USNS Comfort Blogs, Tweets Operation Unified Response from Haiti

Image via Wikipedia

The hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) now has a blog set up in Blogger. Two days before it arrived in Haiti, it posted about a boy airlifted to the ship while she was still in the Atlantic Ocean:   

100119-N-4995K-187 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 19, 2010) Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Adam Buzzeo prepares medical equipment during the assessment of a six-year-old Haitian boy brought aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). The boy, who was Comfort's first patient as part of Operation Unified Response, suffered an injury to his bladder and a hip fracture during an earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan 12. The boy is in the intensive care unit aboard Comfort in stable condition. Comfort is supporting Operation Unified Response, a joint operation providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti.

Day 1 in Haiti:

The USNS Comfort arrived off the coast of Port Au Prince this morning at approximately 0630 and dropped anchor just past 0800. Our wake up call on this day was a registered 5.9 earthquake that shook the ship as if it were exercising severe stern propulsion. Nonetheless, activity continued on pace as we were set to continue our patient transfer procedures.

The day after it arrived in Haiti, its crew delivered its first baby on board:

100121-N-6410J-483 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 21, 2010) – Medical professionals aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) delivered baby Esther at 2:27 p.m. Jan. 21, She is the first baby delivered aboard the 1,000-bed floating hospital, which is in Haiti supporting Operation Unified Response. Weighing less than five pounds, baby Esther was delivered prematurely via cesarean section due to her mother having sustained a pelvis and femur fracture during the earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12. Despite being premature, she is healthy and was delivered without complications.

Read more here | http://haiticomfort.blogspot.com/

Follow the ship on Twitter here.

WBAL TV 11’s Lowell Melser is also onboard; follow him on Twitter here.

Don't you feel just a bit envious that we could not have anyone at US Embassy PaP to do the same thing? Not enough people. I know ... I know ...



Here are a few State Department bloggers/twitters that you might be interested in:  DipNote, KateatState, WHAAsstSecty, and USAID News. You can also follow my  USGov  Haiti Relief list here for both military and civilian twitters on Haiti effort.  

     

Quickie: PaP Airport Go from 30 to 120 flights a day

Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr

All on a single runway, 24/7

SOUTHCOM Cdr, Gen. Fraser, discusses air operations into Port au Prince Airport in his latest blog entry. Excerpt below:

The HFOCC began coordinating all air traffic into and out of Haiti, a monumental task. Before 12 January, the Port-au-Prince airport handled no more than 30 flights a day. Since then, the airport capacity has increased four-fold – on average, 120 flights a day are flying in and out of Haiti; all on a single runway, 24/7.

This is a tightly choreographed operation with no margin for delay. Airplanes must arrive and depart on time, unload passengers and humanitarian supplies and load evacuees on schedule. My top priority – and I am sure the top priority of the entire donor community – is the organized, safe and speedy delivery of critical aid to the Haitian people. The Government of Haiti, in coordination with the U.S. Government and the United Nations’ Mission in Haiti, establishes aircraft landing priorities according to the priority of the aircraft’s cargo, such as medical supplies, food and equipment. Based on these priorities, aircraft are given a small window of time in which to land, off-load their cargo and depart. Aircraft that have requested and received time slots to land and off-load their cargo in advance are not turned away from the airport; every aircraft which requests a slot is assigned one.

Read Gen. Fraser’s blog post here.

Like Mark Thompson writes, “Sometimes it takes a catastrophe to demonstrate just how much more the U.S. military is able to do than simply kill the enemy. Only the U.S. can initially control flights into and out of the Port-au-Prince airport from aboard a nearby Coast Guard cutter, while waiting for an Air Force special-ops team to set up shop at the airport and step up operations to 24/7. Only U.S. warships have the capability to generate up to 400,000 gallons of fresh water a day from seawater." Read more here.

Da Devil Doesn't Like to Look Bad, Pat

NDS asked “is commentary even necessary?” He was, of course, referring to the Pat, and the Rush shows. You know … Pat’s thing about that deal with the devil ….see the twin videos here.

Now – what do you know? It turns out da Devil does not like to look bad; and writes a letter to a paper in Minneapolis:

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best,

Satan

(LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS| Star Tribune)

DHS Announces Humanitarian Parole for Orphaned Children from Haiti

On January 18, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State, announced a humanitarian parole policy allowing orphaned children from Haiti to enter the United States temporarily on an individual basis to ensure that they receive the care they need—as part of the U.S. government’s ongoing support of international recovery efforts after last week’s earthquake.  Excerpt: 

Humanitarian parole into the United States may be granted by the Secretary of Homeland Security to bring otherwise inadmissible individuals into the country on account of urgent humanitarian reasons or other emergencies. The humanitarian parole policy announced by Secretary Napolitano today will be applied on a case-by-case basis to the following children:

• Children who have been legally confirmed as orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Haiti and are being adopted by U.S. citizens. 
  
  

• Children who have been previously identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and have been matched to U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parents.

Under applicable laws, unaccompanied minors entering the country without a parent or legal guardian are subject to special procedures regarding their custody and care. DHS coordinates with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement on the cases of these unaccompanied minors.

More information about humanitarian parole and TPS is available at http://www.uscis.gov/ or by calling USCIS toll-free at (800) 375-5283. DHS encourages U.S. citizens with pending adoption cases in Haiti to send us detailed information about their cases to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov.

Read the whole thing here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• U.S. works to expedite Haiti adoptions (cnn.com)

People Finder Tools to Help Locate Relatives Missing in Haiti

State Department’s ‘Person Finder’

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced on Friday the launch of a new tool, the “Person Finder,” to allow people to find and share information on missing loved ones in Haiti. This tool and other relief information can also be found at http://www.state.gov/haitiquake.

Here is part of the statement on the release of State’s Person Finder:  People around the world are turning to the Internet to search for information on friends and family in Haiti: however, accurate information is fragmented and difficult to locate. The State Department convened a call with NGOs and the tech community to brainstorm how to innovatively utilize technology in the ongoing search and rescue efforts. As a result of the call, a group of engineers from the private, public, and NGO sectors come together to build the “Person Finder.” It is a simple tool that allows people to locate and contribute information on people in Haiti. This tool is available in French and English, and can be embedded on any website.                

In addition to helping people find their loved ones, this tool will make the data accessible to other governments and private organizations in an easily manageable and accessible format.

International Committee of the Red Cross:  Locate Relatives through Family Links

The International Committee of the Red Cross has opened an online page called FamilyLinks.icrc.org which aims to accelerate the process of restoring contact between separated family members.  You can check The List to see if your relative's name is on the list, Register yourself if you want to inform your relative of your whereabouts, Register your relative if the relative you’re looking for is not on the list.

The ICRC cautions that it has no means of verifying the information sent through this open network. “The information given on this website is not confidential and can be consulted by everyone. It is the responsibility of the persons publishing information on this website to ensure that no harm can result from this publication. The ICRC cannot be held responsible for any possible negative consequence that might arise from the publication in this website.”

Ushahidi Haiti | http://haiti.ushahidi.com/

Ushahidi Haiti says that its crisis map represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date crisis map available to the humanitarian community. The information in the site is mapped in near real time and gathered from reports coming from inside Haiti via: SMS, web, email, radio, phone, Twitter, Facebook, television, list-serves, live streams and situation reports. It has 449 reports as of this writing.

How to Report

1. By sending a message to 447624802524


2. By sending an email to haiti@ushahidi.com


3. By sending a tweet with the hashtag/s #haiti or #haitiquake


4. Filling this form

Volunteers at the Fletcher School's Situation Room are mapping about 50% of the reports 24 hours a day. The other 50% of reports come from the Ushahidi team and volunteers around the world. Each report is first read at least once by Situation Room before being published on the map. This Ushahidi deployment represents a joint initiative with members of the International Network of Crisis Mappers (CM*Net).

FBI Issues Haiti Earthquake Relief Fraud Alert

The FBI today reminds Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause.

Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, to include the following:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.


• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.


• Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit status rather than following a purported link to the site.


• Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.


• Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.


• Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.

Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via www.ic3.gov.

US Embassy Haiti and the Hard Work Ahead

 Map from Relief Web

From the Special Briefing yesterday on the situation in Haiti with Cheryl Mills, State Dept Counselor, USAID Administrator Raj Shah and U.S. SOUTHCOM Commander General Douglas Fraser (Washington, DC | January 13, 2010) with updates on the US Embassy and staff in Haiti. 

Cheryl Mills, State Dept Counselor:

[T]here are approximately 45,000 U.S. citizens who are in Haiti. The Embassy Port-au-Prince has activated its Early Warning System to connect with those citizens and establish, one, how they are doing and, two, what support they might need. We have received a number of reports of injured U.S. citizens, so we are working through those to be able to make sure that we are getting everybody the assistance that they need.

There have been a number of calls that have come into our Consular Affairs here at the Department seeking information about loved ones who are in Haiti. For those people who are seeking information, the President gave out this number. I just want to give it one more time, and that is 1-888-407-4747. And that’s a number that you can call into if you are seeking information or seeking to make a request with respect to someone who is – that you are trying to connect with that’s in Haiti.

In terms of Embassy personnel on the ground there, we have about 172 personnel who are there under chief-of-mission authority. As of 8:00 a.m., we had accounted for just about all of them. There were eight personnel who were wounded, four who had been seriously wounded. We have already had U.S. Coast Guard heels on the ground to be able to medevac them to get appropriate care. And so we are beginning to see that happen as well.

We have ordered the departure of approximately 80 Embassy spouses, children, and non-essential personnel. Those will begin happening later today so that we can ensure that the infrastructure and resources that are there can be properly concentrated on those who are in need. The Coast Guard will have planes actually arriving, I believe, this afternoon. And I’m sure General Fraser will be able to speak to that to help and assist in that evacuation process.

The Embassy structure has remained intact and so it has become a point of support. And it has been providing medical support and other support for Haitians and Americans and others who have been able to reach the Embassy.

The Skeptical Bureaucrat on the embassy structure that survived the earthquake: “Those Fortress Embassies occasionally have their uses. The U.S. Mission in Haiti is fortunate to have moved into a new office complex last year, a nice seismically-resistant one with lots of infrastructure support and located close to the airport.”

I don’t know if those 172 employees under chief of mission authority mentioned above include local employees. The embassy in Haiti issued 35,000 visas in FY2008 but had a refusal rate of 61.4% in FY 2009. I imagine that the consular workload there is not insignificant; which would also mean we have a large number of first tour officers serving at post. Our American staff will be dealing with the evacuation of their own families as well as the demands at work.  They will most certainly be working in shifts as they account for American citizens in country, help those injured, assist our citizens with contacting families back home, process them for evacuation, and identify and confirm American casualties.  I can’t even begin to imagine the magnitude of the work especially on dealing with casualties – visiting hospitals and mortuaries, if those survived the calamity ... bodies on the streets …. all can quickly be overwhelming.     

One other thing to remember with this kind of devastation -- the local employees who make up a significant number of mission employees will also be dealing with possible casualties in their very own families. The earthquake occurred approximately at 5:30 p.m. So the local staff would have been home or on their way home; which make casualties among the local employees also a real possibility.

The Embassy’s Consular Task Force was set up with four local phone lines for an approximate American population numbering 45,000.  It’s hard to tell how much of the phones and the cell towers are actually working.  And if only a fraction of those individuals have registered at the embassy or have kept their contact information current, the work of tracing them would be doubly hard. And with limited local staff support, that work would be even much harder.  I hope TDY consular personnel from the neighboring missions are on their way to Port-au-Prince. I hope, too that PA personnel get some additional help; Anderson Cooper is in Haiti and a whole lot of folks from the big news media are on their way there.         

Meanwhile, in the State Department’s later briefing yesterday -- the Spokesman said that a small number of American citizens were at the airport and that there were two C-130s on the ground to evacuate Americans.  The Coast Guard has also evacuated a small number of injured Americans. 

He also reported that as of 4 o'clock yesterday, more than 82,800 donors texted their help and $828,000 had been raised so far. By simply texting “Haiti” to "90999" a donation of $10 would automatically be added to one’s cell phone bill. PJ Crowley said that this was an arrangement worked out by the State Department with mGive Foundation Mobile Accord, the Wireless Association and the American Red Cross.

Finally, I should mention that our US Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten is a career diplomat.  He has served as a Deputy Executive Secretary to Secretary Clinton and earlier to Secretary Rice. His Washington experience also includes two assignments in the State Department Operations Center. 



The Executive Secretariat (S/ES), comprised of the Executive Secretary and four Deputy Executive Secretaries, is responsible for coordination of the work of the Department.  The Operations Center (S/ES-O) is the Secretary's and the Department's communications and crisis management center. Working 24 hours a day, the Operations Center monitors world events, prepares briefings for the Secretary and other Department principals, and facilitates communication between the Department and the rest of the world. The Operations Center also coordinates the Department's response to crises and supports task forces, monitoring groups, and other crisis-related activities.  It should be comforting to know that our top guy on the ground in Haiti is not a stranger to crises.

Contact Information

US Embassy Haiti

Americans are urged to contact the Embassy via email at ACSPaP@state.gov to request assistance. Americans in Haiti can call the Embassy’s Consular Task Force at 509-2229-8942, 509-2229-8089, 509-2229-8322, or 509-2229-8672.

State Department Ops Center | Haiti Task Force

The State Department has also created a task force to monitor the emergency. People in the U.S. or Canada with information or inquiries about U.S. citizens in Haiti may reach the Haiti Task Force at 888-407-4747. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, call 202-501-4444.

Locate Relatives Through ICRC



The International Committee of the Red Cross has opened an online page called FamilyLinks.icrc.org which aims to accelerate the process of restoring contact between separated family members.  You can check The List to see if your relative's name is on the list, Register yourself if you want to inform your relative of your whereabouts, Register your relative if the relative you’re looking for is not on the list.



The ICRC cautions that it has no means of verifying the information sent through this open network. “The information given on this website is not confidential and can be consulted by everyone. It is the responsibility of the persons publishing information on this website to ensure that no harm can result from this publication. The ICRC cannot be held responsible for any possible negative consequence that might arise from the publication in this website.”

Updated @9:58 pm

Info on Ambassador Merten added.

Haiti Earthquake Disaster: How to Help

Tsunami Warning Cancelled

The Tsunami Warning was cancelled by NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at 12 Jan 2010 23:45 UTC.

State Department Operations Center: Haiti Information

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747 (due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording). The Ops Center also says that "Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American Citizens through our Warden Network. Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time."



US Embassy  Haiti

The U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince has set up a task force at the Embassy which is taking calls as conditions permit. The Embassy is working to identify Americans in Haiti who need urgent assistance and to identify sources of emergency help.   Americans are urged to contact the Embassy via email at ACSPaP@state.gov to request assistance. Americans in Haiti can call the Embassy’s Consular Task Force at 509-2229-8942, 509-2229-8089, 509-2229-8322, or 509-2229-8672. Read Warden Message here.

How to Help:

If you need help making up your mind where to send your donation, you might check out Charity Navigator, the largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities in the US since 2001. It assesses the financial health of over 5,000 of America's best-known charities. Check out what the ratings mean here.

American Red Cross: International Response Fund

You can help the victims of countless crises, like the recent earthquake in Haiti, around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation by mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Donations to the International Response Fund can be made by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org.

MAP International Medical Assistance Program

“MAP has contacted medical teams in Haiti who are already treating many of those injured. Hospitals and clinics are also providing lists of needs for emergency cargo shipments that will leave the MAP Distribution Center on the Atlantic coast to treat those needing critical care. Donations of cash and medical GIK are needed to support the many needs.” Click here to donate now.

MercyCorps: Haiti Earthquake

“Over the last five years, we've allocated more than 89% of our resources directly to programs. America's premier charity evaluator rates Mercy Corps four stars in organizational efficiency.” Click here to learn more. Click here to donate.

                                           

Operation USA

Is appealing for donations of funds from the public and corporate donations in bulk of health care materials, water purification supplies and food supplements which it will ship to the region from its base in the Port of Los Angeles. Charity Navigator, America’s premier charity evaluator, has rated Operation USA a 4-Star Charity for six consecutive years. Donate money, miles, in-kind donations online at www.opusa.org, by phone at 1.800.678.7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave, Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232.

Oxfam: Haiti Earthquake Response

“Oxfam is accountable for achieving the highest standards in programmes that are effective in helping people help themselves and achieve their development rights. We keep overhead costs below 5 percent and ensure that around 80 percent of all funds raised are spent on programmes. For more information about our record of achieving results in humanitarian relief, long term development and campaigns, and details of our finances, please read our Annual Review.” Click here for the Haiti Earthquake donation page.

UNICEF

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is urgently appealing for emergency assistance to aid the victims of a devastating earthquake that rocked the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Donate now to support disaster relief efforts for the children of Haiti. You may also call 1-800-4UNICEF.

Twitter: Help Haiti

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%22Help%20Haiti%22%20OR%20%23Haiti

Twitter: @NYT/Haiti-Earthquake

http://twitter.com/nytimes/haiti-earthquake

Twicsy: Haiti Earthquake Photos (Twitter pic search in real time)

http://twicsy.com/?search=jan+12th+2010+haiti&past=1h

http://twicsy.com/?search=haiti&past=24h

Snapshot of a Hardship Post: US Mission Nigeria

The Department’s OIG office has recently released its inspection report of Embassy Abuja and Consulate General Lagos, Nigeria (ISP-I-08-25A) from July 2008 Living conditions in the country are difficult and the work is not easy.  By one estimate I've heard, post there receives about 150 complaints per day on Nigerian scams alone.  Both Lagos and Abuja are 25% hardship differential posts.  Excerpt from the report below:        

Living conditions in Nigeria have changed little since OIG teams conducted inspections in 1997 and 2002. Traffic is congested and dangerous, the infrastructure is dilapidated, and public utilities function irregularly. Short-term leased properties are expensive, constructed poorly, and require frequent repair. Goods procured locally are of an inferior quality and sometimes counterfeit. Access to rest and recreation is limited and expensive. Crime is also a major issue. Unescorted travel for U.S. personnel is restricted to two islands in Lagos city; in other areas they must travel with armed escorts. Personnel have been subjected to mob attacks and armed robberies even in the “safe” zones. In fact, during the inspection, armed assailants robbed the Marine house and shot a marine and local security guard. It is reportedly not uncommon to see corpses in the street, and, in fact, a headless corpse was found floating in the lagoon close to the consulate general boat dock during the inspection. In Abuja, the living conditions are better, but safety is still a concern, and there is a sense of isolation due to a lack of amenities.

Despite a robust package of incentives and Nigeria’s strategic importance to the United States, it is hard to find at-grade officers interested in serving in Nigeria. U.S. direct-hire staff is characterized by a disproportionate number of officers on their first tours, in stretch assignments one or two levels above grade, working out-of cone, or on Civil Service excursion tours. Often, positions are simply left unfilled.

The inability of Abuja and Lagos to attract interested and qualified bidders hurts diplomatic readiness. Officers filling entry-level positions, in stretch assignments, and on Civil Service excursions too often lack depth of knowledge in their functional areas. There are few mid-level managers to mentor the inexperienced officers. Senior staff spends a significant amount of time on resolving operational issues rather than on planning, policy, and coordination. Morale is frequently low, and there are complaints about poor administrative services and quality of life. The inevitable backlog of work sometimes overwhelms new officers. These issues are not exclusive to Abuja and Lagos but are common to hardship posts.

Unfortunately, there are no clear solutions or recommendations for addressing staffing shortages at hardship posts. Possible solutions include more directed assignments, enhanced incentives, improved training, proactive leadership involvement in recruiting, and additional study and focus on resolving global staffing problems. At a minimum, the Department has to improve facilities and the quality of life for personnel serving in Nigeria, or recruitment woes are unlikely to improve.

The tour of duty at Embassy Abuja and Consulate General Lagos is two years (with two authorized rest and recuperation trips). The hardship differential is 30 25 percent in Abuja (as of 1/3/2010) and 25 percent in Lagos. Both posts are historically difficult to staff and are 15 percent service needs differential posts. Twelve employees are currently participating in the service needs differential program. The cost of living allowance is 42 percent in Abuja and 50 percent in Lagos. Abuja receives a $2,500 consumables allowance. A separate maintenance allowance is authorized for EFMs who choose not to accompany the employee.

Related Item: 

OIG Report No. ISP-I-08-25A, Inspection of Embassy Abuja and Consulate General Lagos, Nigeria - July 2008 | PDF

Quickie: Former US Ambassador on Those Yemen Myths

Image by eesti via Flickr

“In my experience, there is no deep-seeded affinity between Yemeni tribes and the Qaeda movement. Tribes tend to be opportunistic, not ideological, so the risk is that Al Qaeda will successfully exploit opportunities created by government neglect. There are also family affinities — cousins, linked to uncles, linked to brothers. These do matter. But what matters most is the “mujahedeen fraternity” — Yemenis with jihadist experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. Finally, what would matter — and significantly — would be innocent casualties resulting from counterterrorism operations, which could well set off a tribal response.”

“Forging an effective American counterterrorism policy in Yemen will be as difficult as it is necessary. But misreading Yemeni history and society can only complicate its conception and jeopardize its execution.”

Edmund J. Hull

United States Ambassador to Yemen (2001 to 2004)

from Al Qaeda’s Shadowland | NYT Op-ed | January 11, 2010

 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Obama Won't Be Sending Troops To Yemen (news.sky.com)


• Yemeni officials admit they are losing the battle against al-Qaeda (telegraph.co.uk)


• Yemen's Problems Are Challenge for U.S. (abcnews.go.com)


• West 'not helping Yemen enough' (news.bbc.co.uk)

US Amb to the Philippines Kristie Kenney Blogs Farewell

Photo from US Embassy Manila

The US Ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney posted her “Farewell” on her blog on January 5. She departs the Philippines this month.  Her successor, former DG Ambassador Harry Thomas has yet to be confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Quick excerpt below: 

My memories of the past four years are as diverse as the Philippines themselves. I will never forget the rich cultures of Mindanao or the proud traditions of the Ifugao. I have loved the smiling face of every child our education programs have helped. The look of joy and wonder as they experience the Internet for the first time is unforgettable. Or the dedication of the teachers who serve from small rural schools to large Manila universities. (Sorry if my readers have wearied of me talking about education, but I am still the daughter and granddaughter of public school teachers. I always love helping education and those who teach.) In the Philippines, I have seen the wonders of the oceans and become dedicated to helping protect our environment. I’ve snorkeled with whale sharks, been diving in aquariums, tested jeepney emissions, talked to fishermen about sustainable fishing, seen our Peace Corp volunteers energize communities to create marine protected areas, and watched our USAID team design great programs with Philippine partners to promote clean energy and clean waters.

[…]

This will be my last blog post as the United States Ambassador to the Philippines. I thank all who were kind enough to read and comment on my blog. It has been a privilege to represent the United States in the Philippines. I thank Filipinos throughout the world for the kindness and friendship you have shared with me and so many other Americans. And I hope our paths will cross again. Let me close with an old Irish blessing that has always been a favorite of my Irish-American family:

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

May the rain fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Filipinos from all walks of life are still writing back to thank her, to wish her well, ask that she extend her tour, or send an invitation that she return to the Philippines for a visit.  Read some notes below: 

Dario O. A.| Location: Manila

I feel so grateful to have you as the US Ambassador to the Philippines. But I am more thankful that through you, we have seen the wonders of our country when most of us Filipinos have not noticed of. We have taken for granted our great grandfathers who have fought hand in hand with the Americans during the World War II. […]We have not seen our talented Artists who hold our flag whenever they are performing abroad, instead we are so pessimistic that someday they will just leave our country and stay abroad for good. It is an eye-opening to all of us Filipinos, that indeed, there is still greatness in our country amidst all negative news and dirty politics that surrounds us. But somehow, we will need people to remind us from time to time of such greatness. People like you!

Ruben S. Valenton Jr.

You redefined ambassadorship with a personal and human touch. You’ve been to different provinces, towns, villages…sharing goods, time, listening to the folks and youth.

Noel Bernardo | Location: Manila Philippines

New wikipedia definition of the word AMBASSADOR:

AMBASSADOR = Kristie A. Kenney

Agnes Mercado

my name is mrs. agnes m. mercado, a 60 yr old grandma of 5 and counting, resides at 1306 artemis st. phase 6, v villa olympia, san pedro, laguna, phils. i would like to bid you farewell, madame ambassador KRISTIE KENNEYand thank you for all the kindness and sincere love and concern, humane touch to all the filipinos.

Blogie Robillo

People in Mindanao say, “Kristie loves Mindanao,” and people in the Visayas and Luzon say the same thing about you and their own places. This is a testament to your dedication, sincerity and passion.

Sylvester | Location: Davao

…you are the coolest U.S. ambassador ever!

Abdulmutallab Radicalized in London, Sana’a, where else?

The Sunday Times last week reported that Abdulmutallab had come onto MI5’s radar because of his “multiple communications” with extremists in the UK, including several radical figures at mosques.  The report quotes one Whitehall official: “This was a young man who while he was in the UK was starting his journey and was exploring an interest in radical Islam. He was making contact and reaching out to people who were MI5’s targets of interest.”

Apparently UK’s MI5 concluded that Abdulmutallab did not pose a threat to national security.  The report also says that British officials believe Abdulmutallab decided to become a suicide bomber only after leaving UCL last year and travelling to Yemen. They also think that up to a dozen young British Muslims are receiving terrorist training in that country.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Rashad al-Alimi, Yemen’s deputy prime minister for defense and security has told reporters that Abdulmutallab was first recruited by Al-Qaida when he lived in London from 2005-2008: "During the period he was living in Britain, I believe he was recruited by radical groups in Britain."

What do we make of this?

If what the Yemini minister says is true, Abdulmutallab joins UK-born, Richard Reid, the shoe bomber who was also radicalized in London. Which makes one wonder -- how did MI5 miss these two and how many more young men starting their “journeys” have also been missed across the pond.

If what MI5 says is true, then we are faced with an equally disturbing truth – Al Qaeda could recruit, train and deploy a suicide bomber in 3-4 months.

    

Various documents on USA v. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab including the 12/26/09 complaint and the 1/6/10 indictment have now been posted in cryptome.org.   

Quick Summary on US Embassy | Yemen

From the State Department’s January 5 Daily Press Brief:

There remains an ongoing threat to U.S. Embassy in Yemen; one aspect of the threat was dealt with  * U.S. has been providing security assistance to Yemen for quite a while * U.S. needs to see a more consistent effort by the Government of Yemen in addressing extremist issues and security concerns * U.S. participating in multilateral meeting in London on 28 Jan with focus on Yemen and Afghanistan * U.S. has recently increased assistance to Yemen * no 1208 funded projects qualified in 2008.

The US Embassy in Sana'a reopened for business yesterday.  The embassy, btw, is now on Facebook here.

 

The Christmas Day Airliner Attack and the Intelligence Process

By George Friedman

This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR

As is well known, a Nigerian national named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to destroy a passenger aircraft traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009. Metal detectors cannot pinpoint the chemical in the device he sought to detonate, PETN. The PETN was strapped to his groin. Since a detonator could have been detected, the attacker chose — or had chosen for him — a syringe filled with acid for use as an improvised alternative means to initiate the detonation. In the event, the device failed to detonate, but it did cause a fire in a highly sensitive area of the attacker’s body. An alert passenger put out the fire. The plane landed safely. It later emerged that the attacker’s father, a prominent banker in Nigeria, had gone to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to warn embassy officials of his concerns that his son might be involved with jihadists.

The incident drove home a number of points. First, while al Qaeda prime — the organization that had planned and executed 9/11 — might be in shambles, other groups in other countries using the al Qaeda brand name and following al Qaeda prime’s ideology remain operational and capable of mounting attacks. Second, like other recent attacks, this attack was relatively feeble: It involved a single aircraft, and the explosive device was not well-conceived. Third, it remained and still remains possible for a terrorist to bring explosives on board an aircraft. Fourth, intelligence available in Nigeria, London and elsewhere had not moved through the system with sufficient speed to block the terrorist from boarding the flight.

An Enduring Threat

From this three things emerge. First, although the capabilities of jihadist terrorists have declined, their organizations remain functional, and there is no guarantee that these organizations won’t increase in sophistication and effectiveness. Second, the militants remain focused on the global air transport system. Third, the defensive mechanisms devised since 2001 remain ineffective to some degree.

The purpose of terrorism in its purest form is to create a sense of insecurity among a public. It succeeds when fear moves a system to the point where it can no longer function. This magnifies the strength of the terrorist by causing the public to see the failure of the system as the result of the power of the terrorist. Terror networks are necessarily sparse. The greater the number of persons involved, the more likely a security breach becomes. Thus, there are necessarily few people in a terror network. An ideal terror network is global, able to strike anywhere and in multiple places at once. The extent of the terror network is unknown, partly because of its security systems and partly because it is so sparse that finding a terrorist is like finding a needle in a haystack. It is the fact that the size and intentions of the terror network are unknown that generates the sense of terror and empowers the terrorist.

The global aspect is also important. That attacks can originate in many places and that attackers can belong to many ethnic groups increases the desired sense of insecurity. All Muslims are not members of al Qaeda, but all members of al Qaeda are Muslims, and any Muslim might be a member of al Qaeda. This logic is beneficial to radical Islamists, who want to increase the sense of confrontation between Islam and the rest of the world. This not only increases the sense of insecurity and vulnerability in the rest of the world, it also increases hostility toward Muslims, strengthening al Qaeda’s argument to Muslims that they are in an unavoidable state of war with the rest of the world. Equally important is the transmission of the idea that if al Qaeda is destroyed in one place, it will spring up elsewhere.

This terror attack made another point, intended or not. U.S. President Barack Obama recently decided to increase forces in Afghanistan. A large part of his reasoning was that Afghanistan was the origin of 9/11, and the Taliban hosted al Qaeda. Therefore, he reasoned the United States should focus its military operations in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, since that was the origin of al Qaeda. But the Christmas Day terror attempt originated in Yemen, a place where the United States has been fighting a covert war with limited military resources. It therefore raises the question of why Obama is focusing on Afghanistan when the threat from al Qaeda spinoffs can originate anywhere.

From the terrorist perspective, the Yemen attack was a low-cost, low-risk operation. If it succeeded in bringing down a U.S. airliner over Detroit, the psychological impact would be massive. If it failed to do so, it would certainly increase a sense of anxiety, cause the U.S. and other governments to institute new and expensive security measures, and potentially force the United States into expensive deployments of forces insufficient to dominate a given country but sufficient to generate an insurgency. If just some of these things happened, the attack would have been well worth the effort.

Warning on Espionage Got China’s Attention

Image via Wikipedia

AP report: China Slams US Report Warning Of Spying By Beijing (via HuffPo). The report that got the sleeping dragon’s attention is the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s Annual Report to Congress which was released last week. The Report cites trends for U.S. economic and national security interests, and offers 42 recommendations for Congressional action. On US-China trade and economic relationship, the report says:

“China’s trade surplus with the United States remains near record levels, despite the global economic slowdown that has reduced imports from other nations. While the U.S. trade deficit in goods with China through August 2009 was $143.7 billion, representing a decline of 17.6 percent over the same period in 2008, China now accounts for an increasing share of the U.S. global deficit in goods. By September 2009, China had accumulated more than $2.27 trillion in foreign currency reserves.”

Not really surprising, is it? But the part that presumably offended China appears to be the following conclusions from the Committee report:

China’s Human Espionage Activities that Target the United States, and the Resulting Impacts on U.S. National Security

• The intelligence services of the Chinese government are actively involved in operations directed against the United States and against U.S. interests. China is the most aggressive country conducting espionage against the United States, focusing on obtaining U.S. information and technologies beneficial to China’s military modernization and economic development.

• Some of the espionage carried out on behalf of China is conducted by nonprofessional collectors. These nonprofessional collectors may be motivated by profit, patriotism, feelings of ethnic kinship, or coercion. Even in many cases where there is no obvious direct state involvement in the theft or illegal export of controlled technology, the Chinese government encourages such efforts and has benefited from them.

• Recent cases of espionage involving China show evidence of more focused efforts at information collection employing sources outside of the Chinese-American community.

• Chinese operatives and consular officials are actively engaged in the surveillance and harassment of Chinese dissident groups on U.S. soil.

The AP report did not say if the Chinese also protested on the Commission's report on its cyber activities:

China’s Cyber Activities that Target the United States, and the Resulting Impacts on U.S. Security Interests

• The quantity of malicious computer activities against the United States increased in 2008 and is rising sharply in 2009; much of this activity appears to originate in China.

• The direct attribution of such activities targeting the United States presents challenges due to hackers’ ability to conceal their locations. Nonetheless, a significant and increasing body of circumstantial and forensic evidence strongly indicates the involvement of Chinese state or state-supported entities.

• The Chinese government has institutionalized many of its capabilities for computer network operations within elements of the People’s Liberation Army. The PRC is also recruiting from its growing population of technically skilled people, including those from the private sector, to increase its cyber capabilities. It is recruiting skilled cyber operators from information technology firms and computer science programs into the ranks of numerous Information Warfare Militia units.

• China’s peacetime computer exploitation efforts are primarily focused on intelligence collection against U.S. targets and Chinese dissident groups abroad.

• In the early stages of a conflict, the PLA would employ computer network operations against opposition government and military information systems.

• Critical infrastructure in the United States is vulnerable to malicious cyber activity. Chinese military doctrine calls for exploiting these vulnerabilities in the case of a conflict.

The Commission has 10 key recommendations to Congress including the following:

Meeting the rising challenge of Chinese espionage. The Commission recommends that Congress assess the adequacy of resources available for intelligence, counterintelligence, and export control enforcement programs to ensure that U.S. government agencies are able to meet the rising challenge of Chinese human intelligence and illicit technology collection.

Ensuring adequate funding to respond to computer exploitation and computer attacks. The Commission recommends that Congress assess the effectiveness of and resourcing for law enforcement, defense, and intelligence community initiatives that aim to develop effective and reliable attribution techniques for computer exploitation and computer attacks.

The complete list of 42 recommendations appears at the Report’s conclusion on page 325.

The Commission was created on October 30, 2000 by the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for 2001. Its purpose: To monitor, investigate, and submit to congress an annual report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, and to provide recommendations, where appropriate, to Congress for legislative and administrative action. Public Law 109-108 directs the Commission to focus its work and study on the following eight areas: proliferation practices, economic transfers, energy, U.S. capital markets, regional economic and security impacts, U.S.-China bilateral programs, WTO compliance, and the implications of restrictions on speech and access to information in the People’s Republic of China.

Related Items:

• View the complete report. (PDF)
• Executive Summary (PDF)

Related articles by Zemanta

• China Building Cyberwarfare Capabilities (usnews.com)
• Analysis: Obama's China trip shows power shifting (sfgate.com)
• U.S.-China Trade: Prepare for Continued Imbalance (time.com)

Peace Corps to Return to Indonesia

Image via Wikipedia

The US Embassy in Jakarta released a statement on the return of the US Peace Corps to Indonesia:

U.S. President Barack Obama and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have announced their intent to re-establish a Peace Corps program in Indonesia following their November 15 bilateral discussions at the APEC conference in Singapore.

Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams issued the following statement after the announcement. "We are honored that Indonesia will host the next generation of Peace Corps volunteers inspired by President Kennedy's legacy of service. Over the last 48 years, the Peace Corps has captured the imagination of nearly 200,000 Americans committed to public service abroad." Director Williams continued, "I look forward to working in collaboration with the government and communities of Indonesia. This partnership will encourage Americans and Indonesians to work side by side on Indonesia's education initiatives while advancing a greater understanding of both countries on the part of all involved with the program."

The statement says that the first group of Peace Corps volunteers is expected to arrive in Indonesia by mid-2010. They will work as English teachers in high schools and teacher training institutions.

The return of the Peace Corps to Indonesia has been previously reported during Secretary Clinton’s visit there this past February. At that time Paul Watson of LAT recalled that the last time Indonesia allowed Peace Corps volunteers to work there, they weren't sent into villages to teach English or build schools; they were assigned to whip athletes into shape for the 1964 Olympics. The country ended up boycotting the Tokyo Games, and “thugs from the Indonesian Communist Party, which accused the American coaches of being CIA agents, ran them out of the country in 1965, less than three years after they had arrived.”

Perhaps things will be different this time. The report quoted Dewi Fortuna Anwar an expert on U.S.-Indonesian relations and a former presidential spokeswoman:

“Regional neighbors such as Australia and Singapore send aid workers to do community development work in Indonesia. So it shouldn't be a problem if Americans come too, as long as they stay clear of politics, said Dewi Fortuna Anwar.”

Read Indonesia still touchy about Peace Corps.

Kosovo Honors Bill with a Statue on Bill Clinton Boulevard

Photo from US Embassy Pristina

Kosovo recently unveiled an 11-foot, 2000lb statue of former President Bill Clinton on Bill Clinton Boulevard in Pristina. The Guardian describes the statue as "sprayed with gold, with a left hand raised, a typical gesture of a leader greeting the masses. In his right hand he is holding documents engraved with the date when Nato started the bombardment of Serbia, 24 March 1999."

"I never expected that anywhere, someone would make such a big statue of me," Clinton said.|

See more photos here from the US Embassy Pristina.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bill Clinton statue is already a relic (guardian.co.uk)
• Kosovo unveils giant statue to Bill Clinton - on Clinton Boulevard (news.bbc.co.uk)

Snapshot: Top 10 Recipients of US Foreign Aid

(click on image to see larger view)

Extracted from CRS: State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2009 Appropriations | PDF

23 US Officials: Rendered Guilty in Italy

Image via Wikipedia

SpyTalk’s Jeff Stein who was one of the 44 editorial employees canned by CQ-Roll Call in late September is now blogging at Huffington Post. He currently has a piece in Foreign Policy on the recent conviction of 23 US officials in Italy (FP | Rendered Guilty | November 4, 2009). Excerpts:

The implications of the ruling range from banal to the profound. The CIA operatives and an Air Force officer can forget about spending the summer in Provence, or any European Union country for that matter. But more fundamentally, the case raises questions about diplomatic immunity and the ability of foreign courts to try U.S. officials in cases of supposed human rights and other abuses.[…]Another CIA operative sentenced in the case was Sabrina DeSousa, who at the time was listed as a U.S. consular official in Milan. DeSousa, 53, has maintained all along that she was a U.S. Foreign Service officer who deserved diplomatic immunity, despite voluminous records gathered by the Italian prosecutor, Armando Spataro, showing her to be a CIA officer with responsibility for liaising with Italian intelligence on the operation. The State Department does not confer diplomatic immunity on consular officials as it does embassy officials. Regardless, DeSousa also maintains that because she was on a Swiss skiing holiday at the time of the abduction, she is innocent of the kidnapping charges laid against her.

DeSousa's case raised particular questions after she persuaded the U.S. government to pay her legal expenses last summer. She, like Robert Lady, was never granted diplomatic immunity from the kidnapping charges even as the mastermind of the operation, former Italy CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli, was. Castelli's documentation shows him as a State Department official in the Rome embassy, granting him immunity.[…]Indeed, the case sends CIA operatives a reminder that they're on their own if they take the field without a cloak of full diplomatic immunity.

Read the whole thing here.

International law requires that the host country extend certain privileges and immunities to members of foreign diplomatic missions and consular posts. The purpose of diplomatic and consular immunities is to ensure the efficient and effective performance of the official missions on behalf of their governments. Both types of immunities extend essential protections to diplomats, consuls, their families and their staffs by limiting the ability of host countries to detain, subpoena, arrest or prosecute them.

US Diplomacy has an excellent overview on diplomatic and consular immunity here: The levels of protection vary according to an employee’s role as a diplomatic agent, an administrative and support employee or a consular officer. On consular immunity: Consular immunity offers protections similar to diplomatic immunity, but these protections are not as extensive, given the functional differences between consular and diplomatic officers.

At the DPB in Foggy Bottom on November 5:QUESTION: Did the State Department invoke diplomatic immunity for the three Americans acquitted in Italy of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from Milan? What is the current status of the lawsuit brought against the Department by the woman who sought diplomatic immunity in this case but was not granted that status by State?

ANSWER: The Department has been following the proceedings closely in coordination with the Department of Justice and other agencies. We have raised our concerns about the case on numerous occasions with Italian officials, and supported the Italian Government’s challenge of the prosecution before the Italian Constitutional Court. The Department will continue to follow this matter in consultation with the Italian Government. Immunity defenses were raised before the Italian trial court by the lawyers for the defendants. For the status of the civil suit brought against the U.S. Government by Ms. De Sousa, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.

Now talking of the banal -- in popular fiction, diplomatic immunity was most famously portrayed in the 1989 action movie, Lethal Weapon 2. The testosterone filled movie has Mel Gibson and Danny Glover on the trail of South African diplomats who are using their immunity to engage in criminal activities:

Arjen Rudd: [holds up his wallet] Diplomatic immunity![Roger slowly rolls his head on his neck, takes aim, and fires - his bullet goes through Rudd's wallet, and then his head]Roger Murtaugh: It's just been revoked!

Life is not always slow-mo as reading a script. Read more here on diplomatic immunity.

Related Item: Diplomatic and Consular Privileges and Immunities From Criminal JurisdictionSummary of Law Enforcement Aspects | from State.gov | PDF | HTML

Related articles by Zemanta

• EXCLUSIVE: Convicted CIA Spy Says "We Broke the Law" (abcnews.go.com)
• Italy: Judge Convicts 23 Americans in CIA Rendition Case (time.com)
• Italian Judge Convicts 23 in CIA Kidnap Case (abcnews.go.com)