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From the L.A. Daily News
Van Nuys man passes torch of USO of Greater L.A.
by Art Marroquin
Patriotism swelled in months following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as the United States mounted a war with Afghanistan and, nearly two years later, with Iraq.
At the time, the nonprofit United Services Organization, or USO, at Los Angeles International Airport was in shambles. The facility was open only for a few hours three days per week. Four volunteers staffed the office.
"It hardly served anyone back then," recalled Michael Teilmann, a Van Nuys resident who stepped down Friday after serving 11 years as executive director of the USO of Greater Los Angeles.
Comedian Bob Hope and radio personality-turned-honorary Hollywood Mayor Johnny Grant each asked Teilmann to take a "leave of absence" from his television producing duties to build the local USO back up.
The temporary gig turned into a job that spanned more than a decade, allowing him to oversee the USO's operations and about 500 volunteers spread across LAX, Ontario International Airport and Palm Springs Airport.
"The servicemen and women say the volunteers are like the moms and dads of the USO, so they probably see me as the crazy uncle," said Teilmann, a retired brigadier general who was appointed two years ago as an Army Reserve ambassador to California.
Teilmann's first goal was to convert the facility into a 24-hour operation that provides a safe haven to fresh-faced recruits and grizzled officers who are passing through LAX on their way to far-flung military bases scattered across the world.
Two years after assuming his post, Teilmann oversaw efforts to expand a cramped, 900-foot trailer to a spacious 3,600-square-foot USO facility at LAX that offers comfy furniture, a 40-seat theater, a kitchen, showers, library and a computer room.
He also was an avid fundraiser, often partnering with a local radio station to solicit donations that would be used to purchase food and sports equipment for the troops.
"It was fun and exciting and allowed us to expand the USO, furnish it and provide even more services," Teilmann said in his trademark mellifluous voice, characteristic of old-school broadcasters.
"It's been marvelous," he said. "We're now one of the top USO locations in the world, right here at LAX."
Bob Kurkjian, a business entrepreneur and Navy reserve officer from Washington, D.C., is set to assume Teilmann's role as executive director of the USO on Monday. Kurkjian grew up in Orange County and went on to lead three nonprofit organizations, while also serving on the boards of several others.
Kurkjian could not be reached for comment.
"I didn't have to leave, but I felt it was time," Teilmann said, noting that he will remain on the local USO's board of directors. "I thought it would be cool to have someone younger in there and some new energy to get things done."
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20345124/van-nuys-man-passes-torch-uso-greater-l
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Top Juarez cartel figure who ordered 1,500 killings gets life in U.S.
by Christopher Sherman
MCALLEN, Texas - A top Juarez cartel figure was sentenced to life in prison in a U.S. court on Thursday after he admitted ordering more than 1,500 killings, including the slaying of a U.S. consulate employee in Mexico.
Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez pleaded guilty in El Paso to 11 counts that included conspiracy, racketeering and murder. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone sentenced Acosta to seven concurrent life terms, three additional consecutive life terms and 20 years in federal prison.
Investigators alleged that Acosta headed La Linea, the Juarez cartel's enforcement arm. He admitted in court Thursday to ordering more than 1,500 killings before he was captured in July with his bodyguard in the northern Mexico city of Chihuahua.
Acosta, nicknamed Diego, was one of 10 people named in the indictment as participating in the killings of Leslie Ann Enriquez, an employee at the U.S. consulate in Juarez; her husband, Arthur Redelfs; and Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another consulate employee.
The three had left a children's party on March 13, 2010, in two white sport utility vehicles that were pursued separately by gunmen and riddled with bullets.
"As the leader of La Linea's enforcement wing, Mr. Acosta-Hernandez directed a reign of terror," Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a prepared statement. "Today's guilty plea and sentence are a significant step in our effort to bring to justice those responsible for the consulate murders."
Breuer thanked law enforcement in Mexico, including Attorney General Marisela Morales Ib ez, for their "extraordinary assistance." Mexico extradited Acosta to the U.S. just three weeks ago.
Acosta's attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment.
When Mexican police arrested Acosta last year, President Felipe Calderon said through his Twitter account that it was "the biggest blow" to organized crime in the violence-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez.
A factual summary attached to the plea agreement explained that around 2008, Acosta became La Linea's leader and the cartel's plaza boss in Chihuahua and Juarez. He coordinated "armed enforcement actions" with the Barrio Azteca gang against their common enemies.
At the time, the cartel led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was waging a bloody war with the Sinaloa cartel. The Mexican government has counted more than 9,500 murders tied to drug violence in Ciudad Juarez between 2008 and 2011.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart called Acosta "a cold-blooded murderer with no respect for human life or the rule of law."
The plea document alleged Acosta was involved in some of the most gruesome acts of that period. In addition to the consulate slayings, which the document says Acosta would have known about, Acosta ordered hit men to kill alleged rivals at a birthday party at a Juarez home on Jan. 30, 2010.
"After the armed assault, 16 individuals were killed and 10 individuals were wounded at three different residences in Calle Villas del Portal, Colonia Villas de Salvarcar, Juarez, Mexico," the document said. Most of the victims of what became known as the Salvarcar massacre were teenagers.
On July 15, 2010, Acosta ordered the car bombing on Calle Bolivia in Juarez that killed four people, including two police officers, according to the document.
The violence was part of the cartel's efforts to secure a multimillion dollar drug-trafficking business that moved marijuana, cocaine and heroin through the area, prosecutors alleged.
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20340183/drug-war-top-juarez-cartel-figure-who-ordered
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From the Washington Times
Weapons dealer Bout sentenced to 25 years in arms conspiracy
by Jerry Seper
International arms dealer Viktor Bout , the so-called “Merchant of Death,” was sentenced Thursday in federal court in New York to 25 years in prison following his conviction in a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to finance a fleet of aircraft to arm bloody conflicts and support terrorists worldwide.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan also ordered the former KGB agent to forfeit $15 million.
Bout , 45, declared his innocence until the last, telling the judge he was “not guilty” and charging that the charges against him were false. He shouted “It's a lie” and “God knows the truth” when a prosecutor said Bout had agreed to sell weapons to kill Americans.
A federal jury found him guilty in November after deliberating a full day, convicting Bout on charges of conspiracy to kill Americans and U.S. officials, deliver anti-aircraft missiles, and aid a terrorist organization.
Defense lawyers claimed their client was a political prisoner and requested that a jury verdict of guilty in the case be reversed and the charges dismissed. They called the case “the product of outrageous, inexcusable government conduct.” Prosecutors asked that Bout be imprisoned for life.
“The crimes Viktor Bout committed represent the worst-case scenario for modern law enforcement — the merger of criminal international narcotics cartels with their terrorism enablers,” said Michelle M. Leonhart , head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration , the lead agency in the Bout probe. “The ‘Merchant of Death' has finally been held to account in a court of law for his years of profiteering from death and misery around the world.”
Bout was arrested in Thailand on March 6, 2008, on an Interpol “red notice,” a warrant issued for those sought for prosecution by national jurisdictions. Red notices are circulated worldwide with a view to extradition.
His arrest culminated a DEA sting operation involving two undercover informants who posed as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated terrorist organization. FARC 's violent acts have included killings, kidnappings and bombings in Colombia of places frequented by Americans.
Handcuffed and wearing protective armor and a helmet, Bout was escorted after his arrest to a chartered American aircraft at the Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok by 50 Thai police officers, including snipers, before he was handed over to six DEA agents for the trip to the U.S.
His court-ordered extradition angered Russian officials, who condemned the Thai government.
Bout claimed in court documents that his March 2008 arrest by Royal Thai Police in Bangkok was illegal because a DEA agent had assisted in the apprehension. The Thai court rejected the claim.
The arms dealer and an associate, Syrian-born Richard A. Chichakli, were accused of money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy, along with charges of conspiring to purchase two aircraft from U.S. companies in violation of economic sanctions.
Described by U.S. intelligence officials as the most powerful player in illegal arms trafficking worldwide, Bout was taken into custody by Thai police in his Bangkok hotel room — nabbed after talking with the undercover informants.
Authorities said Bout was seeking to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and was apprehended in the final stages of making arrangements for the sale and shipment of the arms.
According to a criminal complaint in the case, another Bout associate, Andrew Smulian, told the informants during a series of recorded meetings in Romania that Bout had 100 surface-to-air missiles available and could provide helicopters and armor-piercing rocket launchers. The complaint said Mr. Smulian spoke with Bout over a cellular phone provided to him by the informants.
Bout shipped weapons and explosives to terrorist and rebel organizations worldwide, including the Taliban, and is thought to have supplied arms to Iraqi insurgents in their fight against the U.S. military through front companies and cargo airlifts.
In May 2006, when 200,000 AK-47 assault rifles turned up missing in transit from Bosnia to Iraq, one of Bout 's airlines was the carrier. The Treasury Department seized his cargo planes and froze other assets in 2006.
“Although Bout has often described himself as nothing more than a businessman, he was a businessman of the most dangerous order,” prosecutors said in their pre-sentencing memo. “Transnational criminals like Bout who are ready, willing and able to arm terrorists transform their customers from intolerant ideologues into lethal criminals who pose the gravest risk to civilized societies.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/5/weapons-dealer-bout-sentenced-to-25-years-in-arms-/?page=all#pagebreak
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From Google News
Homeland Security's 'Secure Communities' Didn't Intentionally Deceive, Report Says
by Elise Foley
WASHINGTON -- Two years ago, the Department of Homeland Security began an immigration enforcement program called Secure Communities, designed to find undocumented immigrants who had been arrested by local police. Homeland Security explained how jurisdictions could remove themselves from the initiative, at least temporarily, and confirmed to local officials that they could opt out if they wish.
But when states and localities tried to opt out, they were told they couldn't. Homeland Security officials seemed to switch the definition of "opt out" and then admitted they planned to expand the program nationwide by 2013, whether state and county leaders liked it or not.
None of this amounted to "intentionally" misleading the public, according to a report released on Friday by Charles K. Edwards, Homeland Security's acting inspector general. The report, in response to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a critic of the program, kept the department line on Secure Communities: The agency handled the expansion of the initiative badly, but they stand behind it.
Secure Communities is a centerpiece of the President Barack Obama administration's immigration enforcement efforts, and is partially credited with the record number of deportations in the 2011 fiscal year. The program takes fingerprints from arrests by local police and shares them with Homeland Security to catch undocumented immigrants. It has been criticized for hurting community policing, netting non-criminals and potentially encouraging racial profiling.
The report confirmed, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have many times before, that the Secure Communities program will continue. The Homeland Security inspector general instructs ICE to create standard guidelines, improve messaging by leadership and write a "lessons learned" document detailing what went wrong. ICE is n the process of making those changes, the report states.
It also says the agency misled the public -- but not intentionally.
"[C]onfusion within the agency regarding intent and participation led ICE to misinform and confuse stakeholders and the media," the report states. "Initial confusion may have stemmed from the short timeframe to implement Secure Communities. ... However, once questions and concerns arose, senior leadership within ICE and in one instance the department continued to exacerbate the problem by providing unclear and conflicting responses to inquiries and concerns. As a result, Secure Communities continues to face opposition, criticism, and resistance in some locations."
Lofgren, who called for an investigation in April 2011, said in a statement Friday that she was "frankly disappointed" by the report.
"The OIG doesn't say whether DHS or ICE provided misinformation through incompetence or dishonesty," she said. "That leaves me concerned about the thoroughness of this review. ... Unfortunately, this lengthy review provided no meaningful information that was not already available."
Three states -- New York , Illinois and Massachusetts -- officially asked to opt out of the program last year, joining Arlington, Va., Santa Clara, Calif., and San Francisco.
After each attempt by a state or county to cut ties with the program, Homeland Security confirmed that it would continue to take fingerprints anyway.
A document that laid out directions for jurisdictions to begin a possible opt-out from the program was removed from the ICE website in October 2010. (The agency said the document may have been a result of a website changeover, but many pro-Secure Communities made the jump to the new site.)
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also listed steps for counties to ask for removal from the program in a Sept. 7, 2010, letter to Lofgren.
The Washington Post first reported in October 2010 that juridisdictions would not be able to opt out of the program, despite ICE messages to the contrary.
The inspector general's report said the agency changed the definition of participation in Secure Communities five times.
Internal ICE emails obtained by a coalition of groups called "Uncover the Truth" in a Freedom of Information Act request show ICE officials discussing how to deal with Santa Clara's efforts to end the program.
"The domino effect is starting," one identified official wrote in May 2010, according to the documents . Another email features an official saying government workers were seeking "messaging that can help ... keep [jurisdictions] on board."
In one email conversation released under the Freedom of Information Act request, ICE officials discussed a new definition for "opt-out," telling Santa Clara County that it could choose to receive information on whether people they arrested were undocumented -- although immigration enforcement efforts would be enacted either way.
One ICE worker asked another how the "front office" felt about the definition they wrote. The other said, "MY memory is that they were fine with it and didn't see a need to take action (like sign off approving); believe it was a phone call to Marc."
"I remembered that it wasn't in writing … which give's [sic] them plausible deniability if this Santa Clara thing goes south," the first worker responded.
Chris Newman, legal director for National Day Laborer's Organizing Network, part of the "Uncover the Truth" coalition, said the report ignored many examples of ICE misrepresenting the program.
"DHS has moved from 'plausible deniability' to full-scale denial about the dangers of [Secure Communities] and misrepresentations ICE made about the program," Newman said in an email. "Rather than recommending a 'lessons learned document,' the OIG should recommend a 'do over' of its own report."
Another opponent of the program, California state Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D) said in a statement that the report only diminished trust in ICE. He is the author of the TRUST Act, a bill that would make Secure Communities optional in California.
"Whatever faith the community had in this out-of-control agency's ability to police itself is now permanently broken," Ammiano said. "The fox simply cannot be trusted to guard the hen house. [Secure Communities] is burdening local governments and making us all less safe."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/06/homeland-security-secure-communities-report_n_1409105.html
