tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12489800904496429552024-02-19T03:54:39.150-08:00Dead Men WorkingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-15384257079316618692017-04-22T17:19:00.000-07:002017-04-22T17:19:58.436-07:00CFSO Supports Ken Kero Mentz, John Naland, in AFSA Governing Board ElectionsAFSA Governing Board elections have begun. With many positions uncontested, CFSO has not endorsed candidates for any position other than the contested State Vice President Position - for which we strongly endorse Ken Kero-Mentz, and the Retiree Vice President race, for which we equally strongly endorse John Naland.<br />
<br />
Our reasons are simple: both are by far the more experienced candidates, and both have long histories of service not only to our mutual employers, but to our Foreign Service colleagues. We strongly urge all CFSO members to vote to elect John Naland as Retiree Vice President, and Ken Kero-Mentz as State VP.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-81574023072128016702017-01-04T19:03:00.001-08:002017-01-04T19:06:14.700-08:00AFSA's Proposed Bylaw Amendment Would Give Management The Ability To Veto AFSA Candidates<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is admittedly a difficult question:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All things being equal, who do you trust more to represent
your interests?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Foreign Service colleague who chooses to run for AFSA’s Governing
Board to negotiate on behalf of Foreign Service employees? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or the management of the State Department? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All things being equal, do you want to have free and open
elections for AFSA’s Governing Board?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or do you want to turn control for selecting
candidates over to State Department management?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In today’s email to members, AFSA's current Governing Board has made its position
known: it trusts management more than it trusts our Foreign Service colleagues. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It wants, specifically, to enact a change to AFSA’s bylaws that will make it
possible for management to veto the candidacy of any prospective President or
Vice President of AFSA, by performing virtually the only act that it can
perform with neither oversight nor transparency: suspend their security
clearance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">AFSA puts the matter differently of course. Defending a proposal to make any candidate with a suspended security clearance ineligible to run for a senior AFSA elected office (President or VP) , it states:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The intent of this bylaw change is to strengthen AFSA by
preventing a potential conflict of interest that could arise when an
active-duty AFSA president or one of the constituency vice presidents–the main
AFSA officers who negotiate with management–does not have a valid security
clearance. The potential conflict of interest arises because the AFSA officer
is reliant on management to approve his or her appeal to reinstate the security
clearance."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That seems like a no-brainer. And like many no-brainers, it is
designed to appeal primarily to people who have no brains. Or at least, who don’t use
their brains to think the matter thoroughly through. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So let’s think this proposal through together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let’s begin with the question of what is a candidate, and
what type of candidate normally runs for an AFSA position. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A candidate is someone who puts forth their candidacy for
election. Becoming a candidate is the first step in a process in which the
electorate votes, and chooses from the available candidates that person in whom
they repose the greatest degree of confidence and trust – the person they choose
to represent them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the AFSA context, there is a campaign in which the
candidates express their views, there is the opportunity to place a short statement in the Foreign Service Journal, there is a town hall meeting at which the candidates give
speeches and answer questions, and there is an online forum in which candidates
can continue to respond to questions from the electorate before the election. Most candidates also reach out through websites, mailings, ads in the Foreign Service Journal, or other means. Then the electorate votes, and selects the candidate they choose to be their representative. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While that process is certainly not foolproof, it does ensure that the person
who ends up elected to the AFSA Board is the person, from among the colleagues who chose to run for the position, that the AFSA membership chose to represent
them. If a particular candidate were deemed untrustworthy, he or she would most
likely not win the election. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The rather unlikely, and purely theoretical, conflict of interest addressed by this bylaw amendment could not
exist at all if a candidate with a suspended security clearance were simply not
elected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In AFSA’s context, in the context of a union or bargaining
unit that represents the interests of its membership, a typical candidate for
office is someone who is motivated to represent the interests of the members.
Such a person might never have had any personal reason to fight for the rights
and benefits of his or her colleagues, but in AFSA’s context, the normal
situation is, in fact, that AFSA candidates, by and large, have some personal “skin
in the game.” That “skin” may be as simple as being a member of an affinity
group, or it may be, indeed, that they were “politically awakened” by some
event in their own careers, or that of a colleague, that caused them to realize the value of collective bargaining,
and of the lack of sympathy or empathy that a large bureaucracy can show its
employees. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is particularly true of candidates for the AFSA Vice President
positions, who will essentially put their careers on hold to serve in an out of
cone – indeed out of service – position for two years at a time to dedicate
themselves exclusively to the task of representing their colleagues. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
assumption that AFSA’s Board now makes – that such a person is likely to be vulnerable
to a subtle and implied, theoretical form of blackmail – is contrary to the profile of most
of AFSA’s elected officers over the last three decades. On the contrary, people who have been motivated to put their careers on hold in order to run for union office are far more likely to
expose corruption than succumb to it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And again, AFSA’s electorate can decide
for themselves, during the election, what they think of the candidate. If they
don’t trust the candidate, they don’t have to elect them. And again, in that
event, the potential for conflict of interest is zero. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With that all understood, the question must be asked: what is
the advantage to the Foreign Service of limiting the pool of candidates for
AFSA’s elected offices? </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why not give
AFSA members the largest possible pool of candidates to choose from, and trust
in their judgement to choose the person they want as a representative? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And if the pool is to be limited, is a security clearance –
which can be suspended through no fault whatsoever of the employee - really the
place to start? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What about someone with
a valid clearance but an open disciplinary matter? Would a person under
investigation for, say, misusing government vehicles, have less of a potential
conflict of interest than someone whose second cousin three times removed had
just become an officer in some other country’s intelligence services? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not to
mention the traditional hope, by nearly every AFSA President, that an AFSA
Presidency will lead to a first, or another, Ambassadorship? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or a person with an entirely different, but equally compelling personal agenda, like wanting to increase opportunities for tandems, or automatically including dependent parents as EFMs? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A person with an open disciplinary matter has just as much
to lose if they annoy management as someone with suspended clearance. And a person who is hoping for an Ambassadorship probably has greater incentive than anyone to curry favor with
the Department’s highest-ups. Indeed, AFSA's history is rich with do-nothing AFSA Presidents who have gone on to receive Ambassadorships and Principal Officer-ships immediately after leaving their AFSA positions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the weak position that anyone with something to gain by currying favor with management would automatically face a conflict of interest in negotiating with that management could equally well apply, well, to anyone with any interest in any matter under management;'s control. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With that in mind, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of course, AFSA already has a code of ethics that requires AFSA Officers to recuse themselves from certain negotiations if they, or anyone else, alleges a conflict of interest. That would apply equally to any matter, regardless of what the proposed conflict might be. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But there is a special quality to a security clearance suspension. It is the only personnel action that the Department can take unilaterally, for
nearly any reason whatsoever, with nearly no transparency and no recourse available to the employee, unless the agency moves to revoke the clearance completely. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is the only personnel process that is entirely independent of the
employees own actions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A clearance can obviously be suspended because of bad behavior,
but it can also be suspended because one’s soon to be ex-spouse took up with a
Russian lover, one’s second cousin three times removed got a promotion on some
other country’s government, or one’s credit score dropped precipitously because one’s property
manager neglected to pay the mortgage on time. And it can be suspended, temporarily for any period of time, because the Department has decided, for any reason whatsoever, that questions have arisen bearing further investigation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Suspension does not mean revocation. It means suspension, pending investigation and clarification of a matter, which the government is not obliged to reveal unless it moves to revoke the clearance altogether. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That is why, a</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">cross the government, security
clearance suspension is the tool of choice for silencing whistleblowers and dissenters.
It is the only process that can be used to circumvent nearly every Title 5
protection any Government employee who needs a clearance, has.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And it is, of course, a process that, if AFSA’s proposed
bylaw were enacted, would give the State Department virtually 100 percent veto
power over the candidacy of any employee whom management felt might not support
their interests. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So who gets to choose? Do AFSA members get to select the candidate
they want from among the largest pool possible of interested colleagues, and
weigh, among other factors, that person’s clearance status if it is something
they care about? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or does management get to veto candidates before the
elections begin, suspending – just long enough to prevent their candidacy – the
clearance of any person they feel won’t play ball in a sufficiently chummy
manner? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Think it through. It is, admittedly, a question that requires thought. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then v</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ote "NO" on AFSA's bylaw amendment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And write to AFSA asking why, for example, they put this proposed bylaw amendment ahead of term limits, or limits on the amount of time that has passed since a retiree governing board member left the service, or rebuilding AFSA's decimated lobbying staff. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why has AFSA failed to increase, as promised, its efforts to represent the Foreign Service to the American public at large, to help us build a constituency to protect us against looming cuts in salary and hiring?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why has it fired - and not replaced - its lobbying staff? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why does it have fewer lawyers than it used to have? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are things that matter far more to AFSA members than this weak, ill-considered amendment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But not, apparently, to AFSA's current governing board.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-14471702170437373482015-05-28T14:24:00.003-07:002015-06-03T15:12:09.557-07:00InsanityMy brother-in-law is an idiot. In a certain presidential election, he justified his vote for the candidate he voted for by saying: "He got us into this mess. He's the only one who can get us out of it." Then - and here comes the funny part - he proceeded to spend the next four years agonizing over the fact that the person who got us into that mess actually continued to get us deeper and deeper into that mess, by doing the exact same things he had done during the four years of his earlier term.<br />
<br />
Now, Matthew Asada, the Presidential candidate of the Future Forward AFSA Slate, wants your vote because he got us into this mess, and he's promising to get us out of it.<br />
<br />
In recent communications, he's highlighted continued issues with DS pass-throughs, particularly with regard to Asian-Americans.<br />
<br />
He's highlighted proposed cuts to benefits and allowances (danger pay), <br />
<br />
Refusal to pay 2013 and 2014 Selection Board MSIs, <br />
<br />
And banning of cellular phones from domestic facilities. <br />
<br />
And he states that the solution to these problems is an "advocate who is willing to be independent from management." <br />
<br />
People who actually care about the issues described above know two things: <br />
<br />
They are not new, <br />
<br />
And Matthew Asada, as AFSA's State Vice President during the past two years has done nothing to either fix them or keep them from getting worse.<br />
<br />
Pass-throughs were an issue that Asada campaigned on in 2013, strongly supported by the Asian American Foreign Affairs Association. Despite marginal improvement due to internal improvements in the security clearance process in general, they continue to be the number one issue of interest to the AAFAA, and, apparently, an issue Asada continues to promise to fix. Readers would be correct to assume that the reason they are still an issue is that Asada was unable to make good on his campaign promise. <br />
<br />
Pass-throughs are a unique internal process by which DS reviews (and sometimes vetos) the assignments of Americans descended from certain immigrant groups to the countries of their ancestry. Asada has vigorously opposed them as racist. That is why he has failed to improve them.<br />
<br />
Racism consists of treating people differently because of their race or ethnic heritage. The security clearance guidelines treat everyone the same. Those guidelines require every holder of a security clearance to be reevaluated if there is an event (such as marriage, reassignment, or investigative findings) which predictably raises concerns under 13 adjudicative guidelines. The guideline "Foreign Influence" addresses the question of whether a person may be subject to pressure or coercion by any foreign interest. Adjudication under this Guideline must consider the identity of the foreign country involved, including, but not limited to, such considerations as whether the foreign country is known to target United States citizens to obtain protected information and/or is associated with a risk of terrorism.<br />
<br />
The risk here is not that a member of a certain ethnic group may be inherently less loyal, but rather that a person of a certain national origin, if assigned to their country of ancestral origin, may be subject to pressure or coercion by the government of that country of origin. Western European countries don't usually subject American descendants of their former citizens to pressure or coercion. Some Asian nations, some dictatorships, some communist nations, and some Middle Eastern nations, do.<br />
<br />
Referring to that concern as racism, and demanding that DS, in essence, ignore a legal requirement imposed on every U.S. Government agency involved in the security clearance process, has done nothing except convince DS that Matthew Asada does not know what he is talking about. And as a general rule, people who are believed by their interlocutors to be ignorant, are not very effective advocates.<br />
<br />
There are ways to improve the process, by improving the efficiency of information-gathering related to individual cases, by ensuring the accuracy of risk assessments, and by regularly re-evaluating the threats involved, but negotiating those changes requires doing something Matthew Asada cannot do: demonstrating sufficient familiarity with the real issues involved to be taken seriously by his DS interlocutors. <br />
<br />
So, campaign promise in 2013. Campaign promise in 2015. And no improvement in between.<br />
<br />
MSIs were an issue highlighted in three State Department telegrams that came out in July and September, 2013 and May, 2014, when Matthew Asada was already AFSA Vice President. Those cables, allegedly cleared by AFSA when Asada was (let us repeat it) already AFSA Vice President, contained inaccuracies which Asada did nothing to correct, and which formed the basis of the 2013 and 2014 refusals to pay MSIs.<br />
<br />
Asada made an ineffective and ill-informed attempt to negotiate the matter (advocate for affected AFSA members) then filed an institutional grievance (implementation dispute) which a) contained inaccuracies and b) did what all grievances do: force the Department to dig in its heels, and to claim an obligation to take no further action until the grievance is resolved. Which it is not yet. <br />
<br />
So, seeds of the problem sown by Asada in 2013, and a campaign promise to fix it in 2015.<br />
<br />
Danger Pay reforms? Began over a year ago when Congress began to question the methodology used to calculate it. AFSA's State Vice President was silent for over a year, allowed the issue to be virtually completely decided, and is now promising, as a 2015 campaign promise, to fix it.<br />
<br />
Other benefits and allowances may actually increase when Danger Pay goes down. In any event, they are all affected by a tasking given to the new Director of the Bureau of Administration's Office of Allowances when he assumed that office last year.<br />
<br />
Again, over a year ago. And again, Asada only noticed the issue at campaign time.<br />
<br />
The banning of cellular phones is an absolute non-issue, of the type Asada is good at creating and manipulating. People who work in the Department and in embassies all know that cellular phones are not allowed in secure areas where classified information may be discussed. As the Department has tightened security controls on passport issuance to include consideration of possible terrorist ties and other applicant factors, the process has begun to include consideration of classified information, and certain areas designated as being areas where such information might be discussed. So, no cell phones. <br />
<br />
What, exactly, is AFSA going to do to change that?<br />
<br />
Albert Einstein is alleged to once have said “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.<br />
<br />
Last election, AFSA members voted into AFSA office the least experienced least qualified, candidate ever to sit in the State Vice President's chair. A Foreign Service Officer with barely five year's overseas experience, none of it in an actual Embassy, and a grand total of six months of experience dealing with (the mid-level bureaucracy) in HR (CDA). The results speak for themselves.<br />
<br />
It would be insane to assume that Asada, as President, would be better than Asada, as Vice President. It is time for a change.<br />
<br />
AFSA members do indeed need an advocate who is willing to be independent from management. But they need, more than that. They need an advocate who is competent and credible. <br />
<br />
Competence and credibility come from experience. <br />
<br />
Learning how to work with Management, and even earning Management's respect, does not automatically make the person who can do that a puppet of the regime.<br />
<br />
Last election, AFSA members voted into AFSA office the candidate they would most like to have a beer with, rather than the candidate who would be most respected by the interlocutors who make decisions affecting our careers.<br />
<br />
How about, this election, we elect the candidate with experience and qualifications, and give her the benefit of the doubt that she will put that experience to use to benefit the members who elected her?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-75678125743515368882015-05-25T03:10:00.001-07:002015-05-25T03:10:35.487-07:00CFSO joins Rolling Thunder in Memorium<a href="http://rollingthunderrun.com/">http://rollingthunderrun.com/</a><br />
<br />
We join our colleagues and our friends in remembering those who have lost their lives or liberty in support of our own. May God grant peace to every veteran and to their families. May we never stop trying to find and return home those who are still missing in action.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-68219718611180283662015-04-16T03:54:00.002-07:002015-04-16T07:47:01.357-07:00Of ethics and Auld Lang Syne Aaaaaah the good old days!<br />
<br />
When the American Foreign Service Association was cost-effectively staffed by the wives and girlfriends of a handful of regular Board members. <br />
<br />
When a handful of self-styled Young Turks regularly traded off AFSA Board leadership positions, and their perpetual presence on the Board kept AFSA members' money flowing to the special projects of the one-or-two-or-three-person largely-unknown "academies" and "institutes" founded by their friends.<br />
<br />
When these "academies" and "institutes" and the incestuous AFSA awards process catapulted a not-very-remarkable ex-Ambassador to Upper Volta, an even less remarkable ex-Ambassador to Guinea Bissau, a ne'er do well bon vivant whose entire career consisted of dining for years off a single telegram he wrote as an entry-level officer, and their friends, into highly paid consultancies and retainerships as representatives of the Foreign Service.<br />
<br />
There is a certain irony in the fact that the Future Forward AFSA slate is so heavily endorsed by three octogenarian 1970's era ambassadors, by their 77-year-old lifetime tagalong wannabe-ambassador friend, and by the former treasurer who ensured, during four terms in AFSA, that their projects got funded every year long after they lost their majority on the Board.<br />
<br />
There is equal irony in the fact that one has to <a href="http://www.afsa.org/list_of_afsa_presidents.aspx" target="_blank">count back</a> ten AFSA presidents, to 1997, then 15 more years, to 1972 through 1975, to find the names of the three ex-AFSA presidents who endorse the allegedly forward-leaning role of the Future Forward AFSA Slate. <br />
<br />
Not one AFSA President since 1997 endorses Asada's bid for the AFSA Presidency. Importantly, neither of the two Presidents who served with him on an AFSA Board has done so.<br />
<br />
No AFSA President since 1997 seems to believe that the Future Forward AFSA Slate is the right slate to lead AFSA in the 21st Century.<br />
<br />
There is also a certain irony in their tactics.<br />
<br />
AFSA's <a href="http://www.afsa.org/MemberServices/AFSAElections/InstructionstoCandidates.aspx" target="_blank">Instructions to Candidates</a> limit the number of words each candidate or slate may use in statements to their members, both initially, and in subsequent campaign emails. The idea is to create a level playing field. <br />
<br />
AFSA members with access to campaign messages can verify that the same octogenarian "Young Turks" are using their quotas of words to endorse the Future Forward AFSA Slate, rather than their own candidacies. To say this clearly, Tex Harris is running for the AFSA Presidency solely in order to expand Matthew Asada's platform by doubling his quota of words.<br />
<br />
So much for their claim to the pulpit of ethics.<br />
<br />
Why do these 80-something old men who retired from the Foreign Service in the 1980s and 1990s support a 30-something FSO with barely six years of overseas experience to be President of AFSA?<br />
<br />
Because, as Tex Harris says: "Matthew Asada gets it." He knows who butters his bread, who lets him sit at the grownup table, and why.<br />
<br />
He is, in the eyes of those who have sucked at AFSA's teat for decades, a good investment. <br />
<br />
There is an old French curse from the childhood years of Asada's supporters that is both explicit and politically insensitive: "Va te faire encule par un Turk." Make that an octogenarian ex-Young Turk, or his ambitious young protégé, and the Future Forward AFSA Slate seems intent on doing so, for old-timers' sakes, to AFSA's members.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-89125191169566543242015-04-15T01:16:00.003-07:002015-04-15T02:16:12.118-07:00AAD and AFSA: Complicit in the Foreign Service Image Problem<div class="email-wrapped">
The American Foreign Service has an image problem. It is perceived by the American public and by many in Congress as elitist and out of touch with the lives of ordinary Americans. The American Academy of Diplomacy and its supporters and funders in AFSA contribute to the problem by using the term themselves and demonstrating, with remarkable skill, the reason why Americans find them out of touch.<br />
<br />
The Foreign Service Act uses the term "elite" to refer not to privilege or rank but to a high level of skill and quality in a certain set of attributes. One of them is the ability to negotiate, often in a foreign language, sometimes in several foreign languages simultaneously. But that is one out of many attributes, and it is the primary skill set required of only a small group of Foreign Service members. By focusing on that group the AAD does indeed appear elitist; and in the process demonstrates how remarkably bad this handful of long-retired ex-ambassadors are at doing what negotiators are supposed to do: framing an argument in terms of the interests of their interlocutors. <br />
<br />
The American people don't know what ambassadors do. The average American has never met and never will meet a professional ambassador. And the questions: "Where will the next Pickering come from, or the next Burns," mean nothing to them. They simply demonstrate how out of touch the AAD and AFSA are with the questions that Congress and the American people care about.<br />
<br />
And frankly, how out of touch the AAD and their emplaced perpetual AFSA board members, Tex Harris, Tom Boyatt, Ed Marks, and their new errand boy Matthew Asada (for whom they are campaigning like crazy) are with AFSA's own membership- 90 percent of which is not and never will be ambassadors.<br />
<br />
Defining the Foreign Service in terms of ambassadors and deputy assistant secretaries and those who serve them defines 90 percent of the Foreign Service as servants. Elite servants. Taxpayer-funded personal assistants and support staff for a small group of people whose work most Americans don't think very much about and whose problems most Americans don't identify with. <br />
<br />
It is as stupid a position as defining the military solely in terms of generals or defining a major corporation solely in terms of its chief executive officers. And it is simply not an accurate depiction either of the Foreign Service or of the attributes which FS members bring to the table to an elite level of quality.<br />
<br />
Attributes like patriotism, expressed to a degree so strong that, like soldiers, we are willing to leave behind loved ones and our familiar homes, and work to protect and to serve our country in a foreign land.<br />
<br />
Attributes like integrity, expressed to a degree so strong that we put country and fellow citizens ahead of the much larger incomes most of us would be earning had we chosen to make our careers in the private sector.<br />
<br />
And indeed, attributes like the ability to maneuver easily in foreign cultures, to converse easily in a foreign language, to understand a foreign mindset and deal with foreign bureaucracies, to understand and be able to inform America's leaders about issues like how do terrorists think, how America can do business better overseas, where our national interests coincide with those of others and where they differ, and how to tell a bona fide visitor to America from an intended illegal immigrant or worse.<br />
<br />
Those attributes and others unite the vast majority of FS members regardless of skill set. And those attributes are understandable to our interlocutors. The American people understand the skill sets of the majority of FS members far better than they understand the skill sets or motivation of the aging former ex-AFSA presidents and ex-ambassadors longing for their former glory days, who make up the tiny, closed, but self-important, American Academy of Diplomacy. </div>
<div class="email-wrapped">
</div>
<div class="email-wrapped">
Most Americans do not know an ambassador. But they know a doctor. They know an IT professional. They know an office manager. They know a logistician. They know a security professional. They know a public relations professional. They know people just like the people who make up most of the Foreign Service. </div>
<div class="email-wrapped">
</div>
<div class="email-wrapped">
Instead of funding codes of ethics for ambassadors or even minimal standards for their selection AFSA needs to expend its resources and our union dues to explain to the American people how the unique skill sets of certain people in ordinary and understandable professions unite them into being an elite corps of professionals willing and able to serve America in places like Iraq and Sudan for the good of the American people. If Tex, Ed, Tom and their ilk can't do that then they themselves, and not merely the American public, are unable to articulate what makes the FS elite and why there should be a Foreign Service at all. </div>
<div class="email-wrapped">
</div>
<div class="email-wrapped">
Ask not from where the next Bill Burns will come. Ask what the members of the American Foreign Service can do for our country that nobody else can do. Because nobody who had to google Bill Burns cares where the next one will come from. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-16589824721286584282015-04-01T04:40:00.000-07:002015-04-06T14:24:20.387-07:00AFSA's Town Hall Meetings April 7 and 8 - Questions for the Future Forward AFSA SlateMatthew K. Asada, who was elected Vice President of the American Foreign Service Association largely on the strength of his diversity platform, does not identify himself as Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer. He does not speak publicly about his sexual orientation. He does not participate as a Gay man in Gay Pride events. He proudly touts his "fourth generation Japanese American" ethnic heritage in every <a href="http://www.afsa.org/Portals/0/asada_bio.pdf" target="_blank">biography</a> he publishes, but never, ever, ever, mentions his sexual orientation. We will not "out" his orientation here. That is for him, not us, to do.<br />
<br />
We will mention here, however, that as Asada begins his campaign to become the least experienced and least qualified President of AFSA, he has begun to frequent GLIFAA events, in the company of a nice Gay man who works at NPR, who seems to believe that he and Matthew Asada are planning to "move in together," something Asada has also asserted.<br />
<br />
This may mean nothing at all with regard to Asada's sexual orientation. In response to social pressures, homosexual men often move in with and even marry heterosexual women in order to conceal their true orientation. The fact that Asada, who until now has lived alone with his Hello Kitty dolls is choosing now to move in with a Gay man may be nothing more than a similar response to social pressures, to conceal his true heterosexual orientation. <br />
<br />
Besides, who cares if Matthew Asada is Gay or not?<br />
<br />
AFSA voters should care.<br />
<br />
Not because he is or is not Gay. His orientation itself is of no more relevance than his hair color.<br />
<br />
But because people who are voting for an official who will represent their interests to their employer, to their Congress and to the American people have a right to know who they are voting for. <br />
<br />
Matthew Asada is campaigning on two platforms: Diversity and Transparency.<br />
<br />
The question of whether or not he is Gay, and whether or not he is honest and transparent about who, exactly, he is, as a person, are relevant to both of those platforms.<br />
<br />
Mr. Asada is very, very vocal about his Japanese-American heritage, despite the fact that it is neither apparent from his appearance nor from any aspect of his comportment. In other words, although there is no reason on earth why the fact that his Japanese ancestors came to America four generations ago should affect Matthew Asada's career or social interactions, he chooses to make it an issue. He puts it in his biographies. He <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/asianpacific/2012/189033.htm" target="_blank">volunteers</a> to represent Asian Americans during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. He talks about it in his <a href="http://www.futureforwardafsa.com/president" target="_blank">campaign</a>. He does not do the same with his sexual orientation.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Because it is inconvenient to his future political aspirations? <br />
<br />
Because he wants the votes of older AFSA members who may not welcome an openly Gay AFSA President?<br />
<br />
Because he thinks it will hurt his Foreign Service career?<br />
<br />
A diversity candidate who hides a key aspect of his own identity, because he is afraid or ashamed to share who he is with the people he hopes will vote for him?!?<br />
<br />
What does that tell us about Matthew Asada?<br />
<br />
What does that tell us about his willingness to go out on a limb to protect and defend other AFSA members who share his orientation? <br />
<br />
Or those who don't?<br />
<br />
How far would he go to hide his orientation?<br />
<br />
Does his secret make him vulnerable to coercion?<br />
<br />
Supposing, for example, a Senate staffer with the ability to affect Foreign Service promotions were to threaten to expose his secrets if he did not provide <a href="http://diplopundit.net/2014/04/13/the-odd-story-of-vettingscrubbing-the-tenurepromotion-of-1800-foreign-service-employees-in-the-u-s-senate/" target="_blank">derogatory information</a> on Foreign Service nominees for tenure and promotion. How far would Mr. Asada go to avoid exposure?<br />
<br />
Remember, this is the same Matthew Asada who, when he first assumed the position of AFSA Vice President, actively sought to change AFSA's rules to allow him, as AFSA's Vice President, access to the files of every member seeking AFSA assistance, so that he could personally decide whether assisting them was, in his opinion, in AFSA's institutional interest.<br />
<br />
And, again, Mr. Asada is campaigning on a platform of ethics, transparency and good AFSA governance.<br />
<br />
Transparency is important, and ethics and good governance cannot exist without it.<br />
<br />
What could be less transparent than someone who refuses to tell you exactly who he is?<br />
<br />
And how far does Mr. Asada's lack of transparency go?<br />
<br />
We know, for example, from Mr. Asada's biographies that he joined the Foreign Service in 2003, twelve years ago. We know that he served for two years in AFSA, a year on the Hill, and spent at least two years in training at FSI. He allegedly served at four overseas locations, <a href="http://www.futureforwardafsa.com/president" target="_blank">Kunduz, Kolkata, Lahore and Munich.</a> He also allegedly has extensive experience in HR, as a staffer in M, and allegedly has served in every cone and in every regional bureau. Allegedly, in each of his posts, he also served on school boards, housing boards and employment boards. Really? In Kunduz, Kolkata and Lahore? <br />
<br />
We wonder: during the twelve years he has been a Foreign Service Officer, of which at least five or six were in Washington, how long did Matthew Asada actually serve in each of his four overseas posts, or in an overseas position that has any relationship to the jobs most Foreign Service members perform? <br />
<br />
When he represents us to Congress, to the American people, and to our employers - or when he tells Congress that ambassadors must have experience - what experience and gravitas does he himself bring to the table?<br />
<br />
Matthew Asada has published very slick websites, lovely narrative biographies, beautifully meaningless homilies.<br />
<br />
Why will he not simply share a resume - an ordinary garden variety resume with dates and places and job descriptions - with AFSA members, so they can know who they are voting for?<br />
<br />
He was a CDO. We know that. We know that being a CDO is legally incompatible with representing AFSA members in collective bargaining unit. And we know that Mr. Asada served on such a unit, as a State Representative on AFSA's Board, while working as a CDO, and that he took personal credit for a number of key labor-management achievements of that Board.<br />
<br />
In fact, we have strong reason to believe that Mr. Asada was unanimously asked to leave AFSA's Board to prevent a clear and illegal conflict of interest, but refused to do so. The issue, allegedly, damaged relations between the Department and AFSA, and required both sides to repeatedly certify that Mr. Asada had not participated in certain meetings.<br />
<br />
Given that assertion, one might reasonably ask the Future Forward AFSA Slate's ethics-and-good-governance candidate for President, how exactly he managed to reconcile his service on AFSA's Board, and his alleged labor-management breakthroughs, with his CDO position, in light of Section 1017(e) of the Foreign Service Act (22 USC 4117(e).<br />
<br />
Surely transparency would dictate that he clarify that point.<br />
<br />
Did he break the law by participating in labor-management negotiations illegally? Or, if he did not participate in such discussions, on what basis does he take credit for the results?<br />
<br />
A person who will not tell you the truth about who he is and what he has done, even to the point of clarifying his own professional experience to the voters, is probably not the very best possible spokesperson for ethics and good governance.<br />
<br />
And probably not very trustworthy.<br />
<br />
So when we hear comments about Mr. Asada's relationship with an equally closeted and secretive Conservative SFRC staffer, we wonder:<br />
<br />
Could coercion, and the threat to expose one's closeted sexuality, work both ways?<br />
<br />
And what does it mean if the Vice President of a union has a secret relationship with a Senate staffer willing to keep nominations off the agenda, or allow nominations to build up until Asada's "efforts" can "release" them, just in time for campaign soundbites?<br />
<br />
Questions to think about as you watch Mr. Asada work the crowd.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-74808451615390512102012-12-24T14:03:00.000-08:002015-01-07T14:37:11.382-08:00NORAD is ready to track Santa's flightFrom NORAD's website:<br />
<br />
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The North American Aerospace Defense Command is getting ready to track Santa’s yuletide journey! The NORAD Tracks Santa website, <a href="http://www.noradsanta.org/">www.noradsanta.org</a>, went live today featuring a Countdown Calendar, a Kid’s Countdown Village complete with holiday games and activities that change daily, and video messages from students and troops from around the world. With the addition of Brazilian Portuguese, the website is now available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Chinese.<br />
<br />
Starting at midnight MST on Dec. 24, website visitors can <a href="http://www.noradsanta.org/">watch Santa </a>as he makes all the preparations for his flight. Then, at 4 a.m. MST (6 a.m. EST), trackers worldwide can talk to a live phone operator to inquire about Santa’s whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an email to noradtrackssanta@gmail.com. NORAD’s “Santa Cams” will also stream videos as Santa makes his way over various locations worldwide.<br />
<br />
NORAD Tracks Santa has truly become a global experience, delighting generations of families everywhere. It is due, in large part, to the efforts and services of numerous contributors. New to this year’s program are Acuity Scheduling, Big Fish Worldwide, Carousel Industries, the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Council, General Electric, the National Tree Lighting Ceremony, RadiantBlue Technologies Inc., thunderbaby studios, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Band, Visionbox, and the West Point Band. Returning collaborators include the Air Force Academy Band, Analytical Graphics Inc., Air Canada, Avaya, Booz Allen Hamilton, Colorado Springs School District 11, the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, the Federal Aviation Administration, First Choice Awards & Gifts, Globelink Foreign Language Center, Google, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, Meshbox, the Naden Band of the Maritime Forces Pacific, Naturally Santa’s Inc., the Newseum, OnStar, PCI Broadband, the Space Foundation, tw telecom, Verizon and UGroup Media.<br />
<br />
It all started in 1955 when a local media ad directed kids to call Santa direct – only the number was misprinted. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to the Crew Commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center. Thus began the tradition which NORAD has carried on since it was created in 1958.<br />
<br />
“NORAD stands the watch protecting the skies of North America 365 days a year, but on Christmas Eve the children of the world look to NORAD, and our trusted partners, to make sure that Santa is able to complete his mission safely,” said General Charles H. Jacoby, Jr., NORAD Commander. <br />
<br />
“This mission is a duty to the children of the world and a privilege we've enjoyed for 56 consecutive years, but the effort could not be carried out without the superb assistance of numerous government and non-government contributors. It is the generosity of these contributors, the hard work of the more than 1,200 volunteers who man the NORAD Tracks Santa Operation Center, and vigilance of the Canadian and U.S. forces who work at NORAD that guarantees the program's success each and every year."<br />
<br />
BTW: This is based on Google Earth. If you press the plus sign, you can zoom in close enough to see buildings and such, and maybe catch Santa actually going down a chimney<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="450" scrolling="no" src="http://www.noradsanta.org/map/index.html?embed=true" width="600"></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OcTzRXlBcm4?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-86609050772963554222012-12-21T06:47:00.000-08:002015-01-17T03:46:40.315-08:00The Fallout BeginsAs <a href="http://diplopundit.net/2012/12/19/accountability-review-board-fallout-who-will-be-nudged-to-leave-resign-retire/" target="_blank">Diplopundit</a> and the media have noted, four senior State Department employees have lost their jobs over the attacks in Benghazi. We have been silent, for reasons having nothing to do with those events, but feel the need to say the following:<br />
<br />
Benghazi was a terrible tragedy. Four good men, patriots, colleagues, family members, lost their lives in service to the American people. They were killed, in part, because they were not adequately protected. That is hugely sad and unfortunate.<br />
<br />
Of the four people punished for that event by being let go, the highest-ranking should have left long ago. Another, the lowest in the DS chain, had made some difficult decisions badly. The other two were, like our colleagues in Benghazi, in the wrong place at the wrong time. One will be sorely missed by DS, which would have benefited greatly from his continued service.<br />
<br />
A very large part of the problem has not been addressed. Yes, bad decisions were made. And yes, the results were tragic. <br />
<br />
Congress is currently saying, every day, that when there is not enough money, difficult choices have to be made. State, which received less than adequate security funding from that same Congress, made difficult choices.<br />
<br />
Security funding is insurance. And like all insurance, you pray you will never need it. It is expensive. And if the security works well, it looks like a lot of money has been spent for nothing. In this climate, government officials who look like they are spending a lot of money for nothing get hammered. Particularly if you have to get waivers for other rules in order to spend that money. So people send their limited resources to the places that look like they need it most, and hope for the best.<br />
<br />
The problem is that the enemy looks for weak spots. And the enemy has eyes now all over the world. So they find the spots where the money has not been spent for insurance. Very quickly, a place that looks "safer" in comparison, can become, in retrospect, the place that needed it the most. Monitoring that takes resources as well. And again, when all goes well, the money spent monitoring that looks wasted.<br />
<br />
Bad choices were made, and heads should roll. But if bad choices were made, they were made because the funding to make the best choices was not there. That does not excuse what happened. But there is blame to go around, and a lot of it lies with those high up on a Hill, who, while talking a strong game now, considered the amount State asked for, for insurance, too expensive to fund.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-37287607845660319662012-11-22T14:04:00.000-08:002015-01-07T14:36:40.287-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!Today is the most American day of the year. <br />
<br />
The 4th of July celebrates the independence of our country from the British. Thanksgiving celebrates who we are. It is the closest thing America has to a traditional folk festival - it is our Oktoberfest, our Tomatina, our Highland Games. No matter where you go in the world, even if people don't know why, they know that Americans eat Turkey on Thanksgiving. <br />
<br />
It is the only national spiritual holiday to originate in America. And the one which most stuck in my memory of a childhood spent at embassies overseas. Before the civil rights movement brought us non-demoniational prayer in public events, it was the only day when a Jewish American, a Christian American, A Moslem American, and every American, could share what is, in most religions, the most basic of all prayers: a prayer of thanks. <br />
<br />
And the one day when nearly every person in America, no matter what their ethnic or national origin, will sit down to nearly exactly the same meal. The same experience.<br />
The same post turkey stupor.<br />
<br />
I would write more, but you see where I am going with this. And i am off to the table, to join America in its feast.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-70220918293516306062012-10-12T17:20:00.001-07:002015-01-07T14:04:53.735-08:00An Important Step to Enhance National SecurityFrom the Washington post, by Joe Davidson:<br />
<br />
<div _yuid="yui_3_1_1_2_135008742736163">
President Obama has done what Congress
has not — extend whistleblower protections to national security and intelligence
employees.</div>
<br />
A <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/10/11/National-Politics/Graphics/whistleblowerIC.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1350087433_1">Presidential Policy Directive</span> </a>issued Wednesday says
employees “who are eligible for access to classified information can effectively
report waste, fraud, and abuse while protecting classified national security
information. It prohibits retaliation against employees for reporting waste,
fraud, and abuse.”<br />
<br />
With this directive, Obama hands national security and intelligence community
whistleblowers and their advocates an important victory in their frequently
frustrating efforts to expand protection against retaliation for federal
employees who expose agency misconduct.<br />
<br />
Protection for intelligence and national security workers was not included,
as advocates had hoped, in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/almost-empty-house-approves-federal-workforce-bills/2012/10/01/b176d532-0bf4-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1350087433_2">Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act</span> </a>that passed
the House last month and now awaits action in the Senate. Retaliation can come
in different forms, including dismissals, assignments or revocation of security
clearances.<br />
<br />
Obama instructed agencies, including the CIA, to establish a review process,
within 270 days, that allows employees to appeal actions in conflict with the
directive that affect their access to classified information. <br />
<br />
Angela Canterbury, director of public policy for the <a href="http://www.pogo.org/our-work/alerts/2012/20121010-president-obama-issues-directive-for-whistleblowers.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1350087433_3">Project on
Government Oversight</span> </a>, an advocacy group, said in an e-mail that
“this unprecedented Presidential Policy Directive is leveled at the endemic
culture of secrecy in the intelligence community (IC) and the dearth of
accountability it fosters. The directive prohibits retaliation for protected
disclosures by IC employees; prohibits retaliatory actions related to security
clearances and eligibility for access to classified information and directs
agencies to create a review process for related reprisal claims; mandates that
each intelligence agency create a review process for claims of retaliation
consistent with the policies and procedures in the Whistleblower Protection Act
(WPA); provides significant remedies where retaliation is substantiated,
including reinstatement and compensatory damages; and creates a review board of
Inspectors General (IGs) where IC whistleblowers can appeal agency
decisions.”<br />
<br />
Advocates say these measures not only protect free-speech rights but also
make unauthorized leaks of sensitive information less likely by creating a
proper avenue for whistleblowers. <br />
<br />
But for all it does, the directive “only is a landmark breakthrough in
principle,” according to another organization, the Government Accountability
Project (<a href="http://www.whistleblower.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GAP</a>).<br />
<br />
“Until agencies adopt implementing regulations, no one whose new rights are
violated will have any due process to enforce them,” said Tom Devine, GAP’s
legal director. “Further, there are only false due process teeth on the
horizon.” Regulations to enforce whistleblower rights will be written by the
same agencies that routinely are the defendants in whistleblower retaliation
lawsuits, according to GAP.<br />
<br />
Both Canterbury and Devine praised Obama’s action, while calling on Congress
to make his order the law. <br />
<br />
“President Obama has kept his promise to national security whistleblowers
. . . ,” Devine said in an e-mail. “This law is no
substitute for congressional action to make the rights permanent, comprehensive
and enforceable through due process teeth.” <br />
<br />
Obama’s promise was in the administration’s September 2011 “<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/us_national_action_plan_final_2.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1350087433_4">National
Action Plan</span></a>” for transparency and open government. It said “if
Congress remains deadlocked, the Administration will explore options for
utilizing executive branch authority to strengthen and expand whistleblower
protections.”<br />
<br />
National security whistleblower protections are not in the legislation now
before Congress because the Republican leadership of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) opposed them. <br />
<br />
Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) “dragged his feet, never held a
hearing, and never fully explained his concerns,” Canterbury said. “This put the
House co-sponsors in a tough spot. They ultimately removed all of the
intelligence-related provisions so that Rogers would relinquish his hold and
they could move the bill.” <br />
<br />
Under Rogers, according to Devine, “for two years HPSCI has refused to engage
in serious discussions on national security whistleblower rights, either with
the public or even Republican offices seeking a consensus.”<br />
<br />
Rogers’s committee staff did not respond to requests for comment.<br />
<br />
Though happy about Obama’s directive, whistleblower advocates are not totally
pleased with the way the administration has, in some cases, treated
whistleblowers. Canterbury said she is “truly gratified and grateful” for the
directive, but noted “we also have been critical of this Administration’s
prosecutions of so-called leakers under the Espionage Act. We have raised
concerns about the possible infringement of rights and the chilling effect on
would-be whistleblowers of the aggressive prosecutions and certain
post-WikiLeaks policies.” <br />
<br />
<div _yuid="yui_3_1_1_2_135008742736165">
Obama’s directive does a lot to balance
those concerns. At the same time, Canterbury, Devine and other advocates will
continue to push Congress to follow the president’s lead by approving
legislation with national security whistleblower protections. </div>
<br />
“The President has done his share with this landmark breakthrough,” Devine
said. “Congress needs to finish what he started.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-59106125890597179812012-06-04T09:01:00.001-07:002015-01-17T03:47:44.004-08:00A Teachable Moment<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The State Department is taking a well-deserved beating in the court of public opinion for its free-wheeling incompetence in handling a security clearance/discipline case with free-speech implications. Another case, currently under adjudication, promises similar, or greater, fireworks. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We predict an imminent legal battle to force State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security to do what every other agency performing security clearance adjudications already does: monitor the quality of security clearance cases and ensure that they comply with laws and regulations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply put, State is the worst abuser of the security-clearance process in the US Government. It has taken a process that should be used solely for assessing whether or not a person has sufficient integrity and loyalty to protect classified information, and turned it into a routine method for harassing dissenters, skirting EEO laws, and ridding the Department of anyone that anyone at any level in the hierarchy wants to fire, when no basis exists for doing so legally. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be fair, other agencies do this too. Once in a while, in very rare instances. But only State does so as a routine matter of course. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The differences between State and every other agency are simple. Other agencies have oversight and quality-control mechanisms in place, and State does not. Despite years of complaints, State has steadfastly refused to implement even the most basic quality-control mechanisms mandated by law, much less the mechanisms suggested by AFSA and CFSO. This failure to implement basic management controls has been abetted by what is at least tacit complicity by State's highest-level managers and its Inspector General, which have studiously ignored pressure to address the issue. </span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CFSO does not believe that FS members have an absolute right to free speech. We believe that every person who has a security clearance has an absolute responsibility to protect classified information, and we believe that those involved in national defense and international relations must be mindful of the fact that even unclassified statements could have negative consequences to individual or national security.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we also believe that the Government must follow its own rules, and that employment by an agency's security apparatus should not convey immunity either from law or regulation, or from competence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hope that, instead of ignoring, as usual, the current outcry, State will learn from it. It's never too late to start following the rules, whether you are a rank and file employee or the head of State's security arm.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-75077395643469975402012-05-27T07:24:00.002-07:002015-01-07T14:00:07.720-08:00Making the NoiseThere's a reason why motorcycles are called "crotch rockets." <br />
<br />
They exude power. They exude manhood. They are too loud to ignore. They are the perfect vehicle for making a man (or a woman) feel larger than himself. <br />
<br />
They go faster than any car you are likely to see on an American road, and they go places no car can go. A man on a bike can beat you at your own game. He is better than you. He is a force to be reckoned with.<br />
<br />
Because of their size, and the way they handle, a bike becomes an extension of an individual in a way no four-wheeled vehicle can. You ride a bike not with your arms but with your body. You fit into place in a way you don't with a car. <br />
<br />
In a car, you can move around on your chair, play with the radio, sip your slurpee. On a motorcycle, at ninety miles an hour, you are locked in like Iron Man into his suit. You move, it moves. There is no sipping your slurpee. There is this moment, this union, this experience, and nothing else. <br />
<br />
It's like being on patrol. Every step takes you somewhere you haven't been. Or if you had been there, it is different every time. Every sense is alert. You can see the trees, and the sky, and hear the birds. You are one hundred percent there. You have to be. Because a wrong step, or a sudden surprise, can end everything.<br />
<br />
It's something you can only recognize if you've actually done it. Words like mine can describe can give you feel for it. But you don't know it unless you've done it. And the people who know it are related to you, because they can understand that moment in a way that others can't. They are your family. They are your unit.<br />
<br />
I was thinking last night about Rolling Thunder, whose annual ride to Washington has been a Memorial Day tradition since 1988. And why, in the mind of a certain generation, motorcycles and Vietnam Veterans go together. In fact, I tried to Google it. And while there is a lot out there about the history of the group, and how Ray Manzo and and Artie Muller got it going, there was nothing out there about why the motorcycles strike a chord - except of course for the noise.<br />
<br />
The other day I wrote about cowboys and MMA fighters as an expression of manly might. They are very different things. <br />
<br />
MMA fighters are all about shock and awe. They go in "BANG," determined to overwhelm their opponent, paralyze him with fear, overcome his will to fight before he even gets started. <br />
<br />
A cowboy is all about understatement. The gun is there. You know it's there. You can see it. You mess with him, he'll kill you matter of fact, but he'd rather not have to do that. What makes him strong is merely that you know him, and that you know that he is there.<br />
<br />
From 1965 to 1968, the US government conducted an aerial bombardment campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder, a steady, escalating campaign of assault against carefully selected North Vietnamese targets, intended to persuade North Vietnam to cease its support for the communist insurgency in South Vietnam, to destroy North Vietnam's transportation system, industrial base, and air defenses, and to stem the flow of men and material into South Vietnam.<br />
<br />
It failed to win the war, but for many veterans, it was the war. It involved the largest use of American military resources and manpower until Iraq, and determined, in many ways, the placement and actions of ground troops as well.<br />
<br />
The term resonated with Veterans better than any other. And the image, of a slowly growing noise you can't ignore, resonated too. <br />
<br />
Men on motorcycles say: "we are here." And a few thousand men on motorcycles say that with a noise nobody can ignore. In 1988, there were 2500. In 2000, there were 250, 000. In 2008, half a million. And today, the number is closer to double that amount.<br />
<br />
Their purpose, of course, is to call attention to the ones who aren't there. The colleagues missing in action, or still in North Vietnam. To say, with the noise of a million motors, "they exist."<br />
<br />
They've been <a href="http://www.rollingthunder1.com/about.html">pretty good</a> at doing that. Raising awareness. Sponsoring search and recovery trips. Lobbying for legislation to change the way Congress and the military deal with MIAs, and helping veterans of the current conflict deal with the issues surrounding their own return or injuries.<br />
<br />
This Memorial Day, see them. <br />
<br />
Better yet, write to your representative in Congress, and ask him or her to listen to them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-1301121114887768962012-05-25T05:25:00.001-07:002015-01-07T14:00:57.627-08:00A pre-Memorial-Day Thought<br />
The United States of America is a mighty nation. <br />
<br />
Our heroes are cowboys and soldiers, boxers, MMA fighters, and policemen. Not inventors or writers, or explorers, or priests, or diplomats. We define freedom, in part, as the right to bear arms. We stand our ground. And we condemn as cowards those nations that choose to sit out any particular conflict.<br />
<br />
And we are a competitive nation. Whether buying the latest-model i-phone, choosing our favorite pizza joint or rooting for our favorite football team, we are constantly arguing that ours, or mine, is better than yours. <br />
<br />
The Foreign Service is not exempt. A recent Secretary of State's Sounding Board discussion, which began with a suggestion that Foreign Service members be included in a law that allows military personnel stationed overseas to be considered none-the-less resident in their home state (for purposes ranging from homestead taxes, to being able to get an HHA mortgage, to in-state tuition for kids) quickly degenerated into a discussion of whether a soldier stationed in Germany sacrifices more for our country than a consular officer stationed in Iraq.<br />
<br />
For the record, taken as a percentage of the total rather than merely the numbers themselves, almost as many FS members are injured or killed in the line of duty as soldiers. Many Foreign Service members are also veterans of the armed forces, and some continue to serve as military reserve members. <br />
<br />
As we prepare to celebrate Memorial Day, it might be useful to remember that this day commemorates all Americans who have fallen in war, whether they were soldiers or civilians.<br />
<br />
The parents, wives and children of those whose names are carved into the walls of the State Department did not feel less pain than the survivors of those whose names are carved into the Vietnam memorial two blocks down the road. <br />
<br />
And the Foreign Service families separated from a loved one serving in Iraq or Afghanistan do not miss them less, or worry about them less, than the families of the soldiers who, in some cases, live and work side by side with Foreign Service members.<br />
<br />
The military has a proud tradition and a broad political base and a really great public relations machine. And, in all seriousness, soldiers deserve both praise and respect. But the idea that, because they do, we do not, does an enormous disservice to many brave, proud and patriotic Americans, who do, indeed, voluntarily put their lives in harms way in order to make America safe.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-54869595403126507702012-03-23T14:01:00.000-07:002015-01-07T14:38:11.230-08:00Why the World Needs DiplomatsBorat anthem stuns Kazakh gold medallist in Kuwait - from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17491344">BBC</a><br />
<br />
Kazakhstan's shooting team has been left stunned after a comedy national anthem from the film Borat was played at a medal ceremony at championships in Kuwait instead of the real one.<br />
<br />
The team asked for an apology and the medal ceremony was later rerun.<br />
<br />
The team's coach told Kazakh media the organisers had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake.<br />
<br />
The song was produced by UK comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for the film, which shows Kazakhs as backward and bigoted.<br />
<br />
The original Borat movie offended the Kazakh authorities Footage of Thursday's original ceremony posted on YouTube shows gold medallist Maria Dmitrienko listening to the anthem without emotion and finally smiling as it ends.<br />
<br />
Coach Anvar Yunusmetov told Kazakh news agency Tengrinews that the tournament's organisers had also got the Serbian national anthem wrong.<br />
<br />
"Then Maria Dmitrienko's turn came," he said. "She got up on to the pedestal and they played a completely different anthem, offensive to Kazakhstan."<br />
<br />
The spoof song praises Kazakhstan for its superior potassium exports and for having the cleanest prostitutes in the region. <br />
<br />
The film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, released in 2006, follows Baron Cohen's character, the journalist Borat Sagdiyev, as he travels to the US and pursues the actress Pamela Anderson.<br />
<br />
The film outraged people in Kazakhstan and was eventually banned in the country. The government also threatened Baron Cohen with legal action.<br />
<br />
Reports say the film is also banned in Kuwait.<br />
<br />
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From the Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, March 24, 7:40 AMAP MOSCOW — Kazakhstan has called the playing of a spoof of its national anthem at an international sporting event “a scandal” and demanded an investigation of the incident.<br />
<br />
Maria Dmitrienko won a gold medal for Kazakhstan on Thursday at the Arab Shooting Championships in Kuwait, but during the award ceremony the public address system broadcast the spoof anthem from the 2006 movie “Borat,” which offended many Kazakhs by portraying the country as backward and degenerate.<br />
<br />
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov told the ITAR-Tass news agency the incident “is, of course, a scandal and demands a thorough investigation, which we intend to conduct.”<br />
<br />
ITAR-Tass quoted shooting team member Oksana Stavitskaya as saying that Asian Shooting Federation President Sheikh Salman al-Sabah had apologized to the team.<br />
<br />
“Sheikh Salman personally apologized to us. He recognized that the use of the music from the scandalous film in place of the anthem of Kazakhstan was completely a mistake of the organizers. He explained that the awards ceremony was conducted by a firm under contract,” Stavitskaya said.<br />
<br />
The Kazakh news agency Tengri quoted team Coach Anvar Yunusmetov as saying tournament organizers had downloaded various countries’ national anthems from the Internet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-16367199743012415952011-11-29T14:05:00.000-08:002015-01-07T14:34:28.263-08:00New Bill Will Ease TravelBy LARRY MARGASAK<br />
Associated Press<br />
<br />
WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday voted unanimously to allow military travelers on official duty to get a special preference to move through airport security checks faster. <br />
<br />
The bill, approved 404-0, would give the Homeland Security Department six months to devise a preference system for the Armed Forces. The legislation went to the Senate.<br />
<br />
If the bill becomes law, the earliest beneficiaries would likely be troops returning from Afghanistan next year and their family members, who also would receive preferential treatment.<br />
<br />
The government already has initiated, and is expanding, a more intelligence-driven trusted traveler program for civilians. Participants include travelers in American and Delta airlines' frequent flier programs as well as people who are part of three other programs. These people volunteer more information about themselves so that the government can vet them before they arrive at airport security checkpoints.<br />
<br />
Chief sponsor Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., said it takes longer for men and women in uniform to pass through security because of their gear, medals on their uniforms and boots that must be unlaced. Allowing them through security more quickly would speed up the waiting time for those not part of a preference program, he said.<br />
<br />
While Homeland Security would establish the new preferential system, Cravaack envisions troops not having to remove boots, belt buckles, bulky military jackets and medals. Troops could go to the front of the line, or a separate line could be created.<br />
<br />
"This falls in line with the pilot program" now under way," Cravaack said. "I was an airline pilot for 17 years. We would go to the head of the line. I saw people who were not exactly happy with that.<br />
<br />
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"But the main emphasis is expediting troops going through a security process that wasn't made for them."<br />
<br />
Kate Hanni, executive director of FlyersRights.org, said her passenger rights group "strongly supports expedited screening for the military and that should be extended to all law enforcement, DOD folks with security clearance and other government officials with security clearance."<br />
<br />
The Transportation Security Administration is currently testing a trusted traveler program at airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Miami. The program will expand to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul over the next few months.<br />
<br />
The civilian program allows participants to go to a dedicated lane. The traveler will provide the TSA officer with a boarding pass that has information about his or her vetted and trusted status embedded in the barcode. A machine will read the barcode, and if the traveler is deemed part of a "low-risk" category, he or she will likely be able to keep on belts, shoes and jackets and leave laptops and liquids in bags when going through the screening process.<br />
<br />
In addition, TSA on Nov. 15 began a test at the Monterey Peninsula Airport in California, allowing members of the Armed Forces to present their Defense Department identification card for scanning. The experiment is only to see if the scanning system works, but there is no change in screening procedures.<br />
<br />
Although it's a policy, not law, the TSA already makes some accommodations to service members.in uniform with a proper identification card.<br />
<br />
They are not required to remove their shoes or boots unless they set off an alarm. Family members can obtain gate passes to accompany departing troops or meet those returning. The agency expedites screening for wounded troops.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-75307355708107636552011-11-14T14:04:00.000-08:002015-01-07T14:35:46.020-08:00Utah man receives war medals 66 years lateBy JOSH LOFTIN - Associated Press<br />
<br />
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — More than six decades after being freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp, a Utah veteran was compelled to relive the horrors and triumphs of his World War II experience this month when he received a mysterious package containing seven military medals, including the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star.<br />
<br />
The medals have become a source of pride for retired Army Capt. Tom Harrison, 93, since they arrived in a box with nothing more than a packing slip from a logistics center in Philadelphia on Nov. 4, which happened to be his 65th wedding anniversary. But they have also refreshed painful memories of the Bataan Death March, POW camps and the comrades he lost during the war or in the years since.<br />
<br />
Harrison can talk at length about his time as a soldier in the Philippines. But he talks about it much like he talks about golf, focusing on small details — be it the flight of a well-hit tee shot or the day he met Gen. Douglass MacArthur — and the people that surrounded him. He doesn't dwell on his own valor.<br />
<br />
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor forced the United States into the war, Harrison spent months fighting the Japanese before American and Filipino troops surrendered at the Battle of Bataan. He eventually survived, without lasting physical injury, the Bataan Death March and three-plus years as a Japanese prisoner of war.<br />
<br />
"It brings back memories, but also makes you feel like somebody appreciated your service," Harrison said while sitting in his living room with the medals. "It also reminds me of the people I served with in the Philippines. I'm the only survivor from my unit now. I've lost most of my friends."<br />
<br />
About 20 years ago, Harrison "shook the cobwebs loose" on his war experiences by writing a book called "Survivor." That has made it easier — but not easy — to talk about the suffering, the disease and the starvation that defined the years of imprisonment.<br />
<br />
The medals prompted new interest from his family about the war, Harrison said, although he is reluctant to talk at length about his personal experiences. Instead, Harrison holds up a Presidential Unit Citation as one medal he was particularly pleased to receive because it recognized the soldiers he served with and trained.<br />
<br />
His leadership and bravery earned him two of the Army's highest honors, the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star. While those medals are only given for extraordinary acts of selfless valor, Harrison said he doesn't remember — or is reluctant to explain — what he did to earn them.<br />
<br />
"I don't like to talk about what makes a hero. It's not something I like to broadcast," Harrison said. "But my kids are impressed, and my grandkids say they (the medals) are 'awesome.'"<br />
<br />
It hasn't been uncommon for World War II veterans to receive medals decades later because relatively few were actually given out during or immediately following the war, said retired 1st Sgt. Dennis Meeks, a customer service manager for the South Carolina-based Medals of America, a company that works with military officials to distribute medals to veterans.<br />
<br />
Instead, veterans were given ribbons because precious metals such as bronze and silver were needed for more pressing wartime needs, Meeks said. Additionally, a number of medals were granted in the years after service members were discharged.<br />
<br />
That means many veterans needed to apply to receive their medals, and a strong majority of them did not.<br />
<br />
"The Greatest Generation just put this war to the side when it ended," Meeks said. "They had other concerns, like starting families and careers."<br />
<br />
As for Harrison's medals, however, it remains a mystery as to who actually requested them. His son, Peter Harrison, said nobody in the family has taken credit for doing it, although they have celebrated the medals with a family dinner.<br />
<br />
Army officials didn't respond to email requests for comment and weren't available on Friday because of the Veterans Day federal holiday.<br />
<br />
Eventually, the medals will be displayed in Tom Harrison's modestly decorated but spacious home, which is about 50 yards from the 7th hole of the Salt Lake Country Club. They will serve as reminders of a well-lived life for him, his wife and his family.<br />
<br />
"They add excitement to an otherwise sedentary life," he said. "I can still remember it all, even after such a long time. I don't like to bring it up, but I'll talk about it if asked."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-11726636977432197542011-11-03T14:05:00.000-07:002015-01-07T14:33:16.834-08:00Japanese-American Heros Honored<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRBV5CXLt3lfrYn6jVT2ezic80vpcA2TUMQ96VyC5vXRDgjXKlmw7aeeZoz6T6i6DudJyeQ8MR_k-B6atwfvQDpLSSuXAax0Xuq7QHISOsWi4WY6siaY5mmMRRRdLQXoHuAwbNhMuaps/s1600/111103012813-japanese-american-medal-story-top.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRBV5CXLt3lfrYn6jVT2ezic80vpcA2TUMQ96VyC5vXRDgjXKlmw7aeeZoz6T6i6DudJyeQ8MR_k-B6atwfvQDpLSSuXAax0Xuq7QHISOsWi4WY6siaY5mmMRRRdLQXoHuAwbNhMuaps/s400/111103012813-japanese-american-medal-story-top.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670596404330777410" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 225px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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Washington (CNN) -- Nearly seven decades after the attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of Japanese-American World War II veterans were honored Wednesday at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony held at the U.S Capitol.<br />
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In a rare moment of unity, Democratic and Republican Senators and members of the House of Representatives praised Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Regiment Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion and veterans of the Military Intelligence Service for their contribution to the war.<br />
<br />
"Aloha and welcome," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, at the start of the invitation-only event inside the Capitol's Emancipation Hall. About 1,000 people witnessed the ceremony in person, including several aging Japanese-American honorees and their families who waited years for this day.<br />
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When World War II began, Japanese-Americans were not invited to serve. Two years into the war, the U.S. military created an all-volunteer Japanese-American combat team who soon adopted the slogan "Go for Broke." Most of its roughly 20,000 members were born in the United States to Japanese-born parents. They went on to become one of the most decorated American units in the war, yet when they returned home, many faced discrimination.<br />
<br />
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Wednesday's "long-overdue honor" is now "bestowed on American heroes." "You fought not only the enemy, you fought prejudice, and you won," Pelosi said.<br />
<br />
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, said the ceremony "demonstrates the greatest of America, a nation that recognized that it made mistakes, corrected them and moved on to become a stronger country and we are proud to defend the freedoms and ideals that this country represents."<br />
<br />
President Barack Obama signed legislation last year approving the creation of a Congressional Gold Medal for Japanese-American veterans.<br />
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The medal states in part, "The United States remains forever indebted to the bravery, valor, and dedication to country that these men faced while fighting a two-front battle of discrimination at home and fascism abroad. Their commitment demonstrates a highly uncommon and commendable sense of patriotism and honor."<br />
<br />
One recipient, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, received a standing ovation when he rose to speak at the event. He said the road to recognizing Japanese-American World War II veterans "has been a long journey, but a glorious one. I'm certain those who are resting in cemeteries are pleased with this day."<br />
<br />
Inouye, who lost his right arm while leading his men of the 2nd Battalion, 442nd Combat Team in an attack against German machine gun nests in Italy, received the Medal of Honor 55 years later, in 1999.<br />
<br />
George Otsuki, now almost 92, who was a sergeant serving in the 442nd, called the recognition "wonderful."<br />
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"The public found out what we did," he told CNN, "and that's the main thing."<br />
<br />
Frank Mizufuka, who was born in Los Angeles and served as a sergeant in the same unit, said "it was a once-in-a-lifetime, extraordinary event."<br />
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Mizufuka, 89, said he spent a year in a hospital recovering from a chest wound he received in combat.<br />
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CFSO Note: America is a land of immigrants. Even in times of war, immigrants for "enemy" lands can still be, and prove themselves, loyal Americans. <br />
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Sadly, in today's Department of State, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security still has not grasped the concept.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-41004278768057063982011-10-06T14:06:00.000-07:002015-01-07T14:31:49.849-08:00ARMY SEEKS TO PROMOTE CULTURAL LITERACYFrom Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood:<br />
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A new U.S. Army publication <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/culture.pdf">(pdf)</a> invites American soldiers to ponder the role of cultural factors in shaping perception and action.<br />
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Analyze this statement: 'The English drive on the wrong side of the road.'<br />
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In some Islamic countries women wear burkas. Who is advantaged and who is disadvantaged by this?<br />
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Why do you think major religious traditions tend to have a plain version and a more mystical version?<br />
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What do television commercials tell us about American culture?<br />
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This is not a purely theoretical exercise, but is intended to support the Army's counterinsurgency role in Afghanistan and elsewhere.<br />
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"Soldiers must understand how vital culture is in accomplishing today's missions," the new publication says. "Military personnel who have a superficial or even distorted picture of a host culture make enemies for the United States. Each Soldier must be a culturally literate ambassador, aware and observant of local cultural beliefs, values, behaviors and norms." See <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/culture.pdf">"Culture Cards</a>: Afghanistan & Islamic Culture," U.S. Army, September 2011.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-82239615118159898252011-05-27T14:07:00.000-07:002015-01-07T14:30:59.355-08:00This Memorial Day, remember the diplomats, tooFrom the <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20110527-clayton-mccleskey-this-memorial-day-remember-the-diplomats-too.ece">Dallas Morning News</a>:<br />
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WASHINGTON — They are the proud, the few and the unarmed. They dodge bullets in the mountains of Afghanistan and brave the deserts of Iraq. They serve as America’s face to the world, from violence-ridden Mexico to the financial hubs of Asia to the capitals of Europe. They promote American business and protect American citizens abroad. They are the men and women of the U.S. Foreign Service.<br />
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On Memorial Day, we rightly pause to remember those who serve our nation in military uniform. But we should also recognize the more than 12,000 members of the American diplomatic corps who serve in Washington and in 271 missions across the globe.<br />
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“They are the ones out there on the front lines trying to advocate and explain [American] policies, regardless of which administration they are serving,” said Karen Hughes, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy under President George W. Bush.<br />
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She praised the Foreign Service as “a very dedicated group of public servants” who “work and make sacrifices around the world in some very difficult assignments.”<br />
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You may think of diplomats as tuxedo-wearing statesmen sipping cocktails at summits in Switzerland, but American diplomats are deployed in places like war-torn Africa and Afghanistan, where they often face the same dangers as members of the military. One diplomat I spoke to said he has been shot at five times in the line of duty.<br />
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Yet, even as America’s engagement with the world is growing more crucial, budget hawks are circling over the State Department. Speaking to the National Conference of Editorial Writers this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned, “There’s a huge gap between perception and reality … and people think that we can balance our budget on the back of our foreign operations.”<br />
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The continuing resolution passed to fund the government cut $8 billion for the State Department and USAID — while increasing the Defense Department’s budget by $5 billion. The demands on the State Department are growing, but the budget isn’t. “It is so out of whack with what we have to be doing,” Clinton lamented.<br />
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Part of the problem is that many Americans misunderstand diplomats’ role. Diplomacy isn’t about throwing money at the world. Yes, foreign aid — which accounts for only about 1 percent of the total federal budget — is a useful diplomatic tool. But too often diplomacy is dismissed as wasteful global charity or useless hemmin’ and hawin’ at the United Nations. Whether working to secure access to natural resources (like oil), leading reconstruction in Afghanistan or screening hundreds of thousands of visa applicants, diplomats are producing concrete results. They are the facilitators of globalization.<br />
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In an interconnected world, diplomacy is becoming ever more relevant to the daily lives of Americans, especially when it comes to the economy. Diplomats pave the way for American businesses to make profits at home by expanding overseas.<br />
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“If companies want to grow, if we want to grow our GDP, if we want to be competitive on a global basis in the 21st century, people really have to step up to export and export more, because that’s where the growth opportunities are,” said Lorraine Hariton, U.S. Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs.<br />
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Texas definitely enjoys the dividends of diplomacy. According to the latest figures from the International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, in 2009 the Dallas-Fort Worth area exported $19.9 billion worth of merchandise. And because of the Open Skies agreements liberalizing international air travel,Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will see “billions of dollars in new business,” Clinton said this month.<br />
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Members of the Foreign Service play a crucial role in making that kind of lucrative international agreement possible, part of a government-wide campaign to help American businesses increase exports.<br />
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“We need to set up partnerships and relationships all around the world so we can understand the market needs in Kenya as well as the market needs in Fort Worth,” Hariton said. <br />
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Indeed, to maintain America’s global competitiveness and to capitalize on the opportunities globalization creates, we need a well-funded diplomatic corps.<br />
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“Diplomacy used to be thought of as the quiet, behind-the-scenes, government-to-government communications,” Hughes told me.<br />
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It’s now so much more than that. “In order for America to enact the kinds of policies we want to enact around the world,” Hughes explained, “we have got to build a public case for those policies, for our values and for our interests.”<br />
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Our diplomats are out in the trenches doing just that, often at great personal danger — remember the Iranian hostage crisis? Foreign Service officers have also been the targets of drug violence, insurgent attacks and kidnappings. Yet they man their posts, safeguarding American interests and protecting U.S. citizens overseas.<br />
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This weekend, as we salute our military, we also owe a tribute to America’s diplomats, many of whom are in conflict zones riding in the same Humvees as the troops. The only difference is that they can’t shoot back.<br />
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*Clayton M. McCleskey is a contributing writer for The Dallas Morning News based in Washington. His email address is letters@claytonmccleskey.com.*Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-33735751932227428972011-03-23T06:41:00.001-07:002015-01-07T14:24:28.119-08:00Never Stop<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vksdBSVAM6g?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vksdBSVAM6g?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-2163787573361317112011-01-16T15:16:00.000-08:002015-01-17T03:50:59.330-08:00King: Maladjusted<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zXEIYpnlxbw&rel=0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zXEIYpnlxbw&rel=0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-50852662215802586682010-11-11T05:16:00.001-08:002015-01-13T13:56:47.597-08:00Thank You For Your Service<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyxRyi8Z4f3gLCviV6GZFDbvu7eTvp8w3NHTHearKZcjRp_C-hxE3E1EqBXGYFSD924owQTjwwFNZ4MG_XdTP-GkeRkQ0EQ2h612Bzpmaz7rfN871PvtJXe2sR5FFwzwytEOVNcYKnq-s/s1600/untitled-1_full_jpg_515x515_detail_q85.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyxRyi8Z4f3gLCviV6GZFDbvu7eTvp8w3NHTHearKZcjRp_C-hxE3E1EqBXGYFSD924owQTjwwFNZ4MG_XdTP-GkeRkQ0EQ2h612Bzpmaz7rfN871PvtJXe2sR5FFwzwytEOVNcYKnq-s/s400/untitled-1_full_jpg_515x515_detail_q85.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538404462590269154" /></a><br />To be stripped of one's security clearance is to be stripped of one's nationality. It is a statement by those who see themselves as the official definers of loyalty and patriotism that a person does not meet the mark: cannot be trusted to be a loyal American. <br /><br />Too often, the definers of loyalty define a patriot as one who is exactly like them: white, christian, straight, narrow-minded, bigotted and frequently appallingly ignorant of the most basic principles on which the United States of America was founded.<br /><br />So each year, on Veterans' Day, CFSO likes to highlight American Veterans - American Patriots - who are as different from the definers of loyalty as diamonds are from dog manure.<br /><br />This year, we salute the <a href="http://www.the442.org/">442nd </a>Infantry Regimental Combat Team, the fighting "Budda Heads." The Budda Heads, the most decorated fighting unit in the history of the American Armed Forces, was composed of Americans of Japanese descent, who fought for the United States in a war in which Japan was a leader of the enemy forces. By the standards of today's Bureau of Diplomatic security as administered by its current staff, not one of them would have received a security clearance. <br /><br />The 442nd Infantry, formerly the 442nd Regimental Combat Team(RCT)of the United States Army, was self-sufficient fighting force, fighting with distinction in Italy, southern France, and Germany. The unit became the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients.<br /><br />Most Japanese Americans who fought in WWII were Nisei, Japanese Americans born in the U.S. Nevertheless, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese American men were categorized as 4C (enemy alien) and therefore non-draftable. <br /><br />On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing military authorities “to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.” Although the order did not refer specifically to people of Japanese ancestry, it set the stage for the internment of people of Japanese descent, including many relatives and family members of the men in the 442nd. <br /><br />In March 1942, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command, issued the first of 108 military proclamations that resulted in the forced removal of more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast from their homes and placed in guarded concentration camps behind barbed wire, or (as the government euphemistically referred to them) relocation camps.<br /><br />In Hawaii, martial law, complete with curfews and blackouts, was imposed. A large portion of the population was of Japanese descent (150,000 out of 400,000 people in 1937) and internment was deemed not practicable, mostly for economic reasons. <br /><br />When the War Department called for the removal of all soldiers of Japanese ancestry from active service in early 1942, General Delos C. Emmons, commander of the U.S. Army in Hawaii, decided to discharge those in the Hawaii Territorial Guard, which was composed mainly of ROTC students from the University of Hawaii. However, he kept the more than 1,300 Japanese American soldiers of the 298th and 299th Infantry regiments of the Hawaii National Guard. <br /><br />Despite this, the discharged members of the Hawaii Territorial Guard petitioned General Emmons to allow them to assist in the war effort. The petition was granted and they formed a group called the Varsity Victory Volunteers, which performed various construction jobs for the military. General Emmons, worried about the loyalty of Japanese American soldiers in the event of a Japanese invasion, recommended to the War Department that those in the 298th and 299th regiments be organized into a “Hawaiian Provisional Battalion” and sent to the mainland. The move was authorized, and on June 5, 1942, the Hawaiian Provisional Battalion set sail for training. They landed at Oakland, California on June 10, 1942 and two days later were sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. On June 15, 1942, the battalion was designated the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate)—the “One Puka Puka”.<br /><br />The 100th performed so well in training that, on February 1, 1943, the U.S. government reversed its decision on Japanese Americans serving in the armed forces, and approved the formation of a Japanese American combat unit. The U.S. Army called for 1,500 volunteers from Hawaii and 3,000 from the mainland. An overwhelming 10,000 men came forth. About 3800 were inducted. President Roosevelt announced the formation of the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team (the Go For Broke regiment), famously saying, “Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.”<br /><br />As a regimental combat team, the 442nd RCT was a self-sufficient fighting formation of three infantry battalions (originally 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, 442nd Infantry, and later the 100th Infantry Battalion in place of the 1st), the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 232nd Engineer Company, an anti-tank company, cannon company, service company, medical detachment, headquarters companies, and the 206th Army Band.<br /><br />Although they were permitted to volunteer to fight, Americans of Japanese ancestry were generally forbidden to fight in combat in the Pacific Theater. No such limitations were placed on Americans of German or Italian ancestry who fought against the Axis Powers in the European Theater, mostly due to practicality, as there were many more German and Italian Americans compared to Japanese Americans. However, many men deemed proficient enough in the Japanese language were approached, or sometimes ordered, to join the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) to serve as translators/interpreters and spies in the Pacific, as well as in the China Burma India Theater. These men were sent to the MIS Language School at Camp Savage, Minnesota to improve their language skills and receive training in military intelligence. <br /><br />The 442nd Combat Team, minus its 1st Battalion, which had remained in the U.S. to train Nisei replacements, sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on May 1, 1944, and landed May 28 at Anzio and joined the 100th Battalion in Civitavecchia north of Rome on 10 June 1944, attached to the 34th Infantry Division. <br /><br />The unit continued in the push up Italy, now attached to the 88th Infantry Division, before joining the invasion of southern France, where the 442nd participated in the fight to liberate Bruyères, and was next attached to the 36th Infantry Division, originally a Texas National Guard outfit. <br /><br />The 442nd famously rescued the "Lost Battalion" at Biffontaine. Pursuant to army tradition of never leaving soldiers behind, over a five-day period, from October 26–30, 1944, the 442nd suffered the loss of nearly half of its roster—over 800 casualties, including 121 dead—while rescuing 211 members of the 36th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, which had been surrounded by German forces in the Vosges mountains since October 24.<br /><br />Following the Vosges, the 442nd was sent to the Franco-Italian border on November 28 to relieve the soon-to-be-disbanded 1st Special Service Force. The 442nd remained there, refitting and training, until March 25, 1945, when it returned to the Fifth Army in Italy and was attached to the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division.<br /><br />On the Italian front, the 442nd had contact with another segregated American unit, the 92nd Infantry Division, as well as troops of the British and French colonial empires (West and East Africans, Moroccans, Algerians, Indians, Gurkhas, Jews from the Palestine mandated territory)and the non-segregated Brazilian Expeditionary Force which had in its ranks ethnic Japanese.<br /><br />The 442nd returned to heavy combat, seizing Monte Belvedere on April 7 and Carrara on April 10. The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion remained in northern France and joined the push into Germany in 1945. Scouts from the 522nd were among the first Allied troops to release prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp - or, more specifically, from one of its 169 sub-camps, where more than 3000 prisoners were held.<br /><br />The 442nd RCT became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, with its component 100th Infantry Battalion earning the nickname “The Purple Heart Brigade”. The 442nd RCT received 7 Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month), and its members received 18,143 awards, including:<br /><br />21 Medals of Honor first awarded posthumously to Private First Class Sadao Munemori, Company A, 100th Battalion, for action near Seravezza, Italy, on April 5, 1945; then to:<br /><br />Barney F. Hajiro<br />Mikio Hasemoto<br />Joe Hayashi<br />Shizuya Hayashi<br />Daniel K. Inouye<br />Yeiki Kobashigawa<br />Robert T. Kuroda<br />Kaoru Moto<br />Sadao Munemori<br />Kiyoshi K. Muranaga<br />Masato Nakae<br />Shinyei Nakamine<br />William K. Nakamura<br />Joe M. Nishimoto<br />Allan M. Ohata<br />James K. Okubo<br />Yukio Okutsu<br />Frank H. Ono<br />Kazuo Otani<br />George T. Sakato<br />Ted T. Tanouye<br /><br />52 Distinguished Service Crosses (including 19 Distinguished Service Crosses which were upgraded to Medals of Honor)<br /><br />1 Distinguished Service Medal<br /><br />560 Silver Stars (plus 28 Oak Leaf Clusters for a second award)<br /><br />22 Legion of Merit Medals<br /><br />15 Soldier’s Medals<br /><br />4,000 Bronze Stars (plus 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters for a second award; one Bronze Star was upgraded to a Medal of Honor. One Bronze Star was upgraded to a Silver Star.)<br /><br />9,486 Purple Hearts<br /><br />The members of the 442, like all American veterans honored today, made the highest sacrifice to this country. More information on the 442nd can be found <a href="http://www.the442.org/">here</a>.<br /><br />We thank them, and all American veterans, for their service.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_FzHRzRWdDi6Ho272ozHzNtsNJBPjTghpuf7H9IrneoILGKIE5Gcvn9d05tGwZxdcC4_MZ0l74f7O5dmfCDfTaHMeuWD3HcjoPNP02zbst6fcNBKAcMlqby4fg8zpHyRysgHEbNTHG0/s1600/100-442-MIS-Procession-Escort-EOA2009.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_FzHRzRWdDi6Ho272ozHzNtsNJBPjTghpuf7H9IrneoILGKIE5Gcvn9d05tGwZxdcC4_MZ0l74f7O5dmfCDfTaHMeuWD3HcjoPNP02zbst6fcNBKAcMlqby4fg8zpHyRysgHEbNTHG0/s400/100-442-MIS-Procession-Escort-EOA2009.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538405812519767906" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-55452911903654606602010-05-28T14:09:00.000-07:002015-01-07T14:29:30.253-08:00CFSO supports Rolling Thunder 2010<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRBPjZ0gvR6VLex-_ioTOVv5jIiqCWRQxFj0LJMSU7l4kZVQYC_QyFAeFCbIPA5QFejHf7x-SbGbUorhQSJrh83pc1jTD_ffUIAkn-fSlrOyCR8k8LfckzsZsol6R2U4nQZzgT65tHIY/s1600/rolling+thunder+message.jpg"></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnD7IlCQcdWt1P8nYyZy_P2kHADAlj25b1z3sS9mtNuqCk-ko37eNs0Vdv5WD7cH-AZMIorkfnRkqrOrjrqTOPdspR7Lz-_2uJCwogee-gIVxSKg1GY21PaaosDm4EQvotE8Tc7wCug5Y/s1600/rolling-thunder1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnD7IlCQcdWt1P8nYyZy_P2kHADAlj25b1z3sS9mtNuqCk-ko37eNs0Vdv5WD7cH-AZMIorkfnRkqrOrjrqTOPdspR7Lz-_2uJCwogee-gIVxSKg1GY21PaaosDm4EQvotE8Tc7wCug5Y/s400/rolling-thunder1.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476679078427537874" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 307px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a> <br />
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<strong>Rolling Thunder XXIII Message Points:</strong><br />
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Live POWs - what is our government doing about the live POWs left behind in all past and present wars? Why are government efforts focused only on recovering remains? Why has the government ignored its own documentation or changed creditable reports into discredited reports. It is impossible that every piece of intelligence that concerns a live unreturned POW is wrong. For the families of those still unaccounted for, there will never be closure.<br />
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House Res. 111 – why has Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi refused to allow this resolution to come to the floor for a vote? This bill had 289 co-sponsors in the 110th congress and has 248 in the 111th congress. Bills have come to the floor with less than half-dozen co-sponsors yet ours remains blocked by Nancy Pelosi. When you read the text of the proposed bill, it is difficult to understand why there is opposition: “Resolved: that there is established in the House of Representatives a select committee to be known as the Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs…The select committee shall conduct a full investigation of all unresolved matters relating to any United States personnel unaccounted for from the World War II, Cold War Missions, the Korean conflict, Vietnam Conflict, Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation Enduring Freedom, including MIA's and POW's missing and captured.”<br />
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Veterans benefits – the economic recovery and healthcare reform have taken center stage, yet there are still serious problems with the VA system, particularly in the areas of speedy transition of service personnel after discharge, claims processing, and geographic inequities in VA facilities. While we applaud VA Secretary Shinseki’s efforts—and we believe him to be a true advocate—we believe there is more that could be done. This includes more public communication about VA programs such as the new Emergency Care Fairness Act of 2009 and the Special Pension for Veterans’ Aid and Attendance. Many veterans and their families have no idea these benefits are available to them; an estimated $22 billion annually goes unclaimed.<br />
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Rolling Thunder Charities - Rolling Thunder® Charities Inc. (a 501(c)(3) non-profit) was created in 2007 to start a fund from which we could address more of the needs of our veterans, our troops and their families who have fallen between the cracks and not gotten the help they deserve. Since then, with generous contributions from Rolling Thunder chapters, individuals and corporate sponsors such as Aetna, Humana Military Healthcare, and Harley Davidson of Washington, DC, Rolling Thunder Charities and Rolling Thunder chapters nationwide have helped veterans across the country. From purchasing wheelchairs and building wheelchair ramps, to fixing leaky roofs, ductwork and heating units, to donating food and building a shelter for homeless veterans, Rolling Thunder Charities is ―filling in the cracks for those who have served this country with courage and honor. They deserve nothing less.<br />
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POW/MIA Flag Over the White House – why is this flag not flying over the White House, as it has in previous administrations?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248980090449642955.post-17051466084805233982010-05-04T18:30:00.001-07:002015-01-07T14:43:17.227-08:00Go Joe Carson!CFSO supporter and Department of Energy whistleblower Joe Carson's case has reached the supreme court.<br /><br />Joe Carson is a nuclear safety engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a decorated veteran who served as an officer in the nuclear navy for six years and later worked at several commercial nuclear power plants. He worked at the Oak Ridge nuclear facility in Knoxville Tennessee. <br /><br />In 1994, Carson was appointed head of a board to investigate a fire at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. The fire occurred in connection with the Terrific Reactor Isotope Separator To Analyze Nuclides (TRISTAN) experiment, which was being conducted by a private contractor at Brookhaven, under DOE’s supervision. <br /><br />Carson alleged that DOE officials had permitted the contractor at Brookhaven to operate the TRISTAN experiment for more than ten years in non-compliance with a series of DOE safety orders and procedures. Had the procedures been followed, he alleged, the experiment would have been shut down because of the dangerous energies and substances, high voltage and high level radioactive waste being used in a confined area with inadequate containment. <br /><br />Investigations by an outside agency confirmed Mr. Carson’s allegation that DOE had not conducted comprehensive safety reviews of the TRISTAN experiment and that a number of management inadequacies contributed to the failure to conduct safety reviews of TRISTAN commensurate with its hazards. The investigations implicated DOE in cases s of injury and sickness of DOE employees, put in harms way by inadequate safety practices. <br /><br />As a result, Congress passed a law in 2000, the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Plan Act (EEOICPA), to provide a measure of compensation and health care to thousands of diseased, disabled, or prematurely deceased DOE workers or their survivors. President Clinton, in signing this legislation, apologized to these workers for their being put in harms’ way in DOE facilities, without their knowledge or adequate protection. About 70,000 claims have been filed under the EEOICPA and thousands of claims have been paid. <br /><br />As for Carson, DOE responded by relieving Carson of his oversight and investigative duties, tranferring him to a series of clerical and make-work jobs, eventually "promoting" him to a low level clerical job preparing training materials. At the same time, they opened an investigation into alleged problems with his competence, and accusing him of being a disgruntled employee. And of course, they began the process of revoking his security clearance.<br /><br />Carson appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which ordered DOE to give Carson back his job. DOE abolished the job,and Oak Ridge did not offer him a different job (though some were available). Carson was offered a choice of taking a job in the Washington area (moving his family from Oak Ridge to Washington) or finding work outside the agency. He chose to move to Washington. <br /><br />Eventually, he appealed again to the MSPB, and again, he "won." DOE was ordered to give him a good job, and to pay him 260,000 for his legal fees. To date, despite several subsequent "victories" including an additional 120,000 in legal fees, DOE has yet to comply.<br /><br />In April of 2003, Carson appealed to the Office of Special Counsel to investigate DOE's failure to comply with the MSPB orders, and to oblige their compliance. OSC failed to do so alleging (incorrectly) that it did not have the authority to do so. In essence, the legally mandated "enforcer" of MSPB's decisions was refusing to carry out its responsibilities. In the course of seeking justice in his own case, Carson discovered that, in the 31 years of its exitence, the OSC has repeatedly refused to take on high-profile investigations, effectively allowing agencies to carry out prohibited personel practices even after those practices were shown to be illegal.<br /><br />As a result, Carson expanded his struggle for justice, to attempt to oblige the OSC to comply with its own mandate. That is the case that is now entering the Supreme Court.<br /><br />Defining his case, Carson wrote:<br /><br />"The OSC has repeatedly refused to investigate allegations of federal employees harmed by agency violations of agency directives for personnel matters as work force discipline, grievances, performance evaluations, personnel security clearances, etc, basing its refusal on the idea that there is no "civil service rule" prohibiting such reprisals. This has continued despite the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled the contrary, that agency work force discipline directives are “rules” per 5 U.S.C. §7703(c)(2) - see Doyle, v. VA, 229 S.Ct. Cl. 261 (1982).<br /><br />As a result, agencies are allowed free reign to use such means, particularly biased performance evaluations and security clearance revocations, as reprisals against whistleblowers and internal policy dissenters.<br /><br />To obscure this failure, OSC has claimed that the reporting requirements of 5 U.S.C. §1214(e) do not apply to the selected laws, rules, or regulations it considers to be under its jurisdiction. The result is that OSC obstructs justice by not formally reporting to the involved agency head, as §1214(e) explicitly requires, its nondiscretionary investigatory determinations, “there is reasonable cause to believe” such a violation occurred, thereby creating a permanent, publicly available record of OSC’s report and the agency-head certified response, per 5 U.S.C. §1219(a)(3)." <br /><br />CFSO notes that DOE has a long history of non-compliance with court decisions and those of appeal boards, as well as a history of cheating in security clearance matters. In one recent case, a DOE employee was denied access to allegations against him, violating his legal right to review and respond to those allegations. <br /><br />For this reason and others, Joe Carson has been a supporter of CFSO. Now it is our turn to help him.<br /><br />We urge CFSO members and readers of this blog to go to the National Whistleblowers Center website<a href="http://capwiz.com/whistleblowers/issues/alert/?alertid=14988131"></a> and sign on to the amicus currae brief supporting Joe's case.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0