EDITORIAL

Accountability works

Too often, secrecy preempts accountability of public servants. Information — yes, sometimes embarrassing information in a newspaper — is one of the best remedies.

August 26, 2010

This has been Southern California's summer of secrecy. The "leaders" — and we use that term advisedly — of Bell showed that by concealing their actions from the public, they could put together some fat paychecks. The representatives of United Teachers Los Angeles balked when The Times published data daring to suggest that teachers be held accountable for the performance of their students. A judge tried to control her courtroom by restraining the news media — in violation of rudimentary constitutional law. The union representing sheriff's deputies fought to keep the names of officers involved in shootings private. The "guardians" of county government learned of children's deaths in the foster care system — and responded by launching an investigation into the leaks of those shocking failures.

It is complicated to live in an open society. To many in government, the public is an irritant, a demanding presence that interferes with good-faith efforts to improve the world. And yes, accountability can strike those on its receiving end as unfair: It's no fun for the teacher whose students fail year after year to read about it in the Sunday paper; it's frightening for the police officer who has shot someone to have that fact known to anyone who watches the evening news.

But does that justify the alternative? Do teachers whose students consistently come up short on standardized tests deserve the right to hide that from parents? Are we better off if police officers regard themselves as immune from public scrutiny?

This has been the talk, in these suddenly warm weeks, of backyard barbecues and picnic table debates. Some side with public servants who do their best and feel persecuted. Some vilify public employees and imagine that they are soaking up taxpayer dollars without having to answer for their performance.

Framed as a violation of the privacy of teachers or city council members or criminal defendants or social workers or police, the question might suggest that secrecy is warranted. But what if the question is asked by those who depend on the government's work? The residents of Bell have paid dearly for a city government that hid its actions; the parent who wants the best for her child is hindered by the school district that refuses to tell her how teachers measure up.

These are not abstractions. They are not about the 1st Amendment clashing with the right of privacy, or about other conflicts between constitutional rights. They are real-life examples of what happens when society forgets its most fundamental duties. Secrecy deflects accountability. It allows judges to err, children to die. Information is its antidote.

Here's to an autumn of accountability.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-secrecy-20100826,0,421028,print.story

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EDITORIAL

Miners deserve more

The 33 trapped Chileans, like those in China, West Virginia and elsewhere, should be better protected by their owners.

August 26, 2010

The saga of 33 Chilean miners trapped in a sweltering chamber 2,000 feet below the Earth's surface has gripped the world. For nearly three weeks before rescuers made contact, these disciplined men tunneled for water and survived on two spoonfuls of tuna, sips of milk and a cracker every two days. Their rations have nourished faith and inspired hope for humanity. But their dusty imprisonment in the San Jose gold and copper mine since Aug. 5 also has provoked horror and rage at an industry that time and again fails to protect its workers.

Modest requests relayed through a four-inch borehole provide a window into their entombment: They wanted eyewash, an asthma inhaler, toothpaste. How about fruit and beer? They were elated to learn that some of their colleagues had escaped the collapse. They revealed that their own attempt to escape through a ventilation duct was stymied by a missing emergency ladder . Instead, they picked a leader, created a separate area to use as a bathroom, and waited for help.

Officials and mental health experts haven't wanted to demoralize the trapped men with estimates that it could take three to four months to dig them out of the dark, but these are experienced miners who know the solid rock walls surrounding them. Chile's state-owned Codelco mining company has taken charge of the rescue at the privately owned mine and is setting up a perforation drill capable of opening a two-foot-wide hole at a rate of 15 to 30 yards a day.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said an investigation into the cause of the collapse at the mine owned by Minera San Esteban Primera has been opened along with criminal and civil cases against the company, and that those deemed responsible would be held accountable. More important in the long-run is the review of mining safety that he launched. San Esteban reportedly has a history of complaints against it for safety violations. It was closed in 2007 after the death of a miner and opened again in 2008 allegedly without complying with safety standards.

This tale is all too familiar from China to West Virginia , and now Chile. Workers descend into deep recesses of the planet to pull out coal that powers a nation's industries, or in this case, copper and gold that are the lifeblood of the Chilean economy. The work is dangerous, but many of the mining disasters are preventable if owners take adequate safety measures and obey the law. The miners deserve better.

From the New York Times

Victims of Massacre in Mexico Said to Be Migrants

MEXICO CITY — The bullet-pocked bodies of 72 people, believed to be migrants heading to the United States who resisted demands for money, have been found in a large room on a ranch in an area of northeast Mexico with surging violence, the authorities said Wednesday.

Initial reports after the victims were found Tuesday suggested that the mass of bodies was the largest of several dumping grounds, often with dozens of dead, discovered in recent months and attributed to the violence of the drug business.

But if the victims, found after a raid on a ranch in Tamaulipas State by Mexican naval units, are confirmed as migrants, their killings would provide a sharp reminder of the violence in human smuggling as well.

It was not clear if the victims, from Central and South America, were shot all at once. The police were relying on a harrowing but sketchy account from a wounded survivor, published by the newspaper Reforma and confirmed by government officials, who said several people were killed in short order after the migrants refused to pay or cooperate with the gunmen.

A law enforcement official said all were found in a large room, some sitting, some piled atop one another.

Alejandro Poiré, the government's spokesman for security issues, said that though the investigation was just beginning, the killings seemed to be an outgrowth of pressure on drug gangs by a government crackdown.

“This act confirms that criminal organizations are looking to kidnapping and extortion because they are going through a difficult time obtaining resources and recruiting people willingly,” Mr. Poiré told reporters here.

United States law enforcement officials have warned that drug trafficking groups have increasingly moved into the lucrative business of human smuggling, extorting fees from migrants for safe passage across the border and sometimes forcing them to carry bundles of drugs. Smugglers are also known to rob, kidnap and sometimes kill migrants on both sides of the border.

The unidentified survivor, an Ecuadorean traveling with people from Ecuador, Brazil, Honduras and El Salvador, told investigators that the migrants had entered Mexico from the south and that they were making their way to Texas when they were confronted by the gunmen in San Fernando, about 100 miles south of Brownsville, Tex.

In a statement to the police, he said the leaders of the armed group had tried to extort fees from them and, when the migrants resisted, ordered their gunmen to open fire.

Wounded in the neck by the gunfire, the survivor heard screams and pleas for mercy. Once the men retreated, the witness said, he ran from the ranch where they were being held Monday and found a military checkpoint.

The military units reached the ranch on Tuesday and engaged in a firefight in which one marine and three suspects were killed. One Mexican, a minor, was taken into custody.

The authorities said 58 men and 14 women had been killed in the room by the gunmen. It was unclear how long they had been dead or detained.

The discovery of the bodies was the largest of at least three such finds this year. In May, 55 bodies were pulled from an abandoned mine south of Mexico City, and in July, 51 bodies were discovered in a field near Monterrey, an industrial and commercial hub in northeast Mexico that had been relatively quiet until this year.

A shootout last week in Monterrey outside the American School Foundation, a private school popular with American expatriates and Mexican business executives, prompted the United States Consulate to advise families to keep their children home pending an assessment of security at the school.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderón began a crackdown on organized crime in 2006.

In a meeting with mayors on Wednesday, Mr. Calderón said, “We're in the middle of a criminal spiral that we have to cut.”

“I don't know of any crime that isn't organized,” Mr. Calderón said. “They are all very organized, and much more than the police.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/americas/26mexico.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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U.N. Knew of Rebels in Area of Congo Rapes

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The United Nations knew Rwandan rebels were occupying villages in eastern Congo at the time the rebels raped nearly 200 women there, United Nations and aid officers said Wednesday, raising questions about why peacekeepers failed to move to protect villagers.

Between July 30 and Aug. 3, hundreds of soldiers from two rebel groups took over the villages, raping at least 179 women . Many of the attacks were gang rapes by two to six men. The humanitarian group that documented the rapes, International Medical Corps, said that it first notified the United Nations of the attacks on Aug. 6. The United Nations claims the group told it about the rapes on Aug. 12 for the first time. The U.N. made its first public comments on the rapes Sunday.

According to the officers, an e-mail alert from the United Nations Department of Safety and Security was sent to United Nations staff members on July 30, the day the rapes began. The message warned them to stay away from the area — part of Walikale, in the North Kivu Province of Congo — because it had been taken over by rebels.

“Everyone got that e-mail,” said an officer from a humanitarian organization in the area, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on strict instructions from the organization. “That rebel elements were active in those specific villages, and humanitarian workers should not go there.” The officer said that the alert did not mention rape.

On Wednesday, the top United Nations official in Congo said that the rebel activity reported on July 31 was not out of the ordinary. “There was no particular suggestion of an attack, much less the kind of events like the mass rape,” said the official, Roger Meece , speaking to reporters in New York by video teleconference from Goma.

Even so, a United Nations official based in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, said that such an alert would almost certainly have been shared with peacekeepers and should have prompted them to try to protect the villagers.

“I don't know why they didn't act in time,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity about a matter of confusion within the United Nations. “It is beyond my mind.”

The United Nations keeps a forward peacekeeping base nearby, for better communication with villagers, and the Congolese military has a presence in the area. It had sent a patrol down the main road at the time to remove a roadblock set up by other rebels, Mr. Meece said.

Mr. Meece said that a United Nations patrol had passed through a couple of the villages where the rapes were taking place — once while at least some rebels remained in the area and once after they were gone — but that the villagers never said anything about the horrific sexual assaults. The first word came via humanitarian workers nearly two weeks after the rapes occurred, he said.

The presence of the patrol during the time of the attacks meshes with reports from the area. A United Nations spokesman, Madnodje Mounoubai, said humanitarian organizations alerted the United Nations of the attacks a week after the rebels left the villages, on Aug. 12. The United Nations then organized a team for fact-finding, security and aid.

Another United Nations officer, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing departments in the United Nations, said that the team heard from witnesses that peacekeepers had been in the area on Aug. 2, while the rapes were still taking place.

The official said that there had been “a lot of miscommunication” within the peacekeeping mission.

“There seems to be a disagreement between the military and civilian sides” of the mission, the official said. “Everyone has their own information, and we are trying to piece everything together.” A meeting is to be held on Thursday to clarify the situation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/africa/26congo.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Far From Ground Zero, Obscure Pastor Is Ignored No Longer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If building an Islamic center near ground zero amounts to the epitome of Muslim insensitivity, as critics of the project have claimed, what should the world make of Terry Jones, the evangelical pastor here who plans to memorialize the Sept. 11 attacks with a bonfire of Korans?

Mr. Jones, 58, a former hotel manager with a red face and a white handlebar mustache, argues that as an American Christian he has a right to burn Islam's sacred book because “it's full of lies.” And in another era, he might have been easily ignored, as he was last year when he posted a sign at his church declaring “Islam is of the devil.”

But now the global spotlight has shifted. With the debate in New York putting religious tensions front and center, Mr. Jones has suddenly attracted thousands of fans and critics on Facebook , while around the world he is being presented as a symbol of American anti-Islamic sentiment.

Muslim leaders in several countries, including Egypt and Indonesia, have formally condemned him and his church, the Dove World Outreach Center .

An Islamic group in England has also incorporated his efforts into a YouTube video that encourages Muslims to “rise up and act,” widening a concern that Mr. Jones — though clearly a fringe figure with only 50 members in his church — could spark riots or terrorism.

“Can you imagine what this will do to our image around the world?” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. “And the additional danger it will add whenever there is an American presence in Iraq or Afghanistan?”

Mr. Jones, in a lengthy interview at his church, said he sincerely hoped that his planned Koran-burning would not lead to violence. He dismissed the idea that it could put American troops at greater risk, and — echoing his sermons — he said that his church was being persecuted.

He said his bank recently demanded immediate repayment of the $140,000 balance on the church mortgage; that his property insurance had been canceled since he announced in late July that he intended to burn copies of the Koran ; and that death threats now come in regularly.

“We have to be careful,” he said. He tapped a holster on the right hip of his jean shorts; it held a .40-caliber pistol, which he said he was licensed to carry. “The overall response,” he added, “has been much greater than we expected.”

Mr. Jones who seems to spend much of his time inside a dank, dark office with a poster from the movie “Braveheart” and a picture of former President George W. Bush, appears to be largely oblivious to the potential consequences of his plans. Speaking in short sentences with a matter-of-fact drawl, he said that he could not understand why other Christians, including the nation's largest evangelical association, had called for him to cancel “International Burn a Koran Day.”

He acknowledged that it had brought in at least $1,000 in donations. But he said that the interviews he had done with around 150 news outlets all over the world were useful mainly because they had helped him “send a message to Islam and the pushers of Shariah law: that it is not what we want.”

Mr. Jones said that nothing in particular had set him off. Asked about his knowledge of the Koran, he said plainly: “I have no experience with it whatsoever. I only know what the Bible says.”

Nonetheless, his position and variations on his tactics have become more common, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Florida in particular has had a rise in anti-Islamic activity. In May, an arsonist set off a pipe bomb at a mosque in Jacksonville in what authorities called an act of domestic terrorism. A mosque and Islamic school south of Miami was vandalized twice last year, the first time with a spray of 51 bullets.

Just as disturbing to Florida's Muslims, and to many Christians and Jews, is that anti-Islamic rhetoric has begun to enter the mainstream through Republican political candidates.

Some of the opposition predated the controversy about the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. In March, for example, Allen West, a retired Army officer running for Congress in Broward County, told a group of supporters that “Islam is not a religion” but rather “a vicious enemy” that was “infiltrating” the United States. (A campaign spokesman said last week that Mr. West meant to refer to radical Islam, not Islam generally.)

Ron McNeil, a candidate for Congress in the Florida Panhandle, told a group of high school and middle school students last week that Islam's plan “is to destroy our way of life.” He added: “It's our place as Christians to stand up for the word of God and what the Bible says.”

Similar sentiments now flow daily into the e-mail inbox of the Dove World Outreach Center. Mr. Jones said that the negative e-mails outnumbered the positive by about 3 to 1, but that strangers had sent 20 copies of the Koran and a church worker produced hundreds of supportive e-mails that had come in over the past three weeks.

A dozen of those messages revealed a wide range of motivations. For a few people — a Christian in Afghanistan, an Iraqi in Massachusetts, a Jew who called his co-religionists in the United States “soft in the head” — direct experience with Islamic extremists seemed to have darkened their views. Others seemed motivated by little more than hate, arguing that Korans should be barbecued with pork, which is banned by Islam.

Mr. Jones's plan faced a new hurdle last week when the Gainesville Fire Department rejected his request for a burning permit. Mr. Jones said he would go ahead anyway (“it's just politics”), and he predicted a quite a scene.

Some of his neighbors, like Shirley Turner, a retiree who shivered with disgust when Mr. Jones's name came up in conversation, are already planning to protest with signs calling for unity. More than a dozen houses of worship, of various faiths, also intend to respond collectively on the weekend of Sept. 11 by “affirming the validity of all sacred books,” said Larry Reimer, pastor of the United Church of Christ.

Some pastors even plan to read from the Koran in their services.

For local Muslims like Saeed Khan, who came here in the 1970s to study for a Ph.D. in biology at the University of Florida, the collective rejection of Mr. Jones represents the America they want to believe in. In an interview at an Islamic center that used to be a Brown Derby restaurant, Dr. Khan said that “Mr. Jones is hijacking Christianity” just as “ Al Qaeda hijacked Islam.”

What saddens him most, he said, is the lasting effect on Muslim youth. He now has three grandchildren under age 3 growing up in Gainesville, and he shook his head at the story of a friend's daughter who woke up in the middle of the night and asked her mother, “Why don't they like us?”

Still, like many others, he rejected the moment's swirl of anger. Even if Muslims outside the United States respond to the planned Koran burning with protests, or worse, Mr. Khan said he would spend his Sept. 11 doing the same thing he did last year. He will be downtown, a few miles from Mr. Jones, feeding the homeless.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/us/26gainesville.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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One Church's Reasons to Hate Islam, Challenged by an Expert

In the centuries-old conflict between Christianity and Islam, tolerance has generally outpaced antagonism. But with a proposed Islamic center two blocks from ground zero reigniting an international debate about the compatibility of Islam with Western democracy and Christian teachings, some of the old battle lines are being redrawn.

Terry Jones, the pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., is clearly at the extreme end of the Christian perspective. His plan to burn hundreds of copies of the Koran on Sept. 11 has been condemned not only by Muslim leaders in Egypt and Indonesia, but also by the National Association of Evangelicals here in the United States, which urged Mr. Jones to “call it off in the name and love of Jesus Christ.”

And yet, Mr. Jones' core argument — that Islam is an enemy — has found its way into the mainstream . Politicians, pastors and activists are all now arguing against the ancient faith of Muhammad even as they knowingly or unknowingly combine theology with their own particular view of its politics and current events. Is it just election year posturing?

Maybe, but experts like John Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University who has consulted for the State Department, worry that  a sense of collective blame is being developed — something similar to what appeared during World War II, when Japanese-Americans were interned because they were believed to be sympathizers with Japan.

The proposed Islamic center in New York, he said, “has revealed a deep-seated Islamophobia across the country, in fact given it permission to go viral.”

In the United States and Europe, he added, “the danger, and I am not exaggerating, is that this social cancer spreads and impacts a community, as happened to the Japanese and historically to Jews due to a Christian theology of collective guilt, which then infected politics and society.”

Ignorance, of course, is often a foundation of such misunderstandings — and Mr. Jones's church is a clear example. Even though Mr. Jones told me he had “no experience whatsoever with the Koran,” he and his congregation have put together a list called “10 Reasons to Burn a Koran” that offers a window into the views of not just Mr. Jones, but also of many others (as seen in hundreds of supportive e-mails sent to the church and thousands of fans on Facebook ).

To understand some of this reasoning and what it might be leaving out, I asked Professor Esposito — a scholar who has studied both Christianity and Islam; a former president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America — to read through the list and comment.

Below are some of the arguments and Professor Esposito's responses (edited slightly for clarity and style), which focus on the issue that seems to have gripped the nation: where Islam intersects with politics.

REASON 6: Islamic law is totalitarian in nature. There is no separation of church and state. It is irrational. It is supposedly immutable and cannot be changed. It must be accepted without criticism. It has many similarities to Nazism, Communism and Fascism. It is not compatible with Western civilization.

JOHN ESPOSITO: Not true. Even the best of non-Muslim scholars who would not subscribe to Islamic law or see problems would not deny the level of scholarship and reasoning, which is often comparable in its intellectual sophistication (however much one might not agree or follow it) with canon law and many other systems of law. I am not speaking here of its abuses and its distortions, but the law over all. Historically, Islamic law did change, and certainly today there are many scholars — Muslim and non-Muslim — addressing these issues.

REASON 8: A Muslim does not have the right to change his religion. Apostasy is punishable by death.

JOHN ESPOSITO: There are certainly such abuses. This position developed at a time when apostasy was seen as treason and punished as such. It continues to be operative in some though not all Muslim countries, and we have seen the effects of these abuses in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. At the same time, today, reform-minded Muslim scholars and senior Muslim religious authorities, like the Grand Mufti of Egypt and others, have spoken out against such practices.

REASON 9: Deep in the Islamic teaching and culture is the irrational fear and loathing of the West.

JOHN ESPOSITO: Where? Despite their grievances regarding the denigration of Islam and Muslims (something this minister seems to excel at) and some American foreign policies, majorities of Muslims in some 35 countries admire the democratic principles and values of the West, its freedoms, rule of law, etc., as well as our technological, educational and economic accomplishments. They want greater democratization and better relations with the West, although many think we have a double standard regarding the promotion of democracy and human rights — given many of the authoritarian governments we have and continue to support. During George W. Bush's second term, his administration — in moving to a policy to promote democracy and legitimate the invasion of Iraq — acknowledged that historically, U.S. presidents, Democrat and Republican, have practiced what the State Department called “democratic exceptionalism.” This is documented fact, not assertion.

REASON 10: Islam is a weapon of Arab imperialism and Islamic colonialism. Wherever Islam has or gains political power, Christians, Jews and all non-Muslims receive persecution, discrimination, are forced to convert. There are massacres, and churches, synagogues, temples and other places of worship are destroyed.

JOHN ESPOSITO: Only 23 percent of the world's Muslims are Arab. No doubt some Muslim rulers used religion to justify their wars of imperial expansion. But where today? Regarding the history of religious colonialism, who has been more successful — from 312 under Constantine, when Christianity became associated with empire, to the conquistadors, European colonialism and the use and misuse of religion by politicians and hard-line Christian ministers of the Christian right — especially in the first term of President Bush?

Problems of religious pluralism and tolerance have plagued both Islam and Christianity, past and present. But what, historically, was the policy and track record of official Christianity regarding other Christians (denounced as schismatics and heretics)? What about Christianity's intolerant policy and treatment of Jews and Muslims (convert, flee or be killed)?

In contrast, though not always followed, the position of Islamic law, based on the Koran, and under many though certainly not all Muslim rulers, was that Jews and Christians were people of the book and protected people (dhimmi). In exchange for a poll tax, they could practice their religions, etc. By today's standards this would be second-class citizenship and unacceptable; relative to its times, Islam was more tolerant than Christianity towards religious minorities.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/one-churchs-reasons-to-hate-islam-challenged-by-an-expert/?ref=us

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Military Computer Attack Confirmed

WASHINGTON — A top Pentagon official has confirmed a previously classified incident that he describes as “the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever,” a 2008 episode in which a foreign intelligence agent used a flash drive to infect computers, including those used by the Central Command in overseeing combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Plugging the cigarette-lighter-sized flash drive into an American military laptop at a base in the Middle East amounted to “a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control,” according to William J. Lynn 3d, deputy secretary of defense, writing in the latest issue of the journal Foreign Affairs .

“It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary,” Mr. Lynn wrote.

The incident was first reported in November 2008 by the Danger Room blog of Wired magazine, and then in greater detail by The Los Angeles Times, which said that the matter was sufficiently grave that President George W. Bush was briefed on it. The newspaper mentioned suspicions of Russian involvement.

But Mr. Lynn's article was the first official confirmation. He also put a name — Operation Buckshot Yankee — to the Pentagon operation to counter the attack, and said that the episode “marked a turning point in U.S. cyber-defense strategy.” In an early step, the Defense Department banned the use of portable flash drives with its computers, though it later modified the ban.

Mr. Lynn described the extraordinary difficulty of protecting military digital communications over a web of 15,000 networks and 7 million computing devices in dozens of countries against farflung adversaries who, with modest means and a reasonable degree of ingenuity, can inflict outsized damage. Traditional notions of deterrence do not apply.

“A dozen determined computer programmers can, if they find a vulnerability to exploit, threaten the United States's global logistics network, steal its operational plans, blind its intelligence capabilities or hinder its ability to deliver weapons on target,” he wrote.

Security officials also face the problem of counterfeit hardware that may have remotely operated “kill switches” or “back doors” built in to allow manipulation from afar, as well as the problem of software with rogue code meant to cause sudden malfunctions.

Against the array of threats, Mr. Lynn said, the National Security Agency had pioneered systems — “part sensor, part sentry, part sharpshooter” — that are meant to automatically counter intrusions in real time.

His article appeared intended partly to raise awareness of the threat to United States cybersecurity — “the frequency and sophistication of intrusions into U.S. military networks have increased exponentially,” he wrote — and partly to make the case for a larger Pentagon role in cyberdefense.

Various efforts at cyberdefense by the military have been drawn under a single organization, the U.S. Cyber Command, which began operations in late May at Fort Meade, Maryland, under a four-star general, Keith B. Alexander.

But under proposed legislation, the Department of Homeland Security would take the leading role in the defense of civilian systems.

Though the Cyber Command has greater capabilities, the military operates within the United States only if ordered to do so by the president.

Another concern is whether the Pentagon, or government in general, has the nimbleness for such work. Mr. Lynn acknowledged that “it takes the Pentagon 81 months to make a new computer system operational after it is first funded.” By contrast, he noted, “the iPhone was developed in 24 months.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/technology/26cyber.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From the White House

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On the Road from Recovery to Revitalization

Five years ago, one of the most destructive natural disasters in our nation's history hit the Gulf Coast.   When they hit the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita took thousands of lives, displaced millions of residents, wiped out hundreds of square miles of coastal land, and inflicted major damage to nearly 300,000 homes.

 A half-decade later, Gulf Coast residents are still trying to pick up the pieces.  Since taking office in January 2009, the Obama Administration has been working hard to ensure residents are given the tools they need to recover from the hurricanes and rebuild their lives and communities.  As a result, $2.43 billion in public assistance funds for recovery that had been stalled for years has been obligated since the beginning of the Administration, with President Obama's Recovery Act providing billions more.

But the Obama Administration is committed to doing things differently in the Gulf – in two fundamental ways.  First, we believe that government should stand with the residents of the Gulf Coast, not in their way.  That means cutting through the red tape.

Secondly, we are not only helping the Gulf Coast recover from disaster – but working to revitalize the region and build it back better and stronger. 

Since becoming HUD Secretary, I have had the privilege and experience of visiting the Gulf Coast region five times to see the challenges and progress for myself.  From my first visit with Secretary Napolitano where we announced millions of dollars in funding to stimulate long term recovery, to volunteering with the St. Bernard Project to help rebuild the homes of two elderly families, it has been extremely important to see the progress we are making and the work that still lies ahead firsthand. 

As I prepare to make my sixth trip this week on the 5th Anniversary of the storm, I wanted to share with you some of HUD's accomplishments so far:

• HUD's work in the Obama Administration began with the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP).  Shortly after President Obama's inauguration, I discovered that thousands of families who received assistance through DHAP would see that assistance come to an end without having found permanent housing.  Together with our partners in the Administration, we extended this assistance for an additional six months -- allowing displaced families more time to transition to self-sufficiency.  By partnering with nearly 350 public housing agencies across the country, we were able to provide temporary housing to over 30,000 families displaced from their homes by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Today every DHAP family is accounted for – having already made the transition to permanent housing or well on their way to doing so. 
  
  
• HUD has also been able to assist displaced Gulf Coast residents through the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) under President Obama's Recovery Act.  Under this program, states and communities received grants to help prevent homelessness and provide rapid re-housing assistance to those who are already homeless.  Louisiana has received $13.5 billion in funding under HPRP, and Mississippi has received $13.3 billion. 
  
  
• We have also helped stabilize Gulf Coast communities suffering from foreclosures and abandonment.  As part of the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act, Mississippi received nearly $46.3 million under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), while Louisiana received $39 million, with an additional $29.7 million competitively awarded to the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority consortium. Indeed, with HUD strongly encouraging local non-profit organizations to help the city target their funds more effectively through technical assistance, Mayor Landrieu has made tremendous progress helping New Orleans cut through the red tape and ensure these funds are helping the neighborhoods that need it most. 
  
  
• We are also working to rebuild a stronger and more ethical housing authority in New Orleans.  I recently appointed a new leadership team to the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), led by David Gilmore.  Bringing 40 years of public housing experience, Mr. Gilmore and his team are working to develop new affordable housing in New Orleans, fostering closer relationships with social service providers and expediting assistance to lower income families.  At the same time, he is working to ensure that public housing is not only a place for families to find safe, affordable housing but also provides opportunities for those who live there – helping more than 800 New Orleans residents find work.  

These accomplishments are just the beginning for a Gulf Coast region still struggling to regain its footing.  But as long as we continue to cut through the red tape, listen to the voices of people on the ground and get help to families and neighborhoods that need it most, I have no doubt we will continue to produce results and help the families of the Gulf Coast move from recovery to revitalization.

Shaun Donovan is Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/25/road-recovery-revitalization

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Five Years After Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, USDA Continues to Assist Gulf Residents

Devastation caused five years ago to the Gulf region by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita remains historic in proportion. It resulted in loss of life, families being displaced, homes and businesses destroyed, and communities left in ruins.  In the midst of this great tragedy, USDA Rural Development lent their knowledge and time to assist in the immediate hours following the passing of the storms.  It was a new, but critical role of supporting other Federal agencies in swiftly establishing 80 disaster recovery centers; assisting local residents and leaders as they faced unparalleled adversity. 

In the early days of the recovery efforts, USDA Rural Development placed 10,343 evacuees in 3,552 available housing units in 45 states, provided over 22,000 families with temporary loan forbearance agreements on their mortgage payments, and received almost 11,000 calls for assistance from affected residents.  Over the last five years, USDA Rural Development continued to stand beside Gulf Coast families and communities as they undertook the challenge of rebuilding their lives and local economies. 

Today, we have great pride in how families and communities have regained their sense of dignity and hope, in many cases, because USDA Rural Development was there along the path to recovery.  One example is Ms. Samantha Hills, a single mother of two daughters who spent the last five years living with relatives. Employed as a bus driver with St. Charles Parish Schools, and working part-time as manager with Burger King, Ms. Hill has utilized funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to buy her own home. She is one of hundreds of Louisiana families that have utilized USDA Rural Development's single-family housing programs to rebuild their lives. In fact, over the last two years, over 1,100 Louisiana families have been assisted through $165 million in ARRA funds for financing their home.

When we look at the devastation caused by Katrina and Rita, or later with the Mid-West floods, or more recently the Gulf oil spill, we are reminded that both man-made and natural disasters frequently leave families and communities with a great sense of loss and the emotional and financial challenge of rebuilding their homes, businesses and communities.  I am proud of the women and men of USDA Rural Development, who rolled up their sleeves to help in this rebuilding effort.

Dallas Tonsager is Under Secretary of USDA Rural Development

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/25/five-years-after-hurricanes-rita-and-katrina-usda-continues-assist-gulf-residents

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From the Department of Homeland Secutity

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Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

The Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a compendium of tables that provides data on foreign nationals who, during a fiscal year, were granted lawful permanent residence (i.e., admitted as immigrants or became legal permanent residents), were admitted into the United States on a temporary basis (e.g., tourists, students, or workers), applied for asylum or refugee status, or were naturalized. The Yearbook also presents data on immigration law enforcement actions, including alien apprehensions, removals, and prosecutions. The Yearbook tables are released as they become available. A final PDF is released in August of the following fiscal year.

In addition to the Yearbook , the Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Reports and Annual Reports provide text, tables, and charts on legal permanent residents, refugees and asylees, nonimmigrant admissions, naturalizations, and enforcement actions. The Annual Flow Reports and Annual Reports have replaced the text chapters in the earlier editions of the Yearbook .

To view the entire Yearbook , click on the link below. To view only the data tables (in Excel format) or the report for a subject, such as "legal permanent residents," "naturalizations," or "nonimmigrant admissions," click on the link under the subject matter heading. 

2009 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

Yearbook

• 2009 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (PDF, 112 pages - 4.91 MB)

Legal Permanent Residents

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2009 ( PDF, 6 pages - 401 KB )

Naturalizations

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Naturalizations in the United States: 2009 ( PDF, 4 pages - 320 KB )

Refugees and Asylees

• Data tables
• Refugees and Asylees: 2009 (PDF, 6 pages - 335 KB)

Nonimmigrant Admissions

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Nonimmigrant Admissions to the United States: 2009 (PDF, 10 pages - 485.5 KB)

Enforcement

• Data tables
• Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2009 (PDF, 4 pages - 409 KB)

2008 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

• 2008 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics ( PDF, 110 pages - 2.80 MB )

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2008  ( PDF, 6 pages - 369 KB )

Refugees and Asylees

• Data tables
• Refugees and Asylees: 2008 ( PDF, 6 pages - 339 KB )

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Naturalizations in the United States: 2008 (PDF, 4 pages - 396 KB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Nonimmigrant Admissions to the United States: 2008 ( PDF, 10 pages - 473 KB )

• Data tables
• Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2008 ( PDF, 4 pages - 196 KB )

2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

• 2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (PDF, 110 pages - 8.3 MB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2007 (PDF, 6 pages - 293 KB)

• Data tables
• Refugees and Asylees: 2007 (PDF, 6 pages - 413 KB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Naturalizations in the United States: 2007 (PDF, 4 pages - 489 KB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Nonimmigrant Admissions to the United States: 2007 (PDF, 10 pages - 297 KB)

• Data tables
• Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2007 (PDF, 4 pages - 181.99 KB)

2006 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

• 2006 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (PDF, 102 pages - 3.4 MB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2006 (PDF, 6 pages - 522 KB)

• Data tables
• Refugees and Asylees 2006 (PDF, 6 pages 658KB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Naturalizations in the United States: 2006 (PDF, 4 pages 489KB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Temporary Admissions of Nonimmigrants to the United States: 2006 (PDF, 8 pages - 1,038 KB)

• Data tables
• Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2006 (PDF, 5 pages - 278 KB)

2005 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

• 2005 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (PDF, 124 pages - 3.2 MB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Legal Permanent Residents: 2005 (PDF, 6 pages - 159 KB)

• Data tables
• Refugees and Asylees: 2005 (PDF, 6 pages - 161 KB)

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Temporary Admissions of Nonimmigrants to the United States: 2005 (PDF, 8 pages - 378 KB)

Naturalizations

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Naturalizations in the United States: 2005 (PDF, 4 pages - 250 KB)

• Data tables
• Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2005 (PDF, 5 pages - 323 KB)

2004 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

Yearbook

• 2004 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (PDF, 204 pages - 1.55 MB)

Legal Permanent Residents

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2004 (PDF, 7 pages - 351 KB)

Refugees and Asylees

• Data tables
• Refugee Applicants and Admissions to the United States: 2004 (PDF, 3 pages - 200 KB)

Nonimmigrant Admissions

• Data tables
• Temporary Admissions of Nonimmigrants to the United States in 2004 (PDF, 9 pages - 437 KB)

Naturalizations

• Data tables (including supplemental tables)
• Naturalizations in the United States: 2004 (PDF, 4 pages - 272 KB)

Enforcement

• Data tables
• Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2004 (PDF, 7 pages - 237 KB)

View the Archives page
for previous editions of the Yearbook

http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm

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From ICE

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HSI investigates, arrests and sends Czech criminal fugitives back home to face justice

Investigating and deporting criminals who have no business being in the United States back to their home countries is a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) top priority carried out by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). On the other side of the Atlantic, a goal of the Czech Republic is for their criminal fugitives to face criminal proceedings within their own justice system. Fulfilling both these objectives through an ICE Vienna, Austria, fugitive program is not only where the twain shall meet, but is bringing excellent results.

Authorities from HSI and the Czech Republic Interpol initiated this highly effective program two years ago, and it has worked exceedingly well since that time with HSI arresting 25 Czech fugitives in the U.S., and 12 of them returning to the Czech Republic. The program targets some of the most wanted fugitives according to Czech authorities.

During a week in May 2010, the stars were shining particularly unfavorably on a string of Czech criminal fugitives committing various U.S. violations while trying to take refuge in the U.S. HSI agents investigating three different cases in three different parts of the country -- Florida, California and Texas -- arrested three Czech fugitives within four days of each other.

On May 25, 2010, HSI agents in Sarasota, Fla., arrested a man wanted by the Czechs for embezzlement and fraud who had been sentenced to seven years in the Czech Republic. Two days later, HSI agents in Los Angeles, Calif., arrested another Czech national who was evading Czech authorities after he committed armed robbery, theft, breaking and entering, property damage and other violent crimes in his home country for which he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Then, on May 28, 2010, HSI agents in Galveston, Texas, arrested a third wanted fugitive from the Czech Republic for various criminal fraud offenses in which he had been sentenced to four years in prison.

"The mutual law enforcement cooperation between HSI and the Czech Republic is a win-win situation for us both," said ICE Vienna Attaché James Plitt. "In the process of returning Czech citizens who are wanted for criminal offenses in their own countries, we not only help the Czechs bring justice in their own land, but we are also hitting one of our pillars of protecting the public-removing criminal aliens."

The ICE Attaché office in Vienna is responsible for U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement liaison functions within 13 countries in southeast Europe.

"This successful program sustains the joint investigative efforts that ICE currently has with law enforcement authorities from the Czech Republic and other countries related to human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics trafficking, counter-proliferation investigations and other crimes that transcend U.S. borders," said Plitt.

Captain Jaroslav Ibehej, of the Office of the Czech Republic Police President Presidium, Public Relations and Prevention Division commented, "Our mutual cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is greatly appreciated by the Czech National Police. The cases demonstrate that even in the United States, Czech fugitives cannot hide from justice. Both the DHS Homeland Security investigators and the Czech law enforcement officials look forward to working on future law enforcement projects."

On May 21, 2010, Attaché Vienna ICE Senior Representative Stephen Madden received the Czech Republic Police Medal of Honor in an official ceremony held in Prague, Czech Republic, at Czech Republic Police Headquarters attended by the Czech Police President, Head of Czech Republic Police Criminal Investigative Division, and the Head of Interpol Prague. Madden was recognized for his long-term outstanding international police cooperation with Czech law enforcement authorities since 2007.

Tough immigration enforcement measures take a predominant place on ICE's agenda, and the record removal of 380,000 illegal aliens during the past fiscal year proves that the agency's actions back up their intentions. ICE Director John Morton has repeatedly stated that ICE is committed to removing illegal immigrants who pose the greatest threat to public safety. European nationals, including Czech nationals who are wanted in their own countries for criminal offenses are included as targets for removal.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1008/100825washingtondc.htm

From the FBI

Twelve Members of the Bloods Street Gang Indicted on Racketeering, Murder, Drug Distribution, and Firearms Charges

An indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn this morning charging members of the “Nine-Trey Gangsters,” also known as the “Bugout Boyz,” a set of the Bloods street gang, with racketeering, murder, drug distribution, and firearms offenses. Two defendants, including Laron Spicer, were charged with the July 18, 2008, murder of a drug rival; eight defendants were charged with racketeering; nine defendants were charged with illegally possessing guns in connection with drug trafficking; three defendants were charged with armed robbery; and all defendants were charged with conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine. 1 The defendants arrested today are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York. The case is assigned to United States District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.

According to the indictment and a detention memorandum filed by the government, a two-year joint investigation by the FBI and the NYPD revealed that the Nine- Trey Gangsters operated for at least 12 years on Sterling Place in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, where they controlled four apartment buildings which they used as a focal point for crack cocaine and heroin dealing. The gang members allegedly dominated the illegal activity on their block and committed shootings, slashings, and other acts of violence to protect their turf. On July 18, 2008, armed gang members allegedly attempted to rob the apartment of a rival drug dealer on Sterling Place, and beat one individual in the apartment with a handgun. Later that same day, two of the defendants allegedly lured a rival drug dealer into the street where they shot him to death. Also during the summer of 2008, one of the defendants forced a resident of Sterling Place from her apartment at gunpoint, and the gang turned the apartment into a crack den.

“Today's charges and arrests are yet another example of our commitment to eliminating gang violence and restoring our communities to their residents who wish to live, work, and raise families in peace,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to free our neighborhoods from the twin evils of narcotics trafficking and the violence it breeds.” Ms. Lynch thanked the Kings County District Attorney's Office for its assistance and stated that the government's investigation is continuing.

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Fedarcyk stated, “As alleged in the indictment and other government filings, Laron Spicer was committed to an enterprise that not only terrorized people of the Brooklyn neighborhood where this gang operated, but affected interstate and foreign commerce by engaging in a great deal of illegal activity and acts of violence to include murder. He was allegedly the ‘Face' of an organization responsible for instilling fear and trepidation into the lives of innocent people, but now he must face the FBI and our fellow law enforcement partners as we enforce the law and vigorously pursue justice.”

NYPD Commissioner Kelly stated, “This case is an example of the relationship between drugs and violent crime, where individuals use illegal guns and murder to battle rivals over a drug trafficking market. I want to commend the detectives, agents, and prosecutors who worked together to bring these alleged gang members to justice.”

If convicted of murder, Spicer and a co-defendant face up to life imprisonment or the death penalty. If convicted on the drug distribution conspiracy charge, each of the 12 defendants faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison. If convicted of illegal firearms possession, nine of the defendants face mandatory sentences of at least five years and a maximum of life in prison.

The government's case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Amatruda and Zainab Ahmad.

The defendants arrested today:

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo082510.htm

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