RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

 

FROM: U.S. NAVY

A visit, board, search and seizure team from Surface Warfare Detachment 1, embarked aboard the littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) searches and secures the Royal Malaysian Navy guided-missile frigate KD Jebat (FFG 29) during a Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Malaysia 2013 exercise. More than 1200 Sailors and Marines are participating in CARAT Malaysia. CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor Leste. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Karolina A. Oseguera (Released) 130620-N-JN664-119

The amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) conducts a replenishment-at-sea. Harpers Ferry is underway for amphibious squadron-marine expeditionary unit integrated training in preparation for a deployment as part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gary Granger Jr. (Released) 130618-N-YR391-006
 

ARMY CUTS 12 BRIGADE COMBAT TEAMS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Army to Cut 12 Brigade Combat Teams by 2017, Odierno Says

By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2013 - As part of its force restructuring due to the Budget Control Act of 2011, by the end of fiscal year 2017 the Army will reduce its number of brigade combat teams from 45 to 33, the Army's chief of staff announced today.


In addition, Army Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters at a Pentagon news conference, the Army will shrink its active component end strength by 14 percent, or 80,000 soldiers, to 490,000, down from a wartime high of 570,000 troops.

The Army National Guard will cut 8,000 soldiers, he said, without making any force structure changes. And the Army Reserve will skip a planned force increase and maintain its current size of 205,000.

In all, 12 brigade combat teams will inactivate, the general said, including two brigade combat teams, stationed at Baumholder and Grafenwoehr, Germany, already scheduled to inactivate in fiscal 2013.

Two brigade combat teams will remain in Europe to fulfill strategic commitments, Odierno said.

One brigade combat team will inactivate at each of the following installations: Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Campbell, Ky; Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Drum, N.Y.; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Knox, Ky.; Fort Riley, Kan.; Fort Stewart, Ga., and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

"In the future, we will announce an additional BCT to be inactivated, which will bring the number of BCTs to 32, but that decision has yet to be made," the general said.

The Army is in the process of undergoing one of its largest organizational changes since World War II, Odierno said, noting that today's announced end strength and force structure reductions are the result of provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that aren't related to sequestration spending cuts. "We are taking these actions as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011," he added.

Full sequestration beyond the current fiscal year could require another reduction in the Army's active, Guard and Reserve force structure by as much as 100,000 soldiers combined, Odierno said.

"Our decisions are in line with the fiscal year '13 budget submission, which implements a $487 billion reduction in DOD funding based on the Budget Control Act of 2011," he said. The Army's share of these cuts amounts to $170 billion, Odierno noted.

"If sequestration continues into fiscal year 2014, Army reductions to end strength, force structure and basing announced today will be only the first step," said he added.

The Army led an exhaustive review before deciding where and how to cut, the general said, looking at the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the reductions. The final decision was based on a number of criteria, Odierno said, including the ability to train, provide for soldiers and families and the ability to expand and regenerate forces.

Geographic distribution also was considered, not only to minimize cost and environmental and socioeconomic impacts, but also to ensure the Army was in line with the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region directed by the 2012 strategic defense guidance, he said. The 33 remaining brigade combat teams will be reorganized, Odierno said.

"We will add a third maneuver battalion and additional engineer and fires capability to each of our armor and infantry brigade combat teams in order to make them more lethal, more flexible and more agile," the general said.

The changes will reduce the overall number of headquarters while sustaining as much combat capability as possible, Odierno said. "As we inactivate brigade combat teams, we will reinvest some of the soldiers, equipment and support personnel into the remaining brigade combat teams," he added.

BACTERIAL DNA HUMAN GENOME INTEGRATION AND TUMOR TISSUE

Image: DNA Credit: NCI/Wikimedia

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Bacterial DNA May Integrate Into Human Genome More Readily in Tumor Tissue
Bacterial DNA may integrate into the human genome more readily in tumors than in normal human tissue, scientists have found.


The researchers, affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute for Genome Sciences, analyzed genomic sequencing data available from the Human Genome Project, the 1,000 Genomes Project and The Cancer Genome Atlas.

They considered the phenomenon of lateral gene transfer (LGT), the transmission of genetic material between organisms in a manner other than than traditional reproduction.

Scientists have already shown that bacteria can transfer DNA to the genome of an animal.

The researchers found evidence that lateral gene transfer is possible from bacteria to the cells of the human body, known as human somatic cells.

They found that bacterial DNA was more likely to integrate in the genome in tumor samples than in normal, healthy somatic cells. The phenomenon might play a role in cancer and other diseases associated with DNA damage.

"Advances in genomic and computational sciences are revealing the vast ways in which humans interact with an ever-present and endlessly diverse planet of microbes," says Matt Kane, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology in its Directorate for Biological Sciences, which funded the research.

"This discovery underscores the benefits that can result from a shift in our understanding of how this vast diversity of microbes and their genes may affect our health."

The results may lead to advances in personalized medicine, scientists say, in which doctors use each patient's genomic make-up to determine care and preventive measures.

A paper reporting the results is published today in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.

"LGT from bacteria to animals was only described recently, and it is exciting to find that such transfers can be found in the genome of human somatic cells and particularly in cancer genomes," says Julie Dunning Hotopp of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and lead author of the paper.

Hotopp also is a research scientist at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center.

"Studies applying this approach to additional cancer genome projects could be fruitful, leading us to a better understanding of the mechanisms of cancer."

The researchers found that while only 63.5 percent of TCGA samples analyzed were from tumors, the tumor samples contained 99.9 percent of reads supporting bacterial integration.

The data present a compelling case that LGT occurs in the human somatic genome, and that it could have an important role in cancer and other human diseases associated with mutations.

It's possible that LGT mutations play a role in carcinogenesis, the scientists say, yet it's also possible that they could simply be "passenger mutations."

The investigators suggest several competing ideas to explain the results, though more research is needed for definitive answers.

One possibility is that the mutations are part of carcinogenesis, the process by which normal cells turn into cancer cells.

Alternatively, tumor cells are very rapidly proliferating, so much so that they may be more permissive to lateral gene transfer.

It's also possible that bacteria are causing these mutations because they benefit the bacteria themselves.

The study was also funded by the National Institutes of Health.

-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF cdybas@nsf.gov

IMPROVING THE BREAKDOWN OF CELLULOSE NANOFIBERS

Image caption: An enzyme (shown in blue) pulls out individual cellulose chains (pink) from the pretreated nanofiber surface (green) and then breaks them apart into simple sugars. Image credit, Shishir Chundawat, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

FROM: LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
Less is More: Novel Cellulose Structure Requires Fewer Enzymes to Process Biomass to Fuel
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 19, 2013—Improved methods for breaking down cellulose nanofibers are central to cost-effective biofuel production and the subject of new research from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC). Scientists are investigating the unique properties of crystalline cellulose nanofibers to develop novel chemical pretreatments and designer enzymes for biofuel production from cellulosic-or non-food-plant derived biomass.


"Cellulose is laid out in plant cell walls as crystalline nanofibers, like steel reinforcements embedded in concrete columns," says GLBRC's Shishir Chundawat. "The key to cheaper biofuel production is to unravel these tightly packed nanofibers more efficiently into soluble sugars using fewer enzymes."

An article published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests-counter-intuitively-that increased binding of enzymes to cellulose polymers doesn't always lead to faster breakdown into simple sugars. In fact, Chundawat's research team found that using novel biomass pretreatments to convert cellulose to a unique crystalline structure called cellulose III reduced native enzyme binding while increasing sugar yields by as much as five times.

"The ability of this unconventional pretreatment strategy, currently under development at GLBRC, to selectively alter the cellulose crystal structure may lead to an order of magnitude reduction in enzyme usage. This will be critical for cost-effective cellulosic biofuel production," says Bruce Dale of Michigan State University, who leads GLBRC's biomass deconstruction research area.

The researchers had previously demonstrated that altering the crystal structure of native cellulose to cellulose III accelerates enzymatic deconstruction; however, the recent observation that cellulose III increased sugar yields with reduced levels of bound enzyme was unexpected. To explain this finding, Chundawat and a team of LANL researchers led by Gnana Gnanakaran and Anurag Sethi developed a mechanistic kinetic model indicating that the relationship between enzyme affinity for cellulose and catalytic efficiency is more complex than previously thought.

Cellulose III was found to have a less sticky surface that makes it harder for native enzymes to get stuck non-productively on it, unlike untreated cellulose surfaces. The model further predicts that the enhanced enzyme activity, despite reduced binding, is due to the relative ease with which enzymes are able to pull out individual cellulose III chains from the pretreated nanofiber surface and then break them apart into simple sugars.

"These findings are exciting because they may catalyze future development of novel engineered enzymes that are further tailored for conversion of cellulose III rich pretreated biomass to cheaper fuels and other useful compounds that are currently derived from non-renewable fossil fuels," says Gnanakaran.

This research was funded by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research through Cooperative Agreement DE-FC02-07ER64494 between the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and the U.S. Department of Energy). The LANL team was supported by the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC), the Center for Non-Linear Studies, and the Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) program at LANL.


.

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

U.S. State Department Daily Press Briefing - June 27, 2013

Daily Press Briefing - June 27, 2013

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL SAYS SOME LENDERS NOT CLEARLY DISCLOSING ALLOTMENT FEES TO SERVICE MEMBERS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Hagel Orders Effort to Protect Allotment System From Lender Abuse

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2013 - In concert with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement action aimed at financial services institutions abusing the Defense Department's payroll allotment system, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today ordered an interagency effort to determine whether the allotment system needs changes to further protect service members.


The Defense Department's allotment system allows service members to automatically direct a portion of their paycheck to any bank or individual of their choosing. CFPB found that some lenders were not clearly disclosing the required fees charged by third-party allotment processors.

In a statement, Hagel said the settlement that CFPB announced today is the culmination of more than a year of collaboration among Defense Department leaders, the Judge Advocate General Corps of the military services and the CFPB.

"I want to thank the CFPB for their partnership in helping to protect those who protect this nation and for their ongoing efforts to increase the financial literacy and readiness of our service members," Hagel said. "However, I remain concerned about the potential misuse of the allotment system by lenders."

Therefore, the secretary added, he has directed the Defense Department's comptroller to form an interagency team to assess what changes might be needed in the allotment system going forward.

"This group will include representatives from enforcement agencies and bank regulators, and will report back to me within 180 days on steps the department can take to ensure our discretionary allotment system no longer creates an opportunity for unscrupulous businesses and lenders to take advantage of those who serve in the armed forces," Hagel said.

Media Roundtable with Gen. Campbell, Lt. Gen. Huggins and Maj. Gen. Murray from the Pentagon Briefing Room

Media Roundtable with Gen. Campbell, Lt. Gen. Huggins and Maj. Gen. Murray from the Pentagon Briefing Room

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM: U.S. NAVY

Operations Specialist Seaman Manuel Dull views the global command control system maritime console in the combat information center of the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). The Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group is conducting joint force operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Michael Achterling (Released) 130618-N-BJ178-033

An AV-8B Harrier II assigned to the air combat element of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU) takes off ofrom the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4). Boxer is conducting predeployment training during amphibious exercise Dawn Blitz. Dawn Blitz is a scenario-driven exercise led by U.S. 3rd Fleet and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian Jeffries (Released) 130613-N-SV688-275

SPRINGS, CORALS AND ACIDIFICATION EFFECTS

Coral  Credit:  NOAA

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Natural Underwater Springs Show How Coral Reefs Respond to Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification due to rising carbon dioxide levels reduces the density of coral skeletons, making coral reefs more vulnerable to disruption and erosion.


The results are from a study of corals growing where underwater springs naturally lower the pH of seawater. (The lower the pH, the more acidic.)

The findings are published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and are the first to show that corals are not able to fully acclimate to low pH conditions in nature.

"People have seen similar effects in laboratory experiments," said paper co-author Adina Paytan, a marine scientist at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC).

"We looked in places where corals are exposed to low pH for their entire life span. The good news is that they don't just die. They are able to grow and calcify, but they are not producing robust structures."

With atmospheric carbon dioxide rising steadily, the oceans are absorbing more carbon dioxide, which lowers the pH of surface waters.

Ocean acidification refers to changes in seawater chemistry that move it closer to the acidic range of the pH scale, although seawater is not expected to become literally acidic.

"In our efforts to understand and predict ocean acidification and its long-term effects on marine chemistry and ecosystems, we must deal with a slow process that challenges our ability to detect change," said Don Rice, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences.

"This study shows that, with a little effort, we can find ocean sites where nature is already doing the experiments for us."

NSF funded the research through its Ocean Acidification Program, part of the agency's Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Investment.

The scientists studied coral reefs along the Caribbean coastline of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where submarine springs lower the pH of the surrounding seawater in a natural setting.

The effect is similar to the widespread ocean acidification that's occurring as the oceans absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Led by first author Elizabeth Crook of UCSC, the researchers deployed instruments to monitor seawater chemistry around the springs and removed skeletal cores from colonies of Porites astreoides, an important Caribbean reef-building coral.

They performed CT scans of the cores in the lab of co-author Anne Cohen at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., to measure densities and determine annual calcification rates.

The results show that coral calcification rates decrease significantly along a natural gradient in seawater pH.

Ocean acidification lowers the concentration of carbonate ions in seawater, making it more difficult for corals to build their calcium carbonate skeletons.

"Carbonate ions are the building blocks corals need to grow skeletons," said Paytan.

"When the pH is lower, corals have to use more energy to accumulate these carbonate building blocks internally. As a result, the calcification rate is lower and they lay down less dense skeletons."

The reduced density of the coral skeletons makes them more vulnerable to mechanical erosion during storms, to organisms that bore into corals and to parrotfish, which sometimes feed on corals.

This could lead to a weakening of the reef framework and degradation of the coral reef ecosystem.

"There are likely to be major shifts in reef species and some loss of coral cover, but if ocean acidification is the only factor there won't be total destruction," Paytan said.

"We need to protect corals from other stressors, such as pollution and overfishing. If we can control those, the impact of ocean acidification might not be as bad."

In addition to Crook, Cohen and Paytan, co-authors of the paper include Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra and Laura Hernandez of the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan.

The research was also funded by UC-MEXUS.

-NSF-

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Secretary Hagel and Gen. Dempsey from the Pentagon Briefing Room

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Secretary Hagel and Gen. Dempsey from the Pentagon Briefing Room

Daily Press Briefing - June 26, 2013

Daily Press Briefing - June 26, 2013

Department of Defense Briefing by Gen. Odierno from the Pentagon Briefing Room

Department of Defense Briefing by Gen. Odierno from the Pentagon Briefing Room

POLISH AIR FORCE WORKS WITH RAMSTEIN AIRMEN

Members of the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard, arrive for Aviation Detachment Rotation 13-2, May 9, 2013, at Lask Air Base, Poland. More than 100 Airmen will be working with the Polish Air Force for the first F-16 fighter aircraft rotation and second overall this year. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Kenya Shiloh)


FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
Ramstein Airmen build capability with Polish air force
by 1st Lt. Kay M. Nissen
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

6/19/2013 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- The 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and 435th Contingency Response Group continuously train to meet sustainable medical readiness throughout the European theater here.

Training not only benefits Ramstein Airmen, but also other allies like the Polish air force who have consistently engaged in AE training and familiarization throughout 2012 and 2013.

"All NATO countries benefit from having highly skilled and qualified teams to transport wounded warriors from theater back to higher levels of medical care, and eventually back to their home country," said Lt. Col. Kevin D. Hettinger, the 435th CRG flight surgeon and Poland AE Building Partnership Capacity team lead.

In early 2012, Polish AE team members visited the 86th AES Airmen here. In turn, three months later, a member of the 86th AES attended the first medical evacuation and aeromedical evacuation conference at the Polish air force academy.

Last month, two Airmen from the 86th AES, and one Airman from the 435th CRG engaged with Poland again to focus on advancements of the Polish AE team from the previous year.

"The Polish (Aeromedical Evacuation) team has a goal of obtaining NATO certification for aeromedical evacuation," Hettinger said. "Our team was able to provide some recommendations toward this goal after reviewing published NATO standards for AE and inspection checklists."

Currently, the Polish AE team can transport stabilized Polish troops from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center back to Poland.

"Their team is amazing," said Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Araujo, a 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron technician and fluent Polish speaker. "It's a team of six. They fly as a CCATT (Critical Care Air Transport Team). They do everything, they receive the phone call, they receive the plane, they set up and they fly."

While the Poland AE team impressed their U.S. counterparts, the Polish medical experts continue to work to reach their certification and sharpen their skills.

"It was nice to see how receptive they are and how willing they are to take in that information," Araujo said. "They're hungry for information, they want it, they're open to suggestions, they're willing to take criticism and learn from it."

While, the Polish AE team was absorbing information, the three Ramstein Airmen also learned from their interaction with fellow medical professionals.

"Both teams benefited as each shared their processes for safely moving patients during air evacuation," Hettinger said.

Training between both countries is planned to continue to ensure strategic capabilities for NATO allies throughout the European theater.

Vice President Biden Speaks on the Voting Rights Act | The White House

Vice President Biden Speaks on the Voting Rights Act | The White House

JUSTICE SETTLES WITH VT DAIRY FARM REGARDING MEDICATION PRACTICES

FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, June 20, 2013

Justice Department Settles Complaint Against Vermont Dairy Farm for Improper Medication Practices

Farm and Two Defendants Agree to Settle Allegations That Adulterated Food Was Introduced into Interstate Commerce

The United States has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Vermont against Lawson Farm, Robert Lawson, George R. Lawson, and Lonnie A. Griffin to block them from violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) in connection with their alleged unlawful use of new animal drugs in cows slaughtered for food. The Justice Department filed the suit on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).


Defendants Lawson Farm, Robert Lawson, and George R. Lawson have agreed to settle the litigation and be bound by a Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction that enjoins them from committing violations of the FDCA. The proposed consent decree has been filed with the court and is awaiting judicial approval. The lawsuit continues against defendant Lonnie Griffin.

"When farms fail to maintain appropriate controls concerning the medication of food-producing animals, they jeopardize the public health," said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. "We are committed to making sure food producers have put in place the procedures and documentation necessary to help ensure that consumers receive safe foods for their family table."

The government’s action results from a series of inspections of the Irasburg, Vermont farm, which revealed, according to the FDA, that the defendants failed to maintain complete treatment records for their animals and that they sold animals for slaughter containing excessive and illegal drug residues in its edible tissues. The complaint also alleges that the defendants have dispensed prescription new animal drugs on more than one occasion without a lawful order from a veterinarian.

The complaint states that excess drug residues in animal tissues can harm consumers by causing allergic reactions and by contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Both FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have warned the defendants that their conduct violates the FDCA. Nonetheless, according to the complaint, the most recent FDA inspection, concluded in August 2012, documented the continuing nature of the defendants’ violations, and established their responsibility for illegal drug residues found in edible tissues sampled by USDA.

The government’s complaint asserts that the defendants have introduced adulterated food into interstate commerce, caused new animal drugs to become misbranded and adulterated while held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce, and failed to comply with statutory and regulatory requirements concerning the extra-label use of new animal drugs.

The FDA referred the case to the Department of Justice. The matter was filed by the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont, and FDA’s Office of the General Counsel.

A complaint is merely a set of allegations that, if the case were to proceed to trial, the government would need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence.

Astronaut View of Fires in Colorado

Astronaut View of Fires in Colorado

U.S. State Department Daily Press Briefing - June 25, 2013

Daily Press Briefing - June 25, 2013

DOD Briefing

DOD Briefing

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON VOTING RIGHTS ACT COURT DECISION

FROM: WHITE HOUSE

Statement by the President on the Supreme Court Ruling on Shelby County v. Holder

I am deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision today. For nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act – enacted and repeatedly renewed by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress – has helped secure the right to vote for millions of Americans. Today’s decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.


As a nation, we’ve made a great deal of progress towards guaranteeing every American the right to vote. But, as the Supreme Court recognized, voting discrimination still exists. And while today’s decision is a setback, it doesn’t represent the end of our efforts to end voting discrimination. I am calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls. My Administration will continue to do everything in its power to ensure a fair and equal voting process.

DVIDS - Video - Interconnected

DVIDS - Video - Interconnected

President Obama is Taking Action on Climate Change | The White House

President Obama is Taking Action on Climate Change | The White House

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM: U.S. NAVY

Amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) leads a formation during exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2013. Now in its 41st year, BALTOPS 2013 is an annual, multinational exercise to enhance maritime capabilities and interoperability with partner nations to promote maritime safety and security in the Baltic Sea. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Josh Bennett (Released) 130616-N-ZL691-144

 The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), center, leads the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), left, and the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio (LPD 17). The ships are part of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready group, deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Corbin J. Shea (Released) 130616-N-SB587-252






　

Press Briefing | The White House

Press Briefing | The White House

THE LOGISTICS OF THE DRAWDOWN IN AFGHANISTAN

Army Sgt. Andrew Markley, materiel redistribution yard noncommissioned officer for Forward Operating Base Sharana, signals for a rough terrain container handler to move containers at his facility. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Henry Chan

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Centcom Undertakes Massive Logistical Drawdown in Afghanistan

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
TAMPA, Fla., June 21, 2013 - Two years ago, as commander of U.S. Forces-Iraq, Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III was marching against a strict Dec. 31, 2011 deadline to complete the largest logistical drawdown since World War II.

It was a mammoth undertaking, involving troop redeployments and equipment retrogrades that had peaked at the height of coalition operations in 2007 and 2008. At that time, the United States had 165,000 service members and 505 bases in Iraq – all packed to the gills with everything from weapons systems and computers networks to bunking and dining facilities.

Austin had to reduce the force to zero, collaborating with U.S. Central Command to determine whether equipment should return to the United States or be transferred to the Iraqis or sent to Afghanistan to support the war effort there.

Centcom, in lockstep with U.S. Transportation Command and its service components, redeployed the 60,000 troops who remained in Iraq at the time and more than 1 million pieces of equipment ahead of their deadline.

Then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, commemorating the end of America's military mission in Iraq at a mid-December 2011 ceremony in Baghdad, praised Austin for conducting "one of the most complex logistical undertakings in U.S. military history."

"Your effort to make this day a reality is nothing short of miraculous," Panetta told Austin.
Today, as the Centcom commander, Austin is facing an even more-daunting challenge as he carries out a larger, more complex drawdown operation, in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's geography, weather and security situation and its limited transportation infrastructure present bigger obstacles than planners ever faced in Iraq, Scott Anderson, Centcom's deputy director for logistics and engineering, said during an interview at the command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base here.

Also, there's also no other combat operation to transfer the mountain of logistics to. Everything has to be transferred to the Afghans, sold to a partner nation, destroyed so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, or returned to the United States, Anderson noted.

First and foremost among the challenges is Afghanistan's landlocked location. There's no ready access to a seaport, and no Kuwait next door, providing an initial staging point for retrograde operations as it did during the Iraq drawdown.

"Kuwait was our 'catcher's mitt,'" Anderson said. "If you were to ask me how long it takes to retrograde out of Iraq, I would say as long as it takes to get across the border to Kuwait."
In contrast, there's no similar "catcher's mitt" for Afghanistan, he said. "Leaving Afghanistan, you can't just go next door to Pakistan or up into Uzbekistan and park. Once the movement begins, you have to keep moving, and the velocity continues until [the shipment] gets home to the U.S."

Outgoing shipments -- about 1,000 pieces of rolling stock and more than 2,000 cargo containers per month -- are moving primarily by air or through ground routes across Pakistan, Eastern Europe and Western Asia known as the Northern Distribution Network, Anderson reported.

When flying equipment out from Afghanistan,"multimodal transport" is the most-favored option. It involves an initial movement to one country, usually by air, then a transfer to another conveyance such as a ship for the rest of the trip.

The shortest and least-expensive ground routes out of Afghanistan pass through Pakistan to its port in Karachi. Centcom and Transcom used the "Pakistan ground lines of communication" for about 70 percent of Afghanistan-bound shipments until the Pakistan government abruptly closed them in November 2011 for seven months over a political dispute, Anderson said.

That forced the United States to make greater use of the Northern Distribution Network, an elaborate network of rail, sealift and trucking lines established in 2009, to sustain forces in Afghanistan, he said. It continues to provide about 80 percent of all sustainment operations.

With agreements in place to channel an ever-increasing amount of retrograde cargo through Pakistan, Anderson said Centcom is satisfied that it has ample capacity to support the drawdown.

But recognizing lessons learned, he said the United States wants to keep every possible exit route open to ensure no single "point of failure" can disrupt the effort. "If you lose a route, you lose capacity," he said. "So you keep your options open. That's why we look to maintain redundant routes and we want to keep those routes 'warm' by using them."

Yet for now, only about 4 percent of retrograde equipment is flowing through the Northern Distribution Network.

One reason, Anderson explained, is that the vast majority of U.S. forces now are operating in eastern Afghanistan, which is closer to Pakistan than the NDN. "The majority of our cargo simply isn't leaving the northern part of Afghanistan," he said.

To get it across Afghanistan to the NDN involves crossing the towering Hindu Kush mountain range -- a logistical challenge that becomes monumental during the winter months.

But there are other complications to making greater use of the Northern Distribution Network, particularly for many of the shipments that initially entered Afghanistan via Pakistan or by air, Anderson explained.

Some of the physical infrastructure simply can't accommodate the heavy equipment being moved. Many of the countries involved have strict rules about what kinds of equipment can and can't transit through their territory -- with particular objection to weapons systems and combat vehicles. In some cases, nations will allow these shipments to cross into their borders -- but only if the contents are covered.

"For retrograde, we have had to renegotiate agreements with all the Central Asian nations" that make up the Northern Distribution Network, Anderson said. "It may not be as viable as route as we would like, but the bottom line is, we need it."

Anderson said he's optimistic that the retrograde is on schedule to meet President Obama's directive that the current force -- about 60,000 -- reduce to 34,000 by February.

"Between now and February, we are going to have a substantial amount of cargo move," he said. Calling the February deadline "achievable," he called it an important milestone toward the Dec. 31 deadline.

Meanwhile, Centcom leaders recognize the operational requirements that continue in Afghanistan, including upcoming elections next spring.

"Some of the equipment that we would otherwise be retrograding must remain because there is an operational imperative there," Anderson said. "So in everything we do, we are working to maintain this balance between operations going on in Afghanistan -- folks who need their vehicles and equipment -- and our ability to retrograde."

Emphasizing that Centcom will continue to sustain forces on the ground throughout drawdown operations, Anderson said signs of the transition underway will become increasingly evident over time.

U.S. bases, which once numbered more than 600, are down to about 100, some closed but most now transferred to the Afghan National Security Forces. Much of the equipment is being shared as well, although strict U.S. laws dictate what kinds of equipment can be transferred to the Afghans or any other partners, Anderson noted.

There's another consideration to weigh: leaving equipment the Afghans can't maintain over the long haul does them no good. "If we know there will be challenges in maintaining what we give them, then giving them more equipment is not going to help," Anderson said.

Meanwhile, Centcom will strive to maintain the highest quality of life for U.S. forces on the ground throughout the drawdown, he said.

One seemingly small change, however, is sending a big signal of what's ahead. Rather than three hot meals each day, U.S. forces in Afghanistan are now getting Meals, Ready to Eat for their mid-day rations.

The idea, Anderson explained, is to use up what's already available in the theater, particularly when shipping it home costs more than it's worth.

"Every day, [Marine] Gen. [Joseph F.] Dunford [Jr., commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan], sits down at lunch like everyone else and eats his MRE," Anderson said. "It sets a tremendous example." In a small way, he said, it sets the tone for the entire drawdown process.

"We are doing the drawdown in a balanced way, and with concern about the taxpayers' money," Anderson said. "We want to do this in the most economical, most efficient way possible, without causing excess or waste." 
 

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER'S STATEMENT ON COURT DECISION IN FISHER V. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, June 24, 2013
Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on the Supreme Court Decision in Fisher V. University of Texas
Attorney General Eric Holder today issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas.


"I am pleased that the Supreme Court has followed longstanding precedent that recognizes the compelling governmental interest in ensuring diversity in higher education. The educational benefits of diversity are critically important to the future of this nation. As the Court has repeatedly recognized, diverse student enrollment promotes understanding, helps to break down racial stereotypes, enables students to better understand people of different races, and prepares all students to succeed in, and eventually lead, an increasingly diverse workforce and society. Business leaders have long emphasized the importance of a qualified, diverse workforce to their success in a global economy. And the federal government, in particular, has a vital interest in drawing its personnel, including its military leaders, from a well-qualified and diverse pool of university graduates of all backgrounds who have the perspective and understanding necessary to govern and defend this great country.

"The University of Texas’s implementation of its admissions program will now be reevaluated by the lower courts. The Department is committed to working with colleges and universities around the country to find ways to promote educational diversity that are consistent with the law."

A VIEW FROM THE CUPOLA

 

FROM: NASA
An Astronaut's View from Station
A view of Earth as seen from the Cupola on the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station. Visible in the top left foreground is a Russian Soyuz crew capsule. In the lower right corner, a solar array panel can be seen.

This photo was taken from the ISS on June 12, 2013. Image Credit: NASA

State/INL Peru Program

State/INL Peru Program

Daily Press Briefing - June 24, 2013

Daily Press Briefing - June 24, 2013

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update: Timeloc

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR JUNE 24, 2013

 

U.S. soldiers patrol through Kajir Kheyl village in Afghanistan’s Khowst province, June 12, 2013. The U.S. soldiers have partnered with Afghan national security forces to establish relationships with key village elders and learn about the needs of residents. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Robert Porter

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Combined Force Arrests Extremists in Wardak Province

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
 KABUL, Afghanistan, June 24, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested two extremists during a June 22 search for a Haqqani network facilitator in the Pul-e Alam district of Afghanistan's Wardak province, military officials reported.


The facilitator oversees transportation and distribution of weapons, ammunition and other supplies to extremist groups and has participated in attacks targeting Afghan and coalition forces, officials said.

In a June 21 operation, a combined force in Paktia province's Gardez district wounded an extremist during a search for a Haqqani network leader who leads extremists responsible for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in several provinces. He also oversees improvised explosive device operations and facilitates the acquisition and distribution of weapons.


In June 20 operations:
-- Afghan and coalition forces disrupted an extremist command and control point in Helmand province's Sangin district. The forces seized 33 IED pressure plates, 23 liters of homemade explosives and 10 battery packs.

-- In Ghazni province's Deh Yak district, a combined force arrested a high-level operational commander who supervised the activities of several extremist groups responsible for IED operations and the acquisition and distribution of weapons. The security force also arrested three other enemy fighters.
 

COURT BACK EX-IM BANK AIR INDIA DEALS

FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

Appeals Court Decision Rejects Delta Request for Invalidation of Ex-Im Bank Air India Transactions

Washington, DC --- The U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, DC today rejected a request by Delta Air Lines to vacate the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ ("Ex-Im Bank’s") support of sales of U.S.-manufactured aircraft to Air India. The Court has asked Ex-Im Bank to further explain its financing decision for the Air India transactions, but the Court chose to leave undisturbed the Bank’s financing of the Air India transaction and did not question the Bank’s flexibility in carrying out its statutory mandate.


The decision comes following the appeal by plaintiffs Delta Airlines, Inc. and the Airline Pilots Association of a lower court decision in July 2012 that determined that Ex-Im Bank properly approved financing for purchases of certain Boeing aircraft by Air India.

"I am gratified by the court’s recognition that these transactions should not be impeded by litigation. The Bank maintains significant flexibility in complying with its statutory mandates and its effort to support American jobs." said Fred P. Hochberg, chairman and president of Ex-Im Bank. "This represents a victory for tens of thousands of American aerospace workers."

Delta Airlines alleged in its suit that Ex-Im failed to consider the economic impact of its loan guarantees for the purchase of wide-bodied Boeing aircraft by Air India. Boeing, which by dollar volume is the number one exporting company in the U.S., employs about 85,000 American workers in the manufacturing of its commercial aircraft.

U.S.-India Joint Fact Sheet: A Remarkable Expansion of U.S.-India Cooperation on Science & Technology

U.S.-India Joint Fact Sheet: A Remarkable Expansion of U.S.-India Cooperation on Science & Technology

HHS launches Health Insurance Marketplace educational tools

HHS launches Health Insurance Marketplace educational tools

SEVEN INITIATIVES FOR SUPPORTING WARFIGHTER AUTONOMY

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Cost-saving Pilot Programs to Support Warfighter Autonomy
By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2013 - A call from the Defense Department to industry and government for autonomous technology ideas that support the warfighter has been answered with seven initiatives.


Chosen from more than 50 submissions, the selected ideas will be tested in the Autonomy Research Pilot Initiative, officials said.

"We believe autonomy and autonomous systems will be very important for how we operate in the future," said Al Shaffer, acting assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering. Autonomous systems are capable of functioning with little or no human input or supervision.

"If we had better autonomous systems for route clearance in Afghanistan, we could offload a lot of the dangerous missions that humans undertake with autonomous systems, so we have to make a big push in autonomy," Shaffer said.

The pilot research initiative's goal is to advance technologies that will result in autonomous systems that provide more capability to warfighters, lessen the cognitive load on operators and supervisors, and lower overall operational cost," explained Jennifer Elzea, a DOD spokeswoman.

"The potential cross-cutting advances of this initiative in multiple domains provide an exciting prospect for interoperability among the military services, and potentially [in] meeting future acquisitions requirements," she said. "The seven projects are at the fundamental cutting edge of the science of autonomy. The projects also integrate several scientific disciplines [such as] neurology [and] mimetics."

The seven projects are not looking at autonomous weapons systems, but rather are investigating autonomous systems for potential capabilities such as sensing and coordination among systems, Elzea noted.

The projects focus on cost savings to DOD, critical in a time of budget cuts, Shaffer said.

The program for the initiatives is estimated to cost about $45 million in a three-year period, which is not considered to be a lot of money for a government research program, DOD officials said.

"We are trying to -- especially as we go through this tough budget period -- incentivize our younger work force," Shaffer said. "Scientists work to solve problems, and what we are doing with this project is we've challenged our in-house researchers to come up with topics that will help us better understand how to do autonomous systems."

When the pilot initiatives are completed, DOD will have the intellectual property to generate a prototype or to provide to industry to produce the systems, officials said.


The seven initiatives are:
-- Exploiting Priming Effects in Autonomous Cognitive Systems: Develops machine perception that is relatable to the way a human perceives an environment. (Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence, Army Research Laboratory)

-- Autonomous Squad Member: Integrates machine semantic understanding, reasoning and understanding, perception into a ground robotic system. (Army Research Laboratory, Naval Research Laboratory, Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence)

-- Autonomy for Adaptive Collaborative Sensing: Develops intelligent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability for sensing platforms to have capability to find and track targets. (Air Force Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory; Naval Research Laboratory)

-- Realizing Autonomy via Intelligent Adaptive Hybrid Control: Develops flexible unmanned aerial vehicle operator interface, enabling the operator to "call a play" or manually control the system. (Air Force Research Laboratory, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Naval Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory)

-- Autonomy for Air Combat Missions, Mixed Human/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Teams: Develops goal-directed reasoning, machine learning and operator interaction techniques to enable management of multiple team UAVs. (Air Force Research Laboratory, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Air Warfare Center, Army Research Laboratory)

-- A Privileged Sensing Network-Revolutionizing Human-Autonomy Integration: Develops integrated human sensing capability to enable the human-machine team. (Army Research Laboratory, Army Tank Automotive Research Center, Air Force Research Laboratory)

-- Autonomous Collective Defeat of Hard and Deeply Buried Targets: Develops small UAV teaming algorithms to enable systems to autonomously search a cave. (Air Force Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory, Defense Threat Reduction Agency)

KOREAN WAR VETEANS HONORED WITH DISPLAY

 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, Ahn Ho-young, South Korean ambassador to the United States, left, and Lewis M. "Lew" Ewing, national director of the Korean War Veterans Association, cut the ribbon June 18, 2013, to dedicate a new permanent display in the Pentagon to commemorate the Korean War. Hagel thanked Korean War veterans at the event for their service, and said the war and their service will never be forgotten. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Hagel Dedicates Pentagon Korean War Exhibit
By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2013 - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today dedicated what he called a "magnificent" permanent display in the Pentagon to honor veterans of the Korean War.

The display opened in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended hostilities on the Korean Peninsula, and of the U.S.-South Korean alliance.

"We not only acknowledge you, we thank you," Hagel said to Korean War veterans who attended the dedication of the display, located on the first floor of the Pentagon's "A" ring. "We assure you that through this dedication today, your efforts and your noble cause will live on. You have helped shape history in a unique and magnificent way."

The exhibit comprises a collection of photographs, videos, weapons and other artifacts of the Korean War. It also highlights the advancements of women, medicine and technology and the integration of African-Americans into the U.S. military.

"The Korean War has been known in this country too long as 'The Forgotten War,'" Ahn Ho-young, South Korea's ambassador to the United States, said at the dedication ceremony. "We should change it to 'The Forgotten Victory.'"

Since the war, South Korea has made significant economic progress and a transition to democracy, Ahn said, and has an important role in global issues. "[The war] was a victory and must not be forgotten," he added.

Echoing Ahn, Hagel said the South Korean people have come far in many ways.

"I know of no other nation that has done as much in such a little bit of time to improve their people and the region, and I know of no country [that is] a better ally to the United States than the Republic of Korea," the secretary said. "We are grateful for this relationship, [and] ... what anchors it ... is that special bond of people wanting a better life, who are willing to risk anything for it."

Referencing his recent trip to Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, Hagel emphasized how the 60-year bilateral relationship between the United States and South Korea was evident in the two nations' relationships with Japan, the Philippines, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Chinese and European allies.

"This special relationship is bigger than just the Korean Peninsula or the North Asia region," the secretary said. "It has affected the world."

The secretary said he is particularly proud of the Americans who left their cities and towns and "went far away to a very bloody conflict in a distant land, where very few knew a lot about the Korean Peninsula." Yet when the veterans returned home to the United States, he added, little acknowledgment of their service awaited them.

"Very few people knew where Korea was," he said. "But ... it was just as important in any conflict we've been in. The Republic of Korea still plays a key role as a very key ally in maintaining peace, stability and security in that part of the world."

Hagel offered his gratitude to Korean War veterans on behalf of the Defense Department's men and women.

"We acknowledge your service, everything you've done, what you mean to this country [and] the world, and the model you've provided for our young men and women for generations to come," Hagel told veterans. "It will be evidenced by this great display that we are dedicating today."




 

THE MULTI-MISSION B-1B LANCER

Capt. Brandon Packard performs pre-flight checks of a B-1B Lancer June 11, 2013, at the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia. Packard is a 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron weapons systems officer deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Benjamin Stratton)


FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE 
B-1B Lancer: More than meets the eye
by Senior Airman Benjamin Stratton
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

6/18/2013 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- Carrying the largest payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the Air Force inventory, the multi-mission B-1B Lancer is the backbone of America's long-range bomber force, and is flown here by the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron.

"We have a lot of coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan," said Lt. Col. Seth Graham, the 34th EBS commander. "They're able to focus on executing their various missions because of the air support we provide 365, 24/7."

The colonel said it's hard to put into words the importance of what his unit does, but instead explained in a vignette the importance of his units air support to the nation's ground forces.

"On one occasion my crew arrived overhead of U.S. ground forces pinned down in a compound receiving small arms fire from multiple directions," Graham said. "They tell the crew they are running low on ammo and need immediate air support. My crew employed a single 500 pound JDAM in close proximity to the friendly forces which forced the enemy to break contact, and allowed our guys to walk out of that compound and back to their base. On the way out they told my guys 'thanks ... you saved our lives today!' We make life and death decisions every day ... that's the importance of what we do."

This air support wouldn't be possible, however, without all the work going on behind the scenes in the squadron.

"We are tasked by the air tasking order from the Combined Air and Space Operations Center and in turn our mission planning cell (MPC) puts together everything the aircrew will need to be successful," said Maj. Aaron Mate, the 34th EBS assistant director of operations. "The mission planning cell is comprised of a chief of operations, two flyers, intelligence and an Army liaison officer."

The MPC collects and processes data, integrating it into flight plans and mission folders that include all the information necessary for B-1 crews to dynamically support every regional command in Afghanistan on a given sortie. A pre-flight crew is then used to ready the aircraft. They run pre-flight checks to get the jet mission-ready for the crew who will fly the mission. The pre-flight crew also secures a secondary aircraft in the event the primary encounters a malfunction prior to takeoff.

"We want our number of takeoffs to equal our landings," said Capt. Brandon Packard, a 34th EBS weapons systems officer. "So we go through these checks for the mission crew in order to, one, streamline the process and, two, for the safety and security of our crews and jets. We take this job just as seriously as flying a mission."

Once the jet is ready to go and the mission crew has completed their pre-mission briefs, it's time for takeoff.

The roles of pre-flight and mission crews are rotated as directed by their aviation resources managers and policy in order to manage fatigue.

"We can't have all the fun," Mate said jokingly. "Per AFI, we limit our crews to a 16-hour day -- 13 hours in the air and three hours of mission preparation."

The 16-hour rule can be waived by the operations group commander up to 24-hours to accommodate longer missions as directed by higher headquarters.

Every crew is composed of an aircraft commander, copilot and two weapons systems officers. With an intercontinental range and the ability to carry up to 48,000 pounds of munitions at 900-plus mph, the B-1 can rapidly deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time.

"We are one of the most flexible close-air support airframes in the Air Force," said Capt. Nikki Jansen, a 34th EBS pilot. "The B-1's speed and superior handling characteristics allow it to seamlessly integrate in mixed force packages. These capabilities, when combined with its substantial payload, diverse targeting system, long loiter time and survivability, make the B-1B a key element of any joint or coalition strike force."

The aircrews and B-1s are deployed here from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., and Dyess AFB, Texas.

"We get the greatest sense of satisfaction when the ground crew's joint terminal attack controller radios in thanking us for keeping them safe," Graham said.

During the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom, eight B-1s dropped nearly 40 percent of the total tonnage delivered by coalition air forces. This included nearly 3,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The B-1 continues to be deployed today, flying missions daily in support of continuing operations.

WORKING WITH JORDANIAN ARMED FORCES

Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit's amphibious assault vehicle platoon order their vehicles for transport to the training area after conducting an amphibious landing on the coast of Jordan as part of Exercise Eager Lion, June 6, 2013. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael S. Lockett

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Marine Platoon Works With Jordanian Armed Forces
By Marine Corps Cpl. Michael S. Lockett
26th Marine Expeditionary Unit

AL QUWEIRA, Jordan, June 14, 2013 - Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit's amphibious assault vehicle platoon had its first bilateral training event of Exercise Eager Lion 2013 here June 12, conducting a live-fire shoot in their AAVs with members of the Jordanian armed forces in their own light armored mechanized vehicles.

"In any training event, one of the major end states is that we build relationships and the understanding that we're not just building military skills, but also establishing rapport on a personal and professional level," said Marine Corps Capt. Jonathan Riebe, the platoon's commander.

"I think it's important that we take part in these multinational operations in order to share methods on how we maintain our military and how we employ our military," added Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Michael Conners, platoon sergeant.

Eager Lion has proven to be more than just a yearly exercise in the high deserts of Jordan involving service members from the United States, Jordan and other partner nations, Riebe said. It is a significant training exercise solidifying already strong partnerships, he added.

"Jordan has been a partner of ours, supporting us through Operation Enduring Freedom," Riebe said. "Eager Lion is an annual training exercise with the Jordanians ... to strengthen our military and political ties and foster a friendly relationship in the area."

The platoon's Marines are focusing their training by tailoring to their Jordanian hosts and thoroughly observing the Jordanian skillsets.

"We're approaching the training in a logical fashion [by] really getting the host nation's input on what they're trying to get out of the training," Riebe explained. "We're adapting the assets we have to give them the training [that will most benefit them]."

The Marines of AAV Platoon and the rest of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit will be in Jordan for the remainder of Eager Lion, training with their Jordanian and United Kingdom counterparts.

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

ABN AMRO SETTLES CHARGES WITH CFTC

FROM: COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
CFTC Orders ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC to Pay $1 Million to Settle Charges of Segregated and Secured Fund Deficiencies, a Minimum Net Capital Violation, Books and Records Violation, and Supervision Failures

Washington, DC –The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an Order on June 18, 2013, filing and settling charges against ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC (ABN AMRO) of Chicago, Illinois, for failing to segregate or secure sufficient customer funds; failing to meet the minimum net capital requirements, failure to maintain accurate books and records, and failure to supervise its employees.

According to the CFTC Order, during the period March 19, 2009, through January 2012, ABN AMRO reported three instances of under-segregated customer funds in violation of Section 4d(a)(2) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), 7 U.S.C. § 6d(a)(2) (2006 & Supp. V 2012), and Commission Regulation 1.20(a), 17 C.F.R. § 1.20(a) (2011) and one instance of under-secured customer funds in violation of Section 4d(a)(2) of the CEA, 7 U.S.C. § 6d(a)(2) (2006 & Supp. V 2012), and CFTC Regulation 30.7, 17 C.F.R. § 30.7 (2011). Each of these violations was the result of clerical errors and/or a lack of adequate policies and procedures related to customer movement of funds.

The Order also states that during a CME Group routine audit of ABN AMRO’s books and records as they were on the close of business on May 31, 2011, the CME Group found that ABN AMRO had improperly used a customer’s withdrawn warehouse receipts as collateral for margining purposes. Without these warehouse receipts, the customer’s accounts were under-margined on several occasions, and ABN AMRO had to reduce its adjusted net capital by an amount equal to the margin deficits. Once these reductions were calculated, it was determined that ABN AMRO failed to meet the minimum net capital requirements for a single month-end, in violation of Section 4f(b) of the Act, 7 U.S.C. § 6f(b) (2006), and Regulation 1.17(a)(1)(i), 17 C.F.R. § 1.17(a)(1)(i) (2011).

Also, the CFTC’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) Examination staff conducted a limited review of ABN AMRO beginning January 27, 2012. According to the Order, at that time, ABN AMRO was unable to produce a complete and accurate margin report listing for a very limited number of certain types of accounts (e.g., omnibus accounts that offset margin requirements for certain spread transactions). The Order finds that ABN AMRO violated Section 4g(a) of the CEA, 7 U.S.C. § 6g(a) (2006), and CFTC Regulation 1.35(a), 17 C.F.R. § 1.35(a) (2011), when it failed to keep accurate books and records sufficient to determine the margin status of each customer.

The Order finds that each of these violations was a result of ABN AMRO’s insufficient controls, reflecting a lack of supervisory controls over commodity interest accounts and/or other activities of its partners, employees, and agents relating to its business as a Commission registrant in violation of CFTC Regulation 166.3, 17 C.F.R. § 166.3 (2011).

Based on these violations of the CEA and CFTC Regulations, the Order imposes a $1 million civil monetary penalty, a cease and desist order, and requires ABN AMRO to retain an independent consultant to review and evaluate the effectiveness of its existing internal controls and policies and procedures and adopt any recommendations for improvement made by the consultant.

The CFTC thanks the CME Group for its assistance with this matter.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff responsible for this action are Allison Baker Shealy, John Einstman, Paul G. Hayeck, and Joan Manley. Kevin Piccoli, Melissa Hendrickson, Carrie Coffin, and Michael Guritz of DSIO also assisted in this matter.

NSA DIRECTOR TOLD CONGRESS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS FOILED 50 TERROR PLOTS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
NSA Chief: Surveillance Stopped More Than 50 Terror Plots

By Nick Simeone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2013 - The director of the National Security Agency told Congress today more than 50 terrorist plots worldwide have been prevented since the 9/11 attacks through the classified surveillance programs the government uses to gather phone and Internet data, programs he said are legal and do not compromise the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.


Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who also commands U.S. Cyber Command, told the House Intelligence Committee he plans as early as tomorrow to provide lawmakers with classified details about the plots that were foiled in an effort to show how valuable the programs are to national security.

Alexander and other senior U.S. officials were called to testify in response to unauthorized disclosures to the media by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details about the agency's gathering of telephone numbers and the monitoring of Internet activity by foreigners overseas, leaks that Alexander said have caused irreversible and significant damage to the security of the United States and its allies.

Testifying alongside Alexander, Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce discussed two terrorist plots that he said the surveillance programs helped to prevent. In one, emails intercepted from a terrorist in Pakistan helped to stop a plot to bomb New York City's subway system. Another involved a failed attempt by a known extremist in Yemen who conspired with a suspect in the United States to target the New York Stock Exchange. Both cases led to arrests and convictions, Joyce said.

"These programs are immensely valuable for protecting our nation and the security of our allies," Alexander said, and added that they may have helped to prevent the 9/11 attacks themselves if the government had the legal authority, as granted by the Patriot Act, to use them at the time.

The disclosure of the NSA programs has generated a nationwide debate over what techniques the government can legally use to monitor phone and Internet data to prevent terrorism without violating the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. Alexander and other senior U.S officials emphasized that the gathering of phone numbers that already are being collected by service providers as well as the tracking of U.S-based Internet servers used by foreigners are legal and repeatedly have been approved by the courts and Congress.

"These programs are limited, focused and subject to rigorous oversight," and their disciplined operation "protects the privacy and civil liberties of the American people," Alexander said.

The details of the foiled terror plots that he plans to provide to Congress will remove any doubt about the usefulness of the surveillance in keeping the homeland safe, the NSA director told the House panel.

"In the 12 years since the attacks on Sept. 11, we have lived in relative safety and security as a nation," he said. "That security is a direct result of the intelligence community's quiet efforts to better connect the dots and learn from the mistakes that permitted those attacks."

To prevent another damaging leak such as the breach caused by Snowden's disclosures, Alexander told lawmakers, the NSA is looking into where security may have broken down and for ways to provide greater oversight for the roughly 1,000 or so system administrators at NSA who have access to top secret information.

LABOR ANNOUNCES $7.7 MILLIOIN IN GRANT COMPETITION TO REDUCE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
US Department of Labor announces $7.7 million multi-country grant competition to reduce the worst forms of child labor

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced a $7.7 million competitive solicitation for a cooperative agreement to support a reduction of the worst forms of child labor by building local and national capacity of governments in at least 10 countries.

Despite global progress in addressing the worst forms of child labor, it is estimated that more than 215 million children around the world still work, with more than half of them engaged in hazardous work. This project will advance ILAB's ongoing effort to combat child labor through capacity building activities that support: (1) development, improvement and adoption of national legislation addressing child labor issues, including compliance with international standards; (2) improved monitoring and enforcement of policies and laws related to child labor; (3) adoption of improved national plans of action on child labor; and (4) enhanced implementation of policies and programs to reduce and prevent the worst forms of child labor, including programs to increase access to basic education, vocational training, social protection services and poverty reduction initiatives.

Eligible applicants must propose to work with host governments to implement actions in countries that have expressed an interest in receiving support to reduce child labor. Applicants must propose specific activities to build capacity in Bangladesh, Paraguay, the Philippines, Suriname and Uganda to combat child labor. Applicants must also describe their capacity to implement similar activities in five additional countries to be selected by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

AXIUS CEO SENTNECED IN STOCK SALES BRIBERY SCHEME

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Friday, June 14, 2013
Axius CEO Roland Kaufmann Sentenced for Conspiracy to Pay Bribes in Stock Sales

Roland Kaufmann, CEO of Axius Inc., was sentenced today to serve 16 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to bribe purported stock brokers and manipulate the stock of a company he controlled, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch.


Kaufmann, 60, a Swiss citizen, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in the Eastern District of New York. In addition to his prison term, Kaufmann was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $450,000.

Kaufmann pleaded guilty in January 2013 to one count of conspiracy to violate the Travel Act in connection with a scheme to bribe stock brokers to purchase the common stock of a company he controlled and to manipulate its stock price. As part of his plea agreement, Kaufmann forfeited $298,740 gained through this crime.

According to court documents, Kaufmann controlled Axius, Inc., a purported holding company and business incubator located in Dubai. As part of the scheme, the defendant and his co-conspirator, Jean Pierre Neuhaus, enlisted the assistance of an individual who they believed had access to a group of corrupt stock brokers, but who was, in fact, an undercover law enforcement agent. Court documents reveal that they instructed the undercover agent to direct brokers to purchase Axius shares in return for a secret kickback of approximately 26 to 28 percent of the share price. Kaufman and Neuhaus also instructed the undercover agent as to the price the brokers should pay for the stock and that the brokers were to refrain from selling the Axius shares they purchased on behalf of their clients for a one-year period. By preventing sales of Axius stock, Kaufmann and Neuhaus intended to maintain the fraudulently inflated share price for Axius stock.

Jean Pierre Neuhaus has pleaded guilty and been sentenced for his role in the scheme.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Justin Goodyear of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilene Jaroslaw, with assistance from Fraud Section Trial Attorney Nathan Dimock. The case was investigated by the FBI New York Field Office and the Internal Revenue Service New York Field Office. The Department also recognizes the substantial assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This prosecution was the result of efforts by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 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 more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL SAYS AFGHAN GOVERNMENT IS KEY

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel responds during a question-and-answer session with students from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in Omaha, Neb., June 19, 2013. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo


FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Afghan Government Key to Transition, Hagel Stresses
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 - Milestone 2013, which happened June 18 and marked Afghan forces' assumption of the lead in security responsibility for their country, is an unprecedented achievement for the Afghan people, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday.

During a speech in Omaha, Neb., at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Hagel said the milestone
"keeps us on track to responsibly end the war next year in Afghanistan and allows us to transition to a far more limited, noncombat mission to assist the Afghan government as it takes full responsibility for the country's future."

The secretary noted the United States and other nations will continue to engage in Afghanistan and will work with Afghanistan, Pakistan and India "to advance security in that critically important region in the world."

After his speech, Hagel responded to a question about the role of the Taliban in Afghanistan's future. The group has opened an office in Qatar, he noted, and the United States supports that initiative.

"We've always supported a peaceful resolution to the end of the bloodshed in the war in Afghanistan," Hagel said, noting that acceptable conditions are in place for the United States to accept the possibility of a next set of meetings between Taliban and Afghan government representatives.

He cautioned, however, that the Taliban would have to "agree to certain things" before meetings would involve the United States.

"I think it's worth the risk," he added. "But it can't be done without President [Hamid] Karzai, without the government of Afghanistan."

Hagel pointed out that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen attended the Milestone 2013 ceremony in the Afghan capital of Kabul, representing the 50 member nations of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. Both NATO and U.S. forces have worked to establish stability in Afghanistan for more than a decade, he noted.

"This is really about the people, or it should be -- giving the people of Afghanistan ... rights and freedom to make their own lives," Hagel said.

The secretary noted that as a senator, he was part of the first congressional delegation to travel to Afghanistan after 9/11. "I've dealt with President Karzai right from the beginning," he said. "I've known him since 2001 and have a very good relationship with him. But he represents his government, his people. He needs to do what he thinks is right."

Hagel acknowledged the process is a bit frustrating. "But we have to continue to work at it," he added, and we will continue to work at it."

Afghanistan's future depends largely on a political situation based on peace, Hagel said. If a politically negotiated settlement is possible, he asked, "Isn't it smarter, isn't it worth some risk, if the terms are right, to try to facilitate some agreement here that would ... give the poor people of Afghanistan some opportunity to not to have to live in constant war that they've had to live in for decades?"

U.S. and NATO leaders are cleared-eyed about the possible obstacles to political settlement, the secretary said.

"But I think we have to continue to work it," he added. "And it can't be done without the government of Afghanistan."