HEALTHCARE Q&A

'High-risk' pool medical insurance program set to begin

Americans who have been denied coverage because of a preexisting medical condition may begin applying Thursday under the new program. A tanning salon tax also takes effect.

By Noam N. Levey, Tribune Washington Bureau

July 1, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration and some state governments will begin accepting applications Thursday for new insurance programs designed to cover people who have been denied insurance because they have preexisting medical conditions.

These so-called high-risk pools were included in the new healthcare law to provide relief for some of the most desperate uninsured Americans until 2014, when insurance companies will be required to cover everyone regardless of medical history.

Also taking effect Thursday will be the first of the new taxes in the healthcare law — on tanning salon services.

Here are some basics about the preexisting condition insurance plan and the new tax:

Who will be eligible for the insurance plan?

American citizens and legal residents who have been without insurance for at least six months and have been denied coverage because they have a preexisting medical condition.

Applicants in most states will need a recent copy of a letter from a private insurance company denying coverage altogether or denying coverage of a specific condition.

In states that have a "guarantee issue" law requiring some or all insurers to cover people regardless of health, an applicant will have to show a premium quote substantially higher than the premium to be charged by the new high-risk pool.

The new law allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to cap enrollment, but administration officials said for now the federal government would accept all eligible applicants.

Which states will have programs and when?

These 21 states have asked the federal government to run the high-risk pool rather than administer it themselves: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming.

Residents of these states can apply starting Thursday. Administration officials said people who apply by July 15 will begin receiving coverage by Aug. 1.

The remaining 29 states and the District of Columbia will run their own programs and begin accepting applications over the next several months.

Several of the largest states operating their own plans, including California, Illinois and New York, are not expected to begin enrollment until August. The administration expects that all states will begin enrolling people by the end of the summer.

How much will the insurance cost?

Premiums, as well as benefits, are expected to vary greatly from state to state, with some plans charging as little as $140 a month and some as much as $900 a month, according to administration officials. Premiums could vary by age. And some states may offer a variety of benefit packages.

How do I sign up?

The federal government's new healthcare Web portal at http://www.healthcare.gov , which becomes operational Thursday, will offer instructions. Residents of states where the federal government will run the high-risk pool will be able to find applications there. Administration officials said the website would also contain instructions for residents of states that are running their own pools.

What if my state already has a high-risk pool?

Many states have been operating such pools for years, but some are prohibitively expensive or have been closed to new enrollees. Because the rules for the new plans will be different, administration officials are encouraging people who have been without coverage to consider applying for the new pools.

Will there be enough money to cover to everyone?

Very likely not. The new healthcare law allocated $5 billion for the new high-risk pools, but several independent analyses, including one by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, have estimated that more money would probably be needed because demand will be so high.

The Department of Health and Human Services will be able to shift money from states that are not using all their allotted funds to those that need more, but so far administration officials have been reluctant to talk about seeking more funds.

Who will have to pay the new tanning tax?

The law levies a 10% tax on tanning services, which salons are expected collect from consumers and forward to the federal government.

The law exempts phototherapy services provided by a medical professional for the treatment of dermatological conditions, sleep disorders and other conditions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-preexisting-conditions-20100701,0,5739567,print.story

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Anthem Blue Cross again seeks rate hikes for Californians

The firm plans to raise premiums as much as 20%, sharply less than the 39% maximum it had sought earlier this year but canceled after drawing outrage from consumers, lawmakers and President Obama.

By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times

July 1, 2010

Embattled health insurer Anthem Blue Cross is reviving its plan to raise rates for tens of thousands of California policyholders, some of whom could see their premiums rise as much as 20%.

California's largest for-profit insurer submitted new rates Wednesday amid pressure to scale back increases of as much as 39% that had provoked fury from consumers, lawmakers and even President Obama.

That initial attempt to hike premiums in the spring turned Anthem into a national target for outrage over insurance company profits. And it reenergized the Obama administration's flagging efforts to pass landmark healthcare legislation. The Woodland Hills insurer backed down after an independent consultant for California's insurance commissioner found numerous errors in its rate plan.

Eager to avoid another public backlash, Anthem and its corporate parent, Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., now are seeking a maximum increase of 20%, with an average hike of 14%. The original proposal called for an average increase of 25%. The new rates would take effect Sept. 1.

WellPoint defended the rising premiums as necessary and unavoidable, saying Anthem would still lose more than $100 million this year on individual health insurance policies sold in California even though 600,000 of its customers would be paying more.

"The rates do not cover our costs and are not going to be sustainable over the long term, but it made sense to move ahead," said Brad Fluegel, WellPoint's chief strategy officer. "Given the environment, it was in the best interest of everyone to get this behind us and move forward."

But policyholders and consumer advocates who assailed Anthem's initial rate hikes also blasted the new increases as excessive, and fear that Anthem will try to recoup any losses with subsequent rate increases. Company officials said Wednesday they expect a new round of rate hikes in the first half of 2011

WellPoint has posted huge earnings so far this year. The company made $877 million in the first three months of 2010, a 51% increase from the same period last year.

It also boosted compensation in 2009 for Chief Executive Angela F. Braly to $13.1million, a 51% increase from a year earlier, according to a company filing.

"Why can't they start thinking about people rather than profits," asked Mark Weiss, a Century City podiatrist whose individual insurance policy was set to rise 35% before Anthem canceled the increases in the spring.

Consumer advocates and some lawmakers said the Anthem controversy pointed to the need for legislation that would give regulators more authority over rates.

California is one of a handful of states where health insurers can raise rates without state approval.

"It is clearly time for stricter oversight of the methods health insurance companies use to calculate premium rate increases," U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said.

The new healthcare law will provide access to health coverage for an estimated 32 million uninsured people but will do little to control rate hikes, simply giving federal officials the ability to review "excessive" increases.

Anthem's earlier misstep has made it something of a corporate outcast in Sacramento and Washington. Lawmakers in both capitals hauled the chief executives of Anthem and WellPoint before legislative hearings to justify the rising premiums.

Obama singled out Anthem on several occasions, including on Super Bowl Sunday, describing the Anthem increases as "a portrait of the future if we don't do something now." The administration and healthcare analysts have credited the company's attempted rate hike with reinvigorating the president's effort to pass healthcare reform.

"The Anthem rate increases gave the legislation the final push," said Shana Alex Lavarreda, director of health insurance studies at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Anthem's new plan comes as California regulators step up scrutiny of insurers offering insurance to individual policyholders in the state, where about 2.5 million people buy their own insurance because they do not receive coverage through employers.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has hired an actuary to study rate filings submitted by Anthem, Aetna Inc. and Blue Shield of California. Poizner announced Wednesday that he was making the filings public on the insurance department's website. A fourth insurer, Health Net Inc., also will undergo additional scrutiny once it files new rates.

The state consultant who found significant calculation errors in Anthem's paperwork later identified math mistakes in Aetna's application, leading the Connecticut-based insurer last week to kill its plan for an average 19% rate hike for 65,000 individual policyholders in California.

WellPoint executives said they took several steps to ensure the accuracy of their new filing, adding internal reviews and hiring an outside consultant to evaluate it.

"We're confident that those errors have been corrected," said Brian Sassi, president and chief executive of WellPoint's consumer business unit.

"Our intent is to provide healthcare coverage to individuals and groups in the state of California," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-anthem-rates-20100701,0,6073154,print.story

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Ex-police commander held in Michoacan ambush

Mexican officials say Miguel Ortiz Miranda, alias 'El Tyson,' directed operations in Morelia for the Michoacan-based La Familia, including an attack on security chief Minerva Bautista Gomez's convoy.

By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

June 30, 2010

Reporting from Mexico City

Mexican authorities Wednesday announced the arrest of a key suspect in the attempted assassination of a state security chief whose convoy was attacked with grenades and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition.

The suspect until recently was a police commander who also worked for the notorious drug cartel known as La Familia, authorities said.

Minerva Bautista Gomez, security chief for the state of Michoacan, survived the April 24 ambush. Two of her bodyguards and two passing motorists were killed.

Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics unit of the federal Public Security Ministry, said in a news conference in Mexico City that Miguel Ortiz Miranda, alias "El Tyson," had been arrested Tuesday in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. Ortiz directed operations in Morelia for the Michoacan-based La Familia, Pequeno said, including attacks on public officials, kidnappings and extortion.

Pequeno said the suspect also participated in a June 14 ambush outside Zitacuaro that killed at least 10 federal police agents, as well as the 2009 assassination of a senior public security official and decapitation of a state prosecutor.

In one of the most brazen attacks on a public official, Bautista was ambushed as her entourage left a state fair. The assailants used a truck to block a narrow highway passage and opened fire from two sides. Investigators recovered 2,700 spent shells and said 350 high-caliber bullets had hit her heavily armored SUV.

Ortiz told interrogators that the attackers left the scene believing that Bautista was dead.

"Tyson indicated that the attack was in response to changes made within the ministry that went against the interests of La Familia," Pequeno said.

Authorities' contention that Ortiz worked for La Familia while a member of the state security forces illustrates how deeply traffickers have penetrated regional governments. Bautista told The Times in a recent interview that as many as 100 police agents have been interrogated as possible suspects in the attack on her.

Ortiz joined the Michoacan police in 1999 and became commander of a special operations unit before retiring in 2008 after a murder warrant was issued against him, Pequeno said. Ortiz began working for La Familia in 2005, Pequeno said, after accepting a large bribe to release a detained gang member. He provided information to the cartel, alerting it to police movements and offering protection.

La Familia is a ruthless gang dedicated to the trafficking of methamphetamine. The gang has evolved in recent years as its leaders have tried to create a quasi-religious aura around the group. Pequeno said Ortiz described five days of indoctrination when he joined La Familia that included Bible-reading, self-help seminars and weapons training.

Ortiz also told authorities that La Familia recently joined forces with the Gulf cartel and other smaller gangs to fight the paramilitary Zetas. The Zetas were once allied with Gulf traffickers but are now battling them in several parts of Mexico, including the northern border state of Tamaulipas, where presumed drug hit men this week assassinated the leading candidate for governor.

On Wednesday, officials with the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Tamaulipas named the slain candidate's brother, Egidio Torre Cantu, to run in his place in Sunday's election.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-bautista-arrest-20100701,0,7227412,print.story

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Suspect in Russian spy ring vanishes in Cyprus

Christopher Robert Metsos, a Canadian who is one of 11 people the U.S. accused of spying for Russia for several years, disappears after being released on bail.

Associated Press

July 1, 2010

LARNACA, Cyprus

Police in Cyprus began searching late Wednesday for an alleged Russian spy wanted in the United States who vanished after being released on bail a day earlier.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said Christopher Robert Metsos, 54, who says he is Canadian, failed to report to police in the southern coastal town of Larnaca between 6 and 8 p.m. Wednesday to comply with the terms of his release.

Katsounotos said a search failed to locate Metsos and authorities had begun procedures to issue an arrest warrant.

He is one of 11 people the U.S. accuses of spying for Russia for several years.

Ten members of the alleged ring were arrested over the weekend across the Northeast U.S. and charged with failing to register as foreign agents, a crime that is less serious than espionage and carries up to five years in prison. Some also face money-laundering charges.

Metsos, who was arrested in Cyprus, is accused of passing money to the other 10.

Andreas Pastellides, one of two lawyers representing Metsos in the Mediterranean island nation, told the Associated Press that they'd had no contact with their client since Tuesday afternoon.

Pastellides said Metsos did not show up for a meeting with Pastellides' partner, Michalis Papathanasiou, on Wednesday.

Metsos' quick disappearance raised questions about why authorities in Cyprus had released him on bail.

"I'm truly surprised that the court issued no such detention order against an individual who is alleged to be a spy," said Ionas Nicolaou, a member of parliament for the opposition Disy party and chairman of parliament's Legal Affairs Committee.

But Pastellides defended the bail request.

"We objected to our client's detention because he did not wish to be detained until his extradition," Pastellides said. "Yes, it was a serious case, but God forbid if someone remains detained for a month until extradition proceedings can begin."

Pastellides said he was not surprised the judge freed Metsos because of Metsos' willingness to surrender his travel documents, appear once a day at a local police station and pay bail of about $32,500.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department's national security division, said he was aware of the media reports regarding Metsos but would "defer to Cyprus authorities for comment."

A spokesman at FBI headquarters in Washington, William Carter, said the bureau was not commenting at this time.

Metsos could have slipped into the Turkish Cypriot north of the island, which is recognized by no country other than Turkey and has no formal extradition treaty with other countries. The north is linked to Turkey by an airport and ferry services. The only other outside link to the northern part of the island is a ferry service to Syria.

Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Metsos was arrested early Tuesday at Larnaca airport as he tried to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary. His arrest was based on a notice issued by Interpol, the international police agency.

Katsounotos said Metsos arrived on the island June 17. Cypriot authorities received the Interpol arrest warrant June 25.

In the past, the island has been known as a regional hub for spies from across the Mideast, as it straddles the meeting point of three continents — Europe, Africa and Asia.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-russian-agent-metsos-20100701,0,1521195,print.story

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ACLU issues advisory to holiday travelers about Arizona's anti-illegal immigration law

Three California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union issued an alert Wednesday informing holiday travelers about their rights in the event they are stopped and questioned by Arizona law enforcement officers in light of a controversial state law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.

The advisory is the first direct action that the Northern California, Southern California and San Diego affiliates have taken against Arizona law SB 1070. The ACLU's national office is one of several organizations that filed a lawsuit challenging the Arizona law, approved by legislators in April.

The law empowers police, after making a lawful stop, to verify the immigration status of people they reasonably suspect are in the country illegally. The law doesn't take effect until July 29,  but ACLU officials say they fear some law enforcement officers may already be acting on its provisions.

“We want people to understand the dangers of traveling to Arizona and also to understand what their rights are should they be stopped by police,” said Hector Villagara, legal director for the ACLU of Southern California. 

Villagara said the advisory was released Wednesday so it could reach Californians who plan to visit family in Arizona over the Fourth of July weekend and because SB 1070 takes effect in about a month.

The ACLU has also posted on its website a set of instructions -- available in English and Spanish -- that travelers can carry with them. The instructions explain how to navigate the process of dealing with an officer. The first instruction is to remain calm, Villagara said.

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

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Russian spy episode shouldn't derail relations

Presidents Obama and Medvedev have good reasons for playing down the Russian spy scandal as they work on global economy and combating organized crime and terrorism.

July 1, 2010

The FBI rolled up a Russian spy ring in suburban America just days after President Dmitry Medvedev tooled around Silicon Valley, netting an iPhone 4 from Apple's Steve Jobs and a promised $1-billion investment from Cisco Systems. The leader of the United States' Cold War foe then chowed down on cheeseburgers with President Obama in Arlington, Va., at a diner blocks from the apartment of one of the alleged secret agents. Agents, by the way, who apparently never sent home any secrets.

John LeCarre might have discarded this story as beggaring belief, but it's a true-life collision of past and present relations with Moscow. And just as intriguing as the facts of the case is our collective reaction: surprise, fascination and an odd sense of familiarity, but not fear or outrage.

The spy operation seems like a relic of the past, with buried bags of cash and invisible ink. The suspects allegedly took on U.S. identities and lived all-American lives, while scouting for information on U.S. policy-making and for potential recruits. U.S. officials had been tracking them for a decade, well before the appearance of Facebook, YouTube and other tools for learning about Americans that not only would have been legal but might have yielded higher returns — more insights on policy, new Friends on the Web.

Granted, we could learn that these spies were more than Keystone Kops, or that there are others still active who are doing serious damage to national security, somehow passing nuclear, technological or political secrets to the Kremlin. But Obama and Medvedev have good reasons for playing down the scandal that White House spokesman Robert Gibbs referred to as a law enforcement issue rather than a diplomatic crisis. The two countries, no longer enemies, must work together to nurse the global economy, dissuade Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and combat organized crime and terrorism. Neither wants a skeptical U.S. Senate to use the spy episode to delay ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that the two presidents signed in April. Indeed, while it is important to remain vigilant against espionage, given what we've seen so far, we don't see cause for another "reset" of the U.S.-Russia relationship that the two governments have been working hard to mend.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-spies-20100701,0,2491712,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Killers Stalk Politicians as Iraq Seeks Government

MOSUL, Iraq — Since Iraq 's parliamentary elections in March, killers in this violent northern city have stalked members of the Iraqiya Party, which won the most seats, part of a nationwide outbreak of violence directed at officials and other civic leaders.

Some 150 politicians, civil servants, tribal chiefs, police officers, Sunni clerics and members of Awakening Councils have been assassinated throughout Iraq since the election — bloodshed apparently aimed at heightening turmoil in the power vacuum created by more than three months without a national government.

During the past 72 hours alone , at least eight Iraqi police officers, an Iraqi Army general, a government intelligence official, a member of an Awakening Council, a tribal sheik, and a high ranking staff member of Baghdad's local government have all been assassinated in either Baghdad or Mosul.

The level of violence is low compared to the worst here over the last seven years, yet deeply unsettling because it seems so precisely focused.

It is certainly unsettling to Dildar Abdullah al-Zibari, the local leader here, who is fairly certain there are those who would like him and others dead.

Since March, he says, killers have stalked members of Iraqiya, which is now locked in a struggle with a coalition led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to form a government. Ayad Allawi , who heads the Iraqiya Party, has spoken in recent days about a foiled plot to kill him at Baghdad's international airport. Mr. Maliki said that he, too, had been a target of assassination attempts and that it was a risk all Iraqi leaders had to come to terms with in the current unresolved political climate.

Here in Mosul, one of the last pockets of regular fighting in Iraq, political leaders believe that the continuing effort to form a government is driving the killing and the general sense of fear among politicians representing Iraqiya.

Four Iraqiya Party members have been gunned down in recent months, three of them in and around Mosul. There have been more than a dozen unsuccessful assassination attempts during the past several weeks, party officials said. They have responded by variously arming themselves and going into hiding.

Instead of the car bombs of the past, the current weapons of choice are hit squads equipped with guns fitted with homemade silencers, or “sticky bombs” — small but deadly explosives attached to vehicles with adhesives or magnets.

Iraqiya officials say they suspect that the Iraqi Army and police are involved in hunting them down and no longer bother to report murder attempts to the authorities.

“The security forces are controlled by politicians, and I don't expect professionalism from the army because I don't have political clout in Baghdad,” said Mr. Zibari, deputy chairman of the Nineveh Province provincial council. “Anything could happen at any time.”

Members of Mr. Zibari's party speak darkly about the inevitability of more killings. “We're afraid for our members in Parliament, and also for the candidates who didn't win the election,” said Zuhair Muhsin Mohammed al-Araji, a newly elected Iraqiya member of Parliament from Mosul. “Some candidates have moved out of their houses, and some have temporarily left their jobs to protect themselves.”

The fear among Iraqiya officials in Mosul is not unusual in Iraq, where anyone in a position of influence is vulnerable to threats, kidnapping and worse. But while political leaders during Iraq's recent violence typically knew who wanted them killed, party leaders in Mosul say politics in the city have become so tumultuous since the election that narrowing the possibilities down to a single group is no longer possible. The list is endlessly long and contradictory, vague to the point of including every possible enemy: Party leaders put near the top of their lists Iran and its Shiite militia allies in Iraq, which Iraqiya believes are bent on eliminating it because of the party's popularity among Sunnis, and its criticisms of Iran's influence in Iraqi politics.

On the other hand, party officials say, Sunni extremist groups like Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia might be behind the slayings because of the groups' history of trying to systematically eliminate Sunnis who cooperate in the democratic process.

Iraqiya says it also suspects Kurdish political parties, which are vying with Iraqiya for political predominance in the province.

Still another theory suggests that the Qaeda cell operating in Mosul is financed and operated by Iranians and Kurds as a way to cover their tracks.

But Iraqiya officials here save most of the conjecture for the government of Mr. Maliki, which they say has employed dirty tricks to keep them out of power.

Most of the victims, they point out, have belonged to the Iraqiyun political faction of Iraqiya, which they believe signals an orchestrated attempt to frighten Iraqiyun into breaking away and joining Mr. Maliki.

“The people in power want to keep their power,” Mr. Zibari said recently, in Mosul's heavily guarded provincial council headquarters building. “I am more frightened of the central government than I am of Al Qaeda .”

Mr. Maliki's government has denied any role in a campaign of violence against Iraqiya. They blame Al Qaeda, but acknowledge that it is far from clear whether Iraq's army or police have played a role.

“Nobody can say with complete assurance that our security forces are not infiltrated or have not been compromised,” by insurgents, said Ali al-Moussawi, an adviser to the prime minister.

But Mr. Moussawi said Iraqiya was exploiting the killings to gain political leverage.

“It is a dangerous thing to use security as part of political bargaining,” he said. “No one should use it for their political benefit or to try to weaken the prime minister or his coalition.”

Instead of complaining, Mr. Moussawi said Iraqiya should be thankful for the security gains made in Iraq by Mr. Maliki. “Who settled down the security situation in the country — angels or the government?” he asked.

Despite those improvements, Mosul and Nineveh Provinces are combustible. They are divided among Sunni Arabs, many of whom hew to Baath Party principles; Kurds, who are seeking to integrate parts of the province into semi-autonomous Kurdistan; Christians, who continue to be killed and forced to flee; Turkmens, Yazidis, and others.

Atheel al-Nujaifi, the provincial governor and a member of Iraqiya, said the party's members in Mosul were being killed because Iraqiya held both the governorship and a majority of seats on the provincial council, and therefore exercised a great deal of power.

“We are caught in the middle between Iran, Al Qaeda and the conflict with the Kurds,” Mr. Nujaifi said. “I don't think there's any way to run from it. This is the destiny of our country.”

The governor said he was unconvinced that Iraqiya members who were recently elected to Parliament and who are now staying at a highly secured Baghdad hotel would be any safer than they had been in Mosul.

“It might be even hotter at the Rashid Hotel,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/middleeast/01slay.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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New Estimate of Strength of Al Qaeda Is Offered

ASPEN, Colo. — Michael E. Leiter, one of the country's top counterterrorism officials, said Wednesday that American intelligence officials now estimated that there were somewhat “more than 300” Qaeda leaders and fighters hiding in Pakistan 's tribal areas, a rare public assessment of the strength of the terrorist group that is the central target of President Obama 's war strategy.

Taken together with the recent estimate by the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta , that there are about 50 to 100 Qaeda operatives now in Afghanistan, American intelligence agencies believe that there are most likely fewer than 500 members of the group in a region where the United States has poured nearly 100,000 troops.

Many American officials warn about such comparisons, saying that Al Qaeda has forged close ties with a number of affiliated militant groups and that a large American troop presence is necessary to helping the Afghan government prevent Al Qaeda from gaining a safe haven in Afghanistan similar to what it had before the Sept. 11 attacks.

On Monday, Adm. Mike Mullen , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , said that on a recent trip to the region he was struck by the “depth of synergies” between Al Qaeda and a number of other insurgent groups, including the Pakistani and the Afghan Taliban .

Mr. Leiter, who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center , concurred with Admiral Mullen's judgment.

But with the fighting in Afghanistan intensifying and few indications that the Taliban are weakening, the recent estimates of Al Qaeda's strength could give ammunition to critics of President Obama's strategy who think the United States should pull most of its troops from the country and instead rely on small teams of Special Operations forces and missile strikes from C.I.A. drones.

Both Mr. Leiter and Admiral Mullen were speaking at the same homeland security conference at the Aspen Institute, sponsored in part by The New York Times. Mr. Panetta's public remarks came last Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”

Mr. Leiter told the audience on Wednesday that “we've had some incredible successes” against Al Qaeda's leadership. Echoing Mr. Panetta's assessment, he said the group “is weaker today than it has been at any time since 2001.”

But he quickly added, “Weaker does not mean harmless.”

Administration officials talk increasingly about the dangers posed by militant groups affiliated with Al Qaeda, saying they have both the intent and the capabilities to attack the United States. The man accused of trying to detonate a vehicle in Times Square in May received training from the Pakistani Taliban, a group once thought to be interested only in attacking inside Pakistan. On Dec. 25, a young Nigerian man tried to blow up a transatlantic jetliner on its way to Detroit after being trained by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based terror group, officials say.

Mr. Leiter's organization was one of those criticized for failing to thwart the Dec. 25 attack by placing the man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , on a no-fly list.

Mr. Leiter said that “the threshold has been lowered” for placing individuals with suspected links to terror groups on that list, though he would not describe the new criteria. He said that Mr. Abdulmutallab was on a list of suspects “available to 10,000 people” inside the United States government, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department and others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/asia/01qaeda.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Economy Hurts Government Aid for H.I.V. Drugs

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The weak economy is crippling the government program that provides life-sustaining antiretroviral drugs to people with H.I.V. or AIDS who cannot afford them. Nearly 1,800 have been relegated to rapidly expanding waiting lists that less than three years ago had dwindled to zero.

As with other safety-net programs, ballooning demand caused by persistent unemployment and loss of health insurance is being met with reductions in government resources. Without reliable access to the medications, which cost patients in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program an average of $12,000 a year, people with H.I.V. are more likely to develop full-blown AIDS, transmit the virus and require expensive hospitalizations.

Eleven states have closed enrollment in the federal program, most recently Florida , which has the nation's third-largest population of people with H.I.V. Three other states have narrowed eligibility, and two of them — Arkansas and Utah — have dropped scores of people from the program.

Last week, because of swelling numbers here in South Florida, the nationwide waiting list surged past record levels set in 2004, to 1,781 people, according to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. The growth is expected to continue when Georgia starts deferring enrollment in its drug assistance program on July 1. Illinois may soon follow, and New Jersey plans to cut eligibility on Aug. 1, removing 600 of the 7,700 people on its rolls.

Louisiana capped enrollment on June 1 but decided against keeping a waiting list. “It implies you're actually waiting on something,” said DeAnn Gruber, the interim director of the state's H.I.V./AIDS program. “We don't want to give anyone false hope.”

Ten states' programs have stopped covering drugs that do not directly combat H.I.V. or opportunistic infections. Unless money is found by Aug. 1, Florida plans to pare 53 of 101 medications from its formulary, including those for conditions that are often related to H.I.V., like diabetes, high blood pressure and anxiety.

In many states, there is a sense of reverting to the 1980s and early 1990s, before the development of protease inhibitors reversed the rise in AIDS deaths.

“The worry then was that there were no medications for AIDS,” said Dr. Wayne A. Duffus, medical director of the drug assistance program in South Carolina. “The worry now is that there are medicines, but you can't afford them. A lot of patients are certainly old enough to remember what happens if you don't get your medicines.”

For the moment, pharmaceutical companies have stepped into the breach, negotiating discounts for the state drug plans and accepting needy patients into programs that temporarily provide free medications. Although there is no data to prove it, state AIDS directors said a vast majority of people on waiting lists seemed to be getting medications one way or another.

But they concede that some patients may be going without, and that caseworkers are being diverted from critical tasks while navigating a thicket of cumbersome applications seeking drug companies' help.

“The drug companies are trying their best to lower prices,” said Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of the AIDS Institute , an advocacy group. “But we cannot rely on them to finance the health care of poor people living with H.I.V. and AIDS.”

Tim Sweeney, 49, a Fort Lauderdale man who has depended on the assistance program for a dozen years, said he was put on Florida's waiting list because he was four days late to re-enroll, as is required every six months. Mr. Sweeney, who has AIDS, takes six H.I.V. pills twice a day, as well as three other medications. Their total retail cost: $4,500 a month.

Unemployed for 18 months, Mr. Sweeney said he spent three days filling out forms to apply for aid from pharmaceutical companies. While awaiting responses, he is being supplied with drugs, one week at a time, by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation , a social service agency.

The patchwork arrangement gives him little comfort. “My biggest fear,” said Mr. Sweeney, who credits the drugs with vastly improving his immune cell counts, “is that I've done all this hard work over 20 years and now I'm going to fall back.”

Scott Miller, 42, a northeast Florida truck driver who lost his health insurance in May along with his job, said he had never before sought assistance during five years with H.I.V. When his caseworker told him there was a waiting list, he asked what he was supposed to do.

“She just shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘I don't know what to tell you,' ” Mr. Miller said. After several days without drugs, Mr. Miller qualified for a free three-month supply of his medication, Atripla, from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Dr. Helmut Albrecht, director of the infectious diseases program at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, said he knew of one wait-listed patient who had died after a seizure while awaiting approval from drug company programs.

“In my world, there is never a certainty if meds would have prevented death,” Dr. Albrecht said, “but the fact remains that the wait certainly did not help.”

Drug assistance has grown since 1996 to become the largest component of the federal Ryan White program, which provides grants to states and localities. The drug program's budget from all sources is now $1.6 billion, with Washington contributing about 55 percent, states offering 14 percent and drug company rebates accounting for 31 percent, according to the state AIDS directors.

A confluence of factors has caused the strain. Enrollment has spiked during the recession , up 12 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, to about 169,000 people. The trend has probably accelerated since then. In Florida, monthly enrollments grew by a third between May 2009 and May 2010.

A renewed emphasis on testing is also driving up caseloads, and federal treatment guidelines now recommend an earlier start to drug therapy. Because the drugs are so effective, people often stay on the rolls for extended periods.

Meanwhile, federal financial support has stayed essentially flat, up barely 2 percent this year, while appropriations from state budgets have fallen 34 percent, according to the state AIDS directors. The drug companies increased their contribution by half, to nearly $500 million, but it is still not enough.

Once fully implemented in 2014, the new health care law is expected to close the gaps by expanding Medicaid , subsidizing private insurance and requiring insurers to cover pre-existing conditions.

More immediately, two Republican senators, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, have proposed redirecting $126 million from stimulus spending to the drug assistance program.

President Obama opposes taking money from stimulus projects but is “working to ensure” that the program gets adequate financing, said Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman. He did not provide details. Mr. Obama recommended a $20 million increase in next year's drug assistance budget.

In Florida, where AIDS deaths have dropped by two-thirds since the introduction of antiretroviral drugs, state officials cannot forecast how long the waiting list might be necessary. Unemployment stands at 11.7 percent, and there is no budget relief in sight. The list, which was begun on June 1, already holds 361 names.

“I know people are scared,” said Thomas M. Liberti, chief of the state H.I.V./AIDS bureau. “We haven't had a waiting list in 14 years. Unfortunately, we did not outlast the recession.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/us/01aidsdrugs.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Oakland Prepares for Response to Trial Verdict

OAKLAND, Calif. — Officials in Oakland are girding for the verdict in a closely watched trial of a former transit police officer accused of murdering an unarmed black man on a subway platform on New Year's Day 2009.

The shooting — which was captured on cellphone video and widely disseminated on the Internet — set off riots in downtown Oakland, and city officials seem wary of a repeat as closing arguments begin Thursday in Los Angeles, where the trial was moved.

Last week, Mayor Ronald V. Dellums and Chief Anthony W. Batts of the police took the unusual step of issuing a public message urging both calm and precaution after the verdict is announced, asking residents to park their cars in a “secure location” and remove large trash receptacles.

“We understand that the community is grieving, and we are in this together,” Mr. Dellums and Chief Batts said on the city's Web site The Web site includes a list of “places to cool off and express yourself in positive ways.”

The police, meanwhile, have been put on alert, with vacations canceled and officers practicing anti-riot maneuvers. Commanders have also been running “tabletop” drills with representatives of several local agencies. “We have to be braced for something really bad,” said Holly J. Joshi, a police spokeswoman.

The former officer, Johannes Mehserle, who is white, was not a member of the Oakland Police Department but rather the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, which patrols the region's subways. Mr. Mehserle, 28, is accused of murdering Oscar Grant III, 22, a butcher's apprentice who had been removed from a BART train after a fight between two groups returning from New Year's festivities in San Francisco. Mr. Grant was shot in the back as he lay on a platform.

Mr. Mehserle, who resigned after the shooting, says Mr. Grant's death was a terrible accident. But his explanation, that he mistook his own police sidearm for a Taser, has been met with skepticism by some of Oakland's black residents, who have a long, uneasy relationship with local law enforcement.

There have also been some ominous signs on city streets, including graffiti with messages like “Mehserle must die” spray-painted on a local bus stop. Latoya Phillips, 25, a student of mass communications at California State University , East Bay said she had seen similar graffiti in her neighborhood.

“I understand the rage,” Ms. Phillips said. “The person who wrote this is coming from the concept of ‘an eye for an eye,' ” voicing the opinion of those who were outraged and offended by the shooting.”

What many here seem to fear is a reprise of the reaction to the Rodney King verdict in 1992, which included riots in Los Angeles after the officers accused of beating Mr. King were acquitted.

City officials stress that many of those who rioted after Mr. Grant's shooting were not Oakland residents.

“Beware of ‘outside agitators' who are not from Oakland and who will try to incite violence,” reads a message on the city's Web site. “Oakland is our home, it's not theirs.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/us/01oakland.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Officer and Professor Faulted for Confrontation at Home

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Cambridge police sergeant who arrested him last July missed opportunities to “ratchet down” an avoidable confrontation that set off a national debate on race, class and policing, according to a report released Wednesday by an independent panel.

“The committee believes that the incident was sparked by misunderstandings and failed communications between the two men,” said the report, titled “Missed Opportunities, Shared Responsibilities.”

It was written by the Cambridge Review Committee, a 12-member group of law enforcement officials, community members and experts on race relations and conflict resolution that was convened in September to review the arrest of Professor Gates and make recommendations to the police on issues of race and police authority.

Professor Gates was arrested on disorderly conduct charges last July 16 while the sergeant, James Crowley , investigated a call about a possible burglary at the Gates home. The 911 call came after Professor Gates and a driver tried to open his jammed front door. The professor said he was a victim of racial profiling; the charges were later dropped.

The report said the situation deteriorated “within seconds” after Sergeant Crowley arrived at the home. Both men were fearful, it said — Professor Gates when a police officer showed up at his home and Sergeant Crowley of a possible burglary.

The situation continued to worsen after Professor Gates showed his identification. The report suggested that Sergeant Crowley could have better explained why he was at the home and that Professor Gates could have used a different tone. Both men told the panel they would not have acted differently now.

“This is not just about race,” said Chuck Wexler, chairman of the committee and executive director of the police executive research forum, at a news conference. “This is about something else as well. You can't take race off the table, you can't take class off the table, and you can't take police authority off the table. But this encounter is much more about the relationship that these two individuals had.”

Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing Professor Gates, said in an interview he applauded the committee for “forward looking” recommendations but felt numerous facts were omitted.

“It is comprehensive and positive and moving in the right direction,” Professor Ogletree said. “But I find quite troubling that the early overview of the incident leaves out essential critical and dispositive information about what happened on July 16.”

Sergeant Crowley said in a statement that he had “learned a lot through this process” and continued “to be committed to the city of Cambridge.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/us/politics/01gates.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Not Anyone's Daughter

Advocates have been fighting to end female genital mutilation across Africa and parts of the Middle East and Asia, marking progress one village at a time. The battleground extends to immigrant communities in the developed world, which still value this horrifying ritual.

Female genital mutilation has been banned in the United States since 1996. Representatives Joseph Crowley of New York and Mary Bono Mack of California are now sponsoring legislation that would make it a felony to take a girl out of the country to have the procedure, punishing violators with fines and a five-year prison term. Supporters hope the law will be a deterrent and embolden more young women or their mothers to resist family or community pressure and defend themselves.

The need for strong resistance was underscored after the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement that a milder version of mutilation — a nick of a girl's genitals done in a doctor's office — should be made legal in the United States as a way to prevent families from taking children abroad for the full brutal procedure. Advocates rightly argued that medicalizing this violence against women would only legitimize it and undermine the force of the ban. The academy has since withdrawn the statement.

Congress should move quickly to pass the Girls Protection Act. More needs to be done. State health authorities should step up education campaigns in immigrant communities. Pediatricians could make it their business to recognize and report the signs of abuse.

Federal officials could ensure that ports of entry like Kennedy International Airport in New York City have informational signs, hot lines and a shelter. An international departure terminal may provide the last chance to save a girl from a lifetime of suffering and early death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/opinion/01thu4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the White House

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The President's Speech, and a Chat, on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Speaking to 24 American service members as they became citizens of our nation in April, the President was passionate about the need to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

Over the years, many have attempted to confront this challenge, but passions are great and disagreements run deep.  Yet surely we can all agree that when 11 million people in our country are living here illegally, outside the system, that's unacceptable.  The American people demand and deserve a solution.  And they deserve common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform grounded in the principles of responsibility and accountability.

As he explained, and as his record shows , the government has a responsibility to enforce the law. But as he also explained, the only way to truly fix our broken immigration system is with a comprehensive federal approach.

This morning the President will make clear that this is a top priority and call on Congress to tackle it in a major speech at American University at 10:45AM EDT.

• Watch the President's speech at 10:45 here at WhiteHouse.gov/live

After the speech, we will also host a unique online engagement event – what we're calling an “Open for Questions Roundtable” – with Cecilia Muñoz, one of the President's closest advisors on the issue. Representatives from online media outlets examining several angles of the immigration issue will be there posing the questions on the minds of their readers -- Forbes, which focuses on business and economic issues;  the Examiner.com network which has citizen reporters in every state including more than 50 border state communities; CNET which focuses on the tech community; and Univision.com, which has covered the immigration debate as closely as anybody for years.   And as we always do, we'll be taking some of your questions live via Facebook as well.

• Join the “Open for Questions Roundtable” at 1:00 via Facebook
  
  
• Watch the chat and submit question at 1:00 via WhiteHouse.gov/live

See you there.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/30/presidents-speech-and-a-chat-comprehensive-immigration-reform

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Announcing HealthCare.gov

Today, our Administration is launching HealthCare.gov a new consumer website that provides unprecedented transparency into the health care marketplace.  Through HealthCare.gov, individuals will have more control over their health care as informed and empowered consumers.

This “first-of-its-kind” website is simple and easy to use, and provides one-stop shopping access to a wealth of information, including your new consumer rights and benefits under the Affordable Care Act, a timeline of when new programs under the new law will come online between now and 2014 and a new insurance finder that will make it easy to find both private and public health insurance option that works for you. 

HealthCare.gov will help take some of the mystery out of shopping for health insurance. For too long, it was confusing to identify your options and compare plans. HealthCare.gov makes comparison shopping easier with a new insurance finder that allows users to answer a few basic questions and receive information about insurance options that could work for them. The site makes a system that thrived on complication and confusion easier to understand.  This kind of transparency helps create informed consumers which increases competition, reduces prices and improves quality.  

Here are just some of the basics about what you can find when you visit:

• Approximately 500 pages of content
  
  
• Data for more than 1,000 insurance carriers  and 5,561 open products (2,030 in the individual health insurance market and 3,531 in the small employer health insurance market)
  
  
• Information on every Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program in the country
  
  
• Information on the Pre-Existing Condition Plan in every state.
  
  
• Billions of choices. Answer a few basic questions, and the site's insurance finder automatically sorts through a huge catalog of public and private coverage options to help you identify the ones that are right for you (with billions of potential personal scenarios supported).   

HealthCare.gov will continue to get even better in the months ahead. In October, 2010, price estimates for health insurance plans will be available online, and the site includes easy ways for users to tell us how we can make HealthCare.gov more helpful and easier to use.

We'll discuss these and other features of the site this afternoon at 1:00 PM EDT, when the HHS team and I will host a briefing for reporters and the public to discuss the new site. You can watch the briefing by visiting HHS.gov/live . We're excited about demonstrating this important new tool, and enthused that so many organizations and individuals are already praising the new site.

Here's what some folks have said about HealthCare.gov :

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

“For the first time, no matter where you live, you can go to one place and compare health plans available in your area. The site is nicely designed.  It's easy to find information.  It tries to avoid the complicated language that you usually get when you're shopping for a health plan.  Starting this fall, the site will have more information, like price and quality of service comparisons, which will be a big help for consumers.” 

Young Invincibles

"Young adults represent the largest group of uninsured in the country.  Because of health care reform, many of us are about to get insurance for the first time.  This portal will help us and all Americans get the information we need about the benefits now available to us.  Our generation, more than any other, gets our information online and this portal puts it all together in one easy, intuitive site.  It is the kind of site young Americans will use and will come back to as they build their careers and their lives.  We are excited to help spread the word and to finally see our friends and family get covered."

American Cancer Society

“Healthcare.gov offers consumers something they've never had in the health insurance marketplace - a transparent, one-stop site where they can compare benefits and services, and find the insurance options that work best for them.  Reducing confusion about coverage and introducing straightforward information about insurance options has always been a top priority for cancer patients and survivors, and this website will help in a major way. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will be getting the word out to our volunteers and members about this valuable new resource.”

American Heart Association

“This new website, www.healthcare.gov , from the Department of Health and Human Services is a valuable resource for all Americans as they learn more about the health insurance options available to them and about new insurance protections that could help ensure access to needed care for themselves and their families.   For the first time, consumers faced with an array of choices will have a single site to go to help them understand their coverage options.  The American Heart Association will continue to work closely with Congress and the Administration to ensure that heart disease and stroke patients receive the best information available to make informed choices about their insurance needs.”  

SEIU

Last year, SEIU members joined in a nationwide effort to win quality, affordable health care for all Americans. HealthCare.gov is an important step forward in ending insurance company abuse - once and for all.  This portal will increase both transparency and access for the uninsured and allow people to find quality, affordable health plans in their states. For the first time ever, Americans will be able to compare health plans and make educated decisions about the type of plan that best suits their needs. With today's launching ofHealthCare.gov, we're closer than ever to achieving quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Families USA 

  “Families USA applauds Secretary Sebelius for launching a ground-breaking new web site for consumers shopping for health coverage or seeking information about the Affordable Care Act. “Healthcare.gov will allow consumers to make informed choices about their health care coverage and encourage competition and transparency among health insurers. This first-of-its-kind web site will provide consumers with their health coverage options in a comprehensive and easy-to-navigate way. We congratulate the Department of Health and Human Services for creating this online tool in a timely and expeditious manner during the three short months since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Never before have consumers been able to view all their insurance options—including private market plans, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Medicare, and the new Preexisting Condition Insurance Plans—all in one place. Implementing the Affordable Care Act will be no small feat. Americans will welcome a useful, consumer-friendly online resource that is sure to help ease the process as they reap the benefits of this historic legislation.”

National Women's Law Center

“We'd like to express our appreciation and congratulate the team at HHS on their remarkable efforts to expeditiously implement key pieces of the Affordable Care Act. This week, two more key pieces of the new law come into effect, including the launch of the new web portal. Safe to say that all consumers will benefit from “healthcare.gov” to find helpful information about all available health coverage options. For all people looking for insurance coverage, your new web-based resource that launches this week is a first-of–its-kind one-stop resource that puts users one click away from combined information drawn from many sources about all different insurance options, including but not limited to private insurance, public insurance options for people with low income, as well as the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans. Never before have consumers had available to them such a resource that combined so many different sources of information about different insurance options. As you no doubt know, women are health care decision makers for their families. The new information resources available at healthcare.gov will help millions of women and their families find health coverage options until the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented in 2014. We look forward to the many improvements to come to our health system as a result of the Affordable Care Act.”

AFL-CIO

“Health Care.gov”, the new HHS website, as called for under the Affordable Care Act going , represents a giant step towards shifting control of health choices in the private insurance market from insurance companies to working families. The AFL-CIO applauds Secretary Sebelius and her staff for such creating a user friendly website where consumers can find useful and timely information on health coverage, choice and quality. Nothing in the private sector is its equal. “HealthCare.gov” is an example of public service at its best in the internet age and it delivers on the Secretary's promise that HHS will be America's “Helpdesk” for health care decisions. The unprecedented range and depth of information on insurance plans far outstretches what insurers provide or, in many cases, even disclose on their offerings. In addition the balanced information conveys in plain language giving consumers the information that's usually gets lost in the fine print. The cost comparison information on plans scheduled to be added in October will make the site an even more consumer friendly tool. While the site will be most immediately useful to those without employment-based insurance – the millions of unemployed working families who have lost their health coverage in the economic meltdown of the past two years will find this enormously helpful – it also conveys information about improvements down the road for workers with group coverage by explaining in plain language the multiple benefits under the Affordable Care Act.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/01/announcing-healthcaregov

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It's Up to YOU!

This week New York City hosted the 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service: It's Up to YOU! Over 5,000 service leaders convened to discuss how to create greater impact and effectiveness in meeting social needs through service and volunteering. The National Conference on Volunteering and Service is the world's largest gathering of service and civic engagement leaders. This conference is hosted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, our federal agency home for service, and the Points of Light Institute.

I was pleased to deliver the opening remarks to frame the President's and First Lady's vision and commitment to service as well as to meet with a broad cross-section of service leaders from the nonprofit, public, private, and philanthropic sectors.

As you well know, our nation faces a daunting set of challenges. But, from day one, the President has acted on the principle that “service is a solution” – that service is a critical tool as we address our national priorities.

That's why one of the President's top priorities in his first 100 days was to sign the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. We worked with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Congress and with service and community leaders across the country to give the American people more opportunities to serve.

Afterall, the President and First Lady have always believed that the best ideas don't come from Washington. They come from individuals and communities all across the country. From coast to coast, our neighbors are finding new and innovative ways to meet our country's most pressing challenges. These community-led solutions are strengthening, reforming and supporting our schools; helping us bring quality, affordable health care to everyone; building a sustainable energy future; and ensuring economic recovery, economic opportunity and economic growth in every community in the country.

To support community solutions, the President tasked me with creating the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation as part of the Domestic Policy Council in the White House – to find the best ways to invest in and scale programs that work and find ways to help communities better solve their own problems. We know that we need to get the policies right, but we also know that Americans everywhere are already working to make a difference – and they deserve our support.

We have to come together – the public, private, nonprofit, academic, and philanthropic communities. We need to share best practices, share new ideas, and invest in what works. And we need to support a new generation of leaders who can build on the great progress we have made together.

To get involved in your own local community, please go to Serve.gov to find opportunities to volunteer. And to hear more about the discussions that took place at the National Conference please visit the conference's website .

Melody Barnes is Director of the Domestic Policy Council

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/30/it-s-you

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From the Department of Justice

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WASHINGTON - An indictment unsealed today in Philadelphia charged Omelyan Botsvynyuk, Stepan Botsvynyuk, Mykhaylo Botsvynyuk, Dmytro Botsvynyuk, and Yaroslav Botsvynyuk, a/k/a Yaroslav Churuk, with extortion and conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for their alleged involvement in a human trafficking operation, the Justice Department announced.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas E. Perez, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk of the Philadelphia Field Office and ICE Special Agent-in-Charge John P. Kelleghan announced the indictment.

Four of the Botsvynyuk brothers were arrested today and are charged with conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, from the fall of 2000 through the spring of 2007, by operating a human trafficking organization that smuggled young Ukrainian migrants into the United States and forced them to work for the brothers with little or no pay.

According to the indictment, the defendants promised the victims they would earn $500 per month with free room and board by working for the Botsvynyuk organization. They smuggled the workers into the United States and put them to work as cleaning crews in retail stores, private homes and office buildings without paying them. They used physical force, threats of force, sexual assault and debt bondage to keep the victims in involuntary servitude. The indictment further alleges that even after some of the victims escaped, the defendants continued with their extortionist activities in order to recoup the organization's investment in the workers. If direct threats failed and the workers did not return or make good on their debts, the Botsvynyuk brothers threatened violence to the workers' families still residing in Ukraine. In one instance, according to the indictment, Omelyan Botsvynyuk threatened to place a worker's then nine-year-old daughter into prostitution to pay off the family debt.

"Human trafficking is a scourge that denies human beings their fundamental right to freedom. Those who prey on the most vulnerable through force, fraud or coercion will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Assistant Attorney General Perez. "The Civil Rights Division will continue to work with U.S. Attorney's Offices nationwide, law enforcement agencies across the globe, and victim assistance organizations to vindicate the rights of victims, bring traffickers to justice and dismantle human trafficking networks."

"The victims in this case entered this country with dreams of great opportunity only to find themselves living a nightmare," said U.S. Attorney Memeger. "They trusted this band of brothers, they performed the work they were told only to be rewarded with false promises, threats of brutality, and deprivation of their basic human needs. No one trying to immigrate to this country should have to endure such mistreatment."

Rather than bringing the workers to the United States legally, the indictment alleges that the Botsvynyuk organization obtained tourist visas to Mexico and had operatives who coached the workers on how to enter the United States illegally. While some of the workers successfully entered the country, others were taken into custody by U.S. immigration officials and remained in detention for almost two months. Once the victims were released, with immigration documents and summonses to appear for immigration hearings, the Botsvynyuk organization transported them to Philadelphia either by bus or by plane. The brothers then confiscated the immigration documents and summonses from the workers and put them to work at night cleaning large chain stores, such as Target and Walmart, as well as smaller stores.

Throughout their employment with the brothers, the workers lived with up to five people in one room, slept on dirty mattresses on the floor, and were rarely, if ever, paid. None of the victims was paid what was promised and they were told that they had to continue working until their debts, ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, were paid. Workers were allegedly struck and beaten, sometimes in the presence of others, if they attempted to quit or leave the employ of the Botsvynyuk brothers. According to the indictment, one female worker was brutally raped on several occasions. After some workers escaped, Omelyan Botsvynyuk resorted to extorting the workers' families in Ukraine, threatening them with harm if the workers did not return to work or pay their debts.

Omelyan Botsvynyuk, 51, was arrested in Germany; Stepan Botsvynyuk, 35, was arrested in Philadelphia; Mykhaylo and Yaroslav Botsvynyuk, 41, were arrested in Canada. Dmytro Botsvynyuk remains in Ukraine, a country that has not entered into an extradition treaty with the United States. The defendants in Canada and Germany were arrested pursuant to Interpol arrest warrants and are in the process of being extradited to the United States to face the charges.

If convicted of all charges, the defendants face the following maximum penalties: Omelyan Botsvynyuk - life in prison and a $750,000 fine; Stepan Botsvynyuk - 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine; and defendants Mykhaylo, Dmytro, and Yaroslav Botsvynyuk - 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Joint FBI Organized Crime/ICE Human Trafficking Alien Smuggling Task Force. Assistance was provided by Pennsylvania State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Department of Labor and Racketeering - Office of Inspector General, Toronto Police Department, German National Police, Berlin State Police, Ukraine Security Service, US National Central Bureau, the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, and INTERPOL. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Velez, and Trial Attorney Eric Gibson of the Civil Rights Division.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-crt-765.html

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From the FBI

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Federal Grand Jury Indicts Joran van der Sloot for Wire Fraud and Extortion

BIRMINGHAM, AL—A federal grand jury today indicted JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, a citizen of the Netherlands, on charges of wire fraud and extortion for soliciting money from Natalee Holloway's mother on promises he would reveal the location of her daughter's remains in Aruba and the circumstances of her 2005 death, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick Maley announced.

“I want to applaud the FBI's work on this case,” Vance said. “The FBI worked diligently, and in association with Aruban authorities, to investigate and gather evidence in this matter after learning that Beth Holloway had been contacted and told she could finally gain information about the death of her daughter if she would pay $250,000,” Vance said. “Because of the agents' dedicated efforts, we are able to bring charges against someone who sought profit in a mother's grief.”

Natalee Holloway, a resident of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen alive, at age 18, on May 30, 2005, while in the country of Aruba. As noted in the indictment, she was in the company of van der Sloot the day of her disappearance.

The two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges van der Sloot with extortion for exploiting Beth Holloway's fear that she would never find her daughter's body or know what happened to her unless she paid him $250,000.

The indictment also charges van der Sloot with wire fraud for using false promises that he would reveal the location of Natalee Holloway's body in order to induce Beth Holloway to make wire transfers of money.

According to the indictment, van der Sloot caused Beth Holloway to wire $15,000 from her bank in Birmingham to his account at a bank in the Netherlands. The indictment also charges that he caused her to wire $10,000 to lawyer John Q. Kelly in New York so that Kelly could later carry that money to Aruba and deliver it to van der Sloot in person. The indictment identifies Kelly as an advisor and legal representative of Beth Holloway who served as her intermediary with van der Sloot.

The indictment describes how van der Sloot's scheme to defraud Natalee Holloway's mother proceeded as follows:

After van der Sloot initially contacted Kelly and said he would reveal the location of Natalee Holloway's remains for $250,000, he later agreed to lead Kelly to the site of her remains for $25,000. Once identification of the remains was confirmed, Beth Holloway was to pay the remaining $225,000 to van der Sloot.

Van der Sloot received the $25,000 from Beth Holloway and led Kelly to a specific site in Aruba. He identified the site as the location where Natalee Holloway's remains were buried, although he knew that information was false.

Van der Sloot kept the $25,000, but later confirmed by e-mail that the information he had provided was “worthless.”

The indictment seeks forfeiture of $25,100 from van der Sloot. That amount includes $100 Beth Holloway initially wired to the Netherlands bank to confirm van der Sloot's account.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Whisonant, William G. Simpson and James D. Ingram are prosecuting the matter.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent and it will be the government's burden to prove a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

http://birmingham.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/bh063010.htm

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From the ATF

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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC )

Annual Fireworks Safety Press Conference and Demonstration

National Mall
June 29, 2009
10 A.M.

Good morning. Thank you, Chairman Tenebaum, and CPSC for sponsoring this event which brings us together today. ATF is committed to protecting the public by finding and stopping those who endanger our communities by illegally making and selling explosive devices. We want to inform consumers of the perils involved with improperly using legal fireworks, as well as those associated with making or using illegal explosive devices, like homemade fireworks. These improvised explosive devices can injure, maim and even cause death.

Each year, especially leading up to Independence Day, accidents occur due to the misuse of fireworks, or by people making homemade fireworks. These injuries can have life-long effects. Many can be avoided with proper awareness and by obeying the law.Consumers should recognize the obvious differences between products made for consumer use; those made for use by trained professionals; and illegal explosive devices.

Consumers should recognize the obvious differences between products made for consumer use; those made for use by trained professionals; and illegal explosive devices.

Legal consumer fireworks are marked with brightly colored paper and include a trade name and manufacturing information. Professional-grade display fireworks are generally larger cylindrical, or ball-shaped, shells wrapped in brown paper with manufacturer markings.

ATF works with the fireworks industry and pyrotechnic associations to promote public safety. Legitimate fireworks manufacturers and distributors take precautions. These precautions enhance your personal safety and the safety of the workers who produce and handle the fireworks. These precautions enhance the safety of the communities in which makers of explosives manufacture or use fireworks.

Anyone wanting to make, distribute and receive display fireworks is required to obtain a federal explosives permit or federal explosives license. Last week, a federal grand jury indicted a Maryland resident for selling display fireworks to individuals who were not licensed to purchase them. These individuals illegally resold the fireworks. Dealing in explosives materials without authorization by ATF is illegal and dangerous!

Illegal explosive devices — commonly referred to as M-80s, quarter sticks, or cherry bombs — are often packaged in brown, silver or red tubes, with no identifying marks and green, waxy fuses. Because they meet neither safety nor quality standards, they are extremely dangerous.

Unfortunately, we have illegal explosives manufacturers operating in our communities. These illegal makers of harmful devices endanger themselves and the communities where they carry out their illegal activities. The possibility of an accidental explosion or fire while making these explosives devices is ever present.

You may observe explosive devices and display fireworks illegally sold from roadside stands that sell consumer fireworks. Be an informed consumer. Know the difference before purchasing fireworks. If you become aware of an illegal manufacturing operation, or observe people selling devices or fireworks illegally, immediately report the illegal activity to your local law enforcement officials or to ATF . Help us enjoy the holiday events by reporting those who jeopardize our safety.

If you choose to enjoy consumer fireworks, be careful. Always supervise children, and adhere to federal, state and local laws, regulations, and ordnances. The consequences of not following this guidance can be severe.

Jason Henderson joins ATF this year in making a public service announcement about fireworks safety. Jason has a compelling story. Jason learned the consequences of making illegal explosive devices. He made several illegal fireworks without hurting himself. Jason's last batch exploded without warning and caused permanent injuries. We credit Jason for his courage to share his story with you.

ATF will continue to partner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, state and local fire service, law enforcement agencies and the fireworks industry in order to get the message out: Enjoy the show. Don't be the show.

Enjoy your summer and have a safe Fourth of July ! Thank you.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/06/062910-speech-atf-ad-herbert-fireworks-conference.html

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ATF Rounds Up Street Gang Members Nationally

More Than 270 Defendants Arrested for Alleged Acts of Violence

WASHINGTON — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) today announced the culmination of multiple, strategic enforcement operations targeting violent criminals and gang members nationwide. The operations took place in 15 states and involved the arrest and indictment of more than 270 alleged street, prison and motorcycle gang members.

Today, ATF is serving 26 federal arrest warrants in the Miami-Dade and Homestead areas in Florida as part of “Operation Southern Snow.” The alleged local gang members were indicted on various firearms- and drug-related charges and most are multi-convicted felons with violent pasts. At this time, 20 defendants are in custody.

Our communities are safer because of ATF 's expanded efforts to target and dismantle criminal gangs and organized criminal enterprises that use firearms and violent acts to further their illegal gains, said ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson. ATF continues to carry out its mission daily by removing individuals who shatter families and destroy lives to ply their illicit trades. Throughout the month of June, ATF targeted numerous violent offenders across the nation:

• June 29, ATF arrested 31 individuals believed to be members and associates of the “819 Boyz,” a street gang operating in the area of Daytona Beach, Fla. The 18-month, ATF -led investigation resulted in alleged gang members being indicted on numerous federal firearms- and drug-related charges. The investigation included about a 100 undercover transactions that yielded the purchase of 78 firearms, approximately one kilogram of crack cocaine, more than 400 controlled narcotic pills, and body armor.
  
  
• June 25, ATF conducted “Operation Ceasefire,” a 10-month investigation into the sale of narcotics and firearms throughout the Waterbury and Naugatuck, Conn., areas by the Crips street gang and the Outlaw motorcycle gang. ATF and local law enforcement served 51 felony arrest warrants for narcotics and firearms violations. Approximately 32 firearms were seized or purchased during ATF undercover operations, many of which had been stolen in local burglaries.
  
  
• June 23, ATF and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department arrested 21 members and associates of the violent street gang, known as the Bloods, in Nashville, Tenn. The indictment included charges of conspiracy to participate in Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO), conspiracy to commit murder, assault, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during crimes of violence, conspiracy to distribute and possess narcotics. To date, 24 defendants have been taken into custody.
  
  
• June 23, an ATF -led task force arrested eight people on federal firearms and narcotics charges in the Aurora and Denver, Colo., areas. The arrests were the second phase of a multi-year investigation named “Operation Cripland.”
  
  
• June 23, ATF arrested 18 alleged members of a street gang, known as “Tot Lot Posse,” in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area. Defendants were charged with conspiracy, illegal firearms sales and dealing narcotics, alleging criminal activity dating back to the fall of 2008. Approximately 41 firearms and more than 1,300 grams of crack cocaine were purchased by undercover ATF agents from Tot Lot Posse members.
  
  
• June 17, ATF arrested 23 members of the violent local gang “148 Gang” in the Paris, Ky., area. The alleged narcotics trafficking crew was indicted after a two-year investigation on various federal firearms- and drug-related charges.
  
  
• June 17, ATF arrested 22 individuals in the Flint, Mich., area, following a three-month, multi-agency law enforcement effort known as the “Flint Initiative for Violent Crime Enforcement Operations” (FIVE-O). Charges included firearms offenses, drug trafficking and witness tampering.
  
  
• June 15, ATF 's “Operation Black Diamond” resulted in a 10-state round up of 40 members of the Outlaw motorcycle gang. Among those taken into custody by ATF were the national president and presidents from the Copper, Gray and Red regions. The defendants were charged with participating in a criminal enterprise that engaged in a wide range of crimes, including attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, robbery, extortion, witness intimidation, firearms-related charges and narcotics distribution.
  
  
• June 15, the ATF -led Greeley (Colo.) Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement (RAGE) Task Force arrested 16 individuals as part of a two-year criminal investigation into drug distribution and gun possession by gang members and associates in the Greeley area. Seizures during the investigation included methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana and 21 firearms, including a SKS rifle and three sawed-off shotguns.
  
  
• June 8, ATF arrested 23 members and associates of the Nuestra Familia prison gang, in Fresno, Calif., on firearms-related and drug-trafficking charges.

ATF agents work with other federal, state, and local law enforcement to identify the most violent gang members and target those offenders, using undercover operations, surveillance, wiretaps, and the controlled purchase of guns, explosives and drugs to identify and attack the gang's hierarchy, added Melson.

All charges are merely allegations and all those accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, defendants face years in prison.

For more information on ATF and its programs go to www.atf.gov .

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/06/063010-atf-rounds-up-street-gangs-nationally.html

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