U.S. STAKEOUT REMARKS AFTER UN SECURITY COUNCIL CONSULTATIONS ON MIDDLE EAST

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Mission to the United Nations: Remarks at a Stakeout Following Security Council Consultations on the Middle East

09/16/2014 05:03 PM EDT

AS DELIVERED

Hi everyone. I just want to briefly summarize this morning’s consultations. Robert Serry, the Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace, briefed the Council on the UN’s work to support the ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the UN’s work in Syria. Our discussion also covered Iraq, and Council members raised a number of questions on all these matters.

On Gaza, Council members discussed the ceasefire, which continues to hold, as well as ongoing humanitarian aid delivery and reconstruction efforts through a newly agreed mechanism.

On Syria, Council members expressed broad support for Special Envoy de Mistura and his mission. Council members continue to believe that the only solution to the conflict is a political one.

In my national capacity, let me quickly discuss a few points regarding the situation in Gaza and Iraq. Let me actually, just – these remarks – anyway, I’m sure in our questions we’ll discuss Gaza, but my remarks are going to center on Iraq.

Over the last month, we’ve all seen the international community increasingly cooperate with Iraqi forces, including Iraqi security forces and Kurdish forces, on a range of counter-terrorist and humanitarian actions – from blocking ISIL’s advance on Erbil to breaking the siege of the Yezidis on Mount Sinjar. Next Wednesday, President Obama will lead a Council session designed to address the specific challenge of foreign terrorist fighters as they impact the conflict in Syria, in Iraq, and in several other conflicts across the globe.

Let me conclude with a comment on the High-Level Ministerial on Iraq scheduled for 2:00 p.m. this Friday, September 19th. Secretary Kerry will chair the session and Special Representative for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov will travel from Baghdad to brief the Council.

The session will be held in debate format so that non-Council members whose interests are especially affected by the Iraq situation, as well as countries making significant security, economic, or humanitarian contributions to assist Iraq, will be able to speak under rule 37. We expect more than 40 countries to participate, many at the ministerial level. It will provide an opportunity for these countries to unite in support of the newly formed government in Iraq led by Prime Minister Abadi and the Iraqi people as they work with the international community in their fight against ISIL and cope with the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict with ISIL.

Thank you. And with that, I’m happy to take a few questions.

Reporter: Ambassador, on Syria, do you think the UN Security Council has to authorize a resolution for any use of force if there is a coalition to be interested in any kind of intervention?

Ambassador Power: Let me say a few things. First, I addressed this issue yesterday – the very, very same question. President Obama has made very clear that ISIL represents a threat to U.S. core national security interests, to U.S. personnel, to U.S. facilities, and to U.S. citizens, as we’ve seen. With respect to international law, the specific basis will depend on the particular facts and the particular circumstances of any military action, but we believe that we have a basis for action.

In terms of the Security Council’s role, again, you’re seeing – you will see the Security Council active on a very important ISIL-related issue on Friday, when Secretary Kerry convenes the Council in support of the Iraqi government and in support of the anti-ISIL effort. It’s certainly premature for me to speculate on what the Council might do on other matters.

Reporter: (inaudible) Mr. Serry?

Ambassador Power: Mr. Serry did not raise issues related to authorities.

Reporter: Ambassador, what are some of the legal bases for action, specifically on –

Ambassador Power: Again, I’m not – as I said very clearly, it depends on the particular facts and circumstances of any action. We’re talking now about a hypothetical action that hasn’t been taken up to this point. In the event that action is taken, believe me, we will have plenty of time to engage on that. But please, if you have another question –

Reporter: May I ask on Gaza?

Ambassador Power: Of course.

Reporter: Can you tell us a little bit on, give us your assessment on, the progress made on the Gaza resolution that has been on the Council’s plate for many weeks?

Ambassador Power: I don’t have an update of the kind that you’re seeking. I think we continue to believe that a resolution could play a positive role in, you know, enhancing the durability of a ceasefire, but we are still in consultations. It is a topic that came up over the course of the briefing, but I don’t have an update for you on the likely outcome of consultations.

Reporter: Ambassador, you mentioned yesterday how unusual it is for the Council to address a public health crisis like Ebola. Now that you’ve circulated a draft resolution to the Council and you’re holding the meeting on Thursday, have any Council members raised any concerns that this maybe isn’t in the purview of the Council and shouldn’t be addressed by the Council?

Ambassador Power: I would say the response, not only to the emergency session, not only to the draft resolution that, as you say, we’ve just circulated, but also to CDC’s leadership, to the briefing we had yesterday at the U.S. mission – where more than 115 permanent representatives and deputy permanent representatives attended – so the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I do want to underscore your point that this is an extremely unusual occurrence for an infectious disease outbreak to come before the Council. I think one of the things that has ensured that this effort has received such broad-based support is the outspoken leadership on the part of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria. I think they have made it very clear to Council members how urgent they think this session is, how important it is to work in parallel in the General Assembly and in the Security Council, and how severe the threat to national security for each of these countries is, to regional security, and to broader international peace and security. So we’ve had, again, overwhelming support up to this point, but again the negotiations on the resolution are ongoing.

Reporter: Ambassador, Madame President – in your national capacity, next week the General Assembly. Without mentioning all of these different meetings, what can you tell an average public citizen about – is there an opportunity for the U.S. on all of these fronts or is it just too hectic, or as they have described it as “diplomatic speed-dating,” to make any dent in this wide variety of crises? And please don’t use the words “next week” if possible in your answer, thank you.

Ambassador Power: Don’t use the words…

Reporter: “Next week.”

Ambassador Power: I see. (Laughter)

Reporter: You’re print, but –

Ambassador Power: My print heritage. Okay. Two of the issues that are most on peoples’ mind right now in the United States and all around the world are ISIL and the monstrous threat that they pose, really, to any civilian whose path they cross, and Ebola, which is unfolding and spreading at a scope that demands an urgent and much more substantial response than the international community has mobilized so far. Both of those efforts require broad coalitions, require transnational solutions, require cooperation among countries near and far, require burden sharing – again, a division of labor. Both of these threats, I think, illustrate the founding purpose of the United Nations and the purpose of bringing the heads of state of the United Nations together every season, which is: how do we pool our resources to cooperate, not only to deal with common threats, but to deal with threats that we simply – no single nation can deal with alone? So, I think the timing of the General Assembly session this year is especially good, certainly for the United States, as we are attempting to spearhead coalition-building, really, in both areas. And we have high expectations on the basis of the last several weeks that you will see countries stepping up to an extent they haven’t up to this point.

Thank you.

HHS VIDEO: TOBACCO USE EPIDEMIC IN THE U.S.: IS 50 YEARS OF PROGRESS ENOUGH?

RECENT U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTOS

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE 

A C-130 Hercules performs aerial spraying of mosquitos Sept. 6, 2014, over Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The insecticide the unit uses is mixed with water to dilute the product. The C-130 and Air Force Reserve aircrew are assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing, Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Dennis Sloan)

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor flies over clouds during RED FLAG-Alaska 14-3 Aug. 20, 2014, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The F-22, assigned to the 90th Fighter Squadron, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, possesses a sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill air-to-air threats before being detected. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jim Araos)

$12 MILLION IN NEW RESEARCH GRANTS AWARDED TO HELP FIGHT DISEASE OUTBREAKS LIKE EBOLA, MERS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Racing ahead of disease outbreaks: $12 million in new research grants

NSF, NIH, partners support studies of how diseases spread among humans, other animals and the environment

Ebola, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), malaria, antibiotic-resistant infections: Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for their increased incidence?

The joint National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program is providing answers.

The EEID program supports efforts to understand the ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.

Now NSF, NIH and USDA--in collaboration with the U.K.'s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)--have awarded more than $12 million in new EEID grants.

"Recent outbreaks such as the Ebola and MERS viruses, as well as growing threats such as Lyme disease, demonstrate the need for fundamental understanding of pathogen movement and evolution," says Sam Scheiner, NSF program director for EEID.

"This year's EEID awards will contribute to the broader understanding of these threats the program has provided. Because of this increasing body of knowledge, we're able to respond to these new threats more efficiently and effectively."

Now in its 14th year as an interagency partnership, the program has supported 124 research projects.

Projects funded through the EEID program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events--such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution--alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and other animals.

"The EEID program allows us to access predictive power to more effectively respond to infectious disease," says Daniel Janes, an EEID program director at NIH. "EEID's lines of research seek to identify common dynamics of pathogens that can lead to better prevention of future threats to human health."

Researchers supported by the EEID program are advancing basic theory related to infectious diseases and improving understanding of how pathogens spread through populations.

The benefits of research on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases include development of theories about how diseases are transmitted, improved understanding of unintended health effects of building projects, increased capacity to forecast disease outbreaks, and knowledge of how infectious diseases emerge and re-emerge.

"Agriculture is inextricably linked to the health of the people of the United States and the world--a fact that is made clear as we fight animal and plant diseases," says Sonny Ramaswamy, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture director.

"Research on the evolution and spread of infectious diseases will have a profound effect on our understanding of how to develop solutions that ensure safe and secure food and health for the American people."

This year's EEID awardees will conduct research on such topics as: the effects of landscape structure on disease dynamics; the risk of animal and plant infectious diseases through trade; ants as a model system to study processes influencing the transmission of infectious diseases; mycobacterial transmission in agricultural systems; and the effect of host vaccinations and genetic disease resistance on pathogen transmission, ecology and epidemiology.

"In addition to human health, the health of our livestock and crops is dependent on fundamental research on infectious diseases," says Jackie Hunter, BBSRC chief executive.

"As new threats emerge, this knowledge will enable us to respond more rapidly and effectively to safeguard health and food security."

HHS VIDEO: SECRETARY BURWELL: LEADING & MAMAGING FOR IMPACT

U.S. CONGRATULATE PEOPLE OF MEXICO ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

 FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Mexico's Independence Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

September 16, 2014

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Mexico on the 204th anniversary of your country’s independence.
I saw our partnership in action earlier this year in Mexico City. I met with innovative entrepreneurs and inspirational students. I visited the Zócalo for the Feria de las Culturas Amigas, where Mexico's leadership was on display for the whole world. I was honored to tour the Palacio Nacionaland its famous Diego Rivera murals depicting Mexico’s proud history – from the Aztec temples of the moon and the sun, to the birth of modern Mexico.

As friends and neighbors, we embrace a shared vision for the future based on freedom and democracy. That’s why we work together to keep our shared border safe, address regional and global challenges, and ensure a better future for both Mexicans and Americans.

As you gather at the Zócalo today to hear the bells ring the Grito de Dolores or celebrate with family and friends, I wish you a happy independence day.
!Viva Mexico!

WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET ON U.S. RESPONSE TO EBOLA IN WEST AFRICA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

FACT SHEET: U.S. Response to the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

As the President has stated, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the humanitarian crisis there is a top national security priority for the United States.  In order to contain and combat it, we are partnering with the United Nations and other international partners to help the Governments of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal respond just as we fortify our defenses at home. Every outbreak of Ebola over the past 40 years has been contained, and we are confident that this one can—and will be—as well.

Our strategy is predicated on four key goals:

Controlling the epidemic at its source in West Africa;
Mitigating second-order impacts, including blunting the economic, social, and political tolls in the region;
Engaging and coordinating with a broader global audience; and,
Fortifying global health security infrastructure in the region and beyond.
The United States has applied a whole-of-government response to the epidemic, which we launched shortly after the first cases were reported in March. As part of this, we have dedicated additional resources across the federal government to address the crisis, committing more than $175 million to date. We continue to work with Congress to provide additional resources through appropriations and reprogramming efforts in order to be responsive to evolving resource needs on the ground.  Just as the outbreak has worsened, our response will be commensurate with the challenge.

New Resources to Confront a Growing Challenge

The United States will leverage the unique capabilities of the U.S. military and broader uniformed services to help bring the epidemic under control. These efforts will entail command and control, logistics expertise, training, and engineering support.

U.S. Africa Command will set up a Joint Force Command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia, to provide regional command and control support to U.S. military activities and facilitate coordination with U.S. government and international relief efforts. A general from U.S. Army Africa, the Army component of U.S. Africa Command, will lead this effort, which will involve an estimated 3,000 U.S. forces.


 U.S. Africa Command will establish a regional intermediate staging base (ISB) to facilitate and expedite the transportation of equipment, supplies and personnel. Of the U.S. forces taking part in this response, many will be stationed at the ISB.


Command engineers will build additional Ebola Treatment Units in affected areas, and the U.S. Government will help recruit and organize medical personnel to staff them.


Additionally, the Command will establish a site to train up to 500 health care providers per week, enabling healthcare workers to safely provide direct medical care to patients.


The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is preparing to deploy 65 Commissioned Corps officers to Liberia to manage and staff a previously announced Department of Defense (DoD) hospital to care for healthcare workers who become ill. The deployment roster will consist of administrators, clinicians, and support staff.


Simple and scalable strategies that complement the use of Ebola Treatment Units are urgently required to disrupt the disease’s transmission. A community- and home-based strategy that supports household and communities is a critical step to moving forward:

USAID is supporting a Community Care Campaign, which will provide communities and households with protection kits, appropriate information and training on how to protect themselves and their loved ones. In partnership with the United Nations Children Fund, the Paul Allen Family Foundation, and other key partners, we will immediately target the 400,000 most vulnerable households in Liberia. The package will subsequently be scaled to cover the country and the broader region.


As part of this effort, this week, USAID will airlift 50,000 home health care kits from Denmark to Liberia to be hand-delivered to distant communities by trained youth volunteers.


A Complement to Efforts To-Date

Applying this whole-of-government approach, we have been engaged on this outbreak since March when the first cases were reported in West Africa. We currently have in the affected countries more than 100 specialists from multiple U.S. departments and agencies, including the Departments of State and Health and Human Services (HHS), the CDC, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and DoD. We also are working intensively on this effort with the United Nations, including the World Health Organization, the governments of the affected countries, and other partners, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, the Africa Union, and European Union.

To date we have spent more than $100 million to address this challenge, including the purchase of personal protective equipment, mobile labs, logistics and relief commodities, and support for community health workers. USAID also has announced plans to make available up to $75 million in additional funding to increase the number of Ebola treatment units, provide more personal protective equipment, airlift additional medical and emergency supplies, and support other Ebola response activities in collaboration with the UN, including the World Health Organization, and international partners.


CDC has provided on the ground expertise in the largest international response in its history. More than 100 CDC personnel are on the ground in West Africa, and hundreds of personnel at their Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta have provided around the clock logistics, staffing, communication, analytics, management, and other support functions. The Administration has asked Congress for an additional $30 million to send additional response workers from the CDC as well as lab supplies and equipment.


In August, USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to West Africa to coordinate and prioritize the U.S. government’s response to the outbreak. The DART assesses and identifies priority needs and coordinates key areas of the response, such as planning, operations, and logistics. The 28-member DART team is comprised of staff from USAID, CDC, DoD, and the U.S. Forest Service. The DART will be airlifting 130,000 sets of personal protective equipment to ensure that health care workers have the resources needed to safely do their jobs. The DART is also in the process of procuring generators that will provide electricity to Ebola treatment units and other response facilities.


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is developing an investigational Ebola vaccine, including recently starting phase 1 clinical trials, as well as supporting efforts to develop additional Ebola antivirals and therapeutics candidates. The Administration has asked Congress for an additional $58 million to support the development and manufacturing of Ebola therapeutic and vaccine candidates through Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.


In addition to the measures announced today, DoD plans to send a field-deployable hospital to Liberia and has provided more than 10,000 Ebola test kits to the Liberian Institute of Biological Research and to Sierra Leone's Kenema Government Hospital. DoD also has provided personal protective equipment and training to local medical professionals in affected regions.


DoD also has requested to reprogram $500 million in Fiscal Year 2014 Overseas Contingency Operations funds for humanitarian assistance, a portion of which will be used to fulfill requirements identified by CDC, USAID, the Joint Staff, and U.S. Africa Command to provide military air transportation of DoD and non-DoD personnel and supplies; medical treatment facilities (e.g. isolation units), personnel protective equipment, and medical supplies; logistics and engineering support, and; subject matter experts in support of sanitation and mortuary affairs.


DoD’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program is redirecting $25 million to provide personal protective equipment and laboratory reagents, support for technical advisors, and other requests as validated by the DART. DoD has also requested to reprogram an additional $60 million to enable the CTR program to address urgent biosafety, biosecurity, and biosurveillance needs in the three countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak, as well as bolster the capabilities of neighboring countries and other partners in Africa.


Last month, USAID airlifted more than 16 tons of medical supplies and emergency equipment to Liberia, including: 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment, two water treatment units and two portable water tanks capable of storing 10,000 liters each, and 100 rolls of plastic sheeting which can be used in the construction of Ebola treatment units. Additionally, in late August the DART airlifted 5,000 body bags to step up support for the safe removal and transport of the bodies of Ebola victims and 500 infrared thermometers to bolster Ebola screening efforts. These supplies will be distributed and used by the WHO and Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.


USAID and the State Department are providing up to $10 million to support the deployment of an African Union mission sending more than 100 health care workers to the region. The State Department also has encouraged other governments to increase assistance; coordinate delivery of critical resources, including personnel, equipment, and medical supplies; and encourage airlines operating in the region to maintain or reinstate service while ensuring appropriate precautions.


Additionally, the State Department has supported public education efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea regarding prevention and treatment of the disease.  The effort has included radio and television messages in local languages, the production of nearly 100 billboards and thousands of posters, program support to local non-governmental organizations and a special song commissioned by a popular local musician.


Earlier this month, President Obama released a message to the people of West Africa to reinforce the facts and dispel myths surrounding Ebola. The video was transcribed into French, Portuguese, and other local languages and was distributed to television and radio stations across the region. Tens of thousands of West Africans viewed or listened to the message.
Screening Efforts Overseas

In addition to our efforts to help the affected West African countries bring this outbreak under control, we have taken steps to fortify against the introduction of Ebola cases into the United States. It is important to note that Ebola is not highly contagious like the flu; to the contrary, the virus is spread through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a symptomatic individual.

CDC is working closely with Customs and Border Protection and other partners at ports of entry—primarily international airports—to use routine processes to identify travelers who show signs of infectious disease. In response to the outbreak, these processes have been enhanced through guidance and training. If a sick traveler is identified during or after a flight, the traveler will be immediately isolated, and CDC will conduct an investigation of exposed travelers and work with the airline, federal partners, and state and local health departments to notify them and take any necessary public health action.


CDC is assisting with exit screening and communication efforts in West Africa to prevent sick travelers from boarding planes. It also has issued interim guidance about Ebola virus infection for airline flight crews, cleaning personnel, and cargo personnel.


CDC also has issued advice for colleges, universities, and students about study abroad, foreign exchange, and other education-related travel, as well as advice for students who have recently traveled from a country in which an Ebola outbreak is occurring. Similarly, CDC has developed recommendations for humanitarian aid workers traveling to Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreaks in these countries. The recommendations include steps to take before departure, during travel, and upon return to the United States.
Preparedness at Home

Despite the tragic epidemic in West Africa, U.S. health professionals agree it is highly unlikely that we would experience an Ebola outbreak here in the United States, given our robust health care infrastructure and rapid response capabilities. Nevertheless, we have taken extra measures to prevent the unintentional importation of cases into the United States, and if a patient does make it here, our national health system has the capacity and expertise to quickly detect and contain this disease.

CDC has worked to enhance surveillance and laboratory testing capacity in states to detect cases and improve case finding. CDC is developing guidance and tools for health departments to conduct public health investigations and improve health communication and continues to update recommendations for healthcare infection control and other measures to prevent the disease from spreading. Similarly, HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and CDC are providing guidance documents to hospitals and other health care partners to support preparedness for a possible Ebola case.


CDC also has prepared U.S. healthcare facilities and emergency medical service systems to safely manage a patient with suspected Ebola virus disease. CDC communicates with healthcare workers on an ongoing basis through the Health Alert Network, the Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity, and a variety of other existing tools and mechanisms.  CDC developed Interim Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Ebola Virus Disease Exposure to provide public health authorities and other partners with a framework for evaluating people’s level of exposure to Ebola and initiating appropriate public health actions on the basis of exposure level and clinical assessment.


The Food and Drug Administration is monitoring for fraudulent products and false product claims related to the Ebola virus and is prepared to take enforcement actions, as warranted, to protect the public health.
Securing the Future

The Ebola epidemic reminds us that our global efforts to build the capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to infectious disease threats like Ebola have never been more vital.  In February, we came together with nations around the world to launch the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) as a five year effort to accelerate action.

CDC is contributing to the GHSA by partnering with nations around the world to help them establish measurable global health security capacity. This includes core CDC partnership programs like the Global Disease Detection Centers and Field Epidemiology Training Program, which enable the laboratory systems, disease surveillance workforce, emergency operations center capacity, and biosafety and biosecurity best practices required to counter Ebola and other biological threats.


Over the next five years the United States has committed to working with at least 30 partner countries to invest in model systems to advance the Global Health Security agenda. CDC and DoD will work with other U.S. agencies and partner countries to establish emergency operations centers, build information systems, and strengthen laboratory security to mitigate biological threats and build partner capacity.  

9/15/14: WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING

NSF VIDEO: DRIVER-LESS CAR TAKES A SPIN AROUND WASHINGTON D.C.

HHS PREPARING TO DEPLOY HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO COMBAT EBOLA IN WEST AFRICA

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 16, 2014

U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to help treat Ebola patients in Liberia

A team of specialized officers from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is being prepared to deploy to manage and staff a previously announced U.S. Department of Defense hospital in Liberia to care for health care workers who become ill from Ebola.

The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Commissioned Corps is an elite uniformed service with more than 6,800 full-time, highly qualified public health professionals, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations domestically and abroad.

Sixty-five Commissioned Corps officers, with diverse clinical and public health backgrounds, will travel to Liberia to provide direct patient care to health care workers. In addition to their professional expertise, these officers will undergo further intensive training in Ebola response and advanced infection control.

“The Commissioned Corps are trained and ready to respond to public health crises and humanitarian missions,” said Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Boris Lushniak, M.D., M.P.H, who provides operational command of the Commissioned Corps. “The dedicated officers have the skills to make a significant impact in one of the international community’s most devastating public health emergencies.”

HHS is working with the Obama administration, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization and other domestic and international partners to more rapidly address the expanding West African Ebola outbreak.

The additional officers will join other Commissioned Corps officers deployed in West Africa with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Members of the service have been co-leading disaster response teams and supporting outbreak investigation and control activities of the CDC.

With an approximately 50 percent death rate in the outbreak, there is concern about the stress on the health care workforce and health care system, including the loss of health care workers caring for the sick. There is an increasing need for extra resources, and the Commissioned Corps is playing a critical role in the response to that need.

The added Commissioned Corps officers will treat ill health care workers and continue efforts to build capacity for additional care.

The Commissioned Corps is one of the seven uniformed services and is the only service solely committed to protecting, promoting and advancing the health and safety of the nation.  Members often served on the front lines in public health emergency and crisis situations, including 9/11, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Superstorm Sandy and the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

15 NATION TROOP EXERCISE BEGINS IN UKRAINE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Right:  Moldovan Soldiers stand in formation during Exercise Rapid Trident’s opening ceremony in Yavoriv, Ukraine, Sept. 15, 2014. Rapid Trident is an annual U.S. Army Europe-conducted, Ukrainian-led multinational exercise designed to enhance interoperability with allied and partner nations while promoting regional stability and security. It was planned before the current situation in Ukraine arose. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua Leonard.  
Troops From 15 Nations Begin Exercise in Ukraine
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2014 – Troops from 15 nations kicked off the annual Rapid Trident field training exercise today in northwestern Ukraine.
Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, director of communication and engagement for U.S. European Command, emphasized in a statement that the exercise is annual, and that it was planned well before the current situation in Ukraine.

About 1,300 military personnel from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United States, as well as representatives from NATO, will participate.

The exercise will take place near Yavoriv at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, which is designed to support multinational training and exercises with regional and bilateral partners, Hicks said.

In preparation, units underwent a week of situational training that focused on key exercise tasks such as countering improvised explosive devices, convoy operations and patrolling.

No live-fire exercises are scheduled for Rapid Trident, Hicks said. The exercise will conclude Sept. 26.

SEC CHARGES HEDGE FUND MANAGER AND FIRM WITH CHARGING EXCESS RESEARCH EXPENSES AND FEES

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

SEC Charges Minneapolis-Based Hedge Fund Manager with Bilking Investors and Portfolio Pumping

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Minneapolis-based hedge fund manager, his investment advisory firm, and an accomplice with bilking investors in two hedge funds out of more than $1 million under the guise of research expenses and fees.

The SEC alleges that as the management fees earned by Archer Advisors LLC were shrinking due to the funds' worsening performance, the firm's owner Steven R. Markusen and an employee Jay C. Cope implemented a scheme to enrich themselves at the expense of investors in the funds. Markusen routinely caused the funds to reimburse Archer for fake research expenses, and he eventually routed much of that money to his personal checking account and spent it on country club dues, boarding school tuition, and a Lexus among other luxury items. Furthermore, Markusen devised a way to essentially charge fund investors twice for the same fake research expenses. First, he billed the funds directly by falsely claiming that Archer had paid Cope to conduct "research" for the funds. Second, he and Cope improperly diverted soft dollars from the funds to Cope for the same purported "research" and under the additional pretense that Cope was an independent consultant. Soft dollars were supposed to be used to buy third-party investment research that benefited the funds. Cope conducted no third-party research as an Archer officer whose main duties were placing trades and helping Markusen find new investors.

The SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Minneapolis also charges Markusen and Cope with conducting a separate scheme to manipulate the stock price of the funds' largest holding in order to inflate the monthly returns reported to investors and conceal the true extent of the funds' mounting investment losses.

According to the SEC's complaint, the scheme enabled Markusen to secretly pay Cope's salary with fund soft dollars rather than out of Archer's coffers. Markusen and Cope disguised Cope's $10,000 monthly salary payments as research fees because under the governing documents of the hedge funds they managed and SEC rules, Archer employees could not draw a salary from fund assets or receive fund soft dollars for non-research assistance. The SEC alleges that Markusen and Cope traded excessively in the funds' brokerage accounts in order to generate enough soft dollars to pay Cope's monthly salary at Archer. They misrepresented Cope's relationship with Archer to the brokerage firms that administered the funds' soft dollars, and created false and misleading monthly "research" invoices for the amount of Cope's salary. Markusen and Cope sent the invoices each month to the funds' brokerage firms, who in turn paid fund soft dollars directly to Cope for the purported research expenses. Markusen would then receive a $1,000 monthly kickback from Cope.

According to the SEC's complaint, Markusen and Cope carried out their portfolio pumping scheme by manipulating the price of the thinly-traded stock of CyberOptics Corp. (CYBE), which comprised over 75 percent of the funds' portfolios and was by far the largest holding. Knowing that Archer's trading as CYBE's largest shareholder could materially impact the market price, Markusen and Cope "marked the close" in CYBE on the last trading day of the month at least 28 times. In doing so, they sought to improperly drive up CYBE's closing price by placing multiple buy orders often seconds before the market closed to artificially pump up the value of the funds' portfolios, which were valued as of the close of trading on the month's last trading day. Those valuations were used to calculate the funds' monthly returns that Archer reported to investors as well as Archer's monthly management fee, which was a fixed percentage of each portfolio's value. The higher CYBE closing price at the end of each month enabled Markusen to inflate the funds' performance and extract more lucrative management fees.

The SEC's complaint charges Archer, Markusen, and Cope with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and certain reporting provisions.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Nicholas Eichenseer, Luz Aguilar, and Paul Montoya of the Chicago Regional Office, with assistance from Kevin Vincent and Lorraine Ricci of the Office's examination program. The SEC's litigation will be led by John Birkenheier. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

COMPANY TOUTING WEIGHT-LOSS STUDY SETTLES FTC CHARGES OF MAKING BASELESS CLAIMS

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

Green Coffee Bean Manufacturer Settles FTC Charges of Pushing its Product Based on Results of “Seriously Flawed” Weight-Loss Study

A Texas-based company, Applied Food Sciences, Inc. (AFS), has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it used the results of a flawed study to make baseless weight-loss claims about its green coffee extract to retailers, who repeated those claims in marketing finished products to consumers.

The FTC complaint alleges the study was so hopelessly flawed that no reliable conclusions could be drawn from it. The flawed study, which purported to show that the product causes “substantial weight and fat loss,” was later touted on The Dr. Oz Show.

The FTC’s settlement with Applied Food Sciences, Inc. (AFS), which sells a green coffee ingredient used in dietary supplements and foods, requires the company to pay $3.5 million, and to have scientific substantiation for any future weight-loss claims it makes, including at least two adequate and well-controlled human clinical tests.

“Applied Food Sciences knew or should have known that this botched study didn’t prove anything,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “In publicizing the results, it helped fuel the green coffee phenomenon.”

According to the FTC’s complaint, in 2010, Austin, Texas-based AFS paid researchers in India to conduct a clinical trial on overweight adults to test whether Green Coffee Antioxidant (GCA), a dietary supplement containing green coffee extract, reduced body weight and body fat.

The FTC charges that the study’s lead investigator repeatedly altered the weights and other key measurements of the subjects, changed the length of the trial, and misstated which subjects were taking the placebo or GCA during the trial. When the lead investigator was unable to get the study published, the FTC says that AFS hired researchers Joe Vinson and Bryan Burnham at the University of Scranton to rewrite it. Despite receiving conflicting data, Vinson, Burnham, and AFS never verified the authenticity of the information used in the study, according to the complaint.

Despite the study’s flaws, AFS used it to falsely claim that GCA caused consumers to lose 17.7 pounds, 10.5 percent of body weight, and 16 percent of body fat with or without diet and exercise, in 22 weeks, the complaint alleges.

Although AFS played no part in featuring its study on The Dr. Oz Show, it took advantage of the publicity afterwards by issuing a press release highlighting the show. The release claimed that study subjects lost weight “without diet or exercise,” even though subjects in the study were instructed to restrict their diet and increase their exercise, the FTC contends.

The proposed order settling the FTC’s charges bars AFS from misrepresenting any aspect of a test or study related to the products it sells, and prohibits the company from providing anyone else with the means of falsely advertising, labeling, promoting, or using purported substantiation material in marketing their own products.

The order further requires AFS to notify trade customers of the FTC’s conclusion that the company lacked reasonable scientific support for the weight-loss and fat-loss claims it made. Finally, the proposed order requires AFS to pay $3.5 million.

Information for Consumers

The FTC advises consumers to carefully evaluate advertising claims for weight-loss products. For more information, see the FTC’s guidance for consumers of products and services advertised for Weight Loss & Fitness.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and proposed stipulated final order was 5-0. The complaint and order were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The proposed order is subject to court approval.

The FTC is a member of the National Prevention Council, which provides coordination and leadership at the federal level regarding prevention, wellness, and health promotion practices.  The National Prevention Strategy, released June 16, 2011, aims to guide our nation in the most effective and achievable means for improving health and well-being. This case advances the National Prevention Strategy’s goal of increasing the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

DOJ OUTLINES HOW TO BEST USE BODY-WORN CAMERAS WORN BY POLICE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Friday, September 12, 2014

Community Oriented Policing Services Outlines Best Practices for Use of Body-Worn Cameras for Police Officers

Today the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) released Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned.   The report analyzes some of the costs and benefits of law enforcement using body-worn video technology.

“Law enforcement agencies across the nation are contemplating how best to use body-worn cameras and these guidelines will help them weight the costs and benefits,” said COPS Office Director Ronald L. Davis.   “There are many considerations when implementing a body-worn camera and this report will help chiefs and sheriffs make the best decision for their jurisdiction.”

The publication was developed jointly by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and COPS through a cooperative agreement under the FY 2013 Community Policing Development Program.   PERF conducted research on the use of body-worn cameras, identified promising practices and lessons learned from the field, and produced a set of guidelines for agencies interested in implement a body-worn camera program.   Included in this effort was a one-day executive session with more than 200 police chiefs, sheriffs, scholars, representatives from federal criminal justice agencies, and other experts present to share experiences and lessons learned about body-worn cameras, to identify promising practices from the field, and to engage in a dialogue about the issues surrounding cameras.

The publication reviews the perceived benefits of body-worn cameras and considerations surrounding body-worn cameras before proposing a set of comprehensive policy recommendations that reflect the promising practices and lessons that emerged from PERF’s conference and its extensive discussions with police executives and other experts following the conference.

The policy recommendations cover all aspects of what a police department should consider when deciding to use body cameras including:

·          Basic camera usage, such as who will be assigned to wear the cameras and where on the body the cameras are authorized to be placed;
·          Recording protocols, including when to activate the camera, when to turn it off, and the types of circumstances in which recording is required, allowed or prohibited;
·          The process for downloading recorded data from the camera, including who is responsible for downloading, when data must be downloaded, where data will be stored, and how to safeguard against data tampering or deletion;
·          The length of time recorded data will be retained by the agency in various circumstances;
·          The process and policies for accessing and reviewing recorded data, including the persons authorized to access data and the circumstances in which recorded data can be reviewed; and
·          Policies for releasing recorded data to the public, including protocols regarding redactions and responding to public disclosure requests.

HHS ANNOUNCES $60 MILLION IN NAVIGATOR GRANT AWARDS TO HELP CONSUMERS EXAMINE HEALTH CARE OPTIONS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

HHS announces $60 million to help consumers navigate their health care coverage options in the Health Insurance Marketplace

The Affordable Care Act is working for millions of Americans who are able to access quality health coverage at a price they can afford, in large part because of the efforts of in-person assisters in local communities across the nation.  People shopping for and enrolling in coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace can get local help in a number of ways, including through Navigators.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell today announced $60 million in Navigator grant awards to 90 organizations in states with federally-facilitated and state partnership Marketplaces.  These awards support preparation and outreach activities in year two of Marketplace enrollment and build on lessons learned from last year.

“In-person assisters have an impact on the lives of so many Americans, helping individuals and families across the country access quality, affordable health coverage,” said Secretary Burwell.  “We are committed to helping Americans get covered and stay covered with in-person assistance in their own communities.”

According to a recent outside survey, a variety of assisters, including Navigators, in both state-based and federally-facilitated Marketplaces were responsible for helping an estimated 10.6 million consumers apply for coverage in Marketplace plans, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) during the first Open Enrollment period.  Assisters tend to help those consumers in communities with the most challenging or complicated enrollments, and according to another poll, Latinos in particular valued the assistance of in-person help.  Navigators provide unbiased information to consumers about the Marketplace and other public programs in a way that recognizes the cultures of the communities they serve. Navigators were selected to receive these awards through a competitive grant process based on their ties with the communities they will be serving and other standards such as effectiveness and program integrity.

In addition to helping eligible individuals and their families enroll in coverage, Navigators help consumers compare their health coverage options including helping them determine whether they are eligible for public programs such as Medicaid and CHIP and guide consumers- many of whom have never had insurance before- on accessing and using their new coverage, among other important functions.

These awards build on lessons learned from the first year of Marketplace operations.

Navigator grantees must maintain a physical presence in the Marketplace service-area, so that consumers can easily access face-to-face assistance.
Navigator grantees are required to be trained on and comply with strict security and privacy standards to ensure that consumers’ personally identifiable information (PII) is protected, as was the case last year. In no case will Navigators obtain a consumer’s PII without the consumer’s consent.
In addition to quarterly and annual reporting, Navigators will also be required to submit to HHS weekly progress reports detailing their progress and activities in the communities they serve.
Based on feedback from the assister community, HHS is incorporating new elements into this year’s required training, such as a course on advanced Marketplace issues with detailed information on topics such as how to help college-age students enroll in coverage and re-enrollment.  HHS is committed to providing Navigators with on-going technical assistance and training opportunities throughout the year.
In addition to Navigators, Marketplaces make other resources available to consumers to help them access Marketplace coverage, such as certified application counselors, non-navigator assistance personnel (also known as in-person assisters), and agents and brokers. Consumers in federally-facilitated and state partnership Marketplaces can visit Find Local Help to find assistance in their area.

NASA VIDEO: SCIENCE CASTS: THE GREAT LAKES OF EUROPA

NSF VIDEO: TELE-ROBOTICS PUTS ROBOT POWER AT YOUR FINGERTIPS SMART AMERICA EXPO

THEFT OF EMPLOYEE PAYROLL & PENSION PLAN CONTRIBUTIONS LANDS FORMER DEFENSE CONTRACTOR IN PRISON

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Former Defense Contractor Sentenced to Prison for Theft of Employee Payroll Taxes and Pension Plan Contributions

Defendant Continued Engaging in Tax Fraud After Being Indicted for Campaign Finance Scheme; Used Funds to Pay for NFL Stadium Suite, Virginia Steeple Chase Sponsorship

The former head of a Virginia-based defense contracting company was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for failing to collect and pay more than $2.2 million in employee payroll taxes and engaging in theft of more than $186,000 from an employee pension plan.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ronald Cimino for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kelly for the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C., Field Office and Assistant Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi of the U.S. Department of Labor-Employee Benefits Security Administration made the announcement after sentencing.

William P. Danielczyk Jr., 53, formerly of Oakton, Virginia, was additionally ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence and to pay more than $1.6 million in restitution to the IRS.  U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris delivered the sentence and it will be served consecutively to the 28 months in prison the defendant is already serving for committing campaign finance violations during the 2008 presidential primary and a 2006 U.S. Senate campaign.

Danielczyk pleaded guilty on June 10.  According to court documents, from March 2009 until December 2011, Danielczyk was the executive chairman of Innolog Holdings Corporation, which acquired Innovative Logistics Technology Inc. in March 2009.  Innovative operated in the government services industry and provided technology-supported logistics services to the U.S. military and various defense organizations.  The principal offices for Innovative and Innolog were located in McLean, and later in Fairfax, Virginia.

From mid-2009 through the end of 2011, Danielczyk was responsible for collecting, accounting for and paying appropriate payroll tax amounts to the IRS.  Although payroll taxes were withheld from the wages of Innovative’s employees, Danielczyk failed to pay both the employee withholdings amounts and the employer’s matching portions to the IRS.  The total tax loss during this time period was $2,232,781.

According to court documents, Innovative’s employees were allowed to contribute money from their bi-weekly paychecks to a qualified pension plan that was administered by an asset custodian (initially Prudential Bank & Trust and later Fidelity Investments).  Under the 401(k) plan, Innovative withheld its employees’ elected contribution amounts from their regular paychecks, and the employee withholdings were to be sent to Prudential or Fidelity.  Danielczyk, however, was the person responsible for authorizing payments to the asset custodian, and he failed to send these payments over the course of three years.  From 2009 through 2011, this conduct led to a total loss of  $186,263.

According to court records, instead of paying Innovative’s employment taxes and pension plan contributions, Danielczyk made a variety of purchases from company accounts.  Those purchases included $505,871 for the use of an executive suite in the FedEx Field football stadium in Landover, Maryland, along with $40,000 to sponsor the Virginia Gold Cup, a series of Steeple Chase horse races held in northern Virginia.

Danielczyk was sentenced in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court on May 31, 2013, to serve 28 months in prison for engaging in a campaign finance scheme in which he conspired to illegally reimburse more than $186,000 in contributions to the senate and presidential campaign committees of a candidate for federal office, engaged in obstruction of justice, and caused the candidate’s campaign committee to unwittingly file Federal Election Commission reports that contained false information.  Court records show that Danielczyk continued to fail to pay Innovative’s employee taxes and pension plan contributions even after he was indicted in the campaign finance case in February 2011.

FTC HALTS PHONY HEALTH CARE 'DISCOUNT' SCHEMES AIDED AT SENIORS, SPANISH-SPEAKING CONSUMERS

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

FTC Stops Marketers of Phony Health Care ‘Discount’ Schemes Directed at Older Americans and Spanish-Speaking Consumers

The Federal Trade Commission has halted two health care scams that were designed to trick consumers into paying for phony “discount” cards, which the scammers falsely claimed would provide consumers with health insurance, or help them pay for prescription drugs.

Under settlements with the FTC and a default judgment entered by the court, the operators of a drug discount scheme directed at seniors have been banned from selling healthcare-related benefits or discount programs. In a separate action, a federal court temporarily halted a scheme that targeted Spanish-speaking and other consumers by pitching them a nearly worthless discount card and falsely claiming it would provide them with health insurance. The FTC seeks to permanently shut down the operation and return victims’ money.

AFD Medical

According to an FTC complaint filed in 2013, 10 defendants, calling from a call center in Montreal, Canada, pitched prescription drug discount cards they said would provide consumers with substantial discounts or even free prescription drugs. But the cards were available for free elsewhere and typically provided no discounts for anyone who had insurance. The defendants also led consumers to believe they had to buy the $299 card to continue receiving Medicare, Social Security, or medical insurance benefits. The court halted the scheme and froze the defendants’ assets, pending litigation.

Under the settlement orders, Fawaz Sebai and 9210-7838 Quebec Inc., and Stephane Scebba and 9262-2182 Quebec Inc., also are banned from telemarketing.  All of the settling defendants are permanently prohibited from misrepresenting any good or service, failing to provide information for consumer redress, disclosing or otherwise benefiting from customers’ personal information, and failing to dispose of such information properly.

The settlement orders against Sebai and 9210-7838 Quebec Inc., and Scebba and 9262-2182 Quebec Inc., impose a $1,091,450.68 judgment, reflecting the amount of consumer harm.  The judgments will be suspended when Sebai has surrendered certain investments, and Scebba and 9262-2182 Quebec Inc. have turned over $7,752.51.

The settlement orders against Dupont, and Lamborn and CAL Consulting LLC, also bar them from deceptive and abusive telemarketing tactics, and they impose judgments of $887,841.68 and $203,609, respectively, reflecting the total consumer payments each processed. The judgments will be suspended when Dupont has surrendered his interest in a house in Weston, Wisconsin, and Lamborn and CAL Consulting have given up $39,329.38. The full judgments under each order will become due immediately if the covered defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.

The court entered a default judgment against the remaining three defendants, AFD Advisors LLC, AMG Associates LLC, and Park 295 Corp. It bans them from selling healthcare-related benefits or discount programs, permanently prohibits them from deceptive and abusive telemarketing tactics, and from misrepresenting any good or service, and imposes a monetary judgment of $887,841.68.

The Commission vote approving the proposed settlement orders was 5-0. The settlement orders and default judgment were entered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

In connection with this scheme, a federal grand jury in East St. Louis, Illinois, recently returned an indictment charging Sebai and others with defrauding older Americans. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois is prosecuting the matter. More information is available here about the FTC’s Criminal Liaison Unit, which works to increase the criminal prosecution of consumer fraud.

The FTC would like to thank the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; the Wisconsin Department of Justice; the Oregon Department of Justice; the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre; and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for their valuable assistance in this case.

Partners In Health Care

At the FTC’s request, a federal court temporarily halted, pending litigation, a scheme that tricked Spanish-speaking and other consumers into buying a nearly worthless discount card. The defendants’ telemarketers told consumers they were buying a qualified health insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

According to an FTC complaint against Partners in Health Care, the defendants targeted consumers who needed health insurance or were paying high premiums for coverage because they had lost their jobs or had pre-existing medical conditions. Many of the consumers had submitted their contact information to lead-generation websites that claimed to provide information about health insurance. Others responded by telephone after hearing Spanish-language radio ads that falsely claimed the discount card was an ACA-qualified health plan.

The defendants’ telemarketers allegedly assured consumers that the “insurance” would pay for doctor and emergency room visits, and other services, in many cases with very low co-pays or deductibles. Instead, consumers received nearly worthless “discount cards” and were left uninsured, despite paying an enrollment fee and monthly payments ranging from $99 to several hundred dollars.

The defendants are Gary L. Kieper and Partners In Health Care Association Inc., also doing business as Partners In Health Care Inc., and their marketers, Walter S. Vargas, Constanza Gomez Vargas, and United Solutions Group Inc., also d/b/a Debt Relief Experts Inc. Kieper and Partners In Health Care provided the medical discount cards that various marketers, including United Solutions Group Inc., offered consumers.

All of the defendants allegedly misrepresented the discount cards as health insurance, in violation of the FTC Act. Kieper and Partners In Health Care also allegedly violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by misrepresenting the cards and assisting and facilitating telemarketers that were violating the TSR.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin provided valuable information in support of the FTC’s investigation.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 5-0.  The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. On August 25, 2014, the court entered a temporary restraining order halting the deceptive scheme, freezing the defendants’ assets and appointing a receiver to manage the corporate defendants.

NASA VIDEO: SCIENCECASTS: SUPERFLUIDS

SENATE HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS LAUNCHES

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at the Launch of the Senate Human Rights Caucus

Remarks

Tom Malinowski

Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Washington, DC

September 10, 2014

Thank you for the opportunity to address you here today. We are meeting at a time when our values are being challenged and our country is being tested, not for the first or last time, in many parts of the world, but perhaps most starkly in the rise of the ISIL terrorist movement in Syria and Iraq. This has been a summer of horrific reminders that our capacity to imagine evil rarely measures up to the reality—a summer of mass executions, ethnic cleansing, the persecution of religious minorities, and the murder of two innocent Americans who came to Syria to help us understand the people suffering there, by foreigners who came to kill those people.

In my bureau in the State Department, especially the part dedicated to religious freedom, we have been watching this nightmare unfold, including growing sectarianism in Iraq and attacks on members of religious minorities, for some time. We know that when violence undermines the fragile order that keeps diverse societies together, when people seeking power or land start exploiting religious difference to get what they want, that is usually a warning sign of worse to come. So when ISIL attacked Mosul earlier this year; when it started forcing people to convert to its warped vision or be killed, we were horrified -- but saw it as the logical extension of the cancer that groups like this represent.

In early August ISIL fighters advanced into the Sinjar district of Iraq, near the Syrian border, where members of the Yezidi religious minority live. We don’t know for certain how many members of this ancient community were killed. Tens of thousands sought refuge on Mount Sinjar, the one piece of high ground not occupied by ISIL. Representatives of the Yezidi community in the United States contacted my staff, sharing this story of the forced exodus of an entire population, whose survivors were trapped, surrounded by ISIL, with probably days left before they would succumb to thirst or exposure.

Messages relayed from that mountain by cell phones with dying batteries, messages that told us precisely where the survivors were hiding and where the ISIL forces were massing, made their way to my office and were then relayed throughout the State Department, to the White House, to the Pentagon, and to CENTCOM. To help the Yezidis, President Obama authorized a humanitarian effort to save people trapped without food or water on Mount Sinjar; from August 8 to 13, the U.S. military conducted seven nightly airdrops, which provided more than 114,000 meals and even more importantly - 35,000 gallons of drinking water. The President also authorized targeted airstrikes to assist forces in Iraq as they fought to break ISIL’s siege of Mount Sinjar and evacuate these people before it was too late.

But this is obviously still the beginning. ISIL has not yet been defeated. As we look ahead to that challenge, I want to make just four simple points.

First, ISIL is unique. Not because it uses bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings to terrorize people, or because it seeks to control territory, but because it targets entire groups of minorities for particularly horrific and persistent violence, simply for who they are. It murders men who don’t agree to accept its warped version of Islam. It has kidnapped thousands of women belonging to other religious sects, taking them not simply as hostages, but as commodities, spoils of war to be raped or sold as slaves. When tyrants like Assad commit their crimes, they try to hide their tracks; they know on some level that what they do is shameful; ISIL puts its crimes on YouTube. This is a casting aside of all limits, something that makes ISIL arguably distinct even from al Qaeda. As Secretary Kerry has said, ISIL’s crimes “bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide.” It is of the utmost importance that those who commit such acts not be allowed to project a narrative of invincibility and success, as ISIL has attempted to do these last few months.

Second, ISIL is not self-limiting. It won’t exhaust itself; it won’t draw-up at a certain point and decide that it has gone far enough or been sufficiently barbaric; it will always want more towns and regions to conquer, more lives to ravage and destroy. On the rare occasions in history when such evil has arisen, people with the power to stop it have had to stand up and stop it. It will not stop itself.

Third, ISIL will be defeated. As President Obama has said and will explain further tonight, these murderers have already failed. “Their horrific acts,” the president has emphasized, “only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve.” They have repulsed and united the world as well. And that creates an opportunity we are seizing: to build a coalition that includes the countries in the Middle East most immediately threatened, and to confront these killers with allies from all the communities ISIL has attacked, Christian, Shia, Yezidi, Sunni and others.

It bears repeating that ISIL’s campaign is not fundamentally a religious phenomenon, or manifestation of mainstream Islam. Here is a great example: Last year, two wannabe jihadists, Yusuf Sarwar and Mohammed Ahmed, set off from England to join ISIL in Syria. Before they left, they ordered two books from Amazon: Islam for Dummies and The Koran for Dummies. This is a movement for people whose only religion is nihilism. The fellowship they seek is not from people seeking God, but from those who get their kicks from killing. And they will be destroyed first and foremost by those whose traditions of faith they have hijacked.

Finally, ISIL did not emerge from nothing. There’s a reason why such a destructive force ascended in this part of the world at this moment in history. It ascended because a dictator in Syria has spent three years trying to crush what began as a peaceful democratic movement, destroying towns and cities, driving half the people of his country from their homes, until some of them became so desperate that they turned to the false deliverance and destructive fanaticism ISIL offered. It ascended because many in Iraq’s Sunni population felt legitimate grievances were ignored by the government in Baghdad. ISIL not only abuses human rights; it is the product of the abuse of human rights.

We should remember that at bottom, human rights provide a way of arranging human society so that all people have a chance to pursue their ambitions within rules that require fair play and prohibit coercion. When such rules break down, the people who rise tend to be those most willing and able to impose their will violently. Most of those people will be run of the mill thugs. But some will be true sociopaths, the sort responsible for history’s greatest calamities. Calamities like this one.

So if anyone ever asks you, why do we try to spread respect for human rights in the world? Why do we press this cause even with friends and allies, in countries that appear to be stable and friendly to us? Why do we take the risk of coming to the aid of people who are persecuted for their beliefs or faith, or subject to mass atrocities? What is the worst that can happen if these things are just allowed to go on?

Here is your answer.

HHS VIDEO: JULY MEETING - ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ALZHEIMER'S INTRODUCTIONS AND UPDATES

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON SELECTION OF GEN. ALLEN AS PERSON IN CHARGE TO COUNTER ISIL COALITION

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Announcement of General John Allen as Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

September 13, 2014

The United States has asked one of our most respected and experienced military experts, General John Allen, to join the State Department to serve as Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. In this role, General Allen will help build and sustain the coalition so it can operate across multiple lines of effort in order to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL. General Allen is a patriot and a remarkable leader. His extraordinary career in the military speaks for itself. Whether as the top commander of NATO’s ISAF forces in Afghanistan during a critical period from 2011-2013, or as a deputy commander in Anbar during the Sunni awakening, or as a thinker, scholar, and teacher at the U.S. Naval Academy. And he has done significant public service out of uniform since he returned to civilian life. His commitment to country and to service has really been enduring.

Most recently we worked together very closely in designing new approaches to meet the long-term security needs of the state of Israel, and I could not be more pleased than to have General Allen coming on board now fulltime at the State Department.

He’ll be joined by a terrific team, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk, who will serve as General Allen’s deputy senior envoy with the rank of Ambassador. Not only has Brett been back and forth to Baghdad and Erbil almost every month this past year, but he has also spent a number of years over the past decade posted in Iraq as a top advisor to three different Ambassadors. Brett is one of our foremost experts on Iraq, and he will be integral to this effort’s success. Both General Allen and Ambassador McGurk will begin work immediately.

NASA VIDEO: SCIENCECASTS: WHY WONT THE SUPERNOVA EXPLODE?

NASA VIDEO: OPPORTUNITY'S LONG TRACKS ON CRATER RIM

HOME HEALTH CARE COMPANY OWNER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ROLE IN $6.5 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Owner of Home Heath Care Company Sentenced to 75 Months in Prison for $6.5 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

The owner and operator of a Miami home health care company was sentenced to 75 months in prison today for her participation in a $6.5 million Medicare fraud scheme involving the now defunct home health care company, Nestor’s Health Services Inc. (Nestor Home Health).

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office, made the announcement.   U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. of the Southern District of Florida imposed the sentence.

Cruz Sonia Collado, 64, of Homestead, Florida, was an owner and operator of Nestor Home Health, a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and physical therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.   On June 23, 2014, Collado pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to offer and pay health care kickbacks and to defraud the United States, and one count of offering and paying health care kickbacks.   In addition to her prison term, Collado was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $6,536,657 in restitution.  

According to court documents, Collado paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters in return for the recruiters providing patients to Nestor Home Health for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and, in many instances, not provided.   Collado then fraudulently billed the Medicare program for home health care services on behalf of the recruited patients.  

From March 2009 through at least January 2014, Nestor Home Health submitted more than $6.5 million in false claims for home health services.  Medicare paid Nestor Home Health more than $6.1 million for these fraudulent claims.

The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.   This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Anne P. McNamara and A. Brendan Stewart of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

WASTEWATER GETS A COLD

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Harnessing the power of viruses to improve wastewater treatment

Researcher developing a system to isolate and replicate a natural phenomenon 

that removes pollutants and other contaminants

Just as certain viruses infect humans, there also are viruses that infect only bacteria. Unlike human viruses, however, which are non-discriminatory and will infect any number of different people, these viruses, known as bacteriophages, are "host-specific,'' meaning each will attack only one particular bacteria.

"Wherever bacteria exist, there are bacteriophages,'' says Ramesh Goel, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah. "If we go to any wetland, or streams or wastewater treatment process, bacteria are there, and so are bacteriophages."

Goel believes he can put this phenomenon to good use.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist, who studies the microbial ecology of natural and engineered systems, particularly those that use microbes to remove pollutants and other contaminants from waste water, is trying to harness the power of bacteriophages to rid treated wastewater of problematic bacteria that cause operational problems during treatment.

The use of bacteria in wastewater treatment has become increasingly popular in recent years, but it is not without challenges. Certain bacteria involved in the process, for example, called filamentous bacteria, continue to float on the surface of the water when the treatment is complete, rather than settle on the bottom where they can be removed through a simple physical process known as gravity settling.

"On the one hand, we use the bacteria to treat the water, but some are not cooperating and create problems," Goel says. "We end up having bacteria in our final, treated water."

The problem-causing bacteria are non-toxic to humans, making them harmless, but can cause problems if the treated water is discharged into streams or rivers, where they will consume oxygen and pose a threat to aquatic life.

"The danger is in having them escape with the treated water,'' he says, adding that to otherwise kill the bacteria "requires a lot of chlorine,'' as well as other challenges.

Goel is developing a system to isolate and replicate the viruses that infect several filamentous bacteria known to cause settling problems in biological wastewater treatment processes.

"The idea is to use either single or a mixture of phages to kill unwanted filamentous bacteria up to their optimum concentration, a process we call phage therapy for filamentous bulking," he says. "We have been able to demonstrate phage therapy for filamentous bulking in laboratory scale reactors. The next challenge is to bring it into practice for full scale applications."

In a related project, Goel also is trying to use phages to solve the problem of biofilm formation in wastewater treatment systems that use membrane filtering, rather than gravity settling. During this process, which sends treated wastewater flowing through a membrane to separate it from bacteria, the bacteria often form biofilms on the surface of the membranes, which are substances that resemble slime, a problem known as biofouling. Goel hopes to use bacteriophages to eliminate biofilms, thus preventing biofouling, either by direct application of phages or by using intermediate chemicals produced by phages that are capable of degrading biofilm.

If successful in these water treatments, the use of bacteriophages "will have tremendous impact, unimaginable impact, since these are worldwide problems," he says.

Goel thinks there may be additional future practical applications for bacteriophages separate from wastewater treatment. He sees potential for them in the health field, for example, in drug delivery or in using them to treat external bacterial infections, such as on skin, or on medical devices, such as catheters, "which sometimes get biofilms," he says. "You end up using expensive chemicals. Could we use phages to remove these biofilms?

"Can we use phages to deliver drugs?" he adds. "There may be some antibiotics we want to deliver that aren't reaching the person--the phages will not only kill that particular bacteria, but deliver the drug. These are all new ideas we are exploring."

Goel is conducting this research under an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which he received in 2011. The award supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization.

As part of the grant's educational component, Goel is hosting a number of local K-12 students in his lab, exposing them to the field of wastewater engineering and microbiology. He also is working with three women undergraduates in his lab; one of them, from the computer science department, is creating computer animations for public outreach.

"The whole idea is to use animations to create a virtual lab, something that will go beyond our borders and that we can share with other countries," he says. "The animations will show how phages infect bacteria, and we think they will really help students better understand these concepts."

-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
Investigators
Ramesh Goel
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Utah

AG HOLDER ADDRESSES HISPANIC NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION CONVENTION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Hispanic National Bar Association 39th Annual Convention

Washington, D.C. ~ Friday, September 12, 2014

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

 Buenas tardes.   Muchas gracias por sus emotivas palabras y su calurosa bienvenida.

It’s a privilege to help welcome the Hispanic National Bar Association to our nation’s capital for your 39 th Annual Convention.   And it’s a great pleasure, as always, to be in such distinguished company.

I’d like to thank President [Miguel Alexander] Pozo and the entire HNBA leadership team – along with your Honorary Convention Chair, Ricardo Anzaldua; President [Fernando] Rivero, of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and all of this organization’s members – for everything you’ve done to bring us together this week.   I’d also like to congratulate the award recipients who are being honored for their leadership over the course of this Latina Commission Awards Luncheon.   And I want to recognize the law students, attorneys, and judges who make up this remarkable organization – and who have taken time away from their busy schedules and full dockets to take part in this important annual convention.

We come together today in a moment of great consequence – with critical challenges stretching before us.   Six decades after Hernandez v. Texas extended the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection to people of all races and backgrounds – and half a century since the passage of the Civil Rights Act finally codified American equality into American law – there’s no question that our nation has taken a range of extraordinary, once-unimaginable steps forward.   Yet recent headlines remind us that these advances have not put the issue of equal justice to rest.

On the contrary: from America’s heartland to our southwest border, the events that have captured attention and sparked debate over the course of this summer illustrate that the fight for equality, opportunity, and justice is not yet over.   These issues have not yet been relegated to the pages of history.   And although this is a struggle that predates our Republic, it poses challenges as contemporary as any others we currently face.

For over four decades, the HNBA has stood at the forefront of national efforts to confront these challenges – by working to increase diversity on the bench and bar.   By helping to educate the leaders of tomorrow.   By empowering members of America’s Latino communities.   And by fostering new opportunities for legal professionals of Hispanic heritage – and particularly Latinas in the law – so we can grow their ranks and ensure that their voices are heard from the chambers of our courts to the halls of Congress.

For me – and for my colleagues at every level of today’s Department of Justice – this work is also a personal and professional priority.   More than ten years ago, during my service as Deputy Attorney General, I worked hard to strengthen the Justice Department’s internal efforts to build a diverse and effective workforce.   When I returned to the Department as Attorney General, in 2009, I significantly expanded this work – because it not only improves our ability to draw on the skills and talents of everyone ; it also makes the Justice Department both more credible and more effective.   In fact, since I understand this convention includes a job fair, I can’t pass up the chance to urge all of the young and aspiring attorneys in this crowd to consider a career in public service – and coming to work for me.

Beyond the institution itself, my colleagues and I also are striving to bolster the legal profession at large – by opening its doors to women and men from every race, background, ethnicity, and walk of life.   According to the Pew Research Center, the Hispanic population in the United States currently exceeds 53 million people.   It has increased almost sixfold since around the time the HNBA was founded.   It’s doubled since the year 2000.   Yet statistics show that, of the approximately 1.2 million attorneys working in the U.S. today, fewer than 50,000 – that’s less than four percent – identify as Hispanic.

Although women and people of color have made up an increasing percentage of both licensed lawyers and law students in recent years, the law continues to lag far behind many other professions.   So we need to do everything in our power to ensure that the coming decades witness an uptick in the number of people of color, women, people with disabilities – and new immigrants – who find productive avenues into the legal field and the American workforce as a whole.   And once they have fair opportunities to compete for these jobs, we need to close the “pay gap” – and make sure every worker is compensated according to their skills and experience, not simply their gender or gender identity.

As the HNBA has made clear throughout its history, all of us – both collectively and as individuals – have more work to do: to tear down persistent barriers, to combat discrimination, and to uphold the civil rights to which every person is entitled.   In our comprehensive work to advance equality, we need to look far beyond law school campuses and workplaces.   We need to keep building upon the exemplary record of civil rights enforcement that the Justice Department has established over the last five and a half years.   We need to keep striving – through programs such as President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative – to address persistent opportunity gaps and ensure that all people can reach their full potential.   And we need to summon our collective experience as legal professionals – and our shared commitment as a nation – to tackle the urgent challenges faced by millions of people every day: from America’s immigrant communities to our military bases; from our places of worship to our financial markets; and from our voting booths to our border areas – where, as you know, a critical situation is unfolding as we speak.

Among the most pressing of our domestic challenges is the problem of unaccompanied young people traveling to the United States and entering the country illegally.   I know this is an issue with which we are all too familiar, and which has provoked intense discussion throughout the summer – both within, and far beyond, the United States.   In fact, earlier this week, I traveled to Mexico City to hold meetings with my counterparts from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.   And this was among the major items on our agenda.

As the chief law enforcement officials for each of the nations we serve, my colleagues and I agreed to create a high-level working group, staffed by representatives from each of our offices, to develop an integrated strategy to deal with this situation.   This working group will hold its first meeting in the coming weeks.   And they will help us formulate a coordinated plan of action.

But another potential solution to this problem is obvious: fixing our broken immigration system.   The Senate, on a bipartisan basis, has already passed a bill that would go a long way to doing just that. The issue is compelling, the solution is present and the need to reaffirm our commitment to remaining a nation of immigrants is critical.   This is who we are as an exceptional nation.   If we are to remain true to our heritage, we must fix our immigration system, bring people out of the shadows and establish a path to citizenship. There are a variety of ways in which much of this can be done and in the face of House inaction this Administration will proceed.   It will do so lawfully and in a manner that is consistent with our values.   We will, as Americans always have, seek to make our Union more perfect.

In the meantime – within America’s borders – the increasing numbers of unaccompanied children appearing in our immigration courts present an urgent challenge:   how to conduct immigration proceedings in an efficient manner while any claims for relief are presented as clearly as possible.   One way to address that challenge is to facilitate access to legal representation for these children.   Though these children may not have a Constitutional right to a lawyer, we have policy reasons and a moral obligation to insure the presence of counsel.   And that’s why the Justice Department began planning a legal aid program well before the recent surge of unaccompanied children.

Last July, President Obama announced the creation of a task force to expand national service, calling on federal agencies to meet that goal by creating volunteer opportunities that are aligned with agency priorities.   The Justice Department’s response to that call was clear.   By partnering with the Corporation for National and Community Service to design and implement a new legal aid program, the Department is protecting vulnerable populations while improving our operations and strengthening the delivery of Department services in their communities.

The first phase of this new program – known as “justice AmeriCorps” – was announced in June.   It will provide legal aid to children who make the long and often dangerous journey to the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian.   And this week, we are taking the next step in this work – by announcing approximately $1.8 million in grant awards to legal aid organizations in more than 15 cities around the country.

These grants will enable recipients to enroll approximately 100 lawyers and paralegals as justice AmeriCorps members, who – after extensive training in December – will begin to represent these children in our immigration courts in early 2015.   The justice AmeriCorps members will also help to identify children who have been victims of human trafficking or abuse – and, as appropriate, will refer them to support services and authorities responsible for investigating and prosecuting those who perpetrate such crimes.

This initiative reaffirms our allegiance to the values that have always shaped our pursuit of justice.   It will bolster the efficacy and efficiency of our immigration courts, empower new generations of aspiring attorneys and paralegals to serve their country, and provide important legal aid to some of the most vulnerable individuals who interact with our immigration system.   Most importantly, it will bring our system closer to our highest ideals – because the way we treat those in need, and particularly young people who may be fleeing from abuse, persecution, and violence, goes to the core of who we are as a nation.

Fortunately, thanks to the work that’s underway; the leadership of President Obama and other Administration officials; and the tireless efforts of nonpartisan groups like the Hispanic National Bar Association, it’s clear that we stand together this week – in defiance of gridlock and the narrow politics of the moment – truly “Unidos en Washington.”   We stand together in our assertion that civil rights are human rights – and they must be extended to all.   We stand together in our demand that equal work should be performed for equal pay – and our daughters deserve the same opportunities as our sons.   And we stand together in our conviction that it is both the right – and the responsibility – of every American to forge his or her own future; to build on the progress we’ve seen in recent decades; and to extend the promise of our great country until it includes every single person who dares, and dreams, to call this nation their home.

As we carry this work into the future, I want you to know how proud I am to count you as colleagues and partners.   Always remember that positive change is not inevitable.   It is a function of hard work and resilience.   I am confident that - together - we will make our great nation even more great, more just.   I look forward to everything we will achieve together in the months and years ahead.   And I thank you, once again, for all that you do.

West Wing Week: 9/12/14 or, "Meeting Those Threats with Strength and Res...

NSF VIDEO: SCIENCE NATION - EVEN HEALTHY CORALS HAVE VIRUSES