JOINT STATEMENT ON GLOBAL INITIATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERROR

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Joint Statement on the Contributions of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) to Enhancing Nuclear Security

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

March 20, 2014

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The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America, Russia, Spain, Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Australia, and the Kingdom of Morocco on the occasion of the contributions of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) to enhancing nuclear security.

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The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) has made valuable contributions in strengthening global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to nuclear terrorism. To date, the 85 partner nations have completed more than 60 activities under the auspices of the GICNT aimed at building partners’ capabilities in this area. We, the Co-Chairs of the GICNT (Russia and the United States), the past and present Implementation and Assessment Group (IAG) Coordinators (Spain and Republic of Korea), and leaders of the three IAG Working Groups (the Kingdom of Morocco, the Netherlands and Australia) wish to inform the states in attendance at the 2014 Netherlands Nuclear Security Summit of the activities of the GICNT since the Nuclear Security Summit hosted by the Republic of Korea in Seoul in March 2012.

Over 250 representatives of GICNT partner nations and representatives from all four GICNT official observers (the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Union (EU), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)) participated in the eighth GICNT Plenary Meeting, hosted by Mexico in Mexico City on May 24, 2013. This robust participation demonstrates the vital importance that GICNT partner nations place on enhancing nuclear security and underscores their desire to work cooperatively to further this goal. At the Plenary meeting, GICNT partners recognized the valuable contribution of the IAG mechanism created at the June 2010 GICNT Plenary meeting in Abu Dhabi. The U.S. and Russian Co-Chairs further recognized the contributions of Spain in serving as the IAG Coordinator for three years, including organizing and chairing the Implementation and Assessment Group meetings in Arona and Ispra, Italy, in October 2012 and in Madrid, Spain, in February 2013. Through its leadership, Spain brought strong focus and coordination to GICNT activities. At the 2013 Plenary, the Republic of Korea was endorsed as the new IAG Coordinator.

The collaborative efforts fostered by the GICNT are especially significant in light of the 2010 Washington Nuclear Security Summit, the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, and the 2014 The Hague Nuclear Security Summit. Already, GICNT collaboration has produced important results that complement the Nuclear Security Summit process and help advance critical elements addressed in the Summit:

The Nuclear Detection Working Group (NDWG), chaired by the Netherlands, is finalizing theDeveloping a Nuclear Detection Architecture series of documents following the publication of Volume I, Model Guidelines Document for Nuclear Detection Architectures, in 2009. Volume II in the series, Guidelines for Awareness, Training, and Exercises, and Volume III, Guidelines for Planning and Organization, focused on issues inherent to successful implementation and enhancement of nuclear detection architectures. Ukraine hosted a meeting of the NDWG in Lviv in November 2012 to further the development of the third document in the series. Volumes II and III in the foundational series were approved at the May 2013 GICNT Plenary meeting. At a workshop hosted by Greece in Athens in October 2013, the NDWG continued work on Volume IV, Guidelines for Detection Within a State’s Interior, the final best practices guide in the series. Also during the Athens workshop, the NDWG began efforts to develop a tabletop exercise “playbook,” a compendium of detection-related exercise scenarios available to all GICNT partner nations.

The United Kingdom hosted the GICNT’s 2^nd Symposium on Enhanced Detection of Special Nuclear Material in November 2012, to take stock of current advancements in detection technologies, drawing widely on the experiences of other GICNT partner nations.
In September 2012, Russia conducted an exercise on nuclear detection, “Guardian 2012.” During the exercise, Russia used a realistic scenario and real time activity to demonstrate the different aspects of Russia’s national system for detecting nuclear threats, thereby further raising awareness of best practices for the practical implementation of basic principles of nuclear detection architectures in the framework of the GICNT.

In February 2014, Mexico hosted a field training exercise under the auspices of the NDWG, during which the participants had the opportunity to observe implementation of a radiation detection alarm adjudication process and interagency communications protocol in response to realistic nuclear detection scenarios at the Port of Manzanillo. This exercise highlighted national best practices in detection systems and in coordination of a domestic interagency response to a nuclear terrorism event.

The Nuclear Forensics Working Group (NFWG), chaired by Australia, completed a document entitled,Nuclear Forensics Fundamentals for Policy Makers and Decision Makers, which was endorsed at the GICNT Plenary Meeting in May 2013. This document is intended to raise policy maker and decision maker awareness of nuclear forensics as a tool to enhance nuclear material security and to prevent illicit uses of nuclear and other radioactive material. In May 2012, Australia hosted “Iron Koala,” a nuclear forensics seminar and tabletop exercise, which examined the importance of information sharing partnerships, both nationally and internationally, to effectively respond to cases related to nuclear smuggling. This exercise identified an interest amongst GICNT partners in further study of the topic of information sharing in the nuclear forensics field. Thus the working group has commenced development of a document seeking to frame the issues related to sharing nuclear forensics information in the response to and investigation of a nuclear terrorism-related event, currently titled Sharing Nuclear Forensics Information: Benefits, Resources, and Challenges.

Also under the auspices of the NFWG, the United Kingdom hosted in January 2014 the “Nuclear Forensics Workshop and Exercise – Exploring the Nuclear Forensics Chain of Custody: Guidance on the Development of Legally Compliant Nuclear Forensics Capabilities and Systems.” The workshop incorporated a tabletop exercise “Blue Beagle” that demonstrated the British system for control and use of forensics evidence from a crime scene through its development and presentation as evidence in a courtroom and to its disposal. The workshop and exercise presented best practices for investigating a crime scene contaminated with radioactive material and showcased the critical steps needed to successfully introduce the evidence into legal proceedings.

Additionally, awareness-building information modules based on the GICNT Global Initiative Information Portal (GIIP) are in development. Currently, the NFWG is testing a National Nuclear Forensics Library module that provides policy-makers an outline of the national nuclear forensics library concept and identifies key resources for partner nations interested in further information on this subject.

The Response and Mitigation Working Group (RMWG), chaired by the Kingdom of Morocco, is working collaboratively to develop the Response and Mitigation Framework Document, a collection of key considerations that a country with limited capabilities should consider when initializing its national nuclear/radiological emergency response system. This document includes substantial input from the Moroccan experience in setting up its response capabilities. The Framework Document is intended as a living document, meant to be routinely updated and improved through follow-on practical activities and further input from partner nations. In its capacity as RMWG Chair, Morocco continues to work on an action plan for future activities aimed at strengthening GICNT partner capabilities in responding to a nuclear terrorism event. Morocco continues to work on an action plan for future RMWG activities aimed at strengthening GICNT partner capabilities in responding to a nuclear terrorism incident.

Under the auspices of the RMWG, Canada hosted the RADEX exercise in May 2012 in Toronto, to provide an overview of Canada’s emergency management and national security authorities and demonstrate its response to a terrorist attack. Spain and Morocco jointly hosted the REMEX-2013 exercise, in Madrid, Spain, in April 2013. This exercise helped to test the national capabilities of both countries and their cooperation on responding to and mitigating simultaneous terrorist attacks involving radioactive substances.

In October 2012, the RMWG and NWFG met jointly in Ispra, Italy, to address the intersections of the two working groups in responding to nuclear and radiological events. Based on the success of this joint activity, in February 2014, the NFWG and RMWG jointly held a workshop incorporating the tabletop exercise “Tiger Reef” focused on interagency coordination and training that highlighted best practices and key resources for integrating cross-disciplinary training into national response frameworks. “Tiger Reef” was hosted by Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and was supported by Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Looking to the future, the GICNT Co-Chairs, the IAG Coordinator and the Working Group Leaders remain committed to working with GICNT partner nations to pursue focused efforts and activities that foster nuclear security collaboration and advance nuclear security goals. Moving forward, the GICNT leadership will seek to engage partner nations in practical exercises and workshops that enable them to prepare for and practice responding to nuclear security events. Such activities will focus on encouraging interagency, regional, and international cooperation and communication, in accordance with the proposals for GICNT work endorsed by the partners at the 2013 Plenary meeting in Mexico City. By enhancing partner nations’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to nuclear terrorism, GICNT will continue to strengthen nuclear security capabilities globally through efforts that complement and support the objectives of the Nuclear Security Summit.

DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL HAS DISCUSSION OVER IRAN WITH ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER YAALON

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Secretary Discusses Iran With Israeli Defense Minister
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2014 – During a phone conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon yesterday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed his deep concern about Yaalon’s reported comments on U.S. policy towards Iran and reiterated the U.S. commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a Defense Department news release.

News reports say Yaalon had recently criticized the U.S. policy towards preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

During his conversation with Hagel, Yaalon clarified his remarks by underscoring his commitment to the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, Kirby said in the release.

Kirby added that Yaalon also provided Hagel with an update on Israel's security situation, and yesterday's Israeli operation against Syrian military and security targets on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights launched in retaliation for a March 18 bomb attack in the Golan Heights near the Syrian border that left four Israeli soldiers injured.

Hagel expressed his sympathy for the wounded Israeli forces and their families, Kirby said in the release, as well as his concern for the ongoing situation in Syria.
“The secretary and minister pledged to continue working closely with one another on the range of security issues facing the United States and Israel,” Kirby added.

RUSSIA MUST SUFFER CONSEQUENCES" SAYS NATO SECRETARY GENERAL

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
NATO Secretary General: Russia Must Suffer Consequences
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2014 – There must be consequences for Russia’s actions against Ukraine, the NATO secretary general said at the Brookings Institution here today.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the think tank that “the only way for us to address these challenges is for Europe and North America to stand together.”
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has changed the world, the secretary general said. “Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine is a blatant breach of its international commitments, and it is a violation of Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. “The annexation of Crimea through a so-called referendum held at gunpoint is illegal and illegitimate, and it undermines all efforts to find a peaceful political solution.”

The Russian action is a wake-up call for the Euro-Atlantic community, for NATO and for all those committed to a Europe whole, free and at peace, he said. The action directly violates the 1994 agreement Russia signed with Ukraine.
Further, the action has occurred right on NATO’s doorstep, the secretary general said.

Rasmussen called the action the gravest threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War and said the move threatens the freedom of 45 million people. He called the Russian action “21t-century revisionism” and labeled it as an attempt to turn back the clock to draw new dividing lines on the European map.

It also signals an attempt “to use force to solve problems rather than the international mechanisms that we have spent decades to build,” he said. “We had thought such behavior had been confined to history,” he added. “But it’s back, and it’s dangerous, because it violates international norms of accepted behaviors.”
Combating the move is not easy and will not be quick, the secretary general acknowledged, noting that it is the nature of democracies to debate, deliberate and consider the options before making decisions. The NATO nations do this because “we value transparency and seek legitimacy for our choices, and because we see force as the last not the first resort,” he said.

NATO has condemned Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and is standing firmly behind the Ukrainian government in Kiev. The alliance also is making it clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to escalate the situation have consequences.

“As a first step, we have suspended joint planning for maritime escort mission for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons,” Rasmussen said. “This would have been the first joint operation of the NATO-Russia Council.”

NATO has suspended all staff-level civilian or military meetings with Russia, and the alliance is re-examining the entire range of NATO-Russia cooperation.
NATO foreign ministers will make decisions when they meet in Brussels early next month, the secretary general said. Still, the alliance will keep the door open for political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council. He hopes this will give Russia the opportunity to engage.

On the military side, the alliance has increased readiness. More assets have been assigned to the Baltic air police mission, and NATO has launched surveillance flights over Poland and Romania.

All this is in addition to steps allies have taken to impose diplomatic and economic consequences. “These are not our preferred choices,” Rasmussen said, “but they are inevitable and appropriate consequences of Russia’s choices.”

SEC INVESTOR ALERT: FALSE CLAIMS OF BEING REGISTERED WITH THE SEC

FROM:  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
Investor Alert: Beware of False Claims of SEC Registration
03/20/2014

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to warn investors about potentially fraudulent investment schemes that involve individuals or firms misrepresenting that they are registered with the SEC. Investors should be careful to check the background, including license and registration status, of any person who tries to sell them an investment product or service, and should avoid investing with anyone who falsely represents that they are registered with the SEC.

Fraudsters may try to lure you into investing with them by falsely claiming to be registered with the SEC. In a recent fraud case brought by the SEC, SEC v Fleet Mutual Wealth, the defendants allegedly promised investors guaranteed returns of 2-3% per week through the use of a high frequency trading strategy, but instead used investors’ money to operate a pyramid scheme. The defendants allegedly recruited investors by misrepresenting that their firm was “registered” or “duly registered” with the SEC and pointing to the firm’s Form D filings to support this misrepresentation.

A Form D filing has nothing to do with whether an individual or firm is registered with the SEC.

Registration of Individuals and Firms

Many sellers of investment products or services are either brokers, investment advisers, or both. Most brokers must register with the SEC and join the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Investment advisers that provide investment advice to retail investors generally must register with the SEC or the state securities regulator where they have their principal place of business.
The fact that an individual or firm has made a filing with the SEC does not mean that the individual or firm is registered with the SEC. If an individual or firm offering you an investment product or service claims to be registered with the SEC, verify that this is true:

Determine whether a firm is registered with the SEC as a broker and whether key individuals are duly licensed, and check whether there is a history of investor complaints or problems with regulators, by using FINRA’s BrokerCheck or by calling the FINRA BrokerCheck Hotline at (800) 289-9999.

Determine whether a firm’s registration with the SEC as an investment adviser is active and whether any required licenses of individuals are current, and review disciplinary history by searching the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database:

To check a firm, select the SEC Registration Status hyperlink.
To check an individual, review the Qualifications section of an Investment Adviser Representative Report Summary.

In addition, always contact your state securities regulator to determine whether an individual or firm is licensed or registered with your state securities regulator to do business with you, and ask about any complaints. Find contact information for your state securities regulator by visiting the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA)’s website or by calling NASAA at (202) 737-0900.

Registration of Securities Offerings and Form D

Under the federal securities laws, a company or private fund may not offer or sell securities unless the transaction has been registered with the SEC or an exemption from registration applies. Companies and private funds that offer and sell securities in reliance on certain exemptions from registration are required to file a brief notice known as Form D. Form D filings are publicly available in the EDGAR database.

Form D requires basic information about the issuer of the securities and the unregistered securities offering, such as information about the issuer’s executive officers, the size of the offering, and the date of first sale. The SEC does not verify the accuracy of the information in a Form D filing, and a Form D filing cannot be used to accomplish registration of individuals or firms with the SEC, or registration of securities offerings with the SEC.

DEFENDANTS SETTLE CHARGES IN "WORK-AT-HOME" OPPORTUNITY SCAM

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 
Defendants Behind ‘Online Entrepreneur’ Work-at-Home Scheme Settle FTC Charges

The operators of a business opportunity scheme have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they defrauded consumers through the sale of a work-at-home program that purportedly provided consumers with their own websites that would enable them to earn a significant income by affiliate marketing with websites of well-known companies such as Prada, Sony, Louis Vuitton, and Verizon.

The settlement is part of a federal-state crackdown on scams that falsely promise jobs and opportunities to “be your own boss” to people who are unemployed or underemployed. Under the settlement, the defendants behind the operation, The Online Entrepreneur, will be banned from selling business and work-at-home opportunities.

According to an FTC complaint filed in November 2012, the defendants sold the “Six Figure Program” to consumers as a purportedly no-risk, money-back guaranteed opportunity to make money via their own website, falsely claiming that, for a $27 fee, they would enable consumers to affiliate with well-known companies’ websites and earn commissions. After purchasing the program, consumers learned that they had to pay $100 or more in additional costs just to set up their websites. The court subsequently halted the allegedly deceptive practices, froze the defendants’ assets, and put the companies into receivership pending a court hearing.

The settlement order announced today permanently prohibits The Online Entrepreneur Inc., Ben and Dave’s Consulting Associates, Inc., and David Clabeaux from selling business and work-at-home opportunities, misrepresenting that consumers are likely to earn money and misrepresenting any material fact about a product or service. They also are barred from failing to clearly disclose the terms of any offer before consumers provide billing information, and making a representation unless it is true and the defendants have competent and reliable evidence to substantiate the claim. In addition, the order prohibits these defendants from selling or otherwise benefitting from consumers’ personal information, and failing to properly dispose of customer information.

The order imposes a judgment of more than $2.9 million, which will be suspended when Clabeaux has surrendered real estate, personal property, and bank and investment accounts. The full judgment will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition. Litigation continues against the remaining defendant, Benjamin Moskel.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the proposed consent judgment was 4-0. The consent judgment was entered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on March 13, 2014.

NOTE:  Consent judgments have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

U.S. CONGRATULATES CITIZENS OF NAMIBIA ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

On the Occasion of the Republic of Namibia's National Day

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 20, 2014

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On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the citizens of Namibia as you celebrate 24 years of independence on March 21.

The United States remains committed to building on the strong legacy of partnership between our nations.

I am proud of the work we have undertaken in the battle against HIV/AIDS. The success we have achieved in agriculture, education, and conservation is laying the foundation for a more prosperous future.

Together, our countries are creating new opportunities for the Namibian people by working to improve public health and promote sustainable economic growth.

We will continue our close partnership with Namibia to achieve our mutual goal of a stable, healthy, and prosperous society for all Namibians.

As you celebrate this special day from Oshakati to Oranjemund, I offer all Namibians warmest wishes for continued peace, security, and lasting prosperity.

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT OBAMA ON NEW SANCTIONS REGARDING SITUATION IN UKRAINE

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Statement by the President on Ukraine

South Lawn

11:05 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  I wanted to provide an update on the situation in Ukraine and the steps that the United States is taking in response.

Over the last several days, we’ve continued to be deeply concerned by events in Ukraine.  We've seen an illegal referendum in Crimea; an illegitimate move by the Russians to annex Crimea; and dangerous risks of escalation, including threats to Ukrainian personnel in Crimea and threats to southern and eastern Ukraine as well.  These are all choices that the Russian government has made -- choices that have been rejected by the international community, as well as the government of Ukraine.  And because of these choices, the United States is today moving, as we said we would, to impose additional costs on Russia.

Based on the executive order that I signed in response to Russia’s initial intervention in Ukraine, we’re imposing sanctions on more senior officials of the Russian government.  In addition, we are today sanctioning a number of other individuals with substantial resources and influence who provide material support to the Russian leadership, as well as a bank that provides material support to these individuals.

Now, we’re taking these steps as part of our response to what Russia has already done in Crimea.  At the same time, the world is watching with grave concern as Russia has positioned its military in a way that could lead to further incursions into southern and eastern Ukraine.  For this reason, we’ve been working closely with our European partners to develop more severe actions that could be taken if Russia continues to escalate the situation.

As part of that process, I signed a new executive order today that gives us the authority to impose sanctions not just on individuals but on key sectors of the Russian economy.  This is not our preferred outcome.  These sanctions would not only have a significant impact on the Russian economy, but could also be disruptive to the global economy.  However, Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community.  The basic principles that govern relations between nations in Europe and around the world must be upheld in the 21st century.  That includes respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity -- the notion that nations do not simply redraw borders, or make decisions at the expense of their neighbors simply because they are larger or more powerful.

One of our other top priorities continues to be providing assistance to the government of Ukraine so it can stabilize its economy and meet the basic needs of the Ukrainian people.  As I travel to Europe next week to meet with the G7 and other European and Asian allies, I once again urge Congress to pass legislation that is necessary to provide this assistance -- and do it right away.  Expressions of support are not enough.  We need action.  I also hope that the IMF moves swiftly to provide a significant package of support for Ukrainians as they pursue reforms.

In Europe, I’ll also be reinforcing a message that Vice President Biden carried to Poland and the Baltic states this week:  America’s support for our NATO allies is unwavering.  We’re bound together by our profound Article 5 commitment to defend one another, and by a set of shared values that so many generations sacrificed for.  We’ve already increased our support for our Eastern European allies, and we will continue to strengthen NATO’s collective defense, and we will step up our cooperation with Europe on economic and energy issues as well.

Let me close by making a final point.  Diplomacy between the United States and Russia continues.  We’ve emphasized that Russia still has a different path available -- one that de-escalates the situation, and one that involves Russia pursuing a diplomatic solution with the government in Kyiv, with the support of the international community.  The Russian people need to know, and Mr. Putin needs to understand that the Ukrainians shouldn’t have to choose between the West and Russia.  We want the Ukrainian people to determine their own destiny, and to have good relations with the United States, with Russia, with Europe, with anyone that they choose.  And that can only happen if Russia also recognized the rights of all the Ukrainian people to determine their future as free individuals, and as a sovereign nation -- rights that people and nations around the world understand and support.

Thank you very much, everybody.

TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. ADMITS TO MISLEADING CONSUMERS, REGULATORS ABOUT UNINTENDED ACCELERATION ISSUES

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT  

Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Justice Department Announces Criminal Charge Against Toyota Motor Corporation and Deferred Prosecution Agreement with $1.2 Billion Financial Penalty

Toyota Motor Corporation Admits to Misleading Consumers and U.S. Regulator About Safety Issues Related to Unintended Acceleration in Its Cars Independent Monitor to Be Appointed to Oversee Toyota’s Public Statements and Reporting of Safety Issues

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Calvin L. Scovel III, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Acting Administrator David Friedman and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Assistant Director Joe Campbell announced a criminal wire fraud charge against Toyota Motor Corporation (“TOYOTA” or “the company”), an automotive company headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, that designs, manufactures, assembles, and sells Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles.  The charge is that TOYOTA defrauded consumers in the fall of 2009 and early 2010 by issuing misleading statements about safety issues in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.  

Also today, the Department of Justice announced a deferred prosecution agreement with TOYOTA (“the agreement”) under which the company admits that it misled U.S. consumers by concealing and making deceptive statements about two safety issues affecting its vehicles, each of which caused a type of unintended acceleration.  The admissions are contained in a detailed statement of facts attached to the agreement.  The agreement, which is subject to judicial review, requires TOYOTA to pay a $1.2 billion financial penalty – the largest penalty of its kind ever imposed on an automotive company, and imposes on TOYOTA an independent monitor to review and assess policies, practices and procedures relating to TOYOTA’s safety-related public statements and reporting obligations.  TOYOTA agrees to pay the penalty under a Final Order of Forfeiture in a parallel civil action also filed today in the Southern District of New York.            

The criminal charge is contained in an Information (“the information”) alleging one count of wire fraud.  If TOYOTA abides by all of the terms of the agreement, the Government will defer prosecution on the information for three years and then seek to dismiss the charge.

“Rather than promptly disclosing and correcting safety issues about which they were aware, Toyota made misleading public statements to consumers and gave inaccurate facts to Members of Congress,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.  “When car owners get behind the wheel, they have a right to expect that their vehicle is safe.  If any part of the automobile turns out to have safety issues, the car company has a duty to be upfront about them, to fix them quickly, and to immediately tell the truth about the problem and its scope. Toyota violated that basic compact.  Other car companies should not repeat Toyota’s mistake: a recall may damage a company’s reputation, but deceiving your customers makes that damage far more lasting.”

“Safety is our top priority,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.  “Throughout this recall process, NHTSA investigators worked tirelessly to make sure that Toyota recalled vehicles with defects causing unintended acceleration, and to determine when they learned of it, and as we learned today, they succeeded in this effort in spite of extraordinary challenges.  Today’s penalties follow NHTSA’s own record civil penalties of more than $66 million – together, they send a powerful message to all manufacturers to follow our recall requirements or they will face serious consequences.”

“Toyota stands charged with a criminal offense because it cared more about savings than safety and more about its own brand and bottom line than the truth,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York.  “In its zeal to stanch bad publicity in 2009 and 2010, Toyota misled regulators, misled customers, and even misstated the facts to Congress.  The tens of millions of drivers in America have an absolute right to expect that the companies manufacturing their cars are not lying about serious safety issues; are not slow-walking safety fixes; and are not playing games with their lives.  Companies that make inherently dangerous products must be maximally transparent, not two-faced.  That is why we have undertaken this landmark enforcement action.  And the entire auto industry should take notice.”

“To the families and friends of those who died or were injured as a result of these incidents, I offer my deepest sympathies for your loss and my highest admiration for the strength you demonstrate every day,” said DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III.  “As is true for Secretary Foxx and DOT, safety is and will remain the highest priority of my office.  The OIG is committed to working with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners in pursuing those who commit criminal violations of the Department of Transportation’s or related laws. The efforts of this dedicated multi-agency team and the agreement reached with Toyota must serve as a clarion call to all auto manufacturers of the need to always be as vigilant and forthcoming as possible to keep the public safe.”

According to the allegations in the information, as well as other documents filed today in Manhattan federal court, including the Statement of Facts:

In the fall of 2009, TOYOTA deceived consumers and its U.S. regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), by claiming that it had “addressed” the “root cause” of unintended acceleration in its vehicles through a limited safety recall of eight models for floor-mat entrapment, a dangerous condition in which an improperly secured or incompatible all-weather floor mat can “trap” a depressed gas pedal causing the car to accelerate to a high speed.  Such public assurances deceived customers and NHTSA in two ways:  First, at the time the statements were made, TOYOTA knew that it had not recalled some cars with design features that made them just as susceptible to floor-mat entrapment as some of the recalled cars.  Second, only weeks before these statements were made, TOYOTA had taken steps to hide from NHTSA another type of unintended acceleration in its vehicles, separate and apart from floor-mat entrapment: a problem with accelerators getting stuck at partially depressed levels, known as “sticky pedal.”

Floor-Mat Entrapment: A Fatal Problem

TOYOTA issued its misleading statements, and undertook its acts of concealment, against the backdrop of intense public concern and scrutiny over the safety of its vehicles following a widely publicized Aug. 28, 2009 accident in San Diego, Calif., that killed a family of four.  A Lexus dealer had improperly installed an incompatible all-weather floor mat into the Lexus ES350 in which the family was traveling, and that mat entrapped the accelerator at full throttle.  A 911 emergency call made from the out-of-control vehicle, which was speeding at over 100 miles per hour, reported, “We’re in a Lexus . . . and we’re going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck . . . there’s no brakes . . . we’re approaching the intersection . . . Hold on . . . hold on and pray . . . pray.”  The call ended with the sound of the crash that killed everyone in the vehicle.

The San Diego accident was not the first time that TOYOTA had faced a problem with floor-mat entrapment.  In 2007, following a series of reports alleging unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, NHTSA opened a defect investigation into the Lexus ES350 model (the vehicle involved in the 2009 San Diego accident), and identified several other Toyota and Lexus models it believed might likewise be defective.  TOYOTA, while denying to NHTSA the need to recall any of its vehicles, conducted an internal investigation in 2007 which revealed that certain Toyota and Lexus models, including most of the ones that NHTSA had identified as potentially problematic, had design features rendering entrapment of the gas pedal by an all-weather floor mat more likely.  TOYOTA did not share these results with NHTSA.  In the end, the Company negotiated a limited recall of 55,000 mats (no vehicles) – a result that TOYOTA employees touted internally as a major victory:  “had the agency . . . pushed for recall of the throttle pedal assembly (for instance), we would be looking at upwards of $100 million + in unnecessary costs.”

Shortly after TOYOTA announced its 2007 mat recall, company engineers revised internal design guidelines to provide for, among other things, a minimum clearance of 10 millimeters between a fully depressed gas pedal and the floor.  But TOYOTA decided those revised guidelines would only apply where a model was receiving a “full model redesign” –  something each Toyota and Lexus model underwent only about once every three to five years.  As a result, even after the revised guidelines had been adopted internally, many new vehicles produced and sold by TOYOTA – including the Lexus ES350 involved in the 2009 San Diego accident – did not comply with TOYOTA’s 2007 guidelines.

After the fatal and highly publicized San Diego accident, TOYOTA agreed to recall eight of its models, including the ES350, for floor-mat entrapment susceptibility.  Thereafter, as part of an effort to defend its brand image, TOYOTA began issuing public statements assuring customers that this limited recall had “addressed the root cause of unintended acceleration” in its U.S.-sold vehicles.

As TOYOTA knew from internal testing it had completed by the time these statements were made, the eight-model recall had not in fact “addressed the root cause” of even the floor-mat entrapment problem.  Models not recalled – and therefore still on the road – bore design features rendering them just as susceptible to floor-mat entrapment as those within the recall population.  One engineer working at a TOYOTA facility in California had concluded that the Corolla, a top-selling car that had not been recalled, was among the three “worse” vehicles for floor-mat entrapment.  In October 2009, TOYOTA engineers in Japan circulated a chart showing that the Corolla had the lowest rating for floor-mat entrapment under their analysis.  None of these findings or this data were shared with NHTSA at the time.

The Sticky Pedal Problem

What is more misleading, at the same time it was assuring the public that the “root cause” of unintended acceleration had been “addressed” by the 2009 eight-model floor-mat entrapment recall, TOYOTA was hiding from NHTSA a second cause of unintended acceleration in its vehicles: the sticky pedal.  Sticky pedal, a phenomenon affecting pedals manufactured by a U.S. company (“A-Pedal Company”) and installed in many Toyota brand vehicles in North America as well as Europe, resulted from the use of a plastic material inside the pedals that could cause the accelerator pedal to become mechanically stuck in a partially depressed position.  The pedals incorporating this plastic were installed in, among other models, the Camry, the Matrix, the Corolla, and the Avalon sold in the United States.

The sticky pedal problem surfaced in Europe in 2008.  There, reports reflected instances of “uncontrolled acceleration” and unintended acceleration to “maximum RPM,” and customer concern that the condition was “extremely dangerous.”

In early 2009, TOYOTA circulated to European Toyota distributors information about the sticky pedal problem and instructions for addressing the problem if it presented itself in a customer’s vehicle.  These instructions identified the issue as “Sudden RPM increase/vehicle acceleration due to accelerator pedal sticking,” and stated that should a customer complain of pedal sticking, the pedal should be replaced with pedals manufactured by a company other than A-Pedal Company.  Contemporaneous internal TOYOTA documents described the sticky pedal problem as a “defect” that was “[i]mportant in terms of safety because of the possibility of accidents.”

TOYOTA did not then inform its U.S. regulators of the sticky pedal problem or conduct a recall.  Instead, beginning in the spring of 2009, TOYOTA quietly directed A-Pedal Company to change the pedals in new productions of affected models in Europe, and to plan for the same design changes to be rolled out in the United States (where the same problematic pedals were being used) beginning in the fall of 2009.  The design change was to substitute the plastic used in the affected pedal models with another material and to change the length of the friction lever in the pedal.

Meanwhile, the sticky pedal problem was manifesting itself in U.S. vehicles.  On or about the same day the San Diego floor-mat entrapment accident occurred, staff at a U.S. TOYOTA subsidiary in California sent a memorandum to staff at TOYOTA in Japan identifying as “critical” an “unintended acceleration” issue separate and apart from floor-mat entrapment that had been identified in an accelerator pedal of a Toyota Matrix vehicle in Arizona.  The problem identified, and then reproduced during testing of the pedal on Sept. 17, 2009, was the sticky pedal problem.  Also in August, the sticky pedal problem cropped up in a U.S. Camry.

On Sept. 9, 2009, an employee of a U.S. TOYOTA subsidiary who was concerned about the sticky pedal problem in the United States and believed that TOYOTA should address the problem prepared a “Market Impact Summary” listing (in addition to the August 2009 Matrix and Camry) 39 warranty cases that he believed involved potential manifestations of the sticky pedal problem.  This document, which was circulated to TOYOTA engineers and, later, to staff in charge of recall decisions in Japan, designated the sticky pedal problem as priority level “A,” the highest level.

By no later than September 2009, TOYOTA recognized internally that the sticky pedal problem posed a risk of a type of unintended acceleration – or “overrun,” as Toyota sometimes called it – in many of its U.S. vehicles.  A September 2009 presentation made by a manager at a U.S. TOYOTA subsidiary to TOYOTA executives gave a “current summary of O/R [overrun] types in NA [North American] market” that listed the three confirmed types as: “mat interference” (i.e., floor-mat entrapment), “material issue” (described as “pedal stuck and . . . pedal slow return/deformed”) and “simultaneous pedal press” by the consumer.  The presentation further listed the models affected by the “material issue” as including “Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon.”

Hiding Sticky Pedal from NHTSA and the Public

 As noted, TOYOTA had by this time developed internal plans to implement design changes for all A-Pedal-Company-manufactured pedals in U.S. Toyota models to address, on a going-forward basis, the still-undisclosed sticky pedal problem that had already been resolved for new vehicles in Europe.  On Oct. 5, 2009, TOYOTA engineers issued to A-Pedal Company the first of the design change instructions intended to prevent sticky pedal in the U.S. market.  This was described internally as an “urgent” measure to be implemented on an “express” basis, as a “major” change – meaning that the part number of the subject pedal was to change, and that all inventory units with the old pedal number should be scrapped.

On Oct. 21, 2009, however, in the wake of the San Diego floor-mat entrapment accident, and in the midst of TOYOTA’s discussions with NHTSA about its eight-model entrapment recall, engineers at TOYOTA and the leadership of TOYOTA’s recall decision group decided to cancel the design change instruction that had already been issued and to suspend all remaining design changes planned for A-Pedal Company pedals in U.S. models.  U.S. TOYOTA subsidiary employees who had been preparing for implementation of the changes were instructed, orally, to alert the manufacturing plants of the cancellation.  They were also instructed not to put anything about the cancellation in writing.  A-Pedal Company itself would receive no written cancellation at this time; instead, contrary to TOYOTA’s own standard procedures, the cancellation was to be effected without a paper trail.

TOYOTA decided to suspend the pedal design changes in the United States, and to avoid memorializing that suspension, in order to prevent NHTSA from learning about the sticky pedal problem.

In early November 2009, TOYOTA and the leadership of a U.S. TOYOTA subsidiary became aware of three instances of sticky pedal in U.S. Corollas.  Shortly thereafter, the leadership of the recall decision group within TOYOTA discussed a plan to finally disclose the sticky pedal problem to NHTSA.  The recall decision group was aware at this time not only of the problems in the three Corollas in the United States but also of the problems that had surfaced in a Matrix and a Camry in August 2009 and been reproduced through testing in September 2009.  The group was also familiar with the sticky pedal problem in Europe, the design changes that had been implemented there, and the cancellation and suspension of similar planned design changes in the United States.  Knowing all of this, the group’s leadership decided that (a) it would not disclose the September 2009 Market Impact Summary to NHTSA; (b) if any disclosure were to be made to NHTSA, it would be limited to a disclosure that there were some reports of unintended acceleration apparently unrelated to floor-mat entrapment; and (c) NHTSA should be told that TOYOTA had made no findings with respect to the sticky pedal problem reflected in the reports concerning the three U.S. Corollas, and that the investigation of the problem had just begun.

On Nov. 17, 2009, before TOYOTA had negotiated with NHTSA a final set of remedies for the eight models encompassed by the floor-mat entrapment recall, TOYOTA informed NHTSA of the three Corolla reports and several other reports of unintended acceleration in Toyota model vehicles equipped with pedals manufactured by A‑Pedal Company.  In TOYOTA’s disclosure to NHTSA, TOYOTA did not reveal its understanding of the sticky pedal problem as a type of unintended acceleration, nor did it reveal the problem’s manifestation and the subsequent design changes in Europe, the planned, cancelled, and suspended design changes in the United States, the August 2009 Camry and Matrix vehicles that had suffered sticky pedal, or the September 2009 Market Impact Summary.

TOYOTA’s Misleading Statements

After the August 2009 fatal floor-mat entrapment accident in San Diego, several articles critical of TOYOTA appeared in U.S. newspapers.  The articles reported instances of TOYOTA customers allegedly experiencing unintended acceleration and the authors accused TOYOTA of, among other things, hiding defects related to unintended acceleration.

On Nov. 25, 2009, TOYOTA, through a U.S. subsidiary, announced its floor- mat entrapment resolution with NHTSA.  In a press release that had been approved by TOYOTA, the U.S. subsidiary assured customers: “The safety of our owners and the public is our utmost concern and Toyota has and will continue to thoroughly investigate and take appropriate measures to address any defect trends that are identified.”  A spokesperson for the subsidiary stated during a press conference the same day, “We’re very, very confident that we have addressed this issue.”

In truth, the issue of unintended acceleration had not been “addressed” by the remedies announced.  A-Pedal Company pedals which could experience stickiness were still on the road and still, in fact, being installed in newly-produced vehicles.  And the best-selling Corolla, the Highlander, and the Venza – which had design features similar to models that had been included in the earlier floor-mat entrapment recall – were not being “addressed” at all.

Again, on Dec. 23, 2009, TOYOTA responded to media accusations that it was continuing to hide defects in its vehicles by authorizing a U.S. TOYOTA subsidiary to publish the following misleading statements on the subsidiary’s website: “Toyota has absolutely not minimized public awareness of any defect or issue with respect to its vehicles.  Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and borders on irresponsibility.  We are confident that the measures we are taking address the root cause and will reduce the risk of pedal entrapment.”   In fact, TOYOTA had “minimized public awareness of” both sticky pedal and floor-mat entrapment.  Further, the measures TOYOTA had taken did not “address the root cause” of unintended acceleration, because TOYOTA had not yet issued a sticky pedal recall and had not yet recalled the Corolla, the Venza, or the Highlander for floor-mat entrapment.

TOYOTA’s False Timeline

When, in early 2010, TOYOTA finally conducted safety recalls to address the unintended acceleration issues it had concealed throughout the fall of 2009, TOYOTA provided to the American public, NHTSA and the United States Congress an inaccurate timeline of events that made it appear as if TOYOTA had learned of the sticky pedal in the United States in “October 2009,” and then acted promptly to remedy the problem within 90 days of discovering it.  In fact, TOYOTA had begun its investigation of sticky pedal in the United States no later than August 2009, had already reproduced the problem in a U.S. pedal by no later than September 2009, and had taken active steps in the months following that testing to hide the problem from NHTSA and the public.

*                *                *

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie Jonas, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. McCallum are in charge of the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Cohen Levin, Chief of the Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit is responsible for the forfeiture aspects of the case.

U.S. WISHES PEOPLE OF IRAN A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND PROSPEROUS NOWRUZ

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Message to the Iranian People on Nowruz

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 20, 2014

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I'm privileged to join President Obama in wishing the people of Iran and all those who celebrate around the world -- from East Asia to the Persian Gulf region -- a happy, healthy, and prosperous Nowruz.

All who celebrate Nowruz remember that it is not just an ancient tradition dating back over 3,000 years, but a time of renewal and hope. This season we reflect on the shared humanity that binds us together.

My own family is stronger today because of the presence and love of Iranian-Americans, and I am proud of the family ties that we Americans have to Iran and its people. Here in America, we value the significant contributions that Iranian-Americans continue to make, whether it's in science, medicine, engineering, business, art, or so many other ways.

On this Nowruz, we reaffirm our belief that strengthening cultural and academic ties between our two countries benefits our two peoples. Today, I am pleased to note that the Treasury Department will issue a new General License that will enhance educational ties between Iran and the United States through exchanges and the provision of new opportunities for Iranians to study in our country.

It's not lost on any of us that the United States and Iran have endured harsh winters in our past, but gathering to welcome Spring and the New Year with friends and family is an opportunity to look forward to what can lie ahead with hard work and commitment. And it is our hope that the people of Iran will be able to fulfill their aspirations in their own society in the coming year.
So as you gather with your loved ones around the Haft Seen Sofreh, the United States wishes you a joyous New Year filled with the hope for a better tomorrow.

Nowruzetan Pirooz!

REMARKS: SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND SLOVAK DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER LAJCAK

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Remarks With Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak After Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

March 20, 2014

---

SECRETARY KERRY: Fabulous. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. It’s my pleasure to welcome Miroslav Lajcak, the foreign minister of Slovakia here, and to wish him happy birthday.

FOREIGN MINISTER LAJCAK: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: He’s a ripe old – say his age. I’m not going to burn him. But he’s much younger than I am. So I’m very jealous.

Slovakia is a very trusted partner of the United States and a NATO member. And they have been strong on the subject of Ukraine, they have stood with us and the rest of the world in speaking out against the illegal annexation of Crimea, the unconstitutional – contrary to the constitution of Ukraine, contrary to international law, and Slovakia, obviously, feels this very powerfully for historical reasons. They have been an important partner in terms of evolution of democracy and their market and their engagement within Europe – a trusted EU partner as well. And we’re very, very happy to welcome them.

They’ve also been on the front lines with us in Afghanistan and elsewhere, so we’re grateful for the friendship. We’re grateful for their strength as a small but strong nation, and a proud nation that’s willing to stand up and be counted as we stand up for the international order that has been in place since World War II. We need to live by that order, and I think Slovakia understands full well, given its history, how important this moment is. Welcome.

FOREIGN MINISTER LAJCAK: Thank you very much. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It’s really a pleasure and honor for me to be in Washington, DC today and to have the chance to meet with Secretary Kerry and to discuss a wide range of issues – Ukraine, obviously, being the focus of our attention. For Slovakia, Ukraine is extremely important. It’s our neighbor. We have many contacts with Ukraine – people to people, political, energy, and other contacts. Therefore we are very sensitive to everything that is happening there. International law has been violated. This is not acceptable, and we must (inaudible) and we are being very active in our national capacity, as part of the Visegrad 4, but also as members of the European Union and NATO, so this will be – very much the main subject of our discussions.

But there are other issues – EU, NATO, Afghanistan, Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership, and also our bilateral relations which are excellent and we are very happy about.
Thank you very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks, Miroslav. Thank you.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what if Russia invades eastern Ukraine?

SECRETARY KERRY: We’re going to be – have a chance to talk about all of this in the next couple of days as we go to Europe for the meetings in The Hague, and we’ll have a lot of chance to share some thoughts with all of you about it. And I will be, I think, meeting on the side of that with the foreign minister of Russia. So hopefully – we’ll see where we are at that point in time. I think the White House will have an announcement later today.
Thanks.

FOREIGN MINISTER LAJCAK: Thank you

NASA'S MOSAIC OF THE LUNAR NORTH POLE

FROM:  NASA 
NASA Releases First Interactive Mosaic of Lunar North Pole

Scientists, using cameras aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), have created the largest high resolution mosaic of our moon’s north polar region. The six-and-a-half feet (two-meters)-per-pixel images cover an area equal to more than one-quarter of the United States. The images making up the mosaic were taken by the two LRO Narrow Angle Cameras, which are part of the instrument suite known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). The cameras can record a tremendous dynamic range of lit and shadowed areas. Web viewers can zoom in and out, and pan around an area. Constructed from 10,581 pictures, the mosaic provides enough detail to see textures and subtle shading of the lunar terrain. Consistent lighting throughout the images makes it easy to compare different regions. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Image Credit-NASA-GSFC-Arizona State University

MILCLOUD AND THE MAINTENANCE OF DOD APPLICATIONS

FROM:  DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY 
DISA now offers milCloud, a cloud-service portfolio, featuring an integrated suite of capabilities designed to drive agility into the development, deployment and maintenance of DoD applications.

milCloud leverages a combination of mature commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and government-developed technology to deliver cloud services tailored to needs of the DoD. The benefits of milCloud include cost savings, more flexibility and control for the mission partner to manage resources and control their computing environment, and greater security in the processing and storage of classified and controlled unclassified information.

milCloud is a component of the DoD Enterprise Cloud Environment, and is a foundational Joint Information Environment, Core Data Center offering.  milCloud’s infrastructure is maintained within DoD core data centers (CDCs) that incorporate strict security protocols.

The portfolio will aid the DoD to deliver the most innovative, efficient, and secure information and information technology (IT) services in support of the department’s mission; anywhere, anytime, on any authorized device.

All products in the milCloud portfolio feature the following cloud services characteristics:

On-Demand Self-Service: milCloud consumers can place orders on-demand through web-based self-service tools, configure infrastructure resources where appropriate, and manage their mission application lifecycle running on those resources without manual intervention from DISA support staff.
Broad Network Access: All milCloud products and services have network connectivity to the Department of Defense Information Networks (DoDIN) and are configured in accordance with relevant DoD security guidelines and approved protocols.
Resource Pooling: milCloud resources are pooled so that multiple mission partners consume units from pools provisioned by DISA, enabling efficient use of aggregate resources and greater consumption flexibility.
Rapid Elasticity: The milCloud portfolio has the ability to expand or contract resource use within virtual resource pools.

With milCloud, the mission partner maintains control and flexibility. milCloud features a shared, virtualized computing infrastructure environment known as a virtual data center (VDC). The VDC is “virtual floor space” and logically analogous to an enclave in a physical datacenter in which mission partners can manage compute, store, and network resources as required to support their systems. Consumption of computing resources within the VDC is enabled via a self-service, on-demand, web-based, management interface that enables mission partners to order, provision, and directly manage their VDC resources.

DISA requires that VDCs are under explicit responsibility and accountability of the mission partner’s Designated Approving Authority (DAA). Mission partner DAAs, or their designates, must endorse a Certificate of Risk Assessment (CORA) to formally accept information assurance accountability.

Resources can be configured within a VDC and managed by the mission partner with a high degree of flexibility and self-service control or resources can be configured automatically by milCloud’s Orchestrator.

milCloud’s Orchestrator can streamline and automate the management of functions related to building, testing, and migrating of configurations in a VDC. A mission partner can use available “recipes” or create a recipe of assets, such as virtual machines, software packages and configuration scripts. The milCloud Orchestrator executes the recipe on mission partner demand.

milCloud Orchestrator also automates numerous labor intensive and repetitive activities such as functional regression testing following changes to an application. Environment recipes can also be published as baselines and/or minimum system requirements. Mission partner administrators have control over how recipes are shared and made available to other users in milCloud.

milCloud includes Level II/Tier I thru III support 24/7 through a central service desk, ensuring mission partners receive support and information assurance when they need it.

NSF TOUTS "PARTICLE FEVER"

Particle Fever discovers the human element to physics

March 14 is just a bit heady if you happen to like math or science. It's Einstein's birthday. It's Pi Day, and this year in Washington, D.C., it's just a week before the local premiere of Particle Fever.

This documentary film features the world's most powerful particle collider and follows seven scientists and engineers for five years. It focuses on the period from when they switched on the Large Hadron Collider to when they ultimately discovered the Higgs boson and presented those findings at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

So today we honor Albert Einstein, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, who interpreted Planck's quantum hypothesis realistically to explain the photoelectric effect in 1905, and who helped spawn debating, theorizing and testing that influenced the field of quantum physics. This advanced science and paved the way for the discovery detailed in Particle Fever.

By the end of March, Particle Fever will have opened in most major markets, and while the story delineates scientific processes, many too will take away messages about the excitement of discovery, the immense challenge to proving or disproving physics theory and the very human side of physics.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) partially funded Particle Fever producer and physicist David Kaplan of Johns Hopkins University as he began making this movie. Particle Fever director Mark Levinson has been noted as being a physicist-turned-director, but few realize the inverse of that equation in Kaplan, who started college as a film student before discovering his clear love for physics.

'Could be nothing or everything...'

Kaplan has said he had to ignore how irrational it was to think about making a documentary about science when he had no idea of how it ended. However, his hunch was that whatever the outcome, the impacts would be historic. His attitude was to plunge ahead and believe that at some point he'd have a compelling story. But between the significant personal financial and emotional investment, mechanical setbacks at CERN and the uncertainty of the experiment itself, pressure was inevitable.

His approach was to find scientists to follow with camera crews periodically and provide video cameras to others for "selfies," hoping for the good fortune of targeting people who would create the inevitable excitement of being involved in such a significant event in the field of physics.

Kaplan has said it wasn't so much about verifying and discovering the Higgs boson, it felt more like a story about the scientific journey to discovery. And ultimately, Particle Fever provides us with highs, lows, uncertainty and professional exhilaration. We laugh. We cry. And most of all, we move through the movie with all the compelling characters, sharing in their trepidation and thrill in this scientific adventure. Kaplan hoped this would convey an enthralling story.

Turns out he was right.

NSF: Why do you need such a big contraption as the five-story-tall Large Hadron Collider to see something as small as a boson?

DK: Quantum mechanics says that particles and waves are two aspects of the same thing. The fundamental particles, like the electron, somehow behave like a wave. The electron interferes; it doesn't just scatter. It interferes with other particles. It interferes with itself. It's weird. To see something very tiny, you need tiny waves. And a tiny wavelength is a high frequency, which is high energy, and so to see tiny, tiny, tiny things, you need a very high energy beam. So the Large Hadron Collider is that large, so you can accelerate protons to a high enough energy to create the waves--the proton waves--so tiny that you can start to see tiny things.

NSF: What is your favorite scene in Particle Fever?

DK: My favorite scene is with Savas (Dimopoulos) and an older physicist, Riccardo Barbieri who in a sort of, not-typical way was really ready to retire. [NOTE: In this scene, the two men discuss the challenge for theoretical physicists who often don't get to see their theories proven within their lifetime and how it can leave a feeling of wondering whether they made a difference.] Working very hard, Barbieri chose a time when he was going to retire and really not do physics any more. And physicists--including Riccardo--don't speak emotionally or personally about their experience being a physicist and hopes and disappointments. We don't think like that. We're sort of active all the time. You're supposed to fail most all the time, so it's okay. I didn't know [that scene] was going to be that poignant, but it summarized the unspoken feeling of all of us. That's my favorite scene for many, many reasons.

NSF: What were the worst and best parts of making Particle Fever?

DK: The worst part of making Particle Fever was the emotional and intellectual commitment that it required and took away from my family...and physics. And the best part was the support of the community. It was scary to go and do something that was not physics because the social capital in physics is "What are you working on?" It doesn't have to be a big breakthrough; it just has to be contribution to what we're all trying to figure out. And so, "You're going off and making a movie?" How are people going to respond to that? Almost universal approval and support for the project was very fulfilling. That, and "OK, David, when are you going to come back?" reminding me that there's a home to come back to when this is all done.

NSF: How have people responded to the movie?

DK: Non-physicists and scientists alike have responded positively. I think scientists respond positively because they think, "Yeah, that's how it is. Nobody ever shows how it really is." Science documentaries, which are to teach science, are not about the experience. [I found that] what's important is the experience of the physics for the physicist. And so all the graphics we put into the movie--the goal was that they look like what is in the head of the physicist and not perfectly all laid out gorgeous so you really see what this dimension looks like. That wasn't the goal. How do physicists think? And it's in very simple lines and very simple representations. So I think the scientists enjoyed that "yes, this is my world-people understand me." And the non-scientists felt something even if they didn't understand the physics: "Wow I can feel something about this, not just, "oh, that's cool." I think that's why it works.

NSF: What work will you do next as a physics researcher?

DK: There are a variety of things that I think are interesting...one is dark matter, which I have done work on. One is black hole information, which I've done no work on, but I'd love to learn about it. It's hot right now. I'm usually very late to these games, but maybe I find something that people miss. But whatever it is [I pursue], it's going to be something I find truly interesting. This is my rule: Always do something you think is really cool, not because you think someone else will like it or because you think it will get you a job. Because whatever you think is cool and you work hard at it, you'll get good at that. And eventually people will ask you to do more of that. And that's what you want to have happen.

=====================================================================

Some additional physics facts

One of the most interesting aspects to Particle Fever is that it starts a discussion about the science behind the Higgs boson. Physicist Greg Mack addresses two of these issues. He his also a NSF Science & Technology Policy Fellow sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

How do protons create a Higgs boson?

In the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), protons, which are the positive particles in an atom's nucleus, smash together to create new particles. We can again thank Einstein for the idea behind how this is possible: energy and mass are intimately related. His famous equation E = mc2 says that mass m and energy E are two forms of the same thing and can be converted into each other, related by the speed of light c. This also says that it takes a lot of energy to make a little matter, since the speed of light is such a large number.

As Particle Fever documents, the experiments at the LHC found that the Higgs boson has 125 times more mass than a proton. How can two small protons colliding together make something bigger? One has to boost the protons, giving them a lot more energy to add into the mix. This goes along with David Kaplan's explanation of why the LHC has to be so big--the bigger the contraption, the more energy that can be added! The very strong magnets and huge circular structure of the LHC can accelerate the protons to extremely high speeds, giving each one an energy of about 7,000 times the mass of an ordinary proton.

When two protons collide at such high speeds and energies, they don't just bounce off each other. Protons actually are made up of particles called quarks, which are held together by gluons. In these collisions, it's the quarks and gluons that hit. This is where the extra energy is key--the whole process takes the quarks, gluons and energy, smashes them all together and spits out new particles. When that happens, some of that energy can be converted into mass, making particles such as the Higgs that are bigger than the original particles. The colliding proton beams make a bunch of new particles--bigger and smaller--and it is up to scientists to interpret what the detectors record.

What's a 'Gee-ee-Vee?'

In Particle Fever, the high energy physicists Kaplan, Dimopoulos and Barbieri don't talk about mass in kilograms. To them, it makes more sense to talk about mass in terms of energy. They are interchangeable after all, as Einstein said. It all hinges on what's most useful for discussion and calculations.

Instead, mass is talked about in units of the electronVolt: the energy an electron gains or loses when it's exposed to one volt of electricity. That unit is abbreviated as "eV" and pronounced as "ee-Vee." This is actually a small number for the measurement of mass, and in Particle Fever the scientists talk about "Gee-ee-Vee" or "GeV": a gigaelectronVolt. Adding the prefix "giga-" to the unit multiplies it by a billion, so this translates as a billion electronVolts.

Why is this useful? A proton has a mass of about 1.7 x 10-27 kilograms. That's a very small and messy number. In electronVolts, the proton has a mass of about 1 GeV. Yes, 1 GeV--a number much more easily managed. It's then easy to compare how big other particles are, such as when the LHC made the Higgs discovery at a mass of 125 GeV.

Watch the trailer and find out more about Particle Fever.

-- Ivy F. Kupec, (703) 292-8796 ikupec@nsf.gov
-- Gregory Mack, (703) 292-7373 GMACK@nsf.gov
Investigators
David Kaplan
Related Institutions/Organizations
CERN
Johns Hopkins University

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR MARCH 19, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

AIR FORCE

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, Calif., has been awarded a $57,528,900 delivery order (0061) to an existing contract (FA8620-10-G-3038) to accomplish the tasks necessary to fabricate, deliver and/or provide hardware, software, and documentation to support the tasks necessary to upgrade and modify the remote split operations (RSO) network to support internet protocols data standards. This acquisition is for the procurement of 234 Ground Control Station kits, seven containerized dual control segment kits, 25 Squadron Operations Center (SOC) low density kits, five Creech SOC low density kits, six Creech SOC high density kits, 24 relay kits, 71 relay circuit to packet kits, three Creech wide-area network kits, one Cannon WAN kit, 26 WAN LD kits, two Cannon SOC kits, 17 relay rack kits, ten network management kits, and related spares and support equipment. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Work will be performed at Poway, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 17, 2015. Fiscal 2012 and 2013 procurement funds in the amount of $57,528,900 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WIIK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

NAVY

Aviation Training Consulting LLC*, Altus, Okla., is being awarded a $24,988,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide instructional services in support of the KC-130J aircraft for the government of Kuwait under the Foreign Military Sales program. Services include instruction on operating the KC-130J simulators and aircraft. Work will be performed at Kuwait City, Kuwait (90 percent) and Cherry Point, N.C. (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2017. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $7,595,492 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 6.302-4. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting office (N61340-14-C-0007).

National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C., is being awarded a maximum amount $12,500,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for architectural design and engineering services for The National Institute of Building Sciences. The work to be performed provides for ongoing criteria preparation and shall fall under the following two categories: preparation and dissemination of emerging innovative technology source information and/or criteria, commercially supported, embedded within the Whole Building Design Guide; and make findings and advise public/private sectors of the economy with respect to the use of building science and technology in achieving nationally acceptable standards and the irregularities and inconsistencies which arise from their application to particular localities or special local conditions. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., to support the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic area of responsibility, and is expected to be completed by March 2018. Fiscal 2013 military construction, Defense Agency contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is a sole-source procurement under FAR 6.302-5, authorized or required by statute. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity (N62470-14-D-3006).

Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Hurst, Texas, is being awarded a $12,281,805 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N68936-12-D-0003) for the hardware and software upgrades in support of the H-1 Upgrade Program. Services to be provided include design, development, studies, and implementation of the upgrades to existing software and ancillary hardware and/or improved functionality and obsolescence management of the aircraft. Work will be performed in Woodland Hills, Calif. (75percent) and Hurst, Texas (25 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2014. No funding will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity.

NAVMAR Applied Sciences Corp.*, Warminster, Pa., is being awarded a $10,168,177 ceiling-priced delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N68335-10-G-0026; DO 0014) for engineering, integration, system maintenance/repair services, and training for the continued development of advanced sensors and systems in support of naval aviation missions of the Special Operations Command. Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pa. (25 percent); Warminster, Pa. (25 percent); Yuma, Ariz. (25 percent); Tampa, Fla. (20 percent); and Florham Park, N.J. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2016. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds and fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $6,137,073 will be obligated at time of award, $317,813 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity.

*Small Business

NSC STATEMENT ON U.S. CANDIDACY AS AN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE CANDIDATE

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden on U.S. Admittance as an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Candidate Country

We are pleased that today the International Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) accepted the U.S. Candidacy Application at their Board Meeting in Oslo, Norway.

Two years ago, at the launch of the Open Government Partnership, President Obama announced the U.S. commitment to implement EITI, an international standard aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in the payments that companies make and the revenues governments receive for their natural resources such as oil, gas, and mining.

The United States is first G-8 country to achieve candidate status and become an EITI implementing country, joining a group of 41 countries around the world that are working actively to improve the management of their oil, gas, and mining sectors.

As an EITI Candidate Country, the United States, through the Department of the Interior, will continue its work toward increasing revenue transparency and accountability in relevant industry sectors, ensuring that American taxpayers receive every dollar due for the extraction of the nation’s natural resources, and making the U.S. government more open and more accountable to the American people.

WH PRESS SECRETARY STATEMENT ON TUNISIAN PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Visit of Prime Minister Jomaa of Tunisia

President Obama will host Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa of Tunisia at the White House on Friday, April 4.  During the meeting, the President looks forward to discussing the commitment Tunisia’s leaders have made to advancing Tunisia’s democracy and how the United States can further support Tunisia’s historic transition.  The leaders will discuss a broad range of bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest, including U.S. economic, political, and security assistance to support the Prime Minister’s reform agenda and Tunisia’s stability.  Prime Minister Jomaa’s visit is a demonstration of the strong bonds of friendship between the American and Tunisian people, and America’s enduring commitment to Tunisia’s democratic transition.

VP BIDEN REASSURES PRESIDENT GRYBAUSKAITE OF LITHUANIA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
Remarks to the Press by Vice President Joe Biden, President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania, and President Andris Berzins of Latvia

Presidential Palace
Vilnius, Lithuania

1:20 P.M. (Local)

PRESIDENT GRYBAUSKAITE:  (As interpreted.)  Good afternoon. So today we had an important meeting with U.S. Vice President Biden and Latvian President Berzins.  With our partners, we discussed the situation in Ukraine and its impact on the security of the Baltic States and Europe as a whole.  I see it as a threat not only to Ukraine but also to the entire international community.

We witnessed the use of brutal force to redraw the map of Europe and to undermine the postwar political architecture established in Europe.  We strongly condemn Russian actions on the territory of sovereign Ukraine.  We consider Sunday’s referendum and its results illegal.  The so-called referendum is a violation of the constitution of Ukraine, international law and the United Nations Charter.

De facto Russia is carrying out the annexation of Crimea and this is happening very close to the borders of Lithuania.  The situation is a direct threat to our regional security.  Therefore, we must take all the necessary measures to ensure the security of Europe and the Baltic region.

And this is what we discussed with Vice President Biden and Latvian President Berzins.  And I would like to thank the United States, especially, which immediately responded to the threats and took all necessary actions to ensure regional security, including the reinforcement of NATO-Baltic air policing mission. The United States is a strategic partner of Lithuania and the Baltic countries.  It has always firmly supported and continues to support our aspirations to ensure political, military, economic, and energy security in the region.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT BERZINS:  Ladies and gentlemen.  Dalia, thank you for hosting this event.  I was happy in a different way to see your country (inaudible.)

Secondly, I would like to appreciate the visit of Vice President Joe Biden to the Baltic States.  Thank you for fulfilling your promise to come to us on this very, very important current stage.  But I would like to thank you for unwavering reassurance.  It is a clear reference to Article 5 by our NATO ally, the United States, to the security of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, as expressed by the Vice President during our meeting earlier today.

The situation in Ukraine caused by annexation of Crimea is alarming.  This dramatically re-forms the European security structure with global implications.  Today we discussed the need for not only the immediate de-escalation of the situation, but also for long-term solutions for the security architecture.  I am glad that we could offer some practical steps with regard during our discussions today.  The same practical approach (inaudible) energy security -- there is the issue of supply need to be addressed.  As a good example here, I would like to underline the need to accelerate the construction of gas interconnection linking Poland, Lithuania and further on, to Latvia, and using storage facilities in Latvia.

Madam President, dear Vice President, we exchanged views on the situation inside Ukraine.  We share the opinion that Ukraine must be helped immediately, both politically and economically.  And I can only praise the United States and the European Union alike for very decisive steps outlining their commitment in this regard.

Yesterday, immediately after meeting with President Komorowski, I got a call from him and we agreed to coordinate our activities over the short term and also in longer term. (Inaudible) this common view on September in NATO meeting in U.K. This coordination and support of U.S. is very, very crucial in current stage and we are fully convinced that working closely together we will come to peaceful solution immediately for Ukraine and for all future activities for whole world.  This is most crucial for it.

Thank you.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Thank you.  Madam President, thank you for the hospitality.  It’s great to see you again, to be with you again, particularly in such magnificent surroundings.  Thank you for the hospitality.  And, Mr. President, it’s good to see you again.  It’s good to be back in Vilnius.

For 50 years, three embassies in exile in Washington, D.C. stood as a symbol of America’s commitment to freedom and independence and the people of the Baltics.  Next week, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of your membership in NATO as fellow free nations and close friends.  Nobody understands better than the people of the Baltics the value of freedom.  And nobody understands better the promise of a Europe whole, free, and at peace.

Today, I spoke with my colleagues, the Presidents of Lithuania and Latvia, about the situation in Ukraine.  Yesterday, I met with Estonian President Ilves and the President of Poland and the Prime Minister of Poland in Warsaw.  Just as you did a generation ago, the Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians join hands in a human chain of freedom.

Ukrainians have shown tremendous courage to realize their aspirations for a better life and integration into the institutions of their choice -- not anyone else’s choice -- of their choice.  Russia has chosen to respond with military aggression, a referendum rejected by virtually the entire world, illegal efforts to annex Crimea, and now reports of armed attacks against Ukrainian military personnel and installations in Crimea.

I want to make it clear:  We stand resolutely with our Baltic allies in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian aggression.  As long as Russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation.

There are those who say that this action shows the old rules still apply, but Russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behavior.  Global markets and the international community will and should bet in the long run on countries that reject aggression and corruption, embrace openness and live up to their obligations.  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania understand this well.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t aggressors out there that require firm and resolute response.  There always have been and there always will be.  But it does mean that there are costs, and growing costs, that come with naked aggression.

Madam President, Mr. President, the reason I traveled to the Baltics was to reaffirm our mutual commitment to collective defense.  President Obama wanted me to come personally to make it clear what you already know, that under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, we will respond.  We will respond to any aggression against a NATO ally.

As someone who fought for your nation’s admission into NATO, rest assured we take our responsibilities very, very, very seriously -- the President does; I do; my nation does.  That’s why we have in the recent past beefed up our U.S. rotation in NATO Baltic air policing program, which protects the skies above Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  And that will continue to be the case.  We’ve also asked other members of NATO to make additional contributions to this and other efforts, and I’m confident they will step forward.

Looking ahead, we’re exploring a number of additional steps to increase the pace and scope of our military cooperation, including rotating U.S. forces of the Baltic region to conduct ground and naval exercises, and training missions.  The question today is not what can America do for the Baltic nations; it is what can we do together -- what can we do together.

The Baltic nations have shown leadership at the OSCE, the European Union, the Eastern Partnership and the U.N. Security Council.  Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian troops have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Americans in Afghanistan and have served in difficult regional and global security missions.

I know that President Obama will want to use the upcoming NATO summit in South Wales to generate concrete commitments to ensure that NATO is able to meet its Article 5 obligations to all members, which has been a priority from him and me since the beginning of our administration.

And, finally, we spoke of energy.  We spoke about energy cooperation.  We have learned the hard way that protecting the sovereignty of nations depends on having more than one supplier of energy.  We support your efforts within the European Union to diversify your energy sources, to create more flexible energy markets, and to translate energy innovation into energy security so that no nation can use supplies of energy as a political weapon or a quasi-military weapon against you.

As Ukraine fights for its future, the success of the Baltic nations, your success, paints a picture of what is possible for nations that respect the rights and unleash the talents of their people as both your countries have done.

We are in this with you together.  We are absolutely committed.  May God bless you and your people, and my God bless our troops.  Thank you very much.

END
2:07 P.M. (local)