FROM: EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank Approves $34 Million to Finance the Export of U.S.
Solar-Related Products to Spain and South Africa
Transaction Supports White House Power Africa Initiative
Washington, D.C. – As part of its renewable-energy push, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a pair of direct loans totaling $33.6 million to Abengoa of Seville, Spain, that will facilitate the export of American heat-transfer fluid produced by The Dow Chemical Company for use in solar projects in Spain and South Africa.
Ex-Im Bank’s financing will support approximately 200 U.S. jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology.
“Ex-Im Bank’s consistent support of renewable-energy projects demonstrates our commitment to supporting high-skilled jobs in an important homegrown industry and improving the environment,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “In addition to contributing to cleaner sources of energy and supporting U.S. jobs, these two transactions will support President Obama’s goal of doubling access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Power Africa is a new initiative to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. In its initial phase, the United States has already committed more than $7 billion in financial support to this effort.
DOWTHERMTM A heat-transfer fluid from Dow is a key component of the steam-heating process in concentrated solar power plants and replaces conventional fossil-fuel boilers.
Headquartered in Midland, Mich., The Dow Chemical Company, and its consolidated subsidiaries (Dow), delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions through the production, marketing, and sales of specialty chemicals and advanced materials and plastics. Dow operates manufacturing sites in 36 countries and employs approximately 54,000 people.
“The Ex-Im Bank is enabling growth in the U.S. and beyond,” said Carolina Barrios, market development manager for Dow Heat Transfer Fluids. “By supporting the use of high quality, U.S.-made exports, this transaction advances the competitiveness of Dow manufacturing and operations jobs locally, while helping to meet clean energy demands around the world.”
Abengoa is an international company based in Seville, Spain, that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors. The company operates two parabolic-trough solar plants in Logrosan, Spain, and is currently building two plants in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa with the Industrial Development Corporation. The two plants in Spain and one of the two in South Africa will rely upon DOWTHERM A.
Monday, September 23, 2013
DOCTOR RECEIVES 151 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR ROLE IN $77 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Monday, September 16, 2013
“No Show” Doctor Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison in Connection with $77 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Gustave Drivas, M.D., 58, of Staten Island, N.Y., was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison for his role as a “no show” doctor in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme. The State of New York revoked Dr. Drivas’s medical license earlier this year.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Thomas O’Donnell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
Drivas was convicted by a jury on April 8, 2013, of health care fraud conspiracy and health care fraud after a seven-week trial. He was acquitted of kickback conspiracy. Including Drivas, 13 individuals have been convicted of participating in the massive fraud scheme, either through guilty pleas or trial convictions. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Drivas to three years of supervised release with a concurrent exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal health programs, ordered him to forfeit $511,000 and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $50.9 million.
The evidence at trial showed that Drivas knowingly authorized his co-conspirators at a Brooklyn medical clinic to use his Medicare billing number to charge Medicare for more than $20 million in medical procedures and services that were never performed. In return, he received more than $500,000 for his role in the scheme. According to court documents, from 2005 to 2010, Drivas was the medical director of or a rendering physician at a clinic in Brooklyn that billed Medicare under three corporate names: Bay Medical Care PC, SVS Wellcare Medical PLLC and SZS Medical Care PLLC (collectively “Bay Medical clinic”). The evidence established that Drivas was a “no show” doctor, who almost never visited the clinic except to pick up his check. The evidence also showed that the clinic paid cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for more than $77 million in services that were medically unnecessary and never provided.
The government’s investigation included the use of a court-ordered audio/video recording device hidden in a room at the clinic in which the conspirators paid cash kickbacks to corrupt Medicare beneficiaries. The conspirators were recorded paying approximately $500,000 in cash kickbacks during a period of approximately six weeks from April to June 2010. This room was marked “PRIVATE” and featured a Soviet-era poster of a woman with a finger to her lips and the words “Don’t Gossip” in Russian. The purpose of the kickbacks was to induce the beneficiaries to receive unnecessary medical services or to stay silent when services not provided to the patients were billed to Medicare.
To generate the large amounts of cash needed to pay the patients, Drivas’s business partners and co-conspirators recruited a network of external money launderers who cashed checks for the clinic. Clinic owners wrote clinic checks payable to various shell companies controlled by the money launderers. These checks did not represent payment for any legitimate service at or for the Bay Medical clinic, but rather were written to launder the clinic’s fraudulently obtained health care proceeds. The money launderers cashed these checks and provided the cash back to the clinic. Clinic employees used the cash to pay illegal cash kickbacks to the Bay Medical clinic’s purported patients.
This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sarah M. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William C. Campos and Shannon C. Jones of the Eastern District of New York.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Monday, September 16, 2013
“No Show” Doctor Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison in Connection with $77 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Gustave Drivas, M.D., 58, of Staten Island, N.Y., was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison for his role as a “no show” doctor in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme. The State of New York revoked Dr. Drivas’s medical license earlier this year.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Thomas O’Donnell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
Drivas was convicted by a jury on April 8, 2013, of health care fraud conspiracy and health care fraud after a seven-week trial. He was acquitted of kickback conspiracy. Including Drivas, 13 individuals have been convicted of participating in the massive fraud scheme, either through guilty pleas or trial convictions. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Drivas to three years of supervised release with a concurrent exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal health programs, ordered him to forfeit $511,000 and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $50.9 million.
The evidence at trial showed that Drivas knowingly authorized his co-conspirators at a Brooklyn medical clinic to use his Medicare billing number to charge Medicare for more than $20 million in medical procedures and services that were never performed. In return, he received more than $500,000 for his role in the scheme. According to court documents, from 2005 to 2010, Drivas was the medical director of or a rendering physician at a clinic in Brooklyn that billed Medicare under three corporate names: Bay Medical Care PC, SVS Wellcare Medical PLLC and SZS Medical Care PLLC (collectively “Bay Medical clinic”). The evidence established that Drivas was a “no show” doctor, who almost never visited the clinic except to pick up his check. The evidence also showed that the clinic paid cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for more than $77 million in services that were medically unnecessary and never provided.
The government’s investigation included the use of a court-ordered audio/video recording device hidden in a room at the clinic in which the conspirators paid cash kickbacks to corrupt Medicare beneficiaries. The conspirators were recorded paying approximately $500,000 in cash kickbacks during a period of approximately six weeks from April to June 2010. This room was marked “PRIVATE” and featured a Soviet-era poster of a woman with a finger to her lips and the words “Don’t Gossip” in Russian. The purpose of the kickbacks was to induce the beneficiaries to receive unnecessary medical services or to stay silent when services not provided to the patients were billed to Medicare.
To generate the large amounts of cash needed to pay the patients, Drivas’s business partners and co-conspirators recruited a network of external money launderers who cashed checks for the clinic. Clinic owners wrote clinic checks payable to various shell companies controlled by the money launderers. These checks did not represent payment for any legitimate service at or for the Bay Medical clinic, but rather were written to launder the clinic’s fraudulently obtained health care proceeds. The money launderers cashed these checks and provided the cash back to the clinic. Clinic employees used the cash to pay illegal cash kickbacks to the Bay Medical clinic’s purported patients.
This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sarah M. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William C. Campos and Shannon C. Jones of the Eastern District of New York.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
TWO FUJIKURA LTD. EXECUTIVES INDICTED IN AUTO PARTS PRICE FIXING CASE
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Two Fujikura Ltd. Executives Indicted for Roles in Fixing Prices on Automobile Parts Sold to Subaru to Be Installed in U.S. Cars
A federal grand jury in Detroit returned an indictment against two Fujikura Ltd. executives for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix prices of auto parts used in automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru and installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, charges Ryoji Fukudome and Toshihiko Nagashima, both Japanese nationals, with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses sold to Fuji Heavy Industries–an automaker more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru–for installation in automobiles sold in the United States and elsewhere.
Fukudome was employed by Fujikura as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2001 to April 2006 and Nagashima was employed by Fujikura as manager of the Fujikura Wire Harness Center in Ohta, Japan, from July 1994 to April 2006, and as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2006 to April 2009.
Fujikura is a Toyko-based manufacturer of automotive wire harnesses. Automotive wire harnesses are automotive electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components, wiring and circuit boards. Fujikura pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy in June 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $20 million criminal fine.
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least as early as September 2005 until at least February 2010, Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators attended meetings in Japan to reach collusive agreements to rig bids and allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru. The indictment alleges that Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators had further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements.
“International cartels targeting U.S. businesses and consumers pose a serious threat to our competitive market place,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division is working closely with competition enforcers abroad to ensure that there are no safe harbors for executives who engage in international cartel crimes.”
“Those who engage in price fixing, bid rigging and other fraudulent schemes harm the automotive industry by driving up costs for vehicle makers and buyers,” said John Robert Shoup, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FBI Detroit Division. “The FBI is committed to pursuing and prosecuting these individuals for their crimes.”
Fukudome and Nagashima are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Including Fukudome and Nagashima, 11 companies and 18 executives have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. To date, more than $874 million in criminal fines have been imposed and 14 individuals have been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve prison sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each. One other executive has agreed to serve time in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25, 2013.
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Two Fujikura Ltd. Executives Indicted for Roles in Fixing Prices on Automobile Parts Sold to Subaru to Be Installed in U.S. Cars
A federal grand jury in Detroit returned an indictment against two Fujikura Ltd. executives for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix prices of auto parts used in automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru and installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, charges Ryoji Fukudome and Toshihiko Nagashima, both Japanese nationals, with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses sold to Fuji Heavy Industries–an automaker more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru–for installation in automobiles sold in the United States and elsewhere.
Fukudome was employed by Fujikura as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2001 to April 2006 and Nagashima was employed by Fujikura as manager of the Fujikura Wire Harness Center in Ohta, Japan, from July 1994 to April 2006, and as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2006 to April 2009.
Fujikura is a Toyko-based manufacturer of automotive wire harnesses. Automotive wire harnesses are automotive electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components, wiring and circuit boards. Fujikura pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy in June 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $20 million criminal fine.
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least as early as September 2005 until at least February 2010, Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators attended meetings in Japan to reach collusive agreements to rig bids and allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru. The indictment alleges that Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators had further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements.
“International cartels targeting U.S. businesses and consumers pose a serious threat to our competitive market place,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division is working closely with competition enforcers abroad to ensure that there are no safe harbors for executives who engage in international cartel crimes.”
“Those who engage in price fixing, bid rigging and other fraudulent schemes harm the automotive industry by driving up costs for vehicle makers and buyers,” said John Robert Shoup, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FBI Detroit Division. “The FBI is committed to pursuing and prosecuting these individuals for their crimes.”
Fukudome and Nagashima are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Including Fukudome and Nagashima, 11 companies and 18 executives have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. To date, more than $874 million in criminal fines have been imposed and 14 individuals have been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve prison sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each. One other executive has agreed to serve time in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25, 2013.
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION PROBLEM OF AIR TRAINING IN AFGHANISTAN
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
ISAF Air Training Commander Describes 'Delicate Balance'
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Sept. 20, 2013 - The commander of NATO's Air Training Command Afghanistan admits that he has a public perception problem: while polls show Americans have largely dismissed the war in Afghanistan as an effort that's winding down, his mission is ramping up in size and complexity and in the number of obstacles encountered.
Air Force Brig. Gen. John E. Michel's command is responsible for training the Afghan air force, or as he puts it, building a minimum, sustainable air capability suited to Afghanistan's needs, terrain, development and resources.
While visiting here this week to attend an Air Force conference, Michel spoke to American Forces Press Service about the challenges his command faces in ramping up a training mission to last through 2017 as the rest of NATO's International Security Assistance Force looks to draw down troops by the end of next year.
He acknowledges that to accomplish his mission by December 2017, he'll need every advantage he can wring from dwindling war funds.
"It's very easy to lose this in translation, because most people don't realize [air trainers are] staying [in Afghanistan] until '17," he said. "The mindset is, 'We're done in '14,' and I got that, but the biggest challenge is just where we are in time and space. The story has shifted to another direction.
"Everyone else is leaving, and we're growing," he continued. "We're building an 8,000-person force that can do what they need for Afghanistan -- humanitarian [missions], basic intelligence, troop insertion, resupply [and] casualty evacuation."
Michel's coalition aircrews fly alongside their Afghan counterparts during training, combat and joint missions, conducting resupply, troop and passenger movements and casualty evacuation for the Afghan army. Coalition advisors also train in maintenance, logistics, finance and communications.
The Afghan air force is divided into three wings, located respectively in Kabul, Kandahar and Shindand. The command center is in Kabul, and the Shindand Air Base in Herat province is the main training area.
The Afghan air force's fleet eventually will include 58 Mi-17 transport helicopters, six Mi-35 attack helicopters, 20 C-208 turboprop airliners, four C-130 transport aircraft and 20 A-29 light attack aircraft. The training command staff that will grow in the next few years as Afghan air capabilities come online, Michel emphasized, will shrink as the Afghan force develops its own experts.
"We've got to go from 649 to 1,114 people," he said. That number will plateau for a time, and then gradually decline as Afghan air capabilities are ramped up, brought to sustainment and handed off, the general said.
Michel said the American people are the command's "stockholders," along with the coalition nations and the Afghans.
His trainers are "very good stewards of every dollar we spend, every person we bring in," Michel said. He and his staff use detailed charts that show growing Afghan air mission capability to brief NATO International Security Assistance Force leaders. They demonstrate the progress made and justify future effort, he said.
Fighting for funding is becoming familiar again in military circles, Michel said, noting the importance of what he views as a mission vital to U.S. and Afghan security.
"My goal is, 'Let's use data to keep us on the intellectual high ground, instead of being pulled to the emotional low ground,'" he said.
Partner commitment is as important as economic commitment in mission success, the general noted.
"There are things the U.S. Air Force cannot build in an Afghan air force, because those skills aren't requisite [to American needs]," he said. "Where are we going to get Mi-17 talent? Where's my Mi-35 talent? Who's going to turn wrenches?"
American pilots have learned to fly those Russian helicopters, Michel said, and the training command relies on ISAF coalition partners, including Croatia and Italy, to teach the Afghan force how to maintain and support them. But some partners are reluctant to pledge people or funds after the larger national security mission transition wraps up in 2014, he added, partly because of uncertainty over U.S. intentions in Afghanistan.
"There's a series of concerns, realistically," he said, listing partner questions about final troop numbers, funding and security concerns. All contribute to an environment in which partner nations postpone commitment, Michel said.
"So we've got this very perilous situation setting up that, without the coalition support -- if we don't get the right people ... for the right time frame -- then we'll have to start de-scaling capabilities," he added.
Among other metrics, Michel said, the charts his command keeps track growth in the Afghan air force's overall and detailed capabilities, using a green-yellow-red legend. Given the state of development the Afghan forces have achieved to date, he said, "if we stop [training] today, the only things they could sustain is what's green."
Those capabilities all are in the "air movement" category, and about halfway mature there, judging by the green-yellow chart pattern, he said. The yellow areas, he added, "where we are currently improving slowly, would immediately start to diffuse and be unsustainable. And then if it's red, we haven't started it yet."
Red areas on the chart include advanced combat capabilities such as close air support and close air attack, which now are mostly yellow.
Likewise, he said, the air training command is still building infrastructure which will continue through 2015 if current plans hold. It was just last month, he noted, that the Shindand Air Wing Training Complex opened, adding 32 facilities from aircraft hangars to flight simulators to Afghanistan's training inventory.
"But now there are pressures to potentially reduce infrastructure," Michel said, noting that a recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction drew media and congressional attention when it blasted an unused headquarters building that was built in Helmand for $34 million.
"Every [inspector general] report is killing us," he said.
The general emphasized that all new Afghan air force facilities will be designed for Afghanistan's needs and budgeted accordingly. But, he added, "if all of a sudden we change our minds on infrastructure, that significantly impacts our ability to build a sustainable air force."
Michel and his staff also are preparing for a scaling-back in funding on Kabul's part; he said the Afghan air force is projected to cost its government between $600 million and $620 million a year after coalition funding support ends.
"Let's look at their overall defense budget," he said. "Because of the Chicago accords, it's fixed at $4.1 billion. So as a percentage, 3.5 percent of the force -- their air force -- is going to, now, absorb as much as 15 to 20 percent of their budget."
Planning in true military fashion for likely contingencies, Michel said, he and his staff offered to plan force structure options at a number of funding levels for Afghan leaders.
"The smart thing to do is find efficiencies [and] recommend options," he said.
Synchronizing the systems and subsystems that are working toward a self-sustaining Afghan air force with its own training, command, maintenance and support systems requires a delicate balance, the general said.
"We think [what they can pay for] is the right question," he said. "Because we can go to the [Afghan] leadership and say, 'It is affordable, therefore it's sustainable.' ... They've got to steward their own resources when we leave. It's our job to create the conditions, and advise, and train."
ISAF Air Training Commander Describes 'Delicate Balance'
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Sept. 20, 2013 - The commander of NATO's Air Training Command Afghanistan admits that he has a public perception problem: while polls show Americans have largely dismissed the war in Afghanistan as an effort that's winding down, his mission is ramping up in size and complexity and in the number of obstacles encountered.
Air Force Brig. Gen. John E. Michel's command is responsible for training the Afghan air force, or as he puts it, building a minimum, sustainable air capability suited to Afghanistan's needs, terrain, development and resources.
While visiting here this week to attend an Air Force conference, Michel spoke to American Forces Press Service about the challenges his command faces in ramping up a training mission to last through 2017 as the rest of NATO's International Security Assistance Force looks to draw down troops by the end of next year.
He acknowledges that to accomplish his mission by December 2017, he'll need every advantage he can wring from dwindling war funds.
"It's very easy to lose this in translation, because most people don't realize [air trainers are] staying [in Afghanistan] until '17," he said. "The mindset is, 'We're done in '14,' and I got that, but the biggest challenge is just where we are in time and space. The story has shifted to another direction.
"Everyone else is leaving, and we're growing," he continued. "We're building an 8,000-person force that can do what they need for Afghanistan -- humanitarian [missions], basic intelligence, troop insertion, resupply [and] casualty evacuation."
Michel's coalition aircrews fly alongside their Afghan counterparts during training, combat and joint missions, conducting resupply, troop and passenger movements and casualty evacuation for the Afghan army. Coalition advisors also train in maintenance, logistics, finance and communications.
The Afghan air force is divided into three wings, located respectively in Kabul, Kandahar and Shindand. The command center is in Kabul, and the Shindand Air Base in Herat province is the main training area.
The Afghan air force's fleet eventually will include 58 Mi-17 transport helicopters, six Mi-35 attack helicopters, 20 C-208 turboprop airliners, four C-130 transport aircraft and 20 A-29 light attack aircraft. The training command staff that will grow in the next few years as Afghan air capabilities come online, Michel emphasized, will shrink as the Afghan force develops its own experts.
"We've got to go from 649 to 1,114 people," he said. That number will plateau for a time, and then gradually decline as Afghan air capabilities are ramped up, brought to sustainment and handed off, the general said.
Michel said the American people are the command's "stockholders," along with the coalition nations and the Afghans.
His trainers are "very good stewards of every dollar we spend, every person we bring in," Michel said. He and his staff use detailed charts that show growing Afghan air mission capability to brief NATO International Security Assistance Force leaders. They demonstrate the progress made and justify future effort, he said.
Fighting for funding is becoming familiar again in military circles, Michel said, noting the importance of what he views as a mission vital to U.S. and Afghan security.
"My goal is, 'Let's use data to keep us on the intellectual high ground, instead of being pulled to the emotional low ground,'" he said.
Partner commitment is as important as economic commitment in mission success, the general noted.
"There are things the U.S. Air Force cannot build in an Afghan air force, because those skills aren't requisite [to American needs]," he said. "Where are we going to get Mi-17 talent? Where's my Mi-35 talent? Who's going to turn wrenches?"
American pilots have learned to fly those Russian helicopters, Michel said, and the training command relies on ISAF coalition partners, including Croatia and Italy, to teach the Afghan force how to maintain and support them. But some partners are reluctant to pledge people or funds after the larger national security mission transition wraps up in 2014, he added, partly because of uncertainty over U.S. intentions in Afghanistan.
"There's a series of concerns, realistically," he said, listing partner questions about final troop numbers, funding and security concerns. All contribute to an environment in which partner nations postpone commitment, Michel said.
"So we've got this very perilous situation setting up that, without the coalition support -- if we don't get the right people ... for the right time frame -- then we'll have to start de-scaling capabilities," he added.
Among other metrics, Michel said, the charts his command keeps track growth in the Afghan air force's overall and detailed capabilities, using a green-yellow-red legend. Given the state of development the Afghan forces have achieved to date, he said, "if we stop [training] today, the only things they could sustain is what's green."
Those capabilities all are in the "air movement" category, and about halfway mature there, judging by the green-yellow chart pattern, he said. The yellow areas, he added, "where we are currently improving slowly, would immediately start to diffuse and be unsustainable. And then if it's red, we haven't started it yet."
Red areas on the chart include advanced combat capabilities such as close air support and close air attack, which now are mostly yellow.
Likewise, he said, the air training command is still building infrastructure which will continue through 2015 if current plans hold. It was just last month, he noted, that the Shindand Air Wing Training Complex opened, adding 32 facilities from aircraft hangars to flight simulators to Afghanistan's training inventory.
"But now there are pressures to potentially reduce infrastructure," Michel said, noting that a recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction drew media and congressional attention when it blasted an unused headquarters building that was built in Helmand for $34 million.
"Every [inspector general] report is killing us," he said.
The general emphasized that all new Afghan air force facilities will be designed for Afghanistan's needs and budgeted accordingly. But, he added, "if all of a sudden we change our minds on infrastructure, that significantly impacts our ability to build a sustainable air force."
Michel and his staff also are preparing for a scaling-back in funding on Kabul's part; he said the Afghan air force is projected to cost its government between $600 million and $620 million a year after coalition funding support ends.
"Let's look at their overall defense budget," he said. "Because of the Chicago accords, it's fixed at $4.1 billion. So as a percentage, 3.5 percent of the force -- their air force -- is going to, now, absorb as much as 15 to 20 percent of their budget."
Planning in true military fashion for likely contingencies, Michel said, he and his staff offered to plan force structure options at a number of funding levels for Afghan leaders.
"The smart thing to do is find efficiencies [and] recommend options," he said.
Synchronizing the systems and subsystems that are working toward a self-sustaining Afghan air force with its own training, command, maintenance and support systems requires a delicate balance, the general said.
"We think [what they can pay for] is the right question," he said. "Because we can go to the [Afghan] leadership and say, 'It is affordable, therefore it's sustainable.' ... They've got to steward their own resources when we leave. It's our job to create the conditions, and advise, and train."
PRESS STATEMENT ON TERRORIST ATTACK AT NAIROBI, KENYA SHOPPING MALL
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Terrorist Attack at Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
September 21, 2013
Today's terrorist massacre of so many innocents is a heartbreaking reminder that there exists unspeakable evil in our world which can destroy life in a senseless instant. I want to express my deepest condolences - and the condolences of our entire nation - to the families and friends of the victims in Nairobi today. While the casualty count is still to be determined, we know already that there are at least 30 innocent men, women, and children dead and 60 injured, including several American citizens. We have offered our assistance to the Government of Kenya and stand ready to help in any way we can.
Although we have no reports of any Americans killed today, we have lost a member of our own State Department family: the wife of a foreign service national working for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The men and women of USAID work courageously around the world to help people striving for a better life. While we mourn with her family today, we also pledge our commitment to do whatever we can to assist in bringing the perpetrators of this abhorrent violence to justice, and to continue our efforts to improve the lives of people across the globe.
Attacks like this can't change who we are, a people committed to peace and justice for all, but rather must reaffirm our determination to counter extremism and promote tolerance everywhere. As we prepare to bring the world's leaders together at the United Nations next week, we are reminded again in tragedy of our common humanity.
Terrorist Attack at Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
September 21, 2013
Today's terrorist massacre of so many innocents is a heartbreaking reminder that there exists unspeakable evil in our world which can destroy life in a senseless instant. I want to express my deepest condolences - and the condolences of our entire nation - to the families and friends of the victims in Nairobi today. While the casualty count is still to be determined, we know already that there are at least 30 innocent men, women, and children dead and 60 injured, including several American citizens. We have offered our assistance to the Government of Kenya and stand ready to help in any way we can.
Although we have no reports of any Americans killed today, we have lost a member of our own State Department family: the wife of a foreign service national working for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The men and women of USAID work courageously around the world to help people striving for a better life. While we mourn with her family today, we also pledge our commitment to do whatever we can to assist in bringing the perpetrators of this abhorrent violence to justice, and to continue our efforts to improve the lives of people across the globe.
Attacks like this can't change who we are, a people committed to peace and justice for all, but rather must reaffirm our determination to counter extremism and promote tolerance everywhere. As we prepare to bring the world's leaders together at the United Nations next week, we are reminded again in tragedy of our common humanity.
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