ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR JUNE 13, 2013

 

U.S. Marines patrol through a village during Operation Nightmare in Nowzad in Afghanistan's Helmand province, June 6, 2013. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kowshon Ye


FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Combined Force Kills Extremists in Kunduz Province
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 13, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force killed five extremists after being fired upon during a search of a senior Taliban leader in the Archi district of Afghanistan's Kunduz province today, military officials reported.

The Taliban leader builds improvised explosive devices and suicide vests and has also directed and coordinated attacks that have killed Afghan security force members.

The security force also seized a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three RPGs, four machine guns and ammunition.


In Afghanistan operations yesterday:
-- Afghan uniformed and local police establishing a new checkpoint in Kandahar province's Panjwai district with coalition advisors found and destroyed five IEDs.

-- Afghan commandos conducting a clearance operation in Nangarhar province's Chaparhar district detained three enemy fighters.

TOP DEFENSE LEADERS TELL SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE UNCERTAINTY NEEDS TO END

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hagel, Dempsey to Senate: Budget Uncertainty Can't Last
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 - The Pentagon is maintaining a fiscal balancing act that must eventually teeter into a potentially dangerous loss of combat power if Congress doesn't act to stabilize defense budgets, department leaders told the Senate Budget Committee today.


Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, each named fiscal uncertainty as the greatest enemy to effective military planning. In the face of steep short-term cuts, they explained, long-term military readiness priorities take the biggest hits.

"When you're talking about ... abrupt cuts without slowing the growth, then what you're really, bottom line, saying is that you're going to cut your combat power," Hagel said. "And in the end, combat power and the readiness and everything that fits into that is ... the one core asset that you must preserve and continually enhance for the future, whether it's cyber or anything else."

Hagel noted that lacking certainty "from month to month, year to year, as to what our possibilities are for contracts for acquisitions, for technology, for research, the technological advantage that we have in the air and the superiority we have at sea, the training, the readiness, all of these are affected."

Dempsey told senators the pace of defense spending decreases largely drives how drastic they will be.

"We've had deeper cuts. But [sequestration] is by far the steepest," the chairman said. "And when the cut is steep, we limit the places we can go to get the money, frankly, because a lot of this money is unavailable in the short term."

DOD is and has been reforming in many ways to cut costs and add efficiency, Dempsey said, but short-term crises soak up time and energy. "We can make long-term institutional reform, but you can't sweep it up in the near term," he said. "That's the problem we're having."

Dempsey and Hagel both urged senators to set clear and flexible spending limits for the department.

"Time and flexibility are absolutely key here," Hagel said. "If we've got the flexibility and the time to bring [spending] down, we can do that. That's manageable. And there are a lot of things that we should be doing, we can be doing, to be more efficient and still protect the interests of this country and still be the most effective fighting force."

Hagel noted he is now studying the strategic choices in management review that Dempsey led across the department. He will be discussing the review with Congress, he said, because it will guide the fiscal year 2015 budget request going into 2014.

Dempsey said the review made some factors more clear.

"This review ... allows us to see the impact of not only the president's fiscal year '14 submission, but also the Senate's plan and then full sequestration, and it does pose a series of choices which become pretty difficult," the chairman said.

Adding the $487 billion reduction in defense spending by the Budget Control Act and the $500 billion in sequester cuts, on top of previous DOD efficiency initiatives, Dempsey noted, "comes out to about $1.2 trillion," which he said "leaves a mark on the United States armed forces."

"We haven't decided that it would make our current strategy unfeasible," he added, "but it would put it at great risk and could make it unfeasible."

Hagel said the service chiefs tell him they can match force structure with the strategic guidance, and preserve and enhance U.S. security interests around the world, given clarity on what resources they will have.

"I cannot give them that," the secretary said. "And when I can't give them that, then we have to continually go back and adjust and adapt. ... Furloughs for people are a good example of that."

The 11-day unpaid leave most defense civilians will take between July 8 and Sept. 30 is triage, Hagel said. "It's the worst way to have to respond to anything," he added. "But it was a necessity, and we all came to the same conclusion."

Furloughs are only part of the cloud of uncertainty that envelops service members and the defense enterprise, Hagel told senators.

"It's very unfair to these people," he said of furloughed civilian employees. "It's unfair to this country to ... be put in that kind of a situation and then still ask these people to make the contributions they are and the sacrifices they are for this country."

Press Briefing | The White House

Press Briefing | The White House

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update: The Heater

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

THREE SENTENCED IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS BRIBERY CASE

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Three Georgia Residents Sentenced for Their Roles in Bribery Scheme Related to the Award of Government Contracts
A former employee at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany (MCLB-Albany) and two local businessmen were sentenced today for their roles in a bribery scheme related to the award of contracts for machine products that resulted in approximately $907,000 in fraudulent overcharges to the U.S. Marines, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia.


Michelle Rodriguez, 32; Thomas J. Cole, 43; and Fredrick W. Simon, 55, all of Albany, Ga., were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands in the Middle District of Georgia. Rodriguez was sentenced to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $161,000 in restitution; Cole was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $209,000 in restitution; and Simon was sentenced to 32 months in prison and ordered to pay $74,500 in restitution. Each is also subject to a $907,000 restitution order and three years of supervised release.

During her guilty plea in February 2013, Rodriguez, a supply technician in the Maintenance Center Albany (MCA), admitted to participating in a scheme to award contracts for machine products to Company A and Company B, companies operated by Cole and Simon. Cole and Simon pleaded guilty to bribery charges related to the same scheme in January 2013 and cooperated with the government’s criminal investigation. The MCA is responsible for rebuilding and repairing ground combat and combat support equipment, much of which has been utilized in military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other parts of the world. To accomplish the scheme, Rodriguez would transmit bid solicitations to Simon via facsimile or email, and then usually follow that communication with a text message specifying how much Company A should bid. Simon, on Company A’s behalf, and with Cole’s knowledge, bid the amount specified by Rodriguez on each order, which was normally in excess of fair market value. Rodriguez was then paid $75 in cash for each order awarded to Simon and Cole during the previous week. According to court records, during the relevant period Rodriguez awarded Cole and Simon’s companies nearly 1,300 machine product orders, all of which were in exchange for bribes paid to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez further admitted that in 2011, she began routing some orders through a second company, Company B, owned by Cole, because the volume of orders MCA placed with the first company was so high. Company A, however, continued to perform the required services. Court records state that Rodriguez received approximately $161,000 in bribes during the nearly two-year scheme, while Cole and Simon personally received $209,000 and $74,500, respectively. Court records also indicate that the total loss to the U.S. Marines from overcharges associated with the machine product orders placed during the scheme was approximately $907,000.

The case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with assistance from the Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office Economic Crime Unit and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Richard B. Evans and J.P. Cooney of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia.

DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL HOSTS PERUVIAN PRESIDENT HUMALA AT PENTAGON

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosts an honor cordon to welcome Peruvian President Ollanta Humala at the Pentagon, June 11, 2013. The two leaders met to discuss issues of mutual importance. DOD

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosts an honor cordon to welcome Peruvian President Ollanta Humala at the Pentagon, June 11, 2013. The two leaders met to discuss issues of mutual importance. DOD

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Secretary Hosts Peruvian Leaders at Pentagon

American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosted Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, Foreign Minister Eda Rivas and Defense Minister Pedro Cateriano at the Pentagon yesterday, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.

In a statement summarizing the meeting, Little noted that Humala had met with President Barack Obama at the White House earlier in the day.

"Secretary Hagel affirmed the importance of the U.S.-Peru bilateral relationship and told President Humala that the Department of Defense is committed to increasing our cooperation, including in the areas of training and information sharing," Little said. Hagel also commended Humala on Peru's comprehensive counternarcotics strategy and recent operations to interdict narcoterrorists, he added.

Both leaders agreed that one of the key vehicles to deepening defense cooperation is an updated defense cooperation agreement that the United States and Peru began working on following then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta's visit to Lima last year, the press secretary said, and they agreed that representatives from both nations should work to finalize these consultations.

Hagel also thanked Humala for hosting the next Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas and conveyed that he looks forward to working with Cateriano on a successful meeting, Little said

SPACE BUTTERFLY

FROM: NASA

The Butterfly Nebula

The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects. Though its wingspan covers over 3 light-years, NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the dying central star of this particular planetary nebula has become exceptionally hot, shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust.

This sharp and colorful close-up of the dying star's nebula was recorded in 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, installed during the final shuttle servicing mission. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble

Remarks by Deputy Secretary Carter at the Center for a New American Security on Defense Priorities in an Era of Constrained Budgets, Washington, D.C.

Remarks by Deputy Secretary Carter at the Center for a New American Security on Defense Priorities in an Era of Constrained Budgets, Washington, D.C.

U.S. DOD Contracts for June 12, 2013

Contracts for June 12, 2013

U.S. Daily Press Briefing - June 12, 2013

Daily Press Briefing - June 12, 2013

ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR JUNE 12, 2013

 

A U.S. Marine intravenously hydrates Cane, his military working dog, on Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand province, June 6, 2013, before conducting a clearing operation. The Marine is assigned to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 7. Afghan national forces led the clearing operation and the Marines supported it. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kowshon Ye

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill Extremists in Wardak Province

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 12, 2013 - An combined Afghan and coalition security force killed four extremists and wounded another during a search for a senior Taliban leader in the Sayyidabad district of Afghanistan's Wardak province yesterday, military officials reported.

The senior leader controls about 70 extremist fighters responsible for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. He also oversees local weapons trafficking and reports on extremist operations to higher-ranking Taliban officials.


In other Afghanistan operations yesterday:

-- Afghan commandos and special forces soldiers and coalition forces killed an enemy fighter and destroyed homemade explosives and improvised explosive devices in Kandahar province's Panjwai district.

-- A senior Taliban leader was killed in Nangarhar province's Khugyani district. He facilitated the movement of enemy fighters and weapons, and he oversaw a group responsible for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

-- Afghan forces wounded and arrested an insurgent who was part of a group that attacked an Afghan army patrol in Paktika province's Jani Khel district. The district police chief organized and led the counterattack.

-- A combined force in Logar province's Pul-e Alam district killed four extremists during a search for a senior Haqqani network leader who plans attacks and facilitates the movement of enemy weapons and fighters in the area.







　

CARAT Thailand 2013 Closes

CARAT Thailand 2013 Closes

DOD SAYS "BOYOND THE HORISON" PROVIDES IMPORTANT TRAINING

 

Army Spc. Adam Thomas, a member of the Maine Army National Guard's 136th Engineering Company, builds a school during Beyond the Horizon at El Castano, El Salvador, May 19, 2013. The U.S. Southern Command-sponsored joint and combined field training humanitarian exercise provides engineering, construction and health care services to communities as well as valuable deployment training for participants. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon Bolick

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Beyond the Horizon Provides Valuable Deployment, Mission Training
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

SONSONATE, El Salvador, June 6, 2013 - When 1,400 members of Joint Task Force Jaguar prepared for a four-month mission here as part of Beyond the Horizon 2013, they went through many of the same procedures they'd follow for missions ranging from a wartime deployment to a disaster response in the homeland.

The task force, led by the New Hampshire Army National Guard, includes National Guard, reserve and active-duty soldiers and airmen from across the United States as well as from El Salvador, Colombia, Chile and Canada, explained Army Lt. Col. Raymond Valas, the task force commander.

Getting them here to support the mission -- whether as the duration force for the exercise's entirety or for two- to four-week rotations -- required intensive planning and coordination.

"We do everything for this deployment that we do to deploy anywhere in the world," Valas said. "We exercise all of those systems," moving equipment and personnel by rail, road, sea and air, as well as providing the logistical support functions throughout the mission, he said.

"We bring them all together, and in the end, we have a remarkable training experience," Valas added.

For participants, working together in austere conditions to build schools and deliver medical, dental and veterinary care presents many of the difficulties they would encounter in any overseas deployment.

"We have challenges here that you wouldn't face if you were doing this training back at home station in the States," Valas said. "We are dealing with language barriers, with different construction materials, with tight timelines, with a different environment and climate than we are used to -- and still performing the mission."

Army 1st Lt. Michelle Lachat, a Wisconsin National Guard soldier serving as officer in charge of the school construction project in El Taramindo, said the crews are getting experience not easily replicated in the United States.

There, they typically do small-scale projects in local parks and recreation areas. But here during Beyond the Horizon, they're building classrooms and latrine facilities from the ground up, doing everything from building foundations and walls to running electrical wires and plumbing.

"For us, being here is pretty exciting, because we don't get to apply our skills in an environment like this all the time," Lachat said. "But these are the skills we would use when setting up our [forward operating bases] overseas, so this is valuable training for everyone."

For some of the participants, like Wisconsin Army Guardsman Spc. Amanda Short, Beyond the Horizon was their first deployment since completing basic training.

For others, like Army Pfc. Megan Klister, an active-duty soldier from the 56th Signal Battalion in San Antonio, it offered the first opportunity to set up operations as they would in a deployed environment.

"This is a great experience, getting to do all this in this kind of environment," Klister said as she set up communications equipment at the Rancho San Marcos school construction site. "I would so this all again in a heartbeat."

"This has been a learning experience for everybody," as they tackle projects in a demanding climate with time schedules to meet and language barriers to overcome, said Army Sgt. Anthony Rorick, project manager at the Las Marias site. "But it's been rewarding, being able to bring it all together to support such a worthwhile effort."

Beyond the Horizon serves as "a great lesson for all of our soldiers," Valas said.

"They take away from it that no matter what environment we might get put in, we get the mission done," he added. "We take what materials or tools we have and we find a way to make it work, on time.

"And in the end," he continued, "with all the training and all the experience that they will gain in doing that, they are going to leave behind a lasting benefit for the people in the communities where they are working."

As they do so, Valas said, the troops are fine-tuning many of the capabilities they would apply if called on to support their own neighbors during a homeland disaster.

"Being able to work out in the community, coordinate with mayors, schoolteachers, school directors, community leaders -- that is exactly what we do in the National Guard in the case of natural disasters," he said. "And we are training for that in a very real environment."

Participating in Beyond the Horizon is a heady experience, Valas said.

"To have this experience, where we are all working to to make something like that happen -- you go home and say, 'We pulled it off,'" he said. "We brought people together from five countries, from across two continents, and we formed one task force and we did a tough mission and we got it done. That is just something you never forget."

SEC CHARGES CHICAGO BOARD OPTIONS EXCHANGE FOR FAILURE IN REGULATORY AND COMPLIANCE FUNCTIONS

FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C., June 11, 2013 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and an affiliate for various systemic breakdowns in their regulatory and compliance functions as a self-regulatory organization, including a failure to enforce or even fully comprehend rules to prevent abusive short selling.

CBOE agreed to pay a $6 million penalty and implement major remedial measures to settle the SEC's charges. The financial penalty is the first assessed against an exchange for violations related to its regulatory oversight. Previous financial penalties against exchanges involved misconduct on the business side of their operations.

Self-regulatory organizations (SROs) must enforce the federal securities laws as well as their own rules to regulate trading on their exchanges by their member firms. In doing so, they must sufficiently manage an inherent conflict that exists between self-regulatory obligations and the business interests of an SRO and its members. An SEC investigation found that CBOE failed to adequately police and control this conflict for a member firm that later became the subject of an SEC enforcement action. CBOE put the interests of the firm ahead of its regulatory obligations by failing to properly investigate the firm's compliance with Regulation SHO and then interfering with the SEC investigation of the firm.

According to the SEC's order instituting settled administrative proceedings, CBOE demonstrated an overall inability to enforce Reg. SHO with an ineffective surveillance program that failed to detect wrongdoing despite numerous red flags that its members were engaged in abusive short selling. CBOE also fell short in its regulatory and compliance responsibilities in several other areas during a four-year period.

"The proper regulation of the markets relies on SROs to aggressively police their member firms and enforce their rules as well as the securities laws," said Andrew J. Ceresney, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "When SROs fail to regulate responsibly the conduct of their member firms as CBOE did here, we will not hesitate to bring an enforcement action."

Daniel M. Hawke, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Market Abuse Unit, added, "CBOE's failures in this case were disappointing. The public depends on SROs to provide a watchful eye on their exchanges and market activities occurring through them. They must have strong compliance cultures and adequate and dedicated compliance resources to ensure that they do not stray from their bedrock obligation to provide rigorous self-regulation."

According to the SEC's order, CBOE moved its surveillance and monitoring of Reg. SHO compliance from one department to another in 2008, and the transfer of responsibilities adversely affected its Reg. SHO enforcement program. After that transfer, CBOE did not take action against any firm for violations of Reg. SHO as a result of its surveillance or complaints from third parties. Reg. SHO requires the delivery of equity securities to a registered clearing agency when delivery is due, generally three days after the trade date (T+3). If no delivery is made by that time, the firm must purchase or borrow the securities to close out that failure-to-deliver position by no later than the beginning of regular trading hours on the next day (T+4). CBOE failed to adequately enforce Reg. SHO because its staff lacked a fundamental understanding of the rule. CBOE investigators responsible for Reg. SHO surveillance never received any formal training. CBOE never ensured that its investigators even read the rules. Therefore, they did not have a basic understanding of a failure to deliver.

According to the SEC's order, CBOE received a complaint in February 2009 about possible short sale violations involving a customer account at a member firm. CBOE began investigating whether the trading activity violated Rule 204T of Reg. SHO. However, CBOE staff assigned to the case did not know how to determine if a fail existed and were confused about whether Reg. SHO applied to a retail customer. CBOE closed its Reg. SHO investigation later that year.

The SEC's order found that not only did CBOE fail to adequately detect violations and investigate and discipline one of its members, but it also took misguided and unprecedented steps to assist that same member firm when it became the subject of an SEC investigation in December 2009. CBOE failed to provide information to SEC staff when requested, and went so far as to assist the member firm by providing information for its Wells submission to the SEC. The CBOE actually edited the firm's draft submission, and some of the information and edits provided by CBOE were inaccurate and misleading. The SEC brought its enforcement action against the firm in April 2012, and an administrative law judge recently rendered an initial decision in that case.

According to the SEC's order, CBOE had a number of other regulatory and compliance failures at various times between 2008 and 2012. CBOE failed to adequately enforce its firm quote and priority rules for certain orders and trades on its exchange as well as rules requiring the registration of persons associated with its proprietary trading members. CBOE also provided unauthorized "customer accommodation" payments to some members and not others without applicable rules in place, resulting in unfair discrimination. And CBOE and affiliate C2 Options Exchange failed to file proposed rule changes with the SEC when certain trading functions on their exchanges were implemented.

The SEC's order finds that CBOE violated Section 19(b)(1) and Section 19(g)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act as well as Section 17(a) and Rule 17a-1 when it failed to promptly provide information requested by the SEC that the exchange kept in the course of its business, including information related to the member firm that was under SEC investigation for Reg. SHO violations. CBOE and C2 agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the SEC's findings. CBOE agreed to pay $6 million, accept a censure and cease-and-desist order, and implement significant undertakings. C2 also agreed to a censure and cease-and-desist order and significant undertakings.

After the SEC began its investigation, CBOE and C2 responded by engaging in voluntary remedial efforts and initiatives. In reaching the settlement, the SEC took into account these remediation efforts and initiatives. CBOE reorganized its Regulatory Services Division, and hired a chief compliance officer and two deputy chief regulatory officers. CBOE updated written policies and procedures, increased the regulatory budget and the hiring of regulatory staff, implemented mandatory training for all staff and management, and hired a third-party consultant to review its Reg. SHO enforcement program. CBOE also conducted a "bottom-up" review of its Regulatory Services Division's independence, began a "gap" analysis to determine whether CBOE or C2 needed to file any additional rules, and reviewed all of CBOE's regulatory surveillances and the exchange's enterprise risk management framework. After the SEC expressed concern about an accommodation payment to a member, CBOE hired outside counsel to investigate and self-reported additional instances of financial accommodations to other members. After considering CBOE's remedial efforts, the SEC determined not to impose limitations upon the activities, functions or operations of CBOE pursuant to Section 19(h)(1) of the Exchange Act.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Market Abuse Unit members Paul E. Kim and Deborah A. Tarasevich and Structured and New Products Unit member Jill S. Henderson with assistance from market surveillance specialist Brian Shute and trading strategies specialist Ainsley Kerr. The case was supervised by Market Abuse Unit Chief Daniel M. Hawke

Press Briefing | The White House

Press Briefing | The White House

A Long Look at El Paso and Ciudad Juarez

A Long Look at El Paso and Ciudad Juarez

LANL SCIENTISTS SAY NEXT-GENERATION BATTERIES COULD ENHANCE HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES

 

A high-resolution microscopic image of a new type of nanostructured-carbon-based catalyst developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory that could pave the way for reliable, economical next-generation batteries and alkaline fuel cells. (Photo credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory)

FROM: LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
Los Alamos Catalyst Could Jumpstart E-Cars, Green Energy

Economical non-precious-metal catalyst capitalizes on carbon nanotubes

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 4, 2013—Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have designed a new type of nanostructured-carbon-based catalyst that could pave the way for reliable, economical next-generation batteries and alkaline fuel cells, providing for practical use of wind- and solar-powered electricity, as well as enhanced hybrid electric vehicles.

In a paper appearing recently in Nature Communications, Los Alamos researchers Hoon T. Chung, Piotr Zelenay and Jong H. Won, the latter now at the Korea Basic Science Institute, describe a new type of nitrogen-doped carbon-nanotube catalyst. The new material has the highest oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity in alkaline media of any non-precious metal catalyst developed to date. This activity is critical for efficient storage of electrical energy.

The new catalyst doesn’t use precious metals such as platinum, which is more expensive per ounce than gold, yet it performs under certain conditions as effectively as many well-known and prohibitively expensive precious-metal catalysts developed for battery and fuel-cell use. Moreover, although the catalyst is based on nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes, it does not require the tedious, toxic and costly processing that is usually required when converting such materials for catalytic use.

"These findings could help forge a path between nanostructured-carbon-based materials and alkaline fuel cells, metal-air batteries and certain electrolyzers," said Zelenay. "A lithium-air secondary battery, potentially the most-promising metal-air battery known, has an energy storage potential that is 10 times greater than a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery. Consequently, the new catalyst makes possible the creation of economical lithium-air batteries that could power electric vehicles, or provide efficient, reliable energy storage for intermittent sources of green energy, such as windmills or solar panels."

The scientists developed an ingenious method for synthesizing the new catalyst using readily available chemicals that allow preparation of the material in a single step. They also demonstrated that the synthesis method can be scaled up to larger volumes and could also be used to prepare other carbon-nanotube-based materials.

U.S. Department Of State Daily Press Briefing - June 11, 2013

Daily Press Briefing - June 11, 2013

ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR JUNE 11, 2013

 

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Mays participates in a rifle qualification range on Forward Operating Base Farah in Farah province, Afghanistan, June 8, 2013. Mays, a hospital corpsman, is assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Matthew Stroup

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Combined Force Kills Extremists in Nangarhar Province

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 11, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force killed five extremists during a search for a senior Taliban leader in the Khugyani district of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province today, military officials reported.

The sought-after Taliban leader coordinates movement of weapons and fighters through the district and oversees a group responsible for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, officials said.

The security force also destroyed a machine gun and several rocket-propelled grenades in the operation.

In Kandahar province's capital city of Kandahar today, a combined force arrested the ranking Taliban official for the province's Panjwai district. He oversees assassinations, improvised-explosive-device attacks targeting Afghan and coalition forces, collects illegal taxes to finance extremist activities, and facilitates the movement of weapons.

THE TACTICAL EDGE: MARINES AND CYBER OPERATIONS

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David Anzualda, a cyber network operator with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit command element, peers out the back of an MV-22B Osprey as he crosses decks from the USS Bataan to the USS San Antonio, Dec. 15, 2012. This was part of the 26th MEU's third major training exercise of their pre-deployment training process. The 26th MEU operates continuously around the globe, providing a forward-deployed, sea-based quick-reaction force. The MEU is a Marine air-ground task force capable of conducting amphibious operations, crisis response and limited contingency operations. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kyle N. Runnels

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Marines Focused at Tactical Edge of Cyber, Commander Says
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va., June 10, 2013 - What differentiates his command from Army, Navy and Air Force cyber operations is a focus on the forward-deployed nature of America's expeditionary force in readiness, the commander of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command said during a recent interview here.

As commander of MARFORCYBER, Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills heads one of four service components of U.S. Cyber Command. The Marine command stood up in January 2010.

Today, 300 Marines, federal civilians and contractors are performing cyber operations, Mills said. That number, he added, will grow to just under 1,000, at least until fiscal year 2016.

Each of the services' cyber commands protects its own networks, Mills noted.

"Where we differ is that we look more at tactical-level cyber operations and how we will be able to provide our forward-deployed ... Marine Air-Ground Task Force commanders with the capability to reach back into the cyber world [at home] to have their deployed units supported," the general said.

The basic structure for deployed Marine units, he said, is an air-ground task force that integrates ground, aviation and logistics combat elements under a common command element.

"We're more focused at the tactical level, the tactical edge of cyber operations, in supporting our forward-deployed commanders, and that's what we should do," Mills said.

It's an important capability, the general said, and one that will become more important and effective for deployed commanders in the years ahead.

"Cyber to me is kind of like artillery or air support," Mills explained. "The actual weapon systems are well to your rear, back here in the continental United States, and what you need to be able to do is request that support be given to you and have it take effect wherever you're operating."

The Marine Corps cyber mission is to advise the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, on the capabilities of the Marines within the cyber world and how to best use those forces in accomplishing the Cybercom mission, Mills said.

"That's our first job," he added. "Our second job is to be able to conduct cyber operations across all three lines of cyber operations -– defensive and offensive cyber ops –- so we have to man, train and equip Marine forces to accomplish those missions."

In testimony to Congress in March, Alexander described the three Cybercom lines, or missions.

-- A Cyber National Mission Force and its teams will help to defend the country against national-level threats;

-- A Cyber Combat Mission Force and its teams will be assigned to the operational control of individual combatant commanders to support their objectives; and

-- A Cyber Protection Force and its teams will help to operate and defend the Defense Department's information environment.

Of the nearly 1,000 MARFORCYBER forces that will come online between now and fiscal 2016, Mills estimated that a third will be in uniform, a third will be federal civilian employees, and a third will be contractors.

MARFORCYBER has Marines in the joint community who work throughout Cybercom at Fort Meade in Maryland. The Marine Corps cyber organization also is developing teams to be tasked by Cybercom to conduct operations across the spectrum of cyber operations.

"It's very similar to what we do today," Mills said. "The units train and go forward from the United States and work for other commanders well forward, and cyber will be the same way. We'll ship forces to Cybercom when requested, fully trained, fully manned, fully equipped, ready to operate."

MARFORCYBER is a full-up component command under Cybercom along with the Air Force, Navy and Army, the general said.

"All four of the component commanders talk regularly to each other and meet regularly at Cybercom to coordinate our growth, coordinate our requirements, [provide] input to Cybercom and take its guidance and direction, and operate together in big exercises like Cyber Flag," he said.

Cyber Flag is an annual exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., which Cybercom conducts with U.S. interagency and international partners.

For the Marines, the smallest U.S. military service branch, contractors play an important part in cyber, the general said.

"One of the challenges of cyber is that it's such a dynamic environment," he explained. "You need people who are educated and current in their specialties and who are available to stay on the job for long periods of time, whereas Marines come and go in the normal assignment process."

Contractors have skill sets that aren't always available in the active-duty Marine Corps, and can fit neatly into short-term projects, he added.

"They all operate under the same clearance requirements, the same authorities, the same rules," the general said. "That's one of the things that make them so expensive. They come at a cost, but you have to bear it to make sure that your cyber capabilities are current and that you stay on the cutting edge."

In the newest domain of warfare, the battlefield is evolving, Mills said, and Marine commanders have come to understand the impact cyber can have on defensive and offensive operations.

"I think cyber commanders now understand when you go forward you have to be able to defend your systems against intrusion by other states, by rogue elements, and even by hobbyists who are just trying to break in and infiltrate your nets," the general said. "But they're also beginning to understand the positive effects cyber can have in your operations against potential enemies. ... It's a very valuable tool in that quiver of arrows that a commander takes forward, and they want to understand how it operates."

In the new domain, even a discussion of weapons veers off the traditional path. A cyber weapon, Mills said, "can be something as simple as a desktop computer. It's also a vulnerability to you, because it's a way in which the enemy can enter your Web system if you put the wrong hardware on there or open the wrong attachment or email."

Cyber weapons are much more nuanced than big cannons and large bombs and weapons systems.

"The armories of the cyber world are very sophisticated computers and very sophisticated smart people who sit behind those computers and work those issues for you," the general said.

Mills said he's an infantry officer by trade, so he tends to view everything he does through a combat-arms prism.

"I think the definition of combat arms is expanding a little bit these days," he said. "I don't think cyber is any longer a communicator's environment -- it's an operator's environment. So we want that cyber expert to sit in the operations shop right next to the air expert, right next to the artillery expert, because we think that's where it belongs."

Mills pointed out the contrast between a Marine "kitted out" for battle with a Marine dressed for a cyber operation who may be sitting behind a desk in the United States.

"He's got access to a huge computer system that allows him to operate within that domain," the general said. "He may go home at night and never have to deploy forward. But he's providing support to deployed forces, he's conducting actions against designated targets, he's doing a lot of things -- but from the foxhole or the fighting hole at his desk, rather than some foxhole or fighting hole forward."