By Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan Wicks

Special to American Forces Press Service

May 11, 2008 - Marines and Sailors with the Essex Amphibious Readiness Group are preparing for possible humanitarian assistance operations to aid cyclone-stricken Burma. The Essex Amphibious Ready Group, along with 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is steaming to support potential humanitarian-assistance operations in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma May 1 and 2. Some estimates have put the death toll at more than 100,000. So far, the Burmese military government has allowed only one U.S. shipment of relief supplies.

"This is what we are here for," Navy Chief Petty Officer Andres Carillo, of the USS Essex, said. "It's our mission to help those in need."

The amphibious readiness group includes the forward-deployed amphibious ships USS Essex, USS Juneau, USS Harpers Ferry and USS Mustin. The servicemembers are working to fill more than 14,000 5-gallon plastic water bladders with fresh water. In the event of humanitarian operations, the water could be loaded onto landing craft and helicopters to be distributed to those affected by the cyclone.

"We are capitalizing on the excess water the ship has to support the victims who need it," said Marine Capt. Ray Howard, embark officer for 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. "We want to be able have the water distributed by the quickest means possible and be on call for help so that when within reach we can send the water via helicopter and boat to the disaster areas."

The process of filling up the bladders requires a great deal of manpower and hard work, Carillo said.

Marines and sailors set up shop before filling the water bladders. The Essex's Repair Division manufactured a fresh water distribution system that mirrored a miniature farming irrigation system. Afterward, both Marines and sailors prepared large boxes to store the water bladders for transport. During the filling process, they check the pipes of the water distribution system to ensure no leakage occurs.

After each bag is filled, Marines and sailors pack the clear plastic water bladders into the boxes.

"It's great to see the Marines and sailors working together to accomplish the mission," Howard said. "It's a great show of joint-service camaraderie."

Hoffman Estates [Illinois] seeks volunteers for bioterrorism drill “Hoffman Estates officials are looking for 2,000 to 3,000 volunteers next week to participate in a bioterrorism exercise in return for department store coupons and tickets to an indoor football game. The volunteers are needed for a large-scale drill, planned for Tuesday at the Sears Centre arena, 5333 Prairie Stone Pkwy., to test how medicine would be distributed to victims of a public-health emergency. […] During a large medical emergency, such as a terrorist biological attack, the Cook County Department of Public Health would need to dispense medication to those exposed to a disease, Christensen said. The goal of the drill is to test how long it takes to screen people and provide them with medication.” (Chicago Tribune; 07May08; Ken Manson)http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-help-bigdrill-both-08-may08,0,2434278.story 

Simulated Mass Dispensing Exercise [Lawrence Douglas County, Kansas]

Universal Detection Technology Invited to Present Its BSM-2000 Anthrax Detection Technology At the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] International Conference On Technologies for Homeland Security

Sequim [Wahington state], Battelle find way to expand utilities

NIH [National Institutes of Health] awards LIAI [La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology] major grant to test safety of new smallpox treatment

Court of appeals to hear Locy arguments tomorrow

Molecular diagnostics report: technologies, markets, and companies

Threat level low, but two sites on Maui might merit further cleanup

700 mil. yen 'wasted' on disposal plan / Cabinet office focused on mechanized arms disposal in China against advice

Chinese, Japanese leaders seek for new prospects for bilateral ties

Crews deal with fake explosion in terror drill

Regional meeting on chemical weapons begins in Ecuador

Padilla co-defendant challenges Indiana prison designation

Response teams train for disaster [Reno, Nevada]

Europe wary of US demand to scan shipping containers

CNS ChemBio-WMD Terrorism News is prepared by the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in order to bring timely and focused information to researchers and policymakers interested in the fields of chemical, biological, and radiological weapons nonproliferation and WMD terrorism.

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

May 9, 2008 - Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Flowers has served combat deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and understands firsthand what warfighters need to succeed. Last week, Flowers and his fellow soldiers from the Army Evaluation Task Force got a chance to show Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates some of the revolutionary concepts and systems they're testing to give future soldiers the upper hand on the battlefield.

The task force, from 5th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, stood up here in late 2006 as an operational test bed for the Army's Future Combat Systems program.

Gates got a firsthand look during his May 1 visit here at progress in developing an advanced data and communications network that will give troops detailed, real-time battlefield information.

The first of four planned "spinouts" in the program includes testing of the Intelligent Munitions System; the Tactical Unmanned Ground Sensor, which detects and reports on ground movement; the Urban Unmanned Ground Sensor, which detects motion inside a building; and the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System, nicknamed "rockets in a box."

The Non-Light-of-Sight cannon is being tested now at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., and Army Test and Evaluation Command will conduct an operational test on other Spinout 1 technology this summer. If all goes as hoped, its systems could be fielded within two years of the test, said Army Col. Patrick "Lee" Fetterman, Army Training and Doctrine Command's Future Combat Systems capability manager.

Gates watched preparations for those tests as the task force demonstrated how the systems can be used to track down and search a notional insurgent safe house at the Future Force Integration Directorate compound.

Sensors placed in the building – not unlike home security devices that monitor for break-ins – relayed details about inside activity to Bradley fighting vehicles. The Bradleys, picking up movement through advances communications equipment, barreled toward the building. They stopped abruptly as their crews dismounted, breaching a chain-link fence as they ran toward their objective, smoke and dust in their wake.

When the soldiers reached the suspected safe house, they dispatched the first of 25 small unmanned ground vehicles, or SUGVs, to be tested here as their "point man." The 30-pound tactical robot entered the building, relaying real-time images of its findings.

Ultimately, it honed in on the "insurgent" -- actually an Evaluation BCT soldier -- hiding in the dark beneath a stairwell. The soldiers stormed the building, capturing the suspect.

Flowers, who served with a reconnaissance platoon in Iraq, said he sees the clear value of systems that track enemy movement without risking or expending precious manpower.

"This would have been a great help in Iraq," he said. "You can use less manpower and keep your eyes on the objective at all times."

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Mazzarese, who joined the task force in January 2007, said likes the idea of leaving a piece of equipment, rather than one of his soldiers, behind to watch for enemy movement. "Being able to keep all my soldiers together means a lot to me," he said.

The demonstration showed progress in the Future Combat Systems program, which has been called the Army's most ambitious and far-reaching modernization since World War Two. The program aims to tap into the most advanced technologies possible to enable FCS-equipped brigade combat teams to see the enemy first and understand his intentions, officials explained. Once they understand what the enemy is up to, they can act first and on their own terms.

"We think this is a significant increase in capability for the soldier, dismounted and mounted, in combat," said Fetterman. "I believe there is value added in all the aspects of FCS."

While each new component will offer more capability, the true value of FCS will be far greater than the sum of its individual parts, Army Col. Michael Williamson, program manager for the FCS network, said.

"It is really the integration of all these pieces," he explained, "that will provide the commander and the soldiers so much more information and so much more capability than when you talk about individual pieces.

"So even though we are talking about the schedule of when various pieces are ready, at the end of the day, where the real impact comes, is when you start to combine all these capabilities into a package," he said.

Soldiers from the evaluation task force, most with combat experience under their belts, will combine live training, experimentation and simulation to test systems ranging from sensors to automated systems to manned vehicles.

"[The task force] ensures it all works together, and that it all provides value added to the soldier before we send it to over the theater and the soldier tries to apply it in a combat situation," Fetterman said. "Before we field it to a combat unit, these guys will tell us what's wrong with it, and we'll fix it."

Mazzarese is quick to say he'd rather be in the fight, but that his first choice of stateside assignments would be with the experimental task force.

"I've been in the Army for 11 years, and I've seen Army equipment suddenly appear," he said. "Being here, I'm able to be at the front end of that process and articulate my impressions about equipment before it gets to the field. That's making a difference to the soldiers."

FCS testing will be conducted both here and at neighboring White Sands Missile Range, N.M., through four spinouts that will enable the Army to build the new technology over time.

The second spinout will test a series of unmanned aerial vehicles. Spinout 3 will test varieties of unmanned ground vehicles. The final spinout will evaluate manned ground vehicles that operate from a common platform, as well as the network.

The network is evolving incrementally, with additional sensors added to it with each spinout. The goal is to have "everything together and working" by 2017, with individual components fielded during the interim, Fetterman said.

But the Army doesn't intend to wait until then to get some of the best new technologies being developed to warfighters in the field.

Some, including unmanned aerial vehicles that can be carried in a backpack and small unmanned ground vehicles that can carry sensors into buildings, caves and other dangerous spots, are already in limited use in the combat theater.

"We're a lot farther down the road on this than people know," said Army Col. John Maddux, director for Army Evaluation Task Force integration. "This is not about the future. It's about giving a capability to soldiers now."

American Forces Press Service  May 9, 2008 - More than a dozen insurgents were killed during a coalition forces operation to disrupt Taliban support operations in Afghanistan's Helmand province yesterday, military officials reported.  Coalition forces searched compounds in the province's Garmsir district, targeting a Taliban insurgent associated with procurement and smuggling of various types of small arms, munitions, fuses and explosives.  During their search, coalition forces were fired upon, and they responded with small arms and air strikes, killing more than a dozen of their attackers, officials said.  Troops found PK machine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, fuses, small-arms ammunition and ammunition vests on the compound, and destroyed them to prevent future use.  

(From a Combined Joint Task Force 101 news release.)

By Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Renee Cevey

Special to American Forces Press Service

May 8, 2008 - Wilford Hall Medical Center here has launched a new program emphasizing the importance of literacy to parents and children alike.  Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit organization, uses several methods to promote early literacy as part of routine pediatric care, including having volunteers reading aloud in pediatric waiting rooms.

Its main approach, though, is to promote literacy during well-baby or well-child visits for children from ages 6 months through 4 years. Pediatric providers trained in the Reach Out and Read model offer age-appropriate tips to emphasize to parents and caretakers the importance of reading aloud to children. The parents also are encouraged to invent stories to go with pictures in the books.

During each of these visits, the child receives a new developmentally appropriate book to keep.

Reach Out and Read's programs are located in more than 3,700 hospitals and health centers in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands. Through these programs, more than 5.4 million new books are distributed each year to more than 3.4 million children and their families.

In 2007, Reach Out and Read teamed up with the Defense Department and its Office of Family Policy, Children and Youth to implement the institution of the organization's programs in up to 20 military health care facilities across the nation.

Research demonstrates that parents who are encouraged by their pediatric providers to read aloud to their children are more likely to do so, and consequently report reading aloud as a favorite activity to share with their children. Furthermore, children who are read to during the first years of life are much more likely to learn to read on schedule, contributing to later school success.

Reach Out and Read helps parents understand developmental stages, builds routines that reassure children, and develops skills and knowledge essential for families being tested by separation and deployment.

The organization is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad.

(Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Renee Cevey serves at Wilford Hall Medical Center.)

By Navy Seaman William Selby Special to American Forces Press Service  May 8, 2008 - The Defense Department is developing a proposal to finance university research on national security-related issues, a senior Pentagon official said yesterday. The Minerva Consortia, as it's called, would have the academic and intellectual communities focus on certain physical and social sciences, Thomas Mahnken, deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy planning, said in a teleconference with online journalists and "bloggers."  "We, as a Defense Department, don't have the expertise that we really need," Mahnken said. "We, as a nation, need to cultivate that expertise."  While DoD already researches both basic and applied physical sciences, Mahnken said, research in social science needs beefing up.  Though some issues surround research of social sciences, Mahnken said, funding should not be one of them.  "One of the virtues of social science research, as opposed to the physical science research, is it's relatively inexpensive," Mahnken said. "This is an area where 2 or 3 million dollars actually goes a long way."  Mahnken said that although the government already uses organizations such as the National Security Agency for social-science research, the goal in the DoD proposal is to bridge a fundamental gap between academia and the government in social sciences.  That gap, he explained, puts the government at a disadvantage in understanding some of the challenges the United States faces worldwide and as a nation, Mahnken said.  Mahnken said another motive is to help college students receive more funding for their education.  "We see this as being able to fund kind of a new generation of scholars," he said. "I've gotten a lot of letters of support from the university community."  To get the Minerva Consortia project to move forward, solid funding is a must, Mahnken said.  "This is the type of research that you don't just turn the crank and produce something overnight," he said. "So we want to provide a stable funding base."  

(Navy Seaman William Selby works for the New Media branch of American Forces Information Service.)

By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service  May 8, 2008 - The premier installations from each military service and the Defense Logistics Agency were recognized at a Pentagon award ceremony today. John J. Young Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, presented the Commander in Chief's Annual Awards for Installation Excellence.  The highlighted installations have distinguished themselves through effective leadership and management as well as being good stewards of tax dollars, Young said at the ceremony.  "Installations are the backbone to our armed forces," Young said, noting that military posts provide training, billeting, maintenance, research and development, and other valuable facilities, and also serve as U.S. power-projection platforms.  Military installations also "provide a safe place for our military members and their families to live, to work and play," Young said.  This year's awardees are: Fort A.P. Hill, Bowling Green, Va.; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.; Naval Base Coronado, San Diego; Dover Air Force Base, Dover, Del.; and the Defense Supply Center Richmond, Va.  Wayne Arny, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, served as the event's master of ceremonies.  "This prestigious award recognizes the best of the best," Arny told the Pentagon auditorium audience before the awards were presented.  

President Ronald Reagan created the Commander's in Chief Annual Award for Installation Excellence in 1985. The Defense Logistics Agency was added to the competition in 1988. Cited organizations receive a trophy, an "Installation Excellence" flag, and a letter signed by President Bush.

By Kristen Noel Special to American Forces Press Service  May 7, 2008 - The coalition has initiated a "focused district development" program in volatile southern Afghanistan to reform community police forces, a military official said yesterday.  "[The program is] improving the security of the local people and building their confidence in the government of Afghanistan," Army Col. Thomas McGrath, commander of Afghanistan Regional Security Command South, said in a teleconference with online journalists and "bloggers."  McGrath explained that the focused district development program removes Afghan police forces from their district for eight weeks to complete uniformed-officer training at a central location. The local police are backfilled with the Afghan national civil police -- a highly trained national police force -- during the eight-week training period, he said.  Almost 700 Afghan uniformed police have graduated from the focused district development program to date, McGrath said. The first class, from three districts in Afghanistan's Zabul province, graduated and reoccupied their areas in March, he added.  McGrath said the police training has led to more professional, better equipped Afghan police forces in the districts that have been through the program. "They're well trained, well equipped, in uniform, doing the right thing, [and] supporting the people," he said.  The police forces the coalition initially encountered in southern Afghan provinces were untrained, poorly equipped, and not in uniform, McGrath explained.  "It's also a first for the people of that area, because they're seeing Afghan national police stepping up [and] very proudly doing their job," he added.  McGrath said the newly trained and equipped Afghan police already are helping coalition forces fight insurgency. Afghan national police are engaging the Taliban, he said, and they have killed 60 to 70 Taliban fighters over the last couple weeks.  "That's a first for the Taliban," he said, "that they're getting killed by the [Afghan National Police]." He added that intelligence reports indicate confusion among Taliban fighters because they are being attacked by Afghan police forces.  Afghan police also have started regularly patrolling roads, which McGrath said enables them to disrupt and interdict enemy operations.  "They used to like to sit around on checkpoints along the roads, doing nothing or shaking down the population," he said. "Now, we have [them] patrolling in the street, patrolling along major highways and also in the countryside, where they're able to disrupt and interdict Taliban operations."  McGrath said a U.S. infantry unit -- 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines -- will help Afghanistan Regional Security Command South throughout the summer and into the winter during future iterations of the focused district development program.  "[They] had the police mission in Iraq and served as police trainers," McGrath said, "so they bring a lot of experience in the kinetic and also the nonkinetic parts of the fight.  "The Marines are here to do the right thing -- build a better police force, which in turn will help build a better government and security for the people of Afghanistan," he added.  

(Kristen Noel works for the New Media branch of American Forces Information Service.)

American Forces Press Service  May 7, 2008 - A significant unmanned aerial vehicle warfighting milestone was reached more than two years ahead of schedule May 1, with the beginning of the 24th MQ-1 Predator combat air patrol in the global war on terror, Air Force officials announced yesterday.  This CAP doubles the around-the-clock Predator capability of last year, two years ahead of the Defense Department's goal of 2010 for 21 Predator CAPs, officials said.  Predators now supply more than 13,400 hours of full-motion video to ground forces every month while conducting armed overwatch, force protection and precision air-to-surface engagements with the AGM-114 Hellfire missile.  "The Predator teams have just been doing unbelievable work down there [in the International Zone], and in Baghdad as well," Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said recently. "And I think there's some path-breaking work on going here."  Sustaining one CAP 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year typically calls for four aircraft, but for surge operations, the Air Force now maintains 24 continuous CAPs with the total fleet of 76 combat aircraft.  Predator missions are launched by crews at sites in U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility while flown by crews at various locations in the United States. This concept of operations, called remote split operations, allows greater effectiveness in supplying more full-motion video directly to warfighters engaged in combat, officials said. This model of operations nearly triples sustainable combat capability by maximizing the number of available crews and aircraft engaged in combat operations in the global war on terror, Air Force officials said.  Prior to the innovation of remote split operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Air Force used a traditional unit-deployment model developed in the 1990s. The traditional model of rotating units through the theater limited the Air Force to committing only about 30 percent of its Predator forces to combat. Under this remote model, the Air Force commits 85 percent of its aircraft to combat operations.  And just as split operations allow more aircraft in combat, flying the missions from the continental United States reduces the number of Americans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to conduct these missions, officials said, noting that the smaller forward presence reduces American exposure to enemy actions and allows the Air Force to project power without projecting vulnerability.  The Air Force acceleration of Predator capability to combat was made possible by increased production and delivery of Predator aircraft and several personnel actions, including freezing Predator assignments and reassigning pilots from other aircraft and duties to meet the growing demand for full-motion video, officials said. The Air National Guard also has accelerated its Predator commitment in five states, operating six CAPs.  The Air Force plans to expand Predator training by standing up a second Predator training squadron and establish a Predator weapons instructor course in early 2009. This action is necessary to lay the foundation to further increase and enhance joint warfighting capability, officials said.  

(From a U.S. Air Force news release.)

By Samantha L. Quigley

American Forces Press Service

May 7, 2008 - A troop-support organization's Web site earned top honors in the annual Webby Awards competition as the top lifestyle site of 2008.  The CinCHouse.com Web site -- which derives its name from military shorthand for "commander in chief of the house" -- beat out such corporate giants as Epicurious and Reebok to take top honors in the 12th annual awards.

CinCHouse.com is Operation Homefront's online community for military wives and women in uniform.

"We are completely thrilled," said Regina Galvin, the site's editor in chief. "This really validates all the hard work we put in last year to create a better product for our readers. I can't thank our staff enough for the excellent work they did and continue to do every day."

Shortly after Galvin joined the organization, a creative overhaul of the previous site produced a sleeker, more innovative version. Chad Myers, director of Web development, said the prestigious award will bring much-needed attention to the plight of military families struggling as deployments continue.

"I'm excited to win, but the real benefit will be the exposure to the organization and the ability to help more people because of it," Myers said.

In 1999, Navy wife and author Meredith Leyva created the site as a virtual gathering place for military families frequently on the move. Part of Operation Homefront, CinCHouse includes forums as well as an online magazine that covers such issues as post-traumatic stress disorder and parenting.

"We are extremely honored," she said. "This award really speaks volumes about how important our services are to our members and how important our members are to the larger Internet community."

Operation Homefront is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad.

Hailed as the "the Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, the Webby Awards are the leading international awards honoring excellence on the Internet, including Web sites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile Web sites. They are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, R/GA's chief Bob Greenberg, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington and Harvey Weinstein.

"The Webby Awards honors the very best of the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. "CinCHouse's win is a testament to the skill, ingenuity and vision of its creators."

Founded in 1996, the Webby Awards program is known worldwide for its famous five-word speech limit. Past headline-grabbing speechmakers include Al Gore ("Please don't recount this vote."), Beastie Boys ("Can anyone fix my computer?") and Prince ("Everything you think is true.")

This year, the Webby Awards received a record 10,000 entries from more than 60 countries and all 50 states. The winners will be honored at two star-studded ceremonies in New York City. The Webby Film and Video Awards ceremony takes place June 9, and the 12th Annual Webby Awards Gala will be held June 10.