News of the Force: Friday, February 24, 2017 - Page 1

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Friday, February 24, 2017 - Today is Flag Day in Mexico

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Court blocks South Africa's withdrawal from the ICC

    

    A South African court has ruled that the country's bid to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is "unconstitutional and invalid," in a stark rebuke to the government of President Jacob Zuma.

 

China's South China Sea buildings could soon house missiles

    

    China, in an early test of U.S. President Donald Trump, has nearly finished building almost two dozen structures on artificial islands in the South China Sea that appear designed to house long-range surface-to-air missiles.

    Meanwhile, North Korea has hit out at China in an unusual hostile commentary on state-run media, denouncing the country's decision to ban coal imports from the isolated nation as "inhumane" and vowing to carry on developing nuclear weapons. North Korea says China is "dancing to the U.S.' tune."

 

U.S. changes rules of engagement for the Battle of Mosul

     

    U.S. Army Lt. Col. James Browning juggled phone calls on an overstuffed sofa in a small village south of Mosul yesterday after the plan was announced.

    Iraq's special forces have joined a major assault that started earlier this week to drive the Islamic State from Iraq's second-largest city, and have retaken Mosul's airport.

    Iraqi forces, backed by Coalition strikes, are making gains in efforts to liberate western Mosul from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorists, Defense Department spokesman U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters at the Pentagon today. "The Iraqis have captured villages to the west of Mosul and they have penetrated the formal city limits from the south," he said, adding, "We've seen some encouraging initial successes." About 75 percent of the Ghazlani military base southwest of Mosul has been secured, he said. In addition, Iraqi forces have a "strong foothold" on liberating the Mosul airport, Davis said. The Iraqis have cleared terrain to the south and west of Mosul, he said, gaining 24 square miles within the last day, for a total of 100 square miles since the offensive began five days ago. The captain pointed out the total territory gained since Oct. 17th, when the battle for Mosul began, is about 1,500 square miles. That figure includes recently cleared eastern Mosul, he said. Resistance around western Mosul is "moderate," Davis said, with the terrorists using improvised explosive devices and indirect fire to "harass and slow down" Iraqi forces. The terrorists have pulled back into west Mosul, he said, noting that the Coalition expects a "very challenging fight," since ISIS is entrenched in the area. "That's dense urban terrain, more dense than what we saw in east Mosul in a place where they are well-dug in," the captain said. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces continue defensive holding operations in eastern Mosul, he said, and the Coalition continues to hit ISIS targets around Mosul. In the past 24 hours, Davis said, Coalition forces conducted six strikes in a total of 80 engagements. Targets included ISIS tactical units, mortar systems, rocket launchers, anti-air artillery systems, fighting positions, vehicles and weapons caches, he said. The Pentagon will meet Monday's deadline for the 30-day review that President Donald J. Trump ordered about the plan to fight ISIS, Davis said. As the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, highlighted yesterday, the review is a "whole of government plan that deals holistically with ISIS," he said. Davis described the plan as a "framework for a broader plan." However, he said, details of the strategy will remain private, explaining it is a "plan to attack an enemy and I don’t think we're going to want to telegraph too much of it." The  Pentagon-led review of strategy to defeat the Islamic State group will present President Trump with options not just to speed up action against IS but also to counter al-Qaida and other extremist groups beyond Iraq and Syria.

    And 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. Coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of 84 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government: Near Mosul, six strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units, destroyed eight mortar systems, six fighting positions, three vehicles, three weapons caches, two supply caches, two vehicle bombs, two vehicle bomb facilities, an ISIS-held building, a rocket-propelled grenade system, an anti-air artillery system, a light machine gun, an explosives factory, an unmanned aerial vehicle factory and an armoring factory, damaged 18 supply routes and six tunnels, and suppressed 33 mortar teams and an ISIS tactical unit; Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit; and near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle launch site and a vehicle bomb.

 

Ukrainian lawmaker facing treason probe

    

    As the war between government forces and Russian-backed rebels continues in eastern Ukraine, a peace plan purportedly crafted by two associates of President Trump and a member of Ukraine's Parliament is causing an increasing backlash.

    Meanwhile, activists of nationalist groups and their supporters have taken part in the so-called March of Dignity, marking the third anniversary of the 2014 Ukrainian pro-European Union mass protests, in Kiev.

 

Philippines president's loudest critic arrested on drug charges

    

    Philippines Senator Leila de Lima was escorted by the Senate's security personnel after a Regional Trial Court ordered her arrest, at the Senate's headquarters in Pasay City, in Metro Manila, today.

 

Mexico says 'no' to Trump's new deportation rules

    

    Mexico will vigorously fight U.S. mass deportations of undocumented immigrants back to Mexico and refuse to accept any non-Mexicans expelled across the border, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray has vowed.

 

Malaysia releases results of Kim's autopsy

    

    Kim Jong-nam, the older half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, died from a VX nerve gas attack, Malaysian authorities say. The Malaysian authorities said the toxin that killed Kim Jong-nam at the Kuala Lumpur airport as VX, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction. Kim had the nerve agent on his eye and his face, Malaysian officials said.

 

Russia asks world powers to pay for Syria's reconstruction

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    Russia is pressing world powers to provide Syria with billions of dollars for reconstruction to bolster its faltering efforts to resolve the Arab state's six-year conflict.

    U.S. Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the top United States commander for the Middle East, said Wednesday that more American forces may be needed in Syria.

    A Turkish-backed Syrian rebel held the flag of his division in the north-western border town of al-Bab yesterday after they fully captured the town from the Islamic State (IS) group.

    Coalition efforts are ongoing to support efforts to isolate the Syrian city of Raqqa, and operations for the city of Bab. Bab does appear to be largely liberated." The Turkish military and vetted Syrian opposition forces are conducting operations in the vicinity of the city. Yesterday, the 112th day of operations to isolate Raqqa, Syrian Arab Coalition forces conducted offensive operations northeast of that key city. Those efforts resulted in the clearing of large swaths of terrain along two axes and the taking of 67 square miles, along with the liberation of several villages.

    Coalition military forces conducted 28 strikes consisting of 36 engagements in Syria yesterday: Near Abu Kamal, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed four oil separation tanks. Near Bab, a strike destroyed a tank. Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed six oil tanker trucks. Near Palmyra, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a tactical vehicle. Near Raqqa, 17 strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area, and destroyed three pump jacks, a command-and-control node, a fighting position and a tactical vehicle. And near Shadaddi, six strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units, destroyed three fighting positions, two vehicles, a storage shed, a tactical vehicle and a weapons storage facility.

    Pro-Palestinian groups have succeeded in pressuring Hollywood stars not to "identify with Israeli occupation." 

    And Pope Francis received a new annotated edition of the Torah at the Vatican yesterday. The Torah "manifests the paternal and visceral love of God, a love shown in words and concrete gestures, and the Torah is a manifestation of God's love for man," the pontiff said.

 

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    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day:  Always try to be modest, and be proud of it.

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Reports: White House asked the FBI to refute reports of Russian ties

    

    The White House asked the FBI to publicly dispute reports about President Trump's team communicating with Russian officials during last year's presidential campaign, CNN and The Associated Press reported yesterday. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to talk to reporters and deny the stories published by CNN and The New York Times, the reports say. The FBI denies it.

    Preparation for a U.S.-Russia summit that could happen before the G20 meeting in July is in full swing, Russia's state-run media reports.

    The Trump administration, in its first month, has largely benched the State Department from its long-standing role as the preeminent voice of the U.S.

    Robert Reich, a professor at UC-Berkeley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor, has insinuated that President Trump incited Monday's riots in Sweden - echoing his unproven conspiracy theory just weeks ago.

    French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has nothing but praise for U.S. President Donald Trump, saying yesterday that she thinks his actions so far are good for France.

    President Trump held a rally last Saturday in Florida to talk to supporters about all the progress in Making America Great Again. It's important to the President to be among the people who he's working for every day. This past election was a great movement - a movement we've never seen before in our country. President Trump put it best when he said, "I want to be in a room filled with hardworking American patriots who love their country, who salute their flag, and who pray for a better future."
    On Tuesday, President Trump visited the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. President Trump toured the museum with Dr. Ben Carson and his family, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and Alveda King - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s niece. President Trump pledges to do everything he can to continue that promise of freedom for African-Americans and for every American. He's proud that we now have a museum that honors the millions of African American men and women who built our national heritage, specifically emphasizing faith, culture, and the unbreakable American spirit.

    Our national debt has doubled over the last eight years. President Trump held a budget meeting this week that set the tone for cutting wasteful government spending and putting taxpayer dollars to good use. The President wants the American people to know that the budget will reflect the priorities of the American people and he will be directing all government departments and agencies to protect every last American and every last tax dollar, starting with the first budget.

    Vice President Pence rolled up his sleeves yesterday and showed the world what America is all about. After vandalism struck a Jewish cemetery in Missouri, VP Pence made a surprise visit to help with the clean-up effort. There's no place in America for hatred, or acts of violence, prejudice, or anti-Semitism. That steadfast sentiment was proven this week in Missouri and under President Trump's leadership it is inspiring the nation.

    And this week, Vice President Pence visited the Fabick Cat Factory in Missouri, a true American success story of a family-owned business owned and operated since its founding in 1917. Today, Fabick Cat, a machinery manufacturer, has 1,100 employees at 37 locations throughout the Midwest. Pence wanted to let this company, all their workers, all the small business owners in attendance, and all small business owners across the country know that President Trump is the best friend America’s small businesses will ever have. Make no mistake about it, America finally has a President who’s going to support and fight for small businesses every single day.

 

Gunman shot three people in Kansas while yelling 'Get out of my country!'

    The gunman said he believed the men he shot were Middle Eastern, police said, but the victims were Indian engineers who worked at Garmin. An Indian engineer was killed and two others were injured after the American navy veteran yelling "terrorist" and "Get out of my country!" opened fire on them in a crowded bar in Kansas City.

 

U.S. Coast Guard

    

    In Washington state, the Seattle Children's Hospital is looking a bit spruced up this morning - thanks to work by the U.S. Coast Guard.

    The U.S. Coast Guard is awarding contracts for the construction of new heavy icebreakers. The Heavy Polar Icebreaker Integrated Program Office is staffed by Coast Guard and U.S. Navy personnel. The United States Coast Guard awarded five firm fixed-price contracts for heavy polar icebreaker design studies and analysis this week.

    The U.S. and Canadian governments have established a partnership that will enable the U.S. Coast Guard's heavy polar icebreaker acquisition program to also help the Canadian Coast Guard.    

    The St. Louis Regional Freightway and the Port of New Orleans yesterday pledged to work together by "exchanging market and operational information with the goal of growing trade and building upon existing and new business relationships between the two regions and critical ports," the Freightway said in a statement. The two entities entered into a memorandum of understanding that includes joint marketing efforts. Discussions began in September for such a partnership when Gary LaGrange, president and chief executive of the New Orleans port, came to St. Louis. About 500 million tons of cargo is handled by the lower Mississippi River. Mary Lamie, the Freightway's executive director, said in a statement that the partnership will help coordinate the two regions' supply chains. "We now have a framework to work more closely together to generate new business activity that will help accelerate the present level of economic growth by increasing revenues to the Port of New Orleans and optimizing the St. Louis region’s freight network," she said. The Freightway hopes to capitalize on container-on-barge services.

    San Diego, Calif., has been designated as a "Coast Guard City."

    The U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release that the Atlantic Ruby, in Portland, Oregon, and Amber L in Kalama, Wash., were detained in port yesterday over safety issues. Both are Panamanian-flagged vessels.

    And U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 54 has a one-day safe boating course from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., EST, tomorrow at Harvey Oyer Park in Boynton Beach, Fla.

 

Boeing to open its first plant in Europe

    

    Boeing plans to open its first ever European factory in Sheffield, England - delivering a vote of confidence in the United Kingdom's manufacturing capabilities as the country prepares to exit the European Union.

    The $25 million facility will supply parts for Boeing's 737 short-haul work-horse and the 777 wide-body, specializing in actuation systems that extend and retract an aircraft's wing flaps in different phases of flight.

    The move advances Boeing's plans to increase in-house manufacturing of actuator components in order to boost production efficiency, enhance quality control and reduce supply-chain costs, the U.S. company said in a statement today.

    The 25,000 square-foot plant will initially employ 30 people, with recruitment starting next year.

 

FCC calls halt to ISP privacy rules

By Jim Corvey, News of the Force St. Louis

    

    The new chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will seek a stay on privacy rules for broadband providers that the agency just passed in October.

    FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will ask for either a full commission vote on the stay before parts of the rules take effect next Thursday, or he will instruct FCC staff to delay part of the rules pending a commission vote, a spokesman said today.

    The rules, passed when the FCC had a Democratic majority, require broadband providers to receive opt-in customer permission to share sensitive personal information, including web-browsing history, geolocation, and financial details, with third parties. Without the stay, the opt-in requirements were scheduled to take effect next week. But critics have complained that the rules only apply to ISPs, and not to giant online companies like Google and Facebook, that collect huge amounts of personal data. And the FCC rules hold ISPs to a higher privacy standard than the case-by-case privacy enforcement that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) uses when investigating other companies, critics say.

    Supporters of the strong ISP privacy rules say broadband providers have huge opportunities to collect customers' personal information. And U.S. law gives the FCC little authority to regulate the privacy practices of companies that aren't network service providers.

    "Chairman Pai believes that the best way to protect the online privacy of American consumers is through a comprehensive and uniform regulatory framework," an FCC spokesman said. "All actors in the online space should be subject to the same rules, and the federal government shouldn't favor one set of companies over another."

    Republican Pai has promised to roll back many of the regulations passed while Democrat Tom Wheeler served as FCC chairman. This week, the FCC voted to roll back some net neutrality regulations that require broadband providers to inform customers about their network management practices.

    Pai's decision to stay the privacy rules goes against U.S. law requiring the agency to protect customers of telecom networks, said Matt Wood, policy director at digital rights group Free Press. "It's a tragedy that Chairman Pai is willing to ignore his own statutory mandate and delay rules that protect Internet users from cable company abuse, while pretending that he's just chasing after a more comprehensive privacy law that's outside of his agency's congressional jurisdiction," Wood said. "The race-to-the-bottom mentality that Pai espouses may play well to the industries supporting him, but people will understand that Pai's fake promise of better rules tomorrow just means stripping away all protections today."

    Pai's decision, however, earned praise from former U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat who has criticized FCC regulations in recent years. The stay is "a smart first step toward rolling back asymmetrical regulation that is at odds with consumers' privacy expectations, deters innovation and causes marketplace distortion," said Boucher, now honorary chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, a broadband advocacy group. "Applying different privacy rules to the same online data by saddling only ISPs with new regulations doesn't make sense," Boucher added.

 

U.S. Army

    

    Senegalese and American military medical professionals have hosted a closing ceremony on the last day of Medical Readiness Training during the 2017 MEDRETE, in Vincenza, Italy.

    A  91 year old World War II veteran is reliving his time in the air by tandem jumps with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla.

    The U.S. Army offers both full-time (on active duty) and part-time (Army Reserve and Army National Guard) positions. If qualified, you can learn specialized training in one of over 150 different job fields.

    Armored combat vehicles experts at BAE Systems will provide the U.S. Army with 11 M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation System (HERCULES) vehicles and related vetronics under terms of a $28.2 million contract announced last week.

    Airborne soldiers jumped into Alaska's Arctic tundra, on Feb. 22nd, just a few miles from the Arctic Ocean in minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures with a windchill factor of minus 56 F.

    Simulation and training experts at the General Dynamics Corp. will enhance the capabilities of a U.S. Army intelligence and electronic warfare (EW) electronic simulator to improve the training of U.S. military intelligence analysts.

    Col. Nick Johnson, an Illinois Army National Guard detachment commander and civilian clinical psychologist, supports soldiers and their families and
helps the homeless for one reason only - duty.

    U.S. Army officials are choosing nine U.S. information technology (IT) companies to provide the U.S. Army's computer users with a wide variety of IT equipment over the next decade under terms of a $2.5 billion contract.

    There's a common bond of empathy and understanding between spouses who have experienced the deployment of a loved one to combat. While service members are trained to use their skills in war, there's no formal training for those who stay behind and manage the home front when military members are hundreds of miles away. Barbara Livingston, the wife of Army Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston, Jr., the adjutant general for South Carolina, welcomed two spouses of officers in the Colombian Air Force during a South Carolina National Guard State Partnership Program engagement held at her home in Gaston, S.C., on Feb. 21st. Yuli Nunez de Bueno, wife of Colombian Air Force commander Gen. Carlos Eduardo Bueno Vargas, and Monica Ochoa de Rueda, wife of Colombia Air Force Col. Juan Carlos Rueda Cartagena, joined Livingston to share ways they managed and held their families together when their spouses were away on missions. "One thing my husband and I have always made a priority was to be honest with ourselves about his deployment and how it affected us and share these experiences with others," Livingston said. "It's important for our soldiers, airmen, and families to understand that it is normal to have difficulty and it takes time." Livingston's husband deployed for 18 months to Afghanistan in 2007, leaving her with their four grown children and a business to run. Her husband, as a National Guard soldier and now the adjutant general for South Carolina, has also supported multiple state response missions during their over 30-year marriage, including Hurricane Hugo, the statewide flood of 2015, and Hurricane Matthew. "During the devastating flood, I did not want to tell him our driveway was underwater," Livingston said. "I didn't want to add any distractions for him while he took care of the state and kept telling him things were fine at home." Bueno and Rueda said that their country is transitioning to peace after more than 50 years of war and many policies and changes for service members are still being worked through. Bueno added that in her role as a military wife, she and other wives focus on helping others in the community. "Supporting those who work in our hospitals is important," Bueno said. "We have functions to support our elders, which includes veterans, as well as military supporters. We also volunteer to help those in need with items such as clothing." Bueno said that the Colombian military has variations to the length of time a military member may be away or in combat, as well as the family accommodations on different bases where they may not be able to stay. She said the military supports the wives with special programs to enable them to meet up with their service member for weekends on a designated base. Livingston shared with Bueno and Rueda a handout that they give spouses that showcases the "5 F" philosophy of a healthy marriage and lifestyle and that is to focus on faith, family, friends, fitness, and finance. "As wives and mothers, we stay strong for our children," Rueda said. "I found my faith in God and through prayer has helped us get through." "Even though our countries have experienced different types of separations from our military spouses during combat operations, we share that commonality of needing balance in our lives to make it work," Livingston said. "We can't lose sight of other things that are important. Having grandbabies has really reminded us how precious family time is and how quickly the years pass."

    U.S. Army Reserve forces, which are part of the overall AERF contingency forces, are part of the Army's plan to provide a force that can deploy on short notice.

    The Army Reserve's "Operation Cold Steel" exercise begins next month at Ft. McCoy, Wis.

    The Total Army philosophy encompasses active duty Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard troops as a Total Army force.

    And members of the Arkansas National Guard are one step closer to attending college for free as a bill allowing that advances through the state's Legislature.

 

Homeland insecurity

    

    U.S. Homeland Security chief John Kelly says there will be no use of military forces to help with, and there will be no, "mass" deportations.

    During a visit to Guatemala, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly contradicted deportation plans made public by the Trump administration. President Trump declared yesterday that his immigration clampdown was a “military operation” - although his homeland security secretary said it's not.

    And new Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Paul Penzone is asking for guidance from the director of the Department of Homeland Security about "courtesy detainers" for illegal aliens.

 

Another hard-won victory for gun rights

    

    On Wednesday, Gov. Chris Sununu signed SB 12 into law. The governor's signature makes New Hampshire the 13th Constitutional Carry state in the union. This means Granite Staters will no longer be forced to seek permission to carry concealed or be registered like sex offenders before exercising their right to protect themselves.

    The battle to enter New Hampshire into the Constitutional Carry Club was a long, hard campaign.

 

Adm. Rogers discusses near future of the U.S. Cyber Command

    

    U,S. Navy Adm. Mike Rogers, the chief of U.S. Cyber Command, discussed the command’s future over the next five to 10 years yesterday at West 2017, a sea services event in San Diego, Calif., co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute.

    The AFCEA is the international information technology, communications and electronics association for professionals in government, industry and academia.

    Rogers, also director of the National Security Agency, fielded questions from moderator retired Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, who’s now dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He’s also chairman of the board of the U.S. Naval Institute and a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. Topics included integrating cyber at the tactical level of warfare, modeling Cybercom after the structure used by the Special Operations Command, the Cybercom workforce, and the relationship between Cybercom and the private sector, all in the five-to 10-year horizon. "Here's what we need to build toward - in the immediate near term, elevating Cyber Command to a combatant command," Rogers said, adding, "I think the potential for that happening in the near term is high." (Cybercom today is a component of the U.S. Strategic Command.)

    Over the next five to 10 years, the admiral said, he would like to see cyber integrated offensively and defensively "down to the operational tactical level."

    Offensive cyber in some ways is treated like nuclear weapons, he added, "in the sense that their application outside a defined area of hostilities is controlled at the chief-executive level and is not delegated down."

    Rogers said he hopes that over the next five to 10 years Cybercom can engender enough confidence in decision makers and policymakers that they feel comfortable pushing offensive cyber activities to the tactical level.

    "We should be integrating cyber into the strike group and on the amphibious expeditionary side. We should view this as another toolkit that's available as a commander is coming up with a broad schema of maneuver to achieve a desired outcome or end state. That’s what I hope," the admiral said.

    Rogers and Stavridis likened the journey of cyber to that of the special forces, whose members in earlier times were called in only for special occasions and their use was highly controlled. Today, they said, combatant commanders have component commands from each service and from special operations.

    "I would create Cyber Command much in the image of the U.S. Special Operations Command,” Rogers said. "Give it that broad set of responsibilities where it not only is taking forces fielded by the services and employing them; it's articulating the requirement and the vision and you're giving it the resources to create the capacity and then employ it." SOF also provides a theater special operations commander across all nine combatant commands, said Rogers, adding, that’s "a model I think we should drive to."

    The cyber force, based on Cybercom billet structure, is about 80 percent military, 20 percent civilian, Rogers said. On the NSA side, he added, it’s 60 percent civilian, 40 percent military. Recruiting and retention, he said, is "a little bit harder on the civilian side."

    On the military side, the Cybercom leadership is finding that what motivates a young man or woman to be a Marine Corps rifleman, to work the flightline in the Air Force or to be a deck seaman in the Navy also motivates cyber warriors. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they like the ethos and culture of the military, he said. "That's a real selling point for us right now," the admiral said. "The self-image of this workforce is that they are the digital warriors of the 21st century. The way they look at themselves - we're in the future, we're the cutting edge, we're doing something new, we're blazing a path." As a leader, Rogers said, "you cannot underestimate the value of that."

    Rogers says he reminds recruits that as cyber warriors they'll be able to do things in uniform, within the defense and Law of Armed Conflict application, that they can't do anywhere else, and they'll gain responsibility as they show proficiency in the job. "Everybody responds well to that," he said. "Retention is good right now."

    In its work with the private sector over the next five to 10 years, Rogers said he would like to see Cybercom and tech companies "get to a level of integration where we have actual physical collocation with each other." The admiral says that in his military experience, "when we create command-and-control] structures, when we create analytic and command-and-control nodes, we try to bring all together as much data, as many different perspectives and as many different elements in the broad enterprise that are necessary to achieve the outcome. I think we need to do the same thing" with the tech sector.

    Rogers said he'd like to see Cybercom, for one thing, take advantage of the sector constructs that are in place for the 16 segments in private industry that Presidential Policy Directive 21 designates as infrastructure critical to the nation. These sectors are chemicals, commercial facilities, communications, critical manufacturing, dams, the defense industrial base, emergency services, energy, financial services, food and agriculture, government facilities, health care and public health, information technology, nuclear reactors and materials, transportation systems and water and wastewater.

    "How do we take advantage of that and integrate at that level? Because as an execution guy, my experience teaches me that you want to train, you want to exercise, you want to simulate as many conditions as you can before you actually come into contact with an opponent," Rogers said.

    On the cyber defense side, the admiral said, he'd like help from the technology sector to get to machine learning at speed and automation, and through this technology to help Cybercom free-up human capital. He'd also like the sector’s help with human capital development. "People love to talk about the technology, but our greatest edge isn't technology; our greatest edge is that motivated man or woman with the intellectual capacity to anticipate, to be innovative and to be agile," Rogers said. "Because what we're dealing with is driven by a man or woman somewhere in the world sitting at a keyboard. There's a human dimension in all of this. It's not just about the machine."

    On the offensive side - speaking for himself rather than the department, he said - there are things Rogers is trying to come to grips with. "In the application of kinetic functionality - weapons - we go to the private sector and say, 'Build this thing we call a joint directed-attack munition, a Tomahawk land-attack munition.’ Fill in the blank," he said. "On the offensive side, to date, we have done almost all of our weapons development internally," Rogers said. "And part of me goes - five to 10 years from now is that a long-term sustainable model? Does that enable you to access fully the capabilities resident in the private sector? I'm still trying to work my way through that, intellectually."

 

News from the U.S. Marshals Service

    The U.S. Marshals Service in Omaha, Neb., is warning the public about a telephone scam involving a man posing as a U.S. Marshal.

    A 31-year-old man wanted on a parole violation was shot during an attempted arrest by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Detroit, Mich., on Tuesday. Authorities say the fugitive is expected to survive.

    The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force captured Andre Steward in Baton Rouge, La., earlier today. Steward is a prison escapee.

    Savannah, Ga., Mayor Eddie DeLoach has presented the widow of a fallen U.S. Marshal with a special proclamation in his honor.

    Two fugitives wanted by the police in separate Erie, Ohio, homicides were apprehended together by the U.S. Marshals on Wednesday night at a residence in northeast Detroit, Mich.

    Kevin Glenn Carter, 52, wanted for kidnapping and rape, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals after being found hiding in a closet of a Durham, N.C., residence yesterday afternoon.

    Kelly Powell,  a man police believe is bringing drugs into Oakland County, Mich., is wanted for murder and the U.S. Marshals are asking for your help finding him.

    And a wanted Steuben County, Ohio, sex offender has been caught in Texas by the U.S. Marshals.

 

U.S. Air Force

    

    This month, members of the Iowa Air National Guard's 185th Air Refueling Wing, based in Sioux City, Iowa, are refueling NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft while assigned to NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany. Approximately 40 members from the 185th are in Germany for two weeks supporting NATO missions. The AWACS involves multifaceted radar equipped aircraft that provide surveillance and command and control for NATO areas of responsibility. Onboard aircraft crews provide communications and control for U.S. and partner nations, while also keeping a close eye on potential adversaries. These missions require long flight times and in-flight refueling provided by Air Guard units like the 185th. According to Royal Netherlands Air Force Capt. André Bongers, a public affairs officer stationed at Geilenkirchen, the long-standing partnership with the Air Guard is important to maintaining stability in the region.

    Congressional inaction on a permanent budget may be the top threat to the Air Force, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein has indicated. "There is no enemy on the planet than can do more damage to the United States Air Force than us not getting a budget," he said.

    The Tutor Perini Corp. (TPC) has been awarded a design-build contract by the U.S. Air Force to design and construct facilities in support of the Royal Saudi Air Force.

    The French Air Force is sending to the U.S. its crack flying display team, Patrouille de France, to visit with the U.S. Air Force.

    Cadets from the Air Force Academy have attended an Air Liaison Officers Aptitude course.

    Air Force officials released details on the fiscal year 2017 Selective Re-enlistment Bonus program, yesterday.

    The U.S. Air Force is trying to get permission to use an area off of the north of Kauai, Hawaii, as a test spot to drop 100 bombs each year.

    The 733rd Logistics Readiness Squadron's Vehicle Management Flight at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., was chosen to participate in a 12-month-long experimental testing of a new bio-based grease to lessen the base's impact on the environment. The 441st Vehicle Support Chain Operations Squadron and representatives from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) briefed the vehicle management flight about the impact of the bio-based grease on the three vehicles chosen to test the grease on Jan. 31st. Members of the 441st VSCOS will also partner with the Navy, Marine Corps, NASA and the Kennedy Space Center to test the bio-based grease in their vehicles.

    Rachel Guy and her husband, Major Darrell Guy, hugged and kissed prior to his deployment to Southwest Asia with the North Carolina Air National Guard this week. With this deployment, the 145th Airlift Wing is deploying its C-130s for the last time.

    The Ohio Air National Guard is getting 20 new Black Hawk helicopters. They're headed to Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base between now and the end of 2018.

    Astronauts deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) received a special package yesterday, shipped straight from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

    Forty-five members of the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing are heading to Hawaii on Feb. 27th to participate in a joint NASA and Defense Department mission to evaluate recovery techniques and gear that will be used to recover NASA's Orion spacecraft, the next generation of American space vehicles. The team of 45 airmen is made up of para-rescuemen; combat rescue officers; survival, evasion, resistance and escape specialists; and other support airmen assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing's 103rd Rescue Squadron, based at Gabreski Air National Guard Base, N.Y. Pararescuemen are trained to rescue downed aviators behind enemy lines and from land and water environments. Each pararescue airman undergoes two years of training that includes extensive medical training as well as training in parachute jumping, scuba diving and survival skills. The para-rescuemen are experienced in dropping fully stocked rescue boats to recover personnel. The New York Air National Guard members will work with experts from NASA, the Air Force and the Department of Defense's Human Spaceflight Support Office in developing techniques for air-dropping gear needed to recover the crew from an Orion screw module and fit the floating spacecraft with special equipment. The New York airmen will conduct airdrops and practice helping astronauts out of the spacecraft, providing medical assistance if necessary. The jumps will help NASA and the military test a number of systems and procedures for future launches.

    And Lt. Col. Darin Ninness, of Concord, has assumed command of the Civil Air Patrol's Concord Composite Squadron in Concord, N.H.

 

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