FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
Statement by Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez on fatal occupational injuries in 2012
WASHINGTON — Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released today show a reduction in the number of fatal work injuries in 2012 compared with 2011. Last year, 4,383 workers died from work-related injuries, down from a final count of 4,693 fatal work injuries in 2011. Based on preliminary counts, the rate of fatal workplace injuries in 2012 was 3.2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from a rate of 3.5 per 100,000 in 2011. In response, Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement:
"Workers in this country have the right to return home safe and healthy at the end of a work day. Despite that right, poor safety conditions cause thousands of people each year to lose their lives at work.
"I am greatly encouraged by the reduction in workplace fatalities, even in a growing economy. It is a testament to the hard work of employers, unions, health and safety professionals and the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration. Through collaborative education and outreach efforts, and effective law enforcement, these numbers indicate that we are absolutely moving in the right direction.
"But to me these aren't just numbers and data — they are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, who will never come home again.
"We can and must do better. Job gains in oil and gas and construction have come with more fatalities, and that is unacceptable. That's why OSHA has undertaken a number of outreach and educational initiatives, including a campaign to prevent falls in construction and the National Voluntary Stand Down of U.S. Onshore Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, co-sponsored by oil and gas industry employers and planned for Nov. 14. Employers must take job hazards seriously and live up to their legal and moral obligation to send their workers home safe every single day. The Labor Department is committed to preventing these needless deaths, and we will continue to engage with employers to make sure that these fatality numbers go down further.
"No worker should lose their life for a paycheck."
Sunday, August 25, 2013
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FINDS PARTNER IN EDUCATING AMERICANS ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE MARKETPLACE
FROM: U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Pennsylvania Champions for Coverage partner with Obama administration to help Americans understand the Health Insurance Marketplace
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recognized more than 25 Pennsylvania organizations and businesses that have volunteered to help uninsured Americans get coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Secretary Sebelius made today’s announcement at an event hosted by Congreso, a Champion for Coverage dedicated to strengthening Latino communities.
“A network of volunteers on the ground in every state – health care providers, business leaders, faith leaders, community groups, advocates, and local elected officials – can help spread the word and encourage their neighbors to get enrolled,” said Secretary Sebelius.
Champions for Coverage are local businesses and organizations – bloggers, community health centers, hospitals, communities of faith, and civic organizations. They will use publicly available materials – both digital and in print – from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to help members of their communities understand their new options through the Marketplace. There are many ways these organizations can help, including hanging a poster in their office, hosting an enrollment fair or educational event, or posting links on their website.
“We are both excited and thankful to have such a wide variety of businesses and organizations that want to get involved and help us spread the message about these new opportunities for people to access quality, affordable health insurance when open enrollment begins on October 1,” said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
“Congreso is proud to partner with HHS on this historic effort to expand access to health care coverage for all Americans,” said Cynthia Figueroa, Congreso president and chief executive officer. “As a Champion for Coverage, we aim to be a trusted community resource for Latino individuals and families who want to learn more about their options for quality, affordable coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act.”
Today’s announcement follows the significant progress made this summer on outreach and education around the Marketplace. Consumers can learn about and enroll in coverage later this fall through HealthCare.gov. They can participate in an online web chat, or call 1-800-318-2596 toll free to speak with a trained customer service representative.
The growing list of Pennsylvania organizations includes:
ACLAMO Family Centers
Berks Community Health Center
Better Health Network
Black Women's Health Alliance
Central Montgomery Mental Health
Columbia County Volunteers in Medicine Clinic Inc.
Community Health Clinic of Butler County
Congreso de Latinos Unidos
Dermatology Associates of Plymouth Meeting
Diagnostic Imaging Specialists LLC
Family Planning Council
Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Keystone Rural Health Center
La Comunidad Hispana
Maternity Care Coalition
Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Mt. Tabor AME Church
Office of HIV Planning Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health
Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative
Planned Parenthood Keystone
Susquehanna Community Health and Dental Clinic Inc
Webkite
Welsh Mountain Health Centers
West Philadelphia Salvation Army
Women's Law Project
There will also be people in local communities who can provide in-person help with coverage choices. Last week, HHS awarded $67 million to 105 Navigator grant applicants. More than 1,200 community health centers across the country have received more than $150 million to help enroll uninsured Americans in coverage. And a partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services will help trusted local libraries be a resource for consumers who want information on their options.<</p>
Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace begins October 1 for coverage starting as early as Jan. 1, 2014. Visit HealthCare.gov to learn more and to sign up for account.
To see the list of 100 national organizations announced last week visit: http://marketplace.cms.gov/help-us/champions-for-coverage-list.pdf.
Pennsylvania Champions for Coverage partner with Obama administration to help Americans understand the Health Insurance Marketplace
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recognized more than 25 Pennsylvania organizations and businesses that have volunteered to help uninsured Americans get coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Secretary Sebelius made today’s announcement at an event hosted by Congreso, a Champion for Coverage dedicated to strengthening Latino communities.
“A network of volunteers on the ground in every state – health care providers, business leaders, faith leaders, community groups, advocates, and local elected officials – can help spread the word and encourage their neighbors to get enrolled,” said Secretary Sebelius.
Champions for Coverage are local businesses and organizations – bloggers, community health centers, hospitals, communities of faith, and civic organizations. They will use publicly available materials – both digital and in print – from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to help members of their communities understand their new options through the Marketplace. There are many ways these organizations can help, including hanging a poster in their office, hosting an enrollment fair or educational event, or posting links on their website.
“We are both excited and thankful to have such a wide variety of businesses and organizations that want to get involved and help us spread the message about these new opportunities for people to access quality, affordable health insurance when open enrollment begins on October 1,” said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
“Congreso is proud to partner with HHS on this historic effort to expand access to health care coverage for all Americans,” said Cynthia Figueroa, Congreso president and chief executive officer. “As a Champion for Coverage, we aim to be a trusted community resource for Latino individuals and families who want to learn more about their options for quality, affordable coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act.”
Today’s announcement follows the significant progress made this summer on outreach and education around the Marketplace. Consumers can learn about and enroll in coverage later this fall through HealthCare.gov. They can participate in an online web chat, or call 1-800-318-2596 toll free to speak with a trained customer service representative.
The growing list of Pennsylvania organizations includes:
ACLAMO Family Centers
Berks Community Health Center
Better Health Network
Black Women's Health Alliance
Central Montgomery Mental Health
Columbia County Volunteers in Medicine Clinic Inc.
Community Health Clinic of Butler County
Congreso de Latinos Unidos
Dermatology Associates of Plymouth Meeting
Diagnostic Imaging Specialists LLC
Family Planning Council
Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Keystone Rural Health Center
La Comunidad Hispana
Maternity Care Coalition
Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Mt. Tabor AME Church
Office of HIV Planning Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health
Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative
Planned Parenthood Keystone
Susquehanna Community Health and Dental Clinic Inc
Webkite
Welsh Mountain Health Centers
West Philadelphia Salvation Army
Women's Law Project
There will also be people in local communities who can provide in-person help with coverage choices. Last week, HHS awarded $67 million to 105 Navigator grant applicants. More than 1,200 community health centers across the country have received more than $150 million to help enroll uninsured Americans in coverage. And a partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services will help trusted local libraries be a resource for consumers who want information on their options.<</p>
Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace begins October 1 for coverage starting as early as Jan. 1, 2014. Visit HealthCare.gov to learn more and to sign up for account.
To see the list of 100 national organizations announced last week visit: http://marketplace.cms.gov/help-us/champions-for-coverage-list.pdf.
FACT SHEET: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S PLAN FOR MAKING COLLEGE MORE AFFORDABLE
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
FACT SHEET on the President’s Plan to Make College More Affordable: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class
A higher education is the single most important investment students can make in their own futures. At the same time, it has never been more expensive. That’s why since taking office, President Obama has made historic investments in college affordability, increasing the maximum Pell Grant award for working and middle class families by more than $900, creating the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and enacting effective student loan reforms eliminating bank subsidies and making college more affordable.
However, despite these measures, college tuition keeps rising. The average tuition at a public four-year college has increased by more than 250 percent over the past three decades, while incomes for typical families grew by only 16 percent, according to College Board and Census data. Declining state funding has forced students to shoulder a bigger proportion of college costs; tuition has almost doubled as a share of public college revenues over the past 25 years from 25 percent to 47 percent. While a college education remains a worthwhile investment overall, the average borrower now graduates with over $26,000 in debt. Only 58 percent of full-time students who began college in 2004 earned a four-year degree within six years. Loan default rates are rising, and too many young adults are burdened with debt as they seek to start a family, buy a home, launch a business, or save for retirement.
Today, President Obama outlined an ambitious new agenda to combat rising college costs and make college affordable for American families. His plan will measure college performance through a new ratings system so students and families have the information to select schools that provide the best value. And after this ratings system is well established, Congress can tie federal student aid to college performance so that students maximize their federal aid at institutions providing the best value. The President’s plan will also take down barriers that stand in the way of competition and innovation, particularly in the use of new technology, and shine a light on the most cutting-edge college practices for providing high value at low costs. And to help student borrowers struggling with their existing debt, the President is committed to ensuring that all borrowers who need it can have access to the Pay As You Earn plan that caps loan payments at 10 percent of income and is directing the Department of Education to ramp up its efforts to reach out to students struggling with their loans to make sure they know and understand all their repayment options.
A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Making College More Affordable
Paying for Performance
Tie financial aid to college performance, starting with publishing new college ratings before the 2015 school year.
Challenge states to fund public colleges based on performance.
Hold students and colleges receiving student aid responsible for making progress toward a degree.
Promoting Innovation and Competition
Challenge colleges to offer students a greater range of affordable, high-quality options than they do today.
Give consumers clear, transparent information on college performance to help them make the decisions that work best for them.
Encourage innovation by stripping away unnecessary regulations.
Ensuring that Student Debt Remains Affordable
Help ensure borrowers can afford their federal student loan debt by allowing all borrowers to cap their payments at 10 percent of their monthly income.
Reach out to struggling borrowers to ensure that they are aware of the flexible options available to help them to repay their debt.
PAY COLLEGES AND STUDENTS FOR PERFORMANCE
The federal government provides over $150 billion each year in student financial aid, while states collectively invest over $70 billion in public colleges and universities. Almost all of these resources are allocated among colleges based on the number of students who enroll, not the number who earn degrees or what they learn. President Obama’s plan will connect student aid to outcomes, which will in turn drive a better, more affordable education for all students:
Tie Financial Aid to College Value: To identify colleges for providing the best value and encourage all colleges to improve, President Obama is directing the Department of Education to develop and publish a new college ratings system that would be available for students and families before the 2015 college year. In the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the President will seek legislation allocating financial aid based upon these college ratings by 2018, once the ratings system is well established. Students can continue to choose whichever college they want, but taxpayer dollars will be steered toward high-performing colleges that provide the best value.
New College Ratings before 2015. Before the 2015 school year, the Department of Education will develop a new ratings system to help students compare the value offered by colleges and encourage colleges to improve. These ratings will compare colleges with similar missions and identify colleges that do the most to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as colleges that are improving their performance. The results will be published on the College Scorecard. The Department will develop these ratings through public hearings around the country to gather the input of students and parents, state leaders, college presidents, and others with ideas on how to publish excellent ratings that put a fundamental premium on measuring value and ensure that access for those with economic or other disadvantages are encouraged, not discouraged. The ratings will be based upon such measures as:
Access, such as percentage of students receiving Pell grants;
Affordability, such as average tuition, scholarships, and loan debt; and
Outcomes, such as graduation and transfer rates, graduate earnings, and advanced degrees of college graduates.
Base Student Aid on College Value by 2018. Over the next four years, the Department of Education will refine these measurements, while colleges have an opportunity to improve their performance and ratings. The Administration will seek legislation using this new rating system to transform the way federal aid is awarded to colleges once the ratings are well developed. Students attending high-performing colleges could receive larger Pell Grants and more affordable student loans.
Engage States with a Race to the Top for Higher Education that Has Higher Value and Lower Costs: The President requested $1 billion in Race to the Top funding to spur state higher education reforms and reshape the federal-state partnership by ensuring that states maintain funding for public higher education. About three-quarters of college students attend a community college or public university, and declining state funding has been the biggest reason for rising tuition at public institutions. The Race to the Top competition will have a special focus on promoting paying for value as opposed to enrollment or just seat time. States typically fund colleges based on enrollment rather than on their success at graduating students or other measures of the value they offer. There are notable exceptions, like Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio, which fund colleges based on performance. To build on their examples, the President’s plan would also encourage states to provide accelerated learning opportunities, smooth the transition from high school to college and between two- and four-year colleges, and strengthen collaboration between high schools and colleges.
Reward Colleges for Results with a Pell Bonus and Higher Accountability: To encourage colleges to enroll and graduate low- and moderate-income students, the President will propose legislation to give colleges a bonus based upon the number of Pell students they graduate. And the Administration will prevent the waste of Pell dollars by requiring colleges with high dropout rates to disburse student aid over the course of the semester as students face expenses, rather than in a lump sum at the beginning of the semester, so students who drop out do not receive Pell Grants for time they are not in school.
Demand Student Responsibility for Academic Performance: To ensure students are making progress toward their degrees, the President will also propose legislation strengthening academic progress requirements of student aid programs, such as requiring students to complete a certain percentage of their classes before receiving continued funding. These changes would encourage students to complete their studies on time, thereby reducing their debt, and will be designed to ensure that disadvantaged students have every opportunity to succeed.
PROMOTE INNOVATION AND COMPETITION
A rising tide of innovation has the potential to shake up the higher education landscape. Promising approaches include three-year accelerated degrees, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and “flipped” or “hybrid” classrooms where students watch lectures at home and online and faculty challenge them to solve problems and deepen their knowledge in class. Some of these approaches are still being developed, and too few students are seeing their benefits. The federal government can act as a catalyst for innovation, spurring innovation in a way that drives down costs while preserving quality.
To promote innovation and competition in the higher education marketplace, the President’s plan will publish better information on how colleges are performing, help demonstrate that new approaches can improve learning and reduce costs, and offer colleges regulatory flexibility to innovate. And the President is challenging colleges and other higher education leaders to adopt one or more of these promising practices that we know offer breakthroughs on cost, quality, or both – or create something better themselves:
Award Credits Based on Learning, not Seat Time. Western Governors University is a competency-based online university serving more than 40,000 students with relatively low costs— about $6,000 per year for most degrees with an average time to a bachelor’s degree of only 30 months. A number of other institutions have also established competency-based programs, including Southern New Hampshire University and the University of Wisconsin system.
Use Technology to Redesign Courses. Redesigned courses that integrate online platforms (like MOOCs) or blend in-person and online experiences can accelerate the pace of student learning. The National Center for Academic Transformation has shown the effectiveness of the thoughtful use of technology across a wide range of academic disciplines, improving learning outcomes for students while reducing costs by nearly 40 percent on average. Carnegie Mellon University’s Open Learning Initiative has developed a hybrid statistics course used at six public universities, and its students performed as well as their peers in a traditional course in only 75 percent of the time. Arizona State University’s interactive algebra lessons helped students perform 10 percent better, despite meeting half as often, and at a lower cost. The University of Maryland redesigned an introductory psychology course, reducing costs by 70 percent while raising pass rates. New York’s Open SUNY initiative brings together every online program offered system-wide, helping students complete more quickly.
Use Technology for Student Services. Online learning communities and e-advising tools encourage persistence and alert instructors when additional help is needed. Technology is enabling students from across campuses and across the world to collaborate through online study groups and in-person meet-ups. MOOC-provider Coursera has online forums in which the median response time for questions posed by students is 22 minutes. To help students choose the courses that will allow them to earn a degree as quickly as possible, Austin Peay State University has developed the “Degree Compass” system that draws on the past performance of students in thousands of classes to guide a student through a course, in a similar manner to the way Netflix or Pandora draw on users’ past experience to guide movie or music choices.
Recognize Prior Learning and Promote Dual Enrollment. Colleges can also award credit for prior learning experiences, similar to current Administration efforts to recognize the skills of returning veterans. Dual-enrollment opportunities let high school students earn credits before arriving at college, which can save them money by accelerating their time to degree.
To help colleges innovate and improve quality and outcomes, the Administration will:
Empower Students with Information: New college ratings will help students compare the value offered by different colleges. The Department of Education will enlist entrepreneurs and technology leaders with a “Datapalooza” to catalyze new private-sector tools, services, and apps to help students evaluate and select colleges. The effort will be complemented by earnings information by college that will be released for the first time on Administration’s College Scorecard this fall.
Seed Innovation and Measure What Works: To demonstrate what works, President Obama has proposed a new $260 million First in the World fund to test and evaluate innovative approaches to higher education that yield dramatically better outcomes, and to develop new ways for colleges to demonstrate that they are helping their students learn. In addition, the Department of Labor is planning to grant an additional $500 million to community colleges and eligible four-year colleges and universities next year. A portion of these resources will be used to promote accelerated degree paths and credentials that would drive more high-quality and affordable options for adult workers and students. Through these efforts, the Administration will work with business and philanthropy to support industry partnerships to enrich student learning with valuable job exploration and experience.
Reduce Regulatory Barriers: The Department will use its authority to issue regulatory waivers for “experimental sites” that promote high-quality, low-cost innovations in higher education, such as making it possible for students to get financial aid based on how much they learn, rather than the amount of time they spend in class. Pilot opportunities could include enabling colleges to offer Pell grants to high school students taking college courses, allowing federal financial aid to be used to pay test fees when students seek academic credit for prior learning, and combining traditional and competency-based courses into a single program of study. The Department will also support efforts to remove state regulatory barriers to distance education.
Finally, the President will challenge leaders in states, philanthropy, and the private sector to make their own commitments to improve college value while reducing costs. For example, states can redesign the transition to postsecondary education and commit to strategies to improve student learning and enhance student advising, such as hybrid learning pilots, adaptive learning platforms, and digital tutors. Philanthropists can create initiatives, pilots and prizes for colleges that advance competency-based education, accelerated degrees, and the integration of new technologies into on-campus teaching and learning. Investors and entrepreneurs can directly support and develop new technologies and innovations that accelerate student learning while evaluating the effectiveness of different approaches. And employers and industry groups can collaborate with postsecondary institutions and new providers to develop high-quality, low-cost degrees in growing sectors of the economy, offer work-based learning experiences to students, and hire graduates who demonstrate the knowledge and skills employers need.
ENSURE STUDENT DEBT IS AFFORDABLE
While bringing down costs for current and future college students, President Obama will also help students with existing debt to manage their obligations. Income-driven repayment plans allow borrowers to take responsibility for their federal student loan debt with more flexible repayment terms, while helping professionals like teachers and nurses who take on critical jobs in our society that require significant education but may result in modest salaries. These plans allow students to fully repay their student debt on a sliding scale that adjusts monthly payments based on changing income and growing families. Nearly two-thirds of people that currently participate in the income-driven repayment plans make less than $60,000 a year. Currently, over 2.5 million of 37 million federal student loan borrowers are benefitting from income-driven plans.
Make All Borrowers Eligible for Pay As You Earn: To make sure that students and families have an easy-to-understand insurance policy against unmanageable debt now and in the future, the President has proposed allowing all student borrowers to cap their federal student loan payments at 10 percent of their monthly income. Currently, students who first borrowed before 2008 or have not borrowed since 2011 are not eligible for the President’s Pay As You Earn plan. In addition, the Administration will work with Congress to ensure that the benefits are targeted to the neediest borrowers.
Launching an Enrollment Campaign for Pay As You Earn: Beginning this fall, the Department of Education will contact borrowers who have fallen behind on their student loan payments, undergraduate borrowers with higher-than-average debts, and borrowers in deferment or forbearance because of financial hardship or unemployment to ensure they have the information they need to choose the right repayment option for them. Starting in 2014, the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury will work to help borrowers learn about and enroll in Pay As You Earn and Income-Based Repayment plans when they file their taxes. And to assist guidance counselors and other advisers who guide students through the process of selecting and financing their higher education, the Administration will launch a “one-stop shop” that will include important resources for choosing among various income-driven repayment options.
FACT SHEET on the President’s Plan to Make College More Affordable: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class
A higher education is the single most important investment students can make in their own futures. At the same time, it has never been more expensive. That’s why since taking office, President Obama has made historic investments in college affordability, increasing the maximum Pell Grant award for working and middle class families by more than $900, creating the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and enacting effective student loan reforms eliminating bank subsidies and making college more affordable.
However, despite these measures, college tuition keeps rising. The average tuition at a public four-year college has increased by more than 250 percent over the past three decades, while incomes for typical families grew by only 16 percent, according to College Board and Census data. Declining state funding has forced students to shoulder a bigger proportion of college costs; tuition has almost doubled as a share of public college revenues over the past 25 years from 25 percent to 47 percent. While a college education remains a worthwhile investment overall, the average borrower now graduates with over $26,000 in debt. Only 58 percent of full-time students who began college in 2004 earned a four-year degree within six years. Loan default rates are rising, and too many young adults are burdened with debt as they seek to start a family, buy a home, launch a business, or save for retirement.
Today, President Obama outlined an ambitious new agenda to combat rising college costs and make college affordable for American families. His plan will measure college performance through a new ratings system so students and families have the information to select schools that provide the best value. And after this ratings system is well established, Congress can tie federal student aid to college performance so that students maximize their federal aid at institutions providing the best value. The President’s plan will also take down barriers that stand in the way of competition and innovation, particularly in the use of new technology, and shine a light on the most cutting-edge college practices for providing high value at low costs. And to help student borrowers struggling with their existing debt, the President is committed to ensuring that all borrowers who need it can have access to the Pay As You Earn plan that caps loan payments at 10 percent of income and is directing the Department of Education to ramp up its efforts to reach out to students struggling with their loans to make sure they know and understand all their repayment options.
A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Making College More Affordable
Paying for Performance
Tie financial aid to college performance, starting with publishing new college ratings before the 2015 school year.
Challenge states to fund public colleges based on performance.
Hold students and colleges receiving student aid responsible for making progress toward a degree.
Promoting Innovation and Competition
Challenge colleges to offer students a greater range of affordable, high-quality options than they do today.
Give consumers clear, transparent information on college performance to help them make the decisions that work best for them.
Encourage innovation by stripping away unnecessary regulations.
Ensuring that Student Debt Remains Affordable
Help ensure borrowers can afford their federal student loan debt by allowing all borrowers to cap their payments at 10 percent of their monthly income.
Reach out to struggling borrowers to ensure that they are aware of the flexible options available to help them to repay their debt.
PAY COLLEGES AND STUDENTS FOR PERFORMANCE
The federal government provides over $150 billion each year in student financial aid, while states collectively invest over $70 billion in public colleges and universities. Almost all of these resources are allocated among colleges based on the number of students who enroll, not the number who earn degrees or what they learn. President Obama’s plan will connect student aid to outcomes, which will in turn drive a better, more affordable education for all students:
Tie Financial Aid to College Value: To identify colleges for providing the best value and encourage all colleges to improve, President Obama is directing the Department of Education to develop and publish a new college ratings system that would be available for students and families before the 2015 college year. In the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the President will seek legislation allocating financial aid based upon these college ratings by 2018, once the ratings system is well established. Students can continue to choose whichever college they want, but taxpayer dollars will be steered toward high-performing colleges that provide the best value.
New College Ratings before 2015. Before the 2015 school year, the Department of Education will develop a new ratings system to help students compare the value offered by colleges and encourage colleges to improve. These ratings will compare colleges with similar missions and identify colleges that do the most to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as colleges that are improving their performance. The results will be published on the College Scorecard. The Department will develop these ratings through public hearings around the country to gather the input of students and parents, state leaders, college presidents, and others with ideas on how to publish excellent ratings that put a fundamental premium on measuring value and ensure that access for those with economic or other disadvantages are encouraged, not discouraged. The ratings will be based upon such measures as:
Access, such as percentage of students receiving Pell grants;
Affordability, such as average tuition, scholarships, and loan debt; and
Outcomes, such as graduation and transfer rates, graduate earnings, and advanced degrees of college graduates.
Base Student Aid on College Value by 2018. Over the next four years, the Department of Education will refine these measurements, while colleges have an opportunity to improve their performance and ratings. The Administration will seek legislation using this new rating system to transform the way federal aid is awarded to colleges once the ratings are well developed. Students attending high-performing colleges could receive larger Pell Grants and more affordable student loans.
Engage States with a Race to the Top for Higher Education that Has Higher Value and Lower Costs: The President requested $1 billion in Race to the Top funding to spur state higher education reforms and reshape the federal-state partnership by ensuring that states maintain funding for public higher education. About three-quarters of college students attend a community college or public university, and declining state funding has been the biggest reason for rising tuition at public institutions. The Race to the Top competition will have a special focus on promoting paying for value as opposed to enrollment or just seat time. States typically fund colleges based on enrollment rather than on their success at graduating students or other measures of the value they offer. There are notable exceptions, like Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio, which fund colleges based on performance. To build on their examples, the President’s plan would also encourage states to provide accelerated learning opportunities, smooth the transition from high school to college and between two- and four-year colleges, and strengthen collaboration between high schools and colleges.
Reward Colleges for Results with a Pell Bonus and Higher Accountability: To encourage colleges to enroll and graduate low- and moderate-income students, the President will propose legislation to give colleges a bonus based upon the number of Pell students they graduate. And the Administration will prevent the waste of Pell dollars by requiring colleges with high dropout rates to disburse student aid over the course of the semester as students face expenses, rather than in a lump sum at the beginning of the semester, so students who drop out do not receive Pell Grants for time they are not in school.
Demand Student Responsibility for Academic Performance: To ensure students are making progress toward their degrees, the President will also propose legislation strengthening academic progress requirements of student aid programs, such as requiring students to complete a certain percentage of their classes before receiving continued funding. These changes would encourage students to complete their studies on time, thereby reducing their debt, and will be designed to ensure that disadvantaged students have every opportunity to succeed.
PROMOTE INNOVATION AND COMPETITION
A rising tide of innovation has the potential to shake up the higher education landscape. Promising approaches include three-year accelerated degrees, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and “flipped” or “hybrid” classrooms where students watch lectures at home and online and faculty challenge them to solve problems and deepen their knowledge in class. Some of these approaches are still being developed, and too few students are seeing their benefits. The federal government can act as a catalyst for innovation, spurring innovation in a way that drives down costs while preserving quality.
To promote innovation and competition in the higher education marketplace, the President’s plan will publish better information on how colleges are performing, help demonstrate that new approaches can improve learning and reduce costs, and offer colleges regulatory flexibility to innovate. And the President is challenging colleges and other higher education leaders to adopt one or more of these promising practices that we know offer breakthroughs on cost, quality, or both – or create something better themselves:
Award Credits Based on Learning, not Seat Time. Western Governors University is a competency-based online university serving more than 40,000 students with relatively low costs— about $6,000 per year for most degrees with an average time to a bachelor’s degree of only 30 months. A number of other institutions have also established competency-based programs, including Southern New Hampshire University and the University of Wisconsin system.
Use Technology to Redesign Courses. Redesigned courses that integrate online platforms (like MOOCs) or blend in-person and online experiences can accelerate the pace of student learning. The National Center for Academic Transformation has shown the effectiveness of the thoughtful use of technology across a wide range of academic disciplines, improving learning outcomes for students while reducing costs by nearly 40 percent on average. Carnegie Mellon University’s Open Learning Initiative has developed a hybrid statistics course used at six public universities, and its students performed as well as their peers in a traditional course in only 75 percent of the time. Arizona State University’s interactive algebra lessons helped students perform 10 percent better, despite meeting half as often, and at a lower cost. The University of Maryland redesigned an introductory psychology course, reducing costs by 70 percent while raising pass rates. New York’s Open SUNY initiative brings together every online program offered system-wide, helping students complete more quickly.
Use Technology for Student Services. Online learning communities and e-advising tools encourage persistence and alert instructors when additional help is needed. Technology is enabling students from across campuses and across the world to collaborate through online study groups and in-person meet-ups. MOOC-provider Coursera has online forums in which the median response time for questions posed by students is 22 minutes. To help students choose the courses that will allow them to earn a degree as quickly as possible, Austin Peay State University has developed the “Degree Compass” system that draws on the past performance of students in thousands of classes to guide a student through a course, in a similar manner to the way Netflix or Pandora draw on users’ past experience to guide movie or music choices.
Recognize Prior Learning and Promote Dual Enrollment. Colleges can also award credit for prior learning experiences, similar to current Administration efforts to recognize the skills of returning veterans. Dual-enrollment opportunities let high school students earn credits before arriving at college, which can save them money by accelerating their time to degree.
To help colleges innovate and improve quality and outcomes, the Administration will:
Empower Students with Information: New college ratings will help students compare the value offered by different colleges. The Department of Education will enlist entrepreneurs and technology leaders with a “Datapalooza” to catalyze new private-sector tools, services, and apps to help students evaluate and select colleges. The effort will be complemented by earnings information by college that will be released for the first time on Administration’s College Scorecard this fall.
Seed Innovation and Measure What Works: To demonstrate what works, President Obama has proposed a new $260 million First in the World fund to test and evaluate innovative approaches to higher education that yield dramatically better outcomes, and to develop new ways for colleges to demonstrate that they are helping their students learn. In addition, the Department of Labor is planning to grant an additional $500 million to community colleges and eligible four-year colleges and universities next year. A portion of these resources will be used to promote accelerated degree paths and credentials that would drive more high-quality and affordable options for adult workers and students. Through these efforts, the Administration will work with business and philanthropy to support industry partnerships to enrich student learning with valuable job exploration and experience.
Reduce Regulatory Barriers: The Department will use its authority to issue regulatory waivers for “experimental sites” that promote high-quality, low-cost innovations in higher education, such as making it possible for students to get financial aid based on how much they learn, rather than the amount of time they spend in class. Pilot opportunities could include enabling colleges to offer Pell grants to high school students taking college courses, allowing federal financial aid to be used to pay test fees when students seek academic credit for prior learning, and combining traditional and competency-based courses into a single program of study. The Department will also support efforts to remove state regulatory barriers to distance education.
Finally, the President will challenge leaders in states, philanthropy, and the private sector to make their own commitments to improve college value while reducing costs. For example, states can redesign the transition to postsecondary education and commit to strategies to improve student learning and enhance student advising, such as hybrid learning pilots, adaptive learning platforms, and digital tutors. Philanthropists can create initiatives, pilots and prizes for colleges that advance competency-based education, accelerated degrees, and the integration of new technologies into on-campus teaching and learning. Investors and entrepreneurs can directly support and develop new technologies and innovations that accelerate student learning while evaluating the effectiveness of different approaches. And employers and industry groups can collaborate with postsecondary institutions and new providers to develop high-quality, low-cost degrees in growing sectors of the economy, offer work-based learning experiences to students, and hire graduates who demonstrate the knowledge and skills employers need.
ENSURE STUDENT DEBT IS AFFORDABLE
While bringing down costs for current and future college students, President Obama will also help students with existing debt to manage their obligations. Income-driven repayment plans allow borrowers to take responsibility for their federal student loan debt with more flexible repayment terms, while helping professionals like teachers and nurses who take on critical jobs in our society that require significant education but may result in modest salaries. These plans allow students to fully repay their student debt on a sliding scale that adjusts monthly payments based on changing income and growing families. Nearly two-thirds of people that currently participate in the income-driven repayment plans make less than $60,000 a year. Currently, over 2.5 million of 37 million federal student loan borrowers are benefitting from income-driven plans.
Make All Borrowers Eligible for Pay As You Earn: To make sure that students and families have an easy-to-understand insurance policy against unmanageable debt now and in the future, the President has proposed allowing all student borrowers to cap their federal student loan payments at 10 percent of their monthly income. Currently, students who first borrowed before 2008 or have not borrowed since 2011 are not eligible for the President’s Pay As You Earn plan. In addition, the Administration will work with Congress to ensure that the benefits are targeted to the neediest borrowers.
Launching an Enrollment Campaign for Pay As You Earn: Beginning this fall, the Department of Education will contact borrowers who have fallen behind on their student loan payments, undergraduate borrowers with higher-than-average debts, and borrowers in deferment or forbearance because of financial hardship or unemployment to ensure they have the information they need to choose the right repayment option for them. Starting in 2014, the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury will work to help borrowers learn about and enroll in Pay As You Earn and Income-Based Repayment plans when they file their taxes. And to assist guidance counselors and other advisers who guide students through the process of selecting and financing their higher education, the Administration will launch a “one-stop shop” that will include important resources for choosing among various income-driven repayment options.
STATE DEPARTMENT CONCLUDES EXPORT VIOLATIONS BY MEGGITT-USA, INC.
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT,
Department of State Concludes Settlement of Export Violations by Meggitt-USA, Inc.
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 23, 2013
The State Department concluded an administrative settlement with Meggitt-USA, Inc. ("Meggitt") a Delaware corporation, and subsidiary of Meggitt PLC, a corporation organized under the laws of England and Wales and ultimate parent of the Meggitt group of companies, to resolve alleged violations of the Arms Export Controls Act ("AECA")(22 U.S.C. § 2778) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ("ITAR")(22 C.F.R. parts 120-130). The settlement was resolved pursuant to ITAR Section 128.11 wherein Meggitt agreed to enter into a consent agreement with the Department.
The settlement was reached after an extensive compliance review by the Department of State’s Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs of multiple disclosures submitted by Meggitt group subsidiaries involving hundreds of potential civil violations of the AECA and ITAR, of which sixty-seven are alleged as charges. This settlement highlights the Department’s responsibility to protect U.S. defense hardware and technology from unauthorized use and ensure compliance with the AECA and ITAR.
Over the course of several years, Meggitt subsidiaries and business units disclosed to the Department hundreds of ITAR violations beginning in the mid-1990s, largely involving the unauthorized export of defense articles, including technical data, the unauthorized provision of defense services, violation of the terms of provisos or other limitations of license authorizations, and the failure to maintain specific records involving ITAR-controlled transactions.
Under the terms of the 30-month consent agreement with the Department, Meggit is assessed a civil penalty of $25 million, of which $3 million will be paid in installments and the remainder suspended on the condition the Department approves expenditures for self-initiated, pre-consent agreement remedial compliance measures and consent agreement-authorized remedial compliance costs. In addition, an Internal Special Compliance Official will be engaged by Meggitt to oversee the consent agreement, which will also require the company to implement additional compliance measures, including enhanced policies and procedures, to review external audit programs and conduct audit measures pursuant to the agreement, to review jurisdictional determinations of commodities, and report on system upgrades and improvements.
Meggitt disclosed nearly all of the ITAR violations resolved in this settlement voluntarily to the Department, many of which were the result of post-acquisition review by Meggitt, acknowledged their serious nature, cooperated with Department reviews, and implemented or has planned extensive remedial measures throughout its subsidiaries. For these reasons, the Department determined that an administrative debarment or suspension of Meggitt was not appropriate at this time.
Department of State Concludes Settlement of Export Violations by Meggitt-USA, Inc.
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 23, 2013
The State Department concluded an administrative settlement with Meggitt-USA, Inc. ("Meggitt") a Delaware corporation, and subsidiary of Meggitt PLC, a corporation organized under the laws of England and Wales and ultimate parent of the Meggitt group of companies, to resolve alleged violations of the Arms Export Controls Act ("AECA")(22 U.S.C. § 2778) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ("ITAR")(22 C.F.R. parts 120-130). The settlement was resolved pursuant to ITAR Section 128.11 wherein Meggitt agreed to enter into a consent agreement with the Department.
The settlement was reached after an extensive compliance review by the Department of State’s Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs of multiple disclosures submitted by Meggitt group subsidiaries involving hundreds of potential civil violations of the AECA and ITAR, of which sixty-seven are alleged as charges. This settlement highlights the Department’s responsibility to protect U.S. defense hardware and technology from unauthorized use and ensure compliance with the AECA and ITAR.
Over the course of several years, Meggitt subsidiaries and business units disclosed to the Department hundreds of ITAR violations beginning in the mid-1990s, largely involving the unauthorized export of defense articles, including technical data, the unauthorized provision of defense services, violation of the terms of provisos or other limitations of license authorizations, and the failure to maintain specific records involving ITAR-controlled transactions.
Under the terms of the 30-month consent agreement with the Department, Meggit is assessed a civil penalty of $25 million, of which $3 million will be paid in installments and the remainder suspended on the condition the Department approves expenditures for self-initiated, pre-consent agreement remedial compliance measures and consent agreement-authorized remedial compliance costs. In addition, an Internal Special Compliance Official will be engaged by Meggitt to oversee the consent agreement, which will also require the company to implement additional compliance measures, including enhanced policies and procedures, to review external audit programs and conduct audit measures pursuant to the agreement, to review jurisdictional determinations of commodities, and report on system upgrades and improvements.
Meggitt disclosed nearly all of the ITAR violations resolved in this settlement voluntarily to the Department, many of which were the result of post-acquisition review by Meggitt, acknowledged their serious nature, cooperated with Department reviews, and implemented or has planned extensive remedial measures throughout its subsidiaries. For these reasons, the Department determined that an administrative debarment or suspension of Meggitt was not appropriate at this time.
SEC CHARGES INVESTMENT ADVISER IN ALGORITHMIC TRADING ABILITY CASE
FROM: SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
SEC Charges North Carolina-Based Investment Adviser for Misleading Fund Board About Algorithmic Trading Ability
08/21/2013 10:43 AM EDT
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a North Carolina-based investment adviser and its former owner for misleading an investment fund’s board of directors about the firm’s ability to conduct algorithmic currency trading so they would approve the firm’s contract to manage the fund.
The SEC’s Enforcement Division alleges that Chariot Advisors LLC and Elliott L. Shifman misled the fund’s board about the nature, extent, and quality of services that the firm could provide as he touted the competitive benefits of algorithmic trading in two presentations before the board. Contrary to what Shifman told the directors, Chariot Advisors did not devise or otherwise possess any algorithms capable of engaging in the currency trading that Shifman was describing. After the fund was launched, Chariot Advisors did not use an algorithm model to perform the fund’s currency trading as represented to the board, but instead hired an individual trader who was allowed to use discretion on trade selection and execution. The misconduct by Shifman and Chariot Advisors caused misrepresentations and omissions in the Chariot fund’s registration statement and prospectus filed with the SEC and viewed by investors.
The case arises out of an initiative by the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit to focus on the “15(c) process” – a reference to Section 15(c) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 that requires a registered fund’s board to annually evaluate the fund’s advisory agreements. Advisers must provide the board with the truthful information necessary to make that evaluation. Other enforcement actions taken against misconduct in the investment contract renewal process and fee arrangements include cases against Morgan Stanley Investment Management, a sub-adviser to the Malaysia Fund, and two mutual fund trusts affiliated with the Northern Lights Variable Trust fund complex.
“It is critical that investment advisers provide truthful information to the directors of the registered funds they advise,” said Julie M. Riewe, Co-Chief of SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit. “Both boards and advisers have fiduciary duties that must be fulfilled to ensure that a fund’s investors are not harmed.”
According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings, the false claims by Chariot and Shifman defrauded the Chariot Absolute Return Currency Portfolio, a fund that was formerly within the Northern Lights Variable Trust fund complex. In December 2008 and again in May 2009, Shifman misrepresented to the Chariot fund’s board that his firm would implement the fund’s investment strategy by using a portion of the fund’s assets to engage in algorithmic currency trading. Chariot fund’s initial investment objective was to achieve absolute positive returns in all market cycles by investing approximately 80 percent of the fund’s assets under management in short-term fixed income securities, and using the remaining 20 percent of the assets under management to engage in algorithmic currency trading.
According to the SEC’s order, Chariot Advisors did not have an algorithm capable of conducting such currency trading. The ability to conduct currency trading was particularly significant for the Chariot fund’s performance, because in the absence of an operating history the directors focused instead on Chariot Advisors’ reliance on models when the board evaluated the advisory contract. Even though Shifman believed that the fund’s currency trading needed to achieve a 25 to 30 percent return to succeed, Shifman never disclosed to the board that Chariot Advisors had no algorithm or model capable of achieving such a return.
According to the SEC’s order, because Chariot Advisors possessed no algorithm, currency trading for the fund was under the control of an individual trader who was not using an algorithm for at least the first two months after the fund’s launch. Shifman had interviewed the trader prior to her hiring and knew that she used a technical analysis, rules-based approach for trading that combined market indicators with her own intuition. The trader traded currencies for the fund until Sept. 30, 2009 when she was terminated due to poor trading performance. Subsequently, Chariot employed a third party who utilized an algorithm to conduct currency trading on behalf of the Chariot fund.
The SEC’s order alleges that the misconduct by Chariot and Shifman, who lives in the Raleigh area, resulted in violations of Sections 15(c) and 34(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8. A hearing will be scheduled before an administrative law judge to determine whether the allegations contained in the order are true and whether any remedial sanctions are appropriate.
The SEC’s investigation was led by Stephen E. Donahue and John G. Westrick of the Asset Management Unit and Atlanta Regional Office as well as Micheal D. Watson of the Atlanta office. Pat Huddleston and Shawn Murnahan will lead the Enforcement Division’s litigation. John Sherrick and Timothy J. Barker of the Atlanta Regional Office conducted the related examination that led to the investigation.
SEC Charges North Carolina-Based Investment Adviser for Misleading Fund Board About Algorithmic Trading Ability
08/21/2013 10:43 AM EDT
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a North Carolina-based investment adviser and its former owner for misleading an investment fund’s board of directors about the firm’s ability to conduct algorithmic currency trading so they would approve the firm’s contract to manage the fund.
The SEC’s Enforcement Division alleges that Chariot Advisors LLC and Elliott L. Shifman misled the fund’s board about the nature, extent, and quality of services that the firm could provide as he touted the competitive benefits of algorithmic trading in two presentations before the board. Contrary to what Shifman told the directors, Chariot Advisors did not devise or otherwise possess any algorithms capable of engaging in the currency trading that Shifman was describing. After the fund was launched, Chariot Advisors did not use an algorithm model to perform the fund’s currency trading as represented to the board, but instead hired an individual trader who was allowed to use discretion on trade selection and execution. The misconduct by Shifman and Chariot Advisors caused misrepresentations and omissions in the Chariot fund’s registration statement and prospectus filed with the SEC and viewed by investors.
The case arises out of an initiative by the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit to focus on the “15(c) process” – a reference to Section 15(c) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 that requires a registered fund’s board to annually evaluate the fund’s advisory agreements. Advisers must provide the board with the truthful information necessary to make that evaluation. Other enforcement actions taken against misconduct in the investment contract renewal process and fee arrangements include cases against Morgan Stanley Investment Management, a sub-adviser to the Malaysia Fund, and two mutual fund trusts affiliated with the Northern Lights Variable Trust fund complex.
“It is critical that investment advisers provide truthful information to the directors of the registered funds they advise,” said Julie M. Riewe, Co-Chief of SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit. “Both boards and advisers have fiduciary duties that must be fulfilled to ensure that a fund’s investors are not harmed.”
According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings, the false claims by Chariot and Shifman defrauded the Chariot Absolute Return Currency Portfolio, a fund that was formerly within the Northern Lights Variable Trust fund complex. In December 2008 and again in May 2009, Shifman misrepresented to the Chariot fund’s board that his firm would implement the fund’s investment strategy by using a portion of the fund’s assets to engage in algorithmic currency trading. Chariot fund’s initial investment objective was to achieve absolute positive returns in all market cycles by investing approximately 80 percent of the fund’s assets under management in short-term fixed income securities, and using the remaining 20 percent of the assets under management to engage in algorithmic currency trading.
According to the SEC’s order, Chariot Advisors did not have an algorithm capable of conducting such currency trading. The ability to conduct currency trading was particularly significant for the Chariot fund’s performance, because in the absence of an operating history the directors focused instead on Chariot Advisors’ reliance on models when the board evaluated the advisory contract. Even though Shifman believed that the fund’s currency trading needed to achieve a 25 to 30 percent return to succeed, Shifman never disclosed to the board that Chariot Advisors had no algorithm or model capable of achieving such a return.
According to the SEC’s order, because Chariot Advisors possessed no algorithm, currency trading for the fund was under the control of an individual trader who was not using an algorithm for at least the first two months after the fund’s launch. Shifman had interviewed the trader prior to her hiring and knew that she used a technical analysis, rules-based approach for trading that combined market indicators with her own intuition. The trader traded currencies for the fund until Sept. 30, 2009 when she was terminated due to poor trading performance. Subsequently, Chariot employed a third party who utilized an algorithm to conduct currency trading on behalf of the Chariot fund.
The SEC’s order alleges that the misconduct by Chariot and Shifman, who lives in the Raleigh area, resulted in violations of Sections 15(c) and 34(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8. A hearing will be scheduled before an administrative law judge to determine whether the allegations contained in the order are true and whether any remedial sanctions are appropriate.
The SEC’s investigation was led by Stephen E. Donahue and John G. Westrick of the Asset Management Unit and Atlanta Regional Office as well as Micheal D. Watson of the Atlanta office. Pat Huddleston and Shawn Murnahan will lead the Enforcement Division’s litigation. John Sherrick and Timothy J. Barker of the Atlanta Regional Office conducted the related examination that led to the investigation.
NSF MATE CENTER HOSTS UNDERWATER ROBOTICS COMPETITION
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Underwater robotics competition helps students build skills for ocean occupations
Annual competition, sponsored by Marine Advanced Technological Education Center, gives competitors a taste of the real-life capabilities needed to maintain an ocean observing system.
The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center hosted its 12th annual student underwater robotics competition earlier this summer in Federal Way, Wash. The Center is a national partnership of organizations working to improve marine technical education and help prepare the future workforce for ocean occupations.
Headquartered at Monterey Peninsula College, a community college in Monterey, Calif., the MATE Center has been funded as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Center of Excellence since 1997.
The student underwater robotics competition challenged this year's participants to design and build a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) for tasks related to operating and maintaining an ocean observing system, a collection of high-tech instruments above and below the waves that provide around-the-clock information about what's happening in the ocean.
The challenge was based on work being done at the University of Washington, where researchers are designing an observatory for the ocean floor. The missions assigned to this year's competitors were designed to simulate many of the things that will have to be done by ROVs during the installation and maintenance of the observatory.
"This was a very challenging mission," said Jill Zande, associate director and competition coordinator at the MATE Center. "And we found that a number of the students did really well."
Participants included more than 50 student teams representing middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, universities, after-school clubs, and outreach programs from the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Russia, and Egypt.
Competitors' mission tasks
Student teams piloted their ROVs to complete a variety of underwater mission tasks, prepared and presented an engineering report to a panel of volunteer judges, and created a poster display aimed at the general public.
Students were encouraged to think like entrepreneurs and manage their teams like companies, a process that helps them develop the teamwork, creative thinking, and problem solving skills that are valued in today's global workplace. Teams were evaluated on the design, construction, and performance of their ROVs; their ability to communicate what they learned; and how they put their knowledge to use in designing and building their ROVs.
Teams competed in either the RANGER or EXPLORER class, depending on the sophistication of their ROVs and the mission requirements. Teams from California won first place in each class. A complete list of winners appears below.
MATE's impact over its history
With NSF funding, the MATE Center began as an ATE project, and has broadened its mission, expanded its reach and increased its impact over almost 20 years. MATE began with a focus on community colleges, but over time opened up to four-year institutions and high schools. Part of its mission is to develop curricula in marine technology, underwater robotics, marine geospatial technology, career awareness, and ocean observing systems. MATE also offers professional development for high school, college, and university faculty that focuses on a broad array of marine technologies, workplace skills, and pedagogical innovations.
Now an Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project, led by Zande, is reaching middle-school students and teachers.
The idea behind MATE's growth is that the ROV competition can be a means to keep students engaged in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and create a pathway to careers in the STEM workforce. Ocean careers cover a broad range of skills, and MATE provides information on its website about the preparation required for more than 50 different careers, from that of able seaman to electrical engineer to ROV technician. There are also listings for jobs and internships.
The pathway from MATE to ocean careers is well-traveled. "We've had students snapped up by industry into $60,000 jobs before they've finished their associate degree," said Deidre Sullivan, director and principal investigator for the MATE Center. "When the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened three years ago, some of people who were operating the ROVs looking at the damage were graduates of the MATE curriculum."
"MATE has become a magnet for these kinds of skills," said David Campbell, program director for ATE. "If a student is interested in this kind of career, most community colleges will train students in electronics and depend on their future employers to train them in marine electronics. MATE is one of the few that's geared toward marine technology."
Winners of the 2013 ROV competition
There were three top winners in each class, and a host of other awards.
Explorer (Advanced) Class Winners:
In the Explorer class, the overall first place winner was Jesuit High School of Carmichael, Calif. The team also won an award for being safety-conscious.
Memorial University of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada took the second place prize. Third place was captured by SeaTech 4-H Club of Mt. Vernon, Wash., which also had the highest overall mission score.
Ranger (Intermediate) Class Winners:
Aptos High School of Aptos, Calif. won overall first place in the RANGER class. With 310 out of 320 possible points, the team had the highest mission score, and they also won an award for best technical report.
Second place went to Heritage Collegiate of Lethbridge, Newfoundland, Canada. Third place went to Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech, of New Bedford, Mass., which also won an award for top poster display.
NSF's Advanced Technological Education program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The program was created to improve and expand educational programs for technicians to work in high-tech, STEM fields that drive the U.S. economy. The program is congressionally mandated and focuses on both the undergraduate and the secondary school levels.
Underwater robotics competition helps students build skills for ocean occupations
Annual competition, sponsored by Marine Advanced Technological Education Center, gives competitors a taste of the real-life capabilities needed to maintain an ocean observing system.
The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center hosted its 12th annual student underwater robotics competition earlier this summer in Federal Way, Wash. The Center is a national partnership of organizations working to improve marine technical education and help prepare the future workforce for ocean occupations.
Headquartered at Monterey Peninsula College, a community college in Monterey, Calif., the MATE Center has been funded as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Center of Excellence since 1997.
The student underwater robotics competition challenged this year's participants to design and build a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) for tasks related to operating and maintaining an ocean observing system, a collection of high-tech instruments above and below the waves that provide around-the-clock information about what's happening in the ocean.
The challenge was based on work being done at the University of Washington, where researchers are designing an observatory for the ocean floor. The missions assigned to this year's competitors were designed to simulate many of the things that will have to be done by ROVs during the installation and maintenance of the observatory.
"This was a very challenging mission," said Jill Zande, associate director and competition coordinator at the MATE Center. "And we found that a number of the students did really well."
Participants included more than 50 student teams representing middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, universities, after-school clubs, and outreach programs from the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Russia, and Egypt.
Competitors' mission tasks
Student teams piloted their ROVs to complete a variety of underwater mission tasks, prepared and presented an engineering report to a panel of volunteer judges, and created a poster display aimed at the general public.
Students were encouraged to think like entrepreneurs and manage their teams like companies, a process that helps them develop the teamwork, creative thinking, and problem solving skills that are valued in today's global workplace. Teams were evaluated on the design, construction, and performance of their ROVs; their ability to communicate what they learned; and how they put their knowledge to use in designing and building their ROVs.
Teams competed in either the RANGER or EXPLORER class, depending on the sophistication of their ROVs and the mission requirements. Teams from California won first place in each class. A complete list of winners appears below.
MATE's impact over its history
With NSF funding, the MATE Center began as an ATE project, and has broadened its mission, expanded its reach and increased its impact over almost 20 years. MATE began with a focus on community colleges, but over time opened up to four-year institutions and high schools. Part of its mission is to develop curricula in marine technology, underwater robotics, marine geospatial technology, career awareness, and ocean observing systems. MATE also offers professional development for high school, college, and university faculty that focuses on a broad array of marine technologies, workplace skills, and pedagogical innovations.
Now an Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project, led by Zande, is reaching middle-school students and teachers.
The idea behind MATE's growth is that the ROV competition can be a means to keep students engaged in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and create a pathway to careers in the STEM workforce. Ocean careers cover a broad range of skills, and MATE provides information on its website about the preparation required for more than 50 different careers, from that of able seaman to electrical engineer to ROV technician. There are also listings for jobs and internships.
The pathway from MATE to ocean careers is well-traveled. "We've had students snapped up by industry into $60,000 jobs before they've finished their associate degree," said Deidre Sullivan, director and principal investigator for the MATE Center. "When the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened three years ago, some of people who were operating the ROVs looking at the damage were graduates of the MATE curriculum."
"MATE has become a magnet for these kinds of skills," said David Campbell, program director for ATE. "If a student is interested in this kind of career, most community colleges will train students in electronics and depend on their future employers to train them in marine electronics. MATE is one of the few that's geared toward marine technology."
Winners of the 2013 ROV competition
There were three top winners in each class, and a host of other awards.
Explorer (Advanced) Class Winners:
In the Explorer class, the overall first place winner was Jesuit High School of Carmichael, Calif. The team also won an award for being safety-conscious.
Memorial University of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada took the second place prize. Third place was captured by SeaTech 4-H Club of Mt. Vernon, Wash., which also had the highest overall mission score.
Ranger (Intermediate) Class Winners:
Aptos High School of Aptos, Calif. won overall first place in the RANGER class. With 310 out of 320 possible points, the team had the highest mission score, and they also won an award for best technical report.
Second place went to Heritage Collegiate of Lethbridge, Newfoundland, Canada. Third place went to Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech, of New Bedford, Mass., which also won an award for top poster display.
NSF's Advanced Technological Education program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The program was created to improve and expand educational programs for technicians to work in high-tech, STEM fields that drive the U.S. economy. The program is congressionally mandated and focuses on both the undergraduate and the secondary school levels.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
WOMAN SENTENCED IN REVERSE MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME CASE
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Florida Woman Sentenced for Role in Reverse Mortgage Fraud Scheme
A Miami title agent and former mortgage broker was sentenced today for her role in a reverse mortgage loan fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Lester Fernandez of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG) made the announcement after sentencing by Senior Judge Richard W. Goldberg, sitting by designation in the Southern District of Florida.
Yesenia Pouparina, aka “Yesenia Campos,” 42, was sentenced today to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $207,810 in restitution. Pouparina was convicted in February 2013 of four counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Pouparina, a licensed title agent in the state of Florida, sought to obtain a reverse mortgage loan worth more than $400,000 on her own property in the name of her mother, an individual who failed to meet the requirements of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. She submitted a false loan application and doctored records in support of that application, misrepresenting her mother’s eligibility to participate in the program. Pouparina acted as the title agent for the loan and disbursed the loan proceeds directly to her own personal bank accounts. Pouparina also enriched herself by collecting fees generated by the loan, and further profited by using the loan proceeds in connection with her business as a hard-money lender in other mortgage deals.
Following Pouparina’s conviction on the fraud counts, the jury also found forfeitable three bank accounts controlled by the defendant, which were seized by the government during the course of the investigation.
This case was investigated by HUD-OIG. Trial Attorney Sandra L. Moser of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Today’s conviction is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorney’s offices and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants, including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Florida Woman Sentenced for Role in Reverse Mortgage Fraud Scheme
A Miami title agent and former mortgage broker was sentenced today for her role in a reverse mortgage loan fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Lester Fernandez of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG) made the announcement after sentencing by Senior Judge Richard W. Goldberg, sitting by designation in the Southern District of Florida.
Yesenia Pouparina, aka “Yesenia Campos,” 42, was sentenced today to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $207,810 in restitution. Pouparina was convicted in February 2013 of four counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Pouparina, a licensed title agent in the state of Florida, sought to obtain a reverse mortgage loan worth more than $400,000 on her own property in the name of her mother, an individual who failed to meet the requirements of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. She submitted a false loan application and doctored records in support of that application, misrepresenting her mother’s eligibility to participate in the program. Pouparina acted as the title agent for the loan and disbursed the loan proceeds directly to her own personal bank accounts. Pouparina also enriched herself by collecting fees generated by the loan, and further profited by using the loan proceeds in connection with her business as a hard-money lender in other mortgage deals.
Following Pouparina’s conviction on the fraud counts, the jury also found forfeitable three bank accounts controlled by the defendant, which were seized by the government during the course of the investigation.
This case was investigated by HUD-OIG. Trial Attorney Sandra L. Moser of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Today’s conviction is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorney’s offices and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants, including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants.
READOUT: SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL'S CALL TO EGYPTIAN DEFENSE MINISTER AL-SISI
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Readout of Secretary Hagel's Call with Egyptian Minister of Defense General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little provided the following readout:
"Today Egyptian Minister of Defense Al-Sisi called Secretary Hagel in Malaysia to discuss developments in Egypt. Minister Al-Sisi updated Secretary Hagel on the security situation throughout Egypt, as well as progress on the political roadmap. Secretary Hagel stressed the importance of an inclusive, transparent political process that includes all Egyptians, and that differences must be resolved without violence. Minister Al-Sisi also updated the Secretary on security developments on the Sinai Peninsula, and Secretary Hagel expressed appreciation for Egypt's efforts to ensure the security of the U.S. Embassy facilities and all U.S. personnel serving in Egypt."
Readout of Secretary Hagel's Call with Egyptian Minister of Defense General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little provided the following readout:
"Today Egyptian Minister of Defense Al-Sisi called Secretary Hagel in Malaysia to discuss developments in Egypt. Minister Al-Sisi updated Secretary Hagel on the security situation throughout Egypt, as well as progress on the political roadmap. Secretary Hagel stressed the importance of an inclusive, transparent political process that includes all Egyptians, and that differences must be resolved without violence. Minister Al-Sisi also updated the Secretary on security developments on the Sinai Peninsula, and Secretary Hagel expressed appreciation for Egypt's efforts to ensure the security of the U.S. Embassy facilities and all U.S. personnel serving in Egypt."
U.S. EX-IM BANK APPROVES LOAN TO FIANCE SPACEX LAUNCH
FROM: EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank Approves $105.4 Million Loan to Finance SpaceX Launch
Washington, D.C. – Continuing its support of the space industry in America, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a $105.4 million loan to Space Communication Ltd. of Ramat Gan, Israel, to finance the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launch of the Amos-6 communications satellite, the purchase of American made-solar arrays, and insurance brokered by Marsh USA (Marsh)
The transaction is Ex-Im Bank’s third in support of a SpaceX launch, and it will support approximately 600 U.S. jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology. In June of 2013, Ex-Im Bank announced that it had approved financing for the launches of two satellites manufactured by Space Systems/Loral LLC, and in November of 2012 the Bank announced that it had approved financing for the launches of two Boeing-manufactured satellites.
“Ex-Im Bank is always ready to help the American space industry boost its international sales and export its products to important markets,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Our support of American launches and exports levels the playing field for U.S. companies and keeps highly-skilled, well-paying jobs on American soil.”
Satellite financing represents Ex-Im Bank’s most prominent stand-out sector in the Bank's newly transformed portfolio. Just three years ago, satellites accounted for only $50 million in authorizations per year. This year numbers as the third consecutive year in which Ex-Im Bank's satellite sector authorizations will have topped $1 billion.
Amos-6, a geosynchronous satellite, will replace Space Communication’s Amos-2 and cover markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The satellite will also provide pan-European coverage and broadband services in Europe and Africa.
The launch is scheduled for 2015.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif., SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches rockets and spacecraft. It is the first private company to build, launch, and dock spacecraft at the International Space Station, a mission previously accomplished only by government space entities.
“We appreciate Ex-Im Bank’s support of both SpaceX and the U.S. space industry,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer. “With export financing for contracts like the AMOS-6 mission, Ex-Im Bank helps SpaceX compete successfully with international launch service providers, bringing overseas satellite launch business and high-tech jobs back to American soil.”
ATK Space Systems Inc., a participant in the transaction and a manufacturer of the solar arrays for the satellite, is a member of the ATK Aerospace Group. The company provides a broad portfolio of products and services that include integrated satellite bus systems, world-class multidisciplinary engineering services, and market-leading integrated thermal-control systems.
Founded in 1871, Marsh is a global leader in insurance brokering and risk management. The company has approximately 26,000 colleagues who collaborate to provide advice and transactional capabilities to clients in over 100 countries.
Ex-Im Bank Approves $105.4 Million Loan to Finance SpaceX Launch
Washington, D.C. – Continuing its support of the space industry in America, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a $105.4 million loan to Space Communication Ltd. of Ramat Gan, Israel, to finance the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launch of the Amos-6 communications satellite, the purchase of American made-solar arrays, and insurance brokered by Marsh USA (Marsh)
The transaction is Ex-Im Bank’s third in support of a SpaceX launch, and it will support approximately 600 U.S. jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology. In June of 2013, Ex-Im Bank announced that it had approved financing for the launches of two satellites manufactured by Space Systems/Loral LLC, and in November of 2012 the Bank announced that it had approved financing for the launches of two Boeing-manufactured satellites.
“Ex-Im Bank is always ready to help the American space industry boost its international sales and export its products to important markets,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Our support of American launches and exports levels the playing field for U.S. companies and keeps highly-skilled, well-paying jobs on American soil.”
Satellite financing represents Ex-Im Bank’s most prominent stand-out sector in the Bank's newly transformed portfolio. Just three years ago, satellites accounted for only $50 million in authorizations per year. This year numbers as the third consecutive year in which Ex-Im Bank's satellite sector authorizations will have topped $1 billion.
Amos-6, a geosynchronous satellite, will replace Space Communication’s Amos-2 and cover markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The satellite will also provide pan-European coverage and broadband services in Europe and Africa.
The launch is scheduled for 2015.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif., SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches rockets and spacecraft. It is the first private company to build, launch, and dock spacecraft at the International Space Station, a mission previously accomplished only by government space entities.
“We appreciate Ex-Im Bank’s support of both SpaceX and the U.S. space industry,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer. “With export financing for contracts like the AMOS-6 mission, Ex-Im Bank helps SpaceX compete successfully with international launch service providers, bringing overseas satellite launch business and high-tech jobs back to American soil.”
ATK Space Systems Inc., a participant in the transaction and a manufacturer of the solar arrays for the satellite, is a member of the ATK Aerospace Group. The company provides a broad portfolio of products and services that include integrated satellite bus systems, world-class multidisciplinary engineering services, and market-leading integrated thermal-control systems.
Founded in 1871, Marsh is a global leader in insurance brokering and risk management. The company has approximately 26,000 colleagues who collaborate to provide advice and transactional capabilities to clients in over 100 countries.
U.S. OFFICIAL'S REMARKS AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER COOPERATION
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
High-Level International Conference on Water Cooperation
Remarks
Daniel A. Reifsnyder
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
August 21, 2013
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like others, we wish to thank President Rahmon and the Government and people of Tajikistan for their leadership on these important issues and for their warm hospitality.
The message of this conference should be simple: There is no alternative to cooperation on water.
We have heard repeatedly of the incredible challenges that nearly every one of us now faces and will continue to face. I don’t think there is one among us who does not appreciate – at a personal level – the importance of water. Our economies depend on it, our environment depends on it, and our lives depend on it. We know this is true for ourselves and for our neighbors.
As demands rise and supplies decline – as variability increases – there will be conflicts among competing uses and among competing users. There will be legitimate disputes over who has access, and over when and how water is used. There will also be less room for mistakes and a greater need to get the most value out of every drop.
This can be done. In the United States, we have more than 20 large river basins and more than 20,000 small watersheds. We share several rivers with our neighbors. The availability of water and the demand for water varies greatly across these basins, as do the interests of the public in how these resources should be managed.
We have a range of institutional arrangements that support joint research, data sharing and cooperative decision-making. We are working with Canada, jointly managing our shared river systems to optimize power production, protect the environment, and minimize the risks from floods. With Mexico, we recently put in place a provisional agreement that enables Mexico to store water.
I am pleased that this conference is so strongly focused on positive examples of cooperation. There seem to be common strands that run through each of these examples -- among them: (1) a thorough understanding of the problems each participant faces; (2) an appreciation of the concerns that arise from these problems; (3) a willingness to share data and information, which increases trust and confidence; (4) a willingness to work together in various arrangements and mechanisms to address shared problems jointly; and (5) a strong belief that cooperation produces better, more durable results.
I am also pleased to be here discussing some of the mechanisms that support cooperation on shared waters -- such as the Shared Waters Program (SWP) at the United Nations Development Program. The SWP is a multi-donor platform for establishing new, or strengthening existing, regional mechanisms for advancing cooperation on shared waters. Initial U.S. funding is currently supporting SWP activities in several basins. The focus of this initiative will be on laying the ground work -- for example, through meetings, workshops, legal/technical/facilitation expertise that establish a foundation -- for cooperative work between and among countries on shared waters. Once that ground work is laid, we expect that long-term capacity building and institutional reform will be supported through traditional bilateral and regional development assistance efforts. The SWP thus complements these development activities.
Mr. Chairman, in closing, let me say that there really is no choice. The history here is clear – without cooperation economic growth is slower and insecurity grows. Through cooperation, communities and countries can fully realize the multiple benefits of shared water resources, and work toward a more secure water future.
I thank you.
High-Level International Conference on Water Cooperation
Remarks
Daniel A. Reifsnyder
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
August 21, 2013
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like others, we wish to thank President Rahmon and the Government and people of Tajikistan for their leadership on these important issues and for their warm hospitality.
The message of this conference should be simple: There is no alternative to cooperation on water.
We have heard repeatedly of the incredible challenges that nearly every one of us now faces and will continue to face. I don’t think there is one among us who does not appreciate – at a personal level – the importance of water. Our economies depend on it, our environment depends on it, and our lives depend on it. We know this is true for ourselves and for our neighbors.
As demands rise and supplies decline – as variability increases – there will be conflicts among competing uses and among competing users. There will be legitimate disputes over who has access, and over when and how water is used. There will also be less room for mistakes and a greater need to get the most value out of every drop.
This can be done. In the United States, we have more than 20 large river basins and more than 20,000 small watersheds. We share several rivers with our neighbors. The availability of water and the demand for water varies greatly across these basins, as do the interests of the public in how these resources should be managed.
We have a range of institutional arrangements that support joint research, data sharing and cooperative decision-making. We are working with Canada, jointly managing our shared river systems to optimize power production, protect the environment, and minimize the risks from floods. With Mexico, we recently put in place a provisional agreement that enables Mexico to store water.
I am pleased that this conference is so strongly focused on positive examples of cooperation. There seem to be common strands that run through each of these examples -- among them: (1) a thorough understanding of the problems each participant faces; (2) an appreciation of the concerns that arise from these problems; (3) a willingness to share data and information, which increases trust and confidence; (4) a willingness to work together in various arrangements and mechanisms to address shared problems jointly; and (5) a strong belief that cooperation produces better, more durable results.
I am also pleased to be here discussing some of the mechanisms that support cooperation on shared waters -- such as the Shared Waters Program (SWP) at the United Nations Development Program. The SWP is a multi-donor platform for establishing new, or strengthening existing, regional mechanisms for advancing cooperation on shared waters. Initial U.S. funding is currently supporting SWP activities in several basins. The focus of this initiative will be on laying the ground work -- for example, through meetings, workshops, legal/technical/facilitation expertise that establish a foundation -- for cooperative work between and among countries on shared waters. Once that ground work is laid, we expect that long-term capacity building and institutional reform will be supported through traditional bilateral and regional development assistance efforts. The SWP thus complements these development activities.
Mr. Chairman, in closing, let me say that there really is no choice. The history here is clear – without cooperation economic growth is slower and insecurity grows. Through cooperation, communities and countries can fully realize the multiple benefits of shared water resources, and work toward a more secure water future.
I thank you.
TAX PREPARERS AND FOREIGN NATIONALS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD U.S.
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Alabama Tax Return Preparers and 19 Foreign Nationals Charged with Conspiring to Defraud the United States, Identity Theft and Money Laundering
Justice Department announced that a 14-count superseding indictment was unsealed today, charging JB Tax Professional Services Inc., Jacqueline J. Arias and Jose Bayron Estrada, of Spruce Pine, Ala., along with 19 foreign nationals, many of whom resided in the New Orleans area, with conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud by filing fraudulent income tax returns. The indictment also charges certain defendants with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Most of the defendants were previously indicted in May 2013 and arrested in June 2013.
According to the indictment, members of the conspiracy obtained Forms W-2, often by purchasing them for cash, for the purposes of filing fraudulent income tax returns. Conspirators further obtained individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs) for use in filing fraudulent tax returns, in some cases using false applications filed with the assistance of Arias and JB Tax Professional Services. An ITIN is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to individuals who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a social security number. Both Arias and the business were designated by the IRS as certified acceptance agents, which are entrusted by the IRS with the responsibility of reviewing the documentation of an ITIN applicant’s identity and alien status for authenticity, completeness and accuracy before submitting their application to the IRS.
The charging documents allege that the defendants used the social security numbers of real persons to conduct mail and wire fraud. The defendants also allegedly disguised and concealed the proceeds of their fraud by agreeing to conduct certain types of financial transactions.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Each defendant faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy charge. Each aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, and the defendants charged in the money laundering conspiracy count face a possible maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. The defendants will also be subject to fines, mandatory restitution and forfeiture if convicted.
The case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees Homeland Security Investigations; IRS-Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Secret Service; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, in partnership with the St. Tammany Parish, La. and Jefferson Parish, La. Sheriffs’ Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorneys Hayden Brockett and Kevin Lombardi.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Alabama Tax Return Preparers and 19 Foreign Nationals Charged with Conspiring to Defraud the United States, Identity Theft and Money Laundering
Justice Department announced that a 14-count superseding indictment was unsealed today, charging JB Tax Professional Services Inc., Jacqueline J. Arias and Jose Bayron Estrada, of Spruce Pine, Ala., along with 19 foreign nationals, many of whom resided in the New Orleans area, with conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud by filing fraudulent income tax returns. The indictment also charges certain defendants with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Most of the defendants were previously indicted in May 2013 and arrested in June 2013.
According to the indictment, members of the conspiracy obtained Forms W-2, often by purchasing them for cash, for the purposes of filing fraudulent income tax returns. Conspirators further obtained individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs) for use in filing fraudulent tax returns, in some cases using false applications filed with the assistance of Arias and JB Tax Professional Services. An ITIN is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to individuals who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a social security number. Both Arias and the business were designated by the IRS as certified acceptance agents, which are entrusted by the IRS with the responsibility of reviewing the documentation of an ITIN applicant’s identity and alien status for authenticity, completeness and accuracy before submitting their application to the IRS.
The charging documents allege that the defendants used the social security numbers of real persons to conduct mail and wire fraud. The defendants also allegedly disguised and concealed the proceeds of their fraud by agreeing to conduct certain types of financial transactions.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Each defendant faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy charge. Each aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, and the defendants charged in the money laundering conspiracy count face a possible maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. The defendants will also be subject to fines, mandatory restitution and forfeiture if convicted.
The case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees Homeland Security Investigations; IRS-Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Secret Service; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, in partnership with the St. Tammany Parish, La. and Jefferson Parish, La. Sheriffs’ Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorneys Hayden Brockett and Kevin Lombardi.
FINAL JUDGEMENTS ENTERED AGAINST DEFENDANTS IN STOCK MANIPULATION SCHEME
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Court Enters Final Judgments by Consent Against SEC Defendants Giuseppe Pino Baldassarre and Robert Mouallem
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on August 16, 2013, the Honorable Allyne R. Ross, United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York, entered final judgments by consent against Defendants Giuseppe Pino Baldassarre and Robert Mouallem. The final judgments permanently enjoin Baldassarre and Mouallem from future violations of Sections 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The final judgments also (i) order Baldassarre and Mouallem to pay total combined disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $21,932.03, which is deemed satisfied by the forfeiture orders entered against them in a parallel criminal action, and (ii) bar Baldassarre and Mouallem from participating in any offering of penny stock. In addition, the judgment against Baldassarre prohibits him from acting as an officer or director of a public company.
On December 7, 2011, the SEC filed its complaint against Baldassarre, Mouallem, and Malcolm Stockdale alleging that from at least October 2009, they engaged in a fraudulent broker bribery scheme designed to manipulate the market for the common stock of Dolphin Digital Media, Inc. The complaint alleged that they engaged in an undisclosed kickback arrangement with an individual who claimed to represent a group of registered representatives with trading discretion over the accounts of wealthy customers.
Court Enters Final Judgments by Consent Against SEC Defendants Giuseppe Pino Baldassarre and Robert Mouallem
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on August 16, 2013, the Honorable Allyne R. Ross, United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York, entered final judgments by consent against Defendants Giuseppe Pino Baldassarre and Robert Mouallem. The final judgments permanently enjoin Baldassarre and Mouallem from future violations of Sections 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The final judgments also (i) order Baldassarre and Mouallem to pay total combined disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $21,932.03, which is deemed satisfied by the forfeiture orders entered against them in a parallel criminal action, and (ii) bar Baldassarre and Mouallem from participating in any offering of penny stock. In addition, the judgment against Baldassarre prohibits him from acting as an officer or director of a public company.
On December 7, 2011, the SEC filed its complaint against Baldassarre, Mouallem, and Malcolm Stockdale alleging that from at least October 2009, they engaged in a fraudulent broker bribery scheme designed to manipulate the market for the common stock of Dolphin Digital Media, Inc. The complaint alleged that they engaged in an undisclosed kickback arrangement with an individual who claimed to represent a group of registered representatives with trading discretion over the accounts of wealthy customers.
REDWOODS IN DANGER
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| Fire consumes a once-healthy California redwood tree. Credit: USFS |
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
California's iconic redwoods in danger from fire and infectious disease
Pathogen that causes sudden oak death leaves redwoods vulnerable to fire
First it was sudden oak death, the oak disease caused by the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, that threatened California's extensive coastal forests.
Now these forests' stately trees are facing a new menace: the combined effects of sudden oak death and fire. And this time, the iconic redwoods are at risk.
Usually resistant to the effects of wildfires, California's coast redwoods are now burning as fast as other trees. Why?
Into the redwood forest
To find answers, plant pathologist David Rizzo of the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) and colleagues monitored more than 80,000 hectares of forests near Big Sur, Calif. In their plots, tanoaks, California bay laurels and coast redwoods grow.
The study began in 2006. "In 2008, almost half our plots were burned by wildfires that lasted the better part of a month," says Rizzo.
That was the beginning of the end for many coast redwoods, surprising researchers who expected the trees to be fire-proof.
The key to the redwood deaths, discovered Rizzo, Margaret Metz and Kerri Frangioso of UC Davis, along with Morgan Varner of Mississippi State University and Ross Meentemeyer of North Carolina State University, lies in the sudden oak death pathogen.
"If redwoods didn't live in forests affected by the disease," says Metz, "they could withstand fires just fine."
The biologists recently reported their results online in the journal Ecology, published by the Ecological Society of America.
After the fires were under control, the scientists returned to their study plots. Half had long been infested with the sudden oak death pathogen; half had been spared. The redwoods' mortality risk, it turned out, was four times higher in the sudden oak death plots as in healthy plots.
"The disease likely created more fuel for wildfires as dead tanoak branches fell," says Rizzo. "The loss of the oaks also would have decreased the amount of shade, drying out the forest and turning it into a tinder box, one not even redwoods could survive."
Pathogens + fires = dead redwoods
The forest ecosystem disturbance that happens when a pathogen like sudden oak death becomes established and starts killing trees, says Rizzo, "clearly isn't the only one that may be important to that forest."
Sudden oak death has killed millions of trees in the coastal forests of California and Oregon. It was first linked with the mortality of tanoaks and coast live oaks in the San Francisco Bay area in the mid-1990s. In 2000, Phytophthora ramorum was confirmed as the causal agent.
Analyses of the pathogen's genetic structure indicate that a single introduction sparked the wave of disease. It likely originated at a nursery in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Since then, scientists have found that the pathogen has infected plants in 45 genera, including ferns. "These host species are important parts of the forests along the California coast and at the wildland-urban interface," says Rizzo.
The pathogen's current range extends more than 435 miles from the Big Sur area in central California north to Mendocino County, with smaller affected areas in Humboldt County, Calif., and Curry County, Ore. Forests along Big Sur are among the most affected, with 100 percent of tanoaks infected in some stands.
Many of those forests are also prone to wildfires. "There's a growing concern that dead trees from the disease may make wildfires worse," Metz says.
The 2008 wildfires were the first in forests affected by sudden oak death. The largest fire, called the Basin Complex, was ignited by a lightning storm in June. It burned more than 95,000 hectares in the Big Sur region.
In September, the Chalk Fire started south of the Basin Complex perimeter; it burned an additional 16,000 acres. "More than 40 percent of our 280 plots went up in flames, 98 in the Basin Fire, and 23 in the Chalk Fire," says Rizzo.
A month after containment of the Basin Complex fire, the researchers surveyed 61 plots to measure burn severity before the forest could change with the onset of California's winter rains. "These measurements serve as our baseline data on ecosystem responses to interactions between fire and infectious disease," says Rizzo.
Key hidden high in the forest canopy
When sudden oak death kills tanoaks, it alters the trees in ways that leave neighboring redwoods vulnerable, the researchers found.
Flames are carried high into the tree canopy by the dead tanoaks; they then scorch the crowns of surrounding redwoods. Injury to the redwoods' crowns is what likely caused the trees to die in the 2008 fires, the scientists believe.
"Humans are causing widespread changes throughout our world, including greater wildfires related to changing climate and from increasing infectious diseases due to more modes of transportation," says Sam Scheiner, program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the joint NSF-NIH Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program, which funded the research.
"This study shows that these changes can combine in unexpected ways that can be very destructive. More such research is needed if we are to prepare for what's to come."
Rizzo agrees. "We're moving species around the globe at high rates, and global warming has increased fire severity. There may be all sorts of consequences, among them, dead and dying coast redwoods."
-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF
Friday, August 23, 2013
DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL MAKES ANOTHER VISIT TO ASIA
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Growing Engagement, Cooperation Mark Hagel's Second Asia Visit
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
HONOLULU, Aug. 23, 2013 - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived here yesterday on the first leg of a trip to the Asia-Pacific region to meet with counterparts and leaders from several countries and to attend a defense ministers meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
This is the secretary's second trip to the region since June.
Before visiting Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines in the days ahead, Hagel stopped at Marine Corps Base Hawaii-Kaneohe Bay here to thank 200 Marines and sailors for their service to the nation and to honor their part in President Barack Obama's strategic U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region.
"This rebalance is not only about our security interests in this area, it's about a partnership of prosperity for this region of the world -- over 6 billion global citizens today," the secretary said.
Threats that confront the world today are not unique to a region, a country, a religion or an ethnic group, he added. The threats are universal and they make alliances even more important than they have been in the past.
"You are all part of it," Hagel told the Marines and sailors. "You are at the front end, ... the cutting edge, ... and what you do and how you do it is particularly important as to how the world sees America and how they view our ... intentions."
On Aug. 25 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a senior defense official said, Hagel will meet with his recently appointed counterpart, Defense Hishammuddin Tun Hussein. Hagel first met with Hishammuddin in June at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. During the meeting, both leaders emphasized the importance of working bilaterally and multilaterally toward greater stability in Southeast Asia. They also discussed cyber issues and transnational threats.
"Malaysia-U.S. defense ties have dramatically improved over the last several years," the defense official said. "We're doing a lot more cooperative activity, [and] we're doing a lot more together. This is an opportunity for them to really touch base on the bilateral defense relationship and see where we're headed in the years ahead."
Hagel also will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to discuss overall defense relations and regional issues, including Hagel's recent consultations with Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Chang Wanquan, "which I think will be of great interest throughout the region," the defense official said.
Later in the week, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Hagel will meet with his Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, whom the secretary also met with during the Shangri-La Dialogue. There, they reaffirmed the importance of deepening ties in support of the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, an initiative of Presidents Barack Obama and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono calling for closer ties between the two governments and societies.
In Singapore, the defense leaders also reviewed progress made in recent years to increase exercises, training and regular defense policy dialogues.
"With Indonesia, we also have a significant increase in defense cooperation over the last several years," the senior defense official said.
From Sept. 5 to Sept. 13, the United States and Indonesia will co-chair a counterterrorism ground exercise agreed upon by the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting plus eight countries, or ADMM Plus, the defense official said.
ASEAN was formed in 1967. Its 10 member states are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Defense ministers from these nations are attendees of the annual ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting, or ADMM. The ADMM-Plus is made up of the 10 ASEAN members and its eight dialogue partners: the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia.
In Jakarta, Hagel will meet with Yudhoyono, a respected leader with great influence in the region, the defense official said. "He's entering his last year in office," the official added, "so it's a nice opportunity to thank Indonesia for a lot of tremendous cooperation over the last several years."
The ADMM Plus meeting begins Aug. 28 in Brunei. This is only the second time the full 18-member ADMM Plus ministerial meeting will be held, and another senior defense official said it's important for the United States to be there for two reasons.
The first, he said, the forum is proving to be extremely action focused.
"The ADMM countries have three multilateral exercises this year, [and] one of our focuses in the rebalance to Asia is shifting from a history of almost [all] bilateral engagements to do more multilateral engagements, to do more with groups of countries to meet common challenges," he said. "ADMM is giving us a very good way to do that."
Brunei recently hosted a major humanitarian assistance-disaster response-military medicine exercise that included all 18 of the countries that will be at the ADMM Plus meeting, the official said, and will involve more than 3,000 personnel.
"We see those as part of the wave of the future -- how common challenges are going to be handled in this region," he explained. "So being at ADMM is an opportunity to continue focusing with this group of countries on doing those kinds of action-oriented [activities] on the defense side."
The second reason, the official said, is that ADMM offers a good opportunity to engage with partners all in one place.
"The secretary will be able to have bilateral engagements ... [and] he'll also see a few other of his ministerial counterparts for short side meetings," the official said.
After the ADMM Plus meeting, the secretary's final stop will be Manila in the Philippines.
There, Hagel will talk with President Benigno S. Aquino III, Defense Minister Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario about ongoing negotiations for a framework agreement that would allow U.S. forces to operate on Philippine military bases and in Philippine territory and waters to help build Philippine armed forces capacity in maritime security and maritime domain awareness.
"The negotiations just got underway a week ago and will be ongoing for some time," the defense official said.
Growing Engagement, Cooperation Mark Hagel's Second Asia Visit
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
HONOLULU, Aug. 23, 2013 - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived here yesterday on the first leg of a trip to the Asia-Pacific region to meet with counterparts and leaders from several countries and to attend a defense ministers meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
This is the secretary's second trip to the region since June.
Before visiting Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines in the days ahead, Hagel stopped at Marine Corps Base Hawaii-Kaneohe Bay here to thank 200 Marines and sailors for their service to the nation and to honor their part in President Barack Obama's strategic U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region.
"This rebalance is not only about our security interests in this area, it's about a partnership of prosperity for this region of the world -- over 6 billion global citizens today," the secretary said.
Threats that confront the world today are not unique to a region, a country, a religion or an ethnic group, he added. The threats are universal and they make alliances even more important than they have been in the past.
"You are all part of it," Hagel told the Marines and sailors. "You are at the front end, ... the cutting edge, ... and what you do and how you do it is particularly important as to how the world sees America and how they view our ... intentions."
On Aug. 25 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a senior defense official said, Hagel will meet with his recently appointed counterpart, Defense Hishammuddin Tun Hussein. Hagel first met with Hishammuddin in June at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. During the meeting, both leaders emphasized the importance of working bilaterally and multilaterally toward greater stability in Southeast Asia. They also discussed cyber issues and transnational threats.
"Malaysia-U.S. defense ties have dramatically improved over the last several years," the defense official said. "We're doing a lot more cooperative activity, [and] we're doing a lot more together. This is an opportunity for them to really touch base on the bilateral defense relationship and see where we're headed in the years ahead."
Hagel also will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to discuss overall defense relations and regional issues, including Hagel's recent consultations with Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Chang Wanquan, "which I think will be of great interest throughout the region," the defense official said.
Later in the week, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Hagel will meet with his Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, whom the secretary also met with during the Shangri-La Dialogue. There, they reaffirmed the importance of deepening ties in support of the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, an initiative of Presidents Barack Obama and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono calling for closer ties between the two governments and societies.
In Singapore, the defense leaders also reviewed progress made in recent years to increase exercises, training and regular defense policy dialogues.
"With Indonesia, we also have a significant increase in defense cooperation over the last several years," the senior defense official said.
From Sept. 5 to Sept. 13, the United States and Indonesia will co-chair a counterterrorism ground exercise agreed upon by the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting plus eight countries, or ADMM Plus, the defense official said.
ASEAN was formed in 1967. Its 10 member states are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Defense ministers from these nations are attendees of the annual ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting, or ADMM. The ADMM-Plus is made up of the 10 ASEAN members and its eight dialogue partners: the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia.
In Jakarta, Hagel will meet with Yudhoyono, a respected leader with great influence in the region, the defense official said. "He's entering his last year in office," the official added, "so it's a nice opportunity to thank Indonesia for a lot of tremendous cooperation over the last several years."
The ADMM Plus meeting begins Aug. 28 in Brunei. This is only the second time the full 18-member ADMM Plus ministerial meeting will be held, and another senior defense official said it's important for the United States to be there for two reasons.
The first, he said, the forum is proving to be extremely action focused.
"The ADMM countries have three multilateral exercises this year, [and] one of our focuses in the rebalance to Asia is shifting from a history of almost [all] bilateral engagements to do more multilateral engagements, to do more with groups of countries to meet common challenges," he said. "ADMM is giving us a very good way to do that."
Brunei recently hosted a major humanitarian assistance-disaster response-military medicine exercise that included all 18 of the countries that will be at the ADMM Plus meeting, the official said, and will involve more than 3,000 personnel.
"We see those as part of the wave of the future -- how common challenges are going to be handled in this region," he explained. "So being at ADMM is an opportunity to continue focusing with this group of countries on doing those kinds of action-oriented [activities] on the defense side."
The second reason, the official said, is that ADMM offers a good opportunity to engage with partners all in one place.
"The secretary will be able to have bilateral engagements ... [and] he'll also see a few other of his ministerial counterparts for short side meetings," the official said.
After the ADMM Plus meeting, the secretary's final stop will be Manila in the Philippines.
There, Hagel will talk with President Benigno S. Aquino III, Defense Minister Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario about ongoing negotiations for a framework agreement that would allow U.S. forces to operate on Philippine military bases and in Philippine territory and waters to help build Philippine armed forces capacity in maritime security and maritime domain awareness.
"The negotiations just got underway a week ago and will be ongoing for some time," the defense official said.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL'S REMARKS AT MARINE CORPS BASE KANEOHE
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Lieutenant General Terry Robling August 22, 2013
Remarks by Secretary Hagel at a Troop Event at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
Lt. Gen. Terry Robling: Good afternoon, Marines. I'm Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, and I'd like to welcome you here today.
Before we start, I'd like to recognize a few special guests. We got Senator Mazie Hirono and members of her staff here, Senator Brian Schatz and members of his staff here, Representative Colleen Hanabusa and members of her staff here, and representing Representative Tulsi Gabbard is Mike Miyagi and a member of his staff. So, thank you all for being here.
This is a very historic day for us. It's the first time we've been able to really meet and speak with our secretary of defense on Marine Corps Base Kaneohe. But before I introduce him to you, I'd like to introduce you to him. So when I call out your unit, I'd like you to shout out with an oorah. Where are my Marine Corps Base Hawaii Marines?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: How about headquarters battalion?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: combat logistics battalion?
MARINES: Oorah.
LT. GEN. ROBLING: That's it? combat logistics battalion?
MARINES: Oorah.
LT. GEN. ROBLING: First Battalion, 12th Marines?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: There you go. Marine Corps Group 24?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: First Battalion, Third Marines?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: And, finally, where are my wounded warriors?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: Okay, outstanding. Well, I'm very proud of all of you on this historic occasion, and this time I'd like you to join me in welcoming our 24th United States Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Chuck Hagel.
SECRETARY CHUCK HAGEL: Thank you, General. Oorah, Marines!
MARINES: Oorah!
SEC. HAGEL: Thank you for allowing me to first thank you and your families for what you're doing. And I want you to know how much we appreciate your service and your sacrifice to our country. I also want to acknowledge your congressional delegation, who is here today, who has already been announced. I want to thank them for their support. You have no stronger congressional delegation in Washington who supports you more than your delegation from Hawaii, and they are very helpful to all of us.
So, senators, congressmen, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
I know something about you all. I know the kind of work you do. I know what you mean to our country, but I also know what you mean to our presence in this part of the world. You are at the front end. You are at the cutting-edge of security, of stability, of prosperity. That's a big task. That's a big responsibility. And we're very proud of what you're doing.
I want to particularly acknowledge the wounded warriors for your sacrifices and what you continue to do for our country.
I'm also much aware of the Lava Dogs, as they have made our country proud with -- with their outstanding performance in the exercises in Thailand and Korea. Thank you. The Marine Aircraft Group 24, your exceptional work -- all of you, every day, do so much for all of us. And I want to acknowledge that.
I'm on my way to the ASEAN Defense Ministers Plus, which will be held in Brunei later this week. I'm going to stop first in Malaysia and Indonesia and then Brunei for the ministers meeting and then to the Philippines and then go back -- back to Washington.
I'm going to try and reinforce much of what your leaders here in this part of the world, and particularly headquarters here, the general, all your commanders, Admiral Locklear, all of our institutions headquartered here in Hawaii are doing to promote our interests in stability and friendship and partnership in this part of the world.
You're all much aware of our rebalance that President Obama initiated a couple of years ago. And I wanted to talk directly to some of our friends in this area of the world about that. I had my first opportunity to directly assess and discuss our rebalancing when I was at the -- in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue, with many of the ASEAN leaders, and other nations, like Russia, European allies, China, who -- some will be in Brunei.
But this rebalancing is not only about security. It is not only about our security interests in this area. It's about a partnership of prosperity for this region of the world. Over six billion global citizens today. We are all now a part of one market. And the threats that confront the world are not unique to a region, to a country, to a religion, to an ethnic group. These are universal threats, and alliances become even more important than they've been in the past.
That means coalitions of common interests, partnerships, recognizing that prosperity and a future for all people and freedom depends on many pillars of construction. Certainly, security is one. But it's not the only one.
So this is a partnership that we are working through and enhancing and strengthening in this part of the world. You are all part of that. As I said, you are at the front end of that. You are at the cutting edge of that. And what you do and how you do it is particularly important as to how the world sees America and how they view our interests.
But probably more important is how they view our intentions. And that's always important in dealing with people around the world. So, thank you again for what you do.
That's a little bit about what I'm doing out here, other than the congressional delegation, and Governor Abercrombie gave me a visa to come in for a day and 24 hours so I can swim tonight before dinner, and then go on further west. But it's always a pleasure being here.
And before I take your questions, I want to also thank the people of Hawaii. The people of Hawaii, who have hosted our installations and all of you, the magnificent and gracious hospitality and support they've given us all should be acknowledged, and I want to let the people of Hawaii know how much we all appreciate them for what they have done and what they continue to do for all of us.
Okay. General, I'd be glad to respond to questions or any advice that you have for me. I know Marines are very tentative and bashful, hardly ever say what they think.
Q: Yes, sir. Sergeant Jensen, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, Charlie Company. My question pertains to the transferring of the Montgomery G.I. Bill benefits to your dependents and whether or not that program will stick around due to all the financial constraints going on. And additionally, when that service member goes to apply to transfer those benefits to their dependents on the VA website, they're not allowed to do that without committing to another four years' obligation, even though they've already met the regulated terms. I'm just wondering if that's something that can be fixed on the website or not, sir.
SEC. HAGEL: Okay. Well, that's -- first of all, it's a VA website, did you say?
Q: Yes, sir.
SEC. HAGEL: I'll ask Secretary Shinseki about that, since I don't have anything to do with his website. But I was just with him twice this week. And as you know, Secretary Shinseki is a former chief staff of the United States Army and a great, great American and great leader and made many sacrifices in Vietnam. As a matter of fact, he and I served in the same division in Vietnam in the same year. I didn't know Shinseki then, but we've gotten to be good friends. I'll find out about the website.
Back to your bigger question. I was one of the four co-sponsors of that bill when I was in the United States Senate. And we passed that bill in 2008. It's a piece of legislation I'm very proud of. I had been involved in that effort for many years before we got it passed.
There was a very significant Marine and United States senator at the time who led the charge by the name of Jim Webb, who you all know wrote the first really defining book on Vietnam, won a Pulitzer Prize for it, who has been a good friend of mine for 30 years. He and I were the two Vietnam veterans that teamed up on that with two World War II veterans, John Warner, another tremendous leader for our country and former secretary of the Navy, and Frank Lautenberg from New Jersey, who just passed away a couple months ago.
So I know something about that bill, since I helped write it. That bill was intended to do exactly what you just asked in your first sentence, among other things. It needed to be brought up to date from the time the Montgomery Bill was passed, because when the Montgomery Bill was passed -- and that was appropriate, I thought, at the time -- I wasn't in the Congress -- but it was a different time. It was an all-volunteer service, and so on.
And, by the way, I used the G.I. Bill when I came back from Vietnam, used it, as did my brother.
So it was time to do that. And there were some clear intentions that we had that we wanted that we wrote it, and one was the transferability of benefits. Now, as to one of the specific parts of your question about our budget issues and sequester, in particular, which has forced us all to re-evaluate programs. And as you know, we've had to make some tough decisions and choices.
That bill, that law is one that we want to protect in every way we can, because we think it is -- is the right thing to do for our people. We've committed to do that for our people. And we think it enhances our people, it enhances our country. It's a smart investment in our country. It's a smart investment in you, in your families. Education can't be disconnected from security -- from the future of our country.
So we'll continue to do everything we can to protect every element and fund every part of that bill. And I'll check on the website. Thank you.
Q: Good afternoon, sir. Lance Corporal Stacey from CAS. My question is, due to the downsizing of the Marine Corps or military-wide, what is the challenges that you face as far as keeping the appearance to the public of our military polished?
SEC. HAGEL: I'm sorry. The last part -- of our military what?
Q: Just keeping -- as far as the public eye, keeping our military looking strong without any, I guess, lack of confidence?
SEC. HAGEL: Yes, I get it. Good question. Important question. In fact, that question is one that I deal with, as well as our leaders deal with every day, for the -- for the very reasons you asked, but the implications that were present in your questions on projecting -- are we projecting weakness and lack of confidence when we -- when we talk about the downsizing and the limitations of financial resources?
There is a balance to that, and you're exactly right as to how we tell the story. First, I think it's important that, as always, every leader -- no matter what area that you lead in -- you first have to be honest, and you have to be direct, and you must be clear with the situation. You couldn't be effective Marines without those things. First of all, you wouldn't follow a leader who was not clear, direct, honest, if for no other reason you wouldn't trust him. You would have no confidence in him.
So I start there in answering your question. We've got to be honest with the American people. We have to be honest with the Congress. The Congress has to know our best assessment as leaders of our national security institution, what and how our capacity, our capabilities would be affected with large cuts in our budget.
Second, can we do things better? Can we do things more effectively, more efficiently? It is a different world. We've just come out of one war in Iraq; we're winding down the second war in Afghanistan. Doesn't that mean that resources will be freed up? Yes. We've been through this kind of downsizing in the history of our country before, as we have unwound from Desert Storm and Vietnam and Korea and World War II and so on.
But we've made it very clear, as direct and honest and clear as we can be, whether it's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, or your leaders here, or leaders all over the world in this institution, that even with these cuts -- and they are severe -- and they may be even more severe -- that there is no question, America has the most significant military capability in the world. There is no military close to this military.
And we have made it very clear to the American people, to our friends and allies, and to our adversaries that that is the case. And we are not without resources. We are not without capability. And you can measure that by any metric. You start with the strength of any institution, first, is your people. You are the best-trained, the smartest, the best-led, most professional military force this country's ever had, and that is not to minimize the service of every generation of military men and women who've served the United States of America. That's not to marginalize their service at all.
What I've just said is a fact. Our NCO Corps -- is a corps enlisted like no other armed force in the world has. No one is even close to having an enlisted NCO corps like we have in our institution. The technological superiority, every element of that, no one's even close to it. Even with our downsized budget, and projected to even more downsize, there's not a country in the world even close to our military budget. We have alliances which don't diminish our strength and our interests, but they enhance our strength in our alliances.
So when you look at the balance sheet here, we are going to be the best, most capable, strongest military force in the -- in the world for a long time to come. At the same time, as I said, we've got to be clear and direct with the reality of the consequences of continued significant budget cuts and how fast those budget cuts are coming, because they give us very little flexibility in the tough decisions that are going to have to be made.
Institutions as big as our Defense Department -- I don't know of one bigger in the world -- but any institution is constantly re-evaluating -- has to -- its effectiveness, its efficiency. How can you do it better? And there are different threats in the world.
I mean, 10 years ago, how many of us would have thought too much about cyber warfare as a threat? Cyber warfare represents one of the greatest threats to the security of America of any threat out there. Certainly, nuclear war is a clear and large and overwhelming threat, the damage a nuclear exchange could do.
But cyber is this quiet, insidious attack on our systems, our country. Without any nation firing a shot, invading us, sailing a ship against us, putting a bomber in the air against us, sending a missile against us, my point is, the threats are changing, the challenges are changing.
Ten years ago, yes, terrorism was a threat, but what's going on today in the Middle East, for example, what's going on in North Africa, elements of terrorism and the coordination of the coalition of terrorist groups is -- is now something we've never seen before. That's going to require different kinds of strategies and thinking.
And that doesn't mean we're going to not need our Army or our Marines or ground forces, for example. We'll always need those forces. But it's new strategic thinking, new strategic reviews. And we'll get there. We'll come out of this stronger and better than we went in. Thank you.
Q: Good afternoon, sir. Lance Corporal Wasser, HMLA-367. Last month, you gave a speech at the Pentagon on the topic of sequestration. And in your speech, you brought up ideas that you had on making major military cuts to all the branches. So to go off of basically all of what you just said, how soon are -- do you expect us to be reaching the goal of the cuts that you've been talking about, sir?
SEC. HAGEL: Well, I think reductions, realignments, all that go into what we just went through in a 90-day exercise, which I noted in that speech, the Strategic Choices and Management Review, which gave us some sense of what the realities are, based on three budget options, how that would then direct our choices, how that would direct our cuts, how that would direct reductions and consolidations, as we prepare for our budget year, as we move into the fall, as we present to the Congress a new budget early next year, as well as the quadrennial review, which is mandated by Congress every four years to essentially red team and put in a group of experienced, respected experts to come in and take a look at what we're doing, how we're doing it, and come up with suggestions and ideas as we move forward.
And I just met with the group this week, as a matter of fact, and present that to the Congress and to me and to our leaders. It all flows right into the same intersection. To answer your question, we're making consolidations and reductions now. Part of that is as a result of what the Congress mandated over the last couple of years on reduction of forces. We are bringing our force structure down with Marines, with Army. That's not new.
What is new is the abruptness and the steepness that we'll be forced to make those reductions if we're not allowed to bring this down year after year and give us some time to strategically plan for it. So we're making the reductions now. We're making some decisions now. They'll continue to be made as we -- as we flow out.
One of the other biggest problems we have is the uncertainty of what our resource base is going to be. I don't have to ask the members of Congress for clarification on this. They are as frustrated, I suspect, as I am in our leaders. We don't know what kind of budget we're going to get next year. Is sequestration going to play out, which is now the law of the land? That means another $52 billion to $54 billion cut in the next fiscal year for us, if that continues. So we have to plan for that. That is the law of the land, unless something changes.
Will there be an adjustment made by a budget -- a new budget agreement by the Congress and the president before that occurs? I don't know. Will we have a continuing resolution based on the numbers for this fiscal year? Next fiscal year begins in about six weeks, October 1st. I don't know.
You can't turn an enterprise like the Defense Department, as big as this is, around in a -- in a year or two or three months or four months. So that uncertainty is -- is as big a problem for us as anything else.
We're not whining about it. It's -- it's what it is. And what the Strategic Choice Management Review was all about when I directed that a few months ago, let's get on with it. These are the realities. Life's tough. I wish I controlled more things than I do. So do you. But I don't.
And so I'm living in a world of reality. I'm not living in a world like you all, either. You're not living in any -- any world but what is the real world, not the world that you wish it would be, not the world that you hope it would be, or not the world that maybe you think will be. It's the world of what it is.
So we have to plan for that. And I -- and I think this is going to make you stronger. I have tremendous faith in our people, in our culture, in the commitment of all of you, and people all over the world to our values and who we are as a people and as a nation. So we'll come out of this stronger than we went in.
Q: Thank you, sir.
STAFF: One more.
SEC. HAGEL: One more question? Okay.
Q: Good afternoon, sir. Sergeant Okimsy, Headquarters Battalion. My question was actually going to pertain to sequestration and cutbacks, but now I ask about, what does the future look like in retirement in the military since there are talks of changes to that?
SEC. HAGEL: Well, thank you. You see, that's the advantage of being a former senator -- and no offense, Senators -- is that when you get one question, you take the opportunity and you just answer six or seven, whether you're asked or not. So I'm glad I was able to answer part of that question that you had.
But the future for retirement, there's no question that -- not unlike our entitlement programs in the United States, Social Security and Medicare -- they are unsustainable with the path they're on, for the reasons I suspect most of you know. Now, that doesn't mean that we're going to cut off retirement benefits, but if we address those adjustments that are going to be required out into the future, just like in Social Security or Medicare, if we make some adjustments now and we're smart, then we can adjust what we need to adjust and assure that the benefits that you've earned that we've promised are going to be there.
For all of you, when you retire, your benefits should not be impacted by whatever tough choices that we're going to have to make, but there are things we can do now with TRICARE. Health care benefits for retirees, for example, are -- are the biggest part of the increases that are growing year by year by year, not unlike in the civilian world. So how do we adjust to that and assure those benefits? The people have earned them, and we've committed to them. We're do it. They're going to be there.
But we're going to have to adjust and make some changes on how we come at it in the out-years on the formulas used. They won't hurt anybody. You can make these kinds of things whether it's in Social Security -- I had introduced over the years in Social Security bills on just a cost-of-living allowance. If you just take that for Social Security, for example, and you make some adjustments there, it's astounding how many billions of dollars you save over the course of just a few years, if you make just a tiny adjustment there, take one index or another.
Now, I'm not going to play games with you on saying that your benefits are going to increase. They're probably not going to increase. But you're not going to be hurt. You're not going to be hurt.
Okay. Thank you very much.
STAFF: Thank you very much.
STAFF: Thank you.
SEC. HAGEL: Thank you.
All right, now -- first of all, I want you to know I want to get a picture taken with each of you, but you don't have to have your picture taken with me. It might -- it might hurt your reputation. So if you want a picture taken with me, it would be my honor. And we'll line up over here. Thank you. Semper Fi, Marines. Thank you.
MARINES: Oorah!
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Lieutenant General Terry Robling August 22, 2013
Remarks by Secretary Hagel at a Troop Event at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
Lt. Gen. Terry Robling: Good afternoon, Marines. I'm Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, and I'd like to welcome you here today.
Before we start, I'd like to recognize a few special guests. We got Senator Mazie Hirono and members of her staff here, Senator Brian Schatz and members of his staff here, Representative Colleen Hanabusa and members of her staff here, and representing Representative Tulsi Gabbard is Mike Miyagi and a member of his staff. So, thank you all for being here.
This is a very historic day for us. It's the first time we've been able to really meet and speak with our secretary of defense on Marine Corps Base Kaneohe. But before I introduce him to you, I'd like to introduce you to him. So when I call out your unit, I'd like you to shout out with an oorah. Where are my Marine Corps Base Hawaii Marines?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: How about headquarters battalion?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: combat logistics battalion?
MARINES: Oorah.
LT. GEN. ROBLING: That's it? combat logistics battalion?
MARINES: Oorah.
LT. GEN. ROBLING: First Battalion, 12th Marines?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: There you go. Marine Corps Group 24?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: First Battalion, Third Marines?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: And, finally, where are my wounded warriors?
MARINES: Oorah!
LT. GEN. ROBLING: Okay, outstanding. Well, I'm very proud of all of you on this historic occasion, and this time I'd like you to join me in welcoming our 24th United States Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Chuck Hagel.
SECRETARY CHUCK HAGEL: Thank you, General. Oorah, Marines!
MARINES: Oorah!
SEC. HAGEL: Thank you for allowing me to first thank you and your families for what you're doing. And I want you to know how much we appreciate your service and your sacrifice to our country. I also want to acknowledge your congressional delegation, who is here today, who has already been announced. I want to thank them for their support. You have no stronger congressional delegation in Washington who supports you more than your delegation from Hawaii, and they are very helpful to all of us.
So, senators, congressmen, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
I know something about you all. I know the kind of work you do. I know what you mean to our country, but I also know what you mean to our presence in this part of the world. You are at the front end. You are at the cutting-edge of security, of stability, of prosperity. That's a big task. That's a big responsibility. And we're very proud of what you're doing.
I want to particularly acknowledge the wounded warriors for your sacrifices and what you continue to do for our country.
I'm also much aware of the Lava Dogs, as they have made our country proud with -- with their outstanding performance in the exercises in Thailand and Korea. Thank you. The Marine Aircraft Group 24, your exceptional work -- all of you, every day, do so much for all of us. And I want to acknowledge that.
I'm on my way to the ASEAN Defense Ministers Plus, which will be held in Brunei later this week. I'm going to stop first in Malaysia and Indonesia and then Brunei for the ministers meeting and then to the Philippines and then go back -- back to Washington.
I'm going to try and reinforce much of what your leaders here in this part of the world, and particularly headquarters here, the general, all your commanders, Admiral Locklear, all of our institutions headquartered here in Hawaii are doing to promote our interests in stability and friendship and partnership in this part of the world.
You're all much aware of our rebalance that President Obama initiated a couple of years ago. And I wanted to talk directly to some of our friends in this area of the world about that. I had my first opportunity to directly assess and discuss our rebalancing when I was at the -- in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue, with many of the ASEAN leaders, and other nations, like Russia, European allies, China, who -- some will be in Brunei.
But this rebalancing is not only about security. It is not only about our security interests in this area. It's about a partnership of prosperity for this region of the world. Over six billion global citizens today. We are all now a part of one market. And the threats that confront the world are not unique to a region, to a country, to a religion, to an ethnic group. These are universal threats, and alliances become even more important than they've been in the past.
That means coalitions of common interests, partnerships, recognizing that prosperity and a future for all people and freedom depends on many pillars of construction. Certainly, security is one. But it's not the only one.
So this is a partnership that we are working through and enhancing and strengthening in this part of the world. You are all part of that. As I said, you are at the front end of that. You are at the cutting edge of that. And what you do and how you do it is particularly important as to how the world sees America and how they view our interests.
But probably more important is how they view our intentions. And that's always important in dealing with people around the world. So, thank you again for what you do.
That's a little bit about what I'm doing out here, other than the congressional delegation, and Governor Abercrombie gave me a visa to come in for a day and 24 hours so I can swim tonight before dinner, and then go on further west. But it's always a pleasure being here.
And before I take your questions, I want to also thank the people of Hawaii. The people of Hawaii, who have hosted our installations and all of you, the magnificent and gracious hospitality and support they've given us all should be acknowledged, and I want to let the people of Hawaii know how much we all appreciate them for what they have done and what they continue to do for all of us.
Okay. General, I'd be glad to respond to questions or any advice that you have for me. I know Marines are very tentative and bashful, hardly ever say what they think.
Q: Yes, sir. Sergeant Jensen, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, Charlie Company. My question pertains to the transferring of the Montgomery G.I. Bill benefits to your dependents and whether or not that program will stick around due to all the financial constraints going on. And additionally, when that service member goes to apply to transfer those benefits to their dependents on the VA website, they're not allowed to do that without committing to another four years' obligation, even though they've already met the regulated terms. I'm just wondering if that's something that can be fixed on the website or not, sir.
SEC. HAGEL: Okay. Well, that's -- first of all, it's a VA website, did you say?
Q: Yes, sir.
SEC. HAGEL: I'll ask Secretary Shinseki about that, since I don't have anything to do with his website. But I was just with him twice this week. And as you know, Secretary Shinseki is a former chief staff of the United States Army and a great, great American and great leader and made many sacrifices in Vietnam. As a matter of fact, he and I served in the same division in Vietnam in the same year. I didn't know Shinseki then, but we've gotten to be good friends. I'll find out about the website.
Back to your bigger question. I was one of the four co-sponsors of that bill when I was in the United States Senate. And we passed that bill in 2008. It's a piece of legislation I'm very proud of. I had been involved in that effort for many years before we got it passed.
There was a very significant Marine and United States senator at the time who led the charge by the name of Jim Webb, who you all know wrote the first really defining book on Vietnam, won a Pulitzer Prize for it, who has been a good friend of mine for 30 years. He and I were the two Vietnam veterans that teamed up on that with two World War II veterans, John Warner, another tremendous leader for our country and former secretary of the Navy, and Frank Lautenberg from New Jersey, who just passed away a couple months ago.
So I know something about that bill, since I helped write it. That bill was intended to do exactly what you just asked in your first sentence, among other things. It needed to be brought up to date from the time the Montgomery Bill was passed, because when the Montgomery Bill was passed -- and that was appropriate, I thought, at the time -- I wasn't in the Congress -- but it was a different time. It was an all-volunteer service, and so on.
And, by the way, I used the G.I. Bill when I came back from Vietnam, used it, as did my brother.
So it was time to do that. And there were some clear intentions that we had that we wanted that we wrote it, and one was the transferability of benefits. Now, as to one of the specific parts of your question about our budget issues and sequester, in particular, which has forced us all to re-evaluate programs. And as you know, we've had to make some tough decisions and choices.
That bill, that law is one that we want to protect in every way we can, because we think it is -- is the right thing to do for our people. We've committed to do that for our people. And we think it enhances our people, it enhances our country. It's a smart investment in our country. It's a smart investment in you, in your families. Education can't be disconnected from security -- from the future of our country.
So we'll continue to do everything we can to protect every element and fund every part of that bill. And I'll check on the website. Thank you.
Q: Good afternoon, sir. Lance Corporal Stacey from CAS. My question is, due to the downsizing of the Marine Corps or military-wide, what is the challenges that you face as far as keeping the appearance to the public of our military polished?
SEC. HAGEL: I'm sorry. The last part -- of our military what?
Q: Just keeping -- as far as the public eye, keeping our military looking strong without any, I guess, lack of confidence?
SEC. HAGEL: Yes, I get it. Good question. Important question. In fact, that question is one that I deal with, as well as our leaders deal with every day, for the -- for the very reasons you asked, but the implications that were present in your questions on projecting -- are we projecting weakness and lack of confidence when we -- when we talk about the downsizing and the limitations of financial resources?
There is a balance to that, and you're exactly right as to how we tell the story. First, I think it's important that, as always, every leader -- no matter what area that you lead in -- you first have to be honest, and you have to be direct, and you must be clear with the situation. You couldn't be effective Marines without those things. First of all, you wouldn't follow a leader who was not clear, direct, honest, if for no other reason you wouldn't trust him. You would have no confidence in him.
So I start there in answering your question. We've got to be honest with the American people. We have to be honest with the Congress. The Congress has to know our best assessment as leaders of our national security institution, what and how our capacity, our capabilities would be affected with large cuts in our budget.
Second, can we do things better? Can we do things more effectively, more efficiently? It is a different world. We've just come out of one war in Iraq; we're winding down the second war in Afghanistan. Doesn't that mean that resources will be freed up? Yes. We've been through this kind of downsizing in the history of our country before, as we have unwound from Desert Storm and Vietnam and Korea and World War II and so on.
But we've made it very clear, as direct and honest and clear as we can be, whether it's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, or your leaders here, or leaders all over the world in this institution, that even with these cuts -- and they are severe -- and they may be even more severe -- that there is no question, America has the most significant military capability in the world. There is no military close to this military.
And we have made it very clear to the American people, to our friends and allies, and to our adversaries that that is the case. And we are not without resources. We are not without capability. And you can measure that by any metric. You start with the strength of any institution, first, is your people. You are the best-trained, the smartest, the best-led, most professional military force this country's ever had, and that is not to minimize the service of every generation of military men and women who've served the United States of America. That's not to marginalize their service at all.
What I've just said is a fact. Our NCO Corps -- is a corps enlisted like no other armed force in the world has. No one is even close to having an enlisted NCO corps like we have in our institution. The technological superiority, every element of that, no one's even close to it. Even with our downsized budget, and projected to even more downsize, there's not a country in the world even close to our military budget. We have alliances which don't diminish our strength and our interests, but they enhance our strength in our alliances.
So when you look at the balance sheet here, we are going to be the best, most capable, strongest military force in the -- in the world for a long time to come. At the same time, as I said, we've got to be clear and direct with the reality of the consequences of continued significant budget cuts and how fast those budget cuts are coming, because they give us very little flexibility in the tough decisions that are going to have to be made.
Institutions as big as our Defense Department -- I don't know of one bigger in the world -- but any institution is constantly re-evaluating -- has to -- its effectiveness, its efficiency. How can you do it better? And there are different threats in the world.
I mean, 10 years ago, how many of us would have thought too much about cyber warfare as a threat? Cyber warfare represents one of the greatest threats to the security of America of any threat out there. Certainly, nuclear war is a clear and large and overwhelming threat, the damage a nuclear exchange could do.
But cyber is this quiet, insidious attack on our systems, our country. Without any nation firing a shot, invading us, sailing a ship against us, putting a bomber in the air against us, sending a missile against us, my point is, the threats are changing, the challenges are changing.
Ten years ago, yes, terrorism was a threat, but what's going on today in the Middle East, for example, what's going on in North Africa, elements of terrorism and the coordination of the coalition of terrorist groups is -- is now something we've never seen before. That's going to require different kinds of strategies and thinking.
And that doesn't mean we're going to not need our Army or our Marines or ground forces, for example. We'll always need those forces. But it's new strategic thinking, new strategic reviews. And we'll get there. We'll come out of this stronger and better than we went in. Thank you.
Q: Good afternoon, sir. Lance Corporal Wasser, HMLA-367. Last month, you gave a speech at the Pentagon on the topic of sequestration. And in your speech, you brought up ideas that you had on making major military cuts to all the branches. So to go off of basically all of what you just said, how soon are -- do you expect us to be reaching the goal of the cuts that you've been talking about, sir?
SEC. HAGEL: Well, I think reductions, realignments, all that go into what we just went through in a 90-day exercise, which I noted in that speech, the Strategic Choices and Management Review, which gave us some sense of what the realities are, based on three budget options, how that would then direct our choices, how that would direct our cuts, how that would direct reductions and consolidations, as we prepare for our budget year, as we move into the fall, as we present to the Congress a new budget early next year, as well as the quadrennial review, which is mandated by Congress every four years to essentially red team and put in a group of experienced, respected experts to come in and take a look at what we're doing, how we're doing it, and come up with suggestions and ideas as we move forward.
And I just met with the group this week, as a matter of fact, and present that to the Congress and to me and to our leaders. It all flows right into the same intersection. To answer your question, we're making consolidations and reductions now. Part of that is as a result of what the Congress mandated over the last couple of years on reduction of forces. We are bringing our force structure down with Marines, with Army. That's not new.
What is new is the abruptness and the steepness that we'll be forced to make those reductions if we're not allowed to bring this down year after year and give us some time to strategically plan for it. So we're making the reductions now. We're making some decisions now. They'll continue to be made as we -- as we flow out.
One of the other biggest problems we have is the uncertainty of what our resource base is going to be. I don't have to ask the members of Congress for clarification on this. They are as frustrated, I suspect, as I am in our leaders. We don't know what kind of budget we're going to get next year. Is sequestration going to play out, which is now the law of the land? That means another $52 billion to $54 billion cut in the next fiscal year for us, if that continues. So we have to plan for that. That is the law of the land, unless something changes.
Will there be an adjustment made by a budget -- a new budget agreement by the Congress and the president before that occurs? I don't know. Will we have a continuing resolution based on the numbers for this fiscal year? Next fiscal year begins in about six weeks, October 1st. I don't know.
You can't turn an enterprise like the Defense Department, as big as this is, around in a -- in a year or two or three months or four months. So that uncertainty is -- is as big a problem for us as anything else.
We're not whining about it. It's -- it's what it is. And what the Strategic Choice Management Review was all about when I directed that a few months ago, let's get on with it. These are the realities. Life's tough. I wish I controlled more things than I do. So do you. But I don't.
And so I'm living in a world of reality. I'm not living in a world like you all, either. You're not living in any -- any world but what is the real world, not the world that you wish it would be, not the world that you hope it would be, or not the world that maybe you think will be. It's the world of what it is.
So we have to plan for that. And I -- and I think this is going to make you stronger. I have tremendous faith in our people, in our culture, in the commitment of all of you, and people all over the world to our values and who we are as a people and as a nation. So we'll come out of this stronger than we went in.
Q: Thank you, sir.
STAFF: One more.
SEC. HAGEL: One more question? Okay.
Q: Good afternoon, sir. Sergeant Okimsy, Headquarters Battalion. My question was actually going to pertain to sequestration and cutbacks, but now I ask about, what does the future look like in retirement in the military since there are talks of changes to that?
SEC. HAGEL: Well, thank you. You see, that's the advantage of being a former senator -- and no offense, Senators -- is that when you get one question, you take the opportunity and you just answer six or seven, whether you're asked or not. So I'm glad I was able to answer part of that question that you had.
But the future for retirement, there's no question that -- not unlike our entitlement programs in the United States, Social Security and Medicare -- they are unsustainable with the path they're on, for the reasons I suspect most of you know. Now, that doesn't mean that we're going to cut off retirement benefits, but if we address those adjustments that are going to be required out into the future, just like in Social Security or Medicare, if we make some adjustments now and we're smart, then we can adjust what we need to adjust and assure that the benefits that you've earned that we've promised are going to be there.
For all of you, when you retire, your benefits should not be impacted by whatever tough choices that we're going to have to make, but there are things we can do now with TRICARE. Health care benefits for retirees, for example, are -- are the biggest part of the increases that are growing year by year by year, not unlike in the civilian world. So how do we adjust to that and assure those benefits? The people have earned them, and we've committed to them. We're do it. They're going to be there.
But we're going to have to adjust and make some changes on how we come at it in the out-years on the formulas used. They won't hurt anybody. You can make these kinds of things whether it's in Social Security -- I had introduced over the years in Social Security bills on just a cost-of-living allowance. If you just take that for Social Security, for example, and you make some adjustments there, it's astounding how many billions of dollars you save over the course of just a few years, if you make just a tiny adjustment there, take one index or another.
Now, I'm not going to play games with you on saying that your benefits are going to increase. They're probably not going to increase. But you're not going to be hurt. You're not going to be hurt.
Okay. Thank you very much.
STAFF: Thank you very much.
STAFF: Thank you.
SEC. HAGEL: Thank you.
All right, now -- first of all, I want you to know I want to get a picture taken with each of you, but you don't have to have your picture taken with me. It might -- it might hurt your reputation. So if you want a picture taken with me, it would be my honor. And we'll line up over here. Thank you. Semper Fi, Marines. Thank you.
MARINES: Oorah!
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