FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Operation Inherent Resolve Airstrikes Continue in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 5, 2015 – U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, which took place between 8 a.m. yesterday and 8 a.m. today, local time, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Airstrikes in Syria
Attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted three airstrikes in Syria:
-- Near Hasakah, two airstrikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Raqqah, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL armored personnel carrier.
Airstrikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 airstrikes in Iraq, approved by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense:
-- Near Qaim, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Beiji, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Fallujah, two airstrikes struck 10 improvised explosive device facilities.
-- Near Mosul, five airstrikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL IED production facility and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.
--Near Ramadi, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Sinjar, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL building.
-- Near Tal Afar, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL fighting position.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the United States, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
JIEDDO BECOMES COMBAT SUPPORT AGENCY TO COUNTER IED THREATS WORLDWIDE
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Combat Support Agency Counters Worldwide IED Threats
By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, April 6, 2015 – The organization that has fought for a decade to defeat improvised explosive devices used by American enemies in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has become a combat support agency, its director said in a recent interview.
The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization -- known as JIEDDO -- was realigned under the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics March 11 and is “here to stay,” Army Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson told DoD News.
Johnson said he wants to ensure every commander and warfighter is aware of the agency’s capabilities to support those in the field.
Johnson added that DoD’s senior leadership recognized that the global threat of IEDs is not going away, and that the agency’s new status means the capabilities it provides will be around a long time.
As a Defense Department function, the general said, the agency has better access to other DoD capabilities to “collaborate and to make sure we’re providing even better support to deployed service members.”
JIEDDO Established During Wars
Johnson said the need for JIEDDO became great when IEDs were killing and injuring large numbers of service members, and JIEDDO stood up as a joint organization from an Army task force in 2006 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The military realized it needed an organization to work across the entire spectrum of the problem by analyzing IED threats and developing training and new equipment for warfighters, he added.
Today, “we track IEDs around the world, and in past 12 months, over 26,000 IED events caused 55,000 casualties,” the JIEDDO director pointed out.
“Gratefully, very few were Americans,” he added, “but it means that anywhere U.S. troops deploy, they are going to be at risk of IEDs.”
JIEDDO works to connect a variety of IED experts early within deploying units’ training cycles, Johnson said, so warfighters are knowledgeable of terrorist networks and the types of battlefield support the combat support agency will provide them.
Embedding Experts with Troops
JIEDDO experts range from intelligence analysts, operational experts, and combat advisers that offer training and adaptable solutions to warfighters and forces building allies’ capacities to improve counter-IED efforts, Johnson said.
These experts embed with U.S. forces from the start of deployment, regardless of assignment, from maritime crisis response forces, the Army’s regionally aligned forces or special operations, the general said.
Embedding experts helps troops and commanders understand what they’re seeing and how best to use the resources at their disposal to deal with threats, protect forces and defeat the enemy, he said.
JIEDDO a ‘Game Changer’ After Wars
JIEDDO brought a game changer to the table after its work during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in which it provided a warfighter package of urgently needed training, analytical support and equipment to counter IED threats, the general said. Today, those capabilities reach across the globe, he added.
“We can apply the analysis to new training techniques, new tactics, equipment, and significantly enhance how our ground forces do business,” he said. “We help warfighters adapt.”
A key issue of IED proliferation by a variety of terrorist networks is that these homemade bombs use products such as fertilizer and cheap, commercial-grade explosives used in farming and mining, so the materials are available just about anywhere, Johnson pointed out.
Compounding the expanding IED global presence is that terrorist networks share information, he said.
“The enemies are very innovative, and they share their ideas and innovations. If we see IEDs that have success in one place, we can guarantee you we’re likely to see it elsewhere,” Johnson said.
And it’s that very type of information JIEDDO shares with forces deployed around the world so warfighters are better prepared and equipped to handle the problem, in addition to having reachback to national level resources, the director explained.
‘Global IED Threats to Continue’
There was some thought that JIEDDO might cease to exist following the end of the two wars, Johnson said, but that is not the case.
“The truth is, we’re going to face IEDs anywhere we go in the world,” he emphasized. “IEDs have proliferated around the world, and they challenge security forces across the globe. Now we’re back helping the Iraqis with the problems there, and our enemies are using IEDs in greater numbers all the time.”
Because of that global threat, JIEDDO’s business model is well entrenched for efforts in the Middle East, but also counters the IED threat in various other regions of the world such as Africa, South America, the Far East and the Pacific region, Johnson said.
JIEDDO’s mission is far-reaching, but has a central goal, he said.
“We provide counter-IED capabilities that allow [service members] to adapt and be that No. 1 weapon on the battlefield,” said Johnson, who described service members as “the most trained, most capable weapon.”
Combat Support Agency Counters Worldwide IED Threats
By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, April 6, 2015 – The organization that has fought for a decade to defeat improvised explosive devices used by American enemies in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has become a combat support agency, its director said in a recent interview.
The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization -- known as JIEDDO -- was realigned under the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics March 11 and is “here to stay,” Army Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson told DoD News.
Johnson said he wants to ensure every commander and warfighter is aware of the agency’s capabilities to support those in the field.
Johnson added that DoD’s senior leadership recognized that the global threat of IEDs is not going away, and that the agency’s new status means the capabilities it provides will be around a long time.
As a Defense Department function, the general said, the agency has better access to other DoD capabilities to “collaborate and to make sure we’re providing even better support to deployed service members.”
JIEDDO Established During Wars
Johnson said the need for JIEDDO became great when IEDs were killing and injuring large numbers of service members, and JIEDDO stood up as a joint organization from an Army task force in 2006 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The military realized it needed an organization to work across the entire spectrum of the problem by analyzing IED threats and developing training and new equipment for warfighters, he added.
Today, “we track IEDs around the world, and in past 12 months, over 26,000 IED events caused 55,000 casualties,” the JIEDDO director pointed out.
“Gratefully, very few were Americans,” he added, “but it means that anywhere U.S. troops deploy, they are going to be at risk of IEDs.”
JIEDDO works to connect a variety of IED experts early within deploying units’ training cycles, Johnson said, so warfighters are knowledgeable of terrorist networks and the types of battlefield support the combat support agency will provide them.
Embedding Experts with Troops
JIEDDO experts range from intelligence analysts, operational experts, and combat advisers that offer training and adaptable solutions to warfighters and forces building allies’ capacities to improve counter-IED efforts, Johnson said.
These experts embed with U.S. forces from the start of deployment, regardless of assignment, from maritime crisis response forces, the Army’s regionally aligned forces or special operations, the general said.
Embedding experts helps troops and commanders understand what they’re seeing and how best to use the resources at their disposal to deal with threats, protect forces and defeat the enemy, he said.
JIEDDO a ‘Game Changer’ After Wars
JIEDDO brought a game changer to the table after its work during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in which it provided a warfighter package of urgently needed training, analytical support and equipment to counter IED threats, the general said. Today, those capabilities reach across the globe, he added.
“We can apply the analysis to new training techniques, new tactics, equipment, and significantly enhance how our ground forces do business,” he said. “We help warfighters adapt.”
A key issue of IED proliferation by a variety of terrorist networks is that these homemade bombs use products such as fertilizer and cheap, commercial-grade explosives used in farming and mining, so the materials are available just about anywhere, Johnson pointed out.
Compounding the expanding IED global presence is that terrorist networks share information, he said.
“The enemies are very innovative, and they share their ideas and innovations. If we see IEDs that have success in one place, we can guarantee you we’re likely to see it elsewhere,” Johnson said.
And it’s that very type of information JIEDDO shares with forces deployed around the world so warfighters are better prepared and equipped to handle the problem, in addition to having reachback to national level resources, the director explained.
‘Global IED Threats to Continue’
There was some thought that JIEDDO might cease to exist following the end of the two wars, Johnson said, but that is not the case.
“The truth is, we’re going to face IEDs anywhere we go in the world,” he emphasized. “IEDs have proliferated around the world, and they challenge security forces across the globe. Now we’re back helping the Iraqis with the problems there, and our enemies are using IEDs in greater numbers all the time.”
Because of that global threat, JIEDDO’s business model is well entrenched for efforts in the Middle East, but also counters the IED threat in various other regions of the world such as Africa, South America, the Far East and the Pacific region, Johnson said.
JIEDDO’s mission is far-reaching, but has a central goal, he said.
“We provide counter-IED capabilities that allow [service members] to adapt and be that No. 1 weapon on the battlefield,” said Johnson, who described service members as “the most trained, most capable weapon.”
FORMER DEFENSE CONTRACTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO THE ILLEGAL EXPORT OF MILITARY BLUEPRINTS TO INDIA
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Former Owner of Defense Contracting Businesses Pleads Guilty to Illegally Exporting Military Blueprints to India Without a License
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey announced that the former owner of two New Jersey defense contracting businesses today admitted that she conspired to send sensitive military technical data to India.
Hannah Robert, 49, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson of the District of New Jersey to count six of a superseding indictment, which charged her with conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act by exporting to India military technical drawings without prior approval from the U.S. Department of State.
“Hannah Robert circumvented the U.S. government and provided defense technical drawings in violation of the Arms Export Control Act,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “We will continue to pursue and hold accountable those who abuse their access to sensitive defense information. I would like to thank all of the special agents, prosecutors and other personnel whose work led to the guilty plea in this case.”
“Hannah Robert conspired to send to another country thousands of technical drawings of defense hardware items and sensitive military data,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “She was also charged with manufacturing substandard parts that were not up to spec, in violation of the contracts she signed with the Department of Defense. Enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act is critical to the defense of our country.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In June 2010, Robert was the founder, owner and president of One Source USA LLC, a company located at her then-residence in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to supply defense hardware items and spare parts. In September 2012, Robert opened another defense company, Caldwell Components Inc., based at the same address. Along with a resident of India identified only as “P.R.,” Robert owned and operated a third company located in India that manufactured defense hardware items and spare parts.
From June 2010 to December 2012, Robert conspired to export to India defense technical drawings without obtaining the necessary licenses from the U.S. Department of State. The exported technical drawings include parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, military attack helicopters and F-15 fighter aircrafts.
In addition to United States’ sales, Robert and P.R. sold defense hardware items to foreign customers. Robert transmitted export-controlled technical data to P.R. in India so that Robert and P.R. could submit bids to foreign actors, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to supply them or their foreign customers with defense hardware items and spare parts. Neither Robert nor P.R. obtained approval from the U.S. Department of State for this conduct.
On Aug. 23, 2012, P.R. e-mailed Robert requesting the technical drawing for a particular military item. P.R.’s e-mail forwarded Robert an e-mail from an individual purporting to be “an official contractor of the UAE Ministry of Defence,” and who listed a business address in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The UAE e-mail requested quotations for a bid for the “blanket assembly” for the CH-47F Chinook military helicopter and listed the “End User” for the hardware item as the UAE Armed Forces. Later that same day, Robert replied to P.R.’s e-mail, attaching, among other things, the electronic file for an export-controlled technical drawing titled “Installation and Assy Acoustic Blankets, STA 120 CH-47F,” to be used in the Chinook attack helicopter.
In October 2010, Robert transmitted the military drawings for these parts to India by posting the technical data to the password-protected website of a Camden County, New Jersey, church where she was a volunteer web administrator. This was done without the knowledge of the church staff. Robert e-mailed P.R. the username and password to the church website so that P.R. could download the files from India. Through the course of the scheme, Robert uploaded thousands of technical drawings to the church website for P.R. to download in India.
On June 25, 2012, P.R. e-mailed Robert, stating: “Please send me the church web site username and password.” The e-mail was in reference to both an invoice to and a quote for a trans-shipper known to Robert as a broker of defense hardware items for an end user in Pakistan. This individual used a UAE address for shipping purposes. Later that day, Robert replied to this e-mail, providing a new username and password for the church website so that P.R. could download the particular defense drawings.
On Oct. 5, 2012, Robert e-mailed P.R. with the subject line “Important.” The e-mail referenced the Pakistan trans-shipper, a separate potential sale to individuals in Indonesia and the church website: “Please quote [the Pakistan trans-shipper] and Indonesia items today[.] [Dr]awings I cannot do now as if the size exceeds then problem, I should be watching what I upload, will do over the weekend[.] Ask me if you need any drawing . . . . Talk to you tomorrow . . . .”
There were also quality issues with the parts that Robert provided to the DoD. After the DoD in October 2012 disclosed that certain parts used in the wings of the F-15 fighter aircraft, supplied by one of One Source USA’s U.S. customers failed, Robert and P.R. provided the principal of their customer with false and misleading material certifications and inspection reports for the parts. These documents, to be transmitted to the DoD, listed only One Source USA’s New Jersey address and not the address of the actual manufacturer in India, One Source India. As a result of the failed wing pins, the DoD grounded approximately 47 F-15 fighter aircraft for inspection and repair, at a cost estimated to exceed $150,000.
Until November 2012, Robert was an employee of a separate defense contractor in Burlington County, New Jersey, where she worked as a system analyst and had access to thousands of drawings marked with export-control warnings and information on this defense contractor’s bids on DoD contracts. Robert misrepresented to her employer the nature and extent of her involvement with One Source USA in order to conceal her criminal conduct.
Count six of the superseding indictment – conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act – is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. As part of her plea agreement, Robert must pay $181,015 to the DoD, which includes the cost of repair for the grounded F-15s. Robert also consented to a forfeiture money judgment of $77,792, which represents the dollar value of Robert’s fraudulent contracts with DoD.
The Arms Export Control Act prohibits the export of defense articles and defense services without first obtaining a license from the U.S. Department of State and is one of the principal export control laws in the United States.
The case was investigated by the special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Northeast Field Office and the special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Counter Proliferation Investigations.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fabiana Pierre-Louis and L. Judson Welle of the District of New Jersey. The prosecution received invaluable support from attorneys of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Former Owner of Defense Contracting Businesses Pleads Guilty to Illegally Exporting Military Blueprints to India Without a License
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey announced that the former owner of two New Jersey defense contracting businesses today admitted that she conspired to send sensitive military technical data to India.
Hannah Robert, 49, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson of the District of New Jersey to count six of a superseding indictment, which charged her with conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act by exporting to India military technical drawings without prior approval from the U.S. Department of State.
“Hannah Robert circumvented the U.S. government and provided defense technical drawings in violation of the Arms Export Control Act,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “We will continue to pursue and hold accountable those who abuse their access to sensitive defense information. I would like to thank all of the special agents, prosecutors and other personnel whose work led to the guilty plea in this case.”
“Hannah Robert conspired to send to another country thousands of technical drawings of defense hardware items and sensitive military data,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “She was also charged with manufacturing substandard parts that were not up to spec, in violation of the contracts she signed with the Department of Defense. Enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act is critical to the defense of our country.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In June 2010, Robert was the founder, owner and president of One Source USA LLC, a company located at her then-residence in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to supply defense hardware items and spare parts. In September 2012, Robert opened another defense company, Caldwell Components Inc., based at the same address. Along with a resident of India identified only as “P.R.,” Robert owned and operated a third company located in India that manufactured defense hardware items and spare parts.
From June 2010 to December 2012, Robert conspired to export to India defense technical drawings without obtaining the necessary licenses from the U.S. Department of State. The exported technical drawings include parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, military attack helicopters and F-15 fighter aircrafts.
In addition to United States’ sales, Robert and P.R. sold defense hardware items to foreign customers. Robert transmitted export-controlled technical data to P.R. in India so that Robert and P.R. could submit bids to foreign actors, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to supply them or their foreign customers with defense hardware items and spare parts. Neither Robert nor P.R. obtained approval from the U.S. Department of State for this conduct.
On Aug. 23, 2012, P.R. e-mailed Robert requesting the technical drawing for a particular military item. P.R.’s e-mail forwarded Robert an e-mail from an individual purporting to be “an official contractor of the UAE Ministry of Defence,” and who listed a business address in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The UAE e-mail requested quotations for a bid for the “blanket assembly” for the CH-47F Chinook military helicopter and listed the “End User” for the hardware item as the UAE Armed Forces. Later that same day, Robert replied to P.R.’s e-mail, attaching, among other things, the electronic file for an export-controlled technical drawing titled “Installation and Assy Acoustic Blankets, STA 120 CH-47F,” to be used in the Chinook attack helicopter.
In October 2010, Robert transmitted the military drawings for these parts to India by posting the technical data to the password-protected website of a Camden County, New Jersey, church where she was a volunteer web administrator. This was done without the knowledge of the church staff. Robert e-mailed P.R. the username and password to the church website so that P.R. could download the files from India. Through the course of the scheme, Robert uploaded thousands of technical drawings to the church website for P.R. to download in India.
On June 25, 2012, P.R. e-mailed Robert, stating: “Please send me the church web site username and password.” The e-mail was in reference to both an invoice to and a quote for a trans-shipper known to Robert as a broker of defense hardware items for an end user in Pakistan. This individual used a UAE address for shipping purposes. Later that day, Robert replied to this e-mail, providing a new username and password for the church website so that P.R. could download the particular defense drawings.
On Oct. 5, 2012, Robert e-mailed P.R. with the subject line “Important.” The e-mail referenced the Pakistan trans-shipper, a separate potential sale to individuals in Indonesia and the church website: “Please quote [the Pakistan trans-shipper] and Indonesia items today[.] [Dr]awings I cannot do now as if the size exceeds then problem, I should be watching what I upload, will do over the weekend[.] Ask me if you need any drawing . . . . Talk to you tomorrow . . . .”
There were also quality issues with the parts that Robert provided to the DoD. After the DoD in October 2012 disclosed that certain parts used in the wings of the F-15 fighter aircraft, supplied by one of One Source USA’s U.S. customers failed, Robert and P.R. provided the principal of their customer with false and misleading material certifications and inspection reports for the parts. These documents, to be transmitted to the DoD, listed only One Source USA’s New Jersey address and not the address of the actual manufacturer in India, One Source India. As a result of the failed wing pins, the DoD grounded approximately 47 F-15 fighter aircraft for inspection and repair, at a cost estimated to exceed $150,000.
Until November 2012, Robert was an employee of a separate defense contractor in Burlington County, New Jersey, where she worked as a system analyst and had access to thousands of drawings marked with export-control warnings and information on this defense contractor’s bids on DoD contracts. Robert misrepresented to her employer the nature and extent of her involvement with One Source USA in order to conceal her criminal conduct.
Count six of the superseding indictment – conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act – is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. As part of her plea agreement, Robert must pay $181,015 to the DoD, which includes the cost of repair for the grounded F-15s. Robert also consented to a forfeiture money judgment of $77,792, which represents the dollar value of Robert’s fraudulent contracts with DoD.
The Arms Export Control Act prohibits the export of defense articles and defense services without first obtaining a license from the U.S. Department of State and is one of the principal export control laws in the United States.
The case was investigated by the special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Northeast Field Office and the special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Counter Proliferation Investigations.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fabiana Pierre-Louis and L. Judson Welle of the District of New Jersey. The prosecution received invaluable support from attorneys of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANY TO PAY $4.41 MILLION TO RESOLVE ALLEGATIONS OF UNLAWFULLY SELLING DEVICES FROM OVERSEAS
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Medtronic to Pay $4.41 Million to Resolve Allegations that it Unlawfully Sold Medical Devices Manufactured Overseas
The Justice Department announced today that Medtronic plc and affiliated Medtronic companies, Medtronic Inc., Medtronic USA Inc., and Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA Inc., have agreed to pay $4.41 million to the United States to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) regarding the country of origin of certain Medtronic products sold to the United States.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our service members and our veterans receive medical products that are manufactured in the United States and other countries that trade fairly with us,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will take action to hold medical device companies to the terms of their government contracts.”
“Domestic manufacture is a required component of many military and Veterans Administration contracts,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota. “Congress has mandated that the United States use its purchasing power to buy goods made in the United States or in designated countries. We take that mandate seriously and will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action to ensure compliance.”
According to the settlement agreement, between 2007 and 2014, Medtronic sold to the VA and DoD products it certified would be made in the United States or other designated countries. The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (TAA) generally requires companies selling products to the United States to manufacture them in the United States or in another designated country. The United States alleged that Medtronic sold to the United States products manufactured in China and Malaysia, which are prohibited countries under the TAA.
The specific Medtronic products at issue included anchoring sleeves sold with cardiac leads and used to secure the leads to patients, certain instruments and devices used in spine surgeries, and a handheld patient assistant used with a wireless cardiac device. The agreement covers the period from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2013, and for one device (the handheld patient assistant), the period from Jan. 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2014.
The settlement resolves allegations originally brought in a lawsuit filed by three whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The relators will receive a total of $749,700 of the recovered funds.
This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $23.9 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $15.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Minnesota with assistance from the Civil Division, DoD, Defense Logistics Agency and Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the VA’s Office of General Counsel.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Medtronic to Pay $4.41 Million to Resolve Allegations that it Unlawfully Sold Medical Devices Manufactured Overseas
The Justice Department announced today that Medtronic plc and affiliated Medtronic companies, Medtronic Inc., Medtronic USA Inc., and Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA Inc., have agreed to pay $4.41 million to the United States to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) regarding the country of origin of certain Medtronic products sold to the United States.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our service members and our veterans receive medical products that are manufactured in the United States and other countries that trade fairly with us,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will take action to hold medical device companies to the terms of their government contracts.”
“Domestic manufacture is a required component of many military and Veterans Administration contracts,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota. “Congress has mandated that the United States use its purchasing power to buy goods made in the United States or in designated countries. We take that mandate seriously and will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action to ensure compliance.”
According to the settlement agreement, between 2007 and 2014, Medtronic sold to the VA and DoD products it certified would be made in the United States or other designated countries. The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (TAA) generally requires companies selling products to the United States to manufacture them in the United States or in another designated country. The United States alleged that Medtronic sold to the United States products manufactured in China and Malaysia, which are prohibited countries under the TAA.
The specific Medtronic products at issue included anchoring sleeves sold with cardiac leads and used to secure the leads to patients, certain instruments and devices used in spine surgeries, and a handheld patient assistant used with a wireless cardiac device. The agreement covers the period from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2013, and for one device (the handheld patient assistant), the period from Jan. 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2014.
The settlement resolves allegations originally brought in a lawsuit filed by three whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The relators will receive a total of $749,700 of the recovered funds.
This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $23.9 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $15.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Minnesota with assistance from the Civil Division, DoD, Defense Logistics Agency and Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the VA’s Office of General Counsel.
HIGH-SPEED NETWORKING IN FLINT, MICHIGAN
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Igniting change in Vehicle City
Kettering University leads effort to improve city services in Flint, Mich., through high-speed networking
March 24, 2015
Flint, Mich., the former home of General Motors, is on the rebound these days. Leaders there believe they have hit on a winning formula--connecting the city's institutions to high-speed networks that support new, game-changing capabilities.
Through grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Flint is beginning to lay the groundwork for an information technology-driven transformation.
In June 2012, Flint was one of 16 initial cities that were part of US Ignite, a public-private partnership designed to capitalize on the possibilities of ultra-fast broadband networks and "ignite" the development of next-generation Internet applications and services with societal benefits.
Kettering University--formerly General Motors Institute--was designated the lead research institution for the city.
High-speed networking wasn't really on the radar of John Geske, a professor of computer science at Kettering University, before Flint joined US Ignite.
"I was busy running a computer science department and the last thing on my mind was networking applications," Geske said.
But because of the US Ignite award, he started attending application summits and other meetings and realized the possibilities that were available at his doorstep.
"The community that you start to create and the contacts you make are just invaluable," he said.
Connected schools
Phase One of making the city a gigabit hotbed involved taking a step back and uncovering what was already available in the community.
Geske learned that the entire city school system, as well as the schools in 21 schools districts in neighboring Genesee County, had formed the GenNET consortium in 1995 and were already connected by a high-speed, fiber-optic network. Moreover, the schools were connected to the city's four higher education institutions via the Flint Area Network for Educational Telecommunications.
With these capabilities in place, students in the school district experienced unique learning opportunities. For instance, students were able to remotely control an exploratory submarine in real time near the Barrier Reef and communicate with astronauts on the space shuttle. Genesee County students were even able to dissect a sheep's brain via a telemedicine class remotely led by a doctor at Northern Michigan University.
"The GenNET fiber-optic network allows us to reduce the cost of technology services while providing a powerful platform for delivering virtual learning," said Luke Wittum, executive director of Technology and Media Services in the Genesee Intermediate School District.
US Ignite extended this already capable base and provided dedicated 10 gigabit-per-second network connections to the universities and libraries in Flint and to other gigabit cities around the nation, on unique, programmable hardware.
With ultra-high-speed, high-capability Information Technology in place, technology leaders hope to leverage the existing fiber-optic networks to provide immersive virtual reality learning to all students in Flint and Genesee County.
"What if a student could step inside of a human cell, stand at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or visit a historical place?" Wittum asked. "This opportunity could make learning more engaging and also provide some students who may have never been outside of the county or state to visit another part of the world."
Safer, smarter neighborhoods
Flint areas schools aren't the only target for transformation through high-speed networks. Early meetings with city officials and university representatives determined that public safety could be a focus of the US Ignite networking projects, too.
Together with stakeholders in the Mayor's office and the university, they envisioned a university corridor where improved surveillance, responsive lighting and targeted policing could lower crime and encourage development.
"US Ignite provides the city of Flint with opportunities to make the community safer by automating utilities--turning on all lights in an area where a crime has been reported, for example, or by giving law enforcement access to high-speed, real-time, high-definition video on demand," said Kettering University President Robert K. McMahan.
"We may not be able to have a full smart city yet, but a smart neighborhood is entirely possible," noted Geske.
These forms of "smart policing" rely on networks of sensors, cameras and analytical tools that require fast networking and access to powerful computing. The Kettering project has these in the form of GENI hardware.
GENI is an NSF-funded experimental, ultra-high-speed, programmable networking testbed that allows researchers to test new networking ideas at-scale.
There are more than 180 GENI sites around the world--and Flint is one of a few cities that is already leveraging its GENI connections to advance application concepts and prototypes for public benefit and in support of the US Ignite initiative.
In part because of the strength of the existing resources and the community of stakeholders they had developed, Kettering University was awarded a $1 million grant in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of DoJ's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. The grant helps Flint develop and implement sustainable crime prevention strategies in the University Avenue Corridor in order to convert the neighborhood into a vibrant region. One strategy is data-driven policing.
"There are lots of pockets of information and it's hard for a researcher to gather it all together to find out if there are certain patterns," said Geske. "Once you pinpoint that, you can look at the area, figure out what's going on and decide what to do."
In an early collaboration with Flint police, Kettering researchers identified a particular pattern of criminal activity along the corridor. In this case, using data analytics, the university identified a property as a magnet for robberies--and purchased and revamped it to reduce crime in the area.
Geske hopes to enable this kind of smart policing citywide by building a cloud computing platform that enables the city to amass crime statistics and provides public access to the data.
In the future, officials imagine the avenue wired with lighting, air quality sensors, smart lighting and even autonomous vehicles or drones connected to the high-speed network. The GENI equipment will be used as a testbed to explore some of these possibilities.
Networked care
A third focus area for Flint is medicine, where Kettering is spearheading a partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint and Mott Community College, as well as with three major medical centers near the city.
Through this partnership, students, faculty, clinicians and researchers in the Flint area will be able to collaborate with instructors from around the country and have direct access to new tools to provide exceptional patient care. Officials even hope to use high-speed networking technologies to bring specialists together in a virtual office to make diagnoses.
With such technology in place, President McMahan says "individual patients seeking medical care at our partners in Flint will always have access to the latest advancements in healthcare no matter where in our country they originate or reside."
With the city as a testbed for creative technological solutions to civic problems, it will be interesting to see how advanced IT can impact education, policing and health care in the city.
Said Erwin Gianchandani, deputy division director for computer and network systems at NSF, "Pilot projects like those in Flint and other cities across the country are demonstrating the value of ultra-high-speed, programmable networks in our communities and helping the nation envision the possibilities of a faster, safer, smarter future Internet."
-- Aaron Dubrow, NS
Igniting change in Vehicle City
Kettering University leads effort to improve city services in Flint, Mich., through high-speed networking
March 24, 2015
Flint, Mich., the former home of General Motors, is on the rebound these days. Leaders there believe they have hit on a winning formula--connecting the city's institutions to high-speed networks that support new, game-changing capabilities.
Through grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Flint is beginning to lay the groundwork for an information technology-driven transformation.
In June 2012, Flint was one of 16 initial cities that were part of US Ignite, a public-private partnership designed to capitalize on the possibilities of ultra-fast broadband networks and "ignite" the development of next-generation Internet applications and services with societal benefits.
Kettering University--formerly General Motors Institute--was designated the lead research institution for the city.
High-speed networking wasn't really on the radar of John Geske, a professor of computer science at Kettering University, before Flint joined US Ignite.
"I was busy running a computer science department and the last thing on my mind was networking applications," Geske said.
But because of the US Ignite award, he started attending application summits and other meetings and realized the possibilities that were available at his doorstep.
"The community that you start to create and the contacts you make are just invaluable," he said.
Connected schools
Phase One of making the city a gigabit hotbed involved taking a step back and uncovering what was already available in the community.
Geske learned that the entire city school system, as well as the schools in 21 schools districts in neighboring Genesee County, had formed the GenNET consortium in 1995 and were already connected by a high-speed, fiber-optic network. Moreover, the schools were connected to the city's four higher education institutions via the Flint Area Network for Educational Telecommunications.
With these capabilities in place, students in the school district experienced unique learning opportunities. For instance, students were able to remotely control an exploratory submarine in real time near the Barrier Reef and communicate with astronauts on the space shuttle. Genesee County students were even able to dissect a sheep's brain via a telemedicine class remotely led by a doctor at Northern Michigan University.
"The GenNET fiber-optic network allows us to reduce the cost of technology services while providing a powerful platform for delivering virtual learning," said Luke Wittum, executive director of Technology and Media Services in the Genesee Intermediate School District.
US Ignite extended this already capable base and provided dedicated 10 gigabit-per-second network connections to the universities and libraries in Flint and to other gigabit cities around the nation, on unique, programmable hardware.
With ultra-high-speed, high-capability Information Technology in place, technology leaders hope to leverage the existing fiber-optic networks to provide immersive virtual reality learning to all students in Flint and Genesee County.
"What if a student could step inside of a human cell, stand at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or visit a historical place?" Wittum asked. "This opportunity could make learning more engaging and also provide some students who may have never been outside of the county or state to visit another part of the world."
Safer, smarter neighborhoods
Flint areas schools aren't the only target for transformation through high-speed networks. Early meetings with city officials and university representatives determined that public safety could be a focus of the US Ignite networking projects, too.
Together with stakeholders in the Mayor's office and the university, they envisioned a university corridor where improved surveillance, responsive lighting and targeted policing could lower crime and encourage development.
"US Ignite provides the city of Flint with opportunities to make the community safer by automating utilities--turning on all lights in an area where a crime has been reported, for example, or by giving law enforcement access to high-speed, real-time, high-definition video on demand," said Kettering University President Robert K. McMahan.
"We may not be able to have a full smart city yet, but a smart neighborhood is entirely possible," noted Geske.
These forms of "smart policing" rely on networks of sensors, cameras and analytical tools that require fast networking and access to powerful computing. The Kettering project has these in the form of GENI hardware.
GENI is an NSF-funded experimental, ultra-high-speed, programmable networking testbed that allows researchers to test new networking ideas at-scale.
There are more than 180 GENI sites around the world--and Flint is one of a few cities that is already leveraging its GENI connections to advance application concepts and prototypes for public benefit and in support of the US Ignite initiative.
In part because of the strength of the existing resources and the community of stakeholders they had developed, Kettering University was awarded a $1 million grant in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of DoJ's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. The grant helps Flint develop and implement sustainable crime prevention strategies in the University Avenue Corridor in order to convert the neighborhood into a vibrant region. One strategy is data-driven policing.
"There are lots of pockets of information and it's hard for a researcher to gather it all together to find out if there are certain patterns," said Geske. "Once you pinpoint that, you can look at the area, figure out what's going on and decide what to do."
In an early collaboration with Flint police, Kettering researchers identified a particular pattern of criminal activity along the corridor. In this case, using data analytics, the university identified a property as a magnet for robberies--and purchased and revamped it to reduce crime in the area.
Geske hopes to enable this kind of smart policing citywide by building a cloud computing platform that enables the city to amass crime statistics and provides public access to the data.
In the future, officials imagine the avenue wired with lighting, air quality sensors, smart lighting and even autonomous vehicles or drones connected to the high-speed network. The GENI equipment will be used as a testbed to explore some of these possibilities.
Networked care
A third focus area for Flint is medicine, where Kettering is spearheading a partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint and Mott Community College, as well as with three major medical centers near the city.
Through this partnership, students, faculty, clinicians and researchers in the Flint area will be able to collaborate with instructors from around the country and have direct access to new tools to provide exceptional patient care. Officials even hope to use high-speed networking technologies to bring specialists together in a virtual office to make diagnoses.
With such technology in place, President McMahan says "individual patients seeking medical care at our partners in Flint will always have access to the latest advancements in healthcare no matter where in our country they originate or reside."
With the city as a testbed for creative technological solutions to civic problems, it will be interesting to see how advanced IT can impact education, policing and health care in the city.
Said Erwin Gianchandani, deputy division director for computer and network systems at NSF, "Pilot projects like those in Flint and other cities across the country are demonstrating the value of ultra-high-speed, programmable networks in our communities and helping the nation envision the possibilities of a faster, safer, smarter future Internet."
-- Aaron Dubrow, NS
SECRETARY BURWELL MEETS WITH BUSINESS LEADERS ON HEALTHCARE DELIVERY SYSTEM
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Apr 02, 2015
By: Rhette Buttle, Director, Private Sector Engagement
Earlier this month, Secretary Burwell traveled to San Francisco. During her trip, she had the opportunity to meet with private sector leaders on a myriad of issues including precision medicine, how to better transform our healthcare delivery system and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. One of those meetings was held at Rock Health with several entrepreneurs who are doing innovative work in the healthcare space, and some of whom have started businesses thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Rock Health is a seed and early-stage venture fund that supports start-ups building the next generation of technologies transforming healthcare. During her visit, Secretary Burwell did a lot of listening, but also engaged in lively discussion focused on how the department could better support entrepreneurs and innovation. The Secretary was able to hear from leaders in the field about how we can better collaborate with innovators who seek to deliver better health care at more affordable cost; and work together to leverage data to empower consumers.
Secretary Burwell was encouraged to hear from entrepreneurs who were able to get access to quality affordable healthcare for the first time thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Apr 02, 2015
By: Rhette Buttle, Director, Private Sector Engagement
Earlier this month, Secretary Burwell traveled to San Francisco. During her trip, she had the opportunity to meet with private sector leaders on a myriad of issues including precision medicine, how to better transform our healthcare delivery system and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. One of those meetings was held at Rock Health with several entrepreneurs who are doing innovative work in the healthcare space, and some of whom have started businesses thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Rock Health is a seed and early-stage venture fund that supports start-ups building the next generation of technologies transforming healthcare. During her visit, Secretary Burwell did a lot of listening, but also engaged in lively discussion focused on how the department could better support entrepreneurs and innovation. The Secretary was able to hear from leaders in the field about how we can better collaborate with innovators who seek to deliver better health care at more affordable cost; and work together to leverage data to empower consumers.
Secretary Burwell was encouraged to hear from entrepreneurs who were able to get access to quality affordable healthcare for the first time thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Monday, April 6, 2015
RECENT US. AIR FORCE PHOTOS
FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
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Twelve Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers, from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, taxi onto the runway during Exercise Forceful Tiger on Kadena Air Base, Japan, April 1, 2015. During the aerial exercise, the Stratotankers delivered 800,000 pounds of fuel to approximately 50 aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Marcus Morris).
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| Two F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 31st Fighter Wing, Aviano Air Base, Italy, fly over Europe on March 20, 2015. The aircraft were participating in a flying training deployment with the Estonian air force and also participating in additional, unrelated training with the Finnish and Swedish air forces. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Christine Griffiths) |
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN PANAMA CITY
FROM: THE STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at "Foro de Rectores de Las Americas"
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Panama City, Panama
April 9, 2015
Thank you so much. Thank you. Muchas gracias and buenos tardes. I’m very honored to be here. University rectors and the Ministry of Education representatives and students, distinguished guests: It’s really a pleasure for me to be here at this historic Summit, and I deeply appreciate the chance to share a few thoughts with you here this afternoon.
Let me begin by thanking Education Minister Marcela Paredes not just for her generous introduction, which I could have listened to all night – (laughter) – but for her remarkable commitment to educational opportunities throughout the hemisphere. She is a great leader and a great spokesperson for what we’ve come here to talk about today.
And I met Minister Paredes when I came here – it was my first meeting with her during President Varela’s inauguration. And I brought with me at that time as a guest the now former governor of Massachusetts – he was then the governor – Deval Patrick, and he’s a huge education passionate advocate. And I want you to know that when the two of them got together and started talking about what they were able to do to promote education, it took over the whole meeting; it was finished.
Minister Varela summed up the challenge that we face when she said that we must “reflect on our starting points on where we stand, on where we want to go, and how to better invest our resources in order to adapt them to the needs of children’s education.”
Now, I think everyone in this room shares that conviction. In a world that is changing faster and becoming more interconnected than ever before, education more so than ever before, is the ladder of opportunity for people all across the planet. And that is why the expansion of educational opportunity has, from the beginning, been a central focus of the Summit of the Americas. It is why President Obama launched 100,000 Strong in the Americas to increase the number of young people from the region who are studying in the United States and the number of students from the United States attending universities in the region. It is why, here in Panama, President Varela began the Panama Bilingue program, which sends more than a thousand school teachers each year to universities in the United States and the United Kingdom for professional training. And I hope we will all say thank you to Eneida Lopez and Marta Lewis de Cardoze of the Galindo Foundation for their leadership of Panama Bilingue. We are grateful for what they do. (Applause.)
In 1994, when President Clinton invited 33 democratically elected leaders to Miami for the first Summit of the Americas, those leaders had a shared understanding of the mission. Together, they pledged to open new markets, create free trade zones, strengthen democratic institutions, respect human rights, and invest in the building blocks of social progress – including health care and education at all levels. President Clinton said simply: “If we’re successful, the summit will lead to more jobs, opportunity and prosperity for our children and for generations to come.”
Today, as we gather in Panama City for the Seventh Summit, we find ourselves encouraged by the progress that has been made. We also find ourselves determined to close the gaps that still exist, and more aware than ever that we will go forward together or we’ll fall back together.
Now, the progress has not always been steady. It hasn’t always been fast. But progress has been hard won. I think about the first trip that I made to Central America as a United States Senator. This was almost 30 years ago now, a time when much of the hemisphere seemed to wind up in the headlines for only for the wrong reasons – for wars, military governments, narcotics cartels – you name it. Few people back then were certain of a brighter future. Fewer probably thought we could turn the tide.
Well, today, the tide has turned and it has been turning for some time, thanks to the efforts of everybody in the region itself.
In country after country, the people of the Americas have strengthened their democracies and taken steps to ensure the fundamental freedoms of their citizens. And in many places, democracy has brought not only freedom from fear, but freedom from want. In the last decade, the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a rate of 4 percent a year. Incomes are rising. The middle class is growing. And the gap, the gap between the rich and poor – though still far too wide – is narrowing faster than in any other region.
We’ve also learned an important lesson since 1994 – and that is the extent to which progress depends not only on what governments do on their own, but on how willing they are to listen, to experiment, and to act in partnership with the private sector, civil society, educators, leaders from the scientific community. In our era, in this day and age, each day we wake up to a new world. We have to move forward constantly just to keep pace. And our democracies, frankly – ours too in the United States – need to be more agile; they need to be more responsive to citizens’ demands for greater opportunity and for greater accountability. And to get ahead, it is imperative that we set ambitious goals. We have to pursue them relentlessly. We have to hold people in public office like myself accountable. And we have to mean -- sometimes we have to actually upset some people and take a few risks. None of us should be willing to settle for the status quo. It’s unacceptable.
And that is why this first-ever Rectors’ Forum at the Summit of the Americas is so important. And the question we have to ask ourselves is: How do we together best work to create jobs, to create opportunity, to build prosperity for our children and for generations to come?
Well, let me offer an answer to the questions I just asked. There’s really a three-word answer to that question: Education, innovation, conservation.
Now make no mistake: These three words articulate not separate, but rather interlocking challenges. Without learning, our citizens will lack the knowledge and the skills that they have to have to compete in the 21st century in this new, fast-moving information age, information management economy. And without innovation, many of those who graduate from top universities will still be unable to find good jobs. And without clean energy, our economies will be held hostage to costly, unpredictable, nonrenewable resources of power, and that will lead to uneven growth and ultimately, I promise you, it will threaten the very future of all of us. What this means is that we have to tackle these three challenges simultaneously, and believe me, that’s what we intend to do.
Start with education.
We all know that education is a lifelong process. But it has to begin in the earliest days. It has to begin correctly – the earliest days. The brain of a child grows mostly in the first three years, certainly the first three to seven to eight years are the most important in terms of ability to learn for a lifetime. In the United States, we have seen a big push in recent years in order to try to move towards expanding access to kindergarten, so that children start learning as soon as they are able to. Globally, one of the Millennium Development Goals has been to ensure that every child – girls and boys – are able to attend primary school. Enormous progress has been made in that direction, and in our hemisphere, primary school attendance is now very near universal. That’s the good news.
Other areas are more troublesome, and this is true in my country as well as many of yours.
For example, we have to be sure that between the time that our children enter school each morning and the time that they leave in the afternoon, they actually learn something. Sitting in a classroom and getting an education are not the same things. There is no shortcut to investing in good teachers, providing quality professional development, and compensating people fairly for the work that they do.
We also have to find better ways to incorporate new curriculum methods and technology into the learning process; just giving a child a tablet or a laptop is not enough. You have to instill the desire in that child to want to learn more, to think critically, and the belief that success in school will actually translate into success in life. And if and only if we are able to do those things will we reduce the alarming number of students who enter the system but then they drop out before graduating from college, from secondary school or – in too many cases – even the seventh or eighth grade.
Another major task that we face in education today is to strengthen the connection between report cards that we give to kids and the paychecks that they’re able to earn afterwards. As this remarkable gathering reflects, there are fine colleges and universities in every part of our hemisphere, from the University of Sao Paulo to the Monterrey Institute of Technology to the Catholic University of Chile. But there is a troubling gap between the skills that schools teach and the expertise that the job market demands. Many of the region’s young people graduate with degrees that leave them ill-suited for available positions. And this gap is as frustrating to our students as it is to potential employers – and we’re working to bridge it and we all need to work to bridge it together.
Given the number of young people in the region, this basically ought to be a fixable problem. In the United States, we have developed a very strong community college system, and it is empowered by direct involvement in the curriculum design and hands-on career counseling from the private sector. And that’s how we try to bridge the gap, by getting the private sector involved in the curriculum. And that’s why President Obama has proposed to Congress the enactment of legislation that would guarantee access to community college for every student who applies for it, regardless of their ability to pay. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama announced $68 million in new funding for programs that will expand education, training, and employment programs for youth throughout Central America and the Caribbean.
And I am especially pleased that we are joined this evening by the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. The Secretary is here with a number of Puerto Rican rectors whose universities are ready to welcome Latin American and Caribbean students to an American educational experience on the Isla del Encanto.
So we’re approaching this issue with the urgency that it deserves. At the 2009 Summit of the Americas, the United States launched our Scholarships for Economic Growth program, which provided $50 million for 1,300 students from Latin America and the Caribbean to be able to get vocational training in the United States. President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas builds on that effort, and the results speak for themselves: Already, more than 72,000 students are coming to the United States each year from Latin America and the Caribbean. And nearly 47,000 U.S. students benefit from studying abroad in the region. Students like Natascha Moscoa from Costa Rica and Day Moore from Connecticut, who started a joint venture to empower women entrepreneurs. Students like Luis Santiago from the Dominican Republic, who studied in Chicago and then returned home to promote innovation and expand information in his community.
Their success reflects a very important truth. Students who are able to spend a portion of their time learning in other countries have a significant advantage: They return home equipped with greater confidence, new skills, the ability to speak a foreign language and they work the ability to also work in a foreign culture. And guess what – they come back with friends and contacts that will last a lifetime. I cannot tell you how many foreign ministers I have met in the course of serving as Secretary of State who say to me: I so enjoyed my time learning at Columbia or California or wherever it was, and vice versa; I meet people who tell me how much they learned when they went to study in another country. It makes all the difference in the world.
That’s why the United States isn’t just continuing the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative. Guess what – we’re doubling down on that initiative. We’ve already raised millions of dollars from the private sector for the Innovation Fund, which awards grants to universities to promote study abroad and programs between the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. We’ve awarded 47 grants to more than 100 higher education institutions across the region in order to expand their capacity to send and to host exchange students. We believe in this program. And today, I am pleased to congratulate the most recent Innovation Fund grant winners in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and Paraguay. These university partnerships will create new exchange programs for students that can have a transformative impact, which is exactly why they are such a high priority for me as Secretary of State.
Now, all of this leads to the second big challenge that I want to just say a word about today – and that concerns the jobs of the future. Nothing will be meaningful, no expectations will be met, without jobs – good jobs that genuinely open the doors of opportunity and improve the quality of life. What are these jobs? Where are they going to come from? How are they going to be developed? Who is going to benefit from them the most?
I’m willing to bet that at the heart of any story that you have heard about someone lifting themselves out of poverty, there’s a new job, a new opportunity to make a better living that came to them. Well, in Latin America and in the Caribbean, as in the United States and Canada, more than half of the new jobs are created by small and medium-size businesses. So if our goal is to reduce poverty, expand the middle class, help families create a better life for their children, the answer’s pretty simple – we need to innovate. And that means doing more to help small businesses create jobs and tap into global markets.
Now, you think I’m making this up, that this is not a reality? Believe me, we are – I’m able to say this to you because we’re doing it.
America is fortunate – the United States is fortunate to possess one of the world’s most extensive small business support networks. I saw this firsthand when I served as Chairman of the Small Business Committee in the United States Senate. The Small Business Administration, led by my colleague Maria Contreras-Sweet, provides training and counseling services to a million small businesses every year at more than 1,000 small business development centers that we have created across our country. And I’m proud that the agency has become a model for the region.
Just run the list: Brazil’s SEBRAE centers support more than a million small businesses across Brazil. Mexico has created a new National Entrepreneurship Institute, which is working to integrate hundreds of incubators and small business development centers. In Chile, President Bachelet has undertaken a new initiative to create 50 small business development centers. And El Salvador has shown great leadership in Central America by dedicating scarce resources to support 12 centers.
So we really have a great foundation to build on. But the fact is, you can never do too much to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. You just can’t. And that is exactly why President Obama launched the Small Business Network of the Americas to connect thousands of centers across the hemisphere and help entrepreneurs get the training and the counseling and the support that they need in order to enter new markets. One of the things that I learned when I was chairman of the committee was a lot of people have no idea how actually easy it is to access a global marketplace. And with a little bit of help, a mom or a pop enterprise of two or three people can become 12, and 15, and 20, and grow into a larger business. Many of these connection points that I’m talking about are located on university campuses. And I encourage all of you to speak to your counterparts in El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Chile, and the United States, and other countries that are embracing this kind of concept and that are getting the benefits of it as a result.
Now, without doubt, I’m sure you’ll all agree, one of the smartest investments that we can make is on the promise of women and girls. In too many parts of the world still, there’s a discrimination and they’re left behind. No country – no country can make it in today’s world leaving half of its population on the bench. No economy can thrive when women are not given a seat at the table. And that’s why President Obama launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas Initiative: To give women and girls the training and the tools that they need to become the next presidents, CEOs, and entrepreneurs in their communities. And one thing that we know for certain: Empowering women is an investment that is guaranteed to show enormous returns, not just in terms of the balance sheet but in terms of the social structure, and often in terms of peace and stability.
So education and innovation are critical. But we also need to think ahead and realize that the strongest economies will be built on the power sources of the future, not the past. Many of the clean energy technologies that will help ignite whole new industries are far cheaper, more readily available, and better performing than they were just 10 years ago – and we can use them, we must use them, to curb climate change even as we know they have all the benefits on the upside of creating new jobs. The solution to climate change, my friends, which is real and coming at us fast, is energy policy – good energy policy makes good climate solutions. It’s that simple.
Just imagine the possibilities. We were blessed in America to see more growth in the 1990s than at any recent time in American history – in recent history, since the 1920s, the great age of wealth creation when there was no income tax, and the early part of the Industrial Revolution. But the market of the 1990s, which saw every single income level in America go up, was a 1 trillion dollar market, with 1 billion users. The global energy market we are looking at today is a 6 trillion dollar market already with 4 to 5 billion users, and it’s going to go up to 9 billion users as the population of the planet grows in the next 30, 40 years. Think of that: 9 billion users in the next decades. By 2040, investment in the power sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That is an enormous amount of investment. And we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of that pie.
So how do realize the full potential of this opportunity?
To begin, we need leaders with the political courage to set us on the right path. And I am proud to serve with a President who has accepted that challenge. Today, thanks to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the United States is well on its way to meeting our international commitments to cut greenhouse gases emissions by 2020. And that’s because we’re going straight to the largest sources of pollution. We’re targeting emissions from cars, trucks, utilities, which account for about 60 percent of greenhouse gases that we release. And we’re also tackling more modest opportunities so that we cover every sector of the economy and every variety of greenhouse gas.
We’re also investing in cleaner alternatives. Since President Obama took office, the United States has upped its wind energy production by three times. We’ve increased our solar energy generation more than ten times. We’ve also become smarter about the way we use energy in our homes and in our businesses. And all of these are big steps.
But I can’t emphasize this fact enough: No single country – not China, not the United States, not India – no single country can solve this problem or foot this bill alone. Climate change is not an abstract future concern. Its effects are already on us right now. I think we had something like $110 billion of costs last year to make up for the fires and the floods and the extraordinary storms and all of the damage that was done by increased tides and so forth.
Here in Panama, extreme weather events are creating cycles of flood and drought and they’re threatening the water supplies that enable the Panama Canal to operate effectively and supply electricity. Just a few years ago, due to a record storm, the canal had to close for only the third time in its 100-year history, disrupting one of the world’s most important economic lifelines. In Peru, where I attended the climate change conference in December, tropical glaciers and fisheries are under threat. We’ve seen sea level rise contribute to the erosion of Puerto Rico’s coastline around Rincon. And coral reefs are at risk from warming waters and ocean acidification. The number of major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin has increased and then it increased some more, and that hurts tourism. Some of your nations, especially those in this region and in the Caribbean, climate change may well be the single gravest danger to security and prosperity. So when I say we need a global solution, I mean it. Anything less won’t work.
But still in our hemisphere, there are several steps that we can take without waiting for the rest of the world. You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world, and we can’t afford to wait for the rest of the world.
Governments can follow the United States and Mexico and commit to strong post-2020 plans that mitigate the impacts of climate, and that will increase the chances that we can have a successful outcome at the Paris negotiations that will take place this December. All the countries of the world will be coming together in Paris to try to deal with climate change, and we all need to live up to our responsibility to set the targets now so this can be successful.
Second, we can encourage governments, businesses, and consumers to rely less on costly fossil fuels. That means investing more in mass transit, in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, sustainable hydro. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama launched a new Clean Energy Finance Facility for Central America and the Caribbean and a task force to do everything that we can do in order to promote clean energy development and energy security.
Third, we can push for the world’s highest standards in the environmental chapters of the trade agreements that some of us are pursuing, and that includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, which will build prosperity throughout our hemisphere, and it will do so based on shared principles and shared values. It’s not just a technical trade agreement. It’s a strategic opportunity for all of us, and we need to seize it.
Finally, we can bring the private and public sectors together with our leading academic institutions – with all of you – to make the most of the innovative clean energy technology that entrepreneurs are developing today, including technology that increases the efficiency of appliances, vehicles, and machines.
So there we have it, ladies and gentlemen: Education, innovation, conservation. Three words. One big challenge. And I have absolute confidence in our ability to succeed. But it is going to take all of us, working together, getting rid of the ideology, getting rid of the politics, looking at each other and talking common sense and coming together to make our shared vision a reality for this hemisphere. And in the doing of it, there are millions of jobs to be created. Life will be better. Health will be better. The environment will be better. The economy will be better. And security will be better.
More than a century ago, one of my predecessors visited Panama at a time of great challenge and opportunity in the region. On his tour through the entire region, he spoke at a meeting of the American Republics in Rio de Janeiro. And he said simply this, I quote: “Not in a single conference, nor by a single effort, can very much be done. You labor more for the future than for the present; but if the right impulse be given, if the right tendency be established, the work you do here will go on among all the millions of people in the American continents long after your final adjournment, long after your lives, with incalculable benefit to all of our beloved countries.” That’s the challenge.
The seventh Summit of the Americas may be just a single conference, but it reflects an energy and a determination and a set of hopes and aspirations that connects the present to the future in a way that could not be more uplifting or real. Because when we join together to expand the boundaries of education, to unleash the spirit of innovation that is so widely present in our young, and to harness clean and renewable sources of power – when we change what tomorrow will look like for hundreds of millions of people from the Chilean foothills to the furthest reaches of Alaska’s North Slopes – when we do that, we’re meeting our obligations as citizens, not just of our countries but of the world.
Obviously, we are looking at a time of great challenge, with particular parts of the world witnessing upheaval and violence. Governance is more demanding as it deals with greater cultural, religious, ideological complexity in a world of instant communications. But the same thing that brings us the complexity actually brings us greater opportunity, and we have, all of us, learned lessons from the past.
So here at the dawn of the 21st century, here at the seventh Summit of the Americas, I hope we will overcome the stereotypes and not fall victim to the cynicism, but rather make the most of this extraordinary period of innovation, entrepreneurial activity, and individual opportunity. And I have great faith in the Americas’ ability to lead the world in doing that. Thank you all very, very much.
Remarks at "Foro de Rectores de Las Americas"
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Panama City, Panama
April 9, 2015
Thank you so much. Thank you. Muchas gracias and buenos tardes. I’m very honored to be here. University rectors and the Ministry of Education representatives and students, distinguished guests: It’s really a pleasure for me to be here at this historic Summit, and I deeply appreciate the chance to share a few thoughts with you here this afternoon.
Let me begin by thanking Education Minister Marcela Paredes not just for her generous introduction, which I could have listened to all night – (laughter) – but for her remarkable commitment to educational opportunities throughout the hemisphere. She is a great leader and a great spokesperson for what we’ve come here to talk about today.
And I met Minister Paredes when I came here – it was my first meeting with her during President Varela’s inauguration. And I brought with me at that time as a guest the now former governor of Massachusetts – he was then the governor – Deval Patrick, and he’s a huge education passionate advocate. And I want you to know that when the two of them got together and started talking about what they were able to do to promote education, it took over the whole meeting; it was finished.
Minister Varela summed up the challenge that we face when she said that we must “reflect on our starting points on where we stand, on where we want to go, and how to better invest our resources in order to adapt them to the needs of children’s education.”
Now, I think everyone in this room shares that conviction. In a world that is changing faster and becoming more interconnected than ever before, education more so than ever before, is the ladder of opportunity for people all across the planet. And that is why the expansion of educational opportunity has, from the beginning, been a central focus of the Summit of the Americas. It is why President Obama launched 100,000 Strong in the Americas to increase the number of young people from the region who are studying in the United States and the number of students from the United States attending universities in the region. It is why, here in Panama, President Varela began the Panama Bilingue program, which sends more than a thousand school teachers each year to universities in the United States and the United Kingdom for professional training. And I hope we will all say thank you to Eneida Lopez and Marta Lewis de Cardoze of the Galindo Foundation for their leadership of Panama Bilingue. We are grateful for what they do. (Applause.)
In 1994, when President Clinton invited 33 democratically elected leaders to Miami for the first Summit of the Americas, those leaders had a shared understanding of the mission. Together, they pledged to open new markets, create free trade zones, strengthen democratic institutions, respect human rights, and invest in the building blocks of social progress – including health care and education at all levels. President Clinton said simply: “If we’re successful, the summit will lead to more jobs, opportunity and prosperity for our children and for generations to come.”
Today, as we gather in Panama City for the Seventh Summit, we find ourselves encouraged by the progress that has been made. We also find ourselves determined to close the gaps that still exist, and more aware than ever that we will go forward together or we’ll fall back together.
Now, the progress has not always been steady. It hasn’t always been fast. But progress has been hard won. I think about the first trip that I made to Central America as a United States Senator. This was almost 30 years ago now, a time when much of the hemisphere seemed to wind up in the headlines for only for the wrong reasons – for wars, military governments, narcotics cartels – you name it. Few people back then were certain of a brighter future. Fewer probably thought we could turn the tide.
Well, today, the tide has turned and it has been turning for some time, thanks to the efforts of everybody in the region itself.
In country after country, the people of the Americas have strengthened their democracies and taken steps to ensure the fundamental freedoms of their citizens. And in many places, democracy has brought not only freedom from fear, but freedom from want. In the last decade, the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a rate of 4 percent a year. Incomes are rising. The middle class is growing. And the gap, the gap between the rich and poor – though still far too wide – is narrowing faster than in any other region.
We’ve also learned an important lesson since 1994 – and that is the extent to which progress depends not only on what governments do on their own, but on how willing they are to listen, to experiment, and to act in partnership with the private sector, civil society, educators, leaders from the scientific community. In our era, in this day and age, each day we wake up to a new world. We have to move forward constantly just to keep pace. And our democracies, frankly – ours too in the United States – need to be more agile; they need to be more responsive to citizens’ demands for greater opportunity and for greater accountability. And to get ahead, it is imperative that we set ambitious goals. We have to pursue them relentlessly. We have to hold people in public office like myself accountable. And we have to mean -- sometimes we have to actually upset some people and take a few risks. None of us should be willing to settle for the status quo. It’s unacceptable.
And that is why this first-ever Rectors’ Forum at the Summit of the Americas is so important. And the question we have to ask ourselves is: How do we together best work to create jobs, to create opportunity, to build prosperity for our children and for generations to come?
Well, let me offer an answer to the questions I just asked. There’s really a three-word answer to that question: Education, innovation, conservation.
Now make no mistake: These three words articulate not separate, but rather interlocking challenges. Without learning, our citizens will lack the knowledge and the skills that they have to have to compete in the 21st century in this new, fast-moving information age, information management economy. And without innovation, many of those who graduate from top universities will still be unable to find good jobs. And without clean energy, our economies will be held hostage to costly, unpredictable, nonrenewable resources of power, and that will lead to uneven growth and ultimately, I promise you, it will threaten the very future of all of us. What this means is that we have to tackle these three challenges simultaneously, and believe me, that’s what we intend to do.
Start with education.
We all know that education is a lifelong process. But it has to begin in the earliest days. It has to begin correctly – the earliest days. The brain of a child grows mostly in the first three years, certainly the first three to seven to eight years are the most important in terms of ability to learn for a lifetime. In the United States, we have seen a big push in recent years in order to try to move towards expanding access to kindergarten, so that children start learning as soon as they are able to. Globally, one of the Millennium Development Goals has been to ensure that every child – girls and boys – are able to attend primary school. Enormous progress has been made in that direction, and in our hemisphere, primary school attendance is now very near universal. That’s the good news.
Other areas are more troublesome, and this is true in my country as well as many of yours.
For example, we have to be sure that between the time that our children enter school each morning and the time that they leave in the afternoon, they actually learn something. Sitting in a classroom and getting an education are not the same things. There is no shortcut to investing in good teachers, providing quality professional development, and compensating people fairly for the work that they do.
We also have to find better ways to incorporate new curriculum methods and technology into the learning process; just giving a child a tablet or a laptop is not enough. You have to instill the desire in that child to want to learn more, to think critically, and the belief that success in school will actually translate into success in life. And if and only if we are able to do those things will we reduce the alarming number of students who enter the system but then they drop out before graduating from college, from secondary school or – in too many cases – even the seventh or eighth grade.
Another major task that we face in education today is to strengthen the connection between report cards that we give to kids and the paychecks that they’re able to earn afterwards. As this remarkable gathering reflects, there are fine colleges and universities in every part of our hemisphere, from the University of Sao Paulo to the Monterrey Institute of Technology to the Catholic University of Chile. But there is a troubling gap between the skills that schools teach and the expertise that the job market demands. Many of the region’s young people graduate with degrees that leave them ill-suited for available positions. And this gap is as frustrating to our students as it is to potential employers – and we’re working to bridge it and we all need to work to bridge it together.
Given the number of young people in the region, this basically ought to be a fixable problem. In the United States, we have developed a very strong community college system, and it is empowered by direct involvement in the curriculum design and hands-on career counseling from the private sector. And that’s how we try to bridge the gap, by getting the private sector involved in the curriculum. And that’s why President Obama has proposed to Congress the enactment of legislation that would guarantee access to community college for every student who applies for it, regardless of their ability to pay. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama announced $68 million in new funding for programs that will expand education, training, and employment programs for youth throughout Central America and the Caribbean.
And I am especially pleased that we are joined this evening by the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. The Secretary is here with a number of Puerto Rican rectors whose universities are ready to welcome Latin American and Caribbean students to an American educational experience on the Isla del Encanto.
So we’re approaching this issue with the urgency that it deserves. At the 2009 Summit of the Americas, the United States launched our Scholarships for Economic Growth program, which provided $50 million for 1,300 students from Latin America and the Caribbean to be able to get vocational training in the United States. President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas builds on that effort, and the results speak for themselves: Already, more than 72,000 students are coming to the United States each year from Latin America and the Caribbean. And nearly 47,000 U.S. students benefit from studying abroad in the region. Students like Natascha Moscoa from Costa Rica and Day Moore from Connecticut, who started a joint venture to empower women entrepreneurs. Students like Luis Santiago from the Dominican Republic, who studied in Chicago and then returned home to promote innovation and expand information in his community.
Their success reflects a very important truth. Students who are able to spend a portion of their time learning in other countries have a significant advantage: They return home equipped with greater confidence, new skills, the ability to speak a foreign language and they work the ability to also work in a foreign culture. And guess what – they come back with friends and contacts that will last a lifetime. I cannot tell you how many foreign ministers I have met in the course of serving as Secretary of State who say to me: I so enjoyed my time learning at Columbia or California or wherever it was, and vice versa; I meet people who tell me how much they learned when they went to study in another country. It makes all the difference in the world.
That’s why the United States isn’t just continuing the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative. Guess what – we’re doubling down on that initiative. We’ve already raised millions of dollars from the private sector for the Innovation Fund, which awards grants to universities to promote study abroad and programs between the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. We’ve awarded 47 grants to more than 100 higher education institutions across the region in order to expand their capacity to send and to host exchange students. We believe in this program. And today, I am pleased to congratulate the most recent Innovation Fund grant winners in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and Paraguay. These university partnerships will create new exchange programs for students that can have a transformative impact, which is exactly why they are such a high priority for me as Secretary of State.
Now, all of this leads to the second big challenge that I want to just say a word about today – and that concerns the jobs of the future. Nothing will be meaningful, no expectations will be met, without jobs – good jobs that genuinely open the doors of opportunity and improve the quality of life. What are these jobs? Where are they going to come from? How are they going to be developed? Who is going to benefit from them the most?
I’m willing to bet that at the heart of any story that you have heard about someone lifting themselves out of poverty, there’s a new job, a new opportunity to make a better living that came to them. Well, in Latin America and in the Caribbean, as in the United States and Canada, more than half of the new jobs are created by small and medium-size businesses. So if our goal is to reduce poverty, expand the middle class, help families create a better life for their children, the answer’s pretty simple – we need to innovate. And that means doing more to help small businesses create jobs and tap into global markets.
Now, you think I’m making this up, that this is not a reality? Believe me, we are – I’m able to say this to you because we’re doing it.
America is fortunate – the United States is fortunate to possess one of the world’s most extensive small business support networks. I saw this firsthand when I served as Chairman of the Small Business Committee in the United States Senate. The Small Business Administration, led by my colleague Maria Contreras-Sweet, provides training and counseling services to a million small businesses every year at more than 1,000 small business development centers that we have created across our country. And I’m proud that the agency has become a model for the region.
Just run the list: Brazil’s SEBRAE centers support more than a million small businesses across Brazil. Mexico has created a new National Entrepreneurship Institute, which is working to integrate hundreds of incubators and small business development centers. In Chile, President Bachelet has undertaken a new initiative to create 50 small business development centers. And El Salvador has shown great leadership in Central America by dedicating scarce resources to support 12 centers.
So we really have a great foundation to build on. But the fact is, you can never do too much to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. You just can’t. And that is exactly why President Obama launched the Small Business Network of the Americas to connect thousands of centers across the hemisphere and help entrepreneurs get the training and the counseling and the support that they need in order to enter new markets. One of the things that I learned when I was chairman of the committee was a lot of people have no idea how actually easy it is to access a global marketplace. And with a little bit of help, a mom or a pop enterprise of two or three people can become 12, and 15, and 20, and grow into a larger business. Many of these connection points that I’m talking about are located on university campuses. And I encourage all of you to speak to your counterparts in El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Chile, and the United States, and other countries that are embracing this kind of concept and that are getting the benefits of it as a result.
Now, without doubt, I’m sure you’ll all agree, one of the smartest investments that we can make is on the promise of women and girls. In too many parts of the world still, there’s a discrimination and they’re left behind. No country – no country can make it in today’s world leaving half of its population on the bench. No economy can thrive when women are not given a seat at the table. And that’s why President Obama launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas Initiative: To give women and girls the training and the tools that they need to become the next presidents, CEOs, and entrepreneurs in their communities. And one thing that we know for certain: Empowering women is an investment that is guaranteed to show enormous returns, not just in terms of the balance sheet but in terms of the social structure, and often in terms of peace and stability.
So education and innovation are critical. But we also need to think ahead and realize that the strongest economies will be built on the power sources of the future, not the past. Many of the clean energy technologies that will help ignite whole new industries are far cheaper, more readily available, and better performing than they were just 10 years ago – and we can use them, we must use them, to curb climate change even as we know they have all the benefits on the upside of creating new jobs. The solution to climate change, my friends, which is real and coming at us fast, is energy policy – good energy policy makes good climate solutions. It’s that simple.
Just imagine the possibilities. We were blessed in America to see more growth in the 1990s than at any recent time in American history – in recent history, since the 1920s, the great age of wealth creation when there was no income tax, and the early part of the Industrial Revolution. But the market of the 1990s, which saw every single income level in America go up, was a 1 trillion dollar market, with 1 billion users. The global energy market we are looking at today is a 6 trillion dollar market already with 4 to 5 billion users, and it’s going to go up to 9 billion users as the population of the planet grows in the next 30, 40 years. Think of that: 9 billion users in the next decades. By 2040, investment in the power sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That is an enormous amount of investment. And we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of that pie.
So how do realize the full potential of this opportunity?
To begin, we need leaders with the political courage to set us on the right path. And I am proud to serve with a President who has accepted that challenge. Today, thanks to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the United States is well on its way to meeting our international commitments to cut greenhouse gases emissions by 2020. And that’s because we’re going straight to the largest sources of pollution. We’re targeting emissions from cars, trucks, utilities, which account for about 60 percent of greenhouse gases that we release. And we’re also tackling more modest opportunities so that we cover every sector of the economy and every variety of greenhouse gas.
We’re also investing in cleaner alternatives. Since President Obama took office, the United States has upped its wind energy production by three times. We’ve increased our solar energy generation more than ten times. We’ve also become smarter about the way we use energy in our homes and in our businesses. And all of these are big steps.
But I can’t emphasize this fact enough: No single country – not China, not the United States, not India – no single country can solve this problem or foot this bill alone. Climate change is not an abstract future concern. Its effects are already on us right now. I think we had something like $110 billion of costs last year to make up for the fires and the floods and the extraordinary storms and all of the damage that was done by increased tides and so forth.
Here in Panama, extreme weather events are creating cycles of flood and drought and they’re threatening the water supplies that enable the Panama Canal to operate effectively and supply electricity. Just a few years ago, due to a record storm, the canal had to close for only the third time in its 100-year history, disrupting one of the world’s most important economic lifelines. In Peru, where I attended the climate change conference in December, tropical glaciers and fisheries are under threat. We’ve seen sea level rise contribute to the erosion of Puerto Rico’s coastline around Rincon. And coral reefs are at risk from warming waters and ocean acidification. The number of major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin has increased and then it increased some more, and that hurts tourism. Some of your nations, especially those in this region and in the Caribbean, climate change may well be the single gravest danger to security and prosperity. So when I say we need a global solution, I mean it. Anything less won’t work.
But still in our hemisphere, there are several steps that we can take without waiting for the rest of the world. You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world, and we can’t afford to wait for the rest of the world.
Governments can follow the United States and Mexico and commit to strong post-2020 plans that mitigate the impacts of climate, and that will increase the chances that we can have a successful outcome at the Paris negotiations that will take place this December. All the countries of the world will be coming together in Paris to try to deal with climate change, and we all need to live up to our responsibility to set the targets now so this can be successful.
Second, we can encourage governments, businesses, and consumers to rely less on costly fossil fuels. That means investing more in mass transit, in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, sustainable hydro. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama launched a new Clean Energy Finance Facility for Central America and the Caribbean and a task force to do everything that we can do in order to promote clean energy development and energy security.
Third, we can push for the world’s highest standards in the environmental chapters of the trade agreements that some of us are pursuing, and that includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, which will build prosperity throughout our hemisphere, and it will do so based on shared principles and shared values. It’s not just a technical trade agreement. It’s a strategic opportunity for all of us, and we need to seize it.
Finally, we can bring the private and public sectors together with our leading academic institutions – with all of you – to make the most of the innovative clean energy technology that entrepreneurs are developing today, including technology that increases the efficiency of appliances, vehicles, and machines.
So there we have it, ladies and gentlemen: Education, innovation, conservation. Three words. One big challenge. And I have absolute confidence in our ability to succeed. But it is going to take all of us, working together, getting rid of the ideology, getting rid of the politics, looking at each other and talking common sense and coming together to make our shared vision a reality for this hemisphere. And in the doing of it, there are millions of jobs to be created. Life will be better. Health will be better. The environment will be better. The economy will be better. And security will be better.
More than a century ago, one of my predecessors visited Panama at a time of great challenge and opportunity in the region. On his tour through the entire region, he spoke at a meeting of the American Republics in Rio de Janeiro. And he said simply this, I quote: “Not in a single conference, nor by a single effort, can very much be done. You labor more for the future than for the present; but if the right impulse be given, if the right tendency be established, the work you do here will go on among all the millions of people in the American continents long after your final adjournment, long after your lives, with incalculable benefit to all of our beloved countries.” That’s the challenge.
The seventh Summit of the Americas may be just a single conference, but it reflects an energy and a determination and a set of hopes and aspirations that connects the present to the future in a way that could not be more uplifting or real. Because when we join together to expand the boundaries of education, to unleash the spirit of innovation that is so widely present in our young, and to harness clean and renewable sources of power – when we change what tomorrow will look like for hundreds of millions of people from the Chilean foothills to the furthest reaches of Alaska’s North Slopes – when we do that, we’re meeting our obligations as citizens, not just of our countries but of the world.
Obviously, we are looking at a time of great challenge, with particular parts of the world witnessing upheaval and violence. Governance is more demanding as it deals with greater cultural, religious, ideological complexity in a world of instant communications. But the same thing that brings us the complexity actually brings us greater opportunity, and we have, all of us, learned lessons from the past.
So here at the dawn of the 21st century, here at the seventh Summit of the Americas, I hope we will overcome the stereotypes and not fall victim to the cynicism, but rather make the most of this extraordinary period of innovation, entrepreneurial activity, and individual opportunity. And I have great faith in the Americas’ ability to lead the world in doing that. Thank you all very, very much.
CFTC CHARGES TWO COMPANIES WITH MANIPULATION OF WHEAT FUTURES AND CASH WHEAT PRICES
FROM: U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
April 1, 2015
CFTC Charges Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and Mondelēz Global LLC with Manipulation of Wheat Futures and Cash Wheat Prices
CFTC also charges violations of position limits and noncompetitive trading
Washington, DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing of a civil enforcement Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and Mondelēz Global LLC, headquartered in Northfield and Deerfield, Illinois, respectively, for manipulation and attempted manipulation of the prices of cash wheat and wheat futures. The Complaint also alleges that Kraft and Mondelēz violated speculative position limits by holding wheat futures positions in excess of speculative position limits established by the CFTC and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) without a valid hedge exemption or a bona fide hedging need, and engaged in numerous noncompetitive trades in CBOT wheat.
Aitan Goelman, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, stated: “This case goes to the core of the CFTC’s mission: protecting market participants and the public from manipulation and abusive practices that undermine the integrity of the derivatives markets. A market participant who is not happy with cash prices available to it may not resort to manipulative trading strategies in an attempt to artificially lower that price.”
According to the CFTC Complaint, in response to high cash wheat prices in late Summer 2011, Kraft and Mondelēz developed, approved, and executed in early December 2011 a strategy to buy $90 million of December 2011 wheat futures, which amounted to a six-month supply of wheat. The CFTC Complaint alleges that Kraft and Mondelēz never intended to take delivery of this wheat and instead executed this strategy expecting that the market would react to their enormous long position by lowering cash wheat prices and strengthening the spread between December 2011 wheat and March 2012 wheat futures. Those price shifts did occur and, according to the CFTC Complaint, Kraft and Mondelēz earned over $5.4 million in profits.
The CFTC Complaint also alleges that on five dates in early December 2011, Kraft and Mondelēz held long positions in December 2011 wheat that exceeded the CBOT’s 600-contract speculative spot month position limit by as much as 2,110 contracts without having a valid hedge exemption in place or a bona fide need for that quantity of wheat.
Finally, the CFTC Complaint alleges that beginning in or about 2003 and continuing through January 2014, prior to each of the five annual delivery periods for CBOT wheat, Kraft and Mondelēz conducted off-exchange futures transactions between two separate corporate trading accounts that did not comply with exchange rules for noncompetitive, off-exchange futures trades.
In its continuing litigation against Kraft and Mondelēz, the CFTC seeks a permanent injunction from future violations of federal commodities laws, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalties.
The CFTC staff members responsible for this case are Division of Enforcement staff Robert Howell, Jennifer E. Smiley, Joseph Patrick, Susan Gradman, Scott Williamson, and Rosemary Hollinger, and Division of Market Oversight staff David Amato, Gene Kunda, and Jerry Lavin.
Media Contact
April 1, 2015
CFTC Charges Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and Mondelēz Global LLC with Manipulation of Wheat Futures and Cash Wheat Prices
CFTC also charges violations of position limits and noncompetitive trading
Washington, DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing of a civil enforcement Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and Mondelēz Global LLC, headquartered in Northfield and Deerfield, Illinois, respectively, for manipulation and attempted manipulation of the prices of cash wheat and wheat futures. The Complaint also alleges that Kraft and Mondelēz violated speculative position limits by holding wheat futures positions in excess of speculative position limits established by the CFTC and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) without a valid hedge exemption or a bona fide hedging need, and engaged in numerous noncompetitive trades in CBOT wheat.
Aitan Goelman, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, stated: “This case goes to the core of the CFTC’s mission: protecting market participants and the public from manipulation and abusive practices that undermine the integrity of the derivatives markets. A market participant who is not happy with cash prices available to it may not resort to manipulative trading strategies in an attempt to artificially lower that price.”
According to the CFTC Complaint, in response to high cash wheat prices in late Summer 2011, Kraft and Mondelēz developed, approved, and executed in early December 2011 a strategy to buy $90 million of December 2011 wheat futures, which amounted to a six-month supply of wheat. The CFTC Complaint alleges that Kraft and Mondelēz never intended to take delivery of this wheat and instead executed this strategy expecting that the market would react to their enormous long position by lowering cash wheat prices and strengthening the spread between December 2011 wheat and March 2012 wheat futures. Those price shifts did occur and, according to the CFTC Complaint, Kraft and Mondelēz earned over $5.4 million in profits.
The CFTC Complaint also alleges that on five dates in early December 2011, Kraft and Mondelēz held long positions in December 2011 wheat that exceeded the CBOT’s 600-contract speculative spot month position limit by as much as 2,110 contracts without having a valid hedge exemption in place or a bona fide need for that quantity of wheat.
Finally, the CFTC Complaint alleges that beginning in or about 2003 and continuing through January 2014, prior to each of the five annual delivery periods for CBOT wheat, Kraft and Mondelēz conducted off-exchange futures transactions between two separate corporate trading accounts that did not comply with exchange rules for noncompetitive, off-exchange futures trades.
In its continuing litigation against Kraft and Mondelēz, the CFTC seeks a permanent injunction from future violations of federal commodities laws, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalties.
The CFTC staff members responsible for this case are Division of Enforcement staff Robert Howell, Jennifer E. Smiley, Joseph Patrick, Susan Gradman, Scott Williamson, and Rosemary Hollinger, and Division of Market Oversight staff David Amato, Gene Kunda, and Jerry Lavin.
Media Contact
THE FIGHT AGAINST WILDLIFE CRIME
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
04/01/2015 01:54 PM EDT
The INL Beat, February/March 2015
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Fighting Wildlife Crime
Date: 03/31/2015
In recent years, INL has significantly increased its effort to combat wildlife crime, as the problem has worsened and transnational organized crime has become more intricately involved in the trade. Wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal activity that ranks near the top of the list of most lucrative forms of illicit trade, behind narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and counterfeiting. Trafficking of protected species fosters corruption, threatens the rule of law, and destabilizes communities that depend on wildlife for biodiversity and eco-tourism revenues. INL has increased its programming and partnered with a wide variety of stakeholders including governments, communities, law enforcers, civil society, and the private sector, pursuing a multifaceted approach that includes capacity building, and multilateral action.
This month senior INL officials participated in several outreach events to raise public awareness of the importance of combating wildlife crime. In celebration of World Wildlife Day on March 3, Assistant Secretary Brownfield participated in a high-level stakeholder dialogue at the Central Park Zoo hosted by multiple UN organizations and NGOs. The theme for this year’s celebration, “Let’s Get Serious about Wildlife Crime,” refers to the need for countries to designate wildlife trafficking as a “serious crime” and to recognize the security threats posed by the growing involvement of transnational organized crime. Later in the week, Ambassador Brownfield participated in a live Q&A session on the State Department’s flagship Facebook page to answer wildlife crime questions from the public, journalists, and NGOs. Reaching over 1 million people worldwide, the Facebook Q&A gave Ambassador Brownfield the opportunity to speak directly to the public and offer them a chance to help in the fight. On March 9, INL Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Luis Arreaga joined private sector and civil society counterparts in a public panel discussion on international environmental crime issues at the Stimson Center in Washington.
In support of the interagency U.S. Implementation Plan that was released in February 2015, Congress has set aside $25 million for overseas law enforcement capacity building to counter wildlife trafficking, with work in four primary areas: 1) strengthening legislative frameworks; 2) enhancing investigative and law enforcement functions; 3) developing capacities to prosecute and adjudicate wildlife crimes and related corruption; and 4) supporting cross border law enforcement cooperation. Aligning with the Implementation Plan, INL has invested in tools and technology to better assist law enforcement efforts.
One of INL’s most important and exciting efforts to combat this threat is support for groundbreaking forensics analysis on ivory seizures. Together with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Bank, INL is supporting forensic DNA analysis by University of Washington scientists on major ivory seizures. This analysis compares DNA samples from major seizures against a database of existing DNA profiles of elephants across Africa, allowing researchers to identify the approximate geographic origin of individual ivory samples. The results show that the vast majority of large ivory seizures come from only a few poaching hotspots in Africa, far more limited than previously thought, providing a clearer picture of the trade routes in ivory trafficking. This information should greatly assist law enforcement in placing their limited resources in a focused area for a more targeted approach, helping to disrupt the criminal networks involved in ivory trafficking.
04/01/2015 01:54 PM EDT
The INL Beat, February/March 2015
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Fighting Wildlife Crime
Date: 03/31/2015
In recent years, INL has significantly increased its effort to combat wildlife crime, as the problem has worsened and transnational organized crime has become more intricately involved in the trade. Wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal activity that ranks near the top of the list of most lucrative forms of illicit trade, behind narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and counterfeiting. Trafficking of protected species fosters corruption, threatens the rule of law, and destabilizes communities that depend on wildlife for biodiversity and eco-tourism revenues. INL has increased its programming and partnered with a wide variety of stakeholders including governments, communities, law enforcers, civil society, and the private sector, pursuing a multifaceted approach that includes capacity building, and multilateral action.
This month senior INL officials participated in several outreach events to raise public awareness of the importance of combating wildlife crime. In celebration of World Wildlife Day on March 3, Assistant Secretary Brownfield participated in a high-level stakeholder dialogue at the Central Park Zoo hosted by multiple UN organizations and NGOs. The theme for this year’s celebration, “Let’s Get Serious about Wildlife Crime,” refers to the need for countries to designate wildlife trafficking as a “serious crime” and to recognize the security threats posed by the growing involvement of transnational organized crime. Later in the week, Ambassador Brownfield participated in a live Q&A session on the State Department’s flagship Facebook page to answer wildlife crime questions from the public, journalists, and NGOs. Reaching over 1 million people worldwide, the Facebook Q&A gave Ambassador Brownfield the opportunity to speak directly to the public and offer them a chance to help in the fight. On March 9, INL Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Luis Arreaga joined private sector and civil society counterparts in a public panel discussion on international environmental crime issues at the Stimson Center in Washington.
In support of the interagency U.S. Implementation Plan that was released in February 2015, Congress has set aside $25 million for overseas law enforcement capacity building to counter wildlife trafficking, with work in four primary areas: 1) strengthening legislative frameworks; 2) enhancing investigative and law enforcement functions; 3) developing capacities to prosecute and adjudicate wildlife crimes and related corruption; and 4) supporting cross border law enforcement cooperation. Aligning with the Implementation Plan, INL has invested in tools and technology to better assist law enforcement efforts.
One of INL’s most important and exciting efforts to combat this threat is support for groundbreaking forensics analysis on ivory seizures. Together with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Bank, INL is supporting forensic DNA analysis by University of Washington scientists on major ivory seizures. This analysis compares DNA samples from major seizures against a database of existing DNA profiles of elephants across Africa, allowing researchers to identify the approximate geographic origin of individual ivory samples. The results show that the vast majority of large ivory seizures come from only a few poaching hotspots in Africa, far more limited than previously thought, providing a clearer picture of the trade routes in ivory trafficking. This information should greatly assist law enforcement in placing their limited resources in a focused area for a more targeted approach, helping to disrupt the criminal networks involved in ivory trafficking.
DOL SECRETARY PEREZ VISITS PEOPLE ASSISTING HOMELESS VETERANS
FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
Veterans Share Experiences of Homelessness
Secretary Perez (center) speaks with veterans employed at Connections Housing in San Diego, (from left) Mario Moreno, Kevin Greene and Manuel Sanchez (front right) on March 31, 2015. U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (to the Secretary's right) and U.S. Rep. Susan Davis also toured the facility. Connections Housing is operated by PATH, a recipient of funding through the department's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program.
As part of his trip to the West Coast, Secretary Perez visited Veterans at Connections Housing, a San Diego facility affiliated with People Assisting the Homeless. PATH, is an organization that provides sustainable housing for homeless veterans with funds from the department's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program. One seven-year Navy veteran was homeless for 20 months before coming to the facility, where he found temporary shelter and learned job search skills like resume building and interviewing. He soon landed a job at a moving company. "While homelessness and joblessness among veterans continues to steadily decline, it remains our moral duty to do all we can to honor our veterans with the dignity of a good job," Perez said. He was joined by Congressional Reps. Scott Peters and Susan Davis. Last year, the department awarded more than $36 million to 156 organizations nationwide, which provided services to more than 12,000 veterans through HVRP.
Veterans Share Experiences of Homelessness
Secretary Perez (center) speaks with veterans employed at Connections Housing in San Diego, (from left) Mario Moreno, Kevin Greene and Manuel Sanchez (front right) on March 31, 2015. U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (to the Secretary's right) and U.S. Rep. Susan Davis also toured the facility. Connections Housing is operated by PATH, a recipient of funding through the department's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program.
As part of his trip to the West Coast, Secretary Perez visited Veterans at Connections Housing, a San Diego facility affiliated with People Assisting the Homeless. PATH, is an organization that provides sustainable housing for homeless veterans with funds from the department's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program. One seven-year Navy veteran was homeless for 20 months before coming to the facility, where he found temporary shelter and learned job search skills like resume building and interviewing. He soon landed a job at a moving company. "While homelessness and joblessness among veterans continues to steadily decline, it remains our moral duty to do all we can to honor our veterans with the dignity of a good job," Perez said. He was joined by Congressional Reps. Scott Peters and Susan Davis. Last year, the department awarded more than $36 million to 156 organizations nationwide, which provided services to more than 12,000 veterans through HVRP.
WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET ON ACTIONS TO DRIVE SOLAR ENERGY GROWTH, TRAIN WORKERS FOR CLEAN-ENERGY JOBS
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE P
April 03, 2015
FACT SHEET: Administration Announces Actions To Drive Growth In Solar Energy And Train Workers For Clean-Energy Jobs
The President is committed to addressing climate change and creating jobs by spurring the deployment of clean sources of energy. Since President Obama took office, solar electricity generation has increased 20 fold, doubling last year alone – just as the cost of solar has continued to fall as a result of investments in research and manufacturing innovation. The solar industry is adding jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy, creating a source of good paying American employment. To continue progress, the Administration is announcing actions to drive growth in the solar industry while also supporting our veterans.
Today’s announcements build on the strong progress made under President Obama to curb the emissions that are driving climate change and lead on the international stage. They will help set the U.S. on a path to achieve our target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, which we submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) earlier this week.
To continue to reduce carbon pollution and create good paying American jobs, the President is announcing the following actions at Hill Air Force Base today:
Training 75,000 Solar Workers: The Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing a goal to train 75,000 people to enter the solar workforce by 2020, some of whom will be veterans. This is an increase from the previous goal of training 50,000 solar workers by 2020 announced in May 2014. The new goal builds on the tremendous progress of DOE’s SunShot Initiative’s Solar Instructor Training Network, which includes 400 partnering community colleges across the country and has trained more than 1,000 certified solar instructors and nearly 30,000 students nationwide in the last five years.
Launching a Solar Ready Vets Program: DOE, in partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD), is launching a Solar Ready Vets program at 10 military bases across the country, including at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, which has already taken leadership by installing solar panels onsite. The program also includes participation from Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Carson in Colorado, and Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, all which announced pilot initiatives earlier this year and are serving as a model for the Solar Ready Vets program.
The Solar Ready Vets program will train transitioning military service personnel to enter the solar workforce by joining with SunShot’s Solar Instructor Training Network and leveraging the DOD’s Skillbridge transition authority authorized by Congress in 2012. Consistent with the Vice-President’s job-driven training agenda, the program is based on the specific needs of high-growth solar employers, is tailored to build on the technician skills that veterans have acquired through their service, and incorporates work-based learning strategies. Service members will learn how to size and install solar panels, connect electricity to the grid, and interpret and comply with local building codes. This accelerated training will prepare them for careers in the solar industry as installers, sales representatives, system inspectors, and other solar-related occupations.
Utilizing the GI Bill for Solar Workforce Training: The Department of Veterans Affairs is committing to working with DOE and State Approving Agencies to achieve approval for GI Bill funding for DOE’s Solar Ready Vets initiative. Over time, this approval will enable more veterans across the country to use their GI Bill benefits to participate in this job-driven training program through local community colleges, where they will quickly learn the skills needed for good-paying jobs in the solar industry. Adding Solar Ready Vets will expand the existing network of programs providing service members and veterans opportunities to gain skills to enter the solar workforce through their GI Bill.
Educating Veterans and Service Members about Opportunities to Gain Solar Workforce Training: The Department of Labor (DOL), will work with DOD to ensure that transitioning service members are made aware of solar workforce training programs available to them in their last months of military service. In addition, to better serve unemployed veterans, DOL will partner with state workforce agencies and American Job Centers to better inform unemployed veterans about the opportunity to participate in available solar trainings. The Department of Labor in partnership with the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, is committed to facilitating a range of job and career opportunities for our transitioning service members and veterans.
Today’s Announcements Build On Progress To Deploy Solar Energy
Last year, the U.S. installed as much solar every three weeks as we did in all of 2008. In 2013 alone, the price of commercial and residential solar declined by more than 12 percent. This is driving more and more Americans to install solar panels at their homes and businesses, and is supporting tens of thousands of solar jobs across the country. With President Obama’s leadership, the Administration has already taken a number of actions to promote investment in and to deploy solar energy across the country. Examples of this progress in the last year alone include:
This week, the U.S. Army broke ground on a large-scale, 15 megawatt solar project at Fort Detrick in Maryland, enough to power nearly 2,500 homes for a year. This follows the recent unveiling of an 18 MW solar array at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and the announcement of three 30 MW solar arrays planned for installations in Georgia. With these projects and more, DOD – the largest energy user in the Federal Government -- is making significant progress toward its target of deploying 3 gigawatts of renewable energy on its installations by 2025. The Department plans to continue aggressively deploying renewable energy projects throughout this year: the Navy is aiming to contract 500 MW of renewable energy projects during 2015, the Air Force has more than 160 MW under development, and the Army plans to double its current capacity by deploying at least 75 MW of renewable electricity.
In March 2015, the President doubled down on his commitment to lead by example across the Federal Government to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and invest in renewable energy, directing agencies to reduce their GHG emissions by 40 percent by 2025 and increase the share of renewable energy consumption to 30 percent. Since the President took office, Federal agencies have cut their emissions by 17 percent – the equivalent of taking 1.8 million cars off the road for one year -- and tripled the share of electricity coming from renewable sources.
In February 2015, the White House and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hosted a roundtable with leaders from the finance and philanthropic communities to discuss opportunities to enhance solar financing for affordable housing.
In January 2015, HUD Secretary Castro, and Governor Brown of California announced a number of actions to expand financing for energy efficiency and solar energy in multifamily housing, including a California Multifamily Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Pilot and DOE funding to empower communities to deploy solar, which sets us on a track to reach the President’s goal of installing 100 megawatts of renewable energy across federally subsidized housing by 2020.
Last year, the Administration announced more than 350 private and public sector commitments to deploy more than 885 megawatts of solar—enough to power more than 130,000 homes—and cut energy waste in more than 1.4 billion square feet of buildings throughout the nation. The President’s executive actions included investing $68 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in rural areas, supporting funding for clean energy and energy efficiency for affordable housing, strengthening building codes, and harnessing national service and volunteerism to tackle climate change.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is making progress towards achieving the Climate Action Plan goal of permitting enough renewable energy projects on public lands by 2020 to power more than 6 million homes. Since President Obama took office, DOI has permitted 52 utility-scale renewable energy projects – including 29 solar projects – with a total capacity of over 14,000 megawatts. If built as planned, these projects would provide more than 21,000 jobs and power more than 4 million homes.
In October 2014, the White House launched the Climate Action Champion competition, to identify and recognize local climate leaders and to provide targeted Federal support to help those communities further raise their ambitions. Following a competitive process led by the DOE, in December 2014, 16 Climate Action Champions, covering over 158 communities across the U.S., were selected by DOE due to their outstanding leadership in climate action, their initiation of constructive and replicable programs that often jointly address the challenges of climate mitigation and adaptation, their collaboration with their own communities, and their awareness that a changing climate requires decisive action, including Boston, MA; Dubuque, IA; Knoxville, TN, Minneapolis, MN, Montpelier, VT; Oberlin, OH; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Mid-America Regional Council; Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; Sonoma County, CA; Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact; Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe (CA); Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (MI).
Salt Lake City, one of the Climate Action Champions, is spearheading solar development in Utah, including a 1 megawatt solar farm and a state-of-the art net-zero public safety building. The combined impact of these projects will reduce CO2 emissions Salt Lake City’s from municipal operations by three million pounds per year. To further decrease emissions, Salt Lake City just announced it will join the President’s Better Building Challenge today, committing to improve the energy efficiency of 1.6 million square feet of public and private buildings across the city over the next decade.
April 03, 2015
FACT SHEET: Administration Announces Actions To Drive Growth In Solar Energy And Train Workers For Clean-Energy Jobs
The President is committed to addressing climate change and creating jobs by spurring the deployment of clean sources of energy. Since President Obama took office, solar electricity generation has increased 20 fold, doubling last year alone – just as the cost of solar has continued to fall as a result of investments in research and manufacturing innovation. The solar industry is adding jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy, creating a source of good paying American employment. To continue progress, the Administration is announcing actions to drive growth in the solar industry while also supporting our veterans.
Today’s announcements build on the strong progress made under President Obama to curb the emissions that are driving climate change and lead on the international stage. They will help set the U.S. on a path to achieve our target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, which we submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) earlier this week.
To continue to reduce carbon pollution and create good paying American jobs, the President is announcing the following actions at Hill Air Force Base today:
Training 75,000 Solar Workers: The Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing a goal to train 75,000 people to enter the solar workforce by 2020, some of whom will be veterans. This is an increase from the previous goal of training 50,000 solar workers by 2020 announced in May 2014. The new goal builds on the tremendous progress of DOE’s SunShot Initiative’s Solar Instructor Training Network, which includes 400 partnering community colleges across the country and has trained more than 1,000 certified solar instructors and nearly 30,000 students nationwide in the last five years.
Launching a Solar Ready Vets Program: DOE, in partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD), is launching a Solar Ready Vets program at 10 military bases across the country, including at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, which has already taken leadership by installing solar panels onsite. The program also includes participation from Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Carson in Colorado, and Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, all which announced pilot initiatives earlier this year and are serving as a model for the Solar Ready Vets program.
The Solar Ready Vets program will train transitioning military service personnel to enter the solar workforce by joining with SunShot’s Solar Instructor Training Network and leveraging the DOD’s Skillbridge transition authority authorized by Congress in 2012. Consistent with the Vice-President’s job-driven training agenda, the program is based on the specific needs of high-growth solar employers, is tailored to build on the technician skills that veterans have acquired through their service, and incorporates work-based learning strategies. Service members will learn how to size and install solar panels, connect electricity to the grid, and interpret and comply with local building codes. This accelerated training will prepare them for careers in the solar industry as installers, sales representatives, system inspectors, and other solar-related occupations.
Utilizing the GI Bill for Solar Workforce Training: The Department of Veterans Affairs is committing to working with DOE and State Approving Agencies to achieve approval for GI Bill funding for DOE’s Solar Ready Vets initiative. Over time, this approval will enable more veterans across the country to use their GI Bill benefits to participate in this job-driven training program through local community colleges, where they will quickly learn the skills needed for good-paying jobs in the solar industry. Adding Solar Ready Vets will expand the existing network of programs providing service members and veterans opportunities to gain skills to enter the solar workforce through their GI Bill.
Educating Veterans and Service Members about Opportunities to Gain Solar Workforce Training: The Department of Labor (DOL), will work with DOD to ensure that transitioning service members are made aware of solar workforce training programs available to them in their last months of military service. In addition, to better serve unemployed veterans, DOL will partner with state workforce agencies and American Job Centers to better inform unemployed veterans about the opportunity to participate in available solar trainings. The Department of Labor in partnership with the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, is committed to facilitating a range of job and career opportunities for our transitioning service members and veterans.
Today’s Announcements Build On Progress To Deploy Solar Energy
Last year, the U.S. installed as much solar every three weeks as we did in all of 2008. In 2013 alone, the price of commercial and residential solar declined by more than 12 percent. This is driving more and more Americans to install solar panels at their homes and businesses, and is supporting tens of thousands of solar jobs across the country. With President Obama’s leadership, the Administration has already taken a number of actions to promote investment in and to deploy solar energy across the country. Examples of this progress in the last year alone include:
This week, the U.S. Army broke ground on a large-scale, 15 megawatt solar project at Fort Detrick in Maryland, enough to power nearly 2,500 homes for a year. This follows the recent unveiling of an 18 MW solar array at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and the announcement of three 30 MW solar arrays planned for installations in Georgia. With these projects and more, DOD – the largest energy user in the Federal Government -- is making significant progress toward its target of deploying 3 gigawatts of renewable energy on its installations by 2025. The Department plans to continue aggressively deploying renewable energy projects throughout this year: the Navy is aiming to contract 500 MW of renewable energy projects during 2015, the Air Force has more than 160 MW under development, and the Army plans to double its current capacity by deploying at least 75 MW of renewable electricity.
In March 2015, the President doubled down on his commitment to lead by example across the Federal Government to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and invest in renewable energy, directing agencies to reduce their GHG emissions by 40 percent by 2025 and increase the share of renewable energy consumption to 30 percent. Since the President took office, Federal agencies have cut their emissions by 17 percent – the equivalent of taking 1.8 million cars off the road for one year -- and tripled the share of electricity coming from renewable sources.
In February 2015, the White House and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hosted a roundtable with leaders from the finance and philanthropic communities to discuss opportunities to enhance solar financing for affordable housing.
In January 2015, HUD Secretary Castro, and Governor Brown of California announced a number of actions to expand financing for energy efficiency and solar energy in multifamily housing, including a California Multifamily Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Pilot and DOE funding to empower communities to deploy solar, which sets us on a track to reach the President’s goal of installing 100 megawatts of renewable energy across federally subsidized housing by 2020.
Last year, the Administration announced more than 350 private and public sector commitments to deploy more than 885 megawatts of solar—enough to power more than 130,000 homes—and cut energy waste in more than 1.4 billion square feet of buildings throughout the nation. The President’s executive actions included investing $68 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in rural areas, supporting funding for clean energy and energy efficiency for affordable housing, strengthening building codes, and harnessing national service and volunteerism to tackle climate change.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is making progress towards achieving the Climate Action Plan goal of permitting enough renewable energy projects on public lands by 2020 to power more than 6 million homes. Since President Obama took office, DOI has permitted 52 utility-scale renewable energy projects – including 29 solar projects – with a total capacity of over 14,000 megawatts. If built as planned, these projects would provide more than 21,000 jobs and power more than 4 million homes.
In October 2014, the White House launched the Climate Action Champion competition, to identify and recognize local climate leaders and to provide targeted Federal support to help those communities further raise their ambitions. Following a competitive process led by the DOE, in December 2014, 16 Climate Action Champions, covering over 158 communities across the U.S., were selected by DOE due to their outstanding leadership in climate action, their initiation of constructive and replicable programs that often jointly address the challenges of climate mitigation and adaptation, their collaboration with their own communities, and their awareness that a changing climate requires decisive action, including Boston, MA; Dubuque, IA; Knoxville, TN, Minneapolis, MN, Montpelier, VT; Oberlin, OH; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Mid-America Regional Council; Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; Sonoma County, CA; Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact; Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe (CA); Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (MI).
Salt Lake City, one of the Climate Action Champions, is spearheading solar development in Utah, including a 1 megawatt solar farm and a state-of-the art net-zero public safety building. The combined impact of these projects will reduce CO2 emissions Salt Lake City’s from municipal operations by three million pounds per year. To further decrease emissions, Salt Lake City just announced it will join the President’s Better Building Challenge today, committing to improve the energy efficiency of 1.6 million square feet of public and private buildings across the city over the next decade.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
TROOPS LAND IN BULGARIA IN SUPPORT OF ATLANTIC RESOLVE-SOUTH
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
 |
| U.S. Air Force members assigned to the 62nd Airlift Wing based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, unload two U.S. Army Stryker Combat Vehicles belonging to Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, at Burgas Airport in Bulgaria, March 30, 2015. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. William A. Tanner. |
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| U.S. soldiers prepare to unload two Stryker Combat Vehicles belonging to Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, at Burgas Airport in Bulgaria, March 30, 2015. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. William A. Tanner. |
STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT OBAMA ON EASTER
April 03, 2015
Statement by the President on Easter
Michelle and I join our fellow Christians around the world in observing Good Friday and celebrating Easter this weekend. With humility and awe, we give thanks for the extraordinary sacrifice that Jesus made for our salvation. We rejoice in the triumph of the Resurrection. And we renew our commitment to live as He commanded – to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. I look forward to continuing our celebration on Tuesday when I host our annual Easter prayer breakfast as we remember the teachings of Jesus in our daily lives, stand with those around the world who are persecuted for their faith, and pray for peace, justice and freedom for all people.
RESTAURANT OWNER TO PAY $325,500 BACK WAGES FOR OVERTIME AND MINIMUM WAGE VIOLATIONS
FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
Raymond's to pay more than $325,500 in back wages for overtime, minimum wage violations at Ridgewood and Montclair, NJ, eateries
160 workers to be compensated after federal investigation
Employer: Raymond's Ridgewood LLC, restaurant owner
Sites: Raymond's restaurants located at 101 East Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, N.J., and 28 Church Street in Montclair, N.J.
Investigative findings: The Northern New Jersey District Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that 76 workers at the Montclair establishment are due $225,486 in back wages because the employer did not pay members of the kitchen staff overtime when they worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek. The employer also failed to use the correct rate when calculating overtime for tipped workers.
At the Ridgewood location, 84 employees are due $100,048 in back wages because the company failed to pay the kitchen staff overtime when required. Investigators also found that the employer did not pay tipped workers the proper wage rate at the very beginning of their employment and improperly computed overtime for tipped employees.
"Restaurant workers who live on low wages often struggle to make ends meet, so when they aren't paid correctly, that burden is even greater," said John Warner, director of the Northern New Jersey Wage and Hour District Office. "This case reinforces the division's commitment to protect the rights of all workers, particularly those working hard in low-wage industries, as well as to hold employers accountable when they do not pay the wages required by law."
Back wages due: $325,534
Raymond's to pay more than $325,500 in back wages for overtime, minimum wage violations at Ridgewood and Montclair, NJ, eateries
160 workers to be compensated after federal investigation
Employer: Raymond's Ridgewood LLC, restaurant owner
Sites: Raymond's restaurants located at 101 East Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, N.J., and 28 Church Street in Montclair, N.J.
Investigative findings: The Northern New Jersey District Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that 76 workers at the Montclair establishment are due $225,486 in back wages because the employer did not pay members of the kitchen staff overtime when they worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek. The employer also failed to use the correct rate when calculating overtime for tipped workers.
At the Ridgewood location, 84 employees are due $100,048 in back wages because the company failed to pay the kitchen staff overtime when required. Investigators also found that the employer did not pay tipped workers the proper wage rate at the very beginning of their employment and improperly computed overtime for tipped employees.
"Restaurant workers who live on low wages often struggle to make ends meet, so when they aren't paid correctly, that burden is even greater," said John Warner, director of the Northern New Jersey Wage and Hour District Office. "This case reinforces the division's commitment to protect the rights of all workers, particularly those working hard in low-wage industries, as well as to hold employers accountable when they do not pay the wages required by law."
Back wages due: $325,534
DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER SAYS ASIA'S DEMOGRAPHICS INCREASING GLOBAL PROFILE
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Carter: Demographics, Economics Boost Asia’s Global Profile
By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2015 – Demographic changes in Asia will make the region more important to the United States, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said at the State Department recently.
As Carter prepared to depart April 6 for his first trip to Asia as defense secretary, he reiterated that the United States is a Pacific power and will remain one, adding that this is in the best interests of Asian nations and of the United States.
Demographic trends show that Asian nations will only become more important globally in the 21st century, as Asian nations -- enjoying peace provided by American presence -- prosper and grow, Carter said. In the future, he added, no region will affect U.S. prosperity more, and it is in American interests to maintain a strong security presence in the region.
The math is inescapable, Carter said at the State Department.
“We know that 95 percent of the world’s customers live beyond our borders, and the spending power of middle-class consumers in today’s emerging markets is expected to increase by $20 trillion over the next decade,” he said.
Rising Middle-class Consumption
Just five years ago, the United States and Europe accounted for around 50 percent of global middle class consumption, and Asia accounted for about 20 percent, he said.
“Five years from now, the U.S. and European share of middle-class consumption will shrink to about 30 percent, while Asia’s will rise to 40 percent,” the secretary said. “And this trend will continue as Asia’s 570-million-strong middle class grows to about 2.7 billion consumers over the next 15 years.”
So, from an economic standpoint, Asia will become more important to American manufacturers, American jobs and American consumers. The central premise of America’s overall Asia-Pacific strategy is the recognition that, in the 21st century, no region holds more potential for growth, development and prosperity, Carter said.
Growing Populations
Roughly 7 billion people live in the world today. In 25 years, demographers estimate that number will grow to 9 billion, with much of the growth occurring in Asia, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics and the CIA World Factbook.
China and India are the world’s two most populous countries and will remain so through 2050. Today, China has around 1.355 billion people, and India has around 1.236 billion. By 2050, officials expect India to be the most populous country in the world with 1.65 billion people, and China’s population will be 1.303 billion.
Economic progress in both countries has been building. Today, China has about 150 million people earning between $10 and $100 per day -- the amount economists calculate as putting a person in the global middle class. If the country continues its current growth, as many as 500 million Chinese could enter the global middle class over the next decade. This means that by 2030, 1 billion Chinese people could be in the economic middle class.
India’s middle class is much smaller -- about 50 million people. But economists expect India’s middle class to reach 200 million by 2020 and 475 million by 2030.
Both countries have systemic problems they need to overcome, and projections may fall short, officials said, but they added that the projections have the potential to prove accurate.
This growth is not limited to the two largest countries in Asia. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines also are posed for an incredible growth in their middle classes.
Capable Militaries
From a security standpoint, Asia is home to some of the largest and strongest militaries on the globe. China, Russia, North Korea, India and Pakistan have large and capable militaries. With the exception of North Korea, the U.S. military is working to improve relations with each. American military leaders also are working with traditional allies such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and New Zealand to strengthen multilateral cooperation in the region.
Other nations -- Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma -- also are working to preserve stability in the region.
Snapshot of Military Powers
Here’s a snapshot of the various military powers in the region:
-- China spends at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense and has the world’s largest armed forces, with 2.333 million active duty forces and 2.3 million reserves. Its stated defense budget is $145 billion. China has about 3,000 aircraft in its armed forces, has bought an aircraft carrier from Russia, and is building one of its own. The Chinese have more than 9,000 tanks and almost 5,000 armored fighting vehicles and are modernizing across all services.
-- South Korea spends 2.88 percent of its GDP on defense. The republic has 624,465 people on active duty and almost 3 million in the reserves. South Korea has 1,412 total aircraft and a naval strength of 166 ships. The South Korean military is extremely capable and has a defense budget of $33.1 billion.
-- Japan spends about 1 percent of its GDP on defense. There are 247,173 personnel in the Japanese Self-Defense Force, with about 58,000 active reserve personnel. The Japanese military has 678 tanks, 2,850 armored fighting vehicles, 1,613 aircraft and 131 ships. The defense budget is $41.6 billion.
-- India spends 2.43 percent of its GDP on defense. The nation has 1.325 million people under arms, with 2.1 million more in reserve status. India’s military has about 2,000 aircraft, two aircraft carriers, 202 ships, more than 6,400 tanks and 6,700 armored fighting vehicles. The Indian defense budget is $38 billion.
Carter: Demographics, Economics Boost Asia’s Global Profile
By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2015 – Demographic changes in Asia will make the region more important to the United States, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said at the State Department recently.
As Carter prepared to depart April 6 for his first trip to Asia as defense secretary, he reiterated that the United States is a Pacific power and will remain one, adding that this is in the best interests of Asian nations and of the United States.
Demographic trends show that Asian nations will only become more important globally in the 21st century, as Asian nations -- enjoying peace provided by American presence -- prosper and grow, Carter said. In the future, he added, no region will affect U.S. prosperity more, and it is in American interests to maintain a strong security presence in the region.
The math is inescapable, Carter said at the State Department.
“We know that 95 percent of the world’s customers live beyond our borders, and the spending power of middle-class consumers in today’s emerging markets is expected to increase by $20 trillion over the next decade,” he said.
Rising Middle-class Consumption
Just five years ago, the United States and Europe accounted for around 50 percent of global middle class consumption, and Asia accounted for about 20 percent, he said.
“Five years from now, the U.S. and European share of middle-class consumption will shrink to about 30 percent, while Asia’s will rise to 40 percent,” the secretary said. “And this trend will continue as Asia’s 570-million-strong middle class grows to about 2.7 billion consumers over the next 15 years.”
So, from an economic standpoint, Asia will become more important to American manufacturers, American jobs and American consumers. The central premise of America’s overall Asia-Pacific strategy is the recognition that, in the 21st century, no region holds more potential for growth, development and prosperity, Carter said.
Growing Populations
Roughly 7 billion people live in the world today. In 25 years, demographers estimate that number will grow to 9 billion, with much of the growth occurring in Asia, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics and the CIA World Factbook.
China and India are the world’s two most populous countries and will remain so through 2050. Today, China has around 1.355 billion people, and India has around 1.236 billion. By 2050, officials expect India to be the most populous country in the world with 1.65 billion people, and China’s population will be 1.303 billion.
Economic progress in both countries has been building. Today, China has about 150 million people earning between $10 and $100 per day -- the amount economists calculate as putting a person in the global middle class. If the country continues its current growth, as many as 500 million Chinese could enter the global middle class over the next decade. This means that by 2030, 1 billion Chinese people could be in the economic middle class.
India’s middle class is much smaller -- about 50 million people. But economists expect India’s middle class to reach 200 million by 2020 and 475 million by 2030.
Both countries have systemic problems they need to overcome, and projections may fall short, officials said, but they added that the projections have the potential to prove accurate.
This growth is not limited to the two largest countries in Asia. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines also are posed for an incredible growth in their middle classes.
Capable Militaries
From a security standpoint, Asia is home to some of the largest and strongest militaries on the globe. China, Russia, North Korea, India and Pakistan have large and capable militaries. With the exception of North Korea, the U.S. military is working to improve relations with each. American military leaders also are working with traditional allies such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and New Zealand to strengthen multilateral cooperation in the region.
Other nations -- Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma -- also are working to preserve stability in the region.
Snapshot of Military Powers
Here’s a snapshot of the various military powers in the region:
-- China spends at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense and has the world’s largest armed forces, with 2.333 million active duty forces and 2.3 million reserves. Its stated defense budget is $145 billion. China has about 3,000 aircraft in its armed forces, has bought an aircraft carrier from Russia, and is building one of its own. The Chinese have more than 9,000 tanks and almost 5,000 armored fighting vehicles and are modernizing across all services.
-- South Korea spends 2.88 percent of its GDP on defense. The republic has 624,465 people on active duty and almost 3 million in the reserves. South Korea has 1,412 total aircraft and a naval strength of 166 ships. The South Korean military is extremely capable and has a defense budget of $33.1 billion.
-- Japan spends about 1 percent of its GDP on defense. There are 247,173 personnel in the Japanese Self-Defense Force, with about 58,000 active reserve personnel. The Japanese military has 678 tanks, 2,850 armored fighting vehicles, 1,613 aircraft and 131 ships. The defense budget is $41.6 billion.
-- India spends 2.43 percent of its GDP on defense. The nation has 1.325 million people under arms, with 2.1 million more in reserve status. India’s military has about 2,000 aircraft, two aircraft carriers, 202 ships, more than 6,400 tanks and 6,700 armored fighting vehicles. The Indian defense budget is $38 billion.
DOJ FILES BRIEF REGARDING HEALTH CARE FOR PRISONERS WITH GENDER DYSPHORIA
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, April 3, 2015
Justice Department Files Brief to Address Health Care for Prisoners Suffering from Gender Dysphoria
The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest today in the Middle District of Georgia in Diamond v. Owens, et al. The plaintiff in that case, a transgender prisoner, alleges that the Georgia Department of Corrections failed to provide adequate care for her gender dysphoria. The statement of interest discusses the unconstitutionality of “freeze-frame” policies, such as the policy allegedly used in the Georgia Department of Corrections. These policies unconstitutionally prohibit treatment beyond the type of care the prisoner received in the community prior to incarceration. Through this filing, without taking a position on the merits of the allegations, the United States stated that the Eighth Amendment mandates individualized assessment and care for gender dysphoria.
“By taking action in this case, the Justice Department is reminding departments of corrections that prison officials have the obligation to assess and treat gender dysphoria just as they would any other medical or mental health condition,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division. “Prisoners with gender dysphoria should not be forced to suffer needlessly during their incarceration simply because they were not receiving care, or could not prove they were receiving care, in the community. Freeze-frame policies can have serious consequences to the health and well-being of transgender prisoners, who are among the most vulnerable populations incarcerated in our nation’s prisons and jails.”
Based on the facts as alleged, Ashley Diamond was first diagnosed with gender dysphoria as a teenager, nearly twenty years ago. She began taking feminizing hormones, which helped her develop secondary sex characteristics and helped ease the significant physical and emotional discomfort she felt with her biological sex. Yet, when she entered the Georgia Department of Corrections, she was not identified or referred for continuation of this treatment. Instead, her hormone therapy was terminated and she was placed in a secure prison for men.
When Ms. Diamond requested treatment during her incarceration, she was evaluated by Department medical personnel who confirmed Diamond’s gender dysphoria and recommended reinstatement of hormone therapy and other clinically-indicated treatments. However, department officials continued to deny this treatment, telling Diamond that she was ineligible for treatment pursuant to the department’s policy. Because the department did not properly identify Diamond’s gender dysphoria at intake and refer her for treatment at that time, she was, and continues to be, denied necessary medical care.
The facts alleged in this case indicate that the Department of Corrections relied on its freeze-frame policy to deny Diamond the care recommended by the department’s own physicians, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. As stated by the Justice Department in its filing, “[t]wo things are clear from the record in this case: one, the generally accepted standards for treatment of gender dysphoria require treatment decisions be individualized; and two, Ms. Diamond did not receive individualized care.”
Friday, April 3, 2015
Justice Department Files Brief to Address Health Care for Prisoners Suffering from Gender Dysphoria
The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest today in the Middle District of Georgia in Diamond v. Owens, et al. The plaintiff in that case, a transgender prisoner, alleges that the Georgia Department of Corrections failed to provide adequate care for her gender dysphoria. The statement of interest discusses the unconstitutionality of “freeze-frame” policies, such as the policy allegedly used in the Georgia Department of Corrections. These policies unconstitutionally prohibit treatment beyond the type of care the prisoner received in the community prior to incarceration. Through this filing, without taking a position on the merits of the allegations, the United States stated that the Eighth Amendment mandates individualized assessment and care for gender dysphoria.
“By taking action in this case, the Justice Department is reminding departments of corrections that prison officials have the obligation to assess and treat gender dysphoria just as they would any other medical or mental health condition,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division. “Prisoners with gender dysphoria should not be forced to suffer needlessly during their incarceration simply because they were not receiving care, or could not prove they were receiving care, in the community. Freeze-frame policies can have serious consequences to the health and well-being of transgender prisoners, who are among the most vulnerable populations incarcerated in our nation’s prisons and jails.”
Based on the facts as alleged, Ashley Diamond was first diagnosed with gender dysphoria as a teenager, nearly twenty years ago. She began taking feminizing hormones, which helped her develop secondary sex characteristics and helped ease the significant physical and emotional discomfort she felt with her biological sex. Yet, when she entered the Georgia Department of Corrections, she was not identified or referred for continuation of this treatment. Instead, her hormone therapy was terminated and she was placed in a secure prison for men.
When Ms. Diamond requested treatment during her incarceration, she was evaluated by Department medical personnel who confirmed Diamond’s gender dysphoria and recommended reinstatement of hormone therapy and other clinically-indicated treatments. However, department officials continued to deny this treatment, telling Diamond that she was ineligible for treatment pursuant to the department’s policy. Because the department did not properly identify Diamond’s gender dysphoria at intake and refer her for treatment at that time, she was, and continues to be, denied necessary medical care.
The facts alleged in this case indicate that the Department of Corrections relied on its freeze-frame policy to deny Diamond the care recommended by the department’s own physicians, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. As stated by the Justice Department in its filing, “[t]wo things are clear from the record in this case: one, the generally accepted standards for treatment of gender dysphoria require treatment decisions be individualized; and two, Ms. Diamond did not receive individualized care.”
LABOR SECRETARY PEREZ VISITS SEATTLE TO LAUNCH 'LEAD ON LEAVE' TOUR
FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
What's New
'Lead on Leave' Tour Launches in Seattle
At a visit to Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream shop U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez discusses paid leave with Molly and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.
Kicking off the "Lead on Leave — Empowering Working Families Across America" tour on April 1 in Seattle, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez was joined by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, working mom Sydney Marino, small business owners and a senior representative from the Microsoft Corporation to shine a spotlight on the issue of paid family leave. The first stop was Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream shop, a small business that on April 1 began offering its employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. After some talk and frozen refreshment, Perez joined a roundtable discussion on how paid-leave policies can help support families and businesses. "Paid leave isn't just pro-family, it's pro-business. It's the right thing to do and the smart thing to do," he said. "Companies that voluntarily offer family-friendly policies benefit from greater worker morale and productivity. Those companies are able to recruit and retain the best talent, and that helps the bottom line."
What's New
'Lead on Leave' Tour Launches in Seattle
At a visit to Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream shop U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez discusses paid leave with Molly and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.
Kicking off the "Lead on Leave — Empowering Working Families Across America" tour on April 1 in Seattle, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez was joined by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, working mom Sydney Marino, small business owners and a senior representative from the Microsoft Corporation to shine a spotlight on the issue of paid family leave. The first stop was Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream shop, a small business that on April 1 began offering its employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. After some talk and frozen refreshment, Perez joined a roundtable discussion on how paid-leave policies can help support families and businesses. "Paid leave isn't just pro-family, it's pro-business. It's the right thing to do and the smart thing to do," he said. "Companies that voluntarily offer family-friendly policies benefit from greater worker morale and productivity. Those companies are able to recruit and retain the best talent, and that helps the bottom line."
DROUGHT AND THE BABOONS
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Born during a drought: Bad news for baboons
Findings have implications for human health
The saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" may not hold up to scientific scrutiny.
After the plains of southern Kenya experienced a severe drought in 2009 that took a terrible toll on wildlife, researchers looked at how 50 wild baboons coped with the drought, and whether the conditions they faced in infancy played a role.
The semi-arid savanna of southern Kenya usually receives an average of 14 inches of rain a year--akin to much of Nebraska or Kansas--but in 2009 it fell to five inches, less than the Mojave Desert.
The year before wasn't much better: rainfall in 2008 dropped to half normal levels.
Grasslands withered
The grasslands the animals depend on for food dried up and watering holes disappeared, leaving many animals starving or weak from hunger.
"We lost 98 percent of the wildebeest population, 75 percent of the zebra population and 30 percent of the elephant population," said Susan Alberts, a biologist at Duke University. "It was impossible to go anywhere without smelling death."
Most baboons made it, but the drought left them underweight and many females stopped ovulating.
In a forthcoming paper in the journal American Naturalist, the researchers compared two groups of females--one group born during low rainfall years, the other born during normal rainfall years.
Born in a drought
All females in the study were adults by time of the 2009 drought, but those born in lean times fared worse in 2009 than those born in times of plenty, the researchers found.
"This study demonstrates lifetime fertility reductions for baboons born during stressful conditions or to low-ranking mothers," said George Gilchrist, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research along with NSF's Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems and Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences.
"These 'disadvantaged' early life experiences are linked with less resilience to stressful conditions experienced as adults."
During the 2009 drought, baboons born during low rainfall years were 60 percent less likely to become pregnant, whereas pregnancy rates dipped by only 10 percent for females born during normal rainfall years.
Drought babies born to higher-status mothers were less affected by the 2009 event.
"It might be that baboons born to higher-ranked moms have better access to food, or suffer lower levels of social stress," Alberts said.
Implications for human health
The findings also help explain why people who are malnourished in early childhood go on to have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease as adults.
Some researchers argue that human babies conceived or born in lean times are programmed for food shortages later in life.
They develop a "thrifty metabolism," aimed at storing fat and conserving energy in order to survive starvation.
Things go awry, the thinking goes, only when the environments they experienced as infants and as adults don't match, such as when a child conceived in famine grows up and eats an excess of cheeseburgers, said paper co-author Amanda Lea, a biologist at Duke.
But the baboon fertility study lends support to another idea, namely that kids who don't get enough to eat during their first year of life are simply less resilient as adults than their counterparts.
"The data suggest that early adversity carries lifelong costs," said co-author Jenny Tung, a biologist at Duke.
"It's bad to be born in bad times, but with the right social or economic environment, that can be mitigated," Alberts added.
Jeanne Altmann of Princeton University is also a co-author of the paper.
In addition to NSF, the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md.; Duke University; Princeton University; and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research supported the research.
-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF
-- Robin Ann Smith, Duke University
Investigators
Jenny Tung
Susan Alberts
Related Institutions/Organizations
Duke University
Born during a drought: Bad news for baboons
Findings have implications for human health
The saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" may not hold up to scientific scrutiny.
After the plains of southern Kenya experienced a severe drought in 2009 that took a terrible toll on wildlife, researchers looked at how 50 wild baboons coped with the drought, and whether the conditions they faced in infancy played a role.
The semi-arid savanna of southern Kenya usually receives an average of 14 inches of rain a year--akin to much of Nebraska or Kansas--but in 2009 it fell to five inches, less than the Mojave Desert.
The year before wasn't much better: rainfall in 2008 dropped to half normal levels.
Grasslands withered
The grasslands the animals depend on for food dried up and watering holes disappeared, leaving many animals starving or weak from hunger.
"We lost 98 percent of the wildebeest population, 75 percent of the zebra population and 30 percent of the elephant population," said Susan Alberts, a biologist at Duke University. "It was impossible to go anywhere without smelling death."
Most baboons made it, but the drought left them underweight and many females stopped ovulating.
In a forthcoming paper in the journal American Naturalist, the researchers compared two groups of females--one group born during low rainfall years, the other born during normal rainfall years.
Born in a drought
All females in the study were adults by time of the 2009 drought, but those born in lean times fared worse in 2009 than those born in times of plenty, the researchers found.
"This study demonstrates lifetime fertility reductions for baboons born during stressful conditions or to low-ranking mothers," said George Gilchrist, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research along with NSF's Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems and Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences.
"These 'disadvantaged' early life experiences are linked with less resilience to stressful conditions experienced as adults."
During the 2009 drought, baboons born during low rainfall years were 60 percent less likely to become pregnant, whereas pregnancy rates dipped by only 10 percent for females born during normal rainfall years.
Drought babies born to higher-status mothers were less affected by the 2009 event.
"It might be that baboons born to higher-ranked moms have better access to food, or suffer lower levels of social stress," Alberts said.
Implications for human health
The findings also help explain why people who are malnourished in early childhood go on to have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease as adults.
Some researchers argue that human babies conceived or born in lean times are programmed for food shortages later in life.
They develop a "thrifty metabolism," aimed at storing fat and conserving energy in order to survive starvation.
Things go awry, the thinking goes, only when the environments they experienced as infants and as adults don't match, such as when a child conceived in famine grows up and eats an excess of cheeseburgers, said paper co-author Amanda Lea, a biologist at Duke.
But the baboon fertility study lends support to another idea, namely that kids who don't get enough to eat during their first year of life are simply less resilient as adults than their counterparts.
"The data suggest that early adversity carries lifelong costs," said co-author Jenny Tung, a biologist at Duke.
"It's bad to be born in bad times, but with the right social or economic environment, that can be mitigated," Alberts added.
Jeanne Altmann of Princeton University is also a co-author of the paper.
In addition to NSF, the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md.; Duke University; Princeton University; and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research supported the research.
-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF
-- Robin Ann Smith, Duke University
Investigators
Jenny Tung
Susan Alberts
Related Institutions/Organizations
Duke University
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