THE NUCLEAR RISK REDUCTION CENTER

Bikinni Island Nuclear Test.  Credit:  U.S. Army

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Inside the U.S. Department of State: Nuclear Risk Reduction Center
Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance

October 24, 2012
(Intro) The work we do here is very important because it keeps the communication open between Russia and the United States. Here we implement various treaties and communications systems, twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. We’re working holidays, we’re working Christmas and Thanksgiving and 4th of July. Things can happen at any moment and we’re constantly on alert. We’re really in the crisis prevention business.

Acting Under Secretary Rose Gottemoeller: The Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC) is a communications center here in the State Department that operates to communicate with countries around the world where we have special treaty relationships where we are communicating to implement arms control treaties, whether it’s a strategic arms reduction treaty like the New START Treaty or a conventional treaty like the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.

Staff Director Ned Williams: The role of the NRRC is very important because we are an interagency resource. We support the entire U.S. government in all matters pertaining to arms control and international security communications.

Deputy Staff Director Colonel Samuel McNiel: The NRRCs were established to help exchange arms control information, to help prevent any misunderstanding, to help prevent any miscalculation, to help prevent any misinterpretation of something like a missile launch. So that we know when the Russians are going to do a test launch or the Russians know when we are going to do a test launch.

Staff Director Ned Williams: The NRRC is active in supporting over 14 different treaties and agreements in 6 different languages including the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and most importantly the New START Treaty.

This is our main NRRC watch center, where we monitor all treaty communications. Here we would have our communications officers monitoring communications circuits back here. We have watch officers monitoring various conventional and strategic arms control treaties and this giant video wall allows our watch officers to work collectively together and to share information and notice when new urgent information is communicated to the NRRC. The NRRC transmits over 7 thousand treaty notifications per year and that translates to roughly 15 thousand government to government messages per year.

Watch Officer Jonathan Winward: One of the notifications that we receive is when the Russians inform us that they will be testing one of their ballistic missiles through a launch. So what happens is a communications officer will receive the notification, pass it off to a bilateral watch officer, we’ll translate it and create a dissemination Cable. This is reviewed by the front office and then transmitted by the watch officer. The communication goes to a number of different parties including the National Military Command Center as well as other interested parties in the Department of State.

Acting Under Secretary Rose Gottemoeller: Well I know I can always count on the NRRC because if I have a requirement in the dead of night to get in touch with the Russian Federation for some reason, the NRRC is available no matter what, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. That is why it is so important; it is somewhat similar to our "hotline" that has existed since the Cuban Missile Crisis, that allowed the two countries – at that time the Soviet Union and the United States - to always be in touch between the two leaders if a nuclear crisis arose.

<sup>Network Manager Bereket Desta: During September 11th, when the network went down, this was the only network that was able to directly communicate with the Russian President.

Staff Director Ned Williams: The Deputy Secretary approached us and requested to send a goodwill message to notify the Russians that we were increasing our defense readiness condition and wanted to let the Russians know that this was not directed toward them and avoided any misunderstanding.

Acting Under Secretary Rose Gottemoeller: The New START Treaty has an extensive series of notifications that are really going to keep track of what’s going on inside the Russian strategic nuclear forces – as a missile moves from a production facility into deployment, as it goes from a deployment site on a base into maintenance, all of those moves are going to be notified. So they will be passed through the Nuclear Risk Reduction Center. The notification regime is one of the core foundations for the verification of the New START Treaty, without those notifications we’re not going to get the picture of the Russian strategic nuclear forces that we would get otherwise. So the NRRC is key to the implementation of the New START Treaty.

Deputy Staff Director Colonel Samuel McNiel: In my Air Force career, I started as a missile launch officer, so I knew what it meant to go to work every day with the possibility that I was going to launch my missiles towards our enemies. Working here at the NRRC is very rewarding because I have a chance help make sure that we never have to launch those missiles.</sup>

SERVICE MEMBER BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Breast cancer survivor Air Force Senior Airman Latisha Chong runs in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Charleston, S.C., Oct. 20, 2012. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rasheen A. Douglas

Face of Defense: Breast Cancer Survivor Describes Her Battle

By Air Force Airman 1st Class Chacarra Walker
American Forces Press Service

CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 25, 2012 - Air Force Senior Airman Latisha Chong was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer Jan. 19. Two weeks later, the same doctor who discovered her breast cancer told her she also had Hodgkin lymphoma.

"I was 21 years old and didn't think I was strong enough to beat two cancers. I thought my life was over," said Chong, a flight kitchen specialist assigned to the 628th Force Support Squadron at Joint Base Charleston.

Chong had just returned from a six-month deployment to Southwest Asia when she noticed two lumps in her breasts and immediately knew something was wrong. Her doctors diagnosed the two lumps as cancerous tumors.

"I immediately called my mom," she said. "Even though it was her birthday, she needed to know the bad news."

Chong's mother, Darlene Vincent, originally from Trinidad, was living in Brooklyn, N.Y., when her daughter broke the news.

"It was heartbreaking," Vincent said. "I knew Latisha needed my support, so I packed up and moved to Charleston."

The next person Chong called was her supervisor, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Christian Farin, the flight kitchen's noncommissioned officer in charge. Chong said Farin was someone who always was available to listen and help with her problems.

"This was the first time I've ever experienced an airman coming to me with this type of news," Farin said. "I didn't know what to say. I really couldn't believe it." He said he tried to put Chong's mind at ease by letting her know she had not only his support, but also the support of the entire squadron.

Chong was facing five months of chemotherapy followed by radiation to stop the growth of the tumors in her breasts and to treat her Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that starts in cells called lymphocytes, which are part of the body's immune system.

On top of it all, Chong still had to take care of her 2-year-old son, Malachi.

"Since my immune system was weak, any time Malachi showed even the slightest signs of a cold or any other illness, I would have to stay away from him," Chong said. "The thing that kept me grounded the most was praying. You have to believe in something. That's how I stayed positive."

Chong's squadron leadership team ensured Malachi was enrolled in the base child development center. This gave her a bit of time for herself and time to focus on defeating the cancers that were spreading throughout her body.

"Raising a child alone is hard, but raising a child while battling two cancers is overwhelming," Chong said.

When Malachi wasn't at the child development center, the airman's mother would help out while Chong was going through chemotherapy and radiation.

The treatments began to take their toll. Chong said the chemotherapy made her constantly feel as if she had the flu, and the radiation caused fatigue and night sweats.

"Going through chemotherapy made me feel extremely cold," she said. "When I went out in public, even though it was summer, I had on sweats, boots, a jacket, a scarf, and on top of everything else, I wore a mask. People looked at me as if I wasn't human."

Wanting to understand what Chong was going through, Farin decided to spend a day with her to get a better understanding of how he could help.

"It didn't really hit me until I saw her without hair," he said. "I took leave for a day and watched Chong go through an entire session of chemotherapy. I don't know what I would have done if I was in her shoes."

Chong wore a wig while going through chemotherapy.

"After a while I couldn't take it any more," she said. "Once the physical changes started to become noticeable, I wanted to stand out less in public. A wig helped."

Besides losing her hair, Chong dealt with fluctuating weight.

"The different stages of treatment caused me to either lose or gain extreme amounts of weight," she said. "I was going through a lot at such a young age."

After five grueling months of chemotherapy, Chong had made it over the mountain and was ready for radiation, followed by surgery.

"When I graduated from chemotherapy, so many people from my squadron showed up, even the hospital staff was shocked," she said. "They had to make room for everybody and the other patients. That's when I realized what true wingmen are."

On June 19, Chong's doctors told her she was cancer-free. Because her mother already was with her, she said, her first call was to her supervisor.

"Every time she called me [previously], she told me bad news," Farin said. "But this time, I could tell in her voice it was good."

In September, Chong was finished with radiation and prepared for surgery. Nervous and excited to be having the tumors in her breasts removed, Chong slipped into unconsciousness as the anesthesia overtook her.

"When it was time for surgery, I prayed," she said. "I prayed that everything would go as planned and that I would make it out safely."

Even though Chong was cancer-free, she would still need to go through another 33 rounds of chemotherapy to ensure the cancer did not return, and she wanted to know when she could go back to work.

"I was ready to get back to Services, where I help people, because that's what we do," she. "The best part about my job is the people."

Chong is scheduled to return to work at the end of this year. She has had five of seven reconstructive surgeries so far for new breasts.

While Chong was going through chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Antonia Williams of the 628th Force Support Squadron put together a team to run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure here in Chong's honor Oct. 20.

"I met Latisha at the fitness center a couple weeks after arriving in Charleston," Williams said. "She came in and everyone started talking to her. She wasn't in uniform, and I had never seen her before, so I asked her about her situation.

"Talking to Latisha was so inspirational. ... She was so positive," Williams continued. "I had only known her for a few weeks, but I knew I wanted to make a difference in her life and do something special for her."

Williams put together a team of more than 50 runners and set a goal of $1,000 in donations. The team exceeded the goal by more than $700.

"I'm very happy about the run," Chong said. "It shows people care."

U.S.-CHINA ASIA-PACIFIC CONSULTATIONS

The Great Wall Of China.  Credit:  CIA World Factbook

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S.-China Asia-Pacific Consultations

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
October 24, 2012
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt M. Campbell hosted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai on October 23 for the fourth U.S.-China Asia-Pacific Consultations in San Francisco, California. The consultations are an outcome of the U.S-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

The two sides held constructive discussions regarding each country’s policies and actions in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States emphasized its support for working with China to strengthen the role of regional institutions in enhancing security and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. In that context, the United States and China discussed ways for both countries to promote greater cooperation on regional challenges, including through the East Asia Summit. The two sides also discussed pressing issues in the region, with particular attention to ongoing challenges with the DPRK and recent positive developments in Burma.

The U.S.-China Asia-Pacific Consultations are similar to dialogues the United States holds with many other Asia-Pacific states and complement other existing U.S.-China dialogues. These dialogues enhance cooperation, contribute to better understanding between the United States and China, and promote regional stability. The U.S. delegation included representatives from the Departments of State and the National Security Staff.

EASTERN U.S. PREPARES FOR SANDY

 FROM: U.S. FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
 Sandy Makes Landfall Over Cuba 
Early in the morning on Oct. 25, 2012, the Suomi NPP satellite passed over Hurricane Sandy after it made landfall over Cuba and Jamaica, capturing this highly detailed infrared imagery, showing areas of deep convection around the central eye. Besides the highly detailed infrared imagery, the satellite shows visible-like imagery of the cloud tops, along with the city lights of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Image Credit-NOAA-NASA

Readout of Secretary Napolitano and FEMA Administrator Fugate’s Calls to Governors and Mayors as Preparations for Hurricane Sandy Continue

Release date:
October 27, 2012
Release Number:
HQ-12-110
WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate today reached out to the governors of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and the mayors of New York and Washington, D.C., to make sure the governors’ and mayors’ teams had the support they need as they continue to prepare for Hurricane Sandy.

"At the direction of the President, DHS and FEMA continue to work closely with our state and local partners to identify and address needs early as communities prepare for this storm," said Secretary Napolitano. "FEMA and other federal partners are already sending teams and resources into potentially impacted areas to support state and local preparedness efforts, and Administrator Fugate and I continue to urge those along the East Coast to closely monitor the progress of Hurricane Sandy and continue to follow the guidance and direction of their state and local officials."

Earlier today, President Obama convened a call with Secretary Napolitano, Administrator Fugate, National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Rick Knabb, and Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan to receive an update on ongoing federal actions to prepare for Hurricane Sandy as it moves toward the United States mainland. The President reiterated his direction to Administrator Fugate to ensure that federal partners continue to bring all available resources to bear to support state and local responders in potentially affected areas along the Eastern seaboard as they prepare for severe weather.

Residents in potentially impacted states are encouraged to listen to the directions of state and local officials and have an emergency plan, including local evacuation routes, places to evacuate or seek shelter, family contact information and important paperwork. For more information, visit Ready.gov (Listo.gov para español) for tips on creating a family emergency plan, getting an emergency kit and taking other steps to prepare.

TURKEY'S NATIONAL DAY

Map Credit: CIA World Factbook

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

On the Occasion of the Republic of Turkey's National Day

Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
October 26, 2012
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Turkey as you celebrate the 89th anniversary of the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey this October 29.

On this special day, we reaffirm the strong partnership between our nations and the common desire to bolster peace and security around the world, promote economic prosperity, and encourage democratic transitions. This year we also celebrate the 60th anniversary of Turkey’s NATO membership and our collaboration to deepen global security and combat terrorism, including regional threats like the PKK. The United States deeply appreciates the sacrifices the Turkish people are making to provide relief to over 100,000 Syrians seeking refuge from Asad’s brutality. And we stand with you as a friend and partner as we work together to address this conflict and ease the burden of this humanitarian crisis.

I look forward to deepening the already strong ties between us as we work together for a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Map Credit:  CIA World Factbook. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk or "Father of the Turks." Under his authoritarian leadership, the country adopted wide-ranging social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and intermittent military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted in a return of political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a "post-modern coup" - of the then Islamic-oriented government. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - now known as the Kurdistan People's Congress or Kongra-Gel (KGK) - has dominated the Turkish military's attention and claimed more than 30,000 lives. After the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey mainly to northern Iraq. In 2004, KGK announced an end to its ceasefire and attacks attributed to the KGK increased. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community. Over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy; it began accession membership talks with the European Union in 2005.

DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY'S FUTURE

Photo:  Arati Prabhakar
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

New Director Details Elements of DARPA's Future Success

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 - Breakthrough national security capabilities, a differentiated U.S. technology base and a continued robust Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are elements of DARPA's future success, Arati Prabhakar, the agency's director, said here yesterday.

Prabhakar, who started July 30 as DARPA's new director, addressed an audience of Office of Naval Research leaders and program managers and members of industry, academia and other government agencies at ONR's Naval Science and Technology Partnership Conference.

"We are working today on projects that will make an impact in the next two years and the next four years and the next six years, but that's just the tip of the spear," Prabhakar said. "The true impact from the work we're doing today is going to be felt over a period of a decade or two decades or three decades. So I like to imagine a future in 2025 or 2030, or maybe even 2035, [in which we're] able to go back and say, 'We did the right things ... and made the right investments and found the right people to work with.'"

The director, who received a doctorate in applied physics and a master of science degree in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, joined DARPA as a program manager in 1986. Over seven years, she initiated and managed programs in advanced semiconductor technology, flexible manufacturing and demonstration projects to insert new semiconductor technologies into military systems.

She also was the founding director of DARPA's Microelectronics Technology Office, leading a team of program managers in optoelectronics, infrared imaging, nanoelectronics and other areas.

During 19 years away from DARPA, in a career spent investing in world-class engineers and scientists to create new technologies and businesses, Prabhakar said, she had a proprietary interest in the results of her early work at the agency.

"I found that the work I did and that my office had done and that my colleagues across the agency did in partnership with the services and the commercial sector led to a blossoming of capability over a couple of decades," the director said.

"As I watched, I saw our soldiers own the battlefield because of the capabilities we had given them in sensing and communications and navigation and a host of other technologies. And in the commercial sector, I watched an explosion of capability in wireless communications and consumer electronics," she recalled.

Looking across the U.S. technical community, she said, she saw "one person after another who had been part of the projects that we had worked on in the early days when I was at DARPA, and those individuals went on to make huge contributions to businesses, to national security and to academia."

As she thought about returning to DARPA this summer, Prabhakar said, she considered the impact she and the agency could have on national security, the nation's technology base and the technical community.

"There really is no better place [to be than] embedded in this particular community. ... In the years that I'm with DARPA, I hope we can make the kinds of investments that have the same hugely disproportionate impact in the years to come," she said.

DARPA was created after the Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space in 1957, Prabhakar said, creating the first artificial Earth satellite and a rude technological surprise for the United States.

"Our core mission then and now is to focus on creating [strategic] surprise and preventing that kind of surprise for our country," the director explained, adding that breakthrough national security capabilities ultimately are about creating decisive surprise -- the kind that changes outcomes.

This year is an especially interesting time to think about how to create surprise in U.S. national security, she said.

"We're winding up over a decade of two ground wars and dealing with counterinsurgency challenges," Prabhakar noted. "It's an important time for us all, and DARPA in particular, to put our heads up, to look ahead, to think about what the future issues are going to be for national security and to have that influence the work we'll be doing in this time period."

One program in development at DARPA to deal with today's more complex, less predictable world is a long-range anti-ship-missile called LRASM.

"It's an approach to a new weapon system that fundamentally changes the way our sailors will engage with a very sophisticated enemy defense capability," she said.

The missile's own high degree of sophistication will dramatically change the range at which sailors can engage, how things go if they're in a GPS-denied environment, and what sailors have to know about their target, the director said.

"We think this can be the next generation of advanced cruise missile," she added. "It's a project where we've made a tremendous amount of progress working with the Navy and the contractor community, and I think it ... is a great example of one of many projects at DARPA that can dramatically change a specific mission or a specific scenario."

But even LRASM is no silver bullet for the future battlefield, the director said, "so when we step back and [consider] what it would take to change the ... warfighting environment in a radical and fundamental way, that's a much tougher question."

It will help to add to LRASM new technologies that will advance electronic warfare in dramatic ways and the ability to conduct effective cyber defense and cyber offense in a tactical environment, she said.

"We're going to take communications technology to the next level, the next generation of [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] technology," Prabhakar added, and broaden the position, navigation and timing technologies that will allow the services to operate without relying on GPS.

"All of those technology vectors are, in fact, advancing, and they and other technologies, as you think about a future where all of those advances have occurred, you can start to imagine radical new ways of [fighting]," the director said.

"I think it's going to be through those efforts that we can start coming up with answers to the question, How do we create a completely new scenario, a completely new way of engagement?" she added.

A second element in DARPA's future success is a highly differentiated technology base, the director said, because none of the new national security capabilities will happen without one.

Unlike the post-World War II era, when the United States often had the luxury of using advanced technologies invented and developed at home, she added, "that's really not the case today for so many of the technologies upon which our national security depends."

Virtually every aspect of information technology -- from networking to communications to software systems, components and integrated circuits -- along with materials and many areas of manufacturing technology, are globally available, and aren't even available in the United States, Prabhakar said.

"Our task today is a little bit different, because in these areas we still have to create the most effective defense solutions despite the fact that we don't get that edge that prevents our adversaries from building their own systems," the director added.

"That means we have to be the most sophisticated and the most effective users of globally available technologies, and that's a different kind of challenge," she said, "but ... it's one that can be tackled by building a capability for implementing advanced systems and doing aggressive systems engineering."

Prabhakar said she sees brewing in the scientific community a set of laboratory capabilities that could create opportunities "for some period of time -- not forever, maybe for some years or even decades -- [that] we can aspire to having a U.S. capability that our adversaries don't have."

One potential area is engineering biology, she said, a discipline from which "we're starting to see the prospect for building engineering tools and infrastructure that would allow us to get a degree of engineering control over biology and its ability to produce, for example, new materials and new interesting components."

The area still is very research oriented, she added, "but it's one where we could easily imagine over a period of five or 10 years the creation of a radical infrastructure ... that allows you to tackle these new technologies ... and open up a wide swath of interesting applications."

The third objective for DARPA's success is for the agency to remain vibrant and robust, the director said.

That happens if DARPA continues to engage the broad community -- companies large and small, in and out of the defense business; the services and service laboratories; and the university community -- to seek technological opportunities and the new windows that are opening in the research environment, she explained.

"I think the world we're living in today is a complex and challenging one," Prabhakar said. "I'm pretty sure that's going to be true in the future, and I want to make sure that we have the capability to make our contribution to the solutions that we're going to need for those future generations."

U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK AND JAPAN BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION SIGN CO-FINANCING AGREEMENT



Laughing Budda, Narita, Japan. Photo Credit: CIA World Factbook.

 

FROM: EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation
Sign Co-financing Agreement to Facilitate U.S., Japanese Export Sales
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- Officials from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) today signed a co-financing agreement that will facilitate future export transactions involving companies in both the United States and Japan.

The agreement enables Ex-Im and JBIC to provide "one-stop-shop" export finance services to buyers in third countries purchasing both U.S. and Japanese goods and services. The two nations’ export credit agencies (ECAs) will provide a one-stop-shop financing package, creating administrative efficiencies for foreign buyers. The agreement complements one signed in 2004 between Ex-Im Bank and Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI).

JBIC Chief Operating Officer and Senior Managing Director Fumio Hoshi, representing JBIC Governor Hiroshi Okuda and Ex-Im Senior Vice President for Policy James C. Cruse , representing Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg, signed the agreement at Ex-Im’s headquarters in Washington, D.C..

"This arrangement paves the way for Ex-Im Bank and JBIC to co-finance projects, enabling exporters in both the U.S. and Japan to select the best mix of price and technology to strengthen their overseas bids and support jobs," said Hochberg. "At the same time, exporters will be able to provide their buyers with only one set of terms and conditions covering both countries’ exports."

This is the first "One-Stop Shop" co-financing agreement signed by JBIC with another ECA.

JBIC is a policy-based financial institution of Japan, and conducts lending, investment and guarantee operations while complementing the private sector financial institutions.

In addition to the JBIC and NEXI co-financing agreements, Ex-Im Bank currently has signed bilateral one-stop-shop agreements with ASHR’A (Israel), Atradius (The Netherlands), Coface (France), ECGD (U.K.), EDC (Canada), EFIC (Australia), EKF (Denmark), Euler Hermes (Germany), and SACE (Italy) and is in discussions with other ECAs to sign additional bilateral agreements. Ex-Im Bank will consider co-financing transactions without a formal bilateral agreement on a case-by-case basis. In fact, Ex-Im Bank has concluded a number of one off co-financing arrangements with GIEK (Norway), H-EXIM (Hungary) and ONDD (Belgium).

SENATOR CARL LEVIN WRITES LETTER ON CLOSING OFFSHORE LOOPHOLES TO AVOID 'FISCAL' CLIFF'

FROM: SENATOR CARL LEVIN'S WEBSITE
Levin Writes to Bipartisan Leaders on Closing Offshore Loopholes, Avoiding ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Wednesday, October 17, 2012
WASHINGTON – Seeking to help step back from the "fiscal cliff," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has written to congressional and administration leaders on the need to address offshore tax abuses as part of a balanced deficit-reduction package.

"Closing these loopholes would not only produce significant revenue to help reduce the deficit and prevent sequestration, it would strengthen tax fairness and remove tax incentives to move U.S. business, jobs, and profits offshore," Levin writes. He identifies 10 offshore tax loopholes identified in more than a decade of investigative work by his subcommittee; closing those loopholes could reduce the deficit by hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 years.

Levin wrote to the leaders of the congressional tax-writing committees; Senate leadership; colleagues involved in bipartisan negotiations aimed at avoiding the fiscal cliff; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; and White House economic adviser Gene Sperling.

ANNIVERSARY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Map Credit:  CIA World Factbook.
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

On the Occasion of the Czech Republic's National DayPress Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
October 26, 2012

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of the Czech Republic as you celebrate the anniversary of your independence this October 28.

The relationship between our two countries has grown over the last two decades. Today, we are exploring new opportunities to work together to strengthen security, promote economic development, and defend basic human rights. We particularly appreciate the role the Czech Republic plays as our protecting power in Syria in the midst of the Asad regime’s assault on its own people. Your continued commitment to our mission in Afghanistan as the Afghan government takes full responsibility for its own security is contributing directly to the future of Its people. In places around the world, our two countries are working hand in hand promoting democratic values.

Map Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

On this special day, I send my sincere congratulations to all Czechs and look forward to finding new ways to strengthen our close relationship and advance our shared values.
 

U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANETTA SPEAKS ABOUT CONGRESS AND SEQUESTRATION

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Panetta: Congress 'On The Clock' to Avert Sequestration

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2012 - Congress "is on the clock" and has critical work to accomplish when the House and Senate come back into session after the Nov. 6 election, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here today.

During a Pentagon news conference today, Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the need for lawmakers to act.

First on the list is averting sequestration before it takes effect Jan. 2, Panetta said. Unless Congress decides on an alternative by that date, a sequestration provision in budget law requires an additional $500 billion in defense spending cuts over the next decade, on top of a $487 billion spending reduction already in effect for that period.

"There are only 70 days until that happens, and Congress is certainly on the clock when it comes to that potential sequestration occurring," the secretary said.

The secretary said he also wants Congress to pass the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill. "I'd like them to pass a ... defense appropriations bill, too, but in the very least, we really do need a defense authorization bill so that we can continue to implement our new defense strategy," he said.

The secretary also stressed the need for Congress to act on a cybersecurity bill. "We really do need strong cybersecurity legislation to ensure that we can help defend the nation against a cyberattack," he said. This was the second time in two weeks that Panetta has stressed the need for this legislation, again warning of the growing threat of a cyberattack on the nation's infastructure.

Finally, Panetta called on the Senate to act quickly on the nominations of Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen to be the next commander of U.S. European Command and to become NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe and for Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. to replace Allen as commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

"This is a full agenda," the secretary said. "It's one that requires Democrats and Republicans to work together. And after a tough national election, the American people, I think, will expect both parties to roll up their sleeves, work together to solve the problems facing the nation, and to protect our national security."

Congress's failure to approve a fiscal 2013 budget is causing problems way down the line for the Defense Department, Panetta said. "We're developing a [fiscal] 2014 budget that to some extent ... is not based on what Congress has done, because they haven't done it," the secretary said. "We don't know what the 2013 budget is going to be." The department is operating on a continuing resolution through March 2013 in lieu of a budget for the whole fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

Panetta said Pentagon officials don't know what they can spend for fiscal 2013, let alone fiscal 2014. "This is a strategic issue: it's 'What kind of stability am I going to have in terms of defense spending for the future?'" he said.

Noting that the department still is cutting almost $500 billion from the defense budget over the next decade, Panetta said that to do so smartly requires some certainty.

"For us to be able to make the kind of strategic choices we need to make, I have to have some stability with regards to where are we going from here," he said. "And I don't have that right now, and frankly, that's a major concern."

ANTARTIC OZONE HOLE 2ND SMALLEST IN LAST 20 YEARS

Antarctic Native Dancer.  Credit:  NASA

FROM: NASA
2012 Antarctic Ozone Hole Second Smallest in 20 Years

WASHINGTON -- The average area covered by the Antarctic ozone hole this year was the second smallest in the last 20 years, according to data from NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. Scientists attribute the change to warmer temperatures in the Antarctic lower stratosphere.

The ozone hole reached its maximum size Sept. 22, covering 8.2 million square miles (21.2 million square kilometers), or the area of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined. The average size of the 2012 ozone hole was 6.9 million square miles (17.9 million square kilometers). The Sept. 6, 2000 ozone hole was the largest on record at 11.5 million square miles (29.9 million square kilometers).

"The ozone hole mainly is caused by chlorine from human-produced chemicals, and these chlorine levels are still sizable in the Antarctic stratosphere," said NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Natural fluctuations in weather patterns resulted in warmer stratospheric temperatures this year. These temperatures led to a smaller ozone hole."

The ozone layer acts as Earth's natural shield against ultraviolet radiation, which can cause skin cancer. The ozone hole phenomenon began making a yearly appearance in the early 1980s. The Antarctic ozone layer likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2065, Newman said. The lengthy recovery is because of the long lifetimes of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere. Overall atmospheric ozone no longer is declining as concentrations of ozone-depleting substances decrease. The decrease is the result of an international agreement regulating the production of certain chemicals.

This year also showed a change in the concentration of ozone over the Antarctic. The minimum value of total ozone in the ozone hole was the second highest level in two decades. Total ozone, measured in Dobson units (DU), reached 124 DU on Oct. 1. NOAA ground-based measurements at the South Pole recorded 136 DU on Oct. 5. When the ozone hole is not present, total ozone typically ranges from 240-500 DU.

This is the first year growth of the ozone hole has been observed by an ozone-monitoring instrument on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. The instrument, called the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS), is based on previous instruments, such as the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet instrument (SBUV/2), which have flown on multiple satellites. OMPS continues a satellite record dating back to the early 1970s.

In addition to observing the annual formation and extent of the ozone hole, scientists hope OMPS will help them better understand ozone destruction in the middle and upper stratosphere with its Nadir Profiler. Ozone variations in the lower stratosphere will be measured with its Limb Profiler.

"OMPS Limb looks sideways, and it can measure ozone as a function of height," said Pawan K. Bhartia, a NASA atmospheric physicist and OMPS Limb instrument lead. "This OMPS instrument allows us to more closely see the vertical development of Antarctic ozone depletion in the lower stratosphere where the ozone hole occurs."

NASA and NOAA have been monitoring the ozone layer on the ground and with a variety of instruments on satellites and balloons since the 1970s. Long-term ozone monitoring instruments have included TOMS, SBUV/2, Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment series of instruments, the Microwave Limb Sounder, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, and the OMPS instrument on Suomi NPP. Suomi NPP is a bridging mission leading to the next-generation polar-orbiting environmental satellites called the Joint Polar Satellite System, which will extend ozone monitoring into the 2030s.

NASA and NOAA have a mandate under the Clean Air Act to monitor ozone-depleting gases and stratospheric depletion of ozone. NOAA complies with this mandate by monitoring ozone via ground and satellite measurements. The NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., performs the ground-based monitoring. The Climate Prediction Center performs the satellite monitoring.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION NEWS VIDEO FROM NASA

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTO

FROM: U.S. NAVY
An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Dragon Whales of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 28 transfers ammunition from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) to the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2) during the carrier's last ammunition offload before returning to homeport. Enterprise is completing its final scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. America's Sailors are Warfighters, a fast and flexible force deployed worldwide. Join the conversation on social media using #warfighting. U.S. Navy photo by Information Systems Technician 1st Class Stephen Wolff (Released) 121025-N-ZZ999-084

MAN INDICTED FOR STOLEN IDENTITY REFUND FRAUD

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Alabama Man Indicted for Stolen Identity Refund Fraud

A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Ala., returned an indictment charging Kenneth Jerome Blackmon Jr., with aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, access device fraud and misuse of a Social Security number, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

According to the indictment, from January 2011 through November 2011, Blackmon participated in a scheme to file false tax returns using stolen identities. As alleged, he possessed lists of names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth as well as prepaid debit cards, all for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Blackmon faces a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the two wire fraud counts, 10 years for the access device fraud count, 5 years for the misuse of a Social Security number count, and a mandatory 2-year sentence for the aggravated identity theft counts. He is also subject to fines and mandatory restitution if convicted.

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Justin Gelfand and Jason Poole of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

U.S. Navy Navy Live Update

U.S. Navy Navy Live Update

HURRICANE SANDY AS SEEN FROM SPACE

FROM: NASA

 

CONDITIONS ON KOREAN PENINSULA

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The "Bridge of No Return" in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea was used for prisoner exchanges at the close of the Korean War.

U.S. Korea Commander Details Conditions on Peninsula

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 - Nowhere in the world is the disparity between freedom and oppression more apparent than on the Korean peninsula, the commander of U.S. and United Nations forces in Korea said here yesterday.

Army Gen. James D. Thurman told the audience at an Association of the U.S. Army luncheon that American forces in South Korea have helped to guarantee the security needed to produce one of the world's richest countries.

The prosperity of South Korea is contrasted by North Korea -- "one of the world's poorest, most closed, most oppressive, and most militarized countries," Thurman said.

About 28,500 U.S. service members are based in South Korea now, and U.S. personnel have helped to guarantee security in the south since the end of the Korean War in 1953. That war, which began when North Korea launched an attack into the south in June 1950, devastated the peninsula and killed millions, including 33,686 Americans.

Since the war, North Korea has remained a communist state in the grips of hard liners who have sunk billions into their military while their people literally starved to death.

By contrast, South Korea began an incredible renaissance. "The Republic of Korea is now a modern, free, and prosperous society," Thurman said. "Its over 50 million people live in a free and open democracy."

More than 80 percent of South Korea's residents are wired into the net, and it is the 13th largest economy in the world. "The average per capita income is over $31,000," the general said. "[South Korea] is our seventh-largest trading partner, and is home to companies that are familiar to all -- Hyundai, Kia, Samsung and LG, to name a few."

The South Korean military has risen as well, and Thurman said it is well led, well trained and well equipped. With more than 600,000 personnel under arms, the South Korean military continues to modernize to retain a qualitative edge over North Korean capabilities. South Korea is investing in interoperable command and control systems, ballistic missile defense capabilities such as Patriot and Aegis, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

"They are a very capable force. The [South Korean] Joint Chiefs of Staff are on track to assume responsibility for the wartime defense of Korea in December 2015," Thurman said.

The South Korean military faces a formidable and unpredictable foe in the North. North Korea maintains the fourth-largest military in the world, and possesses significant conventional and asymmetric capabilities, Thurman said.

With more than 1 million personnel, the North Korean army has more than 13,000 artillery systems, more than 4,000 tanks and more than 2,000 armored personnel carriers. North Korea's air force has more than 1,700 aircraft, and its navy has more than 800 surface combatants. "And more than 70 percent of this combat power is positioned within 90 miles of the Demilitarized Zone," Thurman said.

North Korea continues to improve its long-range artillery forces, which could hit the South Korean capital of Seoul. "An attack by these forces on any scale could cause significant damage to the greater Seoul metropolitan area," the general said.

Yet, he added, North Korea's significant asymmetric capabilities worry him more.

"North Korea possesses the world's largest special operations force of over 60,000," Thurman said. "They possess a significant amount of weapons of mass destruction. They are investing heavily in developing a deliverable nuclear weapon. North Korea continues to invest in ballistic missile improvements to include developing missiles which can threaten the region. Finally, the North Koreans possess a significant cyberwarfare capability, which they continue to improve."

And this is controlled by a ruler who answers to no one. Kim Jong Un, 29, is the third member of the communist dynasty to rule North Korea. "Initially, it appeared that he would follow the policies of his late father," the general said. "However, as he is consolidating his power, he is making changes in North Korea. He replaced some of his inner circle -- notably the top military leader."

There is speculation in the West about what these changes foretell, but the bottom line is no one really knows, Thurman said.

"He is an unpredictable ruler who leads a regime unwilling to operate as part of the global community," Thurman said of North Korea's leader. "His actions have increased uncertainty on the peninsula and in the greater Northeast Asia region."

The Korean peninsula is one area of the world where large-scale tank-on-tank warfare could erupt. U.S. forces in South Korea are being brought up to 100 percent manning and receiving the latest equipment. American forces are doing more and better training with South Korean and other allies. Thurman said his mission remains the same as it was when Army Gen. Matthew Ridgway commanded during the Korean War: to deter and defend.

DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER SAYS ARMY APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED

Air Drop In Afghanistan.  Photo Credit:  U.S. Army.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Carter: Army to Apply Lessons Learned to New Challenges

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2012 - U.S. soldiers have succeeded brilliantly in facing new demands during the post-9/11 era, and have now reached another major transition point, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter told an Army audience here today.

During a speech at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference, the deputy secretary said a "massive strategic transition is underway" in defense forces, and a look back over the last 11 years offers insight to where the Army is headed next.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, few organizations had to adapt as much as the Army, he noted, when "our country was called to fight enemies we did not fully understand."

The Army responded as a strong wartime force that learned to build, govern, advise and assist, and to think strategically as well as tactically, he said.

The deputy secretary noted that even with the end of the troop surge to Afghanistan, that "almost 60,000 soldiers remain engaged in combat ... out of 68,000 total [U.S.] service members there."

Carter added that beyond Afghanistan, more than 15,000 soldiers are deployed around the world, from Kuwait to the Sinai to the Horn of Africa. Over 90,000 soldiers and civilians are forward stationed in nearly 160 countries, he said, and Army special operations forces make up 75 percent of U.S. Special Operations Command operators.

"That is our Army today. And our Army has learned and learned again in the past decade to conduct new missions to defeat adaptive enemies," Carter said. "In the wars of this millennium our soldiers learned to conduct counterinsurgency, counterterrorism and security assistance force operations to protect civilian populations, become discriminately lethal, and build up our partners' capacity."

The Army of 2012 is powerful and adaptive across its ranks, the deputy secretary said.

"The junior officers and [noncommissioned officers] ... became administrators and community liaison officers in addition to, of course, unequalled warriors," he said. Meanwhile, he added, Army senior officers "couldn't ask the world to stop so that they could think; they had to design and execute a new strategy on the fly, with the fighting going on around them."

Those leaders ensured their troops learned to adapt and meet a wide range of new, highly demanding missions, he said.

"That transformation is one of the exceptional stories of our age," Carter said, noting that what used to be known as "operations other than war" became the core Army mission set over that time.

Part of the Army's success stems from its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations, he said, which forged a stronger connection between intelligence and operations. Carter said that fusion is apparent in any Army company-level command post today, where an observer will see capabilities that, 15 years ago, were found only at division level or higher.

"Operators and analysts synthesize all-source intelligence to identify targets, understand conditions and meet U.S. interests," he noted. "The bin Laden raid, while an excellent example, is just one example of that collaboration."

The Army has performed exceptionally well, he said. "Those lessons learned, that new capability built, those leaders forged [and] that habit of adaptation comprise an enormous asset for this country."

The world, the nation's friends and enemies, and technology have not stood still while America and its coalition partners fought two wars, the deputy secretary noted. Now, he added, Army and defense leaders must look up, around and out "to what the world needs next."

With $487 billion dollars trimmed from defense budgets over the next decade under the Budget Control Act, he said, military leaders must spend taxpayers' dollars more wisely and "ensure every dollar is spent strategically."

The department announced last winter a defense strategy that requires agile, lean forces that are "ready on a moment's notice, and technologically advanced," Carter said.

The Army will have a role in each of the new strategy's tenets, he said.

"One tenet is to capture the lesson learned -- so hard-learned -- in the past decade, including leadership, counterinsurgency, integrating intelligence and operations, and above all, adaptability, and turn them to future challenges," the deputy secretary said.

The Army will once again train to conduct a full range of operations and execute a full range of contingency plans, he said.

"They will do so through a flexible mix of armored, medium, light and airborne units which can be tailored and scaled for a full range of mission," Carter said.

The Army will also play a key part on the strategy's second tenet, he said, which involves a "broad political and military rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, and continuing presence in the Middle East."

The U.S. strategic goal for the Asia-Pacific is to ensure a stable, peaceful region such as the nation's military presence has helped maintain since World War II, he said. In the decades since that conflict, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia have prospered, as China and India are doing now, Carter noted.

The Army will bolster its stabilizing role in the Asia-Pacific region by increasing regional troop rotations and exercise engagements over the coming years, he said. Noting that the Asia-Pacific boasts seven of the world's 10 largest armies, Carter said the U.S. Army will continue to partner closely with land forces throughout the region.

"As one example, the United States worked closely with Australia in Iraq and Afghanistan," Carter said. "Today, American and Australian senior and mid-level Army officers know each other well. And our cooperation is increasing across the globe -- for instance, Australian Maj. Gen. Rick Burns will join the staff of U.S. Army Pacific on Nov. 4th, as deputy commanding general for operations."

The third tenet of the strategy involves "[spreading] the burden and responsibilities of security" by building partner nation military capacity around the world, Carter noted. The Army's role will involve sustaining and increasing bilateral and multilateral training and theater security cooperation, he said.

"One of the lessons the Army learned from Iraq and Afghanistan is that soldiers need core regional skills," the deputy secretary said. "So the Army is aligning its forces to different regions to build partner capacity more effectively."

The realignment begins this year, he said, with the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade aligning to U.S. Africa Command. The Army will also rotate units into Europe and other regions to bolster alliances, including through the NATO response force, he said, while Army corps headquarters will align with combatant commanders to better facilitate planning and training.

"These are all good steps," Carter said. "I urge the Army to continue to think creatively about how best to match its regional and cultural skills to requirements over the long term."

The fourth tenet of the defense strategy is to safeguard the future, he said.

In hard times, he explained, it's "very easy ... to pull out the things that are most shallowly rooted. ... And they're the newest things, and they're the last things that you should be taking out ... because they're your most recent, freshest, and best ideas."

Networking, mobility, cyber, unmanned vehicles, space and special operations are examples of vital functions the Army needs to "keep being good at," and the Pentagon will invest in those capabilities, the deputy secretary said.

Carter said the Army, along with the nation's other military services, has arrived at a moment of significant change, with operations ended in Iraq and Afghanistan involvement winding down.

"The Army story from the last 11 years is a story of dynamic and historic leadership at senior and junior levels," he said. "Soldiers faced immense strategic and tactical ambiguity; through incredible focus and determination, the Army learned new skills and succeeded."

Historians will write of the bravery and brilliance soldiers have displayed since 2001, Carter said, and also of the service's response to the demands of a new era.

"That's where we are again, right now," the deputy secretary said. "We face strategic choices about the kind of force we want to build."

Army and defense leaders are planning for the future at a moment of opportunity, Carter said.

"The question is, what kind of Army do we want? The answer is, powerful and adaptive," he said. "Not defensive, creative. The Army has a rich history from which to draw to make that adaptation, and I look forward to working on this next chapter."

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTO

FROM: U.S. NAVY
The guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) prepares to sortie in advance of Hurricane Sandy. Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, ordered all U.S. Navy ships in the Hampton Roads, Va., area to set Sortie Condition Alpha Oct. 26 in preparation of Hurricane Sandy. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tamekia L. Perdue (Released) 121026-N-JX924-163

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 2012 SECURITY INNOVATION NETWORK CONFERENCE

Photo Credit:  U.S. Department Of Defense

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Industry Partnerships Key to Mobility Strategy, Official Says

By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2012 - The Defense Department's partnerships with industry, particularly in the mobile realm, are essential to its future success, the department's deputy chief information officer for command, control, communications and computers and information infrastructure said here yesterday.

"I think that's what's going to make or break us in the future," Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert E. Wheeler told attendees at the 2012 Security Innovation Network conference.

DOD's plans for mobility, spectrum policy and programs, and national leadership command capabilities all are interconnected, he said.

Mobility -- the ability to perform the department's functions in various locations -- hinges on the effective use of the wireless spectrum across all of DOD's systems, Wheeler said. This includes planning for the president's order to free up 500 megahertz of the spectrum, as well as future technological changes. National leadership command capabilities tie back to mobility as well, he added, because the president and other senior leaders need the ability to make decisions while on the move, anywhere in the world.

"They're all tied together," he said, "and there's a thread that goes between them all."

Wheeler said that DOD's agility -- its ability to change quickly in response to technology -- worries him.

"This is an area that DOD is getting better at, but we're still not perfect yet," he said. "Our acquisition programs are known throughout the world to be large, ... but not to be very fast."

That's something that has to change, especially in regard to "tech-heavy" areas, Wheeler said. "We're trying to make sure that the way we write our programs and build them [includes] that ability, the agility, to move and to change quickly, unlike in the past."

The need for speed must be balanced with security, he said, and DOD is working with industry to accomplish that from the beginning of the acquisitions process. "No matter which way you look at this, we have to have cybersecurity dialed in from the beginning," he added. "It has to be dialed in at the right level and dialed in at the right speed."

DOD also has to be able to move more quickly in the mobility arena, he said. Mobility is an important part of being able to keep up with change, he added, noting that decisions now are made at a much higher rate than in the past, and DOD is going to become much smaller in the future.

"What do we have to have? Access to information any time, anywhere and on any device," Wheeler said. Without communications, DOD can't conduct operations, he said.

DOD released its mobile device strategy earlier this year, and will release the implementation plan in the next few days, the general said. The bottom line, he said, is that DOD's approach to mobile devices provides cost savings to the nation, increases communications security and jumps the productivity curve.

DOD has an "intense" interest in adapting commercial mobile technology, Wheeler said, noting that mobility pilot programs are ongoing throughout the department. All of them use mobile devices to communicate in one of three ways: off the network, or via commercial Internet; secure but unclassified; or classified.

Each of the three "bins," he said, has unique security requirements and will have its own application store where users can download mission-related apps.

The Pentagon has issued an open request for proposals to build the mobile applications store, Wheeler said. Applications submitted to the store will be approved, disapproved or returned for revision within 90 days, he added.

"The key to us is streamlined certification," Wheeler said. "If somebody says [certification will take] six months to a year, it's useless. ... Things change too dramatically. Even 90 days is probably a little bit too long."

Mobility also is tied to spectrum policy, the general said.

The president has asked for the federal government and commercial industries to clear 500 MHz of spectrum to use for economic development, he said. That could enable broadband companies to put a 4G network, for example, across the nation, including in rural areas, he added.

A change like that would have an extremely significant economic impact on the country, Wheeler said, similar to the impact of GPS and other breakthroughs.

"I would argue that it would transform the nation," the general added.

But vacating spectrum is costly and time-consuming, Wheeler said, as it requires equipment replacement and new acquisition strategies. And because U.S. allies have bought equipment that frequency shifts would affect, it also has international implications. Those allies may not be able to simply change to a different frequency, because their home country's spectrum also may be crowded, he explained.

"In the future, we have to have the ability to go to multiple bands with our equipment," Wheeler said, and to be cost-effective, that ability needs to be built into the planning process from the beginning.

Spectrum crowding isn't strictly a negative issue, the general said. "Scarcity is the mother of all inventions," he said, noting that new ways to use the communications spectrum have been developed that probably wouldn't have been had there been enough spectrum to go around.

For example, he said, some new technologies allow a frequency to be shared, rather than owned by a single user who may not use its full capacity. In the short term, Wheeler said, DOD is shifting the focus to sharing frequencies instead of clearing and auctioning off frequencies.

Long-term spectrum plans include exploring the concept of a national spectrum research facility and developing a long-term spectrum strategy, the general said.

DOD is working on increasing system flexibility, operations agility and refreshing and updating the regulatory framework, Wheeler said.

"While we're working very quickly to do this, we also have to have the regulatory requirements -- to include laws -- that allow us to do some of that sharing," he said. But that can be a slow process, he added, so the regulatory process has to become faster and work in tandem with the acquisition process.

Long-term Defense Department strategy has to connect to the national and commercial strategies, Wheeler said. "Connecting those dots is something that we have been trying to do for about the past decade correctly, and I actually think we're getting close," the general said.

Industry can help by understanding the budget and political environments, Wheeler said. "It's an environment where, obviously, all of the budgets are restricted right now ... as our nation comes out of the economic slump," he said.

Despite what many view as a negative economy, Wheeler said, he sees a lot of opportunity for development. "Watching all the innovation [coming] out of scarcity in the Department of Defense ... shows me that there's probably more opportunity now than there's been in many years to fix some of the problems that have been difficult in the past."

Success will consist of a partnership between government and industry, Wheeler said, noting that many companies are finding out they need the same levels of cybersecurity and innovation as DOD does.

"If you come in and make it more secure, cheaper for the department overall and help us with productivity, you're going to get in the door, because that's what we need," the general said. "It's good for the taxpayer, it's good for the nation, and I don't care what agency you're going into, they're going to need your help."