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

From Los Angeles Times

U.S. can't justify its drug war spending, reports say

Government reports say the Obama administration is unable to show that billions of dollars spent in the anti-drug efforts in Latin America have made a significant difference.

by Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times

June 9, 2011

Reporting from Washington

As drug cartels wreak murderous havoc from Mexico to Panama, the Obama administration is unable to show that the billions of dollars spent in the war on drugs have significantly stemmed the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government's growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate fields of coca, operate surveillance equipment and otherwise battle the widening drug trade in Latin America over the last five years.

"We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released Wednesday.

"I think we have wasted our money hugely," agreed Bruce Bagley, who studies U.S. counter-narcotics efforts and chairs international studies at the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Fla. "The effort has had corrosive effects on every country it has touched."

Obama administration officials strongly deny that U.S. efforts have failed to reduce drug production or smuggling in Latin America.

White House officials say the expanding U.S. counter-narcotics effort occupies a growing portion of time for President Obama's national security team even though it garners few headlines or congressional hearings in Washington.

The majority of U.S. counter-narcotics contracts are awarded to five companies: DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ITT and ARINC, according to the report for the contracting oversight subcommittee, part of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Counter-narcotics contract spending increased 32% over the five-year period, from $482 million in 2005 to $635 million in 2009. DynCorp, based in Falls Church, Va., received the largest total, $1.1 billion.

Among other jobs, the U.S. contractors train local police and investigators, provide logistical support to intelligence collection centers and fly airplanes and helicopters that spray herbicides to eradicate coca crops grown to produce cocaine.

The Department of Defense has spent $6.1 billion since 2005 to help detect planes and boats heading to the U.S. with drug payloads, as well as on surveillance and other intelligence operations.

Senate staff members described some of the expenses as "difficult to characterize." The Army spent $75,000 for paintball supplies for training exercises in 2007, for example, and $5,000 for what the military calls "rubber ducks." The ducks are rubber replicas of M-16 rifles that are used in training exercises, a Pentagon spokesman said.

The Defense Department described its own system for tracking those contracts as "error prone," according to the Senate report. The report also said the Defense Department doesn't have reliable data about how successful its efforts have been.

A separate report last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that the State Department "does not have a centralized inventory of counter-narcotics contracts" and said the department does not evaluate the overall success of its counter-narcotics program.

"It's become increasingly clear that our efforts to rein in the narcotics trade in Latin America, especially as it relates to the government's use of contractors, have largely failed," McCaskill said.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on U.S. drug policy at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, said the U.S. military and other government agencies, not private contractors, should take the lead in training foreign armies and police in drug eradication and control.

"But unless we are able to resource our government properly, that is the only way we can do it," Felbab-Brown said.

The latest assault on the United States' counter-narcotics strategy comes a week after a high-profile group of world leaders called the global war on drugs a costly failure.

The group, which included former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and past presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, recommended that regional governments try legalizing and regulating drugs to help stop the flood of cash going to drug mafias and other organized crime groups.

But James Gregory, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department's efforts against the drug trade "have been among the most successful and cost-effective programs" in decades. He cited the U.S. success in the 1980s in stopping cocaine shipments from Colombia that had been inundating Florida, and the efforts in the 1990s at helping Colombia overcome a drug-fueled insurgency.

"By any reasonable assessment, the U.S. has received ample strategic national security benefits in return for its investments in this area," he said.

Administration officials say that the counter-narcotics program is producing more recent benefits as well.

Along the Mexican border, increased patrols and other efforts have helped seize 31% more drugs, 75% more cash and 64% more weapons during the first 21/2 years of the Obama administration than in the previous 21/2 years, the Homeland Security Department says.

After a decade of U.S. assistance to Colombia and years of using U.S. contractors there, annual cocaine production in Colombia has fallen 60% since 2001, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Some of that cocaine production has shifted to Peru, however.

Backed by the U.S., Mexico's stepped-up offensive against drug cartels similarly has had the unintended effect of pushing them deeper into Central America, especially Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Violence has soared in those countries.

One result has been a new emphasis on surveillance technology and intelligence collection.

In particular, the U.S. effort has focused on improving efforts to intercept cellphone and Internet traffic of drug cartels in the region, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

During a visit to El Salvador in February, the head of the State Department's counter-narcotics programs, William Brownfield, opened a wiretapping center in San Salvador, as well as a regional office to share fingerprints and other data with U.S. law enforcement. El Salvador is the hub for U.S. law enforcement efforts in Central America.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-narco-contract-20110609,0,2341037,print.story

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

Man used spyware to photograph naked women, Fullerton police say

Fullerton police said Wednesday night that they had arrested a computer technician who allegedly installed a "spy-cam" on women's laptops that allowed him to secretly take photos while they were naked.

The case came to light in the summer, police said, after a Fullerton mother alerted authorities about a strange message on her daughter's computer that said: "You should fix your internal sensor soon. If unsure what to do, try putting your laptop near hot steam to clean the sensor."

In fact, the message was a ruse that Trevor Harwell, 20, used to trick the women to take their laptops with them while they took showers, according to Sgt. Andrew Goodrich of the Fullerton Police Department.

"Some of the victims would be naked," Goodrich told The Times.

He said police collected hundreds of thousands of images that allowed them to identify six victims in Orange County. All of the victims had their Macintosh laptops serviced by a company called Rezitech Inc., which employed Harwell as a computer technician, according to Goodrich. He said there are also victims in Los Angeles County.

Police forwarded their case Wednesday to the Orange County district attorney's office. Goodrich said potential victims should search the "Library/WebServer/Documents" directory for their laptop "camcapture" program.

Anyone who believes they may have come in contact with Harwell is asked to call Det. Kathryn Hamel at (714) 738-5327 .

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

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

L.A. councilman calls for federal probe into homicide suspect's release on bail in Puerto Rico

A Los Angeles city councilman is calling on federal authorities to investigate why a Puerto Rican judge released a Los Angeles homicide suspect on bail last month .

Councilman Paul Krekorian, whose district includes the North Hollywood parking lot where 19-year-old Mike Yepremyan was gunned down, said Judge Gloria Maynard's decision to release the teen's suspected killer is “so disgusting, so absolutely bizarre and inexplicable that I think it has to be investigated.”

Last month, authorities finally located and arrested the man they believe killed the teen in a beach town outside Puerto Rico's capital city, San Juan.

Despite a no-bail arrest warrant issued by authorities in Los Angeles, Zareh Manjikian was released on a $50,000 bond. He hasn't been seen since.

The turn of events has shocked police in Los Angeles and the slain teen's family.

Attempts to reach the judge in Puerto Rico have been unsuccessful.

The series of events that apparently led to Yepremyan's deadly November 2009 shooting were set in motion when he texted an insult about his girlfriend's friend, who happened to see the message.

Soon after, Yepremyan began receiving mysterious phone calls from a stranger, who eventually instructed him to meet up a Sears parking lot, where the shooting occurred.

Krekorian introduced a city council resolution Wednesday calling for a federal investigation. He said he hopes the council will vote on the matter by next week. He said the offices of California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have also expressed support.

“I can't imagine any good reason that any judge anywhere would release a murder suspect who is absolutely known to be a flight risk,” he said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/la-councilman-calls-for-federal-probe-into-murder-suspects-release.html

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

Homeless vets deserve more

Hopefully, an ACLU suit will push the West Los Angeles VA center to provide better care.

June 9, 2011

Los Angeles has more homeless people than any other city in the nation, and among them, more homeless veterans — an estimated 7,000 on any given day. The city also has a sprawling Department of Veterans Affairs treatment facility for former servicemen and women, located on a 387-acre compound in West Los Angeles. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union has gone to court to force the VA to put more of that acreage to use for homeless veterans.

In a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of four homeless veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments, the ACLU claims that the department is violating the property's deed by not providing the combination of housing and treatment that battle-scarred vets need. The lawsuit is just the latest attempt by advocates for homeless vets to light a fire under the federal government. Given the glacial pace of the VA's response over the years, the added heat is welcome.

Veterans are 50% more likely to become homeless than the average American, and homeless vets account for nearly 20% of the people living on the streets and in shelters in L.A. John P. Jones, one of the founders of Santa Monica, and Arcadia B. de Baker would probably be dumbfounded and mortified by those statistics. The pair donated the land to the federal government in 1888 to be the site for the Pacific Branch Soldier's Home for disabled vets, and tens of thousands of them were housed there over the next 80 years. In the 1960s, however, the federal government started phasing out the housing on the site; now the only long-term housing there is in a nursing home.

The ACLU's lawsuit targets two outrages. One is that about a third of the VA's West Los Angeles acreage is being leased to a car rental company, a private school, a hotel laundry service and other groups with no connection to veterans. The VA contends that these leases raise money to support its programs, but it has kept the financial details secret. The ACLU's lawsuit demands an accounting, a reasonable request to which the government should agree.

The second is that the elimination of long-term housing on the site has prevented the most severely disabled homeless veterans from being treated effectively. The ACLU contends that the VA is refusing to make the "reasonable accommodations" that federal law requires, and seeks an injunction forcing the VA to provide permanent supportive housing for those veterans.

The VA and its allies say they're making slow but measurable progress toward eliminating homelessness among veterans by 2014. Some homeless advocates also say the department now recognizes the importance of providing housing and services in combination for the most severely disabled vets. Still, the Los Angeles VA's most touted supportive housing program is a collaborative effort aimed at the city's 60 most vulnerable homeless vets, a tiny fraction of the total.

The VA can't give all the homeless veterans a place to stay on the West L.A. campus. But it can certainly do more. We hope the lawsuit will prompt the VA to bring the sense of urgency to the problem that the government owes to its wounded warriors.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-va-20110609,0,6207649,print.story

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

From Google News

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

Sexual assault victim records attacker on cell phone

Police released the cell phone footage to the media Wednesday, hoping to identify the man who attacked the 28-year-old woman a day earlier, said Officer Holly Joshi, an Oakland Police Department spokeswoman.

The woman, whose identity is being withheld, was at home when she heard a loud noise, according to police. She went to find out what caused the noise when she saw the man in her hallway.

The woman managed to capture 13 seconds of footage that shows a man carrying a box of electronics down the hallway of the woman's home.

The woman can be heard on the video asking the man to leave.

"He mumbles something like OK, bye," Joshi told CNN affiliate KTVU. "But what we do know is that the suspect did not leave after that. He did stay. And he did sexually assault the victim."

Joshi told CNN affiliate KGO that the woman "was very much behind the release of this video."

.