Benghazi investigation finds 'failures' at State Department





























Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya


Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya





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STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: The report cites "management deficiencies" at high levels of the State Department

  • NEW: It concludes "there was no protest prior to the attacks" on September 11

  • NEW: The Bureau of Diplomatic Security security staff in Benghazi was "inadequate," it says




Washington (CNN) -- An independent review of the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi released Tuesday cited "management deficiencies" at high levels of the State Department.


The attack left four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens,dead.


"Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the report read.


Read full report


It said "there was no protest prior to the attacks," which the report described as "unanticipated in their scale and intensity."


The report also cited as "inadequate" the Bureau of Diplomatic Security security staff in Benghazi on the day of the attack and in the months and weeks leading up to it, "despite repeated requests from Special Mission Benghazi and Embassy Tripoli for additional staffing."


Before the report was released, a source who had read it told CNN that senior management in charge of diplomatic security "does not come out well at all."


Assistant Secretary of State Eric Boswell is the head of diplomatic security, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb oversaw State Department decisions on security at the diplomatic outpost. Lamb testified before Congress about the security precautions; documents show Lamb denied repeated requests for additional security in Libya.










State Department: Clinton not dodging Benghazi hearings


The Accountability Review Board completed its investigation into the matter this week and sent a copy to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for review. A classified version of the report was delivered Tuesday afternoon to members and staff of the committees on Capitol Hill that have jurisdiction over the State Department.


The unclassified version was released Tuesday night.


Veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, both members of the review board, will brief members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees in a classified setting about the report on Wednesday.


State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Tuesday that Clinton, who is home recovering from a stomach virus and concussion, wrote a letter to members of Congress that will accompany the report being sent to Capitol Hill.


Clinton ordered the review in the aftermath of the attack. Such reports are mandated by Congress when Americans working on behalf of the United States government are killed overseas.


Read more: Benghazi attack back in the spotlight


In a notice sent to all State Department employees Tuesday, the department explained how the report would be implemented once it was released.


"To implement the Board's recommendations, the Secretary has directed the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources to lead the implementation team, supported by the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the Under Secretary for Management, the Director General of the Foreign Service, the Executive Secretary and the Deputy Legal Advisor," the notice said.


Employees were told that the implementation team had met Tuesday and would continue to do so regularly to implement the recommendations of the board.


The politics surrounding the events that led to the report have claimed one political casualty, with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice last week pulling her name from consideration to succeed Clinton. Some Republican senators had said they would put a hold on her nomination if President Barack Obama had submitted it, based on comments Rice made in the days after the attack.


In place of Clinton, Deputy Secretaries of State William Burns and Thomas Nides will testify before the House and Senate committees Thursday.


Read Clinton's letter to the Committee on Foreign Affairs chairman


Read Clinton's letter to Sen. John Kerry.







Read More..

Texas school district encourages armed teachers for protection

HARROLD, Texas -- There's at least one school that welcome firearms to class.

It believes nothing makes a school safer than teachers who are armed,

The Harrold Independent School District is one building with 103 students. It's 20 minutes away from the nearest sheriff's station. Superintendent David Thweatt created what he calls a "guardian plan" after the attack at Virginia Tech.

"These people that go in and do these horrible acts, they're evil. But they're not that crazy -- they always know where they are going to get resistance," Thweatt said.

NRA promises "meaningful contributions" to avert another Newtown
The Newtown shootings, as they happened
Complete Coverage: Elementary School Rampage

Teachers and administrators here carry concealed handguns. They won't say how many faculty members are armed. They get extra training, but the district would not give us details.

Some people are horrified when he starts talking about putting guns in schools with children, but Thweatt said it's important to be safe.

"Sure, but it's a pretty horrific thing that happened the other day." Thweatt said. "And quite a few people are not horrified. Quite a few people we have in our district, since we have a high-transfer district, people bring their students to us for that protection."

Texas law allows concealed weapons in schools with a district's permission. Harrold was the first district to do it. A similar proposal was vetoed by Michigan's governor Tuesday.

Thweatt says allowing the firearms into the school will dissuade anyone who wants to hurt the kids.

"That's the bottom line," he said.

Since the shootings in Connecticut, Superintendent Thweatt has gotten calls from districts around the state and as far away as Missouri from school administrators asking whether they might be able to implement similar plans.

Read More..

Newtown Shooting: Bushmaster Under Fire













When the private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management announced Tuesday it would unload its interest in Bushmaster – the company that built the weapon used in last week's mass murder of 20 Connecticut first graders -- it marked the beginning of what experts say is likely to be a challenging period for the North Carolina-based weapons manufacturer.


"They are looking at a taint on their brand and looking at a marketplace that could change dramatically with respect to their weapon," said Chris Lehane, a crisis public relations expert who worked in the Clinton White House. "To me the fact that Cerberus is pulling out is a pretty significant defining moment."


For years, Bushmaster has been marketing itself to testosterone-fueled male customers, issuing "man cards" to customers who want to be "card carrying men." Now, Lehane and others said the company is facing the prospect of being branded the weapon of choice for mass killers. The Newtown, Connecticut shooting marked the fourth time a Bushmaster has been implicated in a mass shooting since 1999, including the Beltway sniper case that left 10 dead and three more wounded.


Cerberus announced Tuesday it wanted distance from Bushmaster, calling the murder of 20 first grade children at Sandy Hook Elementary School a "watershed event." The investment firm, which is chaired by former Vice President Dan Quayle, noted in its statement that Bushmaster may not be an investment consistent with the interests of its clients. Its investors include the pension plans of firemen, teachers, and policemen.






Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo











Gun Control Debate Resurfaces After Sandy Hook Shooting Watch Video









Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: Victims Laid to Rest Watch Video









Sandy Hook Elementary Shooter: What Caused Shooting? Watch Video





Lehane said the announcement could signal a shift in the way investors view companies that make military style weapons for a civilian market.


"It reminds me of the time when tobacco began to be associated with a negative light, or the divestiture movement surrounding companies in South Africa," he said. "Where financial markets believe they are going to pay a price."


In addition, a spokesman for Cerberus Group confirmed that the father of Stephen Feinberg, the founder of Cerberus Group, lives in Newtown.


Gun control groups have also lined up to criticize the weapons manufacturer, arguing that the company was selling civilian customers a weapon clearly designed for war.


"This thing is just a killing machine," said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "[I]t's a weapon that can easily shoot hundreds of … In fact it's very similar to the weapon that James Holmes used to shoot up the movie theater in Aurora."


The company has not responded to phone calls seeking comment, but gun enthusiasts say the weapon's menacing appearance can appeal to civilians looking for a means to secure their homes, and its ease of use can appeal to those looking for a weapon for target shooting.


"The [assault rifle] platform is the most popular in the country," said Frank Cornwall, a firearms instructor in Connecticut. "Civilians have always bought similar type arms to the military. And this is a very versatile platform. Quite a popular hunting and target shooting gun."


Phillip Stutts, a crisis management consultant who worked for President George W. Bush, said he has been surprised by the silence of the gun manufacturer.


"Bushmaster doesn't have to take responsibility for this tragedy, but they have a responsibility to respond to this tragedy," he said. "And they haven't. They have to get out in front of this. It needs to be corrected ASAP."






Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 18 December 2012








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Read More..

Asian markets mostly higher on US fiscal hopes






HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday, taking a lead from Wall Street as dealers grow confident US lawmakers will reach an agreement to avert the fiscal cliff.

Continued weakness of the yen helped send Japanese shares surging for a second straight session as Shinzo Abe prepares to take over as prime minister, vowing to press a more aggressive policy of monetary easing.

Tokyo rose 1.02 per cent, Sydney climbed 0.78 per cent, Hong Kong added 0.19 per cent, Seoul was up 0.17 per cent and Shanghai was flat.

Traders were reacting to news progress was finally being made in talks on a new deficit-cutting budget to replace the tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect at the start of January and which would likely tip the US economy into recession.

President Barack Obama hosted top Republican lawmaker John Boehner in the White House for 45 minutes Monday in the latest effort to avert going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

The meeting follows news that Boehner had changed his position on not allowing any more taxes, saying at the weekend that he would agree to some hikes for people earning more than $1 million.

Although Obama has said he would only agree to rises on people earning more than $250,000, analysts say the development shows the outline of a tentative deal is being formed.

Wall Street ended on a high, with the Dow closing up 0.76 per cent, the S&P 500 gaining 1.19 per cent and the Nasdaq adding 1.32 per cent.

Japanese shares continued to be supported by the falling yen, which helps the country's exporters, as dealers bet on fresh central bank moves to boost the economy.

The election of Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday was widely expected and investors now expect the Band of Japan to unveil a further loosening of monetary policy at the end of its two-day meeting on Thursday.

In early Tokyo trade, the dollar bought 83.86 yen, compared with 83.88 yen in New York late Monday. The dollar has risen about 5 per cent against the yen since Abe made his vow to press for more BoJ measures last month.

The euro edged up to $1.3171 and 110.60 yen, compared with $1.3161 and 110.40 yen.

Oil prices rose, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January rising 35 cents to $87.57 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for February delivery advancing 51 cents to $108.15.

Gold was at $1,698.40 at 0200 GMT compared with $1,690.10 late Monday.

- AFP/ck



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Obama moves on taxes in latest "cliff" counter-proposal

President Obama gave up Monday on his demand for higher taxes on households earning $250,000 and upped it to $400,000 while embracing smaller cost-of-living Social Security raises in a counter-proposal to House Speaker John Boehner meant to narrow differences and forge a pre-Christmas "fiscal cliff" deal.

Mr. Obama and Boehner met for nearly an hour in the Oval Office on Monday and sources familiar with the talks released specific details of the White House proposal.

Boehner aides said it brought the two sides closer but said a deal was not at hand.

"Any movement away from the unrealistic offers the President has made previously is a step in the right direction, but a proposal that includes $1.3 trillion in revenue for only $930 billion in spending cuts cannot be considered balanced," said Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman.

But the depth, specificity and fine-grain nature of discussions over policy, tax revenue and spending cuts belied the tough rhetoric. Signs point to a deal before the New Year's fiscal cliff deadline -- and possibly an announcement as early as Wednesday.




Play Video


Boehner's "fiscal cliff" offer brings optimism to Capitol Hill






Play Video


Boehner's "fiscal cliff" concessions come with a price



Talks picked up genuine momentum on Friday when Boehner agreed to higher income tax rates on households earning $1 million and above. Previously, Boehner opposed all income tax increases. He also gave in on raising the debt ceiling, a vote some Republicans wanted to use as leverage against Obama in 2013. Both gestures, top White House aides said, broke the logjam.

Mr. Obama responded with big concessions of his own on Monday. He offered a $400,000 income threshold for a Clinton-era top tax bracket of 39.6 percent. Boehner had proposed that tax rate for millionaires and a total 10-year tax revenue figure of $1 trillion. Obama wants $1.2 trillion in new revenue. Both sides look for hundreds of billions in new revenue in 2013 through a tax reform process that eliminates some tax deduction and closes loopholes.

The president also wants a two-year cease fire on raising the debt ceiling. Boehner offered one year.

Boehner also asked the White House to increase the eligibility age for Medicare but Mr. Obama again refused. This difference could loom large as Republicans want structural cost-saving changes in Medicare in exchange for raising income tax rates.

Mr. Obama has given ground on cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security and other federal benefits, but is trying to shield Medicare. Democrats have warned Obama they might bolt if he folds on raising Medicare's eligibility age. They have been less emphatic about cost-of-living adjustments.

Other components of the president's counter-proposal include:


  • $1.2 trillion in new income tax revenue with a 39.6 percent (up from 35 percent) on income of $400,000 or more.
  • $1.2 trillion in spending cuts divided this way: $800 billion in cuts; $290 billion in interest savings due to lower deficits; $130 billion in cost-of-living adjustments - with specific protections to preserve increases for economically disadvantaged beneficiaries.
  • The $800 billion in cuts would come from $400 billion in savings to health care entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid; $200 billion in better tax revenue collection, increased financial transaction fees and reduced federal employee benefits.
  • $200 billion in domestic discretionary -- annual spending on basic government functions - divided equally between defense and non-defense programs.
  • At least $50 billion devoted next year to infrastructure spending and more in latter years.
  • Extension of unemployment insurance benefits.

Both sides have already agreed to create long-term solutions for the annual ritual of adjusting the Alternative Minimum Tax, the reimbursement formulas for Medicare physicians and a grab-bag of pro-business tax breaks.

The only outstanding questions revolve around paying for the solutions.


Read More..

Newtown Boy Remembered as 'Old Soul'


Dec 17, 2012 6:02pm







abc daniel barden family ll 121217 wblog Sandy Hook Elementary Victim 7 Year Old Daniel Barden Was Old Soul

Family of Daniel Barden, who died in the Connecticut school shootings. From left, his brother James, 12, and his parents, Mark and Jackie. (Image Credit: ABC)


Though he was only in first grade, Daniel Barden was very much an “old soul,” his family said today.  He was one of the 20 children who died Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.


At the age of 4, he displayed an empathy for others remarkable for a child so young.  It didn’t go unnoticed — teachers chose Daniel to be paired with a special education student at his school.


PHOTOS: Connecticut Shooting Victims


His mother, Jackie Barden, said she was always struck by “how unusual he was.”


“Our neighbors always said, ‘He’s like an old soul,’” Barden said during an interview on “Katie.”


He carried that kindness with him as he got older.


“He would hold doors open for adults all the time,” said his father, Mark Barden.


He laughed, remembering the times he’d be “halfway” across a parking lot and see his son still holding a door for strangers.


“Our son had so much love to give to this world,” Barden said. “He was supposed to have a whole lifetime of bringing that light to the world.”


Complete Coverage: Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting


Daniel had two older siblings, James, age 12, and Natalie, age 10, who doted on their little brother.


“He was just so sweet and kind and thoughtful,” James said.


On Friday, 7-year-old Daniel, who was one of the 20 young victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School, woke up early.  He played foosball with his mother.


As usual, Daniel won, she said. The score was 10 to 8.


His father also taught him how to play “Jingle Bells” on the piano that morning.


“We did a lot in that half hour,” he said.


A celebration of Daniel’s life will be held Tuesday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. A funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.



SHOWS: Good Morning America






Read More..

Fungal frog killer hops into crayfish








































Crayfish are vulnerable to the same fungus that is killing frogs all over the world. The discovery helps explain how the disease spreads even after all the amphibians in an area have been wiped out. Worryingly, chemicals released by the fungus may alone be enough to kill.












Taegan McMahon of the University of South Florida, Tampa, and colleagues discovered infected crayfish in field surveys in Louisiana and Colorado. They found that up to 29 per cent of the animals carried the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Lab studies proved that crayfish can become infected and die, the first time this has been shown in non-amphibians.













Infected crayfish can pass the disease to tadpoles, and crayfish exposed to water from which the fungus had been filtered still died. McMahon says the distribution of crayfish around the world may explain why the fungus is so widespread.












She adds that it is "is certainly possible" that other invertebrates might carry the fungus. Her team are currently investigating this and are working on possible ways to stop the spread of the toxin.












"It's very compelling, their evidence for crayfish as a disease vector and for a toxic effect secreted in the water," says Trenton Garner at London's Institute of Zoology.












PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1200592110


















































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Mind-controlled hand offers hope for the paralysed






PARIS: Pentagon-backed scientists on Monday announced they had created a robot hand that was the most advanced brain-controlled prosthetic limb ever made.

The mind-powered prosthesis is a breakthrough, the team of neurologists and bio-engineers reported in The Lancet.

With further development "individuals with long-term paralysis could recover the natural and intuitive command signals for hand placement, orientation and reaching, allowing them to perform activities of daily living," they said.

Researchers have long been interested in the brain-machine interface, whereby implants pick up electrical signals in parts of the brain associated with movement.

These signals are then transcribed into computer code, which orders the artificial limb to move.

The new work vastly improves the code, or algorithm, by which the first signal is transcribed into the second, the investigators said.

"One of the biggest challenges has always been how to translate brain signals that indicate limb movement into computer signals that can reliably and accurately control a robotic prosthesis," said Andrew Schwartz, a professor of neurobiology at the university.

"Most mind-controlled prosthetics have achieved this by an algorithm which involves working through a complex 'library' of computer-brain connections," he said.

"However, we've taken a completely different approach here, by using a model-based computer algorithm which closely mimics the way that an unimpaired brain controls limb movement. The result is a prosthetic hand which can be moved far more accurately and naturalistically than previous efforts."

The team, based at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, implanted two microelectrode arrays into the left motor cortex of a 52-year-old woman.

She had been left paralysed from the neck down, unable to move her arms and legs due to a condition called spinocerebellar degeneration.

Two weeks after the operation, the prosthesis was connected and the woman embarked on 14 weeks of training - but on only the second day, she was able to move the limb through mind power.

The training aimed at achieving skills in nine tasks, such as gripping and moving small objects, stacking cones and bumping a ball so that it rolled outside a loose coil of wire.

At the end, the volunteer completed the tasks with a success rate of up to 91.6%, and more than 30 seconds faster than at the start of the trial.

The researchers said they were sure this is a success as they used an exhaustive benchmark test designed to identify genuine changes and root out flukes or anecdotal evidence.

The next steps are likely to see a robot limb incorporate sensors to tell the patient whether a surface is hot or cold or rough or smooth, and to use Wi-Fi, rather than a wire, to connect the patient's skull and the prosthesis.

In October 2011, a team at Duke University in North Carolina reported that they had implanted brain electrodes in monkeys that enabled the animals to sense the texture of a virtual object.

One of the funders of the latest study is the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a branch of the US Department of Defence that looks into futuristic technology with a potential military use, including by wounded veterans.

-AFP/fl



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