expertise in regional and bilateral trade negotiations including labor, environment, services, government procurement, customs trade remedies, and trade capacity building. MTA also supports bilateral WTO accession negotiations and U.S. Trade programs to include the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
Trade Policy and Programs (TPP), led by Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Manogue, advances U.S. trade policy objectives by opening new export opportunities for American businesses, farmers, ranchers and workers through global, regional and bilateral trade initiatives - including free trade agreements (FTAs) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In partnership with agencies across the federal government, the more than 50 TPP professionals and staff work to maximize the benefits of open markets for global economic development, address and resolve trade disputes, strengthen intellectual property enforcement, and improve access for U.S. goods and services abroad.
TPP is composed of four offices:
Office of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade Affairs
Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs
Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement
Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs
Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade Affairs
The Office of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Textile Trade Affairs, led by Office Director Edward Kaska, supports and advances American agricultural interests, which are integral to the State Department’s critical global trade and food security goals. We address trade barriers to open markets for American farm products. In Fiscal Year 2013, the United States is forecasted to export $145 billion in agricultural products, which is $9.2 billion above fiscal 2012 exports, and have a trade surplus of $30 billion in our agricultural sector. We contribute to the development of effective food aid policies, promote rural development and increasing agricultural productivity through biotechnology, and handle issues within the State Department regarding textiles, including wool and cotton. We work to ensure the health and well-being of our consumers by monitoring food safety, animal health, and plant health. On food security, we bring stakeholders and policymakers together to address the needs of small scale farmers. Additionally, our office leads new agricultural technologies outreach to promote transparent, predictable, and science-based regulatory frameworks.
Bilateral Trade Affairs
The Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs (BTA), led by Director Robert Manogue, is at the center of U.S. bilateral trade relations with countries around the world. We are frequently called on by the Secretary, Deputy Secretaries and other senior officials because of our expertise in trade and economic relations with all the regions of the world. BTA plays a key role in the development, negotiation and implementation of Free Trade Agreements, Trade and Investment Framework Agreements, and trade preference programs. We also collaborate closely with State Department regional bureaus, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Departments of Agriculture, Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security. Additionally, we engage with Congress, foreign government officials, the private sector, academia, and think tanks.
Intellectual Property Enforcement
The Office of International Intellectual Property Enforcement (IPE) promotes U.S. innovation by advocating for the effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) around the world. IPE’s advocacy seeks to strengthen economic rules and norms, increase U.S. business and private sector growth and investment, and create market access for U.S. goods and services. The IPE team works closely with economic, commercial, and public diplomacy officers at the State Department’s embassies, consulates, and missions to ensure that the interests of American rights holders are represented overseas, and to highlight the integral role of IPR protection in supporting global economic stability.
IPE actively participates in multilateral and bilateral negotiations and discussions on IPR-related issues, and distributes training and technical assistance funds to help build IPR law enforcement capacity in developing countries. The office also directs an international public diplomacy initiative to broaden awareness of IPR’s important role in addressing international concerns, such as counterfeit medicines and internet piracy. IPE is also active in interagency efforts to combat trade in counterfeit and pirated goods worldwide.
Multilateral Trade Affairs
The Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs, headed by Director Paul A. Brown, leads the State Department's trade policy activities in multilateral institutions, including the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It provides technical expertise in regional and bilateral trade negotiations including labor, environment, services, government procurement, customs trade remedies, and trade capacity building. MTA also supports bilateral WTO accession negotiations and U.S. Trade programs to include the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
ALABAMA TAX PREPARER INDICTED FOR FILING FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS
FROM: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Alabama Tax Preparer Indicted for Preparing False Returns for Clients
Russell Burroughs, a resident of Montgomery, Ala., was indicted on 33 counts of filing false tax returns, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama announced today following the unsealing of the indictment yesterday.
According to the indictment, Burroughs owned and operated Computer Services, a tax return business located in Montgomery, Ala. Burroughs allegedly prepared and filed 33 false tax returns. The indictment alleges that the false items on the tax returns included false energy and education credits, false deductions and other false information.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Burroughs faces a statutory maximum potential sentence of three years in prison for each count of filing a false return.
The case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Charles Edgar Jr., Katherine Reinhart and Michael Boteler of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Alabama Tax Preparer Indicted for Preparing False Returns for Clients
Russell Burroughs, a resident of Montgomery, Ala., was indicted on 33 counts of filing false tax returns, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama announced today following the unsealing of the indictment yesterday.
According to the indictment, Burroughs owned and operated Computer Services, a tax return business located in Montgomery, Ala. Burroughs allegedly prepared and filed 33 false tax returns. The indictment alleges that the false items on the tax returns included false energy and education credits, false deductions and other false information.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Burroughs faces a statutory maximum potential sentence of three years in prison for each count of filing a false return.
The case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Charles Edgar Jr., Katherine Reinhart and Michael Boteler of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.
U.S. SENDING SMALL ARMS AND AMMUNITION IN SUPPORT OF IRAQI GOVERNMENT
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Preparing Small Arms, Ammunition Support for Iraq
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2014 – The Defense Department is preparing small arms and ammunition for shipment to Iraq in response to a request from that country’s prime minister, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said today.
Nouri al-Maliki asked for the help as extremists have launched devastating attacks throughout the country.
In accordance with the security framework established when U.S. troops departed Iraq in December 2011, discussions about ways to improve the Iraqi military are ongoing, Warren said.
“No one has asked, nor have we offered direct military involvement because of the underlying religious issues and extremist issues,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told NPR this week.
The situation in Iraq has deteriorated since U.S. troops left the country. Suicide bombing have become more frequent and Iraqi government statistics indicate that about 8,000 Iraqis were killed in 2013.
Fighting in Anbar province intensified at the end of 2013 and the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant -- an al-Qaida affiliated group -- took control of Fallujah and made inroads in Ramadi, the provincial capital.
Dempsey said he was disappointed by the setbacks in Iraq, but also noted he hadn’t yet given up on the country.
“It’s a little premature to declare that this conflict in Ramadi and Fallujah portends the collapse of the state of Iraq or an irreversible setback,” the chairman told NPR’s Tom Bowman.
U.S. Preparing Small Arms, Ammunition Support for Iraq
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2014 – The Defense Department is preparing small arms and ammunition for shipment to Iraq in response to a request from that country’s prime minister, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said today.
Nouri al-Maliki asked for the help as extremists have launched devastating attacks throughout the country.
In accordance with the security framework established when U.S. troops departed Iraq in December 2011, discussions about ways to improve the Iraqi military are ongoing, Warren said.
“No one has asked, nor have we offered direct military involvement because of the underlying religious issues and extremist issues,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told NPR this week.
The situation in Iraq has deteriorated since U.S. troops left the country. Suicide bombing have become more frequent and Iraqi government statistics indicate that about 8,000 Iraqis were killed in 2013.
Fighting in Anbar province intensified at the end of 2013 and the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant -- an al-Qaida affiliated group -- took control of Fallujah and made inroads in Ramadi, the provincial capital.
Dempsey said he was disappointed by the setbacks in Iraq, but also noted he hadn’t yet given up on the country.
“It’s a little premature to declare that this conflict in Ramadi and Fallujah portends the collapse of the state of Iraq or an irreversible setback,” the chairman told NPR’s Tom Bowman.
SIMULATIONS USED TO PREDICT CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Putting quarks on a virtual scale
MILC Collaboration team uses supercomputer simulations to predict characteristics of subatomic particles
For the last several years, much of the attention in particle physics has focused on the Higgs Boson, so one could be forgiven thinking that the rest of the subatomic particle world has been figured out. In reality, however, many open questions remain.
The precise masses, decay rates and relationships among other particles--including mesons, quarks and gluons, which make up the protons, neutrons and electrons with which we're familiar--are a few of the topics that need further study.
For four decades, a group of researchers called the MIMD Lattice Computation (MILC) Collaboration have been doing just that. MILC has been using many of the nation's most powerful supercomputers to simulate the conditions inside the nucleus of atoms and to quantify the masses and decay properties of still-mysterious particles.
Specifically, they investigate a theory called quantum chromodynamics, or QCD, which describes the strong interactions of subatomic physics. First theorized by David Politzer, Frank Wilczek and David Gross in the early 1970s (for which they won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), QCD is the fundamental theory that governs the interactions of quarks and gluons inside the nucleus of atoms.
The MILC Collaboration uses large scale numerical simulations to study QCD. The most well established approach to solving the problems of the strong force is called lattice QCD, a numerical method that treats space and time as points on a grid or "lattice" and then models QCD on this grid.
Simulating physical systems on a grid is employed in many disciplines, but unlike most, QCD requires that the theory obey a special symmetry, called gauge symmetry, which means that the force fields can be changed in certain ways at every point in space and time without changing the physics--a quality that gives rise to the perpetually-bound nature of quarks. These "lattice-gauge" theories, as they are called, have been incredibly effective at determining many important aspects of particle physics.
As effective as lattice-gauge theories have been, solving QCD calculations efficiently and accurately has been a challenge.
"There are two big problems," explained Robert Sugar, a member of the MILC Collaboration at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "You perform the calculations on a lattice or a grid, but the real physics is when the grid spacing goes down to zero." This is because the universe appears to be continuous and not discrete. "That's the bad news. The good news is, you actually know how various quantities behave as the lattice spacing goes to zero."
This allows QCD theorists to extrapolate solutions. But to do so, requires major computing muscle.
The second problem involves the quarks themselves. Quarks are not only almost impossible to perceive as individual components, the lightest ones--the ones that make up the protons and neutrons--are very light compared to all other mass scales of strongly interacting matter.
"Until the last year or two, we couldn't perform simulations at the physical masses of the lightest quarks, we had to perform them at higher masses," Sugar said. "The great thing that's happened in the last couple of years is that as computers and the algorithms have gotten better, we can now do the simulations at the physical masses of the quarks. This was a major advance for the field."
At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the spotlight has mainly focused on experiments run on two big detectors: Atlas and CMS. But there is also a smaller experiment called LHCb that is doing physics with charm and bottom quarks, which are an important component of the MILC Collaboration's work.
"We have less data on particles containing charm and the bottom quarks than on those made up solely of lighter quarks. Learning more about the properties of this quarks is particularly important," he explained. "That's also the place where there's the most room for problems or contradictions with the Standard Model. The LHC and other accelerators are providing data on those reactions to compare with simulations."
Using petascale supercomputers, Sugar and his colleagues have been performing very precise calculations to compare with experiments and also to determine some of the underlying parameters of the Standard Model, such as how quarks interact with the weak force. (The Standard Model is the reigning theory that encompasses current understanding of the fundamental interactions of sub-atomic physics.)
In a recent paper submitted to Arxiv, Sugar and his colleagues calculated the decay of kaons (or K mesons, a type of unstable particle composed of a strange quark and an up or down quark) using lattice QCD and working, for the first time, at the physical light-quark masses. The calculations served to check the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix that underpins all quark flavor-changing interactions. The researchers were able to reduce the theoretical uncertainty in the first row of the CKM matrix in a way that sharpens the test of CKM unitarity--a restriction on the allowed evolution of quantum systems that ensures the sum of probabilities of all possible outcomes of any event is always one.
"We're just beginning to get the first results from the simulations at the physical masses of the quarks," he said. "These simulations will enable us to determine decay properties of at least some of the strongly interacting particles to a precision which is beginning to rival that of experiment. We even have some cases where we performed calculations before the experimentalists, which is always good. Then the experimenters came in and showed we were right."
"Lattice gauge theory is remarkably interdisciplinary," said Marc Sher, program director for Theoretical High-Energy Physics and Cosmology at the National Science Foundation. "It's critical for high energy collider physics, since high energy collider beams are composed of protons and antiprotons, and understanding proton structure is critical in extracting the results of these experiments. It's fundamental for nuclear physics, since all of nuclear structure depends on the strong interactions, whose study is the raison d'etre of lattice gauge theory. And it's important for computational physics, since large massively-parallel computation is needed."
The results of the QCD simulations help to refine the parameters that go into the Standard Model, which, according to Sugar is "maddeningly successful." But they have another more revolutionary purpose.
"One of the things we most want to do is make very accurate theoretical calculations and compare these with very accurate experiments to see if you can find places where new physics ideas are needed," Sugar said. "That's the holy grail because nobody believes that our present ideas are the last word."
What might lie beyond the Standard Model is an open question. But most in the scientific community agree that the answer will only emerge from the careful, incremental investigations of particle interactions, both through experiments and numerical simulations.
"Now is a really exciting time in QCD," Sugar said. "We believe that we are on the verge of making a lot of progress."
Putting quarks on a virtual scale
MILC Collaboration team uses supercomputer simulations to predict characteristics of subatomic particles
For the last several years, much of the attention in particle physics has focused on the Higgs Boson, so one could be forgiven thinking that the rest of the subatomic particle world has been figured out. In reality, however, many open questions remain.
The precise masses, decay rates and relationships among other particles--including mesons, quarks and gluons, which make up the protons, neutrons and electrons with which we're familiar--are a few of the topics that need further study.
For four decades, a group of researchers called the MIMD Lattice Computation (MILC) Collaboration have been doing just that. MILC has been using many of the nation's most powerful supercomputers to simulate the conditions inside the nucleus of atoms and to quantify the masses and decay properties of still-mysterious particles.
Specifically, they investigate a theory called quantum chromodynamics, or QCD, which describes the strong interactions of subatomic physics. First theorized by David Politzer, Frank Wilczek and David Gross in the early 1970s (for which they won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), QCD is the fundamental theory that governs the interactions of quarks and gluons inside the nucleus of atoms.
The MILC Collaboration uses large scale numerical simulations to study QCD. The most well established approach to solving the problems of the strong force is called lattice QCD, a numerical method that treats space and time as points on a grid or "lattice" and then models QCD on this grid.
Simulating physical systems on a grid is employed in many disciplines, but unlike most, QCD requires that the theory obey a special symmetry, called gauge symmetry, which means that the force fields can be changed in certain ways at every point in space and time without changing the physics--a quality that gives rise to the perpetually-bound nature of quarks. These "lattice-gauge" theories, as they are called, have been incredibly effective at determining many important aspects of particle physics.
As effective as lattice-gauge theories have been, solving QCD calculations efficiently and accurately has been a challenge.
"There are two big problems," explained Robert Sugar, a member of the MILC Collaboration at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "You perform the calculations on a lattice or a grid, but the real physics is when the grid spacing goes down to zero." This is because the universe appears to be continuous and not discrete. "That's the bad news. The good news is, you actually know how various quantities behave as the lattice spacing goes to zero."
This allows QCD theorists to extrapolate solutions. But to do so, requires major computing muscle.
The second problem involves the quarks themselves. Quarks are not only almost impossible to perceive as individual components, the lightest ones--the ones that make up the protons and neutrons--are very light compared to all other mass scales of strongly interacting matter.
"Until the last year or two, we couldn't perform simulations at the physical masses of the lightest quarks, we had to perform them at higher masses," Sugar said. "The great thing that's happened in the last couple of years is that as computers and the algorithms have gotten better, we can now do the simulations at the physical masses of the quarks. This was a major advance for the field."
At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the spotlight has mainly focused on experiments run on two big detectors: Atlas and CMS. But there is also a smaller experiment called LHCb that is doing physics with charm and bottom quarks, which are an important component of the MILC Collaboration's work.
"We have less data on particles containing charm and the bottom quarks than on those made up solely of lighter quarks. Learning more about the properties of this quarks is particularly important," he explained. "That's also the place where there's the most room for problems or contradictions with the Standard Model. The LHC and other accelerators are providing data on those reactions to compare with simulations."
Using petascale supercomputers, Sugar and his colleagues have been performing very precise calculations to compare with experiments and also to determine some of the underlying parameters of the Standard Model, such as how quarks interact with the weak force. (The Standard Model is the reigning theory that encompasses current understanding of the fundamental interactions of sub-atomic physics.)
In a recent paper submitted to Arxiv, Sugar and his colleagues calculated the decay of kaons (or K mesons, a type of unstable particle composed of a strange quark and an up or down quark) using lattice QCD and working, for the first time, at the physical light-quark masses. The calculations served to check the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix that underpins all quark flavor-changing interactions. The researchers were able to reduce the theoretical uncertainty in the first row of the CKM matrix in a way that sharpens the test of CKM unitarity--a restriction on the allowed evolution of quantum systems that ensures the sum of probabilities of all possible outcomes of any event is always one.
"We're just beginning to get the first results from the simulations at the physical masses of the quarks," he said. "These simulations will enable us to determine decay properties of at least some of the strongly interacting particles to a precision which is beginning to rival that of experiment. We even have some cases where we performed calculations before the experimentalists, which is always good. Then the experimenters came in and showed we were right."
"Lattice gauge theory is remarkably interdisciplinary," said Marc Sher, program director for Theoretical High-Energy Physics and Cosmology at the National Science Foundation. "It's critical for high energy collider physics, since high energy collider beams are composed of protons and antiprotons, and understanding proton structure is critical in extracting the results of these experiments. It's fundamental for nuclear physics, since all of nuclear structure depends on the strong interactions, whose study is the raison d'etre of lattice gauge theory. And it's important for computational physics, since large massively-parallel computation is needed."
The results of the QCD simulations help to refine the parameters that go into the Standard Model, which, according to Sugar is "maddeningly successful." But they have another more revolutionary purpose.
"One of the things we most want to do is make very accurate theoretical calculations and compare these with very accurate experiments to see if you can find places where new physics ideas are needed," Sugar said. "That's the holy grail because nobody believes that our present ideas are the last word."
What might lie beyond the Standard Model is an open question. But most in the scientific community agree that the answer will only emerge from the careful, incremental investigations of particle interactions, both through experiments and numerical simulations.
"Now is a really exciting time in QCD," Sugar said. "We believe that we are on the verge of making a lot of progress."
Sunday, January 19, 2014
ROBOSIMIAN
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's official entry, RoboSimian, as it awaited the first event at the DARPA Robotics Challenge in December 2013, created to develop ground robots that can work in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. Also known as "Clyde," the robot is four-footed but can also stand on two feet. It has four general-purpose limbs and hands capable of mobility and manipulation.
Multiple points of contact increase stability during operations that range from climbing stairs to turning a valve. The design also allows RoboSimian to reverse direction without reorienting itself.
The RoboSimian team is led by JPL. Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., collaborated on the development of the robot's unique hands.
The California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages JPL for NASA.
FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER RENAMED AFTER NEIL A. ARMSTRONG
President Barack Obama has signed HR 667, the congressional resolution that redesignates NASA's Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, into law. The resolution also names Dryden's Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. Both Hugh Dryden and Neil Armstrong are aerospace pioneers whose contributions are historic to NASA and the nation as a whole. NASA is developing a timeline to implement the name change.
Neil A. Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Purdue University and a master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He was a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952. During the Korean War he flew 78 combat missions. In 1955 he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), NASA's predecessor, as a research pilot at Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland. Armstrong later transferred to NACA's High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards AFB, Calif., later named NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. As a research project test pilot over the course of seven years at the center from 1955 through 1962, he was in the forefront of the development of many high-speed aircraft. This photograph shows Neil Armstrong next to the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft after a research flight. He was one of only 12 pilots to fly the hypersonic X-15 as well as the first of 12 men to later walk on the moon. In all, he flew more than 200 different types of aircraft. Image Credit: NASA
DETROIT AUTO SHOW VISITED BY GOVERNMENT DIGNITARIES
FROM: LABOR DEPARTMENT
Ingenuity, Training Make American Goods Shine in Detroit
American ingenuity, jobs and workers were the focus of a whirlwind tour of Detroit by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez on Jan. 13. Perez began his day at the North American International Auto Show, where he was joined by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and members of the Michigan congressional delegation. He assessed the new lineup of automobiles and talked to industry leaders about growth in the auto industry. Later that day, the group of dignitaries met with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and William F. Jones Jr., director of Focus: HOPE Family Learning Center for Advanced Technologies, where they participated in a roundtable discussion on opportunities to strengthen transportation career pathways, and enhance skills training, industry and community partnerships. Perez then met students and staff while touring the training facility. "I look at the Department of Labor as the Department of Opportunity," he said. "We try to match the right worker with the right employer. We do that by supporting strong community programs like Focus: HOPE." Perez also meet with staff and students at the UAW-Ford Technical Training Center and visited Shinola, a company that manufactures watches, bicycles and leather goods. The visit was part of the Obama administration's efforts to enhance local economic revitalization and ensure that existing resources effectively support local priorities.
Ingenuity, Training Make American Goods Shine in Detroit
American ingenuity, jobs and workers were the focus of a whirlwind tour of Detroit by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez on Jan. 13. Perez began his day at the North American International Auto Show, where he was joined by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and members of the Michigan congressional delegation. He assessed the new lineup of automobiles and talked to industry leaders about growth in the auto industry. Later that day, the group of dignitaries met with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and William F. Jones Jr., director of Focus: HOPE Family Learning Center for Advanced Technologies, where they participated in a roundtable discussion on opportunities to strengthen transportation career pathways, and enhance skills training, industry and community partnerships. Perez then met students and staff while touring the training facility. "I look at the Department of Labor as the Department of Opportunity," he said. "We try to match the right worker with the right employer. We do that by supporting strong community programs like Focus: HOPE." Perez also meet with staff and students at the UAW-Ford Technical Training Center and visited Shinola, a company that manufactures watches, bicycles and leather goods. The visit was part of the Obama administration's efforts to enhance local economic revitalization and ensure that existing resources effectively support local priorities.
RECENT PHOTOS FROM AFGHANISTAN
FROM: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
U.S. soldiers remove snow from a UH-60 Black Hawk medevac helicopter before departing on a mission from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Jan. 8, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Andrew Cochran -
U.S. Army Spcs. Jimmy Rop, top, and James Verlander prepare to remove ice from a UH-60 Black Hawk medevac helicopter after a snowfall on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Jan. 8, 2014. Rop and Verlander are crew chiefs assigned to Company C, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Andrew Cochran -
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS DIAPER COMPANY SETTLES FTC DECEPTIVE CLAIMS CHARGES
FROM: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Down to Earth Designs, Inc. Settles FTC Charges That Its Environmental Claims for Diapers and Related Products Were Deceptive
Order Requires Company to Substantiate a Range of “Green” Claims for its gDiapers Products
Portland, Oregon-based Down to Earth Designs, Inc., which does business as gDiapers, has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it made deceptive claims about its products’ biodegradability, compostability, and other environmentally friendly attributes. The proposed settlement order bars gDiapers from making claims alleged in the complaint, unless they are true and not misleading, are adequately substantiated, and meet specific requirements in the FTC’s recently revised Green Guides.
gDiapers markets and sells the gDiapers diaper system, which includes a reusable outer shell (gPants) and disposable pad inner liners (gRefills), as well as baby wipes (gWipes). According to the FTC’s complaint, the company advertised both gRefills and gWipes as biodegradable and compostable. The company also claimed that gDiapers diapers were plastic-free, and that disposing of gRefills by flushing them down the toilet was environmentally beneficial.
“Whether they’re buying diapers or dishwashers, consumers base their purchasing decisions on claims about a product’s attributes,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “And the claims for these diapers just didn’t pass our smell test. Consumers can count on the FTC to make sure claims made by marketers are meeting the standards for truthfulness, accuracy, and substantiation.”
The FTC’s complaint alleges that the company made false or misleading representations in marketing gRefills and gWipes as biodegradable. These representations include claims that: the products are “100% biodegradable” and “certified” biodegradable; gRefills and gWipes will biodegrade when tossed in the trash; gRefills will biodegrade when flushed; and gRefills offer an environmental benefit because they can be flushed. In fact, the complaint alleges, gRefills and gWipes are not biodegradable because they do no completely break down and decompose into elements found in nature within one year after customary disposal, which is in the trash.
Down to Earth Designs, Inc. Settles FTC Charges That Its Environmental Claims for Diapers and Related Products Were Deceptive
Order Requires Company to Substantiate a Range of “Green” Claims for its gDiapers Products
Portland, Oregon-based Down to Earth Designs, Inc., which does business as gDiapers, has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it made deceptive claims about its products’ biodegradability, compostability, and other environmentally friendly attributes. The proposed settlement order bars gDiapers from making claims alleged in the complaint, unless they are true and not misleading, are adequately substantiated, and meet specific requirements in the FTC’s recently revised Green Guides.
gDiapers markets and sells the gDiapers diaper system, which includes a reusable outer shell (gPants) and disposable pad inner liners (gRefills), as well as baby wipes (gWipes). According to the FTC’s complaint, the company advertised both gRefills and gWipes as biodegradable and compostable. The company also claimed that gDiapers diapers were plastic-free, and that disposing of gRefills by flushing them down the toilet was environmentally beneficial.
“Whether they’re buying diapers or dishwashers, consumers base their purchasing decisions on claims about a product’s attributes,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “And the claims for these diapers just didn’t pass our smell test. Consumers can count on the FTC to make sure claims made by marketers are meeting the standards for truthfulness, accuracy, and substantiation.”
The FTC’s complaint alleges that the company made false or misleading representations in marketing gRefills and gWipes as biodegradable. These representations include claims that: the products are “100% biodegradable” and “certified” biodegradable; gRefills and gWipes will biodegrade when tossed in the trash; gRefills will biodegrade when flushed; and gRefills offer an environmental benefit because they can be flushed. In fact, the complaint alleges, gRefills and gWipes are not biodegradable because they do no completely break down and decompose into elements found in nature within one year after customary disposal, which is in the trash.
AG HOLDER DELIVERS REMARKS AT "SAFE STREETS, STRONG COMMUNITIES" CONFERENCE
FROM: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at the “Safe Streets, Strong Communities” Conference
~ Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thank you, Michael [Rubinger] for those kind words; for your leadership as President of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation; and for your commitment, over the course of a career spanning more than four decades, to the kind of community action that’s making a profound difference in so many cities and towns across this country.
I also want to thank our gracious hosts from the Ford Foundation and the Police Foundation for making today’s forum possible – and for welcoming me back home to New York City. It’s great to be with you this afternoon. And I’m particularly proud to share the podium with my good friend, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan.
We’ll have the chance to hear from Shaun in just a few moments. But I know I speak for both of us when I say it’s an honor to be with such a distinguished group of leaders – many of whom have traveled here from across the country. And it’s a privilege to be joined by so many dedicated law enforcement officials, passionate housing and community development professionals – and committed business leaders and other private sector partners – as we celebrate the achievements that LISC and its allies have made possible over the years; as we reaffirm our determination to build on efforts that are currently underway; and as we recommit ourselves to the considerable work ahead, and the long but promising road that stretches before us.
More than 30 years ago, LISC was launched in a moment of great challenge – at a time when distressed neighborhoods across the country faced uncertain futures. After decades of rising crime and deteriorating fortunes in parts of America’s most vibrant cities, the Ford Foundation and its allies stepped forward. And they established the Local Initiatives Support Corporation to take what was – at the time – a novel approach to addressing community challenges.
LISC immediately began bringing together a wide variety of stakeholders in areas of need across America – rallying neighborhood residents, police officers, housing authorities, community service providers, investors, and business owners to confront local challenges in a targeted and highly collaborative manner. At a time when many organizations and interest groups were laser-focused on their own individual “silos” of responsibility, this group reminded us of the power of broader thinking and the value of working together – to build mutual trust and respect, to foster engagement, and to work in common cause as we empower neighborhoods not merely to bring themselves back, but to lead the way forward.
Today, LISC and its partners continue to stand on the front lines of this ongoing fight. In dozens of urban areas and rural communities, you’re helping to match needs with resources. And you’re proving that a holistic approach to public safety challenges is not only effective – but essential – when it comes to advancing these critical efforts.
I know just how valuable this kind of work can be – because I’ve seen it firsthand, throughout my career. During the 1990s, when I had the honor of serving as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I worked to foster a collaborative approach to fighting crime – and established the first community prosecution initiative in our nation’s capital. I’m pleased to note that a similar approach – founded on engagement and broad-based partnerships – continues to guide our work at the national level – not just within the Department of Justice, but throughout the Obama Administration. And this past August, I announced the Department’s new “Smart on Crime” initiative – predicated on comprehensive, evidence-based strategies that are proven to ensure public safety, and dedicated to the work we must do together to forge a more just society.
As it stands – in far too many places – a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps individuals, devastates families, and weakens communities. Already, the “Smart on Crime” approach is helping us to target badly-needed law enforcement resources to crime “hotspots” where they can make the greatest difference. It’s enabling us to reform sentencing policies so that individuals charged with certain low-level federal drug crimes will face sentences appropriate to their conduct, rather than excessive mandatory minimums. And it’s increasing our emphasis on innovative diversion and re-entry programs – like the ones in place in many of the cities you represent – that can strengthen communities, improve public safety, help to keep people on the right path, and make criminal justice expenditures smarter and more effective.
As we move forward, I’m confident that these programs and policy changes will help us to bring about meaningful improvements – and leverage federal support in the places where it’s needed most. And I’m certain that they will complement existing efforts – like the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program, or BCJI, for which LISC serves as the training and technical assistance provider, and through which we awarded more than $12 million to 14 neighborhoods during the last year alone.
Fortunately, this Administration’s commitment to developing place-based, community-oriented strategies for addressing local challenges extends beyond the Department of Justice. In cities like Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, where LISC is also hard at work, our National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention is rallying community members to address the challenges facing our youngest citizens. In places like Detroit, the Forum’s network of partners is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with LISC professionals and leaders from the Administration’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative to confront crime and spark economic development.
In 2010, we launched the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative to further align federal efforts to confront concentrated poverty. Last Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and I traveled to Baltimore to unveil a new set of guidelines for schools that are designed to reduce our overreliance on zero-tolerance discipline policies that can transform educational institutions from doorways of opportunity into gateways to the criminal justice system. And as you’ll hear from Secretary Donovan, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing local assistance – in the form of Choice Neighborhood grants – to help transform distressed communities.
Last Thursday, President Obama took this comprehensive work to a new level when he announced America’s first five “Promise Zones,” three of which – Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Antonio – are also operating with BCJI grants. These communities are among the first of many that will receive targeted assistance and support under the Promise Zones initiative. And each has put forward a plan to bring community and business leaders together to revitalize high-poverty areas – by attracting private investment; by improving affordable housing; by strengthening educational opportunities; by offering tax incentives to spur hiring and business growth; by reducing violent crime; and by helping local leaders navigate federal programs.
After all, as LISC has consistently shown us, it’s imperative that we bring together federal partners, local authorities, and community leaders – and move forward with policies that effectively allocate limited resources – to facilitate long-term success in badly afflicted communities.
You have demonstrated the strength of this approach. As a result of your work, all across the country, more and more cities and towns are relying on data-driven reform strategies to reduce crime, reverse blight, and create better outcomes. Here in New York, we’ve seen how decades of cooperation, shared responsibility, and community engagement can yield significant results. We know that, as we strive to bring neighborhoods back, to strengthen the foundations of our progress, and to allow once-neglected communities not just to succeed, but to thrive – we must continue to do everything in our power to ensure that improvement in one area is not undermined by problems or inattention in another.
There’s no question that we can be proud of the assistance you’re providing, and the important federal resources that you are shepherding into affected neighborhoods each and every day. But we cannot yet be satisfied – and this is no time to become complacent.
You know as well as anyone that our work is far from over. Throughout the United States, our ongoing community development efforts are not just important; they go to the very heart of who we are as a country. Organizations like this one, and the groups and individuals taking part in today’s event, speak to the principle that built this nation: that we are strongest when we stand united. While each of us must be responsible for our own individual advancement and success, we will always share certain essential obligations to one another. And – especially when it comes to core questions like public safety and fair housing – at a basic level, we must act on the recognition that all of us are in this together.
The success of the grant programs that LISC helps to administer – and the signs of progress you’ve gathered to discuss and build upon – stand as testament to the strength of this enduring notion. And that’s why, although we have a long and difficult road ahead of us – as I look around this crowd today – I cannot help but feel optimistic about everything we’ll be able to achieve together. My colleagues and I look forward to helping our “Promise Zones” to take hold, our neighborhoods to improve, and our criminal justice system to become stronger and smarter than ever. And I hope, and expect, that we will always be able to count on leaders like you – both in and far beyond this room – to keep working, out of devotion and resolve, to make a real and lasting difference on behalf of the communities, and the country, that we love.
I thank you, once again, for the chance to be here today – and I thank you for all that you do.
Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at the “Safe Streets, Strong Communities” Conference
~ Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thank you, Michael [Rubinger] for those kind words; for your leadership as President of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation; and for your commitment, over the course of a career spanning more than four decades, to the kind of community action that’s making a profound difference in so many cities and towns across this country.
I also want to thank our gracious hosts from the Ford Foundation and the Police Foundation for making today’s forum possible – and for welcoming me back home to New York City. It’s great to be with you this afternoon. And I’m particularly proud to share the podium with my good friend, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan.
We’ll have the chance to hear from Shaun in just a few moments. But I know I speak for both of us when I say it’s an honor to be with such a distinguished group of leaders – many of whom have traveled here from across the country. And it’s a privilege to be joined by so many dedicated law enforcement officials, passionate housing and community development professionals – and committed business leaders and other private sector partners – as we celebrate the achievements that LISC and its allies have made possible over the years; as we reaffirm our determination to build on efforts that are currently underway; and as we recommit ourselves to the considerable work ahead, and the long but promising road that stretches before us.
More than 30 years ago, LISC was launched in a moment of great challenge – at a time when distressed neighborhoods across the country faced uncertain futures. After decades of rising crime and deteriorating fortunes in parts of America’s most vibrant cities, the Ford Foundation and its allies stepped forward. And they established the Local Initiatives Support Corporation to take what was – at the time – a novel approach to addressing community challenges.
LISC immediately began bringing together a wide variety of stakeholders in areas of need across America – rallying neighborhood residents, police officers, housing authorities, community service providers, investors, and business owners to confront local challenges in a targeted and highly collaborative manner. At a time when many organizations and interest groups were laser-focused on their own individual “silos” of responsibility, this group reminded us of the power of broader thinking and the value of working together – to build mutual trust and respect, to foster engagement, and to work in common cause as we empower neighborhoods not merely to bring themselves back, but to lead the way forward.
Today, LISC and its partners continue to stand on the front lines of this ongoing fight. In dozens of urban areas and rural communities, you’re helping to match needs with resources. And you’re proving that a holistic approach to public safety challenges is not only effective – but essential – when it comes to advancing these critical efforts.
I know just how valuable this kind of work can be – because I’ve seen it firsthand, throughout my career. During the 1990s, when I had the honor of serving as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I worked to foster a collaborative approach to fighting crime – and established the first community prosecution initiative in our nation’s capital. I’m pleased to note that a similar approach – founded on engagement and broad-based partnerships – continues to guide our work at the national level – not just within the Department of Justice, but throughout the Obama Administration. And this past August, I announced the Department’s new “Smart on Crime” initiative – predicated on comprehensive, evidence-based strategies that are proven to ensure public safety, and dedicated to the work we must do together to forge a more just society.
As it stands – in far too many places – a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps individuals, devastates families, and weakens communities. Already, the “Smart on Crime” approach is helping us to target badly-needed law enforcement resources to crime “hotspots” where they can make the greatest difference. It’s enabling us to reform sentencing policies so that individuals charged with certain low-level federal drug crimes will face sentences appropriate to their conduct, rather than excessive mandatory minimums. And it’s increasing our emphasis on innovative diversion and re-entry programs – like the ones in place in many of the cities you represent – that can strengthen communities, improve public safety, help to keep people on the right path, and make criminal justice expenditures smarter and more effective.
As we move forward, I’m confident that these programs and policy changes will help us to bring about meaningful improvements – and leverage federal support in the places where it’s needed most. And I’m certain that they will complement existing efforts – like the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program, or BCJI, for which LISC serves as the training and technical assistance provider, and through which we awarded more than $12 million to 14 neighborhoods during the last year alone.
Fortunately, this Administration’s commitment to developing place-based, community-oriented strategies for addressing local challenges extends beyond the Department of Justice. In cities like Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, where LISC is also hard at work, our National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention is rallying community members to address the challenges facing our youngest citizens. In places like Detroit, the Forum’s network of partners is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with LISC professionals and leaders from the Administration’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative to confront crime and spark economic development.
In 2010, we launched the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative to further align federal efforts to confront concentrated poverty. Last Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and I traveled to Baltimore to unveil a new set of guidelines for schools that are designed to reduce our overreliance on zero-tolerance discipline policies that can transform educational institutions from doorways of opportunity into gateways to the criminal justice system. And as you’ll hear from Secretary Donovan, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing local assistance – in the form of Choice Neighborhood grants – to help transform distressed communities.
Last Thursday, President Obama took this comprehensive work to a new level when he announced America’s first five “Promise Zones,” three of which – Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Antonio – are also operating with BCJI grants. These communities are among the first of many that will receive targeted assistance and support under the Promise Zones initiative. And each has put forward a plan to bring community and business leaders together to revitalize high-poverty areas – by attracting private investment; by improving affordable housing; by strengthening educational opportunities; by offering tax incentives to spur hiring and business growth; by reducing violent crime; and by helping local leaders navigate federal programs.
After all, as LISC has consistently shown us, it’s imperative that we bring together federal partners, local authorities, and community leaders – and move forward with policies that effectively allocate limited resources – to facilitate long-term success in badly afflicted communities.
You have demonstrated the strength of this approach. As a result of your work, all across the country, more and more cities and towns are relying on data-driven reform strategies to reduce crime, reverse blight, and create better outcomes. Here in New York, we’ve seen how decades of cooperation, shared responsibility, and community engagement can yield significant results. We know that, as we strive to bring neighborhoods back, to strengthen the foundations of our progress, and to allow once-neglected communities not just to succeed, but to thrive – we must continue to do everything in our power to ensure that improvement in one area is not undermined by problems or inattention in another.
There’s no question that we can be proud of the assistance you’re providing, and the important federal resources that you are shepherding into affected neighborhoods each and every day. But we cannot yet be satisfied – and this is no time to become complacent.
You know as well as anyone that our work is far from over. Throughout the United States, our ongoing community development efforts are not just important; they go to the very heart of who we are as a country. Organizations like this one, and the groups and individuals taking part in today’s event, speak to the principle that built this nation: that we are strongest when we stand united. While each of us must be responsible for our own individual advancement and success, we will always share certain essential obligations to one another. And – especially when it comes to core questions like public safety and fair housing – at a basic level, we must act on the recognition that all of us are in this together.
The success of the grant programs that LISC helps to administer – and the signs of progress you’ve gathered to discuss and build upon – stand as testament to the strength of this enduring notion. And that’s why, although we have a long and difficult road ahead of us – as I look around this crowd today – I cannot help but feel optimistic about everything we’ll be able to achieve together. My colleagues and I look forward to helping our “Promise Zones” to take hold, our neighborhoods to improve, and our criminal justice system to become stronger and smarter than ever. And I hope, and expect, that we will always be able to count on leaders like you – both in and far beyond this room – to keep working, out of devotion and resolve, to make a real and lasting difference on behalf of the communities, and the country, that we love.
I thank you, once again, for the chance to be here today – and I thank you for all that you do.
COMMENTS ON EGYPT'S CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
FROM: STATE DEPARTMENT
Egypt's Constitutional Referendum
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 17, 2014
Egypt's turbulent experiment in participatory democracy the last three years has reminded us all that it's not one vote that determines a democracy, it's all the steps that follow. It's a challenging transition that demands compromise, vigilance, and constant tending. The draft Egyptian constitution passed a public referendum this week, but it's what comes next that will shape Egypt’s political, economic and social framework for generations.
As Egypt’s transition proceeds, the United States urges the interim Egyptian government to fully implement those rights and freedoms that are guaranteed in the new constitution for the benefit of the Egyptian people, and to take steps towards reconciliation.
The brave Egyptians who stood vigil in Tahrir Square did not risk their lives in a revolution to see its historic potential squandered in the transition. They've weathered ups and downs, disappointment and setbacks in the years that followed, and they're still searching for the promise of that revolution. They still know that the path forward to an inclusive, tolerant, and civilian-led democracy will require Egypt’s political leaders to make difficult compromises and seek a broad consensus on many divisive issues.
Democracy is more than any one referendum or election. It is about equal rights and protections under the law for all Egyptians, regardless of their gender, faith, ethnicity, or political affiliation.
We have consistently expressed our serious concern about the limits on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in Egypt, including leading up to the referendum, just as we expressed our concerns about the dangerous path Egypt's elected government had chosen in the year that lead to 2013's turbulence. The United States again urges all sides to condemn and prevent violence and to move towards an inclusive political process based on the rule of law and respect for the fundamental freedoms of all Egyptians.
As we have said from the beginning, we strongly believe that permitting international observers to monitor and report freely on electoral events is important in building confidence in Egypt’s political transition.
The preliminary assessments of Democracy International and the Carter Center underscore the challenges ahead, including Egypt’s polarized political environment, the absence of a fully inclusive process in drafting and debating the constitution ahead of the referendum, arrests of those campaigning against the constitution, and procedural violations during the referendum, such as campaigning in proximity to and inside polling stations and lack of ballot secrecy.
We strongly encourage the interim Egyptian government to take these concerns into account as preparations are made for presidential and parliamentary elections.
The work that began in Tahrir Square must not end there. The interim government has committed repeatedly to a transition process that expands democratic rights and leads to a civilian-led, inclusive government through free and fair elections. Now is the time to make that commitment a reality and to ensure respect for the universal human rights of all Egyptians.
Egypt's Constitutional Referendum
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 17, 2014
Egypt's turbulent experiment in participatory democracy the last three years has reminded us all that it's not one vote that determines a democracy, it's all the steps that follow. It's a challenging transition that demands compromise, vigilance, and constant tending. The draft Egyptian constitution passed a public referendum this week, but it's what comes next that will shape Egypt’s political, economic and social framework for generations.
As Egypt’s transition proceeds, the United States urges the interim Egyptian government to fully implement those rights and freedoms that are guaranteed in the new constitution for the benefit of the Egyptian people, and to take steps towards reconciliation.
The brave Egyptians who stood vigil in Tahrir Square did not risk their lives in a revolution to see its historic potential squandered in the transition. They've weathered ups and downs, disappointment and setbacks in the years that followed, and they're still searching for the promise of that revolution. They still know that the path forward to an inclusive, tolerant, and civilian-led democracy will require Egypt’s political leaders to make difficult compromises and seek a broad consensus on many divisive issues.
Democracy is more than any one referendum or election. It is about equal rights and protections under the law for all Egyptians, regardless of their gender, faith, ethnicity, or political affiliation.
We have consistently expressed our serious concern about the limits on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in Egypt, including leading up to the referendum, just as we expressed our concerns about the dangerous path Egypt's elected government had chosen in the year that lead to 2013's turbulence. The United States again urges all sides to condemn and prevent violence and to move towards an inclusive political process based on the rule of law and respect for the fundamental freedoms of all Egyptians.
As we have said from the beginning, we strongly believe that permitting international observers to monitor and report freely on electoral events is important in building confidence in Egypt’s political transition.
The preliminary assessments of Democracy International and the Carter Center underscore the challenges ahead, including Egypt’s polarized political environment, the absence of a fully inclusive process in drafting and debating the constitution ahead of the referendum, arrests of those campaigning against the constitution, and procedural violations during the referendum, such as campaigning in proximity to and inside polling stations and lack of ballot secrecy.
We strongly encourage the interim Egyptian government to take these concerns into account as preparations are made for presidential and parliamentary elections.
The work that began in Tahrir Square must not end there. The interim government has committed repeatedly to a transition process that expands democratic rights and leads to a civilian-led, inclusive government through free and fair elections. Now is the time to make that commitment a reality and to ensure respect for the universal human rights of all Egyptians.
TruPS CDOs RULE APPROVED BY AGENCIES
FROM: FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION
January 14, 2014
Agencies Approve Interim Final Rule Authorizing Retention of Interests in and Sponsorship of Collateralized Debt Obligations Backed Primarily by Bank-Issued Trust Preferred Securities
Five federal agencies on Tuesday approved an interim final rule to permit banking entities to retain interests in certain collateralized debt obligations backed primarily by trust preferred securities (TruPS CDOs) from the investment prohibitions of section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, known as the Volcker rule.
Under the interim final rule, the agencies permit the retention of an interest in or sponsorship of covered funds by banking entities if the following qualifications are met:
the TruPS CDO was established, and the interest was issued, before May 19, 2010;
the banking entity reasonably believes that the offering proceeds received by the TruPS CDO were invested primarily in Qualifying TruPS Collateral; and
the banking entity’s interest in the TruPS CDO was acquired on or before December 10, 2013, the date the agencies issued final rules implementing section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The federal banking agencies on Tuesday also released a non-exclusive list of issuers that meet the requirements of the interim final rule.
The interim final rule defines Qualifying TruPS Collateral as any trust preferred security or subordinated debt instrument that was:
issued prior to May 19, 2010, by a depository institution holding company that as of the end of any reporting period within 12 months immediately preceding the issuance of such trust preferred security or subordinated debt instrument had total consolidated assets of less than $15 billion; or
issued prior to May 19, 2010, by a mutual holding company.
Section 171 of the Dodd-Frank Act provides for the grandfathering of trust preferred securities issued before May 19, 2010, by certain depository institution holding companies with total assets of less than $15 billion as of December 31, 2009, and by mutual holding companies established as of May 19, 2010. The TruPS CDO structure was the vehicle that gave effect to the use of trust preferred securities as a regulatory capital instrument prior to May 19, 2010, and was part of the status quo that Congress preserved with the grandfathering provision of section 171.
The interim final rule also provides clarification that the relief relating to these TruPS CDOs extends to activities of the banking entity as a sponsor or trustee for these securitizations and that banking entities may continue to act as market makers in TruPS CDOs.
The interim final rule was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the same agencies that issued final rules to implement section 619. The agencies will accept comment on the interim final rule for 30 days following publication of the interim final rule in the Federal Register.
January 14, 2014
Agencies Approve Interim Final Rule Authorizing Retention of Interests in and Sponsorship of Collateralized Debt Obligations Backed Primarily by Bank-Issued Trust Preferred Securities
Five federal agencies on Tuesday approved an interim final rule to permit banking entities to retain interests in certain collateralized debt obligations backed primarily by trust preferred securities (TruPS CDOs) from the investment prohibitions of section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, known as the Volcker rule.
Under the interim final rule, the agencies permit the retention of an interest in or sponsorship of covered funds by banking entities if the following qualifications are met:
the TruPS CDO was established, and the interest was issued, before May 19, 2010;
the banking entity reasonably believes that the offering proceeds received by the TruPS CDO were invested primarily in Qualifying TruPS Collateral; and
the banking entity’s interest in the TruPS CDO was acquired on or before December 10, 2013, the date the agencies issued final rules implementing section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The federal banking agencies on Tuesday also released a non-exclusive list of issuers that meet the requirements of the interim final rule.
The interim final rule defines Qualifying TruPS Collateral as any trust preferred security or subordinated debt instrument that was:
issued prior to May 19, 2010, by a depository institution holding company that as of the end of any reporting period within 12 months immediately preceding the issuance of such trust preferred security or subordinated debt instrument had total consolidated assets of less than $15 billion; or
issued prior to May 19, 2010, by a mutual holding company.
Section 171 of the Dodd-Frank Act provides for the grandfathering of trust preferred securities issued before May 19, 2010, by certain depository institution holding companies with total assets of less than $15 billion as of December 31, 2009, and by mutual holding companies established as of May 19, 2010. The TruPS CDO structure was the vehicle that gave effect to the use of trust preferred securities as a regulatory capital instrument prior to May 19, 2010, and was part of the status quo that Congress preserved with the grandfathering provision of section 171.
The interim final rule also provides clarification that the relief relating to these TruPS CDOs extends to activities of the banking entity as a sponsor or trustee for these securitizations and that banking entities may continue to act as market makers in TruPS CDOs.
The interim final rule was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the same agencies that issued final rules to implement section 619. The agencies will accept comment on the interim final rule for 30 days following publication of the interim final rule in the Federal Register.
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