TAMPA, FL—Today, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Steven E. Ibison announced that Travis T. Gabriel was awarded the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for 2010. SAC Ibison recently presented the award to Mr. Gabriel during an FBI conference which was attended by approximately 400 FBI employees and law enforcement officers.
Since 1990, the DCLA has been a principle means for the FBI to publicly recognize the achievements of individuals and organizations for their contributions to crime and violence education and prevention within their communities.
Mr. Gabriel is a 2003 graduate from the University of Central Florida. Upon graduation, Mr. Gabriel made it his priority to educate and positively influence at-risk young males. Mr. Gabriel knew what these young people faced, as he too grew up in a high crime, poverty stricken, low education area in Miami, Florida that was riddled with drugs, gangs, and violence. At 16, he had to decide his fate after his mother's untimely death.
Mr. Gabriel first worked as a high school teacher and then as a juvenile probation officer, where he noticed that a positive role model was lacking in the lives of delinquent youth. Determined to make a difference, Mr. Gabriel started a program called Modeling Alternatives to Negative and Undesirable Perceptions, or M.A.N. U.P. This program began as a diversion program used by the State Attorney's Office in Circuit 9, Orange County, Florida. This program allows first-time offenders a chance to avoid formal prosecution, if diversion requirements are successfully completed.
At risk youth may be referred to M.A.N. U.P. not only through the State Attorney's office, but also through the Center for Drug Free Living, the Department of Juvenile Justice, or the OrangeCountyPublic Schools. To qualify, participants must be between the ages of 7-18 years old.
For more than 10 years, Mr. Gabriel has worked with delinquent youth and has provided this educational program to at-risk males, educating them on antisocial attitudes, antisocial peers, school and /or work, substance abuse, family issues, and free time. This six-week program is to introduce and train these young men in areas that include discipline, respect, motivation, and honesty, as well as allowing them to experience situations that enhance their knowledge and understanding of being a positive asset to society.
To date, Mr. Gabriel has educated more than 400 young men and has an estimated 80 percent success rate (low recidivism of youth re-entering the system). He receives no monetary compensation for this program, which is widely supported throughout the community.
Mr. Gabriel understands first-hand what young people experience. His motto is, "Today is the first day of the rest of our life, which means that no matter what happened yesterday, you always have a chance to restart your life today."
In addition to the award, Mr. Gabriel also received a paid trip to WashingtonD.C. for a formal ceremony to be personally recognized by FBI Director Robert Mueller III.
WEST POINT, N.Y., Feb. 25, 2011 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told cadets here that they must continue changing the culture of the Army to ensure the service can handle the challenges facing America.
This was the last opportunity for the secretary to speak to the Corps of Cadets. He has announced he will step down as secretary later this year.
Gates spoke about the future of conflict and the implications for the Army. He talked about institutionalizing the diverse capabilities the service will need. Finally, he threw out some ideas for how the service can recruit and retain the leaders needed in the 21st century.
“When you receive your commission and walk off these parade fields for the last time, you will join an Army that, more than any other part of America’s military, is an institution transformed by war,” Gates told the cadets gathered in Eisenhower Hall.
He said the changes have been wrenching, but the service used the experiences to learn and adapt. They “allowed us to pull Iraq back from the brink of chaos in 2007 and, over the past year, to roll back the Taliban from their strongholds in Afghanistan,” he said.
The experience must be learned and incorporated into the service’s DNA and institutional memory, the secretary said.
All this leads to the challenge of how the Army will structure itself, and train and equip for the diverse range of missions it will face in the future.
“There has been an overwhelming tendency of our defense bureaucracy to focus on preparing for future high-end conflicts –- priorities often based, ironically, on what transpired in the last century –- as opposed to the messy fights in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Gates said. “But without succumbing to what I once called ‘next-war-itis,’ I do think it important to think about what the Army will look like and must be able to do after large U.S. combat units are substantially drawn down in Afghanistan –- and what that means for young leaders entering the force.”
The United States has not done a good job over the years in forecasting where the next conflict will be, Gates said, but the country can build the capabilities to deal with a range of crises.
“We can’t know with absolute certainty what the future of warfare will hold, but we do know it will be exceedingly complex, unpredictable, and –- as they say in the staff colleges –- ‘unstructured,’” he said.
Gates listed a few of the challenges facing the country that will continue after U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. These include: terrorism and terrorists in search of weapons of mass destruction, Iran, North Korea, military modernization programs in Russia and China, failed and failing states, revolution in the Middle East, cyber threats, piracy, nuclear proliferation, natural and man-made disasters and more.
There is a need for heavy armor and firepower, but there also is a need for counterinsurgency and humanitarian assistance, the secretary said.
“Looking ahead, though, in the competition for tight defense dollars within and between the services,” Gates said, “the Army also must confront the reality that the most plausible, high-end scenarios for the U.S. military are primarily naval and air engagements –- whether in Asia, the Persian Gulf, or elsewhere.”
The strategic rationale for swift-moving Army or Marine expeditionary forces and airborne infantry or special operations is self-evident, he said, given the likelihood of counterterrorism, rapid reaction, disaster response or stability or security force assistance missions.
“In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as [Army] General [Douglas] MacArthur so delicately put it,” he said.
The Army is not going to just build schools and sip tea, the secretary said. Still, the prospects for another head-on clash of large mechanized land armies seem less likely. “The Army will be increasingly challenged to justify the number, size and cost of its heavy formations to those in the leadership of the Pentagon, and on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, who ultimately make policy and set budgets,” Gates said.
Enemies will seek to attack the United States where they believe America is weakest. The Army will not repeat the mistakes of the past, where irregular warfare doctrine was shunted aside after the Vietnam War, the secretary said.
Gates said the odds of repeating another Afghanistan or Iraq –- invading, pacifying, and administering a large third world country –- may be low. But in what Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. has called “an era of persistent conflict,” those unconventional capabilities still willbe needed at various levels and in various locales, he said.
A second challenge facing the service, Gates said, is whether and how the Army can adapt its practices and culture to these strategic realities.
“From the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our soldiers and junior- and mid-level leaders downrange have been adjusting and improvising to the complex and evolving challenges on the ground –- in many cases using the Internet, especially tools of social media -- to share tactical lessons learned in real time with their colleagues at the front or preparing to deploy back in the United States,” he said.
It has taken time for the Pentagon to respond, but leaders are pushing the envelope. Gates pointed to the way the Army developed doctrine for the advise and assist brigades now deployed to Iraq. Planners devised the strategy in months rather than years and continue tweaking it as experience accumulates.
But people are the basis for American military excellence, and the question becomes how does the service prepare, train and retain officers “with the necessary multifaceted experience to take on a broad range of missions and roles,” Gates said, that involve “many doctrines in play, often simultaneously.”
As an example, Gates pointed to the ongoing and prospective requirements to train, equip and advise foreign armies and police. These capabilities must be institutionalized into the ‘Big Army,’ he said, while making the related experiences and skill sets a career-enhancing pursuit. This, he said, should be encouraged.
“If you chart a different path, there’s no telling the impact you could have –- on the Army, and on history,” Gates said.
While the Army has always needed entrepreneurial leaders, for an era of full-spectrum conflict “America can succeed only with leaders who are themselves full-spectrum in their thinking,” he said. “The military will not be able to train or educate you to have all the right answers –- as one might find in a manual –- but you should look for those experiences and pursuits in your career that will help you at least ask the right questions.”
The secretary told the cadets to look for opportunities that in the past were considered off the beaten path, if not a career dead end. He said the Army needs to encourage leaders in these pursuits. “Such opportunities might include further study at graduate school, teaching at this or another first-rate university, spending time at a think tank, being a congressional fellow, working in a different government agency or becoming a foreign area specialist,” he said.
“It is incumbent on the Army to promote -– in every sense of the word –- these choices and experiences for its next generation of leaders; the junior- and mid-grade officers in Army ranks who represent the most battle-tested group in its history,” Gates said.
The greatest challenge facing the Army is breaking-up “the institutional concrete” in the service’s assignments and promotion processes to keep the best and most battled-tested young officers, the secretary said.
The soldiers have been resilient and have done all that national leaders have asked.
“I will never forget one of my first decisions as Secretary of Defense in early 2007, which was to extend Army combat tours from to 15 months, including for units that had spent less than a year at home,” Gates said. “This was perhaps my most difficult decision over the past four years because I knew the hardship this would place on those who had already borne so much for this country. But the alternative would have been a disaster for our country and for Iraq. And the Army did as ordered and much more.”
Today’s cadets will join a force that has been decisively engaged for nearly a decade, Gates said. “While it is resilient, it is also stressed and tired,” he said.
The repeated deployments, Gates said, mean that young officers have had “little opportunity to do more than catch their breath” and then get ready for the next deployment. And waiting for these officers is the bureaucratic, garrison mindset at their home stations.
“In theater, junior leaders are given extraordinary opportunities to be innovative, take risks and be responsible and recognized for the consequences,” Gates said.
In garrison, the opposite is often true.
“Men and women in the prime of their professional lives, who may have been responsible for the lives of scores or hundreds of troops, or millions of dollars in assistance, or engaging or reconciling warring tribes, may find themselves in a cube all day re-formatting Powerpoint slides, preparing quarterly training briefs or assigned an ever expanding array of clerical duties,” he said. “The consequences of this terrify me.”
Gates said his experiences in running large public organizations –- he was the director of Central Intelligence and then president of TexasA&MUniversity before becoming the defense secretary -– show that leaders must concentrate on the top 20 percent of their workforce ,and the bottom 20 percent.
“The former to elevate and give more responsibility and opportunity, the latter to transition out, albeit with consideration and respect for the service they have rendered,” he said. “Failure to do so risks frustrating, demoralizing and ultimately losing the leaders we will need most for the future.”
Any bureaucracy often encourages people to keep their heads down, avoid making waves and to never disagree with superiors. “The Army has been fortunate throughout its history to have officers who, at critical times, exercise respectful, principled dissent,” he said. He pointed to Army Gen. George C. Marshall as one shining example among many, of this characteristic.
The tendency of any big bureaucracy is to revert to business as usual at the first opportunity. For the military, that opportunity is coming with the unwinding of sustained combat, Gates said.
Stopping that tendency is crucial to the health of the force. “The former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, [West Point] Class of 1976, has written that, ‘In a smaller professional force competing for talent with the Googles of the world,’ reforming this system is a ‘must do’ for the Army to keep its best and brightest leaders,” Gates said.
But while the service competes with corporate America, the Army is not Apple or General Electric, he said.
“Taking that oath and accepting that commission means doing what you are told and going where you are needed,” the secretary told the cadets. “But just as the Army has reset and reformed itself in when it comes to doctrine, equipment, and training, it must use the eventual slackening of overseas deployments as an opportunity to attack the institutional constipation of ‘Big Army,’ and re-think the way it deals with the outstanding young leaders in its lower- and middle-ranks.”
Gates said for all the challenges that lie ahead for the cadets, they made the right choice in joining the Long Gray Line. “Beyond the hardship, heartbreak, and sacrifice -– and they are real –- there is another side to military service,” he said. “You have an extraordinary opportunity -– not just for the lives of your soldiers, but for missions and decisions that may change the course of history.”
Gates said the today’s cadets will be challenged to take risks and expand what they thought they were capable of doing. “And you will be doing all this at an age when many of your peers are reading spreadsheets and making photocopies,” he said.
“Each of you –- with your talents, your intelligence, your record of accomplishments –- could have chosen something easier or safer and, of course, better paid,” Gates told the cadets. “But you took on the mantle of duty, honor and country; you passed down the Long Gray Line of men and women who have walked these halls and strode these grounds before you -– more than 80 of whom have fallen in battle since 9/11. For that, you have the profound gratitude and eternal admiration of the American people.”
Mr. Stern is the Director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), a position he has held since August 2010.Prior to joining DNDO, Mr. Stern served as the Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Incident and Emergency Centre from August 2006 to March 2010—where he led international efforts to prepare for and respond to nuclear and radiation emergencies and helped create the IAEA’s Response Assistance Network.
Mr. Stern began his career in 1985 at the Central Intelligence Agency, then served as the Senior Technical Advisor in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency—where he advised senior U.S. officials on nonproliferation and nuclear security issues—from July 1990 until May 1999.
He later served as a Fellow in Senator Hillary Clinton’s office in 2003—providing guidance on nuclear energy, waste, safety and security issues and helping to write the Dirty Bomb Prevention Act—and went on to serve as the Department of State’s Senior Coordinator for Nuclear Safety and Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security.
Mr. Stern received his M.S. in National Security Studies from the NationalWarCollege, his M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his B.A. in Physics from BrandeisUniversity.
ARLINGTON, Va. (NNS) -- The Office of Naval Research celebrated African-American History Month with a speaking event at its Arlington, Va., headquarters, Feb. 22.
Rear Adm. Julius Caesar, Joint Concept Development and Experimentation vice director, U.S. Joint Forces Command, gave the keynote address, using the theme of "African-Americans and the Civil War" as the context for the lecture.
Caesar said that African-Americans are an influential American history and people as a whole have a pride for who they are, bringing them together as a group but also allowing them to be individuals.
"People have a natural sense of pride for where they come from," he said. "That sense of identity affirms the groups we are from and affirms you as an individual."
The audience learned the history of African-Americans' involvement in the Civil War, and how influential figures, such as Frederick Douglass, Civil War spy John Scobell and ship's pilot Robert Smalls, were important in defining American culture throughout history.
While stressing the inequalities that African-American troops encountered during the Civil War, Caesar also described how they played a decisive role in its outcome. More than 186,000 African-Americans served in 'negro' regiments and comprised nearly 10 percent of the Union Army. However, the casualty rate of the entire African-American troop contingent throughout the Civil War was more than 30 percent, which was 35 percent higher than their white counterparts.
"African-Americans were also paid 35 percent less than the white troops," he added. "And there were only 16 blacks who received the Medal of Honor during the Civil War."
This reality was portrayed in "The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union," a book Caesar cited during his speech, drawing anecdotal examples of both the oppression of African-American troops and their loyalty to the country.
"What it comes down to is that people want their freedom. African-Americans helped fight for, and build, this country. With that said, their contributions should never be overlooked," he said.
Caesar followed his discussion with a question and answer session where he addressed diversity in the Navy as well as his own personal motivations for pursuing a naval career.
There are currently more than 89,000 African-Americans serving in the Navy, comprising 18 percent of Navy enlisted personnel and 8 percent of naval officers. African-American History Month was founded by the writer, editor and historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926, to address and memorialize the significant achievements of African-Americans throughout history.
The Department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) provides the science and technology necessary to maintain the Navy and Marine Corps' technological advantage. Through its affiliates, ONR is a leader in science and technology with engagement in 50 states, 70 countries, 1,035 institutions of higher learning and 914 industry partners. ONR employs approximately 1,400 people, comprising uniformed, civilian and contract personnel, with additional employees at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C.
For more news from Office of Naval Research, visit www.navy.mil/local/onr/.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2011 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates welcomed Afghanistan’s defense and interior ministers to the Pentagon today for the first of what officials expect to be regular meetings to sustain an effective long-term military-to-military leadership relationship.
The U.S.-Afghanistan relationship “is bonded in the blood of our sons and daughters,” Gates told Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Afghan Interior Minister Besmillah Khan Mohammadi before the three men and their senior staffs began their meeting.
The administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai already has made much progress, and the Afghan national security forces have made “tremendous progress” in helping to secure the country, Gates said. The growth of Afghanistan’s army and national police and their increasing ability to lead security operations has been “truly impressive,” he added.
More than 5,000 Afghan forces have been killed in action since 2006, the secretary noted, adding that their sacrifice is “something we appreciate and honor.”
Wardak said the Afghan casualties “are our patriotic duty,” and added that Afghans are “extremely grateful for the sacrifices of your sons and daughters who fought from so far away.”
“I strongly believe that our greatest tribute to them will be to realize the objectives of those brave soldiers who paid the ultimate price,” he added.
Afghans have “profound gratitude and everlasting appreciation” to the United States, Wardak said. He added to Gates, “We are thankful for your personal engagement and leadership, … and I believe we will prevail.”
Afghan leaders are looking for a closer and stronger relationship with U.S. leaders, Wardak said. “Whatever we have achieved, we could not have accomplished without your support,” he said.
Afghanistan had only a very basic foundation when U.S. forces began operations there in the fall of 2001 to drive out the Taliban, and clear progress has taken place since then, Wardak said.
Though plans call for Afghanistan’s security forces to be responsible for the entire country’s security by the end of 2014, Afghanistan still will need U.S. help, Wardak said. “I do strongly believe that for Afghanistan to survive in that very volatile region, we need your help beyond 2014,” he said.
The meeting was the first of the U.S.-Afghanistan Security Consultations Forum, which Gates said he established “as an institution beyond 2014,” when U.S. military forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan.
The forum included Michèle Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy; Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and other defense officials to discuss building long-term cooperation between the two countries, as well as issues of immediate importance, according to a Defense Department statement.
The secretary said he hopes the forum would meet twice a year to discuss shared expectations for Afghanistan, to set specific goals and objectives, and to demonstrate to others in the Central Asia region that the U.S.-Afghanistan partnership is putting Afghanistan on a path of improvement.
The meetings included a review of security gains across Afghanistan in 2010, particularly in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where improved security provided by a surge of Afghan and NATO forces has enabled greater Afghan freedom of movement, commerce, and development, officials said.
Talks focused on how to build on those gains this year, officials added, particularly in transitioning security to the Afghans.
Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan told reporters that the leaders would meet for several hours today.
“This is looking to the future for a sustained and enduring relationship with Afghanistan as a country, but also with the Afghan security forces,” he said.
The Afghan ministers and Gates also will discuss the gains of the last year and what needs to happen in the future to continue the progress, Lapan added.
“What will it look like past 2014?” he said. “These discussions will look beyond at what our relationship will be and what U.S. military support will be needed after that date.”
(Jim Garamone of American Forces Press Service contributed to this report.)
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jerine Lee, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs
USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, At Sea (NNS) -- USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) hosted 16 guests from Brunei while underway Feb. 22, including senior military and government leadership, media reporters, and U.S. Embassy representatives, during a visit to reinforce the partnership the U.S. shares with its 7th Fleet partner.
The guests were greeted by Rear Adm. Mark Guadagnini, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9, before attending a formal lunch followed by a full day of tours, discussion forums, a personal briefing by strike group aviators, and interaction with the ship's crew.
Deputy Minister of Defense Dato Paduka Mustappa Sirat was the senior member of the delegation, accompanied by Permanent Secretary Dato Paduka Haji Shofry Hj Abdul Ghafor, Permanent Secretary Pengiran Datin Masrainah, Commander of the Joint Operations Center Col. Aziz Tamit, five others from the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, four members of the media, and three members of the Embassy staff.
The Brunei delegation was briefed on the ship's defense capabilities while visiting the combat direction center. They then toured the ship's bridge and hangar bays, saw an F/A-18 Super Hornet close-up, and had the opportunity to observe flight operations from the flight deck.
"My favorite part of the trip was being on the flight deck," said Senior Superintendent Amiruddin bin Haji Junaidi, head of the Brunei Marine Police. "The rolling, vibrations and action was exhilarating and the professional coordination of all the people and aircraft was very exciting to watch. I can't wait to tell my family and friends about my experience on board the Lincoln."
The U.S. and Brunei have a long established military relationship, to include joint exercises and training evolutions. The purpose of this visit was for Lincoln to showcase firsthand what capabilities it offers to help maintain stability and security in the region, in a multinational effort to promote peace and prosperity.
"This was a tremendous opportunity for us to see the ship," said Lt. Col. Ghani bin Haji Abdullah, Royal Brunei Land Forces chief of staff. "It is amazing to see all of the ship's potential in supporting all the Sailors and their missions."
"It was a trip we will never soon forget, and we must emphasize the importance of your presence in our region," Mustappa said.
The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is currently operating in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts to establish conditions for regional stability.
For more information about USS Abraham Lincoln, visit their facebook page at www.facebook.com/usslincoln.
For more news from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn72/.
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jerine Lee, Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group Public Affairs
SINGAPORE (NNS) -- Commander, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 9, spoke about leadership and opportunities to a class of students from National University of Singapore School of Public Policy, Feb. 17, during a port visit to Singapore by USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).
Capt. Carol A. Hottenrott, the senior-most female among the nearly 7,000 men and women of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG), spoke about her experiences as a woman in the military and the impact women can have in the world. She also gave the students advice and discussed how to build a successful career without letting gender differences limit one's opportunities.
"It's an honor to give these women an example of possibilities," said Hottenrott. "Opportunities for women are plentiful, and it is wonderful to see how the world is changing and becoming more open-minded."
Many students and faculty attended the session, including Dr. Suzaina Kair, the university's senior lecturer.
"The lecture was so inspiring for me and my students," said Kadir. "Women succeeding in the military and civilian world is still new in Singapore, so hearing what Captain Hottenrott had to say showed us what is necessary for us to succeed. But most importantly, this experience opened doors and showed us that it is possible."
After the lecture, the students were given a tour of the ship's hangar bay, flight deck, bridge and mess decks.
"It was wonderful to see the ship and speak with Capt. Hottenrott," said Kadir. "This was overall, a great experience."
Abraham Lincoln CSG is in the U.S. 7th Fleet's area of responsibility as part of a routine deployment to promote peace, cooperation and stability in the region. The ships of the strike group currently reach all corners of 7th Fleet, from USS Shoup in Australia to USS Halsey underway near Hong Kong, and USS Cape St. Georgevisiting Phuket, Thailand.
Abraham CSG consists of flagship USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George(CG 71), and the embarked DESRON 9. Ships assigned to DESRON 9 include the Everett-based destroyers Momsen (DDG 92) and Shoup (DDG 86), as well as USS Halsey (DDG 97) and USS Sterett (DDG 104).
In celebration of Black History Month, the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office will host a presentation by Dr. Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, nationally renowned for assembling one of the largest private collections of African-American art and artifacts.
The Kinsey Collection, a diverse collection of African-American art, sculpture, literature, historical documents, and artifacts that spans four centuries of politics, art, literature, and culture, is known for engaging and inspiring people of all ages, races, and backgrounds. The collection reflects the unique experience of America's black heritage from the 1600s to the present.
The Kinseys have raised millions of dollars for numerous civic organizations and educational institutions. In 2008, the couple created the Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Foundation for the Arts and Education to promote education and understanding of African-American history and culture. The Kinseys have provided scholarships for over three hundred young people to attend college. Dr. Kinsey has served as an economic adviser to foreign governments.
"The FBI is committed to celebrate the history of leadership and accomplishments of the many diverse groups in America." said Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. "Black History Month is a celebration of American history, and provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the countless contributions that African Americans have made to this country."
American historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was of African descent, inspired Black History Week. The first celebration occurred on February 12, 1926; and in 1976, this commemoration of black history in the United States was expanded to Black History Month. This year's national theme of "African-Americans and the Civil War" commemorates the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War.
For more information about African-American history in the FBI, please visit: http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/february/history_021511/history_021511
Media are invited to attend this event. Please confirm attendance by contacting:
The FBI El Paso Division has selected Patrick Turley to receive the 2010 Director's Community Leadership Award. The honor recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding contributions to their local communities through service.
"Turley is uniquely deserving—he met all the criteria and then some," said David Cuthbertson, FBI Special Agent in Charge. "He's shown a willingness to lead, has been committed to improving lives, and has shown the desire to make El Paso safer for its citizens."
In addition to his duties as regional director for Adult Protective Services, Turley currently serves as board president for STARS (Sexual Trauma and Assault Services—El Paso's Rape Crisis Center), president of the Crime Victims' Rights Council, and on the Domestic Violence Prevention Commission.
Over the past few years, the award has gained significant prestige with the Director of the FBI personally making the presentation to those who made an impact in the areas of crime reduction, drug deterrence, and other public safety and security initiatives. Turley and his wife will travel to Washington, D.C. next month to attend a banquet and receive the award from FBI Director Robert Mueller.
His commanding officer was “shell shocked” from the intense fighting, his company of soldiers poorly trained and ill-equipped. Yet, as World War I drew to a close in September 1918, an African-American Army captain named James Wormley Jones fearlessly fought on, pushing forward against German forces.
In less than 15 months, this brave officer would find himself serving the nation in another capacity—as a special agent of the Bureau of Investigation, as the FBI was known then. We believe, in fact, that he was one of the first—if not the first—of the early African-American agents who blazed a sometimes tough trail during a difficult era.
James Jones brought plenty of experience to our young organization. He’d served for many years as a D.C. police officer prior to joining the African-American Army regiment known as the Buffalo Soldiers. And while stationed in Europe following the war, he was a senior instructor for his division’s school of specialists, teaching soldiers how to handle high-powered explosives and the mechanics of bombs and grenades.
We quickly put that expertise to work. As an agent, Jones was employed exclusively in an undercover capacity, working directly under the head of the General Intelligence Division (GID), future director J. Edgar Hoover. The GID had been created a few months before in response to recent terrorist bombings, and Jones’ talents and experience fit well with the division’s anti-terrorist mission.
We are aware of at least four other African-American agents who followed Jones in these early years of the Bureau:
■James Amos, a former bodyguard of President Theodore Roosevelt, joined the Bureau in August 1921. He was the longest-serving of these early black agents, working some of the Bureau’s biggest cases during his 32-year career.
■Earl F. Titus, after working as an Indianapolis police officer, joined the Bureau on January 9, 1922. His assignments included undercover work in the investigation of Marcus Garvey, a black nationalist who was convicted of mail fraud in 1923. Titus retired in June 1924 at the age of 56.
■Arthur Lowell Brent became a special agent on August 1, 1923 after serving two years as a “special employee” (a sort of assistant investigator) in the Department of Justice. Brent was assigned to the Washington Field Office, where he worked on the Garvey case and other investigations. He left the Bureau in June 1924.
■Thomas Leon Jefferson—an experienced investigator who had worked for a detective agency in Chicago from about 1904 to 1921—entered the Bureau as an agent on September 22, 1922. Jefferson participated in many investigations, working on the Garvey case, car thefts, and prostitution/human trafficking matters. In November 1924, he was commended by Acting Director Hoover for his work on a bankruptcy investigation. Jefferson retired in January 1930.
Over time, other African-American agents would follow these path-breakers. Father and son agents Jesse and Robert Strider served in our L.A. office from the 1940s through the 1970s, tackling difficult fugitive investigations, military deserter matters, and other cases. They were joined in other field offices by Special Agents James Thomas Young, Harold August Carr, and Carl Vernon Mason, among others.
The careers of each of these agents, though exemplary, did reflect the struggles of the day. Unlike most investigators, some of these black agents were asked to handle lesser assignments outside their normal duties. Their struggles, though, paved the way for agents like Aubrey Lewis and James Barrow, who in 1962 became the first African-American agents accepted to the FBIAcademy, ushering in a new era for minority agents in the Bureau.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2011 – If the military takes care of its people and their families, then the future will be assured no matter what it brings, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told students at the ArmyWarCollege today.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen spoke at the Commandant’s Lecture Series at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. He told the students that they cannot underestimate the scope of the change the military has been through in the past 10 years.
”We’re depending on leadership in these extraordinarily challenges times,” he said. The past decade has changed the services and now is the time to sort through that change to answer the question of “who we are right now,” he said.
The military has gone through rough times in the past decade, he said. He challenged the students to examine the change and see if “the ethical compass is true, is our overall compass true? Where are we going in the future? What have our young ones … learned about us that we need to address as leaders, and what do we need to teach them as they mature? Are we keeping our best young officers?”
The chairman said that as budget time approaches, most people measure it in the missions given and the equipment bought. “The missions and stuff make no difference in our health in the future,” he said. “(Our future is) guaranteed in terms of good health if we keep the right people.”
One fundamental change in the military over the last decade is the role that military families have played and the relationship of the services with those families. He said a ground forces junior officer in 2001, has probably deployed five or six times in the past decade, forcing families to cope with long absences.
The services have put in place programs to help families and redeploying personnel. But as budget pressures begin to grow – and they are growing now, Mullen said – the family programs are the first to unwind.
“I don’t want to do that,” he said. “I think we would do that at our peril. The challenges keep coming and we can’t seem to get them off the plate.
In yesteryear an issue would come up, we’d deal with it as a country and we’d move on,” Mullen added. “Now the plate isn’t getting any bigger, but they won’t go away. You as the future leaders of our military must understand it.”
The chairman discussed the nature of the change and the issues around the world. He told the students – almost all of whom served multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan – that the military must continue to change and adjust.
He said they need to examine all of the world. The preponderance of resources today flow to U.S. Central Command, Mullen said. As it should with American troops are involved in two conflicts there. “But this means there is an inability to invest in small ways in other parts of the world, and if this continues, this can be very dangerous,” he said.
He told the students that American forces will be out of Iraq at the end of the year, and said those who served there should be proud of the work they did. “There is a night and day difference every time I visit,” he said. Iraq has formed a government and they are dealing with politics and not with war as they move forward.
The major U.S. effort is now, of course, in Afghanistan. “In a very tough fight, but it’s better there,” Mullen said. “But as I said many times it’s not just security, there has to be a level of legitimacy in the government of Afghanistan. That’s got to be created over the next three to four years.”
Mullen also praised the efforts of Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell’s NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan. He said they have built the training infrastructure, trained the instructors and developed the curricula for the Afghan Army and police. “On average we have 30,000 to 35,000 trainees at one time,” he said. “Two years ago that number was miniscule.”
This was Mullen’s third trip to the ArmyWarCollege, and he spoke of his 43-year career. “To cycle from the war we were in when I was first commissioned, to the wars we are in in the last decade in a position of leadership has truly been an extraordinary opportunity,” he said. “It’s been a great ride.”
By Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The American Medical Association (AMA) presented the Navy Surgeon General with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Feb. 9.
Vice Adm. Robinson was selected for the AMA's top government service award in recognition of his prominent career and accomplishments in military medicine.
"Through the Nathan Davis Awards, the AMA salutes government officials who go above and beyond the call of duty to improve public health," said AMA Board Chair Ardis Dee Hoven, M.D. "Award winners come from every branch of government service and are a testament to the important role public officials play in creating and implementing health policy that benefits Americans."
The award, named for the founding father of the AMA, recognizes elected and career officials in federal, state or municipal service whose outstanding contributions have promoted the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.
As the Navy Surgeon General and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Robinson leads 63,000 Navy Medicine personnel located around the globe serving in high operational tempo environments at expeditionary medical facilities, medical treatment facilities, hospitals, clinics, hospital ships, research units, and within the TRICARE network.
Robinson acknowledged he is not alone in his service to Navy Medicine.
"This award is not entirely my own," said Robinson. "As leaders of any government organization will tell you, we are only as good as the people with whom we place our trust and confidence to carry out our mission. Similarly, I would not be here today without the trust instilled in me and the nomination from the Secretary and the Navy, the Honorable Ray Mabus; and the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead. I am everyday grateful for that trust and the opportunity to lead Navy Medicine."
The award citation noted Robinson's role in global health diplomacy and his leadership in forging military medical partnerships all over the world through engagements with Vietnam, Botswana, and most recently, Djibouti, where their prime minister bestowed on him their nation's highest honor, Nov 14, 2010.
It also highlighted his commitment to caring for more than one million eligible beneficiaries worldwide.
"Vice Adm. Robinson has dedicated himself to maintaining world-class care for Sailors, Marines and their families," said AMA Board Chair Ardis Dee Hoven, M.D. "The impact of Vice Adm. Robinson's service can be measured in the lives saved by Navy Medicine during military missions in Afghanistan and humanitarian missions in Haiti."
The awards ceremony was hosted by veteran CBS News reporter Scott Pelley. He told the audience that he viewed doctors as his personal heroes, and that he had a special respect for military medical professionals supporting combat operations overseas.
Pelley recounted some of his experiences while embedded with the Marines in Afghanistan and said he witnessed the value they place on the Navy corpsmen assigned to them.
"I am often working with the grunts [in Afghanistan] and corpsmen have always meant a great deal to me," said Pelley.
Robinson appreciated Pelley's comments about the contributions of Navy Medical professionals who support Sailors, Marines and their families around the world.
"The honor, courage, and commitment I witness every day around the world from our military men and women, is humbling and truly inspiring," said Robinson. "It is their spirit of service that we should also honor tonight. From them, I have learned the importance of selfless service and from medicine, I have learned a love for humanity. Those of us who are privileged enough to work in the field of medicine, should always strive to continue that selfless service to humanity."
For more news from Navy Medicine, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/mednews/.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2011 – The first revision in seven years of the National Military Strategy calls for redefining leadership in a changing world.
The document released here today is the first revision since 2004 of the ways and means that the military will advance U.S. national interests. It builds on the 2010 National Security Strategy and the objectives in the latest Quadrennial Defense Review.
“Our military power is most effective when employed in support and in concert with other elements of power as part of whole-of-nation approaches to foreign policy,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in the strategy. “This strategy is designed to meet the expectations of the American people that their military reflect the best of this great nation at home and abroad.”
Changing leadership in this whole-of-nation concept is key to the strategy. “This strategy acknowledges the need for military leadership that is redefined for an increasingly complex strategic environment,” it says. Military leadership will emphasize mutual responsibility and respect and will require a full spectrum of leadership approaches – facilitator, enabler, convener and guarantor.
The National Military Objectives are designed to counter violent extremism, deter and defeat aggression, strengthen international and regional security and shape the future force.
Violent extremism directly threatens Americans, their way of life, and America’s vital interests, the strategy says. Al-Qaida is the main group, and it remains a threat. The military will continue to work with NATO and allies in Afghanistan to pursue the Taliban, strengthen the Afghan government, and train and equip Afghan security forces.
Violent extremists work in other parts of the globe from Colombia to Indonesia and Chechnya to Somalia. The international community must address the root cause of driving people toward extremism, the strategy says. Operations to kill terrorists buy time but aren’t decisive, it says.
“We must continue to support and facilitate whole-of-nation approaches to countering extremism that seek and sustain regional partnerships with responsible states to erode terrorists’ support and sources or legitimacy,” the strategy says.
Deterrence is not just a strategy left over from the Cold War. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States must maintain a credible deterrence force against weapons of mass destruction.
But deterrence doesn’t always work, and the military mission must remain to fight and win wars. The United States must counter potential adversaries with anti-access and other strategies that include defending space and cyberspace.
The biggest change in the strategy is the emphasis on strengthening international and regional security. Under the revision, the United States can stand alone if needed, but the strategy sees the future in coalitions. U.S. forces will remain globally positioned, and be able to use foreign bases, ports and airfields.
The United States will continue to work with responsible countries and in alliances. NATO will remain its bedrock alliance, but Americans will work with the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other groups to promote military-to-military relations.
A senior military official speaking on background said the Asia-Pacific will be of greater importance. “There are two rising powers – India and China – and a number of regionally powerful nations,” he said.
There may be a migration of U.S. capabilities in the region. “That may not necessarily mean more troops, but the distribution may change,” he said.
People are the beating heart that put sinews into the strategy. “To shape the future force, we must grow leaders who can truly out-think and out-innovate adversaries while gaining trust, understanding and cooperation from our partners in an ever more complex and dynamic environment,” the strategy says.
Leaders must be flexible, agile and adaptable, it says.
The strategy also reminds that nations incur a debt to those who serve. “Just as our service members commit to the nation when they volunteer to serve, we incur an equally binding pledge to return them to society as better citizens,” it says. “We must safeguard service members’ pay and benefits, provide family support and care for our wounded warriors.”
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), the author of Police Technology (Prentice Hall, 2004) and Leadership: Texas Hold ‘em Style (AHP, 2007) will be the guest Speaker at the Rotary Club of Norwalk (California) on Wednesday, February 8, 2011. Foster will speaking on “Technology: What Leaders Need to Know.”
According to Foster, “An ignorance of the language and capabilities of Internet-based tools creates a situation where today’s leader cannot see how their organization’s website can be fully integrated into their current organizational practices or integrated into their vision of the future. The purpose of this briefing is not to give the leader a working knowledge of the Internet, but to give them an entry into the language and capabilities of Internet-based tools so they can integrate their vision; converse with subordinates; and, maximize their existing Internet-based resources.”
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The deadline to submit nominations for the 2010 Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Award is March 18.
Submissions must be sent via command channels to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education) OPNAV N135.
The award recognizes a private sector individual or organization that has demonstrated exceptional patriotism, leadership, and humanitarian concerns for members of the U.S. armed forces or their families, according to NAVADMIN 407/10.
The nominee selected by the Navy will further compete with nominees from the other services for the award. The winner will receive the award and be honored during a ceremony in the fall, at the Pentagon.
Established in 1996 by the military in honor of Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, the award recognizes and honors a private sector individual, or organization, that has demonstrated exceptional patriotism and humanitarian concerns for members of the U.S. armed forces or their families.
The 2009 Navy nominee for the award was Dan Coutcher, who was unanimously selected by the commanding officers of the North Carolina State University Naval, Army and Air Force ROTC units, in recognition of his selfless devotion and countless hours to providing free grief and marriage counseling services and meals for struggling military members and their families.
For complete nomination information and award questions, see NAVADMIN 407/10 at www.npc.navy.mil.
For more news from Chief of Naval Personnel, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnp/.
In this era of rapid change, we all too often ignore history and define ourselves in terms of where we are headed and not where we have come from. But history matters, and Lt. Bill McKinstry is doing his part to make sure that the U.S. Coast Guard remembers its heritage.
McKinstry’s journey into history began by chance when the son of a Coast Guard veteran stopped by the quarterdeck of Sector Delaware Bay in late 2007 with his father’s scrapbook. His father had recently passed and the son wanted to share the photos.
McKinstry met with the son and talked about the service as they reminisced over old memories. Amongst the photo collection, there were some of a Coast Guard basketball team. It was upon scanning the photos that McKinstry noticed the players’ names listed on the back of a photo. As he glanced over the names, one name, Emlen Tunnell, looked familiar.
“Familiar” was an understatement, as this was the Emlen Tunnel – the Pro Football Hall of Famer and record breaker. Guided by this recognizable name, McKinstry set out to research what Tunnell did during his service with the Coast Guard. Over the next four years, McKinstry purchased books, poured through historic documents and collected every bit of information he could find about this Coast Guardsman turned football player.
What he found was not just trivia, but evidence of a man, who in his short time in service, was a true Coast Guard leader and hero.
It was already known that Tunnell saved a life during combat while aboard the USS Etamin, but during McKinstry’s research it was discovered that he was also recommended for a Silver Lifesaving Medal for another heroic act where he saved a shipmate from drowning in the freezing waters of Newfoundland, something not even mentioned in Tunnell’s own memoir.
“I think the thing that surprised me the most was how humble he was about it,” said McKinstry. “You aren’t going to find anything about his heroism on the Internet. In his autobiography he actually mentions it more in passing than really focusing on it.”
Through his time in the Coast Guard, McKinstry has learned that one of the keys to being a good leader is recognizing your people. Tunnell would be no exception.
“When I see someone deserving who needs recognition I go out of my way to see it happen,” said McKinstry. “In this case, when talking of the prejudices of the time and when the original award recommendation was submitted [about three weeks before he was discharged], I felt that he needed to be recognized.”
McKinstry, working with Coast Guard historians and the Medals and Awards Program, has resubmitted Tunnell’s recommendation for the Silver Lifesaving Medal and hopes to one day present it to a member of Tunnell’s family.
The history of the Coast Guard and its people plays a role in shaping its values and beliefs, but in our fast paced lives it is not uncommon to underestimate the power of this history. McKinstry and his efforts reminds us that to define the Coast Guard by what we have in store for the service, pales in comparison against the service’s rich past.
As we head into Super Bowl weekend, it seems only fitting that this month’s history post shares the story of Emlen Tunnell. When most people hear the name Emlen Tunnell, they think of the star athlete and the first black member of the New York football Giants, joining the team in 1948. Nicknamed “Mr. Defense,” the former halfback switched to defense for the Giants, setting records for interceptions and punt returns in 1952 and 1953 – both records that remained unbroken until his death in 1975, with his interception total of 79 still falling only two short of all time interception leader Paul Krause.
Tunnell would end his storied career with the Green Bay Packers in 1961 and, in 1967, become the first African American inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As fans across America marveled over Mr. Defense’s on-field leadership and heroics, his accomplishments were hardly surprising to those who witnessed his valor and heroism as a Coast Guardsman during World War II.
Tunnell served honorably from 1943-46 as a steward’s mate aboard several ships – twice cited for exceptional acts of heroism.
On April 27, 1944, the Coast Guard-manned cargo ship USS Etamin was unloading 6000 tons of explosives and gasoline while at anchor at Aitape Harbor, Papua New Guinea. Without warning, Etamin was attacked by Japanese aircraft and a torpedo blew a hole 27 feet by 27 feet in the ship’s starboard side.
With the shell plating and shaft alley of Etamin ruptured, gasoline sprayed over the after part of the ship, creating a dangerous situation for all aboard. It was Coast Guard Steward’s Mate Emlen Lewis Tunnel who came to the aid of Mechanics Mate First Class Fred Shaver, who was on fire, pulling him to safety and severely burning his own hands in the process.
Tunnell, who was known to speak in football metaphors, later recalled the sinking ship as, “a small, tough fullback, without much speed, pounding forward every minute of the game.”
On March 17, 1946, Tunnell was nominated for the Silver Lifesaving Medal for once again saving the life of a fellow shipmate.
His shipmate, Alfred Givens, fell off the dock of the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa. Without regard to his own safety, Tunnell jumped into the 32-degree seas and rescued Givens. Tunnell saved his drowning shipmate, and despite being in the water for only fifteen minutes, suffered exposure and shock.
In recognition of Tunnell’s heroic actions, the commanding officer of Tampa, Cmdr. Ralph Jenkins, nominated Tunnell for the Silver Lifesaving Medal. A momentous occasion considering African Americans were not customarily awarded medals at that time in our history. He would receive a posthumous Combat Action Ribbon and is currently being considered for a Silver Lifesaving Medal.
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