June 24, 2010

Reporting from Beijing

Chinese officials announced Thursday that they had broken up a cell of Islamic separatists from the restive Xinjiang region who they said represented the "main terrorist threats" facing the country.

At a news conference in Beijing, public security officials displayed photographs of knives, hatchets, bullets and homemade explosives said to have been confiscated between July and October from members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. East Turkestan is the name used by many ethnic Uighurs for Xinjiang, in northwestern China.

"This once again proves that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and other organizations are the main terrorist threats our nation faces presently and in the near future," said Wu Heping, a spokesman for the Public Security Ministry.

Ten people were arrested, two of whom were identified as ringleaders: Abudurexiti Abulaiti, 42, and Yiming Semair, 33. The men were said to have connections to an international terrorist who had been "dispatched from abroad" to Xinjiang.

The announcement elicited skepticism from human rights advocates, who say China has a history of inflating terrorism threats to justify repression of minorities. The timing of the news conference was also questioned, coming shortly before the one-year anniversary of massive ethnic riots in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, where about 200 people, mostly Han Chinese, were killed.

"There is no disputing there are violent people who advocate violence as a mode of opposing Chinese rule in Xinjiang, but it is hard to have confidence in these pronouncements by the Chinese government when they have a record of exaggerating their claims and using torture to obtain confessions," said Nicholas Bequelin, an expert on Xinjiang and researcher with Human Rights Watch. He said the collection of weapons displayed, which included penknives, looked "pretty homegrown."

Some analysts believe that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement does not exist as an organized terrorist group, but that there are different ad hoc groups working against China. One leader of the anti-Chinese movement, Abdul Haq Turkistani, is thought to have been killed Feb. 15 in a U.S. airstrike against Taliban commanders in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Singapore-based terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, who recently published a book on ethnic violence in China, said the Islamic militant movements were not as strong as they had been in the past, but still posed a danger.

"They are still a significant threat," Gunaratna said. "There are new cells that have formed since the Urumqi riots. They may be rudimentary and not have the historical experience, but there certainly are cells that are planning and preparing attacks."

Those arrested were said by the Chinese to be involved in a series of attacks around the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Days before the Games, two men rammed a dump truck into a group of policemen who were jogging in the western city of Kashgar, killing 17 people. A week later, 12 people were killed with knives and homemade explosives in the oasis town of Kuqa.

Officials said Thursday that the same group had been planning similar attacks around Xinjiang last summer in the aftermath of the riots.

One particularly controversial aspect of the latest crackdown is that three of the 10 people arrested had been among 20 Uighurs extradited in December from Cambodia, where they had sought refuge with the help of Christian missionaries. The extradition raised a howl of protest from human rights groups that accused China of pressuring Cambodia to turn over the Uighurs.

On Thursday, public security spokesman Wu defended the extradition, saying that those who were cleared of wrongdoing had been released and that the government had helped a woman and two children get settled again "in line with humanitarian sentiment."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-terror-arrests-20100625,0,7517187,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accused Colombian drug lord pleads guilty to U.S. charges

Francisco Gonzalez-Uribe is expected to get life in prison for bringing tons of heroin and cocaine into the U.S.

By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau

June 24, 2010

Reporting from Washington

A top Colombian drug lord whom the United States has long considered one of the most dangerous smugglers pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to trafficking tons of heroin and cocaine into the U.S.

Francisco Gonzalez-Uribe had been awaiting trial in New York on charges of running a criminal enterprise dating back at least to 2007 that was accused of shipping loads of drugs to New York and other U.S. cities.

Federal prosecutors are likely to seek a sentence of life in prison with no parole. Now 44 years old, Gonzalez-Uribe was arrested in 2009 in the Dominican Republic and extradited to the United States.

According to the case against him, Gonzalez-Uribe ran an enterprise that shipped drugs to Mexico and countries in Central and South America, and then moved the narcotics to the U.S. and Europe.

Authorities said that that during two undercover operations in early 2009, Drug Enforcement Administration agents intercepted phone calls in which Gonzalez-Uribe orchestrated the shipment of narcotics to New York, and the DEA seized drugs with a wholesale value of about $2 million.

Gonzalez-Uribe also was heard on the phone attempting to purchase a number of large aircraft, including a DC-8 jet, authorities said.

Before his arrest, Gonzalez-Uribe was placed on the Justice Department's roster of 40 targeted international "command and control" drug traffickers and money launderers.

The target list, which is much like the FBI's most-wanted list, is aimed at taking down some of the "world's most dangerous and prolific narcotics traffickers."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drugs-uribe-20100625,0,3690927,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FBI seeks leads in child porn case at Fort Irwin

June 24, 2010

Federal authorities on Thursday were looking for victims who may have been molested by a former Fort Irwin Army soldier charged with possessing child pornography and illegal sexual contact with children.

Joseph Scott Szymanski, 23, was arrested in June in Fairbanks, Alaska, after he was charged in federal court in Riverside County with possessing pornographic images of several children whom he babysat or had contact with while living in Fort Irwin, the FBI said Thursday.

A digital memory card has been found at the fort that shows photos of naked underage boys, and boys engaged in sexual acts, according to the FBI. Agents allegedly tied Szymanski to the photos through furniture and other items in the images.

Szymanski, who left the Army and was living in Fairbanks, was a member of Scouting and religious organizations that would have provided access to children, the bureau said.

Anyone with information is asked to call FBI Agent Jeffrey Stiff at (951) 248-6582.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A veteran's indebtedness to taxpayers

After his discharge, a Marine from the Korean War era took advantage of several generous government programs that he realizes were key to the good life.

Ralph E. Shaffer

June 25, 2010

I turn 80 today. Sixty years ago, on my 20th birthday, an event occurred that changed the lives of my generation. The Cold War turned hot as North Korea invaded its southern neighbor. For kids like me who were not old enough to serve during World War II, this would be "our war." It's often called "the Forgotten War." For us, it will never be forgotten. Nor did America forget us when we returned to civilian life.

During the Korean War, I was a Marine, serving as a member of the Camp Pendleton Post Band. Marines headed for combat shipped out monthly from San Diego, and our band playing martial music and a few relatives at the dock were their only send-off. Their return was even less ceremonial.

But at the end of our service, we returned to civilian life with the generous assistance of U.S. taxpayers. In my case, the three years I spent as a grad student at UC Berkeley were subsidized by the federal benefits for Korean War vets. The state, through Cal Vet benefits, paid for typing my dissertation.

Our educational benefits differed from those in the original G.I. Bill, which covered college tuition — both public and private — for vets returning home after World War II. Korean vets received higher monthly living allowances but had to pay their own tuition. That encouraged enrollment at state schools, and led in part to the great expansion of the California State College, now University, system.

I also took advantage of another veterans' benefit, this one from the people of California. After five years of marriage, my wife and I had enough saved to buy a lot in suburban Southern California. With the help of a Cal Vet loan, we built the house my wife designed. It's been the Shaffer home for 46 years. The loan, which started out with a mortgage payment of a mere $89 a month and an interest rate of about 2%, included both earthquake and property insurance. Over the years the payment ballooned to slightly more than $100 a month. Initially the state even paid the postage for our monthly payments.

The justifiable criticism of the Veterans Administration for its treatment of the wounded returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has overshadowed the generous assistance that this nation and our state have provided to most vets since World War II.

On this anniversary of my war, I want to thank all Americans and especially Californians for their unflinching aid to former service men and women of all wars. To the taxpayers' credit, they have not only offered the traditional benefits to current vets but now also pay for the rapidly rising cost of tuition at our state's colleges. And the folks at Cal Vet still proudly tout the inclusion of earthquake insurance with its extremely low-interest home loans. We have this benefit through bonds voted on by California taxpayers, who have never rejected a Cal Vet bond issue since its inception after World War I.

At the same time, let's not forget that for nearly 100,000 Americans who went to the Korean conflict or who have fought since then in other hellholes, there was no college education, no home loan, no reunions to attend. Their only benefit was a spot in a national cemetery.

Ralph E. Shaffer is a professor emeritus of history at Cal Poly Pomona.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-shaffer-calvets-20100625,0,3763275,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From South Korea, a note of thanks

The war broke out 60 years ago today. Tens of thousands of Americans gave their lives to preserve democracy.

By Lee Myung-bak

June 25, 2010

Sixty years ago, at dawn on June 25, the Korean War broke out when Communist North Korea invaded the Republic of Korea. In response, 16 member countries of the United Nations, including the United States, joined with the Republic of Korea to defend freedom. Over the next three years of fighting, about 37,000 Americans lost their lives. They fought for the freedom of Koreans they did not even know, and thanks to their sacrifices, the peace and democracy of the republic were protected.

On the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, I remain grateful to America for having participated in the war. At that time, the Republic of Korea was one of the most impoverished countries, with an annual per capita income of less than $40. In 2009, my country became a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Development Assistance Committee, the first aid recipient to become a donor and in only one generation. The Republic of Korea is engaged in peacekeeping missions in 14 countries to promote global peace. It will host the G-20 summit in November, and in 2012 the second nuclear security summit.

The Republic of Korea has emerged as an important partner of the United States in many parts of the world. Also, in the course of investigating and responding to the North's March sinking of our naval vessel the Cheonan, Seoul and Washington have closely coordinated efforts and expertise. In all these endeavors, we are not losing sight of the necessity of eventually turning the Korean Peninsula into a cradle of regional and world peace.

On this significant occasion, all Koreans pay tribute to the heroes fallen in defense of freedom and democracy. I firmly believe that future generations in both countries will further advance the strong Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance into one befitting the spirit of the new age.

Lee Myung-bak is president of the Republic of Korea.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lee-thanks-20100625,0,7627682,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the New York Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. Declares Chechen Militant a Terrorist

By ELLEN BARRY

MOSCOW — Russia on Thursday hailed a decision by the United States to designate the Caucasian insurgent leader Doku Umarov a terrorist, a step announced on the eve of President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s visit to the White House.

The State Department late Wednesday released a statement describing Mr. Umarov, formerly a Chechen separatist commander, as being part of a radical jihadist movement that poses a threat to the United States as well. Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, said that Mr. Umarov’s recent attacks on Russian targets “illustrate the global nature of the terrorist problem we fight today.”

Western governments have historically been reluctant to consider Caucasian militants in the same light as organizations like Al Qaeda, in part because they evolved out of a secular push for independence that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union. The designation received approving news media coverage in Russia, whose leaders have often intimated that the insurgency receives financing or encouragement from the West.

“It seems the American leadership has finally acknowledged that Caucasian terrorists and the notorious Al Qaeda are links in the same chain,” Komsomolskaya Pravda, a popular tabloid newspaper, wrote. “And maybe now in the West they will seriously take care of militants and their international sponsors.”

Mr. Umarov, 46, has acknowledged that he was barely religious until late in life, but in 2007 he pronounced himself the emir of the Caucasus Emirate, which aims to establish a pan-Caucasian state independent of Russia and based on Islamic law. He revived a dormant Chechen suicide battalion, Riyadus-Salikhin, just as the tactic surged back in the North Caucasus, and in February he vowed to strike in central Russia, saying “blood will no longer spill only in our cities and towns.”

Largely known as a guerrilla fighter, Mr. Umarov emerged from the shadows in March to take responsibility for suicide bombings on Moscow’s subway, which killed 40 people. His organization also took responsibility for the bombing of a luxury train, the Nevsky Express, which killed 28 last November, and an attack that nearly killed the president of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov.

Anatoly E. Safonov, Mr. Medvedev’s representative on terrorism, said the State Department designation would help Russia in its efforts to stamp out the insurgency, by imposing international sanctions on anyone who aids Mr. Umarov or his associates.

“It’s obviously a plus,” he told Interfax. “This is a good signal to all the second-rate and third-rate figures abroad who have supported Umarov in some way. This is a signal to them that if they do not stop, they are next in line.”

Mr. Umarov is the latest on a list of 83 individuals or entities identified by the president or secretary of state under an executive order by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks. Four other designations sprang from the conflict in Chechnya and were passed in 2003.

Russian officials celebrated the decision on Thursday, with the Foreign Ministry calling it “an important acceptance of the indivisible and universal nature of international terrorist threats.”

Ramzan A. Kadyrov, president of Chechnya, said the decision should have come earlier, when Mr. Umarov commanded a powerful force. “There remain just a few individuals in the forest — most have found a way back into peaceful life,” he said. “Umarov is a sick, toothless, pitiful being.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/europe/25moscow.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Inmates, New Greenhouse Provides New Growth

By ASH-HAR QURAISHI

When Adolf Jerger was sent to Cook County Jail in February for failing to pay child support, he never imagined his six months behind bars would include growing produce for upscale Chicago restaurants.

Mr. Jerger, who worked as an auto mechanic for more than 27 years, is four months into earning his master gardener certificate at the jail, along with 21 other inmates this year. For nearly two decades, the jail has offered nonviolent offenders training in horticulture, gardening and landscaping and has graduated more than 200 inmates.

The program has generated 9,000 pounds of produce each year at a cost of about $1,500 annually, paid for from profits from the inmate commissary. Over the past 17 years, it has provided about 50 tons of fresh produce to homeless shelters and other nonprofit organizations.

Despite the program’s success, the challenge for jail officials has been making the program self-sustaining. They may have found the answer in a just-completed 1,500-square-foot rooftop greenhouse, an addition to the existing 14,000-square-foot garden.

Now, produce buyers from Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant, The Publican and Ala Carte have come calling for items like arugula, mustard greens and basil.

“We don’t see it as it’s the Cook County Jail,” said Matthias Merges, executive chef at Trotter’s. “They’re a purveyor of something of quality, and we like to use it because what we do with our cuisine is quality-driven produce and product.”

The $149,000 expansion, financed by money generated from commissary purchases, allows gardening year-round.

“I think it’s great,” Mr. Jerger said. “Because me being in a field working with my hands, it gives me a chance to do that out here in a different form than I’m usually accustomed to.”

The jail’s program started in 1993 in partnership with the University of Illinois Extension Service.

David Devane, executive director of the Department of Community Supervision and Intervention at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, said one goal was to provide inmates with job skills they could take with them once they were released. He added that the program was also therapeutic. Of the 36 inmates who went through the program last year, only one was arrested and convicted after release, jail officials said.

“It’s no cure-all,” Mr. Devane said. “But quite a few of them express a great deal of satisfaction, especially as we go on in the growing season and they can see their plants getting considerably higher.”

Mr. Merges said he planned to go to the jail every other week to see what was available and to advise jail officials on what produce would be in demand from season to season.

“Frankly, it’s much nicer than 50 percent of every other farm out there,” he said of the jail’s produce. “And I think the program’s great; it helps people out. It keeps them focused, and the product they turn out is excellent.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/us/25cncjail.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sick Detained Immigrant to Appeal to U.N. for Help

By NINA BERNSTEIN

A 61-year-old Jamaican man who spent three decades working in New York is likely to die of medical neglect in a Louisiana immigration detention center unless the United Nations intervenes, says an urgent petition that his advocates plan to submit to the international organization on Friday.

The unusual petition is a last-ditch effort to win the release of the ailing man, Carlyle Leslie Owen Dale, a legal permanent resident who has been held for deportation for more than five years as his court appeals languished and his health sharply declined from diabetes, chronic asthma, liver disease, severe arthritis and high blood pressure.

On Thursday afternoon, his advocates at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago learned of a new development that added weight to their argument that his detention was arbitrary and unjustified: The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had overruled Mr. Dale’s deportation order, finding that the Board of Immigration Appeals had wrongly concluded that his 2000 conviction for attempted assault made him deportable as an “aggravated felon.” The court sent the case back to the board for a new decision.

But it is unclear when, or even whether, that decision will lead to Mr. Dale’s release to his family, which includes a son, a daughter and two grandchildren in Orlando, Fla., and a son in Biloxi, Miss., all American citizens.

In a telephone interview from the Federal Detention Center at Oakdale, La., minutes after learning of the court ruling, he wept.

“I cannot understand why I should have been detained for five years and suffer as much as I did in a country like this, just because I exercised my rights to challenge my deportation,” he said.

According to his advocates’ petition to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, Mr. Dale has been hospitalized five times in the past 20 months for problems including asthmatic bronchitis, acute diabetes, pancreatitis, chronic congestive heart failure, flesh-eating bacterial infection, obstructive pulmonary disease and a hernia.

Though doctors reported that he had suffered “near respiratory arrest,” the petition says, Mr. Dale recently endured days of gasping for breath at the Oakdale detention center; he had a nebulizer mask pulled from his face by an infirmary assistant who accused him of “faking it” and told him to do push-ups in his cell.

Mr. Dale filed a complaint about the assistant’s behavior, but it was declared “without merit” by the same detention official who had denied all his requests for release while his appeal was pending, the petition says.

An outline of Mr. Dale’s case, which did not identify him, was presented by National Immigrant Justice Center advocates at a White House meeting in May under the heading “The Next Death in Immigration Detention.” His advocates said they decided to turn to the United Nations group only after fruitless appeals to officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including Phyllis Coven, the acting director of detention policy and planning, who visited Oakdale this month.

Brian P. Hale, a spokesman for the agency, said that despite the Fifth Circuit decision, Mr. Dale was an “aggravated felon,” subject to mandatory detention. Mr. Hale said senior officials had reviewed Mr. Dale’s care and were satisfied that he had “unfettered access to medical treatment.”

Mr. Dale’s case, and the petition to an international body more accustomed to appeals from places like Myanmar and China than the United States, underscores the current frustration of immigrant advocates who were enthusiastic when the Obama administration first vowed to overhaul immigration detention. Their petition contends that medical neglect and human rights abuses remain rife in a system that continues to detain some 400,000 people a year.

Tara Tidwell Cullen, a spokeswoman for the center, said advocates hoped that bringing international attention to the Dale case would “increase pressure on ICE to improve oversight of detention facilities, and save the lives of our client and others.”

The government has been trying to deport him since 2005, based on his guilty plea to attempted aggravated assault in a 1998 shooting at a halfway house he operated in Uniondale, N.Y. Mr. Dale, who had never been in trouble with the law, served three and a half years in prison and paid more than $9,000 in restitution to the resident he shot with an unregistered gun during an argument in which he said he was threatened with a knife.

Until the shooting, Mr. Dale’s life had followed a path like that of many immigrants to New York. He worked his way through community college as a gas station attendant and a taxi driver, married and had three children, eventually rising through better jobs at Kennedy International Airport and an advertising agency in Oceanside, N.Y., and then establishing a business of his own, the Safe Housing Project

The Safe Housing Project operated several halfway houses for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Mr. Dale worked closely with social services officials and detoxification programs in New York City and Nassau County.

The ruling in his favor by the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, turned on complex legal questions, including whether Mr. Dale had exhausted his administrative appeals. (He had.)

But in oral arguments, the chief judge, Edith H. Jones, showed a broader kind of sympathy for Mr. Dale when she learned about the circumstances of the shooting. “That makes it sound more like a caricature of what Texans believe New York justice to be — that self-defense is a crime,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/nyregion/25detain.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congress Fails to Pass an Extension of Jobless Aid

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

WASHINGTON — Legislation to extend unemployment subsidies for hundreds of thousands of Americans who have exhausted their jobless benefits teetered on the edge of collapse on Thursday, as Senate Democrats and Republicans traded bitter accusations about who was to blame for an eight-week impasse.

Senate Republicans and a lone Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, joined forces to filibuster the bill in a procedural vote on Thursday. Visibly frustrated, the majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said he would move on to other business next week because he saw little chance of winning over any Republican votes.

The vote was 57 to 41, with the Democrats falling three short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.

“You’ll hear a lot of excuses,” Mr. Reid said at a news conference. “The bottom line is the minority just said no.”

Trying to appeal to Republicans, Mr. Reid on Wednesday night introduced yet another version of the legislation, which also includes important tax changes. But even as he unveiled the new package, aides conceded he did not have the votes.

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has insisted that the bill not add to the deficit. Democrats argued that they had found ways to cover the entire cost of the $112 billion measure, with the exception of the $35.5 billion extension of unemployment benefits, which some Republicans said they could accept.

But some Republicans who had been negotiating with Mr. Reid said they remained opposed to tax increases in the bill, and Mr. McConnell insisted that Republicans would not support any increase in the deficit.

To dramatize the point, after blocking the Democrats’ bill, Mr. McConnell proposed a one-month extension of unemployment benefits and some other safety-net spending, to be paid for with about $10 billion in unspent money from last year’s economic stimulus program.

Democrats had already proposed using some stimulus money to help pay for the bill, and Mr. McConnell said he was simply endorsing the same idea.

“The only thing Republicans have opposed in this debate are job-killing taxes and adding to the national debt,” Mr. McConnell said. Anticipating that Democrats would reject his proposal, he added, “Their commitment to deficit spending trumps their desire to help the unemployed.”

The Obama administration has not fought aggressively for the legislation but the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, issued a statement chastising Republicans for opposing the bill.

“Republicans in the Senate obstructed a common-sense package that would save jobs, extend tax cuts for businesses and provide relief for American families,” Mr. Gibbs said, adding, “The president will continue to press Congress to pass this bill and bring this relief that’s critical to our economic recovery.”

Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee, who is the primary sponsor of the legislation, said the bill had been cut back by about $100 billion in response to Republicans’ demands for a smaller package.

In the latest version, the Democrats pared a provision to extend higher Medicaid reimbursement for the states, to $16 billion from $24 billion, and also found offsets in spending to cover the cost.

Democrats, citing data by the National Employment Law Project, say that without Congressional action, 1.2 million Americans will exhaust their jobless benefits by the end of the month.

The legislation would reinstate numerous expired tax breaks, as well as provide an array of safety-net spending. To help cover the cost, Democrats also proposed shifting some unspent money from last year’s economic stimulus program, a move that prompted Republican cheers.

Even some Democrats have expressed deep reservations about adding to the nation’s fast-growing deficit. Mr. Nelson and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, who caucuses with the Democrats, have joined with Republicans in opposing the bill.

House Democrats did not include the extra Medicaid money for states in its version of the bill out of concern for the cost.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/us/politics/25jobs.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Forgotten War, Remembered
OPINION

By KIE YOUNG-SHIM, RALPH HOCKLEY, ZHOU MING FU and BERNARD E. TRAINOR.

Sixty years ago today, units of the North Korean Army crossed the 38th Parallel, invading South Korea and starting the Korean War — which grew into a cold war clash between the United States and China. Although more than two million soldiers and civilians died over the next three years, including more than 54,000 Americans, the war is now an overlooked part of United States history. The Op-Ed editors asked four veterans for their memories of the conflict. (see articles below)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25KoreaIntro.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

Racing From Mao’s Bugles

By KIE YOUNG-SHIM

The North Korean Army invaded on a Sunday, when most of the young South Korean soldiers had gone home to their family farms to help with the rice planting and many officers were still waking up from a night of dancing and drinking with their American compatriots.

I was a high school senior in Seoul, and when the city fell three days later, I blindly followed the retreating soldiers south. I volunteered for the infantry. Because I had participated in the reserve officers program in high school, I received only five days of training before being put in charge of a 210-man unit.

A freight train took us to the front, at the Nakdong River, where we were attached to the newly arrived American 65th Infantry Regimental Combat Team. We were told to hold a section of the river bank. The air smelled of rotting corpses.

In September, Gen. Douglas MacArthur accomplished his historic landing at Inchon, nearly cutting the North Korean forces in two. We were reassigned to a follow-up landing at Wonsan, on the eastern coast. The tide had turned; we performed mop-up operations, following the main force as it pushed the North Koreans toward China.

But the course of the war reversed again when the Chinese entered. We provided cover for units of the fast-retreating American First Marine Division, then retreated ourselves, covering several miles a day. Mao's soldiers attacked in wave after wave, even as we practically destroyed each attack with our heavy weapons. They often struck at night, their bugles signaling an advance and sending fear through our lines.

After a few weeks we held the line at Hungnam. As other units fought the enemy, my unit helped evacuate the tens of thousands of North Korean refugees who had followed the retreat. We may not have won a complete victory in the war, but I am glad to have aided so many in their flight from Kim Il-sung.

Kie Young-Shim is a veteran of the South Korean Army and lawyer in Northbrook, Ill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25Shim.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pinned Down At Busan

By RALPH HOCKLEY

I landed in Busan, South Korea, on Aug. 4, 1950. Busan is near the southern tip of the peninsula, and at the time the area around it was all that was left of the country; the rest had been overrun by the North Koreans. The valley we were in, just north of Daegu, later became known as the “Bowling Alley.”

I was a second lieutenant in a field artillery unit of the Second Infantry Division and a forward observer, watching for enemy movement and calling in artillery fire.

On my second day of combat, the battery commander ordered me to climb a hill above his location. With me was my sergeant, Warren Truitt, a fine, older non-commissioned officer; my radio operator; and me. At dusk we were joined by four infantrymen.

Around midnight it began to rain, and we were soon drenched. I stayed awake, peering into the night. Around 4 a.m., I heard a bugle in the valley below. We were about to be attacked. But I could not call in fire because we had no idea where friendly or enemy troops were.

Suddenly, I saw a crouching enemy soldier moving up toward us, holding an enormous rifle with a fixed bayonet. He was no more than 25 feet away. I grabbed my carbine, aimed and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. My weapon was too wet to function — a surprise, given that our training instructions said that carbines always worked. I then grabbed my .45 automatic from its holster inside my field jacket and aimed it at the advancing enemy.

The enemy soldier had raised his rifle and was about to shoot when my bullet stopped him cold. As he fell, I saw enough of him to remember the look on his face and recognize his rifle as an old Soviet model.

By now, my companions, fully alert, were firing at other targets down the slope. One infantryman had a rifle with a scope and could pick off enemy soldiers at quite a distance. Our skirmish went on for 20 minutes; finally an infantry platoon came up behind us and chased the North Koreans into the valley.

We made it through without a single casualty. Hand-to-hand combat certainly wasn't part of a forward observer's normal duties. But duty means doing what the moment calls for, whether it's in your assignment or not. During those first, desperate weeks of the war, with the United Nations troops pinned into a corner of the peninsula, very little of what we did was routine.

Ralph Hockley is a retired Army officer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25Hockley.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My American Prisoner

By ZHOU MING FU

On March 18, 1951, my infantry unit crossed the Yalu River toward a Korean city that had been destroyed by bombs. We each carried 65-pound packs. We would not see China again for almost three years.

I had been one of the first university students in Communist China. I studied English, but when the government called me up for service, I threw away my pen and donned a uniform. Without any training, I joined millions of other soldiers.

To avoid detection, we slept during the day and marched all night. Even so, American planes hounded us; when we were out in the open, we were easy to spot. On the way to the front we saw the bodies of old people and children who had been shot by the planes. Before we even met the enemy, we learned to hate the American troops.

Because I knew English, I taught the other soldiers useful battlefield phrases, like “Stop,” “Hands up,” “Don't move,” “Lay down your arms” and “We are kind to P.O.W.'s.”

I was also a translator for prisoners. Not long after I arrived, during a horrible storm, we captured three black American soldiers. They were huddled together near a fire. They looked at me with dull eyes, then looked away, as if afraid to provoke me. I told them they had nothing to fear and promised to find a truck to send them to the rear.

At the end of July 1951, I was told about an American pilot who had been shot down and captured five miles from my unit. Many of the newly arrived soldiers had never seen a person like him, with his pale skin and round eyes, and they crowded around him. When I spoke to him in English, he complained about the attention. “I have two arms and two legs, just like them,” he said.

I told him it was our policy not to kill or insult him; the men were just curious. He eventually relaxed. I gave him a pencil and paper to keep a diary. My superior criticized me for doing so, but it was the right thing to do. Like he said, he was just like us, and who wouldn't want to record his thoughts as a prisoner?

The war ended a little after 10 a.m. on July 27, 1953. We were several miles behind the front. I lay on the ground, using several raincoats as a partial tent. I looked up at the faint moon in the sky. Finally, everything was quiet.

Zhou Ming Fu is veteran of the People's Liberation Army of China and co-author of "Two Walk the Golden Road."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25Zhou.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Men I Lost

By BERNARD E. TRAINOR

By 1952 both sides had been dug in for months along the 38th Parallel. As peace talks began in Panmunjom, a village along what became the border between North and South Korea, they jockeyed for the smallest terrain advantage in anticipation of a cease-fire. The result was an endless series of seesaw battles for outposts in front of mainline positions, similar to the trench warfare of World War I.

I was a Marine infantry platoon leader on the front line, not far from Panmunjom. One warm spring night a patrol from my unit was heading out when the Chinese ambushed them right in front of our platoon's trench line.

Apparently the enemy had been watching how our patrols left the trenches: we had a camouflaged opening in the barbed wire and a narrow foot path that skirted the mines dotting the hillside. The Chinese ambushers had silently made their way to the base of the hill, unseen and unheard by the Marines in the trench just above. The Chinese caught my men as they passed single-file through the wire. Our guys never had a chance.

The burst of burp-gun fire took me by surprise. Standing outside the trench, I went into a defensive crouch. My heart raced as the adrenaline kicked in. They can't be this close, I thought.

We fired blindly into the darkness and called for mortar illumination. But it was too late; the fight was over in a few minutes. The Chinese had come and gone and left four of my Marines dead.

We pulled their bodies back through the wire and into the trench line. I had violated a prime law of combat — avoid predictability — and these men had paid for my stupidity.

One of them was my platoon sergeant, Harold Wagner, a West Virginian who was leading the patrol. He had taken three rounds to the belly. We had become very close and I had let him down. The memory of his death still haunts me. Before his body was hauled to the rear, I at least had the privilege of closing the lids over his sightless eyes.

Bernard E. Trainor is a retired Marine infantry officer and former correspondent for The Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25Trainor.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the White House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Changing Our Communities, Changing the World

Posted by Evan Ryan

June 24, 2010

Yesterday, Vice President Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan saluted the Parade All-America Service Team to recognize high school students who are changing their communities through service. Parade Magazine, which has featured All-America teams for over 50 years, partnered with the national youth-service organization The League and the HandsOn Network to honor high school students who have demonstrated a remarkable commitment to service. This week, the 15 winners were honored at a special ceremony in Washington.

The Vice President spoke to the All-America High School Service Team:

Your achievements are of a special kind because they aren’t for your own glory or fame. They are much bigger than that – they are in service to others. They are about seeing your fellow citizens’ needs and doing something about it. You are leading by example, and that example is changing the lives of the people you serve, changing your communities, and changing the world.

And Secretary Duncan said:

Americans are many different things. We are hard workers and great thinkers, dreamers and doers. We are also a nation of givers. This spirit of service is one of our best assets. We see it in the teacher who works extra hours to ensure that her students learn, the soldier who goes into battle for his country, and the volunteer who leaves her home to build shelter for others. The members of the All-America Service Team are powerful examples of this spirit. By serving their neighbors in communities both near and far, they know their lives will be richer, our country will be stronger, and the world will be a better place.

Perhaps All-American Kaylee Shirrell, the 18-year-old from Brownsburg, IN who introduced the Vice President, said it best:

There is no higher calling and nothing more personally rewarding than service to others. Through honors such as the All-America High School Service Team, we can reach out and teach current and future generations the value of leadership and community service... Each and every one of us has the opportunity to contribute to society. It starts with a personal connection and before you know it, what begins as just an idea, results in reaching out through service to others.

The Vice President added, “We adults can appear to inspire, but the people who really inspire young people are other young people. And you guys are an inspiration.”

We all can follow the example of these outstanding students by volunteering in our communities. This Administration is committed to promoting service and encouraging people to make a difference. Last summer, we launched the ‘United We Serve’ initiative. This summer, we’re following-up with ‘United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move.’—an effort to engage young people in service programs that focus on childhood obesity and summer reading. Visit Serve.gov to find more information about how you can get involved this summer and all year long.

Evan Ryan is Assistant to the Vice President and Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/24/changing-our-communities-changing-world

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Homeland Security

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secretary Napolitano's Remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
Securing the Border: A Smarter Law Enforcement Approach

June 24, 2010

Washington, D.C.

Center for Strategic and International Studies

MR. NELSON: Welcome, everyone. We thank you for coming for what is a really terrific event. My name is Rick "Ozzie" Nelson. I'm the director of the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism program here at CSIS. And we're absolutely honored and privileged to have Secretary Napolitano here to talk about "Securing The Border: A Smarter Law Enforcement Approach." I'd first like to thank the sponsor of the Statesmen's Forum, which is the Lavrentiadis Group, who has supported the Statesmen's Forum throughout the year, and we appreciate that.

Obviously, a lot has been going on in the world of border security, particularly in the Southwest border area. And obviously, as the former governor of Arizona and now the Secretary of Homeland Security, we have, obviously, a very, very unique perspective on this, and it'll be certainly a learning event for all of us.

How we'll move forward: Secretary Napolitano is going to give her remarks first. I'm not going to go through a lengthy introduction because we do have a tight timeline. When she's done with her remarks, she'll return to her seat and then we'll go into questions and answers directly for the panel. I will be the moderator. I'm going to run a tight ship. It'll be questions and answers. There will be no statements and answers. So if that upsets anybody, I apologize in advance for that, but we're on a short timeline.

So without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and introduce Secretary Napolitano. Thank you very much for coming.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Well, thank you, and it is a pleasure to be here. And thank you to the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the CSIS for hosting this event today. One addition I think I would make to the program is that after I sit down and before questions, I think we'll introduce the other panelists, who come from really the direct, hands-on, front-line responsibilities in the areas that I'm going to speak about.

I want to especially thank John Morton, the Assistant Secretary for ICE, and David Aguilar from CPB. They are here today as well as the Director of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, who is expert in this area and a very effective advocate for smart and effective law enforcement. Thank you, Gil.

And I'm also happy to welcome Rob Davis, the President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a great community leader in the city of San Jose, really doing some important and novel things with the police department there. Indeed, the Major Cities Chiefs Association has been a great partner with the Department of Homeland Security. We are proud to be able to support the 56 big city police chiefs that you represent, and to support the more than 800,000 sworn officers that are present in those departments. So thank you, Chief.

Before I open it up for discussion, I'd like to speak about some of the immigration and border-related challenges that law enforcement faces. First, let me begin by saying that border security and enforcement is primarily the responsibility of the federal government. And unfortunately, for decades we have not had an effective strategy that is border-wide. We've not devoted the attention, personnel, and resources that have been required to cover the border all the way from Brownsville to San Diego.

Now, from day one, the Obama administration has taken its responsibility here seriously, and has developed and implemented a clear strategy to obtain that personnel, those resources, that equipment and technology that's truly required for the federal government to meet its responsibility along our nation's border. So today I want to discuss our strategy, and the strong and smart measures that DHS has already taken to improve enforcement, both at the border and within the interior of the country. I'd like to detail what progress we've made and the next steps that we are taking.

Now, let's begin with the current challenges. Our Southwest border states have endured more than their share of challenges, and I know this from personal experience, having worked directly on border issues since 1993, first as the United States Attorney for Arizona, then as the Arizona Attorney General, then as the Governor of Arizona, and now, of course, as Secretary of Homeland Security.

I was actually raised in another border state, New Mexico. So I have spent almost all of my life along that Southwest border. I have walked it. I have driven it. I have flown it. I have even ridden it on horseback. This is a border that I know extremely well, and I share the frustration that border communities feel about the challenges that exist in that region, as shown by the cartel-related violence in Mexico and the tragic murder of Rob Krentz in Cochise County, Arizona just a few months ago.

You do not need to live along the border to feel that frustration. All across the country, in every region, every city and town, Americans want the federal government doing everything it can to secure our borders and to enforce our immigration laws smartly and effectively. No one is happy with the status quo. I'm certainly not, and neither is the President.

But as someone who has seen and heard just about every idea, slogan, and political theory about the border and immigration enforcement over the past 20 years, I can tell you that this administration has pursued a broad new enforcement and security strategy with a greater urgency and care than anything I have seen since I began my career in public service. And the strategy is showing real progress. Let me point to a few reasons why.

First, we have dispensed with the rhetoric, and we've just gotten to work. Now, for too long we heard bumper sticker slogans about being tough. But looking tough just doesn't get the job done. We decided that we needed to add some smarts to toughness, and to make some changes to build a coordinated and comprehensive strategy that included CBP, ICE, the Department of Justice family, and our state and local partners. The statistics today reflect that this approach is working, and I'll get to a few of those in a minute.

But second and most important reason we are seeing progress is because of the men and women working on the front line each day. And I'd like to pause on this for just a moment.

We know that law enforcement in border states and throughout the country face a tall order when it comes to border-related crime and smuggling. The men and women who wear a badge and put themselves in harm's way each day do it because they, like each of us, want to do the right thing for our country, and they want to make a real difference. We count on them for this, and they perform their duties with a professionalism and skill that goes above and beyond every single day. They depend on us for our support and for a tough and smart federal enforcement strategy. We owe them nothing less. We are giving them nothing less. And I will continue to do so as long as the President and I and everyone else on this dais hold these positions.

We also know there are thousands and thousands of businesses around the country that are trying to follow the law and hire a legal workforce. These are small businesses, farmers, food growers, producers, and ranchers that are the backbone of our economy. They, like our men and women in law enforcement, must have our full support. They deserve nothing less than a regime that cracks down swiftly on businesses that knowingly hire illegal workers to gain an unfair workplace advantage.

To our partners in the business community who are doing the right thing, I say, we are with you. The government has stepped up our efforts through I-9 audits and intelligent workplace enforcement to level the playing field. We will not yield in this arena because we all have a role to play. Businesses have a role, state and local law enforcement have a role, and of course, as I started out, the biggest responsibility rests with the federal government. It's a responsibility we take seriously, it's why we have taken the steps we have already taken, and it's why we are committed to doing even more, and are constantly looking for ways to improve our federal enforcement policy.

So let me start with a status update on the smart, effective approach we've been taking over the past 18 months. The personnel we've deployed, the technology and resources we've invested, the states we are helping through better information-sharing and increased grant funding, it's a very different picture now than it was before.

Now, you might not get this impression from those looking to score political points by saying that border and immigration enforcement are spinning out of control. And I say the numbers tell the story, and they do not lie. The Border Patrol is better staffed and more strategically deployed today than ever before. Since 2004, the number of agents has risen. It has actually doubled from about 10,000 to 20,000 today, actually a little more than 20,000. We've deployed more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel than ever before to work strategically on investigations, intelligence, and inter-agency task forces to combat smuggling and human trafficking.

We've also deployed more technology than ever to detect smugglers and their cargo. More airplanes, more helicopters, more unmanned aerial vehicles are working the border than ever before. And for the first time, DHS is screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments for illegal weapons, drugs, and cash. In terms of infrastructure, the 652 miles of fencing that Congress asked Homeland Security to build is nearly complete. The remaining six miles are expected by the end of the year.

The federal government is also collaborating with state and local law enforcement along the border more closely than ever before. And recognize, I was in state and local law enforcement before I moved to Washington, D.C. a year and a half ago. We are leveraging the resources and capabilities of over 50 law enforcement agencies to deter, deny, and disrupt transnational criminal organizations. And we've increased the funding for state and local law enforcement that they can use to combat border-related crime through Operation Stonegarden.

On top of all of this, the administration has partnered with the government of Mexico in ways that are simply unprecedented. We're conducting more operations together, sharing more information, and putting pressure on the Mexican drug trafficking organizations that run smuggling operations into virtually every community in the United States.

These efforts have produced results. Apprehensions of illegal crossers, the best indication of how many are crossing, are at a fraction of their all-time high. They were down 23 percent last year from the year before. Last year, seizures of cartel-related contraband rose significantly across the board. We seized 14 percent more illegal bulk cash, 29 percent more illegal weapons, and 15 percent more illegal drugs than the year before.

And these kinds of numbers tell the story about our strategy. We are focusing our energy on the most dangerous threats to communities. So the numbers of apprehensions and removals are beginning to reflect this strategy. In short, we are doing a number of things, and we are also removing a record number of criminals from our country.

By all measurable standards, crime levels in United States border towns have actually remained flat or have dropped. We've also made important changes to the way that we conduct interior enforcement. We're doing it in a way that is smarter and more effective than before. We've strengthened oversight across the board, fostering consistency in immigration enforcement and clearly prioritizing enforcement against convicted criminal aliens who pose the most danger to our communities.

We've expanded the Secure Communities program, which uses biometric information to identify and remove criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails. Since it began in October of 2008, it has identified almost 35,000 aliens charged with or convicted of the most serious, violent, or major drug offenses. Over eighty-five hundred of the most serious convicted criminal aliens have been removed from United States through Secure Communities.

We've changed the way, as I mentioned, we approach worksite enforcement, moving away from raids that emphasize the number of workers arrested and focusing instead on the employers who exploit undocumented workers or commit criminal offenses,. Already this year, we have arrested more than 100 employers.

We've refocused our fugitive operations, prioritizing criminal fugitives. As a result, whereas in fiscal year 2008, only a quarter of all fugitives arrested were convicted criminals in fiscal year 2010, much closer to one-half of the fugitives arrested are convicted criminals.

We have also expanded E-Verify, which continues to grow by roughly 1,000 employers each week. We have made it more accurate, cracking down on identify fraud and abuse. Our goal for this system is that it be effective, convenient for employers, and accurate, so that employers have a reliable system, and those who are here legally won't be inconvenienced or denied a job because of flawed or incorrect data.

So in addition to the positive results we have achieved from our border security strategy, our interior enforcement efforts have also shown positive results. So far this year, ICE has removed more than 117,000 aliens convicted of crimes, 37 percent more than during the same time frame last year. Indeed, of all the aliens removed so far in fiscal year 2010, as I said before, half are convicted criminals. And in fiscal year 2009, ICE conducted more than fourteen hundred I-9 audits of employers suspected of hiring illegal labor, triple the number as the previous year.

So while we've taken unprecedented actions to increase border security and improve interior enforcement, we are not satisfied. There is more work to do. That is why - and that's what I'd like to move to now - the new measures that we need to take. That's why President Obama has recently requested $500 million more to bolster law enforcement and security along the Southwest border, and will deploy twelve hundred National Guard troops to assist the ongoing efforts to secure the border and combat the cartels. These are commonsense measures to strengthen and expand efforts that have already proven successful. And today, I'd like to announce several new steps in our enforcement efforts.

The first is a new partnership with the Major Cities Chiefs Association to create a Southwest Border Law Enforcement Compact. This will boost law enforcement at the border, by creating a mechanism, a way for state and local law enforcement agencies that aren't on the border to detail officers to state and local law enforcement agencies who are on the border.

We're also creating a system that will fully interlink the information systems of all state, local, and tribal law enforcement entities, operating along the Southwest border, with those of DHS and of DOJ. This will make sure that officers on the front line have the best information we can give them and that they can share what they learn back up the chain.

We're also establishing a suspicious activities reporting, or SARS program, for the Southwest border. This will help local officers recognize and track incidents related to criminal activity by drug traffickers and utilize this information for targeted law enforcement operations on both sides of the border.

Next, we're strengthening the analytic capability of the state and major urban area fusion centers along the Southwest border, so that they are better able to receive and share threat information, improving our ability to recognize and mitigate emerging threats.

Next, we're partnering with the Office of National Drug Control Policy to implement Project Roadrunner, an automated license plate recognition system. Project Roadrunner was conceived to target both north and south-bound drug trafficking and associated illegal activity along the Southwest border.

We're focusing on money laundering and bulk cash smuggling operations in transportation corridors along the Southwest border and targeting hot spots through roadside interdiction surges. For that region, I have now ordered the deployment of additional border patrol agents, ICE investigators, AIR Assets, and other technologies to the Arizona border, to conduct targeted operations against the cartels that exploit this part of the border, specifically around the Tucson sector.

We're also expanding the illegal drug program to additional Southwest border ports of entry so drug traffickers, whose trafficking activity can be tied to Mexico, are returned to Mexico to face prosecution by Mexican authorities.

We're also expanding the Joint Criminal Alien Removal Task Forces. These are comprised of ICE agents and local law enforcement, and they identify and arrest convicted criminal aliens who are living in our communities.

Now this also involves deploying surge teams to work with state and local jails that are within 100 miles of the Southwest border to ensure the identification of all removable convicted criminal aliens detained in those jails, who, if released, would pose a danger to public safety.

I'm also proud to announce today that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved the use of CBP Unmanned Aircraft System flights along the Texas border and in the Gulf region. CBP plans to base an unmanned aircraft system or UAS at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station as soon as all necessary arrangements are finalized to sustain a permanent UAS presence there.

These types of flights aren't useful everywhere, but in some places they're part of the right mix of infrastructure, manpower, and technology that improves border security. This is the case for parts of the Texas border, and we plan to move forward with using this technology there.

And finally, we're increasing joint training programs with Mexican law enforcement, focusing on money laundering organizations, investigations, and human trafficking and exploitation organizations.

I'd like to conclude on a point that I think bears repeating. There is a clear federal responsibility here, and this Administration has taken this responsibility serious from the very start. We're attacking the challenges the border brings, and we're doing so in ways that are smart and tough and strategic. The policies and resources we have put in place at the border and in the interior constitute the most serious and thorough immigration and border-related effort ever. There is no magic bullet here, but we are addressing the problem in ways that are smart and unprecedented.

Now securing our border requires constant pressure. And maximizing our efforts, especially against traffickers and criminals, will require more than just federal, state, and local resources. It will also require Congress working across party lines to enact changes to our immigration laws, so that we have a comprehensive set of reforms that meet the needs of our country. And this Administration is committed to taking that step.

It's not just enough to address just one part of our broken immigration system without addressing the rest. For too long, all we've heard in this debate is tough talk without the smart comprehensive steps we need to truly fix the immigration system. The immigration debate is about accountability. It's about meeting fundamental responsibilities. And as I mentioned earlier, the federal government needs to meet its responsibility to secure our borders.

Employers who game the system and hire undocumented workers need to be held accountable. And yes, illegal immigrants also need to be held accountable by requiring them to register, get right with the law, pay their taxes, learn English, before they can ever get in line to earn American citizenship. Each of these components is related, and that's why we need a single, functional immigration and border policy. We cannot have 50 different state policies. It simply will not work.

Now too often, politicians' bumper sticker slogans are presented as real solutions. They are not. The American public knows better, and can be assured that this Administration and the Department of Homeland Security will continue to take every action needed to secure the border and pursue real immigration reform.

And with that, and with that assurance, I'm happy to open up the floor, along with Assistant Secretary Morton; Deputy Commissioner Aguilar; Director Kerlikowske; Major Cities Chiefs President Rob Davis, to talk about this subject of such importance to the American people.

Thank you very much.

MR. NELSON: Well, Madame Secretary, thank you very much for those very, very good remarks, and we appreciate the update on all the new initiatives and all the accomplishments. I think sometimes that gets lost in the media. When we focus on all negatives, we forget how much progress we have made and how good our forces in the field are doing on a daily basis. And I think that that was an excellent job of highlighting that.

You've already introduced the panel. I'll just go through them very, very quickly here, just to point out some of their highlights.

But next to you, you have Director Kerlikowske, who is the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Nation's sixth drug czar. In his position he coordinates all federal aspects of the federal drug programs and implementations of the President's National Drug Control Strategy. He has 37 years of law enforcement experience. And prior to this, he was the Chief of Police in Seattle for eight years.

Next, we have Assistant Secretary John Morton. He leads the principal investigative component for DHS and also the second largest investigative component in the U.S. government. He's a career attorney, DOJ experience in government service for many years.

Then we have Deputy Commissioner Aguilar, a career border security officer for 30 years, and now is the Deputy Commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection.

And then lastly, we're very - it's actually one of the honors we have here is Chief Davis, who is the Chief of Police of San Jose, California, and President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, flew in on the red-eye today to be with us, and he's been with the police force there since 1980. So we're actually really privileged to have him here as well.

I'm going to go ahead and take the prerogative of opening up the first question. And I want to tap into some of the local law enforcement experience we have at the table here, and ask a question about information sharing. We talk a lot about information sharing at the federal government level and how difficult and challenging it is, although information sharing between state and local and the federal government is probably going to be infinitely more difficult and infinitely more challenging.

And particularly when we look at the Southwest border, where you have multiple jurisdictions, including tribal elements and Mexican government and the federal government, the challenges of getting the right information to the right people are significant.

So I'd like to ask Director Kerlikowske and Chief Davis to get your thoughts on what are some of the challenges of getting the information that you need to do your jobs there, and how are we overcoming those as a government?

I'll start with you, Chief Davis.

CHIEF DAVIS: Thanks. When we discuss the issue of sharing information, clearly from our perspective of the Major Cities Chiefs, it's about relationships. You know, in terms of sharing information, criminal information, across platforms, be it state, local, whatever the case may be, we have had partners in the past. We've seen the FBI and others that have brick-and-mortar presence in our communities, and we have relationships with them. DHS, you know, has been around for coming up on a decade. We're still in the process of establishing those relationships.

But make no mistake, there's been a huge amount of effort and a lot of success that's transpired over the last several years, as we have begun to create fusion centers and other mechanisms whereby local law enforcement can get together and begin to have a face-to-face contact with our state and federal partners. So that's the key there.

And the other problem, I think, for us - and I'll conclude on this - is that you look across the country, and in California in particular, we're cutting services, we're cutting patrol officers. I'm standing to lose about eight percent of my work force the next month here. So when you're trying to figure out where you're going to prioritize what you're doing, we really do have to get savvy and figure out how we can share information, take advantage of each other's resources. It's going to be key to success in the future, as we're dealing with dwindling budgets.

So to the extent that local law enforcement can have that support from the federal government to try and make sure that we're standing up the fusion centers, and have those face-to-face relationships, that's where we need to be going.

MR. NELSON: Director Kerlikowske?

DIRECTOR KERLIKOWSKE: You mentioned my 37 years. Thanks very much.

DIRECTOR KERLIKOWSKE: A couple things that I think are important. Rob mentioned fusion centers. The other, I think, hallmark of this Administration in particular is to select people that have the backgrounds at the state level and at the local level.

After 9/11, information sharing began to improve markedly, but I think that we've taken it a few steps further, and that is, looking at this problem, especially the drug problem, quite holistically, and not looking at it as just the border being that 1,960 mile along that area. It is involving everyone in this effort, whether it was the Seattle Police Department in this new law enforcement compact that the Secretary just mentioned. All of this is meant to supplement and augment and work closely with the Federal resources. And, frankly, in that long experience, I have never seen better examples of the sharing of information, all in an effort to make sure that communities are protected.

MR. NELSON: Great. Thank you very much both of you.

Okay. We'll go ahead and open it for questions. It's a little bit difficult sometimes to see people with the lights, but we'll go ahead and start with the gentleman in the blue suit right here.

MR. NELSON: In this town everybody has a blue suit, huh? We have microphones coming around. Please state your name and where you're from, and direct your question, and then I'll kind of assign it to a panelist.

Q: My name is Grigor Budas, and I would like to see if Secretary Napolitano and Mr. Aguilar can tell us which is the current status of the embassy agency with regards with the shootings at the border and how do you think that more deployment of troops and personnel can avoid interference with the good relationship that you have currently with the Mexican government.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AGUILAR: Good morning and thank you for that question. And good afternoon everybody.

One of the things that I think that we need to recognize is, as has been stated numerous times before, that we ask our men and women to deploy in a very complex environment at the border. It is an environment that is not only complex, but is a tough area. They encounter various activities that until they encounter the activities, they don't know what they are up against. That being said, any time that there is loss of life it is very, very regrettable.

The incident that you speak to is, in fact, being investigated. It is being investigated and looked into thoroughly, jointly with the law enforcement community throughout the area there. And once that is completed, we will put out the information in a very open fashion. So the investigation is ongoing as we speak.

As to the National Guard, the National Guard deployments that have worked throughout the last 20 years that we have worked with the National Guard has worked in a very, very coordinated fashion to the point that it increases our capabilities in such a fashion that it puts more boots on the ground, more border patrol agents and boots on the ground, support from the National Guard, but yet a clear division of them not arresting, not engaging in enforcement activities directly attributed to any illegal crossings of either aliens, narcotics or things of that nature.

We have experience in this. It has worked out very well, and I can assure this group that the National Guard, the citizen soldiers, will bring us a tremendous amount of capability in securing our borders.

MR. NELSON: Okay. We'll go to the next question. The gentleman in the front row right here. Wait for a microphone, please?

Q: Thank you. Gavind Berrera with the Mexican News Agency, "Norte Mexican." This is a question for Secretary Napolitano.

Madam Secretary, I wonder if you can expand about two of the announcements that you made regarding the deployment of new personal to Arizona and also the use of these that remain in Greco, in Texas. Could you give us precise numbers? And I wonder if given the fail of the SBI Net program so far, if the U.S. government is considering the possibility to expand the use of this type of - along the border with Mexico.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Well, part of it depends on Congress passing the supplemental that the President has requested, but that supplemental pays for a thousand more border patrol agents, a hundred and sixty more ICE investigators, thirty more port officers, twenty more canine teams, and two predators to be used along the border. Many of those, as well as some existing forces, are surging into Arizona, but they're doing it in a coordinated way. So the numbers today may not be the same as the numbers next week or the numbers the week thereafter, but we can get you some numbers after this program.

The goal is, of course, to focus on the Tucson sector. Anybody that knows that border knows that we have done a pretty good job of closing off San Diego-Tijuana area and the El Paso area, but that has caused a lot of the drug trafficking organizations and human trafficking organizations to focus their roots into Arizona along that corridor*. And our goal now is to shut that corridor* down.

MR. NELSON: Great. Thank you.

Let's try this side of the room over here, back with the red dress in the corner.

Q: For Secretary Napolitano. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confirmed, and other sources within the administration have confirmed, that the administration will be filing a federal law suit against the State of Arizona. And I'm wondering since you were Governor of Arizona and spent so much time there if you could comment on that.

MR. NELSON: I'm sorry. Could you just state your name and where you're from too?

Q: Oh, sorry. Carolyn Presutti with Voice of America TV.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: No.

MR. NELSON: All right. Could we go to the next question?

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Listen. Questions about whether, how, when or whatever to challenge the Arizona law should be addressed to the Department of Justice. What I'm here saying today is that enforcement along this border in those border states is primarily a Federal responsibility that we do that and need more manpower, more technology, more infrastructure to assist. That's part of our plan. We need to be working with Mexico. That's part of our plan and we need to work with state and local law enforcement. That's part of our plan as well, particularly when it comes to the organizations that are exploiting that border for their own gain.

MR. NELSON: No more questions from this side of the room. You guys are in the penalty box. All right. We'll go back to the middle here. Anybody with questions in the middle. The gentleman in the front row?

Q: David Silverberg, Homeland Security Today magazine. There have been reports of shots exchanged, and so forth, with Mexican military forces along the border and of Mexican military forces escorting drug shipments and so forth. What impact is that having on these initiatives and on U.S.-Mexican relations along the border for the future?

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Why don't I take that and also ask Deputy Commissioner Aguilar also to address that look. As noted, I've worked this border and this border area a long time. There are, from time to time, reports, some verified, some unverified. It's awfully difficult out there to attribute the identity of any particular group that is moving along the border. But as individual incidents arise, we deal with our Mexican counterparts about that in an appropriate way.

Let me say this, however. Our cooperation with and working on day-to-day working relationship with Mexican federal law enforcement has never been stronger, and, as someone said earlier today, part of it is about relationships and knowing the people who have basically the equivalent of my job on the Mexican side of the boundary, of the border. And those relationships are very strong, and that's why we believe that with these additional resources, with the strategy, the smart effective tactics and strategy we've been employing, will be deploying, and then working with Mexico, that is our best chance to finally get at these drug cartels that have, you know, played havoc with both countries for far too long.

But, Chief Aguilar, did you want to say anything about that?

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AGUILAR: On the issue of working with our Mexican partners and our neighbor, I can tell you that after 32 years of service our relationship with Mexico, overall, has never been better, whether it be with the military, with the SSP, with any other government agency that works with us, and that is what has brought us to where we are today.

There has been a brighter delineation, if you will, of the border, that did in the past cause some problems of inadvertent entries of the Mexican military into the U.S. and, frankly, us into Mexico also. But that brighter delineation by way of the infrastructure that we have put in place, but more importantly the collaborative effort that the Secretary spoke to just now, where we collaborate on the strategies, on the application of racehorses, on mirroring efforts in order to bring greater control of that border.

As far as to your question about shots exchanged, I can't remember the last time that that happened. I can tell you that it has happened in the past, again, when there was those inadvertent actions that did occur, but I want to reinforce that our partnership with our Mexican partners has been just tremendous, and that is part of what is also getting us to better securing the border as we move forward.

MR. NELSON: Okay. We'll go to this side of the room over here. Okay. In the front row here. You guys are letting Assistant Secretary Morton off the hook.

Q: Hi. Marissa Leno with Northrop Grumman, but formerly with Homeland Security International Affairs. I want to take a slightly different tack and ask, to the secretary or anyone, when I read the title of "Securing the Border," I know everyone assumes that the main topic is going to be the Southern border. But with all due respect to his Excellency the Ambassador of Mexico, we also have another neighbor. And I wonder if you might comment on how many of these new measures or different measures might be applied to the Northern Border.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Let me take that and say that the measures I've described today are for the Southwest border. However, we have other measures we've applied at the Northern border, including more deployment of mobile type radar systems, more agents. We have met the congressional mandate for the number of agents that need to be at the Northern border. We have excellent cooperation, of course, with the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police], and we have an aggressive program under way now to improve and provide better equipment and technology at the actual ports of entry all along the Northern border.

I don't know if you wanted to add anything to that.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AGUILAR: The only other thing I would add is the following, that we don't forget about the Northern border. As the Secretary pointed out, we are continually adding the border patrol agents and ICE agents. We have the best teams. We have Ibids and we work collectively with the Canadians, with CBS ARCMP.

In addition to that, one of the areas that we're taking a look at now, as we work progressively with them, is taking a look at that border, not just as a juridical line, not just that line in the frozen tundra up there, but as it relates to flows, flows of people, flows of cargo, and flows of transportation modes. So that to every degree possible we're looking at those flows literally from point of origin, as it transits towards the United States, as it arrives at the United States at the entry point, and then egress to where we work collectively with foreign law enforcement, domestic law enforcement, in partnership, to ensure that we do everything possible, not just at the juridical line, but throughout those flows. And ICE plays a big part on that.

I don't know if you want to expound on that, Mr. Morton.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY MORTON: Well, I'll just add that first with regard to the Canadian border, we do have three border enforcement security task forces. If the President's budget is approved as requested this year, you're going to see more, and that focuses exclusively on transnational crime coming across the border with Canada. But to pick up on the point that the Deputy Commissioner made, it's much more aggressive than that.

You know, when I come to work every day now I think about the border starting in our 44 offices overseas, you know, London, Paris. You know, our biggest foreign office by a long shot is in Mexico City. We have officers not only in Mexico City but in cities throughout Mexico, and we have an extraordinary level of cooperation with our law enforcement partners in those places. And it's because the idea of thinking about border security simply in terms of the line in the sand just is outdated. As the Deputy Commissioner said, it is all about flows, flows of a lot of things that we want to encourage, trade, lawful travel, and flows that aren't so helpful and lawful, and that we need to pay a lot of attention and try to shut them down.

MR. NELSON: Chief Davis, did you want to add anything to that?

CHIEF DAVIS: No. Well, just one quick thing, and that is the fact that, again, we're talking about relationships. We've heard how they are working with our partners both in Canada and Mexico. We have seen that there's much better cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement officials because of the fact that they've recognized some of our needs in terms of how we're working with our communities and trying to mitigate those issues that come up whenever you're talking about custom, or excuse me, immigration enforcement.

But I do think that the point simply needs to be made that, look. You're looking at a group of people here that have made a lot of strides and a lot of progress over the last several years. Nobody has been sitting around waiting for these problems to come at us. This hasn't just happened. All of these agencies have been very proactively involved. And, in fact, just one quick comment.

We're very happy to have seen that the Department of Homeland Security is really focused on making sure that they are reaching out to local law enforcement. And I can prove that by the fact that we know the man at DHS on a first name basis, Bart Johnson, who is working with us in this effort. So the point simply is if you're looking at us, saying what are we doing to work together? We're local law enforcement out there trying to support what is it they're doing as well.

MR. NELSON: All right. Thank you very much. We'll go back over to the side of the room, the gentleman over there.

Q: Chris Strohm with Congress Daily. A question for Secretary Napolitano. As you know, Republicans in Congress say they won't support comprehensive immigration reform until the border is secure. So with that, can you give a timeline on when the border will be secure, or do you think that that argument is political posturing and they keep moving the goalpost?

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Well, look. We think these resources we've asked for matter. We think that they matter because they will argue the efforts that have been underway over the past years and accelerated over the past 18 months. And the plain fact of the matter is, is that the border is as secure now as it's ever been, but we know we can always do more. And that will always be the case. It's a big border. It's nineteen hundred and sixty miles across that Southwest border.

It's some of the roughest, toughest, geographical terrain in the world across that border. And so the notion that you're going to seal that border somehow is something that anybody who's been involved in the actual doing of law enforcement, the front office work, the front line work of the law enforcement which say you're never going to totally seal that border, recognizing also that there's a lot of trade in commerce we want going back and forth, I mean, Mexico, for 22 of our states, is our number one or two trading partner. I mean, it's huge the amount of commerce that goes back and forth.

But this will make our border even more secure and we will keep evolving as indeed border threats keep involving. But the notion that you're going to somehow seal the border, and only at that point will you discuss immigration reform, that is not an answer to the problem.

MR. NELSON: Okay. Now, the next question. Or, no. They're calling from CSIS.

Q: Thank you, Your Honor. Debal Garcias. I guess my question is for Mr. Morton. How does one calculate the daily average of deportations of illegal immigrants. Is it done on a daily or weekly or monthly basis? What is the average and what is the cost per deportation?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY MORTON: In any given year, about 380,000 people, a little over a thousand a day. And we calculate that daily in some offices, actually, by the shift. It's a major operation, and obviously we keep very close track on it.

MR. NELSON: Okay. Great. This will be the last question. I think it's time for the middle of the room here and the gentleman in the front row, we'll give it to you.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Is it a question for all of us?

MR. NELSON: Yeah. Is it a question for all of us?

Q: It could be.

MR. NELSON: Well, we form it that way.

Q: Yes, thank you. In the next 24 months, in terms of your priority --

MR. NELSON: Sorry. Your name and where you're from?

Q: Oh. Mike Connors, Booz Allen Hamilton. In the next 24 months given your priorities and the fact that you've alluded to the dynamic nature of border security, do we have the proper mix of people processing technology now with the changing nature of SBI Net and other programs? Where do we want to be in 24 months in terms of border patrol personnel, mobile radars, the whole system of border security, especially as threat compression occurs and you close off certain routes, and then the narcotics traffickers come up with semi-submersibles, small airplanes, and other types of means to circumvent our systems? Thank you.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: I think that is actually a pretty good question for all of us given all of our relevant experience. And look, border security requires manpower. It requires technology. It requires infrastructure. It requires properly trained law enforcement at all levels who are working together. It requires prioritization because we really want to focus on, as John Morton said, for example, removal of criminal aliens who pose a danger to the public safety of our communities, and, you know.

So setting those priorities and making sure that everybody out to the front lines understands those priorities is another important part of the mix. I believe that the measures that we have taken and are taking now to augment our efforts will even further secure the land border between the United States and Mexico; but if you look at our charter as the Department of Homeland Security, in addition to counter-terrorism, which is always our number one priority, our next priority is securing our land borders, but also our air and our sea borders.

And so we are already seeing and dealing with drug traffickers going out to the Pacific, increasing their routes there, increasing Atlantic traffic, and the ultralights trying to come across the border. And we're already working on the strategy and the technology necessary to shut that down to and we will not be satisfied, and I won't be satisfied, until those other routes are shut down as well as the land routes.

Gil?

DIRECTOR KERLIKOWSKE: Well, you mentioned the other side of the coin. A little over four weeks ago, President Obama released his National Drug Control strategy from the oval office. Twenty-four months from now what I'd like to see is Americans consuming less drugs. There are some ambitious goals in that. If we weren't such a huge consumer nation as Secretary Clinton, Secretary Napolitano and others have mentioned, we would be causing not only far less grief to people within our own borders, we would be causing far less grief to the people in Mexico.

MR. NELSON: So, Secretary Morton. We'll just go down the row.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY MORTON: A few things I think you'll see in the coming few years from the perspective of ICE and process and technology, one of the biggest is we're in the process of transforming immigration enforcement when it comes to criminal offenders. And I think if we were to reconvene in two years, we would be in a situation in which secure communities is in almost every state and local prison or jail. And technology is allowing us to identify, at the moment of arrest and booking, who you're dealing with.

Does a person have a criminal record? What is their immigration status? And that is going to have an enormously profound effect on the way we go about our business. We are going to, for the first time in our nation's history, be able to get a full handle on criminal offenders who are not here lawfully. We are already well underway with that. And it works. And it avoids some of the concerns in the past about profiling and targeted enforcement.

The beauty of secure communities is every single person gets their fingerprints run. I'd get my fingerprints run, you would get your fingerprints run, and the fingerprints don't lie.

MR. NELSON: Deputy Commissioner Aguilar?

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AGUILAR: I think it's important to bring a little bit of clarity to border security. Border security is about illegal immigration. It's about narcotics. It's about weapons, illegal. It's about illegal funds. And, very importantly, it is about criminal organizations that are operating at our borders and between our borders. That's the first thing.

We have done a lot and need to continue doing a lot, as the Secretary is pushing into saying, with personnel, tactical infrastructure and technology. The one thing that I would add that I think all of us would appreciate is not only that balance of personal technology and infrastructure, but also the balance of how we approach the border and making sure that we mailed our investigative functions with our interdictive functions on intelligence basis. It is by melding those capabilities and those functions that we're going to bring the greatest force enhancement to this border.

And then going back to one other issue that I think is critical is technology. Technology, there are basically three ways to add to the border. There is a systems approach, which takes long. All of us are aware with what's happening with SBI Net, and frankly the disappointments with SBI Net. So there's a systems approach. There's off the shelf and there is evolving. It is a combination of all three of those that we need to approach in the right fashion that will get us to where we need to go.

So from a priority standpoint, it's the personnel, the tactical infrastructure and the technology by way of the three areas that I talked about. And then it is melding the interdiction, the investigative and the intelligence functions that we can bring to bear in a collective fashion domestically and with our foreign partners.

MR. NELSON: And the last words, to our distinguished guest from California.

CHIEF DAVIS: Yes, thank you very much.

I'll begin quickly by saying what we want to see and then what we don't want to see. Clearly, what we would like to see. In terms of local law enforcement and specifically for the major city chiefs - again, these are the largest cities in the country - we do need to see comprehensive immigration reform coming from a federal response.

I mean, very, very clearly the Secretary was clear when she mentioned it earlier. If we end up with 50 separate state laws on how it is that local law enforcement are supposed to be helping in this effort, we're going to have a huge problem. Again, keep in mind, local law enforcement across this country is getting squeezed. I've mentioned that we're the tenth largest city in the country. We're talking about cutting our patrol forces by eight percent by August.

What do you, as local community members, want your local law enforcement police department to be doing? Do you want us focusing on the robberies and the sexual assaults, and the domestic violence, and the burglaries and the traffic accidents, or do you want us to start shunting a lot of our resources to handling Federal civil violations?

Remember, these immigration violations are civil in nature. Local law enforcement has the responsibility of providing for criminal response. So what we don't want to see is we don't want to see local law enforcement agencies being required to enforce immigration laws. Clearly, each local law enforcement agency and their local communities need to decide what is best for them. We're not saying that there aren't problems.

We clearly hear the frustrations that are coming from across the country, and we've even heard frustrations from some sheriffs and others on the local border states, but understand that we can't put our local law enforcement in a position where all of a sudden we are shunting our very precious resources that deal with this issue. It's a federal issue. We are happy to help however we can, but it should not be the primary focus of local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws.

One of the last points on this is it's really beginning to hamper our community policing relationships. We've spent decades in local law enforcement trying to establish relationships with all of our different minority communities. San Jose - there are over a million people in San Jose. There is not a majority of anything; 32 percent of our population is Hispanic; 20 percent is Asian.

We've done great things to try and get inroads with these communities, and they don't always understand, because of language barriers and other things, what's taking place with this topic or this issue. But local law enforcement is the one that they look to, and they're fearful of us if we're coming into neighborhoods to respond to calls because they think somehow we're trying to do other things.

Be very clear. Local law enforcement will be the first ones to step up if there is a criminal issue going on. If ICE comes in and says we're looking for a homicide suspect - he's an illegal immigrant, whatever the case may be - local law enforcement across this country will step up and help. But do we want our local law enforcement agencies to be the primary focus of this enforcement on civil laws. And I'm telling you with the resources and the budgets, et cetera, and the community policing issues, it's just not the way to go. So we need to see the federal response.

That's what we'd like to see within 24 months, but we clearly do not want to see 50 different state laws telling local law enforcement how it is that they're going to be going out there to solve this problem. It is a no win situation for local law enforcement.

MR. NELSON: Secretary Napolitano, you wanted to --

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Well, I just wanted to offer a friendly amendment for the chief.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: And that is Congress - Congress has seen fit to describe initial entries as misdemeanors, and so it's a, you know, it's a minor offense, and, but the calculus is the same. Do you want local law enforcement spending their time, mandated to spend their time on those as opposed to the homicide, rape, assault, and at the expense of very extensive community policing efforts that are created to supply the public safety architecture for communities. I just wanted to clarify that one point.

MR. NELSON: Well, before we thank our guests, it's going to be imperative that everyone remain seated until Secretary Napolitano and her party leave. But we would like to thank you all very much for your time. We realize you're very busy. We appreciate your comments.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/speeches/sp_1277395237872.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Remarks to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials

June 24, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Washington, D.C. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today traveled to Denver, Colo., to deliver remarks highlighting the Obama administration's ongoing efforts to work with Congress on ways to comprehensively reform our nation's immigration laws to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Conference - the largest gathering of Latino elected and appointed officials in the nation.

"It's clear to everyone paying attention that our immigration system is broken, and it's also clear that comprehensive immigration reform is critical to solving the problem," said Secretary Napolitano. "This administration has adopted smart, tough and effective strategies to enforce the laws we have in order to lay the groundwork for comprehensive immigration reform."

In her remarks, Secretary Napolitano highlighted the important work and recent series of reforms at DHS's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including eliminating the backlog for citizenship-related background checks that had developed in past years, launching a new website - in both English and Spanish - with user-friendly features such as e-mail and text message updates to increase transparency and investing in immigration integration efforts to build a strong foundation upon which immigrants can exercise their rights and responsibilities as Americans.

Secretary Napolitano also reiterated U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) prioritization of the identification and removal illegal immigrants that have committed serious crimes in its immigration enforcement efforts, and ICE's major reforms to the detention and removal system, which prioritize health, safety and uniformity in detention facilities while ensuring security, efficiency and fiscal responsibility.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1277410140070.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secretary Napolitano Announces Second Major Aviation Security Milestone this Month

June 24, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

DHS now performs 100 percent watchlist matching for all flights by all U.S. air carriers

Washington, D.C—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers flying domestically and internationally on U.S. airlines are now being checked against government watch lists through the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight program—the second major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation achieved this month.

Today's announcement comes less than three weeks after TSA reached 100 percent watchlist checking for all passengers traveling within the United States and its territories through Secure Flight. Before TSA began implementing Secure Flight, airlines held responsibility for checking passengers against terrorist watchlists.

"Secure Flight fulfills a key recommendation of the of the 9/11 Commission Report, enabling TSA to screen passengers directly against government watchlists using passenger name, date of birth, and gender before a boarding pass is issued," said Secretary Napolitano. "This achievement significantly enhances one of our many layers of security—coordinated with our partners in the airline industry and governments around the world—that we leverage to protect the traveling public against threats of terrorism."

Under Secure Flight, TSA prescreens passenger name, date of birth and gender against government watchlists for domestic and international flights. In addition to facilitating secure travel for all passengers, the program helps prevent the misidentification of passengers who have names similar to individuals on government watchlists.

U.S. airlines account for more than 90 percent of all travel to, from, and within the United States; with this achievement, Secure Flight will now cover all passengers aboard those flights.

"We are pleased to have been a part of this industry/government collaborative effort, working toward fulfilling this extraordinarily ambitious automation security program," said Air Transport Association President and CEO James C. May. "By streamlining processes through a single government entity, Secure Flight is a win-win for passengers—streamlining check-in processes while enhancing security."

TSA began implementing Secure Flight in late 2009 and expects all international carriers with direct flights to the United States to begin using Secure Flight by the end of 2010.

Under Secure Flight, 99 percent of passengers are cleared to print boarding passes at home by providing their date of birth, gender and name as it appears on the government ID they plan to use when traveling when booking airline tickets. Individuals found to match watchlist parameters will be subjected to secondary screening, a law enforcement interview or prohibition from boarding an aircraft, depending on the specific case.

For more information, visit www.tsa.gov/SecureFlight or www.dhs.gov.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1277415531899.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Justice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Downsville, Louisiana, Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Hate Crime

Hangman’s Noose Leads to Guilty Plea

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that Robert Jackson, 37, of Downsville, La., pleaded guilty in federal court to placing a hangman’s noose in the carport of the home of a family in order "to send a message" to African-American males who had been frequently visiting the victim’s home. Jackson entered a plea to violating the Fair Housing Act by intimidating and interfering with another’s housing rights because of race.

According to court testimony, the victim and her children arrived home on June 13, 2008, and found a hangman’s noose suspended from a bird-feeder underneath the carport of her home. A subsequent investigation determined that Jackson, a former employee at a local company located next door from the victim’s home, made the noose and placed it in the carport.

" A noose is an unmistakable symbol of hate in our nation, and it was used in this case to intimidate an innocent family, " said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. " The Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute those who resort to threats motivated by hate. "

"A hangman’s noose is a powerful symbol of racial intimidation and intolerance, and when used to interfere with federally protected rights, becomes a federal crime." said Stephanie A. Finley, U.S. Attorney for Western District of Louisiana. "The victim and her family sought nothing more than to live in their home in peace. Jackson’s racially-motivated response has left him facing a prison sentence."

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 28, 2010. Jackson faces a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Monroe Resident Agency, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Mudrick and Trial Attorney Myesha Braden of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-crt-742.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mobile, Alabama, Man Indicted on Federal Civil Rights and Weapons Charges Related to Desecration of Synagogue

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that a federal grand jury in Mobile, Ala., has returned a three-count indictment charging Thomas Hayward Lewis, 24, of Mobile, with violating and conspiring to violate the civil rights of congregants of the Congregation Tree of Life Messianic Synagogue in Mobile, as well as possession of an unregistered firearm.

The indictment alleges that on or about the night of Jan. 3, 2009, Lewis spray painted the Tree of Life Synagogue with anti-Semitic graffiti and neo-Nazi markings. The indictment further alleges that prior to the incident, Lewis and a co-conspirator, Christian Rodney Ice, conspired to deface and desecrate the synagogue. Lewis’s co-conspirator has already pleaded guilty in federal court in Mobile to one count of violating the Church Arson Act by placing threatening graffiti and neo-Nazi markings on the Congregation Tree of Life Messianic Synagogue.

"Religious freedom is a basic civil right, and threats against religious institutions and their members will not be tolerated in this country," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "This case should send a clear message to others who would carry out similar criminal acts that we will vigorously pursue all responsible parties and all will be held accountable for their actions."

"The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to the protection of our citizens’ civil rights. The United States Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion is one of our citizen’s most sacred civil rights," said U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown for the Southern District of Alabama.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the civil rights charges.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the city of Mobile, Ala., Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney George May of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Donald Tunnage of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-crt-743.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three Individuals with Alleged Ties to Aryan Brotherhood Charged with a 2008 Murder That Occurred in Atascosa County, Texas

Three alleged members or associates of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) have been indicted for their alleged roles in a 2008 murder in Atascosa County, Texas, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy of the Western District of Texas.

The indictment, returned by the federal grand jury today in San Antonio, charges the three defendants with violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity. Frank Lavelle Urbish Jr., aka “Thumper,” 38, of Beaumont, Texas; Michael Dewayne Smith, aka “Bucky”, 29, of Houston; and Jim Flint McIntyre, aka, “Q-Ball”, 42, of Houston, are each charged with conspiracy to commit murder, murder and possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. Smith and McIntyre are also charged with carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and using and carrying a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence.

The indictment alleges that a prospect member of the Aryan Brotherhood, Mark Davis Byrd Sr., was murdered by McIntyre and Smith for allegedly stealing drugs he was ordered to deliver to a customer on behalf of the ABT. The indictment alleges that Byrd was murdered as a result of a “discipline” ordered by Urbish. Byrd’s body was discovered in Atascosa County on May 4, 2008.

Upon conviction, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison or the death penalty. The defendants are currently in state custody. They are tentatively scheduled to have their initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in San Antonio on July 7, 2010.

According to the indictment, the ABT is a race-based, state-wide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and elsewhere in the United States. The ABT was established in the early 1980’s within the Texas prison system. As alleged in the indictment, it modeled itself after and adopted many of the precepts and writings of the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960’s. According to the indictment, previously the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy/separatism. Over time, the ABT has expanded its focus more towards a criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit.

As alleged in the indictment, the ABT enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”

This case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement & Coordination Center ( GangTECC); the National Gang Intelligence Center; the Texas Rangers; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the Atascosa County Sheriff's Department; and the Beaumont Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Gang Unit and David Shearer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio Office, in full cooperation with the Atascosa County District Attorney’s Office.

The indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-crm-744.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minnesota Man Indicted for Internet Hacking, Making Threats to the Vice President

MINNEAPOLIS—A 45-year-old Blaine, Minnesota man has been indicted in federal court in the District of Minnesota for hacking into his neighbor’s wireless Internet system and allegedly posing as the neighbor to make threats to kill the vice president of the United States and e-mail child pornography. The indictment, which was filed today, charges Barry Vincent Ardolf with two counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of making threats to the president and successors to the presidency, one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of distribution of child pornography.

The indictment alleges that in February 2009, Ardolf hacked into his neighbor’s wireless Internet connection and created multiple Yahoo.com e-mail accounts in that person’s name. Then, on May 6, 2009, he allegedly used one of those accounts to e-mail the office of the vice president of the United States. In that e-mail, he stated:

This is a terrorist threat! Take this seriously. I hate the way you people are spending money you don’t have.... I’m assigning myself to be judge jury and executioner. Since you folks have spent what you don’t have it’s time to pay the ultimate price. Time for new officials after you all are put to death by us....

The e-mail, which also was sent to the governor and a U.S. senator from Minnesota, went on to threaten to kill the officials one at a time, with the first being dead by June 1. Ardolf allegedly signed the e-mail with the name of the neighbor from whom he stole Internet access as well as the name of that person’s wife. The indictment alleges that Ardolf sent the e-mail using the wireless router belonging to the neighbor, intending for the e-mail to be traced back to that person.

In addition to sending the threatening e-mail described above, the indictment alleges that in February 2009, Ardolf posed as the identity-theft victim and used the e-mail accounts he created in the victim’s name to send sexually themed e-mails to three of the victim’s co-workers. Again, the defendant sent the e-mails through the victim’s wireless Internet connection, intending for them to be traced to the victim’s Internet account. In one of the e-mails, Ardolf attached an image containing child pornography. Ardolf also allegedly created a MySpace page in the victim’s name, on which he posted the same image of child pornography.

If convicted, Ardolf faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the distribution of child pornography charge, 10 years on the pornography possession charge, five years on both the unauthorized access to a computer and the threats to the vice president, and a mandatory two-year minimum prison sentence on each count of aggravated identity theft. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force, which is sponsored by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, with assistance from the Blaine Police Department and the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Rank.

http://minneapolis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/mp062410.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Disaster Squad helps ID victims through fingerprints, palm prints, and even footprints.

THE DISASTER SQUAD Serving in the Worst of Times from the FBI June 24, 2010 When planes crash or natural disasters strike or terrorists attack, it’s often incredibly difficult to identify the remains of the victims. It requires special forensic expertise—as well as the ability to endure tough conditions and gut-wrenching scenes. But it’s work that needs to be done—not only to help solve cases and address issues like insurance payments and settlement of estates, but just as importantly, to satisfy the very human need that families have to know the fate of their loved ones, to lay them to rest, and to gain some sense of closure.

It’s for all these reasons that we have a “Disaster Squad”—a team of highly-trained forensic examiners who are deployed worldwide at a moment’s notice to identify victims of mass fatality incidents. In some cases, their efforts support FBI investigations, but many times these professionals are simply providing a humanitarian service when asked for identification help by colleagues around the world.

The squad came into being seven decades ago—in the summer of 1940—when FBI agents and fingerprint experts were called to the site of a plane crash in a Virginia cornfield that killed all 25 on board, including two Bureau employees. When they arrived, our personnel found total chaos—no one seemed to know what to do or how to identify the victims. So we offered our fingerprint expertise and positively identified eight bodies—one of which had initially been misidentified through visual inspection. The episode made the Bureau realize the need for the scientific determination of identity at scenes of disaster, so we established a team of experts known as the Disaster Squad.

Today’s team is more capable than ever, using advanced scientific techniques and new technologies. The squad consists of latent print examiners from the FBI Laboratory who are experts in the field of friction ridge analysis.

Members of the Disaster Squad—who are sent out on a rotating basis, with team size determined by the severity of the incident—help identity victims through fingerprints, palm prints, and sometimes even footprints.

Once prints have been recovered from the deceased, examiners—working on site—can use mobile technology developed by the Bureau to search postmortem prints against the approximately 80 million antemortem prints housed in the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, maintained by our Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia.

If no identification is made, recovered prints can also be submitted to other federal, state, and local agencies for automated searches in additional fingerprint databases.

Requests for Disaster Squad assistance come from all over: FBI field offices, police departments, local medical examiners or coroners, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Department of Health and Human Services, for example. In the event of a disaster overseas, a foreign government can request our help through the U.S. State Department.

How can law enforcement or government officials request such assistance? Contact our Latent Print Support Unit at the FBI Laboratory, 2501 Investigation Parkway, Quantico, VA, 22135; or phone (703) 632-8443); or fax (703) 632-7397).

In the end, it’s the human touch that’s so important to the squad members' mission. Victims' fingerprint and footprint impressions are still recovered by human hands. And the men and women of the FBI Disaster Squad are proud to be those hands.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june10/disaster_062410.html

.