Wednesday, March 14, 2012
GENDER VIOLENCE AND HIV
The following excerpt is from a U.S. State Department e-mail:
New Initiative Responds to Gender-Based Violence as Part of Global HIV Response
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
March 14, 2012
On March 14 at the White House, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby announced a joint initiative to provide $4.65 million in small grants to grassroots organizations to address gender-based violence (GBV) issues. With funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the initiative supports programs that prevent and respond to GBV, with a link to HIV prevention, treatment and care. Grants of up to $100,000 for programs that leverage existing HIV/AIDS platforms will be awarded to organizations working in one of more than 80 PEPFAR countries. U.S. Embassies and Consulates will oversee and support these grants.
Addressing gender inequities and norms is essential to reducing the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV infection. One in three women worldwide will experience GBV in their lifetime, and in some countries, 70 percent of female populations are affected. Gender-based violence increases women and girls’ overall vulnerability to HIV, with country studies indicating an up to three-fold risk of HIV infection among women who experience violence. GBV also fosters the spread of HIV by limiting women’s ability to negotiate safe sexual practices, disclose HIV status and access services, due to fear of further violence. While women and girls are the most affected by GBV, men and boys are also victims of these abuses.
The U.S. Government, including the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) at the Department of State and the interagency PEPFAR initiative, is committed to advancing women’s health and rights, a core principle of the U.S. Global Health Initiative. Through the GBV small grants program, grassroots organizations will receive support to prevent and respond to GBV, helping to address the structural drivers of both violence and HIV. In addition, the grants will strengthen the capacity of such organizations to access other sources of funding. This will contribute to a longer-term effort to create an AIDS-free generation and societies free of violence, where women and men can realize their full potential. The State Department and sister agencies across the U.S. Government stand with partners across the globe in expressing American values by responding to the global GBV pandemic.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE SAYS PARTNERSHIP TESTED
T
he following excerpt is from a Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Panetta: Partnership Tested, Proven After Horrific Events
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 14, 2012 - Coalition forces are achieving their mission of helping Afghanistan transform its future, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told a multinational military throng here today.
Coalition forces in Regional Command Southwest include 11 nations' troops, and Panetta's audience included U.S. Marines and soldiers, as well as dozens of British, Jordanian, Afghan and other nations' service members.
Coalition forces in Regional Command Southwest include 11 nations' troops, and Panetta's audience included U.S. Marines and soldiers, as well as dozens of British, Jordanian, Afghan and other nations' service members.
Panetta addressed the hundreds of troops inside an echoing space created by what appeared to be an acre of vinyl draped over tubular steel framing, floored with concrete and filled with metal folding chairs.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of the partnership that we have," Panetta told the troops.
The 50 nations that make up the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force represent "probably the broadest and deepest military coalition we've seen in a long, long time," he said.
Those countries' military members are working with Afghan security forces "... trying to bring peace, justice, and ... security to Afghanistan," the secretary added.
They are working and fighting for a common cause, he said, "to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven" from which terrorists can launch attacks against other nations.
In working "shoulder-to-shoulder" to help build an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself, the secretary told the audience, they are helping to realize a dream that is often labeled American, but is common throughout the world -- a better life for the next generation.
"Achieving that dream depends on men and women who are willing to make the sacrifices, to step forward, to work with fellow citizens, and to forge a better, more secure life for our children," he said.
Coalition and Afghan forces alike have been tested time and again over a decade of war, and particularly over the last few weeks, he said.
"We've had protests and violence. We've had the burning of the Quran. ... We've had ISAF forces that have been ... murdered," Panetta said. "And last weekend we were shocked to learn about the tragic event ... in nearby Kandahar province that resulted in the death of so many Afghan civilians."
Those incidents are deeply troubling, but are not reflective of overall Afghan-coalition cooperation, he reiterated.
Enemy-initiated violence is trending down, Panetta said, and 2011 was a transitional year for the Afghanistan mission.
"All of you have the opportunity to make 2012 a decisive year in this campaign," he said.
Panetta touched down at Bastion Airfield here today for a two-day country visit that will take him from visiting troops and regional Afghan leaders in southern Afghanistan to high-level meetings in Kabul.
There, the secretary has meetings scheduled with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.
In a break with past practice, none of the forces -- including U.S. troops -- brought their weapons into the area where the secretary spoke. During past visits, Afghan forces would likely have been the only unarmed soldiers present, officials acknowledged.
U.S. officials said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, who two days ago took command of Regional Command Southwest, made the decision yesterday that none of the troops meeting the secretary would carry weapons, so all service members present would be on an equal footing.
A senior defense official traveling with the secretary said yesterday that Panetta's Afghanistan visit was planned long before a U.S. service member allegedly killed a reported 16 Afghan civilians March 11 near Kandahar. The secretary's planned itinerary has not changed since that "isolated criminal attack," the official added.
Panetta told reporters traveling with him that along with thanking coalition forces for their service, he will focus during this visit on strategic issues -- the overall campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida, the transition to Afghan security lead by the end of 2014, and the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan.
Panetta left Kyrgyzstan's capital city of Bishkek this morning and visited U.S. service members at the Manas transit center before flying here. All U.S. service members coming into or leaving Afghanistan pass through Manas en route.
SOLDIER ACCUSED OF CIVILIAN SHOOTING AIRLIFTED OUT OF AFGHANISTAN
The following excerpt is from the Department of Defense American Forces Press Service:
Military Flies Shooting Suspect Out of Afghanistan
By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 14, 2012 - The military today airlifted out of Afghanistan the U.S. soldier accused of going on a shooting rampage targeting Afghan civilians earlier this week, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Navy Capt. John Kirby, in an interview with Fox News at the Pentagon, confirmed that the soldier was flown out of Afghanistan. He declined to say where he is being held.
The soldier, whom the military has yet to identify, was taken out of Afghanistan because there was no appropriate place to detain him there, Kirby said.
"This is in accordance with our own regulations and policies to have him in a proper detention facility and to continue to be interviewed and cared for appropriately," he said. "So we've moved him to an appropriate detention facility outside the country."
Kirby agreed with a reporter's assessment that Afghans are "understandably livid" about the soldier being taken out of Afghanistan, but he said U.S. military officials have been in close contact with Afghan officials.
"We have kept Afghan authorities, all the way up to President [Hamid] Karzai, informed of this transfer," he said. "They know we're doing this, and they know why we're doing this."
Army officials have identified the suspect only as a noncommissioned officer. He is accused of leaving his base in Kandahar province in the middle of the night March 11 and shooting Afghans in their homes nearby. Afghan officials say 17 were killed.
It is Defense Department policy to release a suspect's name after charges have been levied against him. That has not yet occurred, Kirby said.
Because of the "heinous nature of the crimes, and the scope and magnitude of the devastation," the captain said, military officials don't want to rush investigators.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has told Karzai the investigation will be done rapidly, Kirby said. "But more important," he added, "it will be done thoroughly."
BIZJET INTERNATIONAL SETTLES BRIBERY CHARGES
The following excerpt is from the U.S. Department of Justice website:
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Bizjet International Sales and Support Inc., Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agrees to Pay $11.8 Million Criminal Penalty
WASHINGTON – BizJet International Sales and Support Inc., a provider of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services based in Tulsa, Okla., has agreed to pay an $11.8 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing government officials in Latin America to secure contracts to perform aircraft MRO services for government agencies, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.
The department filed a one-count criminal information today charging BizJet with conspiring to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions and a deferred prosecution agreement in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
According to court documents, BizJet paid bribes to officials employed by the Mexican Policia Federal Preventiva, the Mexican Coordinacion General de Transportes Aereos Presidenciales, the air fleet for the Gobierno del Estado de Sinaloa, the air fleet for the Gobierno del Estado de Sonora and the Republica de Panama Autoridad Aeronautica Civil. In many instances, BizJet paid the bribes directly to the foreign officials. In other instances, BizJet funneled the bribes through a shell company owned and operated by a BizJet sales manager. BizJet executives orchestrated, authorized and approved the unlawful payments.
Under the terms of the department’s agreement with BizJet, the department agreed to defer prosecution of BizJet for three years. In addition to the monetary penalty, BizJet agreed to cooperate with the department in ongoing investigations, to report periodically to the department concerning BizJet’s compliance efforts, and to continue to implement an enhanced compliance program and internal controls designed to prevent and detect FCPA violations. If BizJet abides by the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement, the department will dismiss the criminal information when the agreement’s term expires.
In addition, BizJet’s indirect parent company, Lufthansa Technik AG, itself a German provider of aircraft-related services, entered into an agreement with the department in connection with the unlawful payments by BizJet and its directors, officers, employees and agents. The department has agreed not to prosecute Lufthansa Technik provided that Lufthansa Technik satisfies its obligations under the agreement for a period of three years. Those obligations include ongoing cooperation and the continued implementation of rigorous internal controls.
The agreements acknowledge BizJet’s and Lufthansa Technik’s voluntary disclosure of the FCPA violations to the department and their extraordinary cooperation, including conducting an extensive internal investigation, voluntarily making U.S. and foreign employees available for interviews, and collecting, analyzing and organizing voluminous evidence and information for the department. In addition, BizJet and Lufthansa Technik engaged in extensive remediation, including terminating the officers and employees responsible for the corrupt payments, enhancing their due-diligence protocol for third-party agents and consultants, and heightening review of proposals and other transactional documents for all BizJet contracts.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Daniel S. Kahn and Stephen J. Spiegelhalter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Leitch from the Northern District of Oklahoma has provided assistance in the case. The department has also worked closely with its law-enforcement counterparts in Mexico and Panama in this matter and is grateful for their assistance. The ongoing investigation is being assisted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
SEC CHARGES FIVE INDIVIDUALS FOR INSIDER TRADING INVOLVING AN INTERNATIONAL MERGER
The following excerpt is from an SEC e-mail:
Washington, D.C., March 13, 2012 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two financial advisors and three others in their circle of family and friends with insider trading for more than $1.8 million in illicit profits based on confidential information about a Philadelphia-based insurance holding company’s merger negotiations with a Japanese firm.
The SEC alleges that Timothy J. McGee and Michael W. Zirinsky, who are registered representatives at Ameriprise Financial Services, illegally traded in the stock of Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. (PHLY) based on nonpublic information about the company’s impending merger with Tokio Marine Holdings. McGee obtained the inside information from a PHLY senior executive who was confiding in him through their relationship at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) about pressures he was confronting at work. McGee then purchased PHLY stock in advance of the merger announcement on July 23, 2008, and made a $292,128 profit when the stock price jumped 64 percent that day.
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, McGee tipped Zirinsky, who purchased PHLY stock in his own trading account as well as those of his wife, sister, mother, and grandmother. Zirinsky tipped his father Robert Zirinsky and his friend Paulo Lam, a Hong Kong resident who in turn tipped another friend whose wife Marianna sze wan Ho also traded on the nonpublic information. The Zirinsky family collectively obtained illegal profits of $562,673 through their insider trading. Lam made an illicit profit of $837,975 and Ho, also a Hong Kong resident, profited by $110,580.
Lam and Ho each agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and pay approximately $1.2 million and $140,000 respectively.
“McGee stole information shared with him in the utmost confidence, and as securities industry professionals he and Zirinsky clearly knew better,” said Elaine C. Greenberg, Associate Director of the SEC’s Philadelphia Regional Office. “As this case demonstrates, we will follow each link in a tipping chain all the way to Hong Kong if necessary.”
According to the SEC’s complaint, McGee met the PHLY executive at AA in 1999. By spring and early summer 2008, while the PHLY executive was participating in the merger negotiations and under significant pressure to ensure a successful sale, he and McGee had known each other for almost a decade and forged a close relationship in which they routinely shared confidences about each other’s personal lives and problems impacting them professionally. Their relationship eventually extended beyond AA as they occasionally trained together for triathlons, and McGee even suggested that the PHLY executive should invest his money with him because he knew his personal history. McGee, who lives in Malvern, Pa., assured the PHLY executive on many occasions that he would keep the information they discussed confidential.
The SEC alleges that in early July 2008, immediately after an AA meeting, the PHLY executive confided to McGee that he was under considerable pressure as a result of ongoing confidential negotiations to sell PHLY. In response, McGee expressed interest in the details of the PHLY sale and questioned him about the details of the impending deal. McGee learned that Tokio Marine would be the acquirer, the sale was getting close, and that the price would be approximately three times the book value of the company. McGee had successive conversations with the PHLY executive both face-to-face and by phone during this critical juncture of the negotiations. After learning about the impending merger on July 14, McGee entered an order for PHLY stock and bought additional shares on July 17, 18, and 22. McGee bought the majority of his PHLY stock on margin and funded the remaining purchases with sales of existing securities and money market funds. Two days after the public announcement, McGee sold approximately one-third of his PHLY stock and held the balance until the merger closed on December 1. Subsequent to the merger announcement, McGee admitted to the PHLY executive that he had traded on the basis of the confidential information told to him about the merger and made money as a result.
According to the SEC’s complaint, McGee has worked in the same office as Zirinsky for more than 15 years and they have become friends and business associates. McGee learned confidential information about the mergers and tipped Zirinsky with the details. For instance, after a brief conversation with the PHLY executive on July 16 at 5:09 p.m., McGee and Zirinsky spoke later that evening. The next morning at 8:26 a.m., McGee placed another call to the PHLY executive, and just several minutes after that conversation ended he called Zirinsky on his cell phone. Only seconds after that call between McGee and Zirinsky ended, Zirinsky attempted to reach his father at three different telephone numbers. He also called his sister. Later that morning, Zirinsky began purchasing PHLY stock in three of his Ameriprise accounts and the Ameriprise accounts of his wife, sister, mother, and grandmother. He also entered trades in IRA accounts held by his father and mother. Meanwhile, Robert Zirinsky, who lives in Quakertown, Pa., purchased additional shares of PHLY stock in an account at another broker. None of Michael Zirinsky’s family members had ever purchased PHLY shares prior to that day, when they bought more than $700,000 of stock in the company.
The SEC alleges that Zirinsky, who lives in Schwenksville, Pa., contacted Lam in Hong Kong via text message and two phone calls amid speaking with McGee on the morning of July 17. Within hours, Lam began buying shares in PHLY stock, which he had never previously owned. Lam also tipped a friend in Hong Kong, who is married to Marianna sze wan Ho. Shortly after that conversation, Ho made purchases of PHLY stock that were triple the value of any equities previously purchased in the account. She sold all of the PHLY shares on the day of the merger announcement.
The SEC’s complaint charges McGee, Michael Zirinsky, Robert Zirinsky, and Hong Kong residents Lam and Ho with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint also names as relief defendants Zirinsky’s wife Kellie Zirinsky, sister Jillynn Zirinsky, mother Geraldine Zirinsky, and grandmother Mary Zirinsky for the purpose of recovering the illegal profits in their trading accounts. The complaint seeks a final judgment ordering disgorgement of ill-gotten gains together with prejudgment interest from the defendants and relief defendants, and permanent injunctions and penalties against the defendants.
Of the various defendants, two individuals who received the tips, Lam and Ho, each agreed to settle the case, without admitting or denying the allegations, by disgorging all their illicit gains and paying a penalty, as well as agreeing to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining them from violating Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5. In particular, Lam agreed to pay $837,975 in disgorgement, $123,649 in prejudgment interest, and a penalty of $251,392. Ho has agreed to pay $110,580 in disgorgement, $16,317 in prejudgment interest, and a penalty of $16,587. The settlements are subject to court approval.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Philadelphia Regional Office enforcement staff Brendan P. McGlynn, Patricia A. Paw and Daniel L. Koster. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Scott A. Thompson, Nuriye C. Uygur, and G. Jeffrey Boujoukos.
The SEC acknowledges and appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry and Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANETTA FINDS VALUE IN KYRGYZSTAN TRANSIT CENTER
Panetta Cites Value of Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
American Forces Press Service
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, March 13, 2012 - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived here today on his first official visit to Kyrgyzstan, which is home to a transit center for all U.S. troops entering or leaving Afghanistan.
The Transit Center at Manas, near Kyrgyzstan's capital of Bishkek, is critical to the northern distribution network that funnels U.S. forces and equipment into Afghanistan, Panetta said.
That network has been "extremely important in recent months, since our [ground transit routes] have closed in Pakistan," the secretary added.
During his visit, Panetta is scheduled to meet with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambyev and Defense Minister Taalaybeck Omuraliev. The secretary also will visit U.S. troops at the transit center.
Panetta said he will thank the Kyrgyz leaders for their cooperation in allowing the United States to use the transit center and to ensure the relationship can continue into the future.
Officials traveling with Panetta said the Manas center has been the only air facility north of Afghanistan available to U.S. forces since 2001. A previous Kyrgyz administration threatened to oust the Americans in 2009, which led to some "pretty arduous negotiations" and a sharp increase in the amount the U.S. government pays for use of the facility, an official said. Before 2009, the payment was $17.4 million per year; it is now $60 million annually.
A senior defense official said that arrangement is in place through July 2014, and that the secretary will not negotiate any additional use of the facility on this trip. Rather, the official added, the visit is intended to underscore to the Kyrgyz government and to Atambyev, who was inaugurated in December, that the United States government views its relationship with Kyrgyzstan as central to Central Asian regional security.
In 2011, defense officials said, operations at the Transit Center at Manas included 4,800 air refueling sorties transferring 300 million pounds of fuel. The center also supported 3,500 aeromedical evacuations and managed a total flow of 580,000 air passengers traveling into or out of Afghanistan.
Deploying troops fly into Manas on commercial aircraft, then transfer to U.S. military "gray tail" planes for the final leg of their trip to Afghanistan, officials said.
DEVON ENERGY TO PAY NEARLY $3.5 MILLION TO RESOLVE ROYALTY UNDERPAYMENTS
The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Monday, March 12, 2012
Devon Energy to Pay U.S. $3.5 Million to Resolve Allegations of Royalty Underpayments from Federal and Indian Lands
Devon Energy Corporation and its affiliates have agreed to pay the United States $3,492,463 to resolve claims that PennzEnergy, a predecessor to Devon, violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian lands, the Justice Department announced today. Devon is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company with operations focused onshore in the United States and Canada.
PennzEnergy, formerly known as Pennzoil Company, was acquired by Devon in May 1999. Prior to the merger, PennzEnergy was involved in the production of natural gas from federal leases offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore in the Gulf Coast.
Congress has authorized federal and Indian lands to be leased for the production of natural gas in exchange for the payment of royalties on the value of the gas that is produced. Each month companies are required to report and pay to the U.S. Department of the Interior the amount of royalty that is due. This settlement resolves claims by the United States under the False Claims Act that PennzEnergy improperly deducted from royalty values costs associated with boosting gas up to pipeline pressures and failed to report and pay royalties on gas used to fuel boosting compressors.
“Natural gas royalties are an important source of income for the United States, Native Americans, and various states, and they help support critical programs from which we all benefit,” said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Through cases such as this, we continue to make certain that companies that lease public and Indian lands, and that extract non-renewable resources from those lands, pay their full share of royalties.”
“This settlement demonstrates that the Department remains committed to ensuring that energy companies accurately report production and pay the required royalties,” said Greg Gould, Interior’s Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources Revenue. Gould added that ONRR “will continue to pursue every dollar due to taxpayers and the Federal Government from extracting these precious natural resources from Federal and American Indian lands.”
The resolution of this matter is one of the last in a series of settlements arising out of qui tam, or whistleblower, litigation that has been pending for over a decade.
Today’s settlement arises from a lawsuit filed by Harrold Wright under the False Claims Act. Under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, private citizens may file actions on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. Because Mr. Wright is deceased, his heirs will receive $908,040.38 or 26 percent of the settlement.
The United States has intervened against Devon for the purpose of completing this settlement. The Department of Justice previously intervened against several other defendants in the Wrightlawsuit. Settlements in the case to date exceed $300 million. The claims in the complaint are merely allegations and do not constitute a determination of liability.
The investigation and settlement of this matter was jointly handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas and the Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resource Revenue, Office of the Solicitor and Office of the Inspector General.
NASA RELEASES NEW VIEW OF THE ORION NEBULA
This new view of the Orion Nebula highlights fledgling stars hidden in the gas and clouds. It shows infrared observations taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel mission, in which NASA plays an important role. Stars form as clumps of this gas and dust collapses, creating warm globs of material fed by an encircling disk. These dusty envelopes glow brightest at longer wavelengths, appearing as red dots in this image. In several hundred thousand years, some of the forming stars will accrete enough material to trigger nuclear fusion at their cores and then blaze into stardom. Spitzer is designed to see shorter infrared wavelengths than Herschel. By combining their observations, astronomers get a more complete picture of star formation. The colors in this image relate to the different wavelengths of light, and to the temperature of material, mostly dust, in this region of Orion. Data from Spitzer show warmer objects in blue, with progressively cooler dust appearing green and red in the Herschel datasets. The more evolved, hotter embryonic stars thus appear in blue. Infrared data at wavelengths of 8.0 and 24 microns from Spitzer are rendered in blue. Herschel data with wavelengths of 70 and 160 microns are represented in green and red, respectively. This image was released on Feb. 29, 2012. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/IRAM
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL SPEAKS ON SOMALI PIRACY
The following excerpt is from a U.S. State Department e-mail:
Somali Piracy
Remarks Andrew J. Shapiro
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Washington, DC
March 13, 2012
As prepared
Thank you Al for that introduction and for inviting me here today. I also want to thank the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the exceptional work that it does promoting U.S. business and for organizing this event on counter-piracy. This is an incredibly important issue to the United States, the international community, and to the global economy.
We live in an era of complex, integrated, and on-demand global supply chains. People in countries around the world depend on secure and reliable shipping lanes for their medicine, their food, their energy, and consumer goods. By preying on commercial ships in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, piracy off the Horn of Africa threatens more than just individual ships. Piracy threatens the life blood of the global economy, and therefore global security and stability.
Piracy is an issue in which the private sector, and the maritime industry in particular, are on the front lines. Commercial shipping vessels provide a constant stream of targets for Somali pirates. Over the years, thousands of crew members have been taken hostage and many in the maritime industry have lost their lives as a result of piracy. I have heard directly from the captains and crews of commercial ships about the harrowing situations they encounter as they transport the goods and merchandise that make the global economy function.
The challenge posed by piracy off the coast of Somalia is immense and represents a major threat to regional security and the global economy. As international action has been taken to address the challenge, the pirates have adapted. Flush from the money made from ransom payments, pirate operations have become more sophisticated. For instance, the use of so-called “mother-ships” has expanded greatly. Mother-ships are themselves pirated ships with hostage crews on board, making attacking or liberating these ships a significant challenge. Mother-ships launch and re-supply groups of pirates who use smaller, faster boats for attacks. They can carry dozens of pirates and tow many skiffs for multiple simultaneous attacks. This has made pirates more effective at operating in seasonal monsoons that previously restricted their activities. This has also extended the pirates’ reach far beyond the Somali Basin. Somali pirates now operate in a total sea space of approximately 2.5 million square nautical miles. To put that in context that’s roughly the size of the continental United States.
Piracy is a threat that this Administration has been working hard to address. In response, we have pursued a multilateral and multi-dimensional approach that focuses on security, deterrence, diplomacy, and prevention.
Security has increased through U.S. and multi-national naval escorts and patrols, which continue to escort convoys of commercial ships and patrol high risk waters. On any given day, up to 30 vessels from as many as 20 nations conduct counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and beyond. U.S. and international naval forces have thwarted pirate attacks in progress, engaged pirate skiffs and mother-ships, and successfully taken back hijacked ships during opposed boardings.
We have sought to deter piracy, through effective apprehension, prosecution and incarceration of pirates and their supporters and financiers. Today, over 1,000 pirates are in custody in some 20 countries around the world, many of whom have been convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Just last week the government of Seychelles accepted the handover from U.S. custody of 15 suspected Somali pirates for prosecution. These alleged-pirates were captured in early January when the U.S. Navy boarded an Iranian fishing vessel and rescued 13 Iranian mariners who were being held hostage. This ship was being used as a mother-ship from which to launch attacks on other vessels. Seychelles’ willingness to accept these pirates for prosecution demonstrates their strong commitment to combating piracy. They recognize the corrosive effect that pirates are having on the region and they are certainly punching far above their weight in the effort to address the problem. This case demonstrates the impact the United States and the international community is making in combating piracy.
But it is not just countries in the region that recognize the problem. We have also sought to rally the wider international community to address the problem posed by piracy. In January 2009, the United States helped establish the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, which now includes nearly 70 nations, international organizations, and maritime trade associations, including INTERTANKO, BIMCO, and the International Chamber of Shipping. The Contact Group has helped galvanize action and coordinate counter-piracy policy among its participants.
We are seeing signs that all of these efforts are having a positive effect. The numbers demonstrate this. In 2011, even though the number of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia increased slightly over 2010, the number of successful pirate attacks fell by nearly half. There has also been a significant drop in the numbers of ships and crew held hostage. In January 2011, pirates held 31 ships and 710 hostages. In early March of 2012 pirates held 8 ships and 213 hostages. This is still too many, but it is clear that progress is being made.
The role of the private sector has been critical. Perhaps the most significant factor in the decline of successful pirate attacks has been the steps taken by commercial vessels to prevent and deter attacks from happening in the first place. We have found that the best defense against piracy is vigilance on the part of the maritime industry. In the last few years, we have worked with industry in developing and implementing a variety of measures that are having a tremendous impact.
In response to the threat, the shipping industry has expanded its implementation of industry-developed “best management practices” to prevent pirate boardings before they take place. These guidelines were developed to identify self-protection measures that have proven successful in preventing boarding and seizure and enabling rescues by naval forces when boarded. They include practical measures, such as:
proceeding at full speed through high risk areas,
placing additional lookouts on watches,
using closed circuit television to monitor vulnerable areas,
employing physical barriers such as razor wire,
reporting positions to military authorities, and
mustering the crew inside a “citadel” or safe-room in the vessel.
These practices, when properly implemented, remain some of the most effective measures to protect against pirate attacks. Taken together these steps make a pirates job much harder and often give international naval vessels in the area time to respond. For instance, should a ship come under attack, razor wire can hinder pirates getting on deck. This gives a crew more time to get to a citadel inside the vessel and to notify international navies of an attack. A citadel is essentially a hardened room within the ship that is usually equipped with food and water, communications equipment, and an emergency capability to shut down the ship’s engine. It is designed and constructed to be incredibly difficult for a pirate to break into. Additionally, once the entire crew is secure inside the citadel, the captain can notify international navies that all crew are accounted for. This is invaluable information for a potential rescue mission. Properly employed best management practices are therefore making the work of pirates even harder and as a result are contributing to a declining rate in successful attacks.
Recognizing the value of these measures, the U.S. government has required U.S.-flagged vessels sailing in designated high-risk waters to take additional security measures. This includes having extra lookouts and extra communications equipment, as well as being prepared at all times to evade or resist pirate boarding. Nevertheless, we are troubled by the fact that there are commercial ships travelling in pirate-infested areas that have still not implemented these recommended security measures. Some in the shipping industry have been unwilling make basic investments that would render their crews and cargoes less vulnerable to attack. Approximately 20 percent of all ships off the Horn of Africa are not employing best management practices or taking proper security precautions. Unsurprisingly, these 20 percent account for the overwhelming number of successfully pirated ships. We have intensified our efforts to encourage commercial vessels to adopt best management practices. And I encourage anyone in industry to take proper precautions to protect their crews and their cargoes by implementing these practices.
Yet we must also recognize that best management practices do not guarantee security from pirates. Pirates operate in too large of an area for naval forces to respond quickly. The reality is that international naval forces simply might not be there to respond. The problem of piracy is one that can’t simply be solved by national governments. Therefore, we have also supported industry’s use of additional measures to ensure their security – such as the employment of armed security teams. To date, not a single ship with Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel aboard has been pirated.Not a single one.
These teams serve as a potential game-changer in the effort to counter-piracy. This is because – and as anyone in the Navy or Marines can tell you – one of the most difficult combat maneuvers to undertake is to board a ship when coming under fire. While many expected these teams to be made up of undisciplined “cowboys” that would increase the violence at sea, from what we have gathered and observed the opposite has happened. We have not seen cases of pitched battles at sea between armed security teams and pirates attempting to board under fire. In fact, in most engagements between armed security teams and pirates, the situation ends as soon as pirates are aware these teams are on board. We have found these teams to be highly professional. In most cases, as pirates approach a ship the armed security teams will use flares or loudspeakers to warn the pirates. If the pirates keep coming, they will fire warning shots. That is usually when the interaction ends. Pirates break off the attack and turn their skiffs around and wait for another less protected target.
At the State Department, we have encouraged countries to permit commercial vessels to carry armed teams. However, we do note that this is a new area, in which some practices, procedures, and regulations are still being developed. We are working through the Contact Group and the International Maritime Organization or IMO on these issues. For instance, we have advised that armed security teams be placed under the full command of the captain of the ship. The captain then is in control of the situation and is the one to authorize the use of any force. Last September, we were encouraged to see language adopted by the IMO that revised the guidance to both flag States and ship operators and owners to establish the ship’s master as being in command of these teams.
There have been some logistical and technical issues that have arisen with armed security teams – particularly relating to weapons licensing and the transit of these teams through third countries. The United States regularly works with other governments to help resolve questions on weapons licensing to facilitate compliance with the laws of individual port States as related to firearms transfer. We engage through the Contact Group and the IMO to encourage all port and coastal States to adopt legislation that is conducive to smooth, facilitated movements of security team firearms and equipment. Currently, some States present challenges in this regard by requiring transfer to a third party while a vessel is moored in a port. Others impose fee schedules that directly charge against the presence of these weapons. In response, we have demarched port and coastal States and let them know that U.S. vessels may have firearms onboard and we request that these teams and their firearms be facilitated under applicable laws. We have also worked with the Coast Guard and Department of Transportation at the IMO and through the Contact Group to further encourage port and coastal States to develop regulations that facilitate the use of these teams aboard commercial vessels. We are working hand in glove with industry in all these endeavors to ensure these teams are both properly regulated and properly equipped.
While we are seeing progress, hijackings are still taking place. When a vessel is successfully hijacked, our foremost concern is always the safety of the crew, regardless of nationality. The U.S. government is acutely aware of the dilemma that ship owners face when ships and sailors are taken hostage. While the safety of the crew is critical, industry must face the fact that submitting to pirate ransom demands only ensures that future crews will be taken hostage. A vicious cycle has formed where ever-rising ransom payments have not just spurred additional pirate activity, but have also enabled pirates to increase their operational capabilities and sophistication. The average ransom is now at $4 million per incident and has reached as much as $12 million. Ransoms paid in 2011 totaled $135 million. Piracy, as a result, has gone from a fairly ad hoc disorganized criminal endeavor to a highly developed transnational criminal enterprise. In short, they have developed a successful business model that is hard to break.
The United States has a long tradition of opposing the payment of ransom, and we have worked diligently to discourage or minimize ransoms. But many governments and private entities are paying, often too quickly, serving to reinforce this cycle and incentivizing future hostage-taking. While some may consider this the cost of doing business, every ransom paid further institutionalizes the practice of hostage-taking for profit and promotes its expansion as a criminal enterprise both at sea and on land.
The issue of ransoms is no doubt an emotional one for all involved – especially the families and friends of those who are hijacked. And we recognize the unease within industry that believes government involvement will only prolong the hostage situation and increase the cost of the hijacking. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage flag states, shipowners and private parties involved in hostage crises to seek assistance from appropriate U.S. government sources in their crisis management procedures. Continued cooperation between industry and government and, most importantly, the mutual exchange of information is critical.
The American maritime industry should also know that this Administration will do everything it can to ensure the safety and security of American citizens threatened by pirates. This Administration has taken bold aggressive action when necessary, such as the rescue of the captain of the MAERSK ALABAMA in 2009 and the rescue of an American hostage and a Danish hostage in January of this year. The United States has also actively prosecuted pirates involved in attacks on U.S. vessels. To date, that totals 28 persons involved in several attacks.
Our approach to combating piracy has also taken on new dimensions. In the effort to combat piracy, we are now targeting pirate ringleaders and their networks. While expanding security and prosecuting and incarcerating pirates captured at sea is essential, we also recognize that the pirates captured at sea are often low-level operatives. Their leaders and facilitators are ashore in Somalia and elsewhere relatively unaffected. After an intensive review of our strategy, Secretary Clinton last year approved a series of recommendations which, taken together, constitute a new strategic approach. A focus on pirate networks is at the heart of our strategy.
Pirate organizers receive income both from investors and ransom payments, and disburse a portion of the proceeds of ransoms back to these investors as well as to the pirates who actually hijack the ships and hold the crews hostage. We intend to use all of the tools at our disposal in order to disrupt piracy financial flows and to identify and apprehend those who lead the pirate enterprise. We are seeking to make the business model of pirate leaders and facilitators untenable. We are making progress, as the United States has indicted and is prosecuting in the United States two alleged Somali pirate negotiators.
But it’s not just governments that need to work together to target pirate networks. This effort also depends on effective cooperation with the private sector. The United States is working to enhance cooperation between law enforcement and the maritime industry. When a hostage-taking occurs, industry can share information relating to the pirate negotiators and their negotiation tactics. This can help intelligence and law enforcement officials expand their understanding of how the pirate networks operate, which can help them in their efforts to indict and prosecute these criminals.
Progress is being made here as well. A sub-group of officials from the Contact Group recently met with shippers, insurers, and lawyers in London this past January to encourage them to regularly share information about piracy collected during hijackings. The United States also participated in a follow-on meeting with industry representatives earlier this month at the Italian Embassy here in Washington. The meeting helped demonstrate to industry the value of INTERPOL’s piracy database, which is collecting information relating to piracy suspects and attacks hijackings. This database enables law enforcement agencies worldwide to share information and is facilitating piracy investigations, resulting in an increase in piracy-related prosecutions worldwide. Additionally, the Department of the Treasury will provide industry with an overview of the enforcement process for Executive Order 13536, which targets the property of persons contributing to conflict in Somalia, and will help answer questions that industry has about this order.
In closing, while we are making important gains in combating piracy, this does not diminish the number of challenges going forward. Pirates may be having less success at sea, but this is unlikely to sap their motivation to continue seeking out new hostages for ransom. The enormous ransoms that are paid out make the kidnapping-for-ransom industry incredibly lucrative – and lucrative industries fight hard to stay in business. Indeed, the number of attempted attacks has actually risen over the last year, despite the declining number of successful attacks. Additionally, the capacity and willingness to prosecute and incarcerate pirates is limited. Our successes at sea are putting more strain on the prison systems in the region and prison capacity in the region is getting stretched. It is imperative that more nations step forward to prosecute and pirates who have been caught attacking vessels that are flagged, owned and crewed by citizens of their countries.
The greatest challenge however remains on land. The only long-term solution to piracy is the re-establishment of stability and adequate governance in Somalia. At the February 23 Somalia conference in London, Secretary Clinton once again declared the United States’ commitment to working with the international community in this effort.
But recognizing the challenges ashore does not exclude progress at sea. While there is no simple solution to modern-day piracy, we are making headway in mitigating the threats posed by piracy off the coast of Somalia. The progress that has been achieved is rooted in the close partnership that has been established between this Administration and the private sector in the counter-piracy effort. Piracy continues to pose a severe threat to the maritime industry, global trade and therefore the entire global economy. This means that governments and industry will need to continue to work hand-in-glove to address this problem. We look forward to working with you to make even more progress in the months and years ahead.
With that I will be glad to take your questions.
Somali Piracy
Remarks Andrew J. Shapiro
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Washington, DC
March 13, 2012
As prepared
Thank you Al for that introduction and for inviting me here today. I also want to thank the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the exceptional work that it does promoting U.S. business and for organizing this event on counter-piracy. This is an incredibly important issue to the United States, the international community, and to the global economy.
We live in an era of complex, integrated, and on-demand global supply chains. People in countries around the world depend on secure and reliable shipping lanes for their medicine, their food, their energy, and consumer goods. By preying on commercial ships in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, piracy off the Horn of Africa threatens more than just individual ships. Piracy threatens the life blood of the global economy, and therefore global security and stability.
Piracy is an issue in which the private sector, and the maritime industry in particular, are on the front lines. Commercial shipping vessels provide a constant stream of targets for Somali pirates. Over the years, thousands of crew members have been taken hostage and many in the maritime industry have lost their lives as a result of piracy. I have heard directly from the captains and crews of commercial ships about the harrowing situations they encounter as they transport the goods and merchandise that make the global economy function.
The challenge posed by piracy off the coast of Somalia is immense and represents a major threat to regional security and the global economy. As international action has been taken to address the challenge, the pirates have adapted. Flush from the money made from ransom payments, pirate operations have become more sophisticated. For instance, the use of so-called “mother-ships” has expanded greatly. Mother-ships are themselves pirated ships with hostage crews on board, making attacking or liberating these ships a significant challenge. Mother-ships launch and re-supply groups of pirates who use smaller, faster boats for attacks. They can carry dozens of pirates and tow many skiffs for multiple simultaneous attacks. This has made pirates more effective at operating in seasonal monsoons that previously restricted their activities. This has also extended the pirates’ reach far beyond the Somali Basin. Somali pirates now operate in a total sea space of approximately 2.5 million square nautical miles. To put that in context that’s roughly the size of the continental United States.
Piracy is a threat that this Administration has been working hard to address. In response, we have pursued a multilateral and multi-dimensional approach that focuses on security, deterrence, diplomacy, and prevention.
Security has increased through U.S. and multi-national naval escorts and patrols, which continue to escort convoys of commercial ships and patrol high risk waters. On any given day, up to 30 vessels from as many as 20 nations conduct counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and beyond. U.S. and international naval forces have thwarted pirate attacks in progress, engaged pirate skiffs and mother-ships, and successfully taken back hijacked ships during opposed boardings.
We have sought to deter piracy, through effective apprehension, prosecution and incarceration of pirates and their supporters and financiers. Today, over 1,000 pirates are in custody in some 20 countries around the world, many of whom have been convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Just last week the government of Seychelles accepted the handover from U.S. custody of 15 suspected Somali pirates for prosecution. These alleged-pirates were captured in early January when the U.S. Navy boarded an Iranian fishing vessel and rescued 13 Iranian mariners who were being held hostage. This ship was being used as a mother-ship from which to launch attacks on other vessels. Seychelles’ willingness to accept these pirates for prosecution demonstrates their strong commitment to combating piracy. They recognize the corrosive effect that pirates are having on the region and they are certainly punching far above their weight in the effort to address the problem. This case demonstrates the impact the United States and the international community is making in combating piracy.
But it is not just countries in the region that recognize the problem. We have also sought to rally the wider international community to address the problem posed by piracy. In January 2009, the United States helped establish the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, which now includes nearly 70 nations, international organizations, and maritime trade associations, including INTERTANKO, BIMCO, and the International Chamber of Shipping. The Contact Group has helped galvanize action and coordinate counter-piracy policy among its participants.
We are seeing signs that all of these efforts are having a positive effect. The numbers demonstrate this. In 2011, even though the number of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia increased slightly over 2010, the number of successful pirate attacks fell by nearly half. There has also been a significant drop in the numbers of ships and crew held hostage. In January 2011, pirates held 31 ships and 710 hostages. In early March of 2012 pirates held 8 ships and 213 hostages. This is still too many, but it is clear that progress is being made.
The role of the private sector has been critical. Perhaps the most significant factor in the decline of successful pirate attacks has been the steps taken by commercial vessels to prevent and deter attacks from happening in the first place. We have found that the best defense against piracy is vigilance on the part of the maritime industry. In the last few years, we have worked with industry in developing and implementing a variety of measures that are having a tremendous impact.
In response to the threat, the shipping industry has expanded its implementation of industry-developed “best management practices” to prevent pirate boardings before they take place. These guidelines were developed to identify self-protection measures that have proven successful in preventing boarding and seizure and enabling rescues by naval forces when boarded. They include practical measures, such as:
proceeding at full speed through high risk areas,
placing additional lookouts on watches,
using closed circuit television to monitor vulnerable areas,
employing physical barriers such as razor wire,
reporting positions to military authorities, and
mustering the crew inside a “citadel” or safe-room in the vessel.
These practices, when properly implemented, remain some of the most effective measures to protect against pirate attacks. Taken together these steps make a pirates job much harder and often give international naval vessels in the area time to respond. For instance, should a ship come under attack, razor wire can hinder pirates getting on deck. This gives a crew more time to get to a citadel inside the vessel and to notify international navies of an attack. A citadel is essentially a hardened room within the ship that is usually equipped with food and water, communications equipment, and an emergency capability to shut down the ship’s engine. It is designed and constructed to be incredibly difficult for a pirate to break into. Additionally, once the entire crew is secure inside the citadel, the captain can notify international navies that all crew are accounted for. This is invaluable information for a potential rescue mission. Properly employed best management practices are therefore making the work of pirates even harder and as a result are contributing to a declining rate in successful attacks.
Recognizing the value of these measures, the U.S. government has required U.S.-flagged vessels sailing in designated high-risk waters to take additional security measures. This includes having extra lookouts and extra communications equipment, as well as being prepared at all times to evade or resist pirate boarding. Nevertheless, we are troubled by the fact that there are commercial ships travelling in pirate-infested areas that have still not implemented these recommended security measures. Some in the shipping industry have been unwilling make basic investments that would render their crews and cargoes less vulnerable to attack. Approximately 20 percent of all ships off the Horn of Africa are not employing best management practices or taking proper security precautions. Unsurprisingly, these 20 percent account for the overwhelming number of successfully pirated ships. We have intensified our efforts to encourage commercial vessels to adopt best management practices. And I encourage anyone in industry to take proper precautions to protect their crews and their cargoes by implementing these practices.
Yet we must also recognize that best management practices do not guarantee security from pirates. Pirates operate in too large of an area for naval forces to respond quickly. The reality is that international naval forces simply might not be there to respond. The problem of piracy is one that can’t simply be solved by national governments. Therefore, we have also supported industry’s use of additional measures to ensure their security – such as the employment of armed security teams. To date, not a single ship with Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel aboard has been pirated.Not a single one.
These teams serve as a potential game-changer in the effort to counter-piracy. This is because – and as anyone in the Navy or Marines can tell you – one of the most difficult combat maneuvers to undertake is to board a ship when coming under fire. While many expected these teams to be made up of undisciplined “cowboys” that would increase the violence at sea, from what we have gathered and observed the opposite has happened. We have not seen cases of pitched battles at sea between armed security teams and pirates attempting to board under fire. In fact, in most engagements between armed security teams and pirates, the situation ends as soon as pirates are aware these teams are on board. We have found these teams to be highly professional. In most cases, as pirates approach a ship the armed security teams will use flares or loudspeakers to warn the pirates. If the pirates keep coming, they will fire warning shots. That is usually when the interaction ends. Pirates break off the attack and turn their skiffs around and wait for another less protected target.
At the State Department, we have encouraged countries to permit commercial vessels to carry armed teams. However, we do note that this is a new area, in which some practices, procedures, and regulations are still being developed. We are working through the Contact Group and the International Maritime Organization or IMO on these issues. For instance, we have advised that armed security teams be placed under the full command of the captain of the ship. The captain then is in control of the situation and is the one to authorize the use of any force. Last September, we were encouraged to see language adopted by the IMO that revised the guidance to both flag States and ship operators and owners to establish the ship’s master as being in command of these teams.
There have been some logistical and technical issues that have arisen with armed security teams – particularly relating to weapons licensing and the transit of these teams through third countries. The United States regularly works with other governments to help resolve questions on weapons licensing to facilitate compliance with the laws of individual port States as related to firearms transfer. We engage through the Contact Group and the IMO to encourage all port and coastal States to adopt legislation that is conducive to smooth, facilitated movements of security team firearms and equipment. Currently, some States present challenges in this regard by requiring transfer to a third party while a vessel is moored in a port. Others impose fee schedules that directly charge against the presence of these weapons. In response, we have demarched port and coastal States and let them know that U.S. vessels may have firearms onboard and we request that these teams and their firearms be facilitated under applicable laws. We have also worked with the Coast Guard and Department of Transportation at the IMO and through the Contact Group to further encourage port and coastal States to develop regulations that facilitate the use of these teams aboard commercial vessels. We are working hand in glove with industry in all these endeavors to ensure these teams are both properly regulated and properly equipped.
While we are seeing progress, hijackings are still taking place. When a vessel is successfully hijacked, our foremost concern is always the safety of the crew, regardless of nationality. The U.S. government is acutely aware of the dilemma that ship owners face when ships and sailors are taken hostage. While the safety of the crew is critical, industry must face the fact that submitting to pirate ransom demands only ensures that future crews will be taken hostage. A vicious cycle has formed where ever-rising ransom payments have not just spurred additional pirate activity, but have also enabled pirates to increase their operational capabilities and sophistication. The average ransom is now at $4 million per incident and has reached as much as $12 million. Ransoms paid in 2011 totaled $135 million. Piracy, as a result, has gone from a fairly ad hoc disorganized criminal endeavor to a highly developed transnational criminal enterprise. In short, they have developed a successful business model that is hard to break.
The United States has a long tradition of opposing the payment of ransom, and we have worked diligently to discourage or minimize ransoms. But many governments and private entities are paying, often too quickly, serving to reinforce this cycle and incentivizing future hostage-taking. While some may consider this the cost of doing business, every ransom paid further institutionalizes the practice of hostage-taking for profit and promotes its expansion as a criminal enterprise both at sea and on land.
The issue of ransoms is no doubt an emotional one for all involved – especially the families and friends of those who are hijacked. And we recognize the unease within industry that believes government involvement will only prolong the hostage situation and increase the cost of the hijacking. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage flag states, shipowners and private parties involved in hostage crises to seek assistance from appropriate U.S. government sources in their crisis management procedures. Continued cooperation between industry and government and, most importantly, the mutual exchange of information is critical.
The American maritime industry should also know that this Administration will do everything it can to ensure the safety and security of American citizens threatened by pirates. This Administration has taken bold aggressive action when necessary, such as the rescue of the captain of the MAERSK ALABAMA in 2009 and the rescue of an American hostage and a Danish hostage in January of this year. The United States has also actively prosecuted pirates involved in attacks on U.S. vessels. To date, that totals 28 persons involved in several attacks.
Our approach to combating piracy has also taken on new dimensions. In the effort to combat piracy, we are now targeting pirate ringleaders and their networks. While expanding security and prosecuting and incarcerating pirates captured at sea is essential, we also recognize that the pirates captured at sea are often low-level operatives. Their leaders and facilitators are ashore in Somalia and elsewhere relatively unaffected. After an intensive review of our strategy, Secretary Clinton last year approved a series of recommendations which, taken together, constitute a new strategic approach. A focus on pirate networks is at the heart of our strategy.
Pirate organizers receive income both from investors and ransom payments, and disburse a portion of the proceeds of ransoms back to these investors as well as to the pirates who actually hijack the ships and hold the crews hostage. We intend to use all of the tools at our disposal in order to disrupt piracy financial flows and to identify and apprehend those who lead the pirate enterprise. We are seeking to make the business model of pirate leaders and facilitators untenable. We are making progress, as the United States has indicted and is prosecuting in the United States two alleged Somali pirate negotiators.
But it’s not just governments that need to work together to target pirate networks. This effort also depends on effective cooperation with the private sector. The United States is working to enhance cooperation between law enforcement and the maritime industry. When a hostage-taking occurs, industry can share information relating to the pirate negotiators and their negotiation tactics. This can help intelligence and law enforcement officials expand their understanding of how the pirate networks operate, which can help them in their efforts to indict and prosecute these criminals.
Progress is being made here as well. A sub-group of officials from the Contact Group recently met with shippers, insurers, and lawyers in London this past January to encourage them to regularly share information about piracy collected during hijackings. The United States also participated in a follow-on meeting with industry representatives earlier this month at the Italian Embassy here in Washington. The meeting helped demonstrate to industry the value of INTERPOL’s piracy database, which is collecting information relating to piracy suspects and attacks hijackings. This database enables law enforcement agencies worldwide to share information and is facilitating piracy investigations, resulting in an increase in piracy-related prosecutions worldwide. Additionally, the Department of the Treasury will provide industry with an overview of the enforcement process for Executive Order 13536, which targets the property of persons contributing to conflict in Somalia, and will help answer questions that industry has about this order.
In closing, while we are making important gains in combating piracy, this does not diminish the number of challenges going forward. Pirates may be having less success at sea, but this is unlikely to sap their motivation to continue seeking out new hostages for ransom. The enormous ransoms that are paid out make the kidnapping-for-ransom industry incredibly lucrative – and lucrative industries fight hard to stay in business. Indeed, the number of attempted attacks has actually risen over the last year, despite the declining number of successful attacks. Additionally, the capacity and willingness to prosecute and incarcerate pirates is limited. Our successes at sea are putting more strain on the prison systems in the region and prison capacity in the region is getting stretched. It is imperative that more nations step forward to prosecute and pirates who have been caught attacking vessels that are flagged, owned and crewed by citizens of their countries.
The greatest challenge however remains on land. The only long-term solution to piracy is the re-establishment of stability and adequate governance in Somalia. At the February 23 Somalia conference in London, Secretary Clinton once again declared the United States’ commitment to working with the international community in this effort.
But recognizing the challenges ashore does not exclude progress at sea. While there is no simple solution to modern-day piracy, we are making headway in mitigating the threats posed by piracy off the coast of Somalia. The progress that has been achieved is rooted in the close partnership that has been established between this Administration and the private sector in the counter-piracy effort. Piracy continues to pose a severe threat to the maritime industry, global trade and therefore the entire global economy. This means that governments and industry will need to continue to work hand-in-glove to address this problem. We look forward to working with you to make even more progress in the months and years ahead.
With that I will be glad to take your questions.
DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS WILL CONTROL HOSTILE CROWDS
The following picture and excerpt are from the Department of Defense American Forces Press Service:
DOD Demonstrates Nonlethal, Directed-energy Prototypes
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 12, 2012 - A state-of-the-art millimeter-wave system developed by the Joint Non-lethal Weapons Directorate gives warfighters something more persuasive than shouting but less harmful than shooting when dealing with potentially hostile crowds, Defense Department experts said during a recent demonstration.
At a training area on Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia, members of the media gathered March 9 to watch two prototype active-denial systems -- one built onto a heavy expanded-mobility tactical truck, the other onto a Humvee -- deliver a man-sized heat beam to officials and experts, then to service members pretending to be angry protestors, then to fearless volunteers.
The beam, from the same millimeter-wave technology used in airport body scanners, penetrates only 1/64th of an inch into a person's skin and cornea, heating water molecules in the tissue and generating an instinctive and irresistible urge to run from the effect.
"For our forces out there operating in uncertain situations, what it gives them is decision time -- time to decide if there's a real threat without using lethal means," said Marine Corps Col. Tracy Tafolla, director of the Joint Non-lethal Weapons Directorate.
"You're not going to hear it, you're not going to smell it, you're going to feel it, and that provides us with some advantages we can use," he said.
Stephanie Miller, chief of the radio frequency bioeffects branch for the Air Force Research Laboratory, said the frequency used in the active denial system is 95 gigahertz.
"Our lab has studied ... how much energy it takes to produce the repel response of running away from the beam, how much energy to produce a blink response, which protects the eye, and then on the flip side of that, how much energy would it take to produce some form of injury, whether that's eye irritation or a skin blister," she said. "We understand what the safety margins are, and in fact, these systems have been designed so that you can't put enough energy on the surface of the eye in the time it takes a person to blink to cause damage to the eye."
Miller's group also worked with scientists at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to make sure the beam doesn't initiate skin cancer or make an existing cancer worse. And effects from the beam are temporary, she said.
"If you open a hot oven and you get a blast of heat, your skin may feel a little tingly, a little tender," Miller said, explaining that's how the beam makes people feel for 10 to 15 minutes.
The technology may be state-of-the-art, but it's not new. Tafolla said that it's nearly 18 years old, and Diana Loree, assistant chief scientist for the Air Force Research Laboratory's directed-energy directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., explained how it works.
Each truck carries all the electrical generators and thermal systems the transmitters need, operator station included, independent of any grid, Loree said, calling it "a very simple piece of equipment."
From the equipment built onto the truck, a high-powered vacuum called a gyrotron turns electricity into radio frequency waves and heat, and water systems in the equipment absorb this excess heat.
"So the electromagnetic wave is created by that gyrotron and then is fed through a series of mirrors that illuminate a reflector antenna -- it's bouncing there and getting shape and then bouncing off a main aperture and coming downrange," Loree said.
The beam goes in the direction that the operator is pointing, she said, adding that the operators have a simple set of controls. "They have several day/night cameras that look through the middle of the invisible beam so they know what they're targeting," she said, "and there's a simple touch-screen operation."
The transmitter, Loree said, is 100 times the power of a standard microwave oven. "I can't pop a bag of popcorn with that 100-times-the-power transmitter, because the radio frequency is not penetrating deep enough to internally heat the material."
Susan LeVine, principal deputy for policy and strategy in the Joint Non-lethal Weapons Directorate, said the nonlethal weapons program is a joint operation.
"Our office is headed by a Marine Corps colonel, but he is in a joint billet and within our office we have all the services represented," she said. "As part of being the executive agent for nonlethal weapons, we have a research and development budget and we use that funding to sponsor research all across the Defense Department, across all the services. One of the programs that we've been funding is the active denial system, which has been led by the Air Force Research Laboratory."
Military utility assessments have been conducted at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., for entry control point scenarios; Fort Benning, Ga., for more urban scenarios; and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., firing from the beach on personnel on a Coast Guard vessel to show maritime applications.
The objective of joint concept technology demonstrations, which developed the active denial prototypes, "is to rapidly take promising technology and assemble it in a configuration" so that it can be used and evaluated, she said.
The "trigger point" for the technology to be used, LeVine said, involves service requirements and a service decision to further develop it and field it.
U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL SPEAKS ON OPEN GOVERNEMENT
Monday, March 12, 2012
The following excerpt is form the U.S. Department of Justice website:
Thank you, Melanie [Pustay], for your kind words, and for your outstanding leadership of the work that we highlight – and celebrate – during Sunshine Week. Since we gathered for this event last year, you and your team in the Office of Information Policy have continued to advance the Administration’s – and the Justice Department’s – open government goals. And you’ve signaled our ongoing commitment to integrity, accountability, and transparency.
Thank you all for your dedication to this work – and for everything you’ve done to organize today’s program and the rest of this week’s events. I also want to thank each of today’s participants – especially, our distinguished guest speakers – for sharing your perspectives and expertise with us this afternoon.
Today and throughout the week, we have an important opportunity to showcase and celebrate the progress that’s been made here at the Department – and all across the federal government – in realizing the promise of the Freedom of Information Act, and making good on what President Obama has called “a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government.”
This commitment – and the unprecedented efforts that we’ve launched to fulfill it – underscores the sacred bond of trust that must always exist between the government and all those we are privileged to serve. This is what drove the President – on his first full day in office – to call upon the Department of Justice to guide other agencies in the faithful implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, and to ensure compliance with both the letter – and the spirit – of this law.
In response, three years ago this week, I issued a memorandum to federal department and agency heads mandating changes in the way we approach, release, and distribute information. Since then, these guidelines have shifted the way our entire federal government operates. They’ve established a presumption of openness. And they have led agencies to manage the FOIA process more efficiently and effectively.
As a result, we’ve made meaningful, measurable progress in improving the way our Department – and its partners and counterparts – respond to disclosure requests. Thanks to Melanie’s outstanding team – and many others here today – we’ve developed promising new initiatives and improved current FOIA processes. In fact, for the second year in a row, the Department has achieved a release rate of more than 94 percent of requests where records were processed for disclosure. And we released nearly 80 percent of these records in their entirety.
Despite receiving over 60,000 FOIA requests in the last three fiscal years – and facing nearly unprecedented budgetary challenges over the same period – last year, the Department was able to reduce the backlog of pending requests by more than a quarter, and the backlog of administrative appeals by more than 40 percent. And we took a major step toward realizing our Open Government Plan by launching a comprehensive, government-wide Freedom of Information website – FOIA.Gov – which displays detailed statistics and serves as a vital resource for members of the public who would like to make requests. We also brought senior leadership offices – including my own – into a variety of efforts aimed at harnessing new technologies and tools to increase transparency. And – although this record of achievement has been nothing short of remarkable – I am proud to say that it’s only the beginning.
There’s no question that we’re on the right track. But I also recognize that we cannot yet be satisfied – and that Sunshine Week presents an invaluable opportunity not just to assess where we currently are, but also to identify ways to build upon the momentum we’ve created.
That’s why, today, I am pleased to announce two new improvements to FOIA administration that we are implementing here at the Department. First, we will begin posting monthly FOIA logs for requests made to my office, the Offices of the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, and other senior leadership offices. These logs will publicly identify the subject matter and disposition of each request – bringing greater transparency to the FOIA process and making it easier for people to locate information that may be of interest to them. Secondly, we will introduce a new way for members of the public to submit FOIA requests to the Department’s senior leadership offices online, and to track these requests at any time.
I am also pleased to announce two additional online tools that will make FOIA.Gov even more responsive to those seeking information from a variety of government agencies. We’ve introduced a simplified search function that will allow visitors to search all federal government websites at the same time – connecting members of the public not only to the documents in FOIA Libraries, but also to the proactive disclosures that agencies regularly make through their own websites. And we’ve added a feature that links the FOIA systems from more than 100 offices across the government, making it easier than ever for individuals to find, and make, requests electronically.
These are simple, common-sense improvements that will help streamline the ways in which ordinary Americans can participate in the work of their government. And – alongside our efforts to compile and report key FOIA statistics, log requests, track agency performance, and increase accountability when it comes to FOIA compliance – they will reinforce the culture of openness we’ve worked to instill across the federal government.
In many ways, we owe these advancements – and scores of others – to the men and women who serve the Department’s Office of Information Policy. And while we all can be encouraged by – and proud of – the progress that’s been made, Sunshine Week is an important reminder that this is no time to become complacent. The responsibility of expanding upon current efforts to ensure transparency and accountability rests with each of us. And, as I look around this crowd today, I am confident that we can continue to expect – and deliver – great things.
On behalf of President Obama and my colleagues across the Cabinet, I want to thank you for your dedication to fulfilling the goals we share, and our duties to the American people. I am committed to this work. I am inspired by your contributions to it. And I look forward to our continued progress.
NORTHERN COMMAND OUTLINES PRIORITIES
The following excerpt is from a Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Northcom Prioritizes Homeland Defense, Cyber, Partners
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2012 - Priorities for U.S. Northern Command include expanding partnerships, keeping eyes on air, space, cyberspace, land and sea domains, and outpacing all threats, the Northcom and the North American Aerospace Defense Command commander said today.
Army Gen. Charles Jacoby, Jr., testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2013 defense budget request for the first time as Northcom commander. Northcom was established after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to defending the homeland and help civil authorities respond to natural and other disasters. Its area of responsibility includes Canada and Mexico.
Jacoby said his priorities include advancing and sustaining the U.S.-Canada partnership of NORAD, monitoring the unique and fast-changing domain of the Arctic, and taking care of the men and women of Northcom.
"This past year has been busy. We've synchronized our activities with many partners and done our part to realize efficiencies that we've worked through the budget process," Jacoby told the senators.
As part of the budget, he said, Northcom trimmed its workforce by 141 full-time positions this year, and for fiscal 2013 has requested reducing its operations and maintenance funding by about 6 percent.
"But with the resources and authorities at hand and maintaining our vigilance," the general added, "we'll be able to continue to defend and support the American people."
Outside its primary homeland defense mission, some of Northcom's most immediate concerns include cyber security, transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States from the border with Mexico, and security issues that arise from the predicted melting of Arctic sea ice, opening parts of the Arctic over the next decade to human activity.
Northcom's main responsibility in the cyber domain, Jacoby said, "is consequence management in the event of a catastrophic cyber attack on this country. Northcom could certainly be called upon to provide support to civil authorities in the recovery. But we think our role is broader than that."
Northcom has "some work to do in defining what [constitutes] an attack in the cyber domain," he said. "It's a very collaborative process we're doing as combatant commanders along with [the U.S. Strategic Command] and its ... Cyber Command. That's a work in progress."
Jacoby said he believes "it will be a matter of policy to clearly define what is an attack or what isn't an attack," and he hopes such a policy can be put in place over the next year.
Until then, Jacoby said, he continues to work closely with Cyber Command commander Army Gen. Keith Alexander "to ensure that we have ample warning to understand if there is a cyberattack or malicious cyber activity that ... could compromise the defense of the homeland."
To achieve that end, Jacoby said, Northcom has good cooperation across DOD and with partners in the Department of Homeland Security.
Some aspects of transnational organized crime are another priority for Northcom. President Barack Obama in July released a strategy for combating such crime, and Northcom and the U.S. Southern Command are the main entities through which the Defense Department engages in the Western Hemisphere.
The mandate increases as more nations ask their own militaries to take on internal security responsibilities, Jacoby said.
"What we do on the border [with Mexico] as the Department of Defense is to provide support to the lead agencies -- the Department of Homeland Security, primarily, and the Justice Department's organizations, as well," he said. "We're eager to provide that support."
Partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection gives soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines good training opportunities, he added.
"It is a great relationship that's grown stronger and stronger over time," Jacoby said. "Just this month, we've conducted Op[eration] Nimbus II in the Tucson sector, where 1st Armored Division soldiers feel they got better training than they've gotten prior to a deployment at any time in the past 10 years."
In that operation, more than 500 soldiers from Fort Bliss and Fort Hood in Texas supported the U.S. Border Patrol with intelligence and surveillance assistance.
"I think it's critical to continue to strengthen and expand our partnerships in the Northcom headquarters," Jacoby said. "We have over 32 agencies represented there and eight law enforcement agencies. We've never had better sharing of information across the interagency."
Thousands of miles north, the Arctic is becoming an emerging an area of interest for Northcom.
The Navy's Task Force Climate Change and U.S. science agencies have predicted that by 2020 or so, commercial ships may be able to transit the Arctic, where sea ice is in long-term decline.
The region's more than 1,000 miles of coastline and potential sovereign rights to several hundred thousand square miles of ocean gives the United States a strong national security and homeland defense interest there.
"We have an opportunity, while we watch the Arctic begin to open up, to get ahead of potential security requirements," Jacoby told the senators.
To that end, he added, Northcom's strategic framework is to work closely with the Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy and other partners in the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and stay closely tied to partners in Canada.
Jacoby said the Defense Department supports the Convention of the Law of the Sea because it would give the United States a role in long-term negotiations that will involve the Arctic and its resources.
In 2004, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended U.S. accession to the treaty in a unanimous vote, but a vote of the entire Senate has not yet taken place. The United States has signed, but not ratified the treaty.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
PRESIDENT OBAMA TAKES SERIOUSLY MARCH 11 MURDERS IN AFGHANISTAN
The following excerpt is from a Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Obama Promises Full Investigation of Afghanistan Shootings
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2012 - President Barack Obama today said the United States takes seriously the March 11 murder of Afghan civilians and promised Afghan leaders a full investigation into the incident.
"We're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life," Obama said of the incident in Kandahar province where an American soldier allegedly left his combat outpost and murdered Afghan civilians.
The Afghan government says 17 people were killed in the incident, and U.S. officials are going along with that number. "We are not in a position to dispute the numbers put out by the Afghan government," said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
Obama called Afghan President Hamid Karzai and spoke about the incident, which he addressed today at a White House news briefing centered mostly about trade with China. "The killing of innocent civilians is outrageous, and it's unacceptable," the president said. "It's not who we are as a country, and it does not represent our military."
The president directed the Pentagon to spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. "I can assure the American people and the Afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us, and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law," he said.
International Security Assistance Force commander Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen and the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker are in Washington on a prearranged trip and met with the president. "I have extraordinary confidence in them and in the many Americans who are serving in Afghanistan ... and who have made extraordinary sacrifices to be there," Obama said.
The United States will stick by its strategy in Afghanistan, the president said. "We're steadily transitioning to the Afghans, who are moving into the lead," he said. "And that's going to allow us to bring our troops home."
The United States already has withdrawn 10,000 troops from Afghanistan and plans to redeploy 23,000 more by the end of the summer. "Meanwhile, we will continue the work of devastating al-Qaida's leadership and denying them a safe haven," the president said.
Obama said he is confident the United States can meet its objectives in Afghanistan and responsibly bring the troops home, despite difficulties there.
The shooting suspect remains in U.S. custody, Kirby said. DOD, he added, is not releasing his name "unless or until charges are preferred against the individual."
The Army's Criminal Investigation Division is in charge of the case. Once they finish their investigation they will send the findings to the chain of command, who will then make judicial process decisions, Kirby said.
There have been protests in Afghanistan in response to the shooting. While militants fired on an Afghan delegation that visited the village where the shooting occurred, it otherwise has been "peaceful and stable with respect to this tragic action," Kirby said.
Kirby added that "investigators have the full support of the chain of command to talk to whoever they need to and let the investigation take them wherever they need to go."
The suspect was based at a combat outpost in Afghanistan's Panjwai district. The outpost provided village support operations, which primarily is provided by special operations forces, Kirby said.
Still, he said, the soldier in custody "is not a member of special operations forces and is a conventional soldier working in support of the units at the COP."
10 SITES ADDED TO SUPERFUND'S PRIORITIES LIST
The following excerpt is from an EPA e-mail:
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding nine new hazardous waste sites that pose risks to people’s health and the environment to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites, and is proposing to include 10 additional sites. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.
“Protecting human health and the environment and restoring contaminated properties to environmental and economic vitality are EPA priorities," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “When property is cleaned up and revitalized, the reuse may result in new income to the community in the form of taxes, jobs to local residents, increases to the values of properties nearby cleaned up sites, or it may provide recreational or other services to make the community a better place to live.”
Since 1983, 1,661 sites have been listed on the NPL. Of these sites, 359 sites have been cleaned up resulting in 1,302 sites currently on the NPL (including the nine sites added today). There are 62 proposed sites (including the 10 announced today) awaiting final agency action.
Contaminants found at the sites include arsenic, benzene, cadmium, chromium, copper, creosote, dichloroethene (DCE), lead, mercury, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), pentachlorophenol (PCP), trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethylene (TCE), toluene, uranium and zinc.
With all NPL sites, EPA works to identify companies or people responsible for the contamination at a site, and require them to conduct or pay for the cleanup. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant cleanup at the site. Therefore, it may be several years before significant EPA clean up funding is required for these sites.
The following nine sites have been added to the National Priorities List:
Continental Cleaners (former dry cleaners) in Miami, Fla.;
Sauer Dump (inactive dump) in Dundalk, Md.;
Compass Plaza Well TCE (contaminated ground water plume) in Rogersville, Mo.;
Chemfax, Inc. (former manufacturer of synthetic resins and waxes) in Gulfport, Miss.;
Southeastern Wood Preserving (former wood treating operation) in Canton, Miss.;
CTS of Asheville, Inc. (former electronics components manufacturer) in Asheville, N.C.;
Eighteenmile Creek (contaminated creek) in Niagara County, N.Y.;
Metro Container Corporation (former drum recycler) in Trainer, Pa.; and
Corozal Well (contaminated ground water plume) in Corozal, Puerto Rico;
The following 10 sites have been proposed for addition to the National Priorities List:
Cedar Chemical Corporation (former chemical manufacturer) in West Helena, Ark.;
Fairfax St. Wood Treaters (former wood treating operation) in Jacksonville, Fla.;
Macon Naval Ordnance Plant (former ordnance manufacturer) in Macon, Ga.;
Bautsch-Gray Mine (former lead and zinc mine) in Galena, Ill.;
EVR-Wood Treating/Evangeline Refining Company (former wood treating operation) in Jennings, La.;
Holcomb Creosote Co (former wood treating operation) in Yadkinville, N.C.;
Orange Valley Regional Ground Water Contamination (contaminated ground water plume) in Orange/West Orange, N.J.;
Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine (former uranium mine) in Laguna Pueblo, N.M.;
West Troy Contaminated Aquifer (contaminated ground water plume) in Troy, Ohio; and
Circle Court Ground Water Plume (contaminated ground water plume) in Willow Park, Texas.
EPA is also withdrawing its earlier proposal to add the Arnold Engineering Development Center site in Coffee and Franklin Counties, Tennessee to the NPL. This site is being addressed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program. Cleanup is progressing successfully, the migration of contaminated ground water is under control and measures have been taken that are protective of human health.
U.S. CONTINUES TO CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT IN SPACE
The following excerpt is from a U.S. State Department e-mail:
An International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities: Strengthening Long-Term Sustainability, Stability, Safety, and Security in Space
Fact Sheet
Bureau of Public Affairs
January 17, 2012
"The United States…calls on all nations to work together to adopt approaches for responsible activity in space to preserve this right for the benefit of future generations." –
President Barack Obama, National Space Policy, June 28, 2010
Benefits of Space Systems
Space is vital to protecting U.S. economic prosperity and the national security interests of the United States, its allies, and partners. The benefits derived from space-based systems permeate almost every aspect of our daily life. The utilization of space helps by: warning of natural disasters; facilitating navigation and transportation globally; expanding our scientific frontiers; providing national decision makers with global communications, command, and control; monitoring strategic and military developments as well as supporting treaty monitoring and arms control verification; providing global access to financial operations; and scores of other activities worldwide. However, space, a domain that no nation owns but on which all rely, is becoming increasingly congested and contested.
Space Congestion
Today there are approximately 60 nations and government consortia that operate satellites, as well as numerous commercial and academic satellite operators, creating an environment that is increasingly congested. The Department of Defense tracks roughly 22,000 objects in orbit, of which 1,100 are active satellites. There are hundreds of thousands of additional objects too small to track but still capable of damaging satellites in orbit and the International Space Station. We need to work with the international community to address hazards and concerns that have arisen from this increasingly congested space environment.
Threats to Space
The threats to the space environment will increase as more nations and non-state actors develop and deploy counter-space systems. Today space systems and their supporting infrastructure face a range of man-made threats that may deny, degrade, deceive, disrupt, or destroy assets. Irresponsible acts against space systems will have implications beyond the space environment, disrupting worldwide services upon which civil, commercial, and national security sectors depend. Given the increasing threat -- through either irresponsible or unintentional acts -- to the long-term sustainability, stability, safety, and security of space operations, we must work with the community of spacefaring nations to preserve the space environment for all nations and future generations.
An International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities
In response to these challenges, the United States reached a decision to formally work with the European Union and spacefaring nations to develop and advance an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. The European Union’s draft Code of Conduct is a good foundation for the development of a non-legally binding International Code of Conduct focused on the use of voluntary and pragmatic transparency and confidence-building measures to help prevent mishaps, misperceptions, and mistrust in space. An International Code of Conduct, if adopted, would establish guidelines for responsible behavior to reduce the hazards of debris-generating events and increase the transparency of operations in space to avoid the danger of collisions.
Protecting National and Economic Security
The Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that an International Code enhances national security and maintains the United States’ inherent right of individual and collective self-defense, a fundamental part of international law. The United States would only subscribe to such a Code of Conduct if it protects and enhances the national and economic security of the United States, our allies, and our friends. The Administration is committed to keeping the U.S. Congress informed as our consultations with the spacefaring community progress.
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