NEWS OF THE FORCE: Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - Page 1

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Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - Today is Canada Day, in Canada

U.N. extends Darfur peacekeeping force

The Security Council this week unanimously approved a one-year extension of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

More than 100 feared dead in crash of Indonesian military plane

More than 100 people were feared dead after a military transport plane plowed into a residential area shortly after take-off in northern Indonesia yesterday in what may be the deadliest accident yet for the nation's air force.

U.S. and Cuba agree to open embassies

In the most significant move yet toward normalizing relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the Obama administration said yesterday that the two had agreed to open embassies in each other's countries.

Greece defaults on the IMF

Greece defaulted on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after launching 11th hour attempt to agree new rescue deal. Greece has become first developed nation ever to default on the IMF.

Thousands expected at Hong Kong democracy rally

Hong Kong residents were set to take to the streets today renew their call for full democracy for the Asian financial hub in a rally that follows a turbulent year of protests over political reform.

Report backs adding a third runway to London's Heathrow airport

The British Airports Commission has backed a third Heathrow runway, saying it will add £147 billion in economic growth and 70,000 jobs by 2050.

Palestinians not interested in support from gays

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

It's ironic that the most vocal support for the Palestinian causes comes from utlra-champions of gay rights, given that Palestinian society does not tolerate homosexuals.

A handful of victories for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have Israelis concerned that this growing phenomenon could become - and perhaps already is - a threat to the Jewish state.

After a year in power, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's aura of invincibility may be fading as he comes under closer scrutiny from a public growing impatient with the same social inequalities that triggered a mass uprising there in 2011.

And Islamic State insurgents threatened yesterday to turn the Gaza Strip into another of their Middle East fiefdoms, accusing Hamas, the organization that rules the Palestinian territory, of being insufficiently stringent about religious enforcement.

Cuzin Jim's Thought for the Day: My wife and i were happy for 20 years, then we met.

DOD names new class of National Security Science and Engineering Fellows

The Department of Defense (DOD) recently announced the selection of seven distinguished university faculty scientists and engineers forming the next new class of National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows (NSSEFF). The NSSEFF program awards grants to top-tier researchers from U.S. universities to conduct long-term, unclassified, basic research of strategic importance to the DOD. These grants engage the next generation of outstanding scientists and engineers in the most challenging technical issues facing the department.

Up to $3 million of research support will be granted to each NSSEFF fellow for up to five years. The fellows conduct basic research in core science and engineering disciplines that underpin future DOD technology development. This year's topics included quantum information science, engineering biology, neuroscience, nanoscience, novel engineered materials, and applied mathematics and statistics. In addition to conducting this un-classified research, the NSSEFF program includes opportunities for fellows to participate in the DOD research enterprise and share their knowledge and insight with DOD military and civilian leaders, researchers in DOD laboratories, and the national security science and engineering community.

Upon successful completion of negotiations between their academic institutions and DOD research offices, grant awards will be made to the faculty members' home institutions for support of their research. The DOD congratulates each of these remarkable scientists and engineers on their selection as National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows.

The individuals selected for this highly competitive achievement can be found here .

VA news

VA Deputy Inspector General Richard J. Griffin has informed VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald and the VA Office of the Inspector General's workforce of his intention to retire after 43 ½ years of federal service. His last day as VA Deputy Inspector General will be Independence Day, July 4, 2015, a fitting day for an organization that prides itself on independence and integrity.

Upon his departure, the VA OIG’s Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations, Linda A. Halliday, will assume the position of Deputy Inspector General.

Griffin praised the VA OIG workforce, stating, "Your collective effort and hard work have resulted in a remarkable record of performance and outstanding achievements. In the last 6 years alone, the VA OIG workforce has accounted for 1,931 reports; 11,350 arrests, indictments, convictions and administrative sanctions; and achieved $22.5 billion in monetary impact, either through recommendations to VA in program efficiencies or in criminal fines, penalties and sanctions representing a return on investment of $36 for every dollar invested in the OIG’s budget. In fact, in April 2015, the Brookings Center for Effective Management named the VA OIG the second most productive OIG organization in the federal government based on the last 5 years’ return on investment."

DOJ faults Ferguson protest response

Police trying to control the Ferguson, Mo., protests and riots responded with an un-coordinated effort that sometimes violated free-speech rights, antagonized crowds with military-style tactics and shielded officers from accountability, the U.S. Justice Department says in a document obtained by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"Vague and arbitrary" orders to keep protesters moving "violated citizens’ right to assembly and free speech, as determined by a U.S. federal court injunction," according to a summary of a longer report scheduled for delivery this week to police brass in Ferguson, St. Louis County, St. Louis and the Missouri Highway Patrol. They already have the summary, still subject to revision, that was obtained by the newspaper. It suggests that last year’s unrest was aggravated by long-standing community animosity toward the Ferguson Police, and by a failure of commanders to provide more details to the public after an officer killed Michael Brown. "Had law enforcement released information on the officer-involved shooting in a timely manner and continued the information flow as it became available, community distrust and media skepticism would most likely have been lessened," according to the document. It also says that use of dogs for crowd control incited fear and anger, and the practice ought to be prohibited. And it complains that tear gas was some-times used without warning and on people in areas from which there was no safe retreat.

Moreover, it finds inconsistencies in the way police used force and made arrests. "The four core agencies dedicated officer training on operational and tactical skills without appropriate balance of de-escalation and problem-solving training," it reads.

The Justice Department examined the response of the four agencies in the first 16 days after Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson shot Brown, 18, in a controversial confrontation on Aug. 9. Those departments were the key players in managing unrest that drew help from about 50 jurisdictions across the region. In all, the full report is expected to contain about 45 "findings," with recommendations for improvement on each point.

Federal officials had a conference call last week with St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, St. Louis County Chief Jon Belmar, Missouri Highway Patrol Superintendent J. Bret Johnson and Ferguson Interim Chief Al Eickhoff, seeking feedback on the summary, Dotson said Monday. He said he requested an in-person review of the full report - almost 200 pages - later this week. "I don’t know if I agree with them or not, because I don’t have enough information," Dotson said. "I said we can't comment without the whole document."

Belmar declined to comment, saying he would address his concerns directly to federal officials. His office later issued a statement, saying, in part, "This was presented to us as a draft, confidential report, and our responsibility is to work with" federal officials "to ensure the accuracy of the draft.”

Ferguson officials issued a statement saying they are "reviewing these latest findings and will act accordingly." The Missouri Department of Public Safety, which oversees the highway patrol, did not respond to the newspaper on a request for comment.

Dotson said he hopes the final report from the Community Oriented Policing Services branch of the Justice Department will provide a "road map" for police facing similar situations. He said he once asked COPS officials about best practices in responding to such protests. "I was told, 'There are none, you are forging new ground,'" Dotson said.

Dotson also said such “after-action” reviews are not uncommon, noting they followed incidents like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

This will be the third of four Justice Department reports in the wake of Ferguson unrest. The first two were released simultaneously in March. One said Wilson was justified in shooting Brown; the other strongly criticized past practices by the Ferguson police and municipal court, and triggered a continuing effort toward enforcing changes either by negotiation or lawsuit. The fourth report will be an analysis of the St. Louis County Police Department’s practices. Sources say it is expected to be out sometime in July.

County police headed up the initial days of the response, but Gov. Jay Nixon shifted command to the highway patrol. Ultimately, the county police, the highway patrol and the St. Louis police formed a “unified command” to oversee response as protests and rioting spread.

The summary primarily addresses actions and is not specifically critical of individual officials. From the beginning, the summary finds, the use of a "highly elevated tactical response," essentially set a tone that "limited options for a measured, strategic approach."

Riot police moved in when protesters refused to get out of West Florissant, in Ferguson on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. Many protesters raised their hands but refused to move. For example, positioning an officer atop an armored vehicle to monitor the crowd through rifle sights was "inappropriate" and only served to "exacerbate tensions between protesters and the police," it says. It acknowledges that a tactical response was warranted at times, but an "elevated daytime response was not justified and served to escalate rather than de-escalate the overall situation."

The summary faults as "ineffective" the control of officers with various levels of training from departments with differing police philosophies. It says failures in traffic control resulted in "tactical advantages to the protesters and activists and safety hazards to the deployed officers." And it highlights several breakdowns in internal communications, suggesting that intelligence obtained about the protests was not well-used and that some departments had incompatible radios.

The four departments "underestimated the impact social media had on the incident and the speed at which both facts and rumors were spread and failed to have a social media strategy," the summary finds. The departments also were unprepared for the use of technology and hacks into personal computers which led to identity theft for some officers. The threats led some officers to remove name tags from their uniforms, which the report says "defeated an essential level of on-scene accountability that is fundamental to the perception of procedural justice and legitimacy." It says, "Officers were not prepared for the volume and severity of personal threats on themselves and their families, which created additional emotional stress for those involved in the Ferguson response. This includes threats of violence against family members and fraud associated with technology based attacks." It continues, "The intensity of the circumstances and the length of the event led to officers exhibiting fatigue and stress, which impacted health, well-being, judgment and performance."

The report also focuses on transparency, noting that among the four agencies, only St. Louis County makes its policies publicly accessible on a website. It says all four agencies have procedures for receiving and processing citizen complaints, but they "may not have been adequate for the unique circumstances of the Ferguson incident."

County and city police each reported one officer complaint during the 16-day assessment period, but the report says the number is "misleading" because "a lack of confidence in the complaint process likely deterred citizens from filing complaints about police behavior."

Along with the criticisms, the report outlines suggestions for improvements. Those include keeping tactical teams out of sight unless needed, and color coding non-lethal weapons to calm the public and remind officers. They call for regional training sessions that would emphasize de-escalation before resorting to force.

As for officer safety, the summary suggests that departments allow some alternate form of unique identification that still protects their names and to provide a more streamlined process for citizens to file complaints and compliments.

Related site: www.stltoday.com .

Announcing the Military Health System's Innovation Webinar

TRICARE and Military OneSource are co-hosting a webinar to discuss new health innovations developed to enhance the lives of service members and their families. Join in Wednesday, July 8, at noon, EST. Go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7860958749896488450 to register.

New Florida laws go into effect today

The state's budget goes into effect on Wednesday, along with 130 other new laws written by the Legislature this year in the regular and special sessions and signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

The state will no long collect sales tax on gun club memberships, people with 64-ounce beer containers known as "growlers" can get them filled at breweries, and governments in Florida will have to start looking to buy only American-made U.S. flags.

Lawmakers also decided that, as of Wednesday, the state's decades-old ban on gay adoption will no longer be in the statutes, children can secretly record sexual abusers and law enforcement agencies can't require officers to issue any preset number of tickets.

At least one has an uncertain future. The requirement of a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, approved largely along party lines, faces a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which also wants the law put on hold while the suit proceeds.

For the year, lawmakers sent 239 bills to Gov. Scott during the regular and special sessions. He vetoed seven and signed the rest.

A number of the new laws make technical changes to state statutes or have ties to the $78.2 billion spending plan. Sixty-three of the laws approved by the Legislature went into effect immediately upon Scott's signature.

Among those proposals, people without conceal-carry permits can now pocket their weapons when forced to leave home because of hurricanes and other disasters (SB 290); Current and past members of the U.S. armed forces, reserves or National Guard since Sept. 11, 2001, can ask to have their home and personal information exempt from state public records (HB 185); rural letter carriers can drive without a seat belt while working their route (SB 160); and there will be fewer tests given to public-school students (HB 7069).

The budget, SB 2500A, at $78.2 billion the largest in the state's history. It was approved in a June special session after lawmakers failed to come together on health-care spending during the regular session. It includes boosts in funding for public schools, universities and colleges, and the Agency of Persons with Disabilities, and will cover repairs to 94 bridges and the replacement of 16 others. The budget also includes $38.5 million for the protection of the state's natural springs and $15 million for Florida Forever.

HB 33A, a wide-ranging tax-cut package, came in lower than what the House and Gov. Rick Scott wanted, but still clocks in at $372.4 million in the next fiscal year. There are tax cuts on the cost of gun club memberships, college textbooks, luxury boat repairs, certain agricultural supplies and services, school extracurricular fundraisers, aviation fuel at select flight-training academies, and on motor vehicles purchased overseas by internationally deployed service members from Florida.

A reduction in the communications-services tax on cell-phone and cable-TV bills is projected at $20 a year for people paying $100 a month. Another notable feature is the 10-day sales-tax holiday starting Aug. 7 on clothing less than $100, school supplies that cost $15 or less and the first $750 of personal computers purchased for non-business use.

And HB 7013 provides $5,000 payments to government workers who adopt foster children, with the payments increasing to $10,000 for adoptions of children with special needs. The measure also repeals the state's decades-old ban on gay adoptions.

Today in the Department of Defense

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, conducted a press briefing today at 1:30 p.m., EDT, in the Pentagon Briefing Room (2E973).

Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work has no public or media events on his schedule.

2014 intercept applications down slightly

The number of federal and state wiretaps authorized in 2014 decreased 1 percent from 2013. The most serious offense under investigation in 89 percent of the applications for intercepts was illicit drugs.

The 2014 Wiretap Report provides information on the number and nature of federal and state applications for court orders authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications. The current report covers intercepts concluded between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts is required by statute to report to Congress on the number and nature of wiretaps.

U.S. Coast Guard news

The U.S. Coast Guard is one of the five armed forces of the United States and the only military organization within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The U.S. Coast Guard was officially formed in 1915, but it traces its history to 1790 through the Lifesaving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service.

A young girl was killed and three other people were injured during the Thunder on the Narrows boat race off Kent Island, Md., the U.S. Coast Guard says.

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a jet skier who was reportedly struck by lightning near Fort Morgan, Ala., on Sunday.

The Coast Guard is continuing to monitor an oil spill on the Savannah River. Around 100 gallons of cooking-grade palm oil was spilled near Savannah, Ga., on Friday night.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a man fell off his personal watercraft near Bogue Inlet, N.J., and was rescued, but later died at a local hospital.

Two pilots suffered minor injuries after a helicopter at San Francisco International Airport's U.S. Coast Guard facility crashed and overturned. The Coast Guard helicopter made a hard landing and tipped onto its side at San Francisco International Airport on Monday afternoon.

The search for a missing boater resumed in Appling County, Ga., this morning. A 70-year-old man and his younger brother were fishing on the river at Deen's Landing when their boat capsized. The younger man was able to swim to shore.

USCGC Midgett returned to his home port of Seattle, Wash., yesterday after seizing 6 tons of cocaine during a 71-day patrol.

And hundreds of new jobs hang in the balance as the new Coast Guard headquarters going up at the airport near Corpus Christi, Texas, continues to experience construction delays.

NOAA news

Every July 4, the 14,000-plus dazzling fireworks displays across the nation have a toxic effect on our atmosphere, a new NOAA study shows.

The Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has powered on NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) satellite for the first time.

The VIIRS instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi satellite captured a visible picture of Tropical Depression Chan-Hom in the Pacific Ocean on June 3.

Sources within NASA have stated that the next flight of the Falcon 9, the launch of the Jason-3 spacecraft for NOAA, have been rescheduled.

And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is soliciting nominations for membership on its Hydrographic Services Review Panel.

Medical Reserve Corps

About 20 volunteers from the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps operated under the direction of the state Department of Agriculture during an animal emergency exercise.

U.S. Army

U.S. Army Reserve Col. Paul Rosewitz was given guidance by his sergeant major, Richard Ransome, in Manchester, England, for the reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo.

QSP screening has been cancelled for U.S. Army master sergeants. Similar procedures applied to the fiscal 2015 Regular Army and Active Guard and Reserve (Army Reserve) sergeant first class promotion board.

U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Sydney Davis, of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Va., has received the gold medal for the Women's Shot Put.

Col. Scott Morcomb, the commanding officer of the 11th Theater Aviation Command, was promoted to brigadier general in a ceremony at Godman Army Airfield on Ft. Knox, Ky.

One hundred soldiers from the Tennessee Army National Guard's 252nd Military Police Company, based in Cleveland, Tenn., have returned home from Afghanistan.

The Alaska Army National Guard is helping in the fight against the state's wildfires using two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

And two Miami brothers, both members of the Florida Army National Guard, have emerged as suspects in the 2013 murder of an off-duty federal airport security officer. The revelation comes as Miami-Dade prosecutors this week charged Lenin and Jonathan Otero not with the killing, but on accusations of unrelated white-collar crimes, including racketeering, insurance fraud and forgery. A Miami-Dade judge yesterday ordered Lenin, 35, to post a $655,000 bond before he can be released from jail. Jonathan was arrested in Jacksonville and remained in jail there yesterday. Their arrests heighten the mystery surrounding the slaying of Miami Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Officer Ernesto Lluberes, Jr., 41, who was found shot to death inside his truck in a Liberty City warehouse district on Nov. 10, 2013.

UFO news

The possibility of unidentified flying objects full of aliens roaming the Earth's skies have fascinated generations of conspiracy theorists.

An enormous unidentified flying object (UFO) was tracked by five different NASA cameras as it moved at 14,500 miles per hour over several American cities.

Three young roommate witnesses have reported seeing a disc-shaped UFO hovering near their residence in High Plains, Oregon, on June 14.

A U.S. Air Force veteran was driving his wife to the north end of Florence, Oregon, and on a rural road in the hills above the Pacific Ocean, both of them saw a pulsating, orange unidentified object hovering over a nearby field, on June 17.

Also on June 17, in Lombard, Illinois, and adult male near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, who is a private pilot and familiar with all types of aircraft, heard a low-pitched, rumbling sound emanating from the night sky. Although he did not see an actual UFO, he reported that it was apparently being followed by military aircraft.

On June 18, a man in San Diego, Calif., standing outside to watch a fly-over of the International Space Station (ISS) saw two small objects apparently in close proximity to the ISS and appeared to be pacing it.

And also on June 18, a couple in Eaton/Galeton, Colo., witnessed a pulsating orange "fireball" hovering in the nighttime sky.