REMARKS: PRESIDENT OBAMA AND POLAND'S PRESIDENT KOMOROWSKI

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Remarks by President Obama and President Komorowski to U.S. and Polish Armed Forces

 Okecie Military Airport
Warsaw, Poland

10:03 A.M. CET 

PRESIDENT KOMOROWSKI:  (As interpreted.)  Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor for me to be able to welcome the President of the United States here to the airport against the background of the F-16 aircraft -- Polish and American aircraft. 

It is [a] very significant symbol of Polish-American military cooperation.  This symbol has a long history that is enough to remember the Kościuszko.  Mr. President, you just visited West Point; there’s a beautiful monument to the Kościuszko there.  And it is also a reminder of the special brotherhood in arms that goes back to the 18th century; I’m talking about the Polish-American brotherhood in arms.

Here, because of the F-16s here, I would like to remind you that we have already had an opportunity to host American pilots in the Polish skies.  It was at a very important moment in Poland -- it was back in 1920 when the first Polish squadron was fighting against the Bolshevik wave, and it was established on the basis of the American pilots, mainly those of Polish origin from Chicago and other American towns.  But these were American pilots. 

That is why it is important for us to be able to really mark the lasting Polish-American brotherhood in arms.  And I think that F-16 -- while “F” can stand for fighter, but “F” can also stand for freedom, Mr. President.  And I’m convinced that it matches perfectly well the 25th anniversary of Poland regaining its freedom, and it’s really worthwhile being strengthened and to become a permanent, stable element to make Poland secure and safe -- the security of Poland and the whole region.  It is also about Polish-American cooperation; it is also about the presence of American troops in Poland, in the Polish territory at the time when we are all experiencing this crisis that is unfolding just across Poland’s border, just across the border of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in Ukraine.

Mr. President, once again, thank you very much for coming here, and thank you very much for the opportunity to mark together the lasting Polish-American brotherhood in arms.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Dzień dobry!  Good morning, everybody.  And thank you, Mr. President, for the kind words.  It is wonderful to be back in Poland, one of our great friends and one of our strongest allies in the world. 

It is a special honor to be here as Poles celebrate the 25th anniversary of the rebirth of Polish democracy.  And this year also marks the 15th anniversary of Poland’s membership in NATO.  I’m starting the visit here because our commitment to Poland’s security, as well as the security of our allies in Central and Eastern Europe, is a cornerstone of our own security and it is sacrosanct.  

And during my visit here three years ago, I said that the United States would increase our commitment to Poland’s security.  The United States honors our commitments, which you see in the aviation detachment at Łask Air Base.  It is a commitment that is particularly important at this moment in time. 

We just had a chance to meet some outstanding service members -- both Americans and Poles -- who serve and train here together.  They’re part of the backbone of an alliance and part of the long history, as Mr. President alluded to, of Poles and Americans standing shoulder to shoulder for freedom.  And we are so grateful to all of you for your service. 

Given the situation in Ukraine right now, we’ve also increased our American presence.  We’ve begun rotating additional ground troops and F-16 aircraft into Poland.  And this is going to help our forces train together.  This is going to help our forces support NATO air missions.  It’s also part of NATO’s stepped-up presence across Central and Eastern Europe.  And I look forward to announcing some additional steps later today.

So, President Komorowski, it is wonderful to be here.  I want to thank you and the Polish people for welcoming me.  As friends and as allies, we stand united, together and forever -- na zawsze razem.  Thank you so much. 

END
10:08 A.M. CET

SECRETARY KERRY, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI MAKE REMARKS AFTER MEETING

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks With Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini After Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

May 13, 2014

---

SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody, I guess almost good evening. Federica,benvenuta a Washington. We’re happy to have you here. I’m very delighted to welcome Foreign Minister Mogherini to Washington. We met in Rome about two months ago, I think it was, and in the best Italian-American tradition, we bonded over food as well as good discussions.

At the time, we were co-hosting an event that I might mention here which we consider important, which is support for the USA Pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015, which is focused on the challenge of feeding the planet, of food security and energy for life. And we believe it’s important to participate in this. We look forward to it. And I think when we consider the huge numbers of young people growing the populations of countries throughout the world, but particularly in Africa, South Central Asia, and elsewhere, the challenge of food security is critical, and we’re very grateful to Italy for hosting this affair and for highlighting the importance of this challenge.

I think everybody here knows, and if they don’t, I will restate it clearly – Italy is one of the United States’ most important allies. We, I think, can safely say that our alliance has never been stronger than it is at this moment. And today, we spoke about some of the most difficult challenges that we face at this moment of time – from Ukraine to Syria to Libya, and always the challenge of Iran and the nuclear program, and the potential of peace – still a concern for peace in the Middle East.

May 25^th, we believe, we are convinced, is a real opportunity for the people of Ukraine to express their will through the ballot box. And Ukraine’s future absolutely should not be determined at the barrel of a gun. We all stand together, united for the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine, and we don’t believe that ballots that are marked in Moscow or referenda directed from there should decide Ukraine’s future.

We deplore today’s violence and senseless killings, and the separatists who are very busy spreading fear and violence in Donetsk and Luhansk really need to answer the real call of the people of Ukraine, which is under the banner of “Let us vote.” And that vote, the real vote, will take place in the election on May 25^th.

The other key step in the path to heal the tensions politically are the Ukrainian-led, OSCE-supported national dialogue and the roundtables that are to take place across Ukraine. These will focus on decentralization and constitutional reform. And the United States very strongly supports this process. We’re in constant touch with the OSCE itself, with Foreign Minister Steinmeier and others, and with Foreign Minister Lavrov of Russia, in efforts to try to encourage this process to take hold as fully as possible, as fast as possible. And we also welcome the OSCE’s appointment of a veteran diplomat, Walter Ischinger, Ambassador Ischinger, in order to serve as a mediator in that process.

So let me be clear: We expect to see, want to see, and will work to achieve real de-escalation, disarmament, evacuation of occupied buildings in exchange for amnesty and dialogue. And that is what is called for in the Geneva statement of the 17^th last month, and also the OSCE roadmap. We hope that the OSCE will support the Government of Ukraine in facilitating these steps as rapidly as possible.

Finally, I want to welcome the news that our friends in the European Union have applied additional sanctions on Russia – Russians, Russian individuals and Russian companies involved in the occupation of Crimea. The EU has made it clear that should the May 25^th elections be disrupted in Ukraine, then there will be additional sanctions. So Russia, we would say – and we don’t say this punitively, but Russia really does face a choice, and the choice is to allow the people of Ukraine to determine their own future without interference from outside and with efforts by all of us to try to assist in de-escalating the tension, removing people from buildings, pulling back security forces, counterterrorism initiatives – all of those things – in order to give the people of Ukraine the ability to breathe through the democratic process.
We also want to be clear: There are still threats to a Europe whole, free and at peace. And because of that, our commitment to Article 5 of the NATO Charter remains ironclad. NATO territory is inviolable, and we will defend every piece of it. That’s why we are deploying United States military assets to the region and that’s why the United States is encouraging our allies both to contribute to the reassurance effort that is currently underway as well as to meet their NATO commitments with respect to defense spending and planning.

The foreign minister and I also discussed briefly the efforts to eliminate serious chemical weapons. We greatly appreciate Italy’s assistance in eliminating the Syrian chemical weapons, including offering the port of Gioia Tauro for loading the materials onto the vessel Cape Bay – Cape Ray. And I want to emphasize this really underscores Italy’s very strong commitment to this initiative, to help us destroy these weapons in the most secure and safe environment possible.

I might underscore, we are currently slightly over 92 percent – 92 percent – of all of the chemical weapons of Syria declared being removed. There are still challenges with respect to some knowledge about undeclared, but at the moment we need to insist that the Syrian regime fully comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the UN Security Council Resolution 2118. And we will remain vigilant until this is achieved.

The last issue we discussed was the issue of Libya. I again thank Italy for hosting the donor conference in March, the ministerial conference that we held on Libya. The United States and Italy are very committed to the transitional process that needs to take hold even more in Libya, and we will continue to support the Libyan Government as it works overtime to be able to provide a democratic process and to deliver both good governance and security to the people of Libya.

So, Federica, thank you for taking time to be with us today. I know you have to fly back to join all of us at the meeting in London, and then fly back again, so we appreciate enormously your efforts to be here today. And more especially, we appreciate the good work we’re doing together. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: Thank you, John. Thank you for welcoming me here in my first official visit abroad – and that was not by chance. That was a clear sign of showing how strong our – how good, how excellent our relation is, both bilaterally and in the international organizations we are in together. Actually, you visited Rome, I think, twice in the last couple of months. We were extremely happy to have you in the conference on Libya in the beginning of March, as we were extremely happy to host you during the visit of President Obama last month in Rome. I felt it was the most natural thing to do to pay my first visit in Washington to show how strong and excellent our work together is in all fields.

Let me start by saying that I have been flying here directly from Brussels, where yesterday we had the foreign council on – whose main concern was Ukraine; how important it is that we speak with one voice, and we act in the same way. I want to thank you because I have experienced in this first month of my mandate good – extremely good coordination whenever it comes to facing a difficult situation.

I think that part of the important response that we’ve given to the crisis in Ukraine has been in – speaking with one voice, both in Europe, across the Atlantic, in the G7, in the UN. And I think that has to stay our first priority, to speak with one voice when it comes to dealing with the crisis in Ukraine.

At the council yesterday in Brussels, we decided exactly on the same line as you described – a mix of instruments for making sure that a solution to the crisis is found in the most effective and quick way. First priority is to stop the violence on the ground, to de-escalate, as was stated in the Geneva agreement of the 17^th, and as we should make sure that it is implemented on the ground.

We all agree and we’ve always all agreed on the fact that there is no military solution to the crisis that is extremely concerning for all of us. And the political answer to this crisis is a mix of creating the conditions for internal and external dialogue, the national dialogue that is going to start tomorrow, and that the leadership of the Ukrainian Government with the full support of the U.S.A., with the full support of the European Union, and following your words also on the United States and the international community, and on the other side, sanctions that always say it’s a way putting political pressure to get the result, which is a political solution to the crisis.
But now the first objective for us is decreasing tensions, stopping the violence, making the elections of the 25^th happen, and making them a success, and at the same time, supporting the Ukrainian Government to follow up the process of additional reforms in the inclusive way in which they have committed to do.

As you said, we discussed also all the other crises that are open around us. Ukraine is extremely important, especially for us Europeans, but I know also for you how deep the concern is. Still, it should not shadow other crises that are extremely dramatic around us. Starting from Syria, three years of war, the need for re-launching a way of finding a political stop to the conflict, finding ways of giving humanitarian assistance, because there are people dying, children dying, and fleeing from the country. The surrounding countries that are by miracle sustaining this conflict – I think of Lebanon – and the process of dismantling the chemical arsenal that we are – happy is not the appropriate word, I guess, to describe that, but probably proud to contribute to by offering the Port of Gioia Tauro for the – for this operation. And again, it’s extremely important that at least this path is at least partially a successful one.

As you said, we discussed Libya, shared the concern for a situation that in terms of security on the ground, in terms of control of the territory and of the borders of the country, is extremely worrying and unstable. The way is trying to support the internal democratic dynamics, political dynamics in the country, so that they manage to get to forming a government able to deal with the control of the country and of the territory itself. For us, it’s a priority, and I know that we have you and all the international community at our side in trying to find the most useful way on that.
Thank you again for your commitment to Expo. We appreciate it very much, and we are willing to host you next year, but for sure before that in Milan for Expo 2015. It’s a great occasion for us to underline how much we can do together to fight one of the most dramatic elements of our time. On one side over-nutrition; on the other side, people dying, for hunger. There’s a contradiction there that we have to face and try to solve, and Expo is going to be a great chance for the international community to face this problem together and try to solve it and to move it forward.

So thank you very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Thank you very much, Federica. We appreciate it very, very much. And let me – we are honored that you selected to come here first. We really appreciate that. And it is a sign of the special relationship and the way we work together, so I’m very grateful. We all are.

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: Thank you, but it’s natural. That’s natural.

MS. PSAKI: The first question will be from Roz Jordan of Al-Jazeera.

QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Minister. Welcome to Washington. And Mr. Secretary, three brief questions. First, regarding Syria: As we all know, Lakhdar Brahimi has stepped aside as the special envoy for Syria. He is the second person to fail in this job after Kofi Annan. Can a third special envoy succeed where he and Annan have failed? The SNC, for its part, is adamant that a political calculation cannot be brought about unless its armed component does receive weapons from the West, and it says it will be making that request when all of you gather in London on Thursday. Will the U.S. support the SNC’s request? Does the U.S. believe that the SNC is mistaken in this regard?

Regarding Nigeria, the U.S. coordination team led by the State Department is now on the ground; surveillance planes are in the air. Does the U.S. have a better sense of where these kidnapped girls and their kidnappers are? Will the Nigerian army have the capability of rescuing them, if indeed they are located via intelligence and surveillance methods? And is the U.S. prepared to offer its own troops to assist the Nigerian army? Is Abuja willing to have that sort of assistance?

And finally, the Saudi Government has invited the Iranian foreign minister, Mr. Zarif, to Riyadh for meetings. Does the U.S. welcome this? Is this the first sign of a rapprochement? Did the U.S. have anything to do with this invitation extended by the Saudi foreign minister? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: I think there were about 9 or 10 questions there. (Laughter.)

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: All yours. (Laughter.) I’m not kidding.

QUESTION: She already spoke on Syria.

SECRETARY KERRY: First of all, Mr. Brahimi did not fail. It’s a great mistake here to place on a peacemaking effort the notion that the failure of an envoy or a special envoy, or the inability to be able to reach agreement is the fault of the envoy. It’s not. It’s the fault of a party – Assad – who will not negotiate, who absolutely refused to negotiate at every single session.
Now, when this was announced in – I think it was March, April of a year ago, when I went to Moscow and Sergei Lavrov joined in the announcement with President Putin’s support, it was because at that point in time, there was a sense that there was a need to negotiate. And the Russians supported that negotiation with the belief that that was the only way to settle this.
Regrettably in the intervening months after that, as everybody knows, there was a growth in the number of extremist groups who were trying to remove Assad, and then an increasing fight between the extremists and the moderate opposition. So whether it was Ahrar al-Sham or al-Nusra or al-Qaida or the Iraqi State Levant and so forth, those groups began to detract, and frankly that detracted from the effort. In addition to that, the intervening time also saw Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, cross international lines to go in and actively fight on the ground, in addition to which there are IRGC forces – Iranian forces – on the ground in Syria.
So the dynamics shifted on the ground between the time of the announcement and Mr. Brahimi’s efforts, and I applaud his efforts. He patiently and diligently worked to give the parties an opportunity to be able to negotiate in good faith in pursuance of the Geneva agreement, which was to have a transition government that could move to a peaceful resolution. The opposition showed up; the opposition did a better job than the regime of making its case. And the opposition consistently tried to adhere to the rules of talking about the future with respect to a transition.

The Assad regime never did. And so this represents a continuation of the stubborn clinging to power of a man who is willing to drop barrel bombs on his people, to gas them, to shell artillery on innocent civilians, to starve people in their homes, and somehow claim a right to be able to run a country. I don’t think the civilized world is going to stand for that, and so there will be a continuation of an effort to put pressure on Mr. Assad.

President Obama is continuing to support the moderate opposition. He has increased the support to the moderate opposition, as have others, with a belief that we need to get to a negotiation at some point in time. And when the parties are ready to negotiate, then a mediator will have a chance to be able to help them do so, and everyone can succeed by giving the people of Syria an opportunity to reclaim their future.

With respect to Nigeria, our people are on the ground. We are proud to be contributing to the effort in order to help find these young women. And as everybody knows, there was recent evidence demonstrating that at least a certain group of them were together and in one place at a certain period of time. We don’t know exactly when. What I can guarantee you is that we will make every effort possible in order to help free those young women, and we are there helping to do that now. I’m not going to discuss what mechanism or methodology may or may not be used in order to do so, except to say that we are committed to this effort together with, I think, decent, civilized people all around the world who think this is a barbaric, horrendous act against the conscience of people everywhere. And so the President has all options with respect to the future. We’re dealing with the government of another country. That’s always got its diplomatic requirements.

With respect to the Saudi invite, no, the United States did not have anything to do with this invitation, but we’re delighted to see our good friends, the Saudis, engaged in diplomacy that may or may not be able to add to any number of different possibilities in the region. They have a longstanding difficulty in that relationship, but it is completely in keeping with their prerogatives to be able to reach out and engage. And we encourage it, we welcome it, and we hope that it might be able to produce something with respect to one of several conflicts in which the Iranians could perhaps have an impact.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Paolo Valentino.

QUESTION: Thank you. I have only one question for each of you. Mr. Secretary, I’m afraid my question will be a bit out of context, but the subject has been vividly discussed in the last 24 hours in Italy and in Europe. In his recently released book, former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claims that in 2011, some European officials approached him asking for help in a scheme to force Silvio Berlusconi out of power, and that the answer was no.

Now, despite the fact – I quote – “that it would have been desirable to have better leadership in Europe,” as a member of the cabinet, do you have anything to say on behalf of the Administration? And as then-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, do you have any recollection of having any hint or echo of this subject at the time?

For Minister Mogherini, Ukraine: Today, you sounded a note of cautious optimism about the possibility of launching a national dialogue based on the apparent acceptance from both Kyiv and Moscow of the OSCE roadmap. Now, how does this square with the growing violence which, even today, claimed some victims? And did you, in your talks, discuss the eventual possibility of floating the idea of a UN-sponsored interposition force in Ukraine? Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: I got the easier question. No, we didn’t discuss that option. It is not on the ground so far. As concerns the first part of the question, it is exactly because violence on the ground is not diminishing that we need to support a national dialogue effort. Tomorrow, as far as I know, the first national dialogue exercise will start in Ukraine. Obviously, it is an extremely difficult process. It is not easy. It is not to be given for granted that it works. But still, we are putting all of our political pressure on all sides, including, obviously, Russia, to be coherent – words and actions – and allow, first, violence on the ground to stop, and second, Ukrainians to talk to each other and to find their way of ruling the country as one country. We have said from the beginning territorial integrity, unity, sovereignty of Ukraine is our goal. For doing that, for achieving that, we need internal dialogue and the dialogue with all the regional actors relevant.

I’m sorry, I guess I have to repeat something in Italian for the Italian press. That’s right. If I
manage to say the same things. (Laughter.) I’ll try. (In Italian.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Io non so niente.

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: I said the same. I said the same. I said the same. Exactly the same.

QUESTION: Did you read the book?

SECRETARY KERRY: No. No, I was not – I – absolutely, this is the first I’ve ever heard of it. Thank you. Grazie tanto.

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: And can I --

SECRETARY KERRY: Honestly, I hadn’t – I knew nothing as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and I know nothing about it now. You have to ask somebody else.

FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: Can I add just one thing that I forgot to say – two small things that I forgot to say --

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, yes
.
FOREIGN MINISTER MOGHERINI: -- in those remarks? Sorry, it’s a little bit of jetlag coming in. One is the dimension that we discussed and I wanted to say publicly how much we appreciate the efforts that John has been putting and is still putting on the Middle East peace talks that are now facing a difficult time, but his efforts and his commitment to that are precious. There are all – not only us Italians, but all Europeans supporting this effort very much, and hope and think that this work is an excellent opportunity for the Middle East to finally find a way out of the conflict.

And second, we also discussed Afghanistan and to recommit ourselves, once the election phase is over and there’s a new leadership in Afghanistan, to accompany their democratic transition furthermore.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Is that it? Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

NASA'S CURIOSITY MARS ROVER LOOKS AT TARGET

FROM:   NASA 

This image from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a sandstone slab on which the rover team has selected a target, "Windjana," for close-up examination and possible drilling.  The target is on the approximately 2-foot-wide (60-centimeter-wide) rock seen in the right half of this view.  The Navcam's left-eye camera took this image during the 609th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (April 23, 2014). The rover's name is written on the covering for a portion of the robotic arm, here seen stowed at the front of the vehicle. The sandstone target's informal name comes from Windjana Gorge in Western Australia.  If this target meets criteria set by engineers and scientists, it could become the mission's third drilled rock and the first that is not mudstone. The rock is within a waypoint location called "the Kimberley," where sandstone outcrops with differing resistance to wind erosion result in a stair-step pattern of layers.  Windjana is within what the team calls the area's "middle unit," because it is intermediate between rocks that form buttes in the area and lower-lying rocks that show a pattern of striations. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover and the rover's Navcam.  NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Inspects Site Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech.

U.S.-JAPAN JOINT STATEMENT ON ASIA-PACIFIC FUTURE

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

U.S.-Japan Joint Statement: The United States and Japan: Shaping the Future of the Asia-Pacific and Beyond

The relationship between the United States of America and Japan is founded on mutual trust, a common vision for a rules-based international order, a shared commitment to upholding democratic values and promoting open markets, and deep cultural and people-to-people ties. The U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone for regional peace and security as well as a platform for global cooperation.  The U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific and Japan’s policy of “Proactive Contribution to Peace” based on the principle of international cooperation both contribute to the Alliance playing a leading role in ensuring a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific.  

Close U.S.-Japan cooperation is essential in managing and responding to long-standing and emerging threats and challenges in Asia and around the world.  Recent events underscore the importance of coordinated action to uphold regional and global rules and norms.  At the March 25 Trilateral Summit in The Hague, the leaders of the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea urged North Korea to take concrete actions to meet its international obligations on nuclear and missile issues and to address, without delay, humanitarian concerns, including the abductions issue.  In concert with our G-7 partners, the United States and Japan have condemned Russia over its illegal attempt to annex Crimea and are consulting closely on further measures against Russia over its deplorable conduct, while strongly urging Russia to deescalate tensions in Ukraine.  Together, we are taking concrete steps to support Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and economic stability.  The United States and Japan are working collaboratively to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, support Middle East peace efforts, contribute to Afghan reconstruction, and improve the situation in Syria, including through the disposal of its chemical stockpiles.  The United States and Japan recognize that China can play an important role in addressing all of these challenges, and both countries reaffirm their interest in building a productive and constructive relationship with China. 

The United States and Japan, as maritime nations with global trade networks that depend on open seas, underscore the importance of maintaining a maritime order based upon respect for international law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight.  The United States and Japan share strong concern over recent actions that have raised tensions in the East China Sea and South China Sea, such as the uncoordinated declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea.  Our two countries oppose any attempt to assert territorial or maritime claims through the use of intimidation, coercion or force.  The United States and Japan urge the establishment of confidence-building measures among governments and militaries in the region to address these tensions.  In the South China Sea, we call on countries concerned to clarify the basis of their maritime claims in accordance with international law.  We support efforts for the early establishment of an effective Code of Conduct as a way to reduce the risk of an unintended incident.  The United States and Japan fully support the use of diplomatic and legal means, including international arbitration, to settle maritime disputes in the South China Sea. 

Given the common security challenges our two countries face, the United States and Japan are strengthening and modernizing our security alliance as directed by the Security Consultative Committee, including through the revision of the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation.  The United States has deployed its most advanced military assets to Japan and provides all necessary capabilities to meet its commitments under the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.  These commitments extend to all the territories under the administration of Japan, including the Senkaku Islands.  In that context, the United States opposes any unilateral action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administration of the Senkaku Islands. The United States appreciates Japan’s establishment of a National Security Council and creation of a legal framework for information security that will facilitate enhanced policy and intelligence coordination between the two countries.  The United States welcomes and supports Japan’s consideration of the matter of exercising the right of collective self-defense.  The United States and Japan reaffirmed the importance of the U.S. extended deterrence to maintain regional security.  The United States and Japan are also making sustained progress towards realizing a geographically distributed, operationally resilient and politically sustainable U.S. force posture in the Asia Pacific, including the development of Guam as a strategic hub.  The early relocation of Futenma Marine Corps Air Station to Camp Schwab and consolidation of bases in Okinawa will ensure a long-term sustainable presence for U.S. forces.  In this context, we reaffirm our commitment to reducing the impact of U.S. forces on Okinawa. 

The United States and Japan also coordinate closely in multilateral financial and economic fora to advance trade liberalization and promote economic growth.  Our joint efforts are grounded in support for an international economic system that is free, open, and transparent, and embraces innovation.  In order to further enhance economic growth, expand regional trade and investment, and strengthen the rules-based trading system, the United States and Japan are committed to taking the bold steps necessary to complete a high-standard, ambitious, comprehensive  Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.  Today, we have identified a path forward on important bilateral TPP issues. This marks a key milestone in the TPP negotiations and will inject fresh momentum into the broader talks. We now call upon all TPP partners to move as soon as possible to take the necessary steps to conclude the agreement.  Even with this step forward, there is still much work to be done to conclude TPP.

We also support Japan’s Chairmanship in the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its accession to the OECD and support China’s hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and Australia’s hosting of the G20 this year.  We are working together in the APEC and the G20 on the promotion of the role of women, which is an important domestic and foreign policy priority for both countries.  Through the Equal Futures Partnership and upcoming events such as the White House Summit on Working Families and Japan’s international symposium on women’s empowerment, the two countries are committed to ensuring women’s full participation in society.  Furthermore, the United States and Japan continue to be world leaders in high-technology, where our collaboration is expanding the frontiers of robotics, space, and medical science. 

The United States and Japan view energy security as vital to prosperity and stability.  Both sides welcomed the prospect of U.S. LNG exports in the future since additional global supplies will benefit Japan and other strategic partners.  The United States welcomed Japan’s new Strategic Energy Plan, which includes global, peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy and acceleration of the introduction of renewable energy.  Both countries are working together to promote the development of clean energy, including by facilitating business cooperation and deepening civil nuclear cooperation.  These steps are part of a broader effort to address the urgent challenge of global climate change.  Both countries plan to put forward robust post-2020 nationally determined contributions, building on decisions taken at the 19^th Conference of the Parties (COP-19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in order to promote the adoption of a protocol, another legal instrument, or an agreed outcome with legal force under the UNFCCC applicable to all Parties at COP-21 in Paris in December 2015.  We will continue to work with other countries on complementary initiatives to encourage reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 

The United States and Japan are committed to promoting peace, stability, and economic growth throughout the world, including in Africa.  Through our recently launched senior-level U.S.-Japan Development Dialogue, we are expanding our development cooperation in these areas.  Furthermore, the United States and Japan are continuing bilateral policy coordination to address other global challenges and promote our common agenda, such as women’s empowerment, human security, humanitarian assistance, disaster risk reduction, the post-2015 development agenda, global health, climate change, counter-terrorism and transnational organized crime, cyber policy, the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, nuclear security, and cooperation at the United Nations, including in peacekeeping.  The United States looks forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes Japan as a permanent member.  Our two countries are continuing to cooperate in the field of disaster risk management based on the experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake. 

The United States and Japan renew our commitment to deepening diplomatic, economic, and security cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), recognizing the importance of ASEAN unity and centrality to regional security and prosperity.  We are coordinating closely to support ASEAN and its affiliated fora as its members seek to build a regional economic community and address trans-border challenges, including cybersecurity and cybercrime.  In this context, the two countries view the East Asia Summit as the premier political and security forum in the region.  We support the Asian Development Bank work to address the region’s infrastructure and connectivity needs.  The United States and Japan are collaborating to assist Southeast Asian littoral states in building maritime domain awareness and other capacities for maritime safety and security so that they can better enforce law, combat illicit trafficking and weapons proliferation, and protect marine resources.  The robust U.S. and Japanese civilian and military response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines demonstrated our ability to collectively assist the region in disaster relief and risk reduction. 

To achieve our shared objectives of promoting peace and economic prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and around the globe, the United States and Japan are strengthening trilateral cooperation with like-minded partners, including the Republic of Korea, Australia, and India. 

The United States and Japan reaffirm our long-standing and indispensable partnership in shaping the future of the Asia-Pacific and beyond through close cooperation and collaboration.

ANNEX:  Leaders Statement on U.S.-Japan Bilateral Exchanges

# # #

  ANNEX:  Leaders Statement on U.S.-Japan Bilateral Exchanges

 Broad people-to-people exchange between Japan and the United States has been a key pillar of our Alliance since its inception.  Close ties and shared values between the people of the United States and the people of Japan form the foundation of the global partnership between our nations.

To ensure the future strength of the U.S.-Japan relationship, the two governments share the goal, established by the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON), of doubling two-way student exchange by the year 2020.

Recognizing that people-to-people exchange is an irreplaceable investment in the future of the Alliance, President Obama and Prime Minister Abe announced their intent to create a new bilateral exchange program that would enable Japanese youth to visit the United States, enhance their English language abilities, and develop professional skills through internship opportunities.  The leaders also intend to explore internship opportunities for U.S. youth in Japan.  

Furthermore, Japan is going to send 6,000 Japanese students to the United States in fiscal year 2014 through student exchange support programs, including public-private partnerships such as the TOBITATE! Young Ambassador Program, further contributing to reaching our shared goal established by CULCON.  Japan and the United States also plan to explore new avenues for exchange, including support for Japanese researchers and programs linking the next generation of Japanese and U.S. leaders and friends. 

The Japanese government’s program inviting Japanese-American leaders to Japan has promoted broad understanding and support for the U.S.-Japan Alliance.  Building on this successful effort, Japan intends to broaden the scope of this initiative in fiscal year 2014 to further deepen mutual understanding. 

The Japanese government’s ongoing KAKEHASHI Project, under which a total of 4,600 young Japanese and U.S. citizens are expected to visit each other’s countries in exchange programs, has made a significant contribution to fostering mutual understanding.  In addition, following the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the U.S. government and the U.S.-Japan Council launched the TOMODACHI Initiative, a path-breaking public-private partnership that engages the private sector in promoting U.S.-Japan youth exchange.  To date, with the support of over eighty U.S. and Japanese companies, organizations, and individuals, more than 2,300 Japanese and U.S. youth have participated in TOMODACHI exchange programs. 

These initiatives build on established programs, such as the binational Fulbright Program, which has benefited nearly 10,000 Japanese and U.S. students and scholars over more than 60 years; the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program; the Student Exchange Support Program and the Japanese Government Scholarship provided by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; the National Science Foundation’s Summer Institutes in Japan, funded in cooperation with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; the Japan-U.S. Training Exchange Program for English Language Teachers (JUSTE); and the Mansfield Fellowship Program.  These programs have for years expanded and strengthened people-to-people connections between our countries. 

These government programs are complemented by the many non-governmental programs linking the people of our two countries, such as the Japan-America Societies, the U.S.-Japan Council, and the more than 400 sister-city and sister-state and prefecture relationships between Japan and the United States.  Such programs are indispensable, as are the dozens of academic associations, university linkages, and privately-funded exchanges, for example the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship; the United States-Japan Bridging Foundation Scholarships, the Grew Bancroft Scholarship; and the Japan-America Student Conference, which celebrates its 80^th anniversary this year.  Japan and the United States aim to further encourage new and expanded non-governmental dialogues to bring together opinion leaders from both nations. 

Symbolizing the grassroots friendship uniting our nations, the U.S. government and a range of private sector partners have created the Friendship Blossoms Initiative, which is currently planting 3,000 American dogwood trees throughout Japan on behalf of the people of the United States, to reciprocate the City of Tokyo’s gift of 3,000 flowering cherry trees to Washington, DC in 1912.  The 1912 gift from Japan is celebrated each year during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, an iconic spring event in Washington, D.C. 

The President and Prime Minister welcomed the invigoration of exchanges between the U.S. Congress and the Diet of Japan, praising the work of the U.S.-Japan Caucus and the Congressional Study Group on Japan in the United States Congress, the Japan-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship League in the Diet of Japan, as well as the U.S.-Japan Legislative Exchange Program and the Japan-U.S. Senate Inter-parliamentary Conference.  Nearly 200 Diet Members visited the United States in fiscal year 2013, and the number of Members of Congress visiting Japan in 2013 more than doubled over the previous year and continues to increase in 2014. 

Finally, the United States and Japan note that millions of Japanese and U.S. citizens visit each other’s country every year to visit family and friends, enjoy tourist sites and cultural experiences, and conduct the business transactions that underpin the tight economic relationship between two of the world’s largest economies.  To facilitate this travel, the United States and Japan plan to expedite work to establish a reciprocal arrangement, including through Japan’s participation in the U.S. Global Entry program, to streamline border formalities for trusted travelers from both our countries, and to make travel between the United States and Japan easier, faster and more secure. 

FORMER CONTRACTING OFFICIALS SENTENCED FOR FALSE TAX RETURNS, ETHICS DISCLOSURE FORM FILINGS

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

FORMER ARMY CONTRACTING OFFICIALS SENTENCED FOR FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS AND FILING FALSE FINANCIAL ETHICS DISCLOSURE FORMS

WASHINGTON — Velma I. Salinas-Nix and Kenneth H. Nix, of Boerne, Texas, were sentenced today to serve 20 months in prison and 30 months in prison, respectively, for filing false tax returns and making false statements to the U.S. Army by filing false financial ethics disclosure forms, the Justice Department announced. On Jan. 22, 2014, Kenneth Nix pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false federal income tax return. The next day, Velma Salinas-Nix pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return and one count of making false statements. The Nixes were each ordered to pay $153,248 in restitution.

According to court documents, Velma Salinas-Nix was a senior civilian official of the U.S. Department of the Army. During the relevant period, she was the Deputy Director and Alternate Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (Deputy PARC) for ACA - Americas (also known as the 410th Contracting Support Brigade) in San Antonio with influence over and responsibility for the disbursement of millions of dollars in Army funds for the procurement of goods and services. Previously, she was the Chief of Contracting for the Chicago District for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During parts of 2004 and 2005, Kenneth Nix also worked for the Army as the Chief of Contracting for the U.S. Military Group in Bogota, Colombia, and during parts of 2008 and 2009, as Chief of Staff of the Mission and Installation Contracting Command in San Antonio.

According to court documents, from 2000 through at least 2009, Kenneth Nix had a working relationship with Person A, the president and CEO of Company A, a federal contractor. During this period, Kenneth Nix received at least $500,000 in gross income for federal contracting related work he performed. Kenneth Nix directed that he be kept off Company A’s books and he received payment in multiple forms, including cash, blank money orders, checks, home improvements of the couple’s residences, paid housing and parking, plumbing supplies and use of a debit card. Most of the income was deposited into joint bank accounts the Nixes controlled. In at least two instances, Velma Salinas-Nix deposited blank money orders that her husband received from Company A for $25,000 each into her bank account. In order to conceal the true source of the money orders, she falsely wrote the name and initials of her mother in the remitter field.

According to court documents, the Nixes also received gifts of substantial value from Person A between 2000 and 2009, knowing that Person A and Company A had received and were seeking Army contracts and that Kenneth Nix worked for Company A. These gifts included, among other things, a Rolex watch, a pearl bracelet, a trip for the Nixes to Panama with Person A, custom architectural drawings and a $5,000 Home Depot gift card. In October 2009, Velma Salinas-Nix participated in a voluntary interview with federal agents, during which she knowingly provided false information by denying her husband’s receipt of income from Company A, the existence of large money orders provided by Company A and her receipt of gifts from Person A during the relevant period.

According to court documents, from 2004 through 2009, Velma Salinas-Nix also willfully signed and submitted materially false financial ethics disclosure forms, known as Office of Government Ethics Forms 450 (OGE-450 Form), to the Army. She knowingly omitted all of the income and gifts from Company A and Person A on these forms.  In 2004 and 2009, Kenneth Nix willfully signed and submitted materially false OGE-450 Forms to the Army on which he knowingly omitted all income from Company A. Both Nixes provided non-public Army contracting information to Company A and awarded Company A with contracts from their Army positions. For tax years 2000 through 2004, and 2006 through 2008, the Nixes willfully filed false joint federal income tax returns omitting all income Kenneth Nix received from Company A.

The case was investigated by the Department of the Army-Criminal Investigation Division, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Trial Attorney Rebecca Perlmutter for the Tax Division and Trial Attorneys Mary Strimel and Richard A. Hellings for the Antitrust Division are prosecuting the case.

CITY OF NEW ORLEANS SETTLES HOUSING DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT INVOLVING DISABLED PERSONS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

City of New Orleans Agrees to Settlement to Resolve Housing Discrimination Lawsuit

The Justice Department announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana approved its settlement with the city of New Orleans regarding a housing discrimination lawsuit late yesterday.

Under the settlement, the city agrees to permit the conversion of the former Bethany Nursing Home, located at 2535 Esplanade Avenue, into 40 units of affordable housing.  Half of the units in the new Esplanade complex will be designated as permanent supportive housing and will be reserved for formerly homeless persons with disabilities.  In addition, the settlement commits New Orleans to developing additional supportive housing for 350 persons with disabilities over the next three years.

“We are very pleased to have worked constructively with New Orleans to reach an agreement that will not only enable the Esplanade to be built, but that will also provide additional permanent supportive housing for 350 persons with disabilities in New Orleans,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.

“Nondiscriminatory housing is a fundamental right of the citizens of New Orleans, and this settlement agreement continues the efforts to rebuild and improve a housing inventory ravaged by Hurricane Katrina,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  “I applaud the cooperative efforts of the city and the department to reach a resolution that is in the best interests of persons with disabilities, who are amongst the most vulnerable members of our community.”

In addition to the development of 350 additional permanent supportive housing units, the settlement requires that the city agree to provide all appropriate permits for the Esplanade, amend its Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance to allow permanent supportive housing, continue its work to prepare and implement a reasonable accommodation policy approved by the United States, conduct fair housing training for key city officials and be subject to reporting requirements.  

The State Bond Commission, which was also named as a defendant, is not a party to the settlement.  On March 20, 2014, the Bond Commission voted not to approve a settlement.  As a result, the Justice Department has moved to reopen the litigation against the Bond Commission and the court has scheduled a status conference for June 26, 2014.

CDC SAYS EFFORTS TO REDUCE FOODBORNE INFECTIONS HAVE MIXED RESULTS

FROM:  CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION 

CDC data show limited progress in reducing foodborne infections in 2013
National report card on food safety indicates more can be done
The nation’s food safety grades are out and the results are mixed.  CDC’s annual report card shows that foodborne infections continue to be an important public health problem in the United States.

The rate of salmonella infections decreased by about nine percent in 2013 compared with the previous three years, bringing it to the rate last observed in the 2006-2008 baseline period. But campylobacter infections, often linked to dairy products and chicken, have risen 13 percent since 2006-2008. Vibrio infections, often linked to eating raw shellfish, were at the highest level observed since active tracking began in 1996; however, rates of infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus, the most severe species, have remained steady. Rates of the other foodborne infections tracked have not changed since the period between 2006 and2008.
“CDC data are essential to gauge how we’re doing in our fight against foodborne illness,” said Robert Tauxe, M.D., M.P.H, deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. “This year’s data show some recent progress in reducing salmonella rates, and also highlight that our work to reduce the burden of foodborne illness is far from over. To keep salmonella on the decline, we need to work with the food industry and our federal, state and local partners to implement strong actions to control known risks and to detect foodborne germs lurking in unsuspected foods.”

The data for the report card come from the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), a group of experts from CDC, ten state health departments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2013, FoodNet logged just over 19,000 infections, 4,200 hospitalizations, and 80 deaths from the nine germs it tracks. Young children were the most affected group for seven of the nine germs that FoodNet tracks.

New standards for cut-up poultry parts and plans to modernize poultry inspection are already in the works to increase the safety of chicken.  Regulations designed to help prevent food safety problems have been proposed for many sectors of the food industry, including produce farms, food facilities, food importers, food transporters, and third-party auditors/certification bodies.

"Steps are underway to address many of the concerns raised in this report, such as our Salmonella Action PlanExternal Web Site Icon and other plans to modernize food inspection,” said Assistant Administrator for FSIS’ Office of Public Health Science David Goldman, M.D., M.P.H.. “As these actions are being implemented, we are beginning to see progress, and I am confident we will see further improvement over time.”

“The latest information from FoodNet highlights the importance of continuing preventive measures from the farm to the consumer,” said Stephen Ostroff, M.D., the FDA’s acting chief scientist. “We are making significant progress in implementing the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, having issued seven proposed rules addressing the safety of produce, imported foods, and human and animal food production and transportation. Full implementation of these rules will help prevent these types of infections.”

In addition to new regulations, everyone can help prevent food poisoning. The food industry can require safer ingredients and can implement preventative controls while restaurants and consumers should follow safe practices in the kitchen. These include cooking meat to proper temperatures, washing produce, preparing meat and fresh produce on different surfaces. Consumers should know there are risks to consuming unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk, and raw oysters, especially for certain populations at risk for foodborne illness.

About FoodNet  

FoodNet collects information to track rates and determine trends in laboratory-confirmed illnesses caused by nine pathogens transmitted commonly by food: campylobacter, cryptosporidium, cyclospora, listeria, salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing O157 and non-O157E. coli, shigella, vibrio, and yersinia. Annual data are compared with data from the previous three years (2010-2012) and with data from 2006-2008 to measure progress. Since 2010, FoodNet has been tracking the increasing use of culture‐independent diagnostic tests instead of culture by clinical laboratories for diagnosis of some bacterial enteric infection. Replacement of culture challenges the ability to identify cases, monitor trends, detect outbreaks, and characterize pathogens. FoodNet is a network of experts from CDC, ten state health departments, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the FDA.  FoodNet surveillance covers 48 million people, encompassing about 15 percent of the American population. FoodNet sites are located in Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee, and selected counties in California, Colorado, and New York.
###

BOOSTING COMPUTER PROCESSING POWER

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Shaving nanoseconds from racing processors

University of Wisconsin researcher finds hidden efficiencies in computer architecture

The computer is one of the most complex machines ever devised and most of us only ever interact with its simplest features. For each keystroke and web-click, thousands of instructions must be communicated in diverse machine languages and millions of calculations computed.

Mark Hill knows more about the inner workings of computer hardware than most. As Amdahl Professor of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin, he studies the way computers transform 0s and 1s into social networks or eBay purchases, following the chain reaction from personal computer to processor to network hub to cloud and back again.

The layered intricacy of computers is intentionally hidden from those who use--and even those who design, build and program--computers. Machine languages, compilers and network protocols handle much of the messy interactions between various levels within and among computers.

"Our computers are very complicated and it's our job to hide most of this complexity most of the time because if you had to face it all of the time, then you couldn't get done what you want to get done, whether it was solving a problem or providing entertainment," Hill said.

During the last four decades of the 20th century, as computers grew faster and faster, it was advantageous to keep this complexity hidden. However, in the past decade, the linear speed-up in processing power that we'd grown used to (often referred to as "Moore's law") has started to level off. It is no longer possible to double computer processing power every two years just by making transistors smaller and packing more of them on a chip.

In response, researchers like Hill and his peers in industry are reexamining the hidden layers of computing architecture and the interfaces between them in order to wring out more processing power for the same cost.

Ready, set...compute

One of the main ways that Hill and others do this is by analyzing the performance of computer tasks. Like a coach with a stopwatch, Hill times how long it takes an ordinary processor to, say, analyze a query from Facebook or perform a web search. He's not only interested in the overall speed of the action, but how long each step in the process takes.

Through careful analysis, Hill uncovers inefficiencies, sometimes major ones, in the workflows by which computers operate. Recently, he investigated inefficiencies in the way that computers implement virtual memory and determined that these operations can waste up to 50 percent of a computer's execution cycles. (Virtual memory is a memory management technique that maps memory addresses used by a program, called virtual addresses, to physical addresses in computer memory, in part, so that every program can seem to run as if is alone on a computer.)

The inefficiencies he found were due to the way computers had evolved over time. Memory had grown a million times bigger since the 1980s, but the way it was used had barely changed at all. A legacy method called paging, that was created when memory was far smaller, was preventing processors from achieving their peak potential.

Hill designed a solution that uses paging selectively, adopting a simpler address translation method for key parts of important applications. This reduced the problem, bringing cache misses down to less than 1 percent. In the age of the nanosecond, fixing such inefficiencies pays dividends. For instance, with such a fix in place, Facebook could buy far fewer computers to do the same workload, saving millions.

"A small change to the operating system and hardware can bring big benefits," he said.

Hill and his colleagues reported the results of their research in the International Symposium on Computer Architecture in June 2013.

Computer companies like Google and Intel are among the richest in the world, with billions in their coffers. So why, one might ask, should university researchers, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), have to solve problems with existing hardware?

"Companies can't do this kind of research by themselves, especially the cross-cutting work that goes across many corporations," said Hill. "For those working in the field, if you can cross layers and optimize, I think there's a lot of opportunity to make computer systems better. This creates value in the U.S. for both the economy and all of us who use computers."

"The National Science Foundation is committed to supporting research that makes today's computers more productive in terms of performance, energy-efficiency and helping solve problems arising from the entire spectrum of application domains, while also studying the technologies that will form the basis for tomorrow's computers," said Hong Jiang, a program director in the Computer Information Science and Engineering directorate at NSF.

"In the process of expanding the limits of computation, it's extremely important to find both near-term and long-term solutions to improve performance, power efficiency and resiliency. Professor Mark Hill's pioneering research in computer memory systems is an excellent example of such efforts."

The "divide and conquer" approach to computer architecture design, which kept the various computing layers separate, helped accelerate the industry, while minimizing errors and confusion in an era when faster speeds seemed inevitable. But Hill believes it may be time to break through the layers and create a more integrated framework for computation.

"In the last decade, hardware improvements have slowed tremendously and it remains to be seen what's going to happen," Hill said. "I think we're going to wring out a lot of inefficiencies and still get gains. They're not going to be like the large ones that you've seen before, but I hope that they're sufficient that we can still enable new creations, which is really what this is about."

Most recently, Hill has been exploring how graphic processing units (GPUs), which have become common in personal and cloud computing, can process big memory tasks more efficiently.

Writing for the proceedings of the International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture, Hill, along with Jason Power and David Wood (also from the University of Wisconsin), showed that it is possible to design virtual memory protocols that are easier to program without slowing down overall performance significantly. This opens the door to the use of GPU-accelerated systems that can compute faster than those with only traditional computer processing units.

Accelerating during a slow-down

Improvements to virtual memory and GPU performance are a few examples of places where cross-layer thinking has improved computer hardware performance, but they are also emblematic of a wholesale transformation in the way researchers are thinking about computer architecture in the early 21st century.

Hill led the creation of a white paper, authored by dozens of top U.S. computer scientists, that outlined some of the paradigm-shifts facing computing.

"The 21st century is going to be different from the 20th century in several ways," Hill explained. "In the 20th century, we focused on a generic computer. That's not appropriate anymore. You definitely have to consider where that computer sits. Is it in a piece of smart dust? Is it in your cellphone, or in your laptop or in the cloud? There are different constraints."

Among the other key findings of the report: a shift in focus from the single computer to the network or datacenter; the growing importance of communications in today's workflows, especially relating to Big Data; the growth of energy consumption as a first-order concern in chip and computer design; and the emergence of new, unpredictable technologies that could prove disruptive.

These disruptive technologies are still decades away, however. In the meantime, it's up to computer scientists to rethink what can be done to optimize existing hardware and software. For Hill, this effort is akin to detective work, where the speed of a process serves as a clue to what's happening underneath the cover of a laptop.

"It's all about problem solving," Hill said. "People focus on the end of it, which is like finishing he puzzle, but really it's the creative part of defining what the puzzle is. Then it's the satisfaction that you have created something new, something that has never existed before. It may be a small thing that's not well known to everybody, but you know it's new and I just find great satisfaction in that."

--

NSF has been crucial in supporting Mark D. Hill's research throughout his career. For more than 26 years, he has been the the recipient of 19 NSF grants, which supported not only Hill and his collaborators, but also three dozen PhD students from his group, who themselves have trained more than a 100 scientists. Hear his distinguished lecture at NSF from December 2013.

-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF (512) 820-5785 adubrow@nsf.gov
Investigators
Mark Hill
David Wood
James Larus
Gurindar Sohi
Michael Swift
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Wisconsin-Madison

SERVICE MEMBERS, RETIREES SHOULD CHECK OUT 'SPACE-A' FOR BUDGET TRAVEL DEALS

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Budget-minded Travelers Take Flight With 'Space-A'
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2013 - Fantasizing about an exotic getaway but finding yourself strapped for cash? A "Space-A" seat aboard a military aircraft might be just your ticket to that vacation of your dreams.

Military-owned or -contracted aircraft fly to more places than many people realize, even to areas without U.S. military installations. When all mission-related passengers and cargo are accommodated, empty seats are offered up to eligible passengers on a space-available basis.

Last year, almost 215,000 service members, military family members and retirees took advantage of these "Space-A" flights all over the world, Air Force Master Sgt. Chris Alexander of Air Mobility Command's passenger policy and fleet management branch told American Forces Press Service.

They flew stateside at no cost on military planes and paid just $3.90 for a seat on a commercially chartered flight, Alexander reported. Those on international flights paid $17.20 or less to cover the cost of head taxes and federal inspection fees.

The travelers didn't require high-placed contacts or insider information -- just a basic understanding of how the system works.

In general, active-duty members and retirees and their families can fly Space-A between Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard facilities around the world. Flights also are available from the Seattle-Tacoma and Baltimore-Washington international airports.

Seats are offered to Space-A passengers only after all official-duty passengers and cargo have been accommodated, Alexander emphasized. Once those requirements are met, empty seats are offered to any qualified Space-A traveler. They may get a standard seat on a contracted commercial aircraft. But in other cases, it might be a backward-facing seat on a C-5 Galaxy aircraft or a jump seat on a C-130 Hercules cargo plane or KC-135 Stratotanker, or anything in between, Alexander said.

Passengers with a sense of adventure willing to try Space-A travel can sign up at the terminal they plan to fly from in person, online or by email or phone and stay on the roster for up to 60 days or, if applicable, until their military leave expires. It's possible to sign up for more than one destination, and at more than one terminal to improve the chances of getting a seat.

When passengers register, they get assigned to a passenger category that designates their place in "line" for a seat.

Space-A may be the one instance in which rank doesn't have its privilege. Seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, depending on a Space-A passenger's travel category and date and time they registered.

First priority, Category 1, goes to active-duty service members and their accompanying family members on unfunded emergency leave. Category 2 is assigned to those on environmental morale leave. Category 3 is for members and their families on ordinary leave or in a house-hunting status in conjunction with a permanent-change-of-station move. Category 4 goes to unaccompanied active-duty family members on environmental and morale leave. Category 5 is assigned to unaccompanied family members and service members on permissive temporary duty. Category 6 goes to military retirees, reservists, National Guard members and ROTC cadets.

Once official mission requirements are met, the likelihood that any would-be traveler gets a Space-A seat depends on a multitude of factors, Alexander said. Some air terminals have more flights than others, and larger commercially contracted aircraft tend to have more seats than cargo planes.

Timing is an important factor, too, he said. During the summer months, when many military families are making PCS moves or vacationing, Space-A seats fill up quickly. In Germany, for example, an aircraft with 100 or more available seats may fill up with travelers in Categories 1 to 3 alone, Alexander said.

Yet, Alexander said, retirees, who are in the lowest-priority group for Space-A seats, are big fans of the program and frequently get seat assignments. Many make a point of learning how the system works and avoid the busiest travel times so they are more likely to get a seat, he said.

AMC, which enforces the policies for the Space-A program, spells out the details of Space-A travel on its website. The site, including a downloadable Space-A handbook, is updated regularly.

The command's Facebook page provides travelers the most current information possible to help them plan better than ever before and to answer any questions they might have, Alexander said. The site offers 72-hour flight schedules that are updated daily.

One of its newest features is a Space A "roll call report." It provides information about seats provided to Space-A passengers within the previous 24 hours, including the latest date and time they signed up and which travel category they had been assigned.

AMC introduced the feature as part of its efforts to give travelers more predictability, but works closely with its operational security team to make sure it's not divulging too much information that could tip off potential adversaries, Alexander said.

Admittedly, Space-A travel can be a gamble. Many people have heard horror stories about seemingly endless waits for empty seats on outgoing flights, wasted leave days and destinations never reached. Passengers are cautioned to be prepared to buy a return flight on a commercial aircraft, as well as meals and lodging, if they find themselves unable to secure a Space-A flight home.

But trends show that many travelers are willing to sacrifice some of their leave for a free or almost-free seat on an unfilled military contract aircraft. Alexander attributes it to higher ticket prices on commercial aircraft and more awareness across the military about Space-A travel opportunities.

"People say, 'Wow, this is a great service, and I am going to use this, because it is one of my benefits,'" Alexander said. "As long as you have an open mind and you are educated on the processes and you have some time available, Space-A can definitely work well in your favor."