FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — President Obama on Friday privately thanked the U.S. Special Forces who killed Osama bin Laden. “Job well done,” he said of their daring raid.In a series of closed-door meetings, Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with some of the Special Operations forces who went on the raid in Pakistan and with members of the assault force who supported the mission.The President later addressed more than 2,000 soldiers in a hangar at Fort Campbell. “I came here for a simple reason: to say thank you on behalf of all America. This has been a historic week in the life of our nation,” he said. “Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals, intelligence, military, over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again.” The President said he had visited New York the day before to pay homage to the victims of bin Laden’s 2001 terrorist attacks and to the firefighters and police who responded to the catastrophe.“I promised that our nation will never forget those we lost that dark September day,” he said.“And today, here at Fort Campbell, I had the privilege of meeting the extraordinary Special Ops folks who honored that promise,” he said. “It was a chance for me to say, ‘On behalf of all Americans and people around the world, job well done. Job well done.’”During the meeting with the SEAL team, Mr. Obama awarded it and other units involved in the operation a Presidential Unit Citation, the White House said. The President also received a PowerPoint presentation on the raid, with maps, photos, and a scale model of the compound, from members of the assault force. Even the trained dog used in the raid attended.Speaking later to the troops of the 101st Airborne Division, he drew another connection, between the soldiers there and the commandos he called “America’s quiet professionals.”“Like all of us, they could have chosen a life of ease,” the President said. “But like you, they volunteered.”Describing the SEAL commandos as “battle hardened” and tirelessly trained, Mr. Obama said: “When I gave the order, they were ready. And in recent days, the world has learned just how ready they were.”While the SEAL team is not based at Fort Campbell, it is home of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers. The unit, which pilots aircraft for Special Operations troops, flew the helicopters that carried the commandos to bin Laden’s compound.Mr. Obama linked the killing of bin Laden to the broader war, saying it showed the progress the United States had made in disrupting and dismantling al-Qaeda. The soldiers of the 101st Airborne, he said, were pushing back insurgents and allowing Afghans to reclaim their towns. “The bottom line is this,” he said in a statement that drew the loudest cheers of the day, “our strategy is working, and there is no greater evidence of that than justice finally being delivered to Osama bin Laden.” Among the soldiers, there was satisfaction at the killing of bin Laden. Several said they were relieved, though most said they did not believe it would bring the Afghan war to an end any sooner.“It helps to know that we finally got him,” said Sgt. Marion Githens, who coordinated Army helicopters at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan before returning to the United States two days ago. But she said she was still ambivalent about the war. “Some days, you feel like it’s not going anywhere,” she said. “Other days, you think, OK, maybe we really can help these people.”Soldiers expressed gratitude Mr. Obama had come. “It’s tough coming home,” said Capt. Jimos Reese, a company commander. “It does mean a lot that the President cares about you.”The Pentagon recommended Mr. Obama come to Fort Campbell, a senior official said, because the 101st Airborne had taken significant casualties, having served in a Taliban stronghold south and west of Kandahar that is some of the most lethal terrain in Afghanistan.Mr. Obama acknowledged that, noting 125 soldiers from the base had died in Afghanistan. Some soldiers in the 101st Airborne, he said, had been deployed to Afghanistan three or four times.Among those who greeted the President at Fort Campbell was Vice Adm. William McRaven, a former commando in the SEALs who oversaw the raid as the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. After Mr. Obama’s arrival, the President’s motorcade left immediately for low buildings on the far side of the airfield, where the meeting with the SEAL team and other units lasted more than an hour.The meetings were kept private to protect the identities of those involved and to shield them from becoming targets of terrorist reprisals. In his speech to the troops, Mr. Obama said the American military had “broken the Taliban’s momentum” to promote terrorism in Afghanistan.“We are ultimately going to defeat al-Qaeda,” the President said to loud cheers. But he said he didn’t want to fool anyone. “This continues to be a tough fight.”Soldiers were careful not to celebrate bin Laden’s death, voicing instead a sense of professional pride for the work of the commandos.“We’re not done,” said Major Luis Ortiz.

3:23 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hey, it’s good to be back with you all. I’ll tell you what.  I want to thank General Colt for accompanying me up here.  I get the honor of introducing the General.

I was back here on February 11th, to welcome home members of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan -- 155 of you got off that plane in the middle of the night, and the only thing that was more exciting than seeing you getting off is watching your families watch you all get off.  So it’s an honor to be back here so soon.

I know many of you have just gotten home in the past few weeks -- so welcome home.  And I know from experience that your families want more than anything to spend time with you.  And so, every time I show up at a welcome home ceremony, I’m always worried about getting in the way.  Because I remember when my son came back home from Iraq after a year, there were all these ceremonies.  And I kept saying, hell, man, stop, I want to see my kid.  (Laughter.)

So, anyway, I get it.  So let me just say how much gratitude the President and I have, and all Americans do, for you all.  You guys have been in the fight from the beginning.  And the risk you’ve taken, the incredible sacrifices you’ve made, the comrades you’ve lost, the losses you’ve personally endured -- you’ve been in some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.

I’ve been there a number of times, back up those damn mountains.  I’d get a helicopter to go down 9,800 feet, and all I got on is a vest -- a bulletproof vest and a helmet and I’m out of breath climbing up about 40 clicks -- 40 feet.  And you guys are up there, 60 to 80-pound packs running around.  God, you’re amazing.  You just are amazing.  I’m in awe of the job you do, in awe of the job you do.  (Applause.)

As I said back in February, I want to also thank your families.  They made sacrifices as well, those intangible sacrifices -- those missed births and those missed birthdays, those missed graduations, those missed -- an occasional funeral. Perhaps more than anything else, just being missed, just not having you home.

The famous poet -- there was a famous poet I like to quote, John Milton, who said, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Your families serve as well.  And the rest of America owes your families a debt of gratitude as well.  (Applause.)  And so, to all the families that are listening, I want to say their service is as real as yours and it’s as appreciated.

To the soldiers here, you are the most capable warriors.  Let me say this without any fear of contradiction, you’re the most capable warriors in the history of the world.  There has never, never, never, never been a fighting force as capable as you are.

It’s my job today and my honor to talk a little bit about the man that I get to work with every day.  We’ve just got to spend time with the assaulters who got bin Laden.  (Applause.)

By the way, I shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to tell you anyway -- the President is going to be mad I’m taking so long -- (laughter) -- but today was “Grandfather’s Day,” so I went by earlier this morning before I came out here to my granddaughter’s little spring play.  And after it’s all over she said, “Pop, come back to my classroom with me.”  I said, “I can’t, honey.”  She said, “Are you going someplace on Air Force Two?”  I said, “Yeah, I am, babe.”  She said, “Where are you going?”  I said, going to -- true story -- I said, “I’m going to Fort Campbell.”  I said, “We’re going to see the guys out there who got Osama bin Laden.” Absolutely true story.  She said, “Pop!” and then she grabbed a little friend of hers and she said,  “My Pop is going out to see the whales.”  (Laughter.)  Not the SEALs, the whales  (Laughter.) Because if they’re that good they got to be big, man.  They got to be big.  (Laughter.)  Well, you guys are the gorillas, I’ll tell you.

I want to tell you, look, I’ve watched -- I’ve been around a while with eight Presidents, so I’ve watched Presidents make some difficult decisions.  They’ve all had to make difficult decisions.  But sitting in every meeting getting ready and planning for this mission and assault, for the mission to get bin Laden, I saw something extraordinary.  I saw a President who was told the odds -- told the odds weren’t but much more than 50/50 that he’d be there and we could do this, but they were considerably less than 100 percent.

And I, along with the all the rest of his national security team and Secretary of Defense, stayed -- everyone else, we sat around there and he asked our advice and we gave him our advice, and we told him told him a little this and that.  And finally, he just looked at all of us and said, I got faith in the -- I got faith in these guys.

He walked off on his own without anybody giving him any guarantees at all and he decided -- because he believed in not only the SEALs, but believes in all of you.  He has absolute total faith in all of you.  And he made that determination, and it was an amazing thing to watch.  But it was because he had the absolute confidence that you were there.

And so he decided, when he got into office, because of the fight you all were in from the beginning, that the number one priority was to get Osama bin Laden.  And he knew the risks, he knew there were significant risks, and more importantly, special operations risks to the people who were risking their lives getting there.  But he didn’t hesitate, nor did your guys.

Bob Gates said something interesting.  I’ve known Bob for a long time.  He said, it was one of the gutsiest decisions I’ve ever seen made and one of the gutsiest raids.  This is going to go down in history, what happened.  This is going to go down in history.

And here to introduce your Commander-in-Chief, the guy that I’m proud to serve with, is one of the country’s leading warriors himself, Deputy Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, General Jeffrey Colt.  Ladies and gentlemen, General Colt.  (Applause.)

GENERAL COLT:  Thank you, sir.

I can only try to tell you today just how proud of you that this Division and this local community are.  But more importantly, today, you’re going to get to hear from the Commander-in-Chief just how appreciative he is of all of your service and your sacrifices.

Please join me in this great privilege of welcoming the President of the United States, Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Fort Campbell!  (Applause.)  101st Airborne Division—Air Assault, hello!  (Applause.)

General Colt, thank you for that great introduction -- it was great because it was brief.  (Laughter.)  More importantly, thank you for the extraordinary leadership that you’ve shown here at one of the largest Army bases in America.  (Applause.)

And let me just say, I make a lot of decisions; one of the earliest and best decisions I made was choosing one of the finest Vice Presidents in our history -- Joe Biden, right here.  (Applause.)

Chaplain Miller, thank you for the beautiful invocation.

I want to thank General Colt for welcoming me here today, along with your great Command Sergeant Major, Wayne St. Louis.  (Applause.)  The Quartet and 101st Division Band.  (Applause.)  All these troopers behind me —- you look great.  (Applause.)  You noticed they kind of hesitated.  (Laughter.)  

We got a lot of folks in the house.  We’ve got military police and medical personnel.  We’ve got the Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces Group.  I think we’ve got a few Air Force here.  Ohh -- (laughter.)  Well, we thought we did.  There they go -- okay.  Come on.  (Applause.)  And, of course, the legendary Screaming Eagles.  (Applause.)  And although they’re not in the audience, I want to acknowledge the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment —- the Night Stalkers -— for their extraordinary service.  (Applause.)

Now, I’ve got to say, some of you are starting to look a little familiar -- because last December, when we were at Bagram, I was out there to thank you for your service, especially during the holidays.  And we had a great rally, a big crowd -- it seemed like everybody was there from the 101st.

And since then, I know we’ve had quite a few homecomings.  The Rakkasans.  (Applause.)  Destiny.  (Applause.)  Strike.  (Applause.)  Bastogne.  (Applause.)  And some of the Division Headquarters —- the Gladiators.  (Applause.)  On behalf of a grateful nation —- welcome home.  (Applause.)   

Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with General Campbell, Command Sergeant Major Schroeder, and all of the Screaming Eagles and troops that are still risking their lives in theater.  And I’m so pleased that Ann Campbell and Marla Schroeder, and some of the inspiring military spouses are here.  Where are they at?  Right over there.  (Applause.)  We are grateful to you.  God bless you.  There they are.  Thank you so much.  (Applause.)  This happens to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day.  (Applause.)  And we honor your service as well.

Now, I didn’t come here to make a really long speech.  I know you're hearing that.  (Laughter.)  It’s like, yeah, it’s hot!  (Laughter.)  What I really wanted to do was come down and shake some hands.  I came here for a simple reason —- to say thank you on behalf of America.  This has been an historic week in the life of our nation.  (Applause.)  Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals -— intelligence, military —- over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again.  (Applause.)

Yesterday, I traveled to New York City, and, along with some of our 9/11 families, laid a wreath at Ground Zero in memory of their loved ones.  I met with the first responders —- the firefighters, the police officers, the Port Authority officers —- who lost so many of their own when they rushed into those burning towers.  I promised that our nation will never forget those we lost that dark September day.   

And today, here at Fort Campbell, I had the privilege of meeting the extraordinary Special Ops folks who honored that promise.  It was a chance for me to say —- on behalf of all Americans and people around the world —- “Job well done.”  Job well done.  (Applause.)

They’re America’s “quiet professionals” -- because success demands secrecy.  But I will say this.  Like all of you, they could have chosen a life of ease.  But like you, they volunteered.  They chose to serve in a time of war, knowing they could be sent into harm’s way.  They trained for years.  They’re battle-hardened.  They practiced tirelessly for this mission.  And when I gave the order, they were ready.

Now, in recent days, the whole world has learned just how ready they were.  These Americans deserve credit for one of the greatest intelligence military operations in our nation’s history.  But so does every person who wears America’s uniform, the finest military the world has ever known.  (Applause.)  And that includes all of you men and women of 101st.  (Applause.)

You have been on the frontlines of this fight for nearly 10 years.  You were there in those early days, driving the Taliban from power, pushing al Qaeda out of its safe havens.  Over time, as the insurgency grew, you went back for, in some cases, a second time, a third time, a fourth time.

When the decision was made to go into Iraq, you were there, too, making the longest air assault in history, defeating a vicious insurgency, ultimately giving Iraqis the chance to secure their democracy.  And you’ve been at the forefront of our new strategy in Afghanistan.

Sending you -- more of you -- into harm’s way is the toughest decision that I’ve made as Commander-in-Chief.  I don’t make it lightly.  Every time I visit Walter Reed, every time I visit Bethesda, I’m reminded of the wages of war.  But I made that decision because I know that this mission was vital to the security of the nation that we all love.

And I know it hasn’t been easy for you and it hasn’t, certainly, been easy for your families.  Since 9/11, no base has deployed more often, and few bases have sacrificed more than you.  We see it in our heroic wounded warriors, fighting every day to recover, and who deserve the absolute best care in the world.  (Applause.)  We see it in the mental and emotional toll that’s been taken -- in some cases, some good people, good soldiers who’ve taken their own lives.  So we’re going to keep saying to anybody who is hurting out there, don’t give up.  You’re not alone.  Your country needs you.  We’re here for you to keep you strong.

And most of all, we see the price of this war in the 125 soldiers from Fort Campbell who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice during this deployment to Afghanistan.  And every memorial ceremony —- every “Eagle Remembrance” —- is a solemn reminder of the heavy burdens of war, but also the values of loyalty and duty and honor that have defined your lives.

So here’s what each of you must know.  Because of your service, because of your sacrifices, we’re making progress in Afghanistan.  In some of the toughest parts of the country, General Campbell and the 101st are taking insurgents and their leaders off the battlefield and helping Afghans reclaim their communities.

Across Afghanistan, we’ve broken the Taliban’s momentum.  In key regions, we’ve seized the momentum, pushing them out of their strongholds.  We’re building the capacity of Afghans, partnering with communities and police and security forces, which are growing stronger.

And most of all, we’re making progress in our major goal, our central goal in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is disrupting and dismantling -- and we are going to ultimately defeat al Qaeda.  (Applause.)  We have cut off their head and we will ultimately defeat them.  (Applause.)

Even before this week’s operation, we’ve put al Qaeda’s leadership under more pressure than at any time since 9/11, on both sides of the border.  So the bottom line is this:  Our strategy is working, and there’s no greater evidence of that than justice finally being delivered to Osama bin Laden.  (Applause.)

But I don’t want to fool you.  This continues to be a very tough fight.  You know that.  But because of this progress, we’re moving into a new phase.  In the coming months, we’ll start transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces. Starting this summer, we’ll begin reducing American forces.  As we transition, we’ll build a long-term partnership with the Afghan people, so that al Qaeda can never again threaten America from that country.

And, as your Commander-in-Chief, I’m confident that we’re going to succeed in this mission.  The reason I’m confident is because in you I see the strength of America’s military -- (applause) -- and because in recent days we’ve all seen the resilience of the American spirit.

Now, this week I received a letter from a girl in New Jersey named Payton Wall.  She wrote to me on Monday after the news that bin Laden had been killed, and she explained how she still remembers that September morning almost 10 years ago.  She was only four years old.  Her father, Glen, was trapped inside the World Trade Center.  And so, in those final, frantic moments, knowing he might not make it, he called home.  And Payton remembers watching her mom sobbing as she spoke to her husband and then passed the phone to Payton.  And in words that were hard to hear but which she’s never forgotten, he said to her, “I love you Payton, and I will always be watching over you.”     

So yesterday, Payton, her mom, and her sister, Avery, joined me at Ground Zero.  And now Payton is 14.  These past 10 years have been tough for her.  In her letter, she said, “Ever since my father died, I lost a part of me that can never be replaced.”  And she describes her childhood as a “little girl struggling to shine through all the darkness in her life.”

But every year, more and more, Payton is shining through.  She’s playing a lot of sports, including lacrosse and track, just like her dad.  She’s doing well in school.  She’s mentoring younger students.  She’s looking ahead to high school in the fall.  And so, yesterday she was with us —- a strong, confident young woman -— honoring her father’s memory, even as she set her sights on the future.

And for her and for all of us, this week has been a reminder of what we’re about as a people.  It’s easy to forget sometimes, especially in times of hardship, times of uncertainty.  We’re coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression; haven’t fully recovered from that.  We’ve made enormous sacrifices in two wars.  But the essence of America -- the values that have defined us for more than 200 years -- they don’t just endure; they are stronger than ever.

We’re still the America that does the hard things, that does the great things.  We’re the nation that always dared to dream.  We’re the nation that’s willing to take risks -- revolutionaries breaking free from an empire; pioneers heading West to settle new frontiers; innovators building railways and laying the highways and putting a man on the surface of the moon.

We are the nation -- and you’re the Division -- that parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, freeing a continent, liberating concentration camps.  We’re the nation that, all those years ago, sent your Division to a high school in Arkansas so that nine black students could get an education.  That was you.  Because we believed that all men are created equal; that everyone deserves a chance to realize their God-given potential.

We’re the nation that has faced tough times before -- tougher times than these.  But when our Union frayed, when the Depression came, when our harbor was bombed, when our country was attacked on that September day, when disaster strikes like that tornado that just ripped through this region, we do not falter.  We don’t turn back.  We pick ourselves up and we get on with the hard task of keeping our country strong and safe.

See, there’s nothing we can’t do together, 101st, when we remember who we are, at that is the United States of America.  (Applause.)  When we remember that, no problem is too hard and no challenge is too great.

And that is why I am so confident that, with your brave service, America’s greatest days are still to come.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  God bless the 101st.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
3:47 P.M. CDT

Listen to the Audio

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to those special military units that brought down Osama bin Laden.

Ray Suarez has that.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Hello, Fort Campbell!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

RAY SUAREZ: The end of an eventful week found the president praising troops at Fort Campbell, Ky., after a very public victory in the long war against al-Qaida.

BARACK OBAMA: Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals -- intelligence, military -- over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

RAY SUAREZ: But elsewhere on the sprawling base, well beyond the cameras' reach, the president earlier met with members of the special operations team that killed bin Laden.

BARACK OBAMA: It was a chance for me to say, on behalf of all Americans and people around the world, job well done.

RAY SUAREZ: Among them, operators from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, often called "SEAL Team Six," and pilots from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed "Night Stalkers."

Along with comrades from other so-called special missions units, like the Army's Delta Force, they work for the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC. After the disastrous 1980 attempt to free hostages in Iran, JSOC was formed to use the top special forces units of the U.S. military and today is a vital tool in the American arsenal.

MARC AMBINDER, "National Journal": This wasn't the first time or fifth or 10th or 20th time that JSOC has -- has conducted secret ops in Pakistan without -- without the knowledge of the Pakistani government.

RAY SUAREZ: "National Journal"'s Marc Ambinder writes about intelligence and national security matters, and to the extent possible, JSOC.

MARC AMBINDER: Since 9/11, the units have turned into an army, a secret army within an army. They have incorporated intelligence elements, logistical elements, technological and development elements. And they really became the tip of the spear in the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

RAY SUAREZ: Since 9/11, JSOC has handled among the highest-profile and sensitive operations.

In 2003, JSOC operatives killed Saddam Hussein's sons and captured the Iraqi leader himself. In 2006, JSOC tracked down al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike. And, in 2009, snipers from SEAL Team Six killed Somali pirates holding an American mariner off the Horn of Africa.

But JSOC's tactics in Iraq also led to revelations of detainee abuse and torture by American forces under the command of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who later led the war in Afghanistan.

Over the last decade of war in Afghanistan, then in Iraq, JSOC has quadrupled in size, from 1,000 to 4,000 personnel, as it's been asked to perform more and more tasks.

CIA Director Panetta said Tuesday on the NewsHour the high operational tempo gave policy-makers confidence they could do this job.

LEON PANETTA, CIA director: These teams conduct these kinds of operations two and three times a night in Afghanistan.

RAY SUAREZ: JSOC now works intimately with the CIA on both intelligence and operational matters. Though it operates in near-total secrecy, its missions are national security priorities.

And that has created a quandary, says Ambinder.

MARC AMBINDER: Let's be very clear what happened. The U.S. violated the sovereignty of a country to carry out a targeted assassination of someone. Now, 98 percent of us, including myself, think it was exactly the right thing to do -- right thing to do. But it absolutely has the potential to and probably should increase the public debate, or at least the public's knowledge, of this entity called JSOC.

RAY SUAREZ: For more on special operations and the SEALs, we turn to former SEAL Team Six member retired Navy Commander Ryan Zinke. He's now a Montana state senator. And former Army Special Forces officer retired Col. Kalev Sepp, he also served in civilian special operations posts in the Pentagon. He's now an assistant professor at the Navy Postgraduate School.

And, Senator, let me start with you. Just a short time ago, Vice President Biden called the units that pulled off this operation in Afghanistan some of the most capable fighting forces in the history of the world.

Who are they? How do you end up training, being picked for one of these units?

CMDR. RYAN ZINKE (RET.), U.S. Navy SEAL: What you are seeing is, is two tier-one forces, which really represent the best of the Navy and the Army.

On the SEAL side, it takes five years to -- in order to become -- when a young man says, I want to be a Navy SEAL, that process alone is a long and arduous journey. It represents about a 90 percent attrition rate. And then, when you're finally a member of a SEAL team, is that you will have a couple deployments under your belt, show you that are a superior performer, and then you are either asked or request an interview with SEAL Team Six, at which you go to another selection course, of which 50 percent fail.

So, really, when are you talking about the caliber of these individuals, both in dedication and skill level, it really represents the best of the best.

RAY SUAREZ: And by the time you become a member of that team, I guess you are no longer a real youngster either. How -- what is the average age in a unit like Team Six?

CMDR. RYAN ZINKE: Well, we used to call it the old man club. When I was active, it was -- we were about 34, 35 years of age on average.

But, you know, what you have to understand, too, is these guys have been fighting a war for over 10 years. They are hardened combat veterans. They have -- they have conducted operations in hundreds of compounds. And they are experienced. They know what they are doing. This is a routine operation and -- you know, for these guys anyway. They know what they are doing. They're pros.

RAY SUAREZ: Col. Sepp, what can these units do that conventionally trained forces can't or are not assigned to do?

COL. KALEV SEPP (RET.), U.S. Army: Well, Sen. Zinke answered part of that question in describing how they are selected for these missions.

There are simply operations, military operations, that are directed by the president that require a very high degree of assurance of success and to minimize risk -- there will always be risk -- by -- putting together people and teams that -- you know, that are physically powerful, highly intelligent, and then have a body of experience and maturity that attend to that, and then are connected to all the support systems, the aviation units that move them, the intelligence structures that -- that prepare the -- their understanding of their target for them.

These are truly national mission forces.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, let's -- I would like to get some more examples from both of you of the kinds of things that these men are taught to do that conventionally trained people just wouldn't learn in basic training, as generations of American service people have experienced.

Colonel?

COL. KALEV SEPP: The historical piece would be -- explain some of this.

The Son Tay raid into North Vietnam in 1970 -- that is the idea of being able to go deep into the -- you know, the heart of an enemy country right next to their capital and attempt a rescue of prisoners that are held at a prison camp is the -- is the modern model for the capabilities that a -- that these mission -- that these special mission units are supposed to be able to provide for the president.

RAY SUAREZ: Senator, some examples?

CMDR. RYAN ZINKE: When you look at weapons of mass destruction or hostage takeover, Achille Lauro, or any of those high-profile missions where you cannot fail, I think that this is the force. This is the force the president would call on.

They are constantly in training. They are war-hardened. They are a very expensive force to run as well. I mean, the resources that are brought to bear with these forces are -- are phenomenal.

And the other thing to understand is, is that for every one SEAL that was on the ground in the compound, there's 200 or 300 supporting cast members that are also doing the job, from intelligence collection, to bringing the fuel, loading the ammunition. I mean, these guys have a lot of great people behind them that are supporting the effort.

RAY SUAREZ: Senator, are you surprised at all that we're even having this conversation? In this week's "TIME" magazine, there is a quote to a report from a former SEAL, "I can't say a word about Team Six. There is no Team Six."

And, yet, here are you and I talking about it.

CMDR. RYAN ZINKE: Well, I was, quite frankly, shocked at the early confirmation by senior officials that used the term SEAL Team Six.

And in previous operations, it's been special operations. And, occasionally, you will break it down to Army Special Forces or Navy Special Forces. But I think this is the first time that we have had early confirmation of SEAL Team Six.

And, of course, when that happens is -- the public wants to know, who is SEAL Team Six? And, of course, Richard Marcinko in books, and then, pretty soon, with the technology available today, you are able to find, you know, Sen. Ryan Zinke in Whitefish, Mont., as a former member.

RAY SUAREZ: Colonel, do the JSOC units from the various branches of the services work together at all, or, under JSOC, do they remain very much Navy, Army, Marine, distinct units?

COL. KALEV SEPP: Oh, the strength of the Joint Special Operations Command is the -- is the cohesion that these units have in working with each other.

Elements of it tend to be pure only in the sense of where they are recruited from and formed. The -- there is an Army special mission unit. There is this Navy SEAL special mission unit. There is aviation units from the Army and Air Force.

But in the -- in the -- over the past 10 years, the duration and intensity and demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other locations around the world, in the counterterrorism missions that these special mission units have, have driven them to work together as a whole, as a complete team.

RAY SUAREZ: I'm glad you brought up the operational tempo, because it is reported that there is very high demand for the skills in -- that are embedded in JSOC.

We have a long tradition of civilian oversight of the military in this country. Is that weakened at all by a unit that seems a little bit beyond the reach of that civilian oversight?

COL. KALEV SEPP: The unit is under very direct control of the national executive authority of the United States.

It is -- they are -- although they maintain a very tight classification of, you know, the capabilities of the unit, who the membership are, what their tools and weapons and support capabilities are, in fact, they're -- they're under very tight review and control. And the evidence of that is the president's direct role in ordering this mission to capture or kill bin Laden inside Pakistan.

RAY SUAREZ: Sen. Zinke, same question.

CMDR. RYAN ZINKE: Well, I don't think so.

I think the technology is moving so rapidly forward. One is, you do need a force like this. And the demands on special operations forces have increased and will continue to increase. But when you look at the complexity of the operations that face these troops, I mean, it's no surprise that you do need years of experience.

And the fact that the president of the United States can look and observe on operations, you know, in foreign countries down to detail about almost a room-to-room clearance, well, you know, I think should give one pause, both that, A., you can command and control it from further away, and, B., that the level of scrutiny, I think, has never been more intense and more relevant and clear in operations that are being conducted.

RAY SUAREZ: Sen. Zinke, Col. Sepp, gentlemen, thank you both.

COL. KALEV SEPP: Thank you.

CMDR. RYAN ZINKE: Well, thank you. It's been a pleasure.

May 5th was the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned space flight.

The astronaut was Alan Shepard, and it was a huge deal back in 1961 -- the Russians had beaten the U.S. with the first satellite in 1957, and again with the first manned space flight a month before.

Computers played a huge role in that flight, and Art Cohen was the main mathematician behind them.

As the leader of IBM's Space Computing Center in Washington, D.C., Cohen's team was responsible for all computing support for every Project Mercury flight from 1961 through 1963.

Cohen is now 83 years old, and he retired from IBM in 1988. But he gave us an interview as part of the company's 100th birthday celebration this year.

Things were very different back then, as he explains:

• The two computers that directed the first space flights filled a large room, but only had 1/100,000 as much storage space as today's least powerful iPhone. They also had the processing speed of 3Mhz -- about the same as an early 1980s vintage PC.

• All data about the space craft -- position, velocity, and so on -- was tracked by radar on the earth. The only data sent directly to earth was medical data from sensors connected to the astronaut's body.

• Data traveled from the radar stations to Cohen's team at a blistering fast pace of 1,000 bits per second -- about 1/5,000th as fast as today's wireless connections.

Here's a transcript of the interview, edited slightly for length.

Business Insider: What was the computer system like that you used in the Mercury Mission and how would you compare it with today’s PC or a smart phone in terms of power and storage? 

Art Cohen: We were at something called the Guided Space Flight Center, which was in Beltsville, Maryland. That was the central communication hub for Mercury. And we supplied all the information to the Cape, to mission control and so on.

What we had there were two 7090s. They were second generation computers, transistorized. And at that time NASA was so concerned about transistorized - would it be reliable enough? - that they made us have a duplex system. They felt that tubes were more reliable than transistors because they weren’t sure about transistors.

We had two of these things right next to each other. It took up a whole room. And by room, I mean a large room -- with tapes and DASD and storage units, and so and so forth -- a very, very large set up.

We had 32,000 "words" of storage -- ten-digit words of storage -- that’s what we had.

[Ed: This is equivalent to about 150 kilobytes (kB) of storage on today's computers, which store data in different-sized chunks. Most hard drives today are measured in gigabytes (GB), which are 1,000,000 kB each. Wikipedia articles on the IBM 7090 and 36-bit word length have more background.]

Now you’ve got things you could hold in your hand that are more powerful than what we had. With tremendously more storage. But compared to the world I lived in ... in ‘52, we worked on something called the CPC, the Card Program Calculator, and we had 34 -- get this -- 34 ten-digit storage units. 34 units of ten digits each. But we solved all kinds of problems with that. It was a challenge, but we did it.

So we thought this was gravy. I mean, we had 32,000 units of internal storage -- that was pretty good.

We had pretty sophisticated programs for Mercury. All kinds of mathematics -- orbit mathematics. Orbit mechanics. Differential correction, sliding wire techniques, short arc techniques, re-entry, knowing the positions of all the radar sites, acquisition. We told them where to point the radars and we told the ships where to go for landing.  So it was a lot of complicated stuff that we did we those 32,000 pieces of storage. It’s kind of remarkable when you think about it, isn’t it?

MR: What was the rate of processing?

AC: [After checking] The 50,000 transistors could read and write a the rate of 3 million bits per second.

[That's about 3Mhz, which is about the same as the Tandy TRS-80 -- one of the first personal computers introduced in the early 1980s. Today's fastest processors are over 5Ghz, and benefit from multiple cores and other advances as well.]

It was slow. In those times, it was very fast, and that’s why we used the 7090.

At that time we were always worried -- can you pack integrated circuits close enough, because the heat would build up so badly that there’d be a limitation on how much you could do, how fast you could go.  And we obviously broke that sound barrier, right?

BI: You had to get that data in there, process it in real time, and then send it back.

AC:  Yes, you're absolutely right. IBM had built up in Kingston something called the 7281 which was called the real time channel.

By the way, the data that was coming in from down the Atlantic missile range -- hold onto your hat -- was 1,000 bits per second. The fastest data we had for Shepard’s flight was 1,000 bits per second coming in -- that’s position data coming in and we also were receiving velocity data. 

[By way of comparison, Verizon's 4G wireless network is at least 5,000 times faster.] 

And then later we improved it -- it was a big deal to get it up to 2,400 bits per second. And the radar data was coming in much slower than that.

All that data was coming in fast enough so that the people down at the Cape were able to make decisions.  We drove all the displays at mission control and they were able to make decisions about retro fire, separation from the booster, and all this kind of stuff.  All that was done with the data that we provided to mission control.So it was good enough.

BI: How was the data getting from the rocket back to earth?

AC: We had radars that were actually tracking that thing. They were watching it. And that data was then being sent over this 1,000-bit-per-second line.

MR: So there wasn’t any positioning data coming from the spacecraft to you? 

AC: No. The position data was coming from the radars which were watching the craft. 

MR: Was there any way for Alan Shepard to communicate?

AC: We had voice communication.

MR: How did that work? 

AC: I suppose radio. [In 1962, John] Glenn orbited the earth. Whenever he got near a radar site, there was an astronaut there with voice contact with the astronaut. And then, all of sudden he went over the horizon, and then they lost contact. So, there was a short period of time when there was contact.

It was voice communication to find out how things are, and also, they had telemetry data coming down which was like medical stuff. He was hooked up, and that came to us and we also sent that down to mission control.

They couldn’t bounce signals off of satellites at that time. It was all direct. What they could see is what they could get.

MR: When you see some of the consumer technology today, do you see any technologies that came out of the space program in the 1960s?

AC: You name it.  First of all, we had all the radar sites, and all these sites in the United States where we knew exactly what the latitude and longitude were. That was done by people who were on Mercury. Not IBM, but other vendors who were doing that -- and they did a great job. And that of course helped GPS.

Guys who worked for me then went on to were in charge of the airline reservation system. The Saber and the Passenger Airline Registration System, PARS, came out of that.

The people who developed the air traffic control system, which now has to be replaced from what I understand.  But the one who was in charge of that was a guy that I hired.

Computers are the silent partners behind medicine, particle physics, you name it.  

BI: When the mission was happening, what were you most concerned about? 

AC: We had a great team of people -- and I developed a system where we communicated very well -- whether it be the launch system or the orbit or the re-entry or whatever. That was number one.

Number two, this system was tested at the sub-system and at the systems level very, very well -- very, very carefully. And we used simulation techniques to simulate orbit or launch.  We had data put in so we would think that it was actually real data, and then they would be able to indicate that there’s an abort, and we would get an abort signal or an interrupt, and we’d find a landing zone for that thing.

We had the duplex in case one computer broke down, we had tested out that we could switch from one to the other and it was self-correcting. Even though each computer might be getting data a millisecond sooner than the other, we worked it out so it would all smooth out nicely.

The only thing is that we were a little anxious about were the astronauts. We had met these astronauts. I had never met Shepard, but I met [Gus] Grissom and [Deke] Slayton. The booster, sitting on top of an 83 foot Redstone rocket, with this little capsule and a guy who’s strapped into it, and a tremendous amount of rocket fuel that’s going to send the guy up into space going 5,000 miles an hour, suffering 11 Gs of force. So there was a lot of anxiety about this, but it had nothing to do with the computing.

By the way, this thing started May 2nd, and even before that, we had been prepared for the countdown, then there were weather delays, things happened. So it didn’t go off until the 5th. We were sleeping on the ground. We had people who brought in mattresses and sleeping bags and I was sleeping on top of the console of the 7090 I did damage to the 7090. IBM never fined me for it, but I dented the vent.

MR: How many people were working on your team?

AC: I had about 100 people. We had machine operators, we had systems programming, and they were terrific. I mean, that was key. I mean, the monitor that was handling the real-time channel. But they were really systems people, not necessarily mathematicians...say, off hand, about half of the group [were mathematicians].  At least 50.

MR: What do you think about the state of space exploration today? Is it going private?

AC: NASA can give you a better answer about their plans. Of course, right now the budgetary problems are crippling what they want to do.

I don’t know exactly what the private people -- if it’s just tourist stuff, you know, that’s private enterprise, we can’t really talk against that. But I would think that the government will have to still be involved with any concerns of looking into deep space.  I think that’s important work that I don’t think you would be having private entrepreneurs doing that kind of work. I think that’s important, and I hope NASA will stay in that business.

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Bull's Case For Research In Motion (Yes, There Is One)
• Weird Timing: The Facebook Exec Who Just Launched The Open Compute Project Is Leaving
• WHOOPS: HP Exec Spills Huge Company Secret On LinkedIn Profile

British Ambassador Peter Hughs recently made a trip to Panmanjom where he received the remains of RAF pilot Desmond Hinton who was shot down during the Korean War.A According to BBC : Flt Lt Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II, was attached to the United States Air Force when he was shot down north east of Pyongyang ...

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 “An Article of Hope” at 6th Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival
touches all humanity

By Ron Gilbert

 

I was
extremely moved by this documentary which goes way beyond the Jewish community
and is an inspiration to all races and religions.

In addition
to having astronaut Buzz Aldrin present to discuss his feelings about this film
were a moment that all of us were extremely fortunate to experience.

Director
Dan Cohen was inspired 7 years ago when he read an article in the Style section
of the newspaper regarding the Shuttle Columbia. In this  documentary he dives into the early life of Col.
Ilan Ramon who was a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air
Force, and later the first Israeli astronaut,
who blasted off on the Shuttle Columbia in 2003 on which Ramon was the space shuttle
payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of Columbia, where he and six other crew
members were killed in the re-entry accident.

We discover
that his mother and grandmother were survivors of the Auschwitz
concentration camp and his first name, Ilan
means "tree" in Hebrew and his branches reached out to everyone who
ever met him. We are shown footage aboard STS-107,  where Ramon carried a pencil sketch,
"Moon Landscape", drawn by 16-year-old Petr Ginz,
who died in Auschwitz.
Ramon also took with him a microfiche copy of the Torah given to him by
Israeli president Moshe Katsav and a miniature Torah scroll (from the
Holocaust) that was given him by Prof. Yehoyachin Yosef, a Bergen Belsen
survivor.Ramon asked the 1939 Club, a Holocaust survivor organization in Los Angeles,
for a symbol of the Holocaust to take into outer space with him. A barbed wire mezuzah
by the San Francisco artist Aimee Golant was selected.
Ramon also took with him a dollar of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson.

The "Miracle" of this film is the 37 pages from
the diary he was keeping while in orbit and survived the crash and was returned
to his widow, Rona, who has shared them in this film and talks about her
husband in revered tones. Only 2 pages of the diary was partially restored in 1
year, and needed 4 more, for police scientists to decipher 80% of the text. Zalmona
stated: "The diary survived extreme heat in the explosion, extreme
atmospheric cold, and then "was attacked by microorganisms and insects.
It's almost a miracle that it survived — it's incredible. There is 'no rational
explanation' for how it was recovered when most of the shuttle was not, he
said. Ramon wrote on the last day of the journal:

"Today
was the first day that I felt that I am truly living in space. I have become a
man who lives and works in space."

Inscribed
in black ink and pencil it covered just the first six days of the 16-day
mission. The papers remained white even though, exposed at high speed 37 miles
above the Earth, they should have super-heated and burned. Other fragile items
withstood the disaster as well, some even in a better shape, 

Also the
film explores the relationship and the bond formed by all other members of the
crew when they spend their time on excursions and the connections are heartfelt.

Ramon and
the rest of the Columbia crew died over East Texas in the Southern United States during entry into
Earth's atmosphere, 16 minutes prior to the scheduled landing.  From the "Depths of hell to the heights
of space," his simple gesture would serve to honor the hope of a nation
and to fulfill a promise made to generations past and future.

Ilan Ramon
is the only foreign recipient of the United States
Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

The Los
Angeles Jewish Film Festival dates are May 5-May 12

Please
check out the film schedule and locations.

www.lajfilmfest.org

 

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Indianapolis, Indiana

10:36 A.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY:  I just want to mention a couple of things before I get started here.  First, as you all know, we had an employment report today that showed private sector payrolls increasing by 268,000 in April, which makes 14 consecutive months of private sector employment growth.  During that period, the economy added 2.1 million private sector jobs, including more than 800,000 jobs since the beginning of the year.

This is obviously good news.  The February number was revised upwards to 261,000 private sector jobs created, and the March number was estimated upward to 231,000 -- very, very solid; an average of approximately a quarter of a million private sector jobs created each month for three straight months. 

We're pleased about that.  We obviously have a lot more work to do.  The recession cost the American labor force 8 million jobs and we're still digging ourselves out of that hole. 

Next I'd like to just remind you about where we're going today.  The President will first visit Allison Transmission, which is a leader in hybrid technology and the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, tactical military vehicles, and hybrid compulsion systems.  This visit is meant to highlight the President’s commitment to diversifying our energy requirements, to reduce our dependence on imported oil, and to ensure that we are leaders in clean energy technology in the 21st century.

Finally, I just wanted to note that when we go to Fort Campbell today, the President and Vice President will be visiting with members of the 101st Airborne Division, which, if you don't know, has such a remarkable history, beginning in World War II, where they were the first allied forces to set foot on occupied France territory; fought valiantly through World War II; were a vital division during the Cold War, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm and then obviously in the Iraq war, and most recently in Afghanistan.  Extraordinary service, extraordinary sacrifice.

What is less known is that it was elements of the 101st Airborne Division who were sent by President Eisenhower to Little Rock to ensure that the “Little Rock Nine” attended Little Rock Central High School.  It was also elements of the 101st that were sent to help make sure that James Meredith was able to attend as the first African American at the University of Mississippi.  So it is a noble, noble history.  And both the President and Vice President look forward to that visit.

With that I will take your questions.

Q    Jay, the President has said he doesn't want to spike the ball.  But he’s speaking to troops.  Doesn't he expect a celebratory mood there in the wake of bin Laden’s death?  And does that kind of go against that mood that he’s trying to -- a non-gloating mood?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I don't expect you’ll hear the President spiking the ball or gloating when he speaks to troops returning from Afghanistan today.  The point he will make is that while the successful mission against Osama bin Laden was an historic and singular event, it does not by any means mean that we are finished with the war against al Qaeda.  The fight goes on.

And one of the reasons why the President refocused our resources and attention on the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, increased our commitment there in terms of troops -- which these troops represent -- is because he believed very strongly that al Qaeda central was the number one target -- should be the number one target of that effort.

He’s going to speak to these troops to thank them for their service.  They have fought valiantly and incurred significant casualties in that effort.  So there’s nothing -- there’s no intent to gloat at all in that regard.

Q    Is he meeting with members of the teams that carried out the operation to get Osama bin Laden?

MR. CARNEY:  What I can say is that he is meeting with special operators -- some special operators who were involved in that, but that is all I can say.

Q    On the bin Laden operation, Al Arabia is reporting that al Qaeda is now -- may not come as a shock -- threatening to attack the U.S. in retaliation for killing bin Laden.  Is the President aware of that?  And what’s his thinking on that?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, we are aware of it, seen the reports.  What it does do, obviously, is acknowledge the obvious, which is that Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday night by U.S. forces.

Q    Is there any more concern now that there’s been --

MR. CARNEY:  We're being extremely vigilant.  You can ask questions of the Department of Homeland Security as well, but the -- we’re quite aware of the potential for activity and are highly vigilant on that matter for that reason. 

One of the things we saw I think last night was the notice that DHS put out with regard to the information collected about the consideration at least of a terrorist plot against American railways back in February of 2010.  The fact that the world’s most wanted terrorist might have been considering further terror plots against the United States is not a surprise, but it reminds us, of course, that we need to remain ever vigilant.    

Q    Jay, can you at least tell us whether this group of special operators that you referred to will include Navy SEALs or helicopter pilots --

MR. CARNEY:  I’m not going to say anything more about that.  It is extremely important that I say nothing more.

Q    If we’re done with the bin Laden questions, or are you not?  On another matter, the Republican congressional leaders appear to be backing away from attempting to pass their Medicare plan prior to the 2012 election it’s widely reported today.  What does the President think about that?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I would say simply that the talks that the Vice President led yesterday, the initial meeting of the members of Congress and team from the administration, was productive.  And we certainly think that it’s a good thing if those who are participating in those negotiations understand that in order to achieve compromise, we need to find common ground. 

We obviously have -- the President has laid out his plan, and there are elements of stark contrast with the House Republican’s budget that passed.  What we’re looking for now is where we can find some common ground to achieve a goal that Republicans and Democrats share, which is reducing the debt significantly, getting our fiscal house in order and, as the President sees it, while making sure that we protect the investments we need to protect in order to continue to grow the economy, continue to create jobs and educate our children.

Q    Does the President have any reaction to the report today that CEO pay is up 25 percent over last year  --

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t heard him react to that, no.

Q    Jay, can you tell us anything about the President’s immigration speech next week and any other events from the week ahead?

MR. CARNEY:  What I can say is that the speech will reflect the President’s continued commitment to find a bipartisan way to create a bipartisan -- rather comprehensive immigration reform.  As I think I said earlier this week, the fact that we were not able to achieve that in the first two years only means that we need to refocus our efforts and try to find that compromise.  In the past, obviously there has been Republican support for the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that is necessary and we hope that there will be again in the future.  

Q    -- rest of the week ahead?

MR. CARNEY:  I do have that, if you’re ready for it.

Q    Can you field more questions after?

MR. CARNEY:  Do you want to ask those questions first, and then I’ll do --

Q    In April of 2008, President Obama -- or then candidate Obama appeared at a gas station in Indiana -- gas was at $3.60 a gallon -- said we need to vote for change, a new set of policies. He’s returning to Indiana now with gas well over $4.00 a gallon. What does it say about the success he has had over the last three years in dealing with the fuel issue, the gas issue?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think you’ve heard the President speak quite a lot lately about the impact of high gas prices on Americans’ pocketbooks and wallets.  We’re very concerned about it.  We do note the steep drop in oil prices in the last couple of days.  And I would also note that one of the things the Attorney General task force will be looking at is coordinating with state attorneys general to make sure that we don’t have a what I’ve heard described as a “rockets-and-parachutes phenomenon,” where prices at the pump rocket up when oil prices rocket up, and yet they come down in a parachute fashion when oil prices go down.  So we want to make sure that a drop in oil prices is appropriately reflected in a drop in gas prices at the pump.

Q    Does the President believe gas prices will drop in the coming months?  The futures market seem to be indicating they will.

MR. CARNEY:  We don’t predict markets here, obviously.  And we have seen a drop.  We have -- but they go up and down.  The President, as you know, has said many times that there are no silver bullet solutions here, no short-term solutions, and that’s why he is committed to -- while we are doing the things in the short term that we hope can provide some relief, the big challenge is the long-term solution that weans us off our dependence on foreign oil, that diversifies our energy supply, that allows us to build clean energy industries in the United States that both enhance our national security and provide quality jobs in this country. 

So that’s been his commitment; you’ve heard him speak about that many times.  You’ll hear him speak about it again today in Indiana.

Q    What does the President think about all the Monday morning quarterbacking on the Osama bin Laden operation?  Does he think it’s helpful -- all the criticism and the questioning about how it went down?  Does it --

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t heard much criticism about how it went down.  What I’ve heard is a pretty universal acclamation of the fact that a remarkable team of U.S. personnel conducted one of the most -- one of the riskiest operations imaginable flawlessly, and limited collateral damage and civilian casualties, achieved their goal of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, and returned safely every single American.

So I think that is what most people have focused on, appropriately, because it was a remarkable achievement that was the product of years of intelligence work, years of training in the case of the personnel involved in the actual mission, and some very bold decision-making by the President and others to bring this about.

Q    Jay, how did he feel about yesterday’s events in New York?

MR. CARNEY:  He felt very good about it.  I think he -- the meetings with firefighters, with the police, with families and loved ones of victims were powerful events.  And I think he understands that this is a bittersweet moment, especially for those who lost loved ones in 9/11, both in New York, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.  And he was very glad he made the trip.

Q    Jay, the President won Indiana by less than 30,000 votes in ’08.  Does he think that it’s as tough or even tougher political environment right now for him to get support for his agenda or even win reelection?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think that it’s a long time before next year’s election, and he’s focused on the things that a President needs to be focused on -- our national security -- his focus on that I think has been quite evident in the last several days; and the economy, which is what he’ll be focusing on today in Indiana.

I think that the President firmly believes that making the right policy decisions tends to be beneficial come political season, but for him, at least, political season is a long way off.

Q    -- we’re flying into another swing state.

MR. CARNEY:  The fact is that this -- Allison Transmission is, as I just read to you, a major manufacturer of the kind of the technology that the President believes is going to help us win the future in the 21st century.  So I think we go where the action is, and in this case, this company is where the action is.

Q    Did the President watch the Fox News Republican debate last night?

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t asked him.  I don't know.  I think there was some basketball on last night -- maybe there wasn’t, maybe that's tonight -- so I don't know.  I think the Bulls are playing tonight, is that right?  Well, come on, guys. 

Yes.  Okay, I can do the week ahead if you don't have any more questions.

On Monday, the President will meet with heads of the Chinese Strategic Economic Dialogue delegation at the White House. 

On Tuesday, the President will travel, as you know, to the El Paso, Texas area to deliver a speech on comprehensive immigration reform.  He will then travel to Austin, Texas, before returning to Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday, the President will participate in a CBS Town Hall at the Newseum.  In the evening, the President and the First Lady will host a celebration of American poetry and prose by welcoming accomplished poets, musicians and artists, as well as students, from across the country to the White House.

On Thursday, the President will deliver remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. 

And on Friday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.

Q    The town hall is Wednesday, not Thursday?  Initially it was --

MR. CARNEY:  That’s correct, it’s Wednesday. 

All right, thanks, guys.

END
10:52 A.M. EDT

Kate Middleton dressed casually in a white top and green poncho yesterday to run to a Waitrose grocery store in Anglesey, Wales, where she and her new husband, Prince William, call home during his stints working with the Royal Air Force. She had a protection officer by her side as she walked the aisles, but Kate was happy to push her own cart while browsing. It was a big return to normalcy for Kate, despite her very atypical nuptials last week! Over two billion people watched the royal wedding, and mania for all things Kate and William continues. There is a great deal of excitement about their upcoming official tour of Canada, which will wrap up with a diversion to California from July 8 to the 10 - it will actually be Kate's first-ever visit to the United States! Meanwhile, dress makers are frantically trying to rush copies of her Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding dress into shops across the world. Even the white dress worn by her sister, Pippa, is a hot commodity when it comes to selling their style to brides and maids of honor worldwide. Kate and William unfortunately had to postpone their honeymoon for unknown reasons, instead spending the few days after the ceremony at an undisclosed location within the UK.

Source: Alan Carsen/Whitehotpix/ZUMAPRESS.com

View Slideshow ›

---

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi were among the thousands of people who paid their last respects today to late Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday with four others.

Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi touched down at the helipad in the Raj Bhawan campus here at about 1030 hours, accompanied by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

They drove down to the chief minister's official residence and paid their last respects to the departed leader.

The Central leaders also met the family of late Khandu and extended their condolences to them before flying back.

Khandu's body is now being flown to Tawang by an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter, where his last rites will be performed at his native village as per Buddhist rituals. A state funeral will be accorded to the late chief minister.

The state government has announced a three-day mourning, starting yesterday, during which the tricolour will be flown half-mast and no government entertainment programme will be organised.

All Central government offices in Arunachal Pradesh remained closed today. The national flag was flown at half-mast yesterday and today in the the capitals of all States and Union Territories.

Hundreds of admirers of Khandu have paid their last respects to their beloved leader here since yesterday. The people lined up the route from the CM's residence to the helipad in Raj Bhawan as the mortal remains of Khandu were transferred in a flower-decked vehicle.

A Pawan Hans chopper, coming from Tawang to Itanagar with Mr Khandu on board, had gone missing minutes after take-off at 0950 hours on Saturday.

Besides Khandu, on board were two pilots J S Babbar and T S Mammik, the chief minister’s security officer Yashi Chadook and Yeshi Lhamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup.

The wreckage and bodies were recovered by locals near Luguthang in Tawang district four days later on Wednesday after a massive search operation in which more than 3500 personnel of the Army, Air Force and para-military forces as well as the State police were involved.

Meanwhile, 50-year-old Congress leader Jarbom Gamlin was last night sworn in as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh.

Mr Gamlin, the Power Minister in Khandu's Cabinet, was administered the oath of office by the Governor , General (Retd) J J Singh, in Raj Bhawan after a majority of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) members backed his candidature for the post.

NNN

British Ambassador Peter Hughs recently made a trip to Panmanjom where he received the remains of RAF pilot Desmond Hinton who was shot down during the Korean War.A According to BBC : Flt Lt Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II, was attached to the United States Air Force when he was shot down north east of Pyongyang ...

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In this edition of "Today's Air Force," Airmen pitch in to help fight wildfires raging across Texas. Plus, you'll see how Air Force leaders are helping lay the groundwork for a successful partnership in Africa. And you'll get an in-depth look at the large-scale contingency response exercise, Eagle Flag. You will see those stories and much more this week on Today's Air Force.

The 30-minute, weekly news show can be seen every day on The Pentagon Channel and American Forces Television Service stations around the world. The show also airs on more than 140 public cable-access stations within the United States. If you would like your local public access station to carry this program, send a request to DMASA.Marketing@dma.mil.
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En Route New York, New York   

10:27 A.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY:  Good morning.  I don't have any announcements, so let’s get started.

Q    What does the President want to do today?  What does he want to see?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, the President believes it’s appropriate and fitting to travel to New York this week, in the wake of the successful mission to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, in order to recognize the terrible loss that New York suffered on 9/11, and to acknowledge the burden that the families of the victims, the loved ones of the victims, have been carrying with them since 9/11, almost 10 years, and in an effort to perhaps help New Yorkers and Americans everywhere to achieve a sense of closure with the death of Osama bin Laden.

Q    Can you talk about tomorrow’s troop rally in Kentucky and sort of the tone that the President is looking to strike there versus today?

MR. CARNEY:  What the President almost always says when he’s asked about the toughest decisions he has to make is that it’s sending men and women into battle, into harm’s way.  And the successful mission against Osama bin Laden is a monumental achievement, but the fact remains that we're still at war, that we have 100,000 combat personnel in Afghanistan, we have troops in a support-and-assist role in Iraq, and we have U.S. military men and women in other places around the globe and, in some cases, in difficult situations.

So it’s important to acknowledge that, and for Americans to remember that despite the elimination of bin Laden, we're still extremely dependent upon and grateful to our military men and women for what they do.

Q    Will there be a status update on the efforts in Afghanistan or any sort of policy discussion?

MR. CARNEY:  I don't expect the President to make any policy announcements about Afghanistan or AfPak, as we say.  As I've said, and others, that the President’s policy remains unchanged. In many ways, while the mission against bin Laden was a singular event, it was part of a general intensification of our focus on the AfPak region, on the need to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda, which was the primary goal of the President’s policy in the AfPak region, and it was reflective of a general success that we've been having in taking out al Qaeda members and terrorists in the region.

Q    Jay, you used the term, “closure,” there in your first answer.  Does the President think that coming to New York, meeting with first responders, going to Ground Zero, can add to a sense of closure for New Yorkers that they wouldn't have if he simply made his statements from the White House?

MR. CARNEY:  I think that it’s important for the President of the United States, given the traumatic events that New York suffered on September 11, 2001, to return in the wake of the successful mission against bin Laden.  He will be back for the 10-year anniversary.  And this is a significant event this week, and he looks forward to meeting privately with family members, meeting with first responders, in what is a bitter-sweet moment in many ways.

Q    Can you talk about the latest revision to the Sunday narrative that in fact it was not a 40-minute firefight, as White House officials had initially said?

MR. CARNEY:  I don't have any updates on the narrative.  As I said yesterday, we've been extremely forthcoming in trying to provide as many facts as we could to you as we’d gotten them.  The nature of the mission, the nature of what happened Sunday, combined with the effort to get that information quickly resulted in the need to clarify some facts, which I think, honestly, is to our credit that when we discovered that clarification was needed we did put them out.  But the --

Q    But the White House has not clarified this point on the record.

MR. CARNEY:  Again, as I said yesterday, the Defense Department can take questions about -- you have about further details on the mission or clarifications.  We're still in a process of gathering all the facts of that operation.  And the broader point here is that a group of extraordinary U.S. personnel flew into a foreign country at the dead of night and executed a mission and achieved a goal -- executed a mission flawlessly and achieved a goal that had eluded the United States of America for almost 10 years.

Q    Can I ask you about the family members?  If any expressed a desire to see the picture of Osama bin Laden, would you be willing to provide it, and have you brought a picture today in case of that eventuality?

MR. CARNEY:  I'm not aware that anybody brought any pictures and I don't have any updates on that.

Q    Well, on the picture, yesterday in his interview that you shared with us, the President used the phrase, “spike the football,” in discussing his decision not to release the photos. Does the President believe that Americans who want to see the pictures are looking to do a victory dance?

MR. CARNEY:  No, but he believes that there is ample precedent or evidence in the past of pictures like this being used in a way that is not helpful to national security interests of the United States; that is not reflective of who the American people are, as the President said, that we don't trot out photos as trophies.  And since we established beyond any doubt the identity of Osama bin Laden, the fact that he was killed, there is no need to release those photos.  And on balance, as I said, there are certainly arguments for -- and reasonable arguments to be made for release, but on balance, the President feels very strongly that the cons outweigh the pros.

Q    Any updates to the schedule at this point?

MR. CARNEY:  We will provide you updates as we move along throughout the day.  If there are changes to the schedule that you already have we’ll provide you that information as we go along.

Q    Any updates to the search for a Commerce Secretary?

MR. CARNEY:  I do not.

Q    There were reports today about -- on the budget talks, that Republicans were kind of seemingly downsizing some of their ambitions on what they were going to seek from these talks that are beginning today.  Do you have any indication of Republicans backing away from Medicare demands or any reaction to some of the stories that were out there today?

MR. CARNEY:  I read those stories.  All I would say is that the necessity to set aside maximalist positions is paramount if you’re trying to reach common ground and find a consensus around some achievable goal.  So we welcome any efforts, indications, that parties to these negotiations are searching for common ground, and look forward to these talks getting underway and to having them produce a result.

Q    Can you describe how the Vice President has prepared for the talks?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, having worked for him, I know he likes to dive deep and I’m sure he spent a lot of -- in terms of the issues, I’m sure he spent a lot of time with a lot of paper and with his Chief of Staff, Bruce Reed, and with the economic team, just mastering the facts of the situation.  That’s how he approaches these things.  So -- but beyond that, I don’t have any updates.

Q    Thanks.

END
10:37 A.M. EDT

I'm sure he was nervous. After all, he was umpiring his first major league baseball game and millions of fans in TV land would watch his every move.

No doubt he felt those fluttering "butterflies" long before the first batter even stepped up to the plate. Surely he questioned his readiness on the baseball diamond and wondered if he was completely squared away for this MLB gig.

Those were all natural feelings. But the majority of his nervousness probably stemmed from the reality that umpiring in the major league wasn't his full-time job. In fact, he listed his primary occupation as "noncommissioned officer in the United States Air Force."
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The mortal remains of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday, were today flown to state capital Itanagar as a pall of gloom descended on the entire state.

An Mi17 chopper of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flew the body of the 56-year-old late chief minister from Tawang to Itanagar and reached the capital city at about 1315 hours.

Khandu's family members and several top politicians of the state, including Lok Sabha MP Takam Sanjay, arrived here with the body.

The IAF chopper landed at the helipad in the Raj Bhawan campus of the capital, where Governor JJ Singh paid his last respects to the late chief minister.

The body was taken to the chief minister's official residence in a flower-decked open vehicle as people lined up streets to catch a last glimpse of their beloved leader.

A complete spontaneous shutdown was observed across Itanagar, with all business establishments and educational institutions remaining closed and commercial vehicles staying off the roads.

The body will lie in state in the CM’s official residence till tomorrow, before it is flown back to Tawang for cremation at Khandu's native village there as per Buddhist rituals.

A state funeral will be accorded to the late chief minister.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi will fly to Itanagar tomorrow pay their last respects.

The state government has announced seven days mourning, during which the national flag will be flown half-mast and no government entertainment programme will be held.

All Central Government offices in Arunachal Pradesh will remain closed tomorrow. The national flag flew at half-mast today in the state and in the capitals of all States and Union Territories.

Meanwhile, state PWD minister and Pradesh Congress chief Nabam Tuki was named the caretaker chief minister after a meeting of the state Cabinet here.

Tuki will be administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Governor later in the evening.

Earlier, Khandu’s body was flown to Tawang early this morning by an IAF chopper after it was transferred to Luguthang helipad by ground search parties.

Earlier, a rescue team had transferred the mortal remains of Khandu and the four others who had died with him from the crash site to the nearest helipad at Luguthang, about 3 km away.

The body of Khandu was recovered yesterday near Luguthang, in Thimbu circle of Tawang district, along with those of the four others who were flying with him in the ill-fated Pawan Hans helicopter that had crashed on Saturday morning.

The chopper, coming from Tawang to Itanagar, with Khandu on board had gone missing over Sela Pass some 20 minuts after take-off at 0950 hours on Saturday.

NNN

Jeremy Bernstein

Sometime before he left the town that he founded in 1853—and where, a century and a half later, Osama bin Laden was discovered hiding out in a concrete mansion—Major James Abbott wrote the following tribute, which has been called the worst poem ever written:

I remember the day when I first came here
And smelt the sweet Abbottabad air

The trees and ground covered with snow
Gave us indeed a brilliant show

To me the place seemed like a dream
And far ran a lonesome stream

The wind hissed as if welcoming us
The pine swayed creating a lot of fuss

And the tiny cuckoo sang it away
A song very melodious and gay

I adored the place from the first sight
And was happy that my coming here was right

And eight good years here passed very soon
And we leave you perhaps on a sunny noon

Oh Abbottabad we are leaving you now
To your natural beauty do I bow

Perhaps your winds sound will never reach my ear
My gift for you is a few sad tears

I bid you farewell with a heavy heart
Never from my mind will your memories thwart

Nestled in the Orash Valley and surrounded by the Sarban Hills, Abbottabad is about 4,000 feet above sea level. Today it is practically a suburb of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, some thirty-five miles away, but during Abbott’s time it became a popular hill station for the British trying to escape the heat of the lowlands. In much of what is now Pakistan the summer temperatures get to be well over a hundred while in Abbottabad, apart from the month of June, temperatures rarely exceed the eighties during the day and fall to the sixties at night.

Abbott had gone to India at age sixteen as a member of the Bengal artillery and made a name for himself on the northwest frontier, which borders Aghanistan. When the Hazra region in which Abbottabad resides became British Abbott was appointed deputy commissioner in 1849. He seems to have named Abbottabad, which he uses in the poem, after himself.

The town was, from its founding, an important military cantonment where the British stationed part of their Nepalese Ghurka force. Like other Indian hill towns such as Darjeeling, it acquired a British flavor which it still had when I visited it in the fall of 1969. I was spending the fall and winter semesters teaching at the university in Islamabad as a Ford Foundation visiting professor. In addition to the nice living quarters in the Ford Foundation staff house, I was provided with a car and driver. I had already spent a month touring the high mountains of northern Pakistan on my own, but I took the opportunity to spend a day or so visiting the hill stations close to Islamabad including Murree and Abbottabad.

There were delightful tea shops and old buildings that dated from the Raj. The views were also quite spectacular. I remember sitting on a hill near Abbottabad with the driver and looking into Indian Kashmir. The heavily disputed border was only twenty or thirty miles away, though it was impossible to tell where it was because the terrain was heavily forested. In 1948 the British Red Cross had opened a hospital in Abbottabad to treat Pakistani casualties from the fighting in the First Kashmir War.

The earthquake of October 8, 2005 destroyed many of Abbottabad’s old buildings. One wonders whether Osama bin Laden was already there or if his mansion, which seems to have been earthquake proof, was still under construction. No doubt Osama also found the cool nights congenial.

That he was hiding in a community that had been created by the British is only one of the situation’s ironies. Another is that the United States contributed fifty million dollars to earthquake aid, some of which went to Abbottabad to reconstruct the hospital. It should not come as a total surprise that Abbottabad had some connection with al-Qaeda. Indeed, as early as 2009, Pakistani officials now claim, astonishingly, that they warned the United States that the compound might be housing bin Laden—though if this was the case, why Pakistan itself didn’t do anything about it is a mystery. On January 25, 2011, the Pakistanis also arrested one of the most-wanted Indonesian terror suspects, Umar Patek, in the town. He had a price on his head of a million US dollars.

I was reading Philip Roth’s novel Exit Ghost the other day and was struck a passage on page 60.

Roth is America’s pre-eminent novelist and his reputation rests largely on a series of books in which the American century, from approximately World War II to the present day, provides the background to his characters’ lives. So we follow, in book after book, the lives of people living with everything from the Korean War to 9/11.

The relevant passage is this:

After having parked diagonally alongside the town green, I ran into several of the local merchants I know who came out of their shops to momentarily bask in the sunshine. I stood and talked for a while - about very little, all of us assuming the amiable attitude of men who think only the best of everything, a haberdasher, a liquor store owner, and a writer all exuding the contentment of Americans living safely beyond the reach of the nerve-racking world.

What struck me is that I think it would be impossible for an Australian author to write a passage like that. By which I mean, I don’t think there has ever been a time in our history when Australians have felt protected from the world in the way that Roth’s characters feel in that scene.

Australian self-image has always been built on a sense of misplacement, of being isolated but vulnerable, and one where the world out there is often conceived as a threat. Australia, we feel, is never ‘beyond the reach of the nerve-racking world’.

This sense of looking over our shoulders is not some vague literary allusion but a very real force that has informed how we react to the world. In other words, it informs how we do politics. It is sometimes interpreted as xenophobia, and sometimes it is. But those who seek to understand it as only - or even largely - a matter of race, belittle their fellow citizens.

They also overlook the extent to which we engage with the world, as either individuals, as a nation, or as an economic entity. That undeniable reality belies the image sometimes cited of a scared nation of misplaced Europeans on the edge of Asia.

Whether we have emerged as an outward-looking global nation despite or because of our fears is unsettled, yet it is certainly true that those fears, whatever their nature or cause, have not stopped us from becoming one of the more open and tolerant nations on a troubled planet.

Even the most recent events of global terror and financial collapse have not sparked any wholesale desire to retreat from the world. If anything, they have reinforced in us the sense that we are doing something right. There was nothing lucky about us surviving intact the financial and social meltdown of the past years and we should recognise that.

Of course, there are still occasional hankerings for fortress Australia, and calls for someone to keep us safe. We saw it on The Drum on Monday when Bob Ellis wrote:

It’s called Protectionism, and it means what it says. Like contraceptive sheathes that protect us from AIDS and armies that protect us from invasion and injections that protect us from Asian Flu it protects us from poverty. Protectionism protects us. It delivers us from evil.

There it is writ large, the old terror Australis, the palpable fear of some unshaped everything and the demand that someone keep us safe from it. It’s a call as understandable as it is ridiculous.

Ellis is right to highlight the problems that arise from the openness we have chosen, but his legitimate concerns about the inequities of the global finance sector and such like are soon subsumed under a pathological list of bogeymen. Ellis’s longing for the verities of the 50s ends up being less the wisdom of age than a corrupted nostalgia.

The problem is not openness as such but how we deal with it, and by and large, we have dealt with it pretty well.

Robert Manne offers a more subtle diagnosis of the matter noting that the period from the early 70s when we opened ourselves up to the world was accompanied by ‘optimism and creativity’ and who would deny it?

But Manne succumbs to fear too and comes dangerously close to living up to the caricature of himself presented by the very enemies he cites, that of an out-of-touch elitist who blames the citizens themselves for being self-satisfied and smug:

Because of the influence of a crass new cohort of right-wing commentators - Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones, Miranda Devine, Janet Albrechtsen - the cultural struggle against old patterns of racism was reinterpreted as the arrogant attempt of self-appointed thought police to impose their elitist values on the commonsense virtues of ordinary people.

The greatest enemy of Australian self-criticism and reinvention was the man elected PM in 1996. John Howard was disdainful of what he called the perpetual symposium on national identity. During his prime ministership, self-criticism gradually became confused with un-Australian self-hatred.

Howard sought to reduce the shame of the Indigenous dispossession to a blemish on the otherwise glorious pages of Australian history. Under his influence, Australians were encouraged to take pride in the success of the post-war migration program but to resist the divisive ideology of multiculturalism. Under his influence, the national imagination was militarised, with Gallipoli increasingly unchallengeable as Australia's sacred soil.

Yet the political and cultural complacency that gradually overtook the nation was more insidious than this. Having demonstrated their political and moral superiority in their defeat of the totalitarian Soviet state, the United States and some of its closest anglophone allies, including Australia, managed to convince themselves that they could do no serious political and moral wrong.

Again, there is some truth in his analysis, but that list of comic book bogeymen - Albrechtsen, Jones, Devine, Bolt - is a laughable set of baddies to get hung up about. Each speaks to a small demographic of, to be honest, people like Ellis, older Australians longing for an allegedly simpler time, and they don’t have much clout beyond that cohort.

John Howard is a more legitimate target of Manne’s concerns, but Manne doesn’t mention the salient fact: not only was the Howard government comprehensively defeated at the 2007 election, Howard himself suffered the ignominy of being only the second PM in history to lose his own seat. That’s a pretty good repudiation of his alleged ongoing influence, I would have thought.

Manne’s fear of smugness and self-satisfaction is overstated too. Yes, such values exist, but there is an equal case to be made that our problem is a failure to recognise our success. Manne could’ve just as legitimately argued that what endures - more so than Howard’s militarism - is the sense of fairness that pervades the various social and economic reforms that have opened us up to the world.

In the end, the Howard government’s lip-service to open markets and protected borders was subsumed by the Australian values of fairness and egalitarianism. Thus our financial sector was not deregulated as it was in other countries, and even as he raged against asylum seekers and multiculturalism, our immigration intake skyrocketed.

Howard was more changed by Australia than Australia was changed by Howard.

That we underplay our achievements is almost a given, as if we worry that if we speak about them too openly they might just disappear. I think this is why discussion of issues like multiculturalism and asylum seekers become so heated and so silly, because we are concerned it is all too fragile to survive inspection, let alone explanation. Let alone celebration.

There is a tendency by people like Manne to presume that when misgivings are expressed about multiculturalism or asylum seekers or economic openness that this is somehow a reassertion of something fundamental - elemental - about the Australian character rather than simply the confrontation with irrelevance of an aging demographic given a prominence they don’t deserve by certain sections of the media.

After all, Pauline Hanson turned out to be less a standard bearer for the past into the future than the bad air leaking from a balloon that will no longer fly.

Ellis’s call for protectionism is part of the same release of gas.

What Roth was doing with that passage quoted at the beginning was, I think, to highlight a certain American experience that was altered by the 9/11 attacks. Roth is suggesting that for some, that sense of being ‘beyond the reach of the nerve-racking world’ was taken away.

Maybe it was, but it was always a phony sense of security anyway, a sense of entitlement built on a willed denial of America’s role in the world. Americans could do worse than learn from Australia’s example of how to engage with the nerve-racking world.

Australian history shows that we are not the sum of our fears, though we sometimes give into them. Ellis should join the 21st century and Manne should realise that the intellectual’s role is not always to highlight the negative.

Sometimes it helps to reflect on what we get right.

Tim Dunlop writes fortnightly for The Drum. You can follow him on Twitter and at his blog, B-Sides.

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Written by Henry Haddix, a professional friend, along with a retired admiral in this month's US Naval Institute Proceedings.  See reference below for link.

Much to quote:

We can’t know for sure in what ways future adversaries will challenge our Fleet, but we can assess with some certainty how technology is affecting their principal capabilities. Judging from the evidence at hand, future Fleet actions will place a premium on early sensing, precision targeting, and long-range ballistic- and cruise-missile munitions. Increasingly sophisticated over-the-horizon and space-based sensors, in particular, will focus on signature control and signature deception. Thus, we must ask ourselves how best to win this battle of signatures and long-range strike.

This is a sideways reference to the rising capabilities of the Chinese navy and their efforts to keep us - and our carriers - as far from their shores as possible.

Given very clear technology trends toward precision long-range strike and increasingly sophisticated anti-access and area-denial capabilities, high-signature, limited-range combatants like the current aircraft carrier will not meet the requirements of tomorrow’s Fleet. In short, the march of technology is bringing the supercarrier era to an end, just as the new long-range strike capabilities of carrier aviation brought on the demise of the battleship era in the 1940s.

The Chinese are targeting our carriers.  We can either see the future in defending them as is, or get new carriers.  You don't just ditch what you got because it's vulnerable.  But if it's becoming vulnerable and the agents of that vulnerability suggest a new era is dawning, then you pay attention.

Factors both internal and external are hastening the carrier’s curtain call. Competitors abroad have focused their attention on the United States’ ability to go anywhere on the global maritime commons and strike targets ashore with pinpoint accuracy. That focus has resulted in the development of a series of sensors and weapons that combine range and strike profiles to deny carrier strike groups the access necessary to launch squadrons of aircraft against shore installations . . .

 

Accompanying this range deficiency has been the dramatic increase in the cost of the carrier and her air wing. The price tag for the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was $950 million, or 4.5 percent of the Navy’s $21 billion budget in 1976. The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), lead ship of a new class of supercarriers, is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost $12.5 billion  . . . The Gerald R. Ford is just the first of her class. She should also be the last.

I couldn't agree more.  This is Norm Augustine's nightmare come true - the military that becomes so expensive you can only afford one of everything.

The Chinese are emphasizing sea control over power projection. Given this Chinese “vote” and the challenges we continue to face in the Middle East and Northeast Asia, we must rebalance our Fleet to meet new sea-control missions while maintaining reasonable power-projection capabilities for the range of global threats we will encounter. These new challenges mean that the Fleet architecture must evolve rapidly to meet the new mission requirements of our time. We need to recognize this now and avoid a 21st-century Pearl Harbor.

The old paradigm is untenable.  Time to move on.

In such a new strategic environment, unmanned systems diminish the utility of the supercarrier, because her sea-control and power-projection missions can be performed more efficiently and effectively by other means. When the carrier superseded the battleship, the latter still retained great utility for naval surface fire support. Similarly, today’s carrier will be replaced by a network of unmanned platforms, while still retaining utility as an as-needed strike platform. Ultimately, the decision to kill the battleships was not because they lacked utility, but because they were too expensive to man and operate. Future budgetary constraints could lead to a similar outcome for the carrier, recognizing that even if we purchased no new supercarriers, we would still have operational carriers in the Fleet for more than 50 years.

So we're not exactly abandoning our current capability.

In the meantime, the America-class big-deck amphibious ship has the potential to be a new generation of light aircraft carrier. At 45,000 tons’ displacement, she will slide into the water larger than her World War II predecessors, and larger even than the modern French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. Designed without an amphibious well-deck, she will put to sea with a Marine Air Combat Element and key elements of a Marine Expeditionary Unit.

However, to view this purely as an amphibious-assault ship would be to miss her potential as a strike platform. Stripped of her rotorcraft, the America class could comfortably hold two squadrons of F-35B short take-off vertical-landing (STOVL) stealth fighter/attack aircraft. Such an arrangement would allow the naval services to dramatically increase presence and strike potential throughout the maritime domain. In addition, if the requirements were instituted in the near term, the new unmanned carrier-launched airborne-surveillance and strike (UCLASS) aircraft could be designed to operate from America-class decks with greater potential utility and distribution than what could be expected when operating from super carriers.

I've liked this argument for many years now.  End the big decks and go with the "small" deck amphibs as a cheaper and more flexible package.

The new combatants would actually be “carriers,” but rather than carrying aircraft, they would carry an array of unmanned systems. A balanced Fleet would have a mix of small, medium, and large unmanned carrier combatants to cover the range of Fleet functions. One near-term option would be to truncate production of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and replace both the LCS and the Dock Landing Ship (LSD) with a common hull displacing around 10,000 tons.

Thus you start experimenting - relatively cheaply - with mother ships while running out the lengthy lifespan string of the big decks.  To me, this is THE obvious way to go.

Strong finish:

Continuing to invest in platforms such as the supercarrier—which are expensive to build, cost-prohibitive to operate, and increasingly vulnerable in anti-access/area denied environments—is to repeat the mistakes of the battleship admirals who failed to recognize air power’s potential in the 1930s.

 

No less authority than Pacific Commander Admiral Robert Willard has stated that China’s DF-21D antiship ballistic missile has reached initial operational capability. We must recognize the new environments in which we will be operating, as well as the profound impact unmanned systems will have on future operations, and adjust our Fleet accordingly if we are to avoid a Pearl Harbor of our own making. We must reallocate science-and-technology, research-and-development, and acquisition resources toward this new Fleet paradigm . . .

Moving away from highly expensive and vulnerable supercarriers toward smaller, light carriers would bring the additional benefit of increasing our nation’s engagement potential. This type of force structure would allow the United States to increase its forward presence, upholding its interests with a light engagement force while maintaining, at least for the next 50 years, a heavy surge force of supercarriers. Geopolitics and technology are rapidly evolving the future security environment, and we must make decisions today to adapt the Fleet away from its current course to a new design for a new era.

This is how a superpower, suffering relative economic decline, keeps up its global power projection at a reasonable cost.

Excellent piece.  Worth reading in entirety for details, if interested.

Days after al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US special operatives, Pakistan has warned against raids by foreign countries in the region. Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir has said that any such raids would face military reaction. Dawn reports:

“We feel that that sort of misadventure or miscalculation would result in a terrible catastrophe. There should be no doubt Pakistan has adequate capacity to ensure its own defence.”

These statements were aimed at U.S. and India, The Times of India reports:

"Any other country that would ever act (similarly) on the assumption that it has the might ... will find it has made a basic miscalculation.

We see a lot of bravado in our region... from the military, air force, which state that this can be repeated. We feel that sort of misadventure or miscalculation will result in a catastrophe."

In a statement yesterday, Pakistan's Minister for information and broadcasting, Dr.Firdous Ashiq Awan speaking on behalf of the government had expressed its disappointment with U.S. on how it handled the killing of bin Laden.

We have officially expressed our deep concern and reservations on the manner in which the government of the United States carried out this operation without prior information or authorization of the Government of Pakistan.

We have also officially stated that this event of unauthorized unilateral action cannot be taken as a rule. Nor could such an event serve as a future precedent by any state, including the United States.

Such unilateral actions could undermine cooperation and may also, some time, constitute a threat to international peace and security.

Meanwhile Pakistan's army chief is meeting with his top commanders to discuss the attack on the compound in Abbottabad which led to the killing of bin Laden. Pakistan maintains that it did not participate in the attack on bin Laden in any way and didn't know of the attack. Both the U.S. and Pakistan have stated that the helicopters took off from Afghanistan.

For the latest news, visit Business Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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See Also:

• Pakistani Religious Group Burns American Flag And Pays Homage To Bin Laden
• India Had Warned The U.S. That Bin Laden Was Hiding Close To Islamabad
• VIDEO: This Is The Inside Of Osama Bin Laden's Mansion

Winners Selected For 5th Annual National Security Innovation Competition American Banking News The National Homeland Defense Foundation (NHDF) has announced the winners for the Fifth Annual National Security Innovation Competition held at the United States Air Force Academy, April 29, 2011. The National Homeland Defense Foundation (NHDF) today ... and more »

Although it has yet to be confirmed, it is widely believed that the elite United States fighting force SEAL Team 6 carried out the raid which killed Osama bin Laden in his compound in Pakistan. The SEALs - an acronym which stands for Sea, Air and Land - stormed the compound and shot bin Laden dead after they saw him appear to lunge for a weapon.

Feature Story:

Part One of a series marking the 15th anniversary of the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act

Talking with Andrew Sullivan about marriage is a bit like asking a blue whale what he ate for dinner. Once he starts, there's really no end.

(Photo by Todd Franson)

''At any particular point, we weren't clear what would happen next,'' he says, sitting at a coffee shop on a warm, early spring afternoon. ''It was way more contingent. You tend to look back on these things with a sense of inevitability, and I hate it when people say, 'Well, they're just on the wrong side of history.'

''Bullshit. History is what people make of it. There's nothing inevitable.''

That much is clear from a simple glance at a map of the United States, where, more than 20 years after Sullivan started pushing this cause, only five states – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire – and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses.

Fifteen years ago, though, it was another state -- Hawaii, whose Supreme Court ruling and ongoing case in which three same-sex couples were seeking marriage licenses -- that captured the nation's attention.

In addition to the nation's attention, says Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the issue caught the eye of the lagging presidential campaign of then-Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), which ''saw this as a classic wedge issue'' and prompted Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) to introduce the Defense of Marriage Act to stop same-sex couples and their lawyers from, as Frank says, ''bringing same-sex marriage to every state.''

Elizabeth Birch, then the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, describes 1996 as a very uncertain time. ''This is what we understood,'' she says, ''Hawaii was bubbling along – even the legal organizations were very nervous about Hawaii in the beginning. At the time, it was one of the most potent, difficult issues. Even Democrats had tremendous issues with it privately – even our best friends.''

Including President Bill Clinton, whose political advisors pushed him to sign the bill, according to Richard Socarides, Clinton's liaison to the gay and lesbian community at the time.

''Fifteen years later, I think we can be fairly candid about why that happened," Socarides says. "And the only reason it happened is because the people who believed that vetoing the bill would have jeopardized the president's election won the political argument. That's the only reason the bill got signed.''

But for Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson, who was a lawyer at Lambda Legal at the time and was co-counsel on the Hawaii case, DOMA is a complicated story.

''If I had had to pick which would you rather have, a win in Hawaii or subsequent state or blocking DOMA, I would have chosen the win. Because, without the wins first, we weren't going anywhere,'' he says. ''If necessary, we would overturn DOMA on the strength of the wins, and that's exactly what's now happening.''

The story of DOMA – from the religious right to the gay and lesbian groups and from Congress to Clinton – is important to understanding what's now happening in Congress and from the Obama administration. That story itself, however, is incomplete without looking at the ways in which gay, lesbian and bisexual people and their allies sought recognition of their relationships – and debated about the best way of doing so – from as early as the years immediately following the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn.

''What They Propose Is Not a Marriage''

IT WAS ROUGHLY 40 years ago that what Wolfson refers to as the ''first wave of marriage cases'' began. Coming ''within two years of Stonewall,'' he says, ''there were three major cases making their way up courts.''

Along with a New York trial court case involving a transgender woman who the court found ''was not a female at the time of the marriage ceremony,'' the challenges – in Minnesota, Kentucky and Washington state – were met with hostility or simple disbelief from the courts.

In the Minnesota case, Baker v. Nelson, the state's high court upheld the trial court's ruling that the U.S. Constitution was not violated by the fact that Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell had been denied a marriage license. The blunt language of the court's opinion, issued in October 1971, showed the uphill battle ahead for those same-sex couples seeking the right to marry.

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice C. Donald Peterson noted the religious roots of marriage, writing for the court, ''The institution of marriage as a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation and rearing of children within a family, is as old as the book of Genesis.''

The court also dismissed comparisons to the then-recent decision striking down anti-miscegenation laws in Loving v. Virginia, with Justice Peterson holding, ''[I]n commonsense and in a constitutional sense, there is a clear distinction between a marital restriction based merely upon race and one based upon the fundamental difference in sex.''

A year later, the United States Supreme Court appeared to agree, dismissing the appeal summarily because there was no ''substantial federal question'' in the case. In other words, it was not even plausible to think that the Equal Protection or Due Process clauses of the Constitution's 14th Amendment could be applicable to gay or lesbian people or their relationships.

In November 1973, the Kentucky Court of Appeals was more direct when responding to Marjorie Jones and her partner's claim that they were wrongly denied a marriage license from the county court clerk of Jefferson County: ''[M]arriage has always been considered as the union of a man and a woman and we have been presented with no authority to the contrary. … A license to enter into a status or a relationship which the parties are incapable of achieving is a nullity....

"[T]he relationship proposed by the appellants," the court concluded, "does not authorize the issuance of a marriage license because what they propose is not a marriage.''

As Sullivan says today, ''We were basically told it was … an absurd, illegitimate request: marriage. Definitionally: not gay.''

A year later, it was no different when a Washington appellate court upheld the denial of John Singer and Paul Barwick's attempt to marry. In Washington state, the court had to address the fact that its relevant statutes did not explicitly limit marriage to one man and one woman.

''[T]he definition of marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman who are otherwise qualified to enter into the relationship,'' the court held, was ''so obvious as not to require recitation.''

''Going After the Central Problem''

LESS THAN 10 years later, in May 1983, as AIDS began its emergence as the defining political – and personal – battle of the gay community, Evan Wolfson was graduating from Harvard Law School.

Evan Wolfson

''I wrote my third-year paper in law school – my version of a dissertation – on why gay people should have the freedom to marry,'' says Wolfson. ''[I] always believed that this was important for us to fight for, a, in its own right and, b, as an engine for moving everything along.''

But when Wolfson began practicing law in the area – first as a pro bono attorney with Lambda Legal and then as one of its then-small staff of attorneys – his efforts to turn his thesis into a project he hoped would one day become reality hit a snag not often discussed these days: the conflicting views of other gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

''It was the subject of big divisions within the movement, within the legal groups and within Lambda,'' he says, noting there were two distinct approaches from opponents. ''There was the ideological opposition, and the strategic or tactical or timing opposition.''

That ideological opposition, in some ways, was led by Paula Ettelbrick, the first staff attorney at Lambda Legal and the organization's legal director – hence, one of Wolfson's bosses – from 1988 through early 1993.

Ettelbrick, author of ''Since When Is Marriage the Path to Liberation?," the leading feminist argument against Wolfson's path, says she has changed – and not changed – her views on marriage over the years.

''[T]his issue has been on [my] radar at least since the early to mid '80s,'' Ettelbrick says. ''I think the way to situate the perspective here is to look historically at what was guiding our thinking at different points of time. For me, it was feminism, it was progressive politics – which was very much endemic in the gay community and certainly in the lesbian feminist community – about going after the central problems. Not just looking for fixes, but going after the central problem.''

That ''central problem,'' she says, was – and is – that marriage is the only vehicle for relationship recognition.

''I feel very firmly that we need to continue the broader recognition, that we should insist on marriage and non-marriage – in a sense – family relationships.''

It wasn't just Ettelbrick and Wolfson intellectually sparring. Wolfson talks about the disputes over marriage at the legal roundtable – attorneys at gay and lesbian rights legal groups, academics and other lawyers who would meet regularly.

''That was the biggest dividing line, the biggest source of arguing amongst a group that might quibble or haggle over a particular legal idea but basically agreed over a whole range of things,'' says Wolfson. ''The one thing that people would argue about more than any other was marriage.''

''Nobody was going to challenge that we needed to get rid of sodomy laws," Ettelbrick explains. "No one was going to challenge that we needed antidiscrimination laws to deal with everything from HIV to sexual orientation.''

But marriage ''was hotly debated.''

She adds, ''I think it was a really important part of our movement that's seldom been fully addressed, to tell you the truth.''

That debate also took hold because Lambda Legal Executive Director Tom Stoddard shared Wolfson's view. Stoddard's opposing viewpoint article – ''Why Gay People Should Seek the Right the Marry'' – was regularly paired with Ettelbrick's article to exemplify the debate in the years that followed.

Of the importance of the articles, Ettelbrick notes, ''We both represented, first of all, different sides of the coin in this argument, and also, we were both at Lambda Legal Defense, which was a central organization to deciding about the future of litigation of these cases. So the movement question was not just, 'How do we deal with these competing views?' but also, 'How does an organization like Lambda deal with the two leaders of the organization having such differing perspectives?'''

''Civil Unions? After All That?''

AS THE LATE 1980s hit and AIDS was decimating the gay community, Stoddard and Wolfson found an unlikely ally in Andrew Sullivan. With a striking cover story – ''Here Comes the Groom'' – in The New Republic on Aug. 28, 1989, Sullivan began making a different case for marriage.

The article's subhead was ''A (Conservative) Case for Gay Marriage" and Sullivan made the argument that recognition of gay relationships was important – both in principle and practicality.

Describing the roots of gay politics since Stonewall and the transition that came about because of AIDS, Sullivan wrote, ''A need to rebel has quietly ceded to a desire to belong. … Certainly since AIDS, to be gay and to be responsible has become a necessity.''

Sullivan says that one of the lessons of the time is the story of ''how the gay rights movement grew out of the AIDS crisis as a very serious national movement.''

He recalls the men who would come up to him when he talked about his marriage work, telling him, '''This isn't some sort of moral issue about bathhouses or whatever, or what we should do as gay men. It is that I need to be able to see my husband in hospital and I need not to be stripped of all my belongings immediately thereafter by his angry relatives.'''

Of the movement as a serious force, Sullivan says, ''It hadn't been that, really, beforehand. It had been an urban and regional and sort of defensive gathering of groups. It had not been a national, coherent strategy.''

Andrew Sullivan (Photo by Todd Franson)

Sullivan advocated focusing on marriage and military service because those issues not only highlighted discrimination by the government, but expanded the narrative of gay lives.

''Those stories, those causes, would re-describe gay people in the minds of straight people,'' he says. ''The images they would put out there of gay people – soldiers, people living in families, which was the truth of who we were – was an important counterbalance to the only thing they previously had seen, which was gay rights parades, which, however wonderful they are, are not fully representative of who gay people are.''

For a conservative like Sullivan, it changed the terms of the debate, as well.

''Straight people understood marriage more than they understood defense of sexual freedom,'' he adds. ''And yet we had been trapped into this ... ghetto of defending sexual freedom. And then asking people not to be mean to us. Which, I thought, was the basic gay rights movement until the early '90s.''

That ''defense of sexual freedom'' was provided during the debate by people like Michael Warner, who countered Sullivan's book, Virtually Normal, with his own book published in 2000, The Trouble With Normal.

''At a time when the largest gay organizations are pushing for same-sex marriage," Warner writes in his preface, "I argue that this strategy is a mistake and represents a widespread loss of vision in the movement.''

Even people like Ettelbrick were seeking more, not less, governmental recognition of relationships, which alienated the position articulated by Warner and others – mainly in academia – who agreed with him.

But as Ettelbrick points out, ''Even within that pro-marriage part, you have people who differ.''

Including Sullivan and Wolfson, who disagreed over the political course, albeit privately.

''We didn't really air it, but it was an interesting debate,'' says Sullivan. ''Evan kind of pitched his proposal as, 'We can get this very quickly nationally by one state' – which I always thought was a reckless overreach.

''Publicly we were one, but, personally, I didn't really believe it should be automatically imposed on everybody in America. I thought we needed time to let this evolve in the public consciousness, and that was not going to happen overnight and that we should take every opportunity to educate.''

To that end, Sullivan says of his view of marriage and the military, ''Anything that got either of those two issues debated would change the narrative and legitimize it.''

For others in the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, however, this raised the other main concern with the ''marriage project.''

As Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director from 1995 through 2004, says today, ''I think back in those days, the judgment was, 'We don't even have employment protections' – and we still don't. Eventually, there were two schools: You could really leapfrog forward by going for what was seen as a very precious right – the right to marriage – or you could do it kind of incrementally.''

Ettelbrick looks at the ''foundation'' that she says was being built in court as another reason for advocating the incremental approach.

''We needed to use domestic partnership and other kinds of vehicles to begin to address the legitimacy of our relationships, period,'' she says, which was happening through decisions on gay custody, second-parent adoption and local-government recognition of domestic partnerships. ''There was a very strong argument that we needed that foundation because that was helping the American public kind of acclimate to our relationships.''

AIDS, Ettelbrick says, had made clear the need for that acclimation.

''Legislatures around the country were introducing legislation to quarantine gay men,'' she says. ''We were the scourge of the earth at that point, and our relationships were deemed not only immoral and criminal, but unhealthy. So, in that context, to even raise the specter of marriage just seemed ridiculous, from a strategic perspective – was the argument.''

For Sullivan, the reality of AIDS and the fear it engendered created his passion to fight for marriage.

''I really don't think you can overstate the weird confluence of those two events – a gay rights movement that emerges in the '60s and '70s in its most potent force, and it gets slapped down, really, by catastrophe. And the moment that's interesting is the moment when, instead of capitulating, it actually emboldens them more. We organized in different ways, and we fought back.''

Sullivan then references ''the memory of people's lost spouses,'' and tells the story of a man whose partner had just died of complications from AIDS.

The man was singing a show tune in the hospital, where he had been ''cut off completely, won't be allowed to go to the funeral, has been kicked out of his home, [yet] he's been singing that same song since the morning. Because, it's their song, and it's his last way of staying in touch.''

''It still gets me today," Sullivan says, crying. Am I going to let that happen without somebody, somewhere, insisting [on marriage]? Fuck this. Civil unions? After all that? Fuck you.

''You have to multiply that experience so many times in the memory of that generation to understand why we were completely committed to this – even when everybody told us it was nuts.''

But for Ettelbrick, the reality of the matter is that domestic partnerships or civil unions can make the difference someone like Sullivan is seeking.

''I just don't buy the argument that domestic partnership is second-class citizenship,'' she says. ''I've never bought that argument.''

Looking at today's legal landscape, she says, ''When you are in the context in which you need those health benefits or you need that recognition, it is a very important thing that New Jersey allows recognition of your family and of your relationship. Whether it's called marriage or not, you get all of the benefits. Now, it might be that culturally we still want the term marriage, but from a legal perspective, from a needs-based perspective, it's … damaging for people to argue the second-class citizenship.''

Birch makes clear that she – and HRC – believed such an incremental approach had merit – in large part because the specter of same-sex marriage ''was the most potent piece in their arsenal against us.''

Of HRC's approach at the time, though, Sullivan is characteristically blunt.

''They were like, 'No, we want to get ENDA. … We know that has higher polling, we can do it.' And my position was, 'Screw ENDA. First, this is a more fundamental issue about the government discriminating against us as opposed to our fellow citizens, and, secondly, if we win this, the argument that we make on this will so change the debate that ENDA will become easy.' And their view was totally understandable -- I'm not saying it wasn't.''

But, as Sullivan says he told people at the time, ''It's coming anyway. The courts are going to have to make these decisions.''

''This Isn't Just About Hawaii''

SULLIVAN, IN A way, was right – although the first legal same-sex marriages didn't start in America until about 15 years after his New Republic cover story.

The way the ''second wave'' started, though, was not quite how Wolfson had planned.

''I was asked by couples in Hawaii who knew of me … if I would consider taking this case,'' he says. ''And I was interested in doing that, but I was told by Lambda, no, that we were not going to do it. And all the other legal groups turned them down as well.''

Wolfson calls that decision ''one of the best things to happen'' to the movement.

"It led the couples back to a local Hawaii attorney, a non-gay guy named Dan Foley, who did take the case and brought to it just this extraordinary savvy and credibility on the ground in Hawaii that we would have never had.''

Birch concurs. ''Ultimately, what was great about it – the way anything happens in American history – is that ordinary citizens go to get their rights. It wasn't orchestrated. It wasn't impact litigation. It really was people just wanting a marriage license in Hawaii.''

And 20 years ago, on May 1, 1991, they did. Ninia Baehr, Genora Dancel, Tammy Rodrigues, Antoinette Pregil, Pat Lagon and Joseph Melilio – three same-sex couples – filed a complaint in a Hawaii trial court seeking the same marriage license that had been sought and denied previously during the first wave of marriage cases.

Lambda allowed him to give behind-the-scenes support, Wolfson says, and he and Foley became close over the course of the case, which was dismissed by the trial court – just as had happened 20 years earlier to Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell.

This time, however, the Supreme Court saw the matter in a different light when it heard the case on appeal.

On May 5, 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court recognized that it was possible for same-sex couples to show that denying them marriage licenses violated their state constitutional rights.

Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Steven H. Levinson wrote the opinion for the court, detailing – case by case – how the decisions in that ''first wave'' were an ''exercise in tortured and conclusory sophistry.''

Instead, the Hawaii Supreme Court held that Hawaii's marriage restriction was a sex-based classification and, thus, subject under Hawaii's Constitution to strict scrutiny. This meant that the marriage prohibition for same-sex couples ''is presumed to be unconstitutional'' unless the state could prove at the trial court that ''the statute's sex-based classification is justified by compelling state interests and … the statute is narrowly drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgments of the applicant couples' constitutional rights.''

Wolfson told his Lambda Legal colleagues, ''Whatever you thought before, wherever you were with all these other divisions, the world had just turned. … This was a whole new era; it would never be the same again.''

Paula Ettelbrick

As Ettelbrick says, this changed not only the external world, but also the ideological debate within the gay and lesbian world.

''We were immediately launched into a battle that made it very odd for people like myself because, obviously, in no way was I ever going to defend the attacks on the Hawaii decision as they started playing out in legislatures around the country.''

As the case returned to the trial court so that it could apply the Hawaii Supreme Court's new standard, Lambda allowed Wolfson to join the case as co-counsel and launched the National Freedom to Marry Coalition to push political organizing efforts.

The need for public education quickly became apparent.

Elizabeth Birch says that, at the time, ''What we heard happened is that the [Republican National Committee] started doing really intensive polling and research, and they were trying to find an issue – a really potent wedge issue. … What popped was gay marriage and the numbers were astoundingly negative. They were, 'My God, look at this!'''

Barney Frank says Republicans seized on the way in which ''the rhetoric on our side played into it'' with the declarations that same-sex marriage would follow nationwide after Hawaii.

''Everywhere in the country wasn't ready for it," he says. "So [Republicans] then could argue, 'See, we gotta stop it, this isn't just about Hawaii. They're bringing same-sex marriage to every state.'''

Birch sums up the strategy: ''They figured out, 'Man, if we can drive a wedge between gay voters and gay money and the Democratic Party, wouldn't that be great? And, at the same time, we could use this issue to paint the Democratic Party as silly and frivolous in that, you know, this is what they're going to focus on.'''

As Ettelbrick says, ''At that point, who knew how it was going to turn out? It looked like the whole world was going up in flames over our relationships.''

''I Heard Rumblings''

THE WEDGE WAS the Defense of Marriage Act.

''I head rumblings that they were considering it, playing with it, I think as early as '95, certainly in '96,'' Wolfson says. ''It wasn't just another anti-gay effort happening in Congress, which had happened before, but it was one that was being done in the full spotlight of a presidential campaign and with enough people on our side that there was a debate. It wasn't just a routine anti-gay thing.''

It wasn't. The brief bill – introduced by Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia – only contained three provisions, and one of those was the title.

The first substantive provision stated that ''[n]o State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.''

The second provision – the federal definition of marriage – stated, ''In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.''

With seven co-sponsors – Reps. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.), Bill Emerson (R-Mo.), Steve Largent (R-Okla.), Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wisc.), Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Harold Volkmer (R-Mo.) – Barr introduced the bill in Congress just 137 days before it would be signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The date was 15 years ago this week, May 7, 1996.

This was the first part of a series marking the 15th anniversary of the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act. The aim of the series is to present an in-depth examination of the circumstances, consideration and passage of the 1996 federal marriage law.

...more

"Lockheed Martin Space Systems heritage in missile defense dates back to the first successful hit-to-kill intercept of a mock ballistic missile warhead outside the earth’s atmosphere on June 10, 1984, by the U.S. Army’s Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE). The Homing Overlay Experiment was a series of four missile tests that were conducted in 1983 and 1984 at Kwajalein Missile Range in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. For each test a Minuteman missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying a single mock re-entry vehicle targeted for Kwajalein lagoon more than 4,000 miles away." - Lockheed

"The HOE vehicle was designed to destroy a missile by physically impacting it - a concept known as "hit-to-kill." After separating from the booster, the vehicle would use its onboard sensors to identify and lock-on to the incoming missile and would use other components to direct it to impact. On the last of four HOE tests, a vehicle intercepted an incoming dummy warhead in the first successful demonstration of hit-to-kill technology in June 1984. The United States is now using much smaller hit-to-kill vehicles in deployed ABMs. Lockheed built this HOE test vehicle, and the U.S. Army transferred it to NASM in 1986." - DOD

"In the late 1970s, the development of nuclear-armed ABMs (Anti-Ballistic Missiles), which had culminated in the operationally deployed Safeguard system with LIM-49 Spartan and Sprint missiles, was increasingly regarded as a dead end. The U.S. Army began studies about the feasibility of hit-to-kill vehicles, where an interceptor missile would destroy an incoming ballistic missile just by colliding with it head-on.

The first program, which actually tested a hit-to-kill missile interceptor, was the Army's HOE (Homing Overlay Experiment). The HOE vehicle consisted of the first two stages (Thiokol M55E1 + Aerojet General M56A1) of a LGM-30A/B Minuteman I ICBM, which boosted a large KKV (Kinetic Kill Vehicle) to high altitude. The KKV was equipped with an infrared seeker, guidance electronics and a propulsion system. Once in space, the KKV could extend a folded structure similar to an umbrella skeleton of 4 m (13 ft) diameter to enhance its effective cross section. This device, which also had weights attached to the ribs, would destroy the ICBM reentry vehicle on collision.

A total of four intercepts were attempted in the HOE test program. In each test, a Minuteman ICBM with a dummy warhead served as the target. The first attempt on 7 February 1983 missed because a failure in the IR sensor prevented proper target tracking. The next two flights in May and December 1983 failed, too, because of malfunctions in the guidance system. However, the fourth and final test on 10 June 1984 was successful, intercepting the Minuteman RV with a closing speed of about 6.1 km/s (20000 fps) at an altitude of more than 160 km (100 miles).

The successful test came right on time for the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) program, which had been officially established in January 1984. One of the primary elements of SDI were ground-based reentry vehicle interceptors without nuclear warheads. The technology tested by HOE formed the base for ERIS (Exoatmospheric Reentry Interceptor Subsystem), the upper-tier component of SDI's ground-based missile defense." - Encyclopedia Astronautica

Blues kick off centennial bash - Pensacola News Journal | Aviation Week air show: The Blue Angels took to the sky for a special air show celebrating the centennial of Naval Aviation. Greg Walker points out the approaching Blue Angel F/A-18 jets to his three-year-old son, Nathan Walker, during the Centennial ...
NASA - NASA Glenn Joins in the Fun at Indianapolis Air Show from www.nasa.gov | The public is invited to visit NASA's Journey to Tomorrow traveling exhibit at the Indianapolis Air Show in Indianapolis, Ind., May 13-15. Visitors will be able to explore science exhibits and participate in educational hands-on activities.  Journey to Tomorrow is housed in a 53-foot trailer and contains eight interactive kiosks that allow participants to go at their own pace as they learn about the history and challenges of air and space exploration. The exhibit is wheelchair accessible.  ...

Great TN Air Show to soar through Smyrna - The Daily News Journal | The internationally renowed United States Air Force Thunderbirds will be the main attraction at this weekend's Great Tennessee Air Show. / Submitted photo SMYRNA — The ground will be rumbling and the fans will be screaming this weekend as the Great ...

Air Show Forecast - KTBS | Nice weather is forecast for the Barksdale Air Show this weekend. In other words, no storms are anticipated at this time. Both Saturday and Mother's Day will start out cloudy with temperatures in the 60s. ...

N'Awlins Air Show and its death-defying stunts this weekend - NOLA.com | John Klatt, shadowed by fellow Air National Guard Aerobatic Team member Bill Kerns, inverts his plane as they practice for this weekend's N'Awlins Air Show at the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. Air Show Practice Flights ...

Disabled American Veterans Airshow Outreach B-25 Flight Team from davflightteam | New Orleans, LA – Disabled American Veterans (DAV) brings its message of service and volunteerism in support of our nation’s combat-wounded men and women to the N’awlins Air Show on May 7-8, 2011. ...

Local Civil Air Patrol Squadrons To Be A Part Of The N’AWLINS Air Show | New Orleans- Members of the Louisiana Wing Civil Air Patrol assist with the 2011 N’AWLINS Air Show at the New Orleans Naval Air Station in Belle Chase, LA. May 7-8. The Alvin Callender Composite Squadron and the Pontchartrain Composite Squadron have volunteered to help set up the VIP sections tables and chairs. We will have a static display on the flight line and we hope to see you there. The Alvin Callender Squadron is located on the Naval Air Station Base in Belle Chase and the Pontchartrain Squadron is located at the VFW Hall, 1133 Hickory Avenue, Harrahan, LA.   ...

Alabama Disaster Relief Fly-In | In support of the Tornado Relief Efforts in Alabama a fly-in has been organized for Saturday June 4th, 2011 at the Walker County Airport KFJX. A $20.00 donation will get you a Fish-Fry lunch, live music, military fly by, and war bird display. They will also be taking non-perishable canned goods as well as clothing, diapers, forumula, etc. ...

Wings Over Cullman Air Show to Aid Tornado Victims from Alabama Aviator - Aviation News | -CULLMAN AL- Wings Over Cullman Air Show on May 21 will provide aid to tornado victims of Cullman County and beyond. Less than four weeks before the show, violent tornados cut across Alabama leaving Cullman and many communities reeling. Since then, city and county officials have determined, the airport and necessary infrastructure is good to go on with the show. Not only will the plans continue, but the show is now a venue to help tornado victims.  ...

Stalling and spinning at Valdez fly-in - Alaska Dispatch | The May Day Fly-In on May 6-8 will include a Poker Run, flour bomb dropping, spot landing, short-field landing and takeoff events and the famous low tide beach landing, as well as safety events, pancake breakfasts and a Friday night Burgers & Brew at ...

6000 turn out for Grand Air Show - Whitsunday Times | THE Whitsunday community was out in force at the Grand Air Show at Whitsunday Airport last Sunday. More than 6000 people from across the region helped celebrate the airport's 50th birthday. The air show also attracted people from Mackay, Townsville and ...

Flying Circus set to entertain Cosford Air Show crowd - shropshirelive.com (press release) | O'Brien's Flying Circus will be among the top aerobatic teams performing for the crowds at the 2011 Cosford Air Show on June 12. The circus is renowned for its exciting and awe-inspiring 'crazy flying' display and visitors to RAF Cosford for this ...

World's Finest Pilots On Hand For Aerobatic Displays At Exhibtion - Bernama | SUWON (South Korea), May 4 (Bernama) -- The 2011 G-Global Aviation, South Korea's largest aviation and aerospace exhibition, will have some of the world's finest pilots on hand for exciting aerobatic displays in its air show set for this week. ...

AirVenture 2011 from TAKEOFF TUBE | An exciting look ahead to AirVenture 2011, July 25-31. Tributes to Hoover and Rutan! Concerts by REO Speedwagon, Aaron Tippin, and the Lt Dan Band! Daily airshows—including an even BIGGER nighttime show than last year! I will be there, and you? ;-)

Sky is Clear with Aluminum Overcast - Concord, CA Patch | The Aluminum Overcast rumbled off the runway Monday at Buchanan Field and climbed into the blue sky on a mission to show how the venerable B-17G Flying Fortress handled World War ll.   The Overcast is one of the American bombers that helped turn the tide of World War II. The plane is cramped in some places such as the ball turrets, but it got the job done. ...

Gold Team brings Colors to the Skies at MCAS Beaufort from US Army Golden Knights | Gold Demonstration Team painted the skies over Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort for the annual air show “Blues over Beaufort.” The weekend could not have been more perfect, blues skies and cool weather gave the air show the optimal experience for the spectators and performers. The weekend started off with a press show on Friday [...]

Meet Jessica Ambats, aviation photographer from Plastic Pilot | Jessica Ambats is an air-to-air photographer and instrument-rated pilot based in Santa Monica, California. She is a graduate of Harvard University and works as editor of Plane & Pilot magazine. She kindly accepted my request for an interview and accepted to share on this blog. Don’t miss my question about tips for amateur photographers! ...

Take an Aviation Photography Class at Paine Field on May 14th from Airline Reporter | When I look back at some of my photos when I first started this blog, it is very embarrassing. I started with passion and no photography skills what-so-ever. Over the years I have been able to pick up a few tricks and learn from some wonderful people, but still needing to learn some of the basics. ...

F-35Bs hit vertical-landing milestone from DoD Buzz | The Marines' version of the F-35 has demonstrated enough vertical landings that engineers say it's ready to try its first landing at sea aboard a ship.

Recreational flying - Fly Nano! from Military Photos | Everyone’s dreamt of flying free as a bird. Nano is for the fun of flying – no passengers, no cargo - just you, Nano and the endless blue. If you’ve ever had a pilot’s licence you’ll fly Nano right out of the box. The rest of you will need to learn the simple rules of the air. Minimum red tape – maximum thrills.  ...

Kansas governor proclaims May ‘Aviation Appreciation Month’ from General Aviation News | Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has declared May “Aviation Appreciation Month,” noting general aviation in Kansas alone generates over $7 billion in economic impact annually, which is largely attributable to the presence of major manufacturing companies such as Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombadier. ...

Father and Son to Circle the Globe - Ramona Home Journal | As a boy, Stephan Armstrong would bike 1 ½ hours to gaze at planes taking off and landing, dreaming of flying around the world in a small plane. The first step in this quest was to get a pilot’s license, which at age 17 he did, a full year before he would be eligible for his driver’s license, according to Swiss law, his native country. By 20, he would be one of the youngest commercial pilots in Switzerland.  ...

Clark School Team to Test Human-Powered Helicopter from PR Newswire: Airlines/Aviation | The following is being released today by A. James Clark School of Engineering: WHAT: In a step toward winning the Sikorsky Prize, a team of A. James Clark School of Engineering students will attempt for the first time to test-fly their human ...

Kimberly Weis: Why I Want to Fly from Flight To Success | "I am just a normal person. I grew up in a suburb, graduated from college, got married, bought a home and had kids. I have the cookie cutter life, groomed to achieve the American dream by my hard working parents. Is it wrong to want more? To achieve something amazing that isn’t in the normal plans of regular people, a regular girl, and especially not in the plans of a regular mom?  ...

3:18 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Good afternoon, everybody.  Welcome to the White House.  Thank you, Tammy, for the kind introduction, but more importantly, for your extraordinary service to our country in Iraq, in Illinois, and now as Assistant Secretary of the VA, where you’re a champion for your fellow wounded warriors.  God bless you.  We are so thankful for Tammy Duckworth.  Give her a big round of applause.  (Applause.)

I was proud to kick off this Soldier Ride two years ago.  I’m just as thrilled to be kicking it off today.  I’m pleased that we’re joined by a number of members of Congress here.  The sun is coming out just as we start.  We’re also joined by the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and one of my top advisors over the last several years.  I couldn’t be more grateful to him -- General Jim “Hoss” Cartwright.  Please give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)

Now, this is one of the most inspiring events that we do at the White House.  We’re joined by folks from every service.  We’ve got Army.  (Hooah!)  We’ve got some Navy folks.  (Applause.)  We’ve got Air Force.  (Applause.)  You know we’ve got some Marines.  (Oorah!)  And we’ve got some Coast Guard.  (Applause.)  And just as importantly, we are joined by those who serve and sacrifice alongside you, and that is all our outstanding military families.  (Applause.)

Now, you’ve all got your gear on.  You’re on your bikes.  You all look pretty sharp.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Laughter.)   You’re ready to go.  So I’m not going to hold you back too long here with a long speech.  But it is important to remember what this day is about.

Today is a reminder -- as Michelle and Jill Biden have already said -- that every American, every single person in this country, can do something to support our remarkable troops and their families.  Everybody can do something.

So seven years ago, a bartender from Long Island had the same idea.  He wasn’t from a military family.  He had never served in the military.  But he knew that he owed our military something.  He was just an ordinary American who was grateful for the service of all those who wear the uniform.  And he said, “I just wanted to give something back.”

So he jumped on his bike and rode across the country -- over 5,000 miles -- to raise funds and awareness for our wounded warriors.  Today, there are Soldier Rides all across America giving our wounded warriors the confidence and support they need to recover.  That’s the difference a single person can make.  Today we want to thank Chris Carney and everyone from the Wounded Warrior Project for reminding us of our obligations to each other as Americans.  Give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.)

And today is also a tribute to all of you -- a generation that has written your own extraordinary chapter in the American story.  Our nation has been at war now for nearly 10 years.  Tour after tour, year after year, you’ve done your duty.  You’ve met every challenge, from the deserts of Iraq to the mountains of Afghanistan.  You’ve risked everything.  And you’ve carried in your hearts the memory of fallen heroes who gave everything.

You’ve earned your place among the greatest of generation of Americans.  And we saw that again this past weekend when -- thanks to the courage and precision of our forces -- the terrorist who started this war and who took so many innocent lives learned that America does not forget; America will ensure that justice is done.  (Applause.)

Of course, for our riders here today, coming home from war marked the beginning of another battle -- the battle to recover.  To stand again.  To walk again.  To relearn, in some cases, the simple things that are the true pleasures of life -- dancing with your spouse, or holding your children.  In many ways, this might have been the toughest battle they’ve ever fought.  

But I want all of you to know something.  You inspire me.  You inspire everybody here.  Michelle and I treasure the moments that we’ve had with some of you and your families.

Corporal Nickolas Edinger is here.  Where’s Nickolas?  Right there, right in the middle.  He was one of our special guests when Michelle and I hosted a recent dinner for military leaders at the White House.  He was serving in Afghanistan when an IED blast cost him one of his legs.  But he’s here today as part of his journey to recovery.  And I want to just welcome Nickolas back.

Private First Class Corey Kent.  Where’s Corey?  Corey is right there.  I met Corey during one of my visits to Walter Reed last year.  And it was my honor to pin a Purple Heart on him.  He’s lost both legs.  But he’s working hard to recover, and he’s here today, ready to ride.  So Corey, you are an inspiration.

Ted Wade is here.  Ted, where are you?  Right there.  After sustaining multiple injuries in Iraq, Ted’s doctors did not think he would survive.  But he persevered.  He pulled through.  And I was honored that Ted and his wife Sarah joined us last year when I signed legislation for veterans and caregivers.  I’m pleased that Ted and Sarah are back with us again today because I can report that starting next week, our veterans, wounded warriors and caregivers can start applying for the support that you need and deserve.  We are going to get this done, and we’re very proud of that.  (Applause.)

Now, Sarah once said of Ted, “Just like he needed a team in the military to accomplish the mission, he needs a team at home for the longer war.”  And so I say to all of you today, we’re going to keep building that team that you need for recovery.  We’re determined to take care of you as well as you’ve taken care of us.

So to all the riders here today, I want to say, as your Commander-in-Chief and as an American, thank you.  We are grateful for you.  You represent the very best in America.  And in your fight to recover and in the ride that you’re about to begin, we see the values and virtues that make our country great.

We may take a hit.  We may endure great loss.  But we are a strong and resilient people.  We push on.  We persevere.  We’re confident in our cause.  And we know that, like generations of Americans before us, we will emerge stronger than before.

So God bless you all.  God bless the United States of America.  And with that, let’s get this thing started.  I think I’ve got a horn.  (Applause.)

END
3:26 P.M. EDT

US to Launch Missile-Tracking Satellite Global Security Newswire The United States is due on Friday to fire into orbit the first of four geosynchronous satellites for the planned Space-Based Infrared System from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Innovation News Daily reported (see GSN, April 27). ... and more »

We need leaders with the same standards as our men and women in uniform.
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Courtesy of SarahPAC, here's the transcript of the speech Sarah Palin delivered at the Tribute to the TWe need leaders who embody the same standards to which our men and women in uniform hold themselves.roops rally at Colorado Christian University May 2:

Last night, thank God, all of us heard the news that the evil leader of Islamic extremists who was responsible for the murders of thousands of innocent Americans had finally met justice at the hands of America’s finest. It is my honor to get to be with those finest today. We get to pay tribute to those finest – our United States military.

I know that we will probably all remember as individuals where we were that September day when the horrific thoughts, ambitions, and plans of this terrorist cut short the thoughts, ambitions, and plans of beloved innocent Americans who were heartlessly murdered on September 11, 2001.

God bless all the brave men and women in our military and our intelligence services who carried out the successful mission to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice and all those who had laid the groundwork over the years to make that victory possible. The historic action that was announced last night was the result of the diligence, hard work, and character of countless American warriors who know that those who spread evil, those with murderous intentions must be contained. Those who would kill in the name of religion must be stopped.

In Denver last May, I was on a panel that was moderated by Colorado Christian University President Armstrong. I was there with radio hosts Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager, and we were asked a question on that panel: what we believed was the greatest threat facing America. Dennis Prager answered first, and he said that he believed the single greatest threat to our country’s future is that we seem to be failing to pass on what it means to be an American to the next generation. And I agreed with his concerns, but I had a caveat when I agreed in my answer to what he said. I offered: If we’re truly so delinquent in teaching the next generation what it means to be free and how important it is to defend freedom, then how do we explain the thousands of young men and women, my own son among them, who, though they have never tasted anything but freedom, choose as patriots to join our United States military and fight for freedom in distant lands far from the comforts of home?

Who are these young American warriors? What is the character represented in those who are sitting up here on this stage? They are volunteer troops. They enlist because they instinctively know that America is worth fighting for and that America’s enemies must be defeated.

The fighting warriors in our armed forces are willing to lay their lives on the line to preserve and protect something greater than self – to defend the American ideal of liberty. They represent the very best among us. They embody our highest ideals. And they represent American Exceptionalism.

And yesterday their courage and their determination brought us justice – especially justice for the victims of 9/11. God bless those families who suffered so much on 9/11.

Yesterday was a testament to the military’s dedication in relentlessly hunting down an enemy through many years of war, and we thank our President. We thank President Bush for having made the right calls to set up this victory.

Let me give you another example of victory, among thousands of examples that we can think of in our military – an example of the heroism over the years. One of Colorado’s newest residents is Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta, and he’s a new resident in Fort Collins. He’s the first living service member from the Afghanistan or Iraq conflicts to receive the Medal of Honor. He was a rifle team leader in Afghanistan; and on October 25, 2007, his unit was ambushed shortly after nightfall. Sgt. Giunta described it: "There were more bullets in the air than stars in the sky. A wall of bullets at everyone at the same time with one crack and then a million cracks… They were close – as close as I’ve ever seen.” But the sergeant kept his cool and relied on his training. He fought off the insurgents and rescued several members of his unit, including an injured soldier who was being carried off by the Taliban. Giunta’s squad leader later praised him saying, "We were outnumbered. You stopped the fight. You stopped them from taking a soldier.”

When he was notified that he was being recommended for the Medal of Honor, Sgt. Giunta was humble. He said, “If I’m a hero, every man that stands around with me, every woman who is in the military, everyone who goes into the unknown is a hero.”

Why do these American heroes go into the unknown? G. K. Chesteron once wrote that “the true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” They fight because they love America and they love the ideals that America represents. What America stands for is liberty, and justice, and equality, and the empowerment of the individual.

Now, the enemy that we’re fighting loves death, the subjugation of women, and a twisted promotion of the survival of the fittest through fear, and hate, and lies about America and our purpose in the world.

Yesterday, when we learned that the public face of Islamic terrorism was killed, there were already voices declaring, well, our war on terrorism over. It is not over. We are still at war with a brutal enemy that hates America and our allies and all that we stand for. So we must not retreat. We cannot let-up. The war wages on.

Our troops and our intelligence services have proven again and again their courage to defeat the enemy in the face of the same overwhelming odds that Sgt. Giunta faced. Those threats are still real, and in fact, they may be ramped up after the events of yesterday.

And that’s why when we continue to send our troops into harm’s way, they deserve the clarity of knowing what their mission is. And the decision to insert American units in areas to hunt down and to kill Bin Laden is an example of the needed, decisive leadership that our troops deserve. It is an example of the proper use of force to protect America.

So, of course, we celebrate that important tactical victory that we found out about yesterday. You know, there’s no military in the world that could have accomplished what that young team of SEALs accomplished…. But there are still many serious questions that demand answers. Osama bin Laden was killed in an affluent city outside Islamabad, not in a dark cave in the mountains. How long had he been there? The town where he was hiding is home to the Pakistani equivalent of West Point. According to some reports, the gun battle took place just about 800 yards from the Pakistani Military Academy. Many retired Pakistani military officers live in the area. How was the most wanted man in the world able to avoid detection living in comfort in a mysterious super compound in plain sight? ….We know that speculation will be that at least some of the Pakistani leaders perhaps were helping him. Consider that just last October, the U.S. offered $2 billion in military aid to Pakistan. That’s on top of $7.5 billion that we provide them in civilian aid. So, we deserve answers to our questions and should demand answers to our questions. We also must demand that anyone who cooperated in hiding Bin Laden be brought to justice. So there are lots of questions, lots of questions about the burial, about photos; and those things will certainly be disclosed, we must trust.

But despite these lingering questions, we’re not going to question the integrity of our troops. Credit belongs to our troops and our intelligence services for this victory. They were given a clear and a vital mission with defined objectives, and they accomplished the mission.

There’s a lesson here then for the effective use of force, as opposed to sending our troops on missions that are ill-defined. And it can be argued that our involvement elsewhere, say in Libya, is an example of a lack of clarity. See, these are deadly serious questions that we must ask ourselves when we contemplate sending Americans into harm’s way. Our men and women in uniform deserve a clear understanding of U.S. positions on such a crucial decision. I believe our criteria before we send our young men and women—America’s finest—into harm’s way should be spelled out clearly when it comes to the use of our military force. I can tell you what I believe that criteria should be in five points.

First, we should only commit our forces when clear and vital American interests are at stake. Period.

Second, if we have to fight, we fight to win. To do that, we use overwhelming force. We only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible. We do not stretch out our military with open-ended and ill-defined missions. Nation building is a nice idea in theory, but it is not the main purpose of our armed forces. We use our military to win wars.

And third, we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending troops into harm’s way. If you can’t explain the mission to the American people clearly and concisely, then our sons and daughters should not be sent into battle. Period.

Fourth, American soldiers must never be put under foreign command. We will fight side by side with our allies, but American soldiers must remain under the care and the command of American officers.

Fifth, sending in our armed forces should be the last resort. We don’t go looking for dragons to slay. However, we will encourage the forces of freedom around the world who are sincerely fighting for the empowerment of the individual. When it makes sense, when it’s appropriate, we will provide them with material support to help them win their own freedom.

We are not indifferent to the cause of human rights or the desire for freedom. We are always on the side of both. But we can’t fight every war. We can’t undo every injustice around the world. But with strength and clarity in those five points, we’ll make for a safer, more prosperous, more peaceful world because as the U.S. leads by example, as we support freedom across the globe, we’re going to prove that free and healthy countries don’t wage war on other free and healthy countries. The stronger we are, the stronger and more peaceful the world will be under our example.

Some of these principles may sound familiar. A few of them were first expressed back in 1984 in President Reagan’s cabinet. They were designed to help us sharply define when and how we should use force, and they served us well in the Reagan years. Times are much different now, but I believe that by updating these time-tested principles to address the unique and changing circumstances and threats that we face today, they will serve us well now and into the future. Remember, Reagan liked to keep it simple, yet profound. Remember what he would say to the enemy? He’d say, “we win, you lose.”

Some may argue that today in a world where we are dealing with terrorist organizations rather than Cold War adversaries, these principals are outdated. On the contrary, these principles are timeless. They will allow us to effectively and forcefully defend our vital national interests and those of our key allies in the age of terrorism. We must vigorously defend ourselves, but at the same time we must not wear down our armed forces with never-ending and ever-increasing commitments.

I believe that America must never retreat into isolation. The world would be less safe and less free without our leadership. And we must never forget that America has a responsibility to lead. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” We cannot be the world’s policeman granted, or the world’s ATM. But we can lead by example. By our words and, when necessary, by our actions, we must and we will remain the world’s abiding beacon of freedom.

Now, we may hear from pundits, from some of the elite in the Beltway, from the politicos (in fact, I often hear from them on a daily basis) that some of these commonsense ideas are passé and that America is in decline. That is what some of them would articulate and want you to believe. But a nation that can produce and support the men and women that we have up here on stage, and a man like Sgt. Giunta, a nation that can produce these volunteer patriots and the brave warriors who defeated an enemy yesterday is not in decline. We are not a nation in decline if we can look to these young people and realize that they still want to protect America and fight for America. That is proof that we are not in decline.

We have America’s finest willing to sacrifice for the country. They are willing to sacrifice all for all of us. We have in America gifted private sector entrepreneurs who create wealth, and they provide jobs. We attract the best and brightest minds in the world wanting to come to America. Do you notice that not a lot of people are wanting to leave America? They’re wanting to come to America because we believe in American Exceptionalism, and we believe in the pioneering spirit that can be found in places like Colorado. No, America is not in decline – because America believes in itself and in leaders who believe in America and who believe in the providential hand that can guide us.

We need leaders who embody the same standards to which our men and women in uniform hold themselves.

Remember, the true soldier fights because he loves what is behind him. Behind him here is tradition; it’s patriotism. It’s not a need for a fundamental transformation of America; it’s for a renewal of all that is good about America! It’s a renewal of what CCU stands for.

Our fighting men and women love America’s values, they love their families, they love this providential land which God has shed His grace upon.

They love their fellow Americans. They’ve fought for us; they’ve protected us; they’ve given us the justice that America deserves. They know that freedom isn’t free. It’s a God-given right. It’s worth fighting for.

They have made us proud. Now let’s make them proud!

Thank you for loving the United States of America, for supporting TAPS, for assisting the survivors. May you be blessed in the mission, Colorado. And thank you for being part of the solution.

God bless you, Colorado! And God bless America!

- JP

Penguin's Book Country is a Brand New Online Community For Genre Fiction Writers And Readers [image]This week Penguin Group (USA) announced the soft launch of Book Country, an online community where readers and writers can come together to read original fiction, post work or comments, and make a name for themselves. The free, multi-faceted site, led by Book Country President Molly Barton, Penguin's Director of Business Development, defines "genre fiction" as all the subgenres of romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, and fantasy. The site is a creative and supportive space where writers and readers can give and receive constructive criticism, discover new books, discuss and share tips and experiences, and learn about the publishing industry. Book Country also offers agents, publishers and editors a place to discover new voices. Later this year, Book Country will offer self-publishing services for eBooks and print books. Though owned by Penguin Group (USA), Book Country includes books from publishers across  the industry on the Genre Map, and staff members from all publishers are welcome to participate. "We created Book Country because while writing and publishing sites have proliferated in recent years, none were designed by publishing experts to create a more valuable pathway forward for new writers," explained Book Country President Molly Barton. The new site has already gained widespread national attention. An article on the front page of The New York Times Arts section ran on launch day. Publishers Weekly and Publishers Lunch also covered Tuesday's soft launch of the site, as Book Country's traction in the genre fiction community is growing rapidly. Follow Book Country on Facebook and Twitter. Beloved Betty White's If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) is the Talk of the Nation [image]The book everyone has been buzzing about has finally arrived. Beloved seven-time Emmy winner Betty White brings her wit and wisdom to fans throughout the country with G. P. Putnam's Sons May 3 publication of If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), a collection of all new material that includes her thoughtful observations and humorous stories that are funny, sweet, and to the point—just like Betty. The media blitz begins with a wonderful feature by Frank Bruni in The New York Times Arts Section this Sunday, May 1, followed closely by another major feature with photos in USA Today on Monday, May 2. On publication day, Betty will be making the rounds to the top television shows starting with an interview on ABC's Good Morning America, then on to co-host the The View, and over to CBS' Late Show with David Letterman to deliver the "Top 10" list on Wednesday, May 4. Other major media coverage kicks off with a stellar lineup of print features running in Newsweek, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, USA Weekend, Thomson Reuters, AARP online, and a Books-A-Million BookPage cover story. Additional national television appearances include PBS' Tavis Smiley Show, CNN's Joy Behar, and the "Gayle King Show" on OWN and SIRIUS XM radio. Tune in to hear Betty on NPR's Weekend Edition, The Takeaway, and Leonard Lopate Show, as well as the syndicated Joan Hamburg Show, and Mitch Albom on ABC Radio. She will also reach homes across nationwide via television and radio satellite tours that will hit top markets throughout the country. Look out for reviews and book coverage in Entertainment Weekly, Ladies' Home Journal, TV Guide Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, Time Out New York, Chicago Tribune's RedEye, and New York Magazine's popular "Vulture" blog. Fans will have a chance to meet Betty White during a two-week national book signing tour in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles that includes two on-stage conversations with Frank Bruni at TimesTalks in New York City and with actor Carl Reiner for Writers Bloc at The Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles. Additional book signings will take place at Barnes & Noble in Lake Grove, Long Island, the Fifth Avenue store in New York City, and Skokie, IL, as well as Costco in Marina del Ray and Book Soup in Los Angeles. Janny Scott's A Singular Woman Draws Major National Media Coverage [image]Stanley Ann Dunham, President Obama's mother, is the subject of a deeply reported and researched biography, A Singular Woman, by award-winning, New York Times reporter Janny Scott.  Little is known about the fiercely independent, spirited woman who raised the current president of the United States. Through her exhaustive research, Scott uncovered the full breadth of Dunham's life.  This acclaimed book has captured national attention in advance of its release by Riverhead on May 3.  A major national media campaign launched with an excerpt from the book in The New York Times Sunday Magazine. The piece ran as the cover story in the April 24th print edition of the magazine and was featured online on the Times' homepage last week. The online excerpt generated hundreds of comments and sparked a media frenzy, with blogs and websites across the country and all over the world picking it up, including Salon.com and New York Magazine. Salon called the excerpt "a tantalizing slice of what will likely become one of the most talked about books of the spring, and a compelling portrait of a woman whose unorthodox life would make for a compelling read even if her only son hadn't become the 44th president." On publication day, the author will appear on WHYY's Fresh Air, interviewed by Terry Gross; on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, in a live, in-studio interview; and on PRI's The Takeaway (one million listeners and airs on 50 stations nationwide). She will also be interviewed on PBS' The Charlie Rose Show and on WAMC FM's The Roundtable. In the following week, she will appear on C-SPAN's After Words. We've also scheduled interviews for Scott on Sirius XM's Bob Edwards and The Maggie Linton Show. Scott will also take part in a national tour, including appearances in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago. On May 4, Scott is scheduled for an 18-20 city national radio satellite tour, followed by an 18-20 city national television satellite tour on May 5. Look for upcoming review coverage of A Singular Woman in The New York Times Sunday Book Review, The New York Times daily edition on May 3rd, USA Today, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe, among other publications. Five Penguin Group (USA) Books Lead USA Today's Preview of "May Books Not to Miss" [image]USA Today's "May Books Preview," featured prominently in the Life section of Thursday's edition of the paper, was led by five books published by Penguin Group (USA). Betty White's If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't), on sale May 3 from Putnam, is the lead title among "books not to miss in May" in a full-page spread on celebrity memoirs and biographies. The Story of How I Became a Man by Chaz Bono, to be published by Dutton on May 10, is also featured on this page.  USA Today reporter Carol Memmott focused on ten fiction and nonfiction books not to miss in May, and ranked #1 is A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother by Janny Scott, which goes on sale from Riverhead on May 3. Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, being published May 3 by Viking, is #2.  The Immortal Story of Cleopatra: Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley, which goes on sale from Dutton on May 12, is #6.  Putnam and the Robert B. Parker Estate to Continue Publication of Parker's Top Best-Selling Series with New Authors [image]G. P. Putnam's Sons and the Robert B. Parker estate have come together to strike a deal that will allow Parker's top bestselling series, Spenser (39 novels since 1974) and Jesse Stone (9 novels since 1997), to continue in the hands of two new, highly respected and accomplished writers, Michael Brandman and Ace Atkins. Parker, who authored more than 60 novels between 1974 and 2010, most of them national best-sellers, passed away in January of 2010, after which his last few completed novels were published posthumously by Putnam. The final work, Sixkill, the 39th entry in the beloved Spenser series about the now-legendary Boston private detective who goes only by his surname, goes on sale May 3.   Joan Parker, Robert's widow, and his soul-mate since they met as teenagers in Massachusetts in the early 1950s, expressed her enthusiasm for the new arrangement with Putnam and the new authors: "I am delighted that the worlds of Spenser and Jesse Stone will live on in the capable, talented hands of such gifted writers," she stated.   Putnam President Ivan Held noted that "It is exciting to think that we can keep these two iconic characters that Bob invented going with the deft touches of our new authors, Michael Brandman and Ace Atkins under the eye of  Bob's longtime editor Chris Pepe. They have truly captured the voice that gave—and still gives—so many readers great pleasure." Putnam Executive Editor Chris Pepe recalled, "I started working with Bob Parker as a young editor more than twenty-three years ago. Although I was new to the publishing world, I knew Bob: he had long been one of my father's literary idols, and therefore became one of mine. How lucky for me, then, to work with him for all those years, on forty-seven incredible books. He was an absolute joy, and clearly very patient: he's the one who really taught me to be an editor, and so I owe him a tremendous debt. I'm thrilled that we have found two such talented writers to carry on Bob's work; they respect and understand the characters of Spenser and Jesse, and are ideal stewards to bring both series into the future." Michael Brandman is a long-established Hollywood producer and screenwriter who, with actor Tom Selleck, both co-wrote and produced the CBS television movies featuring Selleck as Parker's creation Jesse Stone, a small-town Massachusetts police chief, in such films as Stone Cold, Night Passage, Sea Change, and Death in Paradise. Ace Atkins, who will be continuing as the new author of the bestselling Spenser series, is already well-established with Putnam, having authored a number of well-received novels based on historical crimes and criminals, including White Shadow, Infamous, and Wicked City.  Atkins' next Putnam book, The Ranger, the first entry in a new series about Army Ranger Quinn Colson, goes on sale June 9.   See our full catalog of books by Robert B. Parker. Ace Editor in Chief Ginjer Buchanan, Ace Authors Alastair Reynolds and Allen M. Steele, and Viking/Penguin author Lev Grossman Nominated for Hugo Awards [image]The Hugo Awards, which are among the most prestigious awards in speculative fiction, are presented every year to highlight the most interesting, creative, and culturally significant works and achievements in  science fiction and fantasy writing. The 2011 Hugo Award nominations were announced on Sunday, April 24rd and Berkley's very own Ginjer Buchanan has been nominated for the "Best Editor, Long Form" Hugo Award. She is pictured here, on the left, with author Charlaine Harris. Buchanan has been an influential member of the Ace editorial team for more than 27 years, rising to the rank of Editor in Chief in 2007. She has edited some of the imprint's best -known writers, including Charlaine Harris, Charles Stross, and Robert Sawyer, as well as up and coming authors like Taylor Anderson. Joining Buchanan among this year's nominees are Ace authors Alastair Reynolds and Allen M. Steele, as well as Viking/Penguin's Lev Grossman. Reynolds is nominated for "Best Novella" for Troika, with fellow Ace author Steele nominated for "Best Novelette" for The Emperor of Mars. Grossman, author of The Magicians, is nominated for a John W. Campbell Award for "Best New Writer." The Hugo Award ceremony will take place at the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, Nevada this August. Click here to see the full list of nominees. Please join us in congratulating our colleagues! The Penguin Press Acquires Pulitzer Prize Winner Ron Chernow's Biography of Ulysses S. Grant and a New Book on Innovation by California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom Ann Godoff, President and Publisher of The Penguin Press, announced this week the acquisition of new books by Pulitzer Prize winning-author Ron Chernow and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom will show how citizens can use social media, technology and available government data to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and redesign government in their own image. This solution-driven book suggests that we are at the dawn of a revolutionary change in the way government and the people interact. "Gavin Newsom's employing what America does best—innovation—and using it to call for many local revolutions that will overcome the epidemic gridlock in our government bureaucracy," Godoff said. "Just as Apple's app store succeeded by tapping into the ingenuity of ordinary Americans, so can government harness the collective intelligence of citizens to help solve our greatest challenges," said Newsom. Publication is planned for Winter 2013. Ron Chernow, this year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his magisterial biography of George Washington, moves from that towering figure of the Revolutionary War to write a sweeping and comprehensive biography of his counterpart in the Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant. A publication date has not yet been determined. Read an excerpt from Washington: A Life. Bestselling Author C.J. Box Offers Readers His First eSpecial, The Master Falconer, Featuring Series Leads Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski [image]This week, bestselling Putnam author C.J. Box released his first Penguin eSpecial, a short story called The Master Falconer. This is the second recent big first for Box, who recently made his first appearance on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list with Cold Wind (Putnam). In the words of the Dallas Morning News, "With each new book, the New York Times best-selling author is cementing a national reputation as one of today's most authentic chroniclers of the American West."   The West is not the way it's portrayed in the movies—most of the time. But when a dangerous foreigner in a private jet brings trouble for master falconer Nate Romanowski and his trusted friend, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, it may just be time to Cowboy Up. Box is the author of 11 Joe Pickett novels and three stand-alone thrillers. He has won the Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe and Barry Awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38, and has been an Edgar Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, all for the Pickett novels. His first stand-alone novel, Blue Heaven, won the Edgar Award for best novel of 2009. This eSpecial short story is an exciting new addition to the Joe Pickett series hailed by People Magazine as one that "combines harrowing adrenaline rushes with complex morality, humor, and a landscape described so vibrantly it seems to have a life all its own."   Tarcher Author's Ten-City "Hair Tour" Promotes The Internet is a Playground and Raises Funds for National Children's Cancer Society [image]Did you know that a lock of Justin Bieber's hair is currently on tour—with a bodyguard no less? Frenzied fans are lining up across the nation to get their picture taken with Bieber's hair for one dollar, with the proceeds going toward tsunami relief. Though Bieber's hair may not be stopping at bookstores, author David Thorne's hair will. His book, The Internet Is a Playground (Tarcher), is being promoted through a ten-city David Thorne Hair Tour to create buzz for the bitingly funny book, which has already pre-sold more than 2,000 copies. [image]According to Thorne's editor, Michael Solana: "Thorne declared war on Justin Bieber last month with his site HelpMeSellMoreBooksThanJustinBieber.com. A 10-city tour of his hair was kind of inevitable." Solana's enthusiasm is clear in the photo at left. A lock of Thorne's hair will spend three days at each participating store, and for every store on the tour route, Tarcher will donate $200 to the National Children's Cancer Society. The $1 fee customers pay to have their picture taken with the hallowed lock will also be donated to this cause. In addition to this unusual tour, which was mentioned in GalleyCat and will be in Shelf Awareness soon, the book was featured in the May issue of Wired and excerpted for their iPad app. It will be reviewed on BoingBoing, featured on PopMatters.com in a Q&A that will also run in papers via McClatchy, excerpted on nerve.com, and the subject of a Washington Post Live chat. Wired writes: "There is usually a fine line between genius and insanity, but in this case it has become very blurred. Some of the funniest and most clever writing I have read in years." Karen White's On Folly Beach Chosen as Finalist for The Southern Independent Booksellers Association 2011 Book Awards, as She Tours for her New NAL Novel, The Beach Trees [image]NAL author Karen White's bestselling novel On Folly Beach has been chosen as a finalist for the Southern Independent Booksellers Association 2011 Book Awards in the fiction category. Winners will be announced the first week of July. White sets off on a twenty-city tour next week for her new novel, The Beach Trees (New American Library Trade Paperback Original), travelling to such cities as Atlanta, Savannah, Charlotte, Charleston, Memphis, Lexington, Dallas, Houston, and Philadelphia for book signings. While on tour White will appear on WLMT-TV's "Eyewitness News this Morning" in Memphis, and on Clear Channel Radio in Savannah, GA, and she will be featured in local newspapers and magazines such as the Atlanta Intown Paper, Southern Seasons, and Southern Lady. The Beach Trees will also be reviewed in numerous local newspapers such as The Pilot and The Herald-Sun, while the author participates in a twenty-website blog tour for even more review coverage. [image]The Beach Trees is Penguin's May pick for the "What the World is Reading" program (penguin.com/whattheworldisreading). Carefully selected to introduce readers to new voices in fiction, "What the World is Reading" will host an online chat with White in May. The book will be featured on a special Facebook page (facebook.com/whattheworldisreading), and it will also be included in a promotional sampler and brochure that goes out to all key accounts. In addition, The Beach Trees will be a July BlogHer book club selection and it will receive reviews and attention on BlogHer.com, in newsletters, and on the BlogHer social networks. Read an excerpt from The Beach Trees. Military Science Fiction Reaches New Heights—Aboard NASA'S Endeavour [image]More specifically, the newest book from bestselling author Jack Campbell will reach a height of approximately 140 miles straight up. Published this week, The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught (Ace Books) is headed to outer space this Friday aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on NASA's STS-134 mission, which launched today. US Air Force Colonel Michael Fincke will bring a copy of The Lost Fleet with him when he embarks on a fourteen-day mission. Col. Fincke, who will be serving as Mission Specialist aboard Endeavour, has already read the six previous books in Campbell's series. In an email to Campbell and Ace Books, Fincke said that he is eager to "read the next installment of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet while on the space shuttle."    Because of strict weight limits on the shuttle, Fincke requested that the latest installment in Campbell's The Lost Fleet series be sent to him in a digital format. Ace Books emailed a copy to Col. Fincke on the book's pub date, April 26th. The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught is the newest book in Campbell's bestselling military science fiction series—and the first to be published in hardcover. Campbell, who also writes as John Hemry, has a few book signings set up in May, including stops at a few military bases near San Diego and Washington, DC. For more information, visit his website at www.johnghemry.com. Read an excerpt from The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught. Ranger's Apprentice: Book Ten: The Emperor Of Nihon-Ja [image]John Flanagan's international bestselling Ranger's Apprentice series comes to a close this week with the publication of the final book in the series, Ranger's Apprentice: Book Ten: The Emperor Of Nihon-Ja. The popular series, which currently has more than three million copies in print, has attracted fans across the globe with its edge-of-your-seat adventures of Will, an orphan who becomes an apprentice Ranger, and his master, Halt, as they strive to keep their beloved kingdom of Araluen safe from threats and traitors. The series is so popular that it has not only been optioned for film but also adapted as a popular literary summer camp for kids. In its thrilling conclusion which The Wall Street Journal calls "[an] exciting mix of adventure, peril, wit and romance," a kingdom teeters on the edge of chaos, victory lies in the hands of an inexperienced group of fighters, and it's anybody's guess who will make the journey home to Araluen. John Flanagan is currently on a nine-city tour visiting schools and stores in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, Houston, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York City. Recent and upcoming media coverage includes Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Scripps Howard News Service, Creator's Syndicate, Savannah Morning News, San Jose Mercury News, Harrisburg Patriot News, Austin American-Statesman, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Wilmington News Journal, Bay Area Magazine, Mediabistro.com, and much more. Listen to an excerpt from The Emperor Of Nihon-Ja on audio! New Next Week A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, And The Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz (The Penguin Press, 5/2) [image]In A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, And The Things That Really Matter, literary critic William Deresiewicz looks back at his youth and eloquently explains how everything he learned in life he learned from reading Jane Austen. Anchoring his recollections in Austen's six great novels—Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abby, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility—Deresiewicz goes novel by novel, lesson by lesson, to marry the things Austen has to teach us with how he learned them in his own life. For the author, these six books challenge some of our most essential beliefs about the way we live: beliefs about growing up, making mistakes, and being happy. Look for upcoming reviews in the Boston Globe, Slate, Seattle Times, and Bloomberg. Features are also coming on Huffington Post, WowWow.com, and MarieClaire.com. An op-ed will also appear in The Wall Street Journal. How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley (Riverhead Trade Paperback, 5/3) [image]The paperback of New York Times-bestselling author Sloane Crosley's How Did You Get This Number drops on May 3, and the media definitely has her number. Crosley will appear as a pop culture panelist on The Joy Behar Show on May 19th. Online interviews include Interview magazine, Vanity Fair, Blackbook, and The Economist. Following an event at New York's McNally Jackson on May 4, Crosley hits the road on a national tour that includes events in Minneapolis, Miami, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Local broadcast media includes "The Fox Morning News" in Minneapolis, KING-TV's "New Day Northwest" in Seattle and KXAN-TV's "News at Noon" in Austin, with print interviews running in The Miami Herald, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Brooklyn Paper, and The East Bay Express. An oldie but goodie, Sloane Crosley comments on why question marks are dangerous in this episode of The Literary Life. Growing at the Speed of Life: A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden by Graham Kerr (Perigee, 3/1) [image]Former "Galloping Gourmet" Graham Kerr, author of the new Growing at the Speed of Life: A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden, has been busy this spring. While on tour in March, Kerr travelled to Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco for book signings and received feature coverage in USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, a cooking segment on Rachael Ray (which you can watch here), a national radio satellite tour to over fifteen markets, and interviews on Portland's KATU "AM Northwest" and San Francisco's KGO "View From the Bay." This week Kerr will head to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for a cooking demonstration and book signing. He will demonstrate various ways one can use yogurt cheese in their meals and talk about his spring gardening plans. Following the festival, Kerr will return to New York to tape his second appearance on Rachael Ray for an episode focused on "food legends." Growing at the Speed of Life takes readers through the first year in Kerr's kitchen garden, sharing lessons learned from his circle of local knowledge providers. From putting together a greenhouse to planting his first seeds and harvesting and sharing his first crop with others in need, Kerr provides a tour through his gardening adventures and profiles sixty readily available garden vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Read an excerpt from Growing at the Speed of Life.

The Pakistani government today expressed "deep concerns and reservations" over the May 1 raid by covert US soldiers and CIA operatives that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in his safe house in Abbottabad. Pakistan also denied any involvement in sheltering the terror chief.

Pakistan released the statement after allegations were made that Pakistan's military and intelligence service sheltered bin Laden, as well as other reports claiming that some elements of the Pakistani military aided in bin Laden's death.

"[T]he Government of Pakistan expresses its deep concerns and reservations on the manner in which the Government of the United States carried out this operation without prior information or authorization from the Government of Pakistan," the press release published on the website of Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said.

"This event of unauthorized unilateral action cannot be taken as a rule. The Government of Pakistan further affirms that such an event shall not serve as a future precedent for any state, including the US."

The Pakistani statement said that the death of bin Laden "is an important milestone in fight against terrorism and that the Government of Pakistan and its state institutions have been making serious efforts to bring him to justice," but the government "categorically denies the media reports suggesting that its leadership, civil as well as military, had any prior knowledge of the US operation."

Pakistan said the reports that US helicopters used Ghazi Airbase are "absolutely false and incorrect." According to the Foreign Ministry's statement, "[n]either any base or facility inside Pakistan was used by the US Forces, nor Pakistan Army provided [sic] any operational or logistic assistance to these operations conducted by the US Forces."

Instead, Pakistan claimed that US helicopters "entered Pakistani airspace making use of blind spots in the radar coverage due to hilly terrain," and used the terrain as well as the "latest technology and 'nap of the earth' flying techniques" to reach Abbottabad. The Pakistani Air Force "scrambled its jets within minutes" after receiving reports of helicopters over Abbottabad, as was confirmed by US counterterrorism chief John Brennan. But the Pakistani statement did not explain why Pakistani jets did not intercept and engage the helicopters, which were on station over bin Laden's mansion for 40 minutes.

Pakistan has detained bin Laden's wife, Amal al Sadah, who was wounded during the assault, and an undisclosed number of children are currently in custody. Osama bin Laden's son, Hamza, and two al Qaeda couriers were killed during the raid.

"They [bin Laden's family] are all in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with law," the Pakistani government stated. "Some of them needing medical care are under treatment in the best possible facilities. As per policy, they will be handed over to their countries of origin."

Pakistan also claimed that the Abbottabad area has "been under sharp focus of intelligence agencies since 2003."

Abu Faraj al Libi, a top al Qaeda commander who managed couriers for bin Laden, was captured in Abbottabad in 2005; and Umar Patek, a senior Jemaah Islamiyah operative from Indonesia, was captured in Abbottabad earlier this year.

The statement stressed that the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, Pakistan's military intelligence branch, was working with the CIA on Abbottabad.

"As far as the target compound is concerned, ISI had been sharing information with CIA and other friendly intelligence agencies since 2009. The intelligence flow indicating some foreigners in the surroundings of Abbottabad, continued till mid April 2011."

According to Pakistan, the CIA used its "superior technological assets' and "exploited the intelligence leads given by us to identify and reach Osama bin Laden."

They should probably give this guy the “Bin Laden” treatment.

A former United States Air Force sergeant was sentenced in federal court in Atlanta Monday to 15 years in prison after he paid to watch a 4-year-old Georgia girl engage

History.com - Sources are reporting that Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader who avoided capture for nearly a decade after engineering the attacks of September 11, 2001, was killed by an elite counterterrorism unit of the U.S. military known as DevGru. Find out more about the origins and past operations of these highly trained Navy SEALs.

Originally known as SEAL Team Six, the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru) is one of several publicly disclosed units under the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), an elite and highly classified group that coordinates counterterrorism and other security-related missions around the world. (Others include the Army’s fabled Delta Force and the Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron.) Based at Pope Army Air Field and Fort Bragg in North Carolina, JSOC was established in 1980 after American special forces failed to rescue American hostages at the Iranian Embassy during Operation Eagle Claw.

For the full story from History.com, click here.

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More on Osama bin Laden

Article on the Jerusalem Post Business News featuring Wikistrat's upcoming Grand Strategy Competition

As instability in the Middle East continues to confuse even the world’s most important decision makers, a small Israeli start-up has launched a new wiki-based competition that it hopes will revolutionize grand strategic planning.

Thirty-five teams of students and analysts from leading academic and military institutions including Columbia, Georgetown, Oxford and the United States Air Force have already registered for Wikistrat’s Grand Strategy Competition. It will take place throughout June and will be judged by Dr. Thomas Barnett, former senior adviser to the US secretary of defense, and Michael Barrett, former director of strategy at the White House Homeland Security Council.

Wikistrat CEO Joel Zamel, who together with fellow Australian expat Daniel Green founded the company in Israel last year, said the competition, which they have dubbed “Grand Strategy 2.0,” would provide participants with a “Wikipedia meets Facebook collaborative space for generating content.”

“Generically this kind of work [strategic planning] is done in the form of static reports: that’s the industry standard,” Zamel told The Jerusalem Post. “This is different because it’s wiki-based, allowing strategists and analysts from around the world to collaboratively generate content.”

Read the full article here.

More on the competition at Wikistrat's website

President Asif Ali Zardari hits back at US accusations that his country knew al-Qaida leader Bin Laden was in Abbottabad

President Asif Ali Zardari has hit back against angry American accusations that his country secretly sheltered Osama bin Laden, who was killed on Sunday night, and has claimed Pakistan played a role in leading US special forces to the al-Qaida leader.

"Some in the US press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing," Zardari said.

"Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact."

It was the first high-level rebuttal by the Pakistani government after a day of trenchant criticism from American commentators and officials, who questioned how the Saudi fugitive managed to live for years in a wealthy suburb close to one of Pakistan's most prestigious military facilities.

The dramatic 40-minute air assault that killed Bin Laden was carried out by US Navy Seals who crossed from Afghanistan in four helicopters and targeted a house in Abbottabad, a two-hour drive north of Islamabad. The spacious $1m (£600,000) compound is located a few streets from the Pakistan Military Academy, the equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point.

"People have been referring to this as hiding in plain sight. We are looking at how he was able to hide out there for so long," said White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.

It was "inconceivable" that Bin Laden did not enjoy a "support system" in Pakistan, he said.

Writing in the Washington Post, Zardari said his country was "the world's greatest victim of terrorism", called Bin Laden "the source of the greatest evil of the new millennium", and claimed that Pakistan had played a role in identifying the al-Qaida courier who ultimately led American forces to Bin Laden.

"Although the events of Sunday were not a joint operation, a decade of co-operation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilised world," he said.

The US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, perhaps anxious not to alienate a partner still vital to actions against al-Qaida, appeared to partly agree. "In fact co-operation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding," she said.

Zardari's comments will please Pakistan's powerful military, the real target of American accusations of double-dealing. The army's spokesman has been silent over the Abbottabad operation, although senior officials from the ISI spy agency insisted they had not been informed of it.

The army faces a raft of unanswered questions and anger over the breach of sovereignty, including how a fleet of US helicopters managed to fly through Pakistan's air defences and return to Afghanistan unhindered.

Precise details about Bin Laden's final moments are still emerging. US officials said he was killed by gunfire in the final stages of the 40-minute assault, as was one of his sons and his youngest wife. The White House claimed she had been used by Bin Laden as a human shield.

Bin Laden, code-named Geronimo for the operation, was shot twice, in the head and chest. Brennan denied the soldiers were under orders to kill, not capture. "If we had the opportunity to take him alive, we would have done," he said.

After his death soldiers shouted "Geronimo EKIA", meaning enemy killed in action. His body was taken by helicopter to a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Gulf and buried at sea.

Barack Obama said: "The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."

Such was the American distrust of the notoriously leaky Pakistan government that it did not even inform it of the raid in its own territory until after the helicopters had cleared Pakistani airspace.

Members of Congress threatened to withhold economic aid to Pakistan over the affair.

Carl Levin, a Democrat who heads the powerful Senate armed services committee, reflected scepticism in the US about Bin Laden's ability to remain hidden in Pakistan.

"I think the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer given the location, the length of time and the apparent fact that this facility was actually built for Bin Laden and its closeness to the central location of the Pakistani army," he told a press conference.

The US is now expected to step up pressure on Pakistan to hand over the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar and Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, if they are in Pakistan. The death of Bin Laden could also lead to a rethink of the scale of the US involvement in Afghanistan.

Embassies, airports and defence bases were placed on high alert for possible retaliation by al-Qaida sympathisers.

The Pakistani Taliban threatened attacks against the country's government and military, and the US. In a phone call to Reuters, a spokesman said: "Now Pakistani rulers, President Zardari and the army will be our first targets. America will be our second target".

The US embassy and its three consulates in Pakistan were closed to the public until further notice. David Cameron warned of a continuing threat from "extremist terrorism" but hailed a "massive step forward".

The mood in the US was one of celebration as Americans gathered at Ground Zero in New York, pleased finally to have retribution. Obama will visit Ground Zero on Thursday to meet the families of those killed in the September 11 attacks.

Clinton suggested that US policy on Afghanistan would not shift, but other officials hinted the dynamics may have changed. The Pentagon only wants to see a token force of a few thousand withdrawn beginning in the summer, but Obama may want a more significant reduction.

An Afghan government official said he feared the death would give "justification for US premature disengagement from the region". It was a view echoed by Ahmed Wali Massoud, an Afghan politician and brother of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the legendary resistance fighter who was assassinated just two days before the September 11 attacks on the orders of Bin Laden.

"Already the US has been thinking about shifting its policy on the war on terror and there is a risk that the American public will continue to question why their troops are still fighting there," he said.

One of the most senior American officers serving in Afghanistan, General William Caldwell, told the Guardian the death might encourage moderate elements within the Taliban to give up.

John Taylor whose daughter Carrie, 24, was killed in the 7/7 bombings in 2005, said he would be celebrating. "This is poetic justice for my daughter. This is a little piece of justice for Carrie and the thousands around the world who have been killed as a result of his actions."

Texas Flying Legends Museum - Saint Barths Airshow 2011 - Cockpit Cameras | Come fly with the Texas Flying Legends Museum as they do low passes over the St Barths airport and SY Marie at the 2011 St Barths Bucket Regetta. Pilots are: Warren Pietsch - P-40K, Robert Odegaard - FG-1D and Casey Odegaard - P-51D.

Whitsunday Airport 50th Birthday from the Whitsunday Islands and Coast: Whitsundays Airshow |
Whitsunday Airport celebrated its 50th Birthday in style on Sunday May 1, 2011.

Ride in a B-29 bomber! from www.cincinnatiwarbirds.org | The Cincinnati Warbirds will be hosting the B-29 "Fifi" at Lunken Airport, 262 Wilmer Avenue in Cincinnati, OH Friday, June 10th through Sunday June 12th, 2011. The objectives of the B-29 display are to honor the veterans whose sacrifices paid for our freedom, and to preserve this part of our heritage by keeping these warbirds flying. Ground tours and rides will be available for a monetary donation. (See the CAF website for details) Your donation will support the continuing operation of this airplane so that future generations can share this experience.  ...

Upside-down helicopter ride from AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points | Nothing in my flying experience prepared me for flying with Red Bull’s Chuck Aaron, the only helicopter pilot approved by the FAA for low-level aerobatic helicopter demonstrations.  Our short flight on Friday, April 29, included loops and rolls — familiar maneuvers in fixed-wing aircraft — but totally foreign in a helicopter. ...

Naval Aviation Day at Museum of Flight from General Aviation News | The Museum of Flight in Seattle launches its celebration of the U.S. Navy’s 100th year of aviation May 14 with a full day of special activities sponsored by Honeywell. Events include lectures, a panel discussion with World War II navy fighter aces, vintage navy aircraft flights and fly-in displays. ...

Korean War veterans join others on Honor Flight - The Coloradoan | Deppe, who will turn 89 on May 11, was one of hundreds of WWII and Korean War veterans who gathered Sunday at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Loveland to take part in the sixth running of the Honor Flight of Northern Colorado. ...

Dale to honor WWII veteran, grandfather with memorial flight - Community Impact Newspaper | The B-25 is known as the Devil Dog and is preserved and maintained locally by the Devil Dog Squadron, a volunteer organization of the Commemorative Air Force. The plane is hangered at the Georgetown Airport. The event is open to the public. ...

Vietnam War helicopter pilots reunite in Slidell after more than 40 years - NOLA.com | Andrew Hover doesn’t talk about his experiences as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during Vietnam.
   
Registration for AFA's 2011 Air and Space Conference & Technology Exposition ... - Air Force Magazine | Arlington, VA – The Air Force Association today announced the 2011 Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition, to be held September 19 - 21, 2011, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on the Potomac, in National Harbor, ...

Wei Chen - Around the World Flight for Hope -- MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - Mr. Wei Chen is a Memphis business man and adventurer who will be the first Chinese Citizen to fly around the world in a single-engine plane. Mr. Chen intends to spread his message of kindness, opportunity and hope and as an unofficial ambassador of Memphis, Tennessee to China and the world. Mr. Chen hopes to raise over $250,000 for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital through his journey. He will encourage youth to greatness by sharing his personal story of giving and inspiration on stops along the way. ...

'Synergy' Project Revealed - EAA News | Unveiled Friday, April 30, at the CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium, the double-box tailed Synergy aircraft is a potential breakthrough in aircraft design. View the photo gallery. April 29, 2011 — It's not very often that a true ...

WWII Time Portal: Classic US Aviation Articles from ASB.tv | What if you woke up one morning, sat down for breakfast and coffee, got out the newspaper, and realized that the newspaper was dated in the early 1940s?  Now that would be odd!  However, if that sounds appealing and you don’t mind reading on your computer screen, we’ve got you covered for the next several days!  This is not your typical World War II history lesson.  This is World War II as it appeared in newspapers throughout the United States.  We searched online at NewspaperARCHIVE and compiled some of the most impressive aviation-related articles from the World War Two era.  Enjoy! ...

Jet trainer added to aviation museum - Honolulu Star-Advertiser | The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star became the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor's 28th aircraft last week after it was transferred from Honolulu Community College to Hangar 79 on Ford Island. ...

Castle set to show off Navy jet - Modesto Bee | ATWATER -- As a restoration team towed Castle Air Museum's recently refurbished RF-8 Crusader out of its hangar, Navy veteran Denny Baker, wearing his flight jacket with a patch on the back reading "Unarmed and ...

From Spitfires To Mosquitoes - Military & Aerospace Electronics | In January 1940, the first eight British women were admitted, and by 1942, American aviatrix Jackie Cochran was actively seeking American women to join the ranks in England. The ATA served as the blueprint for Cochran's (and Nancy Love's) later ...

Flying dangerously over the Hump - The Times of India | GUWAHATI: The hilly and thickly-forested northeast that forms the eastern flank of the Himalaya has always been pilots' nightmare since WWII.  According to aviation experts, the hilly terrain, coupled with sudden change in weather pattern, has always been a big challenge for pilots flying in the region. Incidentally, the erratic weather system and terrain have brought down many aircraft and choppers in the past in the region.

Grissom boom operator spends 10K hours in flight from Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind. | The average worker on a Monday through Friday schedule will work 260 days each year. During those days, the average employee spends 8 hours working.  Using those numbers, one of Grissom's in-flight refueling technicians has spent almost five years working at over 30,000 feet. ...

1 May 2011 Newsletter - Roadrunners Internationale

Today in Aviation History – May 2- CRUFC

REPORT: RQ-170 spied over Osama bin Laden's bed last night from The DEW Line | The National Journal's Marc Ambinder got the scoop about 1am this morning, when he tweeted: "US Joint Special Operations Command SMU -- from DEVGRU (Navy SEALs), did the shooting. RQ-170 drone overhead. JSOC spotters on ground."  In confirmed, this would be the first operation directly linked to the secretive RQ-170. Although the USAF has acknowledged its existence, it has never released an official photo. The UAS has been glimpsed only through a series of photos released by spotters around the US airfield at Kandahar, Afghanistan.   ...

Boeing XPBB Sea Ranger Test Flight (1942) from AIRBOYD.TV

Maine Pilot Wins Alaskan Airplane from Aviation Blogs | May Day for Maine pilot James Schoenmann ended in a way that he never expected. Schoenmann received a telephone call from Alaska Airmen’s Association President Adam White informing him that he had won the grand prize in the association’s fundraising raffle, a refurbished and highly modified Piper Super Cub valued  ...

One Plane. One Rope. One Great Cause. The ALS Ontario Plane Pull to Help Those ... - SYS-CON Media | The ALS Ontario Plane Pull is an opportunity for corporate and community organizations to lend their support by entering teams of ten people to undertake challenging and entertaining pulls of a Bombardier Q400 NextGen airliner. ...

Endeavour’s Last Mission Delayed from Warplanes Online Community | NASA announced that Space shuttle Endeavour’s final launch has been delayed until at least the end of the week because technicians need to replace a switch box in the engine compartment.

t sounds like the deranged words of a conspiracy theorist: The U.S. military is (not so) secretly creating software that’ll generate phony online personae in order to subtly influence social media conversations and spread propaganda. But what may sound like wacky theory is actually wacky reality, or at least will soon be, depending on whether it’s already in the works.

Dubbed the “online persona management service,” this technology would enable a single soldier to assume upwards of 10 different identities. As United States Central Command Commander Bill Speaks told The Guardian, “The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US.”

Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated messages, blogposts, chatroom posts and other interventions. Details of the contract suggest this location would be MacDill air force base near Tampa, Florida, home of US Special Operations Command. [The Guardian]

WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden’s death in a ripped-from-a-spy-thriller helicopter raid and firefight gives a storied unit of U.S. special operations forces bragging rights for what has become the most famous covert operation since the Sept. 11 attacks launched on bin Laden’s orders.The unit, called Navy SEAL Team Six, probably won’t claim the credit publicly, however.U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say units from SEAL Team Six dropped into bin Laden’s high-walled compound in Pakistan early Monday morning, sliding down ropes in the pre-dawn dark. The military won’t confirm which unit carried out the attack.But the head of the Navy SEALs, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, sent an e-mail congratulating his forces and warning them to keep their mouths shut.“Be extremely careful about operational security,” he added. “The fight is not over.”Made up of only a few hundred forces based in Dam Neck, Va., the elite SEAL unit officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or “DEVGRU,” is part of a special operations brotherhood that calls itself “the quiet professionals.”SEAL Team Six raided targets outside war zones like Yemen and Somalia in the past three years, though the unit operates primarily in Afghanistan. The Associated Press will not publish the names of the commanding officers, to protect them and their families from possible retaliation by militants for the bin Laden operation.The unit is overseen by the Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees the U.S. Army’s Delta Force and other special units. JSOC’s combined forces have been responsible for a quadrupling of counterterrorism raids that have targeted militants in record numbers over the past year in Afghanistan. Some 4,500 elite special operations forces and support units have been part of the surge of U.S. forces there.CIA Director Leon Panetta was in charge of the military team during the covert operation, a U.S. official said. While the President can empower the SEALs and other counterterrorism units to carry out covert actions without CIA oversight, President Obama’s team put the intelligence agency in charge, with other elements of the national security apparatus answering to them for this mission.SEAL Team Six actually works so often with the intelligence agency that it’s sometimes called the CIA’s Pretorian Guard a partnership that started in Iraq, as an outgrowth of the fusion of special operations forces and intelligence in the hunt for militants there.SEALs and Delta both, commanded by then-JSOC chief Gen. Stanley McChrystal, learned to work much like FBI agents, first attacking a target, killing or capturing the suspects, and then gathering evidence at the scene.General McChrystal described it as building a network to chase a network, where the special operations forces work with intelligence analysts back at a joint base. The raiders, he said, could collect valuable “pocket litter” from the scene, like documents or computers, to exploit to hunt the next target.The battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan had been informally divided, with the SEALs running Afghanistan and the U.S. Army’s Delta Force conducting the bulk of the operations in Iraq, though there was overlap of each organization. There is considerable professional rivalry between them.Delta Force units caught Saddam Hussein late in 2003, and had killed his sons Uday and Qusay in a shootout in Mosul earlier that year. The race to be the unit that captured bin Laden had been on ever since.“Officially, Team Six doesn’t exist,” says former Navy SEAL Craig Sawyer, 47, who advises Hollywood and acts in movies about the military.After undergoing a six-month process in which commanders scrutinized his every move, Mr. Sawyer says he was selected in the 1990s to join the team.“It was like being recruited to an all-star team,” he said, with members often gone 300 days a year, only lasting about three years on the team before burning out.“They train around the clock,” he said. “They know that failure will not be an option. Either they succeed or they don’t come home.”Other special operations units joke that “SEAL” stands for “Sleep, eat, lift,” though the term actually stands for Sea, Air, Land.“The SEALs will be the first to remind everyone that the ‘L’ in SEAL stands for land,” says retired Army Gen. Doug Brown, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla. “They have skills on the land equal to their skills at sea.”General Brown, who led the command from 2003-2007, said the operation against bin Laden is the most significant mission conducted by U.S. commando forces since the organization was formed in 1987 in the wake of the failed attempt in 1980 to rescue the American hostages in Iran.“I can’t think of a mission as nationally important,” General Brown said.The last time the public was made aware of a SEAL raid on Pakistani soil was 2008, when the raiders flew only a mile over the border to the town of Angurada, according to Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic matters. The high-value targets the Americans had been told were there had fled, and those left behind in the compound fought back, resulting in a number of civilian casualties, U.S. and Pakistani officials say, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified operation.While the United States usually does not comment on covert actions, especially ones that go wrong, the 2008 incident was caught on cellphone video, so they confirmed it and apologized publicly, U.S. officials said.The successful bin Laden mission is a much-needed boost for the unit. The SEALs’ reputation took a hit within the special operations community after a 2010 rescue mission led to the accidental killing of British hostage Linda Norgrove, held by militants in Afghanistan. One of the SEALs threw a fragmentation grenade at a militant when the team stormed their hideout, not realizing Ms. Norgrove was curled on the ground next to the militant.The SEALs originally reported that Ms. Norgrove had been killed by a fighter’s suicide vest, but when the SEAL commanding officer reviewed the tape from simultaneous surveillance video, he saw an explosion after one of the SEALs threw something in Ms. Norgrove’s direction, U.S. officials say, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified operation.One SEAL was dismissed from the unit, after he lied to a commanding officer about bringing that type of grenade on a rescue mission, when the standard practice in hostage rescue scenarios is to bring “flash-bangs,” which produce noise and light but do not kill.DEVGRU is the same unit that rescued an American ship captain, Richard Phillips, held hostage on a lifeboat by Somali pirates after his capture from the USS Maersk Alabama in 2009. A DEVGRU unit fired precision shots from the rocking stern of a Naval ship, killing all three pirates.

DoDIIS Worldwide Conference, Detroit, MI–May 2, 2011– Real-Time Innovations (RTI) and Tresys Technology today announced a revolutionary architecture for highly flexible, low-latency cross-domain solutions (CDS) that uses commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and is built on the Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform. The solution enables greater flexibility and connectivity, lower cost of maintenance, and reduced risk versus traditional solutions for CDS.

The joint CDS architecture offered by Tresys, RTI, and Wind River replaces traditional proprietary CDS architectures with three components: the Tresys Content Aware Decision and Routing Engine (CADRE) gateway for defining security policies and filters, RTI’s Data Distribution Service (DDS) high-performance messaging middleware, and Wind River VxWorks MILS separation kernel. These three components together provide an open, extensible framework that enables lower implementation, maintenance and modification costs. The solution also runs on much less expensive hardware.

Although the architecture is fully designed, the solution’s concept car approach welcomes input from the Cross-Domain Community to influence a long-life architecture that is adaptable for even the most unique requirements while still meeting certification and accreditation (C&A;) criteria.

Cross domain solutionswhich provide access or transfer of data between differing security domainshave traditionally relied on highly proprietary, closed technologies. This often results in high cost and lengthy turnaround time when a system modification is required. Even minor component modifications can require significant recertification efforts.

“Sharing standard data across domain pairs is pretty straightforward these days,” said Scott Winn, vice president, business development at Tresys. “When you want to handle varying types of data with low latency, high throughput, and maintenance of QoS, it gets harder. Add in the need to accept myriad new data sources, interoperate with coalition partners, and quickly respond to new mission requirements—it gets harder still. Flexibility combined with high assurance requires a rethinking of how a CDS gets built. By involving the community—via our concept car approach—we are taking a game-changing approach to the design-build process that will provide long-lasting benefits to the entire community.”

Basing the joint architecture on the Wind River VxWorks MILS separation kernel secures data flow between multiple security domains. The VxWorks MILS kernel strictly controls data exchange across domains without requiring multiple processors. The VxWorks MILS platform has entered Common Criteria certification at EAL 6+ against the Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP). The Tresys filters and RTI DDS use this secure foundation to connect diverse communication domains into this CDS.

The three technologies work together to provide secure, easy communications:

• Tresys’ CADRE architecture and tools deliver flexible, deep content inspection. CADRE builds on the dynamic attributes of DDS to enable easy creation of content filters and provide consistency in the security and quality of the implementation.

• RTI Data Distribution Service high-performance messaging middleware transmits and “normalizes” data between systems in real-time and with content awareness. The middleware supports end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) and meets real-time performance requirements not currently satisfied by any CDS

• Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform allows a single processor to host applications running at multiple security levels (e.g., secret and top secret) or from different domains (e.g., Navy and Air Force). This eliminates the typical CDS requirement of segregated user nodes, servers, and network equipment. Applications at multiple security levels can be hosted on a single processor board in secure partitions.

“Creating highly configurable real-time CDS solutions is challenging,” states Chip Downing, senior director of aerospace and defense at Wind River. “This solution stack enables wire speed transmission and filtering of multi-level secure (MLS) data in very small footprint devices.”

“RTI has a long, successful track record with Wind River and Tresys in advanced, secure communication systems,” said David Barnett, vice president of products and markets at RTI. “Our technologies fit together to create compelling and efficient customer solutions, and this platform is another proof point of the power of our joint solutions.”

The companies will demonstrate the joint architecture live at the 2011 Department of Defense Intelligence Information Systems (DoDIIS) Worldwide Conference in Detroit, MI on May 1-5, 2011 and at the Wind River Aerospace and Defense Regional Conferences being held across the United States.

About RTI Data Distribution Service

RTI Data Distribution Service is the world's most widely-used implementation of the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) specification. DDS is the leading messaging standard for integrating distributed real-time applications and systems-of-systems. By bringing the benefits of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to demanding mission-critical systems, DDS dramatically reduces the time and cost required for development, integration, testing, maintenance and upgrades.

About Tresys CADRE

Tresys’ CADRE is a concept for sharing information across security domains using off-the-shelf technologies that radically change the way cross domain solutions can adapt to evolving requirements. Built on a custom filtering language coupled with a Tresys proprietary CDS architecture, CADRE permits deep content inspection of data formats and protocols that are “unknown” to the filter, thanks to DDS’s ability to abstract the protocol itself.

About RTI

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the world's leading provider of messaging middleware compliant with the Object Management Group (OMG) Data-Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems (DDS) standard. With over 70 percent market share, more than 400 unique projects take advantage of RTI's software and expertise to slash the time and cost of systems integration. These span a broad range of industries including aerospace, defense, finance, intelligence, power generation and transportation. Founded in 1991, RTI is privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, please visit www.rti.com.

About Tresys Technology

Tresys innovates and applies advanced technologies to quickly solve the needs of customers who require agility and responsiveness to meet their security requirements. Leveraging secure open source software, our products and services support the most sensitive security missions around the world. As a result, Tresys enjoys a distinct reputation for shifting the way governments and businesses approach security. For more information, visit: www.tresys.com

With great passion last year, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, "I categorically deny the presence of Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, and even Mullah Omar in any part of Pakistan."

Now, with the capture of bin Laden in Pakistan -- only 40 miles from Malik's office - it's more difficult than ever to consider his statements, and those of his civil and military counterparts, credible.  Since 9/11, Pakistan's leaders have been lying to the United States, neighboring countries, their own people, and even to one another about fundamental elements of the war on terror.[[BREAK]]

On 9/11, Washington told Islamabad it was faced with a choice: you're either with us or with the terrorists.  Islamabad hedged its bets and basically chose both. Pakistan's military and intelligence services remain allied with Afghanistan's three major insurgent groups: Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami, and the network of longtime militant Jalaluddin Haqqani. Yet the same military and intelligence services have played an essential role in preventing major attacks on Western targets since 9/11, saving the lives of countless non-Pakistanis.

Pakistani troops have fought valiantly in their own war on terror -- a civil war that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Pakistanis, security personnel, innocent civilians, as well as militants and terrorists. 

Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani commemorated his military servicemen's sacrifices at the third annual martyrs' day this weekend.  As he supplicated for the thousands of fallen Pakistani servicemen, the usually emotionless Kayani fought back his tears.  Kayani told the audience that Pakistan would not sell its national integrity -- by inference, to the United States -- for prosperity. But the real focus of his address was this: Pakistan faces a long-term fight against terrorists from within. 

Since the launch of major counterinsurgency operations in Swat in 2009, the Pakistan Army has launched a persistent information operations campaign to pit its populace against the set of militants it fights.  But it is dependent on stoking anti-American, not anti-al-Qaeda, sentiments.  The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allies -- in the language of the army and its allies in the Pakistani media -- were not waging jihad, but fasad (mischief). They were fighting the Pakistan army not for its support of the United States in the war on terror, but because of an outside campaign to destabilize Pakistan, legitimize the seizure of its nuclear weapons, and potentially even break up the country.  And the terrorists were not simply sons of the soil motivated by revenge and poisoned by a bastardization of their religion - no, they were witting or unwitting agents of a CIA-Mossad-RAW [Indian intelligence] nexus aimed at destroying Pakistan. Al-Qaeda, an organization whose leaders have openly declared war on the Pakistani state, was rarely mentioned.

And so today it remains unclear what exactly happened during the fatal raid yesterday.  Were some elements of Pakistan's military-intelligence apparatus aware of the operation? Did they give their consent? Did they even cooperate? Reports that the U.S. helicopters took off from the Ghazi airbase in Tarbela, where American Special Operations Forces have been training their Pakistani counterparts, suggests that there was some Pakistani involvement in the operation that captured and killed bin Laden.

However, U.S. officials state that no other country was aware of the operations (a position now backed up by Pakistan's military), in which bin Laden was caught hiding less than a mile away from Pakistan's West Point and a short flight away from the capital.  And so it's possible that Pakistan was  caught with its pants down, having failed to stop or even spot the American incursion.

Publicly, U.S. officials are not aggressively putting pressure on Pakistan, though it will face tough questions from Congress and the media about how the world's most wanted terrorist could live for years in the shadow of major Pakistani army institutions, in what is essentially an army garrison town. Privately, one can expect greater pressure from Washington on Islamabad and Rawalpindi to "do more."  Will Pakistan be able to continue its dual policy of supporting some militants and also partnering with the United States?

Inside the Pakistan Army's ranks, one can expect greater pressure on Kayani, Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and possibly even Air Force Chief Marshall Rao Qamar Suleman.  Kayani has already been lambasted since the mid-March release of Raymond Davis, a Central Intelligence Agency contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in Lahore in January.  Given the record of attacks by radical serving and retired officers against the military leadership and other officers since 9/11, it's highly likely that threats against the military from within will rise.  And al-Qaeda and its affiliates -- including the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi -- are certain to lash out in anger against the Pakistani state and civilians.

Irrespective of whether it helped capture bin Laden, having both aided and worked against the United States and Islamic militants, and with the killing of bin Laden in mainland Pakistan, the Pakistani military-intelligence apparatus is now caught in its own web of lies.  Getting out of it won't be pretty.

Arif Rafiq is president of Vizier Consulting, LLC, which provides strategic guidance on Middle East and South Asian political and security issues.  He writes at the Pakistan Policy Blog (www.pakistanpolicy.com).

U.S. President Barack Obama announced last night that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by U.S. forces. For a full roundup of news related to his death, see a special brief by Katherine Tiedemann (AfPak).

A bloody new start

The Department of Defense on Friday issued an optimistic report on the state of the war in Afghanistan, citing "tangible progress" against the Taliban and improvements in local security in the country's south, and saying that the momentum of the Taliban had been largely blunted (WSJ, Post). The report was issued just a day before the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive, which began Sunday and promised stepped up attacks against U.S. military and Afghan government targets, while promising to take care to protect civilians (NYT, AFP, AP, Reuters, LAT). Yesterday, a suicide bombing reportedly perpetrated by a 12-year old boy in Paktia province which killed four, including both civilians and the head of the Shkin district council, Shir Nawaz Khan (NYT, AFP, Tolo, Tel, Reuters). At least 11 people have been killed so far in the fresh wave of attacks, which included a shooting and bomb placed on a bicycle in Ghazni province, a shooting targeting an Afghan soldier in Kandahar, and an attack on NATO troops in Logar province that reportedly killed three children (Daily Times, AFP, CNN, Tel, AJE, Reuters, LAT). Five children were also injured by a mortar round in Kunar province, though the origin of the shell is unknown (Pajhwok).

Afghanistan's justice ministry announced Sunday that Afghan authorities had arrested 15 people in relation to last week's massive prison break at Kandahar's Sarposa prison, including the head of the prison, an assistant and several security guards who were on duty at the time of the breakout (AFP). The country's justice minister, Habibullah Ghalib, also said that the nearly 500 escaped Taliban prisoners fled the prison through its main gate, rather than through a tunnel as has been reported (Tolo).

Four stories round out the Afghanistan news: Jane Perlez looks at the construction of the Gardez-Khost road, which is expected to ultimately cost the United States $176 million, or around $2.8 million per mile, and part of which is already in disarray (NYT).The Canadian Press examines the efforts of the Canadian military to build a 15-km gravel road through Panjwai district in Kandahar, one of the most turbulent parts of Afghanistan (Canadian Press). The Afghan Parliament on Saturday approved the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, which will begin construction in 2012 and is likely to finish in 2014 (ET). And the U.S. Air Force said this weekend that the sophisticated surveillance drone named "Gorgon Stare" has been deployed over Afghanistan (Post).

The beat goes on

German security forces arrested three men in the cities of Düsseldorf and Bochum on Friday, two of Moroccan and one of Iranian descent in relation to an alleged al-Qaeda-linked terrorist plot to engage in a large-scale bomb attack in Düsseldorf (WSJ, CNN, Deutsche Welle, FT, NYT). The plot, which police say was in its final stages of planning, reportedly involved at least one man recruited by al-Qaeda and trained in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, and involved some direction from a "high-level" al-Qaeda operative (NYT, Deutsche Welle).

And Saba Imtiaz traces the history of Karachi as an operating base and transportation hub for al-Qaeda central before and after 9/11 (ET).

Talks about talks

Denying reports last week that Pakistan had encouraged Afghanistan to move away from its alliance with the United States, Pakistani ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani announced Saturday that the three countries would hold trilateral talks this month to work on ending the war in Afghanistan (Dawn). U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Amb. Marc Grossman will reportedly meet tomorrow in Islamabad with Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir.

The Times reports that the United States, limited by the lack of capacity in Pakistan's civilian government and wary of corruption, has disbursed less than $200 million of the $1.5 billion per year Kerry-Lugar aid bill, focusing on projects in out-of-the-way places that have still yet to be completed in full (NYT). The AFP reports on Pakistan's fiscal woes, fed in large part by the fact that only 1.9 million Pakistanis, out of a population of nearly 180 million, paid taxes last year (AFP). And Pam Constable notes the growth in Islamic banking in Pakistan (Post).

Gimme fuel, gimme fire

Unidentified attackers near Attock, about 40 miles from Islamabad, killed four Pakistani police in an attack on a police post before attacking a NATO fuel convoy, destroying up to 14 vehicles (Geo, ET, Daily Times, AFP).

Two people have been killed by a landmine in Kurram agency, as the Express Tribune reports that the insurgent Haqqani Network has warned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud not to disrupt a fragile truce in Kurram brokered in part with Haqqani help (ET, ET). Up to 13 cars were burned in Karachi this weekend as supporters of the Muttahida Qaudi Movement (MQM) mourned a senior member of the party, Liaquat Qureshi, who was assassinated Friday (Dawn, Daily Times). And Pakistani police broke up a crowd that was marching to attack a church in the eastern city of Gujranwala on Saturday, after two Qurans were burnt in the city (AP).

Musical journey

Pakistani musical prodigy Usman Riaz is the subject of a new short film showcasing his talent and particular style of guitar playing, playing it as a part-string, part-percussion instrument (Newsline). Riaz, 20, deferred his admission to Boston's Berklee School of Music to explore Pakistan's music and culture scene.

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The Contractor: Carol Craig grew Craig Technologies with a savvy approach to government contracting." />The Contractor: Carol Craig grew Craig Technologies with a savvy approach to government contracting.'>

The U.S. government spends about $425 billion each year on goods and services. Within that sum, nearly a quarter of that budget is set aside exclusively to contract small businesses. Still, breaking into the world of government contracting can be a challenging and confusing experience for a small business owner. It often takes a bit of strategy—and grit—to make Uncle Sam one of your clients. One such story is Craig Technologies, a engineering and technical services company based in Melbourne, Florida, which contracts with the Army, Navy, NASA, and the Air Force. Carol Craig, the comapany's founder, started the business out of her home as a part-time contractor. A decade later, it is a $20 million firm with about 250 employees. Scaling a business depended on government contracts is no simple task, especially when global firms (think Accenture or Boeing) have long-standing, secure relationships with their government clients. Inc.com's Eric Markowitz spoke with Craig about her military career, maxing out eight credit cards to start her business, and scoring her first government contract.

What's your background? Did you always know you wanted to work with the government?
I have an ADD background. (Laughs) I've done things in IT and engineering but after school I joined the Navy, where I designed cockpit systems for the Department of Defense. I was doing a lot of work with pilots and aviators so I figured, if they could do it, I could do it. I got accepted to be a flight officer on P-3 Orions and went ahead and did that for a couple of years. I let the Navy do surgery on my knee and they ended up screwing it up so I got out as a service-disabled veteran.

You're certified as a woman-and-veteran owned business. Does this give you a leg up on your competitors?
The federal government says that 23 percent of all government dollars must be set aside of small businesses, and a part of that goes to minority-owned businesses (including women-owned, veteran & service-disabled veteran owned, Native American-owned, Alaskan-owned, and Native Hawaiian-owned corporations). There's still competition in there—it's not as easy as it sounds, but it definitely gives you an advantage over the large government contractors who have been in there for years. It gives you a chance to compete against them.

What was the process of getting certified like?
What I didn't realize was how long it would take. From 2002 to 2005 I focused on the civilian side, just trying to get everything in place for the government side. There were definitely some sleepless nights. There were lines of credits that turned into working capital loans. I think I had eight credit cards, all maxed out. That kind of stuff.

When did it turn around?
In 2005, I finally got my first government contract. For me, a job with six people was significant. Today we have over 250 people. I've tried to be really controlled with my company's expansion because when companies expand too quickly, they don't have the right infrastructure in place. I'm definitely a planner; I'm always thinking ahead.

What are some of the challenges of being a government contractor?
Government contracting can become very frustrating because you can just become a number. A lot of contractors with call them "butts in chairs" (but I won't allow our employees to refer to people like that). It's also common to get short-term projects, like six months or so. I stay away from those—we're looking for contracts that span five to 10 years.

What advice would you give to a business that's just starting out?
Well, I actually took losses in the beginning. Overall, government contracting in the service industry is not very lucrative. You're lucky if you can get four to five percent bottom-line profit at the end of the day. You have to be creative if you're going to get anything higher than that. A lot of that is just because the government really looks at your costs and expenditures and considers a lot of it unallowable. That all comes out of profit. One thing I did initially was that I came in with lower prices and accepted jobs at a loss, so for a couple of years I had some pretty significant losses. But, like I said, it was a long-term strategy, and I knew that it was important to learn the field, get past performance reviews, and as the company grew, I knew I would see the profits improve.

What about branching out to new services? Is that a good way to expand in contracting?
Definitely. I used diversification to my advantage. I didn't really know exactly what I was doing, but because I was comfortable with technology, I felt as a small business, I could have contracts all over different agencies. That meant I could have people all over the United States, and a core capability that was diverse. It wasn't a shotgun effect—I wasn't going to be mowing lawns or doing anything too high end, but there's a whole big world in between, and diversification was a good thing, not a negative.

Is there a good size for a company to be to be able to contract?
My goal is a little less than 500 people, because you're still considered a small business under certain qualifications. Also, 500 is a manageable number for me personally. I don't have the experience to be a CEO of a big company just yet.

But expanding from a staff of one to 250 employees requires some serious business skills, right?
I don't have a business degree, and that might help. (Laughs). I guess I just don't know what I don't know.

An upgraded Orion aircraft has been formally handed back to the Royal New Zealand Air Force, more than five years after it flew to the United States for an overhaul.

The mission to kill Osama bin Laden was years in the making, but began in earnest last fall with the discovery of a suspicious compound near Islamabad, and culminated with a helicopter based raid in the early morning hours in Pakistan Sunday.

"Last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground," President Obama told the nation in a speech Sunday night.

"Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body," he said.

Sitting in a row of chairs beside the podium were National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director Leon Panetta, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Vice President Joe Biden. White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Press Secretary Jay Carney stood in the back with about a dozen White House staffers.

Since last August, Obama convened at least 9 meetings with national security principals about this operation and the principals met 5 times without the president, a senior administration official said. Their deputies met 7 times formally amid a flurry of other interagency communications and consultations.

ABC News reported that the principals' meetings were held on March 14, March 29, April 12, April 19 and April 28.

Last week Obama finally had enough intelligence last to take action. The final decision to go forward with the operation was made at 8:20 AM on Friday, April 29 in the White House's Diplomatic Room. In the room at the time were Donilon, his deputy Denis McDonough, and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan. Donilon prepared the formal orders.

On Sunday, Obama went to play golf in the morning at Andrews Air Force Base. He played 9 holes in chilly, rainy weather and spent a little time on the driving range, as well. Meanwhile, the principals were assembling in the situation room at the White House. They were there from 1:00 PM and stayed put for the rest of the day.

At 2:00, Obama met with the principals back at the White House. At 3:32 he went to the situation room for another briefing. At 3:50 he was told that bin Laden was "tentatively identified." At 7:01 Obama was told there was a "high probability" the high value target at the compound was bin Laden. At 8:30 Obama got the final briefing.

Before speaking to the nation, Obama called former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Three senior administration officials briefed reporters late Sunday night on the surveillance, intelligence, and military operations that ended with bin Laden's death at the hands of U.S. operatives.

"The operation was the culmination of years of careful and highly advanced intelligence work," a senior administration official said.

The stream of information that led to Sunday's raid began over four years ago, when U.S. intelligence personnel were alerted about two couriers who were working with al Qaeda and had deep connections to top al Qaeda officials. Prisoners in U.S. custody flagged these two couriers as individuals who might have been helping bin Laden, one official said

"One courier in particular had our constant attention," the official said. He declined to give that courier's name but said he was a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and a "trusted assistant" of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a former senior al Qaeda officer who was captured in 2005.

"Detainees also identified this man as one of the few couriers trusted by bin Laden," the official said. The U.S. intelligence community uncovered the identity of this courier four years ago, and two years ago, the U.S. discovered the area of Pakistan this courier and his brother were working in.

In August 2010, the intelligence agencies found the exact compound where this courier was living, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The neighborhood is affluent and many retired Pakistani military officials live there.

"When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw," one official said.

The compound was 8 times larger than the other homes around it. It was built in 2005 in an area that was secluded at that time. There were extraordinary security measures at the compound, including 12 to 18 foot walls topped with barbed wire.

There were other suspicious indicators at the compound. Internal sections were walled off from the rest of the compound. There were two security gates. The residents burned their trash. The main building had few windows.

The compound, despite being worth over $1 million, had no telephone or internet service. There's no way the courier and his brother could have afforded it, the official said.

"Intelligence officials concluded that this compound was custom built to hide someone of significance," the official said, adding that the size and makeup of one of the families living there matched the suspected makeup of bin Laden's entourage.

The intelligence community had high confidence that the compound had a high value target, and the analysts concluded there was high probability that target was bin Laden, one official said.

When the small team of U.S. operatives raided the compound in the early morning hours Sunday Pakistan time, they encountered resistance and killed three men besides bin Laden and one woman. The three men were the two couriers and one of bin Laden's sons. The woman was being used as a human shield, one official said. Two other women were injured.

One U.S. helicopter was downed due to unspecified "maintenance" issues, one official said. The U.S. personnel blew up the helicopter before leaving the area. The team was on the ground for only 40 minutes.

A senior defense official told CNN that US Navy SEALs were involved in the mission.

No other governments were briefed on the operation before it occurred, including the host government Pakistan.

"That was for one reason and one reason alone. That was essential to the security of the operation and our personnel," one official said. Only a "very small group of people" inside the U.S. government knew about the operation. Afterwards, calls were made to the Pakistani government and several other allied countries.

"Since 9/11 the United States has made it clear to Pakistan that we would pursue bin Laden wherever he might be," one official said. "Pakistan has long understood we are at war with al Qaeda. The United States had a moral and legal obligation to act on the information it had."

Americans abroad should stay indoors be aware of the increased threat of attacks following bin Laden's killing, the State Department said in a new travel warning issued Sunday night. State also issued a specific travel warning for Pakistan.

"Al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers may try to respond violently to avenge bin Laden's death and other terrorist leaders may try to accelerate their efforts to attack the United States," one official said. "We have always understood that this fight would be a marathon and not a sprint."

Beaufort Air Show 2011 - CockyTalk | Okay so my friend and myself went to the Beaufort Air Show yesterday(at the Beaufort MCAS), something that I've done virtually every time it's been held in my life. This year was different, however, because we had VIP passes so I got some pics that I normal wouldn't have been able to get...

Blue Angels Bring Recruits Into The Cockpit - AV Stop | EffectiveUI announced the launch of a new interactive website created with Microsoft Corp. for the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. HTML5 and Microsoft Silverlight deliver an immersive user experience, bringing viewers a Blue Angels air show in a way that's never before been seen except by the pilots...

VIDEO: Thousands Flock to Air Show - WSAV | This weekend the Beaufort Air show landed at the Marine Corps Air Station. Organizers were anticipating more than 100,000 neighbors to attend. "Right now, it's looking like 70-80,000 yesterday, on the Saturday show, and we expect almost that today, maybe 50,000 today. So, we're right in that range of what we expected," said Master Sgt. Chad McMeen...

THE GREAT TENNESSEE AIR SHOW - Weekends With Dad | The internationally renowned United States Air Force Thunderbirds precision flight demonstration team will entertain regional crowds at the Great Tennessee Airshow at Smyrna Airport on May 7, 8, 2011...

Women in Aviation: Sustaining mission excellence - Coast Guard | Hundreds of aviators from around the world have descended upon Reno, Nevada, for the 2011 Women in Aviation, International Conference. Pilots, mechanics, engineers and aviation enthusiasts alike are all taking part in this year’s conference devoted to the themes “Inspire, Enthuse, Innovate.” We look forward to bringing you daily updates from the conference...

First international flight for solar powered plane - Energy Harvesting | In the framework of its European solar flight campaign, Solar Impulse, under the patronage of the European Commission, has selected Brussels as its first international destination. The airplane will be displayed in the European capital from 23 to 29 May 2011 and will then attempt to fly on to Paris-Le Bourget, where it is eagerly awaited as the Special Guest of the 49th International Paris Air Show from 20 to 26 June 2011...

100 Years of Naval Aviation: Why diversity matters in flight - Coast Guard | 2011 is the Centennial of Naval Aviation and will honor aviation pioneers in the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps. As we look back on the last 100 years, Lt. Cmdr. Charlotte Pittman, an H-60 Jayhawk aircraft commander, offers her perspective on a diverse aircrew and its ability to enhance mission success...

The Lost Squadron: A Fleet of Warplanes Locked in Ice for Fifty Years - You Fly Girl | Pat Epps pointed downward at theglittering white icefields of southern Greenland. In August of 1980, after a week of buzzing around the Arctic in a single-engine plane, Epps and his friend Richard Taylor were flying home. The night before, in a bar at a remote airstrip, the talk turned to the legendary Lost Squadron...

VIDEO: WWII aircraft joins Idaho Military History Museum collection - KYVB | BOISE --  The Idaho Military History Museum added a new aircraft to its collection Sunday. The museum now has a  WWII-era trainer aircraft, a PT-23...

B-29 - History Made Everyday - Another Time | When I walked into the Vintage Flying Museum hangar yesterday it was hard not to grin.  A B-29 SuperFortress was sitting in the hangar.  A hangar that housed B-29's many years ago and now one sits under its high arches once again...

North American TB-25N Mitchell - Jet Photos | 30,000 pounds of shiny metal roaring up those 1700 hp Wright engines...what a feeling!

Filming wraps up on ‘Outback Pilot…Australia’ - GA News | The Real Deal Productions of Soldotna, Alaska, led by General Aviation News contributor Jim Oltersdorf, has completed filming of “Outback Pilot…Australia.” “I am most pleased to announce the final shooting of our newest documentary that takes place in the remote Australian Outback...

In the Museum - Air & Space | In 1920, while visiting the Smithsonian, a young Paul Garber noticed that the control wires of the 1909 Wright Military Flyer were incorrectly installed. After pointing this out to a curator, Garber was offered a three-month appointment. He ended up staying at the Smithsonian Institution for 72 years...

Take action on aviation - Kansas.com | Thanks are due Gov. Sam Brownback for devoting his first economic summit last week to asking the question for the city and Sedgwick County: What is it going to take to keep and build Wichita’s reputation as Air Capital of the World? The answer, which he mentioned again in his Friday news conference in Topeka, is that the community and state must assume an “offensive position” toward recruiting aviation companies, suppliers and jobs...

ORLANDO, Fla.--LightSquared said it signed a wholesale deal with Best Buy to have the retailer's Best Buy Connect service ride on its LTE network, bringing together another piece of LightSquared's customer puzzle. The announcement comes a day after the company inked an LTE roaming deal with Cricket provider Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP).

LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja used his keynote address here at the CTIA Wireless 2011 trade show to both announce the deal and re-pitch the concept of LightSquared to a wider industry audience. Ahuja said that Best Buy will begin trials on LightSquared's network in the first quarter of 2012.

Best Buy signed a deal with Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) last year to provide MVNO service on Clearwire's mobile WiMAX network. The service is supposed to launch this year. A Best Buy spokeswoman, Paula Baldwin, confirmed that the company is committed to launching Clearwire's service this year.

Ahuja positioned LightSquared as a disruptive force akin to Netflix or Amazon.com. He said it would "deliver much needed capacity." "We are now faced with network capacity constraint that will limit users' ability to receive fast and reliable mobile Internet access," he said.

LightSquared has an aggressive buildout timetable. The company is committed to cover 100 million POPs by the end of 2012, 145 million by the end of 2013 and 260 million by the end of 2015. "We are not only committed to meeting these milestones, we are today positioned to exceed them," Ahuja said. He also seemed to be pledging LightSquared to long-haul commitments, and said the company will spend $14 billion on deploying and operating its network over the next eight years. 

Still, LightSquared's plans are not without complications. The company is still facing pressure on GPS interference concerns. Earlier this month, a new coalition, called the "Coalition to Save Our GPS," came out against LightSquared and said that the company's network poses a "serious threat" to GPS. The group includes Caterpillar, GPS makers Trimble Navigation Ltd. and Garmin Ltd., and the Air Transport Association, with members including Delta Airlines and American Airlines.

The GPS community has said that LightSquared's L-band spectrum, in the 1.5-1.6 GHz band, is too close to GPS spectrum, and that the company's cell sites will cause harmful interference. As a condition of the waiver the FCC granted LightSquared in late January, the company must resolve GPS interference issues before turning on its commercial service. The company formed a working group in February with the United States Global Positioning System Industry Council to study the interference issues. LightSquared has to report to the FCC regularly about its progress and a final report is due in June.

Related Articles:
Clearwire adds Best Buy as 4G wholesale partner
LightSquared inks wholesale LTE deal with Leap Wireless
LightSquared partners with Open Range, takes heat from GPS coalition
Report: LightSquared to cut NSN loose, will share network with Sprint
Report: LightSquared in talks with Sprint on network sharing deal
LightSquared secures $586M loan for LTE network
LightSquared has inked deals with two U.S. operators

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On this day….

 

No Tournaments

 

Birthdays….

 

Sherri Steinhauer (48) of Madison, Wisconsin; LPGA Tour member. Eight-time winner on LPGA Tour, including major 1992 Du Maurier Classic.

Caroline Gowan (49) of Greenville, South Carolina; former LPGA Tour member, two-time winner of South Carolina Wome’s Amateur (1981, 1983).

Terry Price (50) of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia; former Australasian Golf Tour member.

Steven Glen Jones (52) of Artesia, New Mexico; PGA Tour member, eight-time winner on PGA Tour including major 1996 United States Open, and two Canadian Opens (1989, 1997).

Connie Chillemi (53) of Elgin Air Force Base, Elgin, Florida; former LPGA Tour member.

 

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