U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR JUNE 19, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

CONTRACTS

ARMY

Raytheon Co. Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $391,540,645 modification (P00017) to contract W31P4Q-12-C-0265 for Tube Launched Optically Tracked Wireless Guided (TOW) Missiles for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, and for foreign military sales to Oman and to the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and Farmington, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of March 30, 2018. Other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $39,799,200 (fiscal 2014); $8,281,200 (fiscal 2013); $9,517,200 (fiscal 2012), and other procurement funds in the amount of $333,943,045 (fiscal 2010) were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Etcon, Inc.,* Gatesville, Texas, was awarded a $25,472,586 modification (P00001) to contract W91151-13-D-0009 to exercise option one for the miscellaneous paving requirement. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 19, 2015. Army Contracting Command, Ft. Hood, Texas, is the contracting activity.
BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $9,818,307 modification (P00022) to contract W52P1J-11-C-0047 for pre-positioned stocks (APS-5) for Bradley tracked vehicles. Work will be performed in Kuwait, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2014. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $1,717,905 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Airborne Systems North America of California, Inc., was awarded an $8,099,431 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery contract for foreign military sales customers India, Jordan, Moldova and Romania. The total estimated quantities are: 37 T-11 personnel parachute systems, eight T-11 spare parts packages, 825 MC-6 personnel parachute systems, and eight MC-6 spare parts packages. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 16, 2016. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-14-D-0064).

Dynamic Animation Systems, Inc.*, Fairfax, Virginia was awarded a $7,799,646 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with options, for Modeling Architecture for Technology, Research, Experimentation II Engineering Services. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 8, 2016. One bid was solicited with one received. Army Contracting Command, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W911NF-14-D-0003).

AIR FORCE

Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corp., San Diego, California, has been awarded an $89,663,365 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00092) to exercise an option contract line item number on an existing contract (FA8726-09-C-0010) to continue Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) E-11A and EQ-4B payload operation and support. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,208,554,973. The contract modification is for contractor to perform comprehensive tasks and provide personnel, facilities and material necessary to successfully maintain and support the BACN E-11A and EQ-4B aircraft payload operations and support equipment. This includes continental United States and outside the continental United States operations. The BACN aircraft fleet consists of four E-11A aircraft located at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, and three EQ-4B Block 20 aircraft located overseas. This modification is for continued payload operations and support through June 22, 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $89,663,365 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HNAK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.

NAVY

Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded a $57,863,799 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-13-C-5132), to exercise options for technical engineering, configuration management, associated equipment/supplies, quality assurance, information assurance, and other operation and maintenance efforts required for the Aegis development and test sites, including the Combat Systems Engineering Development Site, SPY-1A Test Facility, and the Naval Systems Computing Center. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by June 2015. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $3,574,016 will be obligated at time of award and contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Kellogg, Brown and Root Services, Inc., Houston, Texas, is being awarded a $56,563,357 modification under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N62470-13-D-3008) to exercise option year one for base operation support services at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The work to be performed provides for public safety (security operations, emergency management, and fire/emergency services), air operations, ordnance, supply operations, laundry services, morale welfare and recreation, galley (food services), housing (bachelor quarters), facility support (facilities investment, janitorial services, grounds maintenance, pest control, refuse collection, and roads), utilities (electrical generation, wastewater treatment, and water operations), base support vehicles equipment, and environmental services. The total contract amount after exercise of this modification will be $224,153,913. Work will be performed in Djibouti, Africa (95 percent), and Manda Bay, Kenya (5 percent); work is expected to be completed June 2015. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $53,201,122 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Head, Inc.,* Columbus, Ohio, is being awarded a $13,721,888 firm-fixed-price contract for the repair of the airfield at Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. The work to be performed provides for the repair of the main runway 4/22 and taxiways associated with runway 4/22. The contract includes pavement demolition, temporary removal of arresting gear, debris disposal, grading, settlement monitoring, concrete pavement repairs, asphalt paving repairs, pavement striping, resealing asphalt, runway light repairs, grounding light can repairs and other additional work as provided in the contract. The contract also contains seven unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $19,872,983. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is expected to be completed by February 2015. If options are exercised, the work will continue through November 2015. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Navy Reserve) contract funds in the amount of $13,721,888 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with three proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-14-C-1759).

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems & Training, Owego, New York, is being awarded an $11,638,343 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0031) to complete an engineering change proposal for the upgrade of 12 P-3C aircraft for the Government of Taiwan under the Foreign Military Sales program. These upgrades to the Link-11 and Advanced Tactical Data Link will provide high-speed computer to computer digital radio communications in high-frequency and ultra-high frequency. Work will be performed in Owego, New York (70 percent); Austin, Texas (25 percent); Greenville, South Carolina (4 percent); and Clearwater, Florida (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. FMS funds in the amount of $11,638,343 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

URS Group, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, is being awarded $10,819,000 for firm-fixed-price task order JM02 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62742-09-D-1174) for seawater reverse osmosis treatment plant recapitalization at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. The work to be performed provides for the design and construction of the removal and replacement of four of the six existing reverse osmosis process units (trains) and accompanying process equipment in the Windward Desalination Plant, the source water for Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. Design and construction includes construction sequencing to maintain system operations throughout, the addition of concrete piers and access platforms, connection to the existing seawater supply header, installation of transfer pumps, installation of a minimum of five pre-engineered equipment enclosures, installation of pre-engineered metal canopy over all new equipment, and extension of site electrical supply and utilities. Work will be performed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is expected to be completed by July 2016. Fiscal 2014 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $10,819,000 are being obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One proposal was received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. Electronic Sector, Linthicum, Maryland, is being awarded $8,363,501 for cost-plus-fixed-fee job order 0017 under previously awarded Basic Ordering Agreement (N00164-12-G-WS55) for the procurement of engineering services in support of the AN/ALQ-218(V)2 Tactical Jamming System repair depot at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana. Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland (65 percent), and Crane, Indiana (35 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2017. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $975,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., Armament Systems Division, Louisville, Kentucky, is being awarded a $7,809,034 cost-plus-fixed-fee task order to previously awarded Basic Ordering Agreement (N00174-12-G-0001) for 84 standardized pier side maintenance and repairs to the MK 38 Machine Gun System. Work will be performed in National City, California (34 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (33 percent); and Mayport, Florida (33 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2017. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,809,034 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Hologic LP, Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $32,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for purchase of ThinPrep pap test kits and related supplies. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. This is a five-year base contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Sept. 30, 2019 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPM2DE-14-D-7205).

*Small business

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS ON IRAQ SITUATION

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Remarks by the President on the Situation in Iraq

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:32 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I just met with my national security team to discuss the situation in Iraq.  We’ve been meeting regularly to review the situation since ISIL, a terrorist organization that operates in Iraq and Syria, made advances inside of Iraq.  As I said last week, ISIL poses a threat to the Iraqi people, to the region, and to U.S. interests.  So today I wanted to provide you an update on how we’re responding to the situation.

First, we are working to secure our embassy and personnel operating inside of Iraq.  As President, I have no greater priority than the safety of our men and women serving overseas.  So I’ve taken some steps to relocate some of our embassy personnel, and we’ve sent reinforcements to better secure our facilities.

Second, at my direction, we have significantly increased our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets so that we’ve got a better picture of what’s taking place inside of Iraq.  And this will give us a greater understanding of what ISIL is doing, where it’s located, and how we might support efforts to counter this threat. 

Third, the United States will continue to increase our support to Iraqi security forces.  We’re prepared to create joint operation centers in Baghdad and northern Iraq to share intelligence and coordinate planning to confront the terrorist threat of ISIL.  Through our new Counterterrorism Partnership Fund, we’re prepared to work with Congress to provide additional equipment.  We have had advisors in Iraq through our embassy, and we’re prepared to send a small number of additional American military advisors -- up to 300 -- to assess how we can best train, advise, and support Iraqi security forces going forward.

American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq, but we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region, and American interests as well.

Fourth, in recent days, we’ve positioned additional U.S. military assets in the region.  Because of our increased intelligence resources, we’re developing more information about potential targets associated with ISIL.  And going forward, we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action, if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it.  If we do, I will consult closely with Congress and leaders in Iraq and in the region.

I want to emphasize, though, that the best and most effective response to a threat like ISIL will ultimately involve partnerships where local forces, like Iraqis, take the lead. 

Finally, the United States will lead a diplomatic effort to work with Iraqi leaders and the countries in the region to support stability in Iraq.  At my direction, Secretary Kerry will depart this weekend for meetings in the Middle East and Europe, where he’ll be able to consult with our allies and partners.  And just as all Iraq’s neighbors must respect Iraq’s territorial integrity, all of Iraq’s neighbors have a vital interest in ensuring that Iraq does not descend into civil war or become a safe haven for terrorists.

Above all, Iraqi leaders must rise above their differences and come together around a political plan for Iraq’s future.  Shia, Sunni, Kurds -- all Iraqis -- must have confidence that they can advance their interests and aspirations through the political process rather than through violence.  National unity meetings have to go forward to build consensus across Iraq’s different communities.  Now that the results of Iraq’s recent election has been certified, a new parliament should convene as soon as possible.  The formation of a new government will be an opportunity to begin a genuine dialogue and forge a government that represents the legitimate interests of all Iraqis.

Now, it’s not the place for the United States to choose Iraq’s leaders.  It is clear, though, that only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis.  Meanwhile, the United States will not pursue military options that support one sect inside of Iraq at the expense of another.  There’s no military solution inside of Iraq, certainly not one that is led by the United States.  But there is an urgent need for an inclusive political process, a more capable Iraqi security force, and counterterrorism efforts that deny groups like ISIL a safe haven.

In closing, recent days have reminded us of the deep scars left by America’s war in Iraq.  Alongside the loss of nearly 4,500 American patriots, many veterans carry the wounds of that war, and will for the rest of their lives.  Here at home, Iraq sparked vigorous debates and intense emotions in the past, and we’ve seen some of those debates resurface. 

But what’s clear from the last decade is the need for the United States to ask hard questions before we take action abroad, particularly military action.  The most important question we should all be asking, the issue that we have to keep front and center -- the issue that I keep front and center -- is what is in the national security interests of the United States of America.  As Commander-in-Chief, that’s what I stay focused on.  As Americans, that’s what all of us should be focused on. 

And going forward, we will continue to consult closely with Congress.  We will keep the American people informed.  We will remain vigilant.  And we will continue to do everything in our power to protect the security of the United States and the safety of the American people. 

So with that, I’m going to take a couple of questions.  I’ll start with Colleen McCain Nelson of the Wall Street Journal.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  Do you have any confidence in Prime Minister Maliki at this point?  And can Maliki bring political stability to Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT:  As I said, it’s not our job to choose Iraq’s leaders.  Part of what our patriots fought for during many years in Iraq was the right and the opportunity for Iraqis to determine their own destiny and choose their own leaders.  But I don’t think there’s any secret that right now at least there is deep divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders.  And as long as those deep divisions continue or worsen, it’s going to be very hard for an Iraqi central government to direct an Iraqi military to deal with these threats.

And so we’ve consulted with Prime Minister Maliki, and we’ve said that to him privately.  We’ve said it publicly that whether he is prime minister, or any other leader aspires to lead the country, that it has to be an agenda in which Sunni, Shia and Kurd all feel that they have the opportunity to advance their interests through the political process.  And we’ve seen over the last two years, actually dating back to 2008, 2009 -- but I think worse over the last two years -- the sense among Sunnis that their interests were not being served, that legislation that had been promised around, for example, De-Ba’athification had been stalled. 

I think that you hear similar complaints that the government in Baghdad has not sufficiently reached out to some of the tribes and been able to bring them in to a process that gives them a sense of being part of a unity government or a single nation-state.  And that has to be worked through.

Part of the reason why we saw better-equipped Iraqi security forces with larger numbers not be able to hold contested territory against ISIL probably reflects that lack of a sense of commitment on the part of Sunni communities to work with Baghdad.  And that has to be fixed if we’re going to get through this crisis.

Jim Acosta.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  Americans may look at this decision that you’re making today as a sneak preview of coming attractions; that the number of advisors that you’re planning to send in may just be the beginning of a boots-on-the-ground scenario down the road.  Why is Iraq’s civil war in the national security interests of the United States?  And are you concerned about the potential for mission creep?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think we always have to guard against mission creep, so let me repeat what I’ve said in the past:  American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again. 

We do not have the ability to simply solve this problem by sending in tens of thousands of troops and committing the kinds of blood and treasure that has already been expended in Iraq.  Ultimately, this is something that is going to have to be solved by the Iraqis.

It is in our national security interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of Iraq, not just for humanitarian reasons, but because that ultimately can be destabilizing throughout the region.  And in addition to having strong allies there that we are committed to protecting, obviously issues like energy and global energy markets continues to be important. 

We also have an interest in making sure that we don’t have a safe haven that continues to grow for ISIL and other extremist jihadist groups who could use that as a base of operations for planning and targeting ourselves, our personnel overseas, and eventually the homeland.  And if they accumulate more money, they accumulate more ammunition, more military capability, larger numbers, that poses great dangers not just to allies of ours like Jordan, which is very close by, but it also poses a great danger potentially to Europe and ultimately the United States.

We have already seen inside of Syria that -- or groups like ISIL that right now are fighting with other extremist groups, or an Assad regime that was non-responsive to a Sunni majority there, that that has attracted more and more jihadists or would-be jihadists, some of them from Europe.  They then start traveling back to Europe, and that, over time, can create a cadre of terrorists that could harm us.

So we have humanitarian interests in preventing bloodshed.  We have strategic interests in stability in the region.  We have counterterrorism interests.  All those have to be addressed.

The initial effort for us to get situational awareness through the reconnaissance and surveillance that we’ve already done, coupled with some of our best people on the ground doing assessments of exactly what the situation is -- starting, by the way, with the perimeter around Baghdad and making sure that that's not overrun -- that's a good investment for us to make.  But that does not foreshadow a larger commitment of troops to actually fight in Iraq.  That would not be effective in meeting the core interests that we have.

Q    Just very quickly, do you wish you had left a residual force in Iraq?  Any regrets about that decision in 2011?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, keep in mind that wasn’t a decision made by me; that was a decision made by the Iraqi government.  We offered a modest residual force to help continue to train and advise Iraqi security forces.  We had a core requirement which we require in any situation where we have U.S. troops overseas, and that is, is that they're provided immunity since they're being invited by the sovereign government there, so that if, for example, they end up acting in self-defense if they are attacked and find themselves in a tough situation, that they're not somehow hauled before a foreign court.  That's a core requirement that we have for U.S. troop presence anywhere. 

The Iraqi government and Prime Minister Maliki declined to provide us that immunity.  And so I think it is important though to recognize that, despite that decision, that we have continued to provide them with very intensive advice and support and have continued throughout this process over the last five years to not only offer them our assistance militarily, but we’ve also continued to urge the kinds of political compromises that we think are ultimately necessary in order for them to have a functioning, multi-sectarian democracy inside the country.

Juliet Eilperin. 

Q    Mr. President, you just mentioned Syria a moment ago.  The United States has been slow to provide significant weapons and training directly to the Syrian opposition.  Has the expansion of the Syria war into Iraq changed your mind about the type of weapons and training we’re now willing to give the opposition there?  Is that what prompted Secretary Kerry to say of Syria, “We are augmenting our assistance in significant ways”?  And can you elaborate on what you are you doing now that you weren’t doing before?

THE PRESIDENT:  That assessment about the dangers of what was happening in Syria have existed since the very beginning of the Syrian civil war.  The question has never been whether we thought this was a serious problem.  The question has always been, is there the capacity of moderate opposition on the ground to absorb and counteract extremists that might have been pouring in, as well as an Assad regime supported by Iran and Russia that outmanned them and was ruthless.

And so we have consistently provided that opposition with support.  Oftentimes, the challenge is if you have former farmers or teachers or pharmacists who now are taking up opposition against a battle-hardened regime, with support from external actors that have a lot at stake, how quickly can you get them trained; how effective are you able to mobilize them.  And that continues to be a challenge.  And even before the situation that we saw with ISIL going into Iraq, we had already tried to maximize what we could do to support a moderate opposition that not only can counteract the brutality of Assad, but also can make sure that in the minds of Sunnis they don't think that their only alternative is either Mr. Assad or extremist groups like ISIL or al Nusra.
 
Q    And can you speak to what you might be doing differently, as the Secretary of State alluded to?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think that the key to both Syria and Iraq is going to be a combination of what happens inside the country working with the moderate Syrian opposition, working with an Iraqi government that is inclusive, and us laying down a more effective counterterrorism platform that gets all the countries in the region pulling in the same direction.  And I alluded to this in the West Point speech.  I talked about it today with respect to the Counterterrorism Partnership Fund.

There is going to be a long-term problem in this region in which we have to build and partner with countries that are committed to our interests, our values.  And at the same time, we have immediate problems with terrorist organizations that may be advancing.  And rather than try to play Whac-a-Mole wherever these terrorist organizations may pop up, what we have to do is to be able to build effective partnerships, make sure that they have capacity.  Some of the assets that have been devoted solely to Afghanistan over the last decade we’ve got to shift to make sure that we have coverage in the Middle East and North Africa. 

You look at a country like Yemen -- a very impoverished country and one that has its own sectarian or ethnic divisions -- there, we do have a committed partner in President Hadi and his government.  And we have been able to help to develop their capacities without putting large numbers of U.S. troops on the ground at the same time as we’ve got enough CT, or counterterrorism capabilities that we’re able to go after folks that might try to hit our embassy or might be trying to export terrorism into Europe or the United States. 

And looking at how we can create more of those models is going to be part of the solution in dealing with both Syria and Iraq.  But in order for us to do that, we still need to have actual governments on the ground that we can partner with and that we’ve got some confidence are going to pursue the political policies of inclusiveness.  In Yemen, for example, a wide-ranging national dialogue that took a long time, but helped to give people a sense that there is a legitimate political outlet for grievances that they may have.

Peter Maer.

Q    Thank you, sir.  Going back to where you see Prime Minister al-Maliki playing a role at this point, you said that it’s a time to rise above differences, that there’s a need for more inclusive government.  Is he a unifier?  And how much clout does the United States ultimately have with any of the leadership in Iraq at this point really?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we still provide them significant assistance.  I think they recognize that, unlike some other players in the region, we don’t have territorial ambitions in their country.  We’re not looking to control their assets or their energy.  We want to make sure that we’re vindicating the enormous effort and sacrifice that was made by our troops in giving them an opportunity to build a stable, inclusive society that can prosper and deliver for the basic needs and aspirations of the Iraqi people.

And at the same time, they are a sovereign country.  They have their own politics.  And what we have tried to do is to give them our best advice about how they can solve their political problems.  Now that they are in crisis, we are indicating to them that there is not going to be a simple military solution to this issue.  If you start seeing the various groups inside of Iraq simply go to their respective corners, then it is almost certain that Baghdad and the central government will not be able to control huge chunks of their own country.  The only way they can do that is if there are credible Sunni leaders, both at the national level and at the local level, who have confidence that a Shia majority, that the Kurds, that all those folks are committed to a fair and just governance of the country.

Right now, that doesn’t exist.  There’s too much suspicion, there’s too much mistrust.  And the good news is that an election took place in which despite all this mistrust, despite all this frustration, despite all this anger, you still had millions of Iraqis turn out -- in some cases, in very dangerous circumstances.  You now have a court that has certified those elections, and you have a constitutional process to advance government formation.

So far, at least, the one bit of encouraging news that we’ve seen inside of Iraq is that all the parties have said they continue to be committed to choosing a leadership and a government through the existing constitutional order.

So what you’re seeing I think is, as the prospects of civil war heighten, many Iraq leaders stepping back and saying, let’s not plunge back into the abyss; let’s see if we can resolve this politically.  But they don’t have a lot of time.  And you have a group like ISIL that is doing everything that it can to descend the country back into chaos. 

And so one of the messages that we had for Prime Minister Maliki but also for the Speaker of the House and the other leadership inside of Iraq is, get going on this government formation.  It’ll make it a lot easier for them to shape a military strategy.  It’ll also make it possible for us to partner much more effectively than we can currently.

Q    Given the Prime Minister’s track record, is he a unifier?  Can he play that role after what we’ve seen play out over the last couple of weeks is brought into play?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think the test is before him and other Iraqi leaders as we speak.  Right now, they can make a series of decisions.  Regardless of what’s happened in the past, right now is a moment where the fate of Iraq hangs in the balance, and the test for all of them is going to be whether they can overcome the mistrust, the deep sectarian divisions, in some cases just political opportunism, and say this is bigger than any one of us and we’ve got to make sure that we do what’s right for the Iraqi people.  And that’s a challenge.

That’s not something that the United States can do for them.  That’s not something, by the way, that the United States Armed Forces can do for them.  We can provide them the space, we can provide them the tools.  But ultimately, they’re going to have to make those decisions.

In the meantime, my job is to make sure that American personnel there are safe; that we are consulting with the Iraqi security forces; that we’re getting a better assessment of what’s on the ground; and that we’re recognizing the dangers of ISIL over the long term, and developing the kinds of comprehensive counterterrorism strategies that we’re going to need to deal with this issue.  And that’s going to involve some short-term responses to make sure that ISIL is not obtaining capacity to endanger us directly or our allies and partners.  But it also is going to require some long-term strategies, as well. 

Because part of what we’ve with respect to ISIL is a broader trend that I talked about at West Point -- rather than a single network, a discreet network of terrorists, this fluid combination of hardened terrorists, disaffected local leadership.  And where there’s vacuums, they’re filling it and creating the potential for serious danger for all concerned.

Thank you very much.

Q    On Iran, Mr. President, any words on what you’re willing to do, and are you also willing to work with them?

THE PRESIDENT:  Our view is that Iran can play a constructive role if it is helping to send the same message to the Iraqi government that we’re sending, which is that Iraq only holds together if it’s inclusive and that if the interests of Sunni, Shia and Kurd are all respected.  If Iran is coming in solely as an armed force on behalf of the Shia, and if it is framed in that fashion, then that probably worsens the situation and the prospect for government formation that would actually be constructive over the long term.

Q    What’s your sense of that right now?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think that just as Iraq’s leaders have to make decisions, I think Iran has heard from us.  We’ve indicated to them that it is important for them to avoid steps that might encourage the kind of sectarian splits that might lead to civil war. 

And the one thing that I think has to be emphasized -- we have deep differences with Iran across the board on a whole host of issues.  Obviously, what’s happened in Syria in part is the result of Iran coming in hot and heavy on one side.  And Iran obviously should consider the fact that if its view of the region is solely through sectarian frames, they could find themselves fighting in a whole lot of places.  And that’s probably not good for the Iranian economy or the Iranian people over the long term either.  I suspect there are folks in Iran who recognize that.  A Iraq in chaos on their borders is probably not in their interests.  But old habits die hard, and we’ll have to see whether they can take what I think would be a more promising path over the next several days. 

Thank you very much, everybody. 

END
2:01 P.M. EDT

300 MILITARY ADVISERS HEAD TO IRAQ

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Obama Announces Military Advisers Heading to Iraq

By Nick Simeone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2014 – President Barack Obama today announced plans to send up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help the government in Baghdad combat a rapid advance by Sunni-led insurgents who have taken over towns and cities and routed Iraqi troops in the north and west of the country, a situation which the president said threatens to plunge Iraq into civil war.

“American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq, but we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people in the region and American interests as well,” Obama said during an appearance in the White House press room, saying the U.S. forces will help train, advise and support Iraqi security forces.

The president spoke after another in what have been a series of meetings with his national security team to review options on how to respond to Iraq’s request for military assistance in putting down rapid gains made by insurgents led by Syrian-based fighters known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS, whose advance on Baghdad has threatened reprisals from Iraq’s Shiite majority and a return of full blown sectarian conflict.

“We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it,” Obama said.
Yesterday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Demspey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress further intelligence would be needed about the situation on the ground along with clear objectives in order for possible airstrikes or other military intervention to be effective.

Obama said joint operation centers in Baghdad and northern Iraq will be stood up to better share intelligence and coordinate planning with the Iraqis as they confront the terrorist threat posed by ISIS. These steps are in addition to surveillance flights the United States is already conducting along with the positioning of increased U.S. military assets in the region.

Obama again called on Iraq’s political leaders including Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to rise above sectarian differences and develop a broad-based political plan for ending a crisis that he said cannot be resolved through military means.

“It’s not the place for the United States to choose Iraq’s leaders,” Obama said. “It is clear, though, that only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis.”

To that end, Obama said the United States will launch a diplomatic initiative to work with Iraq’s leaders and countries in the region and dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to Europe and the Middle East for talks with allies and partners.
During an exchange with reporters, Obama said his administration has told Maliki there “has to be an agenda in which Sunni, Shia, and Kurds all feel that they have the opportunity to advance their interest through the political process,” and that “as long as those deep divisions continue or worsen, it’s going to be very hard for an Iraqi central government to direct an Iraqi military to deal with these threats.”
Obama said the rapid collapse of two divisions of the Iraqi military and the threat of sectarian conflict “have reminded us of the deep scars left by America’s war in Iraq” and the sacrifice made by nearly 4,500 Americans, as well as “the need for the United States to ask hard questions before we take action abroad, particularly military action.”

But in announcing his decision to send military advisers to Iraq, the president said it is in the U.S. national security interests not to see “an all-out civil war inside Iraq.”

In addition, a senior U.S official said the terrorist group ISIS -- an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq -- if not confronted, would attempt to create a caliphate and expand its influence across a huge swath of territory spanning the Iraq-Syria border, creating a safe haven for extremists groups that could eventually target the United States.

NASA RESEARCHERS SEEK TO RESTORE SUPERSONIC PASSENGER TRAVEL

FROM:  NASA

Right:  NASA F/A-18 mission support aircraft were used to create low-intensity sonic booms during a resaerch project at the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response, or WSPR, project gathered data from a select group of more than 100 volunteer Edwards Air Force Base residents on their individual attitudes toward sonic booms produced by aircraft in supersonic flight over Edwards.  Image Credit-NASA-Jim Ross.

The return of supersonic passenger travel may be coming closer to reality thanks to NASA’s efforts to define a new standard for low sonic booms.

Several NASA aeronautics researchers will present their work in Atlanta this week at Aviation 2014, an annual event of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. They will share with the global aviation community the progress they are making in overcoming some of the biggest hurdles to supersonic passenger travel.

The research generates data crucial for developing a low-boom standard for the civil aviation industry. NASA works closely with the Federal Aviation Administration and the international aerospace community, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, to gather data and develop new procedures and requirements that may help in a reconsideration of the current ban on supersonic flight over land.

"Lessening sonic booms -- shock waves caused by an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound -- is the most significant hurdle to reintroducing commercial supersonic flight," said Peter Coen, head of the High Speed Project in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "Other barriers include high altitude emissions, fuel efficiency and community noise around airports."

Engineers at NASA centers in California, Ohio and Virginia that conduct aviation research are tackling sonic booms from a number of angles, including how to design a low-boom aircraft and characterize the noise. NASA researchers have studied how to quantify the loudness and annoyance of the boom by asking people to listen to the sounds in a specially designed noise test chamber.

A recent flight research campaign at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, had residents explore ways to assess the public’s response to sonic booms in a real-world setting. Researchers at Armstrong have an advantage -- pilots are permitted to fly at supersonic speeds because the facility is located on Edwards Air Force Base.

"People here are more familiar with sonic booms," said Armstrong aerospace engineer Larry Cliatt. "Eventually, we want to take this to a broader level of people who have never heard a sonic boom."

Similar work is conducted at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where volunteers from the local community rated sonic booms according to how disruptive they determined the sound to be.

"They each listened to a total of 140 sounds, and based on their average response, we can begin to estimate the general public's reactions," explained Langley acoustics engineer Alexandra Loubeau.

She also conducted a study at Langley comparing results from tools used to predict sonic boom noise at ground-level.

“Because of the interaction with the atmosphere, it is important to be as consistent as possible in the implementation and usage of these tools. The comparisons done so far have shown good agreement, but there are some inconsistencies that need to be studied,” Loubeau said.

Other studies are focused on predicting the sonic boom and on design approaches to reducing it. Participants from Japan, the United States and France attended the first Sonic Boom Prediction Workshop, where they evaluated simple configurations -- cylindrical bodies with and without wings -- and complex full aircraft designs.

"We are working to understand the worldwide state of the art in predicting sonic booms from an aircraft point of view," said Mike Park, a fluid mechanics engineer at Langley. "We found for simple configurations we can analyze and predict sonic booms extremely well. For complex configurations we still have some work to do."

Wind tunnels are another tool used to help predict which airplane designs might have quieter booms. The most recent tests were conducted at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.  Similar to designs of the past, current aircraft designs being tested are characterized by a needle-like nose, a sleek fuselage and a delta wing or highly-swept wings -- shapes that result in much lower booms.

NASA and industry engineers say they believe supersonic research has progressed to the point where the design of a practical low-boom supersonic jet is within reach.

Karen Northon

Headquarters, Washington

U.S. AIR FORCE CHANGES IN NUCLEAR FORCE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Air Force Secretary Outlines Changes for Nuclear Force

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2014 – Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James today outlined new incentives and measures designed to change the culture of the service’s nuclear force.

Following a cheating scandal involving intercontinental ballistic missile launch officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and the subsequent relief of nine officers, a commander’s retirement and 91 other airmen receiving discipline, James touched on ways the Air Force has begun to address “systemic issues.”
“I do think this is more than a single issue,” she said in remarks at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. “As I’ve said before, I do think we need some holistic fixes for the nuclear force. This is not something that happened in the last year or two, or even 10. It’s probably been happening gradually over the last 25 years.”
The secretary said while there are likely no quick fixes to resolve these issues, there are measures she and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III can implement now.

“Let’s talk money,” James said. “Money is not everything, but money’s important. So right now, in [fiscal year 2014], just in the last few months, we have redirected $50 million -- $50 million, by the way, is the most that the Global Strike Command said they could reasonably spend in [the fiscal year].”

Money should be spent reasonably, she said, so in addition to $50 million, $350 million more will be redirected to the nuclear mission over the next five years. The money will go to sustainment infrastructure and to some of the “people issues,” the secretary added.

There could be more to come, James said, but this is what officials have decided so far.

Another issue being addressed is undermanning in the nuclear force, the secretary told the defense writers.

“When you’re undermanned, that means the existing people have to work harder,” she said. “That impacts morale and it could impact other things as well. We have, right now, already directed 1,100 additional people are going to be inserted into the nuclear force to get those manning levels up.”

They principally will be in the field, she said, and the Air Force is going to 100-percent manning in the eight critical nuclear specialties. Air Force officials have lifted some of the ongoing servicewide manpower reductions to add people back into the nuclear force, she added.

Along with those adjustments, the secretary noted, she has called for elevating the Global Strike Command commander’s position to the four-star level and that the related major general position on the Air Force staff be made a lieutenant general position.

“We want to up the rank of the nuclear forces within the Air Force,” she said. “Rank matters in the military, so that’s another thing that we’re doing.”
Additionally, James said, the testing environment that produced the cheating scandal has been revamped, and the inspections environment will also see changes.

“It had become this zero-defect mentality, where even the smallest of the small kinds of errors could cause an entire failure,” she explained. “That wasn’t a healthy environment.”

In the fall, James said, the Air Force also will introduce a variety of new financial incentives for the nuclear force “to kick it up a notch,” including offering accession bonuses for new officers’ ROTC scholarships and incentive pay.
James also noted 20th Air Force commander, Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, has issued a series of directives to the field designed to start to shift the culture.
“Now, you know memos don’t shift culture,” she said. “Leadership and time eventually shifts culture, but this is a start. This is designed to stop the micromanaging, to push down to the lower levels [and encourage] decision-making.”

All of that will help, James said.

“We didn’t get here overnight, and we’re not going to fix it overnight,” she added.
It will take persistent focus, leadership and attention for years to come, she said.
“With all of what I’ve just said, I’m certain that additional resources are probably still in order,” James said. “We’re going to have to talk about those resources as we get into the next [program objective memorandum] cycle.”

James said she believes the U.S. nuclear mission is a national mission for the entire Defense Department, not just the Air Force.

“So I’ll be talking to the deputy [defense] secretary, the secretary of defense [and] the senior leaders of DOD to see what we can do about this,” she said.

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK GUARANTEES $15 MILLION LOAN FOR POWER-GENERATION EQUIPMENT EXPORT

FROM:  U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK 

Ex-Im Bank Approves Financing to Export American Power-Generation Equipment

Deal Supports U.S Manufacturing Competitiveness and Supports 100 American Jobs

Washington, D.C. – The Board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has voted to guarantee a $15 million loan extended by Rabobank International of Utrecht, Netherlands, to Energyst B.V. to facilitate the export of Caterpillar power-generation equipment.

According to Bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology, the credit will support approximately 100 U.S. jobs.

“Ex-Im Bank’s financing will support the export of important power-generation equipment made here in America and for potential use in Africa or Latin America” said Export-Import Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “In the process, the transaction will support approximately 100 U.S. jobs. This deal is a great example of how Ex-Im Bank’s financing helps American exporters close sales overseas and support jobs at home.”

Energyst, a Caterpillar-trademarked equipment rental operator based in Breda, Netherlands, plans to expand its power fleet to enable the company to be competitive in the International Power Projects market in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, among other regions. The financed equipment is designed for rapid deployment globally and can provide temporary turnkey power.

The transaction could potentially contribute to President Obama’s Power Africa initiative, which aims to increase access to power in sub-Saharan Africa – where more than two-thirds of the population is without electricity. It will help countries develop newly-discovered resources responsibly, build out power generation and transmission, and expand the reach of mini-grid and off-grid solutions.

“Caterpillar applauds Ex-Im Bank for approving the financing request for power generation equipment for Energyst,” said Jim Umpleby, Caterpillar Inc. group president with responsibility for Energy & Transportation. “By backing this project, Ex-Im Bank is bolstering U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, supporting American jobs, promoting exports and helping Caterpillar and our dealers meet increasing global energy demand."

DOD LEADERSHIP MULLS OVER IRAQ RESPONSE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Possible Iraq Action Requires Clearer Picture, DOD Leaders Say

By Nick Simeone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2014 – The Iraqi government has requested U.S. airstrikes to help it put down a fast-moving rebellion by Sunni insurgents, but the Defense Department’s top civilian and military leaders told senators today that a clearer picture of the situation on the ground -- as well as clear objectives -- are necessary for airstrikes or other military intervention to be effective.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answered questions at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.

Five days after President Barack Obama said he had asked his national security team for a range of options for helping the Iraqi government thwart the rapid Sunni insurgent sweep through much of the country’s north and west, posing the threat of reprisals from Shiites, Dempsey said that while he shares alarm over the situation, he could recommend military force only “once I’m assured we can use it responsibility and effectively.”

Various indistinguishable forces are on the ground in northern Iraq, he said, from the insurgents who threaten Baghdad -- known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and also as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL -- as well as former Baathists and other disenfranchised groups.

“Until we can actually clarify this intelligence picture, the options will continue to be built and developed and refined and the intelligence picture made more accurate, and then the president can make a decision,” Dempsey said. “It’s not as easy as looking at an iPhone video of a convoy and then immediately striking.”
A number of lawmakers, as well as former military officials have called for airstrikes against the Sunni insurgents, who have taken over Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and other towns on their rapid push southward toward Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on his Shiite supporters to rise to the country’s defense, threatening a return of the full-blown sectarian conflict experienced in 2006 to 2008.

Hagel told lawmakers the Pentagon is providing the president with different options, but that any U.S. military intervention in Iraq, including airstrikes, would require clear objectives.

“There has to be a reason for those,” he said. “There has to be an objective. Where do you go with those? What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political solution?”

As long as Maliki continues to lead a Shiite-based sectarian government to the exclusion of other groups, “the entire enterprise is at risk,” Dempsey said. Obama has conditioned any U.S. military assistance to Baghdad on a fresh effort to resolve differences among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds that he, along with Hagel and Dempsey, have said laid the foundation for the current crisis.

Last week, two divisions of the Iraqi army and one national police organization collapsed as the Syria-based insurgents quickly routed towns along the route to the Iraqi capital.

“They did that because they had simply lost faith that the central government in Iraq was dealing with the entire population in a fair, equitable way that provided hope for all of them,” said Dempsey, who led the U.S effort to train Iraqi security forces from 2005 to 2007.

SECRETARY KERRY'S AT NEXT STEPS PANEL OF OUR OCEAN CONFERENCE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Closing the Next Steps Panel of Our Ocean Conference

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Loy Henderson Conference Room

Washington, DC

June 17, 2014

---

SECRETARY KERRY: This is our last meeting of the entire group in this room. There will be a breakout group meeting here later in the day, but this will be the last session in which everybody will be assembled in the same room at the same time. And I just want to observe that over the course of my career I’ve been to a lot of conferences, but I have to tell you I’ve never been to one where people stayed in their seats, sat as attentive and as focused as you have with as little movement and sort of breakup and large gaps in the seating. I personally am impressed by the way in which there has just been a sense of serious purpose and intent here, and I congratulate and thank all of you for that. You are the ones who have brought that sense of urgency to this effort here. I might say that by being so rigid and so firmly planted we can say with certainty that the oceans movement is a hard-ass group of folks. (Laughter and applause.)
What’s amazing, I sat there listening to the folks who felt inspired to contribute beyond what had been previously thought would occur. And so out of this conference has come more – a commitment to a combination of effort with respect to climate and oceans, but specifically focused on acidification and sea level rise and all the special efforts of these recent spontaneous announcements that you have made. And I’m particularly grateful to the minister from the Bahamas and the Bahamas initiative which is so critical, to Ted Waitt and the Waitt Foundation. I can remember meeting with Ted in San Diego a long time ago when he sort of focused and told me he was really going to put his energy and focus into the oceans, and he has done that tremendously and importantly.

The Cook Islands Prime Minister Puna, we thank you for a 50-mile zone, which just really moves people away from areas of greatest accessibility and will have a significant impact. Mark Spalding, The Ocean Foundation, and the Global Environment Facility, creating a platform for action, and Lynne Hale and Nature Conservancy, a 3.8 million investment in the Marine Initiative.

And finally are my friends from the UK, William Hague and his representative, special representative for climate change, and the effort to work on partnerships and recognize this is indeed an enormous diplomatic challenge to bring countries together in a multilateral forum. This has been as delightful a group of committed activists, scientists, academians, NGOs, civil society, and government representatives who have come together with a serious purpose, and I think everybody deserves their mutual congratulations.

Out of this, particularly with the remarkable contribution and seriousness of purpose expressed by the Government of Norway, we have today received commitments for action over $1,450,000,000, and that is all directed to ocean (inaudible). (Applause.)

In addition to that, with some new commitments we’re soon going to be halfway to the number of countries needed to ratify the Port State Measures Agreement so that it can enter into force. And I will personally engage in efforts, and I hope others here will join, particularly my minister colleagues, in the effort to push to get that done. When we achieve that, we get a few more countries on board, we’ll be able to take an enormous step forward in preventing illegally caught catches, illegal fish catch from making it to the market.

Finally, right now only a small fraction of the world’s ocean, as we have all talked about it, is currently protected. But with the announcements that have been made here today and over the course of this conference and additional announcements at lunch, including the announcement President Obama made this morning, we’re potentially on the verge of protecting more than 3 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean. We need to do more elsewhere but that is a terrific start, and I congratulate everybody for their part in doing that. (Applause.)

We have a lot to do in a short time. There isn’t anybody here who hasn’t come here because they don’t understand the depth of this challenge. And I am so appreciative for all of you taking the time, making the commitment to be here. Our hope was and remains – and it’s something that I felt significantly in my travels both as a senator and as Secretary, I would talk to people. And you’d get a certain number of people who go to a conference in one place or another, but we haven’t often enough been able to convene all of the stakeholders that are necessary. We don’t have them all here either yet. We need to continue to push that. Because when people come together like this, there is a certainty of purpose, a certainty of understanding the challenge. And there’s a sense of unity and of breadth, scope if you will, of people taking actions ready to move that in itself is infectious, as we saw today with spontaneous combustion presenting these additional efforts. We have to continue that. And I said at the outset of this that is the purpose of this meeting.

So our team has been assembling a compilation of the best practices and of those suggestions made here for those things that need to be done in order to get this job done. And we will be putting this plan out immediately this afternoon after this conference. Everybody here can go to it immediately onstate.gov. It will be accessible. We will be working to promulgate it. We’ll be working to try to build a critical energy underneath it to take it to the United Nations, to take it to other international organizations that could have an impact. And we will try to build this so that this will become, in effect, the guide for the steps that we need to take in order to protect our ocean and in order to encourage other nations to sign on to do the same.

Eventually our goal is for this plan to translate into a unified global ocean policy. Now governments obviously have an important role to play. We all know that. But what is proven here by Ted and Nature Conservancy and other individual efforts here is that people, civil society, these young folks who are here who are going to be tweeting and pushing this out to social media and engaging, can begin to create a movement at colleges, universities, schools all across the world – this is something everybody can understand – and force political action by virtue of making this a voting issue where people feel that if they don’t do this they’re not going to be running a government, they’re not going to get elected. That’s how it works most effectively.

And lest any of you have any doubt about that, let me tell you something. When I first came back from Vietnam back in 1969-’70, I didn’t first begin to protest the war. I first began to be involved with something called Earth Day, Earth Day 1970. And we organized. Twenty million people came out of their homes and said we don’t want to drink toxic water, we don’t want to have cancer thrust on us, we don’t want to live next to a waste dump. And guess what? Those 20 million people then focused on 12 members of the United States Congress. They were labeled the “dirty dozen,” the worst votes on the environment in Congress. And in the next election, seven of them lost. (Applause.) That sent a message up and down the spines of the survivors, who then promptly voted for the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and they created the EPA. (Applause.) We didn’t even have an Environmental Protection Agency until that happened. (Applause.)

So as we leave here, we need to remember the power of these facts and these ideas of this mission. And I just ask everybody here to think about one last thing. I will always remember the comments of President Kennedy in 1962 when he attended the World Cup – not World Cup, excuse me, the Americas Cup. (Laughter.) I have World Cup on the mind. And he talked about our connection to the sea and it’s a wonderful passage and you should all go be reminded, but I’d just remind you quickly. He talked about how each of us has this special connection to the sea because we come from the sea, and you just have to measure the amount of salt in water in the human body and in the veins in our blood, and you understand that connection. And so we leave here with a special sense of that connection, but most importantly, thanks to all of you, we leave here with a special mission, a special renewed vigor, a sense of commitment to what we have to achieve. I thank you all for being part of this effort.

We will convene again. It will be in Peru, and after that maybe back here. We will convene again.

PARTICIPANT: Chile.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, it’ll be in Chile instead of Peru. (Laughter.) Thank you. Thank you
very much. (Applause.)

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR JUNE 18, 2014

FROM:   U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Marietta, Georgia, has been awarded a $222,923,464 fixed-price modification (P00200) under contract FA8625-07-C-6471 for the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP). The contract modification installs proven - GE engine and 69 aircraft enhancements to improve reliability, maintainability and availability in order to extend the C-5M fleet life through 2040. Under this modification, a total of 11 C-5 aircraft will be modified with RERP to increase aircraft performance, payload capability & transportation throughput. Work will be performed at Marietta, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 10, 2017. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $222,923,464 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WLSK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Meggitt Training Systems, Inc., Suwannee, Georgia, was awarded a $99,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide the next generation simulator for marksmanship and squad collective training, modify marksmanship trainers and simulated weapons to the Engagement Skills Trainer II (EST II) configuration and procure EST mission essential requirements. Funding and work location will be determined with each order with an estimated completion date of June 17, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with three received. Army Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-14-D-0002).

Z Systems Corp.*, Greenbelt, Maryland, was awarded a $7,140,388 modification (0001) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0036 for material maintenance and supply support at the Fort Hood, Texas, Logistics Readiness Center. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $238,349 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is June 17, 2019. Work will be performed in Killeen, Texas. Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity.

NAVY

KMEA MACTEC JV*, San Diego, California, is being awarded a maximum amount $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering (A-E) contract for A-E services for stormwater, groundwater, wastewater and incidental potable water studies at Navy and Marine Corps installations in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest area of responsibility. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations in California (90 percent); Arizona (3 percent); Nevada (3 percent); Colorado (2 percent); Utah (1 percent); and other Department of Defense installations in the United States (1 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of June 2019. Fiscal 2014 environmental restoration (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by environmental restoration (Navy), and operation and maintenance (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with eight proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-14-D-1418).

Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, is being awarded a $7,831,864 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-12-C-0062) to exercise an option for the procurement of 163 Multi-Function Color Display units and associated technical data to support retrofit of MFCD units into T-45 aircraft. In addition, this option includes 30 Bezels for spares. Work will be performed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (58 percent); Largo, Florida (24 percent); and Atlanta, Georgia (18 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2016. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,831,864 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Earl Industries, LLC, doing business as General Dynamics NASSCO Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida, is being awarded a $19,802,857 firm-fixed-price contract for docking phased maintenance availability to include drydocking, hull plating replacement, propulsion engine removal and habitability work onboard USS Tornado (PC 14). The docking phased maintenance availability work on USS Tornado consists of 55 percent hull structure repairs, 16 percent propulsion repairs, 11 percent paint/decking and preservation, and 8 percent auxiliary pumps and systems. The remaining 10 percent miscellaneous repairs consist of temporary services, electrical and electronic repairs. The basic work package consists of 89 work items. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $20,938,761. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, and is expected to be completed by August 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $19,802,857 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $20,938,761 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with seven proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. Southeast Regional Maintenance Center, Mayport, Florida, is the contracting activity (N40027-14-C-0011).

*Small Business

SUNTRUST MAKES NEARLY $1 BILLION AGREEMENT TO SETTLE ALLEGED MORTGAGE AND FORECLOSURE ABUSES

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Federal Government and State Attorneys General Reach Nearly $1 Billion Agreement with SunTrust to Address Mortgage Loan Origination as Well as Servicing and Foreclosure Abuses

Agreement Provides Homeowner Relief and New Protections, Stops Abuses
The Justice Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), along with 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia’s attorney general have reached a $968 million agreement with SunTrust Mortgage Inc. (SunTrust) to address mortgage origination, servicing, and foreclosure abuses.

The joint agreement is the result of extensive investigations by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, HUD and the HUD Office of the Inspector General (HUD-OIG), CFPB and state attorneys general across the country, and includes recoveries for both improper mortgage origination and servicing practices.

“SunTrust’s conduct is a prime example of the widespread underwriting failures that helped bring about the financial crisis,” Attorney General Eric Holder said. “From mortgage origination to servicing to securitization, the Department of Justice is attacking every facet of conduct that led to the Great Recession. We will continue to hold accountable financial institutions that, in the pursuit of their own financial interests, misuse public funds and cause harm to hardworking Americans. We expect that there will be more cases like this to come.”

“This agreement, which totals nearly $1 billion, not only holds SunTrust accountable for years of abusive practices mortgage origination practices; it also provides for restoration,” said Associate Attorney General Tony West. “By the terms of this resolution, SunTrust is required to provide $500 million in consumer relief for homeowners as well as abide by terms that will help to prevent the abuses of the past from being repeated. It's a result attained thanks to the close coordination among our enforcement agency partners throughout the government."

As part of the settlement, SunTrust has agreed to pay $418 million to resolve its potential liability under the federal False Claims Act for originating and underwriting loans that violated its obligations as a participant in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance program.  As a participant in that program, SunTrust had the authority to originate, underwrite and certify mortgages for FHA insurance.

SunTrust admitted that between January 2006 and March 2012, it originated and underwrote FHA-insured mortgages that did not meet FHA requirements, that it failed to carry out an effective quality control program to identify non-compliant loans, and that it failed to self-report to HUD even the defective loans it did identify.  SunTrust also admitted that numerous audits and other documents disseminated to its management between 2009 and 2012 described significant flaws and inadequacies in SunTrust’s origination, underwriting, and quality control processes, and notified SunTrust management that as many as 50 percent or more of SunTrust’s FHA-insured mortgages did not comply with FHA requirements.  For example, a 2012 internal SunTrust document noted two “significant” issues that had been plaguing the company for years – a “Broken Loan Origination Process” coupled with a “Deficient Government Insuring Process.”  Other reports received by SunTrust management described its quality control program as “severely flawed” and “ineffective.”  These reports described to management that the volume of problems in the program was “excessive,” and that the error rates were “elevated” and at an “unacceptable level.”
“SunTrust’s irresponsible FHA lending practices caused grievous harm to homeowners and the housing market, as well as wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “As this settlement demonstrates, we will continue to hold accountable financial institutions that misuse public funds and ruin the lives of hardworking Americans in the pursuit of their own financial interests.”
The servicing portion of the agreement parallels the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement (NMS) reached in February 2012 between the federal government, 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia’s attorney general and the five largest national mortgage servicers.  Under the agreement announced today, SunTrust has agreed to provide $500 million in additional relief in the next three years directly to borrowers and homeowners in the form of reducing the principal on mortgages for borrowers who are at risk of default, reducing mortgage interest rates for homeowners who are current but underwater on their mortgages, and other relief.  The settlement will likely provide direct benefits to borrowers far in excess of $500 million because SunTrust will not be permitted to claim credit for every dollar spent on the required consumer relief.  SunTrust has also agreed to pay $50 million in cash to redress its servicing practices, $40 million of which will be distributed to borrowers and homeowners through the Borrower Payment Fund established by the NMS and administered by the states.
“This agreement with SunTrust is another step forward in the Obama Administration’s ongoing effort to hold mortgage lenders accountable,” said HUD Acting Deputy Secretary Helen Kanovsky. “By using the framework of the National Mortgage Settlement, we will ensure that SunTrust provides mortgage relief to struggling homeowners in the hardest hit communities and changes their worst practices.  HUD will continue working with the Department of Justice, CFPB and state attorneys general to hold lenders accountable and require them to institute practices that are beneficial to borrowers and the FHA fund.”
“The culmination of this case today represents the long hours dedicated by auditors, investigators, counsel and the data analytics team in the Office of Inspector General to address the significant problems we identified in SunTrust’s underwriting,” said HUD Inspector General David A. Montoya.  “The case begins and ends with the crucial work produced by this office and the commitment by my staff to work with the Department of Justice, HUD and others in a concerted effort to combat misrepresentation and fraud against vital government programs.  My office will continue to aggressively seek out instances in which the FHA, and by extension the American taxpayer, are harmed by misconduct that should not be tolerated.”

“Deceptive and illegal mortgage servicing practices have pushed families into foreclosure and devastated communities across the nation,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.  “Today’s action will help homeowners and consumers harmed by SunTrust’s unlawful foreclosure practices.  The Consumer Bureau will continue to investigate mortgage servicers that mistreat consumers, and we will not hesitate to take action against any company that violates our new servicing rules.”

“Homeownership is the bedrock of the American dream, and we continue to address the many mortgage servicing nightmares that homeowners across the country experienced for years,” said Iowa state Attorney General Tom Miller.  “State attorneys general are working across party lines with our federal partners to address past practices, and we’re trying to ensure that borrowers are treated more fairly in the future.”

The joint federal-state agreement also requires SunTrust to implement significant changes in how they service mortgage loans, handle foreclosures, and ensure the accuracy of information provided in federal bankruptcy court.  The agreement requires new servicing standards which will prevent foreclosure abuses of the past, such as robo-signing, improper documentation and lost paperwork, and create dozens of new consumer protections.  The new standards provide for strict oversight of foreclosure processing, including third-party vendors, and new requirements to undertake pre-filing reviews of certain documents filed in bankruptcy court.

The new servicing standards ensure that foreclosure is a last resort by requiring SunTrust to evaluate homeowners for other loss mitigation options first.  In addition, SunTrust is restricted from foreclosing while the homeowner is being considered for a loan modification.  The new standards also include procedures and timelines for reviewing loan modification applications and give homeowners the right to appeal denials.  SunTrust will also be required to simplify the process for homeowners needing help by creating a single point of contact for borrowers seeking information about their loans and—importantly—maintaining adequate staff to handle calls.

The agreement will be filed as a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  Compliance with the agreement will be overseen by an independent monitor, Joseph A. Smith Jr., who is also the monitor for the NMS.  Smith has served as the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks since 2002, and is also the former Chairman of the Conference of State Banks Supervisors (CSBS).  The monitor will oversee implementation of the servicing standards required by the agreement; impose penalties of up to $1 million per violation (or up to $5 million for certain repeat violations); and publish regular public reports that identify any quarter in which a servicer fell short of the standards imposed in the settlement.

The agreement resolves potential violations of civil law based on SunTrust’s deficient mortgage loan origination and servicing activities.  The agreement does not prevent state and federal authorities from pursuing criminal enforcement actions related to this or other conduct by SunTrust, or from punishing wrongful securitization conduct that is the focus of the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  The agreement does not prevent the CFPB from pursing civil enforcement actions against SunTrust for violations of the CFPB’s new mortgage servicing rules that took effect on Jan. 10, 2014.   State attorneys general also preserved, among other things, all claims against the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), and all claims brought by borrowers.  Additionally, the agreement does not prevent any action by individual borrowers who wish to bring their own lawsuits.

SunTrust is a mortgage lender and servicer headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SunTrust Banks Inc., a bank and financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

The settlement announced today was the result of investigations conducted by the Civil Division and the U.S. Trustee Program of the Department of Justice, state attorney general offices throughout the country, HUD-OIG and HUD’s FHA, and the CFPB.  The Department of the Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture also made critical contributions.

The joint federal-state agreement is part of enforcement efforts by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources.  The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

MARINES PATROL IN AFGHANISTAN

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters take off after transporting U.S. Marines during a mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan, June 6, 2014. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joseph Scanlan.

U.S. Marines conduct a security patrol during a mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan, June 6, 2014. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joseph Scanlan.

FTC TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE ON DECEPTIVE CLAIMS IN THE WEIGHT-LOSS INDUSTRY

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

FTC Testifies Before Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Agency Efforts to Combat Fraudulent and Deceptive Claims for Weight-Loss Products

The Federal Trade Commission testified before Congress about its ongoing efforts to combat fraudulent and deceptive claims for weight-loss products through law enforcement, media outreach, and consumer education.

Testifying on behalf of the FTC before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance, Mary Engle, Associate Director for Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade Commission, said that amid an ongoing obesity epidemic – in which nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults are obese or overweight – the FTC’s most recent fraud study shows that more consumers were victims of fraudulent weight-loss claims than of any other specific fraud type covered by the survey.

The testimony also noted that despite consumer spending of $2.4 billion on weight-loss products and services last year, there is very little evidence that pills or supplements alone will cause sustained, meaningful weight loss – without changes to diet and lifestyle. According to the testimony, consumers are especially susceptible to weight-loss fraud, there is an enormous amount of money to be made in the diet industry, and fraudsters will continue to gravitate toward the money.

“The endless flood of unfounded claims being made in the weight-loss industry vividly illustrates the challenges we, and consumers, are up against,” the testimony stated.

The FTC’s program to combat fraud in the weight-loss industry includes:

Law enforcement: In the past 10 years, the FTC has brought 82 weight-loss-related law enforcement actions, and since 2010, it has collected nearly $107 million for consumer restitution. Early this year, the agency announced Operation Failed Resolution, targeting new weight-loss fads that include food additives, human hormones, skin creams and acai berries.

The Commission has also noted several disturbing developments in weight-loss advertising:

reliance on proprietary studies using erroneous or fabricated data.
marketers capitalizing on weight-loss fads propelled to popularity by trusted spokespeople such as one recent FTC case involving marketers of the Pure Green Coffee dietary supplement. Within weeks of an April 2012 Dr. Oz Show touting green coffee bean extract, these marketers were making overblown claims about the supplement online, such as, “lose 20 pounds in four weeks” and “lose 20 pounds and two to four inches of belly fat in two to three months.”
Media Outreach: To combat the promotion of fraudulent weight-loss products in respected media outlets, the FTC recently issued a “Gut Check” reference guide that advises media outlets on seven claims in weight-loss ads that experts say simply cannot be true and that should cause media outlets to think twice about running the ads.

Consumer Education: Recent FTC brochures, articles, and blog posts geared toward consumers hammer home the message that the only thing they will lose is money if they fall for ads promising quick weight loss without diet or exercise. The FTC also has created teaser websites designed to reach people who are surfing online for weight-loss products.

Today, the agency is also launching a new consumer video and game – the FTC Weight Loss Challenge. The Challenge is an interactive game designed to help consumers think critically about weight-loss products and claims. Available in English and Spanish, the game separates fact from fiction in ads for products touting fast weight loss without the need for diet and exercise.

The Commission vote approving the testimony and its inclusion in the formal record was 5-0.