NEWS OF THE FORCE | Thursday, August 6, 2015 - Page 2

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NEWS OF THE FORCE | Thursday, August 6, 2015 - Page 2

DOD announces transfer of Umm Sayyaf

Earlier today, Nasrin As'ad Ibrahim, also known as Umm Sayyaf, a suspected member of ISIL who has been detained by U.S. forces in Iraq since May 15, was transferred to the custody of the Government of Iraq. Umm Sayyaf is now being held by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of the Interior.

Umm Sayyaf was the wife of a senior ISIL leader, Abu Sayyaf, who was killed by U.S. Special Operations Forces during a raid in Syria.

The decision to transfer Umm Sayyaf to the Iraqi government was based on the U.S. Government's determination that the detainee's transfer would be appropriate with respect to legal, diplomatic, intelligence, security, and law enforcement considerations.

This transfer is consistent with DOD policy to detain, interrogate, and, where appropriate, seek the prosecution of individuals who are captured on the battlefield.

U.S. Air Force news

The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing since World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors. U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Stephen V. Biezis, of Chicago, Illinois, will be buried on Aug. 14 in Arlington National Cemetery. His co-pilot, 1st Lt. James F. Gatlin, of Jacksonville, Fla., was buried on Jan. 30 in Bushnell, Fla. On Dec. 23, 1944, Biezis and his crew of five were assigned to the 575th Bombardment Squadron, 391st Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, and were deployed to Germany. Biezis was the co-pilot of a B-26C Marauder that crashed after being struck by enemy fire while on a bombing mission against enemy forces near Ahrweiler, Germany. Biezis, Gatlin and three other crew members were reported killed in action. His remains were not recovered during the war. One of the crew members parachuted from the aircraft but was captured and held as a prisoner of war by German forces. Following his release, he reported to U.S. officials that he had no knowledge of the fate of the remaining crewmen. Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) conducted investigations on the loss of Biezis and his crew and successfully located the crash site, near Manderscheid and Bettenfeld. The remains of two crewmen were recovered. On May 27, 1999, a U.S. team investigating World War II losses in Germany visited a crash site near Bettenfeld. Two German nationals had researched the crash site and showed the team artifacts that were found and turned over remains collected from the site. Those remains were identified as Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Joe R. Sanchez, 20, of Los Nietos, Calif. He was accounted for in March 2011 and returned to his family for burial with full military honors. Between 2011 and 2014, the Department of Defense teams traveled to Bettenfeld and conducted operations at the crash site. To identify Biezis' remains, scientists from the DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used forensic identification tools to include mitochondrial DNA, which matched his sister and cousin. Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died. Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted for from that conflict.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is an experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable and unmanned space test platform for the Air Force. The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold: reusable spacecraft technologies for America's future in space, and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth.

The Air Force Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer program office recently provided nearly $400,000 of additional funding for a SBIR effort that will give the warfighter an affordable, high-performance millimeter wave-seeker technology for high-performance munitions.

Two Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS)-equipped aircraft arrived at the McClellan Air Tanker Base in Sacramento, Calif., from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing, at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., on Aug. 3, to assist in fighting the Rocky Fire northwest of Sacramento, on the same day.

Everyday as the sun rises above the horizon, Yokota Air Base, Japan's defenders are already hard at work keeping the base safe. Their day begins when they are assigned a patrol car, protective equipment and their partner. Just like in civilian law enforcement, Military Police officers place their lives in their partner's hands, forging bonds of trust and respect. The 374th Security Forces' military working dog handlers take that bond to the next level; the dog isn't just their partner, the dog is "family."

The 307th Red Horse Squadron, at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., has been inactivated after 44 years of service.

About 60 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command officers and safety experts have met at the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center, at McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn.

Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets in Virginia have demonstrated how to properly drag a casualty while under enemy fire during the AFJROTC's leadership training with the U.S. Marines.

Major Steven Fortson assumed command of the 94th Maintenance Squadron, at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., on Aug. 2.

The South Carolina Air National Guard is conducting air defense exercises today near Florence and Marlboro, along with a Civil Air Patrol aircraft.

And with the landing of his Civil Air Patrol aircraft at North Carolina's Asheville Regional Airport on July 25, CAP Lt. Col. Wallace Courtney completed his 300th cadet orientation flight. Courtney is a retired U.S. Navy captain.

News from the U.S. Marshals

Steven Eugene Weatherman was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Joint Fugitive Task Force and the High Point (N.C.) Police Department, yesterday in Trinity, N.C.. On May 29, a warrant was issued by the High Point Police for Weatherman, charging him with attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

And this week’s scheduled "Fugitive of the Week," Shawn Goodine, surrendered on Tuesday afternoon to the U.S. Marshals in Concord, N.H. Goodine was to be featured as the "Fugitive of the Week" tomorrow. Goodine was wanted for violating the conditions of supervised release as a result of his conviction and sentencing for felon in possession of a firearm.

U.S. Coast Guard news

Douglas A. Munro, Signalman First Class, U.S. Coast Guard, of Cle Elum, Wash., died heroically on Guadalcanal, during World War II, and is the Coast Guard's only Medal of Honor recipient.

The U.S. Coast Guard has seized 12,000 pounds of cocaine from a semi-submersible marine vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Crew members of USCGC Stratton, out of Alameda, Calif., made the bust. The 6 tons of drugs is worth $181 million.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is offering a boat safety course on Saturday in Milford, Conn.

The Coast Guard's annual Buoy Tender Roundup is in Juneau, Alaska, this week for the first time since 2012.

The Coast Guard is searching for one of two fishermen who were tossed from their boat off the coast of Orange County, Calif.

Coast Guard helicopter crews and Texas City police and fire department personnel are searching for a missing wade fisherman in Dickinson Bay, near Houston, Texas.

The commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard made his case yesterday why the Coast Guard needs to make an investment in drone technology.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is on duty to provide well-needed protection and assistance to the North Alabama boating community.

And a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Mich., Coast Guard Auxiliary crews from Coast Guard Station Marquette, Mich., the National Park Service and local police are searching Lake Superior after a hobie cat was found abandoned and overturned.

DEA announces tip line and wanted poster for Chapo

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced today a toll-free tip line where the general public in the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America can report any information that could aid in the apprehension of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera, who escaped from a Mexican prison in July.

The tip line will be managed by the DEA's San Diego Division. In addition to the tip line, the public can email tips to CHAP...@USDOJ.GOV. In concert with the launch of the tip line, DEA has also released a wanted poster that contains the number, email address, and the U.S. State Department reward of up to $5 million for the arrest of Chapo. The poster can be found at DEA.gov. The tip line number in the United States is 1-844-692-4101, and outside the U.S. the number is 001-844-692-4101.

Guzman-Loera was arrested on June 9, 1993, in Mexico, on charges related to murder and drug trafficking and was sentenced to a 20 year prison term. However, on Jan. 19, 2001, Guzman-Loera escaped from the federal maximum security prison in Jalisco, Mexico. While on the run from Mexican authorities, Guzman-Loera re-established himself as the top ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel and leader of the Mexican drug trade, becoming the world’s #1 fugitive and a Forbes-listed billionaire. He was rearrested on Feb. 22, 2014, in a modest resort hotel in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. On July 11, 2015, he again escaped from the Altiplano federal maximum security prison in Mexico.

Guzman-Loera was in charge of the Guzman-Loera drug trafficking organization (DTO), which in turn, is part of the larger Sinaloa Cartel. Under the leadership of Guzman-Loera and his partner, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, the Sinaloa Cartel controls vast trafficking operations on an international scale, with the majority of its drugs being distributed to the United States. The Sinaloa Cartel bases its operations principally in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Durango and Baja California, although it also has representation in several other states throughout the republic. In addition to its distribution cells in the United States, the DTO transports drug shipments to Canada, Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia. Their organization smuggles multi-ton cocaine shipments from South America through Central America into Mexico. They are also involved in the manufacture, transport and distribution of methamphetamine and heroin. Additionally, the organization operates several large scale marijuana plantations in Sinaloa and surrounding areas. The Sinaloa Cartel organization relies on bulk currency shipments to move drug proceeds across the United States-Mexico border.

Guzman-Loera has been charged with drug trafficking and related crimes in several U.S. District Courts, to include the District of Arizona, the Southern District of California, the Western District of Texas, the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern District of New York, and the Southern District of Florida. The first U.S. indictment against Guzman-Loera was unsealed in San Diego on Sept. 28, 1995, charging him and 22 members of his organization with conspiracy to import over eight tons of cocaine and money-laundering.

U.S. Army

U.S. Army Reserve and active Army engineer units have cooperated in constructing a movable bridge across the Arkansas River, near Ft. Chafee, Ark.

Col. (Dr.) Daniel Danaher, the state surgeon and medical detachment commander for Nebraska Army National Guard, is retiring from military service after 29 years.

The members of A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery, of the Wyoming Army National Guard, based in Gillette, Wyoming, have deployed overseas.

Kansas Army National Guard engineers will conduct renovation activities in the nation of Armenia for the next two weeks.

The U.S. Senate has launched a Post-9/11 Veterans' Caucus.

And in January 2015, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard reported overall non-availability rates of 22 and 21 percent, respectively. And seven months later, the Army still doesn't know when - or if - its reserve members are available for a call-up to active duty, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) says.

DHS news

A corrections officer in DeKalb County, Ala., has been arrested in a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office. The officer has been charged with tampering with government records.

Adil Batarfi, one of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)'s senior commanders, issued a threat yesterday against America and the West.

The sheriff in Pensacola, Fla., says the triple homicide of a DHS employee's family was the result of the DHS man's ties to "witchcraft." The DHS employee worked ay a nearby naval base.

And a motion has been filed on behalf of Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson requesting he be excused from an Aug. 19 court hearing on immigration.

American Red Cross

Michelle La Pierre Bell was named the new executive director of the American Red Cross' Northern California/Gold Country Region.

The American Red Cross is seeking additional volunteers do things like provide initial assistance to those in need, in northern Nevada.

DKI's President and CEO Dan Cassara will speak at this year's American Red Cross Preparedness Summit on Aug. 20 at Lake Grove Village, near Chicago, Illinois.

The first-ever national tentative settlement covering some 4,000 workers at American Red Cross operations in 24 states is a positive step, the CWA says.

And The American Red Cross has announced it is facing a shortage of the blood types most needed by patients.

NOAA news

NOAA released its updated Atlantic hurricane season outlook today, calling for 6 to 10 named storms, 1 to 4 hurricanes and no more than 1 major hurricane.

UFO news

What's being called a "pyramid-shaped" UFO was recorded on video as it flew over the moon, on July 31.

An unidentified flying object (UFO) was captured on color video from the International Space Station (ISS), as the craft flew above the Earth, on Aug. 3.

A UFO was seen in the skies over Marga Marga, Chile, on Aug. 4.

And a UFO was captured on video buzzing around a Virgin Atlantic flight that was taking off from JFK Airport, in New York City. The video has gone viral.