U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING

Victoria Nuland
Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
April 2, 2012
TRANSCRIPT:

12:44 p.m. EDT
MS. NULAND: Happy Monday, everybody. I’ve got one thing at the top and then we’ll go to what’s on your minds. We want to call attention to the fact that April 1st, yesterday, the seven leaders of Iran’s Baha’i community marked a – the anniversary of their cumulative total of incarceration of 10,000 days in Iranian prison for their beliefs. We condemn Iran’s ongoing persecution and arrests of Baha’i community members, and we continue to be deeply concerned by the harassment and intimidation of all religious minorities in Iran, including its significant Sunni and Sufi populations, Christians like Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, the Zoroastrians, and others. And we renew our call on the Iranian authorities to release the seven Baha’i leaders and immediately guarantee all religious communities the right to practice their religion freely.
QUESTION: I’m sure we’ll get back to Iran in a minute, but I want to begin with Syria, because I’m a little confused. I wasn’t working yesterday, but I’ve tried to read up on what happened. But I don’t know exactly what the U.S. – what the Secretary committed the U.S. to doing. The 12 million – or the new aid that she announced, which brings it to 12 million, is that correct? That’s all in humanitarian aid, and none of it goes towards this fund which is going to pay the Free Syrian Army? Is that correct?
MS. NULAND: Shall we take a moment and go through all of the outcomes --
QUESTION: Well, no. I don’t want to go through. I just --
MS. NULAND: -- or you just want to go through the money outcomes?
QUESTION: Well, I’m trying to figure out exactly what the U.S. is – what the Administration is doing differently now than it was before yesterday.
MS. NULAND: Okay. So let’s go through some of the results from the meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People yesterday. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, I call your attention to the Secretary’s press conference in Istanbul, where she went through all of these things. But let me just do it again for your purposes.
We’ve been talking about working along four lines – first of all, strengthening sanctions; second, increasing humanitarian support; third, working with and strengthening the opposition in Syria; and fourth now, beginning to help the Syrians to establish dossiers of accountability with regard to the atrocities that have been committed.
So on each of these, first with regard to sanctions, a number of countries, including the United States, announced new targeted sanctions on individuals. And the Friends of the Syrian People also yesterday established a Sanctions Working Group. The goal of this is to look across the lines at what various countries have committed to, to look at how sanctions are being implemented, to help countries implement them increasingly effectively, to shout out when countries are not supporting the general sanctions direction of the Friends of the Syrian People, and that – and also to try to broaden the number of countries who are putting sanctions on the regime. We have a number of countries in the Friends of the Syrian People who don’t have much of a tradition of using sanctions as a tool of foreign policy. A number of them have asked for help in how you implement sanctions, how you track whether they are being followed, so this will be, we hope, more effective.
And as you heard the Secretary say publicly yesterday in some of her TV interviews, we do believe that these sanctions are beginning to have a profound effect, and we’re seeing some cracks within the regime as well as a result of the pressure individuals are under as they find it harder to travel, to move their money, et cetera.
The second is the humanitarian. On the humanitarian side, as you know, many of the Friends of the Syrian People countries have been contributing to humanitarian relief that is delivered by UN humanitarian organizations – Red Cross, Red Crescent, et cetera. Yesterday, the Secretary announced an additional contribution on the U.S. side of 12 million in humanitarian aid, bringing the U.S. total contribution in humanitarian aid – this is food, medicine, et cetera – to almost 25 million, and we put out a fact sheet yesterday on exactly what we’re doing there.
The third line, support for the Syrian opposition. First and foremost, on the political side, I think you know the Secretary, President, other U.S. principals have been calling for the SNC to broaden its outreach to as many communities as possible within Syria and to issue a very clear statement of its goals and intentions for a transition to a democratic Syria. So they put out – as you know, a week ago, they met in Istanbul, and then they published on Saturday – we also pushed this – a copy of this to some of our travelers; if you need to see it we can pass it to you. On Saturday-Sunday, they published what they are calling the Covenant for a Future Syria, I think is the way they described it. But it goes through very clearly their aspiration to have a Syria that is based on rule of law, that is based on a new constitution that is ratified democratically, to have elections, et cetera, et cetera, and also states very clearly their intention to be for a Syria for all Syrians, to protect the human rights of all communities, et cetera.
So that was a very good step. As the Secretary said yesterday, when we met with the Syrian National Council, what we were seeing there is that they are having some success expanding their membership. We now have not only members who have long lived outside of Syria, but we have a number of new members, some of whom the Secretary met with yesterday, who are freshly out of Babr Amr, other parts of – Homs, Daraa, et cetera, and they are now contributing their insight to the group. So it is broadening in scope.
The Secretary also reiterated that we have been supporting the needs of the civilian opposition with communications support, medical support, that we are now looking at how we can expand that. We had a number of consultations on this trip, she did both in Saudi Arabia and in Istanbul, with other countries about the kinds of needs that the civilian opposition has. We haven’t put a public dollar figure on that. There are a number of reasons for that. Partly, we’re still working through all of the needs. But some of this has been moving.
But one of the things that was very much confirmed by the Secretary’s meetings with the opposition leaders, both those who are formally members of the SNC and those who are just affiliated, and particularly with those who are freshly out of Syria, is that one of the biggest issues that they face is communicating among themselves – communicating inside Syria, communicating even in the same city. The woman that she met with from Homs made clear that when Homs was under shelling attack, they didn’t even know what was happening on the other side of the city, let alone be able to talk to opposition leaders in cities across Syria, and also to connect the external opposition with the internal opposition.
So this is something that we are very much committed to and that we will be continuing to work on. Britain and a number of other countries have also indicated their support. Other countries made clear that they will be providing a different kind of support. They will be providing support directly to the Free Syrian Army. I won’t speak to them, but as the Secretary made clear yesterday, this is something that was very much welcomed by the SNC.
The last line here is the accountability line. So the Syrian opposition is trying now to keep good records of the atrocities that have been witnessed. There is a lot of international experience in how you build accountability dossiers that can be used later in trials. Whether they are domestic trials or whether they are ICC trials is an issue, obviously, to be decided by the Syrian people. But we announced this – after consulting with a number of countries, we announced this accountability hub center initiative, and we put out a fact sheet on that today. That will do a number of things. It’ll train Syrians in how to keep these records. It’ll will provide a safe and secure storage place for the records. It’ll start connecting a number of the groups internationally that do this, including the UN. And the message that we want to send with this is that people committing atrocities, particularly regime figures, but frankly anybody committing atrocities inside Syria, should know that justice will find you eventually.
QUESTION: So wait, wait. Hold on – I think – I – congratulations, by the way. I think, A, that was – you may have set two records.
MS. NULAND: The longest answers? Yeah.
QUESTION: One was the longest answer ever uninterrupted.
MS. NULAND: Good. Good. That was my goal.
QUESTION: And secondly, the longest answer that didn’t answer the question. (Laughter.)
MS. NULAND: Go ahead, Matt.
QUESTION: What is the Administration doing differently today than it – which was my question, remember?
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: Back 10 minutes ago when – before you started? The question was: What is the Administration doing differently today than it was before Sunday?
MS. NULAND: It is supporting the sanctions working group to help tighten the --
QUESTION: Which you did before that, though, correct?
MS. NULAND: Well, every nation was involved in individual sanctions. We were not working together as intensely to try to strengthen them, to try to find the holes, to try to help countries that want to do more that don’t know how. We also obviously increased our own sanctions. We increased our humanitarian aid. Okay? That’s the second thing. We made clear in consultations with other countries and in working with the SNC that we are looking at how we can increase the nonlethal assistance that we provide to the civilian opposition. We consulted with countries that are doing other things to make sure that what we are doing and what they are doing is well-coordinated and worked with the opposition on how all of those things can work. And we stood up this accountability center.
QUESTION: But one, I remember the sanctions – this coordination of sanctions was discussed in Tunis as well back in the first --
MS. NULAND: Not in terms of a formal working group and at that --
QUESTION: All right. Two, you were providing --
MS. NULAND: -- and having staffs working on it permanently.
QUESTION: Two, you were providing humanitarian assistance before. Now, you’re just providing more, right?
MS. NULAND: We’re doubling it now. Yeah.
QUESTION: Three, you are providing communications equipment to the opposition? That is something that you were doing before, no?
MS. NULAND: We were doing it in a very modest way, and now we are looking at what more we can do, and we are trying to key it specifically to the needs that we’re hearing about.
QUESTION: Okay. So can you be more specific? When you say you were doing it in a modest way before, what does that mean? What – I mean, does that mean people were being given cell phones, computers? What was going on before, and what’s different about it now when you talk about more focused or directed – how is it going to be different than what was the modest program before?
MS. NULAND: Well, let me start with the goal here. As the Secretary said yesterday, the goal is to help the opposition communicate with itself, communicate with the outside world, to help it to organize better and to help it to have better situational awareness so it can evade a regime attack. So you can imagine that getting into precise specifics about exactly what we’re providing to whom and how we get it in there would defeat the purpose of helping them evade regime efforts to disrupt their communications, which have – which is precisely the goal here. So I’m not – we’re not going to talk publicly about exactly what this means, neither the kinds of equipment nor where it goes. What I will say is that we had a pretty modest program through MEPI, as we do in many countries. We will now be expanding this in scope.
QUESTION: Has that actually happened, or is it still in the process of happening?
MS. NULAND: It is beginning to happen.
QUESTION: Victoria.
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: Can you tell us why the term “clearing house”? Has this been used in this context before? I’m talking about the language, the term --
MS. NULAND: The accountability. Yeah.
QUESTION: Accountability clearing house.
MS. NULAND: Right.
QUESTION: What is -- because I think the Arabic language, we don’t have a similar term, “clearing house.”
MS. NULAND: Well, I think what we were trying to convey here is that while our expectation is that there will be a small bricks-and-mortar center for this, probably in Turkey, it’s bigger than that, because there is a huge virtual web-based component where our goal is to build networks among organizations that have – keep accountability records, whether they are human rights NGOs or whether they are the UN agencies that do this, and to provide a way, web-based, for Syrians who are bearing witness to get their information in.
So when we say “clearing house,” that’s designed to convey this kind of hub-and-spoke relationship, but also to train Syrians outside and inside in how you store these kinds of things securely, because you can’t just throw stuff up on the internet and hope that it won’t be compromised. These kinds of records, particularly if you want people to come forward with very sensitive material, they have to be assured that it’ll be protected and that they won’t make their own personal situation worse by bearing witness.
QUESTION: So this will be a physical structure somewhere?
MS. NULAND: The hope is that there will be a small bricks-and-mortar structure for training, for coordination, but it’ll be a much larger effort in a virtual sense.
QUESTION: Okay. And a quick follow-up on topic of aid. When you say communication and when you say we welcome aiding by others, perhaps, the Free Syrian Army or the Syrian Free Army, are you advocating a militant aspect to this revolt now?
MS. NULAND: What I said was --
QUESTION: Has there been a marked change in your position?
MS. NULAND: What I said, and what the Secretary said yesterday, was that the Syrian National Council very much welcomed these initiatives. From a U.S. perspective, one of the things that was important on this trip was we had a chance to coordinate with a number of the countries that are providing different kinds of assistance than we are so that we can ensure that this is mutually supportive.
QUESTION: As I understand you correctly, you still officially oppose any kind of increase in violence or the committing of violence by different opposition groups, be it by the opposition groups or the regime, because you want the violence to end rather than increase; correct?
MS. NULAND: Of course we want the violence to end. We want an immediate ceasefire.
Please.
QUESTION: These communication materials you mentioned, who are you going to deliver exactly? It’s going to be civilians or it’s going to be FSA elements within Syria?
MS. NULAND: Our support will be for the civilian opposition. Again, I’m not going to talk about the details for obvious reasons because we don’t want to – we want this to be effective; let’s put it that way.
QUESTION: You stated before that you are not exactly happy with the coordination between SNC and the FSA after this latest Istanbul conference. How do you assess this?
MS. NULAND: I don’t think I’ve ever spoken, or we’ve ever spoken, to coordination between the groups. We are – what we have seen – and the Secretary spoke to this yesterday – is that the SNC, which began as a group primarily made up of longtime exiles from Syria, is now becoming more of an umbrella organization. And there are – both in terms of its membership – that you see folks who are – have recently fled Syria, joining – there were people at this conference under the SNC umbrella yesterday who we all had a chance to speak to who had been out for a week, for a month, for six weeks, and are able to provide a real perspective on what is needed and what will help. They also have very close contacts, more effective contacts, back into Syria, which is helping the SNC.
But the SNC is also adopting an approach where there’s the organization itself, but it’s also providing an umbrella for those who are not ready to necessarily sign up with the SNC, but want to be affiliated. So what this covenant does is it allows groups who don’t necessarily want to call themselves SNC to nonetheless say we support these goals and principles as outlined in the covenant.
QUESTION: One more question relates to Istanbul conference. Were you able to meet with the Kurdish part, Kurdish National Council, or – it appeared that their delegation walk out last week.
MS. NULAND: We – there were some – as you know, the Secretary’s senior advisor on this issue, Fred Hof, was at the conference the week before. He’s had a number of contacts all through the week with the Kurdish group. They continue to talk to the SNC about some of their issues. And again, when we talk about the SNC becoming more of an affiliated structure, this is part of what we’re talking about, that they are – even if some of these Kurdish groups haven’t signed up to the SNC, they’re nonetheless in dialogue and trying to work through principles.
QUESTION: I just have a couple quick questions.
MS. NULAND: Yeah, Andy.
QUESTION: First, on the accountability clearinghouse --
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: -- is it possible or likely that the Syrian Government could avail itself of these services to put forward its own arguments about atrocities that armed opposition may have undertaken?
MS. NULAND: Well, it would strike me as unlikely that the Assad regime would want to avail itself of the structure that grows out of the Friends of the Syrian People. But it is – the accountability clearinghouse is designed to receive information about atrocities of any kind committed by any group, so it’s --
QUESTION: So there isn’t any sort of barrier to them?
MS. NULAND: It’s – correct.
QUESTION: Okay.
MS. NULAND: It’s an equal-opportunity clearinghouse.
QUESTION: Okay. And the second one is on the proposal, or fact of various other members of the Friends of the Syrian People bankrolling some of the salary costs for the FSA. Was this an option that was presented to the United States and rejected, that you guys decided no, we don’t want to do that? And if so, why, if you think, broadly, as a member of this broader group, it’s a good idea?
MS. NULAND: It didn’t go that way. This was an initiative of some specific countries on which we were briefed.
QUESTION: And does the United – I mean, you presumably do back this as a good idea in that it’s a Friends of the Syrian People sort of – part of this broader initiative. Why is it a good idea?
MS. NULAND: Again, this was something that was put forward at the meeting to the SNC. As we’ve made clear, as the Secretary’s made clear, we are going to contribute in the ways that we’ve talked about. Other countries are going to contribute in the ways that they deem most appropriate. What’s most important is that the Syrian opposition get the help that it needs.
QUESTION: But isn’t there – is there any concern that by – in having this happen through a sort of Friends of the Syrian People process, that you are leaving yourselves open to the Assad regime accusations that you’re essentially funding an uprising against his regime, that you’re funding --
MS. NULAND: Again, this is not an initiative of the Friends. It doesn’t appear in the communique. It’s something that was made known in the context of the conference, but it’s a bilateral initiative, or an initiative of a few countries to the SNC.
QUESTION: But the point – I mean, is the Administration comfortable with the idea that some of its friends and allies are going to be paying – essentially paying mercenaries that fight the Assad regime?
MS. NULAND: Again, we’ve – the SNC made clear that this is very welcome. We are coordinating closely with these countries to make sure --
QUESTION: Well, I understand, but --
MS. NULAND: -- that our efforts are mutually reinforcing. I’m not going to give it a grade one way or the other.
QUESTION: Well, no, no, no, but – we’re not asking for --
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: We’re not asking for a grade. We’re asking whether you think it’s – whether the Administration thinks it’s a good idea for these countries to do that.
MS. NULAND: Again, they are making their own sovereign decisions about what they think is important. We have not discouraged this initiative, and we are coordinating closely with them.
Please.
QUESTION: Okay. You haven’t – you have not discouraged the initiative?
MS. NULAND: Correct, correct.
QUESTION: Could I ask a quick follow-up --
MS. NULAND: Please.
QUESTION: -- on that? On the clearinghouse itself, on the secretariat, let’s say, if it has a secretariat, will we have organizations like the UN, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, sent out there to vet whatever data and information that would come in?
MS. NULAND: If you look at the factsheet that we put out --
QUESTION: I did, yeah.
MS. NULAND: -- it talks about a steering group, right, which includes association with these other international organizations. Again, this is not designed to be the only place where accountability can be kept. It’s designed to be an enhancement to current, ongoing UN-NGO efforts at accountability. It’s designed to be a resource for Syrians and to be affiliated with all the other efforts.
QUESTION: I understand, but it will have an international dimension or a component where you have these organized --
MS. NULAND: No, of course, yes, and it’ll have links to all those organizations, yes.
QUESTION: On the clearinghouse --
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: -- is it at all a response to the recent criticism that there’s been human rights abuses committed by the opposition?
MS. NULAND: Primarily, this is an initiative to ensure that regime elements, who are continuing not only to obey the Assad orders to fire on their own people, but are also committing gross abuses themselves – some of this horrible reporting we’ve seen about the killing of children, about the impressing of young people, about the travel bans on men, about the mining – all of that stuff can be documented. But as I said in response to Andy’s question, obviously, it’s an opportunity to, if there are abuses that can be documented on the other side, there’s a place to catalogue them. But most importantly, we’re trying to send a political message here that those who are still carrying out his bloody orders, there are people bearing witness to that and they will be held to account. And folks anywhere who are committing atrocities need to know that justice will find them.
QUESTION: Do you hope that it will be a deterrent in the opposition?
MS. NULAND: That’s exactly the hope and the hope that it will --
QUESTION: But a deterrent for the opposition. For example, on Libya --
MS. NULAND: A deterrent for anyone who would commit atrocities in Syria.
QUESTION: Last week --
MS. NULAND: Are we still on Syria?
QUESTION: Yeah.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. Please.
QUESTION: Last week, you said the world is more united against Syria regime. What is your understanding of China’s absence to the Friends of Syria meeting again?
MS. NULAND: Well, as you know, China was invited to attend this time and declined not to attend. I’ll refer you to the Chinese with regard to their decision there.
QUESTION: So – do you think the world is more united against – to the regime?
MS. NULAND: There’s no question. I mean, starting with the Security Council presidency statement, which China joined. Yeah.
QUESTION: So are you disappointed that China is not – didn’t --
MS. NULAND: It’s China’s choice whether it wants to attend the Friends group. We’ve made clear that the door is open.
QUESTION: Speaking about the UN Security Council --
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: Kofi Annan’s told them a couple – a little while ago that the regime is ready to withdraw from civilian – withdraw troops from civilian areas by April 10th or on April 10th. Is that at all okay with you?
MS. NULAND: Well, as you know, after the Security Council meeting, Ambassador Rice, in her capacity both as presidency of the council this month and speaking in her U.S. hat, had a comment on --
QUESTION: I missed that.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. So --
QUESTION: What did she say?
MS. NULAND: I actually didn’t see the precise words. I spoke to her people, because we were coming out concurrently. But my understanding is that – and if I’m not right, then whatever she said is binding in terms of our response, but – that as you know, the Secretary and the Friends had called for a real timeline, that Kofi Annan has set a timeline now. Obviously, we all hope that the implementation will be as rapid as possible – will be more rapid than April 10th and that we will judge him by his actions, not by his words.
QUESTION: Right. But I mean this gives him another eight days – I mean, more than a week.
MS. NULAND: Again, we all want to see this happen immediately, and we will judge him by his actions.
QUESTION: Do you expect that – a week ago, you and the Russians were coming closer and closer. But today, Lavrov, the foreign minister, said that we don’t accept the idea of a timeline or a shelf life for this initiative by Kofi Annan. Do you expect that there will be some sort of animosity between you two?
MS. NULAND: Well again, I didn’t see what Lavrov had to say. It probably was just in the --
QUESTION: Well, in a press conference today, he was very clear on the issue of a timetable.
MS. NULAND: Well, we feel very strongly, as did all 80 of those countries that were represented yesterday, that we can’t allow Annan – we can’t allow Assad to do what he’s done time and time again, make promises and break them, that the time – as the Secretary said yesterday, that the time for excuses is over. So we were very firm, and the Secretary made absolutely clear again and again that a timeline is necessary.
QUESTION: Do you believe that the Russians are giving Assad a cover -- that they’re
stalling?
MS. NULAND: Again, we are determined that there not be cover created by the situation.
QUESTION: So (inaudible) one week if this deadline is correct and it’s going to be implemented. What is the plan B? Surely should be some plan for a short time. What kind of steps are you willing to take if Assad, again, doesn’t do what he promised to?
MS. NULAND: Well, I’m obviously not going to prejudge where we’re going to be on April 10th, but I think if you look at the outcomes of the Friends of the Syrian People meeting, it’s very clear that our intention is to maintain as much pressure – build the pressure through all of these lines that we talked about on the regime. So --
QUESTION: On Egypt.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. Please – still on Syria? In the back. Yeah.
QUESTION: Yeah. All I want to say is just to follow on something Matt, I think, was getting at.
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: Setting aside what you think about the (inaudible) plan, in particular, it seems pretty clear that the Saudis are stepping up their role in Syria and some of the Gulf countries too. Does the Administration worry at all that the conflict might start to be seen, even if it isn’t in fact, start to be perceived as a conflict between the Saudis, the Gulf countries, and the regime rather than between the people of Syria and the regime? Is that a concern at all?
MS. NULAND: Well, we had a chance to have broad consultations, as you know. The Secretary saw – we were in Riyadh on Saturday. The Secretary had a chance to talk to all of the GCC members about this. There is no daylight between us, that the number one goal here is to increase the pressure on Assad until he stops, and that we’ve got to do all that we can here. Countries are making their own decisions how to do that. What’s important is the coordination among us.
The additional thing I would say here is that there is no doubt that all of the countries, all 82 countries, join the SNC in our commitment that this new Syria that we seek, this democratic Syria we seek, has to be a Syria for all Syrians, not to replace one ruling clique with another ruling clique, that what we are seeking is a democratic Syria where all ethnic groups are welcome, are part of the political process, have their rights and their freedoms protected. And the Gulf countries made statements to that effect that was – those principles were in the statement that the GCC plus U.S. issued on Saturday.
Please.
QUESTION: New subject?
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: A couple of questions. Victoria, have you been in touch with your allies in Azerbaijan and Israel over the reports of Israeli access to airbases in Azerbaijan on the Iranian border?
MS. NULAND: I think Mark spoke to this on Friday. We don’t have any information to indicate anything new on this front.
QUESTION: So since --
MS. NULAND: Yeah, please. Please.
QUESTION: What is going on with this P-5+1 meeting? Is it happening on the 13th in Istanbul, as someone who you know, we all know very well, said? Or is it not happening? Because she seems to be the only one who’s saying it’s going to happen on that time – at that time and that place.
MS. NULAND: We have made, as a P-5+1, a proposal to have this meeting on April 13th, 14th in Istanbul. There seems to be some issue as to whether the Iranians have accepted that, but we will be there if they are ready to accept those terms.
QUESTION: Okay. So you’re going to – so someone’s going to show up. Wendy Sherman or Bill Burns or whoever is going to be there on the 13th and 14th with a sign that says, “Welcome Iran.”
MS. NULAND: Well, obviously --
QUESTION: And if they don’t show up it’s their fault? Is that the idea? (Laughter.)
MS. NULAND: I mean, it’s simply been interesting to us that we are getting different signals out of Iran as to whether all of this is locked down. But we are – and we’ve been waiting for some time for the Iranians to – in all of their components – to confirm that they’re ready. But we are ready if they are ready at that date and venue.
QUESTION: Okay.
MS. NULAND: Okay?
QUESTION: On Egypt?
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: There’s been a lot of talk in the Egyptian media recently that one of the presidential candidates, Abu Ismail -- Hazem Abu Ismail’s mother has American citizenship and that under Egyptian electoral law this would disqualify him, because both of your parents are supposed to be only Egyptian nationals and nothing else. Recently, this presidential candidate himself has talked to the election commission in Egypt, which says that it’s investigating the matter.
So my question is: Has the U.S. Embassy in Cairo received any questions on this matter from the Egyptian election commission to verify this and if there’s – if this is something that you could verify or not?
MS. NULAND: Wow. That sounds like one I’m really not going to wade into. I’m going to send you to our Embassy in Cairo as to whether they’ve had any inquiries from the election commission. Frankly, we try very hard to stay out of these kinds of issues.
QUESTION: But this specifically has to do with somebody’s citizenship. Is this something that you could confirm or deny?
MS. NULAND: Can we verify citizenship?
QUESTION: Yes.
MS. NULAND: Again, I will refer you to our Embassy in Cairo as to whether we’ve had any inquires of that – in that regard.
Please.
QUESTION: On Afghanistan --
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: Al Jazeera has had a series of --
QUESTION: Can we stay on Egypt?
MS. NULAND: You want to stay on Egypt? Yeah, I’m sorry. Let’s do Egypt, and then --
QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the new Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Al-Shater? He claims that he has the support of the United States of America.
MS. NULAND: Well, the Secretary spoke to – she was asked this question yesterday --
QUESTION: Oh, I’m sorry. I missed it.
MS. NULAND: -- and she spoke to the principles that we expect to govern these elections, which are the same principles that the Egyptians themselves went to Tahrir Square to have.
QUESTION: Okay. But let me tell you what he said today. He said he does enjoy support of the international community, implicitly saying the United States of America. Do you support --
MS. NULAND: We’re certainly not going to be – as we don’t anywhere in the world – endorsing any individual candidate. We want the Egyptian people to make their decision.
QUESTION: But do you look at the Brotherhood as a buffer against the Salafists, for instance?
MS. NULAND: Again, I’m going to refer you to what the Secretary had to say about the principles that we espouse for this election.
Please.
QUESTION: (Off mike.)
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: So Al Jazeera found in a series of reports from Kunar province in Afghanistan that the Taliban has instituted a policy of persuading Afghans who have joined the security forces or the police to switch sides and join them. They’ve also have – are now playing the role of vice and virtue police, scrutinizing what people wear, their appearance, making women stay at home, et cetera. In lights of these revelations, is it the right strategy to continue negotiating with the Taliban, even indirectly, and to hand over control to the Afghan security forces?
MS. NULAND: Well, all of the things that you cite are not new in terms of what those Taliban who insist on fighting the Afghan constitution, fighting Afghan security forces, terrorizing the Afghan people have been up to. So our policy remains that those Taliban who want to continue to have their way by force, to try to overthrow the Afghan constitution, to fight the people of Afghanistan, fight the freedoms and human rights that they have attained, we are going to support the Afghans in meeting them on the battlefield.
However, we are also, as we’ve made clear, willing to support a process of reconciliation with those Taliban who are willing to renounce violence and get into talks. But we have to, as a next step, as we’ve made clear for a couple of weeks – given the multiple signals that we’ve had out of the Taliban and the multiple voices, the next step will be for those Taliban who want to sit down to issue a statement that renounces violence and makes clear that they are committed to a real peace process.
And then as we’ve said, at the end of the day, this process will only succeed if it results in a conversation with people who are ready to completely renounce violence, break ties with al-Qaida, support the constitution of Afghanistan in all of its manifestations, including the rights for women, minorities, and all Afghans.
QUESTION: Are you saying that talks are not ongoing?
MS. NULAND: As – you know what we’ve been saying forever, that we are at a preliminary stage of trying to support an Afghan-Afghan process. It’s been hard to get that going, but the door is open, but only if the Taliban are prepared to renounce violence.
Scott.
QUESTION: Colombia?
MS. NULAND: Colombia.
QUESTION: Move today to take possession of the last of the FARC hostages by the Colombian Government so reaction to that and any hope for what would happen next?
MS. NULAND: Yeah. I saw some reporting that this last sort of move was happening today. I think if you don’t mind, Scott, we will respond to that one tomorrow when this operation is completed.
Okay. Please.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) back to my subject, so if I understand you correctly, you’re saying that this building does not possess enough valid information that backs these claims of Israeli access in Azerbaijan airfield and that is why you’re not going to follow up on this report, you’re not calling your allies --
MS. NULAND: I’m going to send you to the Azerbaijanis for whatever they may be talking to the Israelis about. I don't have any information to indicate that the reports that are out there have any basis in fact.
QUESTION: Are you aware of more --
MS. NULAND: What?
QUESTION: Are you aware of more than one report?
MS. NULAND: That one reporting is --
QUESTION: So it’s not plural? I mean, as far as you know?
MS. NULAND: I mean, I’ve only – I’ve seen the one. I don’t know if there are more out there.
Please.
QUESTION: Thank you, Victoria. Do you have anything on the result of U.S. and the North Korea delegation meeting in German -- Aspen meeting?
MS. NULAND: I think this was a track-two meeting. There was no government meeting, if that’s what you’re asking. There may have been some Track II encounter between North Koreans and Americans, but there was no government meeting.
I’m getting the high sign from Jonathan. As you know, the President’s going to go out with the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Mexico shortly, so we want to get off the air before that. Let’s take two more.
QUESTION: On Russia, last week, this whole thing with Ambassador McFaul kind of rose up. Mark said on Friday that you guys were going to go in to the Russians and express concerns about his safety or at least raise the situation with them. I’m wondering if you did, if you – if that has happened, and if it has, what their response was.
MS. NULAND: Well, just to be a little bit clearer, we have for some time now been raising concerns about harassment, not only of Ambassador McFaul, but of Embassy personnel. We have been making clear at all levels, frankly, that we expect our Ambassador, we expect our Embassy to be able to conduct their work free from harassment, free from intimidation. The Russians have consistently, on the government side, pledged to investigate individual incidents. And we are working with them on those issues.
QUESTION: Right, but there was – after he – what was said last week was that – or on Friday was that the specific problem of his schedule becoming public had raised new concerns, and I’m wondering if those – if you’re aware if those have been – if those were raised.
MS. NULAND: Those have been raised.
QUESTION: They have.
QUESTION: Turkey, Iran?
MS. NULAND: Let’s just do – can I just take Andy and just --
QUESTION: Just a quick one on Myanmar. We’ve seen the – we saw the White House statement on --
MS. NULAND: Right.
QUESTION: I’m wondering if you have anything further on the elections, and specifically, do you feel that the results of these elections – how will the conduct and result of these elections play into the U.S. consideration of sanctions?
MS. NULAND: Well, as we have said from the beginning, we are going to match action with action, so we are in the process of completely evaluating the results of the elections. I think that you saw the Secretary make clear, as we were congratulating the Burmese people and as we were congratulating the winners, that nonetheless we need to continue to make progress in the electoral systems and make sure that any irregularities here are investigated. But I don’t have anything to announce here in terms of our next steps, in terms of action for action, but we’ll be looking at that.
And the last one here, and then we got to go.
QUESTION: Are you hoping – Secretary spoke to this – the Turkish decision to cut exporting – imports on oil from Iran by a fifth. My question is: Is this enough for Turkey to get away from – escape from U.S. sanctions? Are you expecting any more from Turkey?
MS. NULAND: Well, the Secretary did say how encouraged we are. We had a chance to talk to the Turkish Government about this. We now need to continue the discussions bilaterally, and we will be doing that in terms of what impact this might have, so we have to have some further conversations at the technical level.
Okay? Thank you all very much.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:23 p.m.)

WISCONSIN ELECTION WILL BE MONITORED BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, April 2, 2012
Justice Department to Monitor Election in Wisconsin
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that the Civil Rights Division will monitor the election on April 3, 2012, in Milwaukee.  The monitoring will ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes.  The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group.  In addition, the act requires certain covered jurisdictions to provide language assistance during the election process.  The city of Milwaukee is required to provide assistance in Spanish.

Justice Department personnel will monitor polling place activities in Milwaukee.  Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country.  To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANETTA ABOARD USS PELELIU

Secretary Panetta Gaggle Aboard USS Peleliu
  SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LEON PANETTA:  Okay.  Are you all right?
Okay.
             Q:  Staff Sergeant Bales’ defense team says they’re facing an almost complete information blackout from the government that’s having a devastating effect.
            SEC. PANETTA:  Well, you know, the key here is to follow the procedures that we have under the military code of justice and we’ve made very clear that – I’ve made very clear that those procedures will be followed and that they’ll be entitled to whatever information we’d be entitled to under the military code of justice.  But I’ve been assured that this investigation now is going to continue, that charges have now been brought.  We’re going through an Article 32 process and the defendant, as I said, will be entitled to the rights that are provided under the military code of justice.
             Q:  (Inaudible) – since 2007.  And 75 percent have been in the last two years.  We’re wondering, with this situation can the partnership endure and what needs to be done and can be done?
             SEC. PANETTA:  No, you know, I really do think that General Allen has the right strategy for Afghanistan and that 2011 was an important turning point that we’ve made some significant gains there and that we’re in the process of transitioning areas to Afghan governance and control.  And I think we need to stick to that strategy.  As I’ve said, war is hell.  We’re going to run into these kinds of incidents.  That’s the nature of conflict, but we can’t allow those kinds of incidents to undermine our basic strategy.  We’re on the right track and we have to stick to it.
             Q:  Mr. Secretary –for the spring – what the strategy as far –
             SEC. PANETTA:  The –spring?  I think right now obviously our goal is to make sure that we continue to secure the key areas that we’re involved with and that we continue the transition.  There’s another transition that’s due to be made in this year and we’ve got about three more areas of transition to complete.  The final transition will take place about in the fall of 2013.  So our goal from General Allen is to do that.  The other goal, frankly, is that we are going to be withdrawing the remainder of the surge, which is about 23,000.  And so General Allen will present me with a plan sometime in April as to how we accomplish that by the end of this fighting season.
             Q:  Sir, I have a two-part question about BRAC.  If you secure approval for it, how might that affect Southern California?  If you don’t, what can the Department do on its own?  Are you prepared to close the smaller bases -- 300 and less personnel?
             SEC. PANETTA:  You know, the reason we’ve asked for BRAC authority here is because, you know, as we draw down the force over the next five to 10 years, that we’re going to have – you kow, we’ll have some excess infrastructure.  And that if we’re spending money on maintaining excess infrastructure, it’s money that is taken away from other areas in defense.
             The BRAC process, I know it’s a tough process.  I’ve been through BRAC, when I was a congressman in Monterey.  I went through the loss of Fort Ord, so I know what it means for a community.  But the BRAC process is at least the only approach we have trying to do this right.
             I believe that we ought to do it through that approach.  There is some de minimis closures that we have the right to do under the law, but my view is that for the kind of major installation, that ought to be done through the BRAC process.
             Q:  Mr. Secretary, have we taken any special precautions –
             SEC. PANETTA:  By the way, on Southern California, I mean, I think generally the bases here are pretty important to the strategy that we put in place in terms of our defense.  And I think most of those will largely be maintained.
             Q:  Particularly regarding the pivot to the Pacific or –
             SEC. PANETTA:  Yes, the pivot to the Pacific is important, but more importantly being able to maintain the facilities for our troops and our Navy, and particularly the Marine Corps.  Those are going to be essential elements to that strategy.
             Q:  Have we taken any special precautions should the North Koreans launch missiles?
             SEC. PANETTA:  We expressed our concern.  The president of the United States made very clear that the North Koreans should not do this.  It is provocative.  It’s dangerous and it violates the international law.  And so our hope is that they will not do it.  But as always takes place in these kinds of situations, we have to be fully prepared for any possibility -- and we are.
             Q:  Have we moved – (inaudible).
             SEC. PANETTA:  Put whatever assets in place that we need in order to deal with any contingency.
             Q:  Mr. Secretary, there’s a lot of concern on Capitol Hill about having sufficient ships in the Navy to do the Navy – (inaudible) – the Navy have pushed the decommissioning another year, but it’s going to be retired at some point.  The Marines are concerned and they want to make sure that there’s enough – (inaudible) – them.  How do you reconcile the two needs both from a budgetary perspective and also operationally having ships available to train and prepare and then deploy overseas?
             SEC. PANETTA:  We just – we actually just sent up the 30-year shipbuilding plan to the Congress.  And as I testified, our goal is to maintain the target of developing 300 ships in the Navy.  And we will do that by – I think the target right now is to do that by 2019.  So yes, there’ll be – yes, there’ll be some ups and downs and there are some ships that obviously we’ll draw down that are outdated.  But overall, we are going to maintain -- not only maintain, but increase our ships in the Navy.
             Q:  Are you concerned that there are – you know, the fleet has been ridden hard and put away wet?
             SEC. PANETTA:  It has and – you know – but these are great ships.  I had a chance to go on ships like this and I was just on the Enterprise, which is a carrier that’s being deployed for the last time in the Middle East, but, you know, they’ve served this country well.
             One of the things that I want to maintain is our industrial base for the future so that we can produce the ships we need for the future.  And I want to do it in American shipyards.  I don’t want to do it abroad.  So what I’ve got to do is to try to – and we’re committed to this – is to try to do this in a way that protects our industrial base so that it will be there if and when we need it for the future.
             Okay?  Thanks very much.

FDIC REPORTS COUNTERFEIT MONEY ORDERS IN CIRCULATION

FROM:  FDIC E-MAIL TO:	CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (also of interest to Security Officer)
SUBJECT:	Counterfeit Money Orders
Summary:	Counterfeit money orders bearing the name Northrim Bank, Anchorage, Alaska, are reportedly in circulation.

Northrim Bank, Anchorage, Alaska, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit money orders bearing the institution's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 125200934, which is assigned to Northrim Bank. The items are dissimilar to authentic money orders and when copied display a three- column "VOID" background. A security feature statement is embedded in a darkened top border and along the bottom border between two padlocks.
Authentic money orders display a three-sided ornate border with open squares in each top corner and solid circles in each lower corner. A security feature statement is centered below the top border. The wording "NOT VALID OVER $2,500.00" is printed below the dollar amount line.
 Be aware that the appearance of counterfeit items can be modified and that additional variations may be presented.

Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 3501 North Fairfax Drive, CH-11034, Arlington, Virginia 22226, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov. Questions related to federal deposit insurance or consumer issues should be submitted to the FDIC using an online form that can be accessed at http://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp.

	Sandra L. Thompson
	Director Division of Risk Management Supervision

FEMA WARNS TO WATCH OUT FOR DISASTER SCAMS

FROM: FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Be on the Lookout for Scams and Frauds After a Disaster
CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- West Virginia residents whose properties were damaged in the recent storms are warned to be alert for and report any potential fraud during recovery and rebuilding efforts, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said today.
The aftermath of a disaster can attract opportunists and con artists. Homeowners, renters and businesses can follow some simple steps to avoid being scammed.
Be suspicious if a contractor:
Demands cash or full payment up front for repair work;
Has no physical address or identification;
Urges you to borrow to pay for repairs, then steers you to a specific lender or tries to act as an intermediary between you and a lender;
Asks you to sign something you have not had time to review; or
Wants your personal financial information to start the repair or lending process.
To avoid scams:
Question strangers offering to do repair work and demand to see identification;
Do your own research before borrowing money for repairs. Compare quotes, repayment schedules and rates. If they differ significantly, ask why;
Never give any personal financial information to an unfamiliar person; and
Never sign any document without first reading it fully. Ask for an explanation of any terms or conditions you do not understand.

Disasters also attract people who claim to represent charities but do not. The Federal Trade Commission warns people to be careful and follow some simple rules:

Donate to charities you know and trust. Be alert for charities that seem to have sprung up overnight.
If you’re solicited for a donation, ask if the caller is a paid fundraiser, who they work for, and the percentage of your donation that will go to the charity and to the fundraiser. If you don’t get a clear answer — or if you don’t like the answer you get — consider donating to a different organization.

Do not give out personal or financial information – including your credit card or bank account number – unless you know the charity is reputable.

Never send cash: you can’t be sure the organization will receive your donation.
Check out a charity before you donate. Contact the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance at www.give.org.

If you believe you are the victim of a contracting scam, price gouging or bogus charity solicitations, contact local law enforcement and report it to the West Virginia office of the Attorney General. Call the Consumer Helpline at 1-800-368-8808 or find a complaint form online at www.wvago.gov/consumers.cfm.

Many legitimate persons -- insurance agents, FEMA Community Relations personnel, local inspectors and real contractors -- may have to visit your disaster-damaged property. Survivors could, however, encounter people posing as inspectors, government officials or contractors in a bid to obtain personal information or collect payment for repair work. Your best strategy to protect yourself against fraud is to ask to see identification in all cases and to safeguard your personal financial information. Please keep in mind that local, state and federal employees do not solicit or accept money for public services.

All FEMA employees and contractors will have a laminated photo ID. A FEMA shirt or jacket alone is not proof of identity. FEMA generally will only request an applicant's Social Security or bank account numbers during the initial registration process. However FEMA inspectors may require verification of identity. FEMA and U.S. Small Business Administration staff never charge applicants for disaster assistance, inspections or help to fill out applications. FEMA inspectors verify damages but do not recommend or hire specific contractors to fix homes.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON ON INTERVENTION IN SYRIA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Intervention to the Friends of the Syrian People
Remarks Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State As Prepared
Istanbul, Turkey
April 1, 2012
I want to thank Prime Minister Erdogan, Foreign Minister Davutoglu and the people of Turkey for hosting us today. Turkey has shown steadfast leadership throughout this crisis. I also want to recognize the continuing contributions of the Arab League and in particular the work of Secretary General Elaraby and the chair of the Syria committee, Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim. To all my colleagues, and to all our friends and partners around the world, thank you for standing by the Syrian people.

We meet at an urgent moment for Syria and the region. Faced with a united international community and persistent popular opposition, Bashar al-Assad pledged to implement Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s initial six point plan. He promised to pull his regime’s forces back and silence its heavy weapons, allow peaceful demonstrations and access for humanitarian aid and journalists, and begin a political transition.

Nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises.

Rather than pull back, Assad’s troops have launched new assaults on Syrian cities and towns, including in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces. Rather than allowing access for humanitarian aid, security forces have tightened their siege of residential neighborhoods in Homs and elsewhere. And rather than beginning a political transition, the regime has crushed dozens of peaceful protests.

The world must judge Assad by what he does, not by what he says. And we cannot sit back and wait any longer. Yesterday in Riyadh, I joined with the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to call for an immediate end to the killing in Syria and to urge Joint Special Envoy Annan to set a timeline for next steps. We look forward to hearing his views on the way forward when he addresses the United Nations Security Council tomorrow.

Here in Istanbul, we must take steps of our own to ratchet up pressure on the regime, provide humanitarian relief to people in need, and support the opposition as it works toward an inclusive, democratic and orderly transition that preserves the integrity and institutions of the Syrian state.

First, pressure. On Friday, the United States announced new sanctions against three more senior regime officials: Minister of Defense Rajiha, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Adanov and Head of Presidential Security Shalish. A growing list of Syria’s worst human rights offenders are learning that they cannot escape the consequences of their actions. I am pleased that the Friends of the Syrian People have agreed to form a sanctions working group, to coordinate and expand our national sanctions and strengthen enforcement. Together we must further isolate this regime, cut off its funds, and squeeze its ability to wage war on its own people.

The United States will also work with international partners to establish an accountability clearinghouse to support and train Syrian citizens working to document atrocities, identify perpetrators, and safeguard evidence for future investigations and prosecutions.
Our message must be clear to those who give the orders and those who carry them out: Stop killing your fellow citizens or you will face serious consequences. Your countrymen will not forget, and neither will the international community.
Turning to the humanitarian effort, the United States is expanding our commitment to help the people of Syria. This week in Washington, I met with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross and we discussed the urgent needs, especially in the communities suffering under relentless shelling.

In Tunis, I pledged $10 million to fund makeshift field hospitals, train emergency medical staff, and get clean water, food, blankets, heaters, and hygiene kits to civilians who desperately need them, including displaced people. Despite the regime’s efforts to deny access, that aid is starting to get through. So in March we added $2 million to our commitment, and today I am announcing more than $12 million for the Syrian people – for a total of nearly $25 million.

But we know that no amount of aid will be enough if the regime continues its military campaign, targets relief workers, blocks supplies, restricts freedom of movement, and disrupts medical services. So the United States fully supports the UN’s diplomatic effort to secure safe and unfettered access for humanitarian workers and supplies, including a daily, two-hour ceasefire -- beginning immediately -- to allow aid to get in and wounded civilians to get out. And I want to thank the governments of Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq for keeping their borders open and serving as generous hosts to Syrians in great need.
The third track is supporting the opposition as it plans for an inclusive, democratic transition.

Here in Istanbul, the Syrian National Council and a wide range of opposition groups are uniting around a common vision for a free, democratic and pluralist Syria that protects the rights of all citizens and all communities. It is a roadmap for saving the state and its institutions from Assad’s death spiral. And it is worthy of support from the international community and Syrians from every background.

Turning this vision into reality will not be easy, but it is essential. Assad must go and Syrians must choose their own path. Citizens across the country are already laying the groundwork. Peaceful protests continue to swell, with citizens marching in the streets of Syrian cities and towns, demanding dignity and freedom. The regime has done everything it can to prevent peaceful political organizing, and activists and opposition members have been jailed, tortured, and killed. And yet, local councils have emerged all across the country. They are organizing civil resistance and providing basic governance, services and humanitarian relief, even as the shells rain down around them.

To support civil opposition groups as they walk this difficult path, the United States is going beyond humanitarian aid and providing additional assistance, including communications equipment that will help activists organize, evade attacks by the regime, and connect to the outside world – and we are discussing with our international partners how best to expand this support.

In the unlikely event that the Assad regime reverses course and begins to implement the six-point plan, then Kofi Annan will work with the opposition to take steps of its own. But in the meantime, Syrians will continue to defend themselves. And they must continue building momentum toward a new Syria: free, unified, and at peace.

Now that they have a unified vision for transition, it will be crucial for the opposition to translate it into a political action plan to win support among all of Syria’s communities. We’ve seen here in Istanbul that disparate opposition factions can come together. Despite the dangers they face, the next step is to take their case across Syria, to lead a national conversation about how to achieve the future Syrians want and deserve. That’s how the opposition will demonstrate beyond any doubt that they hold the moral high ground, strip away Assad’s remaining support, and expose the regime’s hypocrisy.

So this is where we find ourselves today: Kofi Annan has given us a plan to begin resolving this crisis. Bashar al-Assad has so far refused to honor his pledge to implement it. The time for excuses is over.

President Medvedev calls this the “last chance” for Syria. I call it a moment of truth.
Together we must hasten the day that peace and freedom come to Syria. That solution cannot come fast enough, and we grieve for every lost day and every lost life.
We are committed to this effort and we are confident that the people of Syria will take control of their own destiny. Let us be worthy of this challenge and move ahead with clear eyes and firm determination.
Thank you.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS CO. SETTLES CHARGES OF INSIDER TRADING IN INTERMUNE, INC., OPTIONS

The following excerpt is from the SEC website:
March 30, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, on March 29, 2012, the Honorable George B. Daniels,U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, entered a settled final judgment for insider trading in the options of InterMune, Inc. as to Michael S. Sarkesian, a Swiss citizen and resident, and Quorne Ltd., a British Virgin Islands limited liability company wholly owned by a Cyprus trust maintained for the benefit of a Sarkesian relation. The alleged illicit trading by Sarkesian and Quorne took place ahead of a December 17, 2010 announcement that the European Union’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, had recommended to the European Commission that it permit InterMune to market its developmental drug, Esbriet, in the European Union. Sarkesian and Quorne consented to the entry of the final judgment, which imposes injunctive and monetary relief. The Commission also announced that on March 27, 2012, it amended its complaint, filed on December 23, 2010 against one or more unknown purchasers of the options of InterMune, to name Sarkesian and Quorne as defendants.

In its amended complaint, the Commission alleges that Sarkesian was tipped to material non-public information concerning the CHMP’s recommendation in advance of the December 17 announcement and that, while in possession of this material non-public information, Sarkesian exercised his authority to manage and administer Quorne’s funds by recommending to Quorne that it purchase InterMune call options. As a result, Sarkesian caused Quorne to purchase 400 InterMune call options through a brokerage account in Switzerland on December 7 and 8, 2010. The market price of the 400 options rose over 500% following the December 17 announcement.

On December 23, 2010, on the same day that the Commission filed its initial complaint, the Court entered a Temporary Restraining Order freezing assets and trading proceeds from the alleged illicit trading and prohibiting the then-unknown purchasers from disposing of the options or any proceeds from the sale of the options. Quorne later sold the 400 options, the proceeds of which have remained frozen by Court order.
Without admitting or denying the allegations of the amended complaint, Quorne and Sarkesian consented to entry of a final judgment enjoining them from future violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and ordering them jointly and severally to pay $616,000 in disgorgement and $93,806.17 in civil penalties pursuant to Exchange Act Section 21A. The monetary sanctions will be paid out of the frozen funds. See Litigation Release No. 21794 (December 23, 2010).

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, and the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.

CYCLONE DAPHNE HITS FIJI ISLANDS

FROM:  NASA WEBSITE
NASA Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Daphne Born Near Fiji Islands
Tropical Storm Daphne was born on April Fool's Day in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, as low pressure System 95P consolidated and organized. NASA's Terra satellite passed over Daphne after the storm was named. Daphne had already caused severe flooding in areas of Fiji.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Cyclone Daphne when it was over the North Fiji Basin on April 1, 2012 at 2300 UTC (7 p.m. EDT).

Before Daphne had even become a tropical storm, warnings were in force throughout Fiji. The Fiji Meteorological Service noted today, April 2, that a gale warning remains in force for Viti Levu, Yasawa And Mamanuca Group, Southern Lau Group, Kadavu and Nearby Smaller Islands. Strong wind warnings are up for the other Fiji islands. In addition, a severe flood warning is in effect for all major rivers, streams and low-lying areas of Viti Levu. For additional warning information, visit: http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/20020.txt.

Sky news reported four people were killed from flash flooding in Fiji on April 1, and a state of emergency was declared.n The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that there were about 8,000 people in evacuation shelters and that air travel has resumed today after being grounded yesterday.

On April 2 at 0300 UTC (April 1, 11 p.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Daphne had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots (40 mph/64 kph). Those tropical-storm-force winds extend as far as 200 nautical miles (230 miles/370 km) from the center, making Daphne a good-sized storm, more than 400 nautical miles (460 miles/741 km) in diameter. Daphne's center was located about 340 nautical miles (391 miles/630 km) west-southwest of Suva, Fiji, near 19.8 South and 172.7 East. Daphne was moving to the east-southeast near 18 knots (20.7 mph/ 33.3 kph).

Forecasters expect Daphne to continue moving to the east-southeast and maintain strength over the next day or two.

Text Credit: Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

FINDINGS OF F-22 RAPTOR ADVISORY BOARD

The photo and excerpt are from the Department of Defense: 
F-22 Raptor Advisory Board Announces Findings
By Mitch Gettle
Air Force Public Affairs Agency
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 - Air Force leaders provided an update on the service's Scientific Advisory Board study into F-22 Raptor aircraft life support systems and flight operations during a Pentagon briefing yesterday.

Retired Air Force Gen. Gregory Martin, an aviator and a former commander of two major commands, chaired the nine-member SAB team which studied the F-22's onboard oxygen generation systems and briefed its findings and recommendations in trying to determine a reason why some people have experienced unexplained physiological events while piloting the aircraft.

"From April 2008 until May 2011, the Air Force experienced 14 physiological incidents with the fleet of F-22s," Martin said. "Each incident was investigated, and of those incidents, 10 did not reveal a root cause."

It was the unexplained nature of those incidents that gave the Air Force concern and led Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley to ask for a broad area review which the SAB conducted, he added.
"We were unable to determine a root cause, but we were able to put in place the proper safety measures and risk mitigation techniques that would allow the F-22 fleet to return to fly ... to ensure the integrity of the life support system," Martin said. "We went from ground test to flight test to a return-to-fly phase, and moving into a transition phase."

The advisory board made nine findings and 14 recommendations based on a seven-month study of the F-22's evolution -- from conception and acquisition through current flight operations -- which the Air Force can use to move forward.

Martin said the board's findings and recommendations fall into three areas: acquisition processes and policies, organizational structure recommendations, and equipment recommendations to not only protect the pilots and crew members today but also in the future.

"Some of the things we recommended give us a much better understating of the pilots' performance in those environments that we have not operated in before," Martin said. "It will further our understanding of the aviation physiology of operating in that environment."

Air Force leaders remain steadfast that the F-22 is a fully combat capable aircraft and they have every confidence in its current and future performance.

"Since September of last year we've flown over 10,000 sorties," said Maj. Gen. Charles Lyon, Air Combat Command's director of operations. "We've had a 99.9 percent effective flying rate relative to physiological incidents, but that is not good enough.

"We will not rest. We will not stop," Lyon continued. "We will not end this journey we are on until we carry that 99 percent decimal point to the farthest right that we can."

The Air Force is well into the implementation phase of the recommendations from the SAB team, he said, and continues to aggressively pursue the cause of these unexplained incidents.
"Let there be no doubt, that safety is paramount to the men and women who operate [the F-22] and the commanders who command them," Lyon said. "When we wear this uniform there is risk, there is risk inherent in aviation and risk inherently in conducting military operations.
Pilot safety has and always will remain a priority, Lyon added.

"We have instructed and talked to our members in the field," Lyon said. "Whenever you get any indication that something may not be right ... terminate the flight. All eyes are focused on you and the safe recovery of your aircraft."

When a physiological event occurs, the pilot is met by a medical team that provides immediate care, he said. Additional tests are taken, he added, and sent to the laboratory.
"And so far, nothing remarkable has come back from the [F-22 pilot] lab tests we've analyzed," Lyon said. "When it comes to safety, no one second-guesses the pilot."
The F-22 is a fifth-generation fighter and one that is needed for the United States to establish air superiority in today's and tomorrow's conflict's, said Maj. Gen. Noel "Tom" Jones, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements.

The F-22 "is the leading edge of technology," Jones said, "and if our nation needs a capability to enter contested airspace to deal with air forces that are trying to deny our forces the ability to maneuver without prejudice on the ground, it will be the F-22 that takes on that mission."

COURT ENTERS $98.6 MILLION JUDGMENT AGAINST U.K. HEDGE FUND ADVISER PENTAGON CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PLC AND CEO

March 30, 2012
FROM:  SEC  WEBSITE
On Wednesday, March 28, 2012, United States District Judge Robert W. Sweet of the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment in favor of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ordering total monetary relief of $98.6 million. The final judgment enjoins Defendants Pentagon Capital Management (“PCM”), a United Kingdom based hedge fund adviser, and its chief executive officer, Lewis Chester, from violating the antifraud provisions of the securities laws, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. In addition, the final judgment orders PCM and Chester, on a joint and several basis with their hedge fund client Relief Defendant Pentagon Special Purpose Fund, Ltd., to pay $60,204,423.20, representing $38,416,500 in disgorgement of their ill-gotten gains and $21,787,923.20 in prejudgment interest. Finally, the final judgment imposes a civil money penalty of $38,416,500, on a joint and several basis, against PCM and Chester.

Previously, on February 15, 2012, the Court issued an Opinion finding that Defendants “intentionally, and egregiously,” violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws by engaging in a late trading scheme to defraud United States mutual funds. Late trading refers to the practice of placing orders to buy, redeem, or exchange U.S. mutual fund shares after the time as of which the funds calculate their net asset value (usually as of the close of trading at 4:00 p.m. ET), but receiving the price based on the net asset value already determined as of 4:00 p.m. The same day that the Court entered the final judgment, the Court also issued an Opinion explaining its decision to impose a penalty equal to the disgorgement ordered because,inter alia, “Defendants understood that late trading was illegal and acted with marked scienter, going to great lengths to seek out, structure, and maintain the ability to deceive the funds into accepting their late trades and attempting to cover up their late trading after the fact.”

Chester, age 43, is a resident of London, England. PCM is an investment adviser and investment manager based in London, England, and is registered with the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority. Pentagon Special Purpose Fund, Ltd. is an international business company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

FORMER OFFICE MANAGER FOR SENATOR KENNEDY SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR THEFT AND WIRE FRAUD

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Friday, March 30, 2012
Former Senate Office Manager Sentenced to 20 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud and Theft of Government Property
WASHINGTON – A former office manager in the U.S. Senate was sentenced today to 20 months in prison for wire fraud and theft of government property, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Ngozi Pole, of Waldorf, Md., also was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the District of Columbia to serve three years of supervised release and 500 hours of community service following his prison term and ordered to pay $77,608.86 in restitution.  Pole was found guilty at trial on Feb. 1, 2011, of five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government property.

According to evidence presented at trial, beginning in at least 2003 and continuing until January 2007, Pole repeatedly submitted paperwork causing the Senate to pay him larger bonus payments than had been approved by either the chief of staff or former U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy.  According to the evidence presented at trial, these unauthorized bonus payments totaled more than $75,000.  Pole hid the existence of these unauthorized payments by repeatedly transmitting information to the chief of staff that falsely showed that he received only those payments that had been authorized.  

This sentencing was handled by Trial Attorney Tracee Plowell of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.   Former Senator Kennedy’s office cooperated fully with the investigation.

HUBBLE SPOTS UFO GALAXY

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the "UFO Galaxy." NGC 2683 is a spiral galaxy seen almost edge-on, giving it the shape of a classic science fiction spaceship. This is why the astronomers at the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory, Cocoa, Fla., gave it this attention-grabbing nickname. While a bird's eye view lets us see the detailed structure of a galaxy (such as this Hubble image of a barred spiral), a side-on view has its own perks. In particular, it gives astronomers a great opportunity to see the delicate dusty lanes of the spiral arms silhouetted against the golden haze of the galaxy’s core. In addition, brilliant clusters of young blue stars shine scattered throughout the disc, mapping the galaxy’s star-forming regions. Perhaps surprisingly, side-on views of galaxies like this one do not prevent astronomers from deducing their structures. Studies of the properties of the light coming from NGC 2683 suggest that this is a barred spiral galaxy, even though the angle we see it at does not let us see this directly. This image is produced from two adjacent fields observed in visible and infrared light by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. A narrow strip which appears slightly blurred and crosses most the image horizontally is a result of a gap between Hubble’s detectors. This strip has been patched using images from observations of the galaxy made by ground-based telescopes, which show significantly less detail. The field of view is approximately 6.5 by 3.3 arcminutes. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
The Photo and excerpt are from the NASA website:

GAS PLUME DETECTION SYSTEM TO PROTECT SOLDIERS AND FIRST RESPONDERS

FROM DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
The Local-Rapid Evaluation of Atmospheric Conditions uses both weather data and 3D terrain and building information to generate it's wind model. The model display how air flows around terrain and buildings so first responders can have a better idea how to approach or manage a site where an airborne hazard is present. Army Research Laboratory graphic

By John Andrew Hamilton, U.S Army Test and Evaluation Command
A wind monitoring and modeling system being developed by the Army Research Laboratory’s, or ARL, White Sands Missile Range, or WSMR, division could one day protect soldiers and civilians alike from weapons of mass destruction.

The Local-Rapid Evaluation of Atmospheric Conditions, or L-REAC, system is a computerized weather sensor system under development at ARL intended to help predict the flow of gasses and fumes, or “plumes,” produced by things such as gas leaks and chemical weapons.

Being able to identify how an airborne hazard will behave is a vital ability for first responders to have in order for them to know how to approach or evacuate an affected area.

“If you are a dispatch person and you have to direct first responders to the site, you can look at the wind field and see what the safest approach would be,” said Gail Vaucher, a research meteorologist with ARL at WSMR.

There are other systems available that can predict the plume with some accuracy. Such systems use things like wind speed, air pressure, temperature, and humidity in their calculations. But L-REAC system adds a new layer that previous systems didn’t have. Using terrain data, building plans and dimensions, L-REAC can model and display not only the plume, but the actual airflow around buildings and terrain features.
“We decided to utilize the 3D wind field model developed by Doctor Yansen Wang at ARL Headquarters in Adelphi (Md.) because it had the capability to not only render very quickly, but it can look at many different scales,” said Donald Hoock, chief of the Atmospheric Dynamics Branch of ARL at WSMR.

Thanks to this wind flow model, L-REAC can model how wind will flow when it encounters everything from trees and boulders, to buildings and other structures. While not real-time, the model will update regularly depending on the size of the area being observed.

As air flows around things like buildings, pockets of slower moving or even circular flowing air can be generated on the downwind side, while other formations like alleyways can form wind tunnels. Using L-REAC’s modeling capability, a first responder can predict how these wind effects will alter a plume.

Additionally, L-REAC is a scalable system. The system allows a first responder to monitor large areas, or focus in on a specific incident site. The system uses information about weather and terrain to help build its model.

“The models themselves, in order to be appropriate for an area, need to know about the area, what is the terrain and what is the morphology,” said Vaucher.
For urban areas, Vaucher said, this also includes the shape and size of buildings. In the case of established areas, exact data can be input for detailed results. If detailed information isn’t available, the system will accept less-detailed information if the operator is willing to accept less-detailed results.
“The more details you have, the better the results,” said Vaucher. “If you have a generic description, you’ll get a generic result.”

The L-REAC system collects data from a series of weather monitoring stations that evaluate things like air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. These stations can be the transportable kind like several that ARL has placed around WSMR, or they can be permanent stations like those found at airports or similar facilities.
Since the weather stations and computer systems are largely autonomous, ARL sees military installations and similar facilities as prime examples of where L-REAC could be implemented as part of a force protection plan. On an installation, L-REAC could be installed as a continuously running system, ready for use at a moment’s notice by operation center operators or dispatchers.

“We want to have the capability for them to immediately pull up on their computer screen a picture of what the wind fields are across the post without having to go in and physically start anything running. It would always be running 24-hours a day,” said Hoock.
L-REAC, while still in development, has already seen real-world action. It was used to track and predict smoke and airflow during the Abrams wildfire that threatened WSMR last year.

Ultimately, ARL hopes to have the system integrated with compact mobile weather monitoring systems so first responders and service members can always have a weather station as close to an area of interest as possible.
“The current Army is focusing on short, quick missions, so we want to build a tool that they can use,” said Vaucher.

To make this final mobile component of L-REAC a reality, ARL will need the help of new partners to help fund the integration of mobile sensors into the system. ARL is hoping for partners within the Army and the Department of Defense for integration into force protection plans.

“I think our ultimate goal is to team first on the Army side, and them more on the DOD side, looking for putting L-REAC in at installation levels to begin with,” said Hoock.
Other government organizations and agencies could also easily become partners on the program. Commercial partners would be welcome as well, though the process of establishing a commercial partnership would be more complex.

LOBBYIST GOES TO PRISON FOR NOT DISCLOSING HE WORKED FOR GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Friday, March 30, 2012
Virginia Man Sentenced to 24 Months for Scheme to Conceal Pakistan Government Funding for His U.S. Lobbying Efforts

WASHINGTON – Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, a U.S. citizen and resident of Fairfax, Va., was sentenced today to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy and tax violations in connection with a decades-long scheme to conceal the transfer of at least $3.5 million from the government of Pakistan to fund his lobbying efforts in America related to Kashmir.

The sentencing was announced by Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; John DiCicco, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division; James McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Eric Hylton, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., Field Office, after sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady in the Eastern District of Virginia.

On Dec. 7, 2011, Fai pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information.  Count one of the information charged Fai with conspiracy to: 1) falsify, conceal and cover up material facts he had a duty to disclose in matters within the jurisdiction of executive branch agencies of the U.S. government; and to 2) defraud the Treasury Department by impeding the lawful functions of the IRS in the collection of revenue.  Count two of the information charged Fai with endeavoring to impede the administration of tax laws.

According to court documents filed with his plea agreement, Fai served as the director of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), a non-governmental organization in Washington, D.C., that held itself out to be run by Kashmiris, financed by Americans, and dedicated to raising the level of knowledge in the United States about the struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination.  But according to court documents, the KAC was secretly funded by officials employed by the government of Pakistan, including the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI).

 “Mr. Fai spent 20 years operating the Kashmiri American Council as a front for Pakistani intelligence,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride.  “He lied to the Justice Department, the IRS and many political leaders throughout the United States as he pushed the ISI’s propaganda on Kashmir.”

“Syed Fai is today being held accountable for his role in a decades-long scheme to conceal the fact that the government of Pakistan was secretly funding his efforts to influence U.S. policy on Kashmir,” said Assistant Attorney General Monaco.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message that using the tax-exempt status of charitable entities to promote or conceal federal crimes carries heavy consequences,” said Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General DiCiccio.

“Mr. Fai had a duty to inform the U.S. government of the finances which he received from Pakistan to fund lobbying efforts,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin.  “Concealed foreign affiliations can be a significant threat to our democracy, and those who engage in hiding these associations will be brought to justice.”

“Today’s sentencing further shows that IRS-Criminal Investigation is working vigorously to stop the misuse and abuse of charities in promoting or concealing federal crimes,” said IRS Special Agent in Charge Hylton.  “The message is clear that those who engage in this type of activity will face stiff criminal penalties.”
The Scheme

Fai admitted in court that, from 1990 until about July 18, 2011, he conspired with others to obtain money from officials employed by the government of Pakistan, including the ISI, for the operation of the KAC in the United States, and that he did so outside the knowledge of the U.S. government and without attracting the attention of law enforcement and regulatory authorities.

To prevent the Justice Department, FBI, Department of Treasury and the IRS from learning the source of the money he received from officials employed by the government of Pakistan and the ISI, Fai made a series of false statements and representations, according to court documents.  For example, Fai told FBI agents in March 2007 that he had never met anyone who identified himself as being affiliated with the ISI and, in May 2009, he falsely denied to the IRS on a tax return for the KAC that the KAC had received any money from foreign sources in 2008.

In addition, according to court documents, Fai sent a letter in April 2010 to the Justice Department falsely asserting that the KAC was not funded by the government of Pakistan.  Later that year, Fai falsely denied to the IRS that the KAC had received any money from foreign sources in 2009.  In July 2011, Fai falsely denied to FBI agents that he or the KAC received money from the ISI or government of Pakistan.

In fact, Fai repeatedly submitted annual KAC strategy reports and budgetary requirements to Pakistani government officials for approval.  For instance, in 2009, Fai sent the ISI a document entitled “Plan of Action of KAC / Kashmir Centre, Washington, D.C., for the Fiscal Year 2010,” which itemized KAC’s 2010 budget request of $658,000 and listed Fai’s plans to secure U.S. congressional support for U.S. action in support of Kashmiri self-determination.

Fai also admitted that, from 1990 until about July 18, 2011, he corruptly endeavored to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws by arranging for the transfer of at least $3.5 million to the KAC from employees of the government of Pakistan and the ISI.

According to court documents, Fai accepted the transfer of such money to the KAC from the ISI and the government of Pakistan through his co-defendant Zaheer Ahmad and middlemen (straw donors), who received reimbursement from Ahmad for their purported “donations” to the KAC.  Fai provided letters from the KAC to the straw donors documenting that their purported “donations” to the KAC were tax deductible and encouraged these donors to deduct the transfers as “charitable” deductions on their personal tax returns.  Fai concealed from the IRS that the straw donors’ purported KAC “donations” were reimbursed by Ahmad, using funds received from officials employed by the ISI and the government of Pakistan.

MISSILE TESTS BY NORTH KOREA COULD COST COUNTRY U.S. FOOD AID

American Forces Press Service North Korean Missile Tests Jeopardize U.S. Food Aid By Donna Miles WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 - A recent North Korean announcement that it will conduct a missile test next month, in conjunction with a reported short-range missile test last night, jeopardizes millions of dollars in U.S. food aid for the secretive country, senior defense officials told Congress. "My view is that if North Korea goes forward with this test, we will stop this aid and stop the other steps that we had intended to take," James N. Miller told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday during his confirmation hearing as undersecretary of defense for policy. Miller is President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Michèle Flournoy, for whom he served as principal deputy secretary for three years, as the Pentagon's policy chief. North Korea announced March 16th that it plans to conduct a missile launch between April 12th and 16th. The announcement followed talks last month in Beijing, where the United States agreed to provide North Korea about 240 tons of nutritional aid, worth about $200 million, after it agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile launches. Asked yesterday by a panel member, Miller said he shares the administration's view that U.S. food aid promised last should stop if North Korea goes through with the planned launch. "The view is that if North Korea goes forward with this test," he said, "we will stop this aid and stop the other steps that we had intended to take and have to have a complete reconsideration of where we go in the future." Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and Pacific Security Affairs Peter R. Lavoy told the House Armed Services Committee on March 28 that North Korea's announcement makes the February agreement null and void. During discussions with North Korea, he said, "the United States made it very clear that a satellite launch would be a deal-breaker. "So we've ... been forced to suspend our activities to provide nutritional assistance to North Korea," Lavoy added. The planned launch is "highly provocative because it manifests North Korea's desire to test and expand its long-range missile capability," he said. "In addition, the launch, if it occurs, would be in direct violation of Pyongyang's international obligations, including U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874, which prohibit North Korea from conducting any launches that use ballistic missile technology," Lavoy said. North Korea claims the launch scheduled for April will be used to place a weather satellite into orbit to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. The United States and other members of the international community believe the launch is actually aimed at testing North Korea's long-range ballistic missiles, in violation of U.N. sanctions. Miller addressed the Senate panel yesterday, just before North Korea reportedly fired two short-range, surface-to-ship missiles off its western coast. "North Korea's provocative behavior, large conventional military, proliferation activities and pursuit of asymmetric advantages through its ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs, including uranium enrichment, present a serious threat to the United States, its allies and partners in the region and the international community," Miller wrote in response to questions from the committee before yesterday's hearing. Miller pointed to North Korea's provocative attacks against South Korea. "The opaque nature of the two North Korean attacks on South Korean forces in 2010 provide a sober reminder that Pyongyang is willing to utilize its capabilities to undertake provocative actions," he said. Miller noted North Korea's flight tests of theater ballistic missiles in 2006 and 2009, demonstrating the capability to target South Korea and Japan. In addition, North Korea continues its work to develop Taepo Dong-2 ballistic missiles. Although Pyongyang claims to have tested this technology in a space launch configuration, Miller said it could reach the United States if developed as an intercontinental ballistic missile. "The United States must continue to monitor carefully North Korea's WMD and missile development programs and related proliferation activities," he told the committee. Miller promised, if confirmed, to ensure the Defense Department continues to work closely with other parts of the U.S. government as well as allies and partners to address these threats, reduce vulnerabilities and conduct contingency planning. "What concerns me most is that this range of threats comes from a single state standing on the outside of the international community," he told the senators. "If confirmed, I will ensure that we sustain and advance our military readiness and coordination with allies and partners and explore all avenues for shaping North Korean behavior."

GENERAL THURMAN TELLS CONGRESSIONAL PANEL THAT U.S. FORCES REMAIN READY IN N.E. ASIA

American Forces Press Service

Thurman: U.S. Forces Remain Ready in Northeast Asia

By Lisa Daniel

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 - As the military transitions its focus toward the Asia-Pacific region, the Korean Peninsula is a focal point where U.S. forces must maintain "unquestioned" readiness, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea told a congressional panel yesterday.

Army Gen. James D. Thurman outlined the situation on the Korean Peninsula and named his command priorities to the House Appropriations Committee's military construction subcommittee.

As the military transitions its focus toward the Asia-Pacific region, "the Korean Peninsula is at the nexus of U.S. interests in Northeast Asia," Thurman said. The region hosts four of the world's six largest militaries, a quarter of the world's population, and is the fastest-growing segment of the global economy, he said.

U.S. trade with the region exceeds $750 billion annually, he added, and direct U.S. investments amount to $270 billion each year.

As China rises in global importance, "it maintains an ambiguous relationship with an isolated North Korean regime in pursuit of a robust nuclear program," the general said.

Meanwhile, allies in the region "look to the U.S. as the key partner to maintain regional stability and prosperity while upholding international norms and a commitment to democratic values," he added.

Thurman noted recent executive leadership changes in North Korea, Taiwan, Russia and Japan, as well as upcoming elections in South Korea and an expected leadership change in China later this year.

"The uncertainty associated with these changes, compounded by lingering historical animosities, territorial disputes, and competition over access to resources, places us in a dangerously uncertain period as we maintain the 1953 armistice and remain prepared to defend [South Korea], as well as the United States, from North Korean aggression," he said.

The general called the U.S.-South Korea alliance "as solid as ever," and said it serves as the foundation for the combined readiness of the two militaries. Thurman said he and his South Korean military counterparts are guiding military leaders and units of both militaries "to work and train closely with one another on a daily basis, and that effort builds combined strength, faith, and trust -- qualities that are essential for us to successfully accomplish our mission in Korea."

The alliance's commitment to security has been rewarded with sustained economic growth and enhanced military capabilities for South Korea, Thurman said. But a declining birth rate and other factors, including violent North Korean provocations in 2010, have prompted the South Korean military to propose fundamental military reforms that "likely will be acted on in the coming year," he said.

With so much change underway on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, Thurman said, "it is imperative we remain steady in our commitment to regional stability through vigilant maintenance of the armistice and unquestioned military readiness."

North Korea remains the greatest security threat in the region, the general said.

"I believe we are in a very uncertain period ... with the possibility of unexpected events leading to miscalculation," Thurman said.

The transition of Kim Jong-un, who became North Korea's leader after the death of his father last fall, "appears to be proceeding without discernible internal challenges and with significant Chinese political and economic support," the general said.

North Korea maintains "robust" conventional forces of more than a million soldiers, a military that is "vastly disproportionate" to its nation's population size and defensive security requirements, Thurman said. North Korea continues improving its ability to attack Seoul -- the world's fourth-largest city where 50,000 private, U.S. citizens live, and which is in artillery range of the North, he said.

North Korea has the world's largest special operations force of 60,000 soldiers, has a growing cyber warfare capability, and the capability to manufacture, transport, and deliver a variety of persistent and nonpersistent chemical and biological weapons, Thurman said. The country also is "investing heavily" in its "already-robust" ballistic missile forces, he said.

Deterring North Korean threats and promoting stability on the peninsula, Thurman said, are his greatest priorities.

"If deterrence fails," he said, "we will decisively defeat external aggression and restore stability on terms favorable to the alliance."