Category: Americas

MIL-OSI Canada: Upgrades to Chilkoot Way route in Whitehorse
Source: Government of Canada News (2)

News release

Every day commuting and travel will be improved on the Chilkoot Way route in Whitehorse after a joint investment of $850,000 from the federal government and the City of Whitehorse.

Whitehorse, Yukon, September 25, 2024 — Every day commuting and travel will be improved on the Chilkoot Way route in Whitehorse after a joint investment of $850,000 from the federal government and the City of Whitehorse.

Upgrades include the installation of a new two-way protected bicycle lane on the north side of Chilkoot Way, a new pedestrian crossing, signage, crossing markings at high conflict areas and improved lighting. As well, there will be upgrades to traffic lights, an additional advance left turn signal at Chilkoot and Two Mile Hill, and a new cyclist push button for better accessibility. The cycling route will connect residents to downtown schools, the Whitehorse Health Clinic, workplaces and retail destinations along the riverfront, and routes between neighbourhoods.

Improving the Chilkoot Way route provides a more accessible and safer active transportation connection to the existing Riverfront and Two Mile Hill multi-use paved pathways, and will make travelling easier for those who are walking, cycling or using transit.

Quotes

“The improvement of active transportation routes for communities supports healthier ways for people to travel. Upgrades to the Chilkoot Way route in Whitehorse will make transportation infrastructure for cyclists, pedestrians and transit users easier and more accessible as they travel to where they need to go every day.”

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

“We are pleased to partner with the federal government to enhance the active transportation network in Whitehorse. The new active transportation route along Chilkoot Way is a game changer for cyclists moving into and out of the downtown core. It also promotes inclusivity, health and connection, catering to everyone, regardless of physical mobility, age or fitness level. This project represents the City’s ongoing commitment to developing a more sustainable and accessible community.”

Her Worship Laura Cabott, Mayor of Whitehorse

Quick facts
- The federal government is investing $588,750 in this project through the Active Transportation Fund (ATF), and the City of Whitehorse is contributing $261,250.
- Active transportation refers to the movement of people or goods powered by human activity. It includes walking, cycling and the use of human-powered or hybrid mobility aids such as wheelchairs, scooters, e-bikes, rollerblades, snowshoes, cross-country skis, and more.
- In support of Canada’s National Active Transportation Strategy, the Active Transportation Fund is providing $400 million over five years, starting in 2021, to make travel by active transportation easier, safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable.
- The National Active Transportation Strategy is the country’s first coast-to-coast-to-coast strategic approach for promoting active transportation and its benefits. The strategy’s aim is to make data-driven and evidence-based investments to build new and expanded active transportation networks, while supporting equitable, healthy, active, and sustainable travel options.
- Investing in active transportation infrastructure provides many tangible benefits, such as creating employment opportunities, strengthening the economy, promoting healthier lifestyles, ensuring equitable access to services and opportunities, cutting air and noise pollution, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Beginning in 2026-2027, the new Canada Public Transit Fund (CPTF) will provide an average of $3 billion a year of permanent funding to respond to local transit needs by enhancing integrated planning, improving access to public transit and active transportation, and supporting the development of more affordable, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
- The CPTF supports transit and active transportation investments in three streams: Metro Region Agreements, Baseline Funding, and Targeted Funding.
- We are currently accepting Expression of Interest submissions for Metro-Region Agreements and Baseline Funding. Visit the Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada website for more information.
Associated links

Contacts

For more information (media only), please contact:

Sofia Ouslis
Communications Advisor
Office of the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
Sofia.ouslis@infc.gc.ca

Media Relations
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada
613-960-9251
Toll free: 1-877-250-7154
Email: media-medias@infc.gc.ca
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
Web: Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada

Matthew Cameron
Manager, Strategic Communications
City of Whitehorse
867-689-0515
matthew.cameron@whitehorse.ca

MIL OSI Canada News –
January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: President Meloni attends Ukraine reconstruction event via video link

Source: Government of Italy (English)

At the invitation of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, participated via video link in today’s event dedicated to the economic recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the other G7 nations, the leaders of the European Union and numerous international partners.

On this occasion, the Group of Seven adopted a declaration coordinated by the Italian Presidency, which is also open to the other States that participated in the event to join.

The meeting centred around reaffirming the joint commitment to ensuring economic aid to Ukraine, both bilaterally and through multilateral mechanisms, with a particular focus on reforms. Lastly, support for the protection and recovery of critical energy infrastructure was also reiterated as well as coordination on reconstruction, also ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in Rome in 2025.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Hageman Votes NO on CR that Fails to Include SAVE Act

Source: United States House of Representatives – Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman

Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Harriet Hageman voted against a continuing resolution that increases government spending while simultaneously failing to protect federal elections from illegal voters.

Representative Hageman stated, “I heard from constituents across Wyoming who made clear there should be no consideration of a continuing resolution without protecting our elections. CRs are bad fiscal policy that prevent Congress from addressing real substantive issues while also failing to curb excessive spending. Not only does this CR fail to include the SAVE Act, which is critical to protecting federal elections from illegal voting, but it increases spending beyond the bloated amounts that have put our country $35.4 trillion in debt. This CR is also set to expire on December 20^th, thereby setting us up to vote on an omnibus spending bill right before Christmas, not to mention the fact that it will be chock full of reckless spending and even more bad policies. The very tactic that we have decried for years – end of year massive omnibus spending designed to force a vote before the holidays – is once again standard operating procedure. Americans deserve better.”

###

Contact: Chris Berardi, Sr. Advisor/Communications Director

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: The Hard Work of Soft Skills: Building A Learning Community | August 29, 2024

Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)

Do you want to build a learning community within your organization, but don’t know where to start? Are you interested in strategies to improve how your colleagues engage with you, and each other, as you work to infuse evidence-building and evaluation into your organization’s DNA? Are you skeptical about what a learning community can produce, in terms of hard results? In this workshop Sarah Potter, from HRSA’s Office of Planning, Analysis, and Evaluation, shares concrete strategies and lessons learned from her own quest to build a learning community at HRSA.

—

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) | http://www.hhs.gov

http://www.Twitter.com/HHSGov | http://www.Facebook.com/HHS http://www.Instagram.com/HHSGov
http://www.LinkedIn.com/company/us-department-of-health-and-human-services

HHS Privacy Policy: http://www.hhs.gov/Privacy.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGW-tUgxaag

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: ASL Hurricane Helene Messaging 09.25.2024

Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)

President Biden approved Florida’s request for a pre-landfall emergency declaration, enabling FEMA to provide funding and resources to Florida in advance of Hurricane Helene.
FEMA is prepared to support state and local response efforts, and has staff, supplies, and equipment in place and ready.
It is very important to follow guidance from your local officials to evacuate – Helene will bring hurricane-force winds and deadly storm surge and floods.
Equally important is making sure you finish preparing for the storm today.
You can find more information and resources on how to stay safe before, during, and after the storm at Ready.gov or in Spanish at Listo.gov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8xdTN3qxrA

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: UN Chief: G20 Meeting | United Nations

Source: United Nations (Video News)

Opening remarks by the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres 2nd Foreign Ministers meeting of G20 Brasil 2024

“This is a historic first.

The G20, the United Nations system and the Bretton Woods institutions and other international financial institutions deal with some of the most important challenges of our time: inequality, financing for development, the climate crisis, the impact of new technologies.

In all these areas, progress is slipping out of reach as our world becomes more unsustainable, unequal and unpredictable.

Conflicts are raging, the climate crisis is accelerating, inequalities are growing, and new technologies have unprecedented potential for good – and bad.

Global institutions must work together – not on parallel or conflicting tracks.

They must cooperate and collaborate for the good of humanity and the Summit of the Future was an essential first step.

It has created opportunities and possibilities for reform across the board.

But without implementation, it will be meaningless.

The work starts today.

Excellencies,

The Pact for the Future is about action in the here and now.

And G20 countries can act in three specific areas.

First, finance.

We need ambitious reforms of the international financial architecture to make it fully representative of today’s global economy, so it can provide strong support to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

I commend the leadership of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for making important progress.

But the resources available are still dwarfed by the size of the needs.

Many developing countries are being hit by a double whammy of climate chaos and debt.

To support low- and middle-income developing countries effectively, multilateral development banks must be bigger, bolder and better.

We need a far more robust financial safety net to shield countries in a world of frequent shocks.

Voting rights and decision-making rules should reflect the changing global landscape.

And access to concessional finance should be based on needs and vulnerabilities, not just on income.

All parts of the global financial system must work together to reduce the cost of finance and the inequalities that blight our world.

This demands action on debt – starting with an effective mechanism to deal with debt relief and restructuring.

As a first step, I welcome the commitment by the International Monetary Fund to review the debt architecture – as set out in the Pact for the Future.
I look to all G20 countries to push for deep reforms so that global financial institutions reflect today’s world and respond to today’s challenges.

One of those challenges is global hunger. It is shameful that in our world of plenty, around one person in ten regularly goes without food for an entire day or more – known as severe food insecurity.

I welcome President Lula and Brazil’s focus on global hunger during the G20 presidency and call on all G20 countries – and all UN Member States – to strengthen efforts to end this affront to our common humanity.

Excellencies,

The second area for action is climate.

We are at a critical moment: a battle to prevent temperatures from rising above the agreed limit of 1.5 degrees.

Today’s decisions and actions will determine the course of our world for decades to come.

The climate crisis transcends borders and politics. Climate action cannot be a victim of geopolitical competition.

Under G20 leadership we will be able to have drastic reductions in fossil fuel production and consumption as an essential element for climate action.

By 2030, global production and consumption of all fossil fuels must decline by at least thirty per cent – and global renewables capacity must triple.

This requires OECD countries to phase out coal by 2030 and to fully decarbonize power generation systems by 2035.

And it means non-OECD countries must phase out coal by 2040.

I have been strongly advocating for no new coal or upstream oil and gas projects for all G20 nations.

New national climate plans due next year are an opportunity for countries to align energy strategies and development priorities with climate ambition, taking into account the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

They must also show how each country intends to transition away from fossil fuels, in line with the outcome at COP 28.

Excellencies,

There has never been a greater global challenge than the climate crisis.

There has never been more agreement on the solution: a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

And renewable technologies have never been better – or cheaper.

The obstacle to the renewables revolution is not economics, or a lack of solutions.

It is mindsets, and lack of vision.

Those that lead the renewables revolution are already reaping the rewards.” [Excerpt].

Full remarks: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2024-09-25/secretary-generals-remarks-meeting-of-g20-foreign-ministers-delivered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfbW4_r5_i8

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: NASA Science Live: Could Jupiter’s Moon Europa Support Life?

Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)

Join mission experts as they discuss NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to an ocean moon of Jupiter and answer your questions live. Submit questions in the chat using #AskNASA.

Clipper is set to launch on a journey to discover the secrets hidden under this moon’s icy crust. Does Europa have conditions to support life?

Europa Clipper is set to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will arrive at Jupiter in 2030. Learn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper/

Credit: NASA

#EuropaClipper #AskNASA #NASA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiiTYYTqoJY

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: Become a Foreign Service Officer with FAS

Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)

Mark Petry, the Director General of the Foreign Service at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), invites you to learn more about exciting overseas careers linking U.S. agriculture to the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIw7UTOJy4U

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: 🇬🇾 Guyana – President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 79th Session | #UNGA

Source: United Nations (Video News)

Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana, addresses the General Debate of the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 24 – 30 September 2024).

World leaders gather to engage in the annual high-level General Debate under the theme, “Unity and diversity for advancing peace, sustainable development, and human dignity, everywhere and for all.” Heads of State and Government and ministers will explore solutions to intertwined global challenges to advance peace, security, and sustainable development.

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is the main policy-making organ of the Organization. Comprising all Member States, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations has an equal vote.

General debate website: https://gadebate.un.org/

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مشاهدة هذا الفيديو باللغة العربية على موقع البث الشبكي للأمم المتحدة
请在联合国网络电视（UN Web TV）观看中文版视频
Regardez cette vidéo en français sur UN Web TV
Vean este video en español en UN Web TV
Смотрите это видео на русском на UN Web TV
https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1t/k1totvmumg

Screenshot credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

#UNGA #UnitedNations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szov_Ab9Nzo

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Barrasso Introduces Enhanced Energy Recovery Act

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Wyoming John Barrasso

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) was joined by U.S. Senators James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in introducing legislation to enhance carbon capture incentives and energy production.
The Enhanced Energy Recovery Act (S. 5212) would create parity under the Section 45Q carbon capture tax credit by giving across-the-board, equal treatment for carbon captured for increased energy production, utilization, and sequestration.
“For years, Wyoming has proudly led the way on carbon capture projects,” said Sen. Barrasso. “We’ve successfully used this technology to take carbon out of the air and find productive uses for it. One of those uses includes enhanced oil and natural gas recovery – a technique that significantly increases energy production while reducing carbon emissions. Recent changes to Section 45Q have made it harder for American energy producers and manufacturers to use this credit. The Enhanced Energy Recovery Act fixes this policy by ensuring equal treatment for energy production, utilization, and sequestration. This will bolster our nation’s energy security, support Wyoming’s energy workers, and help lower costs for American families.”
“Building the infrastructure to capture carbon in Louisiana will create tens of thousands of jobs and there will be tens of billions of dollars of investment,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This will help Louisiana continue to lead as an energy and manufacturing state.”
“Long before carbon storage became national buzzwords, Wyoming’s oil and gas workers were already permanently storing CO2 in enhanced oil recovery projects. For over 30 years CO2 injection has not only sequestered carbon in Wyoming but also helped produce millions of barrels of oil that the United States requires to meet energy demand. Senator Barrasso’s bill recognizes that enhanced oil recovery using CO2 deserves equal treatment to non-productive sequestration not only to create a level playing field in the tax code, but also because it supports high-paying oil and gas careers and pumps revenue into state and federal coffers. We applaud Senator Barrasso and urge speedy passage of the Enhanced Energy Recovery Act.” – Pete Obermueller, President, Petroleum Association of Wyoming
“At a time where energy demand is soaring, it is more important than ever to ensure that the United States relies on domestic energy sources for our security. Wyoming has long been a leader in carbon management, whether it be using CO2 as a commodity for enhanced oil recovery or paving the way with CCUS technologies. Capturing CO2 and using it to increase our domestic production, keeping energy reliable and affordable for all Americans, is a win for our nation. This bill is a crucial piece of legislation to ensure a level playing field for the growing markets that use CO2. We applaud Senator Barrasso’s continued leadership and efforts to support Wyoming’s energy industry.” – Rob Creager, Executive Director of the Wyoming Energy Authority
“The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) supports Senator Barrasso’s Enhanced Energy Recovery Act. Providing parity between carbon sequestration and utilization within the tax code ensures that CO2 is captured and stored in the most economically viable manner possible. The bill further incentivizes companies to continue to use direct air capture technology, fostering ongoing development and deployment of these cutting-edge emissions reduction technologies with the promise of working toward the goals of overall emissions reduction in the United States. IPAA thanks Senator Barrasso for taking a pragmatic, forward looking approach to management of carbon dioxide emissions.” – Jeff Eshelman, President & CEO, Independent Petroleum Association of America
“We are pleased to express our strong support for Senator Barrasso’s Enhanced Energy Recovery Act, which takes a critical step forward in leveling the playing field for carbon oxide sequestration. This balanced approach provides a powerful incentive for the oil and gas industry to continue its leadership in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) while also recognizing the role of EOR in safely managing carbon dioxide and extending the productive life of oil fields. Senator Barrasso’s vision for equitable treatment of carbon management technologies aligns with the industry’s commitment to reducing emissions, enhancing energy security, and delivering economic benefits to rural communities.” – Jerry R. Simmons, President & CEO, Domestic Energy Producers Alliance
Full text of the legislation can be found here.
Background:
The Enhanced Energy Recovery Act increases the effective value of the 45Q tax credit for captured carbon used in enhanced oil recovery and utilization to match that of sequestration.
Currently, the full tax credit incentive for carbon used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and utilization is $60/metric ton, while the value for sequestration is $85/metric ton. This bill sets all three values at $85/metric ton for EOR, utilization, and sequestration.
Additionally, the bill creates equal treatment for carbon captured through Direct Air Capture (DAC). It increases the value of DAC-captured carbon used for EOR and utilization by increasing the incentive from $130/metric ton, up to $180/ton, consistent with the current value of captured carbon used in sequestration.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Lee Introduces the Saving Privacy Act to Protect Americans’ Financial Data

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Utah Mike Lee

WASHINGTON –Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Saving Privacy Act, a bill to end government abuse of Americans’ financial information. For years, federal agencies have been overreaching in their surveillance, collecting vast amounts of personal financial data from law-abiding citizens without just cause. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is an original co-sponsor of the bill.
“The federal government has no business surveilling the financial activities of millions of innocent Americans,” said Senator Lee. “The current system erodes the privacy rights of citizens, while doing little to effectively catch true financial criminals. My Saving Privacy Act ensures that Americans’ personal information is protected and that government agencies operate within the bounds of the Constitution.”
“Big government has no place in law-abiding Americans’ personal finances. It is a massive overreach of the government and a gross violation of their privacy,” said Senator Rick Scott. “That is why I am teaming up with Senator Lee so that we can protect Americans’ personal financials for good. Our Saving Privacy Act will allow federal agencies to go after criminals while also protecting innocent Americans’ data. This is commonsense legislation, and I am urging my colleagues to support its immediate passage.”
“This kind of reform restores the proper balance—as provided by the Fourth Amendment—between Americans’ privacy rights and law enforcement’s ability to gather evidence to enforce laws. It would protect individuals’ financial privacy and improve federal agencies’ abilities to prosecute criminal activity rather than sift through millions of low-value reports. This kind of reform is long overdue.” – Norbert Michel, Jennifer Schulp, and Nicholas Anthony of the Cato Institute
“Financial privacy is of paramount importance in the digital age,” said Bryan Bashur, Director of Financial Policy for Americans for Tax Reform. “Lawmakers should support Sen. Lee’s efforts to further preserve financial privacy and prevent the federal government from easily accessing this information. Enacting this legislation will also protect consumers from other existential threats to financial privacy—such as tracking stock trading and electronic payment activity.
Government surveillance efforts have been largely ineffective, as demonstrated by the dismal success rate of suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). In FY2023, financial institutions submitted 25.4 million SARs and currency transaction reports (CTRs), yet less than 0.3% of these reports resulted in relevant IRS-CI and FBI cases.
In recent years, FinCEN and the FBI surveilled the financial transactions of individuals and solicited banks for information on purchases related to “Trump,” “MAGA,” firearms, and even religious texts. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has quietly been constructing a centralized database, the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), designed to track every single stock market transaction and the personal information of millions of Americans without any congressional approval.
Senator Lee’s bill, the Saving Privacy Act, seeks to curb these abuses and restore Fourth Amendment protections for all Americans.
Key Provisions of the Saving Privacy Act:

Repeals the Bank Secrecy Act’s SAR and CTR reporting requirements while maintaining recordkeeping provisions.
Repeals the Corporate Transparency Act.
Strengthens Fourth Amendment protections, bolstering warrant requirements in the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978.
Repeals the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) database.
Requires congressional approval for any new databases that collect personally identifiable information of U.S. citizens.
Prohibits the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency.
Requires congressional authorization for financial regulations deemed major rules.
Institutes penalties for federal employees who illegally seek constitutionally protected financial information.
Establishes a private right of action for Americans and financial institutions harmed by illicit government activity.

Bill text | One-pager

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Translation: President Meloni via video link to the event on the reconstruction of Ukraine

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

Source: Government of Italy

At the invitation of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, participated today via video link in an event dedicated to the economic recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, in the presence of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the other G7 nations, the European Union leaders and numerous international partners.

On this occasion, a declaration coordinated by the Italian Presidency was adopted by the Group of Seven, also open to the adhesion of the other States that participated in the event.

At the heart of the meeting was the reaffirmation of the joint commitment to ensure, bilaterally and through multilateral mechanisms, economic assistance to Ukraine, with a particular focus on reforms. Finally, support for the protection and rehabilitation of critical energy infrastructure was reaffirmed, as well as coordination on reconstruction, also in view of the Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in Rome in 2025.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

MIL Translation OSI

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Virtual Commercial Aviation Work Group meeting set for Oct. 3

Source: Washington State News 2

OLYMPIA – The Commercial Aviation Work Group will host its second public meeting virtually via Zoom from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 3.

The group will evaluate the long-range commercial aviation and transportation needs of the state, including alternatives for additional aviation capacity and expanding the use of existing airports and multimodal opportunities. The meeting will live stream on TVW.

Public comment will be from 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. People may also comment at any time by filling out the group’s contact form. Public comments will only be logged from the comment box.

People are encouraged to subscribe to the group’s email updates.

Free, temporary internet access is available for those who do not have broadband service in locations throughout the state. To find the nearest access, visit the Drive-In WiFi Hotspot list.

Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission
The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission was the previous group who researched locations to meet the forecast demand for commercial passenger service, air cargo and general aviation. Its final meeting last year focused on providing a solid foundation of information to be used by the Commercial Aviation Work Group, which was created by the Legislature last year (PDF 10KB). The commission released its final report (PFD 613KB) June 15, 2023.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: What do volcanoes smell like?

Source: US Geological Survey

It smells like:

• Dry, dusty rock (like on Mount St. Helens’ Pumice Plain in the height of summer);

• Warm, moist rock (near vents where steam is escaping);

• Like whatever is nearby (pine needles, blooming plants, stinky wetland plants, animals with wet fur);

• It certainly doesn’t have typical neighborhood smells, like car exhaust, restaurants, BBQs, etc., since volcanoes are generally in remote locations (rarified air?);

• Rotten eggs or an acrid smell, like a struck match (just downwind of a fumarole).

Recently, smells were reported in southwest Washington, mainly in Clark and Cowlitz Counties. These areas are relatively close to Mount St. Helens and the question was posed if the smell could be volcanic in nature.

The answer is no.

The USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory has two volcanic gas monitoring stations at Mount St. Helens. One is called “SNIF” and is located in the crater. It measures the compositions of gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide) coming from vents on the 2004-08 lava dome. The other station, located northeast of the crater, measures the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted from Mount St. Helens.

Together, these two monitoring stations show that there has not been an increase in the composition or amount of gases being emitted from Mount St. Helens. In fact, Mount St. Helens is presently releasing only very small amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, which is consistent with background behavior.

CVO is very confident in the measurements from SNIF because in the last 48 hours winds have shifted quite a lot (from the NW, S, and E, at an average speed of about 13 ft per second (4 m/s)), so the station has sampled gases from a variety of upwind directions. CVO crews were also conducting field work at Mount St. Helens on September 24, and did not report any significant or new smells.

Related Content

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: 2024 SARP West Closeout

Source: NASA

On August 12-13, 24 students from the West Coast cohort of NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) gathered at University of California, Irvine (UCI) to present their final research to a room of mentors, professors, family, and NASA personnel.
SARP is an eight-week summer internship for undergraduate students, hosted in two cohorts: SARP West operates out of Ontario Airport and UCI in California, while SARP East operates out of Wallops Flight Facility and Christopher Newport University in Virginia. After research introductions from faculty, instrument scientists, and staff, students are assigned one of four research categories: for SARP West, these categories are aerosols, terrestrial ecology, whole air sampling (WAS), or oceans. Each group is led by a dedicated researcher who is a specialist in that field, along with a graduate student mentor. Over the course of the summer, each intern develops their own research project as they conduct field work, collect data, and fly onboard either the P-3 or B200 NASA flying laboratories.
“You really see them become scientists in their own right,” said Stephanie Olaya, Program Manager for SARP East and West. “A lot of these projects are PhD level: they are researching and making novel discoveries for the field. They don’t even realize the magnitude of the things they’ve accomplished until the end of the program.”

Stephanie olaya
SARP Program Manager

Research is not the only focus of the program, however. Faculty and mentors alike commented on the confidence they watched grow in the cohort over the two month internship, and the sense of camaraderie with their peers. Olaya says building a sense of community is a primary goal of the program, which encourages close friendships through communal living, regular group dinners, and weekend trips, in addition to the hours of team fieldwork, data collection, and laboratory analysis.
The final presentations are another critical facet of the program, as it teaches students how to communicate scientific research and results to a non-scientific audience. “We want to impress on these students that science is not just for scientists,” Olaya said. “Science is for everyone.”
The event finished with closing remarks by Barry Lefer, Tropospheric Composition Program Manager at NASA Headquarters. “I want to welcome you to the SARP family,” Lefer said, “and to the NASA family.”
To watch videos of these student’s presentations and/or read their research abstracts, please follow the links below.

Introduced by Oceans Group PhD student mentor Lori Berberian, University Of California, Los Angeles

Leveraging high resolution PlanetScope imagery to quantify oil slick spatiotemporal variability in the Santa Barbara Channel

Emory Gaddis, Colgate University

Investigating airborne LiDAR retrievals of an emergent South African macroalgae

Rachel Emery, The University of Oklahoma

Vertical structure of the aquatic light field based on half a century of oceanographic records from the Southern California current

Brayden Lipscomb, West Virginia University

Comparing SWOT and PACE satellite observations to assess modification of phytoplankton biomass and assemblage by North Atlantic ocean eddies

Dominic Bentley, Pennsylvania State University

Assessing EMIT observations of harmful algae in the Salton Sea

Abigail Heiser, University of Wisconsin- Madison

Reassessing multidecadal trends in water clarity for the Central and Southern California current system

Emma Iacono, North Carolina State University

Introduced by Atmospheric Aerosols PhD student mentor Madison Landi, University of California, Irvine

A comparative analysis of tropospheric NO2: Evaluating TEMPO satellite data against airborne measurements

Maya Niyogi, Johns Hopkins University

Investigating the atmospheric burden of black carbon over the past decade in the Los Angeles Basin

Benjamin Wells, San Diego State University

Tracking methane and aerosols in relation to health effects in the San Joaquin Valley

Devin Keith, Mount Holyoke College

Investigating the effects of aerosols on photosynthesis using satellite imaging

Lily Lyons, Brandeis University

Validating the performance of CMAQ in simulating the vertical distribution of trace gases

Ryleigh Czajkowski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Estimating aerosol optical properties using Mie Theory and analyzing their impact on radiative forcing in California

Alison Thieberg, Emory University

Introduced by WAS PhD student mentor Katherine Paredero, Georgia Institute of Technology

Urban planning initiative: Investigation of isoprene emissions by tree species in the LA Basin

Mikaela Vaughn, Virginia Commonwealth University

VOC composition and ozone formation potential observed over Long Beach, California

Joshua Lozano, Sonoma State University

Investigating enhanced methane and ethane emissions over the Long Beach Airport

Sean Breslin, University of Delaware

Investigating elevated levels of toluene during winter in the Imperial Valley

Katherine Skeen, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Characterizing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from surface expressions of the Salton Sea Geothermal System (SSGS)

Ella Erskine, Tufts University

Airborne and ground-based analysis of Los Angeles County landfill gas emissions

Amelia Brown, Hamilton College

Introduced by Terrestrial Ecology PhD student mentor Megan Ward-Baranyay, San Diego State University

Predicting ammonia plume presence at feedlots in the San Joaquin Valley from VSWIR spectroscopy of the land surface

Gerrit Hoving, Carleton College

Burn to bloom: Assessing the impact of coastal wildfires on phytoplankton dynamics in California

Benjamin Marshburn, California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo

Species-specific impact on maximum fire temperature in prescribed burns at Sedgwick Reserve

Hannah Samuelson, University of St. Thomas

Quantifying the influence of soil type, slope, and aspect on live fuel load in Sedgwick Reserve

Angelina Harris, William & Mary

From canopy to chemistry: Exploring the relationship between vegetation phenology and isoprene emission

Emily Rogers, Bellarmine University

Keeping it fresh(water): Understanding the influence of surface mineralogy on groundwater quality within volcanic aquifer systems

Sydney Kent, Miami University

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Getting SSPICY: NASA Funds Orbital Debris Inspection Mission

Source: NASA

NASA is advancing an innovative approach to enabling commercial inspection of defunct, or inoperable, satellites in low Earth orbit, a precursor to capturing and repairing or removing the satellites.
The agency has awarded Starfish Space of Seattle, Washington, a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to complete the Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability (SSPICY) mission. The award follows a Phase III study, which funded four U.S. small businesses including Starfish to develop mission concepts. Starfish Space will receive $15 million over three years to execute the mission.
The ability to inspect defunct spacecraft and identify opportunities for repair or deorbiting is critical to maintaining a safe orbital environment for spacecraft and humans. Orbital debris mitigation is a key component of NASA’s Space Sustainability Strategy.
“The SSPICY mission is designed to mature technologies needed for U.S. commercial capabilities for satellite servicing and logistics or disposal,” said Bo Naasz, senior technical lead for in-space servicing, manufacturing, and assembly in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. “In-space inspection helps us characterize the physical state of a satellite, gather data on what may leave spacecraft stranded, and improve our understanding of fragmentations and collisions, a difficult but critical factor in a sustainable space operating environment.”
The Starfish-led mission uses the company’s Otter spacecraft, a small satellite about the size of an oven, which is designed to inspect, dock with, and service or deorbit other satellites. Otter’s electric propulsion system will not only help it efficiently travel to multiple satellites, but the SSPICY demonstration also will mature the spacecraft’s ability to perform inspections using electric propulsion, an important enabling technology not typically used for rendezvous and proximity operations.
During the SSPICY mission, Otter will visit and inspect multiple U.S. owned defunct satellites that have agreed to be visited and inspected – a delicate and challenging task, as satellites move quickly and are kept far apart from each other for safety. Otter will approach within hundreds of meters of each satellite to conduct inspections during mission operations. During the inspection, Otter will gather key information about each of the debris objects including their spin rate, spin axes, and current conditions of the objects’ surface materials.
The SSPICY mission is the first commercial space debris inspection funded by NASA and supports the agency’s efforts to extend the life of satellites while reducing space debris. Satellites that are no longer in use can break apart or collide with one another, creating debris clouds that pose risk to human spaceflight, science and robotic missions in Earth’s orbit, and missions to other planets in the solar system. Data from inspections like those planned during the SSPICY demonstration will play a critical role in understanding the nature of defunct satellites and advancing solutions for reuse or disposal.
“We are excited to expand our partnership with NASA, building on our shared commitment to advancing in-space manufacturing and assembly capabilities,” said Trevor Bennett, co-founder of Starfish Space. “It’s an honor for Starfish to lead the first commercial debris inspection mission funded by NASA. We look forward to collaborating on this and future satellite servicing missions to enable a new paradigm for humanity in space.”
The Otter spacecraft is expected to launch in late 2026 and will begin performing inspections in 2027.
The SSPICY demonstration is funded and managed by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The award is enabled by NASA’s SBIR program, which is open to U.S. small businesses to develop an innovation or technology. These programs are part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
Learn more at:
https://www.nasa.gov/space-technology-mission-directorate

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Union Textiles Minister Shri Giriraj Singh inaugurates Eri sericulture promotional project in Gujarat

Source: Government of India

Posted On: 25 SEP 2024 6:23PM by PIB Delhi

After successful introduction of Eri culture in castor growing areas of Gujarat and considering the farmers’ response, as a part of 100-day activities under the Viksit Bharat initiative, the Eri sericulture promotional project was launched on August 10, 2024, at Sardarkrushinagar, Palanpur, aiming to encourage castor-growing farmers in Gujarat’s Banaskantha, Mehsana, Patan, and Sabarkantha districts. Union Minister of Textiles, Shri Giriraj Singh, inaugurated the event, attended by Minister of State for Textiles, Shri Pabitra Margherita, and Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Ms. Rachna Shah.

Gujarat Eri promotional project launched on 10^th August 2024

The project is designed to help farmers adopt sericulture as an additional income-generating activity, expanding Eri culture in an area rich in castor plants. The event attracted over 1,200 participants, including 860 registered farmers, staff and students from SDAU, and media representatives, alongside officials from the Central Silk Board.

The Eri promotional project launched in Gujarat has seen significant progress so far. An awareness campaign in the major castor-producing districts of Banaskantha, Mehsana, Patan, and Sabarkantha reached 112 villages, with 2,136 farmers showing interest. A village-level training program engaged 817 farmers, while four late-age rearing houses and an Eri Chawki Rearing Centre (CRC) are being established to support rearing operations. Additionally, four Sericulture Resource Centers (SRCs) were set up to provide hands-on training to farmers.

Awareness campaign through LED display vehicle

The primary goal is to evaluate, optimize, and popularize Eri culture technologies of CSB’s Research Institute “Central Muga Eri Research & Training Institute (CMER&TI), and practices in collaboration with the Kalyan Foundation. The project will focus on 100 selected farmers and aims to integrate Eri silk production with castor cultivation, enhancing farmers’ incomes. Based on the response received from the current project, the subsequent phase /project with additional 500 farmers will be introduced to Eri culture in Gujarat, expanding the initiative and establishing Gujarat as a significant Eri silk producer.

Gujarat, with its extensive castor cultivation (6.52 lakh hectares), has the potential to become a key Eri silk production hub by promoting Eri sericulture, the project not only provides an additional income source for castor farmers but also contributes to the sustainable growth of the silk industry in the state. The collaboration between the Central Silk Board, the Gujarat government, and local farmers is expected to drive substantial economic and social benefits, potentially transforming Gujarat into a hub for silk production. The success of this initiative could also inspire other states, which would help to expand Eri sericulture across India and sericulture expansion in non-traditional areas.

Through this project, CSB envisions Gujarat becoming a major contributor to India’s Eri silk production, boosting the state’s economy and enhancing the country’s silk industry as a whole.

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(Release ID: 2058724) Visitor Counter : 45

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Risch Introduces Bill to Ban Handgun Rosters

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Idaho James E Risch

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) today introduced the Modern Firearms Safety Act, which would prohibit states from enforcing handgun rosters. These lists of pre-approved handguns require manufacturers to include costly features like microstamping, loaded chamber indicators, and magazine disconnect mechanisms on firearms, preventing law-abiding citizens from purchasing the firearm of their choice.

“Unconstitutional handgun rosters create unnecessary, burdensome requirements for firearm manufacturers while undermining the Second Amendment,” said Risch. “The Modern Firearms Safety Act stops Democrats arbitrary handgun catalogs and protects law-abiding gun owners’ right to bear arms.”

Several states, including California, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, and D.C., have recently enacted unconstitutional handgun rosters. A 2024 federal district court ruling found California’s handgun roster requirements unconstitutional.

Risch is joined by U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in introducing the legislation.

“Those on the Left continue to use every creative avenue possible to stifle Second Amendment rights and restrict gun ownership for law-abiding citizens,” said Crapo. “These practices must stop.”

“Blue states look for every avenue to ban guns for law-abiding citizens,” said Cassidy. “Requiring unnecessary and imaginary modifications that don’t improve safety is just another tactic out of this playbook. The Second Amendment is a Constitutional right that shouldn’t be infringed upon just because of the state in which you reside.”

“Trying to impose unnecessary and overly stringent requirements on what features handguns must have is a blatant attempt to strip away core constitutional rights,” said Cornyn. “This legislation ensures law-abiding gun owners in Texas can continue to exercise their Second Amendment right in a safe and responsible way without being subject to impractical restrictions.”

“Our Founding Fathers were clear—the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” said Daines. “Forcing Americans to outfit their firearms with onerous and costly features is a clear attempt to undermine the Second Amendment and law-abiding citizens’ constitutional rights, and it must stop.”

“I am proud to join Senator Risch in our fight against the Democrats’ never-ending attack on our Second Amendment rights and our constitutional freedoms,” Marshall said. “The Modern Firearm Safety Act will end the unconstitutional gun grab currently underway in far-Left states like California, New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Our legislation rightfully blocks Democrats from enforcing illegal handgun roster requirements designed to target law-abiding Americans.”

“This commonsense legislation safeguards the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens by eliminating unnecessary barriers to purchase firearms,” said Tillis. “I am proud to support responsible gun owners by introducing this legislation, which aims to prevent government overreach and uphold our constitutional freedoms.”

The Modern Firearms Safety Act has received support from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), and National Rifle Association (NRA).

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Duckworth Highlights Need to Better Support Our Nation’s Military and Veteran Caregivers During Dole Foundation Annual Conference

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth

September 25, 2024

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Yesterday, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel—joined the Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s 9^th Annual National Convening to highlight the ways Congress can better address and respond to the challenges facing our nation’s more than 14 million military and Veteran caregivers. During a fireside chat at the conference this week, Senator Duckworth also discussed the many ways she’s working to support military families and Veterans to help ensure they have the high-quality care they deserve and have earned through their service. Full video of Senator Duckworth’s conversation at the event can be found on the Dole Foundation’s YouTube page. Photos from the event can be found on the Senator’s website.

“I know from personal experience that we can’t afford for our troops who are in harm’s way to second guess what might happen to them or their family if they become wounded—it hurts our military readiness,” said Senator Duckworth. “Supporting caregivers and supporting the VA isn’t just about doing something humanitarian. It’s about the safety and security of our nation.”

At this year’s annual conference, the Dole Foundation also unveiled a new RAND study that shows the number of military and Veteran caregivers in the U.S. has increased by nearly 9 million over the past decade, and that these caregivers’ health is at risk as they tend to Veterans and Wounded Warriors at home. The significant increase of military and Veteran caregivers across the country and the health risks associated with their work underscores the need for more support from federal programs to help caregivers do these critical jobs.

Duckworth is a fierce advocate for our servicemembers, Veterans and their families. She recently helped secure $2.9 billion to support family caregivers of disabled Veterans and the expansion of the program to include pre-9/11 Veterans in the Fiscal Year 2025 spending bills. In March, Duckworth also announced that she helped secure $2.4 billion to expand benefits and services for military and Veteran caregivers to include health care and mental health services, training adapted to the Veterans’ individual care needs and a direct stipend payment as part of the Fiscal Year 2024 spending bills.

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MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: News 09/25/2024 Blackburn, Kelly, Cornyn, Baldwin Introduce Bill to Stop School Bus Manufacturers Tied to Chinese Communist Party from Receiving Federal Funding
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced the Secure School Buses Act to ensure school bus manufacturers tied to foreign entities and countries of concern, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), do not receive federal funding:

“Under current law, federal funding for public transit is banned from going to companies tied to U.S. adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, but the requirements do not apply to federal funding for school buses,” said Senator Blackburn. “Our Secure School Buses Act would close this dangerous loophole and safeguard national security and our nation’s students.”

“The Clean School Bus Program has provided school districts in Arizona and throughout the country opportunities to modernize their school bus fleets, while supporting bus manufacturers based here in the United States,” said Senator Kelly. “This bill ensures companies that receive state support from the Chinese government can’t take advantage of this program to unfairly compete against American manufacturers. We’ve taken these same steps to protect public transit systems, and now it’s time we apply the same standard to the buses carrying our kids to school every day.”

“It is unacceptable for adversarial nations to receive any benefit at the expense of American taxpayers,” said Senator Cornyn. “This bill would prohibit federal dollars from going to subsidiaries and spin-offs of predatory entities in China and other countries of concern that don’t have our interests at heart, and I’m glad to support it.”

“When we use taxpayer dollars, we should be investing those dollars back into American businesses, workers, and communities – not sending money overseas to adversaries like China,” said Senator Baldwin. “I’m proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to ensure taxpayer investments in our children’s school buses won’t line the pockets of bad actors like China and give them a competitive edge over our workers and businesses.”

BACKGROUND:
- Several years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Clean School Bus Program to replace existing school buses with electric models. According to the EPA, they have awarded almost $3 billion in taxpayer funds through this program. Troublingly, certain companies in the electric bus industry have ties to the CCP and other foreign entities of concern.
- Localities can currently use their federal funding to purchase buses from companies with ties to these foreign entities of concern, with some of these companies marketing buses specifically for the Clean School Bus Program. In the past, Congress has made clear that no federal taxpayer dollars should go to companies with ties to our adversaries.
- While federal funds are prohibited from going to companies with ties to the CCP and other foreign entities of concern for public transit, there are no such prohibitions for the procurement of school buses. If these products are not safe enough for public transit, they certainly are not safe enough for our nation’s children.
- Senator Blackburn has worked extensively on the national security risks posed by Chinese-made connected cars and electric vehicles proliferating in the United States, due to many Chinese companies’ subservience to the CCP. The same holds true for these electric bus companies with ties to the CCP and other foreign entities of concern.
SECURE SCHOOL BUSES ACT:
- The Secure School Buses Act would prohibit the award of federal grant funding to school bus manufacturers with certain ties to a foreign entity of concern.
- This legislation is endorsed by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and Heritage Action.
Click here for bill text.
MIL OSI USA News –
January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Alford Introduces Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act to Enhance Outreach Efforts in Rural Communities and Small Businesses

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mark Alford (Missouri 4th District)

Congressman Alford Introduces Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act to Enhance Outreach Efforts in Rural Communities and Small Businesses

Washington, September 25, 2024

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Mark Alford (MO-04) introduced the Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act. This legislation will require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to enhance outreach efforts in rural communities through the Small Business Innovation (SBIR) and Small Business Technology (STTR) programs.

“Small businesses and entrepreneurship are the fabric of America. Too often, the opportunities to contract with the federal government are limited to coastal cities. The Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act will force the government to include rural Americans in key SBIR and STTR programs,” said Congressman Alford.

View legislation here.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: Secretary Blinken hosted a Multilateral Meeting on Building on Progress to Restore Security in Haiti

Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken hosted a Multilateral Meeting on Building on Progress to Restore Security in Haiti in New York City, New York, on September 25, 2024.

Transcript: https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-multilateral-meeting-on-building-on-progress-to-restore-security-in-haiti/

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Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.

The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at http://www.state.gov and on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/statedept
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Subscribe to the State Department Blog: https://www.state.gov/blogs
Watch on-demand State Department videos: https://video.state.gov/
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White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/

#StateDepartment #DepartmentofState #Diplomacy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meIIbPQLK98

MIL OSI Video –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Statement by NIH on Research Misconduct Findings

Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 2

News Release

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Following an investigation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made findings of research misconduct against Eliezer Masliah, M.D., due to falsification and/or fabrication involving re-use and relabel of figure panels representing different experimental results in two publications. NIH will notify the two journals of its findings so that appropriate action can be taken. NIH initiated its research misconduct review process in May 2023 after it received allegations from the HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI) that same month. NIH began its investigation phase in December 2023, concluded its investigation of these allegations on September 15, 2024, and notified HHS ORI of its findings.

Dr. Masliah joined the agency in the summer of 2016 as director of the Division of Neuroscience (DN) at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and an NIH intramural researcher investigating synaptic damage in neurodegenerative disorders. He has published numerous papers as an NIH intramural researcher. Currently, Dr. Masliah is not serving in the capacity of director of the NIA DN. Amy Kelley, M.D., NIA Deputy Director, is also serving as the Acting NIA DN Director. Beyond this information, NIH does not discuss personnel matters.

Any allegations involving Dr. Masliah’s NIH-supported extramural research prior to joining NIH would be referred to HHS ORI, consistent with NIH policies and procedures.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health^®

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MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Ruppersberger, Bipartisan Group Secures SNAP Theft Reimbursement in Stop-Gap Funding Bill

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (2nd District of Maryland)

(Washington, DC) – Victims of food stamp theft will continue to be reimbursed thanks to a provision in a stop-gap funding bill secured by a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger. H.R. 9747, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025, passed in the U.S. House of Representatives today in a 341-82 vote, keeping the government funded – and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits flowing – through December 20, 2024. It is expected to be taken up in the U.S. Senate quickly.

Last month, Ruppersberger, along with Representatives Mike Lawler (R-New York), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon), James P. McGovern (D-Massachusetts), Dan Goldman (D-New York), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania), Anthony D’Esposito (R-New York), Marc Molinaro (R-New York), Kweisi Mfume (D-Maryland), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and Grace Meng (D-New York) sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to allow victims of SNAP theft to continue to be reimbursed from federal and state coffers.

Reports of SNAP theft – in which perpetrators use skimming devices to steal SNAP benefits distributed on electronic debit cards (EBT) – are skyrocketing across the nation. States are currently required to replace stolen benefits under a measure included in the 2023 omnibus funding bill passed by Congress at the end of 2022. But that provision was set to expire on September 30.

“I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who recognize the dire straits that SNAP theft leaves its victims, which often include veterans, families, low-income workers, children, the elderly and the disabled,” said Congressman Ruppersberger (MD-02). “While Congress continues to work toward its long-term and strategic spending bills, I am relieved to know these innocent constituents will not lose their primary source of healthy food.”

“Ensuring that SNAP recipients who have their benefits stolen are made whole is my top priority and is deeply important to New York families,” said Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17). “That’s why I joined colleagues in both parties and chambers to introduce the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act to protect these programs from fraud, and it’s why I have been adamant about the need to include SNAP protections in FY25’s appropriations. I was pleased to see these provisions in the CR being voted on this week. We must complete our appropriations work while protecting the most vulnerable in our society.”

“I was proud to join this bipartisan group of my colleagues in urging congressional leaders to prevent critical SNAP theft reimbursements from ending,” said Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05). “I’m glad our message was heard and an extension was included in this stopgap funding bill. I’ll keep working to ensure victims of SNAP theft are protected.”

“I am proud to have helped secure an extension that will allow states to use existing federal funding to reimburse vulnerable victims of SNAP theft so that families in need can put food on the table,” Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) said. “SNAP theft can be devastating for working families and these reimbursements are a critical lifeline that allows working families to make ends meet. I will continue fighting alongside my colleagues to ensure that states retain this authority when Congress passes its final budget at the end of the year.”

“Families that rely on SNAP to put food on the table each day should never go hungry, especially as a result of their benefits being stolen,” said Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-06), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. “That’s why I fought to help over 36,000 New Yorkers recover more than $17.5 million in stolen SNAP benefits. I’m glad to see that this provision was included and extended in this critical government funding bill. I’ve also been fighting to make EBT benefit cards more secure to deter scams, and I’m excited that this bill includes language that will hopefully lead to more secure EBT cards. Many beneficiaries in Queens and across the country continue to be targeted by these scams, and we must continue fighting for the families in our communities experiencing the greatest needs.”

“It is appalling that Americans are being targeted at record rates in major SNAP benefit theft. These sickening crimes are carried out against veterans, families, low-income workers, children, the elderly, and the disabled – all of whom are just trying to put food on their table,” said Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07). “Our letter represented a unified effort, across the political aisle, to bring justice to victims in all our respective Congressional Districts. Today’s triumph was a culmination of fierce collaboration between both Democrats and Republicans and boldly fighting for justice on behalf of all households that rely on SNAP,” he concluded.

“Because of our bipartisan push, victims of SNAP theft will continue to be protected through the SNAP Reimbursement Extension,” said Congressman Marc Molinaro (NY-19). “I’m proud to have helped lead the effort to ensure Upstate New York families who rely on SNAP benefits always have access to the meals they deserve.”

“Thousands of Bucks and Montgomery County residents depend on SNAP to put food on their tables, which is why I was proud to join my colleagues in the critical fight to prevent SNAP theft reimbursements from ending. This common-sense reimbursement provision is essential to safeguarding the integrity of the SNAP program and ensuring families in my community and nationwide who have fallen victim to SNAP theft can quickly recover their benefits. Today’s victory is a powerful reminder that when we unite across party lines, we can achieve meaningful change and stand firm in our commitment to uplift our communities and safeguard the well-being of those who need it most,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1).

“SNAP recipients who had their food benefits stolen—through no fault of their own, I would add—should not be kicked while they’re down by an indifferent government that tells them ‘too bad’ and leaves them to fend for themselves,” said Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02). “Especially when the average SNAP benefit is barely over $2 per person, per meal. We’re talking about people who rely on these benefits to feed themselves and their families. When they are stolen, people go hungry. I’m glad that because of our continued advocacy, Congress is making sure that food insecure families are protected through the end of the year.”

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MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: DelBene on Bipartisan Funding Agreement to Avert Government Shutdown

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (1st District of Washington)

DelBene on Bipartisan Funding Agreement to Avert Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON, DC , September 25, 2024

Today, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan funding agreement to avert a government shutdown:

“Americans want governance that works, and I joined House Democrats today to prevent a shutdown, once again demonstrating that bipartisan solutions are necessary to address the issues before Congress. It is unacceptable that House Republicans played games for weeks and risked a government shutdown that could have jeopardized the well-being of middle-class families, veterans, and our national security to advance their harmful Project 2025 agenda.

“While we successfully prevented a shutdown today, we must work together to reach an agreement to fund the government for the entirety of Fiscal Year 2025. House Republicans must accept the reality that in a divided government, bipartisan solutions are the only way to pass legislation through both the House and Senate and get it to President Biden’s desk.”

This temporary funding agreement now heads to the Senate for approval ahead of the September 30 funding deadline.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Ramokgopa attends BRICS Energy Ministers Meeting

Source: South Africa News Agency

The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has called on the BRICS Plus bloc of countries to work together to assist and support member countries to tackle energy challenges.

The Minister was delivering his opening remarks at the 9th Annual BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Moscow, Russia.

“We believe that this BRICS group of like-minded country members has a huge potential, and working together will strengthen this resolve through cooperation on energy security.

“[It will] also provide an opportunity to join efforts to annihilate the challenges diagnosed during the BRICS 2023 Summit held in South Africa, such as addressing the lack or absence of integrated energy policy framework, diversification and beneficiation at source of critical minerals, infrastructure development, manufacturing, technology transfer and intellectual property, scaling up energy efficiency, mobilisation of finance and investment, as well as skills and capacity building, amongst others,” Ramokgopa said.

He called on the member countries to “tap and dig deeper into various capabilities and strengths” to ensure mutual support in harnessing the individual potential each country has at its disposal.

“To mention a few opportunities, it is mining and beneficiation of critical minerals, and rare-earth elements required to power the green economy, [expand] hydro power potential, promising hydrogen solutions and its derivatives, gas, nuclear – including small modular reactors, renewables, storage, biofuels, as well as clean coal, and carbon capture utilisation and storage,” the Minister said.

Ramokgopa highlighted that the meeting of BRICS Energy Ministers comes at a critical time, as countries ponder ways to transition towards low carbon economies.

“This meeting comes at a critical phase where our countries are grappling with the challenge of balancing developmental goals with energy transition pathways.

“We must ensure that these transitions safeguard energy sovereignty and security, promote sustainable economic development, facilitate universal access and respond effectively to environmental imperatives, all the while ensuring no one is left behind,” he said.

He told the meeting that the expansion of the BRICS bloc of countries is a “clear affirmation of the group’s growing significance and influence in the global energy agenda”.

“This is a pivotal moment, positioning BRICS to reshape, refocus, and reset the global energy architecture to ensure energy access, security, affordability, and eradicate energy poverty and promote a just energy transition.

“For us as South Africa, we see this as an opportune moment to clearly articulate our collective position as the developing nations that will enable us to continue to use our energy resources through innovative technologies that allow us to move from high emitting to low emitting energy systems, and thus achieve carbon-neutrality or net-zero at a pace and scale that is in line with our different national circumstances and capabilities.

“In this regard, we want to reiterate that our approach to an inclusive and people centred energy transition is informed by the need to maintain energy security in support of socio-economic objectives,” Ramokgopa said. – SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Translation: Joint Statement by Canada, the United States of America, Australia, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Qatar

MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –

Source: Prime Minister of Canada – in French

The situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8, 2023 is intolerable and poses an unacceptable risk of broader regional escalation. This situation is in no one’s interest, neither the Israeli people nor the Lebanese people.

It is time to reach a diplomatic agreement that allows civilians on both sides of the border to return home safely.

Diplomacy, however, cannot succeed in a context of escalating conflict.

We therefore call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire on the Israeli-Lebanese border to allow room for diplomacy and the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, and the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735 on a ceasefire in Gaza.

We call on all parties, including the Israeli and Lebanese governments, to immediately endorse the temporary ceasefire in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 during this period, and to give a genuine chance to a diplomatic settlement.

We will thus be ready to fully support all diplomatic initiatives aimed at reaching an agreement between Lebanon and Israel during this period, based on the efforts made in recent months, in order to put an end to this crisis.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

MIL Translation OSI

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Joint Statement by Canada, the United States of America, Australia, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Qatar

Source: Government of Canada – Prime Minister

The situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8th, 2023 is intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation. This is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon.

It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety.

Diplomacy however cannot succeed amid an escalation of this conflict.

Thus we call for an immediate 21 day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy and the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR 1701, and the implementation of UNSCR 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.

We call on all parties, including the Governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately consistent with UNSCR 1701 during this period, and to give a real chance to a diplomatic settlement.

We are then prepared to fully support all diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this period, building on the efforts over the last months, that ends this crisis altogether.

MIL OSI Canada News –

January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: AUKUS statement: 26 September 2024
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

The defence ministers of the AUKUS partnership met in London to review progress in and reaffirm their commitment to the AUKUS partnership.
Today the Right Honourable John Healey MP, Secretary of State for Defence, United Kingdom hosted the Honourable Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Australia and the Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense, United States (U.S.) at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, the United Kingdom (UK) to review progress in and reaffirm their commitment to the AUKUS partnership.

The AUKUS partnership reflects the continued commitment by Australia, the United Kingdom, and United States to support a free and open Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, secure and stable. The discussions between the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister today reaffirmed the importance of this innovative, enduring, and trusted partnership in the face of a rapidly evolving and increasingly unstable international security environment. The three nations will continue to work to uphold the global rules-based order where international law is followed, and states can make sovereign choices free from coercion. In this context, they reiterated their shared commitments to the AUKUS partnership for the decades to come and welcomed the progress made since AUKUS Defence Ministers last met in California, the United States, in December 2023.

Pillar I – Conventionally Armed, Nuclear-Powered Submarines (SSNs)

In March of 2023, our Heads of Government met to announce a comprehensive plan to support Australia’s acquisition of a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability as quickly as possible. Since that announcement, our three governments have worked shoulder-to-shoulder to refine the milestones and principles that will form the building blocks for this decades-long partnership.

The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reiterated their shared and enduring commitment to setting the highest nuclear non-proliferation standard, and the importance of this work to the success of the programme. They undertook to continue AUKUS partners’ open, and transparent engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and noted the ongoing bilateral negotiations between the IAEA and Australia to develop a robust safeguards and verification approach for Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion programme under Article 14 of Australia’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.

Over the last year, our Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Royal Navy (RN), and U.S. Navy personnel have worked tirelessly across governments, defence industry, and academic institutions to optimise the training of personnel to maintain, sustain, operate, and crew nuclear-powered submarines. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reiterated that the delivery of the “Optimal Pathway” depends upon the skilled workforces of all three countries and reaffirmed their shared commitment to develop a robust base of skills across their military, civilian and industrial sectors.

More than 60 RAN personnel are currently in various stages of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine SSN training pipeline to equip a cadre of Australian officers and sailors with experience aboard the U.S. Virginia class SSNs that the RAN will own and operate from the early 2030s. These numbers will increase further in 2025, with more than 100 personnel commencing training. Six officers have completed all training and have been assigned to U.S. Virginia class submarines. RAN enlisted sailors will join U.S. submarine crews before the end of this year.

In the United Kingdom, three RAN officers completed the UK Nuclear Reactor course in July 2024 and are now assigned to UK Astute class submarines. The next group of RAN officers will commence training in the UK in November 2024.

The RN, with the support of the Australian Submarine Agency, has also delivered professional and general naval nuclear propulsion training for more than 250 Australian personnel in Canberra.

Australians have embedded into programme delivery teams in the UK Ministry of Defence and with Rolls-Royce Submarines. Australians are also currently embedded in U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program teams.

In July and September 2024, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard welcomed the first 40 ASC Pty Ltd personnel into its training pipeline with the expectation of more than 100 additional ASC Pty Ltd employees by mid-2025.

The Australian Government has committed to nearly AUD 250 million to start delivering the skills and workforce needed for its SSN program, including providing 4,001 Commonwealth Supported Places at Australian universities, in addition to 3,000 undergraduate scholarships over six years, to build the necessary Australian Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics workforce.

Additional programs have seen more than 70 Australians supported to undertake postgraduate nuclear studies at universities in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia.

Australia has also recently announced the “Jobs for Subs” initiative, a government-funded program to evolve ASC Pty Ltd to recruit, train and retain approximately 200 additional graduates, apprentices and trainees to support Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West) in Western Australia.

Recognising that our partners in defence industry are and will remain vital to this endeavour, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister discussed opportunities to maximize our efforts to foster collaboration and build resilience across our industrial bases and supply chains. They welcome the collaboration between BAE Systems (BAES) and ASC Pty Ltd to bring together their combined decades of submarine building to deliver the SSN-AUKUS programme.

The U.S. Government decided to invest USD 17.5 billion into its submarine industrial base to support initiatives related to supplier development, shipbuilder and supplier infrastructure, workforce development, technology advancements, and strategic sourcing.

Australia has also committed to invest over AUD 30 billion in the Australian defence industrial base to develop Australia’s supply chains and facilitate industry participation in U.S. and UK supply chains.

His Majesty’s Government announced an initial allocation of £4 billion from the United Kingdom to continue the detailed design work of SSN-AUKUS and order long-lead items, as well as the United Kingdom’s investment of £3 billion across its Defence Nuclear Enterprise, including the construction of submarine industrial infrastructure that will help to deliver the SSN-AUKUS programme.

The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the AUKUS partners’ commitment to accelerate opportunities for Australian industry in the Virginia class submarine supply chain, including through the Defence Industry Vendor Qualification Program and other industry collaboration initiatives. They welcomed ongoing efforts to encourage further industrial base partnerships to build resiliency across the trilateral Submarine Industrial Base.

This August, as a direct result of our close collaboration over this year, our three nations commenced the execution of the first-ever planned maintenance activity of a U.S. SSN in Australia. More than 30 RAN personnel worked alongside U.S. Navy and contractor personnel and UK observers to conduct routine maintenance and observe safety and stewardship evolutions. This was an important step in building Australia’s capacity to support a rotational presence of UK and U.S. SSNs at SRF-West beginning as early as 2027, as well as Australia’s future sovereign SSN capability.

The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister emphasised the importance of ensuring that our trilateral systems have the tools they need to transfer information and data in a timely fashion to facilitate cooperation. They were pleased to welcome the August 2024 signing of an enabling agreement for trilateral cooperation related to naval nuclear propulsion. Once in force, this historic agreement will enable AUKUS partners to go beyond sharing naval nuclear propulsion information, allowing the United States and the United Kingdom to transfer nuclear-propulsion material and equipment to Australia required for the safe and secure construction, operation, and sustainment of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.

This agreement reaffirms, and remains consistent with, the AUKUS partners’ respective, existing international non-proliferation obligations. As a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Australia has re-affirmed unequivocally that it does not have, and will not seek to acquire, nuclear weapons.

Pillar II – Advanced Capabilities

The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister hailed progress being made under Pillar II to deliver capability to our defence forces while bolstering industry and innovation sector collaboration. AUKUS nations continue to pool the talents of our defence sectors to catalyse, at an unprecedented pace, the delivery of advanced capabilities.

Through AUKUS Pillar II, our trilateral science and technology, acquisition and sustainment, and operational communities are working across the full spectrum of capability development—generating requirements, co-developing new systems, deepening industrial base collaboration, and bolstering our innovation ecosystems. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed progress made in building a more capable, combined joint force of the future because of this work.

This year, under the Maritime Big Play initiative, we are undertaking a series of integrated trilateral experiments and exercises to enhance interoperability and accelerate the combined fielding of autonomous uncrewed systems in the maritime domain. Later this year, the three nations will bring together approximately 30 systems across four domains for the first large-scale AUKUS integrated demonstration. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the inclusion of technologies from companies in each of the three nations and plans to expand to include additional industry partners in the future.

In 2024, AUKUS partners furthered their undersea warfare capabilities by beginning to scale up the ability to launch and recover uncrewed underwater systems from torpedo tubes on current classes of British and U.S. submarines, which will increase the range and capability of our undersea forces. AUKUS partners are exploring opportunities to collaborate on sensors and payloads to maximize this capability and deliver effects such as strike, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

In parallel, the United Kingdom and the United States are strengthening superiority in the maritime domain by integrating the Sting Ray lightweight torpedo into the P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft alongside the Mk 54 torpedo, with trials planned for 2025. This will increase the opportunity for interchangeability and potential work on future torpedo programmes. These efforts will ultimately enhance the survivability of our surface combatant and submarine fleets.

In the area of long-range precision strike, we are increasing our collective ability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies through a robust series of trilateral tests and experiments that will accelerate the development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies. These capabilities will hold time critical and heavily defended targets at risk from increased ranges, enhancing the survivability of our forces and defending our homelands and forces against potential threats.

Advancing our maritime domain autonomy and decision advantage efforts, AUKUS partners demonstrated and deployed common advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms on P8-A Maritime Patrol aircraft to process data from each nations’ sonobuoys. These advances allow for faster data processing and improved target identification in congested acoustic environments, enhancing our combined anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed plans to scale these technologies in 2025.

Our joint forces demonstrated several innovative uses of AI technologies to enhance decision making and bolster combined military effects. In March, AUKUS partners demonstrated the ability to rapidly co-develop and deploy trilateral AI algorithms to find and fix targets for strike. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed trilateral plans to explore the introduction of these capabilities into operational units in the coming years.

The International Joint Requirements Oversight Council (I-JROC) remains a critical collaborative forum to identify and validate joint and combined requirements to ensure capability development considers interoperability and interchangeability from the very start. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the establishment of trilaterally determined key operational problems, leveraging existing activities to achieve capability development priorities endorsed by I-JROC. AUKUS partners seek:

An enhanced multi-domain long-range strike capability that incorporates asymmetric capabilities and integrated targeting;

Strengthened multi-domain integrated air and missile defence capability;

Resilient command and control systems that maintain a diverse range of information; and

Enhanced logistical networks that are able to deliver persistent support and sustainment for operations in contested environments.

To this end, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed work underway across our trilateral Armies, Navies, and Air Forces to explore additional opportunities for collaboration in the land, maritime, air, and other domains under AUKUS Pillar II.

A cornerstone of our AUKUS Pillar II program remains the opportunity to leverage the best of our defence industrial bases and innovation ecosystems. Over the past year we have further integrated our innovation ecosystems and fostered increased collaboration with these stakeholder communities to explore opportunities in all aspects of Pillar II.

AUKUS partners executed the first trilaterally sponsored innovation prize challenge, which focused on electronic warfare. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister are pleased to announce Advanced Design Technology Pty Ltd, Inovor Technologies Pty Ltd and Penten Pty Ltd (AUS), Amiosec Ltd, University of Liverpool, Roke Manor Research Ltd, Autonomous Devices Ltd (UK), and Distributed Spectrum (U.S.) as the winners for this challenge. The selection of these companies demonstrates the important contributions that our trilateral commercial sectors and innovation bases can make in addressing critical operational requirements.

Building on the success of this first challenge, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister were pleased to endorse plans for a robust two-year agenda that will increase collaboration between and among our innovation centres of excellence. Through this collaboration, AUKUS partners will leverage innovative tools to reach our entrepreneurs and actively solicit new and powerful capabilities from our trilateral innovation ecosystem and industrial base.

In coordination with industry associations representing the trilateral defence industrial base, the Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum, continues to provide an opportunity for representatives across government and industry to exchange ideas and deepen industrial collaboration in Pillar II. By the end of this year, AUKUS partners will have convened meetings in each country and facilitated discussions with technology and policy subject matter experts to increase understanding and information sharing.

In response to industry feedback and as current projects mature beyond traditional research and development projects, the National Armaments Directors from each nation are identifying opportunities to harmonise acquisition processes and reducing barriers to facilitate the accelerated delivery of Pillar II advanced capabilities.

In April 2024, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister announced principles for engaging additional partners on opportunities to collaborate on AUKUS Pillar II projects. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed progress on consultations with Japan on improving interoperability with Japan’s maritime autonomous systems as an initial area of cooperation. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister noted ongoing consultations with Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea to identify possibilities for collaboration on advanced capabilities under AUKUS Pillar II on a project by project basis.

Defence trade and industrial base collaboration

To promote innovation and realise the goals of AUKUS, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States implemented momentous amendments to our respective export control regimes. These historic efforts will maximise secure, licence-free defence trade and stimulate innovation across the full breadth of our defence collaboration, mutually strengthening our three defence industrial bases, while maintaining rigour and security in all three systems. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reaffirmed support to reduce bureaucratic barriers to collaboration to enable deeper defence industrial base cooperation.

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Published 26 September 2024
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
January 22, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Bees have irrational biases when choosing which flowers to feed on − just like human shoppers do

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Claire Therese Hemingway, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee

The other flowers a bee has visited recently will influence how it judges this one. Scott-Cartwright-Photography/Moment via Getty Images

Just like people confronted with a sea of options at the grocery store, bees foraging in meadows encounter many different flowers at once. They must decide which ones to visit for food, but it isn’t always a straightforward choice.

Flowers offer two types of food: nectar and pollen, which can vary in important ways. Nectar, for instance, can fluctuate in concentration, volume, refill rate and accessibility. It also contains secondary metabolites, such as caffeine and nicotine, which can be either disagreeable or appealing, depending on how much is present. Similarly, pollen contains proteins and lipids, which affect nutritional quality.

When confronted with these choices, you’d think bees would always pick the flowers with the most accessible, highest-quality nectar and pollen. But they don’t. Instead, just like human grocery shoppers, their decisions about which flowers to visit depend on their recent experience with similar flowers and what other flowers are available.

I find these behaviors fascinating. My research looks at how animals make daily choices – especially when looking for food. It turns out that bees and other pollinators make the same kinds of irrational “shopping” decisions humans make.

Predictably irrational

Humans are sometimes illogical. For instance, someone who wins $5 on a scratch ticket immediately after winning $1 on one will be thrilled – whereas that same person winning $5 on a ticket might be disappointed if they’re coming off a $10 win. Even though the outcome is the same, perception changes depending on what came before.

Perceptions are also at play when people assess product labels. For instance, a person may expect an expensive bottle of wine with a fancy French label to be better than a cheap, generic-looking one. But if there’s a mismatch between how good something is and how good someone expects it to be, they may feel disproportionately disappointed or delighted.

Humans are also very sensitive to the context of their choice. For example, people are more likely to pay a higher price for a television when a smaller, more expensive one is also available.

These irrational behaviors are so predictable, companies have devised clever ways to exploit these tendencies when pricing and packaging goods, creating commercials, stocking shelves, and designing websites and apps. Even outside of a consumer setting, these behaviors are so common that they influence how politicians design public policy and attempt to influence voting behavior.

Like minds

Research shows bumblebees and humans share many of these behaviors. A 2005 study found bees evaluate the quality of nectar relative to their most recent feeding experience: Bees trained to visit a feeder with medium-quality nectar accepted it readily, whereas bees trained to visit a feeder with high-quality nectar often rejected medium-quality nectar.

My team and I wanted to explore whether floral traits such as scents, colors and patterns might serve as product labels for bees. In the lab, we trained groups of bees to associate certain artificial flower colors with high-quality “nectar” – actually a sugar solution we could manipulate.

The bumblebee colony, right, is attached by tunnel to the foraging arena, left, where colored discs serve as artifical flowers.
Claire Hemingway, CC BY-SA

For example, we trained one group to associate blue flowers with high-quality nectar. We then offered that group medium-quality nectar in either blue or yellow flowers.

We found the bees were more willing to accept the medium-quality nectar from yellow flowers than they were from blue. Their expectations mattered.

In another recent experiment, we gave bumblebees a choice between two equally attractive flowers – one high in sugar concentration but slower to refill and one quick to refill but containing less sugar. We measured their preference between the two, which was similar.

At the center of each artifical flower is a tube the bee enters to access the sugar solution.
Claire Hemingway, CC BY-SA

We then expanded the choice by including a third flower that was even lower in sugar concentration or even slower to refill. We found that the presence of the new low-reward flower made the intermediate one appear relatively better.

These results are intriguing and suggest, for both bees and other animals, available choices may guide foraging decisions.

Potential uses

Understanding these behaviors in bumblebees and other pollinators may have important consequences for people. Honeybees and bumblebees are used commercially to support billions of dollars of crop production annually.

If bees visit certain flowers more in the presence of other flowers, farmers could use this tendency strategically. Just as stores stock shelves to present unattractive options alongside attractive ones, farmers could plant certain flower species in or near crop plants to increase visitation to the target crops.

Claire Therese Hemingway is affiliated with The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institue.

– ref. Bees have irrational biases when choosing which flowers to feed on − just like human shoppers do – https://theconversation.com/bees-have-irrational-biases-when-choosing-which-flowers-to-feed-on-just-like-human-shoppers-do-236933

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 22, 2025