Friday, March 7, 2014

PRESS GAGGLE WITH DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST

FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE

Press Gaggle with Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest en route Florida

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Florida

12:17 P.M. EST

MR. EARNEST: This afternoon, the President and First Lady are headed to Coral Reef High School to talk about ensuring that as many students as possible fill out the financial aid forms that open the door to a college education. Never before has a college education been as important as it is now in expanding opportunity and ensuring economic stability in this global economy.

The First Lady has previously talked about efforts the administration has taken to simplify the financial aid form. Today, the President will talk about an executive action that he'll take to better track which students have completed the form, which will assist efforts to encourage the families of students to do so.

And I'll also point out that any time you're going to a school whose mascot is the barracuda you know it's going to be an interesting afternoon. So it should be kind of fun.

With that, why don't we take some questions?

Q Quick question -- the readout this morning on the President’s call to the Japanese Prime Minister, he talked about they agreed to work with other G7 countries to put pressure on Russia. Does that reference signal the U.S. no longer views the group as the G8? And if that's the case, what’s the latest on the President going to the previously scheduled so-called G8 summit in Sochi?

MR. EARNEST: Jeff, as you know, what we have done is we've suspended our participation in meetings to prepare for the G8 meeting in Sochi. The reference to the G7 is simply an indication of how united those seven countries are in our resolve to stand up for principles relating to territorial integrity and individual state sovereignty. You’ve heard these seven countries speak with one voice on this issue and you’ve seen these seven countries demonstrate their resolve in considering a range of options to demonstrate that there will be costs associated with violating principles like this.

So you saw the readout from the call that the President had with Prime Minister Abe, and Prime Minister Abe was of one mind with the President and the other members of the international community and the other members of the G7 on this issue.

Q So Sochi, on or off? If it continues, will the President go?

MR. EARNEST: Well, I don't have any announcements to make about the President’s travel in June. But I can tell you that there had been meetings, as there always is, in advance of the big meeting in June among the countries to prepare for meetings like that. Our participation in those meetings has been suspended, and I think it would be logical for anybody to conclude that it raises significant questions about whether or not we’d participate in the meeting in June.

Q I wanted to ask you about Senator Gillibrand’s sexual assault bill -- military sexual assault bill. I don't remember the President ever coming out and saying where he stood on that bill. Did he have a position on it? And was it getting blocked in the Senate, was that something that the White House thought was okay or --

MR. EARNEST: I'm going to have to pull some additional information for you, which I could get this afternoon, related to this. It has been the administration’s position and you’ve heard the President speak very forcefully as the Commander-in-Chief about taking the kinds of steps necessary to address what is a persistent problem in our armed forces. But in terms of our position on specific proposals to reform that system, let me get back to you on that.

Q A quick one on Ukraine again. Republicans have been pushing this plan to increase exports of natural gas. Does the administration see that as some type of realistic option when it comes to helping overseas?

MR. EARNEST: Let me start by saying this: There are six licenses that have been approved by the Department of Energy related to the export of about 8.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to a range of countries around the world. What’s important for you to understand about those licenses that have already been issued is that the projects for delivering the product would not be completed until the end of next year. So proposals to try to respond to the situation in Ukraine that are related to our policy on exporting natural gas would not have an immediate effect.

The other factor that’s important to understand about the situation is the current inventories of liquefied natural gas in Europe and in Ukraine are actually above traditional levels or above normal levels. The reason for that is, unlike North America, they’ve had a relatively mild winter in Europe and the region. So there is no indication currently that there’s much risk of a natural gas shortage in the region.

The other dynamic that factors into all this is that Russia prides itself on being a reliable supplier of natural gas to countries around the world -- I would say natural gas and other sources of energy to countries around the world. Shutting off the natural gas would threaten that reputation -- it certainly would undermine it, not just in the eyes of Ukraine and Europe but in countries around the world.

Finally, it’s also important to recognize that Russia relies on revenue from exporting natural gas and other sources of energy. Russia currently yields about $50 billion a year in revenue from exporting natural gas, so ending that kind of relationship with Europe would have significant financial consequences for Russia as well.

So this is a complicated situation. For a more detailed explanation of this complicated dynamic, I’d refer you to the Department of Energy. But in terms of the top lines, the United States has a long relationship with Ukraine and has actually been talking about these energy issues for some time. Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine in 2009, and one of the items at the top of the agenda was efforts by the United States to work with Ukraine to help them reduce their dependence on Russian sources of energy, to help them reform their energy sector, to improve efficiency, to improve energy security in Ukraine. So this is a complicated issue, one that we’ve been coordinating with the Ukrainians on for quite some time.

So I think that mostly answers your question, but for a more detailed answer, I’d refer you to the Department of Energy.

Q Just related to that, did this come up in the call last night with the Prime Minister? Because I know that it’s been really important for Japan to build a strong relationship with Russia for natural gas. Was the President able to give any assurances to the Prime Minister about this?

MR. EARNEST: I don’t want to get into a more detailed readout beyond what we issued last night and early this morning. But I will say that the executive order that the President issued yesterday put in place a structure where sanctions could be implemented. As Jay discussed during the briefing, no specific organizations have been targeted at this point, but that process is underway. So there’s no immediate impact from the sanctions that the President has considered in terms of interrupting anybody’s access to Russian sources of energy.

What sanctions we’ll be focused on are individuals and entities that have interfered with or played a prominent role in interfering with the sovereignty of Ukraine. And those are the individuals and entities that will be targeted. And when we have additional announcements on that, we will. Let me just end this answer by saying that, as I mentioned in my previous answer, that Prime Minister Abe is committed, or voiced to the President his commitment to closely coordinating with the international community and with the other countries in the G7 in standing up for the principle of respecting state sovereignty and the territorial integrity of independent nations.

Q Josh, I’m wondering why the White House made the decision or the President made the decision to stick to the plan of spending the weekend in Key Largo, given obviously the pace of events overseas and the fact that the Vice President is also going to be out of the country?

MR. EARNEST: Well, Mark, as you’ve been covering the President this week, you know that he has had a very robust schedule of consulting with President Putin a couple of times this week, that he has had a number of conversations with Prime Minister Cameron, Chancellor Merkel, and other foreign leaders -- Prime Minister Abe just last night. He has been able to do all of that without interrupting what has otherwise been a pretty busy schedule for him this week -- during a snow day in Washington, D.C., during the rollout of the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget. Our ongoing efforts to monitor ongoing events in Ukraine and to stay in close contact with world leaders has not affected the other aspects of the President’s schedule.

That’s true of the President’s schedule today. The President and First Lady, as I mentioned at the top, are traveling to a high school to talk about this core component of the President’s domestic agenda. Meanwhile, the President has been able to get updates from his national security team and I would anticipate that later today, the President will have at least one phone call to make with a world leader around the globe. I do anticipate we’ll be able to get you a readout of that call, so we’ll keep you posted.

I think the point is that the President over the course of a very busy week has maintained his schedule and his ability to monitor ongoing events in Ukraine. I would anticipate that he’ll do the same thing this weekend. And the fact of the matter is what the President is doing this weekend in Florida is essentially what the President will be doing if he stayed back at the White House. It’s just that the weather will be a little warmer.

Q Well, what else will he be doing besides monitoring world events? What else will he be planning to do on his vacation, if you can give us a little flavor?

MR. EARNEST: The President is looking forward to spending some time with his wife and daughters, who are traveling down to Florida as well. There are some recreational amenities on the property, including workout facilities, tennis courts, a couple of golf courses, as you’ve seen.

So there is a -- many of the people that the people that the President has been talking to in terms of our allies in Europe and other world leaders -- there’s a six-hour time difference between here and there. So if there is an opportunity for the President to enjoy some of those amenities, then he’ll do that. But we’ll have to see. What he will do and what he is looking forward to doing is getting a little bit of downtime in the warm weather with his wife and daughters.

Q Can I ask you was any of the President’s or the First Lady’s personal acquaintances or friends traveling on Air Force One who are not administration officials, do you know? We saw someone boarding who happened to be well dressed with like a cowboy hat -- wasn’t sure who that was -- earlier before the President got there. And I didn’t know if any other friends or acquaintances --

MR. EARNEST: There are a couple members of the Florida congressional delegation onboard. I saw Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and Congressman Joe Garcia is on board as well. It may have been one of the two of them that you saw.

Q You don’t know if any other, like, friends?

MR. EARNEST: I don’t know of any other friends of the President or the First Lady that’s on board.

Q Is there still a chance that he could go back to the White House tonight? Or is the weekend here set pretty much?

MR. EARNEST: There’s always a chance that the schedule could change, but I don’t anticipate any changes at this point.

Q Josh, one more question on this. You’ve obviously got the Vice President out of town, the Secretary of State is still out of town, the National Security Advisor is in the Persian Gulf, and the President is heading to Florida. I’m just wondering that’s four senior national security officials not in Washington, including the President. Is that an unusual set of circumstances? And does that pose any issues in terms of how the government would respond should something sudden happen in Ukraine or Crimea?

MR. EARNEST: It’s hard for me to speak to the travel habits of all of those officials. Most of the people you described have as a part of their job description traveling overseas to represent the interest of the United States overseas. So I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a fairly regular occurrence. I mean, it’s not uncommon when the President is traveling overseas for the National Security Advisor or for the Secretary of State to be with him. So it’s not uncommon.

I will say this: The President is traveling this weekend with his Deputy National Security Advisor, Tony Blinken, who has played a very important role in handling this situation in Ukraine. The President is traveling with the regular assortment of communications tools that will allow him to convene in a secure fashion meetings with his national security team, if necessary. He, of course, has a telephone, so if he needs to make calls to world leaders, whether it’s President Putin or our allies, or other international leaders that are involved in this effort, he can stay in regular touch with them. So we have complete confidence that the President can handle all the responsibilities that he has, based on the resources that we have with us on the flight.

Q That said, you were quoted earlier this week I think by Politico saying that it was still up in the air, there was some debate or some internal deliberations about whether he would maintain a weekend schedule of staying down there. The decision seems that he’s going to. What was the debate about then if he can do that, and you know that? Are you saying that the situation in the Ukraine is sort of calm enough that you can go reliably? In other words, what was the debate or why did it come down on this side?

MR. EARNEST: I wouldn’t characterize it as a debate. I was quoted in Politico talking about the fact that the President’s schedule would be a little more fluid than usual because international events were a little more fluid than usual.

I do think that what we have seen over the course of the last several days is the President has marshalled our allies to put in place a structure for responding to the situation that we’re seeing on the ground in Ukraine. The President has had, again, multiple conversations with President Putin where he highlighted that there is an off-ramp here, that there is an opportunity for the Russians to sit down with the Ukrainians, facilitated by the international community, if necessary, to try to broker an agreement, to allow international inspectors into every corner of the nation of Ukraine to ensure that the rights of everybody, including the rights of ethnic Russians, are being protected.

We’ve described before that that is a legitimate interest of Russia and, frankly, it’s a legitimate interest of the international community to ensure that the rights of all the citizens of Ukraine are being respected.

There’s an opportunity for the Russians to live up to their basing agreement in Crimea, to return their soldiers and their troops to their bases, and for the international community to come together in support of the elections that are planned for May. So there is a path to deescalate the situation. And that is a path that has been set up by -- under the President’s leadership. We have marshalled the international community behind -- or in support of this potential off-ramp. And I think over the course of the next few days, we’ll get a better indication about whether or not the Russians are open to that off-ramp.

And one of the conclusions of the call that the President had with President Putin yesterday was that Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterpart, Foreign Minister Lavrov, should be in touch to talk about steps forward on that.

So I think -- the President is hopeful that we’ll get a little greater clarity on the situation over the course of the next few days. And if additional steps need to be taken next week, then we can take those steps.

Q Can you characterize the tone of these lengthy conversations that the two leaders have had? I mean, you said that next few days will tell the story, but it doesn't seem that so far that something has come out of it, that --

MR. EARNEST: I don't want to set up a deadline over the next few days. I think we’re hopeful that in the next few days, we’ll get greater clarity about whether or not the Russians are willing to take some concrete steps toward this off-ramp here.

But in terms of characterizing the calls, we have issued readouts and I wouldn’t want to get in front of those. But I do think that it’s fair for you to -- fair for people to take away from these readouts that at least as it relates to the view of the situation -- the U.S. view of the situation versus the Russian view of the situation in Ukraine, and in Crimea in particular, there’s a pretty strong difference of opinion; that there is a disagreement about the facts related to what’s actually happening on the ground there.

The best example of this is you saw in the news conference that President Putin convened earlier this week that he basically denied that there were Russian troops on the ground in Crimea outside their bases. All of the available evidence indicates that's not true.

So we’re having robust, direct, candid conversations between President Obama and President Putin. That means acknowledging that there are basic differences over what’s actually happening on the ground in Crimea.

So the real test is whether or not the Russians are going to take advantage of this off-ramp that is available here. And we’re hopeful that the Russians will take the steps necessary to deescalate the situation -- by observing the basing agreements, by supporting elections, by entering into talks, facilitated by the international community, if necessary, with the Ukrainians to try to resolve all this. And again, that could also include putting international monitors all throughout Ukraine to ensure that the rights of everybody, including ethnic Russians, are being respected.

President Putin has indicated that that's part of Russia’s interest in the region, and it’s part of the U.S. and the international community’s interest in the region. So there is some common ground here. But I don't want to paper over the differences that exist on some very basic facts on the ground.

Q It sounds like you’re saying the White House is in kind of a wait-and-see mode for a few days on this?

MR. EARNEST: I wouldn’t use those words, only because the President and senior members of our team remain very actively engaged in the situation. The President will continue to consult very closely with our allies around the globe, particularly the G7 nations that Jeff mentioned. Secretary Kerry will be in touch with his counterpart, having specific discussions about the way forward here. So there’s still a lot of activity going on here even as we watch carefully to see what the Russian reaction might be.

U.S.-ISRAEL DISCUSS SEIZED IRANIAN SHIPMENT OF WEAPONS TO TERRORIST IN GAZA

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Hagel, Israeli Defense Minister Discuss Red Sea Operation
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Mar. 7, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe "Boogie" Yaalon yesterday afternoon and received a briefing on Israel's interdiction operation in the Red Sea that seized a suspected Iranian shipment of advanced weapons bound for terrorist organizations operating in Gaza.

In a statement summarizing the phone call, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said the secretary congratulated Yaalon on the operation’s success and reiterated the U.S. commitment to holding Iran accountable for its destabilizing activities in the region, “even as we continue efforts to resolve our concerns over Iran's nuclear program through diplomacy.”

“Secretary Hagel made clear that illicit actions by Iran are unacceptable to the international community and in gross violation of Iran's U.N. Security Council obligations,” the press secretary added.

The Defense Department and the Israeli Defense Ministry have been in consistent touch on Israel's interdiction operation, Kirby said, coordinating extensively through military and intelligence channels.

“The secretary and the minister pledged to continue this close consultation as Israel completes its final inspection of the vessel,” he said, “and reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Israel defense relationship.”

West Wing Week 3/7/14 or, "Look Who's In Our Room"

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

International Women's Day

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 7, 2014

International Women’s Day is a moment to pause and reflect on the contributions of women to the world and to reaffirm our commitment to continued progress on gender equality. It’s also a powerful reminder that women are advancing peace and prosperity around the world in really remarkable ways.

I see it every day as Secretary of State.

I see it in Ukraine, where women are working on the frontlines as volunteers for the Maidan Medical Service. They are raising their voices for freedom and dignity, and we must all step up and answer their call.

I see it in Afghanistan, where women are starting companies, serving as members of parliament, teaching in schools, and working as doctors and nurses. They are the foundation on which Afghanistan’s future is being built.

I see it in Syria, where women are getting restrictions on humanitarian access lifted by offering food to regime soldiers at the checkpoints.

I see it in Mali, where women are risking their lives as advocates for women’s and children’s rights.

Everywhere I travel, in every meeting, I can see firsthand the promise of a world where women are empowered as equal partners in peace and prosperity. But here’s what’s most important: all of the fights and all of the progress we’ve seen in recent years haven’t come easily or without struggle. And we still have work to do.

Our work is not done when one out of every three women is subjected to some form of violence in her lifetime.

We cannot rest knowing that girls younger than 15 are forced to marry and that they are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their twenties.

We cannot hope to break the cycle of poverty if we fail to harness the talent and productivity of half the world’s population. And we cannot hope to break the cycle of war if women are not enlisted as equal partners in the work of peace.

So here’s what I’m saying and what we all need to demand: Women must be involved in the decisions that affect us all. They must have a place at the peacekeeping tables and in the tough negotiations following deadly conflict. They must have a seat on the boards of corporations that impact our economies, and they must have a voice in the halls of justice that uphold the rule of law.

When we invest in our mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, we invest in a brighter future for the world. The United States stands ready to protect and advance the health, education, and human rights of women and girls everywhere, because women’s progress is human progress.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR MARCH 7, 2014

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
CONTRACTS
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Tactical & Survival Specialties Inc.**, Harrisonburg, Va., (SPM8EJ-14-D-0003); W.S. Darley & Co.*, Itasca, Ill., (SPM8EJ-14-D-0004); ADS Inc.*, Virginia Beach, Va., (SPM8EJ-14-D-0005); Federal Resources Supply Co.*, Stevensville, Md., (SPM8EJ-14-D-0006); Source One Distributors Inc.***, Wellington, Fla., (SPM8EJ-14-D-0007); H Squared Inc., doing business as Quantico Tactical**, Aberdeen, N.C., (SPM8EJ-14-D-0008), have been awarded a maximum $10,000,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for support of special operational equipment tailored logistics support program. This is a two-year base contract with three one-year option periods. This contract is a competitive acquisition and 20 offers were received. Locations of performance are Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Florida, and North Carolina with a March 6, 2016 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2016 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

Tactical & Survival Specialties, Inc.**, Harrisonburg, Va., (SPM8EJ-09-D-0001); W.S. Darley & Co.*, Itasca, Ill., (SPM8EJ-09-D-0002); Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc.*, Virginia Beach, Va., (SPM8EJ-09-D-0002); Source One Distributors Inc.***, Wellington, Fla., (SPM8EJ-09-D-0004), have been awarded a maximum $84,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for various types of tactical, survival, and rescue equipment. This is a two-month base contract with no option periods. This contract is a competitive acquisition, and 14 offers were received. Locations of performance are Virginia, Illinois, and Florida with a May 8, 2014 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

Sysco Central Florida, Ocoee, Fla., has been awarded a maximum $39,375,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for prime vendor food and beverage support. This contract is a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. This is a two-year base contract with one one-year option and one two-year option periods. Location of performance is Florida with an April 16, 2019 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Job Corps. Subsistence outside of the continental United States (OCONUS) prime vendors will order from this contract in support of OCONUS military customers. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM300-14-D-3000).

Shore Terminals LLC, doing business as NuStar, San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $32,333,197 modification (P00075) exercising the third option period on a five-year base contract (SP0600-99-C-5926) with three five-year option periods for petroleum storage services. This is a firm-fixed-price contract. Locations of performance are Texas and California with a March 6, 2019 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va.

Pentaq Manufacturing Corp.****, Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $27,244,510 modification (P00102) exercising the first option period on a one-year base contract (SPM1C1-13-D-1036) with four one-year option periods for various coats. This is a firm-fixed-price contract. Locations of performance are Puerto Rico and Mississippi with a March 17, 2015 performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

Raytheon Co., Space and Airborne Systems, El Segundo, Calif., has been awarded a maximum $8,970,000 firm-fixed-price contract for aircraft circuit card assemblies. This contract is a sole-source acquisition. This is a five-year base contract with no option periods. Location of performance is California with a Nov. 30, 2016 performance completion date. Using military service is Navy, Canada, and Australia. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013 through fiscal year 2016 Navy and foreign military sales funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPRPA1-11-G-003X-5006).

Imperial Sales Co.*, Watsonville, Calif., has been awarded a maximum $8,152,137 modification (P00202) exercising the third option period on a one-year base contract (SPM3S1-11-D-Z188) with four one-year option periods for various commercial components for unitized group rations. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Location of performance is California with a March 10, 2015 performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

NAVY

Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is being awarded a $76,100,722 modification to the previously awarded V-22 fixed-price-incentive-fee lot 17-21 multiyear contract (N00019-12-C-2001). This modification exercises an option for the manufacture and delivery of one CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (24.6 percent); Ridley Park, Pa. (19.2 percent), Amarillo, Texas (10.4 percent), Dallas, Texas (4.3 percent); East Aurora, N.Y. (2.5 percent); Park City, Utah (1.7 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (1.3 percent); Endicott, N.Y. (1 percent); Ontario, Canada (.9 percent); Tempe, Ariz. (.8 percent); Rome, N.Y. (.7 percent); Torrance, Calif. (.7 percent); Luton, United Kingdom (.6 percent); Clifton, N.J. (.6 percent); Salisbury, Md. (.6 percent); Los Angeles, Calif. (.6 percent); Cobham, United Kingdom (.6 percent); Irvine, Calif. (.6 percent); San Diego, Calif. (.5 percent); Yakima, Wash. (.5 percent); Brea, Calif. (.5 percent); Rockmart, Ga. (.5 percent); McKinney, Texas (.4 percent); Albuquerque, N.M. (.4 percent); Whitehall, Mich. (.4 percent); Wolverhampton, United Kingdom (.4 percent); Tucson, Ariz. (.4 percent); Erie, Pa. (.3 percent); Vergennes, Vt. (.3 percent); Kilgore, Texas (.3 percent); Shelby, N.C. (.3 percent); Avon, Ohio (.2 percent); Santa Clarita, Calif. (.2 percent); Garden City, N.Y. (.2 percent); El Cajon, Calif. (.2 percent); Corinth, Texas (.2 percent); Sylmar, Calif. (.2 percent); Westbury, N.Y. (.1 percent); and various other locations inside and outside the United States (21.8 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2016. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Air Force and Special Operations Command funds in the amount of $76,100,722 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Vigor Shipyards Inc., Seattle, Wash., is being awarded a $30,703,417 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-award-fee contract to definitize a previously awarded undefinitized contract action (N00024-11-C-4401) for repair and alteration of naval assets. This body of work is being awarded under an existing five-year contract for planning and execution of repair and alteration to surface ships while in drydock. The USS Momsen (DDG 92) will be undergoing a docking selected restricted availability which is the opportunity in the ship’s life cycle to primarily conduct repair and alteration to systems and hull not available when the ship is waterborne. Work will be performed in Seattle, Wash., and is expected to be completed by October 2014. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy funding in the amount of $8,405,188 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Wash., is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $7,696,166 undefinitized modification to the previously awarded low rate initial production lot 6 advanced acquisition contract (N00019-11-C-0083) for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. This modification provides for the procurement of non-recurring sustainment activities for the government of the United Kingdom, to include procurement of site activation planning efforts for Royal Air Force Marham. Work will be performed in Warton, United Kingdom (65 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas (35 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2014. International partner funds in the amount of $3,848,083 will be obligated at time of award, none of which expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

ARMY

D&S Consultants Inc., doing business as DSCI, Eatontown, N.J., has been awarded an $8,734,140 firm-fixed-price, sole-source contract for Information Technology operations and maintenance support services for United States Southern Command Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Work will be performed in Cuba with Sept. 6, 2014 estimated completion date. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $6,833,026 were obligated at time of award. U.S. Army Contracting Command – Fort Sam Houston, Texas is the contracting activity (W912CL-14-C-0008).

Ronal Industries Inc.*, Troy, Mich. was awarded a $7,422,150 firm-fixed-price, multi-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for 2,075 fan vaneaxials for the M109 howitzer. Funding and work performance location will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is July, 31, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-14-D-0042).

*Small Business
**Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business
***Veteran Owned Small Business
****Small Disadvantaged Business

COURT BANS SLOVAKIA-BASED ONLINE DIRECTORY SCAMMERS FROM ONLINE DIRECTORY BUSINESS

FROM: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC Action Leads to Ban Against Internet Directory Scammers
Overseas Defendants Targeted Small Businesses, Non-Profits in U.S.

In an action brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has banned a Slovakia-based operation from the online directory business and entered a $9 million judgment against them.

“The last thing small business owners need is someone trying to trick them out of their hard-earned money,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC is committed to taking action against this kind of deceptive scheme.”

In March 2013, the FTC charged Wolfgang Valvoda, Susanne Anhorn, and Construct Data Publishers a.s., also doing business as Fair Guide, with tricking small businesses and non-profits into paying millions of dollars to be listed in an online directory they did not want to be listed in, and for which they did not realize they would be charged.

As the FTC alleged in its complaint, the defendants sent mailings to small retailers, home-based businesses, local associations, and others who host exhibits at trade shows. The mailings were falsely linked to a trade show the recipients had attended or planned to attend, to trick them into thinking they had a preexisting business relationship with the defendants. The enclosed cover letter and form falsely suggested that the recipients needed to confirm or update their contact information for the trade show. Many did not notice a statement, buried in fine print at the bottom of the form, that by signing and returning the form they were agreeing to pay $1,717 annually to Construct Data Publishers, a company with no connection to trade shows, for a listing on its website, fairguide.com.

The defendants disguised their true location in Slovakia by hiring a company in Naperville, Illinois, to print and mail the cover letters and forms. The mailings included a pre-paid return envelope addressed to a Chicago-area P.O. Box. After delivery to the P.O. Box, the mail was forwarded to the defendants in Slovakia. The defendants then sent out invoices demanding payment of $1,717 or more from each business or non-profit that had returned a signed form. The invoices instructed recipients to wire payment to a Slovakian bank account. Those who refused to pay were threatened with extra charges, damage to their credit, and lawsuits. Many paid just to end the harassment.

The FTC filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, charging that the defendants’ deceptive conduct violated the FTC Act. The court issued a temporary restraining order followed by a preliminary injunction prohibiting the fraud and freezing the defendants’ assets pending litigation. On February 11, 2014, the court entered a default judgment and permanent injunction against the defendants.

In addition to banning the defendants from selling online directories and directory listings, the court order announced today prohibits them from misrepresenting material facts about any products and services, selling or otherwise benefitting from customers’ personal information, failing to properly dispose of customer information, and collecting money from customers. The court also entered a $9.1 million judgment against defendants based on the consumer losses caused by the scheme.

The court’s order is the latest in a series of actions taken against Construct Data/Fair Guide. Courts in Germany and Italy also have entered orders against the company for its deceptive practices. In 2007, to settle a lawsuit filed by an Austrian trade association, Construct Data agreed to cease its deceptive solicitations in Europe. The following year, however, Construct Data moved from Austria to Slovakia and continued its scheme, targeting businesses and non-profits in the United States and other countries.

The FTC appreciates the assistance of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Slovakia, the Slovak Police Attache, and the Ministry of Justice of Austria in bringing this case.

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER'S REMARKS AT AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION

FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at the African American History Month Celebration Marking the 50th Anniversary of 1964 Civil Rights Act
~ Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Thank you, Chief Judge [Richard] Roberts, for those kind words; for your leadership from the bench; and for your many years of service to our nation – both as a District Court Judge and as a former prosecutor. It is a pleasure to be with you today. And it’s an honor to join so many distinguished jurists, devoted public servants, and committed public safety officials in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – and rededicating ourselves to the struggle for equal rights and equal justice that has defined this country since its earliest days.

It’s a special privilege to share the stage with Deputy Marshal [Kirk] Bowden, who, as we’ve just heard, stood on the literal front lines of this fight during a critical moment in the Civil Rights Movement – at a time when young students, law enforcement officials, National Guardsmen, and brave citizens risked their lives to integrate historic institutions across the Deep South. The courage, and the sacrifices, of people like James Meredith, Deputy Bowden – and others who stood with them on that fateful day in 1962 – helped to transform our nation for the better. The victories they achieved made countless others possible. And just a year after Deputy Bowden and his colleagues helped secure the integration of the University of Mississippi – at great cost – other brave law enforcement officials, Justice Department leaders, and federalized National Guard personnel helped a remarkable young woman named Vivian Malone – who would much later become my sister-in-law – to peacefully step past Governor George Wallace, along with another brave young person, James Hood – to become the first African American students to enroll at the University of Alabama.

Like all who are old enough to remember those days, I will never forget the turmoil, and the violence, that characterized the Civil Rights era – as millions of people braved dogs and fire hoses, billy clubs and baseball bats, bullets and bombs, in order to secure the rights which were theirs as Americans. Thanks to their sacrifices, their leadership, and the relentless optimism of pioneers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, and so many others – the 1960s was a time of great challenge, but also great promise, for our nation. And among the signature achievements of that tumultuous decade – a decade defined by tragedy as well as hope; by bitter loss as well as remarkable progress – few were as important, or as impactful, as the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

When President Lyndon Johnson signed this landmark law – 50 years ago this coming July – he recognized it as a watershed moment. Although its adoption did not put the issue of equal justice to rest – or settle the cause of civil rights, once and for all – it marked an inflection point in our history. It gave those who sought fair treatment a renewed sense of hope. And it reaffirmed their determination to keep fighting for the brighter future that all of our citizens deserved.

In the years that followed, this struggle – to secure what President Johnson once called the “dignity of man and the destiny of democracy” – would lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and a range of other reforms, both large and small. Together, these changes altered the course of the 20th century. And they led our nation’s Department of Justice to take an active role in defending the civil rights to which everyone in this country is entitled – work that remains among our top priorities today.

In many ways, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 continues to stand at the heart of our ongoing efforts – providing critical protections against discrimination and disenfranchisement for members of every sector of society. But it’s far from the only tool we have for advancing the cause of justice under law; for ensuring both fairness and rigor in all of our enforcement activities; and for securing the basic promise of equality that was codified in our founding documents – and must drive our ongoing efforts to make this fundamental truth not only “self-evident,” but protected by the law.

We can be proud of all that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, of which Chief Judge Roberts was once a member, has done to advance this struggle in recent years. Since 2009, the Division has filed more criminal civil rights cases than at any other time in our history, including record numbers of police misconduct and human trafficking cases. Under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2009, we are improving our ability to hold accountable those who commit bias-motivated acts of violence. We’re working, under the Defending Childhood Initiative and the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, to combat bullying and harassment, to protect America’s young people from violence and abuse, and to partner with allies like the Department of Education to disrupt the “school-to-prison pipeline.” And in a variety of ways – from our neighborhoods and workplaces, to our housing and lending markets; from our boardrooms to our border areas; from our military bases to our voting booths – my colleagues and I are using every resource at our disposal and every tool within our reach to stand against all forms of discrimination.

This means taking appropriately aggressive action to enforce key civil rights protections and, where necessary, to call for additional legislative remedies. But it also means standing vigilant against those who would roll back the progress of the last half-century. Particularly since last June, when a narrowly split but deeply divided Supreme Court invalidated a critical part of the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Division has been focused on reallocating resources to enforce all federal voting protections that remain on the books. The Justice Department has filed suit to challenge voting restrictions in Texas and North Carolina. And I am personally committed to working with Congressional leaders from both parties to refine, and to strengthen, new voting rights legislation that’s being debated on Capitol Hill.

Fortunately, all of this is only the beginning. And if today’s leaders – and especially today’s lawyers – hope to build on the legacy of those who made the Civil Rights Act and other extraordinary advancements possible, I believe we must do much more than simply prevent the unraveling of the progress with which prior generations have entrusted us. Moving forward, we must continue to expand the fight for civil rights and equal justice – by seeking new ways to address unwarranted disparities, to combat disenfranchisement, and to address the evolving threats of our time. And we must begin by ensuring that America has a criminal justice system that’s worthy of its highest ideals; that those who pay their debts to society have fair opportunities to become productive, law-abiding citizens; and that 21st century criminal justice challenges can be met with 21st century solutions.

Last August – in a speech before the American Bar Association in San Francisco – I announced a new “Smart on Crime” initiative that’s dedicated to these goals, and is already allowing us to take meaningful steps forward. Under this initiative, I mandated an important change to the Justice Department’s charging policies to ensure that stringent mandatory minimum sentences for certain federal, drug-related crimes will now be reserved for the most serious criminals. My colleagues and I are increasing our emphasis on proven diversion programs – such as drug rehabilitation and community service initiatives – that can serve as effective alternatives to incarceration. And we are investing in data-driven reentry strategies – and evaluating the unnecessary collateral consequences imposed by certain convictions – to enable formerly incarcerated individuals to stay on the right path and out of the criminal justice system.

Three weeks ago, at Georgetown University Law Center, I called upon state leaders and other elected officials across the country to take another important step in this regard – by restoring voting rights to those who have served their terms in prison or jail, completed their parole or probation, and paid their fines. We’ve seen over the years that the permanent disenfranchisement of these individuals is unwise and unjust. We know that it is also counterproductive, undermining the reentry process and perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated people. The reality is that felony disenfranchisement policies are not only extremely outdated – they echo troubling policies that were enacted more than a century ago, during a time of post-Civil War repression. And they continue to have a disproportionate impact on America’s communities of color.

Clearly, it’s well past time for us to declare – together – that the free exercise of our fundamental rights must never be subject to the lingering effects of flawed or unjust policies. Even more broadly, it’s time to affirm – once and for all – that the basic promise of our justice system must never hinge on the quality of, or access to, legal representation for those who need it.

That’s why I believe that, as every jurist and legal professional in this room knows all too well, it is not just unacceptable – it is shameful – that half a century after the Supreme Court declared, in Gideon v. Wainwright, that every person charged with a serious crime has the right to an attorney – far too many Americans still struggle to gain access to the legal assistance they need.

It is shameful that, in far too many places, extraordinarily dedicated public defenders face crushing caseloads without the support they need to do their jobs.

And it’s shameful that – while the federal public defender system has consistently served as a model for success – a recent study shows that only 21 percent of reporting state systems and just over a quarter of county-based offices have enough attorneys to meet caseload guidelines.

Today’s Justice Department is committed to doing everything in our power to help address this indigent defense crisis – including through the Access to Justice initiative I launched in 2010 to increase access to counsel and legal assistance, and to improve the justice delivery systems that serve people who are unable to afford lawyers. In recent years, our ability to offer support to state and local providers has been constrained by sequestration and other budget shortfalls that have necessitated deep cuts at every level of government. But the bipartisan funding agreement that President Obama signed into law – just last month – will finally restore the Department’s overall funding to pre-sequestration levels. And I am pleased to report today that the President’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2015 will address the need for additional resources for indigent defense programs throughout America – which must remain a top priority even, and especially, when budgets are tight.

I call upon state and local leaders to step forward and do their part in ensuring that we can live up to the full promise of Gideon. And I urge legal professionals across the country to do everything they can do help guarantee that adequate legal representation is seen not as a luxury for those who can afford it – but as a basic American right.

After all, neither the Department I lead, nor the Administration in which I am privileged to serve, will be able to bring about this and the other changes we seek on our own. Just as we have done throughout our history, this nation will continue to rely on passionate citizens to drive us forward. And we will depend upon leaders like all of you to use your unique skills, training, and experience – at the highest levels of our legal system – to bring our country closer to the values of our forebears and the promise of our founding.

Five decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, we can reflect with pride on the progress that this critical measure, and so many others, have made possible over many years of struggle and sacrifice. But even the most sweeping legislation cannot, by itself, wash away the deeply ingrained disparities that millions of Americans continue to face. Despite all that’s been achieved, a great deal of work remains before us. We cannot yet be satisfied. We cannot afford to become complacent. And we must seize this opportunity to expand on the legacy of inclusion, equality, and justice we’ve inherited.

Although much remains to be done, I am confident that, with your continued leadership, with your steadfast support – and with the courage and determination that has always defined the very best of America’s legal community – we will forge the stronger, more just, and more accepting society that we, and our fellow citizens, deserve. I am proud to count you as colleagues, and as partners, in this important effort. And I thank you, once again, for the chance to discuss this work with you today; for your dedication to the cause of justice that remains our common pursuit; and for your commitment to honoring our past by building the brighter future we seek.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BURNS GIVES TESTIMONY ON SYRIA, UKRAINE, MIDDLE EAST

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Syria Spillover: The Growing Threat of Terrorism and Sectarianism in the Middle East and Ukraine Update
Testimony
William J. Burns
Deputy Secretary of State
Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Washington, DC
March 6, 2014

Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, Members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity. I’m pleased to be joined by Matt Olsen and Derek Chollet. I ask that my written testimony be entered into the record.
Before addressing the issue of extremism in the Levant, let me first offer a quick assessment of developments in Ukraine, as you requested.

Ukraine

A great deal is at stake in Ukraine today. Less than 48 hours ago in Kyiv, not far from the Shrine of the Fallen, Secretary Kerry made clear America’s deep and abiding commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, in the face of Russian aggression, and our determination to ensure that the people of Ukraine get to make their own choices about their future. That’s a bedrock conviction for the United States. On my own visit last week, I was profoundly moved by the bravery and selflessness of Ukrainians, and profoundly impressed by the commitment of the new interim government to reach across ethnic and regional lines and build a stable, democratic and inclusive Ukraine, with good relations with all of its neighbors, including Russia.

While we and our partners worked to support Ukraine’s transition, Russia worked actively to undermine it. Russia’s military intervention in Crimea is a brazen violation of its international obligations, and no amount of Russian posturing can obscure that fact.

Ukraine’s interim government, approved by 82 percent of the Rada, including most members of Yanukovich’s party, has shown admirable restraint in the face of massive provocation. They need and deserve our strong support. President Obama, Secretary Kerry and the entire Administration have been working hard, steadily and methodically, to build urgent international backing for Ukraine, counter-pressure against Russia, reassurance to other neighbors, and a path to de-escalation. Our strategy has four main elements, and we look forward to working with Congress on each of them.

First, immediate support for Ukraine as it deals with enormous economic challenges and prepares for critical national elections at the end of May. On Tuesday, Secretary Kerry announced our intent to seek a $1 billion loan guarantee. That will be part of a major international effort to build a strong economic support package for Ukraine as it undertakes reform. That effort includes the IMF and the EU, which laid out its own substantial assistance package yesterday. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and his colleagues are committed partners, and understand that the Ukrainian government has difficult reform choices to make, after inheriting an economic mess from Yanukovich. Ukraine’s considerable economic potential has never been matched by its business environment or economic leadership, and now is the time to begin to get its financial house in order and realize its promise.

Second, deterring further encroachment on Ukrainian territory and pressing for an end to Russia’s occupation of Crimea. President Obama has led broad international condemnation of Russia’s intervention, with strong, unified statements from the G-7 and NATO, as well as the EU, whose leaders are meeting today in an emergency summit. We are sending international observers from the OSCE to Crimea and eastern Ukraine to bear witness to what is happening and make clear that minorities are not at risk. This was never a credible claim by Russia, nor a credible pretext for military intervention.

We are making clear that there are costs for what Russia has already done, and working with our partners to make clear that the costs will increase significantly if intervention expands. Today, the President signed an executive order authorizing sanctions – including asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and entities responsible for activities undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine; threatening the peace, security, stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine; contributing to the misappropriation of state assets of Ukraine; or that purport to exercise authority over any part of Ukraine without authorization from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv. This E.O. will be used in a flexible way to designate those most directly involved in destabilizing Ukraine.

The State Department today also put in place visa restrictions on a number of officials and individuals. We continue to look at every aspect of our relationship with Russia, from suspension of preparations for the Sochi G-8 Summit to pausing key elements in our bilateral dialogue.

Third, bolstering Ukraine’s neighbors. We are moving immediately to reinforce our Washington Treaty commitments to our allies. As Secretary Hagel stressed yesterday, we are taking concrete steps to support NATO partners, through intensified joint training with our aviation detachment in Poland and enhanced participation in NATO’s air policing mission in the Baltics.

And fourth, Secretary Kerry is working intensively to de-escalate the crisis, in order to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty while creating a diplomatic off-ramp. We support direct dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow, facilitated by an international contact group. As the President and Secretary Kerry have emphasized, we do not seek confrontation with Russia. It is clearly in the interests of both Ukraine and Russia to have a healthy relationship, born of centuries of cultural, economic and social ties. The will for that exists among Ukraine’s new leaders. But it cannot happen if Russia continues down its current dangerous and irresponsible path. That will only bring greater isolation and mounting costs for Russia.

Our strategy, it seems to me, needs to be steady and determined, mindful of what’s at stake for Ukrainians as well as for international norms. We also need to be mindful of the enduring strengths of the United States and its partners, and the very real weaknesses sometimes obscured by Russian bluster. Most of all, President Putin underestimates the commitment of Ukrainians, across their country, to sovereignty and independence, and to writing their own future. No one should underestimate the power of patient and resolute counter-pressure, using all of the non-military means at our disposal, working with our allies, and leaving the door open to de-escalation and diplomacy if Russia is prepared to play by international rules.

Extremism in the Levant

Now let me turn very briefly to the Levant. The turbulence of the past three years has had many roots: rising aspirations for dignity, political participation and economic opportunity in a region in which too many people for too many years have been denied them; the ruthless reaction of some regimes; and the efforts of violent extremists to exploit the resulting chaos.

Nowhere have these trends converged more dangerously than in Syria. The conflict, and the Asad regime, have become a magnet for foreign fighters , many affiliated with terrorist groups from across the region and around the world. As Matt will describe, these fighters, mostly Sunni extremists, represent a long-term threat to U.S. national security interests. From the other side, Asad has recruited thousands of foreign fighters, mostly Shia, to defend the regime, with active Iranian support and facilitation. The hard reality is that the grinding Syrian civil war is now an incubator of extremism – on both sides of the sectarian divide.

We face a number of serious risks to our interests as a result: the risk to the homeland from global jihadist groups who seek to gain long-term safe havens; the risk to the stability of our regional partners, including Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq; the risk to Israel and other partners from the rise of Iranian-backed extremist groups, especially Lebanese Hizballah fighting in Syria; and the risk to the Syrian people, whose suffering constitutes the greatest humanitarian crisis of this new century.

These are enormous challenges. They require a steady, comprehensive American strategy, aimed at isolating extremists and bolstering moderates, both inside Syria and amongst our regional partners. I’d highlight four elements of our strategy:

First, we are working to isolate and degrade terrorist networks in Syria. That means stepping up efforts with other governments to stem the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, and cutting off financing and weapons to terrorist groups. It also means stepping up efforts to strengthen the moderate opposition, without which progress toward a negotiated transition of leadership through the Geneva process or any other diplomatic effort is impossible. Strengthened moderate forces are critical both to accelerate the demise of the Asad regime, and to help Syrians build a counterweight to the extremists who threaten both the present and the post-Asad future of Syria and the region. None of this is easy, but the stakes are very high.

Second, we are pushing hard against Iranian financing and material support to its proxy groups in Syria and elsewhere. We are also working intensively with partners in the Gulf and elsewhere to curb financing flows to extremists.

Third, we are increasing cooperation with Turkey, and intensifying our efforts to strengthen the capacity of Syria’s other endangered neighbors:

-- In Jordan, which I visited again last month, we are further enhancing the capacity of the Jordanian Armed Forces to police its borders and deepening intelligence cooperation on extremist threats. The staggering burden of supporting 600,000 Syrian refugees has put serious strain on Jordan’s resources. We deeply appreciate Congress’ continued support for significant U.S. assistance for Jordan, which has totalled about a billion dollars in each of the last couple years, complemented by substantial loan guarantees. I can think of no better investment in regional stability than our efforts in Jordan.

-- In Lebanon, we are supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces to deter spillover, better monitor the border with Syria, and help bolster the government’s policy of “dissociation” from the Syrian conflict. The formation of a new Cabinet last month provides a renewed opportunity for the United States to engage, and Secretary Kerry reaffirmed our strong commitment to Lebanon’s security and economic stability directly to President Sleiman and at the International Support Group for Lebanon ministerial meeting in Paris yesterday.

-- In Iraq, we are surging security assistance and information sharing to combat the rising threat from ISIL, while pressing Iraqi leaders to execute a comprehensive strategy – security, political and economic – to isolate extremists, especially in Anbar. That was one of the main purposes of my last visit to Baghdad at the end of January. I appreciate the close consultation we’ve had with you, Mr. Chairman, and with other members of the Committee on these crucial issues, and we look forward to continuing to address your concerns, which we share.

And finally, we are supporting global efforts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Syria, through the $1.7 billion we have already contributed. We are working hard to facilitate the delivery of cross-border aid, using the recently adopted UN Security Council resolution to expand humanitarian access. We are also providing substantial aid to refugee populations in neighboring countries.

Beyond the Levant, we continue to work with our Gulf partners to enhance security cooperation, blunt the extremist threat, and support sound economic development in transitioning countries. This will be an important focus of the President’s visit to Saudi Arabia later this month.

Mr. Chairman, the rise of extremism in the Levant poses an acute risk for the United States, and for our regional partners. It is essential that we intensify our efforts to isolate extremists in Syria, limit the flow of foreign fighters, bolster moderate opposition forces, ease the humanitarian crisis, and help key partners like Jordan defend against spillover. Thank you again for your focus on these vitally important challenges, and I look forward to continuing to work with you.

FORMER OWNER AIRLINE FUEL SUPPLY CO. PLEADS GUILTY IN KICKBACK-FRAUD SCHEME

FORMER OWNER OF FLORIDA AIRLINE FUEL SUPPLY COMPANY PLEADS
GUILTY IN SCHEME TO DEFRAUD ILLINOIS-BASED RYAN INTERNATIONAL
AIRLINES

WASHINGTON — A former owner and operator of a Florida-based airline fuel supply service company pleaded guilty today to participating in a kickback scheme to defraud Illinois-based Ryan International Airlines, a charter airline company located in Rockford, Ill., the Department of Justice announced.

Sean E. Wagner, the former owner and operator of Aviation Fuel International Inc. (AFI), pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. On Aug. 13, 2013, a grand jury returned an indictment against Wagner and AFI, charging them for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud Ryan International Airlines. According to the indictment, Wagner and AFI made kickback payments to Wayne Kepple, a former vice president of ground operations for Ryan, in exchange for awarding business to AFI. According to court documents, from at least as early as December 2005 through at least August 2009, Wagner and others at AFI made kickback payments to Kepple totaling more than $200,000 in the form of checks, wire transfers, cash and gift cards. The charges against AFI were dismissed on Feb. 21, 2014.

Ryan provided air passenger and cargo services for corporations, private individuals and the U.S. government – including the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“These types of kickback schemes subvert the competitive process and increase costs to American consumers,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division will vigorously prosecute individuals who defraud American taxpayers and businesses.”

Wagner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. The count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

As a result of the ongoing investigation, four other individuals have pleaded guilty and have been ordered to serve sentences ranging from 16 to 87 months in prison and to pay more than $580,000 in restitution.

The charges are the result of an investigation being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office, headed by Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

DOD WORKING ON COORDINATED RESPONSE TO CRISIS IN UKRAINE

Right: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Robert F. Hale, the Defense Department's comptroller, testify on the Defense Department's 2015 fiscal year budget request before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2014. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo.

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
DOD Supports U.S., Allied Response to Russia-Ukraine Crisis
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Mar. 6, 2014 – The Defense Department is working to support the coordinated U.S. response to Russia’s recent aggression toward Ukraine, and to help Ukraine and U.S. allies and partners in the region, DOD and administration officials said here today.

The United States is focusing diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, and senior administration and defense officials continue to engage with their Russian counterparts.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry is meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today, for example, and this week the United States announced a $1 billion package of economic assistance to Ukraine, and the European Union announced a $15 billion assistance package.

This morning, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that allows the administration to initiate financial sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian individuals and entities that steal assets, engage in destabilizing activities, or take flight unlawfully. The administration also is imposing visa restrictions on those responsible for violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Defense Department is making substantial contributions to U.S. and international efforts in support of Ukraine. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey summarized the department’s activities this morning in advance of their testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on the president’s fiscal year 2015 defense budget request.

Hagel said he strongly supports the administration’s efforts, including the steps Obama has taken to apply diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia, and the continued collaboration with European partners.

“Earlier this week, I directed the Department of Defense to suspend all military-to-military engagements and exercises with Russia. And yesterday, I announced a series of steps [the department] will take to reinforce allies in Central and Eastern Europe during this crisis,” Hagel told the panel.

The steps include increasing joint training through the DOD aviation detachment in Poland, made up of airmen from the 31st Fighter Wing who train and work with their Polish partners at Lask Air Base in central Poland.

“I was advised this morning that [the partnership at Lask] continues to move forward,” the secretary said, adding that the department also will augment its participation in NATO's Baltic air policing mission. He told the House members that six F-15s have arrived in Lithuania within the past 24 hours.
In his remarks, Dempsey said he is deeply engaged in DOD support of the diplomatic approach to resolving Ukraine's crisis.

“I'm engaged with our NATO allies. I've spoken both yesterday and today with my Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, and will continue to maintain that line of communication,” Dempsey told the panel.

Also this morning, on a White House background teleconference with reporters, senior administration officials discussed details of the new visa restrictions and the executive order released today in support of Ukraine.

“Since the Russian intervention in Ukraine, you have seen us work on several lines of effort to mobilize international unity, to condemn the Russian intervention, to impose cost on Russia for debt interventions so they are isolated politically and economically [and] to provide additional support for the government in Kiev,” a senior administration official said.

The best way to make sure the rights of Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are being protected is to use international monitoring, he said.

“A monitoring team from the [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] has arrived in Ukraine [and] moved out to different parts of the country. The team has an important set of experiences and capabilities to ensure that basic rights are being protected. We believe that that monitoring mission should expand into Crimea and can be the basis for a way of deescalating the crisis,” the official added.

Representing broad international unity, the North Atlantic Council, European allies and G-7 countries all have condemned Russia’s aggression, he added, and the United States has suspended preparatory meetings for the G-8 in Sochi, Russia.
The United States also has cancelled discussions associated with deepening trade and commercial ties with Russia, the official noted, “and with today's actions we take an additional step to impose costs on Russia and those who are responsible for violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The executive order gives the United States flexibility to target individuals and entities responsible for violating international law and Ukrainian sovereignty, the official said.

“We are also imposing certain visa restrictions that further impose a cost on individuals responsible for the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the official said.

The senior administration official added, “There are individuals who have had their visas pulled or will be banned from visas, and those individuals -- who I won't give names or numbers -- do include Russians and Ukrainians.”
Such actions should send a strong message that the United States and its allies intend to impose costs on Russia for the Ukrainian intervention, the official added, and they give the United States flexibility to respond based on Russia's actions, whether positive or negative.

SEC COMMISSIONER PIWOWAR'S REMARKS ON INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

FROM: SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Remarks at AIMA Global Policy & Regulatory Forum
Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar
New York, NY

March 6, 2014

Thank you, Kathy [Casey], for that kind introduction. Thank you, Kathy and Jiri [Krol], for inviting me to lead off the excellent program that AIMA has put together. I have enjoyed working with both of you over the past few years on numerous global policy and regulatory issues, which is the focus of today’s forum.

In addition to serving as SEC Commissioners, Kathy and I have a lot in common, including the fact that we both studied international politics as undergraduates at Penn State. Many of the concepts that we learned from that curriculum have served us well over the course of our careers, particularly as international financial regulatory issues have become more important in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Jiri and I also have something important in common. I remember the first time I met with Jiri, he commented about my last name “Piwowar” which means “Brewer” or “Beer Maker” in Polish. The Polish and Czech languages are very similar, so Jiri knew exactly what it meant. What I did not realize, however, was that Jiri’s last name “Krol” is Czech for “Beer Drinker.” Of course, I’m kidding.

Seriously, I am excited to be here with you this morning to share my thoughts on how I approach the international financial regulatory issues that come before the Commission. But, before I continue, I need to provide the standard disclosure that my remarks are my own and they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or my fellow Commissioners.

International engagement has long been a fundamental aspect of effective capital markets regulation. As Kathy [Casey] noted in a speech she gave while Commissioner in 2007: “If we, as regulators, are to remain effective and relevant in meeting our mission of protecting investors, fostering capital formation and maintaining competitive, fair and orderly markets, we will need to be more nimble and responsive to market developments and rely more on cooperation and collaboration with our international counterparts.”[1]

It has become clear to me over these past few months that at no time in the Commission’s history have we been more engaged with the international community or more involved in collaborative workstreams with our fellow regulators from around the globe.

Much of this international work stems from the 2009 G-20 initiatives regarding over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives reforms.[2] It thus came as little surprise to me that, from the very beginning of my tenure as Commissioner, I have seen a steady stream of visitors eager to discuss the Commission’s approach to the regulation of cross-border OTC derivatives. In addition to sharing their own views and observations on these issues, visitors frequently ask me my personal views on the topic.

I believe I can condense them into a single, concise theory that should provide you with clarity on where I stand on every cross-border issue facing the Commission: “I am a proponent of the rationalization of the global regulatory framework by seeking convergence and harmonization of rules through bilateral and multilateral dialogue and the mutual recognition of comparable regimes based on principles of international comity.”

I am sure that clears things up.

I have been struck by two observations regarding international financial regulatory issues, particularly with respect to OTC derivatives. First, this is an incredibly complex area where actual details matter more than abstract concepts. Second, much of the conversation involves buzzwords and terms of art that may mean different things to different people.

I recognize that labeling regulatory approaches is sometimes constructive and frequently necessary in order to foster dialogue between regulators. However, the two observations I just mentioned often collide with each other as regulators and market participants alike seek to understand how jurisdictions around the world intend to regulate cross-border activities. Broad concepts and terms of art not only fail to provide the specificity required by the financial markets, but also lend themselves to being misconstrued as individuals read into the terms what they seek to get out of them.

We saw a recent example with regard to the so-called “Path Forward” agreement on derivatives regulation negotiated between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the European Commission.[3] Not long after the agreement was published, it became clear that the regulators had differing interpretations of the understandings in that document. Surely, neither side intended to mislead the other by agreeing to a set of broad concepts that left significant room for interpretation rather than specific requirements that would have bound both parties. However, the fact remains that the document failed to resolve any of the crippling uncertainty in the market.

At this point you may be questioning how I can critique the reliance on international buzzwords and broad concepts, and yet give a speech in which I share with you some of the broad principles that guide my decision-making in this area?

I raise these issues only to express my view that the use of such terms, while at times helpful, must be met with a healthy dose of skepticism, and cannot serve as a substitute for detailed guidelines. The principles I share with you should be treated the same way. However, my hope is that they will provide you with insight into my thinking as the Commission tackles these complex issues in the near future.

Respect for International Regulators
The first principle guiding my thoughts in this area is respect for my international counterparts.

My education gave me a broad perspective of, and healthy respect for, the international community. My respect for the international financial regulatory community has only grown as I have worked with regulators from around the globe during my professional career at both the Senate Banking Committee and the SEC.

Approaches to regulating the same activity often differ across jurisdictions. This is not surprising given the role that legal traditions and cultural norms play in shaping financial development and regulation. However, we must not let these differences get in the way of cooperation, and lead to unnecessary burdens for market participants or duplicative or conflicting regulations.

Therefore, I reject any notion that we must pull the whole world into the U.S. regulatory sphere, or that other jurisdictions should simply adopt U.S. regulations. This would be neither appropriate given our mission, nor necessary given applicable regulations in other jurisdictions.

I believe that market participants that comply with the regulatory requirements in the jurisdiction in which they are based should, under certain circumstances, be deemed to comply with our requirements in the Dodd-Frank Act Title VII space.

This is probably the area where the most ink is spilled on creating terms of art for use by the international financial regulatory community. It is no wonder that this occurs, however, because allowing for compliance with home country requirements in this manner is vital to creating an effective global regulatory environment.

As a result, I believe we should apply this principle broadly, and expect that regulators in other jurisdictions will do the same. Determinations about which jurisdictions qualify for this type of treatment should be based on a minimum level of acceptable regulation, and focused on regulatory outcomes rather than a rule-by-rule comparison.

In addition, where differences in the timing of compliance dates among jurisdictions arise, we should provide reasonable relief to market participants in the interim period. The implementation of enhanced regulation for OTC derivatives represents the creation of a long-term system of oversight, and must not be used as a short-term power grab between regulators or jurisdictions. Market participants should not pay the price — either directly through increased compliance and restructuring costs or indirectly through market uncertainty — for differences in their regulators’ compliance dates.

Territorial Approach to Regulation
The second principle that guides my thoughts on cross-border applications of Commission regulations is that the Commission should take a territorial approach.

The territorial approach to regulation has a long history at the Commission,[4] and there is no reason to abandon it as we develop the new framework for OTC derivatives regulation.

Of course, a territorial approach to regulation may itself be viewed as a term of art. In using this term in the context of OTC derivatives, I mean that the Commission’s regulation of cross-border OTC derivatives activity should generally apply to transactions involving activity within the United States. An activity may be deemed to occur within the United States either because a transaction is entered into with a U.S. person, or because it is conducted within the United States.

These concepts are only given meaning through the definitions applied to them. I could spend this entire speech talking about the definition of the term “U.S. person,” but for now I will simply convey the two essential aspects of this definition.

First, the definition of U.S. person must be clearly defined and easily applied. Market participants will inevitably be required to build out their compliance systems to account for how this term is defined. It is our job as regulators to give them clear guidelines to follow.

Second, the definition of U.S. person must be limited in scope. We should not attempt to expand the reach of our rules by creating an unreasonably broad definition.

The definition of what constitutes a “transaction conducted within the United States” is also an important aspect of the territorial approach to regulation. It ensures that all market participants operating within the United States are subject to the same rules and that everyone entering into transactions in the U.S. market receives the same protections.

However, it is important to note that not all activities that touch the United States should be drawn into its regulatory sphere. For example, a phone call from abroad made to someone in the United States seeking OTC derivatives market color is not the type of activity that should trigger application of our regulations.

Predictable Changes in Behavior in Response to Regulation
Another key principle in this area is that we should consider the predictable changes in behavior by market participants in response to regulation.

Markets are dynamic and constantly changing. As a result, market participants must be creative and able to adapt. It would be naïve and foolish for regulators to think that we can completely control markets and prevent market participants from pursuing their economic interests.

If we adopt unnecessarily harsh regulations in the United States, we must expect that market participants will adapt. This could involve structuring business activities away from our jurisdictional reach, which some call regulatory arbitrage. We should not be surprised by this activity, nor should we condemn it. It would not be nefarious. Rather, it would simply be a rational response to overly burdensome regulation.

It would also be naïve and foolish for regulators to downplay the impact of our decisions on markets and the burdens they place on market participants. We know that increased regulation is not costless. Market regulators must always strive to implement effective regulation that adequately protects investors. However, we must do so in full recognition of the tradeoffs and costs associated with our rules. These costs can burden our economy and ultimately hurt investors.

It is not just the potential increased costs associated with our regulations that we must consider. We must also recognize that, with truly global capital markets, our actions have the power to shift the markets themselves. If our rules are unnecessarily harsh and we reject international cooperation, market participants may rationally seek other jurisdictions in which to operate.

If this happens, we must own up to the fact that our own actions — even ones undertaken with the best of intentions — can result in less regulatory transparency, less effective regulation, fewer protections for investors, higher prices, fewer productive jobs, and slower economic growth.

Regulatory Process Matters
This leads me to my final point — regulatory process matters.

Just as we cannot ignore the impacts associated with our rules, we must not ignore the appropriate process for developing them. That process includes a rigorous economic analysis, which includes identifying and evaluating reasonable alternatives to the proposed regulatory approach.[5]

The regulation of cross-border OTC derivatives activity involves many decision points, each with a number of viable alternatives. In developing our final rules in this area, we must engage in a thoughtful economic analysis to guide our decision-making process. The importance of the rulemaking process is highlighted by the current state of OTC derivatives regulation in the United States.

As I am sure all of you are aware, both the SEC and CFTC have been tasked with implementing portions of Title VII, including application of the statute to cross-border activities. The SEC has undertaken a methodical, deliberative process that includes the publication of a comprehensive document in May 2013 containing proposed rules developed with the insight of a thoughtful economic analysis.[6] SEC staff is currently reviewing the public comments on that proposal, and I expect that in the near future we will adopt final rules in this area that reflect the comments received and that are based on sound analysis of the economic consequences of the rules.

The CFTC, on the other hand, chose not to engage in a disciplined rulemaking process, and instead attempted to address these same issues by publishing “interpretive guidance” in July 2012.[7] This interpretive guidance did not contain clear rules, and was not based on any economic analysis. It is therefore not surprising that the guidance received widespread condemnation by foreign regulators. In December 2012, the CFTC responded with “further” interpretive guidance[8] that received so much criticism from foreign governments and regulators that the House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing a few weeks later.[9] In July 2013, the CFTC issued “final” interpretive guidance on the cross-border application of the swap provisions added by the Dodd-Frank Act.[10] Lacking the clarity and finality achievable through the rulemaking process, the CFTC’s final guidance has now been called into question through litigation, injecting further uncertainty into the markets.[11]

While the CFTC’s guidance is currently tied up in the courts for an indeterminate period of time, I can envision the SEC’s methodical approach to these issues bearing fruit in the form of a robust final rule in the coming months. Aesop, the ancient Greek story teller, would be quite happy looking at the state of Title VII regulation right now. His fabled story of the tortoise and the hare seems quite appropriate, with its overarching message that “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Conclusion
In closing, it bears repeating that the application of Dodd-Frank Act Title VII provisions to cross-border OTC derivatives activities is an incredibly complex area that does not lend itself to mere generalities. That is precisely why many of the common terms of art used in international dialogue are not always helpful.

Market participants do not need to know whether their regulators support abstract notions of mutual recognition, comparability assessments, or international comity. They do need to know whether their transactions must be reported, cleared, or traded on an exchange, and where they can undertake those activities.

I trust that my remarks give you a better sense of how I intend to approach international financial regulatory issues, including the final cross-border OTC derivatives rulemaking. I further hope that the Commission, as a whole, will follow the old adage “the little things you do matter more than the big things you say” and rely more on cooperation and collaboration with our international counterparts as we work together to develop an effective global financial regulatory framework that is consistent with our mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets, and promoting capital formation.

Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the day.

[1] Remarks at the Institute of International Bankers Fall Membership Luncheon by Commissioner Kathleen L. Casey (Oct. 9, 2007), available at http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/2007/spch100907klc.htm.

[2] See Leaders’ Statement at the Pittsburgh Summit, G-20 Meeting (Sept. 25, 2009), available at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/g7-g20/Documents/pittsburgh_summit_leaders_statement_250909.pdf.

[3] Cross-Border Regulation of Swaps/Derivatives Discussions between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the European Union — A Path Forward (July 11, 2013), available at http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6640-13.

[4] See, e.g., Registration Requirements for Foreign Broker-Dealers, Securities Exchange Act Release No. 27017, 54 F.R. 30013, 30016 (July 18, 1989).

[5] See, e.g., Current Guidance on Economic Analysis in SEC Rulemakings (Mar. 6, 2012), available at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/riskfin/rsfi_guidance_econ_analy_secrulemaking.pdf.

[6] Cross-Border Security-Based Swap Activities; Re-Proposal of Regulation SBSR and Certain Rules and Forms Relating to the Registration of Security-Based Swap Dealers and Major Security-Based Swap Participants; Proposed Rule, Securities Exchange Act Release No. 69490, 78 F.R. 30967 (May 23, 2013), available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-23/pdf/2013-10835.pdf.

[7] See Cross-Border Application of Swaps Provisions, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission website, available at http://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/DoddFrankAct/Rulemakings/Cross-BorderApplicationofSwapsProvisions/index.htm.

[8] Id.

[9] See Dodd-Frank Derivatives Reform: Challenges Facing U.S. and International Markets Before the Subcommittee On General Farm Commodities and Risk Management of the House Committee on Agriculture (Dec. 13, 2012). Hearing transcript, testimonies, and other documents are available at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearing/dodd-frank-derivatives-reform-challenges-facing-us-and-international-markets.

[10] See Cross-Border Application of Swaps Provisions, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission website, available at http://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/DoddFrankAct/Rulemakings/Cross-BorderApplicationofSwapsProvisions/index.htm. See also Statement of Dissent by Commissioner Scott D. O’Malia, Interpretive Guidance and Policy Statement Regarding Compliance With Certain Swap Regulations and Related Exemptive Order (July 12, 2013), available at http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/omaliastatement071213b.

[11] Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, International Swaps and Derivatives Association, and Institute of International Bankers v. United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, No. 13-CV-1916 (D.D.C. filed Dec. 4, 2013).

Oversight of Contractor Performance Information

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/187351

SECRETARY KERRY'S PRESS AVAILABILITY IN ROME, ITALY

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Press Availability in Rome, Italy

Press Availability

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Rome, Italy

March 6, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: (In Italian.) Good evening, everybody. It’s a great pleasure for me to be back in Rome. I’m especially pleased to be here in Rome at a time when Italy is making a transition in a – with a new government and making progress, important progress, on growing its economy and tackling unemployment. Tonight, I will have the pleasure of meeting with Italy’s new foreign minister, Foreign Minister Mogherini, and I’m hopeful – we were supposed to also be joined by the prime minister, but he’s on his way back from Brussels, may be a little bit delayed, but we hope he can make it.

I want to assure our Italian friends that the United States intends to continue to deepen our economic and security partnership with this government, including our shared commitment to negotiating an ambitious transatlantic trade and partnership – investment partnership agreement. We believe that such an agreement would be enormously helpful to all of our economies – good for Europe, good for the United States. It will create jobs. It can help create wealth. And at this time, the global economy needs that kind of trade partnership. President Obama, as you know, will be here shortly at the end of March, and I look forward to joining him here at that time in order to talk about these valuable partnerships and many other issues.
The reason that my counterparts and I came to Rome today was to demonstrate our commitment all together – the huge number of countries that came together to demonstrate our commitment to Libya’s democratic transition. And we recognize that this is really a pivotal moment for Libya as it drafts a post-revolution constitution and moves towards national reconciliation and elections. I can tell you that we in America, who are still perfecting our democracy and working and struggling to make it work as effectively as possible, and it goes up and down as we all know – we very well know from our own history the difficulties we had centuries ago in developing our constitution and giving it full bloom that this is hard work. It doesn’t happen overnight. And it is something that takes devotion and commitment and courage. And I think today, we heard from the prime minister and the president of Libya their dedication to helping to make this transition work.

We also know that Libyans did not risk their lives in the 2011 revolution just to slip backward into thuggery and violence. And as I told President Abu Sahmain today as well as Prime Minister Zeidan, we have no illusions about the challenges ahead, but we are committed to work very, very closely with the Government of Libya, but also with our partners, and Italy is one of the central partners in the effort to help Libya in this transition together with France, Great Britain, Germany, and others. And we will continue to work closely to fight terrorism, to prevent the spread of conventional weapons and to secure those weapons where they should be secured, and to build democratic institutions.

Now, let me say a word about a subject that I know is on everybody’s mind, and that’s the question of Ukraine. Just a few moments ago, President Obama spoke in Washington and laid out the steps that he has ordered with respect to this situation at this time, which are in keeping with precisely what we said last week we would do as a consequence of the steps that Russia decided to take with respect to Crimea. As you have heard me say all week, the choices that Russia has made escalated this situation, and we believe that Russia has the opportunity now – together with the rest of us – but Russia particularly has the opportunity now to make the right choices in order to de-escalate.

The United States also has choices to make, and President Obama has been clear that we cannot allow Russia or any country to defy international law with impunity. There’s no place in the community of nations for the kind of aggression and steps that we have seen taken in Crimea in Ukraine in these last days.

So today, as we announced we would last week, we have taken specific steps, and the State Department also has taken specific steps in response to what has occurred. Starting today, at President Obama’s direction, the State Department is putting in place tough visa restrictions on a number of officials and other individuals. And the United States will not grant visas to those who threaten the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine, and if they already have one, it will be revoked in those individual cases.

Now, let me remind you that this decision comes on top of our existing policy to deny visas to those who are involved in human rights abuses or political oppression in Ukraine. And it is also on top of other steps that the United States has already taken which we have announced. Now, at the same time, President Obama has issued an executive order that gives the Treasury Department the legal framework to sanction those who threaten Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and democracy, those who contribute to the misappropriation of Ukraine’s state assets, and just as importantly, those who try to assert government authority over any part of Ukraine without authorization from the legitimate government in Kyiv.

I want to emphasize – and there’s a reason why only the legal framework was put in place and not the specific designations – and that reason is that even as we will keep faith with what we have said we would do, we want to be able to have the dialogue that leads to the de-escalation. We want to be able to continue the intense discussions with both sides in order to try to normalize and end this crisis. And we will absolutely consider, if we have to, additional steps beyond what we’ve done. But our preference – and the President has said this and I have said this – is to emphasize the possibilities for the dialogue that can lead to the normalization and defusing of this crisis.

Now, yesterday in Paris, we had lengthy discussions and we met also, obviously, with our Ukrainian counterpart, the foreign minister of Ukraine, and discussed with him Ukrainian thoughts about what should form the centerpiece of our approach to this effort to negotiate. And with the Ukrainian view in mind and with the input of all of our allies in the European community, we have made suggestions to Foreign Minister Lavrov which he is currently taking personally to President Putin in Sochi, I believe, and we have agreed to stay in close touch in order to see if there is a way forward, and try to get to the negotiating table with the parties necessary to be able to stabilize this.

We’ve been in very close touch all day with our European counterparts – both those who were here in Rome as well as by telephone for those who were in Brussels. And we agreed that over the course of the next hours, next days, there is an imperative to try to move quickly in order to prevent a mistake or misinterpretation or any other measures that might preclude our opportunity to be able to find the political solution that we believe is the best way to proceed.
The Ukrainian people, we are convinced beyond any doubt whatsoever, want nothing more than the right to determine their own future, and they want to be able to live freely in a safe and prosperous country where they can make the choices that people make in other countries around the world. And they have the international community’s full support, and while we reserve the right to take steps beyond those things that were announced today, we want President Putin and Russia and everyone to understand our preference is to get back to a normality and get back to a place where the rights of the people of Ukraine will be respected and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation will be respected.

The United States will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people, as will our allies and friends in the European community and elsewhere, in order to stand up for the values that we all believe in our fellow – that define our fellow democracies. So thank you very, very much, and I look forward to the opportunity to take a couple questions.

MS. HARF: Great, thank you. The first question is from Elise Labott of CNN.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. You said that the Ukrainian people have the right to determine their own future. Does that include the people of Crimea? Don’t they have the right to determine their own future? Are there any conditions under which the U.S. might accept a referendum as part of the solution?

And then on your meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov, Minister Fabius said that he’s forming this contact group and that the Russians might agree. Did you talk about this with the minister, and do you see this as a useful mechanism that might happen in the coming days?
And lastly, I’m wondering if you talked to him about the fact that he told you last week that the exercises that the Russians were doing had nothing to do with Ukraine. We now know that that was a pretext to mask the Russian intervention.

SECRETARY KERRY: What was the first part of that question? I’m sorry.

QUESTION: Well, we understand that --

SECRETARY KERRY: We now know what?

QUESTION: Well, we know that the – this exercise did have a lot to do with the Ukraine and perhaps it was a pretext for Russia to go into the Crimea. I’m just wondering – you’ve invested a lot in your relationship with Minister Lavrov, and I’m wondering if you feel misled by him at all and whether you spoke with him about that. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me take the first part of that question. Crimea is part of Ukraine. Crimea is Ukraine. And we support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the Government of Ukraine needs to be involved in any kind of decision with respect to any part of Ukraine. Any referendum on Ukraine is going to have to be absolutely consistent with Ukrainian law. And it’s my understanding that the constitution of Ukraine requires all – requires an all-Ukraine referendum; in other words, every part of Ukraine, all Ukrainians, would have to be part of a referendum with respect to the territory of Ukraine. So therefore, the proposed referendum would violate the constitution of Ukraine and international law and the sovereignty of Ukraine itself.

QUESTION: But if it was a Ukraine-wide referendum --

SECRETARY KERRY: If it were – if it adheres to the constitution of Ukraine, it’s up to Ukrainians to define that. It’s not up to the United States or Russia to make that decision. Ukrainians need to live by Ukrainian law and according to the constitution, and their constitution would require precisely what I just said. So that is, I think, critical to anything that would flow.
Secondly, with respect to a contact group and where we’re proceeding, frankly, I think everybody has been working to put a contact group together. I think it’s been a general assumption of all of us in unity that we would like to see if a contact group can be put together. And I think that the key here is whether or not that is going to be something that will work in the context of Russia’s willingness to do this, and obviously Ukrainian views about this.
Thus far, the Ukrainian Government has expressed their desire to have the support of a contact group, providing, of course, that the government – that Russia is dealing with them in that context. This can’t be in lieu of the respect for the existing Government of Ukraine, and we don’t intend for it to be, and none of us who have been part of the discussions about a contact group view this as anything except supportive of the process. But I believe there is a way to structure this, and that is obviously part of what we are now engaged in discussions with Russia through Foreign Minister Lavrov and to Mr. Putin.

With respect to the relationship with Foreign Minister Lavrov, it’s professional, as all of my relationships are with any foreign minister. There are moments in the course of a meeting over a year where you may be able to laugh at something, and there are moments where you disagree and disagree very strongly. And we work professionally, both of us, to represent our countries, represent our point of views, and try to get the work of diplomacy done.
This is obviously a moment where we have disagreement, as we do on some other issues. But where we can, we try to find a way forward, whether it’s been on chemical weapons in Syria or with respect to Iran and P5+1, or the enforcement of the START treaty and other kinds of issues, Afghanistan and other things.

So we will continue to work in a professional manner in order to try to resolve those issues that come to us and to try to do so in a way that advances the global interests of peace and stability and security. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

So another question.

MS. HARF: Great. Our final question comes from Oliviero Bergamini from TG1. Thank you.

QUESTION: Buonasera, Mr. Secretary. Are you satisfied with the way the European Union is dealing with this crisis? Because there seems to be quite a distance between countries like Poland that are really close to the position of the United States, and countries like Germany, and Italy to some extent, they get a lot of their energy supplies from Russia, they seem to be much softer on the theme of economic sanctions and so on. That’s actually the reason why Prime Minister Renzi might be late for dinner because they are not finding an agreement right now in Brussels.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, actually, they did announce an agreement in Brussels, and --

QUESTION: Okay. Yeah, there was something. So do you – how do you see the attitude of the European Union?

SECRETARY KERRY: I think the European Union has been extremely cooperative and has been a partner in this thoroughly. There’s been a complete and total communication and sharing of information and sharing of ideas. I do not believe there is a gap. There may be some differences of opinion about timing or about one particular choice versus another. That’s not unusual when you have as many countries working together as we do.

But fundamentally with respect to the question of what has happened and the need to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, there is no difference whatsoever. With respect to the need to have some sanctions as a result of what has happened in Crimea, there is no difference whatsoever. And Europe on its own tonight has made its announcement through its own process and own debate that they have taken some steps.

Now, Europe joins us in absolutely believing that we are all better served by getting back to a normality and a stability that will come through good diplomacy and good efforts to try to find a path forward that can protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine, protect legitimate interests where they exist of ethnic Russians and/or of other agreements like the base agreement and other things that Russia has that are in law. Those are things that we can deal with. And our hope is that together – Europe, the United States, and others, Canada, Japan – there are a lot of countries interested in what is happening. And I think they all want to be supportive for a process that de-escalates, that reduces tension.

We have a lot of things to do together. We do not need to be distracted or split apart by virtue of what has happened in Ukraine. I think it is fair to say, and I have said that Russia does have some interests in the region. But they need to be dealt with according to law and in a proper way, and dealt with in a way that can respect the integrity of the country, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

At the same time, the Ukrainian people have an overriding interest, a paramount interest here in having their rights protected, their sovereignty protected, their hopes and aspirations which they died to achieve, that needs to be respected. And that’s the tension here, and that’s the – that’s what we’re trying to balance as we approach a diplomatic and peaceful resolution of this, rather than an escalation that could harm the efforts of a lot of other initiatives that we all are focused on.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

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NORTH SEA WITH BLOOMING PHYTOPLANKTON

Despite its cold waters and harsh winds, the North Sea is a fertile basin for phytoplankton blooms. The drifting, plantlike organisms tend to be most abundant in late spring and early summer due to high levels of nutrients in the water and increasing sunlight. The intense winds blowing over the relatively shallow North Sea causes a lot of vertical and horizontal mixing that brings nutrients to the surface, as does runoff from European rivers. This image, acquired on June 11, 2015, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows a mass of phytoplankton blooming between Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Germany. As compared to a June 6 image showing a different stage of the bloom cycle, areas of concentrated phytoplankton are smaller and most have the milky color characteristic of coccolithophores; there are few to no green areas. The change could be due to the short life span of phytoplankton—two to six days—and differences between the species. Some outlast others because of their ability to survive at lower nutrient levels. Some researchers have found that numbers of plankton can actually begin to increase in the middle of winter, when growth conditions would seem to be at their worst. Studies suggest that winter storms churn the ocean and cause deep water mixing. This water mixing allows for phytoplankton to grow and live at depth without being spotted by their predators. When spring arrives, phytoplankton can fully bloom because not only are the nutrients available, but there is a longer period of sunlight. Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using data from the Level 1 and Atmospheres Active Distribution System (LAADS). Caption: Rachel Carlowicz with Mike Carlowicz

WATCHING YOUNG STARS SPARKLE

While fireworks only last a short time here on Earth, a bundle of cosmic sparklers in a nearby cluster of stars will be going off for a very long time. NGC 1333 is a star cluster populated with many young stars that are less than 2 million years old, a blink of an eye in astronomical terms for stars like the Sun expected to burn for billions of years. To make a detailed study of the X-ray properties of young stars, a team of astronomers, led by Elaine Winston from the University of Exeter, analyzed both the Chandra X-ray data of NGC 1333, located about 780 light years from Earth, and of the Serpens cloud, a similar cluster of young stars about 1100 light years away. They then compared the two datasets with observations of the young stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster, perhaps the most-studied young star cluster in the Galaxy.The researchers found that the X-ray brightness of the stars in NGC 1333 and the Serpens cloud depends on the total brightness of the stars across the electromagnetic spectrum, as found in previous studies of other clusters. They also found that the X-ray brightness mainly depends on the size of the star. In other words, the bigger the stellar sparkler, the brighter it will glow in X-rays. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/S.Wolk et al; Optical: DSS & NOAO/AURA/NSF; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

ARTIST GRAPHIC OF PLUTO'S OCCULATION

The Stratosphere Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that makes celestial observations with its German-built 100-inch telescope. The telescope is enhanced to collect infrared radiation, and is able to detect energy at a wider range of wavelengths than any other ground-based or space telescope. SOFIA can fly anywhere in the world, and operates at altitudes up to 45,000 feet, putting the observatory above more than 99 percent of Earth's atmospheric water vapor that blocks infrared radiation from celestial objects. SOFIA is flying out of Christchurch, New Zealand, where its telescope can study celestial objects more easily observed from the Southern Hemisphere. Starting June 28 through the 29th, instruments on the plane will observe Pluto as it passes in front of a background star. Data returned from the observations will be provided to the New Horizon team who is preparing for Pluto's occultation, July 13 through the 15th. Image is an artist's conception of the Pluto occultation seen close-up, not a photo. Credits: NASA Graphic.

SHOOTING STARS IN SPACE

Caption Credit: NASA. Astronaut Ron Garan, Expedition 28 flight engineer, tweeted this image from the International Space Station in August, 2011 with the following caption: “What a `Shooting Star’ looks like from space, taken yesterday during Perseid Meteor Shower.” A special camera to record meteor showers will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft, currently scheduled to launch on June 28, 2015, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The Meteor investigation should be installed in the station’s Window Observational Research Facility by the end of July, enabling scientists to learn more about the composition and behavior of asteroids and comets that cross paths with Earth. The investigation's camera is programmed to record known major meteor showers during its two-year orbit and could spot unpredicted showers as well. Image Credit: NASA.

SUNSET ON MARS

Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to record the sunset during an evening of skywatching on April 15, 2015. The imaging was done between dust storms, but some dust remained suspended high in the atmosphere. The sunset observations help researchers assess the vertical distribution of dust in the atmosphere. "The colors come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station, the Curiosity science-team member who planned the observations. "When the blue light scatters off the dust, it stays closer to the direction of the sun than light of other colors does. The rest of the sky is yellow to orange, as yellow and red light scatter all over the sky instead of being absorbed or staying close to the sun." Just as colors are made more dramatic in sunsets on Earth, Martian sunsets make the blue near the sun's part of the sky much more prominent, while normal daylight makes the rusty color of the dust more prominent. Photo/Caption Credit: NASA.

AN IMPACT LEFT ON MARS

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars on March 30, 2015. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta. The steep inner slopes are carved by gullies and include possible recurring slope lineae on the equator-facing slopes. Fresh craters often have steep, active slopes, so the HiRISE team is monitoring this crater for changes over time. The bedrock lithology is also diverse. The crater is a little more than 1-kilometer wide. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. Caption: Alfred McEwen.

A LOOK AT GALAXY NSG 6503

Caption Credit: NASA.Most galaxies are clumped together in groups or clusters. A neighboring galaxy is never far away. But this galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. The Local Void is a huge stretch of space that is at least 150 million light-years across. It seems completely empty of stars or galaxies. The galaxy’s odd location on the edge of this never-land led stargazer Stephen James O’Meara to dub it the “Lost-In-Space galaxy” in his 2007 book, Hidden Treasures. NGC 6503 is 18 million light-years away from us in the northern circumpolar constellation of Draco. NGC 6503 spans some 30,000 light-years, about a third of the size of the Milky Way. This Hubble Space Telescope image shows NGC 6503 in striking detail and with a rich set of colors. Bright red patches of gas can be seen scattered through its swirling spiral arms, mixed with bright blue regions that contain newly forming stars. Dark brown dust lanes snake across the galaxy’s bright arms and center, giving it a mottled appearance. The Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys data for NGC 6503 were taken in April 2003, and the Wide Field Camera 3 data were taken in August 2013. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C. Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts), H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University), and the Hubble Heritage Team.

FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN FLIES INTO SPACE ON SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER

On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space when the space shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-7 from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-7 crew consisted of astronauts Robert Crippen, commander, the first two-time space shuttle astronaut; Frederick H. Hauck, pilot; and three mission specialists -- Ride, John M. Fabian and Norman E. Thagard. This high-angle view of the shuttle liftoff, showing a lengthy stretch of Florida Atlantic coastline and a number of large cumulus clouds, was photographed with a handheld 70mm camera by astronaut John W. Young, who piloted the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) for weather monitoring at launch and landing sites for STS missions. One of Sally Ride's jobs was to call out "Roll program" seven seconds after launch. "I'll guarantee that those were the hardest words I ever had to get out of my mouth," she said later. Image Credit: NASA.

ON EDGE SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 5023

Caption Credit: NASA. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an edge-on view of the spiral galaxy NGC 5023. Due to its orientation we cannot appreciate its spiral arms, but we can admire the elegant profile of its disk. The galaxy lies over 30 million light-years away from us. NGC 5023 is part of the M51 group of galaxies. The brightest galaxy in this group is Messier 51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, which has been captured by Hubble many times. NGC 5023 is less fond of the limelight and seems rather unsociable in comparison — it is relatively isolated from the other galaxies in the group. Astronomers are particularly interested in the vertical structure of disks like these. By analyzing the structure above and below the central plane of the galaxy they can make progress in understanding galaxy evolution. Astronomers are able to analyze the distribution of different types of stars within the galaxy and their properties, in particular how well evolved they are on the Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram — a scatter graph of stars that shows their evolution. NGC 5023 is one of six edge-on spiral galaxies observed as part of a study using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. They study this vertical distribution and find a trend which suggests that heating of the disc plays an important role in producing the stars seen away from the plane of the galaxy. In fact, NGC 5023 is pretty popular when it comes to astronomers, despite its unsociable behavior. The galaxy is also one of 14 disk galaxies that are part of the GHOSTS survey — a survey which uses Hubble data to study galaxy halos, outer disks and star clusters. It is the largest study to date of star populations in the outskirts of disk galaxies. The incredible sharp sight of Hubble has allowed scientist to count more than 30,000 individual bright stars in this image. This is only a small fraction of the several billion stars that this galaxy contains, but the others are too faint to detect individually even with Hubble. European Space Agency Credit-ESA-NASA

U.S. SAILORS RECOVER NASA TEST VEHICLE

A CROWDED NEIGHBORHOOD OF STARS

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. It is located about 25,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), close to the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is, like its neighbor the Quintuplet Cluster, a fairly young astronomical object at between two and four million years old. The Arches cluster is so dense that in a region with a radius equal to the distance between the sun and its nearest star there would be over 100,000 stars! At least 150 stars within the cluster are among the brightest ever discovered in the Milky Way. These stars are so bright and massive that they will burn their fuel within a short time (on a cosmological scale that means just a few million years). Then they will die in spectacular supernova explosions. Due to the short lifetime of the stars in the cluster the gas between the stars contains an unusually high amount of heavier elements, which were produced by earlier generations of stars. Despite its brightness the Arches Cluster cannot be seen with the naked eye. The visible light from the cluster is completely obscured by gigantic clouds of dust in this region. To make the cluster visible astronomers have to use detectors which can collect light from the X-ray, infrared, and radio bands, as these wavelengths can pass through the dust clouds. This observation shows the Arches Cluster in the infrared and demonstrates the leap in Hubble’s performance since its 1999 image of same object. Image credit: NASA/ESA. Text credit: European Space Agency

SECOND TEST OF NASA'S LDSD

The second flight test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) will be attempted on Tuesday, June 2 at no earlier than 1:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. HST), launching a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The LDSD project, led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, is conducting this full-scale flight test of two breakthrough technologies: a supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, or SIAD, and an innovative new parachute. These devices potentially will help us deliver double the current amount of payload — 1.5 metric tons — to the surface of Mars. They also will greatly increase the accessible surface area we can explore, and will improve landing accuracy from a margin of approximately 6.5 miles to a little more than 1 mile. All these factors will dramatically increase the success of future missions on Mars. The LDSD project's successful first flight test was launched on June 28, 2014. In this photograph, a full mission dress rehearsal is held for the LDSD project, Friday, May 29, 2015, at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, HI. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA SUPPORTS F-15 PROGRAM

NASA pilot Jim Less and photographer Jim Ross pull their F-15D #897 aircraft away from a KC-135 refueling tanker. NASA is supporting the Edwards Air Force Base F-15 program with safety and photo chase expertise. NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center currently flies an F-15D Eagle aircraft for research support and pilot proficiency. NASA research support aircraft are commonly called chase planes and fill the role of escort aircraft during research missions. Chase pilots are in constant radio contact with research pilots and serve as an "extra set of eyes" to help maintain total flight safety during specific tests and maneuvers. They monitor certain events for the research pilot and are an important safety feature on all research missions. Chase aircraft also are used as camera platforms for research missions that must be photographed or videotaped. Aeronautical engineers use this pictorial coverage (photos, motion pictures, and videotape) extensively to monitor and verify various aspects of research projects. The F-15D is also used by Armstrong research pilots for routine flight training required by all NASA pilots. Image Credit: NASA/Jim Ross.

SDO IMAGES OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHEREE

Caption Credit: NASA. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) images the solar atmosphere in multiple wavelengths to link changes in the surface to interior changes. Its data includes images of the sun in 10 wavelengths every 10 seconds. When AIA images are sharpened a bit, such as this AIA 171Å channel image, the magnetic field can be readily visualized through the bright, thin strands that are called "coronal loops". Loops are shown here in a blended overlay with the magnetic field as measured with SDO's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager underneath. Blue and yellow represent the opposite polarities of the magnetic field. The combined images were taken on Oct. 24, 2014, at 23:50:37 UT. Image Credit: NASA SDO.

DEPRESSION ON SURFACE OF MARS

Caption Credit: NASA. This image of a circular depression on the surface of Mars was acquired on Jan. 5, 2015 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since March 2006 and completed its 40,000th orbit around Mars on Feb. 7, 2015. The target of this observation is a circular depression in a dark-toned unit associated with a field of cones to the northeast. At the scale of an image taken by MRO's Context Camera, which provides wide area views to provide context for high-resolution analysis, the depression appears to expose layers especially on the sides or walls, which are overlain by dark sands presumably associated with the dark-toned unit. The HiRISE camera's resolution, which is far higher than that of the Context Camera and its larger footprint, can help identify possible layers. HiRISE is one of six instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University of Arizona.

FLEET WEEK NEW YORK 2015

Caption Credit: U.S. Navy. 150520-N-PJ969-213 NEW YORK (May 20, 2015) The amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio (LPD 17) enters New York harbor during the Parade of Ships to start Fleet Week New York 2015. Fleet Week New York, now in its 27th year, is the city's time-honored celebration of the sea services. It is an unparalleled opportunity for the citizens of New York and the surrounding tri-state area to meet Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, as well as witness firsthand the latest capabilities of today's maritime services. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Abe McNatt/Released)

22,000 LIGHT YEARS TO EARTH: NGC 6535

This image captures the stunning NGC 6535, a globular cluster 22,000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent) that measures one light-year across. Globular clusters are tightly bound groups of stars which orbit galaxies. The large mass in the rich stellar centre of the globular cluster pulls the stars inward to form a ball of stars. The word globulus, from which these clusters take their name, is Latin for small sphere. Globular clusters are generally very ancient objects formed around the same time as their host galaxy. To date, no new star formation has been observed within a globular cluster, which explains the abundance of aging yellow stars in this image, most of them containing very few heavy elements. NGC 6535 was first discovered in 1852 by English astronomer John Russell Hind. The cluster would have appeared to Hind as a small, faint smudge through his telescope. Now, over 160 years later, instruments like the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the NASA/ European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope allow us to marvel at the cluster and its contents in greater detail. European Space Agency Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Gilles Chapdelaine.

HEAVY RAINFALL FALLS ON AUSTRALIAN COASTS

Caption Credit: NASA. The rainfall accumulation analysis above was computed from data generated by the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) during the period from April 28 to May 3, 2015. During this period IMERG algorithms continuously merged and interpolated satellite passive microwave precipitation estimates and microwave-calibrated infrared (IR) satellite estimates over the entire globe. Rainfall from cyclone Quang fell over the west coast and a non-tropical system pounded the east coast of Australia simultaneously during the past weekend. Cyclone Quang formed in the South Indian Ocean northwest of Australia on April 28, 2015. Quang's peak intensity of 115kts (133 mph) occurred while it was well off western Australia's coast. The heaviest rainfall with cyclone Quang also occurred during this period when the tropical cyclone was far out in the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia's coast. Total rainfall there was measured at over 454 mm (17.9 inches). Heavy rainfall of over 448 mm (17.7 inches) was also found by this analysis in the Coral Sea off Australia's southeast coast. Rainfall totals of above 356 mm (14.0 inches) were analyzed with the passage of the low pressure center over southeastern Australia. Flooding in this area caused the reported deaths of at least four Australians. Credits-SSAI-NASA, Hal Pierce.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE GRAND CANYON

From the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Terry Virts took this photograph of an early morning sunrise over the Grand Canyon and posted it to social media on May 10, 2015. Because the station completes each trip around the globe in about 92 minutes, the crew experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. The space station and its crew orbit Earth from an altitude of 220 miles, traveling at a speed of approximately 17,500 miles per hour. Because the station completes each trip around the globe in about 92 minutes, the crew experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. Image Credit: NASA. Last Updated: May 13, 2015. Editor: Sarah Loff

THE ISS SOALR ARRAY

Caption Credit: NASA. Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA) photographed the giant solar arrays on the International Space Station on Feb. 12, 2015. The space station's solar arrays contain a total of 262,400 solar cells and cover an area of about 27,000 square feet (2,500 square meters) -- more than half the area of a football field. A solar array's wingspan of 240 feet (73 meters) is longer than a Boeing 777's wingspan, which is 212 feet (65 meters). Altogether, the four sets of arrays can generate 84 to 120 kilowatts of electricity -- enough to provide power to more than 40 homes. The solar arrays produce more power than the station needs at one time for station systems and experiments. When the station is in sunlight, about 60 percent of the electricity that the solar arrays generate is used to charge the station's batteries. At times, some or all of the solar arrays are in the shadow of Earth or the shadow of part of the station. This means that those arrays are not collecting sunlight. The batteries power the station when it is not in the sun. Image Credit: ESA/NASA

THE ATMOSPHERE ON MERCURY

Caption Credit: NASA. The Mercury Atmosphere and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) instrument aboard NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft was designed to study both the exosphere and surface of the planet Mercury. To learn more about the minerals and surface processes on Mercury, the Visual and Infrared Spectrometer (VIRS) portion of MASCS has been diligently collecting single tracks of spectral surface measurements since MESSENGER entered Mercury orbit on March 17, 2011. The track coverage is now extensive enough that the spectral properties of both broad terrains and small, distinct features such as pyroclastic vents and fresh craters can be studied. To accentuate the geological context of the spectral measurements, the MASCS data have been overlain on the monochrome mosiac from the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), an instrument with wide- and narrow-angle cameras to map the rugged landforms and spectral variations on Mercury’s surface. Click on the image to explore the colorful diversity of surface materials in more detail! The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the solar system's innermost planet. In the mission's more than four years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER's highly successful orbital mission is about to come to an end, as the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surface of Mercury near the end of April 2015. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA'S GREASED LIGHTNING BATTERY PLANE

Caption Credit: NASA. A team at NASA's Langley Research Center is developing a concept of a battery-powered plane that has 10 engines and can take off like a helicopter and fly efficiently like an aircraft. The prototype, called Greased Lightning or GL-10, is currently in the design and testing phase. The initial thought was to develop a 20-foot wingspan (6.1 meters) aircraft powered by hybrid diesel/electric engines, but the team started with smaller versions for testing, built by rapid prototyping. During a recent spring day the engineers took the GL-10 to test its wings at a military base about two hours away from NASA Langley. The remotely piloted plane has a 10-foot wingspan (3.05 meters), eight electric motors on the wings, two electric motors on the tail and weighs a maximum of 62 pounds (28.1 kilograms) at take off. This photograph captures the GL-10 prototype taking off in hover mode like a helicopter. Image Credit: NASA Langley/David C. Bowman

3-D PRINTER AND MANUFACTURING IN SPACE

Caption Credit: NASA. The International Space Station’s 3-D printer has manufactured the first 3-D printed object in space, paving the way to future long-term space expeditions. The object, a printhead faceplate, is engraved with names of the organizations that collaborated on this space station technology demonstration: NASA and Made In Space, Inc., the space manufacturing company that worked with NASA to design, build and test the 3-D printer. This image of the printer, with the Microgravity Science Glovebox Engineering Unit in the background, was taken in April 2014 during flight certification and acceptance testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, prior to its launch to the station aboard a SpaceX commercial resupply mission. The first objects built in space will be returned to Earth in 2015 for detailed analysis and comparison to the identical ground control samples made on the flight printer prior to launch. The goal of this analysis is to verify that the 3-D printing process works the same in microgravity as it does on Earth. The printer works by extruding heated plastic, which then builds layer upon layer to create three-dimensional objects. Testing this on the station is the first step toward creating a working "machine shop" in space. This capability may decrease cost and risk on the station, which will be critical when space explorers venture far from Earth and will create an on-demand supply chain for needed tools and parts. Long-term missions would benefit greatly from onboard manufacturing capabilities. Data and experience gathered in this demonstration will improve future 3-D manufacturing technology and equipment for the space program, allowing a greater degree of autonomy and flexibility for astronauts. Image Credit-NASA-Emmett Given.

AEGIS BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM COMPLETES SIMULATED ENGAGEMENTS

Caption Credit: U.S. DOD. February 24, 2015 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System Completes Successful Tracking and Simulated Engagements of Three Short-Range Ballistic Missiles. This test was designated Flight Test Other (FTX)-19. This was the first flight test to assess the ability of the Aegis BMD 4.0 weapon system to simulate engagements of a raid consisting of three short-range, separating ballistic missile targets. This was also the first time Aegis BMD 4.0 ships used the DWES capability with live targets. The MDA will use test results to improve and enhance the Ballistic Missile Defense System and support the advancement of Phase 2 of the Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense in Europe to provide protection of U.S. deployed forces and our European allies and partners.

FROSTY MARS

Caption: Livio Tornabene, Ryan Hopkins, Kayle Hansen and Eric Pilles. This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. At this time of year, only south-facing slopes retain the frost, while the north-facing slopes have melted. Gullies are not the only active geologic process going on here. A small crater is visible at the bottom of the slope. The image was acquired on Nov. 30, 2014, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

USS THEODORE ROSEVELT SUPPORTING OPERATIONS IN SYRIA AND IRAQ

U.S. NAVY DISPLAYS 28,000 POUNDS OF COCAINE

Caption Credit: U.S. DOD. 150416-N-UL721-037 SAN DIEGO (April 16, 2015) More than 28,000 pounds of cocaine, worth over $424 million, seized in 19 separate interdictions awaits its offload aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell (WHEC 719) at Naval Base San Diego. U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy ships have seized more cocaine in the last six months than in all of fiscal year 2014. Joint, interagency, and international relationships strengthen U.S. 3rd Fleet's ability to respond to crises and protect the collective maritime interests of the U.S. and its allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Corey T. Jones/Released)

SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET CARRYING SUPPLIES FOR ISS

Caption Credit: NASA. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Dragon resupply spacecraft on the sixth commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 4:10 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, April 14. Research that will help prepare NASA astronauts and robotic explorers for future missions to Mars is among the two tons of cargo on its way to the International Space Station aboard Dragon. The mission is the company's sixth cargo delivery flight to the station through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's cargo will support approximately 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will be performed during Expeditions 43 and 44, including numerous human research investigations for NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's one-year mission in space. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

SEA ICE OFF COAST OF EAST ANTARCTICA

On April 5, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image of sea ice off the coast of East Antarctica’s Princess Astrid Coast. White areas close to the continent are sea ice, while white areas in the northeast corner of the image are clouds. One way to better distinguish ice from clouds is with false-color imagery. In the false-color view of the scene here, ice is blue and clouds are white. The image was acquired after Antarctic sea ice had passed its annual minimum extent (reached on Feb. 20, 2015), and had resumed expansion toward its maximum extent (usually reached in September). More information: NASA's Earth Observatory Image Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption: Kathryn Hansen.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE?

Caption Credit: NASA. As NASA missions explore our solar system and search for new worlds, they are finding water in surprising places. Water is but one piece of our search for habitable planets and life beyond Earth, yet it links many seemingly unrelated worlds in surprising ways. Perhaps the most surprising water worlds are the five icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn that show strong evidence of oceans beneath their surfaces: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto at Jupiter, and Enceladus and Titan at Saturn. Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently provided powerful evidence that Ganymede has a saltwater, sub-surface ocean, likely sandwiched between two layers of ice. In this artist’s concept, the moon Ganymede orbits the giant planet Jupiter. The Hubble Space Telescope observed aurorae on the moon generated by Ganymede’s magnetic fields. A saline ocean under the moon’s icy crust best explains shifting in the auroral belts measured by Hubble. More: The Solar System and Beyond is Awash in Water Image Credit: NASA/ESA.

HEIST TESTED AT ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER

Caption Credit: NASA. Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) project researchers at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center are performing ground testing of a 31-foot-span, carbon composite wing section with 18 electric motors. The LEAPTech project will test the premise that tighter propulsion-airframe integration, made possible with electric power, will deliver improved efficiency and safety, as well as environmental and economic benefits. The experimental wing, called the Hybrid-Electric Integrated Systems Testbed (HEIST), is mounted on a specially modified truck. Testing on the mobile ground rig assembly will provide valuable data and risk reduction applicable to future flight research. Instead of being installed in a wind tunnel, the HEIST wing section will remain attached to load cells on a supporting truss while the vehicle is driven at speeds up to 70 miles per hour across a dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base. LEAPTech to Demonstrate Electric Propulsion Technologies Image Credit: Joby Aviation.

MINERAL VEINS ON MOUNT SHARP, MARS

Caption Credit: NASA. This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a network of two-tone mineral veins at an area called "Garden City" on lower Mount Sharp. The veins combine light and dark material. The veins at this site jut to heights of up to about 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) above the surrounding rock, and their widths range up to about 1.5 inches (4 centimeters). Figure 1 includes a 30-centimeter scale bar (about 12 inches). Mineral veins such as these form where fluids move through fractured rocks, depositing minerals in the fractures and affecting chemistry of the surrounding rock. In this case, the veins have been more resistant to erosion than the surrounding host rock. This scene is a mosaic combining 28 images taken with Mastcam's right-eye camera, which has a telephoto lens with a focal length of 100 millimeters. The component images were taken on March 18, 2015, during the 929th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Feature: Curiosity Eyes Prominent Mineral Veins on Mars. Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech-MSSS.

A LOOK AT SUPER TYPHOON MAYSAK FROM ISS

Caption Credit: NASA. Typhoon Maysak strengthened into a super typhoon on March 31, reaching Category 5 hurricane status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captured this image while flying over the weather system on board the International Space Station. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellites, both co-managed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, captured rainfall and cloud data that revealed heavy rainfall and high thunderstorms in the strengthening storm. The TRMM satellite has been collecting valuable scientific data since November 1997. Early on March 30, the satellite collected rainfall data as it flew directly above Maysak at 04:14 UTC (12:14 a.m. EDT) when maximum sustained winds were near 85 knots (98 mph). Rainfall data was collected by TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments and showed heaviest rainfall southwest of the center, and in fragmented bands of thunderstorms northeast of the center. In both of those places rainfall was in excess of 50 mm/2 inches per hour. More information. Image Credit-ESA-NASA-Samantha Cristoforetti.

U.S. AIR FORCE THUNDERBIRDS PERFORM DEMONSTRATION AT NELLIS AFB

WAITING FOR TAKEOFF ABOARD USS BOHNOMME RICHARD

Caption Credit: U.S. Navy. EAST CHINA SEA (March 24, 2015) A Naval Aircrewman awaits takeoff on an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Bonhomme Richard is the lead ship of the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and, along with the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU), is underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kevin V. Cunningham (Released) 150324-N-UF697-009.

SOYUZ TMA-16M SPACECRAFT ROLLS OUT

The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is seen after having rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz at 3:42 p.m. EDT, Friday, March 27 (March 28, Kazakh time). As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Most expeditions to the space station last four to six months. By doubling the length of this mission, researchers hope to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. This knowledge is critical as NASA looks toward human journeys deeper into the solar system, including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer. More: A Year in Space Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

OPPORTUNITY'S VIEW OF MARATHON VALLEY

This view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows part of "Marathon Valley," a destination on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, as seen from an overlook north of the valley. The scene spans from east, at left, to southeast. It combines four pointings of the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) on March 13, 2015, during the 3,958th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. The rover team selected Marathon Valley as a science destination because observations of this location using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter yielded evidence of clay minerals, a clue to ancient wet environments. By the time Opportunity explores Marathon Valley, the rover will have exceeded a total driving distance equivalent to an Olympic marathon. Opportunity has been exploring the Meridiani Planum region of Mars since January 2004. This version of the image is presented in approximate true color by combining exposures taken through three of the Pancam's color filters at each of the four camera pointings, using filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

MAGNETOSPHERIC MULTISCALE SPACECRAFT LAUNCH

Caption Credit: NASA. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft onboard launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, March 12, 2015, Florida. NASA’s MMS mission studies the mystery of how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy via a process known as magnetic reconnection. MMS consists of four identical spacecraft that work together to provide the first three-dimensional view of this fundamental process, which occurs throughout the universe. Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.

RETURN OF SOYUZ TMA-14M SPACECRAFT

The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft is seen as it lands with International Space Station Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA, Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Elena Serova of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The landing took place on the evening of Wednesday, March 11 in the U.S, and early in the morning on Thursday, March 12, in Kazakhstan. The three crew members returned to Earth after a 167-day mission on the orbital outpost that included hundreds of scientific experiments and several spacewalks to prepare the orbiting laboratory for future arrivals by U.S. commercial crew spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

GIVING ORION A LIFT

Caption Credit: NASA. Engineers across the country have been busy taking a closer look at NASA's Orion spacecraft and the data it produced during its successful flight test in December 2014. Inside the Launch Abort System Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Orion was lifted using a special crane for removal of its heat shield on Feb. 13, 2015. In the background, technicians move the heat shield on a work stand. The spacecraft’s heat shield protected Orion as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere at searing temperatures. Removing the back shell allows the team to get a closer look at Orion’s systems to see how they fared during the trip to space. The heat shield was removed in preparation for shipment to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where special equipment will be used to remove its ablative material. From there, the heat shield will be shipped to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where it will be outfitted on a test article for water impact testing. Meanwhile, NASA and Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for Orion, continue to take a look at the data the flight test produced to validate pre-flight models and improve the spacecraft’s design. Analysis of data obtained during its two-orbit, four-and-a-half hour mission Dec. 5 will provide engineers detailed information on how the spacecraft fared. Photo Credit-NASA-Jim Grossmann.

DAWN ARIVES TO DWARF PLANET CERES

Caption Credit: NASA. NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000) kilometers from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday, March 6. This image of Ceres was taken by the Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored world. The image shows Ceres as a crescent, mostly in shadow because the spacecraft's trajectory put it on a side of Ceres that faces away from the sun until mid-April. When Dawn emerges from Ceres' dark side, it will deliver ever-sharper images as it spirals to lower orbits around the planet. The image was obtained at a distance of about 30,000 miles (about 48,000 kilometers) at a sun-Ceres-spacecraft angle, or phase angle, of 123 degrees. Image scale on Ceres is 1.9 miles (2.9 kilometers) per pixel. Ceres has an average diameter of about 590 miles (950 kilometers). Dawn's mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, 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, Alabama. The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, 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. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

COMET C/2014 Q2 KNOWN AS LOVEJOY

Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is one of more than 32 comets imaged by NASA's NEOWISE mission from December 2013 to December 2014. This image of comet Lovejoy combines a series of observations made in November 2013, when comet Lovejoy was 1.7 astronomical units from the sun. (An astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the sun.) The image spans half of one degree. It shows the comet moving in a mostly west and slightly south direction. (North is 26 degrees to the right of up in the image, and west is 26 degrees downward from directly right.) The red color is caused by the strong signal in the NEOWISE 4.6-micron wavelength detector, owing to a combination of gas and dust in the comet's coma. Comet Lovejoy is the brightest comet in Earth's sky in early 2015. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

USS CARL VINSON SUPPORTS STRIKES IN IRAQ, SYRIA

ISS VIEW OF THE ISLAND OF HAWAII

Caption Credit: NASA. From the International Space Station, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) took this photograph of the island of Hawaii and posted it to social media on Feb. 28, 2015. Cristoforetti wrote, "And suddenly as we flew over the Pacific... the island of #Hawaii with its volcanoes! #HelloEarth".Crewmembers on the space station photograph the Earth from their unique point of view located 200 miles above the surface as part of the Crew Earth Observations program. Photographs record how the planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes like urban growth and reservoir construction, to natural dynamic events such as hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions. Astronauts have used hand-held cameras to photograph the Earth for more than 40 years, beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960s. The ISS maintains an altitude between 220 - 286 miles (354 - 460 km) above the Earth, and an orbital inclination of 51.6˚, providing an excellent stage for observing most populated areas of the world. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Samantha Cristoforetti.

GETTING READY FOR VISITORS IN SPACE

Caption Credit: NASA. NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore works outside the International Space Station on the first of three spacewalks preparing the station for future arrivals by U.S. commercial crew spacecraft, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015. Fellow spacewalker Terry Virts, seen reflected in the visor, shared this photograph on social media. The spacewalks are designed to lay cables along the forward end of the U.S. segment to bring power and communication to two International Docking Adapters slated to arrive later this year. The new docking ports will welcome U.S. commercial spacecraft launching from Florida beginning in 2017, permitting the standard station crew size to grow from six to seven and potentially double the amount of crew time devoted to research. The second and third spacewalks are planned for Wednesday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, March 1, with Wilmore and Virts participating in all three. Image Credit: NASA.

"LIVE LONG AND PROSPER"

SMAP LAUNCHES INTO SPACE

Caption Credit: NASA. A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory onboard is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from Space Launch Complex 2, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. SMAP is NASA’s first Earth-observing satellite designed to collect global observations of surface soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. SMAP will provide high resolution global measurements of soil moisture from space. The data will be used to enhance scientists' understanding of the processes that link Earth's water, energy, and carbon cycles. )Photo Credit-NASA-Bill Ingalls.

2015: THE YEAR OF LIGHT

The year of 2015 has been declared the International Year of Light (IYL) by the United Nations. Organizations, institutions, and individuals involved in the science and applications of light will be joining together for this yearlong celebration to help spread the word about the wonders of light. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory explores the universe in X-rays, a high-energy form of light. By studying X-ray data and comparing them with observations in other types of light, scientists can develop a better understanding of objects likes stars and galaxies that generate temperatures of millions of degrees and produce X-rays. To recognize the start of IYL, the Chandra X-ray Center is releasing a set of images that combine data from telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light. From a distant galaxy to the relatively nearby debris field of an exploded star, these images demonstrate the myriad ways that information about the universe is communicated to us through light. In this image, an expanding shell of debris called SNR 0519-69.0 is left behind after a massive star exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. Multimillion degree gas is seen in X-rays from Chandra, in blue. The outer edge of the explosion (red) and stars in the field of view are seen in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope. Chandra Celebrates the International Year of Light. Image Credit: NASA-CXC-SAO.

NASA SENDS SOUNDING ROCKETS INTO AUROAS

The interaction of solar winds and Earth’s atmosphere produces northern lights, or auroras, that dance across the night sky and mesmerize the casual observer. However, to scientists this interaction is more than a light display. It produces many questions about the role it plays in Earth’s meteorological processes and the impact on the planet’s atmosphere. To help answer some of these questions, NASA suborbital sounding rockets carrying university-developed experiments -- the Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere Turbulence Experiment (M-TeX) and Mesospheric Inversion-layer Stratified Turbulence (MIST) -- were launched into auroras from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The experiments explore the Earth’s atmosphere’s response to auroral, radiation belt and solar energetic particles and associated effects on nitric oxide and ozone. This composite shot of all four sounding rockets for the M-TeX and MIST experiments is made up of 30 second exposures. The rocket salvo began at 4:13 a.m. EST, Jan. 26, 2015. A fifth rocket carrying the Auroral Spatial Structures Probe remains ready on the launch pad. The launch window for this experiment runs through Jan. 27. Image Credit: NASA-Jamie Adkin.

THE FIRST BIG SOLAR FLARE OF 2015

AIR FORCE BUILDS AN ICE BRIDGE IN ALASKA

K2: PROFILE OF A PLANET HUNTER

Caption Credit: NASA. The artistic impression shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. In May the spacecraft began its new mission observing in the ecliptic plane, the orbital path of Earth around the sun, depicted by the grey-blue line marked by opaque cross-like shapes. Each shape represents the field-of-view of an observing campaign. The K2 mission observes a specific portion of the distant sky for approximately 80 days, until it is necessary to rotate the spacecraft to prevent sunlight from entering the telescope. The spacecraft orbits the sun every 372 days as it trails Earth, allowing for four full campaigns per orbit or year. The arching band of stars is the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy. Using publicly available data collected by the spacecraft in February 2014 during the performance concept test to prove K2 would work, astronomers have confirmed the first exoplanet detected by the K2 mission. The newly confirmed planet, HIP 116454b, is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth, and closely orbits a star smaller and cooler than our sun once every nine days, making the planet too hot for life as we know it. The star and planet are 180 light-years from Earth toward the constellation Pisces. In May 2013, data collection for Kepler's extended prime mission came to an end when the second of four reaction wheels used to stabilize the spacecraft failed. Without at least three functioning reaction wheels, Kepler couldn’t be pointed at the original field with sufficient stability to precisely measure the dimming of starlight caused by a planet when it passes or transits in front of a distant star. Rather than giving up on the stalwart spacecraft, a team of scientists and engineers crafted a resourceful strategy to use pressure from sunlight as a virtual reaction wheel to help control the spacecraft while observing the sky in the ecliptic plane. The resulting K2 mission promises to not only continue Kepler’s planet hunt, but to expand that search to bright nearby stars which harbor planets that allow scientists to study them in detail to better understand their composition. K2 will also introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, active galaxies, and supernovae. Link to full NASA press release: NASA’s Kepler Reborn, Makes First Exoplanet Find of New Mission Credit: NASA Ames-JPL-Caltech-T Pyle.

MARS ROVER VISITS THE LAKE

Caption Credit: NASA. This evenly layered rock photographed by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows a pattern typical of a lake-floor sedimentary deposit not far from where flowing water entered a lake. The scene combines multiple frames taken with Mastcam's right-eye camera on Aug. 7, 2014, during the 712th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. It shows an outcrop at the edge of "Hidden Valley," seen from the valley floor. This view spans about 5 feet (1.5 meters) across in the foreground. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Figure A is a version with a superimposed scale bar of 50 centimeters (about 20 inches). This is an example of a thick-laminated, evenly-stratified rock type that forms stratigraphically beneath cross-bedded sandstones regarded as ancient river deposits. These rocks are interpreted to record sedimentation in a lake, as part of or in front of a delta, where plumes of river sediment settled out of the water column and onto the lake floor. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam. Related: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to How Water Helped Shape Martian Landscape Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

THE END OF THE MISSION IN AFGHAISTAN

Caption Credit: U.S. DOD. A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands while coalition troops prepare for the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command and U.S. Army XVIII Airborne Corps end-of-mission ceremony on North Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan, Dec. 8, 2014. The command's five-year mission was to neutralize the insurgency in specified areas and support improved governance and development, in order to protect the Afghan people and provide a secure environment for sustainable peace. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Perry Aston

NASA DEVELOPING TECH TO IMPROVE FUEL EFFICIENCY, NOISE POLUTION

Caption Credit: NASA. NASA's green aviation project is one step closer to developing technology that could make future airliners quieter and more fuel-efficient with the successful flight test of a wing surface that can change shape in flight. This past summer, researchers replaced an airplane’s conventional aluminum flaps with advanced, shape-changing assemblies that form seamless bendable and twistable surfaces. Flight testing will determine whether flexible trailing-edge wing flaps are a viable approach to improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce noise generated during takeoffs and landings. For the initial Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) flight, shown in this image, the experimental control surfaces were locked at a specified setting. Varied flap settings on subsequent tests will demonstrate the capability of the flexible surfaces under actual flight conditions. ACTE technology is expected to have far-reaching effects on future aviation. Advanced lightweight materials will reduce wing structural weight and give engineers the ability to aerodynamically tailor the wings to promote improved fuel economy and more efficient operations, while reducing environmental impacts. NASA Tests Revolutionary Shape Changing Aircraft Flap for the First Time Image Credit: NASA/Ken Ulbrich.

ORION PASSES SPACEPORT VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING

Caption Credit: NASA. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Orion spacecraft passes the spaceport's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building as it is transported to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. After arrival at the launch pad, United Launch Alliance engineers and technicians will lift Orion and mount it atop its Delta IV Heavy rocket. Orion began its journey to the launch pad at at the Launch Abort System Facility, where a 52-foot-tall protective fairing and the launch abort system were attached to the 10-foot, 11-inch-tall crew module. Resting atop a specialized Kamag transporter, Orion was moved to Space Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The move began at 8:54 p.m. EST and concluded at 3:07 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 12. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket in its first unpiloted flight test, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

NuSTAR FINDS ENERGETIC PULSAR

Image and caption credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAO. The blue dot in this image marks the spot of an energetic pulsar -- the magnetic, spinning core of star that blew up in a supernova explosion. NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, discovered the pulsar by identifying its telltale pulse -- a rotating beam of X-rays, that like a cosmic lighthouse, intersects Earth every 0.2 seconds. The pulsar, called PSR J1640-4631, lies in our inner Milky Way galaxy about 42,000 light-years away. It was originally identified by as an intense source of gamma rays by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) in Namibia. NuSTAR helped pin down the source of the gamma rays to a pulsar. The other pink dots in this picture show low-energy X-rays detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. In this image, NuSTAR data is blue and shows high-energy X-rays with 3 to 79 kiloelectron volts; Chandra data is pink and shows X-rays with 0.5 to 10 kiloeletron volts. The background image shows infrared light and was captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

ULTRA VIOLET EXTREME

NASA Caption: The sun emitted a significant solar flare on Oct. 19, 2014, peaking at 1:01 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is always observing the sun, captured this image of the event in extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 131 Angstroms – a wavelength that can see the intense heat of a flare and that is typically colorized in teal. This flare is classified as an X1.1-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 flare is twice as intense as an X1, and an X3 is three times as intense. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. > More: NASA's SDO Observes an X-class Solar Flare. Image Credit-NASA-Solar Dynamics Observatory.

GLACIERS AND MOUNTAINS OF WEST ANTARTICA

Caption Credit: NASA. Glaciers and mountains in the evening sun are seen on an Operation IceBridge research flight, returning from West Antarctica on Oct. 29, 2014. NASA is carrying out its sixth consecutive year of Operation IceBridge research flights over Antarctica to study changes in the continent’s ice sheet, glaciers and sea ice. This year’s airborne campaign revisits a section of the Antarctic ice sheet that recently was found to be in irreversible decline. IceBridge uses a suite of instruments that includes a laser altimeter, radar instruments, cameras, and a gravimeter, which is an instrument that detects small changes in gravity. These small changes reveal how much mass these glaciers have lost. Researchers plan to measure previously unsurveyed regions of Antarctica, such as the upper portions of Smith Glacier in West Antarctica, which is thinning faster than any other glaciers in the region. The mission also plans to collect data in portions of the Antarctic Peninsula, such as the Larsen C, George VI and Wilkins ice shelves and the glaciers that drain into them. The Antarctic Peninsula has been warming faster than the rest of the continent. In addition to extending the data record of NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), which stopped collecting data in 2009, IceBridge will also help set the stage for ICESat-2 by measuring ice the satellite will fly over. > Operation IceBridge Antarctic 2014 Campaign Image Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger.

ANTARES ROCKET EXPLODES DURING LAUNCH

Attention: Antares rocket explodes on liftoff Monday, Oct. 27. NASA Caption: Orbital Antares Rocket at the Launch Pad: The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 5,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-3 mission is Orbital Sciences' third contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27 at 6:45 p.m. EDT. Image Credit-NASA-Joel Kowsky.

THE ULTIMATE IN SUNBLOCK

A partial solar eclipse was visible from much of North America before sundown on Thursday, Oct.23. A partial eclipse occurs when the moon blocks a portion of the Sun from view. The Hinode spacecraft captured images of yesterday’s eclipse as it passed over North America using its X-ray Telescope. During the eclipse, the new moon eased across the Sun from right to left with the Sun shining brilliantly in the background. And as a stroke of good luck, this solar cycle’s largest active region, which has been the source of several large flares over the past week, was centered on the Sun’s disk as the moon transitted! Hinode is in the eighth year of its mission to observe the Sun. Previously, Hinode has observed numerous eclipses due to its high-altitude, sun-synchronous orbit. As viewed from Hinode’s vantage point in space, this eclipse was annular instead of partial, which means that the entire moon moved in front of the Sun but did not cover it completely. In this situation, a ring of the Sun encircles the dark disk of the moon. Led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Hinode mission is a collaboration between the space agencies of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. NASA helped in the development, funding and assembly of the spacecraft's three science instruments. Hinode is part of the Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) Program within the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Hinode science operations. The Lockheed Martin Corp. in Palo Alto, Calif., is the lead U.S. investigator for the Solar Optical Telescope. Image Credit: NASA

SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION IN X-RAY LIGHT

Caption Credit: NASA. The destructive results of a powerful supernova explosion reveal themselves in a delicate tapestry of X-ray light, as seen in this image from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton. The image shows the remains of a supernova that would have been witnessed on Earth about 3,700 years ago. The remnant is called Puppis A, and is around 7,000 light years away and about 10 light years across. This image provides the most complete and detailed X-ray view of Puppis A ever obtained, made by combining a mosaic of different Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. Low-energy X-rays are shown in red, medium-energy X-rays are in green and high energy X-rays are colored blue. These observations act as a probe of the gas surrounding Puppis A, known as the interstellar medium. The complex appearance of the remnant shows that Puppis A is expanding into an interstellar medium that probably has a knotty structure. Supernova explosions forge the heavy elements that can provide the raw material from which future generations of stars and planets will form. Studying how supernova remnants expand into the galaxy and interact with other material provides critical clues into our own origins. A paper describing these results was published in the July 2013 issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics and is available online. The first author is Gloria Dubner from the Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio in Buenos Aires in Argentina. Image credit: NASA/CXC/IAFE/G.Dubner et al & ESA/XMM-Newton.

ORBITING CARBON OBSERVATORY-2 IS ABOARD DELTA II ROCKET

Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) Aboard Delta II Rocket. The launch gantry is rolled back to reveal the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite onboard, at the Space Launch Complex 2, Monday, June 30, 2014, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. OCO-2 will measure the global distribution of carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth’s climate. Launch of OCO-2 is now scheduled for Wednesday, July 2 at 5:56 a.m. EDT (2:56 a.m. Pacific) at the opening of a 30-second window. Image Credit-NASA-Bill Ingalls. Caption Credit-NASA.

TEST VERSION OF ORION SPACECRAFT FLOATS

Caption Credit: NASA. A test version of NASA's Orion spacecraft floats inside the well deck of the U.S.S. Anchorage on Aug. 2, 2014, during recovery tests off the coast of California. A combined NASA and U.S. Navy team practiced recovery techniques over the weekend, in preparation for Orion's first trip to (and return from) space in Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) in December. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. After traveling 3,600 miles into space on the uncrewed EFT-1, Orion will return to Earth at a speed of 20,000 miles per hour and endure temperatures near 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit before landing in the Pacific Ocean. > NASA Prepares for Second Orion Underway Recovery Test Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Gary Keen

PROTOTYPE ROBOT WITH SMARTPHONE TO TEST3-D MAPPING, NAVIGATION

Image and Story Credit: NASA/Ames. Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus spacecraft will carry 3,293 pounds (1,493.8 kg) of cargo on its upcoming commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, including crew supplies, nanosatellites, student research and this prototype free-flying space robot equipped with a smartphone, known as Smart SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites). NASA has been testing SPHERES on the space station since 2011. This summer, astronauts will upgrade these existing space robots to use Google’s "Project Tango" smartphone, which features a custom 3-D sensor and multiple cameras. NASA will then use the Smart SPHERES to test free-flying 3-D mapping and navigation inside the space station. NASA is developing the Smart SPHERES to perform work on the space station that requires mobile sensing, such as environmental surveys to monitor levels of radiation, lighting and air quality. They also will be used to monitor inventory and conduct experiments. The development and testing of Smart SPHERES is funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA'S NEW POWERFUL ROCKET

NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, will be the most powerful rocket in history. The flexible, evolvable design of this advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle will meet a variety of crew and cargo mission needs. In addition to carrying the Orion spacecraft, SLS will transfer important cargo, equipment and science experiments to deep space, providing the nation with a safe, affordable and sustainable means to expand our reach in the solar system. It will allow astronauts aboard Orion to explore multiple deep-space destinations including an asteroid and ultimately Mars. The first configuration of the SLS launch vehicle will have a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to test the performance of the integrated system. As the SLS is evolved, it will be the most powerful rocket ever built and provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons) to enable missions even farther into our solar system. Image Credit: NASA.

THE GRANDEST CANYON IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars: Explanation: The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The above mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s. Image and story credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA.

A LOOK AT THE DUNES OF MARS

Nili Patera is one of the most active dune fields on Mars. As such, it is continuously monitored with the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, a science instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with a new image acquired about every six weeks. By monitoring the sand dune changes, we can determine how winds vary seasonally and year-to-year. This observation is one of the more recent Nili images, acquired on March 1, 2014. Compared to an image acquired on Nov. 22, 2012, changes are obvious. The ripples on the dunes have moved, as well some of the dune boundaries, such as the one at upper left. New landslides on the central dune's lee face are apparent. Such changes, in just 16 months (and finer scale changes have been seen in just a couple of weeks), demonstrate the effectiveness of wind in modifying the Martian landscape. HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. > More information and image products Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech-Univ. of Arizona Caption: Nathan Bridges.

ROBONAUT 2 GETS HIS SPACE LEGS

NASA has built and is sending a set of high-tech legs up to the International Space Station for Robonaut 2 (R2), the station's robotic crewmember. The new legs are scheduled to launch on the SpaceX-3 commercial cargo flight to the International Space Station, scheduled launch Monday, April 14 at 4:58 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. These new legs, funded by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations and Space Technology mission directorates, will provide R2 the mobility it needs to help with regular and repetitive tasks inside and outside the space station. The goal is to free up the crew for more critical work, including scientific research. Once the legs are attached to the R2 torso, the robot will have a fully extended leg span of nine feet, giving it great flexibility for movement around the space station. Each leg has seven joints and a device on what would be the foot, called an "end effector," which allows the robot to take advantage of handrails and sockets inside and outside the station. A vision system for the end effectors also will be used to verify and eventually automate each limb's approach and grasp. Image Credit: NASA.

THE BLUE ANGELS 2014 AIR SHOW SEASON BEGINS MARCH 15

BIG FLARE BUT NO REAL SCARE

On Feb. 24, 2014, the sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 7:49 p.m. EST. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which keeps a constant watch on the sun, captured images of the event. These SDO images from 7:25 p.m. EST on Feb. 24 show the first moments of this X-class flare in different wavelengths of light -- seen as the bright spot that appears on the left limb of the sun. Hot solar material can be seen hovering above the active region in the sun's atmosphere, the corona. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation, appearing as giant flashes of light in the SDO images. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. Image Credit: NASA/SDO.

GALAXY SHOCK

FROM NASA: Roguish runaway stars can have a big impact on their surroundings as they plunge through the Milky Way galaxy. Their high-speed encounters shock the galaxy, creating arcs, as seen in this newly released image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. In this case, the speedster star is known as Kappa Cassiopeiae, or HD 2905 to astronomers. It is a massive, hot supergiant moving at around 2.5 million mph relative to its neighbors (1,100 kilometers per second). But what really makes the star stand out in this image is the surrounding, streaky red glow of material in its path. Such structures are called bow shocks, and they can often be seen in front of the fastest, most massive stars in the galaxy. Bow shocks form where the magnetic fields and wind of particles flowing off a star collide with the diffuse, and usually invisible, gas and dust that fill the space between stars. How these shocks light up tells astronomers about the conditions around the star and in space. Slow-moving stars like our sun have bow shocks that are nearly invisible at all wavelengths of light, but fast stars like Kappa Cassiopeiae create shocks that can be seen by Spitzer’s infrared detectors. Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech

THE FIRST FLAG ON THE MOON

Photo taken by Neil Arstrong of Buzz Aldrin with U.S. flag on the Moon. (mission time: 110:10:33) Buzz salutes the U.S. Flag. His fingertips are visible on the far side of his faceplate. Note the well-defined footprints in the foreground. Buzz is facing up-Sun. There is a reflection of the Sun in his visor. At the bottom of Buzz's faceplate, note the white 'rim' which is slightly separated from his neckring. This 'rim' is the bottom of his gold visor, which he has pulled down. We can see the LEC straps hanging down inside of the ladder strut. In the foreground, we can see the foot-grabbing loops in the TV cable. The double crater under Neil's Lm window is beyond Buzz and the LM shadow

JAPANESE H-IIA ROCKET LAUNCHES FROM TANEGASHIMA SPACE CENTER

A LOOK AT THE CRAB NEBULA

This image shows a composite view of the Crab nebula, an iconic supernova remnant in our Milky Way galaxy, as viewed by the Herschel Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Herschel is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with important NASA contributions, and Hubble is a NASA mission with important ESA contributions. A wispy and filamentary cloud of gas and dust, the Crab nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion that was observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054. The image combines Hubble's view of the nebula at visible wavelengths, obtained using three different filters sensitive to the emission from oxygen and sulphur ions and is shown here in blue. Herschel's far-infrared image reveals the emission from dust in the nebula and is shown here in red. While studying the dust content of the Crab nebula with Herschel, a team of astronomers have detected emission lines from argon hydride, a molecular ion containing the noble gas argon. This is the first detection of a noble-gas based compound in space. The Herschel image is based on data taken with the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) instrument at a wavelength of 70 microns; the Hubble image is based on archival data from the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). Image credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant Team; NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University).

FUTURE FLIGHT

Aeronautics: New Ideas for Greener Aircraft We are accelerating the nation’s transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and making commercial aviation safer, more fuel efficient, quieter, and more environmentally friendly through investments in revolutionary concepts for air vehicles and air traffic management. Three industry teams spent 2011 studying how to meet NASA's goals for making future aircraft burn 50 percent less fuel than aircraft that entered service in 1998, emit 75 percent fewer harmful emissions; and shrink the size of geographic areas affected by objectionable airport noise by 83 percent. Image Credit: NASA

AIR FORCE SPACE BASED INFRARED SYSTEM PAYLOAD IS LAUNCHED

What Is Wrong With The Sun?

Something unexpected is happening on the Sun. 2013 was supposed to be the year of "solar maximum", the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Yet 2013 has arrived and solar activity is relatively low. Sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent. The quiet has led some observers to wonder if forecasters missed the mark. Conventional wisdom holds that solar activity swings back and forth like a simple pendulum. At one end of the cycle, there is a quiet time with few sunspots and flares. At the other end, solar max brings high sunspot numbers and frequent solar storms. It’s a regular rhythm that repeats every 11 years. Image Credit: NASA/SDO

SPACEX DRAGON LAUNCHES

The Launch of SpaceX Dragon KSC-2012-2913 (22 May 2012) --- On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Space Launch Complex-40 is ablaze as the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 3:44 a.m. (EDT) May 22, 2012. The launch is the company's second demonstration test flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program. During the flight, the Dragon capsule will conduct a series of check-out procedures to test and prove its systems, including rendezvous and berthing with the International Space Station. If the capsule performs as planned, the cargo and experiments it is carrying will be transferred to the station. The cargo includes food, water and provisions for the station's Expedition crews, such as clothing, batteries and computer equipment. Under COTS, NASA has partnered with two aerospace companies to deliver cargo to the station. Photo credit: NASA

HOME WORLD EARTH

"A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed 'Suomi NPP' on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin. Suomi NPP is NASA's next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth. Suomi NPP is carrying five instruments on board. The biggest and most important instrument is The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS.

BRANDT'S RANDOM GOVERNMENT PRESS RELEASES

Friday, March 7, 2014

PRESS GAGGLE WITH DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST

FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE

Press Gaggle with Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest en route Florida

U.S.-ISRAEL DISCUSS SEIZED IRANIAN SHIPMENT OF WEAPONS TO TERRORIST IN GAZA

West Wing Week 3/7/14 or, "Look Who's In Our Room"

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

International Women's Day

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR MARCH 7, 2014

COURT BANS SLOVAKIA-BASED ONLINE DIRECTORY SCAMMERS FROM ONLINE DIRECTORY BUSINESS

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER'S REMARKS AT AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION

DEPUTY SECRETARY BURNS GIVES TESTIMONY ON SYRIA, UKRAINE, MIDDLE EAST

FORMER OWNER AIRLINE FUEL SUPPLY CO. PLEADS GUILTY IN KICKBACK-FRAUD SCHEME

DOD WORKING ON COORDINATED RESPONSE TO CRISIS IN UKRAINE

SEC COMMISSIONER PIWOWAR'S REMARKS ON INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

Oversight of Contractor Performance Information

SECRETARY KERRY'S PRESS AVAILABILITY IN ROME, ITALY

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Press Availability in Rome, Italy

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GLACIER NATIONAL PARK