Sunday, August 11, 2013
BUSINESSMAN SETTLES FALSE CLAIM ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD INVOLVING THE E-RATE PROGRAM
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Texas Businessman Agrees to Settle False Claims Allegations Involving the E-Rate Program
Larry Lehmann of Giddings, Texas has agreed to pay $400,000 to settle allegations that he violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate Program, the Department of Justice announced today. The E-rate Program, created by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, subsidizes eligible equipment and services to make Internet access and internal networking more affordable for public schools and libraries. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) was one of the applicants that successfully sought and received E-rate subsidies from 2004 through 2006.
“The E-rate Program provides vital support for our nation’s students and schools,” said Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. “We are committed to protecting the integrity of this important program, which helps our children connect to the digital world.”
“Our office is committed to protecting the integrity of government initiatives,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. “We will continue to work closely with the Department in cases such as this one to ensure the E-rate and other federal programs are free from fraudulent and deceitful claims.”
Lehmann functioned as the CEO and managing partner of Acclaim Professional Services (Acclaim), which partnered with other companies to provide E-rate funded equipment and services to HISD during this period. The United States contended that, in violation of E-rate competitive bidding requirements and HISD procurement rules, Lehmann provided gifts and loans to HISD employees, including tickets to sporting events and two loans totaling $66,750 to an HISD employee who was involved in the procurement and administration of HISD’s E-rate projects.
The United States also alleged that Lehmann helped devise a scheme in which HISD outsourced some of its employees to Acclaim, which allowed them to continue to work for HISD while passing the cost on to the E-rate Program. The United States further alleged that, with Lehmann’s approval, Acclaim hid the cost of these employees in its E-rate Program invoices by rolling them into the cost of eligible goods and services.
The settlement with Lehmann is part of a broader investigation by the United States of E-rate funding requests submitted by HISD and the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). The government previously recovered $16.25 million from Hewlett-Packard, $850,000 from HISD, and $750,000 from DISD. The government’s investigation was initiated, in part, by a qui tam or whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act by Dave Richardson and Dave Gillis, who investigated allegations of improprieties based on Richardson’s experience bidding for contracts at HISD and DISD. The False Claims Act authorizes private parties to file suit for false claims on behalf of the United States and share in the government’s recovery. The United States intervened in Richardson and Gillis’ lawsuit, and added Lehmann as a defendant.
“E-rate is one of the FCC’s biggest success stories, helping connect nearly every U.S. library and school to the Internet,” said Julie Veach, Chief of the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau. “We take any abuse of our rules seriously and thank the Department of Justice for their assistance in protecting the integrity of the E-rate Program for students, teachers, and libraries across the country. Today’s action is a signal to those interested in profiting at the expense of our nation’s schools and libraries: fraud doesn’t pay.”
This case was handled by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, and the FCC’s Office of the Inspector General and Office of the General Counsel.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Texas Businessman Agrees to Settle False Claims Allegations Involving the E-Rate Program
Larry Lehmann of Giddings, Texas has agreed to pay $400,000 to settle allegations that he violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate Program, the Department of Justice announced today. The E-rate Program, created by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, subsidizes eligible equipment and services to make Internet access and internal networking more affordable for public schools and libraries. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) was one of the applicants that successfully sought and received E-rate subsidies from 2004 through 2006.
“The E-rate Program provides vital support for our nation’s students and schools,” said Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. “We are committed to protecting the integrity of this important program, which helps our children connect to the digital world.”
“Our office is committed to protecting the integrity of government initiatives,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. “We will continue to work closely with the Department in cases such as this one to ensure the E-rate and other federal programs are free from fraudulent and deceitful claims.”
Lehmann functioned as the CEO and managing partner of Acclaim Professional Services (Acclaim), which partnered with other companies to provide E-rate funded equipment and services to HISD during this period. The United States contended that, in violation of E-rate competitive bidding requirements and HISD procurement rules, Lehmann provided gifts and loans to HISD employees, including tickets to sporting events and two loans totaling $66,750 to an HISD employee who was involved in the procurement and administration of HISD’s E-rate projects.
The United States also alleged that Lehmann helped devise a scheme in which HISD outsourced some of its employees to Acclaim, which allowed them to continue to work for HISD while passing the cost on to the E-rate Program. The United States further alleged that, with Lehmann’s approval, Acclaim hid the cost of these employees in its E-rate Program invoices by rolling them into the cost of eligible goods and services.
The settlement with Lehmann is part of a broader investigation by the United States of E-rate funding requests submitted by HISD and the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). The government previously recovered $16.25 million from Hewlett-Packard, $850,000 from HISD, and $750,000 from DISD. The government’s investigation was initiated, in part, by a qui tam or whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act by Dave Richardson and Dave Gillis, who investigated allegations of improprieties based on Richardson’s experience bidding for contracts at HISD and DISD. The False Claims Act authorizes private parties to file suit for false claims on behalf of the United States and share in the government’s recovery. The United States intervened in Richardson and Gillis’ lawsuit, and added Lehmann as a defendant.
“E-rate is one of the FCC’s biggest success stories, helping connect nearly every U.S. library and school to the Internet,” said Julie Veach, Chief of the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau. “We take any abuse of our rules seriously and thank the Department of Justice for their assistance in protecting the integrity of the E-rate Program for students, teachers, and libraries across the country. Today’s action is a signal to those interested in profiting at the expense of our nation’s schools and libraries: fraud doesn’t pay.”
This case was handled by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, and the FCC’s Office of the Inspector General and Office of the General Counsel.
GENES BY THE NUMBERS
u.s.+national+institutes+of+health-wikimedia,+pd..jpg) |
| Photo: DNA. Credit: NIH/Wikimedia. |
Genomic and computational tools provide window to distant past
Out of the estimated 23,000 or more genes in the human genome, about 100 of them will differ--they will be present or not--between any two individuals. Genes lost or gained over time result from evolution and adaptation, as species respond through the years to their environment and other influences.
The availability of genomic sequences now allows scientists to study the presence or absence of whole genes among individuals and between species, and the impact of such changes for evolution.
Some individuals, for example, have a sharper sense of smell than others because they have more copies of olfactory receptor genes, which allow them to detect a wider range of odors. Others, especially those who live in societies with starchy diets, have more copies of the gene responsible for producing amylase, an enzyme in saliva that breaks down starch.
"There have been lots of changes, and we want to know which ones might have been involved in human adaptation," says Matthew Hahn, an associate professor of biology and informatics at Indiana University at Bloomington. "The comparison of whole genomes has revealed large and frequent changes in the size of gene families. Comparative genomic analyses allow us to identify large-scale patterns of change in gene families, and to make inferences regarding the role of natural selection in gene gain and loss."
Using computer models and available genomic data, Hahn studies the differences in genes among humans and other species, and compares them, in order to better understand the timeline of genetic changes and adaptation throughout our history. By developing computational and statistical tools to analyze whole genomes, Hahn and his team are learning new things about the evolution of gene regulation and gene families, human genomic history, and the evolution of phenotypically important genes.
"We can't go back in time, but we can use current species to get a pretty good estimate of what the ancestors looked like, and to get some ideas of what changes occurred and the order of these changes," he says.
The scientists are examining all the genes in the genome, and focusing on differences among species, such as chimpanzees and other primates compared to humans. "There's a 6 percent difference between humans and chimps in the genes they have," he says. "In the end, after 6 million years of being separate, we don't have exactly the same set of genes as chimps. How and when did those differences occur?"
Hahn is conducting his research under a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which he received in 2009 as part of NSF's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The award supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education, and research within the context of the mission of their organization. He is receiving about $1 million over five years.
The work could have wide-ranging applications in diagnosing and treating diseases, since many illnesses and conditions arise from genetic mutations, including the duplication or loss of important genes.
"There is a lot of interest in trying to associate these changes to human diseases," Hahn says. "There are diseases that are caused when you lose or even gain a gene, not just affecting smell or the ability to digest starch. A lot of the genes that differ in copy number are genes involved in our immune response, and these are obvious candidates for the genetic changes underlying differences in disease susceptibility among individuals. By understanding normal variation in gene copy-number, we hope to be able to better recognize changes that may be detrimental to human health."
The researchers often start by examining the differences in the number of copies of different genes among individual humans.
"The 1,000 Genomes Project (an international research effort, launched in 2008, to establish the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation) has allowed us to study the full genetic complement of genes in a wide variety of human populations, from all of the inhabited continents," he says. "We find differences between individuals within populations and among populations, largely recapitulating the known relationships among humans.
"But we also find population-specific changes in genes that have allowed us to adapt to our surroundings," he adds. "These changes have involved both the adaptive gain and adaptive loss of genes, and are associated with important phenotypic differences among individuals."
To understand the differences shared among all humans, and that distinguish us from our ancestors, the researchers then compare the full complement of genes to those of other primates, including chimpanzees, orangutans, macaques and marmosets.
"These comparisons, and similar ones to other new genomes that are being sequenced all the time, allow us to make strong inferences about what our common ancestral genome looked like, and, therefore, the changes that have occurred along the human lineage," he says.
Such genetic changes are highly likely to have been involved in human-specific adaptations, for example, humans' increased cranium size, according to Hahn.
"Having these genomic and computational tools gives us a window into the distant past that we otherwise would not have had," he says.
-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
Investigators
Saturday, August 10, 2013
CDC REPORTS OBESITY DECLINES AMONG LOW-INCOME PRESCHOOLERS IN SEVERAL STATES
FROM: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Obesity among low-income preschoolers declines in many states
Nineteen states and territories report decreases in obesity among this group
After decades of rising rates, obesity among low-income preschoolers declined slightly in 19 states and U.S. territories from 2008 through 2011, according to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report found that Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, South Dakota, and the U.S. Virgin Islands saw at least a one percentage point decrease in their rate of obesity. Twenty states and Puerto Rico held steady at their current rate. Obesity rates increased slightly in three states.
Previous research shows that about one in eight preschoolers is obese in the United States. Children are five times more likely to be overweight or obese as an adult if they are overweight or obese between the ages of three and five years.
“Although obesity remains epidemic, the tide has begun to turn for some kids in some states,” said CDC Director, Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “While the changes are small, for the first time in a generation they are going in the right direction. Obesity in early childhood increases the risk of serious health problems for life.”
“Today’s announcement reaffirms my belief that together, we are making a real difference in helping kids across the country get a healthier start to life,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “We know how essential it is to set our youngest children on a path towards a lifetime of healthy eating and physical activity, and more than 10,000 childcare programs participating in the Let’s Move! Child Care initiative are doing vitally important work on this front. Yet, while this announcement reflects important progress, we also know that there is tremendous work still to be done to support healthy futures for all our children.”
Obesity among low-income preschoolers declines in many states
Nineteen states and territories report decreases in obesity among this group
After decades of rising rates, obesity among low-income preschoolers declined slightly in 19 states and U.S. territories from 2008 through 2011, according to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report found that Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, South Dakota, and the U.S. Virgin Islands saw at least a one percentage point decrease in their rate of obesity. Twenty states and Puerto Rico held steady at their current rate. Obesity rates increased slightly in three states.
Previous research shows that about one in eight preschoolers is obese in the United States. Children are five times more likely to be overweight or obese as an adult if they are overweight or obese between the ages of three and five years.
“Although obesity remains epidemic, the tide has begun to turn for some kids in some states,” said CDC Director, Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “While the changes are small, for the first time in a generation they are going in the right direction. Obesity in early childhood increases the risk of serious health problems for life.”
“Today’s announcement reaffirms my belief that together, we are making a real difference in helping kids across the country get a healthier start to life,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “We know how essential it is to set our youngest children on a path towards a lifetime of healthy eating and physical activity, and more than 10,000 childcare programs participating in the Let’s Move! Child Care initiative are doing vitally important work on this front. Yet, while this announcement reflects important progress, we also know that there is tremendous work still to be done to support healthy futures for all our children.”
DOJ FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST BUS COMPANY FOR ALLEGED DISCRIMINATION AGAINST U.S. CITIZENS
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, August 5, 2013
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against Texas Bus Company Alleging Employment Discrimination Against U.S. Citizens and Other Individuals
The Justice Department announced today the filing of a lawsuit with the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO), against Autobuses Ejecutivos LLC, d/b/a Omnibus Express, a bus company based in Houston.
The complaint alleges Omnibus Express violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision by preferring to hire temporary nonimmigrant visa holders over U.S. citizens, certain lawful permanent residents and other protected individuals for bus driver positions. Specifically, the complaint states that from at least September 2012 to February 2013, Omnibus Express failed to consider the applications of many qualified U.S. citizens and other protected individuals, or actively discouraged them from pursuing their applications, while at the same time petitioning the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for permission to hire up to 50 foreign workers on H-2B visas. The H-2B program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs when there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing or qualified to do the temporary work. The complaint further alleges that Omnibus Express hired 42 H-2B workers during this period, and in doing so, represented to the DOL and USCIS that there were not enough qualified workers in the United States to fill the 50 bus driver positions. The complaint seeks an order prohibiting future discrimination by Omnibus Express, civil penalties, back pay for injured parties and injunctive relief. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating in hiring against certain workers based on their citizenship status.
“The nation’s current immigration law protects individuals in the United States, such as U.S. citizens, certain lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, from unlawful discrimination in hiring based on their citizenship status,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We are committed to enforcing the INA so that work-authorized individuals have equal access to employment in the United States.”
The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, which prohibits employers from discriminating against work-authorized individuals on the basis of citizenship status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral for a fee.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against Texas Bus Company Alleging Employment Discrimination Against U.S. Citizens and Other Individuals
The Justice Department announced today the filing of a lawsuit with the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO), against Autobuses Ejecutivos LLC, d/b/a Omnibus Express, a bus company based in Houston.
The complaint alleges Omnibus Express violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision by preferring to hire temporary nonimmigrant visa holders over U.S. citizens, certain lawful permanent residents and other protected individuals for bus driver positions. Specifically, the complaint states that from at least September 2012 to February 2013, Omnibus Express failed to consider the applications of many qualified U.S. citizens and other protected individuals, or actively discouraged them from pursuing their applications, while at the same time petitioning the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for permission to hire up to 50 foreign workers on H-2B visas. The H-2B program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs when there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing or qualified to do the temporary work. The complaint further alleges that Omnibus Express hired 42 H-2B workers during this period, and in doing so, represented to the DOL and USCIS that there were not enough qualified workers in the United States to fill the 50 bus driver positions. The complaint seeks an order prohibiting future discrimination by Omnibus Express, civil penalties, back pay for injured parties and injunctive relief. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating in hiring against certain workers based on their citizenship status.
“The nation’s current immigration law protects individuals in the United States, such as U.S. citizens, certain lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, from unlawful discrimination in hiring based on their citizenship status,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We are committed to enforcing the INA so that work-authorized individuals have equal access to employment in the United States.”
The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, which prohibits employers from discriminating against work-authorized individuals on the basis of citizenship status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral for a fee.
REMARKS BEFORE THE RUSSIA 2+2 MEETING
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks Before the Russia 2+2 Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu
Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC
August 9, 2013
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome. We are delighted to welcome Ministers Lavrov and Shoygu, two Sergeys. We’re happy to have them here today, and I particularly want to welcome my old friend Chuck Hagel from the Defense Department.
The relationship between the United States and Russia is, needless to say, a very important relationship, and it is marked by both shared interests and at times colliding and conflicting interests. Now, I think we’re all very clear-eyed about that. Sergey Lavrov and I are old hockey players and we both know that diplomacy, like hockey, can sometimes result in the occasional collision. So we’re candid, very candid, about the areas in which we agree, but also the areas in which we disagree.
It’s no secret that we have experienced some challenging moments, and obviously not just over the Snowden case. We will discuss these differences today for certain. But this meeting remains important above and beyond the collisions and the moments of disagreement. It is important for us to find ways to make progress on missile defense, on other strategic issues, including Afghanistan, Iran, on North Korea, and Syria. And one thing I would emphasize is that on Syria, while Sergey and I do not always agree completely on responsibility for the bloodshed or on some of the ways forward, both of us and our countries agree that to avoid institutional collapse and descent into chaos, the ultimate answer is a negotiated political solution. And Geneva 2 conference is a step toward that solution. And I look forward to a very honest and robust discussion on all of these issues.
So we welcome the delegation from Russia here today, and we look forward to a very productive, hopefully, and full conversation.
Sergey.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: (Via interpreter) Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, thank you for the warm hospitality extended to myself and Sergey Shoygu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. We attach great importance to cooperation in this format, +2. We haven’t met in a while and it was the right idea of the two presidents, Obama and Putin, when they met June 17th on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Lough Erne when they decided to resume the format. And thus we meet here today in Washington.
We were preparing a number of documents, a package of documents for approval at the meeting between the two presidents. I am referring to the statement on the comprehensive development of our cooperation in the context of the 80th anniversary of resumption of diplomatic relationship between our two countries we are celebrating this year. I’m also referring to the statement aimed at giving momentum to the development of trade and economic cooperation between our two countries. By design, presidents were supposed to adopt the statement in the presence of captains of business of the two countries, because we want economy to be way more dominant in our relations.
We also prepared number of statements on enhancing cooperation in combating drug threat, cooperation on – further cooperation – agreement on further cooperation of nuclear threat reduction centers, cooperation agreement on research and nuclear sector. So I want to highlight that we have laid very solid foundation for our future work, and once we start building on the foundation, once these – the instruments are approved, we will be able to enhance cooperation in different sectors, and significantly.
Today, naturally, we will discuss international issues, global security. In particular, John mentioned missile defense. We have been discussing this issue for a long time. First, we start – since we started discussions of the New START Treaty, we always spoke about missile defense, and we note with satisfaction that in his April letter to President Putin, President Obama recognized the need to take into account all factors that impact strategic stability when talking about reductions. In Lough Erne, our two presidents discussed steps that were proposed by our U.S. partners to increase transparency in the sector. Ministers of Defense of the two countries were given instructions in that respect, and at least we in Russia were prepared to table our proposals to the two presidents, and we will do so once their summit meeting takes place.
As regards crisis settlement, Syria indeed is on top of our agenda. Our goal is the same. We need to start political process. We need to stage Geneva 2 conference. And in my view, the most important task for the Geneva 2 would be honor the commitment of all G-8 leaders made in Lough Erne when they called upon both government and opposition to join efforts to fight terrorists and force them away from Syria. And I’m convinced that in the current day reality, especially in light of the fact and assessments we’ve been hearing lately, this is indeed our top priority.
Of course, Afghanistan is also important, Iranian nuclear program is, Korean peninsula nuclear issue, and many other topics will be discussed today. We are united by shared responsibility. We must prevent destabilization of the global situation. We must prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We need to ensure peaceful settlements of all crises by global community and avoid attempts to impose forced solutions irrespective of the situation. We’ve seen examples in the past, and we’ve seen that they are not working. Just like U.S., we want to see the situation get back to normal.
In Egypt, we want to see the national reconciliation process begin. We appreciate greatly efforts made by our U.S. colleagues and John Kerry personally. Especially, I’m referring to his efforts aimed at resumption of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
So the agenda is very intense. Of course, we have disagreements. We’ll continue discussing matters on which we disagree calmly and candidly. I recall when I first met John in his capacity, his present-day capacity, and we were having this initial conversation, if I may put it that way, he told me that our countries have special responsibility, so we need to work as grown-ups. And this is what we do. And we hope that this will be reciprocal. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Sergey, thank you very much. Appreciate that. And Secretary Hagel.
SECRETARY HAGEL: Secretary Kerry, thank you. And you and your colleagues here at the State Department, thank you for hosting today’s meeting. To our guests from the Russian Federation, welcome. We are very grateful for this opportunity to spend some time with Minister Lavrov and Minister Shoygu and your colleagues who have accompanied you to address some of the most pressing and important issues facing our countries, facing the world. Our interests, almost in every case noted, and more, are mutual interests. The world is complicated; it is combustible. To find solutions at a critical time in the world are not easy. But just as Minister Lavrov and Secretary Kerry have noted, to address these clearly, directly with each other, honestly, and to find the common denominators where we can build high ground to move forward to help resolve these great issues of our time.
We live in a very defining time in the world, and just as Minister Lavrov noted in his first conversation with Secretary Kerry, our countries have some responsibility to each other, obviously, but to the world in many respects. We are leading nations, and we must work with alliances and others as to how we find these solutions to these great challenges.
Some of the issues that we will deal with today have been noted; there are others. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to spend an hour with Minister Shoygu this morning and his colleagues as we addressed some of the more specific issues related to our defense ministries and our military-to-military cooperation. That meeting was a very positive meeting, which set the standard, I hope, for our meeting today.
I very much look forward to this meeting, and again thank Ministers Lavrov and Shoygu and their delegation for being here, and to you, Secretary Kerry, for hosting us.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Secretary Hagel.
Mr. Minister Shoygu.
DEFENSE MINISTER SHOYGU: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Your Excellency. Secretaries, indeed, today I had an hour-long meeting with my colleague, Secretary Hagel. We spoke about military-to-military cooperation. We spoke about military-political and military-technical cooperation as well.
I would like to thank colleagues for the wonderful arrangement of the meeting here in Washington and once again highlight that the 2+2 format is, in our view, very efficient and important.
Naturally, we couldn’t but discuss issues that are of concern to our Washington colleagues today and to us – Afghanistan, in the first place, and the forthcoming 2014 events. Of course, we spoke about Syria. We also discussed bilateral cooperation, ways to intensify our contacts. We agreed to step up cooperation between deputy ministers of the two countries. And what is no less important, we spoke about how we could give incentive to practical cooperation, such as exercise, military exercise, both naval or special forces exercise.
We also spoke about the need for more transparency. I would like to make sure that major events, such as exercise and others hosted by the Ministry of Defense in the Russian Federation, would like to invite U.S. colleagues and will do that timely. And of course we would like to invite not just military attaches, but also delegations from the U.S. capital, from Washington, to attend major events.
We started talking about missile defense, but missile defense should probably be discussed in this expanded format, the way we have gathered today. And I would like to again thank U.S. colleagues for organizing the meeting, and I hope it’s going to be as constructive as my meeting with Secretary Hagel was. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. Again, we emphasize the importance of this conversation and in order to do it properly, we regrettably need to ask our friends in the press if they would now leave us so that we can have an opportunity to talk. Thank you very, very much. Appreciate it.
Remarks Before the Russia 2+2 Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu
Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC
August 9, 2013
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome. We are delighted to welcome Ministers Lavrov and Shoygu, two Sergeys. We’re happy to have them here today, and I particularly want to welcome my old friend Chuck Hagel from the Defense Department.
The relationship between the United States and Russia is, needless to say, a very important relationship, and it is marked by both shared interests and at times colliding and conflicting interests. Now, I think we’re all very clear-eyed about that. Sergey Lavrov and I are old hockey players and we both know that diplomacy, like hockey, can sometimes result in the occasional collision. So we’re candid, very candid, about the areas in which we agree, but also the areas in which we disagree.
It’s no secret that we have experienced some challenging moments, and obviously not just over the Snowden case. We will discuss these differences today for certain. But this meeting remains important above and beyond the collisions and the moments of disagreement. It is important for us to find ways to make progress on missile defense, on other strategic issues, including Afghanistan, Iran, on North Korea, and Syria. And one thing I would emphasize is that on Syria, while Sergey and I do not always agree completely on responsibility for the bloodshed or on some of the ways forward, both of us and our countries agree that to avoid institutional collapse and descent into chaos, the ultimate answer is a negotiated political solution. And Geneva 2 conference is a step toward that solution. And I look forward to a very honest and robust discussion on all of these issues.
So we welcome the delegation from Russia here today, and we look forward to a very productive, hopefully, and full conversation.
Sergey.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: (Via interpreter) Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, thank you for the warm hospitality extended to myself and Sergey Shoygu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. We attach great importance to cooperation in this format, +2. We haven’t met in a while and it was the right idea of the two presidents, Obama and Putin, when they met June 17th on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Lough Erne when they decided to resume the format. And thus we meet here today in Washington.
We were preparing a number of documents, a package of documents for approval at the meeting between the two presidents. I am referring to the statement on the comprehensive development of our cooperation in the context of the 80th anniversary of resumption of diplomatic relationship between our two countries we are celebrating this year. I’m also referring to the statement aimed at giving momentum to the development of trade and economic cooperation between our two countries. By design, presidents were supposed to adopt the statement in the presence of captains of business of the two countries, because we want economy to be way more dominant in our relations.
We also prepared number of statements on enhancing cooperation in combating drug threat, cooperation on – further cooperation – agreement on further cooperation of nuclear threat reduction centers, cooperation agreement on research and nuclear sector. So I want to highlight that we have laid very solid foundation for our future work, and once we start building on the foundation, once these – the instruments are approved, we will be able to enhance cooperation in different sectors, and significantly.
Today, naturally, we will discuss international issues, global security. In particular, John mentioned missile defense. We have been discussing this issue for a long time. First, we start – since we started discussions of the New START Treaty, we always spoke about missile defense, and we note with satisfaction that in his April letter to President Putin, President Obama recognized the need to take into account all factors that impact strategic stability when talking about reductions. In Lough Erne, our two presidents discussed steps that were proposed by our U.S. partners to increase transparency in the sector. Ministers of Defense of the two countries were given instructions in that respect, and at least we in Russia were prepared to table our proposals to the two presidents, and we will do so once their summit meeting takes place.
As regards crisis settlement, Syria indeed is on top of our agenda. Our goal is the same. We need to start political process. We need to stage Geneva 2 conference. And in my view, the most important task for the Geneva 2 would be honor the commitment of all G-8 leaders made in Lough Erne when they called upon both government and opposition to join efforts to fight terrorists and force them away from Syria. And I’m convinced that in the current day reality, especially in light of the fact and assessments we’ve been hearing lately, this is indeed our top priority.
Of course, Afghanistan is also important, Iranian nuclear program is, Korean peninsula nuclear issue, and many other topics will be discussed today. We are united by shared responsibility. We must prevent destabilization of the global situation. We must prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We need to ensure peaceful settlements of all crises by global community and avoid attempts to impose forced solutions irrespective of the situation. We’ve seen examples in the past, and we’ve seen that they are not working. Just like U.S., we want to see the situation get back to normal.
In Egypt, we want to see the national reconciliation process begin. We appreciate greatly efforts made by our U.S. colleagues and John Kerry personally. Especially, I’m referring to his efforts aimed at resumption of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
So the agenda is very intense. Of course, we have disagreements. We’ll continue discussing matters on which we disagree calmly and candidly. I recall when I first met John in his capacity, his present-day capacity, and we were having this initial conversation, if I may put it that way, he told me that our countries have special responsibility, so we need to work as grown-ups. And this is what we do. And we hope that this will be reciprocal. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Sergey, thank you very much. Appreciate that. And Secretary Hagel.
SECRETARY HAGEL: Secretary Kerry, thank you. And you and your colleagues here at the State Department, thank you for hosting today’s meeting. To our guests from the Russian Federation, welcome. We are very grateful for this opportunity to spend some time with Minister Lavrov and Minister Shoygu and your colleagues who have accompanied you to address some of the most pressing and important issues facing our countries, facing the world. Our interests, almost in every case noted, and more, are mutual interests. The world is complicated; it is combustible. To find solutions at a critical time in the world are not easy. But just as Minister Lavrov and Secretary Kerry have noted, to address these clearly, directly with each other, honestly, and to find the common denominators where we can build high ground to move forward to help resolve these great issues of our time.
We live in a very defining time in the world, and just as Minister Lavrov noted in his first conversation with Secretary Kerry, our countries have some responsibility to each other, obviously, but to the world in many respects. We are leading nations, and we must work with alliances and others as to how we find these solutions to these great challenges.
Some of the issues that we will deal with today have been noted; there are others. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to spend an hour with Minister Shoygu this morning and his colleagues as we addressed some of the more specific issues related to our defense ministries and our military-to-military cooperation. That meeting was a very positive meeting, which set the standard, I hope, for our meeting today.
I very much look forward to this meeting, and again thank Ministers Lavrov and Shoygu and their delegation for being here, and to you, Secretary Kerry, for hosting us.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Secretary Hagel.
Mr. Minister Shoygu.
DEFENSE MINISTER SHOYGU: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Your Excellency. Secretaries, indeed, today I had an hour-long meeting with my colleague, Secretary Hagel. We spoke about military-to-military cooperation. We spoke about military-political and military-technical cooperation as well.
I would like to thank colleagues for the wonderful arrangement of the meeting here in Washington and once again highlight that the 2+2 format is, in our view, very efficient and important.
Naturally, we couldn’t but discuss issues that are of concern to our Washington colleagues today and to us – Afghanistan, in the first place, and the forthcoming 2014 events. Of course, we spoke about Syria. We also discussed bilateral cooperation, ways to intensify our contacts. We agreed to step up cooperation between deputy ministers of the two countries. And what is no less important, we spoke about how we could give incentive to practical cooperation, such as exercise, military exercise, both naval or special forces exercise.
We also spoke about the need for more transparency. I would like to make sure that major events, such as exercise and others hosted by the Ministry of Defense in the Russian Federation, would like to invite U.S. colleagues and will do that timely. And of course we would like to invite not just military attaches, but also delegations from the U.S. capital, from Washington, to attend major events.
We started talking about missile defense, but missile defense should probably be discussed in this expanded format, the way we have gathered today. And I would like to again thank U.S. colleagues for organizing the meeting, and I hope it’s going to be as constructive as my meeting with Secretary Hagel was. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. Again, we emphasize the importance of this conversation and in order to do it properly, we regrettably need to ask our friends in the press if they would now leave us so that we can have an opportunity to talk. Thank you very, very much. Appreciate it.
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