FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
03/06/2015 10:49 AM EST
U.S.-India Space Security Cooperation: A Partnership for the 21st Century
Remarks
Frank A. Rose
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance
Observer Research Foundation
New Delhi, India
March 5, 2015
Thank you very much.
Again, my name is Frank Rose. It’s an honor to return to India in my new role as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance.
I’d like to thank the Observer Research Foundation and my good friend Raji for inviting me to speak with you today.
A Renewed U.S.-India Partnership
At the State Department, my colleagues and I are focused on the tools needed to promote global security as well as stable, strategic relationships with friends and partners around the world.
As the world’s two largest democracies, the U.S.-India Partnership is indispensable to global peace, prosperity, and stability.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington in September and President Obama’s visit to India this January were critical steps towards strengthening and expanding the U.S.-India strategic partnership.
We’ve seen tremendous movement and progress made in all areas of our relationship—infrastructure and investment, civil nuclear cooperation, climate change, defense cooperation and defense trade, health, and global issues like women’s rights and nonproliferation.
But it’s also important to remember that our partnership has deep roots.
As our leaders wrote in their joint op-ed in the Washington Post, “As nations committed to democracy, liberty, diversity, and enterprise, India and the United States are bound by common values and mutual interests. We have each shaped the positive trajectory of human history, and through our joint efforts, our natural and unique partnership can help shape international security and peace for years to come.”
Space Security Cooperation
As we deepen our strategic relationship, we share an interest in addressing the emerging security challenges of the 21st century.
Ensuring the long-term sustainability and security of the outer space environment is one of those challenges, and one that the United States and India are uniquely situated to address together.
Between ISRO and NASA, our two nations have done tremendous work in our exploration of outer space.
I would like to congratulate India on being one of just four space agencies to have reached Mars’ orbit and for being the first Asian nation to do so. It was a pleasant coincidence that NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft and ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission entered the orbit of Mars within a couple of days of each other.
We’re also pleased that ISRO and NASA have established a Mars Working Group to explore how our separate Mars missions can work together and coordinate their efforts. This is just one area of the nearly 15 years of strong civil space cooperation between India and the United States. We look forward to the continued growth across all areas of our space cooperation, potentially including India’s participation in research aboard the International Space Station.
U.S.-India civil cooperation in space has not led to extensive cooperation on space security, at least to date.
But I believe that just as this is a time of transformation and progress for our strategic partnership, so too is it a time of growth for our space security relationship.
Our governments recognize the importance of space security; in September our President and Prime Minister called for the establishment of a dialogue to address this important issue. I’m proud to chair that dialogue here next week.
Bilateral Space Security Cooperation
In September of last year, our leaders committed to a new mantra for our relationship, “Chalein saath saath; forward together we go.” I believe this is true for our space security relationship as well.
As we begin bilateral cooperation on space security, it is important we have an open dialogue where we share information, discuss areas in which we disagree as well as those where we agree, and identify areas for cooperation.
I am excited to start that conversation here in New Delhi.
We also need to identify areas of concrete collaboration.
Collaboration in space situational awareness and collision avoidance, as identified by the U.S.-India Joint Statement of September 2014, is one such potential area.
As we all know, space situational awareness, or SSA, is a foundational capability for spaceflight safety and preventing collisions in space. International cooperation on SSA is greatly beneficial, as international partnerships bring the resources, capabilities, and geographical advantages to enhance SSA upon which we increasingly depend.
The Department of State works closely with the Department of Defense on SSA information sharing agreements with foreign partners.
Establishing an arrangement to share information between the United States and India would be one possible way to begin bilateral collaboration.
Another area of potential bilateral collaboration could be on the utilization of space assets for maritime domain awareness.
Maritime domain awareness is greatly enhanced when data from ground- and sea-based sensors and local human observations are combined with data from space-based sensors, whether those data are from Automatic Identification Systems or Earth-observation satellites.
As both of our countries have a strong interest in promoting maritime security, and have developed robust and multi-layered maritime domain awareness architectures which utilize satellite information, I believe it would be worthwhile to explore cooperation and information exchanges in this area.
Multilateral Space Security Cooperation
There is much that our nations can do together in the multilateral arena as well.
Today, India, the United States, and the world all rely on satellites for communications, for disaster management and relief, for treaty monitoring, and for sustainable development, among many other things.
But there are risks and dangers to operating in space. As the United States Director of National Intelligence noted in January 2014, threats to space services are increasing as potential adversaries pursue disruptive and destructive counter-space capabilities. For example, Chinese military writings highlight the need to interfere with, damage, and destroy reconnaissance, navigation, and communication satellites. China has satellite jamming capabilities and is pursuing antisatellite systems.
The United States and India are both strong believers in transparency and rules based on international law and customs. Our Declaration of Friendship released during the President’s visit in January specifically mentions our mutual respect for “an open, just, sustainable, and inclusive rule-based global order.”
Given the threats and risks, and our national principles and laws, I believe that one of the most obvious and most beneficial areas of cooperation between our countries is in the establishment of rules of the road for outer space activities.
As established space-faring nations, India and the United States should work together to clearly and publicly define what behavior the international community should find both acceptable and unacceptable.
Transparency and confidence-building measures, or TCBMs, such as the proposed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, can contribute to everyone’s awareness of the space environment.
Among the Code’s commitments for signatories is to refrain from any action which brings about, directly or indirectly, damage, or destruction, of space objects and to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, the creation of space debris, in particular, the creation of long-lived space debris.
Political commitments such as the International Code of Conduct are complemented by work on guidelines on space operations and collaborative space situational awareness in multilateral fora such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, or COPUOS.
The Working Group on the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities, a part of COPUOS’ Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, which just concluded its meeting in Vienna last month, is doing important work to move forward in the development of new international long-term sustainability guidelines.
Initiatives like the establishment of TCBMs, the Code of Conduct, and the work of UNCOPUOS cannot be successful without the support and active participation of India.
But Indian support for these or other rules of the road initiatives only gets us half-way there. I firmly believe that with U.S.-India collaboration in establishing norms of responsible behavior and Indian leadership in multilateral fora, we can make these and future initiatives even better.
Conclusion
There is much we can do as global partners to ensure the long-term sustainability and security of the outer space environment. Cooperation on space is just one piece of a strategic U.S.-India relationship in the 21st century. As President Obama said in this very city a little more than one month ago, “our nations will be more secure, and the world will be a safer and more just place when our two democracies stand together.”
Thank you again for hosting me here today, and I look forward to your questions and to our first official space security dialogue with India.
Thank you.
Monday, March 9, 2015
REMARKS BY SAMANTHA POWER ON UKRAINE
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
March 6, 2015
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. President. We continue to believe that compliance with the September Minsk Agreements and the February Implementation Package provides a roadmap to peace in Ukraine.
For the first time since the Minsk Implementation Package was signed on February 12th, we have seen a reduction in violence. Of course no one forgets that Russia and the separatists they trained, armed, directed, and fought alongside, started violating their commitments in the Package from the first minutes and hours after the deal was signed – by laying siege to Debaltseve, a city dozens of kilometers beyond the contact line, with their deadly and indiscriminate pummeling. Violations started on day one, and violations of the ceasefire continue in a number of places, particularly outside Mariupol, where Russian-backed separatists have engaged in intense fighting attacking the village of Shirokyne in recent days.
Unfortunately, although the violence has decreased, there has been only partial compliance with the Minsk Implementation Package. As members of this Council know, the package calls for, “an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire,” not a gradual and partial reduction in fire. It does not say that Russian-backed separatists can continue to shell, engage in sniper fire, or use barrel and rocket artillery – yet they have carried out all of these attacks in recent days. Since, February 20th, Russian separatist attacks like these have killed 15 Ukrainian military personnel and wounded nearly one hundred more.
A second condition in the Minsk Implementation Package is full, unfettered access for OSCE monitors to the entire conflict zone. While there have been occasional instances when the SMM has been stopped at Ukrainian checkpoints, the restrictions on the SMM by Russia and the separatists are documented as widespread.
Just as Russia and Russian-backed separatists prevented the SMM from going to Debaltseve while these forces carried out their vicious attack, recent SMM reports chronicle repeated, persistent obstruction by Russian-backed separatists, obstructions that include even threatening to kill OSCE monitors.
To date, the separatists have granted OSCE monitors sporadic access limited to certain roads, when and where it suits them. As we have asked before, it bears asking again: Who obstructs an objective observer other than someone who has something to hide from an unbiased eye?
The Minsk Implementation Package also calls for the full pullback of all heavy weapons. That, too, has not happened. Shortly after the package was signed, the OSCE’s Chief Monitor sent a letter to all of the signatories requesting that they provide information on what heavy weapons were present in eastern Ukraine, where they are, which routes will be used to withdraw them, and where they will be located after being withdrawn. Russia has not replied, as though by pretending it has no heavy weapons in Ukraine, we will forget all of the tanks, Grad missiles, and other heavy weapons we watched Russia send across the border.
All signatories to the Minsk Agreements and the Implementation Package – Ukraine on the one side, and Russia, and the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” on the other – are responsible for pulling back heavy weapons. The OSCE must have unfettered, unconditional access to verify the withdrawal.
Two days ago, Russia sent its 17th so-called humanitarian convoy into Ukraine, once again denying international observers and Ukrainian border guards the right to conduct a full and complete inspection of its contents. Russian convoys that should be coming out of Ukraine are instead going in. If these convoys are carrying humanitarian assistance, why not allow a full inspection?
Colleagues, the ceasefire, weapons pullback, and OSCE verification – none of which are complete – are all among just the immediate steps in the Implementation Package. Further, all of the Minsk Agreements to date have called for the release of all hostages by all sides. Nadiya Savchenko and other Ukrainians being held in Russia are hostages, just as surely as those being kept in basements in Donetsk and Luhansk. Again, we call on Russia to release Nadiya Savchenko, who has been on hunger strike for over 80 days, and her Ukrainian counterparts. This is something Russia can do today.
As we’ve seen before, the separatists have an established track record of using a lull in the fighting to regroup, rearm, and resupply. Russia supports this process by providing an unlimited supply of guns and weaponry. The United States and the rest of the world hopes that that is not the case this time. We are carefully watching what happens in Shyrokyne, a town just east of the strategic port city of Mariupol, which many fear will be the next target of the separatists and Russian military.
The devastating consequences of this conflict are brought into sharp relief by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ most recent report. More than 1.7 million people displaced. More than 5,800 people killed – a casualty count that does not include the hundreds of bodies found once Russian-backed separatists finished their deadly siege of Debaltseve.
An OCHA report from the end of last month said that 500 bodies had been found in houses and basements at the end of the siege – 500 bodies. Homes and basements where people took shelter from the endless barrage of Russian-made mortars and rockets as they rained down on the city’s residents – residents who could not escape. Weeks into the siege, at the end of January, the self-declared leader of the Russian-backed separatists had announced, “Anybody who leaves…will be in the interlocking field of fire of our artillery. From today, the road is under fire.” And so those inside were left with a choice: risk your life by staying, or risk your life by leaving. Civilians were killed doing both, and again, 500 hundred bodies found in homes and basements where people took shelter.
And the casualties and the displaced are one of the devastating consequences of this conflict. Another – and one we rarely speak about in this Council anymore – is the ongoing illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea by a permanent member of this Council.
Crimea is important not only because it constitutes the continuing violation of the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation – a violation orchestrated in Moscow, and dressed up in a sham referendum – but also because it offers a preview of the kind of rule that we can expect in the other parts of Ukraine seized by those who see themselves as part of Novorossiya.
Let me give just one example of what it’s like to live in that world, from the long list of repressive practices documented in the UN’s February human rights report – part of the relentless persecution of the Crimean Muslim Tatar minority. According to the report, on January 29th, 2015, the de facto authorities arrested Akhtem Chiigoz, the Deputy Chairman of the Tatar Mejlis, the Tatars’ representative council. He was charged under the Russian criminal code with having participated in a “mass disturbance,” for protesting against what was then the imminent Russian occupation, which ended in a clash with pro-Russian demonstrators. On February 7th, another Crimean Tatar was detained on the same charges.
Both men are charged with violating Russian law – even though Russian law had not even taken effect at the time that they participated in the protest. Yesterday the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media released a statement saying that media freedom in Crimea was at an all-time low.
Among other violations, she reported that, “Journalists from at least thirteen independent media outlets, freelance journalists, and bloggers have been threatened, assaulted, physically attacked, banned from entry, interrogated, and kidnapped; their equipment confiscated or damaged.”
So, occupy territory, unilaterally attempt to annex it, and then retroactively and arbitrarily apply your laws to those who dared to question your takeover as it was occurring. It does not get much more Orwellian than that. And as anyone who has read the human rights report knows, this is just one in a long list of repressive tactics – including torture, enforced disappearances, and targeted political killings – that have defined Russia’s occupation.
It is to avoid an Orwellian world like this – where we talk of peace while undermining it – that we must ensure that Minsk is implemented. The Council members around this table must confront the situation on the ground as it exists rather than as we wish it were. Peace will not come from more words – and there have been so many words in this Chamber. It will come from the long-awaited and faithful implementation of the many agreements that have been entered into, and renewed respect for the territorial integrity of a Member State of the United Nations.
Thank you.
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
March 6, 2015
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. President. We continue to believe that compliance with the September Minsk Agreements and the February Implementation Package provides a roadmap to peace in Ukraine.
For the first time since the Minsk Implementation Package was signed on February 12th, we have seen a reduction in violence. Of course no one forgets that Russia and the separatists they trained, armed, directed, and fought alongside, started violating their commitments in the Package from the first minutes and hours after the deal was signed – by laying siege to Debaltseve, a city dozens of kilometers beyond the contact line, with their deadly and indiscriminate pummeling. Violations started on day one, and violations of the ceasefire continue in a number of places, particularly outside Mariupol, where Russian-backed separatists have engaged in intense fighting attacking the village of Shirokyne in recent days.
Unfortunately, although the violence has decreased, there has been only partial compliance with the Minsk Implementation Package. As members of this Council know, the package calls for, “an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire,” not a gradual and partial reduction in fire. It does not say that Russian-backed separatists can continue to shell, engage in sniper fire, or use barrel and rocket artillery – yet they have carried out all of these attacks in recent days. Since, February 20th, Russian separatist attacks like these have killed 15 Ukrainian military personnel and wounded nearly one hundred more.
A second condition in the Minsk Implementation Package is full, unfettered access for OSCE monitors to the entire conflict zone. While there have been occasional instances when the SMM has been stopped at Ukrainian checkpoints, the restrictions on the SMM by Russia and the separatists are documented as widespread.
Just as Russia and Russian-backed separatists prevented the SMM from going to Debaltseve while these forces carried out their vicious attack, recent SMM reports chronicle repeated, persistent obstruction by Russian-backed separatists, obstructions that include even threatening to kill OSCE monitors.
To date, the separatists have granted OSCE monitors sporadic access limited to certain roads, when and where it suits them. As we have asked before, it bears asking again: Who obstructs an objective observer other than someone who has something to hide from an unbiased eye?
The Minsk Implementation Package also calls for the full pullback of all heavy weapons. That, too, has not happened. Shortly after the package was signed, the OSCE’s Chief Monitor sent a letter to all of the signatories requesting that they provide information on what heavy weapons were present in eastern Ukraine, where they are, which routes will be used to withdraw them, and where they will be located after being withdrawn. Russia has not replied, as though by pretending it has no heavy weapons in Ukraine, we will forget all of the tanks, Grad missiles, and other heavy weapons we watched Russia send across the border.
All signatories to the Minsk Agreements and the Implementation Package – Ukraine on the one side, and Russia, and the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” on the other – are responsible for pulling back heavy weapons. The OSCE must have unfettered, unconditional access to verify the withdrawal.
Two days ago, Russia sent its 17th so-called humanitarian convoy into Ukraine, once again denying international observers and Ukrainian border guards the right to conduct a full and complete inspection of its contents. Russian convoys that should be coming out of Ukraine are instead going in. If these convoys are carrying humanitarian assistance, why not allow a full inspection?
Colleagues, the ceasefire, weapons pullback, and OSCE verification – none of which are complete – are all among just the immediate steps in the Implementation Package. Further, all of the Minsk Agreements to date have called for the release of all hostages by all sides. Nadiya Savchenko and other Ukrainians being held in Russia are hostages, just as surely as those being kept in basements in Donetsk and Luhansk. Again, we call on Russia to release Nadiya Savchenko, who has been on hunger strike for over 80 days, and her Ukrainian counterparts. This is something Russia can do today.
As we’ve seen before, the separatists have an established track record of using a lull in the fighting to regroup, rearm, and resupply. Russia supports this process by providing an unlimited supply of guns and weaponry. The United States and the rest of the world hopes that that is not the case this time. We are carefully watching what happens in Shyrokyne, a town just east of the strategic port city of Mariupol, which many fear will be the next target of the separatists and Russian military.
The devastating consequences of this conflict are brought into sharp relief by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ most recent report. More than 1.7 million people displaced. More than 5,800 people killed – a casualty count that does not include the hundreds of bodies found once Russian-backed separatists finished their deadly siege of Debaltseve.
An OCHA report from the end of last month said that 500 bodies had been found in houses and basements at the end of the siege – 500 bodies. Homes and basements where people took shelter from the endless barrage of Russian-made mortars and rockets as they rained down on the city’s residents – residents who could not escape. Weeks into the siege, at the end of January, the self-declared leader of the Russian-backed separatists had announced, “Anybody who leaves…will be in the interlocking field of fire of our artillery. From today, the road is under fire.” And so those inside were left with a choice: risk your life by staying, or risk your life by leaving. Civilians were killed doing both, and again, 500 hundred bodies found in homes and basements where people took shelter.
And the casualties and the displaced are one of the devastating consequences of this conflict. Another – and one we rarely speak about in this Council anymore – is the ongoing illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea by a permanent member of this Council.
Crimea is important not only because it constitutes the continuing violation of the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation – a violation orchestrated in Moscow, and dressed up in a sham referendum – but also because it offers a preview of the kind of rule that we can expect in the other parts of Ukraine seized by those who see themselves as part of Novorossiya.
Let me give just one example of what it’s like to live in that world, from the long list of repressive practices documented in the UN’s February human rights report – part of the relentless persecution of the Crimean Muslim Tatar minority. According to the report, on January 29th, 2015, the de facto authorities arrested Akhtem Chiigoz, the Deputy Chairman of the Tatar Mejlis, the Tatars’ representative council. He was charged under the Russian criminal code with having participated in a “mass disturbance,” for protesting against what was then the imminent Russian occupation, which ended in a clash with pro-Russian demonstrators. On February 7th, another Crimean Tatar was detained on the same charges.
Both men are charged with violating Russian law – even though Russian law had not even taken effect at the time that they participated in the protest. Yesterday the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media released a statement saying that media freedom in Crimea was at an all-time low.
Among other violations, she reported that, “Journalists from at least thirteen independent media outlets, freelance journalists, and bloggers have been threatened, assaulted, physically attacked, banned from entry, interrogated, and kidnapped; their equipment confiscated or damaged.”
So, occupy territory, unilaterally attempt to annex it, and then retroactively and arbitrarily apply your laws to those who dared to question your takeover as it was occurring. It does not get much more Orwellian than that. And as anyone who has read the human rights report knows, this is just one in a long list of repressive tactics – including torture, enforced disappearances, and targeted political killings – that have defined Russia’s occupation.
It is to avoid an Orwellian world like this – where we talk of peace while undermining it – that we must ensure that Minsk is implemented. The Council members around this table must confront the situation on the ground as it exists rather than as we wish it were. Peace will not come from more words – and there have been so many words in this Chamber. It will come from the long-awaited and faithful implementation of the many agreements that have been entered into, and renewed respect for the territorial integrity of a Member State of the United Nations.
Thank you.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
DOD ANNONCES BAGHDADI CLEARED OF ISIL TERRORISTS
Right: U.S. Marines with Task Force Al Asad help advise and assist Iraqi security forces during ongoing ground operations in Iraq’s Anbar province, March 4, 2015. U.S. and coalition forces work closely with Iraqi forces to build military capability and capacity through training in small-unit tactics, sustainment improvement and air-ground integration. U.S. Marine Corps photo .
SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 6, 2015 – Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters from the Anbar region supported by coalition airstrikes have successfully cleared the Iraqi city of Baghdadi of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists, retaking both the city police station and three Euphrates River bridges,
Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
The Euphrates River bridges have been held by ISIL since September, officials said, adding that Iraqi security forces with coalition airstrike support also succeeded in pushing ISIL from seven villages northwest of Baghdadi on the road to Hadithah.
Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve delivered precise and effective airstrikes on enemy positions in and around Baghdadi in support of the Iraqi government’s fight against ISIL, officials said. In support of the government of Iraq’s campaign to defeat ISIL, the coalition executed 26 airstrikes from Feb. 22 to March 6 to facilitate the maneuver of the Iraqi security forces and their successful attacks.
In addition to airstrikes, officials said, the coalition supported the operation with surveillance assets and advise and assist teams that provided operational and intelligence assistance to Iraqi security force headquarters elements, which helped to enable them to successfully conduct the offensive operation.
The Inherent Resolve coalition will continue supporting efforts on behalf of all Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government to attack and defeat ISIL, officials said. Iraqi security forces now hold the gains they have made and are postured to retake additional territory from ISIL in the Anbar region, officials reported.
AMBASSADOR MARK LIPPERT RECEIVES JOINT CHIEFS VISITOR AFTER ATTACK
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Winnefeld Visits American Diplomat Who Was Attacked in Seoul
By Lisa Ferdinando
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea, March 7, 2015 – The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visited the U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Mark Lippert, in the hospital in Seoul today.
Lippert was attacked Thursday during a morning event in Seoul. He underwent surgery to treat wounds to his face and hand. The ambassador tweeted out later that day he is doing well and in great spirits. A suspect is in custody.
“I was extremely concerned when I heard about this vicious and unwarranted attack Thursday on my dear friend Ambassador Mark Lippert,” Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr. said.
Winnefeld and Lippert have been good friends for many years. They worked together when Lippert served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the National Security Council.
Lippert held senior positions in the Department of Defense, including chief of staff to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. A Navy reservist, he has deployed to Afghanistan and in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“I’m glad I was able to visit him during this stop in Korea," said Winnefeld, who arrived in Korea this morning on a USO goodwill tour. "I’m relieved to know he is doing better and wish him a speedy recovery.”
Winnefeld is currently traveling around the world to bring a group of entertainers and athletes to visit troops. This one-day stop is among seven on a tour that has been planned for months.
Winnefeld Visits American Diplomat Who Was Attacked in Seoul
By Lisa Ferdinando
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea, March 7, 2015 – The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visited the U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Mark Lippert, in the hospital in Seoul today.
Lippert was attacked Thursday during a morning event in Seoul. He underwent surgery to treat wounds to his face and hand. The ambassador tweeted out later that day he is doing well and in great spirits. A suspect is in custody.
“I was extremely concerned when I heard about this vicious and unwarranted attack Thursday on my dear friend Ambassador Mark Lippert,” Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr. said.
Winnefeld and Lippert have been good friends for many years. They worked together when Lippert served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the National Security Council.
Lippert held senior positions in the Department of Defense, including chief of staff to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. A Navy reservist, he has deployed to Afghanistan and in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“I’m glad I was able to visit him during this stop in Korea," said Winnefeld, who arrived in Korea this morning on a USO goodwill tour. "I’m relieved to know he is doing better and wish him a speedy recovery.”
Winnefeld is currently traveling around the world to bring a group of entertainers and athletes to visit troops. This one-day stop is among seven on a tour that has been planned for months.
NSC SPOKESPERSON'S STATEMENT ON DEATH OF CANADIAN SERGEANT ANDREW DOIRON
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
March 07, 2015
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Death of Canadian Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron
The United States extends its deepest condolences on the loss of Canadian Armed Forces Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron who was tragically killed in Iraq yesterday during a friendly fire incident. We offer our sympathies to the people of Canada and to the family and loved ones of Sergeant Doiron. Our thoughts are also with the three injured members of the Canadian Armed Forces as we wish them a speedy recovery. The United States and over 60 coalition partners proudly stand with Canada and recognize the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of the Canadian Armed Forces and of all the men and women serving the coalition campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.
March 07, 2015
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Death of Canadian Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron
The United States extends its deepest condolences on the loss of Canadian Armed Forces Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron who was tragically killed in Iraq yesterday during a friendly fire incident. We offer our sympathies to the people of Canada and to the family and loved ones of Sergeant Doiron. Our thoughts are also with the three injured members of the Canadian Armed Forces as we wish them a speedy recovery. The United States and over 60 coalition partners proudly stand with Canada and recognize the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of the Canadian Armed Forces and of all the men and women serving the coalition campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.
"JUSTI IN TIME SUPPORT" FOR CS TEACERS
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Just in time: Tips for computer science teachers when they need it
NSF's supported professional development program provides online tools and resources for new and experienced computer science educators
Imagine yourself as a young (or not so young) high school teacher who is asked to teach a computer science (CS) class for the first time.
You may have taken a few CS classes in college, or maybe not--and even if you majored in it, you've never taught it to a class full of students before. Until this year, there wasn't even a CS class to teach in your school.
How do you prepare? How does the education system help prepare you?
Aman Yadav has a unique background that allows him to see the problem of training CS teachers from a number of vantage points.
"I was a programmer in the College of Education at Michigan State University, where I'm now a faculty in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology program," Yadav said. "We were developing an online learning environment for teachers and as I was programming it, I started wondering: what are the benefits of this on preservice teachers?"
When, years later, after getting a Ph.D. in Education, he applied for a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study teacher professional development, along with colleagues Susanne Hambrusch, Tim Korb and James Lehman from Purdue University, it was almost as if circumstances had come full circle.
"Having the background in CS and then getting a doctorate in Education allowed me to connect those two areas," he said. "CS education is a perfect blend that gets at all these interests: educational research, professional development, plus that little bug in me that still loves programming."
Hambrusch, a CS professor, has worked with Yadav for the last six years and their collaboration highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research.
"It has changed how I teach and it has made me explore new questions on how learning happens in CS," Hambrusch said. "Computer science education research is an important emerging research area with tough challenges to solve, and collaborations between CS and Education researchers is a key to making lasting progress."
For the last two years, Yadav and his colleagues have been developing a set of new online professional development resources to provide "just-in-time" support for new CS teachers and for experienced CS teachers teaching new courses for the first time.
Instead of relying solely on day- or week-long summer workshops to prepare teachers, the program provides instruction to teachers the way they expect to get information these days: anytime and anywhere, via the web.
The project is part of the CS 10K effort, which aims to build a talent pool of future computer scientists by developing new high school curricula in computing and getting that curricula into 10,000 high schools, taught by 10,000 well-prepared teachers.
NSF, along with the many other organizations supporting the CS 10K effort, recognizes that for the United States to thrive, it needs to cultivate a diverse workforce equipped with the computational skills to contribute to a technologically-driven economy. In recent years, NSF has invested more than $110 million to expand access to and broaden the diversity of students participating in computer science courses.
But training 10,000 teachers is no small feat. In fact, it likely cannot be done in the way that professional development has traditionally been delivered, both because of the scale of the need and the unique circumstances of CS teachers.
Teachers usually receive pre-service training in a given subject, either as a student in an education program or in a workshop or summer setting. However, CS teachers are atypical in that they often do not have pre-service training as computer scientists. Instead, CS teachers have math, business or technology backgrounds and must transition to CS.
"We believe that in order to meet the goal of 10,000 CS teachers, we really need to not only target the pre-service teachers, but also the in-service teachers," Yadav said. "Those teachers are in the classrooms and not all of them have CS backgrounds. So when they want to teach a CS course, we need to develop both their content knowledge as well as their knowledge of how to teach that content."
To supplement teachers' typical training, Yadav and his team created a collection of materials for new or still-learning CS teachers. These materials include videos, written instructions, slideshows and links to activities or additional tools. Teachers are encouraged to become students themselves, using their skills to code projects before asking their students to do the same.
The materials cover both the subject matter and common misconceptions and how to avoid them. Yadav says that in many cases, the teachers end up adapting the professional development materials for classroom use or for student assignments.
"We're developing the materials for teachers, but teachers are also finding that the materials can be used with their students as well," he said.
After creating hundreds of hours of professional development content for teachers, the team partnered with Project Lead the Way (a leading non-profit organization that develops STEM curricula for schools) in 2013 to pilot the program.
The first group of CS teachers was trained using the just-in-time professional development materials last year. Among that first cohort of teachers was Tim Velegol, the engineering department coordinator and career and technical education department chair at Durham Public Schools in North Carolina.
"As a rookie CS teacher, I needed all the resources I could get my hands on to deliver meaningful instruction to a very diverse group of high school learners," Velegol explained.
Using tools like Scratch and Python strengthened and updated Velegol's grasp of core CS concepts that he was originally exposed to years ago in Fortran and C++ programming languages.
"While there is a lot of information on the Internet, Dr. Yadav's group gave me great mini-activity ideas to help reinforce many of the fundamentals of programming--puzzlers that don't require a lot of code, but that force students to think about how to develop algorithms," he said.
In addition to the learning materials, teachers are able to ask questions of Yadav and his team, as well as other teachers-in-training, through an interactive Q&A platform, Piazza.
The researchers are going over the data from the pilot group, incorporating their feedback and preparing an article synthesizing their findings. They have expanded the program to include 30 new teachers, with whom they will not only gather impressions, but also test the efficacy of the professional development on the teachers and their students' performance.
At the same time, they have been conducting interviews with current CS teachers to get a sense of the common classroom challenges instructors face and the ways they have found to overcome them.
"We're collecting pilot data this year and will collect teacher outcomes as well as student outcomes," Yadav said. "Are the students interested in computing? Do they see the role of computing in their future careers? Once we have the data, we'll open it up to anyone who wants access to our materials."
[Yadav will lead a workshop on CS education research on March 6 at SIGCSE, the ACM technical symposium on computer science education.]
-- Aaron Dubrow,
Investigators
Aman Yadav
Susanne Hambrusch
John Korb
James Lehman
Brian French
Related Institutions/Organizations
Michigan State University
Purdue University
Project Lead the Way
Just in time: Tips for computer science teachers when they need it
NSF's supported professional development program provides online tools and resources for new and experienced computer science educators
Imagine yourself as a young (or not so young) high school teacher who is asked to teach a computer science (CS) class for the first time.
You may have taken a few CS classes in college, or maybe not--and even if you majored in it, you've never taught it to a class full of students before. Until this year, there wasn't even a CS class to teach in your school.
How do you prepare? How does the education system help prepare you?
Aman Yadav has a unique background that allows him to see the problem of training CS teachers from a number of vantage points.
"I was a programmer in the College of Education at Michigan State University, where I'm now a faculty in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology program," Yadav said. "We were developing an online learning environment for teachers and as I was programming it, I started wondering: what are the benefits of this on preservice teachers?"
When, years later, after getting a Ph.D. in Education, he applied for a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study teacher professional development, along with colleagues Susanne Hambrusch, Tim Korb and James Lehman from Purdue University, it was almost as if circumstances had come full circle.
"Having the background in CS and then getting a doctorate in Education allowed me to connect those two areas," he said. "CS education is a perfect blend that gets at all these interests: educational research, professional development, plus that little bug in me that still loves programming."
Hambrusch, a CS professor, has worked with Yadav for the last six years and their collaboration highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research.
"It has changed how I teach and it has made me explore new questions on how learning happens in CS," Hambrusch said. "Computer science education research is an important emerging research area with tough challenges to solve, and collaborations between CS and Education researchers is a key to making lasting progress."
For the last two years, Yadav and his colleagues have been developing a set of new online professional development resources to provide "just-in-time" support for new CS teachers and for experienced CS teachers teaching new courses for the first time.
Instead of relying solely on day- or week-long summer workshops to prepare teachers, the program provides instruction to teachers the way they expect to get information these days: anytime and anywhere, via the web.
The project is part of the CS 10K effort, which aims to build a talent pool of future computer scientists by developing new high school curricula in computing and getting that curricula into 10,000 high schools, taught by 10,000 well-prepared teachers.
NSF, along with the many other organizations supporting the CS 10K effort, recognizes that for the United States to thrive, it needs to cultivate a diverse workforce equipped with the computational skills to contribute to a technologically-driven economy. In recent years, NSF has invested more than $110 million to expand access to and broaden the diversity of students participating in computer science courses.
But training 10,000 teachers is no small feat. In fact, it likely cannot be done in the way that professional development has traditionally been delivered, both because of the scale of the need and the unique circumstances of CS teachers.
Teachers usually receive pre-service training in a given subject, either as a student in an education program or in a workshop or summer setting. However, CS teachers are atypical in that they often do not have pre-service training as computer scientists. Instead, CS teachers have math, business or technology backgrounds and must transition to CS.
"We believe that in order to meet the goal of 10,000 CS teachers, we really need to not only target the pre-service teachers, but also the in-service teachers," Yadav said. "Those teachers are in the classrooms and not all of them have CS backgrounds. So when they want to teach a CS course, we need to develop both their content knowledge as well as their knowledge of how to teach that content."
To supplement teachers' typical training, Yadav and his team created a collection of materials for new or still-learning CS teachers. These materials include videos, written instructions, slideshows and links to activities or additional tools. Teachers are encouraged to become students themselves, using their skills to code projects before asking their students to do the same.
The materials cover both the subject matter and common misconceptions and how to avoid them. Yadav says that in many cases, the teachers end up adapting the professional development materials for classroom use or for student assignments.
"We're developing the materials for teachers, but teachers are also finding that the materials can be used with their students as well," he said.
After creating hundreds of hours of professional development content for teachers, the team partnered with Project Lead the Way (a leading non-profit organization that develops STEM curricula for schools) in 2013 to pilot the program.
The first group of CS teachers was trained using the just-in-time professional development materials last year. Among that first cohort of teachers was Tim Velegol, the engineering department coordinator and career and technical education department chair at Durham Public Schools in North Carolina.
"As a rookie CS teacher, I needed all the resources I could get my hands on to deliver meaningful instruction to a very diverse group of high school learners," Velegol explained.
Using tools like Scratch and Python strengthened and updated Velegol's grasp of core CS concepts that he was originally exposed to years ago in Fortran and C++ programming languages.
"While there is a lot of information on the Internet, Dr. Yadav's group gave me great mini-activity ideas to help reinforce many of the fundamentals of programming--puzzlers that don't require a lot of code, but that force students to think about how to develop algorithms," he said.
In addition to the learning materials, teachers are able to ask questions of Yadav and his team, as well as other teachers-in-training, through an interactive Q&A platform, Piazza.
The researchers are going over the data from the pilot group, incorporating their feedback and preparing an article synthesizing their findings. They have expanded the program to include 30 new teachers, with whom they will not only gather impressions, but also test the efficacy of the professional development on the teachers and their students' performance.
At the same time, they have been conducting interviews with current CS teachers to get a sense of the common classroom challenges instructors face and the ways they have found to overcome them.
"We're collecting pilot data this year and will collect teacher outcomes as well as student outcomes," Yadav said. "Are the students interested in computing? Do they see the role of computing in their future careers? Once we have the data, we'll open it up to anyone who wants access to our materials."
[Yadav will lead a workshop on CS education research on March 6 at SIGCSE, the ACM technical symposium on computer science education.]
-- Aaron Dubrow,
Investigators
Aman Yadav
Susanne Hambrusch
John Korb
James Lehman
Brian French
Related Institutions/Organizations
Michigan State University
Purdue University
Project Lead the Way
DOJ ANNOUNCES ITALIAN SHIPPING COMPANY WITH PAY $2.75 MILLION IN FINES
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, March 6, 2015
Italian Shipping Company Fined $2.75 Million for Environmental Crimes
Carbofin S.p.A., an Italian domiciled company that owned and operated the M/T Marigola was sentenced to pay an overall criminal penalty of $2.75 million by the Honorable Virginia M. Hernandez Covington for knowingly falsifying the vessel’s oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Out of the $2.75 million criminal penalty, $600,000 will be paid to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation for the benefit of Florida’s only national marine sanctuary: the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The funds are to be used to support the protection and preservation of natural resources located in and adjacent to the sanctuary, including the cleanup and remediation of pollution in the sanctuary; restoration of injured resources, particularly coral reefs and seagrass beds and species dependent on those habitats. The funds will also support scientific research in, and public education about, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
During 2013 and 2014, on numerous international voyages, senior members of the crew of the M/T Marigola directed the installation and use of a so-called “magic hose” to dispose of sludge, waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge water directly into the sea bypassing required pollution prevention equipment. On April 16, 2014, the vessel called upon the Port of Tampa to load anhydrous ammonia. Coast Guard inspectors boarded the vessel and were approached by two junior engineering crew members who showed the inspectors a video of the “magic pipe” hooked up between piping leading to the bilge tank and the vessel’s boiler blow down valve. The boiler blow down valve is a discharge point for the boiler to release hot water and steam. The inspectors had the valve removed and an oily black substance was discovered. Oil samples taken from the “magic hose,” the bilge piping and the boiler blow down valve matched. The Chief Engineer, Carmelo Giano, and the Second Engineer, Alessandro Messore, had previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced for their role in ordering the use of the “magic hose” to illegally discharge oily waste into the sea.
“We are extremely grateful to the U.S. Department of Justice in supporting the work of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation on behalf of the nation's marine sanctuaries, including here at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary,” said President and CEO Jason Patlis of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. “These funds will go to critical education, research and restoration activities, including deployment of mooring buoys, coral reef restoration and study and mitigation of invasive species impacts.”
“Marine environmental protection is one of the Coast Guard's primary missions,” said Captain Gregory Case of the Port at Sector St. Petersburg. “The Coast Guard takes marine pollution seriously and works cohesively with our partner agencies to hold those who violate international law accountable for their actions. We anticipate the results of this case will deter future illegal oil discharges into the sea.”
Consistent with requirements in the APPS regulations, a vessel like the M/T Marigola, must maintain a record known as an oil record book in which transfer and disposal of all oil-contaminated waste and the discharge overboard and disposal otherwise of such waste, must be fully and accurately recorded by the person or persons in charge of the operations. Oil-contaminated bilge waste can be discharged overboard if it is processed through on-board pollution prevention equipment known as the oily water separator (OWS). Waste oil and sludge can only be disposed of using an on-board incinerator or by discharging the waste to a shore-side facility, barge or tanker truck. Giano and Messore falsified the oil record book by not recording that oily waste was being disposed of through the boiler blow down valve.
During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the oil record book for the M/T Marigola was falsified since at least June 16, 2013. The investigation also revealed that illegal oily waste discharges had occurred from two other vessels owned and operated by Carbofin, the M/T’s Marola and Solaro. On the M/T Marola, a “magic hose” was used between on or about December 2012 and April 2013 and on the M/T Solaro between on or about February to August 2013.
The case was investigated by U.S. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service. The case was prosecuted by Kenneth E. Nelson of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice and Matthew Mueller of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Italian Shipping Company Fined $2.75 Million for Environmental Crimes
Carbofin S.p.A., an Italian domiciled company that owned and operated the M/T Marigola was sentenced to pay an overall criminal penalty of $2.75 million by the Honorable Virginia M. Hernandez Covington for knowingly falsifying the vessel’s oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Out of the $2.75 million criminal penalty, $600,000 will be paid to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation for the benefit of Florida’s only national marine sanctuary: the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The funds are to be used to support the protection and preservation of natural resources located in and adjacent to the sanctuary, including the cleanup and remediation of pollution in the sanctuary; restoration of injured resources, particularly coral reefs and seagrass beds and species dependent on those habitats. The funds will also support scientific research in, and public education about, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
During 2013 and 2014, on numerous international voyages, senior members of the crew of the M/T Marigola directed the installation and use of a so-called “magic hose” to dispose of sludge, waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge water directly into the sea bypassing required pollution prevention equipment. On April 16, 2014, the vessel called upon the Port of Tampa to load anhydrous ammonia. Coast Guard inspectors boarded the vessel and were approached by two junior engineering crew members who showed the inspectors a video of the “magic pipe” hooked up between piping leading to the bilge tank and the vessel’s boiler blow down valve. The boiler blow down valve is a discharge point for the boiler to release hot water and steam. The inspectors had the valve removed and an oily black substance was discovered. Oil samples taken from the “magic hose,” the bilge piping and the boiler blow down valve matched. The Chief Engineer, Carmelo Giano, and the Second Engineer, Alessandro Messore, had previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced for their role in ordering the use of the “magic hose” to illegally discharge oily waste into the sea.
“We are extremely grateful to the U.S. Department of Justice in supporting the work of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation on behalf of the nation's marine sanctuaries, including here at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary,” said President and CEO Jason Patlis of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. “These funds will go to critical education, research and restoration activities, including deployment of mooring buoys, coral reef restoration and study and mitigation of invasive species impacts.”
“Marine environmental protection is one of the Coast Guard's primary missions,” said Captain Gregory Case of the Port at Sector St. Petersburg. “The Coast Guard takes marine pollution seriously and works cohesively with our partner agencies to hold those who violate international law accountable for their actions. We anticipate the results of this case will deter future illegal oil discharges into the sea.”
Consistent with requirements in the APPS regulations, a vessel like the M/T Marigola, must maintain a record known as an oil record book in which transfer and disposal of all oil-contaminated waste and the discharge overboard and disposal otherwise of such waste, must be fully and accurately recorded by the person or persons in charge of the operations. Oil-contaminated bilge waste can be discharged overboard if it is processed through on-board pollution prevention equipment known as the oily water separator (OWS). Waste oil and sludge can only be disposed of using an on-board incinerator or by discharging the waste to a shore-side facility, barge or tanker truck. Giano and Messore falsified the oil record book by not recording that oily waste was being disposed of through the boiler blow down valve.
During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the oil record book for the M/T Marigola was falsified since at least June 16, 2013. The investigation also revealed that illegal oily waste discharges had occurred from two other vessels owned and operated by Carbofin, the M/T’s Marola and Solaro. On the M/T Marola, a “magic hose” was used between on or about December 2012 and April 2013 and on the M/T Solaro between on or about February to August 2013.
The case was investigated by U.S. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service. The case was prosecuted by Kenneth E. Nelson of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice and Matthew Mueller of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida.
FDA APPROVES FIRST BIOSIMILAR PRODUCT IN U.S.
FROM: U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz), the first biosimilar product approved in the United States.
Biological products are generally derived from a living organism. They can come from many sources, including humans, animals, microorganisms or yeast.
A biosimilar product is a biological product that is approved based on a showing that it is highly similar to an already-approved biological product, known as a reference product. The biosimilar also must show it has no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety and effectiveness from the reference product. Only minor differences in clinically inactive components are allowable in biosimilar products.
Sandoz, Inc.’s Zarxio is biosimilar to Amgen Inc.’s Neupogen (filgrastim), which was originally licensed in 1991. Zarxio is approved for the same indications as Neupogen, and can be prescribed by a health care professional for:
patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy;
patients with acute myeloid leukemia receiving induction or consolidation chemotherapy;
patients with cancer undergoing bone marrow transplantation;
patients undergoing autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell collection and therapy; and
patients with severe chronic neutropenia.
“Biosimilars will provide access to important therapies for patients who need them,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “Patients and the health care community can be confident that biosimilar products approved by the FDA meet the agency’s rigorous safety, efficacy and quality standards.”
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCI Act) was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law in March 2010. The BPCI Act created an abbreviated licensure pathway for biological products shown to be “biosimilar” to or “interchangeable” with an FDA-licensed biological product, called the “reference product.” This abbreviated licensure pathway under section 351(k) of the Public Health Service Act permits reliance on certain existing scientific knowledge about the safety and effectiveness of the reference product, and enables a biosimilar biological product to be licensed based on less than a full complement of product-specific preclinical and clinical data.
A biosimilar product can only be approved by the FDA if it has the same mechanism(s) of action, route(s) of administration, dosage form(s) and strength(s) as the reference product, and only for the indication(s) and condition(s) of use that have been approved for the reference product. The facilities where biosimilars are manufactured must also meet the FDA’s standards.
The FDA’s approval of Zarxio is based on review of evidence that included structural and functional characterization, animal study data, human pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics data, clinical immunogenicity data and other clinical safety and effectiveness data that demonstrates Zarxio is biosimilar to Neupogen. Zarxio has been approved as biosimilar, not as an interchangeable product. Under the BPCI Act, a biological product that that has been approved as an “interchangeable” may be substituted for the reference product without the intervention of the health care provider who prescribed the reference product.
The most common expected side effects of Zarxio are aching in the bones or muscles and redness, swelling or itching at injection site. Serious side effects may include spleen rupture; serious allergic reactions that may cause rash, shortness of breath, wheezing and/or swelling around the mouth and eyes; fast pulse and sweating; and acute respiratory distress syndrome, a lung disease that can cause shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or increase the rate of breathing.
For this approval, the FDA has designated a placeholder nonproprietary name for this product as “filgrastim-sndz.” The provision of a placeholder nonproprietary name for this product should not be viewed as reflective of the agency’s decision on a comprehensive naming policy for biosimilar and other biological products. While the FDA has not yet issued draft guidance on how current and future biological products marketed in the United States should be named, the agency intends to do so in the near future.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz), the first biosimilar product approved in the United States.
Biological products are generally derived from a living organism. They can come from many sources, including humans, animals, microorganisms or yeast.
A biosimilar product is a biological product that is approved based on a showing that it is highly similar to an already-approved biological product, known as a reference product. The biosimilar also must show it has no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety and effectiveness from the reference product. Only minor differences in clinically inactive components are allowable in biosimilar products.
Sandoz, Inc.’s Zarxio is biosimilar to Amgen Inc.’s Neupogen (filgrastim), which was originally licensed in 1991. Zarxio is approved for the same indications as Neupogen, and can be prescribed by a health care professional for:
patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy;
patients with acute myeloid leukemia receiving induction or consolidation chemotherapy;
patients with cancer undergoing bone marrow transplantation;
patients undergoing autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell collection and therapy; and
patients with severe chronic neutropenia.
“Biosimilars will provide access to important therapies for patients who need them,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “Patients and the health care community can be confident that biosimilar products approved by the FDA meet the agency’s rigorous safety, efficacy and quality standards.”
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCI Act) was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law in March 2010. The BPCI Act created an abbreviated licensure pathway for biological products shown to be “biosimilar” to or “interchangeable” with an FDA-licensed biological product, called the “reference product.” This abbreviated licensure pathway under section 351(k) of the Public Health Service Act permits reliance on certain existing scientific knowledge about the safety and effectiveness of the reference product, and enables a biosimilar biological product to be licensed based on less than a full complement of product-specific preclinical and clinical data.
A biosimilar product can only be approved by the FDA if it has the same mechanism(s) of action, route(s) of administration, dosage form(s) and strength(s) as the reference product, and only for the indication(s) and condition(s) of use that have been approved for the reference product. The facilities where biosimilars are manufactured must also meet the FDA’s standards.
The FDA’s approval of Zarxio is based on review of evidence that included structural and functional characterization, animal study data, human pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics data, clinical immunogenicity data and other clinical safety and effectiveness data that demonstrates Zarxio is biosimilar to Neupogen. Zarxio has been approved as biosimilar, not as an interchangeable product. Under the BPCI Act, a biological product that that has been approved as an “interchangeable” may be substituted for the reference product without the intervention of the health care provider who prescribed the reference product.
The most common expected side effects of Zarxio are aching in the bones or muscles and redness, swelling or itching at injection site. Serious side effects may include spleen rupture; serious allergic reactions that may cause rash, shortness of breath, wheezing and/or swelling around the mouth and eyes; fast pulse and sweating; and acute respiratory distress syndrome, a lung disease that can cause shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or increase the rate of breathing.
For this approval, the FDA has designated a placeholder nonproprietary name for this product as “filgrastim-sndz.” The provision of a placeholder nonproprietary name for this product should not be viewed as reflective of the agency’s decision on a comprehensive naming policy for biosimilar and other biological products. While the FDA has not yet issued draft guidance on how current and future biological products marketed in the United States should be named, the agency intends to do so in the near future.
THE FUTURE OF NANOCOMPUTING
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION S
From massive supercomputers come tiniest transistors
Purdue researchers use Blue Waters supercomputer to design the building blocks of future nano-computing technologies
A relentless global effort to shrink transistors has made computers continually faster, cheaper and smaller over the last 40 years. This effort has enabled chipmakers to double the number of transistors on a chip roughly every 18 months--a trend referred to as Moore's Law. In the process, the U.S. semiconductor industry has become one of the nation's largest export industries, valued at more than $65 billion a year.
The foundation of this industry's success has been the development of progressively more capable chips. However, according to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), which identifies technological challenges and needs for the semiconductor industry over the next 15 years, signs point to a disruption in these long-running trends.
Transistor size will continue to decrease for a decade, reaching approximately 5 nanometers long and 1 nanometer (or about 5 atoms) wide in its critical active region. Beyond that point, what happens is harder to predict.
At this nanoscale, new phenomena take precedence over those that hold sway in the macro-world. Quantum effects such as tunneling and atomistic disorder dominate the characteristics of these nanoscale devices. Fundamental questions about how various materials and configurations behave at this scale need to be answered.
"Further improvements in these dimensions will come only through detailed and optimized device design and better integration," said Gerhard Klimeck, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University and director of the Network for Computational Nanotechnology there.
It is at the scale of atoms guided by nanoscale and quantum interactions that Klimeck works. He leads a team that developed one of the primary software tools used by academics, semiconductor companies and students to predict the future behavior of nanoscale transistors.
Called NEMO5 (the fifth edition of the NanoElectronics MOdeling Tools), the software simulates the multiscale, multiphysics phenomena that occur when an electric charge passes through a few-atoms-wide transistor. In doing so, NEMO helps researchers design future generations of nanoelectronic devices, including transistors and quantum dots, even before they can be physically produced, and predicts device performances and phenomena that researchers otherwise couldn't explore.
"There are no computer-aided design tools that can model these devices in an atomistic sense," Klimeck said. "All the standard semiconductor device design tools that are out there assume that matter is smooth and continuous and ignore the existence of atoms."
But atoms do exist, and their behavior needs to be taken into account when designing devices only a few atoms across.
"What we're building is an engineering tool that will be used in the understanding and design of devices that are at the end of Moore's Law," Klimeck noted.
With a Petascale Computing Resource Allocation award from the National Science Foundation, Klimeck's group is using the Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to study the limits of current semiconductor technologies and the possibilities of future ones. Blue Waters is one of the world's most powerful machines for simulation, modeling and data analysis.
Mehdi Salmani and SungGeun Kim, formerly Ph.D. students in Klimeck's group, used Blue Waters to model various devices and configurations for the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. They explored whether the ever-smaller devices that are projected to be available in the next 15 years are physically feasible. They also determined what impact quantum effects like scattering and confinement might have on performance as devices shrink down to critical thresholds.
Simulations by Klimeck's team found important deviations in the characteristics of devices as they are scaled down, raising questions about future device designs. Their results were included in the ITRS roadmap in 2014 and are helping to guide the direction of many of the largest semiconductor companies in their planning and future research and development.
Klimeck's team also used Blue Waters to explore alternative materials that may replace silicon in future devices. These include indium arsenide and indium antimonide, as well as exotic materials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes and topological insulators for quantum spin computers.
Results of their simulations were published in Nature Nanotechnology in April 2014 and in Applied Physics Letters in August 2014.
NEMO5, and its predecessors OMEN and NEMO3D, power nine applications on nanoHUB, a website that hosts a growing collection of simulation programs for modeling nanoscale phenomena. Since they were released almost 15 years ago, more than 19,000 researchers have run over 367,000 simulations using the NEMO family of tools. NEMO and OMEN have been used in 381 classes at institutions around the world and have been cited in 84 papers in the scientific literature.
(See a brief overview of nanoHUB from Gerhard Klimeck on TEDx.)
"The public availability of such tools supports rapid innovation and accelerates the adoption of disruptive technologies into tomorrow's high-tech devices," said Keith Roper, who oversees the Network for Computational Nanotechnology program in the Engineering directorate at NSF.
Combining high-performance modeling tools like NEMO5 with a high-performance modeling system like Blue Waters is allowing Klimeck and hundreds of other researchers to ask questions and find solutions far beyond those that they could address in the past.
"The typical problem we need to handle has maybe 100,000 to a million atoms," Klimeck said. "Ten years ago people would have told me that isn't solvable. You can't get a computer that's big enough. Now that the petascale Blue Waters system is available, we can solve these kinds of problems and help design semiconductors that will allow for continued technological growth."
[NEMO5 is available to researchers through an open source code available via a dedicated user group on nanoHUB.org. NEMO5 is being commercialized by NEMOco, LLC for industrial users with the goal of supporting continued infrastructure developments in NEMO5.]
-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF
-- Nicole Gaynor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Investigators
Gerhard Klimeck
Jim Fonseca
Daniel Mejia
SungGeun Kim
Mehdi Salmani
Tillmann Kubis
Michael Povolotskyi
Related Institutions/Organizations
Purdue University
From massive supercomputers come tiniest transistors
Purdue researchers use Blue Waters supercomputer to design the building blocks of future nano-computing technologies
A relentless global effort to shrink transistors has made computers continually faster, cheaper and smaller over the last 40 years. This effort has enabled chipmakers to double the number of transistors on a chip roughly every 18 months--a trend referred to as Moore's Law. In the process, the U.S. semiconductor industry has become one of the nation's largest export industries, valued at more than $65 billion a year.
The foundation of this industry's success has been the development of progressively more capable chips. However, according to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), which identifies technological challenges and needs for the semiconductor industry over the next 15 years, signs point to a disruption in these long-running trends.
Transistor size will continue to decrease for a decade, reaching approximately 5 nanometers long and 1 nanometer (or about 5 atoms) wide in its critical active region. Beyond that point, what happens is harder to predict.
At this nanoscale, new phenomena take precedence over those that hold sway in the macro-world. Quantum effects such as tunneling and atomistic disorder dominate the characteristics of these nanoscale devices. Fundamental questions about how various materials and configurations behave at this scale need to be answered.
"Further improvements in these dimensions will come only through detailed and optimized device design and better integration," said Gerhard Klimeck, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University and director of the Network for Computational Nanotechnology there.
It is at the scale of atoms guided by nanoscale and quantum interactions that Klimeck works. He leads a team that developed one of the primary software tools used by academics, semiconductor companies and students to predict the future behavior of nanoscale transistors.
Called NEMO5 (the fifth edition of the NanoElectronics MOdeling Tools), the software simulates the multiscale, multiphysics phenomena that occur when an electric charge passes through a few-atoms-wide transistor. In doing so, NEMO helps researchers design future generations of nanoelectronic devices, including transistors and quantum dots, even before they can be physically produced, and predicts device performances and phenomena that researchers otherwise couldn't explore.
"There are no computer-aided design tools that can model these devices in an atomistic sense," Klimeck said. "All the standard semiconductor device design tools that are out there assume that matter is smooth and continuous and ignore the existence of atoms."
But atoms do exist, and their behavior needs to be taken into account when designing devices only a few atoms across.
"What we're building is an engineering tool that will be used in the understanding and design of devices that are at the end of Moore's Law," Klimeck noted.
With a Petascale Computing Resource Allocation award from the National Science Foundation, Klimeck's group is using the Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to study the limits of current semiconductor technologies and the possibilities of future ones. Blue Waters is one of the world's most powerful machines for simulation, modeling and data analysis.
Mehdi Salmani and SungGeun Kim, formerly Ph.D. students in Klimeck's group, used Blue Waters to model various devices and configurations for the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. They explored whether the ever-smaller devices that are projected to be available in the next 15 years are physically feasible. They also determined what impact quantum effects like scattering and confinement might have on performance as devices shrink down to critical thresholds.
Simulations by Klimeck's team found important deviations in the characteristics of devices as they are scaled down, raising questions about future device designs. Their results were included in the ITRS roadmap in 2014 and are helping to guide the direction of many of the largest semiconductor companies in their planning and future research and development.
Klimeck's team also used Blue Waters to explore alternative materials that may replace silicon in future devices. These include indium arsenide and indium antimonide, as well as exotic materials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes and topological insulators for quantum spin computers.
Results of their simulations were published in Nature Nanotechnology in April 2014 and in Applied Physics Letters in August 2014.
NEMO5, and its predecessors OMEN and NEMO3D, power nine applications on nanoHUB, a website that hosts a growing collection of simulation programs for modeling nanoscale phenomena. Since they were released almost 15 years ago, more than 19,000 researchers have run over 367,000 simulations using the NEMO family of tools. NEMO and OMEN have been used in 381 classes at institutions around the world and have been cited in 84 papers in the scientific literature.
(See a brief overview of nanoHUB from Gerhard Klimeck on TEDx.)
"The public availability of such tools supports rapid innovation and accelerates the adoption of disruptive technologies into tomorrow's high-tech devices," said Keith Roper, who oversees the Network for Computational Nanotechnology program in the Engineering directorate at NSF.
Combining high-performance modeling tools like NEMO5 with a high-performance modeling system like Blue Waters is allowing Klimeck and hundreds of other researchers to ask questions and find solutions far beyond those that they could address in the past.
"The typical problem we need to handle has maybe 100,000 to a million atoms," Klimeck said. "Ten years ago people would have told me that isn't solvable. You can't get a computer that's big enough. Now that the petascale Blue Waters system is available, we can solve these kinds of problems and help design semiconductors that will allow for continued technological growth."
[NEMO5 is available to researchers through an open source code available via a dedicated user group on nanoHUB.org. NEMO5 is being commercialized by NEMOco, LLC for industrial users with the goal of supporting continued infrastructure developments in NEMO5.]
-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF
-- Nicole Gaynor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Investigators
Gerhard Klimeck
Jim Fonseca
Daniel Mejia
SungGeun Kim
Mehdi Salmani
Tillmann Kubis
Michael Povolotskyi
Related Institutions/Organizations
Purdue University
Saturday, March 7, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS MAKE REMARKS IN PARIS
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Quai d'Orsay
Paris, France
March 7, 2015
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Laurent, thank you very, very much. Thank you for hosting us here today. I really appreciate the welcome, as always. It’s always wonderful to be in Paris, though obviously only for a few hours today.
I want to begin by expressing President Obama’s and my deepest condolences to the families of the French, Belgian, and Malian victims of this appalling shooting in Bamako this morning. As Foreign Minister Fabius made clear just now in his comments, this is an act of cowardice. And these horrific and cowardly attacks, these acts of terrorism, which Paris experienced too much of most recently, but an act of opening fire in a restaurant filled with innocent civilians – in the end, that only strengthens our resolve to fight terrorism in all of its forms wherever it exists. And we are pleased that together with France we have a present-day manifestation of an old relationship as we join together to express our revulsion at this kind of act, and our unity, our partnership, and our alliance in standing up to it and continuing to fight.
So rather than intimidate us, it has the exact opposite effect. It strengthens our partnership and it strengthens our commitment to see this moment, this generational challenge, through. And we will.
Today, we talked at some length – in a short span of time, obviously, but we talked about Daesh. We talked about the challenge in Syria, in Iraq, and the need to continue, and ways in which we can strengthen what we’re doing. We talked also about the need for transition in Syria and the increased efforts with respect to the Assad regime and the need to leverage him to a negotiation. We talked about Libya – the threat, obviously, of Daesh and other extremist groups taking advantage of the lack of adequate governance and the adequate resolution politically of the challenges there. And we committed to redouble our efforts together in order to focus on that.
As many of you know, I’ve spent the past week traveling in Europe and in the Middle East discussing a number of important issues. But obviously, my primary focus for this week has really been the Iran nuclear talks. And after a couple of days of very intense negotiations with the Iranians in Switzerland, I traveled to Saudi Arabia, where I updated our allies and our partners in Riyadh and throughout the Gulf. And here in Paris today, I appreciate Foreign Minister Fabius bringing people together and hosting us for our opportunity to be able to have a discussion about what is a partnership. This is not a bilateral negotiation; this is a multilateral P5+1 negotiation. And all of our partners are consistently exchanging and sharing information, sharing ideas, working together, meeting, and helping to try to drive this to the good conclusion that we want.
As Foreign Minister Fabius said a moment ago, we want an agreement that’s solid. We want an agreement that will guarantee that we are holding any kind of program that continues in Iran accountable to the highest standards so that we know that it is, in fact, a peaceful program. All of us in the P5+1 are deeply committed to ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. And we continue to believe that a comprehensive deal that includes intrusive access and verification measures, and blocks each of the pathways to securing fissile material for a bomb and then to try and make a bomb itself, that the best way to achieve the goal is to shut off those pathways.
Now, I agree with Laurent. We have exactly the same assessment. We have made progress, but there remain gaps – divergences, as he said. And we need to close those gaps. And that is our goal over the course of the next days. We have a critical couple of weeks ahead of us. We’re all mindful that the days are ticking by. But we’re not feeling a sense of urgency that we have to get any deal. We have to get the right deal. And it is frankly up to Iran – that wants this program, that wants a peaceful program, that asserts that they have a peaceful program – to show the world that it is indeed exactly what they say. That’s the measure here. And we planned a return to the talks. Starting next Sunday, different folks will be having different conversations, and we look forward to trying to drive this thing to an appropriate conclusion. And we will find out whether or not Iran is prepared to take the steps to answer the questions that the world has a right to get answers to.
I’d be happy to take any questions. Laurent, you --
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
Hello. Madam (inaudible).
QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Foreign Minister, you said yesterday the deal doesn’t go far enough in the extent and duration of Iran’s commitments. What are your primary areas of concern? Is it enrichment capacity, breakout time, how long Iran will accept constraints on its enrichment activities, what happens when the agreement expires? Did you make specific suggestions to Mr. Kerry today on how the agreement can be improved?
And Mr. Secretary, also relating to the Foreign Minister’s comments yesterday, do you agree the deal does not go far enough in terms of the extent and duration of commitments? What will you say to your partners today to reassure them about the progress of the talks? Also, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said today Iran has put forward technical proposals to the U.S. to overcome their concerns. He said the impasse over technical issues is over. Do you share this assessment? Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
Under no circumstances Iran will never seek nor possess any nuclear weapon.
(In French.)
SECRETARY KERRY: I agree completely with the comments of Foreign Minister Fabius, particularly with respect to the picture that he just drew of what happens if you don’t have a good, solid agreement. All of us have an interest in making certain that the countries in the region feel sufficiently convinced that this agreement is meaningful – that it will hold, that it’s real, and that they’re secure – so that they don’t in fact make matters worse by all engaging in the development of a program because they feel threatened.
So our obligation is, as Laurent just said, not to each other, not just to those of us in the talks. It’s to a much broader community – in fact, to the world. Because we are also deeply involved in trying to denuclearize North Korea, and there are any number of other players in the world who might at some point think that they would be advantaged by proceeding down this road. So this – the stakes here are higher than just this P5+1-plus-Iran negotiation.
I also agree – and I said at the beginning of my comments, we are on the same page. If we didn’t think that there was further to go, as Laurent said, we’d have had an agreement already. The reason we don’t have an agreement is we believe there are gaps that have to be closed. There are things that have to be done to further strengthen this. We know this. And we have not resolved – now, like Laurent, I’m not going to stand here now and negotiate with you in public and give you a whole bunch of differentials. That’s what we’re going to go do, all of us together.
But the bottom line is that everybody knows what matters here: the length of this – the length and duration, the levels of visibility, the control, as Laurent said, the issue of verification and knowledge. All of these are key. This is an arms control agreement. They have been negotiated for a long period of time, particularly before between the Western world and the former Soviet Union. So we know something about these. We have a track record of standards. We have a track record of IAEA requirements. We have a track record of mistakes and we understand what we need to do.
So the proof will be in an agreement if it is reached. And none of us are going to, I think, publicly start to lay out numbers and equations here. We know what we’re chasing after, and we’re chasing after the same thing, all of us in the P5+1. That’s what’s important.
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
QUESTION: (Inaudible), Al Arabiya (inaudible). Secretary Kerry, you have said on Thursday that Iran is still supporting terrorism, while General Dempsey was telling senators that Iran’s role in Iraq might be positive. Does that mean that according to the United States, Iran is fighting terrorism in Iraq and supporting it in Syria and in Yemen? Would you clarify this divergence between the two statements?
(In French.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me answer that very directly. The advance on Tikrit is an Iraqi-designed and an Iraqi-controlled advance. And Prime Minister Abadi himself went out to the front several days beforehand. He briefed our people and others on what their plans were. There are Sunni tribes involved in this effort. There are Iraqi armed forces involved. And yes, there are some militias involved, and yes, some of those militias are receiving direction from General Soleimani and from Iran. That’s a fact.
But we’re not coordinating with them. We’re not discussing this with them. I think what General Dempsey said is a matter of pure common sense and fact. If Iran kills a bunch of ISIL/Daesh on the ground, and it serves the interests of Iraq and the rest of us, that might wind up helping, but it doesn’t mean that we accept in any way their behavior with respect to other things they’re doing in Yemen, in Beirut, in Damascus, elsewhere.
So yes, they have been engaged in these other activities. That’s why they are a designated country. And the truth is that’s not on the table in this discussion. Our goal is ultimately to change the behavior and ultimately try to affect these other places. But for the moment, the key is to prevent them from having a nuclear weapon. Because if this country that is engaged in these other activities has a nuclear weapon, you got a whole different ballgame.
So let’s keep our eye on the priority. Priority number one is to not have a pathway to a nuclear weapon and guarantee that this program is peaceful. And as I have said to our friends in the region and elsewhere, the next day, if we get an agreement, we continue to have disagreements over these other kinds of activities. And that will be the next layer of effort, is to try to work at changing the whole dynamic. But that’s not what’s on the table here right now. And I think General Dempsey was simply speaking to a kind of common sense judgment about one moment, but only a moment in this unfolding process.
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
Remarks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Quai d'Orsay
Paris, France
March 7, 2015
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Laurent, thank you very, very much. Thank you for hosting us here today. I really appreciate the welcome, as always. It’s always wonderful to be in Paris, though obviously only for a few hours today.
I want to begin by expressing President Obama’s and my deepest condolences to the families of the French, Belgian, and Malian victims of this appalling shooting in Bamako this morning. As Foreign Minister Fabius made clear just now in his comments, this is an act of cowardice. And these horrific and cowardly attacks, these acts of terrorism, which Paris experienced too much of most recently, but an act of opening fire in a restaurant filled with innocent civilians – in the end, that only strengthens our resolve to fight terrorism in all of its forms wherever it exists. And we are pleased that together with France we have a present-day manifestation of an old relationship as we join together to express our revulsion at this kind of act, and our unity, our partnership, and our alliance in standing up to it and continuing to fight.
So rather than intimidate us, it has the exact opposite effect. It strengthens our partnership and it strengthens our commitment to see this moment, this generational challenge, through. And we will.
Today, we talked at some length – in a short span of time, obviously, but we talked about Daesh. We talked about the challenge in Syria, in Iraq, and the need to continue, and ways in which we can strengthen what we’re doing. We talked also about the need for transition in Syria and the increased efforts with respect to the Assad regime and the need to leverage him to a negotiation. We talked about Libya – the threat, obviously, of Daesh and other extremist groups taking advantage of the lack of adequate governance and the adequate resolution politically of the challenges there. And we committed to redouble our efforts together in order to focus on that.
As many of you know, I’ve spent the past week traveling in Europe and in the Middle East discussing a number of important issues. But obviously, my primary focus for this week has really been the Iran nuclear talks. And after a couple of days of very intense negotiations with the Iranians in Switzerland, I traveled to Saudi Arabia, where I updated our allies and our partners in Riyadh and throughout the Gulf. And here in Paris today, I appreciate Foreign Minister Fabius bringing people together and hosting us for our opportunity to be able to have a discussion about what is a partnership. This is not a bilateral negotiation; this is a multilateral P5+1 negotiation. And all of our partners are consistently exchanging and sharing information, sharing ideas, working together, meeting, and helping to try to drive this to the good conclusion that we want.
As Foreign Minister Fabius said a moment ago, we want an agreement that’s solid. We want an agreement that will guarantee that we are holding any kind of program that continues in Iran accountable to the highest standards so that we know that it is, in fact, a peaceful program. All of us in the P5+1 are deeply committed to ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. And we continue to believe that a comprehensive deal that includes intrusive access and verification measures, and blocks each of the pathways to securing fissile material for a bomb and then to try and make a bomb itself, that the best way to achieve the goal is to shut off those pathways.
Now, I agree with Laurent. We have exactly the same assessment. We have made progress, but there remain gaps – divergences, as he said. And we need to close those gaps. And that is our goal over the course of the next days. We have a critical couple of weeks ahead of us. We’re all mindful that the days are ticking by. But we’re not feeling a sense of urgency that we have to get any deal. We have to get the right deal. And it is frankly up to Iran – that wants this program, that wants a peaceful program, that asserts that they have a peaceful program – to show the world that it is indeed exactly what they say. That’s the measure here. And we planned a return to the talks. Starting next Sunday, different folks will be having different conversations, and we look forward to trying to drive this thing to an appropriate conclusion. And we will find out whether or not Iran is prepared to take the steps to answer the questions that the world has a right to get answers to.
I’d be happy to take any questions. Laurent, you --
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
Hello. Madam (inaudible).
QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Foreign Minister, you said yesterday the deal doesn’t go far enough in the extent and duration of Iran’s commitments. What are your primary areas of concern? Is it enrichment capacity, breakout time, how long Iran will accept constraints on its enrichment activities, what happens when the agreement expires? Did you make specific suggestions to Mr. Kerry today on how the agreement can be improved?
And Mr. Secretary, also relating to the Foreign Minister’s comments yesterday, do you agree the deal does not go far enough in terms of the extent and duration of commitments? What will you say to your partners today to reassure them about the progress of the talks? Also, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said today Iran has put forward technical proposals to the U.S. to overcome their concerns. He said the impasse over technical issues is over. Do you share this assessment? Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
Under no circumstances Iran will never seek nor possess any nuclear weapon.
(In French.)
SECRETARY KERRY: I agree completely with the comments of Foreign Minister Fabius, particularly with respect to the picture that he just drew of what happens if you don’t have a good, solid agreement. All of us have an interest in making certain that the countries in the region feel sufficiently convinced that this agreement is meaningful – that it will hold, that it’s real, and that they’re secure – so that they don’t in fact make matters worse by all engaging in the development of a program because they feel threatened.
So our obligation is, as Laurent just said, not to each other, not just to those of us in the talks. It’s to a much broader community – in fact, to the world. Because we are also deeply involved in trying to denuclearize North Korea, and there are any number of other players in the world who might at some point think that they would be advantaged by proceeding down this road. So this – the stakes here are higher than just this P5+1-plus-Iran negotiation.
I also agree – and I said at the beginning of my comments, we are on the same page. If we didn’t think that there was further to go, as Laurent said, we’d have had an agreement already. The reason we don’t have an agreement is we believe there are gaps that have to be closed. There are things that have to be done to further strengthen this. We know this. And we have not resolved – now, like Laurent, I’m not going to stand here now and negotiate with you in public and give you a whole bunch of differentials. That’s what we’re going to go do, all of us together.
But the bottom line is that everybody knows what matters here: the length of this – the length and duration, the levels of visibility, the control, as Laurent said, the issue of verification and knowledge. All of these are key. This is an arms control agreement. They have been negotiated for a long period of time, particularly before between the Western world and the former Soviet Union. So we know something about these. We have a track record of standards. We have a track record of IAEA requirements. We have a track record of mistakes and we understand what we need to do.
So the proof will be in an agreement if it is reached. And none of us are going to, I think, publicly start to lay out numbers and equations here. We know what we’re chasing after, and we’re chasing after the same thing, all of us in the P5+1. That’s what’s important.
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
QUESTION: (Inaudible), Al Arabiya (inaudible). Secretary Kerry, you have said on Thursday that Iran is still supporting terrorism, while General Dempsey was telling senators that Iran’s role in Iraq might be positive. Does that mean that according to the United States, Iran is fighting terrorism in Iraq and supporting it in Syria and in Yemen? Would you clarify this divergence between the two statements?
(In French.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me answer that very directly. The advance on Tikrit is an Iraqi-designed and an Iraqi-controlled advance. And Prime Minister Abadi himself went out to the front several days beforehand. He briefed our people and others on what their plans were. There are Sunni tribes involved in this effort. There are Iraqi armed forces involved. And yes, there are some militias involved, and yes, some of those militias are receiving direction from General Soleimani and from Iran. That’s a fact.
But we’re not coordinating with them. We’re not discussing this with them. I think what General Dempsey said is a matter of pure common sense and fact. If Iran kills a bunch of ISIL/Daesh on the ground, and it serves the interests of Iraq and the rest of us, that might wind up helping, but it doesn’t mean that we accept in any way their behavior with respect to other things they’re doing in Yemen, in Beirut, in Damascus, elsewhere.
So yes, they have been engaged in these other activities. That’s why they are a designated country. And the truth is that’s not on the table in this discussion. Our goal is ultimately to change the behavior and ultimately try to affect these other places. But for the moment, the key is to prevent them from having a nuclear weapon. Because if this country that is engaged in these other activities has a nuclear weapon, you got a whole different ballgame.
So let’s keep our eye on the priority. Priority number one is to not have a pathway to a nuclear weapon and guarantee that this program is peaceful. And as I have said to our friends in the region and elsewhere, the next day, if we get an agreement, we continue to have disagreements over these other kinds of activities. And that will be the next layer of effort, is to try to work at changing the whole dynamic. But that’s not what’s on the table here right now. And I think General Dempsey was simply speaking to a kind of common sense judgment about one moment, but only a moment in this unfolding process.
FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)
ASHTON CARTER SWORN IN AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Right Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan administers the oath of office to Defense Secretary Ash Carter as his wife, Stephanie, holds the Bible and their children, Ava and Will, look on during a ceremonial swearing-in at the Pentagon, March 6, 2015. Vice President Joe Biden officially swore in Carter as the 25th secretary of defense last month. DoD screen shot .
Carter: It’s Time to Seize ‘Bright Opportunities’
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, March 6, 2015 – Focusing on the difficulties that lie ahead of the Defense Department is easy, but now is also the time to embrace opportunity, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today.
“Being back, I’m reminded how easy it is in Washington -- and in this building -- to focus solely on our challenges,” Carter said. “And it is indeed a turbulent, rough world out there. But as a nation and as a department, this is also a moment to continue to shine the beacon of American leadership and to seize the many bright opportunities in front of us.”
Carter was speaking at his ceremonial swearing in as the 25th secretary of defense, an event hosted by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey at the Pentagon.
"As we know from Secretary Carter's long experience in the department, he is the right person to lead the Department of Defense at this point in our history -- not just for what he's done, but in particular for how he's done it,” Dempsey said.
“Secretary Carter's known for bringing judgment and candor to decisions, and for explaining those decisions in clear and honest language. This is something those of us in the armed forces very much appreciate,” the general noted.
Besides Dempsey, speakers included William J. Perry, the 19th defense secretary, and Justice Elena Kagan, who swore Carter in at the ceremony.
"Since 1947, there have been 24 people sworn in as the secretary of defense. None of them, none of them better qualified for this job than Ash Carter. Qualified by intellect, by temperament and by experience," Perry said before Carter was sworn in.
Carter served under Perry during the Clinton administration, and today called him “the model of a modern secretary of defense.”
“Our nation and the world are safer because of your leadership and intellect -- and also because of your civility,” Carter said of Perry.
Kagan said of Carter that, “If you walk around this town and talk to people, what everybody says is … he is the perfect man for this job, the consummate public servant, the person who by virtue of his experience and his judgment and his good sense and his brilliance will be able to deal with the challenges that this important office has.”
Highest Honor
It is the highest honor to serve as America's 25th secretary of defense, Carter said.
“The men and women of this department will not only continue to protect our country, but also ensure we leave a more peaceful, prosperous and promising world to our children to live their lives, raise their families, dream their dreams,” he said.
American service members, DoD civilian employees and contractors are serving at home and abroad in support of U.S. national security interests, the secretary said.
“We are standing with our friends and allies against savagery in the Middle East,” Carter said. “In the Asia-Pacific, where new powers rise and old tensions still simmer and where half of humanity resides, we are standing up for a continuation of a decades-long miracle of development and progress underwritten by the United States.
“And in cyberspace,” he added, “we are standing with those who create and innovate against those who seek to steal, destroy and exploit.”
Think Outside the ‘Five-sided Box’
With budgets tightening and technology and globalization revolutionizing how the world works, the Pentagon has an opportunity to open itself to new ways of operating, recruiting, buying, innovating and much more, the secretary said.
“America is home to the world’s most dynamic businesses and universities. We have to think outside this five-sided box and be open to their best practices, ideas and technologies,” he said.
“… In realizing all these opportunities, previous generations and my recent predecessors … have blessed us with a remarkable inheritance: a more secure country, a stronger institution, and the world’s greatest military,” Carter said.
This generation owes the same legacy to those who come after it, the defense secretary said, something he will remember every day he is in office.
“Just as I wake up every day committed to putting in a day of service worthy of our extraordinary men and women in uniform,” he added.
Carter said his greatest obligations as defense secretary will be to help the commander in chief make wise and caring decisions about sending troops into harm’s way, to ensure troops have what they need to fight and win, and to ensure the welfare and dignity of service members and their families.
“Thank you for all that you do,” the defense secretary said to service members in the audience. “Thank you for the trust that you place in me. I will do my best to live up to it.”
U.S. CYBER COMMANDER REMARKS ON "CYBERSECURITY DILEMMAS"
Right: Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee improving the military cyber security posture in an uncertain threat environment, March 4, 2015. DoD photo by Cheryl Pellerin.
Cybercom Chief: Cyber Threats Blur Roles, Relationships
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, March 6, 2015 – Over five years of U.S. Cyber Command operations, global movement of threat activity through cyberspace has blurred roles and relationships among government agencies, as well as between the public and private sectors and the real and virtual worlds, the Cybercom commander told a House panel.
Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers testified March 4 before the House Armed Services Committee on cyber operations and improving the military’s cybersecurity posture.
“There is no Department of Defense solution to our cybersecurity dilemmas,” Roger said in written testimony. “The global movement of threat activity in and through cyberspace blurs the U.S. government’s traditional understanding of how to address domestic and foreign military, criminal and intelligence activities.”
Similarly, he said, the public and private sectors need each other’s help.
Responding to Cyber Attacks
“The U.S. government, the states and the private sector can’t defend their information systems on their own against the most powerful cyber forces,” the admiral said.
“We saw in the recent hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment that we have to be prepared to respond to cyber attacks with concerted actions across the whole of government,” he added, “using our nation’s unique insights and complete range of capabilities in cooperation with the private sector.”
Cyberspace is more than a challenging environment, Rogers said.
“It is now part of virtually everything we in the U.S. military do in all domains of the battle space and each of our lines of effort,” he said. “There is hardly any meaningful distinction to be made now between events in cyberspace and events in the physical world, as they are so tightly linked.”
Cybercom is growing and operating at the same time, he said, performing many tasks across a diverse and complex mission set.
Guarding DoD Networks
Three years ago, the command lacked capacity, Rogers said. Today, new teams are guarding DoD networks and are prepared to help combatant commands deny freedom of maneuver to adversaries in cyberspace, he added.
Cybercom’s Cyber Mission Force, or CMF, was formed to turn strategy and plans into operational outcomes, the admiral said.
“With continued support from Congress, the administration and the department,” Rogers said, “Cybercom and its service cyber components are now about halfway through the force build for the CMF, [and] many of its teams are generating capability today.”
He added, “We have a target of about 6,200 personnel in 133 teams, with the majority achieving at least initial operational capability by the end of fiscal year 2016.”
Cybercom has been normalizing its operations in cyberspace, he said, to provide an operational outlook and attitude to running the department’s 7 million networked devices and 15,000 network enclaves.
Implementing the Joint Information Environment
The department’s legacy architecture, created during times when security was not a core design element, is being transitioned to a more secure and streamlined architecture that is part of what ultimately will be the Joint Information Environment, or JIE.
“While the JIE is being implemented,” Rogers said, “our concerns about our legacy architecture collectively have spurred the formation of our new Joint Force Headquarters to defend the department’s information networks.”
The Joint Force Headquarters recently achieved initial operational capability, the admiral added, working at the Defense Information Systems Agency under Rogers’ operational control at Cybercom. Its mission is to oversee the day-to-day operation of DoD networks, he added, “and mount an active defense of them, securing their key cyber terrain and being prepared to neutralize any adversary who manages to bypass their perimeter defenses.”
Managing Risk
“It gets us closer to being able to manage risk on a systemwide basis across DoD,” Rogers added, “balancing warfighter needs for access to data and capabilities while maintaining the overall security of the enterprise.”
The admiral said the new headquarters is a stopgap measure while the department migrates its systems to a cloud architecture that’s more secure and facilitates data sharing across the enterprise.
As network security has advanced, so has the maturity of the cyber force, which has gained what Rogers called priceless experience in cyberspace operations.
“That experience has given us something even more valuable -- insight into how force is and can be employed in cyberspace. We have had the equivalent of a close-in fight with an adversary that taught us how to maneuver and gain the initiative that means the difference between victory and defeat,” he explained.
Every Conflict Has a Cyber Dimension
Such insight is increasingly urgent, because every conflict in the world has a cyber dimension, the admiral said, adding that the command sees patterns in cyber hostilities that indicate four main trends:
-- Autocratic governments that view the open Internet as a lethal threat to their regimes;
-- Ongoing campaigns to steal intellectual property;
-- Disruptions by a range of actors that range from denial-of-service attacks and network traffic manipulation to the use of destructive malware; and
-- States that develop capabilities and attain system access for potential hostilities, perhaps with the idea of enhancing deterrence or as a beachhead for future cyber sabotage.
“We believe potential adversaries might be leaving cyber fingerprints on our critical infrastructure, partly to convey a message that our homeland is at risk if tensions ever escalate toward military conflict,” Rogers said.
Heartbleed and Shellshock
For instance, he told the House panel, “I can tell you in some detail how Cybercom and our military partners dealt with the Heartbleed and Shellshock vulnerabilities that emerged last year.”
The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability that allows attackers to steal information, usually encrypted, that’s used to secure the Internet for applications such as Web, e-mail and instant messaging, among others. Attackers can eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users, and impersonate services and users.
Shellshock is a vulnerability that gives attackers the ability to run remote commands on a system.
The admiral said these serious flaws inadvertently were left in the software that millions of computers and networks in many nations depend on.
Responsible developers discovered both security holes, Rogers said. They kept their findings quiet and worked with trusted colleagues to develop software patches that system administrators could use to get a jump on those who read the same vulnerability announcements and devised ways to identify and exploit unpatched computers, he said.
Checking for Vulnerabilities
“We at Cybercom and [the National Security Agency] learned of Heartbleed and Shellshock at the same time that everyone else did,” the admiral said.
Military networks are probed for vulnerabilities thousands of times an hour, he added, so it wasn’t long before they detected new probes checking their websites and systems for vulnerabilities.
“By this point, our mission partners had devised ways to filter such probes before they touched our systems,” Rogers explained. “We were sheltered while we pushed out patches across DoD networks and monitored implementation,” directing administrators to start with the most vulnerable systems.
“Thanks to the efforts we have made in recent years, our responses … were comparatively quick, thorough and effective, and in both cases they helped inform corresponding efforts on the civilian side of the federal government,” the admiral added.
“We also know that other countries, including potential adversaries, struggled to cope with the Heartbleed and Shellshock vulnerabilities,” he noted.
Cyber Military Capabilities
Rogers said this operational approach must be built in many more places.
“The nation’s government and critical infrastructure networks are at risk as well,” he said, “and we are finding that computer security is really an enterprisewide project.”
The admiral added, “We in the U.S. government and DoD must continue learning and developing new skills and techniques … [and] the nation must continue to commit time, effort and resources to building cyber military capabilities.”
DOCTOR PLEADS GUILTY FOR ROLE IN $14.2 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Friday, March 6, 2015
New York Doctor Pleads Guilty in $14.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
A New York doctor pleaded guilty today for his involvement in a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for $14.2 million in claims for medically unnecessary treatments.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge Diego G. Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) New York Field Office made the announcement.
Roman Johnson, 40, formerly of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marilyn D. Go in the Eastern District of New York to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. As part of the plea, Johnson agreed to pay $5,386,363 in restitution to the Medicare program, which represents the total amount of money Medicare paid as the result of the fraudulent claims.
In connection with his guilty plea, Johnson admitted that he and other medical providers at the clinic submitted approximately $14.2 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary vitamin infusions, physical therapy, and occupational therapy that did not qualify for reimbursement by Medicare.
The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Bryan D. Fields of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin E. Argo of the Eastern District of New York.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,100 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6.5 billion. In addition, HHS’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Friday, March 6, 2015
New York Doctor Pleads Guilty in $14.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
A New York doctor pleaded guilty today for his involvement in a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for $14.2 million in claims for medically unnecessary treatments.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge Diego G. Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) New York Field Office made the announcement.
Roman Johnson, 40, formerly of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marilyn D. Go in the Eastern District of New York to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. As part of the plea, Johnson agreed to pay $5,386,363 in restitution to the Medicare program, which represents the total amount of money Medicare paid as the result of the fraudulent claims.
In connection with his guilty plea, Johnson admitted that he and other medical providers at the clinic submitted approximately $14.2 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary vitamin infusions, physical therapy, and occupational therapy that did not qualify for reimbursement by Medicare.
The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Bryan D. Fields of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin E. Argo of the Eastern District of New York.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,100 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6.5 billion. In addition, HHS’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
THREE CHARGED FOR ROLES IN HACKING EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDERS IN U.S.
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, March 6, 2015
Three Defendants Charged with One of the Largest Reported Data Breaches in U.S. History
One Of The Defendants Has Already Pleaded Guilty
An indictment was unsealed yesterday against two Vietnamese citizens who resided in the Netherlands, for their roles in hacking email service providers throughout the United States. The guilty plea of one of the defendants was also unsealed at the same time. In addition, a federal grand jury returned an indictment this week against a Canadian citizen for conspiring to launder the proceeds obtained as a result of the massive data breach.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Horn of the Northern District of Georgia, Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Reginald Moore of the United States Secret Service’s (USSS) Atlanta Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Veronica F. Hyman-Pillot with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) made the announcement.
“These men — operating from Vietnam, the Netherlands, and Canada — are accused of carrying out the largest data breach of names and email addresses in the history of the Internet,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “The defendants allegedly made millions of dollars by stealing over a billion email addresses from email service providers. This case again demonstrates the resolve of the Department of Justice to bring accused cyber hackers from overseas to face justice in the United States.”
“This case reflects the cutting-edge problems posed by today’s cybercrime cases, where the hackers didn’t target just a single company; they infiltrated most of the country’s email distribution firms,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Horn. “And the scope of the intrusion is unnerving, in that the hackers didn’t stop after stealing the companies’ proprietary data—they then hijacked the companies’ own distribution platforms to send out bulk emails and reaped the profits from email traffic directed to specific websites.”
“Large scale and sophisticated international cyber hacking rings are becoming more problematic for both the law enforcement community that is faced with the challenges of identifying them and laying hands on them, but also the fortune 500 companies that are so often their targets,” said Special Agent in Charge Johnson. “The federal indictments, apprehensions and extraditions in this case represents several years of hard work as the FBI and its cadre of cyber trained agents and technical experts acted quickly to stop the ongoing damage to the numerous victim companies as a result of these individuals’ hacking activities. In August 2012, the FBI, with the assistance of its legal attaches stationed abroad and in conjunction with Dutch law enforcement officials, executed a search warrant in the Netherlands that disrupted continued compromises of those companies while allowing U.S. authorities to advance its investigation. That investigation targeted not only the hackers but the businesses that helped monetize the data that was stolen from those victim companies. This case further reflects the productive partnership of the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service in aggressively addressing this 21st century crime problem.”
“Our success in this case and other similar investigations is a result of our close work with our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Moore. “The Secret Service worked closely with the Department of Justice and the FBI to share information and resources that ultimately brought these cyber criminals to justice. This case demonstrates there is no such thing as anonymity for those engaging in data theft and fraudulent schemes.”
“Those individuals who line their pockets with money gained through deceiving others should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Hyman-Pillot. “IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling financial transactions to ensure that those who engage in these illegal activities are vigorously investigated and brought to justice.”
According to allegations in the indictments, between February 2009 and June 2012, Viet Quoc Nguyen, 28, a citizen of Vietnam, allegedly hacked into at least eight email service providers (ESPs) throughout the United States and stole confidential information, including proprietary marketing data containing over one billion email addresses. Nguyen, along with Giang Hoang Vu, 25, also a citizen of Vietnam, then allegedly used the data to send “spam” to tens of millions of email recipients. The data breach was the largest in U.S. history and was the subject of a Congressional inquiry in June 2011.
David-Manuel Santos Da Silva, 33, of Montreal, Canada, was also indicted by a federal grand jury on March 4, 2015, for conspiracy to commit money laundering for helping Nguyen and Vu to generate revenue from the “spam” and launder the proceeds.
According to allegations in the indictments, Da Silva, the co-owner, president and a director of 21 Celsius Inc., a Canadian corporation that ran Marketbay.com, entered into an affiliate marketing arrangement with Nguyen that allowed the defendants to generate revenue from the computer intrusions and data thefts.
As an affiliate marketer, Nguyen allegedly received a commission on sales generated from Internet traffic that he directed to websites promoting specific products. Nguyen allegedly used the information stolen from the ESPs to send “spam” emails to tens of millions of customers and provided hyperlinks to allow the purchase of the products. These products were marketed by Da Silva’s Marketbay.com.
Between approximately May 2009 and October 2011, Nguyen and Da Silva received approximately $2 million for the sale of products derived from Nguyen’s affiliate marketing activities.
Vu was arrested by Dutch law enforcement in Deventer, Netherlands, in 2012 and extradited to the United States in March 2014. On Feb. 5, 2015, Vu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. of the Northern District of Georgia. Nguyen is a fugitive.
Da Silva was arrested based upon charges set forth in a criminal complaint at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport on Feb. 12, 2015, and is scheduled to be arraigned today in Atlanta before Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III.
The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the FBI with the assistance of the USSS and IRS-CI. Law enforcement in the Netherlands and the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided valuable assistance. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Peter Roman of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Grimberg of the Northern District of Georgia.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Three Defendants Charged with One of the Largest Reported Data Breaches in U.S. History
One Of The Defendants Has Already Pleaded Guilty
An indictment was unsealed yesterday against two Vietnamese citizens who resided in the Netherlands, for their roles in hacking email service providers throughout the United States. The guilty plea of one of the defendants was also unsealed at the same time. In addition, a federal grand jury returned an indictment this week against a Canadian citizen for conspiring to launder the proceeds obtained as a result of the massive data breach.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Horn of the Northern District of Georgia, Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Reginald Moore of the United States Secret Service’s (USSS) Atlanta Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Veronica F. Hyman-Pillot with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) made the announcement.
“These men — operating from Vietnam, the Netherlands, and Canada — are accused of carrying out the largest data breach of names and email addresses in the history of the Internet,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “The defendants allegedly made millions of dollars by stealing over a billion email addresses from email service providers. This case again demonstrates the resolve of the Department of Justice to bring accused cyber hackers from overseas to face justice in the United States.”
“This case reflects the cutting-edge problems posed by today’s cybercrime cases, where the hackers didn’t target just a single company; they infiltrated most of the country’s email distribution firms,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Horn. “And the scope of the intrusion is unnerving, in that the hackers didn’t stop after stealing the companies’ proprietary data—they then hijacked the companies’ own distribution platforms to send out bulk emails and reaped the profits from email traffic directed to specific websites.”
“Large scale and sophisticated international cyber hacking rings are becoming more problematic for both the law enforcement community that is faced with the challenges of identifying them and laying hands on them, but also the fortune 500 companies that are so often their targets,” said Special Agent in Charge Johnson. “The federal indictments, apprehensions and extraditions in this case represents several years of hard work as the FBI and its cadre of cyber trained agents and technical experts acted quickly to stop the ongoing damage to the numerous victim companies as a result of these individuals’ hacking activities. In August 2012, the FBI, with the assistance of its legal attaches stationed abroad and in conjunction with Dutch law enforcement officials, executed a search warrant in the Netherlands that disrupted continued compromises of those companies while allowing U.S. authorities to advance its investigation. That investigation targeted not only the hackers but the businesses that helped monetize the data that was stolen from those victim companies. This case further reflects the productive partnership of the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service in aggressively addressing this 21st century crime problem.”
“Our success in this case and other similar investigations is a result of our close work with our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Moore. “The Secret Service worked closely with the Department of Justice and the FBI to share information and resources that ultimately brought these cyber criminals to justice. This case demonstrates there is no such thing as anonymity for those engaging in data theft and fraudulent schemes.”
“Those individuals who line their pockets with money gained through deceiving others should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Hyman-Pillot. “IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling financial transactions to ensure that those who engage in these illegal activities are vigorously investigated and brought to justice.”
According to allegations in the indictments, between February 2009 and June 2012, Viet Quoc Nguyen, 28, a citizen of Vietnam, allegedly hacked into at least eight email service providers (ESPs) throughout the United States and stole confidential information, including proprietary marketing data containing over one billion email addresses. Nguyen, along with Giang Hoang Vu, 25, also a citizen of Vietnam, then allegedly used the data to send “spam” to tens of millions of email recipients. The data breach was the largest in U.S. history and was the subject of a Congressional inquiry in June 2011.
David-Manuel Santos Da Silva, 33, of Montreal, Canada, was also indicted by a federal grand jury on March 4, 2015, for conspiracy to commit money laundering for helping Nguyen and Vu to generate revenue from the “spam” and launder the proceeds.
According to allegations in the indictments, Da Silva, the co-owner, president and a director of 21 Celsius Inc., a Canadian corporation that ran Marketbay.com, entered into an affiliate marketing arrangement with Nguyen that allowed the defendants to generate revenue from the computer intrusions and data thefts.
As an affiliate marketer, Nguyen allegedly received a commission on sales generated from Internet traffic that he directed to websites promoting specific products. Nguyen allegedly used the information stolen from the ESPs to send “spam” emails to tens of millions of customers and provided hyperlinks to allow the purchase of the products. These products were marketed by Da Silva’s Marketbay.com.
Between approximately May 2009 and October 2011, Nguyen and Da Silva received approximately $2 million for the sale of products derived from Nguyen’s affiliate marketing activities.
Vu was arrested by Dutch law enforcement in Deventer, Netherlands, in 2012 and extradited to the United States in March 2014. On Feb. 5, 2015, Vu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. of the Northern District of Georgia. Nguyen is a fugitive.
Da Silva was arrested based upon charges set forth in a criminal complaint at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport on Feb. 12, 2015, and is scheduled to be arraigned today in Atlanta before Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III.
The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the FBI with the assistance of the USSS and IRS-CI. Law enforcement in the Netherlands and the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided valuable assistance. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Peter Roman of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Grimberg of the Northern District of Georgia.
EX-IM BANK CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT ON RELEASE OF EXPORT DATA
FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg’s Statement on the Release of Export Data from the Commerce Department
U.S. Exports Reach $189.4 Billion in January
Washington, D.C. – Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg issued the following statement with respect to January’s export data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department. According to BEA, the United States exported $189.4 billion of goods and services in January, 2015.
“American exporters, when competing on a level playing field, will always excel,” said Hochberg. “At Ex-Im Bank, we will continue to support American exporters so they can introduce their goods and services to new global markets and create more middle class jobs here at home.”
ABOUT EX-IM BANK:
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that supports and maintains U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees and export credit insurance, to promote the sale of U.S. goods and services abroad. Ninety percent of its transactions directly serve American small businesses.
In fiscal year 2014, Ex-Im Bank approved $20.5 billion in total authorizations. These authorizations supported an estimated $27.5 billion in U.S. export sales, as well as approximately 164,000 American jobs in communities across the country.
Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg’s Statement on the Release of Export Data from the Commerce Department
U.S. Exports Reach $189.4 Billion in January
Washington, D.C. – Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg issued the following statement with respect to January’s export data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department. According to BEA, the United States exported $189.4 billion of goods and services in January, 2015.
“American exporters, when competing on a level playing field, will always excel,” said Hochberg. “At Ex-Im Bank, we will continue to support American exporters so they can introduce their goods and services to new global markets and create more middle class jobs here at home.”
ABOUT EX-IM BANK:
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that supports and maintains U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees and export credit insurance, to promote the sale of U.S. goods and services abroad. Ninety percent of its transactions directly serve American small businesses.
In fiscal year 2014, Ex-Im Bank approved $20.5 billion in total authorizations. These authorizations supported an estimated $27.5 billion in U.S. export sales, as well as approximately 164,000 American jobs in communities across the country.
2 FORMER CIVILIAN MILITARY EMPLOYEES AND A MILITARY CONTRACTOR CONVICTED IN BRIBERY SCHEME
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Two Former Civilian Military Employees and One Military Contractor Convicted in Bribery Scheme at Georgia Military Base
Two former civilian employees at the Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) in Albany, Georgia, and one military contractor were convicted by a federal jury today of bribery and fraud charges related to military trucking contracts, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia.
Christopher Whitman, 48, co-owner of United Logistics, an Albany-based trucking company and freight transportation broker, was convicted of 43 counts of honest services wire fraud, five counts of bribery, five counts of obstructing justice and one count of theft of government property. Shawn McCarty, 36, of Albany, Georgia, a former employee at the MCLB-Albany, was convicted of 15 counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of bribery and one count of obstructing justice. Bradford Newell, 43, of Sylvester, Georgia, also a former employee at the MCLB-Albany, was convicted of 13 counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of bribery and one count of theft of government property.
According to evidence presented at trial, Whitman paid more than $800,000 in bribes to three former officials of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) at the MCLB-Albany, including the head of the DLA Traffic Office and McCarty, to obtain commercial trucking business from the base. The transportation contracts were loaded with unnecessary premium-priced requirements, including expedited service, expensive trailers and exclusive use, which requires that freight be shipped separately from other equipment, even if that results in a truck not being filled to capacity. As a result of these contracts, Whitman’s company grossed more than $37 million over less than four years.
The evidence further demonstrated that Whitman paid approximately $200,000 in bribes to the former inventory control manager of the Distribution Management Center at MCLB-Albany, Newell and others, who used their official positions to help Whitman steal more than $1 million in surplus equipment from the base, including bulldozers, cranes and front-end loaders. In exchange for the bribes, Newell and the inventory control manager removed the surplus items from Marine Corps inventory and arranged to have them transported off the base by Whitman’s company. Whitman then arranged to improve and paint the stolen equipment, and sell it to private purchasers.
One former United Logistics employee, a business partner of Whitman’s, two former DLA officials and another MCLB official previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the fraud and corruption scheme.
The case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with assistance from the Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office Economic Crime Unit, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, DLA Office of the Inspector General, and the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief J.P. Cooney and Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia. The associated forfeiture litigation is being handled by Assistant Deputy Chief Darrin McCullough of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and the Middle District of Georgia.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Three Florida Men and a Corporation Convicted for Running Illegal International Gambling Enterprise
A federal jury in Oklahoma City convicted three Florida men and a Florida corporation today for their participation in an illegal international gambling and money laundering enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Sanford C. Coats of the Western District of Oklahoma.
“In the age of the internet, what used to be a crime conducted by bookies on street corners is now an international criminal enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Operating on-line but off-shore, the individuals convicted in this case raked in more than a billion dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. But as these convictions demonstrate, no matter where or how organized criminals operate, the Criminal Division will bring them to justice.”
“This is a great result in this important case,” said U.S Attorney Coats. “I applaud the tremendous, collaborative efforts of our law enforcement partners and the prosecution team.”
Paul Francis Tucker, 50, of Mount Dora, Florida, Luis Robles, 50, of St. Pete Beach, Florida, and Zapt Electrical Sales Inc., a corporation registered in Florida and owned by Tucker, were found guilty of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conducting an illegal gambling business and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Christopher Lee Tanner, 58, of Sarasota, Florida, was found guilty of conducting an illegal gambling ring. A sentencing date will be set by the court in approximately 90 days, and the hearing will take place before U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot of the Western District of Oklahoma.
According to evidence presented at trial, from 2003 to 2013, Tanner, Tucker, Robles and Zapt Electrical Sales conspired with others to operate internet and telephone gambling services from Panama City, Panama through an enterprise known as Legendz Sports. The international gambling enterprise took more than $1 billon in illegal wagers, almost exclusively from gamblers in the United States on American sporting events.
The evidence demonstrated that Tanner and Tucker worked as bookies in Florida, and illegally solicited and accepted sports wagers and settled gambling debts. Tucker also used Zapt Electrical Sales and its bank account to launder gambling proceeds collected from losing bettors.
The evidence showed that Robles worked as a runner for the enterprise, delivering cash to Legendz Sports bookies to make payouts and picking up cash profits from the bookies. According to the evidence at trial, bookies and runners for Legendz Sports transported millions of dollars of gambling proceeds in cash and checks from the United States to Panama. The checks were made out to various shell companies created by Legendz Sports all over Central America to launder gambling proceeds.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, with the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Dickerson Cox and Travis D. Smith of the Western District of Oklahoma.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Two Former Civilian Military Employees and One Military Contractor Convicted in Bribery Scheme at Georgia Military Base
Two former civilian employees at the Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) in Albany, Georgia, and one military contractor were convicted by a federal jury today of bribery and fraud charges related to military trucking contracts, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia.
Christopher Whitman, 48, co-owner of United Logistics, an Albany-based trucking company and freight transportation broker, was convicted of 43 counts of honest services wire fraud, five counts of bribery, five counts of obstructing justice and one count of theft of government property. Shawn McCarty, 36, of Albany, Georgia, a former employee at the MCLB-Albany, was convicted of 15 counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of bribery and one count of obstructing justice. Bradford Newell, 43, of Sylvester, Georgia, also a former employee at the MCLB-Albany, was convicted of 13 counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of bribery and one count of theft of government property.
According to evidence presented at trial, Whitman paid more than $800,000 in bribes to three former officials of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) at the MCLB-Albany, including the head of the DLA Traffic Office and McCarty, to obtain commercial trucking business from the base. The transportation contracts were loaded with unnecessary premium-priced requirements, including expedited service, expensive trailers and exclusive use, which requires that freight be shipped separately from other equipment, even if that results in a truck not being filled to capacity. As a result of these contracts, Whitman’s company grossed more than $37 million over less than four years.
The evidence further demonstrated that Whitman paid approximately $200,000 in bribes to the former inventory control manager of the Distribution Management Center at MCLB-Albany, Newell and others, who used their official positions to help Whitman steal more than $1 million in surplus equipment from the base, including bulldozers, cranes and front-end loaders. In exchange for the bribes, Newell and the inventory control manager removed the surplus items from Marine Corps inventory and arranged to have them transported off the base by Whitman’s company. Whitman then arranged to improve and paint the stolen equipment, and sell it to private purchasers.
One former United Logistics employee, a business partner of Whitman’s, two former DLA officials and another MCLB official previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the fraud and corruption scheme.
The case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with assistance from the Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office Economic Crime Unit, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, DLA Office of the Inspector General, and the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief J.P. Cooney and Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia. The associated forfeiture litigation is being handled by Assistant Deputy Chief Darrin McCullough of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and the Middle District of Georgia.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Three Florida Men and a Corporation Convicted for Running Illegal International Gambling Enterprise
A federal jury in Oklahoma City convicted three Florida men and a Florida corporation today for their participation in an illegal international gambling and money laundering enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Sanford C. Coats of the Western District of Oklahoma.
“In the age of the internet, what used to be a crime conducted by bookies on street corners is now an international criminal enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Operating on-line but off-shore, the individuals convicted in this case raked in more than a billion dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. But as these convictions demonstrate, no matter where or how organized criminals operate, the Criminal Division will bring them to justice.”
“This is a great result in this important case,” said U.S Attorney Coats. “I applaud the tremendous, collaborative efforts of our law enforcement partners and the prosecution team.”
Paul Francis Tucker, 50, of Mount Dora, Florida, Luis Robles, 50, of St. Pete Beach, Florida, and Zapt Electrical Sales Inc., a corporation registered in Florida and owned by Tucker, were found guilty of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conducting an illegal gambling business and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Christopher Lee Tanner, 58, of Sarasota, Florida, was found guilty of conducting an illegal gambling ring. A sentencing date will be set by the court in approximately 90 days, and the hearing will take place before U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot of the Western District of Oklahoma.
According to evidence presented at trial, from 2003 to 2013, Tanner, Tucker, Robles and Zapt Electrical Sales conspired with others to operate internet and telephone gambling services from Panama City, Panama through an enterprise known as Legendz Sports. The international gambling enterprise took more than $1 billon in illegal wagers, almost exclusively from gamblers in the United States on American sporting events.
The evidence demonstrated that Tanner and Tucker worked as bookies in Florida, and illegally solicited and accepted sports wagers and settled gambling debts. Tucker also used Zapt Electrical Sales and its bank account to launder gambling proceeds collected from losing bettors.
The evidence showed that Robles worked as a runner for the enterprise, delivering cash to Legendz Sports bookies to make payouts and picking up cash profits from the bookies. According to the evidence at trial, bookies and runners for Legendz Sports transported millions of dollars of gambling proceeds in cash and checks from the United States to Panama. The checks were made out to various shell companies created by Legendz Sports all over Central America to launder gambling proceeds.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, with the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Dickerson Cox and Travis D. Smith of the Western District of Oklahoma.
TV MARKETER TO PAY $ 8 MILLION FOR DECEPTIVE FEES & SENDING EXTRA PRODUCT
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Direct Marketer Agrees to Pay $8 Million for Deceiving Consumers
Company Pitched Snuggies and Other Products on TV, Often Billing Consumers without Their Consent
A direct marketing company selling “as-seen-on-TV” type products such as Snuggies and the Magic Mesh door cover has agreed to pay $7.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission for consumer restitution to settle FTC charges in connection with its deceptive “buy-one-get-one-free” promotions.
The FTC’s settlement with Allstar Marketing Group, LLC, was reached alongside actions by the New York State Office of the Attorney General, which is announcing a separate state case today. In addition to the $7.5 million paid to the FTC, Allstar will pay $500,000 to the Attorney General’s Office for penalties, costs, and fees to settle that action.
“Marketers must clearly disclose all costs. That includes processing fees, handling fees, and any other fees they think up,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Working with the New York Attorney General, we’ll return millions of dollars to consumers that Allstar collected in undisclosed fees.”
“This agreement returns money to thousands of consumers in New York and across the nation who believed they were buying items at the price advertised on television, but ended up with extra merchandise and hidden fees they didn’t bargain for,” Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said. “The settlement also brings much needed reforms to a major firm in the direct marketing industry. Those who use small print and hidden fees to inflate charges to unwitting consumers must be held accountable.”
According to the FTC’s complaint, since at least 1999, Allstar, based in Hawthorne, New York, has been in the direct marketing business, using television commercials to sell its products, many of which are familiar to consumers such as Magic Mesh, Cat’s Meow, Roto Punch, Perfect Tortilla, Forever Comfy, and Snuggies. While the products have varied, Allstar’s pitch is often the same -- a “buy-one-get-one-free” offer without additional costs disclosed.
In a recent commercial for Magic Mesh, for example, the company promised that it would “double the offer” for consumers, if they just paid “processing and handling fees.” While consumers were led to believe that they would then be getting two $19.95 products for “less than $10 each,” in fact, the total cost with the undisclosed $7.95“processing and handling” fees jumped from the advertised price of $19.95 to $35.85, according to the complaint.
As alleged in the FTC’s complaint, consumers who called Allstar were often immediately instructed to enter their personal and billing information, and were charged for at least one “set” of products, based on the “buy-one-get-one-free” offer, before they had a chance to indicate how many products they wanted to buy. Because the sales pitch was often confusing, some consumers purchased more “sets” than they actually wanted.
Allstar then attempted to upsell consumers additional products via automated voice prompts that requested the consumer accept the offer. Many times, the only way a consumer could decline the offer was to say nothing. At the end of the calls, Allstar sometimes routed consumers to other third-party sellers who made additional sales pitches. Once all of the offers ended, consumers were not told the total number of items they’d “agreed” to buy, or the total amount they would be billed, according to the complaint. The Commission has alleged that Allstar even charged those consumers who hung up mid-call, not intending to complete a sale.
According to the FTC’s complaint, consumers who opted to buy Allstars’ products online faced similar problems, including separate “processing and handling” fees which were only disclosed in very fine print at the bottom of the page, and a barrage of upsell offers. Consumers were not provided with the total price of their purchases, and despite a “30 day money-back guarantee” (less processing and handling fees) full refunds were difficult for consumers to obtain.
Based on this alleged conduct, the FTC’s complaint charges Allstar with two violations of the FTC Act and three violations of the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including the following:
Billing consumers without their express informed consent;
Failing to make adequate disclosures about the total number and cost of products before billing consumers;
In connection with the up-selling of goods and services, violating the TSR by failing to disclose material information about the total cost of the products and that the purpose of the call is to sell goods or services; and
During telemarketing, illegally billing consumers without first getting their consent.
nt order prohibits Allstar from failing to obtain consumers’ written consent before billing them for any product or service. It also requires the company to clearly and conspicuously disclose – before billing consumers – the total number of products they have ordered, all related fees and costs, and material conditions related to the products purchased.
It also prohibits Allstar from violating the TSR by: 1) failing to disclose the true costs of any goods or products it sells; 2) failing to promptly disclose the identity of the seller to consumers and that the purpose of the call is to sell a product or service; and 3) causing billing information to be submitted for payment without consumers’ express authorization.
Finally, the order imposes a monetary judgment of $7.5 million, which, in consultation with the New York Attorney General’s Office, may be used to provide refunds to defrauded consumers.
The Commission’s vote approving the complaint and the stipulated final order was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the stipulated final order submitted to the court for approval.
The FTC appreciates the assistance of the New York State Attorney General’s Office in bringing this action.
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.
Direct Marketer Agrees to Pay $8 Million for Deceiving Consumers
Company Pitched Snuggies and Other Products on TV, Often Billing Consumers without Their Consent
A direct marketing company selling “as-seen-on-TV” type products such as Snuggies and the Magic Mesh door cover has agreed to pay $7.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission for consumer restitution to settle FTC charges in connection with its deceptive “buy-one-get-one-free” promotions.
The FTC’s settlement with Allstar Marketing Group, LLC, was reached alongside actions by the New York State Office of the Attorney General, which is announcing a separate state case today. In addition to the $7.5 million paid to the FTC, Allstar will pay $500,000 to the Attorney General’s Office for penalties, costs, and fees to settle that action.
“Marketers must clearly disclose all costs. That includes processing fees, handling fees, and any other fees they think up,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Working with the New York Attorney General, we’ll return millions of dollars to consumers that Allstar collected in undisclosed fees.”
“This agreement returns money to thousands of consumers in New York and across the nation who believed they were buying items at the price advertised on television, but ended up with extra merchandise and hidden fees they didn’t bargain for,” Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said. “The settlement also brings much needed reforms to a major firm in the direct marketing industry. Those who use small print and hidden fees to inflate charges to unwitting consumers must be held accountable.”
According to the FTC’s complaint, since at least 1999, Allstar, based in Hawthorne, New York, has been in the direct marketing business, using television commercials to sell its products, many of which are familiar to consumers such as Magic Mesh, Cat’s Meow, Roto Punch, Perfect Tortilla, Forever Comfy, and Snuggies. While the products have varied, Allstar’s pitch is often the same -- a “buy-one-get-one-free” offer without additional costs disclosed.
In a recent commercial for Magic Mesh, for example, the company promised that it would “double the offer” for consumers, if they just paid “processing and handling fees.” While consumers were led to believe that they would then be getting two $19.95 products for “less than $10 each,” in fact, the total cost with the undisclosed $7.95“processing and handling” fees jumped from the advertised price of $19.95 to $35.85, according to the complaint.
As alleged in the FTC’s complaint, consumers who called Allstar were often immediately instructed to enter their personal and billing information, and were charged for at least one “set” of products, based on the “buy-one-get-one-free” offer, before they had a chance to indicate how many products they wanted to buy. Because the sales pitch was often confusing, some consumers purchased more “sets” than they actually wanted.
Allstar then attempted to upsell consumers additional products via automated voice prompts that requested the consumer accept the offer. Many times, the only way a consumer could decline the offer was to say nothing. At the end of the calls, Allstar sometimes routed consumers to other third-party sellers who made additional sales pitches. Once all of the offers ended, consumers were not told the total number of items they’d “agreed” to buy, or the total amount they would be billed, according to the complaint. The Commission has alleged that Allstar even charged those consumers who hung up mid-call, not intending to complete a sale.
According to the FTC’s complaint, consumers who opted to buy Allstars’ products online faced similar problems, including separate “processing and handling” fees which were only disclosed in very fine print at the bottom of the page, and a barrage of upsell offers. Consumers were not provided with the total price of their purchases, and despite a “30 day money-back guarantee” (less processing and handling fees) full refunds were difficult for consumers to obtain.
Based on this alleged conduct, the FTC’s complaint charges Allstar with two violations of the FTC Act and three violations of the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including the following:
Billing consumers without their express informed consent;
Failing to make adequate disclosures about the total number and cost of products before billing consumers;
In connection with the up-selling of goods and services, violating the TSR by failing to disclose material information about the total cost of the products and that the purpose of the call is to sell goods or services; and
During telemarketing, illegally billing consumers without first getting their consent.
nt order prohibits Allstar from failing to obtain consumers’ written consent before billing them for any product or service. It also requires the company to clearly and conspicuously disclose – before billing consumers – the total number of products they have ordered, all related fees and costs, and material conditions related to the products purchased.
It also prohibits Allstar from violating the TSR by: 1) failing to disclose the true costs of any goods or products it sells; 2) failing to promptly disclose the identity of the seller to consumers and that the purpose of the call is to sell a product or service; and 3) causing billing information to be submitted for payment without consumers’ express authorization.
Finally, the order imposes a monetary judgment of $7.5 million, which, in consultation with the New York Attorney General’s Office, may be used to provide refunds to defrauded consumers.
The Commission’s vote approving the complaint and the stipulated final order was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the stipulated final order submitted to the court for approval.
The FTC appreciates the assistance of the New York State Attorney General’s Office in bringing this action.
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.
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