NSF-FUNDED SUPERCOMPUTER DOES WHAT LAB EXPERIMENTS CAN'T

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SCIENCE 

A high-performance first year for Stampede

NSF-funded supercomputer enables discoveries throughout science and engineering

Sometimes, the laboratory just won't cut it.

After all, you can't recreate an exploding star, manipulate quarks or forecast the climate in the lab. In cases like these, scientists rely on supercomputing simulations to capture the physical reality of these phenomena--minus the extraordinary cost, dangerous temperatures or millennium-long wait times.

When faced with an unsolvable problem, researchers at universities and labs across the United States set up virtual models, determine the initial conditions for their simulations--the weather in advance of an impending storm, the configurations of a drug molecule binding to an HIV virus, the dynamics of a distant dying star--and press compute.

And then they wait as the Stampede supercomputer in Austin, Texas, crunches the complex mathematics that underlies the problems they are trying to solve.

By harnessing thousands of computer processors, Stampede returns results within minutes, hours or just a few days (compared to the months and years without the use of supercomputers), helping to answer science's--and society's--toughest questions.

Stampede is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the U.S. for open research, and currently ranks as the seventh most powerful in the world, according to the November 2013 TOP500 List. Able to perform nearly 10 trillion operations per second, Stampede is the most capable of the high-performance computing, visualization and data analysis resources within the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE).

Stampede went into operation at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) in January 2013. The system is a cornerstone of NSF's investment in an integrated advanced cyberinfrastructure, which allows America's scientists and engineers to access cutting-edge computational resources, data and expertise to further their research across scientific disciplines.

At any given moment, Stampede is running hundreds of separate applications simultaneously. Approximately 3,400 researchers computed on the system in its first year, working on 1,700 distinct projects. The researchers came from 350 different institutions and their work spanned a range of scientific disciplines from chemistry to economics to artificial intelligence.

These researchers apply to use Stampede through the XSEDE project. Their intended use of Stampede is assessed by a peer review committee that allocates time on the system. Once approved, researchers are provided access to Stampede free of charge and tap into an ecosystem of experts, software, storage, visualization and data analysis resources that make Stampede one of the most productive, comprehensive research environments in the world. Training and educational opportunities are also available to help scientists use Stampede effectively.

"It was a fantastic first year for Stampede and we're really proud of what the system has accomplished," said Dan Stanzione, acting director of TACC. "When we put Stampede together, we were looking for a general purpose architecture that would support everyone in the scientific community. With the achievements of its first year, we showed that was possible."

Helping today, preparing for tomorrow

When the National Science Foundation (NSF) released their solicitation for proposals for a new supercomputer to be deployed in 2013, they were looking for a system that could support the day-to-day needs of a growing community of computational scientists, but also one that would push the field forward by incorporating new, emerging technologies.

"The model that TACC used, incorporating an experimental component embedded in a state-of-the-art usable system, is a very innovative choice and just right for the NSF community of researchers who are focused on both today's and tomorrow's scientific discoveries," said Irene Qualters, division director for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at NSF. "The results that researchers have achieved in Stampede's first year are a testimony to the system design and its appropriateness for the community."

"We wanted to put an innovative twist on our system and look at the next generation of capabilities," said TACC's Dan Stanzione. "What we came up with is a hybrid system that includes traditional Intel Xeon E5 processors and also has an Intel Xeon Phi card on every node on the system, and a few of them with two.

The Intel Xeon Phi [aka the 'many integrated core (MIC) coprocessor'] squeezes 60 or more processors onto a single card. In that respect, it is similar to GPUs (graphics processing units), which have been used for several years to aid parallel processing in high-performance computing systems, as well as to speed up graphics and gaming capabilities in home computers. The advantage of the Xeon Phi is its ability to perform calculations quickly while consuming less energy.

"The Xeon Phi is Intel's approach to changing these power and performance curves by giving us simpler cores with a simpler architecture but a lot more of them in the same size package," Stanzione said

As advanced computing systems grow more powerful, they also consume more energy--a situation that can be addressed by simpler, multicore chips. The Xeon Phi and other comparable technologies are believed to be critical to the effort to advance the field and develop future large-scale supercomputers.

"The exciting part is that MIC and GPU foreshadow what will be on the CPU in the future," Stanzione said. "The work that scientists are putting in now to optimize codes for these processors will pay off. It's not whether you should adopt them; it's whether you want to get a jump on the future. "

Though Xeon Phi adoption on Stampede started slowly, it now represents 10-20 percent of the usage of the system. Among the projects that have taken advantage of the Xeon Phi co-processor are efforts to develop new flu vaccines, simulations of the nucleus of the atom relevant to particle physics and a growing amount of weather forecasting.

Built to handle to big data

The power of Stampede reaches beyond its ability to gain insight into our world through computational modeling and simulation. The system's diverse resources can be used to explore research in fields too complex to describe with equations, such as genomics, neuroscience and the humanities. Stampede's extreme scale and unique technologies enable researchers to process massive quantities of data and use modern techniques to analyze measured data to reach previously unachievable conclusions.

Stampede provides four capabilities that most data problems take advantage of. Leveraging 14 petabytes of high speed internal storage, users can process massive amounts of independent data on multiple processers at once, thus reducing the time needed for the data analysis or computation.

Researchers can use many data analysis packages optimized to run on Stampede by TACC staff to statistically or visually analyze their results. Staff also collaborates with researchers to improve their software and make it run more efficiently in a high-performance environment.

Data is rich and complex. When the individual data computations become so large that Stampede's primary computing resources cannot handle the load, the system provides users with 16 compute nodes with one terabyte of memory each. This enables researchers to perform complex data analyses using Stampede's diverse and highly flexible computing engine.

Once data has been parsed and analyzed, GPUs can be used remotely to explore data interactively without having to move large amounts of information to less-powerful research computers.

"The Stampede environment provides data researchers with a single system that can easily overcome most of the technological hurdles they face today, allowing them to focus purely on discovering results from their data-driven research," said Niall Gaffney, TACC director of Data Intensive Computing.

Since it was deployed, Stampede has been in high demand. Ninety percent of the compute time on the system goes to researchers with grants from NSF or other federal agencies; the other 10 percent goes to industry partners and discretionary programs.

"The system is utilized all the time--24/7/365," Stanzione said. "We're getting proposals requesting 500 percent of our time. The demand exceeds time allocated by 5-1. The community is hungry to compute."

Stampede will operate through 2017 and will be infused with second generation Intel Xeon Phi cards in 2015.

With a resource like Stampede in the community's hands, great discoveries await.

"Stampede's performance really helped push our simulations to the limit," said Caltech astrophysicist Christian Ott who used the system to study supernovae. "Our research would have been practically impossible without Stampede."

-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF
Investigators
Daniel Stanzione
William Barth
Tommy Minyard
Niall Gaffney
Fuqing Zhang
Roseanna Zia
Christian Ott
Edward Marcotte

ALLEGED DEBT-COLLECTOR BULLY TO PAY $100,000 AND SURRENDER ASSETS

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

FTC Continues Crack Down on Deceptive Debt Collection; Houston-based Defendants Agree to Stop Deceptive Fees and Practices

Owner to Pay $100,000, Surrender Assets, Including Luxury Motor Home

A Houston debt collection company, RTB Enterprises, Inc., which does business as Allied Data Corporation, and Raymond T. Blair, its president and sole shareholder, have agreed to a federal court order prohibiting them from the allegedly deceptive tactics they have been using to bully English and Spanish-speaking consumers into paying debts and unnecessary fees.

 According to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission, the defendants violated the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by using false and deceptive methods to collect more than $1.3 million in so-called “convenience fees” and “transaction fees” from consumers who authorized payments by telephone. The defendants allegedly trained their collectors to deceive consumers into believing that payments were not accepted by U.S. mail and that the fees were unavoidable. In some instances, the fees were added to consumers’ accounts without their knowledge or consent, the FTC charged.

The FTC also alleged that the defendants’ collectors deceived both English and Spanish- speaking consumers by falsely claiming to speak for attorneys, falsely threatening to sue consumers who did not pay, and using deceptive schemes to coerce consumers into paying or providing their personal information.

“It’s illegal for debt collectors to lie, make false threats, use a false identity, or trick people into paying a debt or an unauthorized fee,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC will continue to protect consumers from deceptive or abusive debt collection practices, regardless of whether the deception or abuse occurs in English, Spanish, or any other language.”          

The federal court order imposes a penalty of $4 million, which will be partially suspended based on inability to pay once Blair surrenders assets totaling $100,000. The proposed order also requires Blair to relinquish a luxury motor home. The order prohibits Blair and his company from repeating any of the unfair or deceptive practices alleged in the complaint, and it requires them to truthfully disclose information about any fees they charge, and the steps consumers can take to avoid paying.

For consumer information about dealing with debt collectors, see Debt Collection.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and approving the proposed federal court order was 5-0. The FTC filed the complaint and proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division on June 17, 2014.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The proposed order has the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

SETTLEMENT ALLOWS AUTISTIC BOY TO BRING HIS DOG TO SCHOOL

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

New Jersey School District to Adopt Service Animal Policies and Pay Fine to Resolve Justice Department Investigation

The Justice Department announced today that it reached a settlement with the Delran Township School District in New Jersey under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The agreement resolves allegations that the school district violated the ADA by refusing to allow a student with autism and encephalopathy to have his service dog in school or at school-related activities.  The service dog alerts to the student’s seizures, provides mobility and body support and mitigates the symptoms of his autism.

The department found that the student’s mother spent six months responding to burdensome requests for information and documentation, and still the school district refused to allow the student to be accompanied by his service dog.  Despite her efforts, the student was even prevented from bringing his service dog with him on the bus for his school’s end of the year field trip.  Instead, his mother followed the school bus with the service dog in her car.

Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public schools.  Under the ADA, public schools must generally modify policies, practices or procedures to permit the use of a service dog by a student with a disability at school and school-related activities.  Because service dogs must be under the control of a handler, students often act as the handler of their own service dog; when that is not possible, the family may provide an independent handler, as the family offered to do here.

The school district worked cooperatively with the department throughout the investigation.  Under the agreement, the school district will pay $10,000 to the family to compensate them for the harm they endured as a result of the school district’s actions.  In addition, the school district will adopt an ADA-compliant service animal policy and provide training to designated staff on the school district’s obligations under Title II of the ADA, including requirements related to service dogs.

“ The old view of service animals working only as guide dogs for individuals who are blind has given way to a new generation of service animals trained to perform tasks that further autonomy and independence for individuals with a myriad of disabilities , ” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “The Civil Rights Division will vigorously enforce the ADA to ensure that students who use service animals have a full and equal opportunity to participate in all school activities with their peers.”

Enforcing the ADA is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division.  Those interested in finding out more about this settlement or the obligations of public entities schools under the ADA may call the department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access the ADA website .  ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov .

The Civil Rights Division would like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey for their assistance in this matter.

BENGHAZI TERRORIST SUSPECT MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Ahmed Abu Khatallah Indicted for Terrorist Conspiracy Stemming from September 2012 Attack in Benghazi, Libya

Defendant Makes Initial Court Appearance Today

Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatallah, made his first appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on a federal terrorism offense arising from his alleged participation in the Sept. 11 through 12, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

Khatallah was indicted by a federal grand jury on the charge of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists, knowing and intending that these would be used in preparation for and in carrying out a killing in the course of an attack on a federal facility, and the offense resulted in death.

The investigation is ongoing and the Justice Department can bring additional charges as the case continues.

“Now that Ahmed Abu Khatallah has arrived in the United States, he will face the full weight of our justice system,” said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.  “We will prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant’s alleged role in the attack that killed four brave Americans in Benghazi.”

“Capturing Ahmed Abu Khatallah and bringing him to the U.S. to face justice for his role in killing American citizens in Benghazi is a major step forward in our ongoing investigation,” said FBI Director James B. Comey.  “Our work, however, is not over.  This case remains one of our top priorities and we will continue to pursue all others who participated in this brazen attack on our citizens and our country.”

“Ahmed Abu Khatallah's capture and his appearance in court today were critical steps toward bringing him to justice for his role in the terrorist attacks on our diplomatic facilities in Benghazi,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin.  “We will not rest in our pursuit of the others who attacked our facilities and killed the four courageous Americans who perished that day.”

“In a courtroom in our nation's capital, today we took the first step down the road to justice for the four American heroes killed in Benghazi,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. for the District of Columbia.  “This prosecution is a reflection of our determination to honor the sacrifice of U.S. citizens who perish on foreign soil in service to our country.  We will be steady, deliberate and relentless in seeking to hold accountable all who were responsible for this deadly act of terror.”

“The capture and return to the United States of Ahmed Abu Khatallah should be a warning to all those who want to harm the United States,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office George Venizelos.  “As alleged in the indictment, Khatallah participated in September 11-12, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four innocent Americans.  Now he is in the United States to stand trial for his actions.  The FBI will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who conduct such heinous acts no matter where they are located.”

Khatallah, a Libyan national approximately 43 years of age, was taken into custody earlier this month.  He initially was charged in a criminal complaint that was filed under seal on July 15, 2013, and that became public on June 17, 2014.  The Justice Department secured the defendant’s initial indictment on June 26, 2014, and the charging document was unsealed today.

An indictment is merely a formal allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI New York Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force with substantial assistance from various other government agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S WEEKLY ADDRESS FOR JUNE 28, 2014

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Weekly Address: Focusing on the Economic Priorities for the Middle Class Nationwide

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President discussed his recent trip to Minneapolis where he met a working mother named Rebekah, who wrote the President to share the challenges her family and many middle class Americans are facing where they work hard and sacrifice yet still can’t seem to get ahead. But instead of focusing on growing the middle class and expanding opportunity for all, Republicans in Congress continue to block commonsense economic proposals such as raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance and making college more affordable.  The President will keep fighting his economic priorities in the weeks and months ahead, because he knows the best way to expand opportunity for all hardworking Americans and continue to strengthen the economy is to grow it from the middle-out.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
June 28, 2014

Hi, everybody.  This week, I spent a couple days in Minneapolis, talking with people about their lives – their concerns, their successes, and their hopes for the future.

I went because of a letter I received from a working mother named Rebekah, who shared with me the hardships her young family has faced since the financial crisis.  She and her husband Ben were just newlyweds expecting their first child, Jack, when the housing crash dried up his contracting business.  He took what jobs he could, and Rebekah took out student loans and retrained for a new career.  They sacrificed – for their kids, and for each other.  And five years later, they’ve paid off debt, bought their first home, and had their second son, Henry.

In her letter to me, she wrote, “We are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”  And in many ways, that’s America’s story these past five years.  We are a strong, tight-knit family that’s made it through some very tough times. 

Today, over the past 51 months, our businesses have created 9.4 million new jobs.  By measure after measure, our economy is doing better than it was five years ago.

But as Rebekah also wrote in her letter, there are still too many middle-class families like hers who do everything right – who work hard and who sacrifice – but can’t seem to get ahead.  It feels like the odds are stacked against them.  And with just a small change in our priorities, we could fix that.

The problem is, Republicans in Congress keep blocking or voting down almost every serious idea to strengthen the middle class.  This year alone, they’ve said no to raising the minimum wage, no to fair pay, no to student loan reform, no to extending unemployment insurance.  And rather than invest in education that helps working families get ahead, they actually voted to give another massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans.

This obstruction keeps the system rigged for those at the top, and rigged against the middle class.  And as long as they insist on doing it, I’ll keep taking actions on my own – like the actions I’ve taken already to attract new jobs, lift workers’ wages, and help students pay off their loans.  I’ll do my job.  And if it makes Republicans in Congress mad that I’m trying to help people out, they can join me, and we’ll do it together.

The point is, we could do so much more as a country – as a strong, tight-knit family – if Republicans in Congress were less interested in stacking the deck for those at the top, and more interested in growing the economy for everybody.  

So rather than more tax breaks for millionaires, let’s give more tax breaks to help working families pay for child care or college.  Rather than protect tax loopholes that let big corporations set up tax shelters overseas, let’s put people to work rebuilding roads and bridges right here in America.  Rather than stack the decks in favor of those who’ve already succeeded, let’s realize that we are stronger as a nation when we offer a fair shot to every American.

I’m going to spend some time talking about these very choices in the week ahead.  That’s because we know from our history that our economy doesn’t grow from the top-down, it grows from the middle-out.  We do better when the middle class does better.  That’s the American way.  That’s what I believe in.  And that’s what I’ll keep fighting for. 

Have a great Fourth of July, everybody – and good luck to Team USA down in Brazil.

Thanks.

NEW LOOK AT EARTH'S CLIMATE RHYTHMS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Ancient ocean currents may have changed pace and intensity of ice ages
Slowing of currents may have flipped switch.

Climate scientists have long tried to explain why ice-age cycles became longer and more intense some 900,000 years ago, switching from 41,000-year cycles to 100,000-year cycles.

In a paper published this week in the journal Science, researchers report that the deep ocean currents that move heat around the globe stalled or may have stopped at that time, possibly due to expanding ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere.

"The research is a breakthrough in understanding a major change in the rhythm of Earth's climate, and shows that the ocean played a central role," says Candace Major, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.

The slowing currents increased carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in the oceans, leaving less CO2 in the atmosphere. That kept temperatures cold and kicked the climate system into a new phase of colder, but less frequent, ice ages, the scientists believe.

"The oceans started storing more carbon dioxide for a longer period of time," says Leopoldo Pena, the paper's lead author and a paleoceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO). "Our evidence shows that the oceans played a major role in slowing the pace of the ice ages and making them more severe."

The researchers reconstructed the past strength of Earth's system of ocean currents by sampling deep-sea sediments off the coast of South Africa, where powerful currents originating in the North Atlantic Ocean pass on their way to Antarctica.

How vigorously those currents moved can be inferred by how much North Atlantic water made it that far, as measured by isotope ratios of the element neodymium bearing the signature of North Atlantic seawater.

Like tape recorders, the shells of ancient plankton incorporate these seawater signals through time, allowing scientists to approximate when currents grew stronger and when weaker.

Over the last 1.2 million years, the conveyor-like currents strengthened during warm periods and lessened during ice ages, as previously thought.

But at about 950,000 years ago, ocean circulation slowed significantly and stayed weak for 100,000 years.

During that period the planet skipped an interglacial--the warm interval between ice ages. When the system recovered, it entered a new phase of longer, 100,000-year ice age cycles.

After this turning point, deep ocean currents remained weak during ice ages, and ice ages themselves became colder.

"Our discovery of such a major breakdown in the ocean circulation system was a big surprise," said paper co-author Steven Goldstein, a geochemist at LDEO. "It allowed the ice sheets to grow when they should have melted, triggering the first 100,000-year cycle."

Ice ages come and go at predictable intervals based on the changing amount of sunlight that falls on the planet, due to variations in Earth's orbit around the sun.

Orbital changes alone, however, are not enough to explain the sudden switch to longer ice age intervals.

According to one earlier hypothesis for the transition, advancing glaciers in North America stripped away soils in Canada, causing thicker, longer-lasting ice to build up on the remaining bedrock.

Building on that idea, the researchers believe that the advancing ice might have triggered the slowdown in deep ocean currents, leading the oceans to vent less carbon dioxide, which suppressed the interglacial that should have followed.

"The ice sheets must have reached a critical state that switched the ocean circulation system into a weaker mode," said Goldstein.

Neodymium, a key component of cellphones, headphones, computers and wind turbines, also offers a good way of measuring the vigor of ancient ocean currents.

Goldstein and colleagues had used neodymium ratios in deep-sea sediment samples to show that ocean circulation slowed during past ice ages.

They used the same method to show that changes in climate preceded changes in ocean circulation.

A trace element in Earth's crust, neodymium washes into the oceans through erosion from the continents, where natural radioactive decay leaves a signature unique to the land mass from which it originated.

When Goldstein and Lamont colleague Sidney Hemming pioneered this method in the late 1990s, they rarely worried about surrounding neodymium contaminating their samples.

The rise of consumer electronics has changed that.

"I used to say you could do sample processing for neodymium analysis in a parking lot," said Goldstein. "Not anymore."

-NSF-


Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF

ScienceCasts: The Coolest Spot in the Universe

POLICE DEPARTMENT COMPUTER NETWORK HACKER PLEADS GUILTY TO HACKING AND CREDIT CARD THEFT

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Computer Hacking and Credit Card Theft

A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty today to hacking into computer networks around the country – including networks belonging to law enforcement agencies, a local police department and a local college – to obtain highly sensitive law enforcement data and alter academic records.  He also pleaded guilty to obtaining stolen credit, debit and payment card numbers.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts, Special Agent in Charge Vincent Lisi of the FBI’s Boston Division and Colonel Timothy P. Alben of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement.

On June 2, 2014, Cameron Lacroix, 25, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was charged by a criminal information with two counts of computer intrusion and one count of access device fraud.  Lacroix entered his guilty plea today before U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf of the District of Massachusetts.   He pleaded guilty to both counts in the information and agreed to serve a four-year prison sentence.

According to the plea agreement, b etween May 2011 and May 2013, Lacroix obtained and possessed payment card data for more than 14,000 unique account holders.   For some of these account holders, Lacroix also obtained other personally identifiable information, including the account holders’ full names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, email addresses, bank account and routing numbers and lists of merchandise the account holders had ordered.

Lacroix also admitted to hacking into a computer server operated by a local Massachusetts police department in September 2012, and then accessing an e-mail account belonging to its chief of police.   Additionally, Lacroix admitted to repeatedly hacking into law enforcement computer servers containing sensitive information including police reports, arrest warrants, and sex offender information, between August 2012 and November 2012.   Lacroix also admitted to using stolen credentials to access and change information in the servers of Bristol Community College on multiple occasions between September 2012 and December 2013.

Judge Wolf set Lacroix’s sentencing for Oct. 27, 2014.

The case was investigated by the FBI Boston Division Cyber Task Force.   The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky from the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Bookbinder of the District of Massachusetts.   The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to thank Bristol Community College for its cooperation during this investigation.

PRESIDENT'S REMARKS ON THE ECONOMY IN MINNEAPOLIS, MN

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Remarks by the President on the Economy -- Minneapolis, MN

Lake Harriet Band Shell
Minneapolis, Minnesota

10:15 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Minneapolis!  (Applause.)  How is everybody doing today?  You look good.  (Applause.)  It is good to see all of you.  I miss Minneapolis.  I missed you guys.  Go ahead and have a seat, I’m going to be talking for a while.  (Laughter.) 

So we’ve got some wonderful folks here today.  I want to acknowledge a few of them.  First of all, your outstanding Governor, Mark Dayton.  (Applause.)  Your wonderful senators, Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.  (Applause.)  Congressman Keith Ellison.  (Applause.)  Your Mayor, Betsy Hodges.  (Applause.)  And all of you are here, and that’s special. 

I want to thank Rebekah for not just the introduction and for sharing her story, but for letting me hang out with her and her family for the last couple of days.  I really like her.  (Laughter.)  And her husband is like the husband of the year.  Generally, you don’t want your wife to meet Rebekah’s husband, because she’ll be like, well, why don’t you do that?  (Laughter.)  Why aren’t you like that? 

I’ve been wanting to visit a place where all the women are strong and the men are good-looking, and the children above average.  (Applause.)  And this clearly is an example of what Minnesota produces.  So yesterday, Rebekah and I had lunch at Matt’s Bar, had a “Jucy Lucy” -- (applause) -- which was quite tasty.  We had a town hall at Minnehaha Park, although I did not take a kayak over the falls, which seemed dangerous.  (Laughter.)  We got ice cream at Grand Ole Creamery -- very good, very tasty. 

And then this morning, Al Franken and I and Secretary Tom Perez, our Secretary of Labor who’s here -- Tom, stand up -- (applause) -- we stopped by a community organization that helps with a lot of job programs and job placement programs.  And this program in particular was focused on young moms.  It was really interesting talking to them, because there are teenage mothers, 16 to 18, and it was a great pleasure for me to be able to say to all of them that my mom was a teenage mom, and she was 18 when she had me -- and to be able to say to all of them that here in this country, it is possible for the child of a teenage mom, a single mom, to end up being President of the United States.  (Applause.)  And I think that it maybe gave them something to think about. 

So you guys have been great hosts, Minnesota. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Thank you!

THE PRESIDENT:  You’re welcome.  (Laughter.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  (Laughter and applause.) 

So I want to give you a sense of how this visit came up.  As some of you know, every day we get tens of thousands of correspondence at the White House.  And we have a big correspondence office, and every night the folks who manage the correspondence office select 10 letters for me to read. 

And the job of these letters is not to just puff me up -- so it’s not like they only send me letters saying, Mr. President, you’re doing great.  (Laughter.)  Sometimes the letters say thank you for something I may have done.  Sometimes the letters say, you are an idiot and the worst President ever.  (Laughter.)  And most of the stories, though, are stories of hardship, or hard-won success, or hopes that haven’t been met yet.  Some appreciate a position that I may have taken; some disagree with what I’m doing.  Some consider policies like the Affordable Care Act to be socialism; some tell stories about the difference that same policy may have made in folks’ lives.

So I’m getting a good sample of what’s happening around the country.  And last month, three young girls wrote to me that boys aren’t fair because they don’t pass the ball in gym class.  (Laughter.)  So there’s a wide spectrum -- and I’m going to prepare an executive order on that. 

But the letter that Rebekah sent stood out -- first of all, because she’s a good writer, and also because she’s a good person.  And the story that she told me reminded Michelle and I of some of our own experiences when we were Rebekah and her husband’s age.  And in many ways, her story for the past five years is our story, it’s the American story. 

In early 2009, Rebekah and Ben, her husband, they were newly married, expecting their first son, Jack.  She was waiting tables, he was in construction.  Like millions of middle-class families who got hammered by the Great Recession -- the worst recession since the Great Depression -- life was about to get pretty hard.  “If only we had known,” she wrote, “what was about to happen to the housing and construction market.” 

Ben’s business dried up.  But as a new husband and dad, he did what he had to, so he took whatever jobs he could, even if it forced him to be away from his family for days at a time.  Rebekah realized she needed to think about how her career would unfold, so she took out student loans and enrolled in St. Paul College, and retrained for a new career as an accountant. 

And it’s been a long, hard road for them.  They had to pay off debt.  They had to sacrifice for their kids and for one another.  But then last year, they were able to buy their first home, and they’ve got a second son.  And they love where they work, and Ben’s new job lets him be home for dinner each night.  (Applause.)  And so what Rebekah wrote was, “It’s amazing what you can bounce back from when you have to.  We’re a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

And that describes the American people.  We, too, are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.  And today, over the past 51 months, our businesses have created 9.4 million new jobs.  Our housing market is rebounding.  Our auto industry is booming.  Our manufacturing sector is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  We’ve made our tax code fairer.  We’ve cut our deficits by more than half.  More than 8 million Americans have signed up for private insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act.  (Applause.)  So here in Minnesota, you can now say that the women are strong, the men are good-looking, the children are above average, and 95 percent of you are insured.  (Applause.) 

And it’s thanks to the hard work of citizens like Rebekah and Ben and so many of you that we’ve come farther, we’ve recovered faster than just about any other advanced economy on Earth.  More and more companies are deciding that the world’s number-one place to create jobs and invest is once again the United States of America.  (Applause.)  That’s the good news.  And you don’t hear it very often.

By every economic measure, we are better off now than we were when I took office.  (Applause.)  You wouldn’t know it, but we are.  We’ve made some enormous strides.  But that’s not the end of the story.  We have more work to do. 

It wasn’t the end of Rebekah’s story, because she went on to write in her letter, “We did everything right.  The truth is, in America, where two people have done everything they can to succeed and fight back from the brink of financial ruin -– through job loss and retraining, and kids, and credit card debts that are set up to keep you impoverished forever, and the discipline to stop spending any money on yourselves or take a vacation in five years -- it’s virtually impossible to live a simple middle-class life.”  That’s what Rebekah wrote.  Because their income is eaten up by childcare for Jack and Henry that costs more each month than their mortgage.  And as I was telling Rebekah -- Michelle and I, when we were their age, we had good jobs and we still had to deal with childcare issues and couldn’t figure out how to some months make ends meet. 

They forego vacations so they can afford to pay off student loans and save for retirement.  “Our big splurge,” Rebekah wrote, “is cable TV, so we can follow our beloved Minnesota Wild, and watch Team USA in the Olympics!”  (Applause.)  They go out once a week for pizza or a burger.  But they’re not splurging.  And at the end of the month, things are tight.  And this is like this wonderful young couple, with these wonderful kids, who are really working hard.

And the point is, all across this country, there are people just like that, all in this audience.  You’re working hard, you’re doing everything right.  You believe in the American Dream.  You’re not trying to get fabulously wealthy.  You just want a chance to build a decent life for yourselves and your families, but sometimes it feels like the odds are rigged against you.   

And I think sometimes what it takes for somebody like Rebekah to sit down and write one of these letters.  And I believe that even when it’s heartbreaking and it’s hard, every single one of those letters is by definition an act of hope. 
Because it’s a hope that the system can listen, that somebody is going to hear you; that even when Washington sometimes seems tone deaf to what’s going on in people’s lives and around kitchen tables, that there’s going to be somebody who’s going to stand up for you and your family. 

And that’s why I’m here -- because I want to let Rebekah know, and I wanted to let all of you know that -- because you don’t see it on TV sometimes.  It’s not what the press and the pundits talk about.  I’m here to tell you I’m listening, because you’re the reason I ran for President.  (Applause.)  Because those stories are stories I’ve lived.  The same way that when I saw those young teenage moms, I thought of my mother.  And when I see Rebekah and Ben, I think of our struggles when Malia and Sasha were young.  And they’re not distant from me and everything we do.

I ran for President because I believe this country is at its best when we’re all in it together and when everybody has a fair shot, and everybody is doing their fair share.  (Applause.)  And the reason I believe that is because that’s how I came here.  That’s how I got here.  That’s how Michelle and I were able to succeed.  (Applause.)  And I haven’t forgotten. 

And so even though you may not read about it or see it on TV all the time, our agenda, what we’re fighting for every day, is designed not to solve every problem, but to help just a little bit.  To create more good jobs that pay good wages -- jobs in manufacturing and construction; energy and innovation.  That’s why we’re fighting to train more workers to fill those jobs.  That’s why we’re fighting to guarantee every child a world-class education, including early childhood education and better childcare.  (Applause.)  That’s why we’re fighting to make sure hard work pays off with a wage you can live on and savings you can retire on, and making sure that women get paid the same as men for the same job, and folks have flexibility to look after a sick child or a sick parent.  (Applause.) 

That’s what we’re fighting for.  We’re fighting so everybody has a chance.  We’re fighting to vindicate the idea that no matter who you are, or what you look like, or how you grew up, or who you love, or who your parents were, or what your last name is, it doesn’t matter -- America is a place where if you’re doing the right thing, like Ben and Rebekah are, and you’re being responsible and you’re taking care of your family, that you can make it.

And the fact is, we can do that.  If we do some basic things, if we make some basic changes, we can create more jobs and lift more incomes and strengthen the middle class.  And that’s what we should be doing.  And I know it drives you nuts that Washington isn’t doing it.  And it drives me nuts.  (Applause.)  And the reason it’s not getting done is, today, even basic commonsense ideas can’t get through this Congress. 

And sometimes I’m supposed to be politic about how I say things -- (laughter) -- but I’m finding lately that I just want to say what’s on my mind.  (Applause.)  So let me just be clear -- I want you think about this -- so far this year, Republicans in Congress have blocked or voted down every single serious idea to strengthen the middle class.  You may think I’m exaggerating, but let me go through the list.  They’ve said no to raising the minimum wage.  They’ve said no to fair pay.  Some of them have denied that there’s even a problem, despite the fact that women are getting paid 77 cents for every dollar a man is getting paid. 

They’ve said no to extending unemployment insurance for more than three million Americans who are out there looking every single day for a new job, despite the fact that we know it would be good not just for those families who are working hard to try to get back on their feet, but for the economy as a whole.  Rather than invest in working families getting ahead, they actually voted to give another massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Don’t boo, by the way.  I want you to vote.  (Laughter and applause.)  I mean, over and over again, they show that they’ll do anything to keep in place systems that really help folks at the top but don’t help you.  And they don’t seem to mind.  And their obstruction is keeping a system that is rigged against families like Ben’s and Rebekah’s.

Now, I’m not saying these are all bad people; they’re not.  When I’m sitting there just talking to them about family, we get along just fine.  Many of them will acknowledge when I talk to them -- yes, I know, I wish we could do something more, but I can’t -- but they can’t be too friendly towards me because they’d be run out of town by the tea party.  (Laughter.)
 
 But sometimes I get a sense they just don’t know what most folks are going through.  They keep on offering a theory of the economy that time and again failed for the middle class.  They think we should give more tax breaks to those at the top.  They think we should invest less in things like education.  They think we should let big banks, and credit card companies, and polluters, and insurers do only whatever is best for their bottom line without any responsibility to anybody else.  They want to drastically reduce or get rid of the safety net for people trying to work their way into the middle class. 
And if we did all these things, they think the economy will thrive and jobs will prosper, and everything will trickle down.
 
And just because they believe it, it doesn’t mean the rest of us should be believing it -- because we’ve tried what they’re peddling, and it doesn’t work.  We know from our history that our economy does not grow from the top down, it grows from the middle out.  We do better when the middle class does better.  We do better when workers are getting a decent salary.  We do better when they’ve got decent benefits.  (Applause.)  We do better when a young family knows that they can get ahead.  And we do better when people who are working hard know that they can count on decent childcare at an affordable cost, and that if they get sick they’re not going to lose their homes. 

We do better when if somebody is stuck in a job that is not paying well enough, they know they can go get retrained without taking on huge mountains of debt.  That’s when things hum.  And with just a few changes in priorities, we could get a lot of that done right now if Congress would actually just think about you and not about getting reelected, not about the next election, not about some media sound bite, but just focus on you.  (Applause.)

So that’s why I’ve said, look, I want to work with Democrats and Republicans.  My favorite President, by the way, was the first Republican President -- a guy named Abraham Lincoln.  So this is not a statement about partisanship.  This is a statement about America and what we’re fighting for.  And I’m not going to let gridlock and inaction and willful indifference and greed threaten the hard work of families like yours.   And so we can’t afford to wait for Congress right now.  And that’s why I’m going ahead and moving ahead without them wherever I can.  (Applause.) 

That’s why I acted to raise more workers’ wages by requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour.  (Applause.)  That’s why I acted to help nearly five million Americans make student loan payments cap those payments at 10 percent of their income.  That’s why I made sure more women have the protections they need to fight for fair pay in the workplace.  (Applause.)  That’s why we went ahead and launched new hubs to attract more high-tech manufacturing jobs to America.

And, now, some of you may have read -- so we take these actions and then now Republicans are mad at me for taking these actions.  They’re not doing anything, and then they’re mad that I’m doing something.  I’m not sure which of the things I’ve done they find most offensive, but they’ve decided they’re going to sue me for doing my job.  I mean, I might have said in the heat of the moment during one of these debates, “I want to raise the minimum wage, so sue me when I do.”  (Laughter.)  But I didn’t think they were going to take it literally.

But giving more working Americans a fair shot is not about simply what I can do -- it’s about what we can do together.  So when Congress doesn’t act, not only have I acted, I’ve also tried to rally others to help.  I told CEOs, and governors, and mayors, and state legislatures, for example, they don’t have to wait for Congress to raise the minimum wage.  Go ahead and raise your workers’ wages right now.  And since I first asked Congress to raise the minimum wage, 13 states and D.C. have raised theirs, including Minnesota, where more than 450,000 of your neighbors are poised to get a raise.  (Applause.) 

When Gap raised wages for its employees, job applications went up through the roof.  It was good for business.  I even got a letter from a proud mom right here in Minneapolis who just wanted me to know that her son starts his employees at $15 an hour, at Aaron’s Green Cleaning here in town.  (Applause.)  There they are!  (Applause.)  So the letter said, “We are very proud of his people-centered business philosophy!  Three cheers for a decent living wage!” 

So we don’t have to wait for Congress to do some good stuff.  On Monday, we held the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families, and we heard from a lot of other families like Ben and Rebekah.  They count on policies like paid leave and workplace flexibility to juggle everything.  We had business owners who came and told me they became more profitable when they made family life easier for their employees. 

So more companies are deciding that higher wages and workplace flexibility is good for business -- it reduces turnover, more productive workers, more loyal workers.  More cities and states are deciding this is good policy for families.  So the only holdout standing in the way of change for tens of millions of Americans are some Republicans in Congress. 

Because I just want to be real blunt:  If you watch the news, you just see, okay, Washington is a mess, and the basic attitude is everybody is just crazy up there.  But if you actually read the fine print, it turns out that the things you care about right now Democrats are promoting.  (Applause.)  And we’re just not getting enough help. 

And my message to Republicans is:  Join us.  Get on board.  If you’re mad at me for helping people on my own, then why don’t you join me and we’ll do it together?  (Applause.)  We’ll do it together.  I’m happy to share the credit.  You’re mad at me for doing some things to raise the minimum wage, let’s pass a law -- Republicans and Democrats giving America a raise. 

If you’re mad at me for taking executive action to make it easier for women to find out if they’re not getting treated fairly in the workplace, let’s do it together.  You can share the credit.  (Applause.)  You’re worried about me trying to fix a broken immigration system, let’s hold hands and go ahead and make sure that this country continues to be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.  I want to work with you, but you’ve got to give me something.  You’ve got to try to deliver something -- anything.  (Applause.) 

They don’t do anything -- (laughter) -- except block me.  And call me names.  It can’t be that much fun.  (Laughter.)  It’d be so much more fun if they said, you know what, let’s do something together.  If they were more interested in growing the economy for you, and the issues that you’re talking about, instead of trying to mess with me -- (laughter) -- then we’d be doing a lot better.  That’s what makes this country great, is when we’re all working together.  That’s the American way. 

Now more than ever, with the 4th of July next week, Team USA moving on down in Brazil -- (applause) -- we should try to rally around some economic patriotism that says we rise or fall as one nation and one people.  Let’s rally around the idea that instead of giving tax breaks for millionaires, let’s give more tax breaks for working families to help pay for childcare or college.  (Applause.) 

Instead of protecting companies that are shifting profits overseas to avoid paying their fair share, let’s put people to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our airports.  (Applause.)  Let’s invest in manufacturing startups so that we’re creating good jobs making products here in America, here in Minnesota.  (Applause.)  Rather than stack the deck in favor of those who have already got an awful lot, let’s help folks who have huge talent and potential and ingenuity but just need a little bit of a hand up so that we can tap the potential of every American. 

I mean, this isn’t rocket science.  There are some things that are complicated -- this isn’t one of them.  Let’s make sure every 4-year-old in America has access to high school -- high-quality preschool -- (applause) -- so that moms like Rebekah and dads like Ben know their kids are getting the best quality care and getting a head start on life.  Let’s redesign our high schools to make sure that our kids are better prepared for the 21st century economy.  Let’s follow the lead of Senator Franken and Secretary Perez and give more apprenticeships that connect young people to rewarding careers.  (Applause.)

Let’s tell every American if they’ve lost their job because it was shipped overseas, we’re going to train you for an even better one.  (Applause.)  Let’s rally around the patriotism that says our country is stronger when every American can count on affordable health insurance and Medicare and Social Security, and women earn pay equal to their efforts, and family can make ends meet if their kid get sick, and when nobody who works full-time is living in poverty.  We can do all these things. 

And so let me just -- let me wrap up by saying this.  I know sometimes things get kind of discouraging.  And I know that our politics looks profoundly broken, and Washington looks like it’s never going to deliver for you.  It seems like they’re focused on everything but your concerns.  And I know that when I was elected in 2008 and then reelected in 2012, so many of you were hoping that we could get Washington to work differently, and sometimes when I get stymied you’d think, oh, maybe not; maybe it’s just too tough, maybe things won’t change.  And I get that frustration.  And the critics and the cynics in Washington, they’ve written me off more times than I can count. 

But I’m here to tell you, don’t get cynical.  Despite all of the frustrations, America is making progress.  Despite the unyielding opposition, there are families who have health insurance now who didn’t have it before.  And there are students in college who couldn’t afford it before.  And there are workers on the job who didn’t have jobs before.  And there are troops home with their families after serving tour after tour.  (Applause.)  Don’t think that we’re not making progress. 

So, yes, it’s easy to be cynical; in fact, these days it’s kind of trendy.  Cynicism passes off for wisdom.  But cynicism doesn’t liberate a continent.  Cynicism doesn’t build a transcontinental railroad.  Cynicism doesn’t send a man to the moon.  Cynicism doesn’t invent the Internet.  Cynicism doesn’t give women the right to vote.  Cynicism doesn’t make sure that people are treated equally regardless of race. 

Cynicism is a choice, and hope is a better choice.  And every day I’m lucky to receive thousands of acts of hope -- every time somebody sits down and picks up a pen, and writes to me and shares their story, just like Rebekah did.  And Rebekah said in her letter -- she ended it, she said, “I’m pretty sure this is a silly thing to do to write a letter to the President, but on some level I know that staying silent about what you see and what needs changing, it never makes any difference.  So I’m writing to you to let you know what it’s like for us out here in the middle of the country, and I hope you will listen.” 

And I’m here because Rebekah wrote to me and I want her to know I’m listening.  I’m here as President, because I want you all to know that I’m listening.  (Applause.)  I ran for office to make sure that anybody who is working hard to meet their dreams has somebody in Washington that is listening.  And I’m always going to keep listening.  And I’m always going to keep fighting.  (Applause.) 

And your cares and your concerns are my own, and your hopes for your kids and your grandkids are my own.  And I’m always going to be working to restore the American Dream for everybody who’s willing to work for it.  (Applause.)  And I am not going to get cynical; I’m staying hopeful, and I hope you do too. 

Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) 

END
10:50 A.M. CDT

DRONES OVER IRAQ

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Armed, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Patrolling Skies Over Iraq

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2014 – Some of the manned and unmanned aircraft that the United States is flying over Iraq are armed to protect newly arrived American military advisers on the ground, Pentagon press secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today.

The aircraft are being flown with the Iraqi government’s permission, the admiral said during a regular Pentagon briefing.

“The reason that some of those aircraft are armed is primarily for force protection reasons now that we have introduced into the country some military advisers whose objective will be to operate outside the confines of the embassy."
There are 90 U.S. service members on six teams assessing conditions in and around Baghdad. Another 90 Americans are setting up the joint operations center in Baghdad.

All told, there are around 500 American service members in the country sent by President Barack Obama to help the Iraqi military as it faces advances by Sunni militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who have overrun much of the country’s northern and western provinces.

The aircraft are flying between 30 and 40 missions a day in and around Baghdad, Kirby said. The information gathered will feed into the team assessments and the information is being shared with Iraqi forces.

The president has made no decisions about the use of kinetic force, Kirby said, “but it would be irresponsible for us not to be planning, preparing and thinking and to be ready in case he should make that decision.”

Obama has however, decided to ask Congress for $500 million for fiscal year 2015 to help train and equip moderate elements of the opposition battling the Assad regime in neighboring Syria, where the civil war is being blamed for sending Sunni extremists across the border and destabilizing Iraq.
“That opposition, mind you, still has to be vetted,” Kirby said.

Defense officials say it’s imperative that such aid does not end up arming extremists. “But that doesn't mean that you stop the effort to try to enable and build the capacity of partners in a very tough part of the world,” Kirby said. “You don’t just turn it off because there’s a risk that … some of it may fall into the wrong hands.”

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR JUNE 27, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

CONTRACTS

NAVY

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $275,434,620 modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-13-C-5407) for fiscal 2014 Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) all-up rounds, and SM-6 and Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) spares and containers. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, (33.7 percent); Camden, Arkansas (28 percent); Wolverhampton, United Kingdom (11.6 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (8.6 percent); Middletown, Ohio (2.7 percent); San Jose, California (2.6 percent); Huntsville, Alabama (2.3 percent); Dallas, Texas (2.1 percent); Anniston, Alabama (1.4 percent); Clarkston, Georgia (1 percent); San Diego, California (1 percent); Warrington, Pennsylvania (1 percent); Wichita, Kansas (1 percent); Middletown, Connecticut (1 percent); Thousand Oaks, California (1 percent); and Anaheim, California (1 percent); work is expected to be completed by March 2017. Fiscal 2014 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $260,548,374 (94.8 percent), fiscal 2012 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,852,887 (2.9 percent), and fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,437,000 (2.3 percent) will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $14,289,887 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co. Integrated Defense Systems, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $33,176,807 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N00024-12-C-4223 for research and development activities associated with integrated power systems power load modules to be used for electromagnetic railgun pulse power containers design, and for the fabrication and testing of prototypes. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by December 2016. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation contract funding in the amount of $8,503,020 will be obligated at award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
Serco Inc., Reston, Virginia, is being awarded a $31,244,653 cost-plus-fixed-fee/firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) waterfront installation support. This contract will provide support in performing the functions of an Alteration Installation Team with the installation of Ship Alterations, Ship Change Documents, and Ordnance Alterations as related to the CIWS on U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and U.S. Coast Guard vessels. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (41 percent); San Diego, California (30 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (5 percent); Everett, Washington (6 percent); Mayport, Florida (6 percent); and various overseas ports (12 percent); work is expected to be completed in June 2017. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $114,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00174-14-D-0028).

Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, is being awarded a $19,679,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00164-12-G-JQ66) for Multi-Spectral Targeting Systems (MTS-C) and provision item order spares for Navy special projects aircraft. The MTS-C is an airborne, electro-optic, forward-looking, infra-red, turreted sensor system which provides long-range surveillance. This requirement supports Naval Air Systems Command PMA 290 Special Projects Aircraft. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be completed by May 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $19,679,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity.

Exelis Inc., Clifton, New Jersey, is being awarded a $15,262,451 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the design, engineering analysis, program, manufacture and test of the universal exciter upgrade (shop replaceable assembly redesign) to support the AN/ALQ 99 tactical jamming system used on the EA-6B Prowler and EA-18G aircraft. This procurement is to design and manufacture three components of the universal exciter: the modulation direct digital synthesizer, the direct digital synthesizer and the oscillator switch to eliminate the use of obsolete parts. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (10 percent), and the government of Australia (90 percent), under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Amityville, New York (97 percent), and Clifton, New Jersey (3 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2017. FMS and fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $15,262,451 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N00164-13-G-WM01).

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded a $13,561,788 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide training material, development and maintenance, instructor services, program management, administration and training systems in support of the Center for Surface Combat Systems. This contract modification involves foreign military sales to Australia. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Virginia (50 percent), and Moorestown, New Jersey (50 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2016. FMS funding in the amount of $3,412,547 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with FAR 6.302-4 and DFARS 206.302-4. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00178-13-C-1022).
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services, Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is being awarded a $10,737,652 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the design, development, integration, test and evaluation, installation, fielding, certification, maintenance and logistics support of the cooperative identification, non-cooperative target recognition, air traffic control equipment, systems and subsystems. These efforts are in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Identification Systems Division. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in April 2015. Fiscal 2014 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $7,281,808 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-14-C-0040).

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems Sector, San Diego, California, is being awarded an $8,465,734 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-12-C-0126) for the extension of engineering and software sustainment services in support of the Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Fire Scout MQ-8B. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed in November 2014. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,465,734 are being obligated on this award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Maersk Line, Ltd., Norfolk, Virginia, is being awarded a $7,103,568 modification under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00033-13-C-2505) to exercise a 92-day option for the operation and maintenance of five U.S. Navy ocean surveillance ships and one U.S. Navy missile range instrumentation ship. Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed by September 2014. Working capital funds in the amount of $7,103,568 are obligated for fiscal 2014 and will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

CUBIC APPLICATIONS, INC., San Diego, California, was awarded a $78,197,073 modification (P00158) to a cost-plus-award-fee contract (W911S0-07-C-0007) supporting the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, providing theatre specific combat training, mission rehearsal training, foreign security training team training and other combat forces training to prepare units for combat operations or deployment to combat theatre of operations, as determined by the U.S. Army and Department of Defense. Operations and maintenance (Army) fiscal 2014 funds in the amount of $44,043,547 and fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $5,928,009 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed Fort Polk, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2015. Army Contracting Command, Fort Polk, Louisiana, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Company, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $51,787,884 modification (P00056) to a firm-fixed-price contract (W15QKN-08-C-0530) to acquire a total of 757 projectiles under the Option 5 Excalibur 155mm increment lb production option for the U.S. Army. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $50,898,528 and fiscal 2013 other procurement funds of $889,356 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed at Anniston, Alabama( 2.87 percent); Tucson, Arizona (15.15 percent); Phoenix, Arizona, (.05 percent); East Camden, Arkansas (7.34 percent); Chino, California (.01 percent); Corona, California (.01 percent); Healdsburg, California (19.19 percent); Inglewood, California (.01 percent); Santa Ana, California (1.1 percent); Valencia, California (.04 percent); Woodridge, Illinois (.54 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (8.27 percent); Cincinnati, Ohio (6.37 percent); Lowell, Massachusetts (3.37 percent); Minneapolis, Minnesota (.02 percent); Joplin, Missouri (2.60 percent); Farmington, New Mexico (1.42 percent); McAlester, Oklahoma (1.14 percent); McKinney, Texas (.47 percent); Kariskoga, Sweden (15.84 percent); United Kingdom (7.82 percent); Glenrothes, Scotland (6.01 percent), with an estimated completion date of Feb. 29, 2016. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $19,914,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the North Carolina Highway 12 Protection Project, Dare County, North Carolina. Work will be performed in Ocracoke, North Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2014. Bids were solicited via the Internet with three received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $19,914,000 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Wilmington District, Wilmington, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912PM-14-C-0009).

Dynamic Technology Systems, Inc.*, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $14,337,620 modification (P00012) to firm-fixed-price contract (W91WAW-12-C-0018) to extend information technology related operations and maintenance tasks under the current contract for a period of 12 months. Services include software and hardware support, application programming support, and custom application configuration support for the entire Enterprise Content Management System. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of June 28, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $14,337,620 are being obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command – Tank and Automotive (Warren), Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Land and Armaments, York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $10,783,000 modification (P00007) to a firm-fixed-price contract (W56HZV-13-C-0103) for 61 fire support sensor systems and seven authorized stock-age list spares sets. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amounts of $10,783,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed at York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of May 22, 2015. Army Contracting Command – Tank and Automotive – Warren, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

Johnson Construction Co.*, Dover, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $9,599,509 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a modern wastewater treatment plant to replace the existing wastewater treatment plant, and construct an influent screening building, two sequencing batch reactors for wastewater treatment, an aeration sludge holding tank, ultraviolet disinfection system, chemical storage, and a water pumping system. Work will be performed in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 8, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with four received. Military construction funds in the amount of $3,784,295 from fiscal 2010; $946,073 from fiscal 2011; and $4,869,140 from fiscal 2013, are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Baltimore District, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-14-C-0029).

Cayo, LLC*, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $9,359,797 firm-fixed-price contract for the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District, STPBS-07 Saint Bernard Parish Pump Stations, number 2 and 3 seepage repairs, Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Work will be performed in Chalmette, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 10 received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $9,359,797 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – New Orleans District, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-14-C-0042).

RAYTHEON IDS, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was awarded an $8,335,410 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems sustainment and maintenance, for the base year with option up to four years. This is a new follow-on service contract for the missile system, an interim air defense capability deployed in the Homeland Defense Area 1. Work will be performed at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of June 27, 2014. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $8,335,410 are being obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal – Missile, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-14-C-0114).

Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, Kongsberg, Norway, was awarded a $7,898,000 modification (P00103) to contract (W15QKN-12-C-0103) to exercise contract line number 0100 on the base contract for depot support for the Common Remotely Operated Weapon System. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $7,898,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 16, 2017. Army Contracting Command – Picatinny Arsenal, Pennsylvania is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

BAE Systems, Phoenix, Arizona, has been awarded a maximum $89,460,000 modification (P00103) exercising the second option period on a one-year base contract (SPM1C1-12-D-1025), with two one-year option periods. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for enhanced small arms protective inserts. Location of performance is Arizona with a July 1, 2015, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013 through fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

TW Metals, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $15,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, prime vendor bridge contract for various types of metals, metal products, and related services in the North East region of the United States. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. Locations of performance are Illinois and New Jersey. Period of performance is June 30, 2014 through Oct. 29, 2014. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2009 through fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPM8EG-09-D-0009/P00068).

Federal Resources Supply Company,* Stevensville, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $9,900,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for respirator air filters, mask harness assemblies, respirator cartridges, breathing face-pieces and other replacement parts. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Maryland with a June 26, 2015, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPM8EH-14-D-0008).

Sysco Hampton Roads, Suffolk, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $9,750,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, prime vendor bridge contract for food and beverage support. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. Location of performance is Virginia. The period of performance is June 30, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2014. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-14-D-3023).

Wolverine Services, LLC,* Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a maximum $8,237,534 modification (P00035) exercising the second option period on a one-year base contract (SP3300-12-C-5001) with four one-year option periods. This is a fixed-price-incentive-firm with cost-reimbursement and labor-hour line items contract for warehouse and distribution support services. Location of performance is Colorado and California with a June 30, 2015, performance completion date. Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, Barstow, California. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: Wright & Wright Machinery Company Incorporated,* Monticello, Kentucky (SPE8EC-14-D-0024), has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract issued against solicitation #SPM8EC-11-R-0001 announced Aug. 1, 2011.

AIR FORCE

Raytheon Co. Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded an $80,768,012 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Lot 7 Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer (MALD-J) missile (200 each) to include: data, mission planning, process verification program, and operational flight software. Work will be performed at Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2016. This award is a result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2012, 2013 and 2014 procurement and operations and maintenance funds are being obligated in the amount of $79,112,476 at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBJM, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8682-14-C-0004).

LinQuest Corp., Los Angeles, California, has been awarded a $29,164,259 cost-plus-incentive- fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00014) on FA8808-13-C-0009 for additional System Engineering & Integration Support Services (SE&I) to increase the face value of the contract to $154,820,575. The contractor will provide and maintain enterprise SE&I services for the current MILSATCOM Systems Directorate, execute and evolve standardized enterprise processes, control and manage the technical baseline and interface(s), perform system integration across the enterprise and within identified programs, develop and implement key systems engineering processes, developing tools and techniques (as necessary) to predict issues and enable timely action, and develop and maintain performance metrics. Work will be performed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2019. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. No funds will be obligated at the time this modification is executed. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity.
Alion Science and Technology Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $19,623,009 delivery order (0070) on the Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Testing Information Analysis Center (AMMTIAC) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee sole-source contract (FA4600-06-D-0003) for Advanced Materials, Redesign and Testing for Support Equipment and Vehicles. AMMTIAC's objective is to analyze and assess fundamental material, manufacturing, and testing requirements to support extension of the operational life of the support equipment and vehicle fleet. The work will be performed at Rome, New York, and various Air Force locations, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016. Fiscal 2014 Air Force operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $104,934 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency/KD, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is the contracting activity.

Alion Science and Technology Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded an $18,009,823 delivery order (0071) on the Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Testing Information Analysis Center (AMMTIAC) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee sole-source contract (FA4600-06-D-0003) for Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel recovery aircraft materials, manufacturing and testing. AMMTIAC's objective is to extend the operational life of Air Force SOF and personnel recovery aircraft. The work will be performed at McLean, Virginia, and various Air Force locations, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $405,138 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency/KD, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is the contracting activity.

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

Aecom-Parsons JV, Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded a $7,848,425 task order (0023) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (HQ0034-12-D-0007) to provide construction management technical support services for the Washington Headquarters Services, Acquisition Directorate, Facilities Services Directorate. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of June 30, 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,848,425 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured, with five proposals received. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND

Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nevada is being awarded a maximum $10,500,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a four-year ordering period in support of U.S. Special Operations Command. The results of this contract will allow ground-based forces to digitally provide overhead aircraft with Personal Location Information and designate targets digitally to on-board aircraft computer systems allowing pilots to see where friendly forces are located on the aircraft Common Operating Picture as well as the GPS location of the target. Work will be performed in Sparks, Nevada and other locations on an as needed basis as determined by the government. This was a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,984,252 are being obligated at time of award. U.S. SOCOM/Directorate of Procurement, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (H92222-14-D-0023).

*Small business