U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPECIAL BRIEFING

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Background Briefing: En Route to Turkey
Special Briefing
Senior Department Official
En Route, Ankara, Turkey
March 1, 2013


MODERATOR: All right, good morning everybody. We are en route from Rome to Ankara. This is now our fourth stop on Secretary Kerry’s first trip.

QUESTION: London, Berlin, Paris, Rome.

MODERATOR: This is our fifth stop on Secretary Kerry’s first trip. We have with us today [Senior State Department Official], hereafter Senior State Department Official, to talk to you about the Ankara stop. Take it away, [Senior State Department Official].

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Hi, everybody. So we’ve got a full afternoon and evening planned for Ankara, where the Secretary will have a chance to meet with Foreign Minister Davutoglu, Prime Minister Erdogan, and President Gul. He’ll actually begin as soon as we land by doing a memorial ceremony at the Embassy.

You know, of course, on February 1st there was the bombing at the Embassy that sadly, tragically took the life of a Turkish guard, and he wants to pay tribute to the courage of that individual who was performing his duties and protecting Americans working at the Embassy. And that will also underscore the importance of our common challenge in facing terrorism, which will be one of the big things on our agenda for the discussions.

Turkey – it was – the Secretary felt it important to stop in Turkey on this trip. It’s obviously in some ways a pivot between the European stops that we just did and the challenges in the Middle East, and Turkey naturally plays an important role in both as a member of NATO, an aspirant to the EU with important relations with European countries – Greece, Cyprus, and the Balkans – but also a neighbor and important player in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the rest of the Middle East.

So as always with Turkey, there’s an enormous agenda. We always try to get through it all, and there’s never enough time. But fortunately, as I say, we got a long afternoon and evening, so we should have a chance to really go into depth into a lot of issues. I won’t try to do that for you, and I’m happy to take your questions. I’ll maybe just flag a couple of those that I’m sure will be raised, I guess – starting with Syria, the urgent problem that we have been addressing in Rome.

And I think it’s fair to say that we’re very much on the same page with the Turkish Government when it comes to Syria, and have been for some time, starting with the basic commitment of both countries to work towards the political transition and the departure of Assad. And I think Turkey welcomed the announcements that Secretary Kerry made on behalf of the President in Rome yesterday about new assistance to the Syrian opposition. Turkey is also doing its part in helping the Syrian opposition and doing more than its part in welcoming and supporting over 150,000 refugees at great cost. And we are going to continue to work very closely together to get them to that goal.

I mentioned counterterrorism cooperation already. And just to flag that again, at the – near the top of the list, not just in the wake of the February 1st bombing, but obviously, we face very common challenges in dealing with the PKK threat, which we’ve defined as a threat to both countries, the threat from al-Qaida, and other extremist groups. We cooperate well with Turkey, which is a co-chair of the Global Counterterrorism Forum that Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Davutoglu launched a couple of years ago. And the Secretary will have a chance to discuss how we can better deal with what is a growing threat in the region in the world.

Israel – you know we have been working hard over the past couple of years to foster a better cooperation to restore what was once historic cooperation between Turkey and Israel. The Secretary will have a chance to express his concern over the remarks that Prime Minister Erdogan made in a – reportedly made in a speech yesterday equating Zionism with a crime against humanity. Obviously, we strongly disagree with that notion. You saw the statements out of Washington yesterday making clear that we felt that statement was both offensive and wrong, and I’m sure the Secretary will be able to convey that to the Prime Minister directly this afternoon.

We have regretted for some time that Turkey and Israel, which are both strong friends and partners of the United States and once cooperated extensively with each other in terms of trade and tourism and even military and strategic cooperation, that cooperation has broken down. Deeply unfortunate. And we’ll continue to urge Turkey and continue to urge both countries to do what they can and normalize that important relationship.

So much else will be on the agenda. I don’t want to take too much time. We’re going to be called up forward in a minute. Iran, obviously; Turkey shares our goal dealing with Iranian nuclear challenge, and the Secretary can provide a readout of the Almaty talks. He’ll also address some regional issues that are important to us, including Armenia and the Caucasus and Nagorno-Karabakh, Cyprus in the wake of presidential election. Turkey, EU – so much more, but why don’t I end there and see what’s on your mind?

MODERATOR: Arshad. No? James.

QUESTION: Since he’s going to be providing a readout of the Almaty talks, perhaps you could do likewise for us.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, I think we have already on the ground in Almaty given a readout of the talks. We felt they were constructive. There was no breakthrough and we didn’t expect a breakthrough, but as you saw, the parties agreed to resume in the coming weeks both at a technical level and at a higher political level to see if we can make progress on the package that P-5+1 put on the table. And you’ve read about the elements of that package.

And again, I don’t want to overpromise, but we’re encouraged, at least, that these talks will begin in the near term, because we have long felt that we are proposing a way for Iran to meet its obligations to the international community, to respect UN Security Council resolutions, to take advantage of the possibility of having a civil nuclear energy program but without moving towards nuclear weapons capability, which the President has made absolutely clear is unacceptable.

QUESTION: What I don’t understand is why you consider these talks more encouraging, more – or useful, as the Secretary said, than previous talks that resulted in agreements to talk.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, I wasn’t on the ground in Almaty, so I can’t give you a firsthand account of that. But our people who were there felt that the sanctions have gotten Iran’s attention, and they understand that a failure to respond to the constructive ideas we’re putting on the table will only lead to further international isolation and consequences. And they were responsive on that basis.

MODERATOR: But of course, the onus is on Iran, and we’ll see what they come back with when we meet again.

QUESTION: Just wanted to ask about Syria and Russia. Obviously, here you have the 11, and they’re cooperating. There’s a lot of talk about unity, being on the same page, and kind of a – the jobs that each of them have. Are – is the Secretary in any type of cooperation with the Russians as he goes along on this trip? You getting any feedback at all from them on what happened in Rome?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yes. You know the Secretary spent a good hour and a half with Lavrov on the eve of Rome, and we have been in touch with the Russians again both before and after Rome. We have never felt that dialogue with the Russians and what the countries that met in Rome are doing are mutually incompatible or inconsistent. The countries that met in Rome are determined to do everything they can to support the Syrian opposition in – with the objective of strengthening it, changing Assad’s calculation, and bringing about the political transition that we believe is – and the departure of Assad that we believe is absolutely essential. And they’re consulting together, they’re taking decisions together, and we made progress in moving on that agenda.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t continue to talk to Russia. As I think we discussed in this group the other day, we have long felt that this process would be facilitated if Russia would support it. We’ve been to the Security Council several times seeking Russia’s support and have failed to get it, but we will continue to try because we don’t believe that Russia has a magic wand here like anybody else does, but if Russia would make also clear that Assad needs to go, and if Russia would stop providing him both the political legitimacy and other support that it has been giving him, it would facilitate our task.

So we’re going to carry on with the partners we met in Rome in supporting the opposition and pressuring Assad, but we’re also going to carry on talking to the Russians. The French President Hollande was in Moscow the day after Secretary Kerry was in Paris, taking our common message to the Russians; that we want to see them join us in implementing what we – including the Russians, as Secretary Kerry has reminded everybody in the past couple of days – agreed to in Geneva, which is accepting a transitional body with full executive powers established on the basis of mutual consent, which we all know means that Assad cannot play a role.

QUESTION: Since the Patriot missile batteries have been deployed, how do you assess the comfort level of the Erdogan government about the Syrian border issues? And how much of his earlier concern and request for those Patriots do you think was real, and how much was he playing to the home constituents?

MODERATOR: The question was: Now that the Patriot batteries are in place, is Prime Minister Erdogan feeling more comfortable in terms of Turkish security?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yeah. I mean, I think the Patriot deployment was a good sign of our bilateral solidarity with Turkey, and general NATO solidarity with Turkey on the question of Syria. After some missiles and artillery had crossed the border, Turkey asked its NATO partners, including us, for help in bolstering its air defenses. And several NATO allies, those with a Patriot capability that can be deployed – the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands – agreed to do that, to deploy Patriots to Turkey, and to do it in a coordinated NATO fashion. Every member of NATO supported the decision and agreed to use NATO command and control. And we said we would do it, and we did it, and it’s now operational on the Turkish border. And I think Prime Minister Erdogan welcomes that, both to strengthen his air defenses against that air and missile threat, and also to demonstrate that we stand by Turkey.

Now, no one ever thought that this was a comprehensive solution to a problem. In the weeks following the declaration of an operational capability, you saw there was a bombing at the border. So there are other ways that Turkey’s borders can be threatened by the Syrians. Obviously, the refugee flow alone is a threat to Turkish borders. So there is great concern, and we continue to stand by Turkey. But the Patriot deployment was one positive element of how we can show our support and solidarity.

PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: Hi, [Senior State Department Official]. The sort of comments that were attributed to Erdogan and other Turkish officials on Israel and Zionism are not really new. They seem to say – they’ve said these things periodically. And so they make these comments, the U.S. condemns them, and then things more or less continue. Is there any special urgency or point Secretary Kerry may make to drive the point home? Because over time, this pattern is likely to have a corrosive effect on American-Turkish relations.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, it does have a corrosive effect. I mean, yes, there have been comments in the past that we have taken issue with and we have raised and we’ve criticized both from Washington and directly with our Turkish counterparts. I mean, one thing you can say about this relationship is we do have a frank discussion. And the previous Secretary of State had multiple conversations, frank conversations with her counterpart. The President and Prime Minister Erdogan have as well. And so we have an ongoing and very transparent dialogue, and we’re close enough and friendly enough to say when we disagree, and we’ve strongly disagreed with comments in the past, and we strongly disagree with this one.

I don’t think that this particular comment has been made like this before. This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity. I don’t think we’ve heard that before, and like I said, I’m sure the Secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to hear it. And I don’t want to get into speculation about the overall relationship, but just to state the obvious, that it complicates our ability to do all of the things that we want to do together when we have such a profound disagreement about such an important thing.

QUESTION: Can I just switch (inaudible)?

MODERATOR: One more question.

QUESTION: Just – it’s brief, but on that. So the Turks have – this is just about the Turkish-Israeli relationship, not about your relationship. How concerning – how bad is it, and how concerning is that to you? And are you still telling the Turks to stop preventing Israel from being invited to all sort of these different events and keeping them out of these NATO advisory councils and things?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: You want to repeat the question?

MODERATOR: So, the question was: How bad is the Turkey-Israel relationship getting, and are we working on the issues like Israeli access to NATO programs, et cetera?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The Turkey-Israel relationship is frozen. It’s not positive in the way that it used to be positive. And that’s deeply unfortunate. We want to see a normalization because – not just for the sake of the two countries, but for the sake of the region, and frankly for the symbolism of it. Not that long ago, you had these two countries –

PARTICIPANT: He’s ready for the briefing.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: -- okay – demonstrating that a majority-Muslim country could have very positive and strong relations with a Jewish state. And that was a sign for the region of what was possible. As for the specific latter part of your question, yes, we continue to stand by the principle that Turkey shouldn’t block Israel’s participation in any multilateral activities. We found a way forward in the NATO context to allow exercises and partnership activities to move ahead. And we continue to take the view that if Turkey doesn’t want to participate in activities with Israel, that’s obviously its sovereign right. But we want to see – we don’t want to see Israel excluded from multilateral activities in which they also should have a sovereign right to participate.

MODERATOR: I apologize, guys. We have to cut this off. But the boss is looking to see us. Thanks.

GOVERNORS, DOD, HOMELAND SECURITY SEEK IMPROVED DIALOGUE

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DOD, Homeland Security, Governors Look to Improve Dialogue
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2013 - Senior Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security leaders met Feb. 25 with representatives of the Council of Governors to find how the entities can work together better, officials said in a read-out of the meeting.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with leaders of the council at the Pentagon. The meeting included discussions on cybersecurity, strategic trends affecting the defense budget and a review of the Hurricane Sandy response.

The council operates under Executive Order 13528 -- signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. It is a bipartisan council designed to strengthen the relationship between DOD, Homeland Security and the states and territories.

Napolitano briefed the governors on the president's executive order and policy directive on improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity and resiliency. Those attending agreed to improve cooperation on the issue and to make it a regular part of the meeting agenda.

They also agreed to a consultative process between DOD and the states for programming and budgetary proposals affecting the National Guard. Governors had raised concerns that the National Guard -- a precious state resource -- was not taken into account during the budgeting process.

The consultative process opens an avenue for the states to communicate their civil support needs to DOD, strengthens unity of effort and maximizes transparency on the strategic context of DOD programming and budgeting, officials said.

CDC SAYS HEALTH IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES SHOULD BE STUDIED

FROM: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
About one in five U.S. adult cigarette smokers have tried an electronic cigarette

In 2011, about 21 percent of adults who smoke traditional cigarettes had used electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, up from about 10 percent in 2010, according to a study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, about six percent of all adults have tried e-cigarettes, with estimates nearly doubling from 2010. This study is the first to report changes in awareness and use of e-cigarettes between 2010 and 2011.

During 2010–2011, adults who have used e-cigarettes increased among both sexes, non-Hispanic Whites, those aged 45–54 years, those living in the South, and current and former smokers and current and former smokers. In both 2010 and 2011, e-cigarette use was significantly higher among current smokers compared to both former and never smokers. Awareness of e-cigarettes rose from about four in 10 adults in 2010 to six in 10 adults in 2011.

"E-cigarette use is growing rapidly," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, Mph. "There is still a lot we don’t know about these products, including whether they will decrease or increase use of traditional cigarettes."

Although e-cigarettes appear to have far fewer of the toxins found in smoke compared to traditional cigarettes, the impact of e-cigarettes on long-term health must be studied. Research is needed to assess how e-cigarette marketing could impact initiation and use of traditional cigarettes, particularly among young people.

"If large numbers of adult smokers become users of both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes — rather than using e-cigarettes to quit cigarettes completely — the net public health effect could be quite negative," said Tim McAfee, MD MPH, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at CDC.

West Wing Week: 03/01/13 or “Hope Springs Eternal” | The White House

West Wing Week: 03/01/13 or “Hope Springs Eternal” | The White House

DISMANTLING THE GUARDIAN

FROM: U.S. NAVY

Sailors from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 and U.S. Navy contracted salvage crew members from the M/V Jascon 25 safely remove the exhaust funnel structure from the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian (MCM 5). Guardian ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef Jan. 17. The funnel's removal was a milestone in the dismantling process of the Guardian. The U.S. Navy and contracted salvage teams are safely dismantling and removing the ship from Tubbataha Reef. The U.S. Navy continues to work in close cooperation with the Philippine authorities to safely dismantle Guardian from the reef while minimizing environmental effects. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Anderson Bomjardim (Released) 130226-N-VF350-235

130226-N-VF350-247 SULU SEA (Feb. 25, 2013) A crane from the U.S. Navy contracted ship M/V Jascon 25 safely removes the exhaust funnel structure from the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian (MCM 5). Guardian ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef Jan. 17. The funnel's removal was a milestone in the dismantling process of the Guardian. The U.S. Navy and contracted salvage teams are safely dismantling and removing the ship from Tubbataha Reef. The U.S. Navy continues to work in close cooperation with the Philippine authorities to safely dismantle Guardian from the reef while minimizing environmental effects. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Anderson Bomjardim/Released)

EX-IMPORT BANK NAMES "MOST INNOVATIVE BUSINESS JET FINANCIER 2013"

Photo:  Money.  Credit:  U.S. Navy. 

FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank and AirFinance Named Corporate Jet Investor’s "Most Innovative Business Jet Financier 2013"

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and AirFinance have been awarded "Most Innovative Business Jet Financier 2013" by the Corporate Jet Investor Web site in recognition of Ex-Im Bank’s Qualified Advisor program.

The award was announced at the International Corporate Jet & Helicopter Finance 2013 Conference held recently in London, U.K. The awards were determined by a vote taken among a select group of business-jet manufacturers and other industry lenders prior to the conference, which was sponsored by Corporate Jet Investor.

"We are honored to receive this award from manufacturers and other leaders in the business-jet and helicopter industry. This vital part of the U.S. aerospace sector provides thousands of American manufacturing jobs," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "Financing these exports requires complex structuring, specialized knowledge and experience. By working with partners such as AirFinance, our Qualified Advisor program is enabling us to leverage private-sector expertise to offer timely financing to increase support for these exports. I congratulate Ex-Im Bank’s staff on this achievement."

"As a qualified advisor, AirFinance works with Ex-Im Bank to develop an innovative structure and combines it with ongoing monitoring processes that increase protections against credit losses," said AirFinance Managing Partner Tom Low. "This partnership merges the protection and stature of the U.S. government with the speed and creativity of business-jet and helicopter experts to provide a financial solution that is beneficial for the single purchase of a small aircraft to a large aircraft fleet order."

In 2012, Ex-Im Bank developed and implemented the Qualified Advisor program, a process to address the increased demand for export credits for business aircraft and helicopters arising from the growing percentage of U.S.-manufactured aircraft being sold to foreign buyers. The goal of the process is to facilitate a more complete and comprehensive transaction package being submitted to Ex-Im Bank in order to expedite the application, approval and closing process for foreign borrowers in business-aircraft transactions. Using qualified advisors also provides enhanced credit structures, resulting in additional credit protections for Ex-Im Bank.

The process is designed to benefit manufacturers that can now designate one or more advisors to work with their foreign buyers. The process is available through any advisor that has demonstrated the requisite knowledge, experience and expertise with business-aircraft financing.

AirFinance is a global company focused on the financing of general-aviation aircraft, including business jets, turboprops and helicopters, with an emphasis on transactions outside of the United States. AirFinance and Cessna Finance Corp. are the two finance companies with a focus on general aviation that are approved qualified advisors under Ex-Im Bank’s program.

Corporate Jet Investor is an international Web site developed to help both individuals and companies that buy business jets, corporate aircraft and helicopters find financing to suit their needs. Corporate Jet Investor also helps financiers understand assets, legal and tax risks, and identify new opportunities in developing markets.

PROTECTING THE HOMELAND THROUGH MARITIME AWARENESS

North American Aerospace Defense Command's maritime domain awareness mission helps to provide the information and intelligence required to increase the security of U.S. and Canadian waterways and ports. Photo Credit: CIA World Factbook.



 

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
NORAD Promotes Maritime Awareness to Protect Homeland
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2013 - Drive around any American city and you're likely to see tractor-trailers hauling huge containers that arrived from overseas at any of 361 major U.S. ports dotting some 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline.

The United States is the world leader in maritime trading, Navy Capt. Martin Beck, chief of North American Air Defense Command's maritime division, told American Forces Press Service. Twenty percent of all global trade passes through its extensive maritime transportation system, and 80 percent of all foreign trade entering the United States and Canada arrives by sea.

Unfortunately, these same waterways expose an unintended Achilles' heel to bad actors intent on using them for illegal, or even diabolical, activities.

"The threats are varied to the extent of your imagination," Beck explained. "They include state and nonstate actors, narco-smuggling, human traffickers, weapons traffickers, proliferators [and] foreign intelligence collectors. That is the gross macro spectrum of what we could encounter in the maritime domain."

The consequences, if left undetected, could be severe to the United States and Canada, Beck said. "We want to prevent a potential 9/11 in the maritime domain," he said.

To shore up these vulnerabilities, the United States and Canada amended the NORAD agreement in 2006 to add maritime warning to its mission. The two countries agreed to increase information and intelligence sharing to give their national leaders a clearer picture of the maritime approaches to their shores -- and, in the event of an inbound threat, vital time to act.

"The intent of the agreement was to increase the security of North America using a proven command infrastructure to increase bi-national cooperation in the maritime domain," Beck said. "We've got 55 years of experience here at NORAD in the defense of both Canada and the United States. So we are leveraging the state-of-the-art operations center and information-sharing protocols to ensure both countries have an accurate, timely and comprehensive picture of the maritime domain."

Since adopting the expanded mission almost seven years ago, NORAD processes, assesses and disseminates intelligence and information about the movements of hundreds of thousands of ships around the globe that ultimately will arrive at U.S. or Canadian shores.

This responsibility, which covers both countries' maritime areas, internal waterways and maritime approaches, requires extensive partnerships with U.S. Northern Command and its sister combatant commands. It also includes other partners in the U.S. and Canadian militaries, law enforcement, intelligence and commercial maritime communities.

Beck called these partnerships and the processes they have developed to make collaboration faster and more effective the strength of NORAD's maritime mission. Together, NORAD and its partners provide the myriad elements that, considered together, provide the most complete situational awareness, he said.

"The biggest challenge is the sheer volume of information that we have to sort through, and then collaborate on and share with our partners," Beck said. "This sharing and collaboration is essential to our success in the maritime domain and in exercising our maritime warning mission."

When the intelligence raises a red flag, NORAD issues an advisory to alert national decision-makers, or, in the event of a confirmed threat, a maritime warning.

Both are relatively rare. During the last 18 months, NORAD has issued just seven advisories and two warnings, none of which Beck can describe because the details are classified. But he said past responses have proven the effectiveness of the processes.

"To us, this shows that the process is working exactly as it was intended," he said.

The success of the mission, Beck said, can't be measured in warnings issued or interceptions made. Rather, he said he looks at the big picture, and the fact that neither the United States nor Canada has suffered a major maritime incident.

NORAD is committed to maintaining this track record to protect the U.S. and Canadian homelands, Beck said.

"We have the watch, and what we do is a no-fail mission," he said.

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT STATEMENT ON MISSILE DEFENSE DEPLOYMENTS

Photo Credit:  U.S. Navy.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Missile Defense
February 27, 2013

The United States is deploying missile defenses around the world to protect the United States, our deployed forces, and our allies from ballistic missile threats.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the United States is focused on defending U.S. forces as well as our allies against the threat from North Korea. Additionally, we have deployed a number of missile defense assets in the region. For example, we have deployed a missile defense radar in Japan, and we have several U.S. ships operating in the Sea of Japan, with the missile defense mission. We are also discussing with Japan the possibility of deploying a second radar in Japan, which will assist with the defense of the United States, Japan against threats from North Korea.

U.S.-Japan cooperation is very close and substantial. In addition to the U.S. capability in the region, Japan has also developed and deployed its own missile defense assets. For example, Japan has several Aegis class ships that have a missile defense capability and they have also deployed the Patriot air missile defense system.

ONE YEAR WATCHING SALINITY OF THE SEA

FROM: NASA VIDEO
Aquarius: One Year Observing the Salty Seas
This video provides a global tour of sea surface salinity using measurements taken by NASA’s Aquarius instrument aboard the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft, from December 2011 through December 2012. Red represents areas of high salinity, while blue represents areas of low salinity. Aquarius is a focused effort to measure sea surface salinity and will provide the global view of salinity variability needed for climate studies. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales).

STATE DEPARTMENT BACKGROUND BRIEFING: ADDITIONAL NONLETHAL ASSISTANCE TO SYRIA

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Background Briefing on Additional Nonlethal Assistance to Syria
Special Briefing
Senior State Department Official
Hotel Excelsior
Rome, Italy
February 28, 2013
　

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: All right, everybody. We are on background, Senior State Department Official. To remind that this is embargoed until the formal announcement by Secretary Kerry at his joint press availability later today about 12:20 with Italian Foreign Minister Terzi and SOC Chairman al-Khatib. Most of what I’m going to give you now will be in the Secretary’s statement, but this will give us an opportunity to have questions. So let me just start, then.

Later today in Rome, after the meeting with the Syrian Opposition Coalition, Foreign Minister Terzi, Secretary Kerry, will be joined by Syrian Opposition Coalition President al-Khatib for a press announcement. Secretary Kerry will announce there our intention to work with Congress to provide an additional $60 million in --

QUESTION: Six-zero?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: -- six-zero million dollars in nonlethal assistance to --

QUESTION: Nonlethal?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: -- nonlethal assistance to support the efforts of the Syrian Opposition Coalition over the coming months. This money will be used particularly to enable the SOC to help local councils and communities in liberated areas of Syria expand the delivery of basic goods and essential services, and to fulfill administrative functions, including security, sanitation, and educational services.

QUESTION: What was the first one?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Security, sanitation, and educational services. Additionally, these funds are going to be used to enhance the capacity of the SOC and the local councils to extend the rule of law and establish interim justice as needed in newly liberated territories in Syria.

The United States will be sending technical advisors through our implementing partners to support the SOC’s staff at their Cairo headquarters in the execution of this assistance. This will ensure that the assistance continues to comply with U.S. rules and regulations on the use of foreign assistance, including vetting, oversight, and monitoring. To remind that this additional 60 million for the SOC is in addition to the more than 50 million in nonlethal support we have already provided to help Syrian activists organize opposition efforts across the country and to amplify their message to Syrians and to the world through communications and broadcasting equipment.

In addition to the 60 million, the Secretary will announce today that the United States will look for opportunities to work with the SMC.

QUESTION: What’s the SMC?

QUESTION: What’s that stand for? The military --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The Syrian Military Council.

QUESTION: The Supreme?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The Supreme Military Council, apologies – to provide concrete, nonlethal support to the Free Syrian Army. This will include things like military rations to feed hungry fighters and medical supplies to tend the sick and the wounded. And then also, just to remind, that separately, we continue to provide $385 million in humanitarian assistance to help IDPs in Syria and refugees in neighboring countries.

So just to draw the picture even more clearly for you, with the $60 million to the SOC, we’re trying to do two things. We’re trying to strengthen them in Cairo as a political organization that actually can begin to deliver concrete assistance to their people. And we’re trying to help them ensure that in newly liberated areas of Syria, the administration of those areas meets the needs of the people and is done in a manner that comports with the human rights standards and rule-of-law standards that the SOC has articulated and that the Syrian opposition has committed to in its own founding documents.

And you know why we’re doing this. We’ve talked about it before. We are concerned that we have extremists operating in and among the opposition who don’t share the goals of a future Syria that is democratic, that’s united, that is just and that respects the human rights of all Syrian citizens and provides a place for all of them. So those members of the opposition who support our shared values need to be able to demonstrate that they can deliver a better day and need to set an example of a Syria where daily life is governed neither by the brutality of the Assad regime nor by the agenda of al-Qaida-affiliated extremists.

QUESTION: Sorry, could you say that last – those last six words, "not dominated by?"

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The brutality of the Assad regime and its cronies, nor by the violent agenda of extremists.

QUESTION: You said "governed," right, or did you say "dominated?"

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think I said --

QUESTION: You said "governed."

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I said "governed," whatever I said, whatever brilliant thing I said. (Laughter.)

Okay. Let’s go to your questions. There may be a limit to what I can answer, but let’s do what we can on background.

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official], a question I have is, obviously, there are a range of options and – to include things that go beyond medical care and food rations that might fall in the nonlethal category. These include vehicles, night vision goggles, bulletproof vests, things of that sort. Is – are those still on the table as possible options depending on how things go in Syria, or has the United States basically decided that this is the limit of what it wants to do at this particular time?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: What I’ve articulated are the items that we have decided to provide today. You’ll hear the Secretary make clear that in his meeting with the opposition, they talked about many needs, and we will continue to keep those under review.

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official], one question on the language. You said "will look for opportunities to work with." That doesn’t sound like a commitment. It means you’re looking for opportunities to provide this. Have you actually decided that you will provide this?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yes. We wouldn’t be announcing that we were going to work with them on rations and on medical care unless we’d made the decision that we are open to doing that. As you know, we will do this with vetted individuals, vetted units, so this has to be done carefully and appropriately.

QUESTION: And [Senior State Department Official], in other words, is this kind of a staged, set pattern where you give them this at this point, you evaluate how they are respecting human rights, et cetera, and then you go on and perhaps evaluate – provide more?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Let’s just say that, as the Secretary’s been saying, we need to change the calculation that Assad is making. We also need to support those on the ground in Syria who want a democratic future that respects human rights of all Syrians, provides a place for all Syrians. So we want to support on the political side and on the military side those who represent those values.

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official] --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: We’re going to do this, and as I said, we will continue to look at whatever – we will continue to look at the situation on the ground and the needs.

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official], can you --

QUESTION: (Inaudible) ask you for things that you specifically – that you have been unwilling – that you are unwilling currently to provide?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I don’t think I have anything else to share on that besides the way I articulated it a minute ago.

QUESTION: Can you address the current state of U.S. military training that’s going on in this effort?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I don’t have anything to share on that front.

QUESTION: Can I clarify the 60 million?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yeah.

QUESTION: Does that include the MREs and the medical, or is that – the MREs --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: No.

QUESTION: -- and the medical stuff is on top of it, or is there another --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Would be – will be on top of. I don’t have a dollar figure for you today. I think this will be something that we’ll have to feel going forward.

QUESTION: And this group --

QUESTION: How about a rough estimate? I mean, millions? I mean --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Certainly in the millions, but I can’t go beyond that.

QUESTION: Not tens of millions, though, right?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I just don’t --

QUESTION: 60 million is tens of millions.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I don’t have --

QUESTION: No, I’m talking about the MREs and the other stuff.

QUESTION: MREs and medical are on top of the 60?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Correct. I don’t have a dollar figure for you today.

QUESTION: Do you deny that we’re involved in training right now?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I’m not prepared to get into that issue at all.

QUESTION: And [Senior State Department Official], this is the --

QUESTION: Can I just – we’re wondering if you could clarify the language about the technical advisors you’re sending to the SOC. You said you’ll be sending them through implementing partners. Does that mean that they’re not actually Americans, or are you --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: My understanding is that this will be done – and we can get you more detail on this as we go forward – but my understanding is that these will be some of the NGOs that we regularly work with in this part of the world to deliver these kinds of services.

QUESTION: But what (inaudible)?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: They’ll be contracted.

QUESTION: What is technical adviser? I just want to make sure we understand.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: This is – for example, if you are in the SOC leadership in Cairo and you know that local coordinating council in the newly liberated area outside of Idlib, for example, wants to stand up an interim police force or needs to rebuild its school or hire teachers, you may know what it is you want to buy for them, but you may not yet have the experience where to get it cheapest, fastest to get it in, et cetera. Anything from radios for local police to schoolbooks that you’re trying to buy for kids to – so what the implementing partners will do will be to advise the SOC on where it can provision the needs, how it can best get them in, and ensure that we use this support to pay for things that they have contracted for, if that makes sense --

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official]?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: -- until they build the capacity to do this themselves.

QUESTION: I’m just confused on --

QUESTION: So it’s not military. These are not --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: No, no, no. This is on the --

QUESTION: Because when you say technical advisers, you’d think of --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: No, this is for contracting and provisioning of the nonlethal support to the SOC.

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official], I’m just confused who these people are. You may have answered, I’m just – the implementing partners and the technical advisers are some State Department employees, are they contractors, are they American citizens, are they foreign governments, are they NGOs?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: My understanding is that they are NGO – they are contracted NGO folks who specialize in getting this kind of civilian support in quickly.

QUESTION: Those are the implementing partners?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Correct.

QUESTION: But the technical advisers in Cairo are --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The technical advisers in Cairo are also – my understanding, and we’ll get you more if I haven’t gotten this right – my understanding is that they will be contracted by AID, et cetera. They are experts in how to procure and send this kind of support in.

QUESTION: [Senior State Department Official], can you explain --

QUESTION: How will this change Assad’s calculation? You’ve said how this will help the opposition people. How is it going to help change his calculation?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, first of all, we are, for the first time here, albeit nonlethal, explicitly supporting the needs of the Supreme Military Council and vetted members of its fighting force. Second, we are supporting the SOC in its efforts to ensure that those areas that have been liberated become freer, more democratic, more just, and set a positive example for what can happen in the rest of Syria if those still supporting Assad will peel away from him and will change their calculation, stop the fight, and begin supporting a true transition, as called for in Geneva and as supported in the opposition’s own documents.

So it’s a demonstration project, if you will, of what a better Syria can look like. And the concern that the SOC has, very explicitly, is that if they can’t touch, improve, and heal the lives of Syrians in those places that have been freed, then extremists will step in and do it. And we’ve seen this pattern before, whether it’s the – Hezbollah buying influence in Lebanon with its social welfare projects or whether it is the efforts of al-Nusrah now to establish extremist forms of justice, to veil women, to change the traditional tolerant nature of Syrian society in those areas where it is freed. So we have to provide – we have to help the SOC provide and demonstrate a real democratic, free alternative.

QUESTION: Can you explain the technicalities of this? These dollar numbers you’re describing, that’s the value of the goods. We are not now --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Correct. We will not give cash.

QUESTION: -- hand the money --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: We do not give cash.

QUESTION: -- to the military council or the SOC?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Correct.

QUESTION: And what you’re describing sounds like the establishment of governance, then the next step being the creation of a state. Are we at – can you describe what the U.S. Government’s view is of where we are on the ground? Are we at the point where this becomes a true government and military that we’re recognizing?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: What we’re supporting here are two things. There is the top-down process of the SOC getting stronger in Cairo in its ability to support alternative administration in liberated areas, and there’s a bottom-up process of the SOC providing the goods and services and support and training that those at the local level in the political opposition who are starting to try to provide services need to demonstrate to the people in their neighborhood, the people in their towns, the people in their villages, that a better day is coming.

QUESTION: At the top you mentioned working with Congress. What does that mean? Is money not appropriated or --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I’m going to have to get back to you on exactly what pots of money this comes from. But whenever you make a change to the way you spend money, you have to notify, you have to brief, you have to have consent.

QUESTION: But can – just to follow up on what I was asking, though, with the military council part, are we trying to build them into the military equivalent of the SOC, that is the military representatives of the Free--

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The Supreme Military Council is now itself working as a partner with the SOC in trying to provide coordination and better execution of the military side of the opposition’s work, in a manner that’s consistent with the democratic values of the future Syria that they want.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS WITH ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TERZI AND SYRIAN OPPOSITION COUNCIL CHAIRMAN aL-KHATIB

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi and Syrian Opposition Council Chairman Moaz al-Khatib
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Villa Madama
Rome, Italy
February 28, 2013

FOREIGN MINISTER TERZI: (Via interpreter.) Good morning and welcome to Villa Madama. In particular, I welcome my friend the Secretary of State John Kerry and the head of the Syrian Opposition Forces Coalition, Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib.

In the past few days, the Secretary of State Mr. Kerry stated that this meeting was needed in order to take concrete decisions and this is an appeal to be concrete and to realize how urgent new measures are. And in fact, this is in complete agreement with President Moaz al-Khatib. There is a sense of urgency, and we need to take concrete steps. And these are the grounds for the decisions and discussions in which Italy is involved with regard to the Syrian crisis.

Now, today’s meeting here in Rome is based on these considerations, and therefore I accept the request of the Secretary of State to summon the countries that are most involved in the crisis in order to have an operational meeting, open it up to the Syrian National Coalition, because we see the coalition as being the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

I thank all the foreign affairs ministers, my colleagues, who have come today. And in the past three hours this morning, we’ve been saying that we have to shoulder responsibilities that can no longer be postponed. The suffering of the Syrian people is forcing us to go above and beyond the efforts that have been made to now. We must be able to reach a turning point. 70,000 victims are a huge weight on the conscience of the international community. We can no longer allow this massacre to continue. We cannot allow the bombings to continue, and clearly not with SCUD missiles, the massacre, illegal detention. The regime is perpetrating crimes against humanity, crimes against its own people.

And I would like to say what Italy has done up to now. In the past few months, together with our main partners in Europe and together with the United Nations as well, we’ve taken action on the humanitarian plane in order to alleviate the suffering of 2 million internally displaced persons and thousands of refugees. We’ve allocated 30 million Euros to help neighboring countries to alleviate this suffering as well. And we’ve supported the different components of the coalition in seeking a leadership and a unitary program of action. And we want to have a strong convincing alternative to the dictatorship.

Today – as I was saying, today’s meeting here in Rome has given us a new momentum. I think that we’re taking a step forward, first of all, because we are taking the responsibility to provide not only humanitarian support but material assistance to the coalition as well. This stepped up support must be perceived directly in the Syrian territory through our support to local councils in the liberated areas. And we’ve also talked about the possibility to open humanitarian corridors and to be closely coordinated with all the countries who’ve met here today.

Our friend, Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib, has just pronounced the encouraging – some encouraging words on the work that he is doing together with his colleagues, and the opposition has to be able to fully play the role that it has in order to build up a new democratic Syria. He’s also told us that they are about to establish a provisional executive body, which should be operating within Syrian soil.

And I wish to close with a warning that was expressed during today’s meeting to the regime in Damascus. They have to stop violence, they have to release political prisoners, and they have to clearly enable a democratic and pluralist Syria with the exiting of Assad. Of course, all countries working side by side with the coalition are involved, and we can say that the Syrian people will never be left alone.

And it is a great pleasure for me to give the floor now over to the Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry. And after his remarks, we’ll hear President al-Khatib’s remarks. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, my friend, Giulio Terzi. Thank you for welcoming us. Thank you for hosting this very, very important meeting here in Rome. We are honored to be here. And Sheikh Moaz Khatib, thank you for joining us today and being part of this important discussion. It’s a pleasure to be here working with friends on a very important and consequential issue. And we are grateful for the opportunity to come together with allies – partners – working together in pursuit of peace as a first resort.

Particularly important to be joined here today by our partners in this endeavor, the Syrian Opposition Coalition. They are the legitimate voice of the Syrian people. And that stands in very stark contrast to the rule of Bashar al-Assad, who long ago lost his legitimacy and who is out of time and who must be out of power. So with our united voice today, and the voices of those other ministers who joined us from other countries from the Gulf, across Europe – with our united voice today, we express our commitment to helping the Syrian people in order to achieve their goal to live in a free and a safe and a just society. Their goal is our goal.

And so we are determined to find a way forward to a better day that we know awaits Syria, a day that will not come as long as Assad is in power. For more than a year, the United States and our partners who gathered here today in Rome have called on Assad to heed the voice of the Syrian people and to halt his war machine. Instead, what we have seen is his brutality increase.

Just this week, we witnessed a desperate leader engage in ruthless attacks on Aleppo with rockets and with the appalling use of SCUD missiles, claiming dozens of innocent lives. I heard this morning the story of maybe 50 to 70 young men and women who were taking an exam, dreaming of their future, whose lives were snuffed out by one of Bashar Assad’s SCUD missiles. That’s what he thinks of the future and of the people of Syria. Even hospitals have come under attack in his cold-blooded effort to cling to power.

The simple fact is Assad cannot shoot his way out of this. And as he deludes himself in pursuit of the military solution, the United States, our partners, and now the Syrian Opposition Coalition, make a different choice. Our choice is a political solution, outlined in the Geneva communique, which Russia has also signed onto. It is in line with the opposition’s own transition plan, and this must include a transitioning governing body with full executive powers formed on the basis of mutual consent.

This is the right path to peace, and it is one that can unite the Syrian people, rebuild a society that respects and protects them regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or gender. These are the same standards that we set for our own countries, so there’s nothing different here. All Syrians, including those who have not yet taken sides in this conflict, must know that they all can have a future in a post-Assad Syria. The opposition is prepared to take the steps necessary to get there.

The question we ask today is this: Will the regime allow its people this chance at peace, or is it going to continue its brutal campaign? Because as we make clear today, the United States decision take further steps now is the result of the continued brutality of a superior armed force, propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah, all of which threatens to destroy Syria. The United States and all the countries represented here believe the Syrian Opposition Coalition can successfully lead the way to a peaceful transition, but they cannot do it alone. They need more support from all of us, and they need Bashar al-Assad to make a different set of decisions.

So today, on behalf of President Obama, who has been very clear about the stakes in Syria, I’m proud to announce that the United States of America will be providing an additional $60 million immediately in nonlethal assistance to support the coalition in its operational needs day to day as it continues to organize and work for the political transition that we all want to see. And I look forward to working with the United States Congress on this.

This funding will allow the opposition to reach out and help the local councils to be able to rebuild in their liberated areas of Syria so that they can provide basic services to people, who often lack access today to medical care, to food, to sanitation. This includes helping Syrians preserve institutions of state, which are critical to enabling a future transition in Syria itself, and also to helping those who work within them, those without blood on their hands, to be able to continue to do their important humanitarian work.

We will also channel this assistance to those projects and local groups that the coalition decides needs it the most. And as the regime continues to lose ground, these funds will also help the opposition forces and political leaders are able to extend stability, as well as build representative government and rule of law and extend that rule of law to those newly liberated areas.

I want to make clear this new support that President Obama has ordered is on top of more than 50 million that we provided to help the Syrian activists organize opposition efforts across the country to be able to communicate with each other and to broadcast a message of hope across their country.

Today, in our meeting, which I found to be remarkably united, every country expressing its revulsion against these SCUDs, against the tactics of this regime, every country articulating an urgency to our need to unite in our efforts to help the people of Syria against an enemy that respects no battlefield rules.

In 2011, the armed Syrian opposition was a small group, dedicated to protecting peaceful protestors. Now it is holding and extending the frontlines against elite regime forces. The United States has decided, that given the stakes, the President will now extend food and medical supplies to the opposition, including to the Syrian Opposition’s Supreme Military Council. So there will be direct assistance to them, though nonlethal.

Of course, we will continue to work with our partners to provide critical humanitarian support for all Syrians in desperate need of relief, some 3,000 refugees a night crossing into Jordan, tens of thousands of refugees in Turkey. That’s why the United States is providing $385 million for everything from emergency food, shelter, blankets, surgical equipment, and mobile clinics. And in the Ahmad refugee camp on the Turkish border, we are bringing in medical supplies.

In all cases, we are working and we will continue to work closely with the Syrian Opposition Coalition and our international partners in order to make sure that the assistance we give reaches the people who need it and that we want to have receive it, even those who are trapped in some of the hard-to-reach areas. All of this work will be guided by our partners in the Syrian Opposition Coalition and in the Supreme Military Council.

We had a very thorough discussion today, in which all of the leaders present articulated their further needs for the opposition, and I will be taking some of these ideas back to Washington for further consideration. We agreed that we will consult on a regular basis, in constant touch with each other, and meet when necessary and we consult together whenever we deem appropriate.

Now, we all understand this is a complicated challenge, but the principle that guides this challenge is very simple: No nation, no people, should live in fear of their so-called leaders. And all people deserve freedom and the opportunity to live in peace and dignity and with justice. We cannot meet this moment, so long as this leader decides to wage war on this own people in the manner that he has chosen. And we must meet this moment so that the people of Syria can live their full promise. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN AL- KHATIB: I wish to thank the Italian Government and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs for allowing for this very important meeting with Mr. Kerry and all the foreign ministers who participated in this meeting in order to speak about the suffering of Syria in the hands of the mafia that is ruling the country now.

We are now speaking after two years of massacres of our people and the destruction of our infrastructures. The Syrian revolution is a peaceful revolution. I insist on this. And it’s only the regime that has forced people to resort to arms. And of course, proof to this is the massacre and the bombarding with the SCUD missiles of this regime. The hole that was dug by the rocket that fell in (inaudible) was 150 meters deep. How can people who live under such conditions, while they witness the massacre of their children and people – how can they feel?

We speak of terrorism. I said to the ministers of foreign affairs that there are three questions we, as Syrians, are tired of and I, as a president, am tired of. Speaking of terrorism, no terrorists in the world have such a savage nature as that of the Syrian regime. That’s one. Two, chemical weapons – the destruction by the regime in Syria, while using all sorts of weapons, is much more harmful than any chemical weapon. Number three is minorities. The regime has always presented itself as a regime that protects minorities. What I say to you is go to Lebanon and see what the Syrian regime did to the minorities in Lebanon when it occupied Lebanon. This is all I want to say regarding this.

Concerning the fighters, the mass media pay more attention to the length of the beard of a fighter than to the massacres. Days ago, the blood of children was actually kneaded into the dough with which the bread was made after the massacre. And this is more important than the length of the beard of the fighters. There are people who carry ideas that are strange to our society. We are against all sorts of opinions that want to impose themselves or to destroy the social fabric of Syria.

The colonel who is a martyr, Abu Farat, one of the combatants in Aleppo, is proof to this. He said, "I am sad because of every human being that is killed on the other side, because this human being at the end is a human being, and he has a family, and we are humans and not beasts. I’m sad when I see any tank that is destroyed, but I’m forced to fight." Abu Farat was killed a few minutes later after he said this.

We – our Muslim fighters – the Islam as we see it is an Islam that wants the best for everybody, the good for everybody. We all descended from Adam and we were created in order to cooperate, not to kill each other.

There are several issues that were raised with the ministers, and we called for several points. One, to commit the regime to create humanitarian corridors that are safe and that – especially leading to Homs, which has been under siege for 250 days, and al Dara’a which is the cradle of the peaceful movement in Syria, and that witnessed also the martyr (inaudible), who tried to help the fighters and he was tortured by the regime and his tongue was actually sent in a plastic bag to his family because he was calling for freedom. We ask for the protection of the civilians.

Two, to consider the unity of Syria as a must. And independently of all claims that it might be divided, we will fight this.

Three, negotiation was called upon by the coalition while putting a main pre-condition, the elimination of the regime. I am saying, here and now, Bashar Assad, you have to behave for once as a human being. Stop killing and massacring this people, arresting and torturing its children. Bashar Assad, you have to adopt at least one wise decision in your life for the future of this country.

Four, giving the Syrian people and its revolutionaries the right to defend themselves. There is an international tendency not to arm the opposition, for different reasons. And I say, if this is what you want, then stop supplying the regime with weapons that they still receive in the context of old arms agreements.

Five, there is a point on the ban of – on weapons. Six, calling upon all countries to facilitate the residents’ permits to Syrians. Some countries are harassing and even arresting, in certain countries, the Syrians who are in favor of the opposition. We ask for you to facilitate things for them and to give them medical aid and scholarships and all types of support that may be necessary.

Finally, we asked for support to neighboring countries, because they are under pressure due to the Syrian crisis. Finally, the international community can no longer stand aside and watch what is happening in Syria.

I wish to conclude by saying that our great cities, historical cities, are being destroyed, and whoever launches a stone against Syria is like launching a stone against one’s own mother, because we are the cradle of civilization. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

CDC Press Release: Innovative policy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV shows positive impact

CDC Press Release: Innovative policy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV shows positive impact

NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2013

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

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 28, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force today arrested a high-profile Haqqani network attack facilitator and detained two other insurgents in the Pul-e Alam district of Afghanistan's Logar province, military officials reported.

The facilitator is believed to be responsible for transporting and facilitating weapons for insurgents in provinces across Afghanistan for use against Afghan and coalition security forces.

In other news, a precision strike called in by a combined force in Helmand province's Marjah district yesterday killed one insurgent and injured another.

Invitation aux médias - présentation de Proba-V le 5 mars

Invitation aux médias - présentation de Proba-V le 5 mars

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 23, 2013

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA


In the week ending February 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 344,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 366,000. The 4-week moving average was 355,000, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 361,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending February 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 16 was 3,074,000, a decrease of 91,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,165,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,155,000, a decrease of 35,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,190,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 307,589 in the week ending February 23, a decrease of 43,208 from the previous week. There were 334,242 initial claims in the comparable week in 2012.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent during the week ending February 16, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,516,563, a decrease of 152,148 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,668,711. A year earlier, the rate was 3.1 percent and the volume was 3,882,527.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending February 9 was 5,764,168, an increase of 183,841 from the previous week. There were 7,498,600 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.

Extended Benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending February 9.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,352 in the week ending February 16, a decrease of 67 from the prior week. There were 2,303 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 221 from the preceding week.

There were 22,682 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending February 9, an increase of 403 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 39,466, a decrease of 144 from the prior week.

States reported 2,005,991 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending February 9, an increase of 186,935 from the prior week. There were 2,904,562 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2012. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 9 were in Alaska (6.5), Puerto Rico (4.3), Montana (4.2), New Jersey (4.2), Pennsylvania (4.2), Rhode Island (4.1), Wisconsin (4.0), California (3.9), Idaho (3.8), Illinois (3.8), and Massachusetts (3.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 16 were in California (+26,683), Connecticut (+1,747), Massachusetts (+883), and New Mexico (+5), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-3,285), Kansas (-3,114), Pennsylvania (-2,865), Florida (-2,442), and Ohio (-2,265).

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM: U.S. NAVY

130222-N-KL846-028 SAN DIEGO (Feb. 22, 2013) An F/A-18F Super Hornet prepares for takeoff behind the Sea 'N Air golf course at Naval Air Station North Island as golfers in the Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation golf tournament finish up the 17th hole. The tournament is a fundraiser in support of the foundation's mission to provide college scholarships to dependent children and spouses of U.S. Navy service members in the naval aviation community. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Christopher Lindahl/Released)

130225-N-GI544-156 SAN DIEGO (Feb. 25, 2013) Military working dog (MWD) Goro, assigned to Commander, Navy Region Southwest, searches for explosives during an explosives detection training exercise. The exercises are conducted to train MWDs in smelling out and locating explosive devices. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Laurie Dexter/Released

HHS WARNS PUBLIC OF PETS THAT CAN MAKE KIDS SICK

Photo Credit:  Wikimedia/U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat
The right animal can be fun and educational in a childcare center. But the wrong animal can make kids sick. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, epidemiologist Dr. Neil Vora has some examples of risky pets. He says reptiles such as turtles, lizards and snakes – and amphibians such as frogs and salamanders – commonly carry germs called Salmonella.

"Children younger than 5 years of age are at particularly high risk for serious illness with Salmonella. This is why it’s particularly important that pets or animals carrying Salmonella are not kept in day care centers."

Vora says small pet turtles are still sold in some places despite federal rules banning sales.

His study is the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

'EXPRESS INSURANCE' ALLOWS COMPANY TO EXPORT PICKLES TO CHINA

Credit:  Wikimedia Commons.

FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
North Carolina Small Business Grows Sales of Pickles in China,
Becomes Ex-Im Bank’s 500th ‘Express Insurance’ Customer

Washington, D.C. --- With the export financing support of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), a small North Carolina food manufacturer will be significantly increasing sales of its signature "Miss Jenny’s Pickles" to stores in Mainland China. The sales increase is being made possible as the company that produces them, Old Orchard Foods, LLC, becomes the 500th small business using the Bank’s ‘Express Insurance’ product.

Old Orchard was started in January, 2010 by two self-described "burned-out" stockbrokers, Jenny Fulton and her former sales assistant, Ashlee Furr. In just three years the company’s pickles are being sold in 1,000 stores in the United States, and now 40 stores in China.

"The Miss Jenny’s Pickles success story is one that is being repeated all across the country," Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg said. "Jenny Fulton and her business partner are great role models for what can be accomplished by smart, energetic and dedicated entrepreneurs. They and many other small-business exporters who use Express Insurance are discovering that they can seize opportunities to sell overseas, grow their sales and make sure they are paid by using export finance products that Ex-Im Bank offers."

Fulton says she expects Ex-Im Bank’s Express Insurance product to result in her sales to China increasing about 400 percent. And she plans to soon expand into Canada as well.

"Ex-Im Bank’s export-credit insurance enables us to offer terms to our foreign buyers, so they don’t have to pay for the whole order at once," Fulton said. "Our export sales have permitted us to hire our first full-time and four part-time employees, and with the new orders from China supported by Ex-Im’s Express Insurance we hope to turn those part-time jobs into full-timers by the end of the year."

Fulton was inspired to seek export opportunities after hearing a presentation by Ex-Im Bank Chairman Hochberg during one of the Bank’s "Global Access for Small Business" forums. Her experience that day was later recounted during a segment of the CBS-TV News program, "60 Minutes."

Express Insurance, a product launched in April 2011, provides small businesses with a user-friendly and cost-effective option to protect against foreign-buyer nonpayment and enhance access to working capital financing because banks are more likely to lend to companies if their foreign accounts receivable are insured. The policy features a streamlined application, complimentary policy quotation, foreign-buyer credit reports and buyer credit-limit pre-approvals often in five working days.

Old Orchard Foods is based in Kernersville, North Carolina, a town of just over 23,000 people located ten miles from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Global Business Solutions, Inc., an export-credit insurance broker based in Winston-Salem, explained how the policy works and helped Old Orchard during the policy acceptance process.

SECRETARY SALAZAR'S REMARKS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY ON PUBLIC LANDS

Secretary Of Interior Ken Salazar

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR
Secretary Salazar: Renewable Energy on Public Lands and Waters Making Rapid Advances
Looming sequester threatens to slow progress on permitting

BOSTON – The Obama Administration’s renewable energy program has authorized dozens of renewable energy projects on public lands and will hold the first-ever auctions for commercial wind development in the Atlantic this year, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told offshore wind stakeholders at a conference in Boston today. Salazar noted that the rapid progress – as well as conventional oil and gas development on federal lands and waters – could be stymied by potential cuts under sequestration.

"We have made impressive gains, approving dozens of utility-scale solar, wind and geothermal projects in the West and transitioning from planning to commercial leasing for offshore wind," Salazar told about 300 industry leaders in a keynote address at the Offshore Wind Power USA Conference. "The potentially devastating impact of budget reductions under sequestration could slow our economy and hurt energy sector workers and businesses."

Salazar said he elevated renewable energy development to a departmental priority and Interior worked with industry, state, tribal and local partners to approve 34 projects on public lands in western states and to build an offshore regulatory framework in the Atlantic. The 18 utility-scale solar facilities, 7 commercial wind farms and 9 geothermal plants Interior green-lighted onshore would provide 10,400 megawatts when built, enough to power 3.4 million homes. The developers estimate that these projects would support 13,000 construction and operations jobs.

Mandatory budget cuts under sequestration, however, could delay Interior’s ability to issue permits for new development, plan for new projects, conduct environmental reviews and lease new federal lands for future development – both for renewable and conventional energy. Delays in offshore oil and gas permitting in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, could affect more than 500 exploration plans and development documents that are anticipated for review this year.

Onshore, nearly 300 oil and gas leases issued for public land in western states could be threatened under sequestration, delaying prospective production and deferring payments to the states and the U.S. Treasury. Delays in coal leasing could defer $50-60 millions of dollars in revenue sharing among states and the Treasury. Sequestration could have serious consequences for the emerging domestic renewable energy industry. The cuts would mean fewer studies, fewer opportunities to obtain meaningful stakeholder input, and delays in identification of potential use conflicts. The result could be a slower pace in identifying and leasing wind energy areas in federal waters, adversely impacting Interior’s ability to address offshore renewable energy management in a timely manner.

Under a ‘Smart-from-the-Start’ strategy, Interior has identified six Wind Energy Areas along the Atlantic coast that contain the greatest wind potential and fewest conflicts with competing uses. Interior has already issued two non-competitive commercial wind leases, one off Massachusetts and another off Delaware, and is moving forward with the first-ever competitive lease sales for Wind Energy Areas off Virginia and Rhode Island/Massachusetts, which will offer nearly 278,000 acres for development. The areas proposed could support more than 4,000 megawatts of wind generation – enough electricity to power 1.4 million homes. Salazar also signed a lease and approved a Construction and Operations Plan for the 130-turbine Cape Wind project, the first commercial wind development slated for federal offshore waters.

Calling 2013 a pivotal year for the industry, Salazar said Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will propose additional commercial lease sales this year for Wind Energy Areas offshore New Jersey, Maryland and Massachusetts and is working to determine industry interest in three areas off North Carolina. BOEM also is processing a lease request from a company with Department of Energy funding to develop cutting-edge floating wind turbines in federal waters off Maine. Other demonstration projects are proposed off Virginia and Oregon.

In addition, BOEM is considering a mid-Atlantic wind energy transmission line that would 7,000 megawatts of wind turbine capacity to the grid. This Atlantic Wind Connection would run from southern Virginia to northern New Jersey, collecting power produced by wind facilities off New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia and bringing it ashore.

FORMER SEN. CHUCK HAGEL SWORN IN AS U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE



Chuck Hagel is sworn into office as the 24th defense secretary by Michael L. Rhodes, the Defense Department's director of administration and management, as Hagel's wife, Lilibet, holds a Bible at the Pentagon, Feb. 27, 2013. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hagel Takes Office as 24th Defense Secretary
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2013 – Just before his private swearing-in ceremony as the 24th secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel and his wife, Lilibet, arrived at the Pentagon this morning and were greeted by Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, military assistant to the secretary of defense.

Hagel said hello to waiting members of the Pentagon press corps as he hurried up the steps of the Pentagon’s river entrance. From there, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little and other defense officials accompanied him into the building.

Family members and his immediate office staff attended the ceremony, during which Hagel was sworn in by Director of Administration and Management Michael L. Rhodes.

Hagel then hosted the daily senior staff update meeting attended by DOD civilian and military leaders.

In a statement released after Hagel’s Senate confirmation yesterday, Little said the new secretary received congratulatory phone calls from his predecessor, Leon E. Panetta, congressional leaders, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.

In his conversation with Secretary Shinseki, Little added, Hagel "indicated his desire to meet as soon as possible to continue and deepen the strong partnership between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs on common priorities for serving our troops, veterans and military families."

After the staff meeting, Hagel will speak to service members and civilian Defense Department employees in the Pentagon Auditorium. The address will be covered live on the Pentagon Channel. It’s scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. EST.

This afternoon, Hagel will meet with the service secretaries and attend meetings at the White House.

Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that he’d travelled across the world with Hagel and has seen him in action in the U.S. Senate.

"Wherever he is, his talent and dedication to our country are clear. He feels a deep commitment to our men and women in uniform, and as the head of the Pentagon, I know their interests will always be close to his heart," Biden said.

"Most importantly," he added, "I know the president will be able to rely on Chuck’s sound, unvarnished judgment on any issue where our troops are involved. For that and many more reasons, I’m looking forward to working with Secretary Hagel."

President Obama Dedicates a Statue Honoring Rosa Parks | The White House

President Obama Dedicates a Statue Honoring Rosa Parks | The White House

NEW TERRORIST DESIGNATIONS FROM U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Terrorist Designations of the Commander Nazir Group and Malang Wazir
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 26, 2013
　

The Department of State has designated the Commander Nazir Group (CNG) and its sub-commander Malang Wazir as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. As a result of the designation, all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which CNG and Malang have any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with CNG, Malang, or to their benefit.

Since 2006, CNG has run training camps, dispatched suicide bombers, provided safe haven for al-Qa’ida fighters, and conducted cross-border operations in Afghanistan against the United States and its allies. In addition to its attacks against international forces in Afghanistan, CNG is also responsible for assassinations and intimidation operations against civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

CNG leader Commander Nazir died in early-January 2013, but the group has since chosen a new leader, and in a statement vowed to continue the group’s activities, including supporting al-Qa’ida and conducting attacks in Afghanistan. In the same statement, Malang was named as a part of CNG’s top leadership. Acting as a sub-commander for CNG, Malang has overseen training centers and has been known to send fighters to Afghanistan to support the Taliban.

Although CNG and Malang have been behind numerous attacks against international forces in Afghanistan, the group has also been known to attack targets in Pakistan. For example, Malang claimed CNG responsibility for a March 2008 vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in front of an army brigade headquarters in Zari Noor, South Waziristan, Pakistan, which killed five Pakistani soldiers and injured 11 more. In May 2011, CNG broke a ceasefire agreement and attacked a Pakistani army camp in Wana, Pakistan, with missiles and rockets.