Steve Peacock's U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

Two Must-Read Commentaries on the Egyptian Conflict, U.S. Assistance

To many other conservatives (and liberals as well), the Obama administration's refusal to cut off foreign aid to Egypt initially was surprising if not insulting. How dare the president and his many Democratic and Republican supporters on this issue fail to take immediate action! Despite deposed Egyptian President Morsi's shortcomings, he was democratically elected, wasn't he? No wonder the Egyptians are rebelling.

Rather than reiterate the well-reasoned  positions that conservative writers Andrew C. McCarthy and Thomas Sowell have taken on the situation, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor urges readers to deeply explore the very convincing and eye-opening commentaries from these men.

Things are not what they seem in Egypt. Those who support the "democratically elected" Morsi do not share  the American concept of democracy and freedom. Islamist radicals are attempting to retake the government, and it very well may be in U.S. national interests to steer far clear of this turmoil.

While congressional and White House debate over foreign aid in general and U.S. assistance to Egypt specifically is necessary (is there really a debate at the moment?), let's not be naive about what is happening in Egypt.

See Andrew McCarthy's "Egypt’s One Chance for Democracy-- Only capable armed forces can check the violent proclivities of Islamic supremacism" as well as "Reality versus mirages in Egypt -- Thomas Sowell drubs conservatives wanting to cut off aid to military force."

While readers are at it, also consider the following Monitor articles as critical and reliable resources in the debate over foreign aid to the region:

Have U.S. 'Investments' in Mideast Paid Off?

Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships

Obama Wants Egyptian Students to Get More from College

U.S. Modernization of Egyptian Air Force Continues as Planned (by Steve Peacock for Patriot Update)

-- S.P.

Andrew C. McCarthy

Have U.S. 'Investments' in Mideast Paid Off?

Contradictory claims of total dollar figures for U.S. foreign aid circulate around the Internet, containing oft-repeated figures that may or may not reflect reality. In response to those conflicting claims, WND has compiled a list of significant U.S. aid totals based on a review of congressional and Obama administration documents and databases.

As the debate often focuses on whether the U.S. receives, in financial parlance, an adequate return on its investment, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (first published via WND) decided to first focus on arguably the world’s greatest hot spot, the Middle East/North Africa, or MENA, home to three of the top 10 recipients of U.S. assistance: Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.

Though the aid totals are significantly less for Saudi Arabia and Gaza/West Bank, we have included them due to the role that the Saudis and Palestinians play on the MENA world stage.

Unless otherwise indicated, the data is gleaned from the federal database via ForeignAssistance.gov and from Congressional Research Service, or CRS, “Background and U.S. Relations” reports (CRS reports are made publicly available courtesy of the Federation of American Scientists.)

West Bank/Gaza

The U.S. has committed more than $4 billion in bilateral assistance since the 1990s, when limited Palestinian self-rule began.

While Israel remains the largest recipient, dollar-wise, of U.S. dollars, Palestinians “are among the world’s largest per capita recipients of international foreign aid,” CRS points out.

The administration FY 2014 request seeks $440 million for the West Bank/Gaza, nearly half which it would devote to Education and Social Services ($202 million).

The remainder is slated for Economic Development ($70 million), Health ($53 million), Democracy, Human Rights and Governance ($50 million), Peace and Security ($45 million), and Humanitarian Assistance ($20 million).

“The achievement of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a core U.S. national security objective which is central to American interests in the Middle East,” according to the Congressional Budget Justification FY 2014.

This aid hopes to promote three major U.S. policy priorities: preventing terrorism against Israel from Hamas and other militant organizations; fostering stability, prosperity, and self-governance in the West Bank that inclines Palestinians toward peaceful coexistence with Israel and a “two-state solution” and meeting humanitarian needs.

These priorities since June 2007 have “crystallized” as a result of the “geographical and factional split” between the Fatah-led and U.S.-supported Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and “the de facto regime led by Hamas in Gaza.”

Hamas, the reports emphasizes, “receives support from Iran along with substantial non-state support and has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT), and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the U.S. government.”

Despite Internet-based claims that the administration is funneling millions to Hamas, federal restrictions on providing funds to the organization cast doubt that the group is, at least directly, a recipient of such assistance.

Indeed, as CRS points out, annual spending bills routinely contain a variety of mandatory vetting, or advance clearance, processes as well as the imposition of strict “conditions, limitations, and restrictions on U.S. aid to Palestinians.”

No aid, for example, is allowed to go to “Hamas or Hamas-controlled entities,” CRS says.

Similarly, the U.S. cannot make aid available “for the purpose of recognizing or otherwise honoring individuals who commit or have committed acts of terrorism.”

Aid likewise is forbidden if the PA decides to share power in a government “that includes Hamas as a member” or gives Hamas “undue influence.”

Exceptions to that restriction may be made “if the president certifies that the PA government recognizes ‘the Jewish state of Israel’s right to exist’” in addition to “previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.”

U.S. assistance does indeed reach Gaza, but is limited to the support of projects carried out by private contractors and nongovernmental organizations tasked with carrying out those endeavors, CRS says.

Oversight of such programs is reflected in “executive branch reports and certifications, as well as internal and Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits” whose aim it is to prevent U.S. aid “from benefitting Palestinian terrorists or abetting corruption.”

A GAO report released last month did not indicate problems with the enforcement of these restrictions; however, it reiterated congressional concerns expressed in recent years, particularly the PA’s signing of “a reconciliation agreement with Hamas that could lead to a unity government.”

It noted that various congressional committees in response to that agreement “placed holds on most of the fiscal year 2011 funds for the West Bank and Gaza.” Some of those holds have since been released and the U.S. Mission “began obligating those funds in April 2012.”

No mention was made, however, to an administration initiative seeking to draw tourists away from Israel and keep them in Gaza and the West Bank.

As the Monitor reported in 2011, literally days after Hamas militants rained rockets on Israeli civilians, USAID alerted contractors to an endeavor whose aim was to have Christian pilgrims stay longer – and thereby spend more money – in Palestinian territory rather than in Israel.

One year later, this writer uncovered details of a USAID plan to infuse another $300 million into West Bank and Gaza construction projects, which the administration explicitly described as critical in attaining the “success of a future Palestinian state.”

Israel

Israel remains the top foreign aid recipient within the Obama administration’s FY 2014 request: $3.1 billion, all which falls under the category of Peace and Security. It mirrors the FY 2013 request.

The total amount of U.S. assistance to Israel, however, is not fully reflected in the ForeignAssistance.gov database.

As the CRS report “U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel” points out, Congress via the FY2013 Continuing Resolution approved – separate from $3.1 billion in Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, and $15 million for Migration and Refugee Assistance – another $480 million “in joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs.”

That separate total included $211 million for the Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system, $150 million for David’s Sling – a “short/medium-range system designed to counter long-range rockets and slower-flying cruise missiles… such as those possessed by Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as by Syria.”

It also encompassed $75 million for Arrow III and $44 million for Arrow II, both ballistic missile-interceptor projects.

The resolution likewise called on DOD and State “to explore with their Israeli counterparts and alert Congress of any requirements the Israeli Defense Force may have for additional Iron Dome batteries, interceptors, or other equipment depleted during the recent conflict with Hamas-controlled Gaza.”

The U.S. Department of Defense’s FY 2014 request via the Missile Defense Agency is $96 million for Israeli Cooperative Programs, which includes $53 million for Arrow III, $33 million for David’s Sling and $11 million for Arrow II. DOD separately is requesting $220 million in “Defense-wide funds for Iron Dome.”

Sequestration could decrease FMF to Israel “up to an estimated $155 million,” CRS says. “Likewise, rocket and missile defense funding to Israel may be sequestered up to an estimated $37.41 million.”

The report, submitted to Congress in June, emphasized that the calculations “are estimates only.”

The final FY2013 total “remains unclear” since the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Department of Defense “could reprogram additional amounts of aid to Israel in order to compensate for lost funding as a result of sequestration.”

Maintaining Israel’s “Qualitative Military Edge,” or QME, over its regional neighbors and enemies historically has provided justification for significant U.S. assistance, CRS says.

Current and future security threats exist due to Iranian nuclear ambitions, “Islamist-led or influenced Arab states” that stir up anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiments, and “instability and terrorism” from ungoverned or minimally governed spaces along Israel’s borders.

Despite the continued provision of military aid to deter region-wide conflicts that largely have been avoided over the past 40 years, “Economic conditions in the United States and Israel may affect future U.S. aid to Israel,” CRS says.

“With the prospect of prolonged fiscal austerity in the United States, overall American public support for foreign aid may diminish in the years ahead.”

Egypt

The Obama administration’s FY 2014 budget request for Egypt is $1.56 billion. That total primarily is categorized under Peace and Security initiatives ($1.3 billion), with the remainder slated for Economic Development ($129 million), Education and Social Services ($63 million), Democracy, Human Rights and Governance ($28 million), Health ($16 million) and Environment ($15 million).

A CRS report cites a similar FY 2014 request total; however, rather than using the category Peace and Security, it simply refers to that particular amount as Military Aid, with the remainder ($250 million) listed as Economic Aid.

Among other U.S-Egypt assistance programs that WND recently reported is a USAID plan to help Egyptians get more out of their college educations.

The administration is pursuing this endeavor because Egyptian higher-education institutions struggle to “produce graduates with the skills employers seek, posing constraints for growth opportunities, particularly in high skilled economic sectors.”

U.S. interests in Egypt “include maintaining U.S. naval access to the Suez Canal, maintaining the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, and promoting democracy and economic growth within Egypt, the region’s largest Arab country,” the CRS report says.

Despite publishing that report prior to the Egyptian military’s removal of President Mohamed Morsi, CRS foresaw that U.S. diplomatic opportunities “may be overshadowed by disruptive political trends that have been unleashed by the so-called Arab awakening and allowed for more expression of anti-Americanism, radical Islamist politics, antipathy toward Israel, and sectarianism.”

(Also see: "Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships").

Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships

Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships

Jordan

Specific to State and U.S. Agency for International Development aid to Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Congressional Budget Justification FY 2014 says that the administration’s $671 million request is justified because “Jordan is a strong U.S. ally in a turbulent region that, despite its relative stability, faces a number of critical, immediate challenges of its own.

“The country is host to large numbers of refugees from Syria at a time when the lingering effects of the worldwide fiscal crisis, regional instability, and other pressures have created increased strain on Jordan’s economy…”

The administration hopes to leverage this assistance “to deepen the partnership with Jordan to promote comprehensive regional peace and combat terrorism.”

CRS takes it a step further, asserting that the Jordanian government “remains arguably the most reliable partner for the United States in the Arab world.”

Despite Jordan’s participation in past regional wars against Israel, it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 after concluding that peace “was in Jordan’s strategic interests due to Israel’s conventional military superiority.”

Jordan likewise seeks peaceful resolution in its support of an “independent Palestinian national movement.”

The absence of such a resolution has “threatened both Jordanian and Israeli security,” a particular concern to Jordan as there about “1.9 million United Nations-registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan,” many of whom maintain “hope of being included in any future settlement.”

The administration consequently seeks to provide Jordan with aid under the categories of Peace and Security ($311 million), the bulk of which is slated for Stabilization Operations and Security Sector Reform ($304 million) and the remainder devoted to Counterterrorism ($5 million) and Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction ($1.7 million).

Other categories include Economic Development ($233 million), Education and Social Services ($56 million), Health ($36 million), Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance ($28 million, and Environment ($7 million).

Whereas much of the assistance is made possible via USAID programs, the U.S. also provides Jordan with cash assistance “to service its foreign debt,” CRS says.

Despite the expressed desire to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, King Abdullah II has repeatedly emphasized that the U.S. must pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution.

Abdullah II earlier this year in a joint press conference during Obama’s visit to Jordan, said “There is simply no other formula, no other alternative.

The two-state solution is the only way to go. And if you compare that also with the radicalization of Syria, together with the impasse in the peace process, this is going to be a serious threat to an already volatile region,” he said.

Jordan regularly participates in joint military exercises and training with the U.S., and has deployed thousands of military, law enforcement, and health professionals in support of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as U.N. peacekeeping operations around the world, CRS notes.

Saudi Arabia

The administration has proposed giving $10,000 in FY2014 direct aid to Saudi Arabia. The administration sought that amount last year and slightly less the year before. In the years immediately prior to those, annual requests had fluctuated while staying in the low hundreds of thousands.

The $10,000 aid figure specifically is for International Military Education and Training for Saudi Arabia. According to CRS, “This nominal amount makes Saudi Arabia eligible for a substantial but undisclosed discount on the millions of dollars of training it purchases through the Foreign Military Sales program.”

The actual amount of assistance to Saudi Arabia remains unclear, however, as the U.S. has numerous mechanisms in place to assist the Saudis in other ways.

No itemized costs could be found that detail U.S. expenses in the arrangement and processing Foreign Military Sales and other contracting actions.

The U.S. Air Force, for instance, this week issued a revised Request for Information from industry in the potential procurement of cyber-protection services and facilities for the Royal Saudi Air Force’s F-15 IT upgrade program.

The agency in that same endeavor also is coordinating a series of Industry Day gatherings that connect vendors with Saudi officials.

“Official U.S. concerns about human rights and religious freedom in the kingdom persist, and some members of Congress have expressed skepticism about Saudi leaders’ commitment to combating religious extremism and sharing U.S. policy priorities in the Middle East and South Asia,” CRS says.

“However, Bush and Obama administration officials have referred to the Saudi government as an important regional partner in recent years, and U.S. arms sales and related training programs have continued with congressional oversight.”

Although it receives literal bilateral aid from the U.S., Saudi Arabia is a major buyer of U.S. military hardware.

Among other arrangements that CRS notes, “In October 2010, Congress was notified of proposed sales to Saudi Arabia of dozens of F-15 fighter aircraft, helicopters, and related equipment and services, with a potential value of $60 billion.”

The Obama administration, “like its predecessors, has engaged the Saudi government as a strategic partner in efforts to promote regional security and global economic stability.”

Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships

Harpoon missile among weapons aboard patrol vessels

The U.S. Senate has rejected an effort to crack down on U.S. taxpayer monies being forwarded to the violence-ridden nation of Egypt, and now the Obama administration is preparing to send more heavily armed, missile-equipped naval patrol ships to the interim government there.

For that purpose, Washington is hiring private contractors to make the transoceanic delivery on its behalf.

This shipment of Fast Missile Craft, or FMC, comes at a time when congressional interest in suspending U.S. military aid to Egypt had heated up – to the point there was a Senate proposal to cut it off. That aid, according to federal law, must be suspended in response to military coups.

But the White House refuses to designate the military overthrow of deposed President Mohamed Morsi as a coup, and therefore has expressed no more than a commitment to review U.S.-Egyptian aid.

The U.S. Senate last week shot down, 86-13, Sen. Rand Paul’s proposed amendment to the transportation spending bill that would have redirected “certain foreign assistance to the government of Egypt as a result of the July 3, 2013, military coup d’état.”

Paul specifically sought to shift some of those funds to critical domestic bridge projects.

The Senate’s rejection of the Paul amendment now leaves the administration and its congressional supporters relatively free to proceed with their plans, so long as funds are approved for the U.S. Military Sealift Command endeavor.

Procurement documents that WND located through routine database research show that the MSC is now arranging to outsource the delivery of two of the advanced naval craft, which the contractor will bring under its care somewhere “within 100 miles of Pensacola,” Fla.

According to a U.S. Navy description, “The primary mission of the FMC is to conduct independent and joint operations, primarily against armed surface adversaries” in and around “coastal waterways of the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and, in particular, the Suez Canal.”

FMC are equipped with a variety of missiles as well as a Close-In Weapon System, which can detect and attack incoming anti-ship missiles. Each vessel holds a crew of 40 personnel.

Other armaments aboard the Fast Missile Craft, an Ambassador IV-Class patrol ship built by VT Halter Marine in the United States, include eight RGM-84L Boeing Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles, (SSM) Block II missiles, one 76mm Super Rapid gun, one MK31 Raytheon Rolling Airframe Missile system with MK49 guided missile launching system and a guided missile round pack that can support 21 canister-mounted missiles. Also one Raytheon MK15 Mod 21 Phalanx Block 1B 20mm close-in weapon system and two deck-mounted 7.62mm M60 machine guns.

The Harpoon missiles can travel in excess of 67 miles with high subsonic speeds carrying nearly 500 pounds of explosives.

The beginnings of the FMC program precede the recent controversy over the military coup. Indeed, the George W. Bush administration in 2003 first reached out to contractors in search of someone capable of executing the then-conceptual aid initiative for Egypt.

The U.S. Navy since has awarded over $800 million in contracts to VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Miss., to carry out the Egypt FMC program. One already has been delivered, and the company in March 2010 had announced a $165 million contract to build a fourth FMC, slated for delivery by the end of 2013.

The new document explicitly reveals that “Egyptian military” personnel must be permitted to board and accompany the contractor vessels when the massive cargo containers embark from Florida en route to Alexandria, Egypt.

The inclusion of Egyptian military representatives, who will be unarmed, is “to maintain cargo integrity for the voyage,” the solicitation says.

Two cargo containers each 200 feet long with a combined hauling capability of 1,600 metric tons will deliver FMCs to Egypt. Each FMC must have a quarter-billion-dollar insurance policy, payable to the U.S. government in the event of a disaster.

An MSC spokesperson said the solicitation documents that WND discovered are exactly what the public affairs office possesses, and therefore it is unable to offer more information.

“We just fulfill the charter” for the requested contractor ships, she said.

However, when pressed to elaborate on the project’s explicit plan to have the Egyptian military board the contractor vessels for the entirety of the voyage, the spokesperson referred WND’s inquiry to the Department of Defense, specifically the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. James Gregory told WND he had nothing to add to the information in the procurement documents.

The Heavylift Cargo Transport initiative – Solicitation no. N00033-13-R-5218 – is sensitive enough to require advance screening of crew personnel by the El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC, a multi-agency tactical operational unit.

The U.S. Department of Justice created EPIC in the ’70s primarily to support U.S.-Mexico border and counternarcotics operations. The center has since expanded its mission in support of law enforcement and counterintelligence initiatives from the local- to international level.

EPIC will be tasked with approving – or disapproving – contractor shipping-crew members.

Although MSC set an August 15 contractor bid-submission deadline, the solicitation emphasized that “funds are not currently available for this procurement. In the event funds remain unavailable, this procurement will be canceled without an award being made.”

In other Egypt-specific U.S. funding matters:

1) A $10 billion aviation-support project at the U.S. Department of State continues work with contractors on how the government may divvy up these awards through the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, or INL.

Although Egypt is not the sole focus of this endeavor – which had been in the planning stages long before Morsi’s ouster – INL nonetheless has been eying Egypt as a possible target for counterdrug operations. Current INL-contractor aviation activities are taking place in Central Florida, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Guatemala, and Iraq, it says.

“However, it is anticipated that performance may extend into other worldwide locations and the contractor(s) must be able to quickly extend operations to new locations on short notice, for limited duration. Recent examples of such include Sudan, Honduras, Malta, Libya, and Egypt.”

2) The Naval Surface Warfare Center said it intends to award a no-bid sole-source contract to Unified Industries, Inc., or UII, to train the Egyptian Air Force, or EAF, in technical measurements and calibration.

UII will provide subject matter consultation to EAF Metrology Engineering and Calibration Center, which is planning to build a facility at the Cairo West Air Base in Cairo. The Navy did not disclose an estimated contract cost.

3) The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, extended until August 15 the deadline for contractors to submit letters of interest in a project to improve the Egyptian university system.

As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor recently reported, the USAID Higher Education Partnership Program hopes to bring together the government of Egypt, Egyptian institutions of higher learning and the private sector in a collaborative effort to meet the needs of this North African nation’s business community.

A similar version of this article was published via WND.com Aug. 3, 2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to its author, Steve Peacock.

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Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships WND

My latest from WND. -- S.P.

The U.S. Senate has rejected an effort to crack down on U.S. taxpayer monies being forwarded to the violence-ridden nation of Egypt, and now the Obama administration is preparing to send more heavily armed, missile-equipped naval patrol ships to the interim government there.

For that purpose, Washington is hiring private contractors to make the transoceanic delivery on its behalf.

Read more at WND.com...

Follow @tradeaidmonitor

Obama Deploying Drones Around U.S.

The deployment of federal drones in and around U.S. shores represents one of the Obama administration’s next steps in the nation’s expanded use of unmanned aircraft systems for surveillance purposes.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, or ONMS, recently acquired Puma UAS – a type of drone that the U.S. Navy also uses – for operations off the coast of Los Angeles.

ONMS now is enlisting contractor support in expanding UAS use in California, Hawaii, Florida, and Washington state. Vendors experienced in working with law enforcement and military personnel are needed for this endeavor, according to a solicitation that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine database research.

The Puma drones – which are small enough to launch by hand – will be used by ONMS to enforce federal regulations, the document says.

The ONMS drone project will focus on Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary located northwest of LA. However, the contractor also will assist Puma UAS operations at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Midway in Hawaii, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Washington.

ONMS operates under the umbrella of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, itself a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

This initiative comes at a time when the U.S. Army is evaluating contractor proposals to develop a cadre of trainers in the operation of drones, specifically in the operation of Puma as well as Raven vehicles.

As this writer via WND reported in late June, the Army says vendors will help it maintain nearly 1,800 Puma and Raven systems “currently fielded, and alternative medium and long range systems procured in the future.”

Puma UAS are quiet enough “to avoid detection and operate autonomously, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting data,” according to their manufacturer, the Monrovia, California-based AeroVironment, Inc., or AV.

AV touts the ability of its drones to provide operators with “eyes on target” capabilities, thanks to electro-optical and infrared cameras built into the UAS.

“The air vehicle’s modular design allows for alternative payload development to meet the needs of specific military or civilian applications,” the company’s product description also says.

Puma UAS likewise are leveraged by the U.S. Navy, which in recent months awarded a no-bid sole-source contract to AV for Puma spare parts.

The U.S. Army relies on AV for drones as well. Last year the agency awarded a contract worth upwards of $66 million for miniature Raven systems, which share with Puma a common launch and operating platform.

AV recently delivered the latest installment of Raven systems and parts to the Army, and expects to fulfill the remainder of its contract by July 25.

Among other recent domestic drone-related developments:

• The construction of a $100 million drone hangar at Ft. Riley, Kan., is being planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The solicitation said the Army Corps project will focus on the construction of “a maintenance hangar for three Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) companies.” The document did not disclose which companies were to benefit from this endeavor.
• The Army Corps also plans to build a $25 million, 30,000-square yard airfield at Ft. Hood, Texas, for UAS deployment. The construction of a drone hangar facility separately is slated for that location.
• The U.S. Air Force awarded a $26 million contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., which will conduct research and development for the agency’s Aircraft Structural Integrity Program. The project, which the company will carry out at its Poway, Calif., facility, seeks to make improvements to the MQ-9 Reaper System, which the Air Force describes as a “larger and more heavily armed than the Predator UAV.”
• The creation of air- and underwater-based UAV-launch technologies is being explored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which on Aug. 5 will meet with industry representatives to discuss what is known as the “Hydra” R&D project. DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office will hold the Proposers’ Day event at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
• Technological advances in the collection and analysis of surveillance data and images – particularly that which can be used aboard drones – are being sought by the Rome, N.Y.-based Air Force Research Lab, which seeks to fund contractor-led R&D projects in its Multi-Intelligence Exploitation and Correlation initiative. “Given current levels of activity, operational requirements, hostile environments, and resources being heavily tasked, collection systems will need to be developed for embedding on advanced collection platforms, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs),” the AFRL said in Broad Agency Announcement no. BAA-RIK-12-04.

This article originally was published via WND.com July 21,2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reveretdd ack to the author, Steve Peacock.

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Steve Peacock Interview with Talk-Show Host Peter Boyles

Steve Peacock Interview with Talk-Show Host Peter Boyles

Steve Peacock from his home office speaking with Denver radio talk-show host Peter Boyles.

Today I was tracked down by Denver radio talk-show host Peter Boyles (710KNUS), who took note of my reporting primarily via WND on the issues of drones -- unmanned aerial systems -- and other forms of electronic surveillance. We spoke for nearly 20 minutes about some of the following articles, while Mr. Boyles also allowed me to briefly pitch my website U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor and talk about my background as a Capitol Hill reporter covering the final years of the Clinton Administration through the start of the George W. Bush Administration.

Many thanks to Mr. Boyles for this amazing opportunity. He expressed a strong desire to have me return as a guest on his show, to which I am very much looking forward. -- S.P.

• Obama deploying drones around U.S. -- Contracts show units to be used to enforce regulations (WND; July 21, 2013)

• Media Ignored Big Picture of NSA Surveillance, Focused on Jobs (Patriot Update; June 27, 2013

• Drone training anyone? Army ramping up plans -- Subjects include 'search for targets, ' record details for analysis (WND; June 28, 2013)

• Feds recruit private sector to expand drone use -- Seek traffic control experts to launch more spy planes over U.S. airspace (WND; July 8, 2012)

U.S. Prepares for Casualties in Africa

The extrication of U.S. Special Forces injured in African military ventures soon will provide contractors with an additional revenue stream, now that the Obama administration plans to keep such vendors on stand-by, 24/7, for cross-continent airborne mobilization.

While the Pentagon’s reliance on private vendors to support international military operations is nothing new, plans to station such providers specific to such a large swath of Africa does deviate from prior procurement actions.

The Trans-Sahara Short Take-Off and Landing Airlift Support initiative will rely on outside assistance in the event that soldiers of U.S. Special Operations Command-Africa sustain traumatic medical emergencies, thereby requiring urgent transportation out of hostile zones.

Indeed, SOCOM-Africa places such urgency on its anticipated use of such Casualty Evacuation, or CASEVAC, services that, at a minimum, contractors must be capable of launching an airborne response with only a three hour notice.

The selected vendor likewise must possess the ability to be placed on heightened response and “be airborne within one hour of notification,” according a revised Performance Work Statement released April 16 that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research.

Despite this urgency, the vendor securing that contract largely will engage in cargo- and personnel airlift activities, plus a limited number of air-drop missions.

The “most likely” locations for such operations are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, according to the U.S. Transportation Command solicitation.

Kenya, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda also fall within the Primary Operating Area, or POA, of this endeavor, the USTRANSCOM document says.

SOCOM-Africa will enable this expedited response-capability by stationing the contractor in Burkina Faso, a landlocked West African nation, it says.

A search of prior Tactical Combat Casualty Care and CASEVAC solicitations available via the FedBizOpps system shows that USSOCOM and other Department of Defense units typically and primarily seek only training and equipment.

Rather than soliciting continent-wide provision of emergency medical and flight assistance, those contracting actions generally have sought assistance to enable combatant commands to provide themselves with such medical assistance.

One USSOCOM contracting action representative of the government’s acquisition of CASEVAC “kits” and trauma-management training, for example, described a critical need for Special Operations combat forces to obtain new techniques and technology in support of “ongoing operations worldwide.”

Another Special Ops solicitation from late last year revealed a $40 million, two-year contract extension awarded to Tribalco, LLC, a Bethesda, Maryland-based maker of CASEVAC and other “soldier-survival” equipment.

USTRANSCOM did not disclose an estimated cost of the Africa-centric CASEVAC procurement.

In other U.S. military procurement actions specific to Africa:

• The Defense Logistics Agency on April 12 issued a request for bids to provide the U.S. Air Force with 547,500 gallons of No. 2 diesel fuel “for ongoing deliveries to Niamey Airport, Niger, (Africa).”
• The U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, or NAVFAC, announced it intends to spend up to $25 million for power plant upgrades at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti (CLDJ), Africa; however, despite acknowledging in an earlier document the estimated cost of the Caterpillar generators, a partly redacted no-bid Justification & Approval document blacked out the final award amount. It offered no explanation for the redaction .
• NAVFAC additionally began soliciting bids to build a cold-storage food warehouse and a separate galley to store P-218 anti-malarial drug reserves, representing another potential $25 million contracting endeavor at CLDJ.
• NAVFAC on April 12 revealed that it awarded a $33 million contract to Kellogg, Brown and Root to “perform base operating services at CLDJ and occasionally other locations within Africa.” Despite announcing the KBR contract this month, the Navy unit actually awarded it in December, the document shows.

This article originally appeared via WND April 28. Under prior agreement, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

Navy SEALs Recruiting Iranians

Military expanding outreach for elite teams to 'Persian Americans'

By Steve Peacock

A U.S. Navy SEAL minority recruitment initiative has added yet another group to its target list of underrepresented populations within the elite Naval Special Warfare units: Iranian Americans.

According to a revised Performance Work Statement that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research, interested contractors must be able to carry out “awareness and education efforts” in minority communities inclusive of “Persian Americans,” as it referred to people of Iranian descent.

NSW this past week formally reached out to marketing and recruitment-service providers to help correct this “demographic disparity” in the predominantly white SEAL team units.

The Minority Awareness and Education Services Regional Campaigns project initially emphasized the recruitment of African Americans. A draft document released earlier this year had declared that the “widest discrepancy” existed between the percentage of African American citizens and those serving on SEAL teams and as Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen, or SWCC.

The revised document removed that Afrocentric emphasis – indeed, the Navy noted that it intentionally removed the first two pages of the draft solicitation where it made such delineation – and it now appears to place equal weight on recruiting “African American, Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, Native American, Arab American, and Persian American” candidates.

Congress likewise has raised concerns about minority under-representation among Navy SEALs as well as in the officer ranks of all the U.S. Armed Forces.

Late last month the House Committee on Appropriations approved a military funding bill and accompanying report that “supports efforts to conduct effective outreach and recruiting programs in minority communities.”

House Report 112-493 directs the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command “to provide a report to the congressional defense committees not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act on the challenges of recruiting prospective Navy SEAL applicants from underrepresented communities.”

It also would require SOCOM “to provide recommendations to increase the competitiveness and to encourage recruitment of such candidates.”

The NSW project’s main purpose is to elevate “the number of these candidates who can qualify for Navy enlistment contracts.”

It made clear, however, that a quota system was neither desired nor expected, pointing out that the unit will not assess future contractor performance “based on the number or percentage of candidates selected for training.”

On the other hand, the document established minimum expectations for the number of minority males in the 16-24 age range for whom the contractor will arrange participation in public “awareness events and initiatives.”

The revised plan offers a more ambitious vision for the number of such High Potential Candidates, or HPCs, and upped its initial expectations from 1,000 attendees to 2,000.

NSW warned potential contractors to ensure they do not “exclude others who may want to participate in open events.”

However, it simultaneously issued a reminder that the contract’s focus “is on minority HPCs and as such the contractor will only be given ‘credit’ for the target minority males who attend and participate.”

The plan also seeks to bring aboard at least 100 “influencers” – such as athletic directors, coaches, counselors, clergy, and educators – of the targeted population. The contractor will be tasked with developing “friends of NSW” who will have the greatest “influence on career decision-making of potential SEAL candidates.”

NSW ultimately wants to sign up at least 300 HPCs for whom the contractor will craft an individual “education and development plan” on the path to a possible Navy SEAL or SWCC career. It hopes to have a minimum of 100 candidates and 10 influencers sign up and participate in the Training Forum on the Navy SEAL and SWCC Scout Team’s website.

A core part of these individual plans include the development of an HPC swimming instructional component.

“Since the waterborne feature of SEAL training is often the most formidable obstacle for prospective candidates,” according to the document, “especially among minorities with little swimming experience, the swim training program is usually the most challenging of the preparation components.”

Other regional campaign components may include:

• Outreach to male athletes and fraternity members at junior colleges, colleges, and universities with high percentages of minority student enrollment;
• Participation in conferences, events, and engagements, recognition of student leadership awards, and outreach to educators in the minority communities;
• Engagements with athletes, coaches, and influencers associated with predominantly minority high school and collegiate swim and football teams;
• Inner-city schools initiatives providing education to high school students in a “swim with a SEAL” program;
• Relationship building with coaches and influencers, offering mental toughness presentations to select audiences, and delivering appropriate fitness events on a not-to-interfere basis at regional athletic competitions;
• Leveraged social media engagement utilizing existing NSW website (sealswcc.com), Facebook, and Twitter, and consisting of direct first engagements with HPCs, social media “experiences” and “conversations” ultimately to allow for self-selection to begin online;
• A public relations component outreach to deliver serious HPCs to scheduled events;
• Marketing and outreach with a heavy balance of leveraging earned media (versus buying radio and TV advertising);
• Conducting education and swim programs to give serious HPCs the opportunity to complete all parts of the NSW Physical Screening Test.

Depending upon proposals and cost estimates received, 40 percent of the overall project will target one of three major metropolitan areas: Detroit, Miami, or the region between Atlanta and the “Golden Triangle” (Raleigh, Durham, and Greensboro) of North Carolina.

Another 40 percent of the campaign level of effort will center on the mid-Atlantic region, specifically from Norfolk and Richmond Virginia “and north to the Greater Baltimore/Washington DC Corridor.”

The remaining 20 percent will target Southern California, specifically from San Diego, through Orange County, and across the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Despite targeting minority communities to encourage future SEAL team and SWCC members, the Navy at the same time has embarked upon a separate contractor-supported initiative that simply recruits and prepares the best possible candidates for SEAL officer positions, irrespective of ethnic background.

The two-pronged endeavor – known as the Naval Special Warfare Seal Officer Accession Support and the Fleet Concentration Area Swim Programs initiatives – will target midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.; Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps commands nationwide; Officer Candidate School commissioned officer graduates; and transfers from “active duty warfare-qualified officers from the Fleet or the other Services.”

A similar version of this article originally was published via WND.com on June 27, 2012. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

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WND.com: Navy SEALs Recruiting Iranians

My latest from WND: "Navy Seals Recruiting Iranians -- Military expanding outreach for elite teams to 'Persian Americans.'"

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Pentagon Extends Kenya, Djibouti Military Support Contract

The U.S. Dept. of Defense says it awarded a no-bid military facility support contract in Africa as a critical move in support of global counter-terrorism activities. PAE Government Services, Inc., which already is working in Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti (CLDJ) and Camp Simba in Kenya, recently received a nine-month contract extension to continue providing base operations services.

The estimated cost of the contract extension is blacked out in a new Justification & Approval document.  Despite being blacked out, however, an electronic document that the Monitor located via routine database research intermittently displays a $65 million estimate for the June 1, 2012- Feb, 28, 2013 period.

The estimated cost of the previous contract likewise is uncertain. One contracting document indicates a $50 million maximum, while another says $75 million

A noncompetitive contract extension is justified because PAE already is performing work at those bases, according to the Naples, Italy-based Naval Facilities Engineering Command-Europe Africa Southwest Asia (NAVFAC EURAFSWA). Interrupting those projects with a new contractor would interfere with counter-terrorism operations as well cause the government to incur unnecessary and extraordinary start-up costs for a new vendor, it said in the J&A document.

Delays negatively would affect Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) , which:

oversees counter-terrorism operations in the Horn of Africa for USAFRICOM [U.S. Africa Command]... If this contract action is not executed,  the mission critical support of ongoing operations in the entire [HOA] region would not be provided and this would adversely impact military mission readiness and and personal safety. Repercussions of the lack of support may have a huge impact to the global war on terrorism [GWOT], as CLDJ is the only US military base in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing front line security to the [GWOT]. Any interruption of services cannot be interrupted at this time.

NAVFAC further noted that "PAE possesses the manpower and skill levels to continue performance without a learning curve, break-in service, or additional phase-in/mobilization requirements."

The project calls for a range of initiatives, from airport operations and base-support vehicle management to "morale, welfare and recreation."