BULL SHOALS, ARK., POLICE CHIEF ARRESTED FOR USING EXCESSIVE FORCE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Chief of Bull Shoals, Ark., Police Department Arrested for Use of Excessive Force

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arkansas and the FBI announced that Daniel Sutterfield, 35, Chief of the Bull Shoals Police Department, was arrested yesterday on charges related to his use of excessive force in the arrest of a Bull Shoals resident and a related false report.  The complaint and complaint affidavit were unsealed today after Sutterfield’s initial appearance in court this morning before Magistrate Judge James R. Marshewski at the U.S. District Court in Harrison, Ark.
In the two-count complaint, Sutterfield was charged with one count of deprivation of rights and one count of falsifying a report.  The complaint charges that on July 9, 2013, Sutterfield used excessive force in the arrest of a Bull Shoals resident and then directed an officer to write a false and misleading report regarding the incident in order to cover up and justify the use of excessive force.

If convicted, Sutterfield faces a statutory maximum punishment of 10 years in prison for the civil rights charge involving excessive force and a statutory maximum punishment of 20 years in prison for the falsification charge.  If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record (if any), the defedant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violations.  The sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases will be less than the maximum.

This case is being investigated by the FBI.  It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Cindy Chung from the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas.  
A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge.  The charges set forth in a complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

AG HOLDER'S REMARKS ON SENTENCING COMMISSION'S APPROVAL TO REDUCED SENTENCING GUIDELINES IN SOME DRUG CASES

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Thursday, April 10, 2014

Statement by Attorney General Holder on Sentencing Commission’s Vote to Approve Reductions in Sentencing Guidelines for Nonviolent Drug Offenders
WASHINGTON—U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder—who testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission last month in support of a proposal to reduce the federal sentencing guidelines for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders—released the following statement Thursday in response to the Commission voting to formally adopt those changes:

“This action by the U.S. Sentencing Commission represents a milestone in our effort to reshape the criminal justice system’s approach to dealing with drug offenders. This reduction in the federal sentencing guidelines, while modest, sends a strong message about the need to reserve the harshest penalties for the most serious criminals. At a time when prison and detention costs consume nearly a third of the Justice Department’s budget, it simply makes sense to explore alternatives to incarceration and renew our emphasis on treatment and prevention.

“It is now time for Congress to pick up the baton and advance legislation that would take further steps to reduce our overburdened prison system. Proposals like the bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act would enhance the fairness of our criminal justice system while empowering law enforcement to focus limited resources on the most serious threats to public safety. I look forward to continuing to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on these types of common-sense reforms.”

NSF TO EXPLORE LIFE INT THE OCEAN ABYSS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 
Into the abyss: Scientists explore one of Earth's deepest ocean trenches
What lives in the deepest part of the ocean--the abyss?

A team of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will use the world's only full-ocean-depth, hybrid, remotely-operated vehicle, Nereus, and other advanced technology to find out. They will explore the Kermadec Trench at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

The trench, located off New Zealand, is the fifth deepest trench in the world. Its maximum depth is 32,963 feet or 6.24 miles (10,047 meters). It's also one of the coldest trenches due to the inflow of deep waters from Antarctica.

The 40-day expedition to the Kermadec Trench, which begins on April 12, 2014, kicks off a three-year collaborative effort.

The project, known as the Hadal Ecosystem Studies Project (HADES), will conduct the first systematic study of life in ocean trenches, comparing it to the neighboring abyssal plains--flat areas of the seafloor usually found at depths between 9,843 and 19,685 feet (3,000 and 6,000 meters).

"The proposal to study the deep-sea environment as part of HADES was high-risk, but, we hope, also high-reward," says David Garrison, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funds HADES. "Through this exciting project, we will shine a light into the darkness of Earth's deep-ocean trenches, discovering surprising results all along the way."

Among least-explored environments on Earth

A result of extreme pressures in these deep-sea environments and the technical challenges involved in reaching them, ocean trenches remain among the least-explored environments on the planet.

"We know relatively little about life in ocean trenches--the deepest marine habitats on Earth," says Tim Shank, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the participating organizations.

"We didn't have the technology to do these kinds of detailed studies before. This will be a first-order look at community structure, adaptation and evolution: how life exists in the trenches."

NSF HADES principal investigators are Shank, Jeff Drazen of the University of Hawaii and Paul Yancey of Whitman College.

Other participating researchers are Malcolm Clark and Ashley Rowden of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, Henry Ruhl of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton, Alan Jamieson and Daniel Mayor of the University of Aberdeen and collaborators from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Oregon.

Telepresence technology aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson will allow the public to share in the discoveries. Live-streaming Web events from the seafloor will include narration from the science team.

The researchers' work will also be chronicled in video, still images and blog updates on the expedition website.

How does life exist in a deep-sea trench?

What marine animals live in the Kermadec Trench, and how do they survive the crushing pressures found at that depth--some 15,000 pounds per square inch? These are among the questions the scientists will try to answer.

The biologists plan to conduct research at 15 stations, including sites in shallow water for testing purposes, sites along the trench axis and sites in the abyssal plain.

At each one, they will deploy free-falling, full-ocean-depth, baited imaging landers called Hadal-Landers and "elevators" outfitted with experimental equipment--including respirometers to see how animal metabolism functions, plus water-sampling bottles to investigate microbial activity.

The team will use Nereus, which can remain deployed for up to 12 hours, to collect biological and sediment samples.

Nereus will stream imagery from its video camera to the ship via a fiber-optic filament about the width of human hair.

The expedition will build on earlier studies of the Kermadec Trench by Jamieson and colleagues at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the University of Tokyo. Using the Hadal-Lander, they documented new species of animals in the Kermadec and other trenches in the Pacific.

Ocean trenches: home to unique species

Once thought devoid of life, trenches may be home to many unique species. There is growing evidence that food is plentiful there. While it is still unclear why, organic material in the ocean may be transported by currents and deposited into the trenches.

In addition to looking at how food supply varies at different depths, the researchers will investigate the role energy demand and metabolic rates of trench organisms play in animal community structure.

"The energy requirements of hadal animals have never been measured," says Drazen, who will lead efforts to study distribution of food supply and the energetic demands of the trench organisms.

How animals in the trenches evolved to withstand high pressures is unknown, but Shank's objective is to compare the genomes of trench animals to piece together how they can survive there.

"The challenge is to determine whether life in the trenches holds novel evolutionary pathways that are distinct from others in the oceans," he says.

Water pressure, which at depths found in ocean trenches can be up to 1,100 times that at the surface, is known to inhibit the activity of certain proteins.

Yancey will investigate the role that piezolytes--small molecules that protect proteins from pressure--play in the adaptation of trench animals. Piezolytes, which Yancey discovered, may explain previous findings that not all deep-sea proteins are able to withstand high pressures.

"We're trying to understand how life can function under massive pressures in the hadal zone," says Yancey. "Pressure might be the primary factor determining which species are able to live in these extreme environments."

Trenches and climate change

Evidence also suggests that trenches act as carbon sinks, making the research relevant to climate change studies. The V-shaped topography along trench axes funnels resources--including surface-derived organic carbon--downward.

"The bulk of our knowledge of trenches is only from snapshot visits using mostly trawls and camera landers," Shank says.

"Only detailed systematic studies will reveal the role trenches may play as the final location of where most of the carbon and other chemicals are sequestered in the oceans."

-NSF-

THREE PEOPLE ACCUSED OF DEFRAUDING U.S. GOVERNMENT OF $32 MILLION

FROM:  FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Three Men Charged with Allegedly Defrauding the FCC of Approximately $32 Million

Three individuals have been indicted for their alleged roles in an approximately $32 million fraud against a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program designed to provide discounted telephone services to low-income customers.

The charges were announced today by Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Inspector General David L. Hunt of the FCC Office of Inspector General (FCC-OIG) and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

Thomas E. Biddix, 44, of Melbourne, Fla., Kevin Brian Cox, 38, of Arlington, Tenn., and Leonard I. Solt, 49, of Land O’Lakes, Fla., were charged by a criminal indictment returned on April 9, 2014, and unsealed today in federal court in Tampa, Fla.   The indictment charges the three defendants with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 15 substantive counts of wire fraud, false claims and money laundering.   The court also authorized a seizure warrant seeking the defendants’ ill-gotten gains, including the contents of multiple bank accounts, a yacht and several luxury automobiles.

As alleged in the indictment, the defendants engaged in a scheme to submit false claims with the federal Lifeline Program administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company, a not-for-profit corporation designated and authorized by the FCC.   The program aims to provide affordable, nationwide telephone service to all Americans through discounted phone service for qualifying low-income customers.

The indictment alleges that the defendants owned and operated Associated Telecommunications Management Services LLC (ATMS), a holding company that owned and operated multiple subsidiary telephone companies that participated in the Lifeline Program.   Biddix, chairman of the board at ATMS, and Cox and Solt allegedly caused the submission of falsely inflated claims to the Lifeline Program between September 2009 and March 2011 that resulted in ATMS fraudulently receiving more than $32 million.

The investigation has been conducted by the FBI, FCC-OIG, and IRS-CI.   The United States Marshals Service provided assistance coordinating the seizures of assets.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Andrew H. Warren and Kyle Maurer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, with assistance from Darrin McCullough of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the United States Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia, the Western District of Tennessee and the Middle District of Florida.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS AT LBJ LIBRARY CIVIL RIGHTS SUMMIT

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE

Remarks by the President at LBJ Presidential Library Civil Rights Summit

Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
Austin, Texas

12:16 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Please, please, have a seat.  Thank you. 

What a singular honor it is for me to be here today.  I want to thank, first and foremost, the Johnson family for giving us this opportunity and the graciousness with which Michelle and I have been received. 

We came down a little bit late because we were upstairs looking at some of the exhibits and some of the private offices that were used by President Johnson and Mrs. Johnson.  And Michelle was in particular interested to -- of a recording in which Lady Bird is critiquing President Johnson’s performance.  (Laughter.)  And she said, come, come, you need to listen to this.  (Laughter.)  And she pressed the button and nodded her head.  Some things do not change -- (laughter) -- even 50 years later.

To all the members of Congress, the warriors for justice, the elected officials and community leaders who are here today  -- I want to thank you.

Four days into his sudden presidency -- and the night before he would address a joint session of the Congress in which he once served -- Lyndon Johnson sat around a table with his closest advisors, preparing his remarks to a shattered and grieving nation.

He wanted to call on senators and representatives to pass a civil rights bill -- the most sweeping since Reconstruction.  And most of his staff counseled him against it.  They said it was hopeless; that it would anger powerful Southern Democrats and committee chairmen; that it risked derailing the rest of his domestic agenda.  And one particularly bold aide said he did not believe a President should spend his time and power on lost causes, however worthy they might be.  To which, it is said, President Johnson replied, “Well, what the hell’s the presidency for?”  (Laughter and applause.)  What the hell’s the presidency for if not to fight for causes you believe in?

Today, as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, we honor the men and women who made it possible.  Some of them are here today.  We celebrate giants like John Lewis and Andrew Young and Julian Bond.  We recall the countless unheralded Americans, black and white, students and scholars, preachers and housekeepers -- whose names are etched not on monuments, but in the hearts of their loved ones, and in the fabric of the country they helped to change. 

But we also gather here, deep in the heart of the state that shaped him, to recall one giant man’s remarkable efforts to make real the promise of our founding:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Those of us who have had the singular privilege to hold the office of the Presidency know well that progress in this country can be hard and it can be slow, frustrating and sometimes you’re stymied.  The office humbles you.  You’re reminded daily that in this great democracy, you are but a relay swimmer in the currents of history, bound by decisions made by those who came before, reliant on the efforts of those who will follow to fully vindicate your vision.

But the presidency also affords a unique opportunity to bend those currents -- by shaping our laws and by shaping our debates; by working within the confines of the world as it is, but also by reimagining the world as it should be.

This was President Johnson’s genius.  As a master of politics and the legislative process, he grasped like few others the power of government to bring about change. 

LBJ was nothing if not a realist.  He was well aware that the law alone isn’t enough to change hearts and minds.  A full century after Lincoln’s time, he said, “Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.”

He understood laws couldn’t accomplish everything.  But he also knew that only the law could anchor change, and set hearts and minds on a different course.  And a lot of Americans needed the law’s most basic protections at that time.  As Dr. King said at the time, “It may be true that the law can’t make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”  (Applause.)

And passing laws was what LBJ knew how to do.  No one knew politics and no one loved legislating more than President Johnson.  He was charming when he needed to be, ruthless when required.  (Laughter.)  He could wear you down with logic and argument.  He could horse trade, and he could flatter.  “You come with me on this bill,” he would reportedly tell a key Republican leader from my home state during the fight for the Civil Rights Bill, “and 200 years from now, schoolchildren will know only two names:  Abraham Lincoln and Everett Dirksen!”  (Laughter.)  And he knew that senators would believe things like that.  (Laughter and applause.)

President Johnson liked power.  He liked the feel of it, the wielding of it.  But that hunger was harnessed and redeemed by a deeper understanding of the human condition; by a sympathy for the underdog, for the downtrodden, for the outcast.  And it was a sympathy rooted in his own experience.

As a young boy growing up in the Texas Hill Country, Johnson knew what being poor felt like.  “Poverty was so common,” he would later say, “we didn’t even know it had a name.”  (Laughter.)  The family home didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing.  Everybody worked hard, including the children.  President Johnson had known the metallic taste of hunger; the feel of a mother’s calloused hands, rubbed raw from washing and cleaning and holding a household together.  His cousin Ava remembered sweltering days spent on her hands and knees in the cotton fields, with Lyndon whispering beside her, “Boy, there’s got to be a better way to make a living than this.  There’s got to be a better way.”

It wasn’t until years later when he was teaching at a so-called Mexican school in a tiny town in Texas that he came to understand how much worse the persistent pain of poverty could be for other races in a Jim Crow South.  Oftentimes his students would show up to class hungry.  And when he’d visit their homes, he’d meet fathers who were paid slave wages by the farmers they worked for.  Those children were taught, he would later say, “that the end of life is in a beet row, a spinach field, or a cotton patch.” 

Deprivation and discrimination -- these were not abstractions to Lyndon Baines Johnson.  He knew that poverty and injustice are as inseparable as opportunity and justice are joined.  So that was in him from an early age.

Now, like any of us, he was not a perfect man.  His experiences in rural Texas may have stretched his moral imagination, but he was ambitious, very ambitious, a young man in a hurry to plot his own escape from poverty and to chart his own political career.  And in the Jim Crow South, that meant not challenging convention.  During his first 20 years in Congress, he opposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote, once calling the push for federal legislation “a farce and a sham.”  He was chosen as a vice presidential nominee in part because of his affinity with, and ability to deliver, that Southern white vote.  And at the beginning of the Kennedy administration, he shared with President Kennedy a caution towards racial controversy. 

But marchers kept marching.  Four little girls were killed in a church.  Bloody Sunday happened.  The winds of change blew.  And when the time came, when LBJ stood in the Oval Office -- I picture him standing there, taking up the entire doorframe, looking out over the South Lawn in a quiet moment -- and asked himself what the true purpose of his office was for, what was the endpoint of his ambitions, he would reach back in his own memory and he’d remember his own experience with want. 

And he knew that he had a unique capacity, as the most powerful white politician from the South, to not merely challenge the convention that had crushed the dreams of so many, but to ultimately dismantle for good the structures of legal segregation.  He’s the only guy who could do it -- and he knew there would be a cost, famously saying the Democratic Party may “have lost the South for a generation.” 

That’s what his presidency was for.  That’s where he meets his moment.  And possessed with an iron will, possessed with those skills that he had honed so many years in Congress, pushed and supported by a movement of those willing to sacrifice everything for their own liberation, President Johnson fought for and argued and horse traded and bullied and persuaded until ultimately he signed the Civil Rights Act into law. 

And he didn’t stop there -- even though his advisors again told him to wait, again told him let the dust settle, let the country absorb this momentous decision.  He shook them off.  “The meat in the coconut,” as President Johnson would put it, was the Voting Rights Act, so he fought for and passed that as well.  Immigration reform came shortly after.  And then, a Fair Housing Act.  And then, a health care law that opponents described as “socialized medicine” that would curtail America’s freedom, but ultimately freed millions of seniors from the fear that illness could rob them of dignity and security in their golden years, which we now know today as Medicare.  (Applause.)

What President Johnson understood was that equality required more than the absence of oppression.  It required the presence of economic opportunity.  He wouldn’t be as eloquent as Dr. King would be in describing that linkage, as Dr. King moved into mobilizing sanitation workers and a poor people’s movement, but he understood that connection because he had lived it.  A decent job, decent wages, health care -- those, too, were civil rights worth fighting for.  An economy where hard work is rewarded and success is shared, that was his goal.  And he knew, as someone who had seen the New Deal transform the landscape of his Texas childhood, who had seen the difference electricity had made because of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the transformation concretely day in and day out in the life of his own family, he understood that government had a role to play in broadening prosperity to all those who would strive for it.

“We want to open the gates to opportunity,” President Johnson said, “But we are also going to give all our people, black and white, the help they need to walk through those gates.” 

Now, if some of this sounds familiar, it’s because today we remain locked in this same great debate about equality and opportunity, and the role of government in ensuring each.  As was true 50 years ago, there are those who dismiss the Great Society as a failed experiment and an encroachment on liberty; who argue that government has become the true source of all that ails us, and that poverty is due to the moral failings of those who suffer from it.  There are also those who argue, John, that nothing has changed; that racism is so embedded in our DNA that there is no use trying politics -- the game is rigged. 

But such theories ignore history.  Yes, it’s true that, despite laws like the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act and Medicare, our society is still racked with division and poverty.  Yes, race still colors our political debates, and there have been government programs that have fallen short.  In a time when cynicism is too often passed off as wisdom, it’s perhaps easy to conclude that there are limits to change; that we are trapped by our own history; and politics is a fool’s errand, and we’d be better off if we roll back big chunks of LBJ’s legacy, or at least if we don’t put too much of our hope, invest too much of our hope in our government.

I reject such thinking.  (Applause.)  Not just because Medicare and Medicaid have lifted millions from suffering; not just because the poverty rate in this nation would be far worse without food stamps and Head Start and all the Great Society programs that survive to this day.  I reject such cynicism because I have lived out the promise of LBJ’s efforts.  Because Michelle has lived out the legacy of those efforts.  Because my daughters have lived out the legacy of those efforts.  Because I and millions of my generation were in a position to take the baton that he handed to us.  (Applause.)

Because of the Civil Rights movement, because of the laws President Johnson signed, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody -- not all at once, but they swung open.  Not just blacks and whites, but also women and Latinos; and Asians and Native Americans; and gay Americans and Americans with a disability.  They swung open for you, and they swung open for me.  And that’s why I’m standing here today -- because of those efforts, because of that legacy.  (Applause.)

And that means we’ve got a debt to pay.  That means we can’t afford to be cynical.  Half a century later, the laws LBJ passed are now as fundamental to our conception of ourselves and our democracy as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  They are foundational; an essential piece of the American character. 

But we are here today because we know we cannot be complacent.  For history travels not only forwards; history can travel backwards, history can travel sideways.  And securing the gains this country has made requires the vigilance of its citizens.  Our rights, our freedoms -- they are not given.  They must be won.  They must be nurtured through struggle and discipline, and persistence and faith. 

And one concern I have sometimes during these moments, the celebration of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, the March on Washington -- from a distance, sometimes these commemorations seem inevitable, they seem easy.  All the pain and difficulty and struggle and doubt -- all that is rubbed away.  And we look at ourselves and we say, oh, things are just too different now;  we couldn’t possibly do what was done then -- these giants, what they accomplished.  And yet, they were men and women, too.  It wasn’t easy then.  It wasn’t certain then. 

Still, the story of America is a story of progress.  However slow, however incomplete, however harshly challenged at each point on our journey, however flawed our leaders, however many times we have to take a quarter of a loaf or half a loaf -- the story of America is a story of progress.  And that’s true because of men like President Lyndon Baines Johnson.  (Applause.)

In so many ways, he embodied America, with all our gifts and all our flaws, in all our restlessness and all our big dreams.  This man -- born into poverty, weaned in a world full of racial hatred -- somehow found within himself the ability to connect his experience with the brown child in a small Texas town; the white child in Appalachia; the black child in Watts.  As powerful as he became in that Oval Office, he understood them.  He understood what it meant to be on the outside.  And he believed that their plight was his plight too; that his freedom ultimately was wrapped up in theirs; and that making their lives better was what the hell the presidency was for.  (Applause.)

And those children were on his mind when he strode to the podium that night in the House Chamber, when he called for the vote on the Civil Rights law.  “It never occurred to me,” he said, “in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students” that he had taught so many years ago, “and to help people like them all over this country.  But now I do have that chance.  And I’ll let you in on a secret -- I mean to use it.  And I hope that you will use it with me.”  (Applause.)

That was LBJ’s greatness.  That’s why we remember him.  And if there is one thing that he and this year’s anniversary should teach us, if there’s one lesson I hope that Malia and Sasha and young people everywhere learn from this day, it’s that with enough effort, and enough empathy, and enough perseverance, and enough courage, people who love their country can change it.

In his final year, President Johnson stood on this stage, racked with pain, battered by the controversies of Vietnam, looking far older than his 64 years, and he delivered what would be his final public speech. 

“We have proved that great progress is possible,” he said.  “We know how much still remains to be done.  And if our efforts continue, and if our will is strong, and if our hearts are right, and if courage remains our constant companion, then, my fellow Americans, I am confident, we shall overcome.”  (Applause.)

We shall overcome.  We, the citizens of the United States.  Like Dr. King, like Abraham Lincoln, like countless citizens who have driven this country inexorably forward, President Johnson knew that ours in the end is a story of optimism, a story of achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this Earth.  He knew because he had lived that story.  He believed that together we can build an America that is more fair, more equal, and more free than the one we inherited.  He believed we make our own destiny.  And in part because of him, we must believe it as well.

Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.) 

END
12:46 P.M. CDT

RECENT U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTOS

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE 

Heritage Flight Training Conference 
An F-16 Fighting Falcon joins in formation with a P-40 Warhawk (front), P-51 Mustang (bottom), and an F-86 Sabre (top) during the Heritage Flight Training Course March 2, 2014, over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. During the course, aircrews practiced ground and flight training to allow civilian pilots of historic military aircraft and current Air Force fighter pilots to safely fly in formations together. (U.S Air Force photo-Airman 1st Class Cheyenne Morigeau).

Eglin hosts Army Stinger missile testing 
Col. Terrence Howard fires a FIM-92 Stinger during testing March 14, 2014, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Stinger Based Systems, a division of the Army’s cruise missile defense system unit, test-fired more than 30 Stingers at aerial and fixed targets on the base’s range throughout the week. Howard is the Cruise Missile Defense Systems project manager. (U.S. Air Force photo-Samuel King Jr.)

FTC TELLS FACEBOOK IT MUST HONOR WHATSAPP PRIVACY OBLIGATIONS

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 
FTC Notifies Facebook, WhatsApp of Privacy Obligations in Light of Proposed Acquisition

The director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection notified Facebook and WhatsApp about their obligations to protect the privacy of their users in light of Facebook’s proposed acquisition of WhatsApp.

In a letter to the two companies, Bureau Director Jessica Rich noted that WhatsApp has made clear privacy promises to consumers, and that both companies have told consumers that after any acquisition, WhatsApp will continue its current privacy practices.

“We want to make clear that, regardless of the acquisition, WhatsApp must continue to honor these promises to consumers. Further, if the acquisition is completed and WhatsApp fails to honor these promises, both companies could be in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act and, potentially, the FTC’s order against Facebook,” the letter states.

In 2011, Facebook settled FTC charges that it deceived consumers by failing to keep its privacy promises. Under the terms of the FTC’s order against the company, it must get consumers’ affirmative consent before making changes that override their privacy settings, among other requirements.

The letter notes that before making any material changes to how they use data already collected from WhatsApp subscribers, the companies must get affirmative consent. In addition, the letter notes that the companies must not misrepresent the extent to which they maintain the privacy or security of user data. The letter also recommends that consumers be given the opportunity to opt out of any future changes to how newly-collected data is used.        

SECRETARY HAGEL SPEAKS WITH UKRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER KOVAL

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Secretary Speaks With Acting Ukrainian Defense Minister
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2014 – En route home from his Asia-Pacific trip, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel placed an in-flight call to Ukraine's Acting Minister of Defense Mykhaylo Koval, Assistant Press Secretary Carl Woog said in a statement issued today.

Woog’s statement reads as follows:
Secretary Hagel spoke by phone with Ukraine's Acting Minister of Defense Mykhaylo Koval on his return flight to Washington from Beijing. It was their first conversation since the minister took office last month.

Secretary Hagel commended Minister Koval for his leadership of the Armed Forces during this critical time for Ukraine and thanked him for hosting recent bilateral defense consultations in Kyiv. They discussed the situation in Crimea, as well as Russia's military activities along Ukraine's borders and attempts to destabilize communities in Eastern Ukraine.

Secretary Hagel told Minister Koval that the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine. They both pledged to remain in close contact going forward.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR APRIL 10, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, Calif., has been awarded a $141,444,171 delivery order (0089) to contract (FA8620-10-G-3038) to accomplish non-recurring engineering development of the Block 50 ground control stations (GCS) and production of two system test and qualification system integration laboratories (SIL), one technical order development SIL, two fixed GCS, two mobile GCS, two software developer kits, and the associated spares for the Block 50 configuration. Block 50 includes the updated design goals from the legacy GCS of creating an ergonomic crew workstation, enhancing situational awareness, and reducing or eliminating known deficiencies in legacy GCS. Block 50 includes the installation and integration of six 24 inches touchscreen displays, an enhanced heads-up display, primary control display, F-16 modeled stick and throttle, and new control panels that provide one touch access to critical and common functions. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Work will be performed at Poway, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Feb. 18, 2018. Fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $19,363,327 will be obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WIIK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

Jacobs Technology Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., has been awarded an estimated $67,000,000 modification (14) for an existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA9200-12-D-0085) with multiple funding appropriations at the task order level for technical and engineering acquisition support services. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for additional diverse engineering, technical and acquisition support services being provided under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 18, 2014. The current action includes unclassified foreign military sales to Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordon, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emerites and United Kingdom. The portion of the current effort that supports FMS is 2.56 percent. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 research development test and evaluation, operations and maintenance, and procurement funds will be obligated incrementally when available. Air Force Test Center/PZZ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nev. was awarded a sole-source $46,500,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee multi-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for dismounted counter radio-controlled, improvised explosive device, electronic warfare spares and services to sustain the Thor III and Baldr CREW systems. Funding and work performance location will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is April 9, 2017. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15QKN-14-D-0041).
UNIT Co., Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $25,546,700 firm-fixed-price contract with options to design and construct a warm storage hangar at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Fiscal 2014 military construction funds in the amount of $25,546,700 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Dec. 31, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Work will be performed in Fairbanks, Alaska. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, is the contracting activity (W911KB-14-C-0007).

Northrop Grumman Information Systems, McLean, Va., was awarded a $25,220,493 modification (P00016) to contract W15QKN-13-F-0017 to exercise option year one for Army Knowledge Online Enterprise Services web-based enterprise information services. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $10,473,522 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is April 12, 2015. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Va. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., is the contracting activity.

Louisiana Workforce Commission, Baton Rouge, La., was awarded a $9,580,960 modification (P00006) to contract W9124E-12-D-0002 to provide full food service to training units at the 162nd Infantry Brigade and rotational training units at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La. Funding and work performance location will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is May 9, 2015. Army Contracting Command, Fort Polk, La., is the contracting activity.

Tunista Construction LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $9,525,000 firm-fixed-price contract to construct a company operations facility at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Fiscal 2014 military construction funds in the amount of $9,525,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Oct. 16, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with three received. Work will be performed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, is the contracting activity (W911KB-14-C-0005).

NAVY

Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., Vancouver, Wash. (N44255-14-D-9003); Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Wash. (N44255-14-D-9004); Marathon Construction Co.,* Lakeside, Calif. (N44255-14-D-9005); Nova Group, Inc., Napa, Calif. (N44255-14-D-9006); Triton Marine Construction, Bremerton, Wash. (N44255-14-D-9007); Watts Construction LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii (N44255-14-D-9008), are each being awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award construction contract for design-build or design-bid-build construction of marine waterfront facilities located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest area of responsibility (AOR). The maximum dollar value for all six contracts combined is $99,000,000. The work to be performed provides for new construction, repair, alteration, and renovation. Types of projects include, but are not limited to, piers, wharves, quay walls, bulkheads, sea walls, dry docks, boat ramps, docks and marinas, shore protection, rip rap, breakwaters, wave attenuation, mooring dolphins, buoys, primary and secondary fendering, pile driving, sheet piles, and dredging and disposal. Work also includes the design and construction of all utilities and other facilities in the marine waterfront area and/or related to marine waterfront operations to support Navy vessels and port operations. Work will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Northwest AOR which includes Washington (92 percent), Oregon (2 percent), Alaska (2 percent), Idaho (1 percent), Montana (1 percent), and Wyoming (1 percent). Work may also be performed in the remainder of the United States (1 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of April 2019. Navy working capital funds in the amount of $150,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 10 proposals received. These six contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Silverdale, Wash., is the contracting activity.

Guam MACC Builders A Joint Venture, Honolulu, Hawaii, is being awarded $25,692,000 for firm-fixed-price task order 0004 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62742-10-D-1309) for the design and construction of an emergent repair facility at Naval Base, Guam. The work to be performed provides for the design and construction of a low rise (two-story) addition to the existing emergent repair facility. The project will expand the existing two story reinforced concrete structure with pile foundation, reinforced concrete walls and roof structure, and beam column frame. Built in equipment includes a passenger/freight elevator, an overhead crane and an emergency diesel generator and a radon mitigation system. The task order also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised would increase cumulative task order value to $28,007,544. Work will be performed in Santa Rita, Guam, and is expected to be completed by May 2016. Fiscal 2010 and 2014 military construction, Navy contract funds in the amount of $25,692,000 are being obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.

Phoenix Air Group Inc., Cartersville, Ga., is being awarded a $16,320,996 firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for contractor owned and operated aircraft for range clearing services for missile testing and fleet training in support of the commander, naval air forces, and various Department of Defense agencies. Work will be performed in Barking Sands, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed in April 2019. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated against individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposals; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00421-14-D-0023).
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Va., is being awarded a $7,674,064 modification under a previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-2103) to exercise an option for engineering and technical design services to support research and development of advanced submarine technologies for current and future submarine platforms. The contract provides for R&D studies to support the manufacturability, maintainability, producibility, reliability, manning, survivability, hull integrity, performance, structural, weight/margin, stability, arrangements, machinery systems, acoustics, hydrodynamics, ship control, logistics, human factors, materials, weapons handling and stowage, submarine safety, and affordability of submarines. The program also supports near term insertion of Virginia class technology; identification of Ohio class replacement technology options; future submarine concepts; and core technologies. Work will be performed in Newport News, Va., and is expected to be completed by January 2015. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation contract funds in the amount of $279,451 will be obligated at the time of modification award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $6,632,674 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N68335-10-C-0491) for eight Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System - Depot (RTCASS-D) conversion kits. These kits include the hardware and software required to convert eight base configuration RTCASS stations into RTCASS-D configurations, RTCASS-D specific test program sets development training, and the development and integration of eight high speed sub-system ancillary sets. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed in August 2015. Fiscal 2012, 2013, and 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $6,632,674 will be obligated on this award, $1,704,605 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

River Trading Company Ltd.,* Cincinnati, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $16,871,250 firm-fixed-price contract for bituminous coal. This is a competitive acquisition, and four offers were received. This is a one-year base contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky with a May 31, 2015 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2015 military service funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SPE600-14-D-0651).
Carter Industries Inc.,** Olive Hill, Ky., has been awarded a maximum $12,761,280 modification (P00102) exercising the third option period on a one-year base contract (SPM1C1-11-D-1067) with three one-year option periods for flyer’s coveralls. This is a firm-fixed-price contract. Location of performance is Kentucky with an April 15, 2015 performance completion date. Using military services are Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.
Elbit Systems America Fort Worth Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $12,255,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for helicopter improved signal data converter. This is a sole source acquisition. This is a two-year base contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Texas with an April 9, 2016 performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., (SPRBL1-14-D-0004).
*Small Business
**Small In HubZone Business

NASA'S VIEW OF FROZEN FJORD IN EAST GREENLAND

FROM:  NASA

This view of the frozen fjord downstream of Violingletscher (Violin Glacier) in Østgrønland (East Greenland) was seen during an Operation IceBridge survey flight on April 5, 2014. NASA’s Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. IceBridge utilizes a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat satellite missions. > Read more about IceBridge's 2014 Arctic campaign. Image Credit-NASA-Michael Studinger.

HHS TOUTS NEW TRANSPARENCY ON MEDICAL SERVICES AND HOW PHYSICIANS ARE PAID

FROM:  DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2014

Historic release of data gives consumers unprecedented transparency on the medical services physicians provide and how much they are paid
Today, as part of the Obama administration’s work to make our health care system more transparent, affordable, and accountable, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the release of new, privacy-protected data on services and procedures provided to Medicare beneficiaries by physicians and other health care professionals. The new data also show payment and submitted charges, or bills, for those services and procedures by provider.

“Currently, consumers have limited information about how physicians and other health care professionals practice medicine,” said Secretary Sebelius “This data will help fill that gap by offering insight into the Medicare portion of a physician’s practice. The data released today afford researchers, policymakers and the public a new window into health care spending and physician practice patterns.”

The new data set has information for over 880,000 distinct health care providers who collectively received $77 billion in Medicare payments in 2012, under the Medicare Part B Fee-For-Service program. With this data, it will be possible to conduct a wide range of analyses that compare 6,000 different types of services and procedures provided, as well as payments received by individual health care providers.

The information also allows comparisons by physician, specialty, location, the types of medical service and procedures delivered, Medicare payment, and submitted charges. Physicians and other health care professionals determine what they will charge for services and procedures provided to patients and these “charges” are the amount the physician or health care professional generally bills for the service or procedure.

"Data transparency is a key aspect of transformation of the health care delivery system,” said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. “While there’s more work ahead, this data release will help beneficiaries and consumers better understand how care is delivered through the Medicare program.”

Last May, CMS released hospital charge data allowing consumers to compare what hospitals charge for common inpatient and outpatient services across the country.

U.S. MARSHALS ANNOUNCE ARREST OF INTERNATIONAL FUGITIVE AT SFO

FROM:  U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE 
April 07, 2014 Joseph Palmer, Deputy U.S. Marshals
U.S. Marshals Arrest International Fugitive at SFO
German Fugitive Was Wanted For Financial Crimes

San Francisco, CA – U.S. Marshal Don O’Keefe announces the arrest of Samir Azizi by the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Azizi, 24, a German national, landed at SFO March 31 en route from Dubai, where he was intercepted by Deputy U.S. Marshals and members of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. According to a criminal complaint filed in San Jose by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Azizi is wanted in Germany for several financial crimes – 89 counts related to tax evasion – committed between 2008 and 2012, in which Azizi allegedly formed a “gang” for the purpose of setting up 11 companies that primarily dealt in cellular communication and other technologies. The companies allegedly participated in criminal activity including filing false tax forms for the purposes of receiving fraudulent tax returns. The alleged criminal activity resulted in a loss to German tax authorities of more than 61 million euros.

Azizi holds a passport from Afghanistan and is also a legal resident of Germany and the United States. The criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California and the ensuing arrest warrant were issued for the purpose of seeking Azizi’s extradition to Germany.

Azizi appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in San Jose on April 1, at which time he was ordered held without bail and remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Extradition proceedings are currently pending, and a status hearing is scheduled before Judge Lloyd on May 23.

To find information on fugitives currently being sought by the U.S. Marshals in Northern California or to submit a tip on the whereabouts of a fugitive, please visit: http://northerncaliforniamostwanted.org

The U.S. Marshals Service is the primary federal agency charged with conducting fugitive investigations throughout the United States. The U.S. Marshals Service regularly works in concert with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to seek out and arrest violent fugitives and sex offenders, and has established task forces throughout the nation to facilitate the apprehension of fugitives.

U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL SPEAKS AT PEOPLES' LIBERATION ARMY NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY

Above:  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to military members at the Chinese National Defense University in Beijing, April 8, 2014. DOD Photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo 

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel Addresses China’s Future Defense Leaders
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

BEIJING, April 8, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took the stage here today, addressing military officers and students who crowded into the auditorium at the Peoples’ Liberation Army National Defense University to hear him describe China’s status as a major power and its obligation to address security challenges for the good of the region.

Hagel thanked President Xi Jinping, Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Gen. Fan Changlong, his friend State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and his host Gen. Chang Wanquan for their gracious hospitality during his visit.

“We have had wide-ranging and constructive discussions that reflect our growing cooperation,” Hagel said.

During a meeting today with Fan, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said, Hagel expressed his appreciation for the chance to build toward a new model of military-to-military relations.

The leaders shared a frank exchange of views about issues important to the United States, China and the Asia-Pacific region. They discussed regional security, including the East China and South China seas, where Hagel reaffirmed the United States' longstanding policies and commitments, and encouraged all parties to resolve differences peacefully, through diplomacy and in keeping with international law, Kirby said.

Hagel also discussed with Fan the growing threat posed by North Korean nuclear and missile developments, and urged China's continued cooperation with the international community to achieve a complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

“Today,” Hagel said, “China’s status as a major power is already solidified, built on its growing economic ties across the globe and particularly across the Asia-Pacific region.”

Last year, he added, the trade in goods and services between the United States and China exceeded half a trillion dollars. Trade between Association of Southeast Asian Nations members and China exceeded $400 billion last year, and a third of the world’s trade passes through the South China Sea.

China’s growth, coupled with the dynamism of the Asia-Pacific and America’s increasing engagement in the region, offers a historic and strategic opportunity for all nations, the secretary added.

“As our economic interdependence grows, we have an opportunity to expand the prosperity this region has enjoyed for decades,” Hagel explained. “To preserve the stable regional security environment that has enabled this historic economic expansion, the United States and China have a responsibility to address new and enduring regional security challenges alongside other partners.”

The region faces North Korea’s continued dangerous provocations, its nuclear program and missile tests, Hagel said, along with ongoing land and maritime disputes, threats arising from climate change, natural disasters and pandemic disease, proliferation of dangerous weapons, and the growing threat of disruption in space and cyberspace.

The Asia-Pacific region is the most militarized in the world, and any one of these challenges could lead to conflict, the secretary added.

“As the PLA modernizes its capabilities and expands its presence in Asia and beyond,” he said, “American and Chinese forces will be drawn into proximity, increasing the risk of an incident, accident or miscalculation. But this reality also presents new opportunities for cooperation.”

All people in the region want a future of peace and stability, Hagel added, and the costs of conflict will rise as economic interdependence grows.

“The high cost of conflict will not make peace and stability inevitable,” the secretary added, “so we must work together and in partnership with all the nations of the region, and develop and build on what President Xi and President Obama have called a new model of relations.”

The model seeks to seize opportunities for cooperation between the United States and China and enhance peace and security throughout the region, he added.
“It seeks to manage competition but avoid the traps of rivalry,” Hagel said. “And good China-U.S. relations will not come at the expense of our relations with others in the region or elsewhere.”

Realizing this vision will require commitment, effort and some new thinking for the United States and China across all dimensions of the relationship, but especially between the militaries, he added.

“Developing a new model of military-to-military relations will require a shared understanding of the regional security order we seek and the responsibilities we have to uphold it,” Hagel said. “It will require bold leadership that seeks to deepen practical cooperation in areas of shared interest, while constructively managing differences through open dialogue and candor.”

In the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide, Hagel said, the United States believes in maintaining a stable, rules-based order built on:

-- Free and open access to sea lanes, air space and cyberspace;

-- Liberal trade and economic policies that foster widely shared prosperity for all people;

-- Halting the proliferation of dangerous and destabilizing weapons of mass destruction;

-- Deterring aggression; and

-- Clear, predictable, consistent and peaceful methods of resolving disputes consistent with international law.

For its part, the secretary said, the United States has helped to provide access to global markets, technology and capital, underwritten the free flow of energy and natural resources through open seas, and maintained alliances that have helped keep the peace.

“We haven’t done it alone; we’ve done it with partners,” he said. “America’s rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific is about ensuring that America’s presence and engagement, including our relationship with China, keeps pace with the Asia-Pacific’s rapidly evolving economic, diplomatic and security environment.”
All nations have a responsibility to pursue common interests with their neighbors and settle disputes peacefully in accordance with international law and recognized norms, the secretary added.

“But as a nation’s power and prosperity grows, so does its responsibilities,” Hagel said. “And whether the 21st century is one marked by progress, security and prosperity will depend greatly on how China and other leading Asia-Pacific powers meet their responsibilities to uphold a rules-based order.”
Disputes in the South China and East China seas must be resolved through international norms and laws, he said.

“The United States has been clear about the East and South China Sea disputes,” Hagel said. “We do not take a position on sovereignty claims but we expect these disputes to be managed and resolved peacefully and diplomatically, and oppose the use of force or coercion. And our commitment to allies in the region is unwavering.”

The secretary said he believes the new model of military-to-military relations should proceed on three tracks: First, maintaining sustained and substantive dialogue; second, forging concrete, practical cooperation where the two countries’ interests converge; and third, working to manage competition and differences through openness and communication.

The foundation for military-to-military cooperation between the United States and China must be a sustained and substantive dialogue, Hagel said. The engine for this dialogue has been high-level exchanges, he added, and it must continue and increase. This, in particular, has been an area of notable progress, he said.
“Bilateral exchanges and visits are planned, and earlier today General Chang and I agreed on two important new mechanisms,” Hagel said. We will establish a high-level Asia-Pacific security dialogue, and we will create an army-to-army dialogue. These will deepen substantive military discussions and institutional understanding.”

Already, he said, the two nations have identified nontraditional security missions as areas of clear mutual interest, including counter-piracy, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, military medicine, and maritime safety.

Hagel said one example of practical cooperation in areas where the United States and China can do more is the annual disaster management exchange held between militaries, and with representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last November’s exchange, held in Hawaii, included the first exercise involving PLA troops on U.S. soil.

The United States has taken significant steps to be more open with China about its capabilities, intentions and disagreements, the secretary said. “And we will continue to welcome initiatives by China to do the same, particularly as China undertakes significant military modernization efforts,” he added.

Hagel said he and others are asking China to work more closely with the United States and regional partners on another shared challenge where there is a disagreement: responding to the dangerous destabilizing behavior of North Korea.
The North Korean regime’s nuclear program and its recent missile launches in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions pose a continued and stark challenge and threat to the U.S. homeland, Hagel said. America will continue to respond to North Korea’s actions by reinforcing its allies and increasing deterrence, he added, including through his announcement this week that the United States will deploy two additional ballistic missile defense ships to Japan.
This builds on other steps to bolster regional missile defense, the secretary said, including building a second radar site in Japan and expanding ground-based interceptors in Alaska.

PRESIDENT OBAMA LASHES OUT AT REPUBLICANS FOR BLOCKING SENATE DEBATE ON "PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT"

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

April 9, 2014

Statement by the President

Today, Senate Republicans overwhelmingly blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act – preventing it from even receiving an honest debate, let alone a simple yes-or-no vote.  The Paycheck Fairness Act is commonsense legislation that would strengthen the 1963 Equal Pay Act and reinforce our country’s commitment to the principle of equal pay for equal work.  Yesterday, I took two actions that will make it easier for working women to earn fair pay, and my Administration will continue to do everything we can to make sure that every hard-working American earns the respect and wages that they deserve on the job.  But Republicans in Congress continue to oppose serious efforts to create jobs, grow the economy, and level the playing field for working families.  That’s wrong, and it’s harmful for our national efforts to rebuild an economy that gives every American who works hard a fair shot to get ahead. 

SEC CHARGES HEWLETT-PACKARD WITH FCPA VIOLATIONS RELATED TO ALLEGATIONS HP BRIBED FOREIGN OFFICIALS

FROM:  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Hewlett-Packard with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when its subsidiaries in three different countries made improper payments to government officials to obtain or retain lucrative public contracts.

Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay more than $108 million to settle the SEC’s charges and a parallel criminal case announced today by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The SEC’s order instituting settled administrative proceedings finds that the Palo Alto, Calif.-based technology company’s subsidiary in Russia paid more than $2 million through agents and various shell companies to a Russian government official to retain a multi-million dollar contract with the federal prosecutor’s office.  In Poland, Hewlett-Packard’s subsidiary provided gifts and cash bribes worth more than $600,000 to a Polish government official to obtain contracts with the national police agency.  And as part of its bid to win a software sale to Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, Hewlett-Packard’s subsidiary in Mexico paid more than $1 million in inflated commissions to a consultant with close ties to company officials, and money was funneled to one of those officials.

“Hewlett-Packard lacked the internal controls to stop a pattern of illegal payments to win business in Mexico and Eastern Europe.  The company’s books and records reflected the payments as legitimate commissions and expenses,” said Kara Brockmeyer, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit.  “Companies have a fundamental obligation to ensure that their internal controls are both reasonably designed and appropriately implemented across their entire business operations, and they should take a hard look at the agents conducting business on their behalf.”

According to the SEC’s order, the scheme involving Hewlett-Packard’s Russian subsidiary occurred from approximately 2000 to 2007.  The bribes were paid through agents and consultants in order to win a government contract for computer hardware and software.  Employees within the subsidiary and elsewhere raised questions about the significant markup being paid to the agent on the deal and the subcontractors that the agent expected to use.  Despite the red flags, the deal went forward without any meaningful due diligence on the agent or the subcontractors.

The SEC’s order finds that bribes involving Hewlett-Packard’s subsidiary in Poland occurred from approximately 2006 to 2010.  Acting primarily through its public sector sales manager, the subsidiary agreed to pay a Polish government official in order to win contracts for information technology products and services.  The official received a percentage of net revenue earned from the contracts, and the bribes were delivered in cash from off-the-books accounts.

According to the SEC’s order, Hewlett-Packard’s subsidiary in Mexico paid a consultant to help the company win a public IT contract worth approximately $6 million.  At least $125,000 was funneled to a government official at the state-owned petroleum company with whom the consultant had connections.  Although the consultant was not an approved deal partner and had not been subjected to the due diligence required under company policy, HP Mexico sales managers used a pass-through entity to pay inflated commissions to the consultant.  This was internally referred to as the “influencer fee.”

Hewlett-Packard consented to the SEC’s order, which finds that it violated the internal controls and books and records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  The company agreed to pay $29 million in disgorgement (approximately $26.47 million to the SEC and $2.53 million to satisfy an IRS forfeiture as part of the criminal matter).  Hewlett-Packard also agreed to pay prejudgment interest of $5 million to the SEC and fines totaling $74.2 million in the criminal case for a total of more than $108 million in disgorgement and penalties.  

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by David A. Berman and Tracy L. Davis of the FCPA Unit in San Francisco.  The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and Public Prosecutor’s Office in Dresden, Germany.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR APRIL 9, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
CONTRACTS
ARMY

Exelis Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind. (W15P7T-14-D-0012); General Dynamics C4 Systems Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz. (W15P7T-14-D-0013); Harris Corp., Rochester, N.Y. (W15P7T-14-D-0014, W15P7T-14-D-0015); and Thales Defense & Security Inc., Clarksburg, Md. (W15P7T-14-D-0016), were awarded a $988,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for SRW Appliqué Radio Systems for use by brigade combat teams. Funding and work location will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is April 8, 2024. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen, Md., is the contracting activity.

Thales-Raytheon Systems Co., LLC, was awarded a $17,743,765 modification (P00008) to contract W31P4Q-13-C-0082 to exercise the option to acquire Sentinel Mode 5 Identification Friend or Foe kits and spares. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $17,743,765 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Sept. 30, 2016. Work will be performed in Fullerton, Calif. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.

Boeing Co., Ridley Park, Pa., was awarded an $8,857,000 modification (P00008) to contract W58RGZ-13-C-0002 for a CH-47F cargo helicopter multiyear II contract modification to provide additional production lot 13 long lead funding and additional production lot 12 over and above funding. Other procurement funds in the amount of $7,842,000 (fiscal 2014), $386,000 (fiscal 2012) and $629,000 (fiscal 2011) were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Dec. 31, 2020. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

BT Raymond Inc., Frederick, Md., has been added to a previously announced (Dec 3, 2013) maximum estimated $633,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for the procurement of commercial type material handling equipment. This contract is being issued against solicitation number SPM8EC-11-R-0001. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and thirty-eight offers were received. This contract is for a term of five years and is for a portion of the estimated $633,000,000 and will be competed amongst other contractors who receive a contract under this solicitation. Request for quotations will be issued to all contract awardees and the resulting contract delivery order(s) will be awarded to the offerer with the lowest price that is technically acceptable. Locations of performance are Maryland and New York with an April 8, 2019 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPE8EC-14-D-0014).
Dennis K. Burke, Inc., Chelsea, Mass., has been awarded a maximum $65,282,707 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for fuel. This is a competitive acquisition, and thirty-four offers were received. This is a three-year base contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut with a March 31, 2017 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, federal civilian agencies, and Air National Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2017 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SP0600-14-D-8521).

NAVY

Potomac-Hudson Engineering Inc.,* Gaithersburg, Md., is being awarded a maximum $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering (A-E) contract for A-E services for preparation of Navy and Marine Corps environmental planning documents for upland and desert projects in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest area of responsibility. The work to be performed provides for data collection, natural resource survey, and resource effects analysis work related to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other environmental planning services. Services will include, but are not limited to the preparation of the following primary NEPA related documents: environmental assessments; environmental impact statements; draft findings of no significant impact; and draft records of decision. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations in California (85 percent), Arizona (6 percent), Nevada (6 percent), and other Department of Defense installations and federal agencies in the United States (3 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of April 2019. Fiscal 2014 environmental restoration, Navy contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with eight proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N62473-14-D-1404).

Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, Sudbury, Mass., is being awarded $17,034,929 for firm-fixed-price delivery order 0003 under Basic Ordering Agreement (N00024-14-G-5105), for the procurement and fabrication of AN/SPY-1 Radar Transmitter Multi-Mission Signal Processor Capability ordnance alteration kits, RF Coherent Combiner ordnance alteration kits, Kill Assessment System ordnance alteration kits, High Volt Power Supply Sidewall Capacitor ordnance alteration kits, 10 kW Traveling Wave Tube monitoring circuit ordnance alteration kits, Aegis Weapon System Modernization requirements for Japan, and installation and test services in support of the AEGIS modernization effort. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Va. (77.1 percent); Burlington, Mass. (11.7 percent); Sudbury, Mass. (6.7 percent) and Andover, Mass. (4.5 percent), and is expected to be completed by April 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 other procurement, Navy; fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation and fiscal 2014 foreign military sales in the amount of $12,761,881 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of this fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Liverpool, N.Y., is being awarded an $8,537,634 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-6227) to exercise options for the procurement of Low Cost Conformal Array production units, spare modules and spare outboard electronics canisters. The Low Cost Conformal Array is a passive planar array mounted on the aft submarine sail structure that is integrated with the Acoustic Rapid Commercial off the Shelf Insertion AN/BQQ-25 system to provide situational awareness and collision avoidance for improved tactical control in high density environments. Work will be performed in Liverpool, N.Y. (98 percent), Walpole, Mass. (1 percent), and Forrest Hill, Md. (1 percent) and is expected to be complete by February 2016. Fiscal 2014 other procurement, Navy funding in the amount of $8,537,634 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity.

*Small Business

SECRETARY KERRY, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER LIEBERMAN MAKE REMARKS AFTER MEETING

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Remarks With Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Before Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

April 9, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. It’s my great privilege to welcome Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister of Israel, here to the State Department and to Washington. We have gotten to see each other at a number of different places now. We most recently were in Rome together where we talked about the issues before both our countries and the region.
And today, I’m really happy to be able to welcome him here. Obviously, we are working hard to try to find a way forward. And both parties indicate they would like to find a way to go forward in the talks. We obviously want to see that happen. We think it’s important for them and for the region. So we will, needless to say, talk about that.

But we also have many other issues to work on and cooperate on together. We will talk about Iran and the challenge of the Iranian nuclear program. The talks have been going on even this week, so we have a considerable amount to try to digest with respect to that process. And also the region, obviously, faces enormous challenges. Syria remains a humanitarian catastrophe, and it has a profound impact on Israel, on Jordan, on Lebanon, on the region as a whole. And we continue to face the challenge of removing the chemical weapons from Iran. I just literally hung up the phone a few minutes ago before I came out to meet the foreign minister. I was talking to Foreign Minister Lavrov and we were talking about the need for movement in Syria and the ability to complete the task.

So I’m very happy that the foreign minister is here today. This is an important time. The issues between us are of concern to both of us, are of enormous importance. And I want to affirm this: Our relationship with Israel, as everybody knows, is an historic and deep one. We remain totally committed to the security of Israel. We have a friendship that is, I believe, a bond that’s unbreakable, and I’m really happy to have the foreign minister here at this important time. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER LIEBERMAN: Thank you. First of all, thank you for the very warm welcome, and as you mentioned, we have a lot of items on our bilateral agenda. But first of all, I would like to express my appreciation for your efforts, for your commitment to our state, your efforts to resolve our long dispute with the Palestinians. We know and everybody in Israel knows that you are really a very close friend, reliable friend, and now we’re in the midst of a very crucial process.

And I think that you and us have the same desire to achieve comprehensive solution, to achieve final status agreement. We’re ready to sacrifice a lot for this goal. We proved our desire to achieve real peace with our neighbors, not only as a lip service, but in all our agreements that we signed with Egypt, with Jordan. We gave up territories three and a half times more than our territory today – Sinai, half of Judea Samaria, Gaza Strip. And I think that we really – we are looking for the same positive approach from the other side, and we think that any unilateral steps, they only can undermine all our efforts.

Of course, the biggest challenge for us, for all our region, is the Iranian issue, and I hope that we will discuss, of course, the Iranian issue. And of course we are (inaudible) now to the huge concern with Syria and what happens within Syria. The spillover of the Syrian conflict is all around us. And we are monitoring and following the situation in Syria, of course, and it’s a new – a very serious challenge for our country, and again, thank you for your efforts and for your commitment.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Avigdor.

FOREIGN MINISTER LIEBERMAN: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Welcome. Thank you all very much. Thank you.

EDUCATION SECRETARY DUNCAN'S REMARKS ON FRANKLIN REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STABBINGS

FROM:  U.S. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on the Mass Stabbings at Franklin Regional High School in Pennsylvania

APRIL 9, 2014

"We are saddened by today's stabbings at Franklin Regional High School. Our thoughts go out to the injured students and staff, and their families, the other students and teachers at the school, and the Murrysville community at large. Tragedies that strike communities—whether it's an inner city school or in a suburban school in a quiet town—impact us all. When we send our children to school each day, we expect them to return home safely. Staff and students at every school deserve to work and learn in a safe environment. We will do everything in our power to assist and support the students, school staff, and community of Murrysville in this unsettling time."

READOUTS: VP BIDEN'S DISCUSSIONS WITH PRIME MINISTER FICO OF SLOVAKIA AND MONTENEGRO PRIME MINISTER DJUKANOVIC

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

April 8, 2014

Readout of the Vice President's Call with Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia

In a telephone call this afternoon, Vice President Biden and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico consulted on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and related issues of bilateral and regional concern.  The two leaders expressed concern over Russia’s continued violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and agreed on the need to support the Ukrainian people as they prepare for constitutional reforms and the May 25th presidential election.  The Vice President expressed appreciation for Slovakia’s continued efforts to work with Ukraine to help diversify its energy supplies.  Finally, the Vice President congratulated the Prime Minister on the tenth anniversary of Slovakia’s entry into NATO and affirmed the strong U.S. commitment to enhancing collective defense in Europe.  Expressing appreciation for Slovakia’s contributions to global peace and security, the Vice President reaffirmed that Slovakia remains a valued strategic partner and friend to the United States.

Readout of the Vice President’s Meeting with Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro

Vice President Biden met today with Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic at the White House.  Vice President Biden praised Montenegro as a valuable partner to the United States and contributor to peace and security in the region.  The two leaders discussed developments in the Balkans as well as concerns about continued Russian pressure on Ukraine.  The Vice President welcomed the strong progress Montenegro has made in meeting the requirements for NATO membership and expressed steadfast U.S. support for Montenegro’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.  He encouraged the Prime Minister to sustain its efforts in making defense, security, and rule of law reforms in order to show concrete achievements in advance of the 2014 NATO summit in Wales.  In this context, the Vice President stressed the importance of robust efforts to strengthen democratic institutions, including an independent judiciary and a free press, as well as to protect minority rights.