News of the Force: Wednesday, August 2, 2017 - Page 1

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Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Today is Our Lady of the Angeles Day in Costa Rica

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Tillerson calls talks with North Korea 'possible'

    

    U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said yesterday that the U.S. is willing to talk with North Korea - but only if North Korea gives up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, but China argues that the North will not return to negotiations unless the United States and its northeast Asian allies take "conciliatory steps."

    In an interview with NBC, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said war with North Korea is likely if it continues to develop its missile program.

    Meanwhile, Tillerson last month tightened his control over the State Department by taking back powers previously held by the top career foreign service officer, an action critics said would delay major decisions.

 

Coalition airstrikes continue in Iraq

     

    U.S. and Coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

    In Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of six engagements against ISIS targets: Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed a piece of ISIS engineering equipment and a front-end loader; Near Rawah, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb; and near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed four front-end loaders, a supply cache and a command-and-control node.

 

At least 29 killed in Afghanistan suicide attack

    

    A suicide bomber stormed into the largest Shiite Muslim mosque in Afghanistan's Herat Province last night, opening fire on worshippers before blowing himself up, killing at least 29 and wounding 64 others, 10 of them critically.

    The U.S. Government has purchased five ScanEagle drones for the Afghan air force.

    Meanwhile, Afghan culture frowns on women who use their names in public, but an online campaign wants to change that.

 

Turkey has its first domestically-produced tank

    

    The Altay MBT is Turkey's first indigenous new generation tank in the making. The Ankara government recently has invited three local manufacturers to submit their bids for a serial production contract involving an initial batch of 250 units.

 

U.S. and other nations condemn Venezuela's detention of opposition figures

    

    The international community condemned the detention of two political opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday, with the White House saying it holds Maduro personally responsible for their safety. Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were taken from their homes by masked Venezuelan agents early yesterday morning.

 

Britain's Prince Philip to carry out his final official engagement

    

    The Duke of Edinburgh will meet with the Royal Marines in his final public engagement before he retires from his royal duties. The 96-year-old announced his retirement in May, after decades of supporting the Queen, as well as attending events for his own charities.

 

NATO jets violated neutral Finland's airspace while chasing Russian planes

    

    Two NATO jets which were intercepting Russian planes over neutral waters near Estonia briefly violated Finnish airspace, the alliance has said.

 

Putin's ultimatum puts pressure of U.S. Embassy's staff

    

    With 755 staff members ordered to leave positions at the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Russia, diplomats will face an unprecedented exodus as they are forced to comply with Vladimir Putin's ultimatum, according to experts.

 

New sanctions on Iran succeeding where nuclear deal failed

    

    Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear pact is formally known, Iran was effectively given a free pass on all its non-nuclear activities as long as it committed to limiting, not dismantling, its nuclear program.

 

AirAsia has joined the Philippine's air force as a reserve unit

    

    The Philippines' air force and AirAsia officials have signed a Memorandum of Agreement to work together and provide support during disasters and humanitarian missions.

 

America is helping Montenegro's new democracy

    This week, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is visiting Montenegro. His historic visit signals a new chapter not only in bilateral relations, but also strengthens the overall trans-Atlantic alliance.

 

The face of ungratefulness?

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    The Palestinians know that only Israel can save their lives, even as they seek to destroy the Jewish state.

    Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas yesterday met with a delegation of Hamas officials in his offices in Ramallah.

    After a sweltering day mourning the destruction of Israel's Holy Temples, Israel's temperatures will drop slightly in time for the weekend.

    In Syria yesterday, Coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets. Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed three ISIS wellheads. Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed an ISIS oil refinery. And near Raqqa, seven strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, two ISIS headquarters, an improvised explosive device, an ammunition cache and a fuel supply point.

 

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    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day: If I had a dollar for every girl that found me unattractive, they would eventually find me attractive.

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Today's Trumpet

    

    The White House - the storied, 55,000-square-foot mansion that's housed America's first families for centuries - is apparently not up to snuff for President Donald Trump. He's reportedly called it "a real dump."

    President Trump personally dictated the statement his son gave on his talks with a Russian lawyer during the election campaign, according to a U.S. media report, but the president's lawyer denied that the president had anything to do with the statement issued by his son.

    White House senior adviser and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reportedly dismissed accusations that Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russia, saying the team was "too disorganized" for such an alleged conspiracy.

    President Trump's son-in-law is back on Capitol Hill, this time speaking to interns as part of the Congressional Intern Lecture Series.

    Many of President Trump's Cabinet members gather at a weekly session to study the Bible, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) has reported.

    Former Vice President Al Gore said he regrets President Donald Trump's decision to begin withdrawing the United States from a landmark accord on climate change, but an enthusiastic supporter of the president who is mayor of a Virginia island that's sinking into Chesapeake Bay got a chance to challenge Gore on climate change during a town hall meeting last night in Tangier, Va.

    President Trump felt that former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci's profanity-laced comments to The New Yorker last week were "inappropriate," according to press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

    A federal appeals court issued a ruling yesterday that could help preserve a key subsidy that benefits health insurers and millions of Americans under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

    A conservative anti-corruption watchdog group is asking for an ethics investigation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) after former House IT aide Imran Awan was apprehended trying the flee the country.

 

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker proposes nationwide marijuana legalization

    The proposed Marijuana Justice Act would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.

    Meanwhile, the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis says the nation's opioid epidemic should be deemed "a national emergency."

 

U.S. Air Force

    

    Tests at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California are typically scheduled weeks or months in advance, but this one nonetheless comes at a time of soaring tensions with North Korea over its trial of an ICBM last week. Just days after North Korea fired a rocket into the Sea of Japan, the U.S. Air Force is planning to test launch an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile today from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Update: The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning.

    The U.S. Air Force will reportedly buy two secondhand Boeing airplanes to replace Air Force One, though they'll need extensive upgrades. The planes were originally destined for a bankrupt Russian airline.

    The North Dakota Air National Guard has unveiled its new MQ-9 Reapers.

    U.S. Air Force researchers are asking the Raytheon Co. to design an experimental open-systems airborne electronic warfare (EW) system that can provide enhanced capability against current and emerging RF threats like advanced enemy radar.

    Along with nuclear bombs and several other weapons, the U.S. Air Force's B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers may one day be used to drop leaflets in PSYOPS operations.

    Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson spoke during an Air Force Association (AFA) event last night in Arlington, Va.

    At the McKinley Climatic Lab in Florida, the Air Force tests the durability of aircraft by creating extreme weather conditions indoors. The lab can create both snowstorms and sandstorms.

    The U.S. Air Force has announced that the Phoenix, Ariz., branch of Honeywell International, Inc., has been awarded a $409 million contract.

    With 10 of the world’s only ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules aircraft, commonly referred to as a Skibird, the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing is able to provide the airlift needed to get to remote locations in Antarctica and Greenland in support of the National Science Foundation. It’s a mission unique to the wing and one that requires specialized training. While upstate New York, where the unit is based, is known to have some brutal winter weather, it still isn't enough to get these aircrews trained to land and take off on snow and ice. That’s where Raven Camp comes in. Located 108 miles southeast of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, on the Greenland ice cap, it's where aircrews get the specialized training required to fly in and out of some of the world’s most austere locations. It’s also the location of Kool School’s field portion - three days to learn arctic survival skills. With 50 training missions already completed since the Greenland season began in April, the aircrews are well on their way to being ready to fly in Antarctica. "We’ll get them out to that snowfield, and we'll work on our takeoffs and landing," said Air Force Major Justin Garren, the 139th Airlift Squadron’s Greenland Operations chief. "We’ll work on special procedures on the ground for the loadmasters to load and unload on the snow." Air Force Major Dia Ham, a ski mission co-pilot student with the 139th Airlift Squadron, is no stranger to flying the traditional C-130 Hercules, but flying the Skibird is something new. She transferred to the unit after about 10 years on active duty, and flew her first Skibird training mission on the ice cap on July 27th. "There’s a level of nervousness," she said about her first time flying to Raven Camp. "You plan for it and you hear the stories, but it was so exciting to finally see it myself with my own eyes and be in the seat." Ham went on to say that while pilots learn the procedures and steps to follow for landing an aircraft in snow, nothing compares to actually doing it for the first time. "There’s no way to change the steps that we follow or the procedures or the sequence of events - but you can't prepare for landing on skis," she said. While aircrews are training on the flight deck, loadmasters are training in the back of the aircraft. Because of the remote locations for some of the camps the wing supports, loadmasters must be able to perform combat offloads - unloading cargo while the aircraft is moving with the ramp lowered just 18 inches above the snow. "It’s very important to learn the technique and get it right," said Air Force Master Sgt. Randy Powell, a loadmaster instructor who has been training students this season. "There’s a lot you have to learn really quickly," said Air Force Airman 1st Class Taylor Richards, a student loadmaster who is on his second trip there this season. “"The stuff that we do, they can't teach you in loadmaster school because it’s only stuff that we do in this unit. There are only about 60 loadmasters in the unit, and we're the only ones in the world who do this, so there’s a little bit of a learning curve." "Raven Camp is where we do a lot of our practice and learning," Ham said. "Antarctica is all missions - there’s no time to do multiple landings or try things out. The training here is so valuable." The unit is currently on its fifth rotation of the Greenland season, which began in April and will end in September. About 80 airmen and three to four Skibirds are there for each rotation throughout the summer.

    After months of anticipation, military families and friends are celebrating the return home of more than 100 Connecticut Air National Guard members from their deployment.

    Members of a Madison-based Wisconsin Air National Guard unit are being deployed to South Korea. A dozen F-16 Fighting Falcons and 200 Wisconsin Air National Guard members will arrive in South Korea this month.

    Airmen belonging to the 165th Airlift Wing, of Georgia Air National Guard, have welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to Tbilisi, Georgia.

    The Tyler, Texas, Civil Air Patrol squadron will host a pancake and waffle breakfast from 8 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at its headquarters at 1594 Dixie Drive, in Tyler Pounds, Texas.

    Cadets of the Civil Air Patrol's Tangipahoa Cadet Squadron of Kentwood, La., have received a once-in-a-lifetime experience while standing detail for World War II veterans for the Soaring Valor Project.

    Waynesboro resident Cadet Capt. Ian Stembridge was one of five members of the Civil Air Patrol's Georgia Wing who recently participated in the CAP's Hawk Mountain Ranger School (HMRS). He served as a staff member on his third year at the HMRS and was responsible for leading 30 other cadets.

    And Civil Air Patrol members, both youth and adults, will have the experience of searching for a downed plane this weekend as part of a training exercise. Saturday’s search and rescue exercise, or SAREX, was discussed at Monday morning’s meeting of the Greeneville-Greene County Airport Authority, and on Monday afternoon cadets with the CAP spent some advance time with the "crashed" plane they'll be looking for over the weekend. With the help of John Badenhope, who works with physical plant maintenance of the airport, CAP cadets and their squad leaders loaded the shell of an old airplane fuselage onto a trailer that Badenhope and others will haul to some undisclosed and remote wooded Greene County, Tenn., location, where it will be hidden in conditions simulating an actual crash site.

 

Homeland insecurity

    

    The independent government agency tasked with auditing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has thrown cold water on the Trump administration's plan to hire 15,000 new immigration and border agents. The Homeland Security Department's internal watchdog is airing major concerns about the administration's call for 15,000 more border and immigration officers - including the challenge of finding 1.25 million applicants.

    The Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it will use its authority to bypass environmental laws and other regulations to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Washington veteran Elaine Duke is set to temporarily take the helm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    The Department of Homeland Security has said it is closely monitoring the foiled Australia terrorist plot in which extremists planned an attack.

    And just hours after President Trump visited Long Island, N.Y., and vowed to eradicate violent street gangs, the Suffolk Police and Homeland Security carried out numerous raids on the island.

 

DOD to host health clinic for North Carolina residents

    

    The health clinics will be staffed by service members from the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Army Reserve and the Navy.

 

NOAA news

    

    NOAA's Polar Follow On (PFO) program finally got some good news. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $419 million for the PFO, and the committee also approved a budget for NOAA last week that is nearly $1 billion higher than the President's request.

    NOAA has picked Black Swift's drones to collect wildfire data. The sUAS will be operated by the University of Colorado's Integrated Remote & In Situ Sensing program, or IRISS, in collaboration with NOAA.

    And tickets are now on sale for a seafood celebration of the NOAA Commissioned Corps 100th Anniversary, which will take place in Newport, Oregon, on Saturday, Aug. 12th.

 

U.S. Coast Guard

    

    The head of the U.S. Coast Guard said yesterday he would not "break faith" with the service's transgender personnel. The Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security, but is a branch of the U.S. armed forces and would fall under the military transgender ban.

    As the U.S. Coast Guard continued searching Lake Pontchartrain, La., last night for a man in the water, authorities learned that a man matching his description had been previously reported missing from near the lake.

    The Coast Guard rescued two brothers clinging to lighted buoy after their boat sank off the coast of Florida during Tropical Storm Emily.

    Crews with the U.S. Coast Guard continue to search for a person seen in distress in the water at Ocean Beach, Calif., yesterday evening.

    A federal court in Florida recently looked at the liability of the U.S. Coast Guard in a rescue effort where a stricken vessel's crew member was injured.

    A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew yesterday evening retrieved the body of a man who might have tumbled to his death from a sea cliff at the end of Tanbark Road, in Brookings, Oregon.

    Last week, Coast Guard members from Corpus Christi, Texas, rescued a fisherman who appeared to be having a stroke. He was 28 miles offshore.

    The Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw Museum is asking for your help to get a new paint job. The museum is in Mackinaw City, Mich.

    The Coast Guard medevaced a 43-year-old man from a fishing vessel 25-miles south of Shinnecock Inlet, N.Y., yesterday.

    And in an effort to keep recreational boaters safe, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary will hold a safety class in Eastham, Mass., later this month.

 

U.S. Public Health Service

    

    Jerome Adams, Indiana’s state health commissioner, pledged yesterday to put science ahead of politics if he becomes the next U.S. surgeon general. But while science is critical, Adams told senators at his confirmation hearing, it has to be applied in a "sympathetic and empathetic way."

    Adams said that’s what he did when helping establish a needle exchange program in southern Indiana to contain the 2015 HIV outbreak linked to the injection of oral painkillers, the largest such outbreak in the nation.

    Over a beer and sandwich with the Scott County sheriff, Adams said, the sheriff shared his concerns about both a needle exchange and the "revolving door of his jail." Adams explained how the program could connect people with care. "I always want to lead with science, but I also want to listen to what stakeholders are saying and what patients are saying," he said. "That’s the lesson that I learned."

    U.S. Sen.  Patty Murray (D-Wash.), said President Trump's dismissal of Vice Adm. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general appointed by President Obama who was not finished with his term, showed "a lack of respect  for that office and the independence of science."

    Other Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee cited other concerns, including Trump’s suggestion that vaccines can cause autism and the resignation last month of six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS who said Trump doesn't care about the issue. "The next surgeon general must be an advocate for science and facts and must be able to stand up and correct misinformation coming out of this administration," said Murray, the panel’s top Democrat. When Murray asked Adams whether he understands the importance of "picking science over politics," he gave her an emphatic "yes."

    The hearing, which also included the nominees for four assistant secretary positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was largely friendly.

    Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), told Adams she’s certain he was nominated for the job because of his testimony last year at a hearing she conducted on opioid use among seniors. "I’m absolutely certain of that, too, senator," Adams replied to laughter.

    After getting an impromptu hug at the witness table from "my beautiful little daughter, Millie," Adams said in his prepared statement that one of his priorities as surgeon general would be addressing the opioid addiction crisis. A White House commission called for a national emergency over the opioid epidemic in a report released on Monday.

    Adams also said he would make "wellness and community and employer engagement a centerpiece of my agenda. I promise you that I will continue my strong and well-documented track record of reaching out to everyone, regardless of their politics, beliefs, culture or geography," he said.

    Adams, an African American, praised Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay person to be elected to the Senate, saying he knows what it’s like to be "the only minority in the room."

    Adams grew up on a family farm in Maryland and made Indiana home after attending Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of California-Berkley. An anesthesiologist who has a master's degree in public health, Adams was appointed to his current position in 2014 by then-governor Mike Pence. If confirmed, as expected, for a four-year term, he would be the latest Pence person to join the Trump administration to work on health care. Seema Verma, the Indiana health care consultant who worked with Pence on Indiana’s alternative Medicaid program, runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Four former Pence aides also have significant policy posts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    Sometimes called the "nation’s doctor," the surgeon general oversees the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

    "He really is responsible for helping to highlight evidence-based solutions to some of our most difficult public health issues," said Paul Halverson, the dean of Indiana University’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.

    Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), urged Adams to use the position to make sure people in the end stages of life get only the care they want.

    Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), said Adams should address gun violence, which the American Medical Association has called a health hazard. Adams, a gun owner, said there are evidence-based programs that can lower gun violence if people are "willing to stop demonizing each other."

    The Senate panel is scheduled to vote on Adams’ nomination today. Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the panel’s chairman, said the full Senate could take up the nomination "soon thereafter."

    (Vice Adm. Murthy has retained his rank and still serves in the U.S. Public Health Service.)

 

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