Tuesday, May 1, 2012

NASA'S WISE CATCHES AGING STAR ERUPTING WITH DUST



FROM:  NASA
A United Launch Alliance Delta II (Delta 347) rocket with NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, satellite  poised for launch at Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  WISE  scans the entire sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. Credit:  NASA.


WASHINGTON -- Images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) reveal an old star in the throes of a fiery outburst and praying the cosmos with dust. The findings offer a rare, real-time look at the process by which stars like our sun seed the universe with building blocks for other stars, planets and even life.

The star, catalogued as WISE J180956.27–330500.2, was discovered in images taken during the WISE survey in 2010, the most detailed infrared survey to date of the entire celestial sky. It stood out from other objects because it glowed rightly with infrared light.

 When compared to images taken more than 20 years ago, astronomers found the star was 100 times brighter. "We were not searching specifically for this phenomenon, but because  WISE scanned the whole sky, we can find such unique objects," said

Poshak Gandhi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), lead author of a new paper to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Results indicate the star recently exploded with copious amounts of fresh dust, equivalent in mass to our planet Earth. The star is heating the dust and causing it to glow with infrared light. "Observing this period of explosive change while it is actually ongoing is very rare," said co-author Issei Yamamura of JAXA. "These  just eruptions probably occur only once every 10,000 years in the lives of old stars, and they are thought to last less than a few hundred years each time. It's the blink of an eye in cosmological terms."

The aging star is in the "red giant" phase of its life. Our own sun will expand into a red giant in about 5 billion years. When a star begins to run out of fuel, it cools and expands. As the star puffs up, it sheds layers of gas that cool and congeal into tiny dust particles. This is one of the main ways dust is recycled in our universe, making its way from older stars to newborn solar systems. The other way, in which the heaviest of elements are made, is through the deathly explosions, or supernovae, of the most massive stars. "It's an intriguing glimpse into the cosmic recycling program," said Bill Danchi, WISE program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Evolved stars, which this one appears to be, contribute about 50 percent of the particles that make up humans."

Astronomers know of one other star currently pumping out massive amounts of dust. Called Sakurai's Object, this star is farther along in the aging process than the one discovered recently by WISE. After Poshak and his team discovered the unusual, dusty star with WISE, they went back to look for it in previous infrared all-sky surveys. The object was not seen at all by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), which flew in 1983, but shows up brightly in images taken as part of the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) in 1998.

Poshak and his colleagues calculated the star appears to have brightened dramatically since 1983. The WISE data show the dust has continued to evolve over time, with the star now hidden behind a very thick veil. The team plans to follow up with space and ground-based telescopes to confirm its nature and to better understand how older stars recycle dust back into the cosmos.  

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., manages and operates WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The spacecraft was put into hibernation mode after it scanned the entire sky twice, completing its main objectives. The principal investigator for WISE, Edward Wright, is at the University of California, Los Angeles. The mission was selected competitively under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight

Center in Greenbelt, Md . The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah. The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

The IRAS mission was a collaborative effort between NASA (JPL), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The MASS mission was a joint effort between Caltech, the University of Massachusetts and NASA (JPL). Data are archived at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. 

NATIONAL EXPRESS AND PETERMANN TO SELL OFF SCHOOL BUS CONTRACTS TO RESOLVE ANTITRUST CONCERNS


FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ANTITRUST
Divestitures Will Ensure Continued Competition for School Bus Contracts
WASHINGTON — In order to resolve antitrust concerns, National Express Corporation and Petermann Partners Inc. will divest several school bus contracts and associated assets in the states of Washington and Texas in order to proceed with their proposed merger, the Department of Justice announced today. National Express and Petermann contract with school districts throughout the United States to provide school bus services.

The parties have agreed to sell eight school bus transportation contracts in the states of Texas and Washington to Student Transportation of America Inc. (STA). The divested assets include transportation contracts in the school districts of Battle Ground and Hockinson in Washington and the school districts of Bastrop, Boyd, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Leander, Manor and Terrell, as well as Dallas-based KIPP Truth Academy, in Texas.

“The sale of the assets will help ensure continued competition for school bus contracts, which will benefit taxpayers in Texas and Washington,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joseph Wayland in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

The parties have committed to completing the divestitures within 30 days, or to have a court monitor the divestitures at that time. The school boards and entities whose contracts are being divested are in the process of approving the transfer of the contracts.

The Antitrust Division conducted its investigation working closely with the Washington and Texas State Attorney Generals’ offices, which simultaneously conducted their own investigations.

National Express Corporation, a subsidiary of National Express Group PLC of the United Kingdom, is based in Warrenville, Ill. It has revenues of more than $700 million. Petermann Partners, headquartered in Cincinnati, has revenues of approximately $150 million.

THE" BORN FREE" SEA LION


FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An adult California Sea Lion is ready to be released into the wild by members of the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center at a remote beach here, Tuesday, April 24, 2012. The Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center rescues, rehabilitates and releases trapped and endangered marine mammals along California’s Central Coast. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jerry E. Clemens Jr.)

Rescued marine mammals released on Vandenberg beaches
by Staff Sgt. Erica Picariello
30th Space Wing Public Affairs

4/26/2012 - VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Two rescued and rehabilitated marine mammals were released on one of Vandenberg's remote beaches April 24.

A California Sea lion and a weaned Northern California Elephant Seal, referred to as a "weaner," were rescued in different locations off of California's central coast by members of the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center, but released near Vandenberg's Delta Mariner Dock.

"These mammals are found along California's Central Coast by beachgoers who assume they're in distress or dying and try to help them but end up doing more bad than good," said Peter Howorth, Santa Barbara Maine Mammal Center director. "The problem in public areas is that people won't leave [marine mammals] alone. Much of the time it's not that they need help it's that they just need to be kept away from people and dogs."

The female sea lion was found on El Capitan State Beach state park and had an injured flipper and the male "weaner" elephant seal was found in Santa Barbara. The sea lion was a resident of SBMMC for nearly a month while the uninjured elephant seal just needed a check-up and safe place to shed its baby skin.
"The elephant seals are born in the winter and they're weaned within three to four weeks of birth at which time they weigh 240 to 450 pounds," Howorth said. "As soon as they're weaned, the mom leaves them on the beach and the baby elephant seal doesn't eat and goes through a catastrophic molt. They lose the fur with the skin attached. It demands a lot of energy and they lose a lot of weight as a consequence. If you see them at the beginning of the molt it looks like they've got leprosy because there are bits of skin falling off with the skin attached. It's all perfectly normal and there is a new coat underneath that old one."

Some people see patches of the weaner's skin falling-off and take action to rescue the molting seals, but the best thing for these weaners is to provide them with privacy.

"People think, 'oh gosh, it's a marine mammal so it must stay wet!' But it's just trying to stay dry and shed its skin," Howorth said. "They don't want to be doused in water. They basically get constantly harassed so our policy is to pick them up as quickly as possible, check them out and then release them onto remote areas on the central coast where they can finish their molt in peace."

According to Howorth, one of the best places is on Vandenberg.

"Vandenberg provides one of the last unoccupied and pristine beaches for these mammals to finish molting or to find their way back to the beach that they were born," Howorth said.

SBMMC, a non-profit organization, not only rehabilitates and releases marine life on Vandenberg property, but also rescues mammals in need from Vandy's 42-miles of coastline.
"We're required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act to monitor our sensitive wildlife populations, and specifically to determine if Vandenberg space and missile launches as well as aircraft activity causes any negative impacts to the some marine life, seal and sea lion population," said Rhys Evans, 30th Civil Engineer Squadron natural resources lead. "Occasionally there are seals or sea lions in need of medical attention on Vandenberg shores and we call SBMMC for assistance. There has been at least once case this year."

This partnership with SBMMC also helps Vandenberg remain mission ready.

"We count seals before and after space launches, we use computers to determine if launches cause sonic booms either on the mainland or on the Northern Channel Islands which is subject to more significant regulation because much of the NCI are a national park and some portions are designated wilderness areas," Evans said. "We have both legal requirements and cooperative agreements on several levels with state and federal regulatory agencies, and they require us to monitor effects, potential effects and perceived effects of military operations. The SBMMC is not a regulator, but a cooperating non-profit organization, and their willingness to help us achieve some of our mandated goals is both voluntary and very much appreciated."

Allowing marine mammals to be released at Vandenberg may not be mandated, but is Non-Negotiable for some.

"We allow the marine mammals to be released here because it's the right thing to do and it doesn't expend significant government resources," Evans said. "The mammals will quite often leave the area within minutes, but it's nice to release them away from a lot of people, noise, pets... where they can have their best chance at recovery."



MOTHER AND DAUGHTER CHARGED IN ALLEGED DEBT CONVERSION WRAP AROUND SCHEME


FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
The SEC alleges that Christel S. Scucci and her mother Karen S. Beach, who live in Florida, used alter ego companies (Protégé Enterprises LLC and Capital Edge Enterprises LLC) to make more than $1.5 million from selling approximately 3.3 billion shares of purportedly unrestricted stock that they acquired in so-called debt conversion “wrap around” transactions. They were able to sell most of this stock only because Florida-based attorney Cameron H. Linton issued baseless legal opinions for them stating that the stock could be issued without restrictive legends and that their re-sales were exempt from the registration requirements of the federal securities laws.

“This case shines a spotlight on unlawful profiting from transactions designed to circumvent the registration requirements of the federal securities laws,” said Stephen L. Cohen, an Associate Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “This should alert transfer agents, securities attorneys and other industry gatekeepers to closely scrutinize efforts to lift restrictive legends by ‘tacking’ onto delinquent debt through wrap around agreements.”

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Orlando, Fla., this scheme involving the illegal use of wrap around agreements lasted from January 2010 to October 2011. Under the wrap around agreements, affiliates or others purportedly owed money by certain microcap issuers for more than one year assigned from the issuers to Protégé or Capital Edge the right to collect the debts. The wrap around agreements also purported to amend the initial debt agreements thereby allowing Protégé and Capital Edge to convert the money owed to them by the issuers into shares of the issuers’ common stock at a deep discount (usually 50 percent) to the prevailing market price. Protégé and Capital Edge almost always elected to receive stock from the issuers shortly after execution of the wrap around agreements. None of the transactions were registered with the SEC.

The SEC alleges that Protégé and Capital Edge paid Linton to write attorney opinion letters for them stating that their sales of the stock acquired under these wrap around agreements lawfully could be issued to them without a restrictive legend and immediately sold to the public. Protégé and Capital Edge regularly sold the stock into the public market, often for large profits, merely days or weeks after they acquired the shares through the wrap around conversions.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Linton’s legal opinion letters lacked any basis. The premise of Linton’s opinion letters was that – through the wrap around agreements and debt conversion – Protégé and Capital Edge were able to “tack” the period that had elapsed from the initiation of the original debt at least one year earlier to claim a registration exemption relying on Securities Act Rule 144(d)(3)(ii). When Linton wrote the opinion letters, he lacked an understanding of the applicable legal principles and failed to substantiate the factual predicate for his opinions. Furthermore, in mid-2010, Linton became aware of an injunction issued in a separate SEC enforcement action (SEC v. K&L International Enterprises) in which two of his letters were used in a similar scheme. Without Linton’s opinion letters, Protégé and Capital Edge couldn’t have acquired most of the stock without a restrictive legend and quickly turn around and sell it publicly.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Protégé, Capital Edge, Scucci and Beach violated Section 5 of the Securities Act. The complaint further alleges that Linton violated, or aided and abetted the violation of, Section 5 of the Securities Act. The SEC seeks disgorgement, penalties, injunctions, and penny stock bars against the defendants.

The SEC’s case was investigated by Daniel Rubenstein and Adam Eisner under the supervision of C. Joshua Felker, an Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement. Kenneth Guido will lead the SEC’s litigation.



SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER UKRAINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS


FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Treatment of Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
Press Statement Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State Washington, DC
May 1, 2012
The United States is deeply concerned by the treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other imprisoned members of her former government. The photographs of Mrs. Tymoshenko released by the Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman further call into question the conditions of her confinement. We urge the Ukrainian authorities to ensure that Mrs. Tymoshenko receives immediate medical assistance in an appropriate facility and request that the U.S. Ambassador be given access to her. We continue to call for her release, the release of other members of her former government and the restoration of their full civil and political rights

Panetta, Clinton joint press briefing

Panetta, Clinton joint press briefing

J-2X ENGINE READY FOR SECOND TEST SERIES


FROM:  NASA
WASHINGTON -- The next-generation engine that will help carry humans 
deeper into space than ever is back, bigger and better. The J-2X 
engine is currently on the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space 
Center in Mississippi for an extensive round of tests to build on 
last year's successful test firings. The engine will provide 
upper-stage power for NASA's evolved Space Launch System (SLS), a new 
heavy-lift rocket capable of missions to deep space. 

"We're making steady and tangible progress on our new heavy-lift 
rocket that will launch astronauts on journeys to destinations 
farther in our solar system," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, 
who recently visited Stennis and saw the J-2X in its test stand. "As 
we continue test firings of the J-2X engine and a myriad of other 
work to open the next great chapter of exploration, we're 
demonstrating our commitment right now to America's continued 
leadership in space." 

The space agency conducted an initial round of sea-level tests on the 
first developmental engine last year. This second test series will 
simulate high-altitude conditions where the atmospheric pressure is 
low. The SLS will use J-2X engines on the second stage of flight 
after the first stage is jettisoned. 

"The first round of testing helped us get to know the engine, how it 
operates and its basic performance characteristics," said Tom Byrd, 
J-2X engine lead in the SLS Liquid Engines Office at NASA's Marshall 
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Now, we're looking forward 
to testing J-2X in the SLS flight configuration, collecting nozzle 
data and continuing to learn about the performance of the engine 
itself." 

NASA has worked closely with the J-2X prime contractor, Pratt and 
Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., to prepare the J-2X 
engine, dubbed E10001for its second round of tests. 

The J-2X engine nozzle is different from the nozzle used on the space 
shuttle main engine for the last 30 years of space missions. While 
the space shuttle main engine nozzle was hydrogen cooled to save 
weight, the J-2X hydrogen-cooled nozzle is shorter and attached to a 
lightweight, passively cooled nozzle extension. 

A total of 16 tests are scheduled, tentatively beginning this 
Wednesday. They are expected to conclude by the end of this year. 

In its first round of testing, the J-2X engine reached 100 percent 
power in just four tests and achieved a full flight-duration firing 
of 500 seconds in its eighth test, faster than any other U.S. engine. 
The engine was fired a total of 10 times for a cumulative 1,040 
seconds of testing various aspects of performance. 

The J-2X is a redesign of the heritage J-2 engine that helped send 
astronauts to the moon during the Apollo Program in the 1960s and 
1970s. In addition to testing the engine, NASA is conducting tests on 
the J-2X powerpack, which includes the gas generator, oxygen and fuel 
turbopumps, and related ducts and valves. Tests of the powerpack 
components are being conducted on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis. 

The J-2X is being developed for NASA by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. 
It is the first new liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine 
developed in 40 years that will be rated to carry humans into space. 

ALABAMA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO RIGGING BIDS AT REAL ESTATE FORECLOSURE AUCTIONS


FROM:  DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Friday, April 27, 2012
Alabama Real Estate Investor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Conspiracies to Rig Bids and Commit Mail Fraud for the Purchase of Real Estate at Public Foreclosure Auctions Agrees to Serve One Year in Prison

WASHINGTON – An Alabama real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty and to serve one year in prison for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama, the Department of Justice announced today.  To date, as a result of the ongoing investigation, four individuals and one company have pleaded guilty.

Charges were filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile, Ala., against Steven J. Cox of Mobile.  Cox was charged with one count of bid rigging and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.  According to the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Cox has agreed to serve one year in prison, to pay a $10,000 criminal fine and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.

According to court documents, Cox conspired with others not to bid against one another at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama.  After a designated bidder bought a property at the public auctions, which typically take place at the county courthouse, the conspirators would generally hold a secret, second auction, at which each participant would bid the amount above the public auction price he or she was willing to pay.  The highest bidder at the secret, second auction won the property.

Cox was also charged with conspiring to use the U.S. mail to carry out a scheme to acquire title to rigged foreclosure properties sold at public auctions at artificially suppressed prices, to make and receive payoffs to co-conspirators and to cause financial institutions, homeowners and others with a legal interest in rigged foreclosure properties to receive less than the competitive price for the properties.  Cox participated in the bid-rigging and mail fraud conspiracies from as early as January 2004 until at least May 2010.
           
“The Antitrust Division continues to work with its law enforcement partners to ensure that real estate foreclosure auctions are fair and competitive,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division Sharis A. Pozen.  “The division will vigorously pursue those who engage in collusive schemes to eliminate competition in the marketplace.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Mobile FBI Office Lewis M. Chapman recognized the perseverance of agents and prosecutors in this complex investigation.  Chapman stated, “This investigation sends the message that real estate fraud including antitrust violations will continue to be pursued in these tough economic times, no matter how intricate the scheme.”

Each violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals.  The maximum fine for a Sherman Act charge may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victim if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine.  Each count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine in an amount equal to the greatest of $250,000, twice the gross gain the conspirators derived from the crime or twice the gross loss caused to the victims of the crime by the conspirators.


NASA'S CASSINI FINDS SATURN'S MOON PHOEBE HAS PLANET-LIKE QUALITIES


FROM:  NASA
WASHINGTON -- Data from NASA's Cassini mission reveal Saturn's moon
Phoebe has more planet-like qualities than previously thought.

Scientists had their first close-up look at Phoebe when Cassini began
exploring the Saturn system in 2004. Using data from multiple
spacecraft instruments and a computer model of the moon's chemistry,
geophysics and geology, scientists found Phoebe was a so-called
planetesimal, or remnant planetary building block. The findings
appear in the April issue of the Journal Icarus.

"Unlike primitive bodies such as comets, Phoebe appears to have
actively evolved for a time before it stalled out," said Julie
Castillo-Rogez, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "Objects like Phoebe are thought
to have condensed very quickly. Hence, they represent building blocks
of planets. They give scientists clues about what conditions were
like around the time of the birth of giant planets and their moons"

Cassini images suggest Phoebe originated in the far-off Kuiper Belt,
the region of ancient, icy, rocky bodies beyond Neptune's orbit. Data
show Phoebe was spherical and hot early in its history, and has
denser rock-rich material concentrated near its center. Its average
density is about the same as Pluto, another object in the Kuiper
Belt. Phoebe likely was captured by Saturn's gravity when it somehow
got close to the giant planet.

Saturn is surrounded by a cloud of irregular moons that circle the
planet in orbits tilted from Saturn's orbit around the sun, the
so-called equatorial plane. Phoebe is the largest of these irregular
moons and also has the distinction of orbiting backward in relation
to the other moons. By comparison, Saturn's large moons appear to
have formed from gas and dust around the planet's equatorial plane
and orbit in that same plane.

"By combining Cassini data with modeling techniques previously applied
to other solar system bodies, we've been able to go back in time and
clarify why Phoebe is so different from the rest of the Saturn
system," said Jonathan Lunine, a co-author on the study and a Cassini
team member at Cornell University.

Analyses suggest that Phoebe was born within the first 3 million years
of the birth of the solar system, which occurred 4.5 billion years
ago. The moon originally may have been porous but appears to have
collapsed in on itself as it warmed up. Phoebe developed a density 40
percent higher than the average inner Saturnian moon.

Objects of Phoebe's size have long been thought to form as
potato-shaped bodies and remain that way over their lifetimes. If
such an object formed early enough in the solar system's history, it
could have harbored the kinds of radioactive material that would
produce substantial heat over a short timescale. This would warm the
interior and reshape the moon.

"From Cassini images and models, we were able to see that Phoebe
started with a nearly spherical shape, rather than an irregular shape
later smoothed into a sphere by impacts," said co-author Peter
Thomas, a Cassini team member at Cornell.

Phoebe likely stayed warm for tens of millions of years before
freezing up. The study suggests the heat also would have enabled the
moon to host liquid water at one time. This could explain the
signature of water-rich material on Phoebe's surface previously
detected by Cassini.

The new study also is consistent with the idea that several hundred
million years after Phoebe cooled, the moon drifted toward the inner
solar system in a solar-system-wide rearrangement. Phoebe was large
enough to survive this turbulence.

More than 60 moons are known to orbit Saturn, varying drastically in
shape, size, surface age and origin. Scientists using both
ground-based observatories and Cassini's cameras continue to search
for others.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the
mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.




WHAT IS AN ASTEROID REALLY LIKE ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW THEM

FROM: NASA
WASHINGTON -- Findings from NASA's Dawn spacecraft reveal new details 
about the giant asteroid Vesta, including its varied surface 
composition, sharp temperature changes and clues to its internal 
structure. The findings were presented today at the European 
Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, Austria and will help scientists 
better understand the early solar system and processes that dominated 
its formation. 

Spacecraft images, taken 420 miles (680 kilometers) and 130 miles (210 
kilometers) above the surface of the asteroid, show a variety of 
surface mineral and rock patterns. Coded false-color images help 
scientists better understand Vesta's composition and enable them to 
identify material that was once molten below the asteroid's surface. 

Researchers also see breccias, which are rocks fused during impacts 
from space debris. Many of the materials seen by Dawn are composed of 
iron- and magnesium-rich minerals, which often are found in Earth's 
volcanic rocks. Images also reveal smooth pond-like deposits, which 
might have formed as fine dust created during impacts settled into 
low regions. 

"Dawn now enables us to study the variety of rock mixtures making up 
Vesta's surface in great detail," said Harald Hiesinger, a Dawn 
participating scientist at Münster University in Germany. "The images 
suggest an amazing variety of processes that paint Vesta's surface." 

At the Tarpeia crater near the south pole of the asteroid, Dawn 
revealed bands of minerals that appear as brilliant layers on the 
crater's steep slopes. The exposed layering allows scientists to see 
farther back into the geological history of the giant asteroid. 

The layers closer to the surface bear evidence of contamination from 
space rocks bombarding Vesta's surface. Layers below preserve more of 
their original characteristics. Frequent landslides on the slopes of 
the craters also have revealed other hidden mineral patterns. 

"These results from Dawn suggest Vesta's 'skin' is constantly 
renewing," said Maria Cristina De Sanctis, lead of the visible and 
infrared mapping spectrometer team based at Italy's National 
Institute for Astrophysics in Rome. 

Dawn has given scientists a near 3-D view into Vesta's internal 
structure. By making ultrasensitive measurements of the asteroid's 
gravitational tug on the spacecraft, Dawn can detect unusual 
densities within its outer layers. Data now show an anomalous area 
near Vesta's south pole, suggesting denser material from a lower 
layer of Vesta has been exposed by the impact that created a feature 
called the Rheasilvia basin. The lighter, younger layers coating 
other parts of Vesta's surface have been blasted away in the basin. 

Dawn obtained the highest-resolution surface temperature maps of any 
asteroid visited by a spacecraft. Data reveal temperatures can vary 
from as warm as -10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius) in the 
sunniest spots to as cold as -150 degrees Fahrenheit (-100 degrees 
Celsius) in the shadows. This is the lowest temperature measurable by 
Dawn. These findings show the surface responds quickly to 
illumination with no mitigating effect of an atmosphere. 

"After more than nine months at Vesta, Dawn's suite of instruments has 
enabled us to peel back the layers of mystery that have surrounded 
this giant asteroid since humankind first saw it as just a bright 
spot in the night sky," said Carol Raymond, Dawn deputy principal 
investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, 
Calif. "We are closing in on the giant asteroid's secrets." 

Launched in 2007, Dawn began its exploration of the approximately 
330-mile- (530-kilometer-) wide asteroid in mid-2011. The 
spacecraft's next assignment will be to study the dwarf planet Ceres 
in 2015. These two icons of the asteroid belt have been witness to 
much of our solar system's history. 

Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission 
Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's 
Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in 
Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission 
science. Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built 
the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute 
for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian 
National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the 
mission team. 

FBI AND AIR FORCE BECOME ONE SOUL

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE
by Capt. Marnee A.C. Losurdo
512th Airlift Wing Public Affairs


4/30/2012 - MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- Five Reserve units and a federal agency teamed up April 26-29 in Florida for Patriot Sands, an airlift training exercise simulating deployed bare base conditions with limited support.

Reservists with the 512th Airlift Control Flight, Dover Air Force Base, Del., 452nd ALCF, March Air Reserve Base, Calif., and 439th ALCF, Westover ARB, Mass., trained with two FBI Rapid Deployment Teams from New York and Washington, D.C.

The Air Force Reserve Command has five airlift control flights, which consist of experienced airlift personnel to manage, coordinate and control air mobility assets. Depending on the mission, the specialized units may have to set up in an austere area, which was the purpose of the exercise--to gain experience and train in a fast-paced environment.

"We are part of contingency operations, and, if there is a surge in military operations or a natural disaster, we have 36 hours to get on a plane and head to a location that needs us, and we set up a mobile command post," said Capt. Jessica Rose, Contingency Response Element commander with the 439th ALCF.

The 512th ALCF was staged at MacDill AFB, Fla., and the 439th ALCF operated out of Patrick AFB, Fla., while the 452nd ALCF worked at both locations. The units controlled airflow between the two bases. The exercise involved several units and utilized a C-130 from the 43rd Airlift Group, Pope Field, N.C., a C-17 from the 446th Airlift Wing, McChord AFB, Wash., and a C-17 and C-5M from Dover.

Master Sgt. Sean Pyne, 512th ALCF loadmaster, planned the exercise for almost 60 Airmen to include reservists with Dover's 46th Aerial Port Squadron and Westover's 42nd Aerial Port Squadron. He said Patriot Sands provided vital training by presenting opportunities for Airmen to get experience establishing a parking area for aircraft, offloading and uploading cargo and managing aircraft arrival and departure times while ensuring load plans and cargo were correctly configured for shipment.

The training wasn't only for Airmen.

"We do the command and control of airplanes, passengers and equipment, but as such we need passengers and equipment to track," said Rose. "So, we help an affiliate, and in this case it's the FBI because if the FBI has to respond quickly to an event, they use Air Force assets. They need practice on how to load their equipment onto the plane, and we need the practice on how to track that plane. So, it's a good fit for both of us."

Reserve ALCFs and active-duty Contingency Response Groups work with the FBI RDTs as part of the Air Mobility Command Affiliate Program. The New York and Washington, D.C. RDT participated in this exercise because they are affiliates of the 512th ALCF.

"Our mission is to deploy anywhere, anytime within a certain amount of time depending on the incident and location," said Amy Landman, FBI supervisory special agent.

The RDT consists of a variety of response teams specializing in areas such as hazardous materials, evidence collection and special weapons and tactics. They deploy state side and overseas to support FBI missions, which can range from terrorist to criminal incidents against the United States.

"As part of the affiliate program, we teach people equipment preparation and load planning, so they can get their cargo prepared for airlift on AMC aircraft and delivered to locations throughout the world," said Master Sgt. Henry Fortney, 512th ALCF loadmaster and exercise planner.

In addition to classroom instruction, Patriot Sands provided hands-on training for the RDTs.

"We have some really good loadmasters, and we have some brand new guys, too," said Landman, who added the New York and Washington D.C. FBI RDTs participates in about two exercises a year. "For a few of us, it's the first time tying things down and seeing this side of military airlift."

"These guys need to be able to get out of town on their own," said Pyne, who works for the FBI as a logistics management specialist. "This means they have to do all the weighing, measuring, marking, taping, load plans; everything independently. Patriot Sands allowed them to get out, get on a plane, practice moving, do their uploads and downloads, and become proficient. They also got to work with our aerial porters and learn from them."

"We try to link up with our Reserve affiliates as they have their mandates for training as well," said Landman. "This is a joint training effort; we couldn't do it without them; that's for sure."

Training such as this is vital when the time comes to respond to a crisis, said Lt. Col. Mark Visco, 512th ALCF commander. In January 2010, the unit responded within 12 hours to run air operations at Homestead ARB, Fla., to provide humanitarian relief supplies to the earthquake-ravaged Haiti as part of Operation Unified Response. Over a two-week period, their unit had more than 600 aircraft bringing thousands of tons of cargo from all different types of agencies in and out of Homestead ARB bound for the Caribbean nation.

"It was a record-setting operation, never before accomplished in AFRC," said Visco. "Our preparation, like the training we are accomplishing here at MacDill, ensured we were up to the task a
nd ready to respond." 

70TH ANNIVERSARY OF PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND
In December 1942, the base was renamed Peterson Army Air Base in honor of 1st Lt. Edward J. Peterson. Peterson was a Colorado native and died from injuries received in a plane crash at the base in August 1942. (U.S. Air Force photo) 

April 28 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Peterson Air Force Base 
by Jeff Nash
Peterson Air and Space Museum

4/30/2012 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- In April of 1942, America's situation looked grim. It entered World War II almost five months earlier, following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and other military bases in Hawaii. There were defeats and set-backs all over the Pacific, as America lost ground in the Philippine Islands, Guam, Wake Island and elsewhere. 

A daring attack on Tokyo, Japan on April 18 by Lt. Col. James Doolittle with a handful of U.S. bombers provided a much-needed boost to morale as America built up more strength to strike back. Part of that build-up began 10 days later here in Colorado Springs.

On April 28, 1942, Army Air Forces officers in downtown Colorado Springs issued General Order Number 1, establishing Colorado Springs Army Air Base and the Photographic Reconnaissance Operational Training Unit. They selected the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, established in the mid 1920s, as the site for the new air base. Construction began at a fast pace within a week of base establishment. 

The base's first commanding officer, Lt. Col. David W. Hutchison, arrived on May 6. He and his staff immediately went to work overseeing base construction and organizing the new photo reconnaissance training school. The school's mission was to organize, train and deploy new reconnaissance and aerial mapping squadrons for combat service. Aerial reconnaissance was a critical capability and it was needed in combat areas quickly.

The first troops arrived on May 13. First living in tents on the base, they were later placed in the Colorado Springs area until barracks were built. Many were housed temporarily at Colorado College. Retired Air Force Chief Warrant Officer James Chastain described the new base as "just sagebrush, jack rabbits, and rattlesnakes" when he arrived here in June 1942. Chastain was an aerial photographer and camera repairman with the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, the first Army Air Forces flying unit to arrive at the base. 

"Some of my squadron mates lived in the Kaufman Building (a Colorado Springs department store) and took baths at the City Auditorium down the street," Chastain said. "I lived first at a youth camp near the present-day Air Force Academy before being sent up to Lowry Field in Denver. Since we didn't have any suitable runways yet, our airplanes were flown and maintained at Lowry." Construction crews completed new runways in August 1942, and skies over Colorado Springs soon buzzed with reconnaissance versions of P-38 "Lightning" fighters and larger B-25 "Mitchell" and B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers. Initial base construction was completed in summer of 1943 and cost nearly $13 million.

Most buildings were temporary, or in the words of the time, "built for the duration of the war." Many of these buildings survive today, including Building 391 (currently occupied by 4th Manpower Requirements Squadron), Building 365 (Canadian Forces Support Unit), and supply warehouses and office buildings currently used by the 21st Logistics Readiness Squadron. Many original aircraft hangars and maintenance shops also exist today along the Peterson flight line. 

In December 1942, officials changed the base name to Peterson Army Air Base, in honor of 1st Lt. Edward J. Peterson, operations officer of the 14th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron. A Colorado native, he died from injuries received in a plane crash at the base the previous August. The base was commonly called Peterson Field, or "Pete Field" for short. 

Reconnaissance training continued into late 1943, when the first of several base mission changes took place during the war. In November 1943, Peterson Field became a bomber crew training school, turning out 10-man B-24 "Liberator" bomber crews for assignment to overseas combat units. The 383rd Bombardment Group relocated here from Geiger Field, Wash., to form the heart of the school. Before the school closed in summer of 1944, hundreds of B-24 crew members passed through Peterson Field for two to three months training in strategic bombing. 

Peterson Field then took on fighter pilot training, with the 268th Army Air Forces Base Unit using P-40 "Warhawk" fighters. The 72nd Fighter Wing, also headquartered here during this time, oversaw operations at 11 other fighter training bases in the Midwestern United States. Fighter training took place until April 1945, when the base transitioned again into an Army Air Forces instructor school. 

As World War II drew to a close in August 1945, so did the need for Peterson Field. The base closed in December 1945 and the property returned to Colorado Springs as the United States demobilized from war. Apart from two brief reactivations between 1947 and 1949, the base belonged once again to jackrabbits and rattlesnakes. But as the 1950s approached, a new threat emerged. A new conflict known as "the Cold War" began. Along with the new U.S. Air Force, Peterson AFB was reborn in 1951 and played a large role in that conflict. 

From its humble beginnings as a small civilian airport (now the Peterson Air and Space Museum) to the aerospace complex it is today, Peterson AFB continues to show its value to dominate our nation's high ground. For 70 years, the base continues to serve America in conflicts large and small, wars hot and cold, in the air and in space. 


A GLOBAL WARMING OASIS IS DISCOVERED


FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Coral reefs near the island nation of Kiribati may be somewhat protected from global warming. Credit: NOAA
Global Warming Refuge Discovered Near At-Risk
Pacific Island Nation of Kiribati
Scientists predict ocean temperatures will rise in the equatorial Pacific by the end of the century, wreaking havoc on coral reef ecosystems.

But a new study shows that climate change could cause ocean currents to operate in a way that mitigates warming near a handful of islands right on the equator.
Those islands include some of the 33 coral atolls that form the nation of Kiribati. This low-lying country is at risk from sea-level rise caused by global warming.
Surprisingly, these Pacific islands within two degrees north and south of the equator may become isolated climate change refuges for corals and fish.

"The finding that there may be refuges in the tropics where local circulation features buffer the trend of rising sea surface temperature has important implications for the survival of coral reef systems," said David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.
Here's how it could happen, according to the study by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists Kristopher Karnauskas and Anne Cohen, published today in the journalNature Climate Change.

At the equator, trade winds push a surface current from east to west.
About 100 to 200 meters below, a swift countercurrent develops, flowing in the opposite direction.

This, the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC), is cooler and rich in nutrients. When it hits an island, like a rock in a river, water is deflected upward on an island's western flank.
This upwelling process brings cooler water and nutrients to the sunlit surface, creating localized areas where tiny marine plants and corals flourish.
On color-enhanced satellite maps showing measurements of global ocean chlorophyll levels, these productive patches of ocean stand out as bright green or red spots--for example, around the Galapagos Islands in the Eastern Pacific.
But as you gaze west, chlorophyll levels fade like a comet tail, giving scientists little reason to look closely at scattered low-lying coral atolls in that direction.
These islands are easy to overlook because they are tiny, remote, and lie at the far left edge of standard global satellite maps that place continents in the center.
Karnauskas, a climate scientist, was working with coral scientist Cohen to explore how climate change would affect central equatorial Pacific reefs.

When he changed the map view on his screen in order to view the entire tropical Pacific at once, he saw that chlorophyll concentrations jumped up again exactly at the Gilbert Islands on the equator.

Satellite maps also showed cooler sea surface temperatures on the west sides of these islands, part of Kiribati.

"I've been studying the tropical Pacific Ocean for most of my career, and I had never noticed that," he said. "It jumped out at me immediately, and I thought, 'there's probably a story there.'"

So Karnauskas and Cohen began to investigate how the EUC would affect the equatorial islands' reef ecosystems, starting with global climate models that simulate effects in a warming world.

Global-scale climate models predict that ocean temperatures will rise nearly 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the central tropical Pacific.
Warmer waters often cause corals to bleach, a process in which they lose the tiny symbiotic algae that live in them and provide vital nutrition.
Bleaching has been a major cause of coral mortality and loss of coral reef area during the last 30 years.

Even the best global models, with their planet-scale views and lower resolution, cannot predict conditions in areas as small as these small islands, Karnauskas said.
So the scientists combined global models with a fine-scale regional model to focus on much smaller areas around minuscule islands scattered along the equator.
To accommodate the trillions of calculations needed for such small-area resolution, they used the new high-performance computer cluster at WHOI called "Scylla."
"Global models predict significant temperature increases in the central tropical Pacific over the next few decades, but in truth conditions can be highly variable across and around a coral reef island," Cohen said.

"To predict what the coral reef will experience in global climate change, we have to use high-resolution models, not global models."

The model predicts that as air temperatures rise and equatorial trade winds weaken, the Pacific surface current will also weaken by 15 percent by the end of the century.
The then-weaker surface current will impose less friction and drag on the EUC, so this deeper current will strengthen by 14 percent.

"Our model suggests that the amount of upwelling will actually increase by about 50 percent around these islands and reduce the rate of warming waters around them by about 0.7 C (1.25 F) per century," Karnauskas said.

A handful of coral atolls on the equator, some as small as 4 square kilometers (1.54 square miles) in area, may not seem like much.

But Karnauskas' and Cohen's results say that waters on the western sides of the islands will warm more slowly than at islands 2 degrees, or 138 miles, north and south of the equator that are not in the path of the EUC.

That gives the Gilbert Islands a significant advantage over neighboring reef systems.
"While the mitigating effect of a strengthened Equatorial Undercurrent will not spare corals the perhaps-inevitable warming expected for this region, the warming rate will be slower around these equatorial islands," Karnauskas said.

"This may allow corals and their symbiotic algae a better chance to adapt and survive."
If the model holds true, even if neighboring reefs are hard-hit, equatorial island coral reefs may survive to produce larvae of corals and other reef species.

Like a seed bank for the future, they might be a source of new corals and other species that could re-colonize damaged reefs.

"The globe is warming, but there are things going on underfoot that will slow that warming for certain parts of certain coral reef islands," said Cohen.
"These little islands in the middle of the ocean can counteract global trends and have a big effect on their own future," Karnauskas said, "which I think is a beautiful concept."

Monday, April 30, 2012

SEMINAR HELD ON PROCESING AND CONTROL OF URANIUM ORE CONCENTRATE


FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Good Practices in the Processing of Uranium Ore Concentrate
Remarks Ambassador Bonnie D. Jenkins
Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs IAEA Regional Seminar
Windhoek, Namibia
April 23, 2012 


Good morning.
I want to thank the Government of Namibia and the International Atomic Energy Agency for hosting and organizing this important seminar on “Good Practices in the Processing and Control of Uranium Ore Concentrate.”

Uranium ore concentrate is the key material for civilian nuclear energy production and for the growth of civilian nuclear energy worldwide and Namibia is a leading supplier of this material. As such, Namibia is a natural host for this seminar, and we are excited that Namibia has taken this opportunity to facilitate these important discussions this week. I would also like to congratulate the Government of Namibia on the recent entry into force of its additional protocol with the IAEA. The AP has great significance in states exploring uranium resources, and I welcome Namibia’s actions in adopting this important safeguards agreement. I am honored to be here this week in Windhoek, and I look forward to the discussions and sharing of best practices in the safety, safeguards, and security of uranium ore concentrate.

This seminar is particularly timely given the increased interest in uranium production among states, especially those in the African region, many of which are represented in this room today. From the list of participants, I see there are 22 countries and 15 commercial nuclear enterprises represented, including some of the largest uranium producing countries and nuclear companies in the world.

That the International Atomic Energy Agency has organized this seminar is a testament to the Agency’s critical role on issues related to nuclear safety, safeguards, and security, and promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In this regard, I would like to thank the IAEA for its leadership on these topics, especially given the post-Fukushima nuclear landscape. Despite the terrible tragedy in Japan, I believe civilian nuclear power development will grow over the next decades given the demand for new energy sources in Africa, Asia, and across the globe. This trend underscores the important need for governments, regulators, and industry to come together to discuss the safety, safeguards, and security of nuclear material such as uranium ore concentrate.

Clearly many countries around the world, including here in Africa, have extensive uranium reserves. In order to make the most of these commercial opportunities in an environmentally safe and secure manner, it is important for governments, nuclear regulators, and the commercial nuclear industry to have a common and agreed-to understanding of how to mine, process, and export uranium responsibly and in compliance with international norms, best practices, national laws and international obligations.

We all know that the commercial value of a drum of uranium ore concentrate is high. While the intention of uranium production is to reap the economic benefits of this commodity, that same drum could be used maliciously to harm the environment, to carry-out terrorist activities, or to support a clandestine nuclear weapons program. These risks have the potential to damage the market and reduce the positive economic impact on producing countries that the safe and effective management of this material can bring.

This week if we can agree on some common best practices for managing and controlling this important strategic commodity at the government, regulatory, and nuclear industry levels, then I think the future will be even more secure for the production and export of uranium ore concentrate and be more prosperous from its trade.
I encourage you all here to not let this be the only time you discuss these important issues. I urge you all to use this forum to network and build contacts among your regional counterparts and the outside experts here and use these relationships to share ideas and learn from each other. Ultimately it will be up to you, the producing and regulating countries, to implement practices that are best for your country, and we are here to offer advice based on our own experiences and share ideas that might help advance your interests. This is a great opportunity for all of us, and we look forward to the IAEA’s continued work on this issue.

While the United States is no longer one of the largest producers of this commodity, I look forward to hearing and learning from you during this seminar so that we can help advance the good practices that are already in place in many of the countries that are represented here this week.
Thank you.

HONORING ANZIO BEACHHEAD VETERANS AND FAMILIES


FROM:  U.S. NAVY
Honoring the Anzio Veterans
By Ensign Chris Collins, USS Mahan Public Affairs Office
NORFOLK (NNS) -- On board guided-missile destroyer USS Mahan (DDG 72), crew members welcomed the Anzio Beachhead Veterans and their families, April 26, commemorating the anniversary of the World War II storming of Anzio Beach in Italy 68 years ago.

On Jan. 22, 1944, the beaches of Anzio, Italy, were assaulted by 40,000 soldiers, over 5,000 vehicles, and more than 250 U.S. Navy vessels, leading into a battle that waged for almost five months.

"I served in the Army from 1941 to 1945 as a .50-caliber machine gunner, 32 months of those years were spent overseas," said Bryant Huffman. "My wife and I still travel to Italy every year, but we always avoid the Anzio area."

The ship hosted the 25 veterans and their families who visited Mahan, where they were given a tour of the missile decks and foc'sle, the 5-inch gun, and the main decks spaces such as Central Command Station, the Mess Decks, and Combat Information Center.

Retired Lt. Col. John Ray, who enlisted on July 5, 1942, spent his Anzio days as an enlisted soldier but received a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) commission following the war. He went on to spend 24 years in the Army, retiring before the Vietnam conflict began.

"I finally left in 1966 as a lieutenant colonel," said Ray, "but I was proud to be a grunt in the 34th Infantry, 2nd Division during the war."

Morris Snyder talked about his experiences during the war; he spent five campaigns fighting in Africa and Europe, where he was wounded on three separate occasions. His third wound resulted in his capture by the German Army. He spent 228 days in a POW camp where he served as the Barracks Chief and Medical Examiner, despite having no medical experience.

After returning home and being offered a commission, he resigned his duties in the military after just two and a half years of service. He then went on to a 40-year career in the steel industry. He was awarded three Silver Stars and most recently the French Legion of Honor, the highest award the French government can bestow.

Snyder is more proud of raising a family than the awards.

"I've got a bunch of shiny stuff they gave me," Snyder said.

The veterans spoke of their excitement being able to visit a warship and learn something new. Mahan Sailors spoke with the veterans, heard their stories, and said they were reminded of the many reasons they chose to fight for their country.

Mahan is currently home ported at Naval Station Norfolk. Last year, the ship completed a U.S. 6th Fleet deployment in support of maritime security and will deploy again in 2013.

SCIENCE AND THE INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND ARMS CONTROL EQUATION


FROM:  U.S STATE DEPARTMENT
Science, Scientists, and International Security
Remarks Rose Gottemoeller
Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Committee on International Security and Arms Control, National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting
Washington, DC
April 29, 2012
Thank you so much for having me today. I am so pleased to be here at your grand reopening. The building looks beautiful and I am so glad to have you so close by again. As you have heard, I am now the Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, as well as the Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance. I think I win the prize for the longest title in Washington.
While wearing my various hats, I spend a lot of time thinking about the application of science and technology to arms control and international security. As we watch the successful implementation of the New START Treaty, we are now thinking about the next steps.

Negotiators worked hard to find innovative new mechanisms to aid in the verification of the New START Treaty and the results of that work are already evident. Our experience so far is demonstrating that the New START Treaty’s verification regime works, and will help to push the door open to new types of inspections. Such inspections will be crucial to any future nuclear reduction plans.

And there is no doubt that we are facing new challenges, such as monitoring smaller and smaller units of account, e.g. warheads, or items that are inherently dual use in chemistry or biology.

Nowadays, we verify that countries are fulfilling their arms control treaty obligations through a combination of information exchange, notifications of weapon status, on-site inspections, and National Technical Means (NTM). When these elements work together we have an effective verification regime.

Ambassador Paul Nitze’s definition for effective verification, devised several decades ago, still stands – “if the other side moves beyond the limits of the treaty in any militarily significant way, we would be able to detect such violations in time to respond effectively and thereby deny the other side the benefit of the violation.”

That definition continues to be the benchmark for verifying compliance; but the world is changing, as is the nature of what we need to monitor and verify.

For example, if we are looking for ways to design a verifiable treaty that regulates the number of non-strategic nuclear weapons, we come across a problem we have not dealt with before: tactical weapons are small, easy to hide, and hard for an inspector to inventory; what is worse, we don’t all have the same definition of a non-strategic weapon.
If we move beyond looking at non-strategic nuclear weapons to examine overall reductions to our nuclear forces, we need to take a long, hard look at the entire nuclear enterprise, from production to deployment and storage, and finally to dismantlement, and identify greater opportunities to create novel monitoring regimes that bring us closer to the goal of that President Obama has set of a world without nuclear weapons.
We need to find new signatures that are measurable and help us to verify treaty obligations, while not divulging sensitive information that may compromise mutual security and deterrence. After all, we will be accepting such obligations for our nuclear weapons, too. In a treaty setting, all obligations will be totally reciprocal.
As we move forward towards an approach to nuclear monitoring that looks at the entire cradle to grave lifecycle of warheads, the dichotomy between controls on fissile materials and strategic arms control disappears. Previously, one set of experts might consider strategic nuclear missiles, another might analyze only naval nuclear reactors, and a third group might analyze fissile material. Eventually, we will need to merge the thinking in all of these diverse areas.

We also need to look at ways to expand the applications of existing agreements. For example, we are exploring opportunities to capitalize on the success of the Open Skies Treaty verification regime. For those of you unfamiliar with the Treaty, it establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its signatories. Open Skies is one of the most wide-ranging international arms control efforts to promote openness and transparency in military forces and activities.

New ideas for the Open Skies Treaty involve both the possibility of applying the current regime to a wider array of treaty concerns, and the design of possible new cooperative aerial reconnaissance regimes that might be included to support verification of future agreements. We are also looking at possible novel applications for the Open Skies infrastructure. One example would be in the area of disaster relief.

Further, while we spend a lot of time focusing on nuclear weapons, the other weapons of mass destruction—particularly biological weapons—pose even greater challenges for arms control policy, because they are inherently dual use assets and, thus, difficult to disentangle from normal industrial or commercial processes.

Here, too, we need creative thinking about how to facilitate transparency in the biotech sector without compromising sensitive or proprietary information. Another problem with biotech transparency is that findings are potentially easy to misinterpret. There are legitimate reasons to study many pathogens, as we will discuss further on this panel. The risk of opening the US biotech industry to false accusations is a real concern, as is the inherent difficulty of unambiguous detection of foreign offensive BW activity. We need to be creative in our thinking here, as so far we have concluded simply that meaningful monitoring of biological activities that can clearly distinguish peaceful uses from weapons is not possible. We hope that some clever team will prove us wrong.

There are similar concerns about chemical weapons in the wake of advances in science and technology and the chemical industry. A modern chemical weapons production facility may look exactly like a typical civilian chemical production facility. A country could use the same facilities for both legitimate and weapon purposes with a relatively simple “swap out” of piping and equipment. Unless you happen to detect the effluent while they are processing a chemical weapon batch, it is possible you would not know what is being produced.

To help meet all these new challenges, a question that I’ve been asking myself, my staff and experts around the world is: what are some new tools and technologies that we could incorporate into arms control verification and monitoring for all weapons of mass destruction? I am particularly interested in how we can use the astonishing advancements in information technologies over the past decades, and how they can aid in the verification of arms control treaties and agreements.
Right now we are in the brainstorming stage, and I have been particularly keen to speak to young people about these challenges. But I have also been eager to speak to the broad scientific community, bringing these ideas to our national laboratories and last year, before the JASONs. I greatly appreciate this opportunity to speak to the NAS. It is people like you who will help us turn these ideas into policy.

Our new reality is a smaller, increasingly-networked world where the average citizen connects to other citizens in cyberspace hundreds of times each day. They exchange and share ideas on a wide variety of topics, why not put this vast problem solving entity to good use?

New concepts, I recognize, are not invented overnight, and we don’t understand the full range of possibilities inherent in the information age. Today, any event, anywhere on the planet, has the potential to be broadcast globally in mere seconds. The implications for arms control and verification are interesting. It is harder to hide things nowadays. When it is harder to hide things, it is easier to be caught. The neighborhood gaze is a powerful tool.

Open source information technologies improve arms control verification in at least two ways: either as a way of generating new information, or as analysis of information that already is out there.

The DARPA Red Balloon Challenge is an example of the first. It demonstrated the enormous potential of social networking and also demonstrated how incentives can motivate large populations to work toward a common goal. Applying such ideas to arms control, a country could, for example, establish its bona fides in a deep nuclear reduction environment by opening itself to a verification challenge.

A technique like this—I call it a “public verification challenge”—might be especially valuable as we move to lower and lower numbers of nuclear weapons. Governments, in that case, will have an interest in proving that they are meeting their reduction obligations, and may want to engage their publics in helping them to make the case. It will then be incumbent on all of us to ensure that they cannot spoof or manipulate the verification challenges that they devise.

This kind of public verification challenge would augment standard international safeguards or verification of a country’s nuclear declaration. We have to bear in mind that there could be significant limitations based on the freedoms available to the citizens of any given country —an issue to tackle in thinking through this problem.

The Information Age is also creating a greater talent pool of individuals. Garage tinkerers, skunk works scientists, technologists and gadget entrepreneurs can reach a broader, diverse market for their products and services. These private citizens can develop web-based applications for any touch pad communication device. This “crowd sourcing” lets everyday people solve problems by getting innovative ideas out of their heads and onto the shelves.

The DOD, through DARPA, is now using crowd source competitions for the development of drones. We believe that this is also an approach that could work for arms control and nonproliferation verification, both technologies and concepts.

Open source technology could be useful in the hands of inspectors. Smart Phone and tablet apps could be created for the express purpose of aiding in the verification and monitoring process. For example, by having all safeguards and verification sensors in an inspected facility wirelessly connected to an inspector’s iPad, he or she could note anomalies and flag specific items for closer inspections, as well as compare readings in real time and interpret them in context. Some of this is already happening on an ad hoc basis.
My Bureau intends to pursue such ideas through competitions, posing challenge questions with arms control applications to the information community.

Through our Key Verification Assets Fund (V Fund) Program, we are seeking ambitious, innovative research proposals to address requirements outlined in an unclassified Verification Technology Research and Development Needs Document. This is the first time that our “Needs Document”, as we call it, has been available in unclassified form. We are inviting researchers and project managers to submit white papers with ideas for sustaining, researching, developing, or acquiring technologies relating to the verification of chemical, biological, nuclear and missiles arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements or commitments.

This is not just a paper exercise. Congress created the V Fund so that we could provide "seed money" to encourage the development of new technologies, or to adapt existing projects to the needs of arms control verification. We intend to use the resource well.
You can find more information by going to www.state.gov/t/avc/vtt. We look forward to seeing your ideas.

In the end, the goal of using emerging technologies and social networks should be to augment our existing arms control verification capabilities, and we will need your help to think about how it can be done. For example, could the CTBTO’s International Monitoring System’s ability to monitor for nuclear tests be supplemented by social networks? Could new information technologies help us to monitor for the cheating scenarios that concern us – like the ones involving very small nuclear explosions? This is a timely consideration. Your organization just published a comprehensive study on the verifiability of the CTBT, and we at State thank everyone who was involved in the hard work of producing that study, including Micah Lowenthal, Ben Rusek and two of my esteemed fellow panelists – Raymond Jeanloz and Dick Garwin.

Going forward, it is only with the ideas from inside and outside the government that we will find better tools to mine, fuse and analyze both classified and unclassified data, in order to compensate for situations where on-site inspection and/or national technical means are unavailable or need to be supplemented.

These are exciting challenges and I look forward to working with you to tackle them.
Thank you.




THE WORKSHOP ON HUMAN RIGHTS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Workshop
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
April 30, 2012
On Monday, April 30, 2012 at the State Department, representatives of major multinational corporations from a wide range of industry sectors attended a workshop on implementing the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The workshop focused on best practices and key challenges in respecting human rights in business operations. This is an important step toward collaboration to find joint solutions to human rights challenges in the face of an ever more complex global economy. The U.S. State Department will convene similar consultations with civil society later this year.
The workshop was co-hosted by Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner, and Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez. In an opening address, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Maria Otero laid out the Department’s approach to working with businesses to contribute to global prosperity, while ensuring they operate in a manner that protects against human rights abuses.

 The approach emphasizes:
Maximizing the contributions of private sector innovation to meet global challenges and improve human welfare.
Exploring new ways for government and business to work together to further shared goals and address challenges in complex environments.
Establishing clear guidelines and reliable processes so that businesses can do their part in respecting human rights.

Former UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights John Ruggie and the Shift Project facilitated the workshop, which furthered public-private efforts to strengthen businesses' human rights policies and practices.

The Guiding Principles are the first global set of guidelines on business and human rights endorsed by the UN, and provide an important framework and focal point for corporations, states, civil society and other actors as they work to strengthen their respective approaches to business and human rights.


PRESIDENT OBAMA AND ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OSAMA BIN LADEN'S DEMISE

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

White House Photo

Obama Notes bin Laden Mission as Anniversary Nears

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2012 - President Barack Obama today praised the U.S. military and intelligence communities as he reflected on the approaching one-year anniversary of the mission that killed al-Qaida leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Speaking during a news conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the president praised the intelligence effort of tracking bin Laden down and the May 2, 2011, military mission that killed him.
"It's a mark of the excellence of our intelligence teams and our military teams -- a political process that worked," the president said. "And I think for us to use that time for some reflection, to give thanks to those who participated, is entirely appropriate, and that's what's been taking place."

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, commenting April 27 on a return trip from South America, noted "America has become a safer place" since a team of Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound. Panetta was director of the CIA at the time of the raid.

"I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation," Panetta told reporters traveling with him. But al-Qaida remains a threat, he added.

ANZIO VETERANS AND FAMILIES HONORED BY DESTROYER USS MAHAN


FROM:  U.S NAVY 

Tanks of an Armored regiment are debarking from an LST [US 77] in Anzio harbor [Italy] and added strength to the U.S. Fifth Army [VI Corps] forces on the beachead (WWII Signal Corps Photograph Collection).


Honoring the Anzio Veterans
By Ensign Chris Collins, USS Mahan Public Affairs Office
NORFOLK (NNS) -- On board guided-missile destroyer USS Mahan (DDG 72), crew members welcomed the Anzio Beachhead Veterans and their families, April 26, commemorating the anniversary of the World War II storming of Anzio Beach in Italy 68 years ago.

On Jan. 22, 1944, the beaches of Anzio, Italy, were assaulted by 40,000 soldiers, over 5,000 vehicles, and more than 250 U.S. Navy vessels, leading into a battle that waged for almost five months.

"I served in the Army from 1941 to 1945 as a .50-caliber machine gunner, 32 months of those years were spent overseas," said Bryant Huffman. "My wife and I still travel to Italy every year, but we always avoid the Anzio area."

The ship hosted the 25 veterans and their families who visited Mahan, where they were given a tour of the missile decks and foc'sle, the 5-inch gun, and the main decks spaces such as Central Command Station, the Mess Decks, and Combat Information Center.

Retired Lt. Col. John Ray, who enlisted on July 5, 1942, spent his Anzio days as an enlisted soldier but received a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) commission following the war. He went on to spend 24 years in the Army, retiring before the Vietnam conflict began.

"I finally left in 1966 as a lieutenant colonel," said Ray, "but I was proud to be a grunt in the 34th Infantry, 2nd Division during the war."

Morris Snyder talked about his experiences during the war; he spent five campaigns fighting in Africa and Europe, where he was wounded on three separate occasions. His third wound resulted in his capture by the German Army. He spent 228 days in a POW camp where he served as the Barracks Chief and Medical Examiner, despite having no medical experience.

After returning home and being offered a commission, he resigned his duties in the military after just two and a half years of service. He then went on to a 40-year career in the steel industry. He was awarded three Silver Stars and most recently the French Legion of Honor, the highest award the French government can bestow.

Snyder is more proud of raising a family than the awards.

"I've got a bunch of shiny stuff they gave me," Snyder said.

The veterans spoke of their excitement being able to visit a warship and learn something new. Mahan Sailors spoke with the veterans, heard their stories, and said they were reminded of the many reasons they chose to fight for their country.

Mahan is currently home ported at Naval Station Norfolk. Last year, the ship completed a U.S. 6th Fleet deployment in support of maritime security and will deploy again in 2013.

U.S. JAPAN ALLIANCE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE 

New Joint Vision to Guide U.S.-Japan Alliance, Obama Says

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2012 - A new joint vision with Japan will help to shape the future of the Asia-Pacific region for decades to come, President Barack Obama said today.

Standing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda at a White House news conference, Obama referred to Japan as "one of America's closest allies in the Asia-Pacific region" and around the world.
"First, we recognize that the U.S.-Japan alliance will remain the foundation of the security and prosperity of our two nations, but also a cornerstone of regional peace and security," Obama said. "As such, we reviewed the agreement that our governments reached last week to realign American forces in Japan."

The agreement reflects the U.S. effort to modernize its defense posture in the Asia-Pacific region with forces that are more broadly distributed, more flexible and more sustainable, the president said. "At the same time," he added, it will reduce the impact on local communities like Okinawa."

Speaking through a translator, Noda reaffirmed the significance of the two nations' cooperation.
"We were able to confirm from broader perspectives the present-day significance of the Japan-U.S. alliance and where the Japan-U.S. relations should be headed in the longer term," he said.

"Now, I've always held the conviction that our bilateral alliance is the linchpin of Japan's diplomacy," he added. "Having had conversations with my with U.S. friends, yesterday only renews my conviction that Japan-U.S. alliance must be unchangeable and, in fact, be unshakable."

The president detailed the joint vision, noting that it commits both countries to deepening their mutual trade and investments.
"We're already among each other's top trading partners, and our exports to Japan and Japanese companies here in the U.S. support more than 1 million American jobs," Obama said, adding that more remains to be done as the country works to double U.S. exports.
"We instructed our teams to continue our consultation regarding Japan's interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would benefit both our economies and the region," he said. "And we agreed to deepen our cooperation on nuclear safety, clean energy and cyber security to enhance our economic competitiveness."
the third part of this joint vision lays out the future the United States seeks in the Asia-Pacific region, the president said: "a region where international rules and norms are upheld, where nations contribute to regional security, where commerce and freedom of navigation is not impeded and where disputes are resolved peacefully."

Obama said both countries will also remain in close consultation on North Korea and will continue to discuss changes in Burma and India, and how to reward progress there while encouraging more reform.
The president also commended Japan for "strong leadership" regarding Iran's nuclear program with its decision to reduce oil imports from Iran.

"This is just one more example of how despite challenging times at home, Japan has continued to serve as a model and a true global leader," Obama said.

The president also noted this joint vision reaffirms the U.S. and Japan's role as global partners "bound by shared values and committed to international peace, security and human rights."

"For example, our nations are the largest donors in Afghanistan," Obama said. "As we plan for the NATO summit in Chicago and the next phase of the transition in Afghanistan, Japan is planning for a donor conference to sustain development there."

Noda thanked the United States for its "unsparing support" during Operation Tomodachi, the response following the March 11, 2011, 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami disaster in eastern Japan.
"[The] Japan-U.S. alliance has reached new heights," Noda said. "Together with President Obama, I shall firmly advance these steps."

The president thanked Noda for helping to revitalize the U.S.-Japanese alliance and providing greater security and prosperity for both countries.

"I once again want to salute the people of Japan for the strength and the resilience and the courage that they've shown during this past year," Obama said. "More than ever, the American people are proud to call you a friend, and honored to call you an ally."

SOME FLOOD VICTIMS DON’T MOVE BACK; THEY MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND

FROM:  FEMA
Photo: West Virginia Flood Aftermath.  Credit:   FEMA
CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- Sometimes it’s unwise to challenge Mother Nature. As West Virginians know all too well, in many areas of the state flash floods are frequent visitors, and an increasing number of homeowners have decided to seek higher ground.

One family in Stollings saw its two-story house inundated time and again by the nearby Guyandotte River. Flood insurance paid for most of the repeated repairs and cleanups, but no policy can make up for the stress of being repeatedly flooded. And as the disasters continue, a vulnerable house inevitably becomes worth less and less.

The Logan County Commission had determined that the flash flooding of 2004 caused enormous damage to many homes in the Stollings neighborhood, and several homeowners chose to take advantage of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “buyout” process under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. After the flood of May, 2007, the family also decided it was time to move and accepted the county’s buyout offer.

These projects are normal real-estate transactions. Homeowners are paid fair market value for their homes as calculated before the damage occurred. Once the property is purchased, the structures are removed and the property becomes public open space or green space. It can never be developed or sold to private parties. It can be used as a public park, can be leased for agricultural use, but no structures of any kind can be erected thereon.

The Buyout program is completely voluntary on the part of the property owner and the community. Buyout, or “acquisition,” projects are administered by the state and local communities, be they towns or counties. While FEMA shoulders 75 percent of the costs, it does not buy houses directly from the property owners.

The property owners do not apply to the state for buyouts, but the community may sponsor applications on their behalf. Those applications are prepared by the communities with the input of homeowners whose properties have suffered heavy damage. The applications are completed after the state has advised the community of any state priorities or special restrictions. The state and community work together to identify where buyouts would make the most sense.

The state then submits whatever applications they deem appropriate for action for FEMA’s review, which ensures the rules are being followed, the environment is protected and the buyouts would be a cost-effective use of funds.

If and when FEMA approves the purchase, the community begins to acquire the property. The actual transaction is done by the community or the county. FEMA warns that the process is not quick. The whole buyout process from the day of the disaster to the property settlement can take up to two years.

The family in Stollings has now moved to safer ground. The house is gone and the property is an empty, grassy open space. When the floods hit Logan County in March of this year, this property had no house left to damage or destroy, and the open spaces where houses once sat helped reduce flooding downstream.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover

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