NY LAW SCHOOL CLINICS HELP 9/11 VICTIMS FILE CLAIMS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
New York-Area Law School Clinics Assist Individuals Filing Claims under the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund
April 18th, 2012 Posted by Tracy Russo
 The following post appears courtesy of the Access to Justice Initiative .
Approximately ten years after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Congress passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act.  The Act reactivated the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund(VCF), which operated from 2001-2003, and expanded the pool of claimants to include first responders, members of cleanup crews, and other individuals who suffered latent physical injuries due to their exposure to Ground Zero.  Sheila Birnbaum, a lifelong New Yorker with decades of experience resolving complicated litigation, was appointed Special Master of the Fund.

To ensure that the claim-filing process was accessible, transparent, and easy to navigate, the VCF established a streamlined online filing system and encouraged claimants to register and submit their claims electronically.  The site was made available in English, Spanish, Polish, and Mandarin Chinese.

But the administrators of the VCF and the Department’s Access to Justice Initiative (ATJ) knew some potential claimants might not have easy access to computers or might be uncomfortable with technology.  Those claimants, as well as people who were not proficient in English, could benefit from direct assistance, so the VCF and ATJ reached out to the New York public interest legal community.  Building on the success of the work of Lynn Kelly of the City Bar Justice Center establishing clinics for VCF claimants staffed by volunteer attorneys, David Udell of the National Center for Access to Justice at Cardozo Law School (NCAJ), suggested that law students might also be able provide similar assistance.

Working with the area law schools’ public interest coordinators, the VCF administrators, ATJ, the City Bar Justice Center, and the NCAJ, Columbia Law School and Cardozo Law School agreed to host two pilot student clinics.  VCF conducted a training at Columbia Law School for all interested student participants with the participation of DLA Piper volunteer attorneys who also attended the clinics to help supervise.

Columbia University Law School successfully hosted the first pilot clinic on March 13 and 15, 2012 in which 12 to 15 students assisted roughly 15 claimants each day.  Cardozo Law School hosted the second clinic from April 9 to 11.  Each day approximately 25 law students from Cardozo, Hofstra, Touro, and the University of Pennsylvania assisted 15 to 20 claimants in all stages of the filing process.  At both schools students worked in pairs, often with interpreters or interpreting themselves, and spent one to two hours interviewing individuals, helping them fill out the electronic forms, and uploading documents into the online system.

The result of this true community effort has been a success for everyone involved.  For some students the clinics were their first pro bono experience.  They gained valuable skills in client communication, and many found it immensely rewarding to offer tangible help to people suffering from grave illness, injury, and loss.  Frances Gottfried, Director of the New York Office of the VCF, said she was “impressed with the students’ dedication, flexibility, and enthusiasm,” and claimants at both clinics expressed their gratitude for the students’ assistance.

The City Bar Justice Center is continuing to assist those whose health or loved ones were harmed as a result of 9/11, and will host a pro bono clinic staffed by attorneys on May 7, 2012.  

DELTA AGREES TO COMPLY WITH OSHA ON WORKER SEAT BELT COMPLIANCE MEASURES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Delta Air Lines signs agreement with US Department of Labor’s OSHA on seat belt compliance measures to protect airline industry workers

OSHA also issues hazard alert to other airlines urging compliance
WASHINGTON — Delta Air Lines Inc. has signed a corporatewide settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in order to protect workers who operate baggage handling vehicles.

The agreement covers approximately 90 of the Atlanta-based company's airport sites that fall under federal OSHA's jurisdiction, as well as 16,000 Delta employees and 6,000 baggage handling vehicles. Under the agreement, Delta will come into compliance with applicable requirements for the use of seat belts by ensuring that all types of the company's baggage handling vehicles are equipped with them and that employees use the seat belts while operating the vehicles on specified airport routes.

"OSHA's corporatewide settlement agreements are highly effective tools for ensuring that companies address hazards that can injure or kill their workers," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "This kind of widespread change within corporations can go a long way toward keeping workers across the country safe and healthy at the end of every workday."

The agreement is the result of a citation issued to Delta following a workplace fatality in which an employee operating a baggage tug vehicle without wearing a seat belt was ejected from the vehicle and died. OSHA cited Delta for violating 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.132, which requires employers to provide employees with personal protective equipment, including — in this case — seat belts.

According to the agreement, Delta has committed to an abatement schedule that will result in full compliance within two years. During the first year, Delta will train its employees on the proper use of seat belts and install seat belts on those pieces of equipment that currently lack them. During the second year of the agreement, the company will fully enforce seat belt use among its employees, as well as hire safety consultants to monitor the company's implementation of its seat belt use program and report the results to OSHA.

In addition to entering into the agreement with Delta, OSHA will address this hazard throughout the airline industry. The agency recently sent a hazard alert letter to airlines across the nation reminding them that they are obligated to comply with applicable seat belt use requirements.

INSIDE TRADING CASE INVOLVING A HEDGE FUND MANAGER

FROM:  SEC 
April 10, 2012
SEC v. Spyridon Adondakis et al., Civil Action 12-CV-0409 (SDNY)(HB)
SEC Obtains Final Judgments on Consent against Diamondback Capital Management LLC
The SEC announced that the Honorable Harold Baer, Jr., United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, entered a Final Judgment on Consent as to Diamondback Capital Management LLC (“Diamondback”) on April 6, 2012, in the SEC’s insider trading case, SEC v. Spyridon Adondakis et al., Civil Action 12-CV-0409 (SDNY) (HB).

The SEC filed its complaint on January 18, 2012, charging two multi-billion dollar hedge fund advisory firms – including Diamondback – as well as seven fund managers and analysts involved in a $78 million insider trading scheme based on nonpublic information about Dell’s quarterly earnings and other similar inside information about Nvidia Corporation.

The SEC’s complaint alleged that in 2008 and 2009, Jesse Tortora, an analyst at Diamondback, obtained inside information about quarterly earnings reports of both Dell and Nvidia and passed that information to Todd Newman, a Diamondback portfolio manager, who used the information to execute trades on behalf of hedge funds managed by Diamondback. These illegal trades in Dell and Nvidia securities resulted in millions of dollars in illicit gains for Diamondback.

The Final Judgment against Diamondback: (1) permanently enjoins the firm from violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5; and (2) orders it to pay disgorgement of $5,173,000 plus pre-judgment interest of $832,751.35, for a total of $6,005,751.35, provided that the amount Diamondback owes would be credited, dollar for dollar, by amounts paid pursuant to a non-prosecution agreement between Diamondback and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; and (c) orders it to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $3,000,000.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMBATS HYPOTHERMIA

FROM:  DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ARMED WITH SCIENCE WEBSITE
Written on APRIL 13, 2012 AT 7:51 AM by JTOZER
Cool Under Pressure – Using Science to Stave Off Hypothermia
By Bob Reinert for USAG-Natick Public Affairs
Seventeen years after four soldiers died from hypothermia during the final phase of Ranger School, researchers at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick Soldier Systems Center continue to study how the human body cools down, in hopes of one day developing medical techniques to help prevent such tragedies.

“You can’t design possible countermeasures — pharmacological treatments, perhaps — until you know mechanisms,” said Capt. David DeGroot, Ph.D., a research physiologist in USARIEM’s Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division, who is leading the study.
“You’ve got to understand the basic mechanism before you (say), ‘Okay, now how do I target it?’

“This is going to allow us to get further insight with the actual mechanisms so that we can follow it up with, Okay, what could we possibly do in terms of an intervention to mitigate that rate of core temperature drop?”

Dr. John Castellani, serving as an Army captain with USARIEM at the time, was a member of the team that conducted the institute’s initial study at Camp Rudder on Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., soon after the February 1995 deaths. He still works at the institute as a research physiologist.

Castellani said that the original study led to adjustments to the tables Rangers use to determine what amount of exposure to cold is safe.

“The swamp portion of training takes place at the very tail end of Ranger School, so soldiers have lost a lot of muscle, fat,” Castellani said. “They’re also, during that time frame, purposefully not being fed, so they may have very little food on board, and they’re also sleep deprived a lot as part of that part of the training.”

“So we studied Ranger students who were finishing up Ranger School. We tested them immediately as they came out of the swamp.”

Castellani followed these studies with the Rangers by trying to understand how physically fatigued soldiers are more susceptible to hypothermia.

“What John found was if you exposed people to cold air after they exercised, they cooled off faster than people who were warmed up passively,” DeGroot said. “So there was something about that prior exercise that led to a faster rate of decline in core temperature, higher skin temperature, higher rate of heat transfer through the skin.

“The follow-up question was always, ‘why? What’s controlling that skin temperature? What’s the mechanism responsible for this abnormal response?’”

DeGroot and his team are studying that mechanism with the help of eight soldiers from theHuman Research Volunteer Program at NSSC, who are fitted with microdialysis fibers, muscle temperature probes and skin temperature sensors. They are then put into the 102-degree waters of an immersion tank, followed by a trip to an environmental chamber, where the air temperature is a relatively cool 66 degrees.

“Now that doesn’t sound very cold, (but) all he’s wearing is a pair of shorts and a pair of socks, and he’s at rest,” said DeGroot of one volunteer. “A normal response in the cold is that the blood vessels in the skin are going to constrict, and that’s to limit the rate of heat loss from the core out to the environment. What varies is how we warm them up prior to the cold exposure — exercise versus passive.”

The use of microdialysis fibers, implanted under the skin to gather samples, was in its “infancy” when Castellani did his study, DeGroot said. Things have changed since then.
“(We are) using some different techniques that, frankly, we didn’t have a dozen years ago,” DeGroot said. “We didn’t have the technical capability to do this study.

“This is unique. Off the top of my head, I can think of (only) six other labs in the world that use microdialysis to study the control of skin blood flow.”

With a better understanding of the human body’s response to cold, USARIEM researchers likely will be in a better position to help future soldiers ward off hypothermia.
“Everything in science is incremental,” said DeGroot, “just building off of others.”

"WE'RE AT A PIVOTAL POINT" SAID U.S. SEC. OF DEFENSE PANETTA

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE 

Panetta: NATO at 'Pivotal Point' in Afghan Mission

By Karen Parrish

BRUSSELS, April 17, 2012 - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived here today ahead of this week's NATO "jumbo" ministerial conference, where the alliance's defense and foreign ministers are scheduled to discuss Afghanistan security transition and alliance capabilities.

Panetta said during a Pentagon news conference yesterday that the gathering will take place against a backdrop of change within the 63-year-old alliance.

"We're at a pivotal point for the alliance as we build on the gains that have been made in Afghanistan and try to chart the course for the future in that area," he said.

George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, today told reporters traveling with the secretary that Panetta views NATO as a strong alliance. International Security Assistance Force contributing nations remain committed to the strategy, agreed upon at the alliance's 2010 summit, of a gradual handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, Little said.

Panetta judged those forces performed capably and decisively in quelling a series of coordinated attacks attributed to the Haqqani network in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul on April 15, Little noted. The secretary expects Afghan forces will sustain that level of performance, and he believes "the overall [Afghanistan] narrative is a very positive one," he added.

A senior defense official accompanying Panetta said the secretary will attend a meeting of defense ministers tomorrow. Participants will discuss ongoing alliance defense needs and the "smart defense" approach of combined investment in NATO military equipment, the official said.

Many NATO member nations face budget challenges, while operations in Afghanistan and Libya have exposed some shortfalls in the alliance's overall defense capabilities, the official noted.

Later, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Panetta will attend the larger session involving defense and foreign ministers, which the official said will focus on Afghanistan and funding for Afghan security forces. Foreign minister meetings will continue into April 19, but the defense segment of the week's NATO gathering will conclude tomorrow, the official added.

The official called the "jumbo" ministerial conference "a rare bit of geometry." While the two groups of ministers normally hold separate meetings, this last gathering before the alliance's Chicago summit in May will allow senior officials to "move issues along" so heads of state won't need to argue over policy questions next month, the official said.

"We don't want our bosses to have to deal with things that we can't resolve on our own," the official added.

U.S & TENNESSEE REACH CLEAN WATER ACT AGREEMENT WITH CITY OF MEMPHIS.

FROM:  U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

U.S. and Tennessee Announce Clean Water Act Agreement with the City of Memphis
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General announced a comprehensive Clean Water Act (CWA) settlement with the City of Memphis, Tenn. Memphis has agreed to make improvements to its sewer systems to eliminate unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage. Memphis estimates such work will cost approximately $250 million.  

 “EPA is working with communities across country to address sewage overflows that negatively impact the health of residents and impair local water quality,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This collaborative agreement with the city of Memphis will reduce raw sewage overflows, protecting area waterways now and into the future.”

“The improvements required by this settlement agreement will bring lasting public health and environmental benefits to Memphis residents,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We will continue to work in partnership with EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act and work with municipalities across the country to advance the goal of clean water for all communities.”

A consent decree, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis, represents the combined efforts of the United States and the state of Tennessee, co-plaintiffs in this settlement, and the Tennessee Clean Water Network, an intervening plaintiff in this action. The United States and Tennessee previously filed a complaint against Memphis on February 5, 2010, seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties for Memphis’ alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act.

The major features of the consent decree will require Memphis to implement specific programs designed to ensure proper management, operation and maintenance of its sewer systems to eliminate unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage. In order to address the problem of grease buildup within the sewer lines, Memphis developed and will be required to implement a comprehensive fats, oil and grease (FOG) program. Furthermore, the consent decree will require Memphis to develop and implement a continuing sewer assessment and rehabilitation program to ensure that the integrity of sewer infrastructure is appropriately maintained to prevent system failures that would likely result in unauthorized overflows. The consent decree will also require Memphis to perform corrective measures in certain specifically identified priority areas.

In addition to the control requirements, the consent decree will also require Memphis to pay a civil penalty of $1.29 million. Half of this amount will be paid to the United States. At the direction of the state, the other half of the civil penalty will be paid by Memphis through the performance of certain state projects. These projects include implementation of improvements to Memphis’ Geographic Information System (GIS) and implementation of an effluent color study to better delineate limits for the color of Memphis’ permitted discharges into the Mississippi River.

Keeping raw sewage and contaminated stormwater out of the waters of the United States is one of EPA’s national enforcement initiatives for 2011 to 2013. The initiative focuses on reducing sewer overflows, which can present a significant threat to human health and the environment. These reductions are accomplished by obtaining cities’ commitments to implement timely, affordable solutions to these problems, including the increased use of green infrastructure and other innovative approaches.

The United States has reached similar agreements in the past with numerous municipal entities across the country including Mobile and Jefferson County, Ala. (Birmingham); Atlanta and Dekalb County, Ga.; Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn.; Miami-Dade County, Fla.; New Orleans; Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Ohio; Northern Kentucky Sanitation District #1; and Louisville, Ky.

The proposed consent decree with Memphis is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

USS AIRCRAFT CARRIER GETS REFUELED AT SEA

                                                             FROM:  U.S. NAVY
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and the Indian navy replenishment oiler INS Shakti (A57) conduct a refueling at sea exercise. Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are deployed participating in the Malabar Exercise with ships and aircraft from the Indian Navy. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Apprentice Andrew K. Haller

U.S. ANNOUNCES TEN YEAR VISA VALIDITY FOR COLOMBIANS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Announcement of Ten-Year Visa Validity for Colombians Visiting the United States
Fact Sheet Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
April 15, 2012
The State Department is pleased to announce an increase in the validity of visas for Colombians traveling on a temporary basis to the United States from five years to ten years. This means that most Colombian applicants who qualify for a B-category non-immigrant visa may be issued a 120-month, multiple-entry visa.

This extension of visa validity is supporting of the expanding partnership between the United States and Colombia on a broad array of issues, which has resulted in increased exchanges for tourism and business. The extension is also consistent with the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, which can increase investment between our two countries. A growing Colombian economy will lead to a growth in travel for education and training, tourism, and economic activities.
Approximately 577,000 Colombians visit the United States annually, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Changes in visa reciprocity have no effect on visa eligibility or security screening procedures. Visa applicants will be subject to the same standards of eligibility for a U.S. visa as before the change in validity.

Benefits of the Visa Validity Extension:
Colombians qualified for a temporary visa to the United States will only need to apply to renew their visa once every ten years.
U.S. and Colombian businesses and service providers, including the tourist industry, will benefit from increased travel between the two countries.

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL RASMUSSEN BELIEVES IN SUPPORTING AFGHANISTAN BEYOND 2014 PULL-OUT

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

NATO Conference Focuses on Post-2014 Afghanistan

By Karen Parrish

BRUSSELS, April 18, 2012 - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen today emphasized support to Afghanistan beyond 2014 in remarks opening a conference of the alliance's defense and foreign ministers here.

Rasmussen noted the NATO summit in Chicago is a month away. "We have important work to do today and tomorrow to help set the stage," he said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has been engaged in Afghanistan since 2001, and Rasmussen said the alliance will continue to support that nation beyond 2014.

Meetings of NATO defense and foreign ministers today and tomorrow will shape the decisions on Afghanistan that the alliance's heads of state and government will make in Chicago, Rasmussen said, including completing the transition to Afghan security lead by the end of 2014 and what form NATO's contributions in Afghanistan will take after that transfer.

Rasmussen noted Afghan security forces defeated coordinated enemy attacks April 15 in and around Afghanistan's capital of Kabul.

"This shows that the Afghan security forces can deal with dangers and difficulties, and they are getting stronger every day," the secretary general said.

He said his clear message to Afghanistan's enemies is that they can't just wait NATO out. "As we gradually draw down," he added, "a still stronger Afghan security force is taking charge to protect the Afghan people against brutality and inhumanity."

NATO will maintain a training mission and financial support to Afghan security forces beyond 2014, Rasmussen said. "We must make sure we maintain the gains made with so much investment in lives and resources," he added.

Even in tough financial times, the secretary general said, supporting the Afghan forces is "a good deal in financial and political terms."

NATO remains committed to its strategy and its long-term partnership with Afghanistan, Rasmussen said.

"This is our message to the people of Afghanistan, to the enemies of Afghanistan, and to the neighbors of Afghanistan," he said, "because it is in the interest of our own security."

Before a morning meeting of defense ministers this morning, Rasmussen said their discussion would center on alliance "smart defense" efforts to acquire capabilities jointly that the alliance will need to counter future threats. Smart defense, he said, "means setting the right priorities. We must specialize in what we do best and focus resources on what we need most. And we must work together to deliver capabilities that many nations cannot afford on [their] own."

At the Chicago summit next month, Rasmussen said, NATO will demonstrate its commitment "to continue to invest political, military and economic capital in a transatlantic alliance that is fully fit to deal with the security challenges of today and tomorrow."

In a news conference following the morning session, he announced ministers have prepared an interim missile defense plan for Europe, with details to be announced in Chicago.

NATO defense ministers also discussed a "connected forces" initiative to be finalized at the Chicago summit, he added. This agreement will strengthen member nations' coordinated education, training and technology efforts, the secretary general said.

Financial support to Afghan forces after 2014 is expected to cost $4 billion per year, Rasmussen added, though details of NATO nations' contributions to that total have not been finalized.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton are both here for the NATO meetings, and are scheduled to hold a joint news conference later today.

U.S.DENIES SUNDAY'S TALIBAN ATTACKS WERE LIKE 1968 TET OFFENSIVE

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

Official Dismisses Comparison of Kabul Attacks, Tet Offensive

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - A few terrorist attacks does not make yesterday's combat in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul the "Taliban Tet Offensive," the Pentagon's top public affairs official said here today.

The Tet Offensive in 1968 involved tens of thousands of North Vietnamese regulars and thousands of Viet Cong irregulars. They attacked the length and breadth of South Vietnam from Hue in the north to the Mekong Delta to the American Embassy in Saigon.

Yesterday's attacks, by contrast, involved tens of terrorists armed with suicide vests and car bombs and some rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told reporters.

"Initial indications are that the Haqqani network was involved in the attacks in Kabul," Little said. "This was a well-coordinated set of attacks. I'm unaware of any U.S. casualties."

The Afghan national security forces responded to the attacks and handled matters by themselves, Little said. "They had the lead role in many instances and successfully repelled the enemy," he said.

The attacks mark the beginning of the "fighting season" in Afghanistan, when enemy fighters typically have become active after the harsh Afghanistan winter.

"We thought something like this could very well happen, and it did," Little said. "These were attacks that we believe show the Haqqanis and other insurgents are concerned about the progress being made in Afghanistan. And the fact that certain institutions of governance in Afghanistan were targeted ... suggests they feel the need to attack those institutions and what those institutions stand for: a brighter Afghanistan."

Little flatly rejected any analogy between yesterday's events in Afghanistan and the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. "This was a coordinated set of attacks," he said. "We are looking at suicide bombers, RPG, mortar fire etc. This was not a large-scale offensive sweeping into Kabul or other parts of the country."

The actions were multiple terrorist attacks, he noted. "I'm not minimizing the serious

ness of this, but this was in no way akin to the Tet Offensive or other enemy offensives that I'm aware of," he said.

While Little didn't speak directly to intelligence on the attacks, he did say chatter had indicated something like this might occur. "I don't believe this was an intelligence failure," he said. "We had some sense that something like this might happen. We know from past history that this is something they might do. This is the start of the spring fighting season, and the response was very effective.

"If we're going to be held to the standard that we have to know precisely when and where each insurgent attack is going to occur," he continued, "then that's an unfair standard."
 

NAVY GETS READY FOR HURRICANE SEASON

FROM:  U.S. NAVY
A landing craft air cushion from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4 enters the well deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) as part of HURREX 08-002. HURREX is a Commander, U.S. Second Fleet directed exercise designed to test the ship's ability to respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief needs during the 2008 hurricane season. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Bookwalter/Released)

From U.S. Fleet Forces Public Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) and Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) are conducting a hurricane preparedness exercise, HURREX/Citadel Gale 12, April 16 through 27.

The purpose of this annual exercise is to prepare the Navy to respond to weather threats to U.S. coastal regions, and to maintain its ability to deploy naval forces even under the most adverse weather conditions.

HURREX/Citadel Gale 12 will involve two simulated storm systems developing and intensifying to hurricane strength, threatening the Caribbean Islands, East Coast and Gulf Coast regions.

All Navy commands with personnel in these regions will participate, to include reviewing and exercising heavy weather instructions and procedures and accounting for Sailors and Navy families in the affected regions through the Navy Family Accountability and Assessment System (NFAAS).

There is no U.S. Navy ship movement associated with HURREX/Citadel Gale 12.

Galaxy rising: With C-5M a 'super' culture, capability change are taking place

Galaxy rising: With C-5M a 'super' culture, capability change are taking place