REMARKS AT U.S.-TURKEY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION MEETING

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Opening Remarks at the U.S.-Turkey Science and Technology Cooperation Meeting
Remarks
Kerri-Ann Jones
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Ankara, Turkey
April 4, 2013

Good morning everyone. Let me first acknowledge and thank His Excellency Minister Ergün and his Ministry and TÜBÄ°TAK for hosting today’s very important meeting. It is a pleasure to be here and co-chairing today’s meeting with Professor Altunbasak. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Ambassador Ricciardone for his comments and for joining us this morning as well.

It comes as no surprise that very early in his first term in office – President Barack Obama traveled to Turkey. In his speech to the Turkish Parliament, he said, "Turkey is a critical ally.… And Turkey and the United States must stand together – and work together – to overcome the challenges of our time." (1) There is no better foundation on which to expand and deepen our ties and tackle the challenges that both our nations face than through strengthening our cooperation on science, technology, and innovation.

In 2010, our governments took a large step forward in these efforts by signing a joint Agreement to promote science and technology. Our efforts today, and going forward, are to define the ways that the United States and Turkey will work together under this Agreement – to continue to build bridges between our countries that advance our scientific and engineering objectives and also strengthen our economies and improve the quality of our citizens’ lives.

I will speak to three broad topics today: Why science and technology is so important to our bilateral relationship? What we hope to do to deepen and expand our science and technology relationship? And finally what are some of the current U.S. priorities for science and technology?

First, Turkey and America have stood together as NATO allies for over 60 years, resulting in greater security and prosperity for both our countries. Our countries are stronger and our people are safer because we stand together. Over the past four years, President Obama and Prime Minister Erdoğan have worked to expand this relationship beyond security by increasing trade, promoting entrepreneurship, and broadening the ties between our peoples.

American technological advances and scientific research are a major source of our economic and national security strength. A vibrant knowledge-based economy provides opportunities for our citizens to prosper and enjoy upward mobility. In tripling its economy over the last decade, Turkey’s economic growth has been extremely impressive. Some have even called this the "Turkish Miracle." However, what I see is not a "miracle," but rather an outcome of smart policies implemented by the Turkish government over the past 10 years, and smart, creative, and entrepreneurial people taking advantage of these policies.

Sustaining economic growth is an important objective for both of our nations and strengthening our science and technology enterprises and promoting innovation is fundamental to achieving that objective. Working together allows us to deepen our relationship and address shared problems. Our relationship in science, technology, and innovation is important because of the potential it offers to solve problems together and improve the lives of our citizens and people around the world.

What will we do here today to enhance our relationship? The work we are doing today will deepen our U.S. and Turkey cooperation by building on existing areas of collaboration. Currently there are nearly 65 active National Science Foundation awards involving Turkey. The Engineering for a Sustainable Future Working Group is looking to expand this cooperation further, specifically by focusing on ways to make buildings more energy efficient, through their design and the materials they are made from. The National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has supported research grants between U.S. and Turkish research institutions in the past. Now, the NIH and TÜBÄ°TAK are exploring further collaborations in the areas of cancer, rare disease, infectious disease, diabetes, and regenerative medicine. Our scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey will continue to work with their Turkish colleagues to better understand earthquakes, which affect both of our countries. There are opportunities for Department of Energy laboratories to deepen their existing work to help Turkey meet its goal of generating 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2023 and increasing the energy efficiency of Turkey’s industries and buildings.

In addition to strengthening existing areas of cooperation between the United States and Turkey, we will launch some completely new areas of cooperation at today’s meeting. As the Ambassador mentioned, we will be looking at education and educational technologies to help teachers in both our countries employ technology more effectively to teach our next generation of scientists. This group is also looking to stimulate the public’s interest in and understanding of science through new science centers planned for Turkey. The Material Sciences Working Group is launching new cooperation related to designing and developing new materials to withstand extreme environments. The group working in innovative technologies in agricultural research is exploring new areas of cooperative research to improve crop yields and land use through new technologies.

As you can see, we have a lot of technical discussions, but we will also address both our nations’ commitment to fostering innovation and strengthening the breadth and depth of our scientific communities. We will examine best practices in supporting innovation through industry, government labs, and universities. I would also like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation for the partnership we have already established with Turkey to promote science and technology-based entrepreneurship. Turkey hosted, in partnership with the United States, the second Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul in 2011. This was an important international forum for promoting economic growth and the next Global Entrepreneurship Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur.

Today both of our delegations include more than government officials and scientists. Representatives from academia and industry are also on both our delegations. Our science and technology enterprises have many important players and everyone needs to be engaged.

Last year, nearly 12,000 Turkish students came to the United States to study at our colleges and universities. This is more than from any other European country. More American students are studying in Turkey than ever before. By making more connections between Turkish and American universities, as will be discussed later on today, we hope to continue this very positive trend.

We have a tremendous resource in the large and active Turkish American diaspora community, who are also represented here today by several members of our U.S. delegation, including the Vice President of the Turkish American Scientists & Scholars Association, or TASSA, Professor Candan Tamerler. Professor Tamerler is not only here representing TASSA, but is also an esteemed professor of material sciences and engineering at the University of Washington and has played an active role in the Material Sciences Working Group.

We are grateful to have Nabil Habayeb, President and CEO of General Electric’s operations in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey, joining us today to discuss his company’s work bringing U.S. and Turkish scientists together in their research and development efforts.

I am very pleased to announce that in May our U.S. Science Envoy Dr. Susan Hockfield will come to Turkey. Dr. Hockfield is the former President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She will be able to share her experience of building several successful public-private partnerships between universities and private companies while at MIT. I hope that a number of you will have the opportunity to meet her next month.

Finally, as this is our inaugural meeting under our 2010 U.S.-Turkey Science and Technology Agreement, I would like to touch briefly on the United States’ ongoing commitment to fostering research and the development of new technologies. We demonstrate this commitment through funding basic and applied scientific research and by continually championing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, or STEM education. President Obama has consistently highlighted the importance of science and technology. In 2013, even with the ongoing budget debates and challenges that we face, the President underscored that "now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race."(2) He has continually called for strong, sustained federal investment in research and development, increased investment in STEM education, and championed the development of research infrastructure.

In the United States, our Federal government plays a critical role in funding basic and applied research – especially in areas in which the private sector does not have the economic incentive to invest. When looking at overall U.S. investment in research and development – 70 percent of the investment comes from the private sector.

U.S. Government research and development investments seek to improve the health of the population, move toward a clean energy future, address global climate change, manage competing demands on environmental resources, and ensure the security of our nation. Increasingly we recognize the role scientific investment plays in generating sustainable economic growth and in job creation. For example, the President has noted that "every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy."(2) And just two days ago President Obama launched a new initiative – BRAIN – Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies – which will seek to advance our understanding of the brain, address brain disorders, and generate advanced research tools.

We remain strongly committed to the role of human capital development in science and innovation. The U.S. government is working to engage more citizens to enter STEM fields. The Administration has an "all hands-on-deck" approach to STEM education – working to ensure that STEM education is high quality and available to all. Several new initiatives are working to increase the number of students studying STEM subjects, and to prepare the math and science teachers we need to teach our future engineers, inventors, and innovators.

These programs include:
A $100 million investment by the National Science Foundation to improve undergraduate STEM education practices.
A new education initiative jointly administered by the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation to improve math education at the kindergarten to grade 12 level.
In addition, the President has also begun to host an annual science fair at the White House, as he feels it is very important to motivate and engage the youth early on.
The U.S. government continues to work to improve how we utilize research and development to strengthen the scientific basis for decision-making, particularly with regard to health, safety, and environmental impacts. This includes efforts to enhance the accessibility and usefulness of data and tools for decision support. We recognize the importance of science in our own decision making processes. We recognize the importance of transparency with regards to information and data. The Obama administration is committed to increasing public access to the results of federally funded research. In February, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy directed Federal agencies with more than $100 million in research and development expenditures to develop plans to make the published results freely available to the public within one year of publication. This increased access will foster innovation, which in turn we believe will support economic growth.

In closing let me state the obvious – that our countries share similar visions of the importance of science and technology. The scientific partnerships that we build together are important ways to address our shared challenges and meet our shared goals.

Thank you again for your hospitality and hosting us in Ankara today. I look forward to our discussions, and to the progress that we can make together.

　

References
1. Obama, B. (2009, April). Speech presented to the Turkish Parliament, Ankara, Turkey.

2. Obama, B. (2013, February). State of the Union Address presented to the U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C.

Weekly Address: America Stands with the City of Boston | The White House

Weekly Address: America Stands with the City of Boston | The White House

SCIENTISTS FIND THE DESTINATION OF CHARCOAL

At NSF's Florida Coastal Everglades LTER site, charcoal is part of the dissolved organic carbon. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

 

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Where Does Charcoal, or Black Carbon, in Soils Go?
Scientists have uncovered one of nature's long-kept secrets--the true fate of charcoal in the world's soils.

The ability to determine the fate of charcoal is critical to knowledge of the global carbon budget, which in turn can help understand and mitigate climate change.

However, until now, researchers only had scientific guesses about what happens to charcoal once it's incorporated into soil. They believed it stayed there.

Surprisingly, most of these researchers were wrong.

The findings of a new study that examines the result of charcoal once it is deposited into the soil are outlined in a paper published this week in the journal Science.

The international team of researchers was led by scientists Rudolf Jaffe of Florida International University and Thorsten Dittmar of the German Max Planck Society.

"Most scientists thought charcoal was resistant," says Jaffe. "They believed that once it was incorporated into soils, it stayed there. But if that were the case, soils would be black."

Charcoal, or black carbon, is a residue generated by combustion including wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels.

When charcoal forms, it is usually deposited into the soil.

"From a chemical perspective, no one really thought it dissolved, but it does," Jaffe says.

"It doesn't accumulate for a long time. It's exported into wetlands and rivers, eventually making its way to the oceans."

It all started with a strange finding in the Everglades.

At the National Science Foundation (NSF) Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site--one of 26 such NSF LTER sites in ecosystems around the world--Jaffe studied the glades' environmental chemistry.

Dissolved organic carbon is known to be abundant in wetlands such as the Everglades and plays a critical role in the ecology of these systems.

Jaffe wanted to learn more about what comprised the organic carbon in the Everglades.

He and colleagues discovered that as much as 20 percent of the total dissolved organic carbon in the Everglades is charcoal.

Surprised by the finding, the researchers shifted their focus to the origin of the dissolved charcoal.

In an almost serendipitous scientific journey, Dittmar, head of the Max Planck Research Group for Marine Geochemistry at the University Oldenburg in Germany, was also tracing the paths of charcoal, but from an oceanographic perspective.

To map out a more comprehensive picture, the researchers joined forces. Their conclusion is that charcoal in soils is making its way into the world's waters.

"This study affirms the power of large-scale analyses made possible through international collaborations," says Saran Twombly, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research along with NSF's Directorate for Geosciences.

"What started out as a puzzling result from the Florida Everglades engaged scientists at other LTER sites in the U.S., and eventually expanded worldwide," says Twombly. "The result is a major contribution to our understanding of the carbon cycle."

Fire is probably an integral part of the global carbon cycle, says Dittmar, its effects seen from land to sea.

The discovery carries significant implications for bioengineering, the scientists believe.

The global carbon budget is a balancing act between sources that produce carbon and sources that remove it.

The new findings show that the amount of dissolved charcoal transported to the oceans is keeping pace with the total charcoal generated by fires annually on a global scale.

While the environmental consequences of the accumulation of black carbon in surface and ocean waters are currently unknown, Jaffe said the findings mean that greater consideration should be given to carbon sequestration techniques.

Biochar addition to soils is one such technique.

Biochar technology is based on vegetation-derived charcoal that is added to agricultural soils as a means of sequestering carbon.

As more people implement biochar technology, says Jaffe, they should take into consideration the potential dissolution of the charcoal to ensure that these techniques are environmentally friendly.

Jaffe and Dittmar agree that there are still many unknowns when it comes to the environmental fate of charcoal, and both plan to move on to the next phase of the research.

They've proved where charcoal goes.

Now they'd like to answer how that happens, and what the environmental consequences are.

The more scientists can understand the process and the environmental factors controlling it, says Jaffe, the better the chances of developing strategies for carbon sequestration and mitigating climate change.

The research was also conducted at NSF's Bonanza Creek; Konza Prairie; Hubbard Brook; Coweeta; and Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER sites, and at other locations around the world.

Other authors of the paper are: Yan Ding of Florida International University; Jutta Niggemann of the Max Planck Research Group for Marine Geochemistry; Anssi Vahatalo of the University of Helsinki; Aron Stubbins of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, Georgia; Robert Spencer of the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts; and John Campbell of the USDA Forest Service.

-NSF-

EPA NAMES TOP 10 GREEN POWER COMPANIES

FROM: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
April 17, 2013
EPA Announces U.S. Organizations Using the Most Green Power

WASHINGTON –– Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Green Power Partnership released an updated list of the Top 50 organizations that are choosing to use electricity from clean, renewable sources.

"We applaud the leadership demonstrated by organizations that are helping reduce carbon pollution and spur the growth of clean, American-made energy sources by increasing their use of renewable energy," said EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe. "As President Obama has made clear, clean energy is critical to our health, our economy, our security, and our ability to effectively address climate change."

Intel Corporation continues to top the list, using green power to cover 100 percent of its electricity load. Microsoft Corporation moved into second place by increasing its green power use to more than 1.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. Apple Inc., new to the Top 50 list, ranks number 10 with 85 percent of its nationwide electricity now coming from green power.

The top 10 partners appearing on the Top 50 list include:
1. Intel Corporation
2. Microsoft Corporation
3. Kohl’s Department Stores
4. Whole Foods Market
5. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
6. U.S. Department of Energy
7. Staples
8. Starbucks Company-Owned Stores
9. Lockheed Martin Corporation
10. Apple Inc.

For the first time, EPA also released a list of partners that have committed to purchasing green power for a period of five years or more. These organizations send a strong signal to renewable energy developers, stating that they are committed to green power for the long-term and are helping to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. Among the partners with the longest-running contracts are the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, The Ohio State University, Iowa State University, and the University of Maryland. Of the 47 partners appearing on the list, 15 are higher education institutions.

In addition, for the seventh year in a row, the agency is encouraging increased green power use among higher education institutions through the College and University Green Power Challenge. Out of the 32 competing conferences, the Big 10 is this year’s conference champion, collectively using more than 315 million kWh of green power annually and avoiding carbon pollution equal to that produced by the electricity use of more than 33,000 American homes. The University of Pennsylvania continues to be the top individual school in the challenge, purchasing more than 200 million kWh of wind power annually--more green power than any of the 75 other competing schools.

Green power is a subset of renewable energy and represents the renewable energy resources and technologies that provide the highest environmental benefit. EPA defines green power as electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.

As part of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership, more than 1,400 organizations are purchasing more than 27 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, avoiding carbon pollution equal to that created by the electricity use of more than 2.8 million American homes. The partnership provides quarterly updated lists of partners using green power in the following categories: K-12 schools, technology and telecommunications, local government, and retail, among others.

AIR FORCE 2014 BUDGET AND SPACE

 

An artist's depiction of the Space Based Space Surveillance satellite. The Joint Space Operations Center uses data collected from SBSS to track orbiting objects in geostationary and low earth orbit, providng space situational awareness to U.S. miliitary and commercial space users. Members of the 1st and 7th Space Operations Squadron command and control the satellite. Credit: U.S. Air Force Space Command.

FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
AF leaders highlight space program successes, address FY14 budget

4/18/2013 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Space today is in as good a position as it's been in a very long time, said Richard McKinney, the deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space.

McKinney, along with Dr. Jamie Morin, the acting under secretary of the Air Force, and Brig. Gen. Robert McMurry, the director of space programs for the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, briefed members of the media on the Air Force's fiscal 2014 Space Budget April 15 in the Pentagon here.

"We're in production," McKinney said. "We've got missile warning in production, we've got Advanced Extremely High Frequency, or AEHF, (satellites) in production, and Wideband Global SATCOM is in production. On launch -- we have 10 years of 100 percent successful flights. We have more capability today than we have ever had."

The Air Force has requested approximately $6.5 billion for its space investment portfolio in FY 2014. The top five programs include: the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, Space Based Infrared System early warning satellites, Global Positioning System III navigation satellites, AEHF military communications satellites, and space situational awareness systems.

The fiscal 2014 request is slightly higher than the fiscal 2013 request of $6.3 billion for its space investment portfolio, but does not reflect the cuts that would take place under sequestration. It does, however, reflect the Air Force's ongoing commitment to providing enhanced space capabilities to the joint team.

"We continue to offer the nation these space capabilities which are a tremendous force multiplier," Morin said. "Relying on space, whether it's reliable communications or precision navigation or warning of what others might be doing in space or warning of missile launches, all of that enables the other parts of the joint team to function very effectively and provides those force multipliers we're relying on."

And being a force multiplier is something that is all the more essential as budgets are under stress, Morin said.

"We've been working hard to take costs out of the space programs. We've had some real successes," he said, highlighting the fact that sequestration would undermine these achievements. "If we pull the rug out from under that through continued budgetary uncertainty or ill-conceived cuts, then we're going to do a disservice to the taxpayer who is just now beginning to benefit from this effort to squeeze costs down."

Morin also highlighted several space programs that the Air Force successfully found ways to stretch dollars and provide stability.

"The Advanced Extremely High Frequency communication satellite -- we are now predicting more than $1 billion in savings based on the contract work that has been done on that," he said. "On the Space Based Infrared System, we've already projected over $500 million in savings."

The Air Force has also moved to a "block buy," of launch systems, purchasing a number of items at a time, allowing for lower per-unit prices -- with a path to enable competition for certified new entrants, which will allow for significant savings.

McMurry also spoke about the successes that have been achieved through the Joint Space Operations Center Mission System, or JMS.

"We've brought the initial operational capability in three years, and pulled $500 million out of the program while still meeting operational requirements," McMurry said, describing a joint effort that involved moving to a commercially procured software approach.

The service has also seen success through partnerships with allies, enabling a cost-share where all parties can share the capability of the satellite.

"In both the AEHF and WGS communication satellite programs, you've seen us ink agreements with allies, in some cases multiple allies," Morin said. "This is win, win, win on so many different levels. It's promoting interoperability with key partners. It's driving down costs to the U.S. taxpayer, and it's building more capacity in these constellations."

In light of these successes and efforts to drive costs down, Morin emphasized the fact that programs still remain vulnerable. However the service will continue to strive for stability in the space program to ensure it can provide those capabilities the joint team relies on.

"The Air Force's capabilities in space are going to continue to be touchstones for the whole joint team, the whole of government and for the private sector," Morin said. "We're committed to enabling the joint force, providing the force multipliers that make the joint force stronger. And we're committed to doing so in a way that's respectful of the taxpayers' dollar."

(Courtesy of Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs)

　

U.S. ARMY'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST SUPPLEMENTS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Army Deaths Spur Successful Campaign Against Supplements
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 - A "David-and-Goliath" scenario – an Army installation commander standing up to a multi-billion-dollar industry over the deaths of three of his soldiers – has borne fruit in a national Food and Drug Administration warning and the drug maker's decision to stop production of a controversial dietary supplement.

Army Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, commander of Fort Bliss, Texas, and the 1st Armored Division, lauded USPlabs's announcement that it would stop production of Jack3d.

The supplement contains dimethylamylamine, or DMAA, a stimulant popular among bodybuilders and dieters that the FDA last week linked to elevated blood pressure and heart attacks.

Pittard's crusade against the supplement began in 2011, when two Fort Bliss soldiers, Pfc. Michael Sparling and Sgt. Demekia Cola, died of heart failure during physical training. Their autopsies reviewed that DMAA use was a contributing factor in their deaths.

In July 2012, another Fort Bliss soldier, Pfc. David Artis, died of heart stroke during physical fitness training. His death also was linked to DMAA use.

Pittard, who instituted a campaign to reduce suicides and other preventable deaths on arrival at Fort Bliss, immediately demanded that products containing DMAA be removed from the shelves of a commercial vitamin store outlet on the post. It was an unpopular move, he told reporters today, raising the ire of the Fort Bliss community, questions from some Army leaders, and criticism from manufacturers of supplemental products.

"But regardless, we stood firm in the face of that criticism," Pittard said. "We felt it was the right thing to do for our soldiers."

The pushback, he said, actually strengthened the resolve at Fort Bliss to take the fight beyond the installation's gates. Partnering with the Consortium for Health and Military Performance and the Pentagon's Department of Military and Emergency Medicine, Pittard and his staff set their eye on eradicating DMAA products across not only the Army, but also the entire Defense Department.

This unified campaign spurred the Army to ban supplements containing DMAA from all installations in March 2012. Four months later, the Defense Department followed suit, banning them from all U.S. installations. In the next promising development, the FDA issued an advisory last week warning consumers not to buy dietary supplements containing DMAA.

But the biggest victory, Pittard said, was the decision by USPlabs, the manufacturer of Jack3d, to stop using DMAA in its products.

"Yesterday's action by USPlabs really in many ways vindicates those on Fort Bliss who fought so hard and fought the supplement and billion-dollar drug industry on this issue," he said.

Pittard expressed thanks to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and Army and DOD leadership for supporting the effort. He acknowledged that it took courage to collectively stand up to powerful drug companies and others who resisted their efforts.

"And we believe this will save countless lives in the future," he said.

HABITALBE-ZONE EARTH-SIZE PLANETS CONTINUE TO BE DISCOVERED



Relative sizes of all of the habitable-zone planets discovered to date alongside Earth. Left to right: Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f and Earth (except for Earth, these are artists' renditions). Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech.

FROM:  NASA

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water.

The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets.

Two of the newly discovered planets orbit a star smaller and cooler than the sun. Kepler-62f is only 40 percent larger than Earth, making it the exoplanet closest to the size of our planet known in the habitable zone of another star. Kepler-62f is likely to have a rocky composition. Kepler-62e, orbits on the inner edge of the habitable zone and is roughly 60 percent larger than Earth.

The third planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 percent larger than the size of Earth, and orbits in the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. Astronomers are uncertain about the composition of Kepler-69c, but its orbit of 242 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our neighboring planet Venus.

Scientists do not know whether life could exist on the newfound planets, but their discovery signals we are another step closer to finding a world similar to Earth around a star like our sun.

"The Kepler spacecraft has certainly turned out to be a rock star of science," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The discovery of these rocky planets in the habitable zone brings us a bit closer to finding a place like home. It is only a matter of time before we know if the galaxy is home to a multitude of planets like Earth, or if we are a rarity."

The Kepler space telescope, which simultaneously and continuously measures the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, is NASA's first mission capable of detecting Earth-size planets around stars like our sun. Orbiting its star every 122 days, Kepler-62e was the first of these habitable zone planets identified. Kepler-62f, with an orbital period of 267 days, was later found by Eric Agol, associate professor of astronomy at the University of Washington and co-author of a paper on the discoveries published in the journal Science.

The size of Kepler-62f is now measured, but its mass and composition are not. However, based on previous studies of rocky exoplanets similar in size, scientists are able to estimate its mass by association.

"The detection and confirmation of planets is an enormously collaborative effort of talent and resources, and requires expertise from across the scientific community to produce these tremendous results," said William Borucki, Kepler science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the Kepler-62 system paper in Science. "Kepler has brought a resurgence of astronomical discoveries and we are making excellent progress toward determining if planets like ours are the exception or the rule."

The two habitable zone worlds orbiting Kepler-62 have three companions in orbits closer to their star, two larger than the size of Earth and one about the size of Mars. Kepler-62b, Kepler-62c and Kepler-62d, orbit every five, 12, and 18 days, respectively, making them very hot and inhospitable for life as we know it.

The five planets of the Kepler-62 system orbit a star classified as a K2 dwarf, measuring just two-thirds the size of the sun and only one-fifth as bright. At seven billion years old, the star is somewhat older than the sun. It is about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

A companion to Kepler-69c, known as Kepler-69b, is more than twice the size of Earth and whizzes around its star every 13 days. The Kepler-69 planets' host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type. It is 93 percent the size of the sun and 80 percent as luminous and is located approximately 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

"We only know of one star that hosts a planet with life, the sun. Finding a planet in the habitable zone around a star like our sun is a significant milestone toward finding truly Earth-like planets," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, Calif., and lead author of the Kepler-69 system discovery published in the Astrophysical Journal.

When a planet candidate transits, or passes in front of the star from the spacecraft's vantage point, a percentage of light from the star is blocked. The resulting dip in the brightness of the starlight reveals the transiting planet's size relative to its star. Using the transit method, Kepler has detected 2,740 candidates. Using various analysis techniques, ground telescopes and other space assets, 122 planets have been confirmed.

Early in the mission, the Kepler telescope primarily found large, gaseous giants in very close orbits of their stars. Known as "hot Jupiters," these are easier to detect due to their size and very short orbital periods. Earth would take three years to accomplish the three transits required to be accepted as a planet candidate. As Kepler continues to observe, transit signals of habitable zone planets the size of Earth orbiting stars like the sun will begin to emerge.

Ames is responsible for Kepler's ground system development, mission operations, and science data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed Kepler mission development.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and was funded by the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

For more information about the Kepler mission and to view the digital press kit, visit:

BAFFIN ISLAND OVERFLIGHT BY P-3B

FROM: NASA
IceBridge Flight Over Baffin Island

IceBridge closed out the fourth week of its Arctic campaign with a flight over the striking landscape of eastern Greenland's Geikie Peninsula and a survey of a Canadian ice cap before taking two days off over the weekend. Soon the mission will return to Thule to finish up Arctic flights for 2013.

The morning of April 12, 2013 saw the P-3B take off for a flight to the west, across the Davis Strait to Canada's Baffin Island. This island, the largest one in Canada, is home to an ice formation known as the Penny Ice Cap. This mission was a repeat of airborne surveys by the ATM and radar teams flown in 1995, 2000 and 2005, and added new survey lines along ICESat ground tracks. Previous airborne surveys showed the ice cap thinning and glaciers retreating in the area and the April 12 mission aimed at measuring several glaciers in the area to see how much the Penny Ice Cap has melted in recent years.

The image captures ice covered fjord on Baffin Island with Davis Strait in the background. Image Credit-NASA-Michael Studinger

ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR APRIL 18, 2013

 


A coalition force member provides security during a patrol with Afghan special forces to escort a district governor in Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 14, 2013. U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Combined Force Detains Insurgents After Firefight
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 19, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force detained a senior Taliban leader and several other insurgents in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Afghanistan's Helmand province today, military officials reported.

During the operation, insurgents opened fire on the security force. The security force returned fire, wounding one insurgent.

The Taliban leader is believed to control fighters responsible for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. He also is alleged to oversee weapons facilitation for insurgents and to have trained suicide bombers. He also is an improvised explosive device expert and passes orders from senior Taliban officials to the insurgents, officials said.

The security force seized two rifles, four magazines and 60 pounds of opium in the operation.

In other Afghanistan operations today:

-- A combined force in Logar province's Pul-e Alam district detained several insurgents and a Haqqani network facilitator believed to be a vital link in the network's IED operations.

-- In Khost province's Sabari district, a combined force detained several insurgents during a search for a Haqqani network leader who allegedly coordinates the flow of military equipment to Haqqani cells in several districts and has participated in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. The security force seized an assault rifle, a pistol, three grenades, three assault rifle magazines, ammunition and bomb-making materials.

In other news, a combined force in Kandahar province's Maiwand district killed two insurgents yesterday during a search for a man believed to be one of the district's top Taliban officials. He is responsible for planning and organizing attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and facilitating the movement of supplies and weapons. He also has plotted to assassinate Afghans who support the local government and Afghan forces.

SCIENTISTS LOOK FOR LIFE'S "WHITE GOLD"

 

Tracking high-elevation snowfall at NSF's Niwot Ridge LTER site in Colorado. Credit: NSF Niwot Ridge LTER Site

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

An American exodus, it's been called, the largest "migration" of people in modern U.S. history.

It happened during the 1930s Dust Bowl, when severe drought conditions coupled with erosion brought about an environmental catastrophe. Choking dust storms caused major economic, ecological and agricultural damage in Texas, Oklahoma and parts of New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado.

Ill winds blew across fields, plucking deep-rooted grasses and carrying them hundreds of miles. Farmlands disappeared and homes were destroyed. These "black blizzards" swirled all the way to East Coast cities such as New York and Washington.

On April 14, 1935--"Black Sunday"--20 of the worst of the storms turned day into night. More than 500,000 people were left homeless. Most headed due west in search of work. Some, victims of dust pneumonia or malnutrition, never made it.

For today's residents of states like Colorado, that scene is long ago and far away. Or is it? On Earth Week, with much of the Mountain West in an extreme drought, people in the Four Corners are wondering.

　

The search for white gold
The answer lies in white gold: snowmelt.

"Snow and its meltwaters are indeed white gold, and they're getting harder and harder to find," says Mark Williams, an ecologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder and principal investigator of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Colorado.

In western North America, snow typically begins to fall in November. It piles up, reaching its peak in April. In the Rocky Mountains region, 85 percent of the water resources come from snow as it eventually melts.

At Niwot Ridge, ecologists are prospecting for white gold, no easy task at 9,800 feet up.

Niwot Ridge is one of 26 NSF LTER sites in mountain, prairie, coastal and other ecosystems around the world. The sites are primarily supported by NSF's Directorate for Biological Sciences, with major additional funding from its Directorate for Geosciences.

Niwot Ridge is part of the Boulder Creek, Colorado, watershed, where scientists at NSF's Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) are also looking for white gold.

Their search takes them into Earth's critical zone--the region between the top of the forest canopy and the base of unweathered rock. Boulder Creek is one of six such NSF CZOs in watersheds across the country.

"The depth of winter's snowpack and timing of spring snowmelt determine how much water we will have the following summer," says Williams, who is also affiliated with the Boulder Creek CZO, "and the extent of a drought that's the most severe since the Dust Bowl."

It's 2013, not 1935. But farmers are again asking whether there will be enough water for their fields.

Water well running dry

At Niwot Ridge and Boulder Creek, scientists face howling winter winds to measure snow depth.

Without deep snows, the researchers are discovering, our water well is running dry.

"Water is critical for recharging soil moisture, keeping plants alive and replenishing stream networks," says Williams. "Those streams and rivers are what feed our reservoirs."

Water in all its forms--vapor, liquid and solid--distinguishes our planet, says John Wingfield, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences.

"Much remains to be learned about the complex biological processes, and interactions of the biosphere and geosphere, in snow and ice cover," Wingfield says. "Large-scale shifts of snow and ice fields will have major downstream effects. The implications for ecosystems even far removed from high altitude and latitude snow and ice are unknown."

To find answers, Williams, Suzanne Anderson, principal investigator of the Boulder Creek CZO, and colleagues recently conducted a study of water flow on hillslopes of the Colorado Front Range. They published the results in the journal Hydrological Processes.

Other authors of the paper are Eve-Lyn Hinckley and Robert Anderson of the University of Colorado-Boulder, Brian Ebel of the U.S. Geological Survey and Rebecca Barnes of Bard College. Hinckley is the lead author.

"The interaction of climate and ecosystems is an example of the critical questions that lie at the interface between scientific disciplines," says Roger Wakimoto, NSF assistant director for Geosciences. "The results from this study will greatly improve our understanding of the hydrologic cycle."

The research, conducted in the headwaters of the Rockies, shows that higher temperatures are shifting the timing of maximum snow accumulation ever-earlier and decreasing the ratio of snow-to-rain.

"It's raining a heck of a lot more than it used to," says Williams. "In times past, it did nothing but snow."

A flash-in-the-pan, rain is gone more quickly than snow. Within hours of falling, it evaporates or seeps into the ground, and doesn't have snow's longer residence time on mountainsides.

"The slow melt of mountain snow is what keeps streams and rivers running like spigots turned on," says Williams. "Eventually, they lead right to the taps in our kitchens, bathrooms and yards."

Where, exactly, does the white gold come from?

As scientists at Niwot Ridge and Boulder Creek have discovered, the mother lode is hidden in snow "water towers."

"Water towers" for the Mountain West--and beyond

Mountain ecosystems serve as "water towers" that store winter snow until it's released during spring runoff.

The water towers, however, have sprung leaks.

Subalpine forests are becoming warmer and drier during all seasons. At higher elevations, alpine tundra has longer growing seasons, warmer summers and cool and wet versus cold and snowy winters.

How long a snowpack lasts is affected by what scientists call aspect: whether a hillslope faces north or south.

In the Rockies, lodgepole pines, which prefer colder, wetter climes, dot north-facing slopes; Ponderosa pines cover south-facing, drier slopes.

"You can pretty well guess how much snow a slope will have by which way it faces," says Williams, "and by which tree species grows there."

A tale of two trees

Lodgepole pine-covered, north-facing slopes are usually laden with snow straight through the winter. South-facing slopes, with their Ponderosa pines, have only intermittent snow.

"North- and south-facing slopes at the Boulder Creek CZO are an excellent natural laboratory for studying the effects of climate change on water availability and soil geochemistry," says Enriqueta Barrera, NSF program director for the CZO network, supported by the agency's Directorate for Geosciences.

Williams agrees. "North-facing slopes store more water in the 'near-surface' than south-facing slopes," he says. "On south-facing slopes, water sinks quickly into the deep bedrock."

Earlier snowmelt may be changing those patterns, "which could have consequences for the health and composition of the forest," Williams says, and for water resources.

"Research at sites such as the Niwot Ridge LTER shows how catastrophic large-scale shifts in snowmelt will be," says Saran Twombly, NSF program director for the LTER network.

Lack of snow, for example, led to forest fires like Colorado's High Park Fire of June, 2012, and Waldo Canyon Fire less than a month later. The Waldo Canyon Fire was the most expensive wildfire in Colorado history. It was also the most destructive.

"White blizzard" falling

It's April 8, 2013: date of the average peak snowpack in the Colorado mountains. Despite this winter's snow drought, the day, perhaps, of a good omen.

"Heavy snow will blanket much of the west," intoned weather forecasters. Blizzard watches went up. Snowplows, fallow too long, once again geared down.

When all was said and done, more than a foot of snow fell across high peaks and low prairies.

It sparkled across the land, until spring sunlight turned it into a precious commodity: white gold.

STATEMENT OF AGREEMENT ON PRINCIPLES OF NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN KOSOVO AND SERBIA

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Agreement Between Kosovo and Serbia in the EU-facilitated Dialogue
Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
April 19, 2013

I congratulate Serbia and Kosovo for reaching agreement today in the European Union-facilitated Dialogue led by High Representative Catherine Ashton. This agreement on principles for normalization of relations required compromise and political courage from both sides, and I applaud the governments of Kosovo and Serbia for making the hard decisions that will move them closer to their goals of European integration. I encourage both countries now to implement expeditiously and fully all Dialogue agreements reached to date, so that all of those living in Kosovo and Serbia can continue to build a more peaceful and prosperous future.

I commend High Representative Ashton for her facilitation of these talks between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. Her leadership and dedication were critical in bringing about this important agreement.

The United States will remain deeply committed to seeing the people of Serbia, Kosovo, and the entire region realize their aspirations of integration into a Europe free, whole, and at peace.

CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE INVESTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO BID RIGGING AT PUBLIC FORECLOSURE AUCTIONS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Investigation Has Yielded 30 Plea Agreements to Date
WASHINGTON — A Northern California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.

Felony charges were filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco against Mohammed Rezaian, of Novato, Calif. Rezaian is the 30th individual to plead guilty or agree to plead guilty as a result of the department's ongoing antitrust investigations into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

According to court documents, Rezaian conspired with others not to bid against one another, but instead to designate a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, Calif. Rezaian was also charged with conspiring to use the mail to carry out schemes to fraudulently acquire title to selected properties sold at public auctions, to make and receive payoffs, and to divert to co-conspirators money that would have otherwise gone to mortgage holders and others. According to court documents, a forfeiture allegation was also included in the charges against Rezaian.

The department said Rezaian conspired with others to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco and San Mateo counties beginning as early as July 2008 and continuing until about January 2011.

"As a result of this investigation, the Antitrust Division has thus far filed charges against 30 real estate investors in Northern California for their illegal activity at foreclosure auctions," said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. "The division will vigorously pursue the perpetrators of these fraudulent and anticompetitive schemes."

The department said that the primary purpose of the conspiracies was to suppress and restrain competition and to conceal payoffs in order to obtain selected real estate offered at San Francisco and San Mateo County public foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices. When real estate properties are sold at these auctions, the proceeds are used to pay off the mortgage and other debt attached to the property, with remaining proceeds, if any, paid to the homeowner.

"Not only is bid rigging at public foreclosure auctions illegal, it also severely undermines the integrity of a fair and competitive marketplace," said David J. Johnson, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Office. "The FBI will continue to investigate and pursue those who commit fraudulent anticompetitive practices at foreclosure auctions and work with those who have fallen victim to such selfish crimes."

A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine for the Sherman Act charges may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either amount is greater than $1 million. A count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The government can also seek to forfeit the proceeds earned from participating in the conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The charges today are the latest filed by the department in its ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, Calif. These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division's San Francisco office and the FBI's San Francisco office. .

Today's charges were brought in connection with the President's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys' offices and state and local partners, it's the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants.

West Wing Week: 04/19/13 or “Selflessly. Compassionately. Unafraid.” | The White House

West Wing Week: 04/19/13 or “Selflessly. Compassionately. Unafraid.” | The White House

Job creation and growth with space

Job creation and growth with space

USS NIMITZ TRANSITS PACIFIC AND THE 7 SUBMARINES OF APRA HARBOR

FROM: U.S. NAVY

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) transits the Pacific Ocean behind the Military SEaliftCommand fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187) as it conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59). Nimitz is underway for a sustainment training exercise in preparation for an upcoming deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Raul Moreno Jr. (Released) 130412-N-LP801-006

With the mooring of the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Bremerton (SSN 698) on April 16, Apra Harbor now has seven submarines in port. This is the highest number of submarines in the harbor since the re-establishment of Commander, Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 15 in 2001. The submarines are conducting maintenance prior to continuing their deployments. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeffrey Jay Price (Released) 130417-N-LS794-001

Una fábrica de estrellas en la infancia del Universo desafía la teoría de la evolución galáctica

Una fábrica de estrellas en la infancia del Universo desafía la teoría de la evolución galáctica

SEC CHARGES CEO OF INVESTMENT ADVISORY FIRM WITH LYING TO CalPERS AND OTHER CLIENTS

FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C., April 18, 2013 — The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the CEO of Chicago-based investment advisory firm Simran Capital Management with lying to the California Public Employers' Retirement System (CalPERS) and other current and potential clients about the amount of money managed by the firm.

Institutional investors such as CalPERS often use assets under management (AUM) as a metric to screen prospective investment advisers soliciting their business. An SEC investigation revealed that while pitching Simran's services, Mesh Tandon falsely certified to CalPERS that his firm satisfied its minimum AUM requirements. After fraudulently obtaining the business from CalPERS, Tandon also falsely inflated Simran's AUM in communications with other potential clients with whom he touted his firm's relationship with CalPERS. Tandon also fraudulently reported an inflated AUM in filings with the SEC, and he later attempted to mislead SEC examiners during a routine examination of Simran.

Tandon, who previously lived in Chicago and now resides in Texas, has agreed to settle the SEC's fraud charges.

"Tandon deliberately undermined the CalPERS screening process by grossly misrepresenting his firm's purported assets under management," said Merri Jo Gillette, Director of the SEC's Chicago Regional Office. "To make matters worse, he then used his association with CalPERS to lure other public institutional investors under false pretenses."

According to the SEC's order instituting settled administrative proceedings against Tandon, he represented to CalPERS in May 2008 that Simran met explicit AUM requirements and managed at least $200 million as of Dec. 31, 2007. In fact, Simran managed approximately $80 million at that time. Evidence indicates that Tandon was aware that Simran did not meet the CalPERS requirements for AUM.

According to the SEC's order, Tandon touted Simran's relationship with CalPERS to other prospective clients from 2008 to 2011, and he instructed other Simran employees to do the same. On more than a dozen occasions, Tandon and Simran employees falsely inflated the firm's AUM in communications with employee retirement systems and other prospective clients. Tandon and Simran also overstated the AUM in at least four of the firm's Form ADVs filed with the SEC. In February 2012, Simran withdrew its SEC registration as an investment adviser and has since ceased operations.

According to the SEC's order, Tandon violated Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 207 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Tandon neither admitted nor denied the findings, and agreed to be barred from the securities industry and pay disgorgement of $20,018, prejudgment interest of $1,680, and a penalty of $100,000.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Peter K.M. Chan along with Jonathan I. Katz and Andrew O'Brien in the Chicago Regional Office. They were assisted by members of the Chicago Regional Office's examination staff including Susan M. Weis, Jeson G. Patel, and Max J. Gillman.

INTEL OFFICIAL SAYS SEQUESTRATION CAUSED INTELLIGENCE DEGRADATION WILL BE "INSIDIOUS"

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Cuts Make Intelligence Failures Likely, Top Intel Official Says
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 - Speaking to a Senate panel about the effects of sequestration on the national security environment, the director of national intelligence said today that he's "seen this movie before."

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on current and future worldwide threats, James R. Clapper said he served through the last round of budget cuts 20 years ago.

"And we were then enjoined to reap the peace dividend occasioned by the end of the Cold War," he said. "We reduced the intelligence community by about 23 percent. During the mid and late '90s, we closed many CIA stations, reduced [human intelligence] collectors, cut analysts, allowed our overhead architecture to atrophy, neglected basic infrastructure needs such as power, space and cooling, and let our facilities decay. And most damagingly, we badly distorted the workforce."

The intelligence community has spent the last decade rebuilding, Clapper said, but, with sequestration, another damaging downward spiral looms.

"Sequestration forces the intelligence community to reduce all intelligence activities and functions without regard to impact on our mission," the nation's senior intelligence officersaid, adding that the cuts jeopardize the nation's safety and security, and that the jeopardy will increase over time.

"Unlike more directly observable sequestration impacts like shorter hours at the parks or longer security lines at airports," he said, "the degradation to intelligence will be insidious. It will be gradual and almost invisible until, of course, we have an intelligence failure."

In his 50 years of intelligence experience, Clapper told the senators, the country has never "confronted a more diverse array of threats, crises and challenges around the world."

This makes the mandatory budget cuts imposed by sequestration "incongruous," he added.

The world is changing, Clapper said, and the threat environment along with it. "Threats are more interconnected and viral," he said. "Events which, at first blush, seem local and irrelevant can quickly set off transnational disruptions that affect U.S. national interests."

Threats in the cyber realm can come from both state and nonstate actors, he said, and their danger to global security "cannot be overstated."

Climate, disease and competition for natural resources have huge national security implications, Clapper said

"Many countries important to U.S. interests are living with extreme water and food stress that can destabilize governments, force human migrations and trigger conflicts," he said.

And while al-Qaida and the potential for a massive coordinated attack on the United States may be diminished, he said, the jihadist movement is now more diffuse and still determined to attack.

The rise of new governments and ongoing unrest in the Arab world creates openings for extremists, Clapper told the senators. Opportunistic individuals and groups can take advantage of diminished counterterrorism capabilities, porous borders, easy availability of weapons and internal stresses, he explained.

In Iran, the technical expertise to enrich uranium and build nuclear reactors and ballistic missiles continues to develop, Clapper said. Tehran has the scientific, technical and industrial capability to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons, he continued, but the central question is whether it has the political will to do so.

"Such a decision, we believe, will be made by the [Iranian government's] supreme leader, and at this point we don't know if he'll eventually decide to build nuclear weapons," Clapper said.

"The increasingly beleaguered [Syrian] regime, having found that its escalation of violence through conventional means is not working, appears quite willing to use chemical weapons against its own people," he said. "We receive many claims of chemical warfare use in Syria each day and we take them all seriously, and we do all we can to investigate them."

Countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa are experiencing violence and political turmoil, he said, leading to civilian casualties and economic dislocation. Some 3.6 million Syrians have been displaced, and an additional 1.3 million have fled the country, Clapper said, noting that the refugee flow is placing pressure on neighboring countries.

"Moving to Asia, the Taliban-led insurgency has diminished in some areas of Afghanistan but is still resilient and capable of challenging U.S. international goals," he said. "The coalition drawdown will have an impact on Afghanistan's economy, which is likely to decline after 2014."

And in Pakistan, which faces no real prospects for sustainable economic growth, Clapper said, "the government has not instituted much-needed policy and tax reforms." On a more positive note, he continued, the Pakistani military continues its efforts to eliminate the al-Qaida and Taliban safe havens in the federally administered tribal areas.

China continues to supplement its military capabilities by strengthening its maritime law enforcement efforts in support of its claims in the South and East China Seas, he said.

"Closer to home," Clapper continued, "despite positive trends toward democracy and economic development, Latin America and the Caribbean contend with weak institutions, slow recovery from devastating natural disasters and drug-related violence and trafficking."

The intelligence director concluded his testimony by repeating his warning about sequestration spending cuts.

"So in sum, given the magnitude and complexity of our global responsibilities, insightful, persistent and comprehensive intelligence, at least in my mind, has never been more important or more urgent," he said. "So I have trouble reconciling this imperative with sequestration."

INSTALLING AIRCRAFT CATCHERS AT BUCKLEY

 

A Colorado Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon tests a newly installed Barrier Arresting Kit-12 system April 12, 2013, on the flightline at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. Airmen from the 460th Civil Engineer Squadron, 140th CES, Colorado Air National Guard, and 200th RED HORSE, Ohio National Guard, installed two BAK-12 systems in preparation for upcoming flightline construction. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Riley Johnson/Released

FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
CE units combine forces to catch planes
by Airman 1st Class Riley Johnson
460th Space Wing Public Affairs

4/16/2013 - BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Airmen from the 460th Civil Engineer Squadron and 140th CES, Colorado Air National Guard, received assistance from the 200th RED HORSE, Ohio Air National Guard, to install two Barrier Arresting Kit-12 systems April 12 on Buckley's flightline.

The team of power production Airmen assembled and installed the BAK-12 systems during a five-day span.

"We did it in a short timeframe. Everyone started on Monday, and we had the certification run on Friday. We saw all inclement weather conditions, from snow to high winds, and zero visibility," said Master Sgt. Joshua Barnett, 140th CES power productions NCO in charge.

The barrier systems were installed on Buckley in preparation for upcoming flightline construction.

The BAK-12 is an emergency stopping system for tail-hook equipped aircraft to prevent crashes and give assurance to pilots should their aircraft experience maintenance issues.

The system consists of a cable stretched across the flightline that is attached to the braking mechanisms on both sides. As the aircraft engages the system, the braking mechanism will slowly apply pressure until the aircraft comes to a stop.

After the week-long assembly, the BAK-12 proved it was capable of stopping a 29,000 pound F-16 Fighting Falcon traveling at a speed of more than 100 mph.

"The most rewarding part was seeing the plane hit the catch line. When I first went out there it was a patch of grass and a flightline. We got to see what we had worked so hard to do," said Senior Airman Taquan Kelley, 460th CES power production journeyman.

Eight Airmen from the 200th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers provided Buckley's power production teams with manpower, assets and expertise.

"This effort is a great example of leveraging guard and active-duty assets to complete a mission. Installing two Barrier Arresting Kit-12 systems in one week is not easy. The entire team of power production and heavy equipment personnel should be proud of their achievement and how well they were able to integrate operations," said Maj. Gibb Little, 460th CES operation flight commander.

　

SEC CHARGES FORMER INVESTMENT BANKER WITH INSIDER TRADING

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed a settled insider trading civil action in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against former investment banker Richard Bruce Moore. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Richard Bruce Moore, 13-cv-2514 (HB) (S.D.N.Y.). Moore is a Canadian citizen and a former investment banker at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

The SEC alleged in its complaint that Moore purchased American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) of Tomkins plc, a United Kingdom engineering and manufacturing company, ahead of an announcement that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and a Canadian private equity firm had approached Tomkins with a takeover offer. According to the complaint, Moore's job at CIBC included pitching investment ideas to the CPPIB. During 2010, in the course of his efforts to get CIBC a role in CPPIB transactions, Moore came to learn information that allowed him to conclude that the Board was working on an offer to acquire Tomkins. The complaint further alleges that, on June 28, 2010, Moore misappropriated that information from CIBC by purchasing 51,350 Tomkins ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange. Â On July 19, 2010, the day the offer was announced, the closing price of Tomkins ADRs rose 27 percent, from $13.87 to $17.67 a share. The complaint alleges that, through his purchase of the ADRs, Moore realized illicit gains of more than $163,000.

The SEC's complaint charged Moore with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's complaint, except for his admission of jurisdiction and certain facts agreed to in a parallel settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission, Moore consented to the entry of a proposed final judgment enjoining him from future violations of Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, ordering him to pay $163,293 in disgorgement plus $14,905 in prejudgment interest thereon, and imposing a $163,293 penalty. The settlement is subject to approval by the district court.

Moore has also agreed to an SEC administrative Order that would be based on entry of an injunction against him in the insider trading civil action and would bar him from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, or transfer agent, and from participating in any penny stock offering.

Moore also purchased a large number of Tomkins common shares on the London Stock Exchange ahead of the acquisition offer announcement. In a parallel action, the Ontario Securities Commission today announced charges against Moore based on his trading in Tomkins common shares and his trading in a second, unrelated, stock.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the Ontario Securities Commission, the Jersey Financial Services Commission, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

IRIS TO HELP SCIENTISTS UNDERSTAND SUN'S PHYSICAL PROCESSES



Workers unload NASA's IRIS spacecraft from a truck at the processing facility at Vandenberg where the spacecraft will be readied for launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. Photo credit: VAFB/Randy Beaudoin

FROM: NASA

NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, April 16, to begin its final preparations for launch currently scheduled no earlier than May 28. IRIS will improve our understanding of how heat and energy move through the deepest levels of the sun’s atmosphere, thereby increasing our ability to forecast space weather. Following final checkouts, the IRIS spacecraft will be placed inside an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket. Deployment of the Pegasus from the L-1011 carrier aircraft is targeted for 7:27 p.m. PDT at an altitude of 39,000 feet at a location over the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg AFB off the central coast of California south of Big Sur.

"IRIS will contribute significantly to our understanding of the interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona," said Joe Davila, IRIS mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This region is crucial for understanding how the corona gets so hot."

IRIS carries a single instrument, a multi-channel imaging spectrograph with an ultraviolet (UV) telescope that will help scientists better understand the physical processes in the sun’s interface region.

"With the high-resolution images from IRIS, scientists will be able to use advanced computer models to unravel how matter, light, and energy move from the sun’s 6,000 Kelvin surface to its million Kelvin corona," said Eric Ianson, IRIS mission manager at NASA Goddard. "Scientists will be able to combine data from NASA’s IRIS and Solar Dynamics Observatory and the NASA/JAXA Hinode missions to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the sun’s atmosphere."

IRIS is a NASA Small Explorer mission. The program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space using innovative, streamlined and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics areas.

NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., is responsible for launch management. Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., designed and built the IRIS spacecraft and instrument. NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., is responsible for mission operations and ground data systems.

1ST ARMORED DIVISION ELEMENTS TO AID JORDANIAN MILITARY

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Advance Headquarters Elements Operating in Jordan
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 - Elements of the 1st Armored Division headquarters at Fort Bliss, Texas, are preparing for what's expected to be a year-long mission in Jordan to help the Jordanian military deal with consequences of the Syrian conflict, Army Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, the division commander, told reporters today.

Members of the element, to be led by Army Maj. Gen. Wayne Grigsby Jr., deputy division commander for operations, are expected to rotate during the mission, Pittard said. Details are still being worked out, he added, estimating that deployments would be in the six-month range.

About 110 soldiers will deploy from Fort Bliss, with liaison officers and other augmentees to increase the element's size closer to 200, he said.

On the ground, the element will coordinate with U.S. military forces operating in Jordan and provide assistance "in everything from humanitarian assistance to stability [operations] to other things in support of Jordan," Pittard said. The operational role, however, is expected to be "very, very limited," he said, adding that the headquarters is prepared to expand the mission and the scale of the mission as necessary.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the deployment during testimony yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The contingent will enhance efforts of a small U.S. military team that has been working in Jordan since last year on planning related to chemical weapons and preventing a spillover of violence across Jordan's borders, the secretary told the Senate panel.

"These personnel will continue to work alongside Jordanian armed forces to improve readiness and prepare for a number of scenarios," he said.

Pittard reported today that the advance party already is on the ground in Jordan preparing for the mission.

The division is regionally aligned with U.S. Central Command, and Pittard and most of his headquarters staff worked alongside their Jordanian counterparts during Exercise Eager Light in October, he said. Exercise Eager Lion, also in Jordan, is slated for June. Another portion of the headquarters is in Saudi Arabia for Exercise Earnest Leader, and others will participate in Exercise Bright Star in Egypt in September, he said.

The deployment comes just two weeks after the announcement that missile defenders based at Fort Bliss would deploy to Guam as a precautionary move to protect against North Korean missiles.
Members of the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense System battery deployed last week and are in place and operational in Guam, Pittard reported.

"They are well-trained and ready, and the capability they bring will certainly help to protect our country," he said.

Pittard said he's proud that Fort Bliss "has really become one of our premier installations" in the expeditionary Army.

ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN

 

U.S. soldiers provide security for a hasty patrol base in the Registan Desert in the Panjwai district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, April 10, 2013. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kimberly Hackba

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Afghan, Coalition Troops Arrest Taliban Facilitator
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan, April 18, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force detained a Taliban leader and another insurgent in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar province today, military officials reported.

The leader is accused of directing and participating in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in the province's Panjwai and Kandahar districts. He is believed to facilitate weapons and equipment for insurgent operations and to have significant experience with the construction and emplacement of improvised explosive devices.

In Afghanistan operations yesterday:
-- A combined force in Samangan province's Darah-ye Suf-e Pain district detained two insurgents during a search for a senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader believed to direct insurgent fighters and to have planned high-profile attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and civilians.

-- In Nuristan province's Waygal district, a combined force killed two insurgents during a search for the suspected top Taliban official in the district, who is believed to be responsible for leading attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, conducting illegal checkpoints and kidnapping Afghan officials.

-- Afghan Provincial Response Company Uruzgan, enabled by coalition forces, killed two insurgents and seized and destroyed IED-making materials in Uruzgan province's Shahid-e Hasas district during a search for a Taliban weapons facilitator.

DOD Contracts for April 18, 2013

Contracts for April 18, 2013

QUARTERLY REPORT ON PIRACY OFF COAST OF SOMALIA

Map:  Somalia.  Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

 FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia: Quarterly Update
Fact Sheet
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
April 17, 2013

The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia was created on January 14, 2009 pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1851. This voluntary, ad hoc international forum brings together over 80 countries, organizations, and industry groups with a shared interest in combating piracy. Chaired by the United States in 2013, the Contact Group continues to coordinate political, military, industry, and non-governmental efforts to bring an end to piracy off the coast of Somalia and to ensure that pirates are brought to justice.

Through its five thematic working groups, the Contact Group draws on international expertise and adopts a problem-solving approach towards addressing piracy, working closely with Somali authorities and regional administrations. Working Group 1, chaired by the United Kingdom, focuses on military and operational coordination, information sharing, and capacity building; Working Group 2, chaired by Denmark, addresses legal and judicial issues; Working Group 3, chaired by the Republic of Korea, works closely with the shipping industry to enhance awareness and build capabilities among seafarers transiting the region; Working Group 4, chaired by Egypt, aims at raising public awareness of the dangers of piracy; and Working Group 5, chaired by Italy, focuses on illicit financial flows associated with piracy as well as disrupting the pirate enterprise ashore.

This unique international partnership is contributing toward a significant decline in successful pirate attacks in the region. There has not been a single successful pirate attack in the region to date in 2013, and 2012 saw a nearly 75 percent decline in successful attacks over 2011.

Recent Developments

Apprehensions at Sea
On January 25, the EU Naval Force vessel FS SURCOUF transferred 12 suspected pirates to authorities in Mauritius for prosecution. The French naval frigate captured the suspected pirates after an attack on a merchant vessel off Somalia’s coast earlier that month.

On February 25, the EU Naval Force frigate HNLMS DE RUYTER transferred nine suspected pirates to authorities in the Republic of Seychelles. The suspects were captured aboard two skiffs after an alarm report from a merchant vessel on February 19.
Piracy Trials
On February 27, a federal jury in Norfolk, Virginia convicted five Somali men of piracy for the 2010 attack on the USS ASHLAND. A piracy conviction in the United States carries a mandatory life sentence.

Trials have been proceeding in the region for 16 suspected pirates detained in April 2012 by the Danish naval vessel ABSALON, operating as part of NATO’s Operation OCEAN SHIELD. A court in Seychelles sentenced three of the pirates to prison terms of 24 years and a fourth to 16 years. Denmark collaborated with Pakistan to secure Pakistani fishermen held hostage by the pirates to serve as witnesses in court. The next step will be to transfer the convicted pirates to serve their sentences in their home country, Somalia.
Prisoner Transfers
In March, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organised the latest transfer of piracy prisoners from Seychelles to Somalia. 25 pirates were sent to Bosasso from Montagne Posse prison in the Seychelles in three charter flights. Thirteen of the prisoners had been apprehended by the U.S. Navy and 12 by European Naval Force. Previously 34 pirates had been transferred to Somalia, 29 to Hargeisa in Somaliland and five to Bosasso in Puntland.
Meetings
On February 6, the Contact Group’s Working Group 3 (Strengthening Shipping Self-Awareness and Other Capabilities) held its seventh session, hosted by Working Group chair the Republic of Korea in Seoul. Representatives from more than 45 countries and organizations discussed: shipping industry-developed Best Management Practices to protect merchant ships transiting high-risk waters; the welfare of seafarers victimized by pirates; potential updates to the region’s designated High-Risk Area, and related issues.

The Contact Group’s Working Group 4 (Public Information) and 1 (Military and Operational Coordination, Information Sharing, and Capacity Building) met March 18-21, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Somali government officials participated for the first time in Working Group 4 meetings, and committed to harmonizing official counter piracy messaging with that of the international community. Working Group 1 reviewed the significant progress being made to enhance effective coordination of international activity to develop regional maritime security, judicial and penal capabilities, and exchanged views with leaders of the multinational naval forces operating in the High-Risk Area on the effectiveness of preventative efforts at sea, and the recent deliberations of the Shared Awareness and De-Confliction Mechanism (known as SHADE).
Representatives of the Somali Contact Group on Counter Piracy (The Kampala Process), consisting of the Federal Government of Somalia, Puntland, Galmudug, and Somaliland, met in Addis Ababa on March 11-17. These meetings, facilitated by UNPOS, UNODC, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Maritime Organization, and the NGO Oceans Beyond Piracy, resulted in substantial progress towards developing a single draft Somali Maritime Strategy.

Working Groups 2 and 5 will meet in Copenhagen on April 10-12.
The Fourteenth Plenary of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia will meet in New York City in the UN headquarters on May 1, 2013, chaired. The United States will chair this meeting.
Significant Developments
In December 2012 and January 2013, the Hostage Release Programme administered by the UN Political Office on Somalia (UNPOS) supported the repatriation of 21 hostages from the M/V ICEBERG and the remaining six hostages from the M/V ORNHA. This programme, which is funded by the UN Trust Fund to Support Initiatives of States Countering Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (UN Trust Fund), tracks, monitors and then assists States and shipping companies to recover former hostages abandoned inside Somalia after their release by pirates.

The Regional Anti-Piracy Prosecution & Intelligence Coordination Centre (RAPPICC) in the Seychelles officially opened on February 25. The RAPPICC will coordinate counter-piracy intelligence and information in order to better target the kingpins and financiers of Somali piracy.

Ambassador Thomas Winkler of Denmark, Chairman of the Contact Group’s Working Group 2 (Judicial Issues), accompanied UNODC officials on a visit to Puntland, including to the prison in Bosasso, which has been rebuilt in large part with funding provided by the Trust Fund. During the visit, Puntland authorities and UNODC agreed on the establishment of a national monitoring group for transferred pirate prisoners, which UNODC will supplement with an international monitoring group. In Somaliland, UNODC opened a housing complex at Hargeisa prison as part of a continuing process to upgrade penal facilities throughout the region. UNODC Counter Piracy Programme prison advisors visited the five Kenyan prisons where 130 convicted pirates are currently serving sentences of up to 20 years.

In March, $1.95 million was disbursed to the UN Development Program and UNODC to implement projects approved by the UN Trust Fund, which is managed by the UN Department of Political Affairs. The projects will develop police capacity to combat piracy in Puntland, Somalia; facilitate effective prosecution of individuals suspected of piracy; provide support to prisoner transfer flights from Seychelles to Somalia; and support the creation of a maritime law enforcement strategy and legal framework in Somalia.
Working Group 3 hosted an ad hoc meeting in London on January 15 on the High Risk Area (HRA) in London, where participants deliberated on the scope of the HRA as defined in the fourth iteration of the Best Management Practices guidelines. Another issue discussed was the idea of a transit corridor off the coast of India. The meeting provided a forum for a focused and in-depth deliberation of the HRA issue among all parties concerned.
Piracy Statistics for January 1-April 1, 2013
 4 attempted hijackings; no successful hijackings
Hostage seafarers in pirate custody
16 on M/V ALBEDO (Malaysia), hijacked November 25, 2010
67 on six fishing vessels, including M/V NAHAM (Oman), hijacked March 26, 2012
17 held on land from M/V ASHPAHLT VENTURE, LEOPARD, and PRATALAY 4

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY REMEMBERS THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMBASSY BOMBING IN BEIRUT

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
30th Anniversary of the Embassy Beirut Bombing
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
April 17, 2013

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, the United States celebrates close cooperation with the people of Lebanon that proves the enemies of democracy failed.

On April 18, 1983, a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle laden with 2,000 pounds of explosives in front of Embassy Beirut, in what was then the single largest attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility.

This act of terrorism killed 52 American diplomats, military personnel, and Lebanese Embassy colleagues. It also wounded more than 100 Americans and Lebanese.

As we reflect on that day, we also remember another terrorist attack later that year against the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut, as well as a third attack on the Beirut Embassy a year later.

All the Americans lost in these acts of terror had come in peace. They and our cherished Lebanese colleagues made the ultimate sacrifice through their service.

Hizballah and other terrorist organizations like it hoped through these violent attacks to deter the United States from maintaining our strong relationship with the Lebanese people, and from working with all elements of Lebanese society to insure the stability and sovereignty of Lebanon.

Yet the last 30 years of close cooperation between the United States and Lebanon - especially at the people-to-people level - proves the terrorists' goals were not achieved.

They underestimated the resolve of the United States to fight terrorism and to bring terrorists to justice wherever they may lurk, resolve renewed this week following the cowardly bombings in my hometown of Boston.

The recent loss of State Department colleagues in Zabul, Ankara, and Benghazi remind us of the sacrifices made by our colleagues around the world who work at U.S. diplomatic missions to promote and protect democracy, enhance freedom and justice, and facilitate development.

Just as we did 30 years ago, the United States today steadfastly supports the Lebanese people and their continued advance toward a sovereign, stable, independent, and prosperous nation.