Albuquerque Security Manager Receives FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award

Albuquerque FBI Special Agent in Charge Carol K.O. Lee presented the 2011 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award today to Thomas O. Craig, the security manager and fraud investigator for New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union.

Each of the FBI’s 56 field offices annually selects an individual or organization to receive the award, which recognizes efforts in combating crime, terrorism, drugs, and violence in America.

“This is a tremendous honor and I am truly grateful to those in the Albuquerque Field Office responsible for my selection,” Mr. Craig said. “As a retired law enforcement officer, it’s always a pleasure to know that I may have assisted someone in some way with an investigation or the apprehension of an offender. I’m just very lucky to be working in a position for a company that allows me these opportunities.”

SAC Lee presented a certificate to Mr. Craig at the Albuquerque FBI Field Office. Mr. Craig has been invited to a March 16 ceremony in Washington, D.C., where FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III will present him and other recipients with crystal awards.

Since retiring from a 20-year career with the Albuquerque Police Department, Mr. Craig has volunteered his time assisting state, local, and federal law enforcement. During the past couple of years, Mr. Craig has helped the FBI with several ongoing cyber investigations involving multi-million-dollar losses at financial institutions in the community.

Mr. Craig has been a co-chair of the Financial Institution Security Officers Association (FISOA) for more than 10 years. The organization informs local financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and consumers of financial fraud and identity theft trends and developments.

In July 2010, Mr. Craig played a crucial role in the preparation of a press release that advised small businesses, financial institutions, and consumers on how to protect themselves from a recent string of cyber attacks. The press release was issued in coordination with the FBI, Better Business Bureau, FISOA, Albuquerque Retail Assets Protection Association and New Mexico Restaurant Association.

Mr. Craig has coordinated opportunities for Albuquerque FBI special agents to meet officials at local financial institutions to make the businesses aware of ongoing threats.

Mr. Craig’s co-workers said “he has always demonstrated a commitment to doing what is right.”

“He is a champion for a teller who deals with a verbally abusive customer. He is an educator for the customer who cashes a check from the Nigerian lottery, and he is a liaison for other financial institutions and law enforcement,” the workers said in a statement. “Tom can see a case, with all of its nuances, and give others clarity to allow for the perpetrator to be caught, and the victim to get closure. With a witty charm and willingness to share stories from his bike trips or his days on the force, Tom Craig is an asset to our organization—and those of us who know him are better for the experience.”

SAC Lee said: “Tom Craig is a very deserving recipient of this year’s FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award. He has helped the Albuquerque FBI and our law enforcement partners protect financial institutions and consumers from expensive cyber attacks. We also value his participation in our investigations.”

Mullen Receives Atlantic Council's Military Leadership Award

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

April 22, 2008 - Navy Adm. Mike Mullen was one of four leaders spotlighted last night during a who's who of policymakers and policy enforcers that included scores of former heads of state, department secretaries, ambassadors and high-ranking military officers. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, media magnate Rupert Murdoch and Russian piano virtuoso Evgeny Kissin in accepting the Atlantic Council's award for Distinguished Military, International, Business and Artistic Leadership, respectively, in a gala here.

"Let there be no doubt that Adm. Mike Mullen is the right man in the right job at the right time for our nation, and his entire career has contributed to leading him to this point," retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, chairman of the Atlantic Council, said before presenting the chairman the award.

Mullen, one of few senior naval officers to hold four four-star assignments, oversaw one of the most transformative eras in naval history while serving as vice chief of naval operations, Jones said. The period recognized that family readiness was critical to the Navy's readiness.

"The policies put in place under his watch ... led to historically high retention rates and significantly higher operational readiness rates Navywide," Jones said, describing Mullen's tenure from August 2003 to October 2004, as he served under then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon E. Clark.

Jones added that Mullen also showed exceptional leadership serving as commander of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command, in Naples, and U.S. Naval Forces Europe, and as the 28th chief of naval operations.

"Ladies and gentleman, we can all be thankful Mike Mullen is at the helm," Jones said. "He's calm; he's thoughtful; he's reasonable; he's insightful; and he fully understands the magnitude of that task before him."

Apparently, he also has a sense of humor and humility.

Mullen, the last speaker to address the high-caliber international audience, began his remarks, "Good evening. I certainly recognize my place in the order tonight." But as the laughter subsided, the top military officer tempered the revelry by honoring deployed servicemembers of the United States and its allies.

"As we are here this evening enjoying this celebration, I am mindful of all those men and women who are serving in all of our countries around the world," he said. "Many of them are in harm's way this evening so that we might enjoy the freedom, the privileges, the opportunity that their service, in fact, provides."

The chairman then provided a sweeping assessment of global security, including countries where troops are stationed currently and where he expects they'll be needed in future operations.

Echoing comments made this month by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Mullen said security there is improved but fragile. Furthermore, he said, security is a necessary condition, but not sufficient, as diplomatic, political and economic progress is imperative for long-term stability.

Mullen said Iran routinely pushes its way into "realms of instability," and advocated that allied countries address Iran's variform influence in the Middle East: in Hezbollah, Hamas and in southern Iraq.

"I think for the ability to create stability in that part of the world, that not just this alliance but those who are allied will have to deal with Iran in the very near future," he said.

Afghanistan is "front and center" for allied Atlantic countries, Mullen said. He added that NATO countries must ensure that their contributions are sufficient in helping establish security in Afghanistan. In related comments, he stressed the need for allied countries to address threats emanating from Pakistan.

"We also must work hard, I think, to build non-NATO relationships," he added. "And there are those countries, those allies, who have joined us in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"They represent the best of those relationships," he continued, "countries who are responsible and who recognize in that responsibility that we can meet these challenges head on together much better than we can meet them individually."

In closing, Mullen said, the strength of international partnership lies in nations' shared hope for the future.

"As a community of nations, we've elected to lead, and we've chosen to work together to create a future where parents can raise their children without fear, with dignity and with hope," he said.

The Atlantic Council of the United States promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century, according the organization's official Web site.

INTREPIDITY . . . .AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE ARMY PROFESSION

How many Army soldiers, particularly Leaders, who just read the title of this opinion piece, knew the meaning of the first word; how many brought to their reading an accurate understanding of the term? More importantly, how many Army Leaders could place a true meaning of the word into the context of the Army as a unique profession producing, for the security of the American people, fighting forces for effective land combat? Where does intrepidity fit in what the Army produces and how does the profession develop such a thing?

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http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub847.pdf