April 26, 2010 - As part of the Department of Justice’s ongoing initiative to confront intellectual property (IP) crimes, Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler announced today the appointment of 15 new Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) positions and 20 FBI Special Agents to be dedicated to combating domestic and international IP crimes.
These new positions – announced on the 10th annual World Intellectual Property Day – are part of the department’s continued commitment to combat the growing number of IP crimes here at home, and abroad. The new AUSA positions will be part of the department’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) program.
“Intellectual property law enforcement is central to protecting our nation’s ability to remain at the forefront of technological advancement, business development and job creation,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Grindler. “The department, along with its federal partners throughout the Administration, will remain ever vigilant in this pursuit as American entrepreneurs and businesses continue to develop, innovate and create.”
The 15 new Assistant U.S. Attorneys will work closely with the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) to aggressively pursue high tech crime, including computer crime and intellectual property offenses. The new positions will be located in California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
The 20 new FBI Special Agents announced today will be deployed to specifically augment four geographic areas with intellectual property squads, and increase investigative capacity in other locations around the country where IP crimes are of particular concern. The four squads will be located in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and the District of Columbia. The squads will allow for more focused efforts in particular hot spot areas and increased contact and coordination with our state and local law enforcement partners. The 20 new agents will join the 31 agents devoted to investigating IP crimes who have already been deployed to field offices around the country. “Theft of intellectual property – from inventions to trademarks and copyrights, to industrial designs and trade secrets – is a worldwide problem. It affects individuals and corporations financially and can threaten public safety. The additional FBI agents will significantly strengthen the efforts of our squads investigating intellectual property rights violations and help bring to justice those who seek to profit from intellectual property theft," said Assistant Director Gordon M. Snow of the FBI Cyber Division.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Grindler serves as chair of the department’s Task Force on Intellectual Property , which was established earlier this year by Attorney General Eric Holder to coordinate the department’s efforts on IP crimes. The task force focuses on strengthening efforts to combat intellectual property crimes through close coordination with state and local law enforcement partners as well as international counterparts. As part of its mission, the task force works together with the Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), housed in the Executive Office of the President, to implement an Administration-wide strategic plan on intellectual property.
The task force includes representatives from the offices of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, and the Associate Attorney General; the Criminal Division; the Civil Division; the Antitrust Division; the Office of Legal Policy; the Office of Justice Programs; the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee; the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and the FBI. World Intellectual Property Day was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to recognize the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and enforcing their laws. Each year on April 26th, WIPO and its member states seek to increase public understanding of intellectual property through activities, events and campaigns.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Tackling Injuries with Meditation, Not Medication
April 23, 2010 - Veteran Tanya Boldt struggled with service-connected injuries for years. She used to associate the VA with pain and nurses drawing blood. All that changed when she started attending all-women's yoga therapy classes at the Memphis VA to treat her health problems.
"Yoga helped me to feel different about the VA," she said. "I go into a room with low lighting and peaceful music. I stretch through the pain and relax. Now whenever I think of the VA, I think of a soft, quiet place instead." The VA has become Boldt's haven away from pain.
Yoga is one of the newest forms of therapy at the hospital. Three specialized yoga courses are offered: a women's class, a seniors' class, and a mixed-gender class.
Though the stress-relieving program has only been in place for a few weeks, it's already very popular with the Veterans who try it. When asked if they plan to continue the yoga program, every Veteran answered the same way: "Definitely!"
Volunteer Joyce Smith leads the classes. In one of her training courses, the longtime yoga instructor heard that the military used yoga to treat PTSD, so she signed up to volunteer.
"There are a lot of misconceptions about yoga — that it has to be intense to work, that it's only for certain people. I thought it would be beneficial for Veterans' injuries and peace of mind. Usually when people try it, they keep coming back," she said.
Smith adapts her classes to the Veterans' injuries. Chair yoga, for example, has been a huge success. "Class participants engage in deep stretching and breathing exercises, while a bit of cardio still gets their heart rate up," said Smith. "Gentle yoga works just as well as hardcore yoga sessions," she added.
Smith thought the Veterans would love yoga — and she was right.
Her class participants have undergone internal and external changes. "I've seen decreased anxiety when talking to these patients," said Women Veterans Program Manager Kay Borgognoni. "They're feeling better, both mentally and physically."
Borgognoni was inspired to take up yoga for her own chronic back pain. "It's the one thing that helped me more than anything, including medication. Yoga makes you slow down and take your time. You begin to look at the world differently," she said.
"Decreasing stress means lower blood pressure," she added, "So yoga could play a small role in reducing fatalities of the leading cause of death in American women: heart disease."
"It's a Slice of Heaven"
Veteran Chevelle Hess enrolled in the class to ease the pain in her back, knees, and neck. "I'm learning to move a little slower with my injuries," she said. "I'm in a lot of pain, so I try to stretch as much as I can."
Smith gave Hess a meditation tape and Hess listened to it for a week straight. "I love the music," she said. "I was breathing in time to what I was listening to." Practicing yoga was so relaxing for Hess that she even stopped gritting her teeth at night.
"Between breathing and the yoga movements, a lot of physical and emotional healing can take place," said Smith. "Learning to move with your breath and deep breathing can relieve stress. Yoga helps Veterans focus on themselves and their bodies."
Boldt, with her service-connected injuries, found the yoga class through her doctor. She needed to find a way to relax, she told him.
Just her luck — Smith and her yoga mats had just arrived at the VA. Boldt tried it and immediately became a fan.
"This was something out of the traditional way of looking at things," said Boldt. "Yoga has helped me learn to stop, breathe, relax, and become more aware of where my body's hurting. I can escape out of that pain through deep breathing."
Boldt said practicing yoga is the most effective way of managing her pain — even better than her pain medication since she doesn't feel woozy like she does when taking pills.
"I will definitely continue yoga," Boldt said. "It's a slice of heaven."
"Yoga helped me to feel different about the VA," she said. "I go into a room with low lighting and peaceful music. I stretch through the pain and relax. Now whenever I think of the VA, I think of a soft, quiet place instead." The VA has become Boldt's haven away from pain.
Yoga is one of the newest forms of therapy at the hospital. Three specialized yoga courses are offered: a women's class, a seniors' class, and a mixed-gender class.
Though the stress-relieving program has only been in place for a few weeks, it's already very popular with the Veterans who try it. When asked if they plan to continue the yoga program, every Veteran answered the same way: "Definitely!"
Volunteer Joyce Smith leads the classes. In one of her training courses, the longtime yoga instructor heard that the military used yoga to treat PTSD, so she signed up to volunteer.
"There are a lot of misconceptions about yoga — that it has to be intense to work, that it's only for certain people. I thought it would be beneficial for Veterans' injuries and peace of mind. Usually when people try it, they keep coming back," she said.
Smith adapts her classes to the Veterans' injuries. Chair yoga, for example, has been a huge success. "Class participants engage in deep stretching and breathing exercises, while a bit of cardio still gets their heart rate up," said Smith. "Gentle yoga works just as well as hardcore yoga sessions," she added.
Smith thought the Veterans would love yoga — and she was right.
Her class participants have undergone internal and external changes. "I've seen decreased anxiety when talking to these patients," said Women Veterans Program Manager Kay Borgognoni. "They're feeling better, both mentally and physically."
Borgognoni was inspired to take up yoga for her own chronic back pain. "It's the one thing that helped me more than anything, including medication. Yoga makes you slow down and take your time. You begin to look at the world differently," she said.
"Decreasing stress means lower blood pressure," she added, "So yoga could play a small role in reducing fatalities of the leading cause of death in American women: heart disease."
"It's a Slice of Heaven"
Veteran Chevelle Hess enrolled in the class to ease the pain in her back, knees, and neck. "I'm learning to move a little slower with my injuries," she said. "I'm in a lot of pain, so I try to stretch as much as I can."
Smith gave Hess a meditation tape and Hess listened to it for a week straight. "I love the music," she said. "I was breathing in time to what I was listening to." Practicing yoga was so relaxing for Hess that she even stopped gritting her teeth at night.
"Between breathing and the yoga movements, a lot of physical and emotional healing can take place," said Smith. "Learning to move with your breath and deep breathing can relieve stress. Yoga helps Veterans focus on themselves and their bodies."
Boldt, with her service-connected injuries, found the yoga class through her doctor. She needed to find a way to relax, she told him.
Just her luck — Smith and her yoga mats had just arrived at the VA. Boldt tried it and immediately became a fan.
"This was something out of the traditional way of looking at things," said Boldt. "Yoga has helped me learn to stop, breathe, relax, and become more aware of where my body's hurting. I can escape out of that pain through deep breathing."
Boldt said practicing yoga is the most effective way of managing her pain — even better than her pain medication since she doesn't feel woozy like she does when taking pills.
"I will definitely continue yoga," Boldt said. "It's a slice of heaven."
Defense Official Learns about Social Media at Sea
April 23, 2010 - Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Outreach and Social Media Sumit Agarwal observes flight deck operations aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, April 22, 2010. Courtesy photo U.S. NavyUSS Abraham Lincoln, at sea (NNS) – Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Outreach and Social Media Sumit Agarwal toured USS Abraham Lincoln April 22 to get a firsthand look at the Navy’s social media, technology and outreach programs at sea.
Agarwal, appointed as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jan 19, serves as staff advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs on how best to create two-way dialogues with American citizens and the global community utilizing traditional outreach methods, as well as new/social media tools (e.g., blogs, social networks, instant messaging, photo sharing, Web 2.0 technologies).
During a tour of Lincoln’s media department, Agarwal and other technology leaders from Facebook, LinkedIn and Netflix saw how Lincoln used Facebook to communicate with families through near real-time two-way communication, photos and videos. In addition to the ship’s facebook page, Lincoln’s family association is also on facebook and preparing for communication with the ship’s commanding officer through video teleconferencing while deployed.
“Being underway aboard Abraham Lincoln showed me, in a very real way, how technology can improve quality of life for our Sailors and families,” said Agarwal.
Prior to joining the Defense Department, Mr. Agarwal ran the mobile product management team for Google’s North American operations, and helped develop Google’s mobile services for devices like iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
As an Air Force Reserve officer, Mr. Agarwal was assigned to the 175th Network Warfare Squadron, Fort Meade, Md., as a network intelligence officer focused on cyber-warfare. From 1998 to 2004, he served as a civil engineering officer. During this time, he also deployed to Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, helping to design and build the Combined Air Operations Center.
Agarwal, appointed as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jan 19, serves as staff advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs on how best to create two-way dialogues with American citizens and the global community utilizing traditional outreach methods, as well as new/social media tools (e.g., blogs, social networks, instant messaging, photo sharing, Web 2.0 technologies).
During a tour of Lincoln’s media department, Agarwal and other technology leaders from Facebook, LinkedIn and Netflix saw how Lincoln used Facebook to communicate with families through near real-time two-way communication, photos and videos. In addition to the ship’s facebook page, Lincoln’s family association is also on facebook and preparing for communication with the ship’s commanding officer through video teleconferencing while deployed.
“Being underway aboard Abraham Lincoln showed me, in a very real way, how technology can improve quality of life for our Sailors and families,” said Agarwal.
Prior to joining the Defense Department, Mr. Agarwal ran the mobile product management team for Google’s North American operations, and helped develop Google’s mobile services for devices like iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
As an Air Force Reserve officer, Mr. Agarwal was assigned to the 175th Network Warfare Squadron, Fort Meade, Md., as a network intelligence officer focused on cyber-warfare. From 1998 to 2004, he served as a civil engineering officer. During this time, he also deployed to Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, helping to design and build the Combined Air Operations Center.
Installations Practice Energy Conservation
By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service
April 22, 2010 - The Defense Department is well on its way to reducing its energy consumption on military bases by 34 percent by 2020, a department official said.
Joe Sikes, the department's director for installation facilities and energy, said in an April 15 interview with the Pentagon Channel that the department is on track to meet its goal, even though officials expect the demand for power on bases to rise as troops redeploy from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Energy use will get higher on installations as more troops come home," Sikes said.
The department spends $3.8 billion annually to power more than 500 military installations, amounting to about 28 percent of the department's energy costs, he said.
The military needs to reduce its energy use to become less reliant on what the Defense Science Board called in a 2008 report a "fragile and vulnerable" commercial power grid that places critical defense missions "at unacceptable risk of extended outage." "We're doing a lot of it already, and we think we can get there," Sikes said.
Pew Charitable Trusts, a Washington-based research group, recognized some of the installation achievements April 20 when it released a report that found the department a leader in the environmental movement. Among other things, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif. -- the service's largest land holding – is being powered solely by geothermal sources and has produced enough energy to provide for the surrounding community, and the Air Force Academy also is taking alternative measures to be off the public electric grid by 2012.
But alternatives energies are not enough, Sikes said, noting that installations also have to use less energy. Officials hope to reduce energy consumption on bases by 3 percent each year, and Sikes admitted it won't be easy.
"The cultural change [toward conservation] is as big a thing here as anything," he said. "Everybody has to be on board for us to go in this direction."
The department meters about 63 percent of 300,000-plus buildings now, but plans to do all by 2012, Sikes said. And, as part of its comprehensive energy plan, officials plan to create a data management system to track how much energy is being used where and watch for trends, he said.
"All we can do now is figure out how much we are paying," Sikes said. "We don't know who the bad users are on base. Right now, there's no way to know if one ship is doing better than another on energy efficiency. You can't control what you can't know. People will perform better when they know what they're looking at."
The department also is following conservation policies in construction that make new buildings 30 percent more efficient than older ones, Sikes said. Defense Department buildings must be deemed "lead silver," which is the second-highest category for sustainable buildings, he said. And by 2015, all new buildings must generate the same amount of energy they use, he said.
To get there, the department's buildings are likely to include changes such as plants on rooftops and heat pumps underground. "That's where we're headed in the future," Sikes said.
American Forces Press Service
April 22, 2010 - The Defense Department is well on its way to reducing its energy consumption on military bases by 34 percent by 2020, a department official said.
Joe Sikes, the department's director for installation facilities and energy, said in an April 15 interview with the Pentagon Channel that the department is on track to meet its goal, even though officials expect the demand for power on bases to rise as troops redeploy from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Energy use will get higher on installations as more troops come home," Sikes said.
The department spends $3.8 billion annually to power more than 500 military installations, amounting to about 28 percent of the department's energy costs, he said.
The military needs to reduce its energy use to become less reliant on what the Defense Science Board called in a 2008 report a "fragile and vulnerable" commercial power grid that places critical defense missions "at unacceptable risk of extended outage." "We're doing a lot of it already, and we think we can get there," Sikes said.
Pew Charitable Trusts, a Washington-based research group, recognized some of the installation achievements April 20 when it released a report that found the department a leader in the environmental movement. Among other things, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif. -- the service's largest land holding – is being powered solely by geothermal sources and has produced enough energy to provide for the surrounding community, and the Air Force Academy also is taking alternative measures to be off the public electric grid by 2012.
But alternatives energies are not enough, Sikes said, noting that installations also have to use less energy. Officials hope to reduce energy consumption on bases by 3 percent each year, and Sikes admitted it won't be easy.
"The cultural change [toward conservation] is as big a thing here as anything," he said. "Everybody has to be on board for us to go in this direction."
The department meters about 63 percent of 300,000-plus buildings now, but plans to do all by 2012, Sikes said. And, as part of its comprehensive energy plan, officials plan to create a data management system to track how much energy is being used where and watch for trends, he said.
"All we can do now is figure out how much we are paying," Sikes said. "We don't know who the bad users are on base. Right now, there's no way to know if one ship is doing better than another on energy efficiency. You can't control what you can't know. People will perform better when they know what they're looking at."
The department also is following conservation policies in construction that make new buildings 30 percent more efficient than older ones, Sikes said. Defense Department buildings must be deemed "lead silver," which is the second-highest category for sustainable buildings, he said. And by 2015, all new buildings must generate the same amount of energy they use, he said.
To get there, the department's buildings are likely to include changes such as plants on rooftops and heat pumps underground. "That's where we're headed in the future," Sikes said.
VA Commemorates 85 Years of Medical Advances
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
April 22, 2010 - Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould kicked off the National VA Research Week commemoration here today, marking 85 years of ground-breaking research that's improving veterans' lives, including veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gould praised participants at the forum for following in the footsteps of researchers who pioneered some of medical science's greatest achievements in areas ranging from spinal cord injuries to vascular research to stroke rehabilitation and traumatic brain injury treatment.
From the first successful liver transplant to developing and testing effective tuberculosis treatments to developing the CT scan, pacemaker and other cutting-edge technologies, VA researchers have taken medical science to a new level – in some cases, literally.
Gould noted one of the most recent experiments, carried by the space shuttle to the International Space Station, that could have a major impact on the human immune system's ability to help aging veterans fight off infections. Scientist-astronaut Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford, director of the San Francisco VA Medical Center's Laboratory for Cell Growth, directed the experiment.
"Though Dr. Hughes-Fulford's T-cell experiment might be out of this world, the work of all our VA researchers achieves new heights in health care every day," Gould said.
Those achievements are noted in the most respected journals and honored on award stages from Washington to Stockholm, he said, noting that VA's Dr. Andrew Schally and Dr. Rosalyn Yalow received the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1977.
"Almost daily, VA's research advances are making news," Gould said, recognizing a paper on robot-delivered stroke rehabilitation published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study's chairman, Dr. Albert Lo, is a neurologist at the Providence VA Medical Center.
Gould noted other areas where VA researchers are seizing opportunities to expand prevention, treatment and rehabilitation research, including areas that affect America's newest veterans returning home with combat injuries.
"Our work with injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan — whose wounds are both seen and unseen — is making a huge difference not only in their quality of life, but in the quality of lives of countless others" who he said also will benefit from VA research into traumatic brain injury, spinal-cord-injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, diabetes, heart disease and other physical and mental health conditions.
Gould encouraged VA's clinical care and research communities to continue working together, putting $1 billion in research funding for fiscal 2010 and 2011 to the best use in advancing clinical medical knowledge and providing new hope for veterans.
"The rising tide of research lifts the prospects of better health for all veterans — from the aging warriors of the 'Greatest Generation' to the youngest soldiers of the latest generation," he said.
Dr. Audrey Nelson, director of VA's Health Services Research and Development Center, said it's gratifying to see the innovative technologies and innovations VA is advancing make a difference. "There is nothing like seeing a patient using a new technology or a new intervention and really seeing how it changes their life," she said.
"We really want to bring everybody back to as much full function as we can," said Dr. Roy Cooper, director of VA's Human Engineering Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pa. "That is the goal of research: to provide that hope that everybody will return to their fullest capability."
Stephen Cochran, a Marine veteran who was left paralyzed from the waist down when an improvised explosive device exploded near him in Afghanistan, was among participants in today's National VA Research Week kickoff.
Now a country music singer and songwriter who plays benefit shows to support fellow veterans, Cochran praised the care he received at the Nashville VA Medical Center with enabling him to walk again.
"Hope is what gave me the drive to face the battle of walking after my injuries left me paralyzed from the waist down," he said. "That hope, and the experimental procedure performed at VA, is what got me to where I am today."
American Forces Press Service
April 22, 2010 - Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould kicked off the National VA Research Week commemoration here today, marking 85 years of ground-breaking research that's improving veterans' lives, including veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gould praised participants at the forum for following in the footsteps of researchers who pioneered some of medical science's greatest achievements in areas ranging from spinal cord injuries to vascular research to stroke rehabilitation and traumatic brain injury treatment.
From the first successful liver transplant to developing and testing effective tuberculosis treatments to developing the CT scan, pacemaker and other cutting-edge technologies, VA researchers have taken medical science to a new level – in some cases, literally.
Gould noted one of the most recent experiments, carried by the space shuttle to the International Space Station, that could have a major impact on the human immune system's ability to help aging veterans fight off infections. Scientist-astronaut Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford, director of the San Francisco VA Medical Center's Laboratory for Cell Growth, directed the experiment.
"Though Dr. Hughes-Fulford's T-cell experiment might be out of this world, the work of all our VA researchers achieves new heights in health care every day," Gould said.
Those achievements are noted in the most respected journals and honored on award stages from Washington to Stockholm, he said, noting that VA's Dr. Andrew Schally and Dr. Rosalyn Yalow received the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1977.
"Almost daily, VA's research advances are making news," Gould said, recognizing a paper on robot-delivered stroke rehabilitation published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study's chairman, Dr. Albert Lo, is a neurologist at the Providence VA Medical Center.
Gould noted other areas where VA researchers are seizing opportunities to expand prevention, treatment and rehabilitation research, including areas that affect America's newest veterans returning home with combat injuries.
"Our work with injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan — whose wounds are both seen and unseen — is making a huge difference not only in their quality of life, but in the quality of lives of countless others" who he said also will benefit from VA research into traumatic brain injury, spinal-cord-injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, diabetes, heart disease and other physical and mental health conditions.
Gould encouraged VA's clinical care and research communities to continue working together, putting $1 billion in research funding for fiscal 2010 and 2011 to the best use in advancing clinical medical knowledge and providing new hope for veterans.
"The rising tide of research lifts the prospects of better health for all veterans — from the aging warriors of the 'Greatest Generation' to the youngest soldiers of the latest generation," he said.
Dr. Audrey Nelson, director of VA's Health Services Research and Development Center, said it's gratifying to see the innovative technologies and innovations VA is advancing make a difference. "There is nothing like seeing a patient using a new technology or a new intervention and really seeing how it changes their life," she said.
"We really want to bring everybody back to as much full function as we can," said Dr. Roy Cooper, director of VA's Human Engineering Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pa. "That is the goal of research: to provide that hope that everybody will return to their fullest capability."
Stephen Cochran, a Marine veteran who was left paralyzed from the waist down when an improvised explosive device exploded near him in Afghanistan, was among participants in today's National VA Research Week kickoff.
Now a country music singer and songwriter who plays benefit shows to support fellow veterans, Cochran praised the care he received at the Nashville VA Medical Center with enabling him to walk again.
"Hope is what gave me the drive to face the battle of walking after my injuries left me paralyzed from the waist down," he said. "That hope, and the experimental procedure performed at VA, is what got me to where I am today."
Navy Training Range Doubles as a Laboratory for Marine Mammal Studies
By Bob Freeman, Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy.
April 23, 2010 - In March 2000, 17 cetaceans stranded and seven of the animals died on an island in the Bahamas following a nearby naval exercise that employed active sonar. Since then, the Navy has been sponsoring research to better understand the nature of marine mammal behavioral response to anthropogenic (human-made) sound in the ocean.
Some of that research is taking place at Navy acoustic ranges like the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center, or AUTEC, in the Bahamas.
“The goal of our program is to study animals in their natural environment through the application of passive acoustics, which means we listen for the vocalizations that are made by animals and then try to use detections of vocalization as a proxy for the behavior,” said Mr. Dave Moretti, the principal investigator for marine mammal monitoring on Navy ranges, in an April 21 interview on Pentagon Web Radio’s audio webcast “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military.”
Moretti described AUTEC as an area in the ocean that’s been outfitted with hydrophones (listening devices similar to underwater microphones) for tracking submarines and other undersea vehicles. “We’re trying to take the infrastructure of these facilities and apply it to passive acoustics for the study of marine mammals,” he explained.
The AUTEC research, which is sponsored by the Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness Division, is situated about 40 miles from the location of the Bahamas stranding. “It’s really one of the things that make AUTEC so interesting for this study,” Moretti noted.
In the 2000 incident, a pod of beaked whales appear to have stranded in response to a naval exercise conducted over the Northwest Providence Channel. “It’s really a deep ocean canyon that sort of splits the upper Bahamas,” Moretti explained, “and AUTEC is on a branch of that…a separate canyon…and together they make the up the Great Bahamas Canyon,” he said.
Moretti said that there are several species of whales on the range, with beaked whales being the most prevalent. “At AUTEC, to our knowledge, there haven’t been any mass strandings of beaked whales…even though they use active sonar repeatedly throughout the year,” he noted. Moretti defined “mass stranding” as when two or more adult mammals swim up onto a beach.
“[At AUTEC] you don’t have mass strandings even when sonar operations take place,” Moretti said, “and it’s one of the things that we’re trying to tease out of the data, to try to understand why that is.”
Moretti said that ships are on the range at scheduled times and are precisely tracked. “The sensors are really set up to track anything under the water, but anything on the surface is also tracked.”
One of the advantages of AUTEC, Moretti suggested, is the ability to correlate data related to the mammals with vessel traffic. “So now we can get a record of both animal behavior and also a precise record of ship tracks in open ocean waters,” he noted, “and in cases like the Northwest Providence Channel, putting those data sets together is very, very difficult.”
Moretti described the range as an array of bottom-mounted sensors placed two nautical miles apart over some 500 square nautical miles. Signals from the sensors are sent via cable to a shore-based command and control center where the signals are digitized and sent to signal processors. “If an animal makes a call, we have the ability to detect it on the sensors and gain information as to where the animals are distributed,” he explained, “and we can make inferences as to how they’re moving and what they’re doing.”
To ensure continuity of data when the animals are not vocalizing or out of range of the sensors, Moretti said that selected animals are tagged with transponders that allow satellites to track their movement. This is a cooperative effort with representatives from the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organization. In addition, he said, representatives from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and St. Andrews University of Scotland are assisting in the program.
Another type of tag used in the program is the D-tag, a digital recorder developed at Woods Hole that provides data on the pitch, roll, and depth of the animal’s movement. “Those tags stay on about 19 to 20 hours,” Moretti said, “but they give very precise…very pristine data on the movement of animals within that time span.”
Moretti explained that the data they are gathering has provided much needed insights into the private lives of whales, particularly the elusive, deep-diving beaked whales. “I think what people forget is that we’re trying to study animals in their natural environment, but these animals live in the deep ocean and they don’t come to the surface often,” he said. “It’s extremely difficult to study their behavior because it’s an environment we’re just not equipped to deal with well.”
In addition to understanding the behavioral response of whales to anthropogenic sound, Moretti said, the research is designed to understand the health of the populations. “With marine mammals, a lot of the focus has been on individual animals,” he noted, “and we’d like to really shift that so we start thinking in terms of populations.”
Moretti said that the research thus far has suggested that the beaked whales may constitute a resident pod on the range with a fairly robust population, but whether the pod is healthy or negatively impacted by activity on the range is still being studied. “We’d like these tools to evolve to the point where we can say something about population health and there’s an effort underway to start some programs for the study of these animals on a population level,” Moretti said. “It’s actually been dubbed the PCAD [Population Consequences of Acoustic Disturbance] modeling,” he added, “but that’s in its infancy, actually.”
Moretti said that complementary research is being conducted at a similar Navy range off the coast of California, with assistance from specialists at Cascadia Research, University of California, San Diego, and the University of Oregon. A third program is currently being developed at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off of Hawaii.
“It’s interesting to compare the three areas that we’re working in because it turns out they are really different environments with different species of differing densities,” Moretti said.
Moretti also applauded the cooperative work of the various federal offices and institutions, stating that the project required a broad range of expertise in marine acoustics, signal processing, statistical modeling, marine biology, and animal behavior. “It brings expertise together to help make sense of these data sets that are being collected,” Moretti said, “and the data have proliferated out into several other studies.”
Moretti stated that Navy leadership is trying hard to balance the requirements of their military mission with good environmental stewardship. “It’s to that end that we are funded,” he said, “so hopefully with time, we’ll be able to give some understanding and some guidelines for future environmental compliance.”
Gordon M. Snow Named Assistant Director of FBI Cyber Division
April 23, 2010 - Director Robert S. Mueller, III has named Gordon M. Snow assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. Most recently, Mr. Snow served as deputy assistant director of the Cyber Division. In this new role, he will be responsible for leading the FBI’s efforts to protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes.
“The FBI considers the cyber threat against our nation to be one of the greatest concerns of the 21st century,” said Director Mueller. “Protecting the United States against cyber crimes is one of the FBI’s highest priorities and, in fact, is the FBI's highest criminal priority. Gordon’s broad range of investigative and leadership experience will serve the Cyber Division well as they carry out this mission.”
Mr. Snow entered on duty as a special agent with the FBI on March 8, 1992. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Birmingham Division’s Huntsville Resident Agency. While there, he investigated violent crime, drug, civil rights, public corruption, and white-collar crime matters.
In April 1996, he was assigned to the Critical Incident Response Group as a member of the Hostage Rescue Team. During that time, he took part in several sensitive rendition missions; conducted terrorism assessments overseas with the Department of State; and was assigned to assessment, protection, and investigative support missions after the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, and the embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mr. Snow was promoted to supervisory special agent in the Counterintelligence Division’s Middle East Unit in January 2001. Two years later, in January 2003, he was assigned to the Detroit Division, where he supervised the foreign counterintelligence program and served as the SWAT program coordinator. In April 2005, Mr. Snow was appointed chief of the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Acquisition of U.S. Nuclear & Missile Technology Unit at FBI Headquarters.
In May 2006, Mr. Snow was selected as the assistant special agent in charge of the San Francisco Division’s San Jose Resident Agency. In that role, he had operational responsibility for the counterterrorism, cyber, white-collar crime, and violent crime squads; the San Jose members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force; the High-Value Computer Crimes Task Force; the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensics Lab; and the Monterey Bay Resident Agency. He also served as the SWAT program manager.
Mr. Snow was assigned to the Afghanistan theatre of operations as the FBI's on-scene commander for the Counterterrorism Division in June 2007. Following his return to the U.S., he was appointed section chief in the Cyber Division in January 2008, and detailed to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Counterintelligence Executive. During that assignment, he and his staff led the effort in drafting the government-wide Cyber Counterintelligence Plan under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-23/National Security Presidential Directive-54, the Comprehensive National Cyber Initiative.
In January 2009, Mr. Snow was appointed as chief of the Cyber Division’s Cyber National Security Section and the director of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force. In November 2009, he was named deputy assistant director of the Cyber Division. Mr. Snow is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a B.A. in English. He received an M.B.A. with an emphasis in finance from Virginia Tech in 2001 and a J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in 2006. Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Snow served in the United States Marine Corps for more than 10 years, as both an enlisted Marine and as an officer.
“The FBI considers the cyber threat against our nation to be one of the greatest concerns of the 21st century,” said Director Mueller. “Protecting the United States against cyber crimes is one of the FBI’s highest priorities and, in fact, is the FBI's highest criminal priority. Gordon’s broad range of investigative and leadership experience will serve the Cyber Division well as they carry out this mission.”
Mr. Snow entered on duty as a special agent with the FBI on March 8, 1992. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Birmingham Division’s Huntsville Resident Agency. While there, he investigated violent crime, drug, civil rights, public corruption, and white-collar crime matters.
In April 1996, he was assigned to the Critical Incident Response Group as a member of the Hostage Rescue Team. During that time, he took part in several sensitive rendition missions; conducted terrorism assessments overseas with the Department of State; and was assigned to assessment, protection, and investigative support missions after the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, and the embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mr. Snow was promoted to supervisory special agent in the Counterintelligence Division’s Middle East Unit in January 2001. Two years later, in January 2003, he was assigned to the Detroit Division, where he supervised the foreign counterintelligence program and served as the SWAT program coordinator. In April 2005, Mr. Snow was appointed chief of the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Acquisition of U.S. Nuclear & Missile Technology Unit at FBI Headquarters.
In May 2006, Mr. Snow was selected as the assistant special agent in charge of the San Francisco Division’s San Jose Resident Agency. In that role, he had operational responsibility for the counterterrorism, cyber, white-collar crime, and violent crime squads; the San Jose members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force; the High-Value Computer Crimes Task Force; the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensics Lab; and the Monterey Bay Resident Agency. He also served as the SWAT program manager.
Mr. Snow was assigned to the Afghanistan theatre of operations as the FBI's on-scene commander for the Counterterrorism Division in June 2007. Following his return to the U.S., he was appointed section chief in the Cyber Division in January 2008, and detailed to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Counterintelligence Executive. During that assignment, he and his staff led the effort in drafting the government-wide Cyber Counterintelligence Plan under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-23/National Security Presidential Directive-54, the Comprehensive National Cyber Initiative.
In January 2009, Mr. Snow was appointed as chief of the Cyber Division’s Cyber National Security Section and the director of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force. In November 2009, he was named deputy assistant director of the Cyber Division. Mr. Snow is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a B.A. in English. He received an M.B.A. with an emphasis in finance from Virginia Tech in 2001 and a J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in 2006. Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Snow served in the United States Marine Corps for more than 10 years, as both an enlisted Marine and as an officer.
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