SDFM The Business of Defense
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Raids on suspected Taliban hideouts would probably be best handled by Afghan forces as opposed to U.S special forces. Major-General Charles Cleveland, Commander of Special Operations for U.S. Central Command says also they have to avoid killing and wounding civilians. At a conference yesterday in Jordan. Cleveland also said, \"Raids and kill/capture operations remain important, but they have to be precise.\" Special forces are only permitted to carry out raids at night when Afghan forces are with them.
May 11, 2010 -
Several journalists can no longer go into the military commissions happened at Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon says four of them published the name of a witness after being told not to. The U.S. military wanted the witness identified only as \"Interrogator No. 1\" and said reporting his name was off-limits. Reporters for the Miami Herald, the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and Canwest News Service reported the name during hearings for a 23-year-old Canadian prisoner who is charged with killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
May 10, 2010 -
A new website has been launched that communicates essential information about America\'s energy situation, based on the vast holdings of reports from the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. A finalist for the Webby Award in the category of science, the site called \"What You Need to Know About Energy\" provides an overview of our current energy system in the United States, and covers the uses for energy, sources of energy, the cost of energy including to cost to the environment, national security, and sustainability, and energy efficiency. It identifies each of the energy sources we rely on today - ranging from wind to nuclear to oil - and tracks how each is used. You\'ll find it at needtoknow.nas.edu.
May 10, 2010 -
As of May first, televisions that carry the Environmental Protection Agency\'s Energy Star label are now required to, on average, be 40 percent more efficient than conventional models. Available nationwide, the new sets will help consumers save more energy and money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while offering the same features and performance. The new requirements represent EPA\'s most stringent Energy Star TV specification to date. With more than 19 million sets with screens larger than 40 inches expected to ship to American homes this year, the new specifications also offer important savings in larger size TVs. If all televisions sold in the U.S. met the new requirements, Americans would save $2.5 billion annually in energy costs while reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the emissions of about 3 million cars.
May 10, 2010 -
The Atlantic City International Airport, located at the Federal Aviation Adminstration\'s Technical Center, has become the first in the national airspace system to deliver \"digital notices to airmen,\" or NOTAM\'s. NOTAMs provide computer-generated safety information to pilots and air traffic controllers about conditions at an airport like construction and hazards. FAA Administrator Randy Babbit calls digital information management \"key to meeting the air traffic system\'s safety and efficiency goals,\" as well as modernizing the national airspace system. Digital NOTAMs have safety and efficiency benefits over traditional NOTAMs, including transmitting to all air traffic management systems simultaneously. And, airspace users get easier to read information. Other airports that will follow the lead of Atlantic City International include: Washington Dulles, Reagan National, B-W-I, Richmond, and Norfolk.
May 10, 2010 -
March 1st, March 3rd, May 10th 2010 David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P National Coordinator Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
May 10, 2010 -
Witold Skwierczynski President, AFGE National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals David Wright President, AFGE Federal Protective Service (FPS) Local 918 Milly Rodriguez AFGE Labor Relations Specialist
May 06, 2010 -
Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon today after his invitation to a prayer service inside was withdrawn because of comments that insulted people of other religions. He prayed with his party of a half-dozen people for about five minutes at the Pentagon parking lot. Pentagon spokesman Geoff said he came, he prayed, he left and it was uneventful.
May 06, 2010 -
Assistance is coming for family members who have to leave their jobs to become caregivers for severely wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, courtesy of a bill signed Wednesday by President Barack Obama. The bill, estimated to cost $3.7 billion over five years, also expands veterans care for women, the homeless, and those who live in rural areas.
May 06, 2010 -
Law enforcement officers face many dangers on the job. May 7, 2010
May 04, 2010 -
A U.S. counterterrorism source in a position to know says there is a foreign influence nexus to the suspects linked to the Times Square attempted bombing. A Justice Department spokesman said, \"The investigation continues. We are pursuing every lead to determine the identity and motives of the person or persons responsible. Other U.S. Intelligence officials are stressing it is too early to determine what that influence was generated outside of the U.S. or stateside with international connections.
May 04, 2010 -
A video of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud surfaced last Friday from what appeared to be an unidentified location. Geo News TV did the interview in which Meshud said the Taliban are winning the war. Earlier this year he was reportedly killed after a U.S drone attack, but Taliban leaders and Pakistani intelligence now say he is alive. The question now is whether this video was made before or after the US missile attack.
May 03, 2010 -
Seth Diamond Executive Deputy Commissioner New York City Department of Social Services
May 03, 2010 -
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The World Bank Group recently made many of its statistical databases available to the public online. The site is data-dot-worldbank-dot-org and is a place for global crowdsourcing. The move has required the cooperation of several governments and groups, reaching across the span of several cultures and languages. Some two-thousand indicators will become available that could be of help to researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations, entrepreneurs, and students. Bank officials say the data is arranged in a variety of ways. Users can search by country name for information on health, education, environment, standard of living, cost of living and other indicators. The website also comes with a variety of interfaces that allow a user to manipulate the data in a variety of ways. The site is part of the World Bank\'s broader Access to Information policy set to be launched July first.
May 02, 2010