U.S. ANNOUNCES EXTRADITION OF HAROON ASWAT FROM THE U.K. IN ORDER TO FACE TERRORISM CHARGES

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Haroon Aswat Extradited from the United Kingdom to the Southern District of New York to Face Terrorism Charges

Assistant Attorney General for National Security  John Carlin, United States Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York, Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Commissioner William J. Bratton of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the extradition of Haroon Aswat from the United Kingdom to face charges of conspiring to provide and providing material support to al Qaeda and terrorists for attempting to establish a terrorist training camp in the United States.

Aswat was arrested in Zambia in July 2005, and in August 2005, Aswat was deported from Zambia to the United Kingdom, where he was arrested pursuant to a provisional warrant that was issued in response to a request by the U.S. government in connection with this case.  On Sept. 4, 2014, the United Kingdom ordered Aswat extradited to the United States on the charges described below.  In coordination with British authorities, Aswat was extradited from the United Kingdom to the Southern District of New York on Oct. 21, 2014.  Aswat will make his first court appearance later today before U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest.

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, statements made at related court proceedings, and evidence presented at prior trials:

In late 1999, Aswat, along with co-defendants Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, aka Abu Hamza (Abu Hamza), Ouassama Kassir, and Earnest James Ujaama, attempted to create a terrorist training camp in the United States to support al Qaeda, which has been designated by the United States Secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization.  Aswat conspired with Abu Hamza, Kassir and Ujaama to establish the terrorist training camp on a rural parcel of property located in Bly, Oregon.  The purpose of the Bly, Oregon, camp was for Muslims to receive various types of training – including military-style jihad training – in preparation to fight jihad in Afghanistan.  As used by the conspirators in this case, the term “jihad” meant defending Islam against purported enemies through violence and armed aggression, including, if necessary, by using murder to expel non-believers from Muslim holy lands.

In a letter faxed from Ujaama, in the United States, to Abu Hamza, in the United Kingdom, the property in Bly was described as a place that “looks just like Afghanistan,” and the letter noted that the men at Bly were “stock-piling weapons and ammunition.”  In late 1999, after transmission of the faxed letter, Abu Hamza directed Aswat and Kassir, both of whom resided in London, England, and attended Abu Hamza’s mosque there, to travel to Oregon to assist in establishing the camp.  On Nov. 26, 1999, Aswat and Kassir arrived in New York, and then traveled to Bly.

Aswat and Kassir traveled to Bly for the purpose of training men to fight jihad.  Kassir told witnesses that he supported Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda, and that he had previously received jihad training in Pakistan.  Kassir also possessed a compact disc that contained instructions on how to make bombs and poisons.  After leaving Bly, Aswat and Kassir traveled to Seattle, Washington, where they resided at a mosque for approximately two months.  While in Seattle, Kassir, in Aswat’s presence, provided men from the mosque with additional terrorist training lessons – including instructions on different types of weapons, how to construct a homemade silencer for a firearm, how to assemble and disassemble an AK-47, and how an AK-47 could be altered to be fully automatic and to launch a grenade.  On another occasion, with Aswat sitting by his side, Kassir announced to the men in Seattle that he had come to the United States for martyrdom and to destroy, and he informed his audience that some of them could die or get hurt.

In September 2002, special agents from the FBI recovered a ledger, among other items, from an al Qaeda safe house in Karachi, Pakistan.  The ledger listed a number of individuals associated with al Qaeda, including Aswat. The al Qaeda safe house was used by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al Qaeda’s chief operational planner and the alleged planner of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

On May 12, 2009, after a four-week jury trial in the Southern District of New York, Kassir was found guilty of charges relating to his efforts to establish the terrorist training camp in Bly, and his operation of several terrorist websites.  On Sept. 15, 2009, U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan sentenced Kassir to life in prison.

On May 19, 2014, after a four-week jury trial in the Southern District of New York, Abu Hamza was found guilty of charges relating to his role in the conspiracy to establish the terrorist training camp in Bly, as well as his role in a hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998 that resulted in four deaths, and his support of violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001.  Abu Hamza is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest.

U.S. Attorney Bharara praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s Manhattan-based Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents and detectives of the FBI and the NYPD, the United States Marshals Service, and the Metropolitan Police Department of London, England.  U.S. Attorney Bharara also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division and Office of International Affairs, and the United States Department of State for their ongoing assistance.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys John P. Cronan and Ian McGinley are in charge of the prosecution.

The allegations contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH TURKISH OFFICIALS REGARDING ISIL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Special Presidential Envoy John Allen Meetings With Turkish Officials on Efforts to Counter ISIL

Press Statement

Jen Psaki

Department Spokesperson

Washington, DC

October 9, 2014

Special Presidential Envoy John Allen and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk held constructive and detailed talks with Turkish officials today in Ankara, including with Prime Minister Davutoglu and senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. General Allen and Deputy Special Envoy McGurk discussed areas of cooperation across the multiple lines of effort that will be required to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL. They stressed that we are in the early stages of consolidating a broad coalition against this terrorist network in what will be a long-term campaign. General Allen and Deputy Special Envoy McGurk also emphasized that urgent steps are immediately required to degrade ISIL's military capabilities and ongoing ability to threaten the region. They further stressed that strengthening the moderate Syrian opposition, which is engaged in fighting both ISIL and the Asad regime, is crucial to any realistic and lasting political settlement of the Syrian crisis.

In this regard, General Allen, Deputy Special Envoy McGurk, and their Turkish interlocutors discussed several measures to advance the military line of effort against ISIL, noting that a joint military planning team will visit Ankara early next week to follow up in military-to-military channels. Both sides also agreed that we will continue a dynamic and deepening bilateral consultation process across the multiple lines of effort against ISIL, including military support, countering foreign fighters, counter-finance, humanitarian assistance, and de-legitimizing ISIL's messaging and rhetoric. General Allen and Deputy Special Envoy McGurk recognized the sacrifice made by Turkey due to the ISIL crisis in Syria and Iraq, and emphasized the historic and unbreakable partnership between Turkey and the United States as NATO allies.

U.S. CONDUCTS 11 AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA, IRAQ TODAY

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Military Conducts Airstrikes Against ISIL in Syria and Iraq

From a U.S. Central Command News Release

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2014 – U.S. military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists today, using bomber and attack aircraft to conduct a total of eleven airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

In Syria, six airstrikes south of Kobani destroyed two ISIL-held buildings, one ISIL tank and one ISIL heavy machine gun and damaged an ISIL fighting position. These strikes also struck one large and two small ISIL units.
In addition, three airstrikes north of Kobani struck two small ISIL units and destroyed two ISIL-held buildings. These strikes were conducted by U.S. bomber aircraft deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. All aircraft exited the strike areas safely.

In Iraq, an airstrike south of Sinjar destroyed an ISIL bunker and ammunition cache and a small ISIL unit. Another airstrike, south of Sinjar Mountain, destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle and a small ISIL unit. To conduct these strikes, the U.S. employed attack aircraft deployed to the Centcom area of operations. All aircraft exited the strike areas safely.

The strikes were conducted as part of President Barack Obama's comprehensive strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL. The destruction of targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to lead, control, project power and conduct operations.

U.S. COUNTERTERRORISM STATEMENT ON THREAT POSED BY ISIL TERRORISTS WITH WESTERN PASSPORTS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Counterterrorism: Statement for the Record for the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security: An Examination of the Threat Posed by ISIL Terrorists with Western Passports

Remarks

Washington, DC

September 10, 2014

As Delivered

Statement by Hillary Batjer Johnson

Chairwoman Miller, Ranking Member Jackson Lee, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the State Department with my colleagues from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We are deeply supportive of DHS’ efforts to protect the U.S. homeland and make every effort to amplify its work through diplomatic engagement and information sharing with our allies and partners.

We remain gravely concerned by the activities of terrorists in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Nusrah Front. ISIL is an extremely dangerous organization operating in a chaotic part of the world. It has exploited the conflict in Syria and sectarian tensions in Iraq to entrench itself in both countries, now spanning the geographic center of the Middle East. ISIL’s attacks in Iraq and Syria have resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more from their ancestral homelands. ISIL has brutally targeted all groups who do not fit their narrow world view including some Sunnis, Shia, and religious and ethnic minority groups. In Syria, as in Iraq, ISIL has committed widespread atrocities, including torture, murder, the taking and execution of hostages sexual violence, and forcible displacement.

We have seen in Syria a trend of foreign fighter travel for the purposes of participating in the conflict – largely driven on an unprecedented scale by global connectivity that is available through the internet and social media. ISIL operates an extremely sophisticated propaganda machine and disseminates timely, high-quality media content on multiple platforms, including on social media. We have seen ISIL use a range of media to attempt to aggrandize its military capabilities, including showcasing the executions of captured soldiers, and evidence of consecutive battlefield victories resulting in territorial gains. More recently, the group’s supporters have sustained this momentum on social media by encouraging attacks in the United States and against U.S. interests in retaliation for our airstrikes. ISIL has also used its propaganda campaign to draw foreign fighters to the group, including many from Western countries.

It is difficult to provide a precise figure of the total number of foreign fighters in Syria, though the best available estimates indicate that approximately 12,000 fighters from at least 50 countries – including over 100 U.S. persons – may have traveled to Syria to fight for ISIL or al-Nusrah Front since the beginning of the conflict. These fighters not only exacerbate regional instability, but create real threats to U.S. interests and our allies. We are working closely with countries affected by the foreign fighter problem set to counter the threat these fighters pose. As we have built a common picture of the threat with our allies, so, too, we continue our efforts to build consensus around joint initiatives and complementary approaches to sustain a broad and comprehensive approach.

Securing U.S. Borders

The Department of State works closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support its mission in protecting the United States by promoting effective aviation and border security screening with our foreign partners through enhanced information sharing. For example, an important effort in our counterterrorism work is Homeland Security Presidential Directive Six (HSPD-6), a post-9/11 White House initiative. Through HSPD-6, the State Department works with the Terrorist Screening Center to negotiate the exchange of identities of known or suspected terrorists with foreign partners to enhance our mutual border screening efforts.

The Terrorist Screening Center implements these agreements with foreign partners. These agreements allow partners to namecheck incoming flights to their countries, which helps us deter terrorist travel, creating an extra layer of security for the United States.

HSPD-6 agreements or arrangements are a pre-requisite to participate in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). To date, we have forty-three such agreements in place which includes VWP partners, and we continue to actively seek out new partners.

The Department of State also works closely with its partners at the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen global aviation security by engaging foreign partners in bolstering aviation screening at last point of departure (LPD) airports with direct flights to the United States to identify and prevent known or suspected terrorists from boarding commercial flights.

Foreign Terrorist Fighters

Additionally, the Department of State is leading interagency efforts to engage with foreign partners to prevent in the first place and, where possible, to interdict foreign extremist travel to Syria. We strongly believe that a whole-of-government approach is the only way to truly address the threat, and we work closely with our interagency colleagues to facilitate comprehensive approaches. This work includes facilitating information exchanges with foreign partners, building partner capacity, and developing shared objectives focused on addressing the foreign fighter threat. Ambassador Robert Bradtke, Senior Advisor for Partner Engagement on Syria Foreign Fighters, leads this work for the State Department and has met with officials from European Union member countries, North Africa, the Gulf, the Balkans, and East Asia and Pacific, to discuss and examine our shared serious concerns about the foreign terrorist fighter threat. Ambassador Bradtke and other Department counterparts have led sustained efforts to urge reform and build capacity for whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to counter this threat, notably encouraging information sharing and border security, legal reform and criminal justice, and countering violent extremism.

Important progress has been made, but more work remains. Countries in the Balkans recently have adopted or are considering more comprehensive counterterrorism laws. In the Gulf, countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have increased penalties related to terrorist financing and several have established the necessary architecture to enforce their counterterrorism laws more effectively, such as Kuwait’s newly created Financial Intelligence Unit and Qatar’s establishment of a charity abuse review board.

Some of our partners have implemented legal reforms aimed more directly at countering foreign terrorist fighters. For example, traveling overseas to participate in combat has been newly criminalized in the Balkans, Canada, and Jordan. The United Kingdom and Indonesia have banned participation in groups such as ISIL, while Malaysia has publicly opposed ISIL and its activities.

Countries have taken a variety of steps under existing laws and regulations to inhibit foreign fighter’s resources or travel. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and eight European countries have the authority to revoke the passports of suspected foreign fighters.

The European Council recently called for the accelerated implementation of EU measures in support of Member States to combat foreign fighters, including finalizing an EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) proposal by the end of this year, and increasing cooperation with partner nations such as the United States to strengthen border and aviation security in the region.

In all our efforts with our partners, we stress the importance of – and facilitate implementation of – adhering to a rule of law framework. We are encouraged by these and other reforms to counter the foreign fighter threat. While we have seen progress, our efforts must be sustained and intensified. We will continue to work closely with partners, particularly those in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe in the coming months to enhance cooperation and build on efforts to date.

Multilateral Initiatives and the Global Counterterrorism Forum

We are also working the foreign terrorist fighter issue actively on the multilateral front. The week of September 24, President Obama will chair a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Summit on the rising threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, no matter their religious ideology or country of origin. This rare UNSC leader-level session is the first U.S.-hosted Head of Government-level UNSC session since President Obama led a UNSC Summit on non-proliferation in September 2009, and it presents a unique opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of international consensus regarding the foreign terrorist fighter threat and to build momentum for policy initiatives on this topic at home and abroad. In addition to a briefing from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and brief remarks from leaders of all 15 UNSC members, this summit is expected to adopt a U.S.-drafted UNSC Resolution during the session.

That same week, Secretary Kerry and Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu (chah-voosh-OH-loo) will co-chair a Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) ministerial meeting, where GCTF members will adopt the first-ever set of global good practices to address the foreign terrorist fighter threat (FTF) and launch a working group dedicated to working with GCTF members and non-members alike to mobilize resources and expertise to advance their implementation. The good practices cover the four central aspects of the phenomenon: (1) radicalizing to violent extremism; (2) recruitment and facilitation; (3) travel and fighting; and, (4) return and reintegration. They are also intended to shape bilateral or multilateral technical or other capacity-building assistance that is provided in this area. This effort will allow our practitioners and other experts to continue to share expertise and broaden skills in addressing the FTF challenge.

Conclusion

We remain deeply supportive of DHS’ efforts to protect the U.S. homeland and make every effort to support its work through diplomatic engagement.

The State Department is involved in an array of activities to counter terrorism and the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, such as capacity building, countering terrorist finance, and countering violent extremism, my State Department colleagues would be happy to brief Congress about these lines of effort at another time.

Our terrorist adversaries are nimble, and given the vitally important imperative to protect the United States and to stay “one step ahead,” we should ensure that the tools of civilian power continue to adapt to serve national security. As I hope you will agree, we have focused and sharpened our efforts, but there remains much to do.

I look forward to answering your questions and working closely with you in making the United States safer, in conjunction with our friends and allies across the globe.

WHITE HOUSE VIDEO: PRESIDENT OBAMA ADDRESSES THE NATION ON THE ISIL THREAT

WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET ON PRESIDENT'S STRATEGY TO COUNTER ISIL

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

FACT SHEET: Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a clear threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, and to the broader Middle East, as well as U.S. persons, allies and interests in the region.  Left unchecked, ISIL could pose a growing threat beyond the region, including to the U.S. homeland.

The United States is meeting this threat with strength and resolve. In recent weeks, we have increased intelligence resources devoted to the threat and sent U.S. personnel to assess the situation on the ground.  We have responded with immediate action to protect Americans in Iraq and to prevent large-scale humanitarian catastrophes, including by conducting over 150 successful airstrikes in Iraq.  These strikes have kept our personnel and facilities in Baghdad and Erbil safe, killed ISIL fighters, destroyed ISIL equipment, protected Iraqi critical infrastructure, and broken ISIL sieges against an Iraqi city and civilians trapped on a mountain.  Along with dozens of international partners, we have provided material support for Iraqi forces to support their fight against ISIL.  Our strikes and resupply efforts have enabled Iraqi forces to take the fight to ISIL on the ground, reclaim key territory, and saved thousands of innocent lives.

Our goal is clear: to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy so that it’s no longer a threat to Iraq, the region, the United States, and our partners.  To achieve this goal, our strategy will be underpinned by a strong coalition of regional and international partners who are willing to commit resources and will to this long-term endeavor. Dozens of countries are already contributing in Iraq – from military to humanitarian support – and in coming days and weeks we will work to strengthen and expand that coalition.

In concert with our coalition partners, the United States will carry out a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIL and deny them safe-haven. That strategy harnesses all elements of national power and features the following core elements:

Supporting Effective Governance in Iraq: We have made clear that additional U.S. action depended on Iraq forming an inclusive government, because only a united Iraq -- with a government in Baghdad that has support from all of Iraq’s communities -- can defeat ISIL. A new Iraqi government was formally sworn in on September 8 and we will support it in efforts to govern inclusively and to take significant, concrete steps to address the legitimate grievances and needs of all Iraqis.

Denying ISIL Safe-Haven: The Iraqi Government is taking the fight to ISIL, and will ultimately be the one to defeat it in Iraq. But our Iraqi and regional partners need our support and unique capabilities to blunt ISIL’s advance.  The President announced that we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions so that we’re hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense. The President also made clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. The President will not hesitate to take direct military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria and in Iraq.  We will degrade ISIL’s leadership, logistical and operational capability, and deny it sanctuary and resources to plan, prepare and execute attacks. Simply put, ISIL will find no safe-haven.

Building Partner Capacity: We will build the capability and capacity of our partners in the region to sustain an effective long-term campaign against ISIL. The President announced that he will send an additional 475 U.S. service members to Iraq to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. In addition to providing weapons, ammunition and equipment, U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) will train and advise Iraqi forces, including Kurdish forces, improving their ability to plan, lead and conduct operations against ISIL. Further, the new Iraqi government has asked for help forming National Guard units that would be recruited locally and be responsible for protecting their own communities and securing areas freed from ISIL's control - a step that, along with long overdue political reforms, can drive a wedge between ISIL and Sunnis who have been alienated by their central government.

The President is also calling on Congress to provide additional authorities and resources to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters in the Continuing Resolution they are debating this work period, so they can defend themselves and their neighborhoods against ISIL incursions and ultimately push back on ISIL forces and the Assad regime. We will strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria’s crisis once and for all.

The growing and evolving nature of the ISIL threat underscores the importance of the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF).  The CTPF request for $5 billion would allow us to train, build capacity, and facilitate support for partner countries on the front lines of countering shared terrorist threats, both in the region and beyond.  The CTPF includes $500 million for a Department of Defense program to train and equip the Syrian opposition as described above and $1 billion to build resiliency in the states neighboring Syria to ensure they can continue to counter threats to their internal stability and to support communities that are contending with refugees.

Enhancing Intelligence Collection on ISIL:  Continuing to gain more fidelity on ISIL’s capabilities, plans, and intentions is central to our strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy the group.  Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance flights and other important efforts will strengthen our ability to understand this threat, as well as to share vital information with our Iraqi and other regional partners to enable them to effectively counter ISIL.  

Disrupting ISIL’s Finances:  ISIL’s expansion over the past year has given it access to significant and diverse sources of funding.  The U.N. Security Council resolution that passed unanimously in August demonstrated the broad international consensus to disrupt ISIL’s finances.   We are already working aggressively with our partners on a coordinated approach that includes:  reducing ISIL’s revenue from oil and assets it has plundered; limiting ISIL’s ability to extort local populations; stemming ISIL’s gains from kidnapping for ransom; and disrupting the flow of external donations to the group.  Our domestic laws also provide additional tools in this effort, enabling us to sanction or prosecute those who fund ISIL’s activities.

Exposing ISIL’s True Nature: Clerics around the world have spoken up in recent weeks to highlight ISIL’s hypocrisy, condemning the group’s barbarity and criticizing its self- proclaimed “caliphate.” We will work with our partners throughout the Muslim world to highlight ISIL’s hypocrisy and counter its false claim to be acting in the name of religion.

Disrupting the Flow of Foreign Fighters:  Foreign terrorist fighters are ISIL’s lifeblood, and a global security threat—with citizens of nearly 80 countries filling its ranks.  Over 100 foreign fighters from the United States have traveled or attempted to travel to the conflict.  On September 24, the United States will convene an historic Summit-level meeting of the UN Security Council, focused on this issue.

Protecting the Homeland: We will continue to use the criminal justice system as a critical tool in our counterterrorism toolbox.  Federal criminal laws provide a sound basis to prosecute those who provide material support to ISIL or who conspire with ISIL to plot attacks at home or abroad.   With respect to aviation security, we will work with air carriers to implement responsible threat-based security and screening requirements, and provide additional screening to individuals suspected of affiliation with ISIL.  Finally, we will counter violent extremism here at home, including tailored domestic programs to prevent violent extremism and radicalization in order to intervene with at-risk individuals before they become radicalized toward violence and decide to travel abroad to Syria and Iraq to join ISIL.

Humanitarian Support:  We and our partners will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced and vulnerable in Iraq and Syria. We will also continue to work with host governments to mitigate the humanitarian and economic effects of the conflict in neighboring countries, recognizing that the refugee crisis calls on our common humanity and presents a significant challenge to regional stability.  As ISIL seeks to destroy the diversity of the territories it terrorizes, we will continue to work to help prevent mass atrocities, particularly against vulnerable religious and ethnic minorities.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE'S REMARKS TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL REGARDING SYRIA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at the Security Council Stakeout Following Consultations on Syria

Samantha Power

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations 

New York, NY

September 4, 2014

AS DELIVERED

Good afternoon everyone. Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag just updated the Council on the OPCW-UN Joint Mission’s progress on eliminating Syria’s declared chemical weapons program. She outlined the U.S. ship Cape Ray’s completed destruction of Syria’s most dangerous declared chemicals and discussed plans to destroy the remaining chemical weapons production facilities.

She also noted the Technical Secretariat’s continuing work to address discrepancies and omissions related to the original Syrian declaration. On this point, a number of Council members stressed how important it was to resolve questions with regards to the Syrian Government’s omissions and discrepancies in its original declaration.

Some Council members raised their concerns about the Syrian government’s use of chlorine gas, as reported by the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry last month.

While the Joint Mission’s formal role winds down on September 30, Council members noted that the elimination effort is not complete. The Council expressed thanks to Secretary-General Ban for his willingness to exercise good offices in furtherance of the implementation of Security Council resolution 2118. Some Council members, including the United States, expressed a desire for monthly updates on continuing efforts to completely eliminate the Syrian CW program.

One final note on today’s consultations: Earlier this morning, the Council met with the troop and police contributing countries to the UN Mission in Liberia. As you are all aware, Liberia is the epicenter of the tragic Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Special Representative Landgren, joined by the UNMIL force leadership, briefed on the many efforts that UNMIL is undertaking to protect and safeguard all UN personnel, notably the UNMIL peacekeepers, who continue to serve commendably to help Liberia consolidate its hard-won peace and security gains more than a decade since the end of that country's civil war. Under-Secretary-General Ladsous and Assistant-Secretary-General Banbury also highlighted the continued commitment of the UN system, including in support of the efforts of Dr. Nabarro and the World Health Organization, to respond fully and promptly to the Ebola outbreak across the region. We also heard from several of UNMIL's largest troop and police contributors who attended the briefing, many of whom expressed their continued and strong commitment to Liberia.

Let me just conclude, if I may, with a comment in my national capacity on the session from which I’ve just come. I want to stress that much more work still needs to be done on Syria’s chemical weapons program. The international community must continue to press for the resolution of all discrepancies and omissions in Syria’s original declaration. We must ensure that the Syrian government destroys its remaining facilities for producing chemical weapons within the mandated time frames and without the repeated delays by the Assad regime that plagued earlier removal efforts. We must also address the Syrian military’s reported systematic use of chlorine gas in opposition areas, as described by the Commission of Inquiry’s August report.

And as we work toward these goals, we need to keep front and center the fact that Syria is still wracked with violence of the worst sort. The Syrian government has increased its reliance on barrel bombs to wage a brutal aerial campaign, targeting schools, residential buildings, and crowded streets. In the first six months of this year, the Assad regime has dropped an average of 260 barrel bombs a month – this is three times more than during the same period last year. And it continues to launch rockets into neighborhoods, including hundreds of rockets that struck the neighborhood of Jobar over the past week, utterly destroying entire city blocks.

The progress we’ve made over the past year on chemical weapons, and the progress in Syria, will never be complete or real until the violence ends and steps toward a political solution begin. Thank you. And I’d be happy to take a few questions.

Reporter: Thanks. So, Ms. Kaag spoke to us in the briefing room just now and one of the things that she brought up were volume discrepancies related to Syrian declarations, which were repeatedly revised. Were there any details discussed in the Council about the volumes? And is the US concerned about this particular type of discrepancy, particularly in light of the recent expansion of territory under control of ISIL?

Ambassador Power: The United States is concerned about all discrepancies, also the potential that there are real omissions in the declaration. And we are working principally through the OPCW, which has a technical secretariat that is engaging with the Syrians on these issues. We are concerned, though, for two reasons: one, the reason you mention, of course, which is that extremist terrorist groups who have committed some of the most vile acts just in the last few days before our very eyes and who have terrorized everyone they come into contact with in Syria and Iraq, that these weapons, or weapon stocks, if they are left, could fall into their hands.

But let’s be clear. There is one actor that has actually used chemical weapons, in mass, killing, you know, thousands, or at least several thousands of people in the August 21 attack and many allegations of other use prior to the effort to get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons program. So, there are two reasons or concerns about omissions, gaps, and discrepancies, and that’s why the Security Council intends to stay very much on top of this and to press them, to press both the international actors who continue to engage on the ground and to press those who have leverage over the regime, to be pushing the regime to be fully forthcoming.

Reporter: Thank you, Madame President. How worried are you about the possibility that the ISIS/ISIL has acquired some kind of chemical weapons? Also, your administration has been resisting international calls to interfere in Syria, militarily. Last week, Syria foreign minister offered cooperation with the US against the terrorists in his country. What does it take for the US to interfere in this conflict? Thank you.

Ambassador Power: Thank you. I’d say first that President Obama I think was pretty clear over the last couple days about his intention to galvanize an international coalition to degrade and destroy ISIL. Inherent in that is a recognition of the threat that ISIL poses everywhere. Certainly if there are chemical weapons left in Syria, there will be a risk that those weapons fall into ISIL’s hands. And we can only imagine what a group like that would do if in possession of such a weapon.

With regard to the Assad regime, I would say first of all that the actors on the ground who have fought over the last 7 months the most strenuously against ISIL have been the moderate opposition, have been the Sunni opposition groups. And so as the president has said, a critical complement to any effort, comprehensive effort, to deal with ISIL will involve strengthening those groups. And it is still our belief that the Assad regime – its brutality, the barrel bomb attacks, the possible chlorine use now, the previous chemical weapons attacks – these are recruiting tools that extremists have used to attract foreign terrorist fighters to Syria.

Tactics of the kind that they’re employing against civilians, against residential neighborhoods, against schools, are tactics that can never be consistent with a lasting peace. They’re terrorizing tactics. So you have on the one hand a monstrous terrorist group and you have on the other hand a monstrous group – a monstrous regime, rather, carrying out attacks that terrorize their own people, that kill civilians, that fire indiscriminately on areas that you know are going to affect the lives of civilians and kill and injure women and children and so forth. So as President Obama has said, the Syrian people should not have to choose between two forms of terror: terror inflicted by the regime and terror inflicted by ISIL.

Reporter: On chemical weapons again, given the discrepancies and the concern you have expressed, what happens exactly after September 30th? Is there any appetite on the Council for further action?

Ambassador Power: Again, there’s a process playing itself out, in – through the OPCW executive secretariat, where the concerns that we and other member states have are being raised. Some of them have been addressed at the margins by the regime up to this point, but there’s a process that’s ongoing. What is, was very clear in the Council session today among members states is while there was great appreciation of the work of Sigrid Kaag and the Joint Mission, who operated under impossible circumstances, you know, building the airplane as they were flying it, and who have succeeded in getting rid of nearly all of the declared chemical weapons -- there’s just some destruction, again, as you know, that’s underway – there was a very strong desire on the part of Council members to stay on top of the gaps and declaration.

So you won’t see the Council oversight or the Council relationship to this issue abate after September 30th in any way. You will continue to see briefings, we will continue to interact with you on what we know and on what has been achieved, and what hasn’t been achieved. I mean, 2118 has not been fulfilled. And it won’t be fulfilled until this Council has confidence that the terms of the chemical weapons convention has been met.

Thanks.

STATE DEPARTMENT PRESS STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF ATTACKS ON EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Anniversary of Attacks in Kenya and Tanzania

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

August 7, 2014

---

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the cowardly terrorist attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed over 200 and wounded thousands more. We commemorate those who were lost that day, honor the lives they lived, and extend our condolences to the loved ones they left behind.

Today’s anniversary is a somber reminder of the continued terrorist threat that we face on the African continent and around the world, and an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to partner with our allies to confront it. At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that concluded yesterday, the United States and leaders from across Africa confirmed our shared commitment to the continent’s security and recommitted our resolve to address threats—in East Africa and more broadly—so that we and our partners can enjoy peace and security.

U.S. SAYS BERGDAHL-TALIBAN COMMANDER TWITTER PHOTO IS PROPAGANDA

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Bergdahl Photo ‘100-Percent Propaganda,’ Official Says

By Claudette Roulo

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2014 – A photo published on Twitter yesterday that appears to show Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with a senior Taliban commander is 100-percent propaganda, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said today.

“He was a captive for five years. So, pictures that the Haqqani Network or the Taliban release are 100-percent propaganda and should be viewed that way,” Warren said.

The Twitter account that posted the photo is one allegedly affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida. The photo, which has yet to be verified, shows Bergdahl with Badruddin Haqqani, the son of Haqqani Network leader Jalaludin Haqqani.
According to Pakistani officials, Badruddin was killed in an airstrike in 2012.
“These are bad people, these are terrorists, these are thugs and these are killers who captured an American service member and held him for half a decade,” Warren said.

Bergdahl, who was released in May, is in the penultimate phase of the reintegration process at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the colonel said.

“With every day he's continuing his progress, he's continuing his reintegration and we look forward to the time when he completes Phase Three and moves on the final phase, which is returning to an Army unit,” Warren said.

There is no set timeline for the reintegration process, as each person’s experiences in captivity vary, defense officials have said.

READOUT: NSA ADVISOR RICE'S MEETING WITH SYRIAN OPPOSITION PRESIDENT JARBA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY 

May 13, 2014

Readout of National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice's Meeting with Syrian Opposition Coalition President Ahmad Jarba

This afternoon, President Obama joined National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s meeting with Syrian Opposition Coalition President Ahmad Jarba and the Coalition delegation.  President Obama and Ambassador Rice reaffirmed that Bashar al-Assad has lost all legitimacy to rule Syria and has no place in Syria’s future.  Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a political solution to the conflict that includes a transition to a new governing authority.  President Obama welcomed the Coalition’s leadership and constructive approach to dialogue, and encouraged the Coalition to further its vision for an inclusive government that represents all of the people of Syria.  President Jarba thanked President Obama for U.S. non-lethal assistance, which totals $287 million and supports the Coalition, local communities inside Syria, and the moderate armed opposition.  He also thanked the United States for being the largest donor of humanitarian assistance.  The $1.7 billion committed by the United States goes to those in need inside of Syria and in neighboring countries.

The President and Ambassador Rice condemned the Assad regime’s deliberate targeting of Syrian civilians through aerial bombardments—including the use of barrel bombs—and the denial of food and humanitarian assistance to civilians located in areas under siege by the regime.  They emphasized the responsibility of the Syrian regime to provide rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian assistance.  The delegations also discussed the risks posed by growing extremism in Syria and agreed on the need to counter terrorist groups on all sides of the conflict.

President Obama and Ambassador Rice emphasized the illegitimacy of the regime’s plans to hold elections and underscored that the United States stands with the moderate opposition and the Syrian people in their efforts to end the conflict and facilitate a political transition.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT EMBASSY IN ALGIERS, ALGERIA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at Embassy Algiers Meet and Greet

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Algiers, Algeria

April 3, 2014

---

AMBASSADOR ENSHER: Ladies and gentlemen – (applause) – thank you. I’ll just introduce the Secretary of State and let him say as he wishes, so – sir, you’ve been introduced. You may – do you want to speak from here there?

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, thank you very much. Look what I got. I love it. (Laughter.) What’s her name, what’s her name? Who?

PARTICIPANT: Anna-Lisa (ph).


SECRETARY KERRY: Anna-Lisa (ph), thank you. Anna-Lisa (ph). Thank you very much.

PARTICIPANT: You’re welcome.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Can I give you that to hold?

Well, Wishrakum. I’m happy to be here with all of you. (In French.) I am really sorry that we got delayed. I had a phone call, and it was one of those calls where you can’t get the other person to realize the call’s over. Anyway, I am really happy to see you all. Thank you very, very much for this. I’m very grateful to our ambassador, Henry Ensher, and what a terrific job he does. Twenty-seven years in the service, and he’s still going at it and he brings enormous expertise to this challenge. Mr. Ambassador, we’re very grateful to you. Thank you for all that you do.

AMBASSADOR ENSHER: Team projects, sir.

SECRETARY KERRY: Team what?

AMBASSADOR ENSHER: Team projects, sir.

SECRETARY KERRY: Team projects. All right, well we believe in that.
Listen, let me just – I’m very late and I do apologize for that to all of you, and thank you for waiting patiently so I could have a chance to not just say hello, but most importantly have a chance to be able to say thank you to every single one of you.

We are deeply grateful. How many of you are local employees? Raise your hands. Well, look at that. Wow. I think we have – thank you – (applause). We – there is no way for us to be able to do our job unless you are here to help us, every single one of you. (In French). How many of you are speaking French still? No? Nobody? A couple? (Laughter.) I know it’s going out of vogue.
But I really thank you because you take on a very difficult task of helping another country to represent itself in your country, so sometimes the things that people think about us fall on you. And we appreciate very much your willingness to be part of our efforts.

Also, I obviously want to thank all of the Foreign Service officers, Civil Service, various agencies who are working here in a team effort within the Department, within the Embassy. And I thank the TDY-ers and political appointees and everybody who make up this incredible team that helps us to represent our interests in another country, but also importantly helps us connect to the interests of that country so we’re doing also what is important to the nation that we’re in.

In Algeria, you all are representing really one of the most fascinating and important countries in all of Africa – not just North Africa, but a country that has resources, a civil society, intelligent, experienced people, people who fought for their freedom, people who understand what independence means, people who are deeply committed to counterterrorism and to stability. This is a very important place.

And we are trying in this visit to help build a number of different things. First, try to build our security relationship so that we can do more with Algeria in the field of stability, counterterrorism. We have Mali, Niger, Chad, the issues, obviously, out west in Sahara, the challenge of al-Qaida. There’s an enormous amount on the table, and of course Libya, Tunisia, all of this is critical to us – the Sahel, the Maghreb, moving on into the Levant – there’s just an enormous amount of turmoil and change, transition. And we want that to turn out in a way that provides for the stability of the region and for the ability of people here to live the lives the way they’d like to live them.

Part of doing that is the second part of what we’re talking about here, and that’s the economic and development side. We got to create jobs for unbelievable numbers of young people. And those young people need to find a future in education, in jobs, in opportunity, or it’s hard to build stability.

And the final piece of it is the people-to-people programs that are part of all of that. You have the Let’s Chat program here, and you’re trying to help people be able to learn how – you’re in the Let’s Chat program. There she is, all right. But the point is, as people gain language skills, they gain employability, they gain an ability to enlarge their income and their lives.
And speaking of income, I am proud to come here and tell you today that the pay freeze has ended. You’re going to get your pay raise as of now. That’s starting, all right? (Applause.) There you go. Most important news I could have delivered. (Laughter.) Anyway, I’m really happy to be able to share that with you.

Bottom line is this – you’ve all been standing around a long time, I don’t want to give a long speech – there are about, I think, 100 and some of you here who – or 95 or so or who’ve come – 65, I guess, it is – who’ve come from other – from America and they’re over here. And then a large Embassy, 400 and some people when you add everybody who’s working locally. But you’re all a team. Every single one of you is an ambassador. Everything you do, whether it’s a telephone call or an interview in the consular division or outreach when we got to an event, you’re the face of America. And you’re helping us to reach people and to try to make sure we address the very values that brought you to this kind of service in the first place.

So I really thank you. President Obama is proud of our diplomatic corps. He mentioned it in his last State of the Union. All the people who don’t wear uniforms but are on the front lines, a lot of you make sacrifices to be here, and I just want you to know that as long as I’m Secretary of State I will have your back, and I know I can count on you to cover our back, too.
Thank you all, and God bless. Thank you. (Applause.)

DOD SAYS SPECIAL OPS FORCES ARE IN TRANSITION

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Special Ops Forces in Transition, Pentagon Official Says
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2014 – Like the rest of the Defense Department, the special operations community is in transition, and officials are working on how best to shape the force for the future, a senior Pentagon official said here yesterday.

Michael D. Lumpkin spoke at the National Defense Industrial Association’s 25th annual Special Operations/Low-intensity Conflict Symposium. He is the assistant secretary of defense for special operation and low-intensity conflict, performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for policy.

The end of the war in Iraq and the scaling down of the conflict in Afghanistan has opened a new chapter for the Defense Department, Lumpkin said. “We must adapt to a changing world in which global security threats are taking new forms and arising more swiftly and unpredictably than ever before,” he added.
Defense officials and industry partners must rethink the roles, missions and purpose of the entire military. “But this time of transition is especially important for the special operations community,” the retired Navy SEAL said.
Lumpkin said special operators will have an appreciably different and more active role for the future, noting that while the wars concentrated efforts in the U.S. Central Command area, the mission going forward will be more global. “The business of [special operations forces] will not be business as usual,” he said.
The period of post-9/11 combat operations is coming to an end, Lumpkin said. “Nearly every al-Qaida member involved in [the 9/11] attacks is either dead or in jail,” he told the conference audience. “The core al-Qaida leadership in Afghanistan or Pakistan has been decimated.”

But the terror group has metastasized to areas with security vacuums, he acknowledged. “The threat of terrorism and attacks is one we take very seriously,” he said. “Al-Qaida’s most capable affiliate – al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula – poses a major threat to the U.S. and its allies. We work closely with our Yemeni partners to disrupt and defeat their plots.”

Other affiliates – such as the al-Nusra Front in Syria, al-Qaida in the Islamic Mahgreb and Al-Shabaab in Somalia – are currently regional or local threats, but their violent attacks have great potential to harm or kill Americans, Lumpkin said. He pointed to the attack on an oil refinery in Algeria last year as an example of this threat.

“With regard to these and other terror attacks across the Middle East and North Africa, let me say this: We will never make the mistake of letting up in pursuit of terrorist groups that threaten our nation, wherever they may be,” the assistant secretary said.

The winding down of two long wars gives the United States the chance to act in its interests as a truly global power. “It is time to widen our scope and to deploy our forces and our energy in a manner more consistent with the deeper economic and geopolitical realities of our age,” he said.

This is the logic underlying the military’s rebalance toward the Pacific. The Asia-Pacific-Indian Ocean area is a rising region. The United States does about $1.4 trillion worth of two-way trade with Asia every year, and half of the world’s shipping by tonnage passes through the South China Sea. The region is home to more than half the world’s population. Seven of the 10 largest standing militaries in the world are in the region as is five of the world’s declared nuclear nations.
“It is in our clear economic and strategic interest to move our focus to the Pacific,” Lumpkin said. “This geographic shift hints at something even more fundamental: a fundamental shift in how we use and think of special operations forces in a post-9/11 era.”

The United States has been the bulwark of security in the region and is working to perpetuate the relative peace and stability, Lumpkin said. The United States accomplished this by building and maintaining a series of bilateral relationships and addressing potential sources of conflict before they create larger problems, he added.

This work centers on security cooperation, building partner capacity and building awareness of local conditions, he explained, and leans heavily on special operations capabilities. “The ability of [special operations forces] to operate in a low-visibility way will only become more important in the future of a globally dispersed and irregular threats,” he said.

He cited the Philippines as a good example. “With a task force of about 500 operators and general-purpose force enablers, we helped that nation degrade what was once considered a grave internal threat,” he said. “Just think what the cost would have been in dollars, and perhaps lives as well, if violent extremists had succeeded in establishing a sanctuary in a place like the Philippines, so centrally located along the shipping routes of the South China Sea.”

The timely and effective deployment of special operations forces and their supporting personnel made this possible, he said.

The Philippine example can be used as a model for the rest of the world, Lumpkin said, a model that would rely less on direct action and more on indirect efforts.
Colombia is another nation where this has been successful, the assistant secretary said. “We provided significant military aid, counterinsurgency training and humanitarian assistance in a broad-based initiative to prevent narcotics traffickers from establishing sanctuaries in that country,” he said. “‘Plan Colombia’ was a sustained commitment to building the capacity of a vitally important nation.
“This was no third-grade soccer team where everybody ran to the ball,” he continued. “It was patient, it was painstaking, and it worked on several problems at once.”
Special operators were just one part of the overall plan, Lumpkin said. They helped Colombia build a professional and capable military giving the nation the ability to solve its own security challenges, and to take ownership of the long process of eliminating terrorist and insurgent sanctuaries within its borders.
“But Plan Colombia also involved an interagency effort to assist the Colombians in eradicating narcotics and building stronger financial institutions,” he added. “The work paid off. Colombia is not only a far more secure and prosperous nation now, it has emerged as an exporter of regional security.”

The United States is moving from perpetual war to perpetual engagement, Lumpkin said, and the special operations forces community is going to be busy because of unpredictable threats and uncertain budgets.

“We in the SOF world have long known that when it comes to national security and global stability, an ounce of prevention is not worth a pound of cure, but a ton of cure,” he said.

The response to rising threats will grow shorter, Lumpkin said. “In the past, the traditional Iron Triangle of Congress, the Defense Department and industry were always able to assemble the resources in time to meet various challenges to our national security,” he said. This was because the threats of the past usually arose from nation states with their own political and industrial bureaucracies, he explained.

A major factor in this change is the rise of the Internet in general and social media in particular, “which has transformed the local into the global and the tactical into the strategic,” he said. “As a result, the traditional players don’t have the same power to shape events that they have had in the past.”

The increasing connectivity of people around the world can challenge traditional hierarchal struggles, Lumpkin noted. “When an idiosyncratic pastor in Florida issues statements that set off riots in Pakistan, you know something has changed,” he said.

“On a more significant scale, we saw in the Arab Spring how populations can rally in only minutes because of social media, with little warning from traditional analysis,” Lumpkin said.

Over the long run, Lumpkin said, flattening of communications works to benefit the United States and favors the spread of democratic values worldwide. “But the process will not be linear, and it will not be smooth, as we have seen increased connectivity present security threats as well as opportunities,” he added.
Network threats present new challenges and require new ways of planning, the assistant secretary told the audience, and cyber operations come to mind first. “As we continue to work our doctrine for response in the cyber realm,” he said, “it is entirely possible that SOF units, or even individuals, would be called upon to act online or offline to address these threats.”

Beyond cyber, Lumpkin said, the special operations community is concentrating on understanding the human domain – the totality of physical, cultural, political and social environments within a conflicted region.

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.

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

JOHN KERRY'S REMARKS TO UN ON DISABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks at a High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Disability and Development
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
United Nations
New York City
September 23, 2013

Good morning. And it’s a great pleasure for me to be able to be here with all of you, an honor to be here for my first high-level meeting at the United Nations General Assembly as Secretary of State.

Before we begin, I want to just reiterate that we are monitoring very closely and with great concern the situation in Kenya. Ruthless and valueless terrorists remain a serious challenge everywhere in the world, as we all know, whether it’s in downtown Manhattan or in a mall in Nairobi or anywhere else in the world, and all of us have a responsibility to remain vigilant. We stand with the Kenyan people. The President has talked to their President; I’ve talked to their Foreign Minister. They are a resilient people, and they will need the world’s support in the coming difficult days.

But the bottom line is that this tragedy is a reminder, a terrible reminder, to all of us that we all share a stake in one another. And that is especially important to keep in mind as the international community prepares to renew the development goals for 2015 and beyond. What happens in one country, we are reminded day to day, matters to many others, to all of us. And what matters in one culture has to be considered elsewhere. That is a bottom line with respect to the topic that we are discussing here today. The way we treat people of all backgrounds, including how we treat disabled and non-disabled alike, this is how we demonstrate our values, and it’s how we define who we are.

Through our development agenda, we have a very important opportunity to show the world that we value everyone’s contributions, and that we leave no one behind, including those with disabilities. It is clear, and we have seen here in the United States over the last years, that we can make an enormous number of lives better in that process.

The principle behind this is really very, very simple: Our societies, all of our societies, are stronger when every single one of our citizens, able bodied and disabled alike, all get to live up to their full potential. And that’s why here in our country, many states have established standards, and they steadfastly enforce them – laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which we passed in 1990 and we believe is really a gold standard with respect to how we treat people and how we open up the world for opportunities. We encourage the international community to look at, study, and, hopefully, emulate this law.

Thanks to laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, nearly one in five Americans are now protected from disability-based discrimination, and all Americans benefit from the contributions of our fellow citizens with disabilities. We see this every day in everyday life in the workplace, in schools, in education all across our nation.

Thanks to other groundbreaking non-discrimination laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, nearly 60 percent of students with disabilities are in general education classrooms for 80 percent or more of their school day. Nearly 350,000 infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families now receive early intervention services. And more than 6.6 million children and youth receive special education and related services designed to meet their individual needs.

This year the Federal Communications Commission issued the first-ever National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program in order to help meet the needs of deaf-blind individuals. And since then, hundreds of deaf-blind individuals have gained access to communication technologies through this program, allowing them to lead independent lives and stay connected with their family members and their friends.

In too many countries, however, we still see the rights and the dignity that we have been blessed to be able to now almost take for granted, that it is not existent in many of those places. So as we work to ensure equal access to public spaces, communications technology, education, and more, and though we’ve seen progress internationally, everybody here knows that we still have a lot to do.

Though disabled persons comprise 15 percent of the world, 8 in 10 live in developing countries. And there’s obvious reasons for that. And in those developing countries, 9 out of 10 children with disabilities don’t go to school. Compared with 5 or 10 years ago, many more countries now have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, and many more countries require buildings to be accessible. But all countries, we believe, can work harder to enforce these laws, and to ensure that disabled people have as much right and ability to access their local supermarket or their school or even election booths.

Frankly, this is as much an economic issue as it is a human rights issue. But it is also profoundly a family issue, a personal issue, and a moral issue. None of the change that is needed is possible without the partnerships that we’re building at the international level, including meetings like this, where the world can come together to learn from each other’s experience of how we can make rights a reality for disabled people. No one can forget, however, that the most important partnerships we build are, in the end, those that we build with persons with disabilities themselves. We cannot afford to forget that disabled individuals are not only the beneficiaries of development efforts and investments, but they are also leaders, and they are the agents of progress. And they do so on an equal basis with others.

I’m honored today to be joined by Judith Heumann and Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, who are well known to you all as longtime leaders in the international disability movement. We’re honored that they have brought their expertise and leadership into our government to guide United States policy and practice that leaves no one behind in our diplomacy or in our development, including persons with disabilities.

So we’re here because we see the possibilities of diplomacy, the promise of development, and the potential of every single person. And in fact, I think all of us understand and we have learned gracefully in our country that the possibilities are, frankly, unlimited. So I hope everyone will leave here with a commitment to do everything that we can to make sure that we are pursuing the policies of inclusivity and that we mean it when we say we will not leave anyone behind. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY BEFORE MEETING WITH EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FAHMY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy Before Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
New York City
September 22, 2013

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what do you have to say to al-Shabaab after this weekend's attack?

SECRETARY KERRY: I’ll have something to say about it tomorrow, but obviously it’s an enormous offense against everybody’s sense of right and wrong. And President Obama talked today with the President; I talked with the Foreign Minister, our Ambassador. We’re in close touch with everybody there. But it’s – it represents the seriousness and the breadth of the challenge that we face with ruthless and completely reckless terrorists. So we’re going to proceed.

Thank you

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS ON ANNIVERSARY OF THE EAST AFRICA EMBASSY BOMBINGS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Fifteenth Anniversary of East Africa Embassy Bombings
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
August 7, 2013

On the fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, our thoughts and prayers are with the survivors and innocent victims of these cowardly attacks.

We honor the memory of the over 200 people who lost their lives, and we remember the nearly 5,000 who were injured.

The victims included American, Kenyan, and Tanzanian employees of our embassies.

Our continued presence in the region and our enduring friendship with the people of Kenya and Tanzania remind us that, despite the devastation and loss of life, the terrorists failed.

We are committed to bringing them all to justice.

Tragedies like these also remind us why embassy security and the safety of our personnel and visitors remain a priority for the U.S. Department of State.

Working closely with our African partners, we will continue to combat terrorism while we keep our doors open to all those of good will.

ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR APRIL 8, 2013

U.S. soldiers provide security for U.S. engineers and Afghan soldiers during a road construction project in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, March 28, 2013. The soldiers are assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the engineers are assigned to the 229th Engineer Company of the Wisconsin Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kimberly Hackbarth

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Combined Afghan, Coalition Force Arrests Facilitator
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 8, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force killed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan facilitator Juma Khan in the Ishkamish district of Afghanistan's Takhar province today, military officials reported.

Khan used his home as a staging point for terrorists, offering a safe haven and weapons storage for fighters as they prepared for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, officials said. He also had a history of procuring and distributing weapons and ammunition to insurgents.

The security force also seized several grenades, an assault rifle with magazines, a pistol belt with magazines and ammunition, officials said.

During another operation today in the Ishkamish district, a combined force arrested a facilitator with ties to the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The facilitator owns a home suspected of being used exclusively for building and distributing IEDs. He also is believed to be heavily involved in generating funding for the insurgency.

In other news, the provincial response company in Wardak province, aided by coalition forces, detained known insurgent Juma Gul in the province's Jalrez district April 6.

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL'S REMARKS REGARDING U.S.-INDIA PARTNERSHIP

FROM: U.S DEPARTMENT OF STATE
The U.S.-India Partnership in the Asian Century
Remarks
Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
University of California, Berkeley Institute of International Studies
Berkeley, CA
March 21, 2013

Thank you, Neil, for that kind introduction and for inviting me here today. I’d like to thank Professor Pradeep Chhibber, Director of the Institute of International Studies for organizing this event. I’d also like to give a shout out to Ambassador Steve Browning, the State Department’s Diplomat in Residence here at Berkeley, who has no doubt persuaded countless Berkeley grads to join our ranks.

I met earlier this afternoon with some students studying South Asian issues and, based on our engaging discussion and their provocative questions, I think that they would all make fine recruits. In fact, a notable number of U.S. diplomats received degrees from UC Berkeley, where their interest in foreign affairs was sparked and nurtured. Most notably, my friend the late Ambassador Chris Stevens, class of 1982, is among the ranks of prominent Berkeley alumni.

In Secretary Kerry’s first public speech last month at the University of Virginia, he highlighted the role that foreign policy plays in the lives of average Americans. "In today’s global world," he said, "there is no longer anything foreign about foreign policy. More than ever before, the decisions that we make from the safety of our shores don’t just ripple outward; they also create a current right here in America. Foreign policy is important not just in terms of the threats that we face, but the products that we buy, the goods that we sell, and the opportunity that we provide for economic growth and vitality."

And that is why Berkeley is the perfect venue for our discussion today on the U.S.-India Partnership in the Asian Century. Located near Silicon Valley in a diverse, multicultural community, you understand first-hand how partnerships between American and Indian entrepreneurs can spark innovation, foster prosperity, and contribute to a vibrant, dynamic America.

Just next door, Indian Americans are responsible for founding about a seventh of all of Silicon Valley’s startups. And their contributions are seen not just in Silicon Valley, nor are they limited to IT. Indians start more companies than any other immigrant group in California and also lead all immigrant groups in the number of companies founded nation-wide in the industries of bioscience, environment, defense and aerospace.

When we talk about India in the context of the rising Asia-Pacific region, we have to include California, which can be considered a Pacific power in its own right, and one that will play a critical role in ensuring that America is connected with the economic boom happening across the Pacific region. In California alone, our exports to India are worth over $3.7 billion annually.

Today, I will begin with an overview of our relationship with India to illustrate just how far we have come. I will then talk about the education collaboration that is building a vast web of people-to-people ties that will carry our relationship through the next generation. I will touch on our robust economic partnership, and conclude by highlighting our work together to ensure security in the Indian Ocean region and beyond.

U.S.-India Relationship

There is perhaps no nation in the world with which we have traveled faster and farther over the last fifteen years than India. From 1998 when India exploded a nuclear weapon and we enacted sanctions in response, we have seen a remarkable transformation forged on the basis of common values such as pluralism, tolerance, openness, and respect for fundamental freedoms. We have seen important milestones from 9/11 when both our nations recognized the opportunity to work more closely to counter terrorism, to the landmark U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2005.

President Obama and Prime Minister Singh agreed to expand the Strategic Partnership further by establishing a Strategic Dialogue chaired by the Secretary of State and Indian External Affairs Minister to give strategic focus to our widening collaboration. Today, we collaborate on nearly every issue of strategic importance, fully living up to the President’s declaration that the U.S.-India relationship will be the "defining partnership of the 21st century." Over the last decade, the United States and India have deepened economic, military, and strategic ties. Let me describe some specific areas of engagement.

Trade, Investment and Sub-National Engagement

Our booming trade relationship already is delivering substantial benefits to the American people. Over the past decade, our bilateral trade has nearly quadrupled, reaching nearly $100 billion last year. India is also among the fastest growing investors in the United States, highlighting the mutually beneficial nature of our economic relationship. As bilateral trade and investment flourish, our software development, manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare, and many more sectors are thriving. To give one example: India has contracted with Boeing to purchase ten C-17 transport aircraft worth $4 billion from Boeing’s facility in Long Beach California.

As the Indian market continues to open and integrate more fully with the global economy, the future looks even brighter. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report predicts that the Indian economy will more than quadruple in size by 2030, to nearly $8 trillion, making it the world’s third-largest economy. This expanding economic base, which includes everything from high-tech and media to finance and tourism, could be even larger if the Indian government addresses policy and regulatory restrictions that constrain imports from the United States and elsewhere.

Despite this promise, India faces enormous resource constraints, particularly in infrastructure. Current estimates suggest that 80% of the infrastructure required to sustain and support India in 2030 has yet to be built. The United States is home to some of the most competitive road, bridge, water supply, electrical grid, and telecommunications companies in the world. So we see a big opportunity in this growth to deepen our commercial partnership with India, working together with American companies to build the airports, power plants, water and sanitation systems, and fiber optic networks of India’s future.

Businesses and citizens on both sides are recognizing the benefits of increased partnership. A 2012 report by the Confederation of Indian Industry noted that Indian companies in America had invested more than $820 million in U.S.-based facilities, had collectively conducted 72 mergers and acquisitions in the United States since 2005, and had projected research and development investments estimated to be over $190 million in 2012 alone. Indian companies operating in the United States are adding tremendous value to the local economies in which they operate, the most tangible effects of which are felt at the state and county levels. That’s why one of our top priorities in building the partnership with India is to expand state- and local-level engagement.

This year, at least eight American governors and city mayors plan to visit India with trade and investment delegations, which the State Department is pleased to help arrange. We are particularly excited that Governor Jerry Brown is planning a visit to India. During these visits, state officials and private sector representatives explore opportunities for job creation and investments by American companies in India and Indian companies in America. Our state officials increasingly understand that, as the fastest-growing market for U.S. exports, India provides significant opportunities to drive U.S. job growth and bring economic opportunity to the American workforce.

In February of this year, a 30-member delegation from California traveled to India to explore agricultural cooperation with the Indian state of Haryana. The delegation which included deans from four different California universities promoted the expertise and technological know-how, including in drip irrigation, horticulture, and cold storage facilities, of great benefit to the state’s agricultural economy. We look forward to hearing about the business deals and new partnerships resulting from their visit.

Education Collaboration

A cornerstone of keeping both of our economies healthy and growing is to ensure that we have the best possible education systems, particularly higher education, so that our students can receive the education and training they need for our country to compete successfully and to continue to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.

U.S.-Indian collaboration in the sphere of education is growing fast. We are proud that more than 100,000 young Indians study in the U.S., second only to China in numbers. But we want to do more. That’s why we have a higher Education dialogue that Secretary Kerry chairs with his Indian counterpart. That’s why we have a Passport to India program to provide internship opportunities for young Americans in India. That’s why we have made India the recipient of our largest Fulbright scholar program in the world. There are a growing number of collaborative programs between American and Indian institutions, at the cutting edge of creating knowledge and solutions for the future. Leading U.S. universities have established or are currently developing innovative educational joint ventures with India.

Berkeley is a great example of this, with its long history of collaborating with India. With some 70 India-related courses taught here every semester, a significant number of faculty member projects in India and an estimated 800 alumni in India, Berkeley is a leader in forging educational and institution partnerships with India. A UC Berkeley delegation which visited India in 2007 helped enable numerous collaborative research projects, as well as the information exchange and resultant scientific breakthroughs which have real-life impact on the wellbeing of our citizens. Berkeley’s collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in the areas of clean energies, particularly biofuels, and diseases, particularly TB and malaria, are but a couple of examples of the cutting-edge collaboration made possible by this partnership.

Through these kinds of collaboration, it is the citizens of our nations who propel the U.S.-India relationship forward, as relationships between nations are rooted in the relationships between their people.

Clean Energy Partnerships

One of the most exciting aspects of our growing collaboration is the effort to combat the effects of climate change, which has tremendous economic as well as environmental implications. As one of the world’s ten largest economies and top five greenhouse gas emitters, India has important stakes in global climate change and clean energy discussions.

Our energy, space, and commercial dialogues include bilateral technical and scientific initiatives that deliver clear, immediate, environmental and economic benefits that promote low-carbon growth. We work together to increase energy efficiency, expand renewable energy, and improve forest and resource management, including weather forecasting to improve farming.

The U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, initiated in 2009, has mobilized more than $1.7 billion in public and private resources for clean energy projects in India, which has also benefited American companies, many of them located here in California. U.S. companies have installed 40% of India’s first 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity.

Regional Cooperation

As we build a vital economic partnership with India, we also support India’s broader role in the Asia-Pacific region. With many of the world’s nuclear powers, half of its population, and some of the most dynamic economies in the world in the Asia Pacific, we firmly believe that much of the history of the 21st century will be written here. That is why President Obama called for a rebalance of U.S. foreign policy toward this region.

We should not forget, however, that for India the notion of the Asia-Pacific region as a key driver of global politics and economics is nothing new. It has shared cultural and historical ties that have laid the foundation for its expanded involvement of today. Through the "Look East" policy it initiated in 1991, India began to link itself more closely with its Asian partners to engage the rest of the world. Today India is forging closer and deeper economic ties with its eastern neighbors by expanding regional markets and increasing both investments and industrial development. India is also seeking greater security and military cooperation with its neighbors through greater commitment with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The United States supports and welcomes these developments. We have encouraged India to not simply look east, but to "engage east and act east" as well. We welcome robust Indian economic engagement with the states of East and Southeast Asia, and we see even greater potential in this region.

Thanks in part to Burma’s recent political and economic reforms, we now see unprecedented opportunities for trade and engagement between South and East Asia, especially along the emergent road, air, and sea links between India, Bangladesh, Burma, and the rapidly expanding economies of ASEAN.

In the past year alone, trade between India and the countries of Southeast Asia increased by 37%. This emerging Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor is a boon for the region; at the same time, it also provides our economy with potential new markets. Linkages across the rapidly expanding economies of South Asia with those of Southeast Asia will both accelerate economic development and strengthen regional stability, while helping unlock and expand markets for American goods and services.

Because of our shared interest in a secure, interconnected, and economically prosperous Asia-Pacific region, we have increased our dialogue and cooperation with India in the Asia Pacific. Through the semiannual U.S.-India Consultations on the Asia-Pacific and the India-U.S.-Japan Trilateral Consultations, we share a vital exchange of views on the development of this crucial region. Our discussions emphasize how we can better align strategies to reinforce one another’s engagement.

To protect and advance our growing, shared economic interests, we are working together to ensure security in the Indian Ocean and beyond. India transports over 90% of its goods by sea, and shares our interest in ensuring that trade flows remain open. Like us, India understands that economic integration, enabled by the improvements in connectivity across Asia, will lead to prosperity that benefits all countries in the region. Already in the Western Indian Ocean region, India is demonstrating its growing maritime capabilities with a robust counter-piracy approach that serves common regional interests. As a founding member of the international Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, India has shown great leadership in the efforts to combat piracy stemming from Somalia, which threatens trade flows to and from Asia.

South Asia

Our interests also increasingly converge on issues such as promoting democracy and peace in India’s neighbors to the north, east and south. As you may have heard, earlier today the UN Human Rights Council, including India, voted in favor of a U.S.-led resolution calling on the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfill its commitments to its people on post-conflict accountability and reconciliation. India’s support and close coordination has been crucial. The United States and India are Sri Lanka’s largest trading partners, and we share a mutual desire to see peace and reconciliation among all Sri Lankans.

We both want to see Nepal’s transition to a full constitutional democracy come to fruition and welcome the formation of the Interim Election government. And we are glad to see India’s increasingly close cooperation and progress in addressing long-standing disputes with Bangladesh. With all three, we have strongly welcomed India’s regional role as a beacon of democracy and economic prosperity.

Afghanistan

Nowhere is India’s role more critical than in Afghanistan, particularly as we prepare for the 2014 transition. The Afghan government looks to India as a regional source of economic, political and security support. India is the largest regional investor in Afghanistan, led by a planned $10 billion mining investment, and has committed more than $2 billion in official assistance for reconstruction purposes. Last year New Delhi hosted a major summit on international investment in Afghanistan’s economy. As Afghanistan shifts its economy from aid to trade in the coming years, India’s regional role as a driver of economic prosperity and anchor of democratic stability becomes even more important.

Next month in Almaty, India and other countries of the region, will meet to discuss how they can best support a secure and prosperous Afghanistan, integrated into its region. This gathering is part of the Istanbul Process, in which Afghanistan’s neighbors and near-neighbors support Afghanistan through a range of initiatives that advance security and regional economic cooperation. For instance, India chairs a working group focused on expanding cross-border commercial and business-to-business relations. We welcome India’s leadership, because the United States and India have a shared interest in Afghanistan’s security and prosperity as well as a shared vision for increasing regional cooperation in support of Afghanistan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am proud to report that our partnership has achieved much, whether it’s creating jobs and economic opportunity for American and Indians; meeting the need to educate the next generation; promoting security and prosperity in Afghanistan and the region; or countering the effects of climate change. But this partnership holds the promise for even more – and for that we look to you. If the next generation of students, educators, businesspeople, and artists have the same opportunity that I have had, to build new collaborations and form lasting friendships with the people of India, I am confident you will help fulfill the promise of this "defining partnership of the 21st century." Thank you.