Saturday,
September 19, 2009 - Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown
NATO chief proposes linked U.S./Russia/NATO defense
The
head of NATO called yesterday for the U.S., Russia and NATO to link their
missile defense systems against potential new nuclear threats from Asia and the
Middle East, saying that the old foes must forget their lingering Cold War
animosity.
Pandemic flu vaccine to fall short, WHO says
Global production of swine flu vaccines will be
"substantially less" than the previous maximum forecast of 94 million doses a
week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.
Conservative Christians assail President Obama's
agenda
U.S. conservative Christians, a key base for the
out-of-power Republican Party, gathered in Washington, D.C., yesterday to
rally the faithful against President Obama's agenda, including his top domestic
priority of health care reform.
And get ready to see a lot of President Obama in
the next couple of days. Pushing his plan for health care reform, the president
will appear on five political talk shows tomorrow, as well as
The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday.
Iran's president raises stakes against Israel
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad raised the stakes
against Israel yesterday and called the Holocaust a lie, just as world powers
try to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political
turmoil.
Guantanamo detainees in video link to families
Several detainees at the U.S.
camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have made the first video-teleconference
calls to their families, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
said yesterday.
No sign of deal as Obama's envoy leave the Middle
East
Washington's
peace envoy ended a week of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East yesterday with
little yet to show for his efforts as Israel and the Palestinians dug in to
opposing positions on Jewish settlements.
Putin hails 'brave' U.S. shift on missiles
Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised President Obama's "brave" move to axe a
planned missile shield in Europe as NATO's chief called for a new strategic
partnership with the Kremlin.
Iranian opposition chiefs attacked during mass
protests
Iranian opposition chiefs were attacked yesterday
as their supporters battled riot police, with tens of thousands mounting the
first protest in two months against the re-election of hard-line President
Ahmadinejad.
U.S. Navy Flag Officer announcement
Vice Adm. David J. Dorsett
has been nominated for reappointment to the grade of vice admiral and
assignment as deputy chief of Naval Operations for information dominance, N2/N6,
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations/Director of Naval Intelligence, the
Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Dorsett is currently serving as director for
Intelligence, N2, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the Pentagon,
Washington, D.C.
Bank of America faces criminal probe
An FBI and Department of Justice investigation may
add criminal charges to civil and regulatory allegations, the bank's hometown
paper reports.
U.S. Marine Corps General Officer announcement
Maj. Gen. John F. Kelly
has been nominated for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general,
and assignment as commander, Marine Forces Reserve/commander, Marine Forces
North.
Kelly is currently serving as
the deputy commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton,
Calif.
Doctors baffled over swine flu cases
In the intensive care unit of a hospital in
Oklahoma, there are two children with the H1N1 flu. One is
expected to live, and one is not. Why that is has
their doctors baffled.
North Korea's nuclear vows fail to sway skeptics
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a visiting
Chinese envoy he will work to end his country's nuclear arms program through
multilateral talks in an apparent breakthrough, but similar vows in the past
have not been met with action.
Theft of radioactive scrap metal from Chernobyl
thwarted
Ukraine's State Security Service
(SBU) has thwarted smugglers' efforts to remove some 25 tons of radioactive
scrap metal from the Chornobyl disaster zone, RFE/RL's (Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty) Ukrainian Service reports.
Four unidentified police officers were
arrested in connection with the incident and an investigation is under
way.
SBU spokeswoman Maryna Ostapenko said the impounded
material's level of radioactivity is 13 times the allowable level.
NASA names crew for final shuttle mission
Chief astronaut Steven Lindsey, a veteran of four
shuttle missions, will command an all-veteran six-member crew for the final
planned space shuttle flight next year, NASA announced yesterday.
Peggy Whitson, a veteran space station commander,
will take over as chief astronaut as the shuttle program winds
down.
Lindsey will be joined by pilot Eric Boe and
mission specialists Benjamin "Al" Drew, Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott and
Timothy Kopra, all space veterans. Barratt and Stott are currently in orbit
aboard the International Space Station while Kopra just returned from a
long-duration stay.
Launch aboard the shuttle
Discovery on mission STS-133 is targeted for September 2010. During the
eight-day flight, a modified logistics module used to ferry equipment and
supplies to and from the space station will be permanently mounted on the
Earth-facing port of the central Unity module. No space-walks are currently
planned.
Barratt, who launched to the station aboard
a Russian Soyuz spacecraft last March, is scheduled to return to Earth with
Expedition 20 commander Gennady Padalka on Oct. 11. Stott, who replaced Kopra
aboard the station during Discovery's just-completed mission, is
scheduled to come home with the crew of the next shuttle flight in
November.
Only six shuttle flights remain before the
program is retired, all bound for the International Space Station. With
yesterday's announcement, all of the crews are now assigned and no unassigned
rookies remain in NASA's astronaut office at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas.
Somalia piracy suspect appears in New York City
court
A Somali teenager accused of leading a pirate
attack on an American cargo ship off the coast of Africa has made a brief
appearance before a New York judge.
California man convicted in nationwide anthrax scare
A federal jury has convicted a 66-year-old
Sacramento, Calif., man for mailing more than 100 anthrax hoax letters last
year.
U.S. and China strengthen partnership to prevent WMD
trade
The National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA) and China's General Administration of Customs (GAC), in
cooperation with the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA) and
the University of Georgia's Center for International Trade and Security, has
announced the successful conclusion of a workshop on Weapons of Mass Destruction
Commodity Identification Training (WMD-CIT) in Shanghai, China.
The workshop focused on effective means and ways to
recognize and inspect WMD-related goods. The WMD-CIT curriculum is developed and
delivered by NNSA's International Nonproliferation Export Control Program
(INECP), which has helped more than 60 countries strengthen implementation of
WMD-related export controls.
Plot suspect admits al-Qaida ties, may plead guilty
A 3-day-long FBI interrogation has revealed
a Denver, Colo., man received explosives training from al-Qaida.
Civil Air Patrol pilots to fly 'surrogate predators'
A Predator
sensor ball is mounted underneath the left wing of this Civil Air Patrol Cessna
182, turning the aircraft into a 'surrogate predator’ suitable for
pre-deployment training for Army and Marine
Corps forces.
With the conversion of a Civil Air Patrol plane
into a "surrogate predator," the U.S. Air Force is relying on its auxiliary in a
most imaginative way.
"We're using a manned aircraft
to simulate an unmanned aircraft," said CAP-USAF commander Col. Bill Ward,
explaining that a sophisticated "redator ball" placed under the left wing of a
Cessna 182 belonging to the CAP will give the plane the capability of
mimicking the Air Force’s MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, unmanned aircraft that
provide real-time data to U.S. warfighters.
The Air
Force will use the surrogate predator to fill a critical training gap in support
of Army and Marine Corps forces as they prepare for deployment.
"Due to the Air Force maximum surge effort to
provide more MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper support to ground units in CENTCOM,
there are no Predator or Reaper forces available to support pre-deployment
exercises such as Green Flag, which focuses on air-to-ground operations,” said
Maj. Matt Martin, chief of the Predator/Reaper Operations Branch of the Air
Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va. "The surrogate predator is the
solution."
The Air Combat Command, or ACC, with the
support of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, secured $2.5 million for the
Surrogate Predator Program, once it was determined that the CAP could
provide the needed training with its dedicated patriotic citizen volunteers at a
fraction of the cost of the private contractor currently providing the
training.
"We've seen nothing but enthusiasm and a
willingness to help from the Civil Air Patrol, which is why we chose them to do
this mission," said Martin.
With the predator ball in
place, the CAP plane-turned-surrogate predator has the capability of locking
onto a target and tracking it, said Col. Ward, adding that the ultimate
goal is to broadcast streaming video. "This will give our soldiers and Marines a
real-time view of what's going on," he
said.
Beginning this month, the ACC will provide
mission training to selected CAP crews at Fort Polk, La. "ACC experts will train
the CAP crews on how to do the mission using the same tactics, techniques and
procedures that Predator crews use on combat missions," said
Martin.
"Basically, we will imitate being a
Predator,” said Capt. David Lewis, the Louisiana CAP's project officer and one
of six CAP pilots initially chosen for the program, who described the joint
exercises like Green Flag as "the next big thing for the CAP in homeland
security and the defense of our country."
Lewis and
the other CAP pilots have prior military experience, which is a requirement for
the program. The pilots and their aircrews – a cadre of 18 CAP volunteers in all
– will be needed in the program’s initial stages. Many more CAP volunteers will
be involved as the program expands in the coming months. The ACC mission
training will qualify them to provide air interdiction, close air support and
intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance support to ground forces. After a
formal certification, these crews will be able to fly realistic surrogate
predator missions. The ACC will closely monitor the program and will use Air
Force operators with real-world Predator or Reaper experience to
assist.
"This initial cadre will then train the
dozens of crews that will be needed to sustain our regular Green Flag support,”
said Martin.
A second airplane is already being modified to
expand the Surrogate Predator Program. Once complete, the CAP will be able to
provide coverage for both Green Flag East exercises from Fort Polk, La., and
Green Flag West exercises from the National Training Center at Fort Irwin,
Calif., close to where the second surrogate predator will be stationed in Las
Vegas, Nev.
Green Flag exercises typically involve 11
days of flying, eight hours per day, at least 10 times per year, and
"hunter-killer scenarios," in which the surrogate predator starts by surveying
targets and providing full-motion video to the brigade combat team. "Once a
target is identified by the ground commander as hostile," Martin said, "the
surrogate Ppredator will dynamically re-task into the strike role and coordinate
with a forward air control to simulate the delivery of precision ordnance onto a
target."
Lewis foresees the potential of the
surrogate predator for other CAP missions, like search and rescue and emergency
services following hurricanes. "In the event of a natural disaster, the aircraft
will certainly be made available to NORTHCOM for civil response purposes," said
Martin. "However, due to the expense of the aircraft and the need to keep them
available to support joint exercises, we don't anticipate using them to train
for standard CAP missions."
"Everyone involved is
excited,” said Col. John Varljen, vice commander of the CAP's Southwest Region,
which includes its Louisiana Wing. The CAP takes possession of the first
Surrogate Predator this weekend. "This is an important mission, a real-world
mission," said Varljen. "It is our contribution to the war
effort."
Homeland security missions are nothing new
to the CAP, which has played a role in protecting America since its
beginning days patrolling the Atlantic Coast for enemy aircraft and chasing
German submarines during World War II. With its fleet of 550 aircraft, as well
as numerous ground assets, and a force 58,000-strong, the CAP is considered a
force multiplier at a very attractive cost.
"The
Civil Air Patrol is grateful for this new opportunity to aid in the defense of
America," said CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Amy Courter. "Our members are
true patriots who volunteer to serve and professionally execute their duties
with excellence every day. They truly go above and beyond the call of duty in
service to this great nation."
Ward predicts the
Surrogate Predator Program will be "a real success story" for the Civil Air
Patrol. "I think it’s going to highlight the CAP more than it already is to
the Department of Defense," he said.
The Civil Air
Patrol is the uniformed, unpaid, volunteer civilian Auxiliary of the U.S. Air
Force. For more information on the CAP, please visit
www.gocivilairpatrol.com .
NCIS director retires after 27 years of serviceBy
Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) Kristen Allen, USN, Naval
Criminal Investigative Service Public Affairs
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service
(NCIS) director stepped down from his position Sept. 12, and is retiring from
the organization after 27 years of service.
Special
Agent Thomas Betro's official retirement date is Dec. 4. Deputy Director for
Operations Greg Scovel is serving as acting director until Secretary of the Navy
Ray Mabus appoints a successor.
Betro joined the
then-Naval Investigative Service (NIS), NCIS' predecessor, in October 1982, and
has served in numerous positions around the world, including two tours afloat
aboard
USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) and
USS Enterprise (CVN
65). Other tours included offices in Newport, R.I.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Iceland
and Republic of the Philippines.
The NIS became
the NCIS in 1993.
"I loved every single
assignment I've ever had," said Betro. "I've always told people that my last
assignment was always my best, and I guess I'll walk out saying definitively
that was the case at the end. Everywhere I've been, I've had great offices,
worked with great people and in great
locations."
Former Secretary of the Navy Donald
Winter appointed Betro as the third civilian NCIS director on Jan. 8, 2006. As
director, Betro served as the senior official responsible for criminal,
counter-intelligence, and counter-terrorism investigations and related
operations within the Department of the Navy. He also managed protective service
operations for the naval leadership, had responsibility for information and
personnel security policy within the Navy Department and operated
the Navy's Central Adjudication Facility.
The
NCIS has about 2,400 civilian and military personnel serving in 41 countries and
more than 160 locations around the world. According to Betro the people are what
he will miss most about the agency. "It's been a great ride," said Betro. "I
can't thank each and every person in the NCIS enough for what they do for this
organization and what that's meant to me. I can't thank each and every one of
them individually, but I wish I could."
Related
site:
www.navy.mil/local/ncis/ .
Clinton warns Iran over its nuclear program
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday
that Iran's refusal to prove that its nuclear intentions are peaceful have
"profound consequences" for world security.
Sworn testimony by ArmorGroup executive challenged
A top executive of the private security contractor
hired to protect the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan was informed in July 2008 of
alleged illegal and immoral conduct by guards, attorneys for a whistle-blower
suing the company said yesterday.
Parole denied for thee woman who claimed abuse
By Jim Corvey, News of the Force - St. Louis
Three women convicted of murdering of their
husbands learned they were denied parole yesterday, despite claims their
husbands abused them and a new state law crafted specifically to get the
Missouri Board of Probation and Parole to consider their
cases.
Amy Lorenz-Moser, the attorney for two
of the women, Roberta Carlene Borden and Vicky Williams, said she received a
call from Borden, who informed her of the board's decision.
The three received new parole hearings under a 2007
law signed by then-Gov. Matt Blunt. The law said offenders who had murdered
their spouses would be eligible for parole if they had served at least 15 years
in prison, had no prior violent felony convictions, had a history of
"substantial physical abuse or sexual domestic violence" not presented at trial,
and were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years.
All three of the women had served 20 years or more.
It is the parole board's policy not to comment on
decisions until 10 days after they have been
made.
Lorenz-Moser said the denials were
devastating for her clients and their children, who have had their hopes dashed
before. "When something like this happens, it's harder each time," Lorenz-Moser
said. "It's the let-down."
Lorenz-Moser said
Borden, who is housed in the same prison as Ruby Jamerson, the third woman, told
her that Jamerson's parole had also been denied.
U.S. airmen conducting humanitarian mission in
VietnamBy Tech. Sgt. Kerry Jackson, USAF, 13th Air Force Public
Affairs
U.S. civil engineer and
medical airmen are in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, providing
humanitarian and civic assistance to local communities Sept. 15-24 as part of
"Operation
Pacific Angel 2009."
Operation
Pacific Angel is a joint and combined humanitarian assistance operation
conducted in the Pacific area of responsibility to support the U.S. Pacific
Command's capacity-building efforts. This humanitarian and civic assistance
program is aimed at improving military-civic cooperation between the United
States and countries throughout the Asia-Pacific
region.
"Our team has a lot of energy and
enthusiasm, and we feel privileged to support this humanitarian effort alongside
our Vietnamese counterparts," said Lt. Col. Alvin Alana, the operations officer
for Pacific Angel events in Vietnam. "We understand the quality-of-life value
that the construction and medical missions provide the Quang Tri Province
community,
and we look forward to strengthening the bonds of friendship with
the Vietnamese during our time here."
The
medical team will provide general medical care to Quang Tri Province residents,
to include care for chronic illnesses, acute illnesses, diabetes, hypertension,
and treatment for parasites, along with routine dental and optometry care.
Engineering efforts will include plumbing, electrical and structural work at the
Thuy Medical Center.
The medical and civil
engineer teams are working alongside the local East Meets West Foundation, a
non-governmental organization that believes every person deserves access to
clean water, proper medical treatment and a solid
education.
"It's very important to Vietnamese
people to know that the American people and the U.S. government came here to
help improve the living conditions of Vietnamese people," said Tran Thi Minh
Huong, national coordinator of the East Meets West Foundation. "It's very
appreciated."
This operation is unique in that dentists will
provide a comprehensive package of dental care to include complete dental exams,
x-rays, fillings, cleanings, sealings and oral hygiene education. Traditionally,
dental care in remote locations is limited to dental extractions, even if teeth
could be saved were more resources available. "We are able to provide elevated
levels of dental care, similar to care available in the United States, even
though we are in a remote-field site," said Capt. (Dr.) Charles Craft, a reserve
corps dental officer with the U.S. Public Health Service and the liaison
officer between the Air Force and the East Meets West Foundation here in
Vietnam. "Typically, only extractions are available, but because we are
partnering with an established NGO that has been here for more than 10 years, we
are
able to provide a more comprehensive level of care," Dr. Craft
said.
The team has already seen approximately
1,177 patients since opening their doors on Sept. 17, with more than 5,000
patients expected during the duration of the
mission.
Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces
operation led by the 13th Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Two
previous iterations of Operation Pacific Angel 2009 were conducted in July - one
to Indonesia and another to Timor Leste.
Obama birth certificate trial set for January
By Jeff Schwilk
The expedited trial has been set for Jan. 26, 2010,
just 4-1/2 months from now.
I and many other concerned veterans and citizens
attended the hearing yesterday in Federal Court in Santa Ana, Calif., in
the lawsuit against Barack Obama to determine his eligibility to be president
and commander-in-chief. About 150 people showed up, almost all in support
of the lawsuit to demand that Obama release his birth certificate and other
records that he has hidden from the American people.
Judge David Carter refused to hear Obama's request
for dismissal, instead setting a hearing date for Oct. 5, since Obama's
attorneys had just filed the motion yesterday. He indicated there was
almost no chance that this case would be dismissed.
Obama is arguing this lawsuit was filed in the
wrong court, if you can believe that. I guess Obama would prefer a
"kangaroo court" instead of a federal court.
Assuming Judge Carter denies Obama's motion for
dismissal, he will likely then order expedited discovery which will force Obama
to release his birth certificate in a timely manner - if he has one.
The judge, who is a former U.S. Marine, repeated
several times that this is a very serious case which must be resolved quickly so
that the troops know that their commander-in-chief is eligible to hold that
position and issue lawful orders to our military in this time of war. He
basically said Obama must prove his eligibility to the court, and said Americans
deserve to know the truth about their president.
The two U.S. Attorneys representing Obama tried
everything they could to sway the judge that this case was frivolous, but Carter
would have none of it and cut them off several times. Obama's attorneys
left the courtroom after the 90 minute hearing looking defeated and
nervous.
The truth about Obama's eligibility will be known
fairly soon - Judge Carter practically guaranteed it.
Congratulations to the plaintiffs' attorney,
Dr. Orly Taitz. She did a great job and won some huge victories yesterday; she
was fearless.
Oklahoma Air National Guard member relieved of
assignment
An Oklahoma Air National
Guard member who is accused of stealing electronics from the Tulsa Police
Department while on assignment there has been relieved of his responsibilities
with the Oklahoma National Guard's Counter-drug
Program.
Alex Robert Turner was charged
with felony embezzlement and concealing stolen property, court records show.
Turner, 22, is accused of taking electronic items while he worked with the
Police Special Investigations Division's Intelligence Unit, the arrest
report states.
Turner is a senior airman and
has been with the Oklahoma Air National Guard since 2005, said Air National
Guard Lt. Col. Max Moss. He was assigned to the Oklahoma National Guard's
Counter-drug Program, in which he was working as an intelligence analyst with
the Tulsa Police Department, Moss said.
The
mission of the national program is to provide military personnel and equipment
to support federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that work to reduce
the demand for drugs. Since 1989, the National Guard has worked with law
enforcement agencies and community-based organizations to perform interdiction
and anti-drug activities in the fight against illicit drugs, according to its
Web site.
After the theft allegations surfaced,
police officials ended Turner's assignment, and officers searched through his
work space to collect department-issued equipment. They found several items that
had been reported stolen and arrested Turner on Aug. 27, records show. Police
also searched Turner's house and vehicle, where they discovered several
other
devices that had been stolen. Other items were found hidden behind Turner's
desk, his arrest report indicates.
Beyond
removing him from the drug program, the military can review whether additional
action should be taken against him, depending the outcome of the criminal
case.
No one else from the Counter-drug Program
is assigned to the Tulsa Police Department, Officer Leland Ashley said.
Joint patrol offers mutual benefits in Afghanistan
By Capt. Tony Wickman, USAF, Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team
Public Affairs
Haji May Gull Jun, left, Asadabad's chief of police, discusses
security plans with U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Stewart Brough with help from local
interpreter Wrokhan Sahel, center, at Camp Wright, in the Asadabad district of
Afghanistan's Konar Province. Brough led the Konar Provincial Reconstruction
Team's first walking patrol in the Dam Kalay village. (U.S. Air Force photo
by Tech. Sgt. Brian Boisvert)
The Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team conducted
a power assessment in Dam Kalay village in the Asadabad district of Konar
Province, Afghanistan, an event that offered security force members the
opportunity to patrol with their Afghan counterparts.
This was the reconstruction team's first walking
foot patrol through the village with the Afghan National Police. The interaction
was beneficial for both, team members
said.
"The patrol went well and it was a good
experience," said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Stewart Brough, security force platoon
leader for the team. "When locals see our [Afghan] counterparts and us out
together, it gives them confidence."
Brough
said part of the team commander's intent is to put an Afghan face to the
government's efforts in the province, and that includes
security.
U.S. Army Pvt. Daniel Hancock, a team
security force member from Las Vegas, Nev., said it was helpful to work
with the local police. "This patrol will help us integrate better with the
[Afghan police] and them with us," he said. "It also gives people confidence in
their local police to protect them."
Hancock
noted that the team's security members gained some cultural insights during the
patrol. Afghan police pointed out a section of the river that village elders
didn't want the patrol to cross because local women were gathering water, he
said. "So, on the patrol the [Afghan police] were able to tell us, so we could
hold up until the women were gone to keep everyone safe and happy," Hancock
said. In turn, Hancock said, the Afghan police offered valuable help with
security.
The patrol was deemed a success,
Brough said.
Manning overage gives U.S. Army a jump on expansion
The U.S. Army Reserve, which has struggled to
make end-strength in recent years, will now be over-strength by 1,356
soldiers.
Last few families depart Texas detention center
The last immigrant families
have departed a disparaged former Texas prison that housed them while they
awaited decisions in immigration cases, federal officials said yesterday.
The families have been deported, paroled or
released while they pursue asylum or another immigration status to remain in the
U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement.
The last four families left the T. Don Hutto
facility, in Taylor, Texas, this week. ICE has said Hutto will now house
only female detainees.
Federal officials announced last month that Hutto
would no longer hold immigrant and asylum-seeking families as part of a
Department of Homeland Security plan to reform detention policies. Families
arriving at the U.S. border and entry points from now on either will be placed
under supervision or detained at the much-smaller Berks Family Residential
Center in Leesport, Pa.
Hutto opened as a family detention center in 2006
to ensure the families would show up to immigration court. ICE wanted to end the
"catch and release" practice that had permitted families in the U.S. illegally
to remain free while awaiting a hearing. Some borrowed other people's children
and posed as families to avoid detention, ICE officials maintain. But Hutto
quickly drew criticism. Guards trained to detain violent criminal adults were in
charge of sad, sick or restless children - from babies to teenagers.
Parents complained children were disciplined with threats of being separated
from their family. ICE has said all at Hutto were treated humanely.
Children and parents lived in tiny cells furnished
with bunk beds and a steel toilet and lined up for up to several head counts
daily. Toys, pencils or even juice boxes were not allowed in the cells. The
school day was just an hour or two.
After advocates sued the government, privacy
curtains were installed around cell toilets and razor wire was removed from
around the complex. Cartoon murals were painted on walls. Children began
attending more regular school days.
Court-appointed observers inspected the facility
and talked to the detainees. The government periodically reviewed cases to
determine if families could be bonded out or paroled.
Hutto was set to stop holding families by year's
end, but outgoing Homeland Security detention adviser Dora Schriro had said she
expected them to leave sooner. Schriro, whose last day heading the department's
Office of Detention Policy and Planning was yesterday, was to leave a report
detailing other detention recommendations before starting Monday as the New
York City jails commissioner.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is
expected to make the report public soon.
Suicide blast kills 30 in Pakistan
A suicide car bomb attack has killed at least
30 and wounded scores more, flattening a hotel and stores at a Shiite market in
the city of Kohat.
Obama rejects race as lead cause of criticism
President Obama says distrust of the role of
government - rather than his race - was the cause of fierce criticism in
the contentious debate over health care.
New missile plan better suited against Iran, Gates
says
The new U.S. missile defense plan will offer better
protection than a previous proposal even if intelligence forecasts on Iran prove
wrong, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.
As opposed to earlier plans to build ground-based
components in Poland and the Czech Republic, the new sea-based approach is
better suited to intelligence on Iranian threats and would provide protection
sooner, the secretary said.
Going a step
further, Gates - a former CIA director - said the new arrangement is preferable
even if U.S. intelligence assessments that indicate Iran is more focused on
developing short-range missiles over long-range capabilities prove
incorrect.
"I probably am more familiar with
the risks of over-reliance on intelligence than anybody, because I've seen how
often it's wrong," he said. "If the intelligence is wrong, and the Iranians
develop a capability sooner than the intelligence is saying, this architecture
gives us a better chance of being able to cope with it than the previous
program, just because of the new technologies that are available that give us
more flexibility."
The defense secretary
appeared before Pentagon reporters with his Czech counterpart, Martin Bartak,
following a meeting that included discussion of the new missile defense system
in Europe that President Obama announced in
Thursday.
In December 2006, Gates recommended
to then-President George W. Bush that the United States should put advanced
radars in the Czech Republic and 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland. That
was when intelligence officials gauged the development of Iran's
intercontinental ballistic missile as the foremost threat to the United States
and its allies. Now, intelligence reports paint a different picture – that the
country is moving faster to develop its shorter-range missiles. "The original
program that I recommended would have had no capability against short- and
medium-range missiles until probably 2018," Gates said yesterday. "What the new
system provides is some capability beginning in 2011 that will grow steadily
each year in terms of its sophistication and its coverage of Europe. The next
phase would begin in 2015."
A drawback to the
previous plan was that ground-based interceptors designed to deal with no more
than five enemy missiles at once were prone to being overwhelmed by a larger
salvo fired simultaneously, Gates said. "What we have seen with the Iranians is
that they're producing and deploying significant numbers of short and
intermediate missiles, and so a salvo like that could overwhelm even when the 10
interceptors were in place," he said, though he added that research will
continue on the ground-based system.
After much
deliberation, Gates told reporters, his recommendation to Obama was to begin
phasing in a missile defense system that puts radars and missiles in place
sooner that are more suited to protect against the current threat. Plans are
then to continue building on the system to increase its range of defense
capabilities.
Deploying the Navy's ships
equipped with the Aegis weapons system to the region by 2011 drives the new
plan's initial phase. Their Standard Missile 3 interceptor has passed several
tests in the past two years, and forward-positioned Army radar systems will
support them.
This will give the military a smaller range of detection and
protection, but is enough initially to protect U.S. troops and our allies
against Iran's shorter-range missiles, officials said.
Border security fences and hi-tech cameras deemed
ineffective
Lawmakers are taking aim at the $3.7-billion
Department of Homeland Security effort to install miles of fences and high-tech
cameras along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Taji celebrates graduation of Intermediate Intelligence
courses
Two hundred sixty-nine Iraqi
intelligence professionals from multiple units throughout Iraq graduated from
seven Intermediate Intelligence courses at the Intelligence and Military
Security School (IMSS) in Taji, Iraq, on Sept.
10.
The majority of graduates were military
members from the Iraqi Army but also included civilian and military personnel
from the Navy, Air Force and other intelligence organizations within the
Ministry of Defense.
Training began Aug.
8. The seven courses specialized in human intelligence, counter- intelligence,
intelligence staff analysis, signals intelligence, reconnaissance and
surveillance, Air Force ntelligence and naval intelligence. The diverse
five-week curriculum included
classroom instruction, practical exercises and
role-playing events.
During graduation,
the guest speaker and former IMSS commandant from 2005-2007, retired Iraqi Gen.
Salman, emphasized the importance of intelligence in making Iraq a safer
country. He noted that Iraq was "depending on" the graduates and the new
intelligence professionals are the "eyes and ears of the commander."
Today in History
On Sept. 19, 1881, the 20th president of the United
States, James A. Garfield, died of wounds inflicted by an assassin.
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