PRODUCT MARKETER SETTLES ALLEGATIONS OF FALSELY USING "MADE-IN-USA" CLAIM

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 
FTC Approves Final Consent Settling Charges that Marketer of Outdoor Accessories Made False Made-in-the-USA Claims

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final consent order settling charges that a marketer of iPhone accessories, bottle holders, lens cleaners, dog collars, leashes, and other outdoor accessories falsely claimed some of its products were “Made in the U.S.A,” or “Truly Made in the USA,” when in fact the products contained substantial foreign content.

The FTC alleged that E.K. Ekcessories, Inc. violated the Federal Trade Commission Act by making false and unsupported statements that its products were all or virtually all made in the United States.  The settlement with E.K. Ekcessories, first announced in October 2013, prohibits the company from deceiving consumers about the degree to which its products are made in the United States. No comments were received regarding the proposed consent order during the public comment period.

According to the Commission’s 1997 U.S. Origin Claims Enforcement Policy Statement, for a product to be advertised or labeled as “Made in the U.S.A,” the product must be “all or virtually all” made in the United States – that is, all significant parts and processing must be of U.S. origin, and the product should contain no (or negligible) foreign content.

The Commission vote to approve the final order in this case was 4-0.  (FTC File No. 132 3156, E.K. Ekcessories; the staff contact is Julia Solomon Ensor, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326- 2377; see press release dated October 21, 2013)

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.

GSA CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY ON BENEFITS OF "REVERSE AUCTIONS"

FROM;  U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 
Bill Sisk
Joint Oversight Hearing
“Reverse Auctions”
House Veterans' Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
and House Small Business Committee Subcommittee on Contracting and the Workforce

December 11, 2013

Good morning, Chairman Coffman, Chairman Hanna, Ranking Member Kirkpatrick , Ranking Member Meng, and members of the Subcommittees for Veterans’ Affairs Oversight and Investigations and Small Business Contracting and the Workforce. My name is Bill Sisk and I am the Deputy Commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service.

I have spent over twenty years at GSA. I started in GSA’s Regional office in Atlanta in 1990 and have served in numerous management positions including Assistant Regional Administrator and Regional Commissioner. In my capacity as Regional Commissioner, I represented GSA’s Assisted Acquisition Services, Network Services, and Personal Property. I have also served as Assistant Commissioner in the Office of General Supplies and Services within the Federal Acquisition Service and was appointed to the U.S. AbilityOne Commission which is a unique program that provides employment opportunities for individuals who are blind or have other significant disabilities.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear here today to discuss GSA’s recently launched Reverse Auction Platform. This effort is one of a continuing series of actions the Federal Acquisition Service has undertaken in support of GSA’s mission to deliver the best value in acquisition and technology services to government and American people. Based on data since its inception, GSA’s Reverse Auction Platform is one tool that, with proper training and use, can provide savings to agencies, help them achieve small business goals, and provide visibility into spending data that, over time, can help agencies make better acquisition decisions.

GSA’s Reverse Auction Platform was put into operation July 1st, 2013 and is designed to be an efficient and cost effective platform for buying non-complex commodities and simple services. This initiative’s focus is to drive down the total cost of acquisitions and increase savings to customers and taxpayers. GSA’s Reverse Auction Platform is an eTool available to our government partners to use to facilitate the request for and submission of quotes or offers for products and services through GSA Multiple Award Schedules and Blanket Purchase agreements (BPAs), Veterans Administration’s schedules, and Department of Navy BPAs against GSA schedule contracts. GSA leveraged existing e-Buy and GSAAuctions.gov IT infrastructure resources which reduced development costs and provides users a familiar look and feel when using the Reverse Auction website.

The GSA Reverse Auction tool is non-mandatory and available to agencies to consider as they develop acquisition strategies.
Additionally, by leveraging GSA Schedule contracts and their unique ability to provide a broad array of vendors and small business set-aside capability, GSA's Reverse Auction Platform improves the government's ability to maintain small business participation through broad competitions and set-asides to promote agencies' meeting small business goals in a cost effective way.

There are a variety of potential benefits to agencies of this platform, including that it:

Displays real-time pricing
Provides customers with level III spend data (historical pricing data)
Interfaces with existing systems, i.e., eBuy / eLibrary enabling vendor authentication to verify that contracts are still valid under the GSA Multiple
Award Schedules program
Assists in meeting small business goals
Facilitates compliance with competition requirements
While agencies may realize these benefits, it is also important that the Reverse Auction Platform be used appropriately.  GSA provides training on the Reverse Auction platform regularly to both the buyer and vendor communities.  GSA offers on average four training sessions per week in a variety of forums.  To date, over 50 sessions have been conducted and over 2000 individuals trained on the platform.  Additionally, frequently asked questions and answers are available on the site as a resource for users.

The data so far has demonstrated savings in price, good competition from vendors, and support for small businesses.  To date, several Federal Agencies, including GSA, have utilized the platform for 485 auctions, realizing about 6.7 percent savings on average with an average of three vendors participating per auction.  85.53 percent of the total awards and 87.18 percent of the total value of all contracts have been made to small businesses.

As the GSA Reverse Auction Platform continues to mature and evolve with more training and education provided, GSA predicts an increase in the use of the platform based on the initial interest in the platform and the overall interest by agencies in utilizing reverse auction procurement solutions.  Additionally, we predict future spend data may provide insights for potential strategic sourcing opportunities.  As we move forward, we welcome insights from Congress, from industry, and from partner Federal agencies on additional ways to improve the platform and ensure it is used appropriately.

During this time of continued budget uncertainty and ongoing fiscal pressure, GSA has launched the Reverse Auction platform in the hopes that it will be used by our partners to maximize savings in terms of both driving competition among vendors to achieve cost savings and by cutting processing times so that agencies achieve resource savings as well. This tool is one offering by GSA to deliver better value and savings to our partners and ultimately the American taxpayer.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM:  U.S. NAVY
The U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, fly in the Delta Formation over the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the Florida coast near Mayport Naval Station. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Terrence Siren (Released) 131210-N-KG934-050.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) fires its 5-inch gun during a live-fire exercise. Mason is deployed as part of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rob Aylward (Released) 131208-N-PW661-032.

FDA ANNOUNCES VOLUNTARY PLAN TO END USE OF SOME ANTIBIOTICS IN FARM ANIMALS

Photo From FDA Website.

FROM:  U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION 

Phasing Out Certain Antibiotic Use in Farm Animals

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is implementing a voluntary plan with industry to phase out the use of certain antibiotics for enhanced food production.
Antibiotics are added to the animal feed or drinking water of cattle, hogs, poultry and other food-producing animals to help them gain weight faster or use less food to gain weight.

Because all uses of antimicrobial drugs, in both humans and animals, contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance, it is important to use these drugs only when medically necessary. Governments around the world consider antimicrobial-resistant bacteria a major threat to public health. Illnesses caused by drug-resistant strains of bacteria are more likely to be potentially fatal when the medicines used to treat them are rendered less effective.

FDA is working to address the use of “medically important” antibiotics in food-producing animals for production uses, such as to enhance growth or improve feed efficiency. These drugs are deemed important because they are also used to treat human disease and might not work if the bacteria they target become resistant to the drugs’ effects.

“We need to be selective about the drugs we use in animals and when we use them,” says William Flynn, DVM, MS, deputy director for science policy at FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). “Antimicrobial resistance may not be completely preventable, but we need to do what we can to slow it down.”

FDA is issuing a final guidance document that explains how animal pharmaceutical companies can work with the agency to voluntarily remove growth enhancement and feed efficiency indications from the approved uses of their medically important antimicrobial drug products, and move the therapeutic uses of these products from over-the-counter (OTC) availability to marketing status requiring veterinary oversight.

Once manufacturers voluntarily make these changes, the affected products can then only be used in food-producing animals to treat, prevent or control disease under the order of or by prescription from a licensed veterinarian.

“This action promotes the judicious use of important antimicrobials, which protects public health and, at the same time, ensures that sick and at-risk animals receive the therapy they need,” says CVM Director Bernadette Dunham, DVM, Ph.D. “We realize that these steps represent changes for veterinarians and animal producers, and we have been working to make this transition as seamless as possible.”

Drugs Primarily in Feed

Flynn explains that all the drugs affected by this plan are antibacterial products. They have long been FDA-approved for production (e.g. growth enhancement) purposes as well as for the treatment, control or prevention of animal diseases. Even today, he says, it is not entirely understood how these drugs make animals grow faster. The drugs are primarily added to feed, although they are sometimes added to the animals’ drinking water.

Bacteria evolve to survive threats to their existence. In both humans and animals, even appropriate therapeutic uses of antibiotics can promote the development of drug resistant bacteria. When such bacteria enter the food supply, they can be transferred to the people who eat food from the treated animal.

In 2010, FDA called for a strategy to phase out production use of medically important antimicrobial products and to bring the remaining therapeutic uses under the oversight of a veterinarian. The guidance document that FDA is issuing on Dec. 11, 2013, which was previously issued in draft form in 2012, lays out such a strategy and marks the beginning of the formal implementation period.

The agency is asking animal pharmaceutical companies to notify FDA within the next three months of their intent to voluntarily make the changes recommended in the guidance. Based on timeframes set out in the guidance, these companies would then have three years to fully implement these changes.

To help veterinarians and producers of food-producing animals comply with the new terms of use for these products once the recommended changes are implemented, FDA is proposing changes to the Veterinary Feed Directives (VFD) process. This is an existing system that governs the distribution and use of certain drugs (VFD drugs) that can only be used in animal feed with the specific authorization of a licensed veterinarian. Flynn explains that feed-use antibiotics that are considered medically important and are currently available as OTC products will, as a result of implementation of the guidance document, come under the VFD process.

The proposed changes to the VFD process are intended to clarify the administrative requirements for the distribution and use of VFD drugs and improve the efficiency of the VFD program. Such updates to the VFD process will assist in the transition of OTC products to their new VFD status.

Why Voluntary?

Flynn explains that the final guidance document made participation voluntary because it is the fastest, most efficient way to make these changes. FDA has been working with associations that include those representing drug companies, the feed industry, producers of beef, pork and turkey, as well as veterinarians and consumer groups.

"Based on our outreach, we have every reason to believe that animal pharmaceutical companies will support us in this effort," says Michael R. Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

HHS SAYS ALMOST 365,000 HAVE SELECTED HEALTH INSURANCE MARKETPLACE PLANS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 
December 11, 2013

Nearly 365,000 Americans selected plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace in October and November
1.9 million customers made it through the process but have not yet selected a plan; an additional 803,077 assessed or determined eligible for Medicaid or CHIP

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that nearly 365,000 individuals have selected plans from the state and federal Marketplaces by the end of November. November alone added more than a quarter million enrollees in state and federal Marketplaces. Enrollment in the federal Marketplace in November was more than four times greater than October’s reported federal enrollment number.

Since October 1, 1.9 million have made it through another critical step, the eligibility process, by applying and receiving an eligibility determination, but have not yet selected a plan.  An additional 803,077 were determined or assessed eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in October and November by the Health Insurance Marketplace.

“Evidence of the technical improvements to HealthCare.gov can be seen in the enrollment numbers.  More and more Americans are finding that quality, affordable coverage is within reach and that they'll no longer need to worry about barriers they may have faced in the past – like being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition,” Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. “Now is the time to visit HealthCare.gov, to ensure you and your family have signed up in a private plan of your choice by December 23 for coverage starting January 1. It's important to remember that this open enrollment period is six months long and continues to March 31, 2014.”

The HHS issue brief highlights the following key findings, which are among many newly available data reported today on national and state-level enrollment-related information:

November’s federal enrollment number outpaced the October number by more than four times.
Nearly 1.2 million Americans, based only on the first two months of open enrollment, have selected a plan or had a Medicaid or CHIP eligibility determination;
Of those, 364,682 Americans selected plans from the state and federal Marketplaces; and
803,077 Americans were determined or assessed eligible for Medicaid or CHIP by the Health Insurance Marketplace.
39.1 million visitors have visited the state and federal sites to date.
There were an estimated 5.2 million calls to the state and federal call centers.
The report groups findings by state and federal marketplaces.  In some cases only partial datasets were available for state marketplaces.  The report features cumulative data for the two month period because some people apply, shop, and select a plan across monthly reporting periods.  These counts avoid potential duplication associated with monthly reporting.  For example, if a person submitted an application in October, and then selected a Marketplace plan in November, this person would only be counted once in the cumulative data.

U.S.-U.K. LAUNCH COUNTER ONLINE CHILD EXPLOITATION TASK FORCE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
U.S., U.K. Law Enforcement Launch Task Force to Counter Online Child Exploitation

The U.S. Department of Justice today hosted a meeting to launch a joint task force between the United Kingdom and the United States to counter online child exploitation.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.K. Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims Damian Green made the announcement.

“Sexual predators are using technology to exploit and harm children, and we need to consider whether technology-based solutions can help curb this abuse and give parents the tools they need to keep their children safe,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman.  “Law enforcement is committed to protecting children from abuse, but we know that the help and support of the innovators in the tech community are critical to this important effort.  We look forward to collaborating with experts throughout the digital industry on the work of this taskforce.”

“Child abuse is a vile crime,” said Minister Green.   “ The UK government is working hard with partners in the US to ensure the Internet cannot be used to sexually abuse children or  trade child abuse imagery no matter how technically savvy an offender may be.   We have set up the US-UK task force to counter online child exploitation and are drawing on the brightest and best minds from across industry, law enforcement and academia to tackle the dark web, catch abusers and make it much more difficult to access child abuse images online.   Today experts from the online industry were invited to attend the first task force meeting, and more companies, both large and small, will be invited to join us in the coming months.”

The task force – co-chaired by Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman and Minister Green – was established to find new technological solutions to combat child sexual exploitation crimes on the Internet and to reduce the volume of child sexual exploitation images online.   The task force members include the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations of the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.K. National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre Command.

The growth of crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is a significant law enforcement challenge shared by all countries.   An epidemic volume of child sexual exploitation images is stored and transmitted online by offenders whose crimes are increasingly facilitated by evolving and complex technologies.   The task force will seek to leverage the intellectual talent and technical resources of the digital industry by forming and collaborating with an Industry Solutions Group, which will include experts from sectors across the industry to help address the varied and complex technical issues and challenges raised by online child exploitation offenses.

The task force will report back to the U.S. Attorney General and U.K. Prime Minister on its achievements in November 2014.

LANL ON USE OF QUANTUM DOTS TO IMPROVE SOLAR CELLS

FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
Nontoxic Quantum Dot Research Improves Solar Cells

Record power-conversion efficiency at Los Alamos from quantum-dot sensitized photovoltaics

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Dec. 10, 2013—Solar cells made with low-cost, non-toxic copper-based quantum dots can achieve unprecedented longevity and efficiency, according to a study by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sharp Corporation.

“For the first time, we have certified the performance of a quantum dot sensitized solar cell at greater than 5 percent, which is among the highest reported for any quantum dot solar cell,” said Hunter McDaniel, a Los Alamos postdoctoral researcher and the lead author on a paper appearing in Nature Communications this week. “The robust nature of these devices opens up the possibility for commercialization of this emerging low-cost and low-toxicity photovoltaic technology,” he noted.

The reported solar cells are based on a new generation of nontoxic quantum dots (not containing either lead or cadmium as do most quantum dots used in solar cells). These dots are based on copper indium selenide sulfide and are rigorously optimized to reduce charge-carrier losses from surface defects and to provide the most complete coverage of the solar spectrum.

“The new solar cells were certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and demonstrated a record power-conversion efficiency for this type of devices,” according to Victor Klimov of Los Alamos, director of the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics a DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC). In addition to CASP-EFRC, this research has been also supported via a cooperative research agreement with Sharp Corporation.

The paper, “An integrated approach to realizing high-performance liquid-junction quantum dot sensitized solar cells” is scheduled for online publication in Nature Communications on Dec. 10, 2013.

The paper's authors are Hunter McDaniel, Nikolay S. Makarov, Jeffrey M. Pietryga, and Victor I. Klimov of the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, in partnership with Nobuhiro Fuke of the Materials & Energy Technology Laboratory, Sharp Corporation, Japan.

GERMAN ENGINEERING FIRM RESOLVES FCPA CHARGES, WILL PAY $32 MILLION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
German Engineering Firm Bilfinger Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Charges and Agrees to Pay $32 Million Criminal Penalty

Bilfinger SE, an international engineering and services company based in Mannheim, Germany, has agreed to pay a $32 million penalty to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to obtain and retain contracts related to the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) project, which was valued at approximately $387 million.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

As part of the agreed resolution, the department today filed a three-count criminal information in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas charging Bilfinger with violating and conspiring to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.   The department and Bilfinger agreed to resolve the charges by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement for a term of three years.   In addition to the monetary penalty, Bilfinger agreed to implement rigorous internal controls, continue cooperating fully with the department, and retain an independent corporate compliance monitor for at least 18 months.   The agreement acknowledges Bilfinger’s cooperation with the department and its remediation efforts.

According to court documents, from late 2003 through June 2005, Bilfinger conspired with Willbros Group Inc. and others to make corrupt payments totaling more than $6 million to Nigerian government officials to assist in obtaining and retaining contracts related to the EGGS project.   Bilfinger and Willbros formed a joint venture to bid on the EGGS project and inflated the price of the joint venture’s bid by 3 percent to cover the cost of paying bribes to Nigerian officials.   As part of the conspiracy, Bilfinger employees bribed Nigerian officials with cash that Bilfinger employees sent from Germany to Nigeria.   At another point in the conspiracy, when Willbros employees encountered difficulty obtaining enough money to make their share of the bribe payments, Bilfinger loaned them $1 million, with the express purpose of paying bribes to the Nigerian officials.

Including today’s action, the department has filed criminal charges in the Southern District of Texas against three institutions and four executives and consultants in connection with the EGGS bribery scheme:

·          On Sept. 14, 2006, Jim Bob Brown, a former Willbros executive, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in connection with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract and in connection with his role in making corrupt payments in Ecuador.  Brown was sentenced on Jan. 28, 2010, to serve 12 months and one day in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $17,500 fine.

·          On Nov. 5, 2007, Jason Steph, also a former Willbros executive, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in connection with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract.   Steph was sentenced on Jan. 28, 2010, to serve 15 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.

·          On May 14, 2008, Willbros Group Inc. and Willbros International Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty in connection with the company’s payment of bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador.   On March 30, 2012, the government moved to dismiss the charges against Willbros on the grounds that Willbros had satisfied its obligations under the deferred prosecution agreement, and on April 2, 2012, the court granted the United States’ motion.

·          On Dec. 19, 2008, Kenneth Tillery, a former Willbros executive, was charged with conspiring to make and making bribe payments to Nigerian and Ecuadoran officials in connection with the EGGS project and pipeline projects in Ecuador and conspiring to launder the bribe payments.   Tillery remains a fugitive.   The charges against Tillery are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

·          On Nov. 12, 2009, Paul Grayson Novak, a former Willbros consultant, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one substantive count of violating the FCPA in connection with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract.   Novak was sentenced on May 3, 2013, to serve 15 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $1 million fine.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and its team of special agents dedicated to the investigation of foreign bribery cases.   The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR DECEMBER 11,2013

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
CONTRACTS

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Equilon Enterprises doing business as Shell Oil Products, Houston, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $1,359,019,230 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Texas with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0463).

ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing Co., Fairfax, Va., has been awarded a maximum $872,570,007 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are Virginia, Texas, and Louisiana with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0480).

Valero Marketing and Supply Co., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $769,729,995 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Texas with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0474).

Placid Refining Company LLC*, Port Allen, La., has been awarded a maximum $320,296,759 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Louisiana with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0477).

Phillips 66 Co., Bartlesville, Okla., has been awarded a maximum $292,016,625 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are Oklahoma and Colorado with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0465).

Equilon Enterprises doing business as Shell Oil Products, Houston, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $281,774,306 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are Texas and Alabama with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0464).

Husky Marketing and Supply Co., Dublin, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $194,906,385 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Ohio with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0479).

Calumet Shreveport Fuels LLC, Indianapolis, Ind., has been awarded a maximum $189,694,644 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are Indiana and Louisiana with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0476).

Wynnewood Energy Co., Oklahoma City, Okla., has been awarded a maximum $179,238,610 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Oklahoma with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0469).

Alon USA LP., Dallas, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $159,634,730 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Texas with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0471).

Petromax LLC.*, Pasadena, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $154,116,245 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Texas with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0475).

Tesoro Refining & Marketing Co., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $89,568,843 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are Texas, North Dakota, and Minnesota with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0470).

Hunt Refining Co., Tuscaloosa, Ala., has been awarded a maximum $65,314,925 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Location of performance is Alabama with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0468).

Wyoming Refining Company, Rapid City, S.D., has been awarded a maximum $59,814,800 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are South Dakota and Wyoming with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0481).

Irving Oil Terminals, Portsmouth, N.H., has been awarded a maximum $42,164,940 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are New Hampshire and Maine with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0467).

Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.*, Titusville, N.J., has been awarded a maximum $41,402,283 modification (P00008) exercising the second one-year option period on a one-year base contract (SPM2D0-127-D-0001) with seven one-year option periods for various pharmaceutical products.  This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.  Location of performance is New Jersey with a Dec. 15, 2014 performance completion date.  Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 warstopper funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

Epic Aviation LLC*, Salem, Ore., has been awarded a maximum $9,011,683 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.  This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 26 offers were received.  Locations of performance are Oregon and Minnesota with an April 30, 2015 performance completion date.  This contract has a delivery period of 14 months with a 30-day carryover.  Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-0473).

NAVY

Interstate Electronics Corp., Anaheim, Calif., was awarded a $47,401,675 cost-plus-incentive fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort, completion type contract for specialized technical support for flight test instrumentation systems in support of Trident II flight tests.  This contract provides for, but is not limited to, engineering services for flight test mission support requirements for strategic systems programs, to include flight test operations and data acquisition, operations and maintenance, systems engineering, post-mission processing and analysis, instrumentation refreshes, and strategic weapons system training program support.  Work will be performed in Anaheim, Calif. (55.5 percent); Cape Canaveral, Fla. (25 percent); Newark, Calif. (3.2 percent); Bremerton, Wash. (3 percent); Kings Bay, Ga. (3 percent); Norfolk, Va. (3 percent); Washington, D.C. (3 percent); Silverdale, Wash. (2 percent); Austin, Texas (1.3 percent); San Jose, Calif. (less than 1 percent); Huntsville, Ala. (less than 1 percent); Sunnyvale, Calif. (less than 1 percent); and El Segundo, Calif. (less than 1 percent); with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2016.  The maximum dollar value, including the base period and two option years, is $177,254,512.  Fiscal 2012 weapons procurement, Air Force contract funds in the amount of $292,528; fiscal 2013 weapons procurement, Navy contract funds in the amount of $1,465,757; fiscal 2014 weapons procurement, Navy contract funds in the amount of $1,982,000; fiscal 2013 other procurement, Navy contract funds in the amount of $1,015,335; fiscal 2014 other procurement, Navy contract funds in the amount of $3,212,000;  fiscal 2014 research, development, test & evaluation, Navy contract funds in the amount of $802,415; Fiscal year 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy contract funds in the amount of $13,216,055; and United Kingdom contract funds in the amount of $2,624,809.  Contract funds in the amount of $292,528 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was a sole-source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (5).  The Department of the Navy, Strategic Systems Programs Office, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00030-14-C-0006).  (Awarded Dec. 9, 2013)

EMCOR Government Services, Inc., Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $30,755,772 modification under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract to exercise option three for regional base operating support services at Naval Support Activity Washington, Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Naval Support Activity South Potomac, and Quantico Marine Corp Base.  The National Capitol Region Base Operating Support Services including, but not limited to, repair and maintenance of property, facilities, and assets.  The total contract amount after exercise of this option will be $198,088,060.  Work will be performed in the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. (40 percent); Bethesda, Md. (40 percent); Anacostia, Washington, D.C. (eight percent); Arlington, Va. (six percent); Quantico, Va. (five percent); and Dahlgren, Va. (one percent), and work is expected to be completed December 2014.  Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy; fiscal 2014 working capital funds, Defense; fiscal 2014 health program, Defense; fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Marine Corps; fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Defense contract funds in the amount of $23,586,019 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N40080-07-D-0374).

AIR FORCE

EDO Corp., Defense Systems Division, Amityville, N.Y., has been awarded an estimated $10,206,061 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity requirements contract for depot level repair efforts of ALQ-161 radio frequency surveillance/electronic countermeasure (RFS/ECM) system components.  Contractor will acquire depot level repair on a combination of line replaceable and shop replaceable units consisting of 235 national stock numbers in support of ALQ-161A RFS/ECM used on the B-1 aircraft.  Work will be performed at Amityville, N.Y., and is expected to be complete by Dec. 5, 2014.  This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition.  No fiscal 2012 consolidated sustainment activity group supply division funds from working capital funds will be obligated at time of award.  Air Force Sustainment Center/PZABB, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity.  (FA8522-14-D-0002)

Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc., Hill Air Force Base, Utah, has been awarded a $7,697,898 modification (P03927) for an existing contract (F42610-98-C-0001) for the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Remote Visual Assessment (RVA) Wing III Retrofit program.  The contract modification is to provide interim contractor support (ICS) maintenance.  This will include all ICS support at the missile alert facility such as Launch Control Center RVA feeds, closed circuit television system, flight security controller functions and all supporting equipment.  This will include all ICS support at the Launch Facility and all supporting equipment.  Work will be performed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., Minot AFB, N.D., and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2014.  Fiscal 2013 missile procurement funds in the amount of $7,697,898 are being obligated at time of award.  Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center/PZBE, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Circle City Telcom Inc.*, Ala., was awarded a $7,870,392 firm-fixed-price contract to complete the installation, and testing of upgrades to the information technology infrastructure at Fort Rucker, Ala.  The work will complete the installation, and secure and test upgrades to Fort Rucker's installation information infrastructure.  It will install the remaining outside plant core and fiber optic cable, inside plant fiber optic cable terminations, complete site preparation for two communication shelters, and core data node installations.  It will also complete data network fielding at the remaining end-user locations, and the cutover and migration of data users to the new installation information infrastructure modernization network.  Fiscal 2014 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $7,870,392 were obligated at the time of the award.  Estimated completion date is Dec. 11, 2014.  Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received.  Work will be performed at Fort Rucker, Ala.  Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-14-C-0063).

*Small Business

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S STATEMENT ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2013

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Human Rights Day 2013
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
December 10, 2013

Around the world, the fundamental struggle for dignity – for economic justice, political freedom, and personal expression – continues every day and in many forms. I’ve seen firsthand what can happen when we work together to change things for the better. As a young Senator visiting Manila, I saw tears of joy in the eyes of a Filipino woman who emerged from a voting booth casting her ballot for the first time after 17 years of dictatorship. As Secretary of State, I’ve seen pride on the faces of young girls in Afghanistan, who would have been denied an education under the Taliban. And I’ve seen the courage of Libyans who filled Freedom Square – first to bring down a dictator and then to let Libya’s democratically elected government know their demands. Just in recent days, I've seen Ukrainians peacefully fill the city squares in Kyiv and across their country to demand that their voices be heard loudly and clearly.

Across the world, the struggle is not over; the march of human dignity is not complete. More than six decades after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we are still working to ensure that the rights set forth in it become “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.”

Making this vision a reality requires both the persistent protection of governments as well as the active participation of citizens. Nothing can match the power of grassroots movements. In my own generation's struggle, I saw vividly how activists came together to change our nation through movements committed to advance labor rights, civil rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, the rights of the disabled, the environment and peace. America grew stronger because courageous citizens were willing to take a stand to fight for the things they believed in, willing to risk their lives on picket lines and voting lines and even go to jail for justice, to help their country live up to its ideals.

Around the world today, some of today’s greatest advocates for change – from Gao Zhisheng of China to Ales Byalyatski of Belarus to Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga of Cuba – sit in prison simply because they fought for the rule of law and the right of human beings to express themselves.

There are many whose names we will never know, whose courage goes unremarked but is all the more remarkable because they put their lives on the line in the face of beatings, imprisonment, and even death in the near certainty that their sacrifice will be anonymous.

On this Human Rights Day, the United States honors the courage and commitment of men, women, and children around the world who risk their lives to secure universal rights for all.

Today and every day, we will continue to support their efforts to achieve a world that is more just, more free, and more peaceful and secure.

HHS ANNOUNCES $50 MILLION IN MENTAL HEALTH FUNDING THROUGH AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2013

HHS announces Affordable Care Act mental health services funding

$50 million from the health care law will expand mental health and substance use disorder services in approximately 200 Community Health Centers nationwide

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced that it plans to issue a $50 million funding opportunity announcement to help Community Health Centers establish or expand behavioral health services for people living with mental illness, and drug and alcohol problems.  Community Health Centers will be able to use these new funds, made available through the Affordable Care Act, for efforts such as hiring new mental health and substance use disorder professionals, adding mental health and substance use disorder services, and employing team-based models of care.

“Most behavioral health conditions are treatable, yet too many Americans are not able to get needed treatment,” said Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N.  “These new Affordable Care Act funds will expand the capacity of our network of community health centers to respond to the mental health needs in their communities.”

“These new funds will further the Department’s work to develop integrated primary and behavioral health care services to better meet the needs of people with mental health and substance use conditions,” said Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Administrator, Pamela S. Hyde.

It is estimated these awards will support behavioral health expansion in approximately 200 existing health centers nationwide.  

Over the past year the Obama administration has taken a number of steps to reduce the barriers that too often prevent people from getting the help they need for behavioral health problems.  

The Affordable Care Act expands mental health and substance use disorder benefits and parity protections for approximately 60 million Americans.

The President’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget includes a new $130 million initiative to help teachers recognize signs of mental illness in students and refer them to services, support innovative state-based programs to improve mental health outcomes for young people ages, and train 5,000 more mental health professionals.  For more information please visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/factsheet/improving-mental-health-prevention-and-treatment-services.

The Administration has also finalized rules under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Because of these parity protections, many insurance plans will now include coverage for mental health and substance use conditions that is comparable to their medical and surgical coverage.

The Administration also launched www.mentalhealth.gov a new website featuring easy-to-understand information about basic signs of mental health problems, how to talk about mental health, and how to find help.

DOD ARTICLE ON SIGNIFICANCE OF YAMA SAKURA EXERCISE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Yama Sakura Reflects New Approaches in Historic Alliance
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2013 – An exercise underway in Japan is giving U.S. forces an opportunity to apply the leadership and problem-solving skills they developed in Iraq and Afghanistan as they refocus on the Asia-Pacific theater.
Yama Sakura 65, an annual bilateral exercise between U.S. and Japan, kicked off for its 33rd iteration Nov. 29 and will wrap up within the next few days, Army Lt. Gen. Robert B. Brown, the I Corps commander, told American Forces Press Service.

The largest bilateral ground exercise for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Yama Sakura includes about 1,500 U.S. military members and about 4,500 Japanese forces.

For Brown, who first participated in Yama Sakura in the mid-1990s, this year’s exercise represents a tremendous evolution from the one he remembers 17 years ago.

“It’s totally different, like night and day,” he said during a telephone interview today from Japan. “Back then, the Japanese were in one building, planning, and we were in another building. It was really hard to interact.”
Not so today. “Now we are right next to each other, truly working together bilaterally, and learning from each other,” he said.
Working together to confront a notional invasion of Northern Japan, the military forces are maximizing the advantages of technology never dreamed of in the early days of Yama Sakura.
Only about 1,000 of the U.S. participants are on the ground in Japan. The rest, Brown explained, are in simulation centers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; in Hawaii, South Korea and several other locations.

“We are much more efficient today than in the past because we put money into simulations. That has really paid dividends in saving money, yet still providing an effective and realistic exercise,” he said. “Instead of everyone having to Japan to participate, they are up on [video teleconferences] at their home bases every single day. So you still have that realism, but in a more efficient manner.”
Another departure for Yama Sakura is that military forces are operating directly with their interagency and intergovernmental counterparts to replicate a joint, interagency, inter-governmental and multinational or “JIIM” domain.

For example, during the course of the execution phase of the exercise wrapping up this week, Japanese civil authorities worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the military participants to conduct a notional civilian evacuation. They hammered out the specifics of how they would conduct it and where they would send the evacuees and planned for some of the complications they would likely confront during a real-world event.

“I wish we had exercises more in the JIIM environment before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan, because it is more realistic,” Brown said. “We used to say we wouldn’t fight unless we were joint. Well, that is a given now. But I don’t think we will ever fight again unless we are truly joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational. It is the way the world has changed.”

Among those changes are the operational challenges posed by cyber threats. “Cyber is something we didn’t use to practice a lot, but now we include it in every exercise,” including Yama Sakura, Brown said.

Participants are practicing defensive cyber operations, which Brown said begins with recognizing attacks or attempted attacks on networks and reporting them to the appropriate authorities.

Many cyber attacks go unrecognized because users mistake temporary outages or unusual activity on their networks for the kind of interruptions they sometimes get on their cell phones, he explained. “It’s often a cyber attack or somebody trying to phish for information and folks don’t even know,” he said. “So the first thing is getting them to pay attention and report it, and we are playing that a lot in the exercise.”

While much has changed in the Yama Sakura exercise, Brown said its goals of promoting communication, understanding and interoperability haven’t.
Although the scenario was based on a fictitious invasion, Brown said the way Japanese and U.S. military and governmental personnel responded could apply to just about any situation – including one like the devastating earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster that struck Japan in 2011.

“This really could be about just anything,” he said. “It is putting you in a challenging situation so you learn to work together and build trust and confidence among your allies.”

Like many other U.S. allies and partners in the region, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members are anxious to learn the lessons U.S. forces have learned over the past 12 years of sustained combat, Brown said.

“This is the most experienced generation, operationally, that we have ever had,” he said. “They bring in incredible experience that our allies are very hungry for….[Those allies] definitely respect that we have been tested in the toughest of conditions in combat, and they really want to learn the lessons.”
Those lessons, he noted, include leadership and problem-solving skills that would apply as much during a humanitarian assistance and disaster response mission as in combat.

U.S. allies “understand that it is not technology, it is our noncommissioned officers that make us the best Army in the world,” Brown said.

As U.S. NCOs partnered extensively with Japanese forces during Yama Sakura, they shared insights into areas beyond traditional military operations, including suicide prevention, resiliency and sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention, he noted.

But the learning wasn’t all one-way. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force has “tremendous planning skills,” Brown said, and its members happily shared them with the U.S. forces.

“I can’ tell you how excited the soldiers are to be here,” he said. “They are working right next to their Japanese counterparts. They are learning about their culture, their traditions, and learning from them about how they plan and operate. It’s just neat to see.”

Brown said he expects the after-action review to follow the exercise’s conclusion to be “fascinating” as it takes the process from past Yama Sakura exercises to a new level. “I think we are going to get even better lessons learned,” he said.
As I Corps continues to change from its Middle East focus to support the U.S. balance to the Asia-Pacific theater, Brown said the experiences gained during exercises like Yama Sakura will go a long way in promoting the relationships that will allow the U.S.-Japan alliance to continue to grow.

“When you learn about each other and learn how to operate together and cooperate better, you get a personal view of each other than can pay off in the long term,” he said. “And in the future, if something would happen, … we know we could come together and work together well.”

That foundation is critical, he said, borrowing what has become a popular truism, “because you can surge troops and numbers, but you can’t surge trust.”
“We exercise and practice together because you don’t want to learn this the first time in the middle of a crisis,” he said. “You don’t want to go to the Super Bowl without having scrimmaged or worked together. You have to have those repetitions: be together to learn and build trust that enables effective command.
“If you can do it efficiently and effectively in exercises like this, it is worth its weight in gold, because you are training the way you are going to end up fighting or responding to a crisis,” he said.

MAN FACES PRISON SENTENCE, FINE FOR CLAIMING FALSE TAX REFUNDS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Monday, December 9, 2013
Utah Resident Pleads Guilty to Filing False Claims for Tax Refunds Totaling $653,884

Stanley J. Wardle, 65, of Spanish Fork, Utah, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to nine counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.  Wardle, who was indicted on Feb. 15, 2012, is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on Feb. 27, 2014.

According to the indictment, on or about Jan. 22, 2009, Wardle prepared and filed a false U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for the year 2008, in which he claimed a tax refund of $32,115.  In addition, between Dec. 8, 2008 and May 13, 2009, he caused additional false claims for tax refunds to be made on behalf of others.  In total, Wardle was involved in false claims for refunds totaling $653,884.

Wardle faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss caused by the defendant for each false claim charge.

Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the department’s Tax Division commended the special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Michael Romano and Stuart Wexler, who prosecuted the case.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S STATEMENT ON AGREEMENT WITH IRAN ON NUCLEAR PROGRAM

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, 
The P5+1's First Step Agreement With Iran on its Nuclear Program
Testimony
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Opening Remarks Before the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Washington, DC
December 10, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, Mr. Chairman, thank you very, very much. Ranking Member Engel, Members of the Committee, thanks very much for welcoming me back, and I am happy to be back here. There’s no more important issue in American foreign policy than the question of the one we’re focused on here today.

And obviously, from the Chairman’s introduction, you know that I come here with an enormous amount of respect for your prerogatives on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as we did in the Senate. And it’s entirely appropriate that we’re here to satisfy your questions, hopefully allay your concerns and fears, because I believe the agreement that we have ought to do that and I think the path that we’re on should do that. And as I describe it to you, I hope you’ll leave here today with a sense of confidence that we know what we’re doing, our eyes are open, we have no illusions. It’s a tough road. I don’t come here with any guarantees whatsoever. And I think none of what we’ve done in this agreement begs that notion. In other words, everything is either verifiable or clear, and there are a set of requirements ahead of us which will even grow more so in the course of a comprehensive agreement. And we can talk about that – I’m sure we will – in the course of the day.

Let me just begin by saying that President Obama and I have both been very clear, as every member of this committee has been, that Iran must not acquire a nuclear weapon. And it is the President’s centerpiece of his foreign policy: Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon. This imperative is at the top of our national security agenda, and I know it’s at the top of yours as well. So I really do welcome the opportunity to have a discussion not only about what the first-step agreement does, but also to clarify – I hope significantly – what it doesn’t do, because there’s a certain, as there is in any of these kinds of things, a certain mythology that sometimes grows up around them.

The title of today’s hearing is “The Iran Nuclear Deal: Does It Further U.S. National Security?” And I would state to you unequivocally the answer is yes. The national security of the United States is stronger under this first-step agreement than it was before. Israel’s national security is stronger than it was the day before we entered into this agreement. And the Gulf and Middle East interests are more secure than they were the day before we entered this agreement.

Now, here’s how:

Put simply, once implemented – and it will be in the next weeks – this agreement halts the progress of Iran’s nuclear program – halts the progress – and rolls it back in certain places for the first time in nearly ten years. It provides unprecedented monitoring and inspections. While we negotiate to see if we can conclude a comprehensive agreement – if we can conclude – and I came away from our preliminary negotiations with serious questions about whether or not they’re ready and willing to make some of the choices that have to be made. But that’s what we put to test over the next months. While we negotiate to see if we can conclude a comprehensive agreement that addresses all of our concerns, there’s an important fact: Iran’s nuclear program will not move forward.

Under this agreement, Iran will have to neutralize – end – its entire stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium, which you all know is a short step away from weapons-grade uranium. So if you remember when Prime Minister Netanyahu held up that cartoon at the UN with the bomb in it in 2012, he showed the world a chart that highlighted the type of uranium that he was most concerned about – and he was talking about that 20 percent stockpile. Under this agreement, Iran will forfeit all – not part, all – of that 20 percent, that 200 kilogram stockpile. Gone.

Under this agreement, Iran will also halt the enrichment above 5 percent and it will not be permitted to grow its stockpile of 3.5 percent enriched uranium. Iran cannot increase the number of centrifuges in operation, and it will not install or use any next-generation centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Under this agreement, we will have increased transparency of Iran’s nuclear program, giving us a window into their activities that we don’t have today. We will have access to Fordow, a secret facility in a mountaintop that we’ve never been in. We will now get into it not once or twice – every single day. We will get into Natanz and have the ability to know not once or twice, but every single day what is happening in Natanz. And we will have access each month to the Arak facility, where we will have an extraordinary ability to be able to know through inspections whether or not they are complying with their requirements.

Now, this monitoring is going to increase our visibility into Iran’s nuclear program as well as our ability to react should Iran renege on this agreement. And taken together, these first steps will help prevent Iran from using the cover of negotiations to continue advancing its nuclear program in secret – a concern that everybody on this dais shares.

Now, in addition – this is very important – one of our greatest concerns has been the Arak – A-r-a-k – nuclear reactor facility. And this is a heavy-water, plutonium-capable reactor. That’s unacceptable to us. In the first step, we have now succeeded in preventing them from doing any additional fuel testing, from transferring any fuel rods into the reactor, and from installing any of the uninstalled components which are critical to their ability to be able to advance that particular reactor. So it’s frozen stone cold where it is in terms of its nuclear threat and capacity. Iran will not be able to commission the Arak reactor during the course of this interim first-step agreement. That’s very important.

Now, we have strong feelings about what will happen in a final comprehensive agreement. From our point of view, Arak is unacceptable. You can’t have a heavy-water reactor. But we’ve taken the first step in the context of a first step, and they will have to halt production of fuel for this reactor and not transfer any fuel or heavy water to the reactor site. It cannot conduct any additional fuel testing for this. and Iran is required to give us design information for the site. We’re actually going to have the plans for the site delivered to us. We’ve long sought this information, and it will provide critical insight into the reactor that has not been previously available to us through intel or any other sources.

Now, those are the highlights of what we get in this agreement. And I know many of you have asked, “Well, what does Iran get in return?” And I’ve seen outlandish numbers out there in some articles talking about 30, 40, 50 billion dollars and so forth, or disintegration of the sanctions. My friends, that’s just not true. It’s absolutely not true. We have red-teamed and vetted and cross-examined and run through all the possible numbers through the intel community, through the Treasury Department, through the people in charge of sanctions, and our estimates are that at the end of the six months, if they fully comply, if this holds, they would have somewhere in the vicinity of $7 billion total.

And this is something that I think you ought to take great pride in. I was here as chairman when we put his in place. I voted for these sanctions, like we all did in the United States Senate. I think we were 100 to nothing as a matter of fact. And we put them in place for a purpose. The purpose was to get to this negotiation. The purpose was to see whether or not diplomacy and avoidance of war could actually deliver the same thing or better than you might be able to get through confrontation.

Now, sanctions relief is limited to the very few targeted areas that are specified in this agreement for a total of about the $7 billion that I’ve described. And we will continue to vigorously – Ranking Member Engel, we will absolutely not only will we – I mean, this is going to actually result in a greater intensity of focus on the sanctions because I’ve sent a message to every single facility of the United States anywhere in the world that every agency is to be on alert to see any least movement by anybody towards an effort to try to circumvent or undo the sanctions. We don’t believe that will happen. And one of the reasons it won’t happen is we have a united P5+1. Russia, China, the United States, France, Germany, and Great Britain are all united in this assurance that we will not undo the sanctions and that we will stay focused on their enforcement.

Now, all the sanctions on Iran further on its abysmal human rights record, over its support for terrorism, which you’ve mentioned, and over its destabilizing activities in places like Syria – those sanctions will all remain in effect. They’ve nothing to do with the nuclear. They’re there for the reasons they’re there, and we’re not taking them off. This agreement does provide Iran with a very limited, temporary, and reversible relief. And it’s reversible at any time in the process if there is noncompliance. If Iran fails to meet its commitments, we can and will revoke this relief. And we will be the first ones to come to you if this fails to ask you for additional sanctions.

The total amount of relief is somewhere between the 6 and 7 billion that I described. That is less than one percent of Iran’s $1 trillion dollar economy, and it is a small fraction of the $100 billion-plus of oil revenue alone that we have deprived Iran of since 2012.

I want you to keep in mind this really pales in comparison to the amount of pressure that we are leaving in place. Iran will lose $30 billion over the course of this continued sanctions regime over the next six months. So compare that – they may get $7 billion of relief, but they’re going to lose $30 billion. It’s going to go into the frozen accounts. It will be added to the already 45 billion or so that’s in those accounts now that they can’t access.

And during the six-month negotiating period, Iran’s crude oil sales cannot increase. Oil sanctions continue as they are today. There’s no diminishment of the oil and banking sanctions that you put in place. We have not lifted them. We haven’t eased them. That means that as we negotiate, oil sanctions will continue to cost Iran about the 30 billion I just described, and Iran will actually lose more money each month that we negotiate than it will gain in relief as a result of this agreement. And while we provide 4.2 billion in relief over the six months, which is direct money we will release from the frozen account, we are structuring this relief in a way that it is tied to concrete, IAEA-verified steps that they’ve agreed to take on the nuclear program. That means that the funds will be transferred not all at once, but in installments, in order to ensure that Iran fulfills its commitments. And it means that Iran will not get the full measure of relief until the end of the negotiating period, when and if we verify, certify, that they have complied.

So now we have committed – along with our P5+1 partners – to not impose any new nuclear-related sanctions for the period of the six months. I’m sure there are questions about this. I know I’ve seen, and there are some in Congress who’ve suggested they ought to do it. I’m happy to answer them. I will tell you that in my 29 years, just about shy of the full 29 I’ve served in the Senate, I was always a leading proponent of the sanctions against Iran. I’m proud of what we did here. But it was undeniable that the pressure we put on Iran through these sanctions is exactly what has brought Iran to the table today, and I think Congress deserves an enormous amount of credit for that.

But I don’t think that any of us thought we were just imposing these sanctions for the sake of imposing them. We did it because we knew that it would hopefully help Iran dismantle its nuclear program. That was the whole point of the regime.

Now, has Iran changed its nuclear calculus? I honestly don’t think we can say for sure yet. And we certainly don’t just take words at face value. Believe me, this is not about trust. And given the history – and Mr. Chairman, you mentioned the question of deception – given the history, we are all rightly skeptical about whether or not people are ready to make the hard choices necessary to live up to this. But we now have the best chance we’ve ever had to rigorously test this proposition without losing anything. At least twice in this agreement, it is mentioned that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and that is specific as to the final agreement. In addition, where it does talk about the potential of enrichment in the future, it says “mutually agreed upon” at least four times – three or four times in that paragraph. It has to be agreed. We don’t agree, it doesn’t happen.

Every one of us remembers Ronald Reagan’s maxim when he was negotiating with the Soviet Union: Trust, but verify. We have a new one: Test, but verify. Test, but verify. And that is exactly what we intend to do in the course of this process.

Now, we’ve all been through tough decisions. Those of you in the top dais have been around here a long time, and you’ve seen – we all know the kinds of tough decisions we have to make. But we’re asking you to give our negotiators and our experts the time and the space to do their jobs, and that includes asking you while we negotiate that you hold off imposing new sanctions.

Now, I’m not saying never. I just told you a few minutes ago if this doesn’t work, we’re coming back and asking you for more. I’m just saying not right now. Let me be very clear. This is a very delicate diplomatic moment, and we have a chance to address peacefully one of the most pressing national security concerns that the world faces today with gigantic implications of the potential of conflict. We’re at a crossroads. We’re at one of those, really, hinge points in history. One path could lead to an enduring resolution in international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. The other path could lead to continued hostility and potentially to conflict. And I don’t have to tell you that these are high stakes.

We have an obligation to give these negotiations an opportunity to succeed. And we can’t ask the rest of the P5+1 and our partners around the world to hold up their ends of the bargain if the United States isn’t going to uphold its end of the bargain. If we appear to be going off on our own tangent and do whatever we want, we will potentially lose their support for the sanctions themselves. Because we don’t just enforce them by ourselves; we need their help. And I don’t want to threaten the unity that we currently have with respect to this approach, particularly when it doesn’t cost us a thing to go through this process knowing that we could put sanctions in place additionally in a week, and we would be there with you seeking to do it.

I don’t want to give the Iranians a public excuse to flout the agreement. It could lead our international partners to think that we’re not an honest broker and that we didn’t mean it when we said that sanctions were not an end in and of themselves, but a tool to pressure the Iranians into a diplomatic solution. Well, we’re in that. And six months will fly by so fast, my friends, that before you know it we’re either going to know which end of this we’re at or not.

It's possible, also, that it could even end up decreasing the pressure on Iran by leading to the fraying of the sanctions regime. I will tell you that there were several P5+1 partners at the table ready to accept an agreement significantly less than what we fought for and got in the end.

Mr. Chairman, do you want me to wrap?

CHAIRMAN ROYCE: If you could, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY KERRY: Okay. Let me just say to you that the Iranians know that this threat is on the table.

I do want to say one quick word about Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu. I speak to the Prime Minister usually a couple times a week or several times. I talked to him yesterday morning, and I am leaving tomorrow and I'll be seeing him Thursday night. We are totally agreed that we need to focus on this final comprehensive agreement. And Yossi Cohen, the national security advisor to the Prime Minister, is here in Washington this week working with our experts. And we will work hand in hand closely, not just with Israel, but with our friends in the Gulf and others around the world, to understand everybody's assessment of what constitutes the best comprehensive agreement that absolutely guarantees that the program, whatever it is to be, is peaceful, and that we have expanded by an enormous amount the breakout time.

This first-step agreement, Mr. Chairman, actually does expand the breakout time. Because of the destruction of the 20 percent, because of the lack of capacity to move forward on all those other facilities, we are expanding the amount of time that it would take them to break out. And, clearly, in a final agreement, we intend to make this failsafe that we can guarantee that they will not have access to nuclear weapons.

So I’d just simply put the rest of my testimony in the record, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to your questions.

FEDERAL AGENCIES RETURN TO WORLD TRADE CENTER IN 2015

FROM:  U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

Federal Agencies to Move to One World Trade Center
The General Services Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers slated to move to World Trade Center in 2015

December 10, 2013

NEW YORK -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that federal agencies will be moving to One World Trade Center in New York City. GSA plans to move its regional headquarters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District headquarters, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) New York Field Office to six floors of high-quality office space in the iconic building. This move marks the return of the federal government to the site and delivers on the federal government’s commitment to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center.

“We are excited to return to the World Trade Center Complex, which federal agencies have been a part of since 1973. From the day that the Port Authority started planning reconstruction, the federal government committed to remaining an important part of this building and the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “Through this lease agreement, these three federal agencies will have the office space they need to serve the American people in providing goods and services, tackling vital infrastructure projects, and protecting our nation’s borders.”

"I once again applaud GSA and the federal government for committing to the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan,” said Senator Chuck Schumer. “After 9/11 many wondered if Downtown would become a ghost town, but it has flourished with new residents, stores and businesses.”

The agencies are planning to move in late 2015 to floors 50 through 55. Last year, GSA secured a lease agreement for approximately 270,000 feet of space for an initial term of 20 years. GSA will create flexible and collaborative workspaces that reduce these agencies’ footprints by an average of 40 percent.

“For the past twelve years, we have been resilient in our resolve to rebuild and become stronger. Today’s announcement is another important step in rebuilding New York. I am proud to see that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which had its offices destroyed by the horrific attacks of September 11th, 2001, will be returning to its historic home in Lower Manhattan,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10). “1 WTC will stand as a symbol that our great city and our great nation will never be defeated by those who seek to destroy our way of life. Appropriately, 1 WTC will be one of the world’s finest and most secure new office buildings and will house important offices of the federal government.”

This lease will help the federal government reduce its overall real estate needs in Manhattan as it occupies space in One World Trade Center. In preparation for the move, GSA will offer government-owned space at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan to other tenants in the region, helping to reduce leased space.

GSA and the USACE will leave the Javits Federal Building and CBP will leave leased space in Midtown Manhattan.

“The GSA has been an important part of Lower Manhattan for many decades,” said Al Sanfilippo, World Trade Center Project Manager for The Durst Organization. “We look forward to working with the GSA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on their build-out and occupancy at One World Trade Center.”

“When GSA, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and Customs and Border Protection move into One World Trade Center, they will experience world-class transportation, shopping and dining options on the site, in addition to commercial office space in one of the safest and most environmentally friendly structures in the world,” said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.

Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni said, “The GSA’s lease at One World Trade Center is essential in our effort to being one of the most successful commercial developments in the world, and a significant generator of jobs and economic activity.”

The Port Authority is owner and developer of One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. The Durst Organization is an equity partner in the property and bears primary responsibility for leasing, operating and managing the building.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP. PAID $11.4 MILLION TO RESOLVE ALLEGATIONS OF IMPROPER CHARGES ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

FROM:   U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Monday, December 9, 2013
Northrop Grumman Corp. Pays $11.4 Million to Resolve Allegations That It Improperly Charged Costs to Government Contracts

The Justice Department announced today that Northrop Grumman Corp. has paid the United States $11.4 million to settle a government claim for penalties provided under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)  and False Claims Act allegations stemming from its failure to abide by a 2002 settlement agreement with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).  The government alleged that Northrop charged to its federal contracts certain costs for deferred compensation awards to key employees, even though it had promised not to do so as part of the earlier 2002 settlement.

“Federal contractors must abide by the obligations they accept when contracting with the government, including compliance with federal regulations restricting the types and amount of costs they can charge to their federal contracts,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing these fundamental obligations using every available tool, including FAR penalties assessed under the contract and, where appropriate, fraud-based counterclaims.”    

Northrop had agreed in its 2002 settlement with DCMA that it would limit the amount of deferred compensation it would include in proposals for subsequent contracts.  The government’s contracting officer found that Northrop had failed to honor this commitment and should be assessed a penalty equal to twice the amount of the unallowable costs claimed.  Northrop challenged the decision in a complaint filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.  The Department of Justice responded to the suit with counterclaims alleging that in addition to the FAR penalties, Northrop also had violated the False Claims Act by passing along these unallowable costs to the government in indirect rates applicable to hundreds of 2004 contracts with the government.  The government alleged that as a consequence of Northrop’s knowing misrepresentations, it was induced to pay more than $1.9 million in unallowable costs in thousands of vouchers and invoices.

The settlement was the result of a consolidated effort spearheaded by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch in conjunction with the DCMA and the Defense Contract Audit Agency, Western Region Investigative Support Division.  The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.  The case is captioned Northrop Grumman Corporation v. United States, Fed. Cl. No. 07-482C.

UNDERSTANDING A STAR'S SURFACE AND THE EXTREME FORCES OF NATURE

ILLUSTRATION FROM:  NASA:  A neutron star is the densest object astronomers can observe directly, crushing half a million times Earth's mass into a sphere about 12 miles across, or similar in size to Manhattan Island, as shown in this illustration.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Neutron Stars’ X-ray 


STORY FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY 

Superbursts Mystify, Inspire Los Alamos Scientists

New neutrino cooling theory changes understanding of stars’ surface

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Dec. 6, 2013—Massive X-ray superbursts near the surface of neutron stars are providing a unique window into the operation of fundamental forces of nature under extreme conditions.

“Scientists are intrigued by what exactly powers these massive explosions, and understanding this would yield important insights about the fundamental forces in nature, especially on the astronomical/cosmological scale,” said Peter Moller of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Theoretical Division.



A neutron star is created during the death of a giant star more massive than the sun, compressed to a tiny size but with gravitational fields exceeded only by those of black holes. And in the intense, neutron-rich environment, nuclear reactions cause strong explosions that manifest themselves as X-ray bursts and the X-ray superbursts that are more rare and 1000 times more powerful.

Los Alamos researchers and former postdocs contributed to the paper “Strong neutrino cooling by cycles of electron capture and beta decay in neutron star crusts” that was published in Nature’s online edition of Dec. 1, 2013.
The importance of discovering an unknown energy source of titanic magnitude in the outermost layers of accreting neutron star surfaces is heightened by the unresolved issue of neutrino masses, the recent discovery of the Higgs boson and the fact that highly-neutron-rich nuclei with low-lying states enable “Weak Interactions,” prominent in stellar explosions. (The weak nuclear force is one of four fundamental sources, such as gravity, which interacts with the neutrinos; it is responsible for some types of radioactive decay.)

These hitherto celestially operative nuclei are expected to be within the experimental reach of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a proposed user facility at Michigan State University funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

“The terrestrial experimental study of Weak Interactions in highly deformed, neutron-rich nuclei that FRIB can potentially provide is lent support by this ground-breaking Nature letter, since Los Alamos has been one of the few homes to theoretical studies of deformed nuclei and their role in astrophysics, and remains so to this day,” said Moller, who coauthored the paper with a multidisciplinary team including former Los Alamos postdoctoral researchers Sanjib Gupta, now a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar and Andrew Steiner, now a research assistant professor at INT, Seattle.

Previously a common assumption was that that the energy released in these radioactive decays would power the X-ray superburst explosions. This was based on simple models of nuclear beta-decay, sometimes postulating the same decay properties for all nuclei. It turns out, however, that it is of crucial importance to develop computer models that realistically describe the shape of each individual nuclide since they are not all spherical.

At Los Alamos scientists have carried out detailed calculations of the specific, individual beta-decay properties of thousands of nuclides, all with different decay properties, and created databases with these calculated properties.

The databases are then used at MSU as input into models that trace the decay pathways with the passage of time in accreting neutron stars and compute the total energy that is released in these reactions.

The new, unexpected result is that so much energy escapes by neutrino emission that the remaining energy released in the beta decays is not sufficient to ignite the X-ray superbursts that are observed. Thus the superbursts’ origin has now become a puzzle.

Solving the puzzle will require that we calculate in detail the consequences of shapes of neutron-rich nuclei, the authors said, and it requires that they simultaneously analyze the role played by neutrinos in neutron star X-ray bursts whose energetic magnitudes are exceeded only by explosions in the nova/supernova class.

The strong nuclear deformations that formed the basis for the neutrino cooling in neutron star crusts also play a role in a number of astrophysical settings, and have been taken into account in studies of supernovae explosions and subsequent collapses, funded by Los Alamos’ Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) programs.

Nuclear-structure databases valued worldwide

The large databases compiled by use of these and other nuclear-structure models are also used in several other Los Alamos programs. For example in modeling nuclear-reactor behavior, researchers have had to take into account beta-decay both because delayed neutrons are emitted, which governs the criticality of the reactor, and because it generates heat, just as in the neutron star.

Another current application is in nuclear non-proliferation programs. One method for detecting clandestine nuclear material in cargo shipments is to bombard cargoes with a small number of neutrons. If emission of delayed neutrons is detected after neutron bombardment, scientists have a sure signature of fissile nuclear material. The theoretical databases compiled at Los Alamos are not just used internally but are also part of nuclear-structure databases maintained by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The authors, an international team

The authors on the paper are Hendrik Schatz from MSU; Sanjib Gupta from IIT Ropar; Peter Mller from LANL; Mary Beard and Michael Wiescher from the University of Notre Dame; Edward F. Brown, Alex T. Deibel, Laurens Keek, and Rita Lau from MSU; Leandro R. Gasques from the Universidade de Sao Paulo; William Raphael Hix from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee; and Andrew W. Steiner from the University of Washington.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON THE VOLCKER RULE

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
Statement by the President on the Volcker Rule

Five years ago, a financial catastrophe on Wall Street was rapidly fueling a punishing recession on Main Street that ultimately cost millions of jobs and hurt families across the country.  So as we prepared steps to rescue our economy and put Americans back to work, we also put in place tough rules of the road to make sure a crisis like that never happened again – rules that reward sound financial practices, allow honest innovation and strengthen the financial system’s ability to support job creation and durable economic growth.

As part of this Wall Street reform, we fought to include the Volcker Rule – a rule that makes sure big banks can’t make risky bets with their customer’s deposits.  The Volcker Rule will make it illegal for firms to use government-insured money to make speculative bets that threaten the entire financial system, and demand a new era of accountability from CEOs who must sign off on their firm’s practices.

Our financial system will be safer and the American people are more secure because we fought to include this protection in the law.  I thank Paul Volcker, a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and advisor I trust, for helping to create this important safeguard.  I also thank Secretary Lew and the regulators who worked diligently to finalize the rule by the end of this year as we called on them to do.  I encourage Congress to give these regulators adequate funding to effectively and efficiently implement the rule, which will help protect hardworking families and business owners from future crisis, and restore everyone’s certainty and confidence in America’s dynamic financial system.