Storm The Swarm: SOCCENT deputy chief asks for technology to stop threat of Iranian small boats

Posted May 22, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated May 22, 2012 at 11:29 PM

When it comes to the technology that would help them do their jobs, the Theater Special Operations Command honchos gathered in the ballroom of the Tampa Convention Center all asked defense industry leaders in attendance for improved communications and better, faster and more comprehensive networks that allow allies access without compromising security.

Here are some of the highlights from a fascinating discussion on the opening day of the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference.

Satellite technology does not work so well way up north because of the curvature of the earth, says Army . Gen. Michael Repass, commanding general of SOCEUR. And as polar ice caps melt and with it, possible new passageways, there will be increased competition for those new lanes, making it even more important to establish a robust communications system.

Right now, HF seems to be the preferred method, says Repass.

While a lot of attention is being paid to PACCOM these days, Air Force Maj. Gen. Norman Brozenick – whose AOR has 16 time zones, 3,000 languages and is so big it encompasses “half the world and half of humanity” – says that so far, there are no “planes full of kit” heading his way

For what it’s worth, while this country is struggling mightily and slashing the defense budget, Latin America is flush these days says RADM Thomas L. Brown, commander of SOCSOUTH.

Latin American countries are seeing a 6 percent annual growth rate and they are looking to buy the kind of military goods and service being showcased in the exhibition hall upstairs.

In particular, nations like Colombia are looking to field lightweight expeditionary equipment, says Brown, that is good for long treks through the jungle looking for the FARC or narcotrafficantes.

“We’re not looking for advanced technologies or Star Wars solutions,” Brown says.

Next up is Army Brig. Gen. Neil Tolley, commander of the smallest TSOC, SOCKOR.

“We have only two countries and one time zone,” he says. “But what we lack in size we make up for in kilotons of evil.”

North Korea, he says, presents a particularly vexing adversary, because they have so many underground facilities – about 11,000 in all.

There are 180 munitions factories underground in North Korea.

At least one entire air force base, with a 1,300 meter runway where planes fly out of.

“There were four tunnels under the DMZ,” he says. “Those are the ones we know about.”

The challenge, he says, is getting good information.

“After 50 years, we still don’t know much about the full extent of their underground facilities,” says Tolley, who asks the industry folks to develop “man-packable” sensors that will allow special operators making incursions into the north to get a better handle on just what the North Koreans have underground.

RADM Kerry Metz, the deputy commander of SOCCENT, is filling in for Maj. Gen. Ken Tovo, who is running the show at Eager Lion, a 19-nation special ops training maneuver in Jordan.

Tops on his wish list is “anti-swarm” technology that will take care of the fleet of small boats the Iranians can employ at the choke point of the Straight of Hormuz.

“Affect the driver. The hull. The motor. The propeller,” he says.

Metz also asks for improved ISR, “overhead, under water…video, seismic, sonographic.”

After the panel discussion is over, I ask Metz if the kind of tunnel-peeping technology requested by Tolley would come in handy in his AOR, what with Iran supposedly having so many underground facilities of its own.

“In theory, yes,” he says.

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Nelson disses Obama on Castro daughter

Posted May 22, 2012 by William March

Updated May 22, 2012 at 06:29 PM

In the battle between the Obama administration and Republicans over the admission of Raul Castro’s daughter to the U.S. for a visit, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson took sides today with the Republicans.

“Allowing Raul’s daughter to come to the U.S when the regime still holds Alan Gross makes no sense,” said Nelson, according to a written statement from his office.

That referred to an American arrested in Cuba in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years for carrying communications gear to the island. Gross said he was trying to help the Jewish community there set up a computer network and get internet access.

Republicans including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio have criticized the Obama administration for providing Mariela Castro, a gay rights activist, a visa to come to the U.S. to give a speech in San Francisco May 24.

In a news conference call today, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said it was “reprehensible, unacceptable and it is greatly irresponsible of the administration to allow these high level Communist Party regime officials to come into the United States on these PR tours, pro-regime public relations tours.”

Mitt Romney chimed in, “We shouldn’t be extending an open hand to a regime engaged in the systematic and flagrant denial of basic human rights ... the Obama Administration should not be welcoming the daughter of a dictator.”

Democrats responded that’s pure hypocrisy, because Mariela Castro has come to the U.S. before, including 2002, when she got a visa from the George W. Bush administration.

The Florida Democratic Party sent out a statement from Hispanic community leader Freddy Balsera saying Republicans are “playing with people’s emotions” in bashing Obama over the incident. He said they didn’t criticize the Bush administration for admitting Castro, “Because ultimately this is all about politics for them.”

One conservative Cuban group, Capitol Hill Cubans, said the two incidents aren’t comparable because since Raoul Castro took over the reins of government from his brother, Fidel Castro, his daughter Mariela has become a more important spokesman for the dictatorship.

Nelson, up for re-election in November, will face the winner of a Repubilcan primary including George LeMieux, Rep. Connie Mack IV of Fort Myers, and former Rep. Dave Weldon of Melbourne.

Nelson spokesman Bryan Gulley said Nelson’s reaction was delivered on the fly in response to a press question, and he couldn’t elaborate on it.

 

 

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Hoyer to campaign with Ehrlich

Posted May 22, 2012 by William March

Updated May 22, 2012 at 05:11 PM

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland will appear at a campaign event for Jessica Ehrlich, who’s challenging Rep. C.W. Bill Young, in St. Petersburg Wednesday.

Hoyer and Ehrlich will hold a roundtable discussion with Pinellas County seniors on Medicare and the state of the economy at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday at Ehrlich’s campaign headquarters at 2100 9th Street N, at the intersection with 21st Ave N.

The appearance by Hoyer, a member of Democratic House leadership, suggests Democrats have some hopes for Ehrlich against Young, possibly the most solidly entrenched member of the Florida congressional delegation.

“This year’s budget proposal from Congressman Bill Young and House Republicans would turn Medicare into a voucher program, effectively ending the program as we know it and causing more than three million Florida seniors to pay thousands more in out of pocket costs,” said an Ehrlich news release about the event. That refers to the budget proposal by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

Young has voted for the Ryan budget, but says he opposes resolving the nation’s budget problems by cutting Social Security or Medicare.

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Mack dumbest speaker in Congress?  It’s complicated

Posted May 22, 2012 by William March

Updated May 22, 2012 at 12:18 PM

Is Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers, a candidate for U.S. Senate, the dumbest speaker in Congress? Well, sort of. But it’s complicated.

An analysis of speech patterns of members of Congress that ranked their speech by reading grade level found Mack’s Congressional Record verbiage was at the lowest level of any member during the 112th Congress, just above a 6th-grade level.

But there’s a bit more to it.

For one thing, the analysis showed Mack’s speech patterns during his entire, seven-year congressional career much higher. It doesn’t provide any explanation for the change from his career grade level of 12.04, or 182nd highest out of 535 current members, to grade level 6.7 for the 112th Congress, which began in January 2011.

The analysis, done by the non-profit, non-partisan Sunlight Foundation, ranked congressional speech through a measure that equates longer words and longer, more complex sentences with a higher grade level. You can see the full analysis here.

But as the Foundation noted, more complex speech isn’t necessarily the same as clearer or more intelligent speech, and some classics of U.S. politics, including Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, are comparatively low-ranking on that measure. The average American, it noted, reads at about an 8th- or 9th-grade level.

The Foundation noted that the speech level in Congress has declined sharply over the last couple of years, and that the newer, more ideological members tend to use lower grade-level speech.

Not worrying too much about the complexities, Mack’s U.S. Senate primary opponent George LeMieux pounced on the findings.

“Last place is nothing new for the prodigal son,” said LeMieux spokeswoman Anna Nix. “This year alone, Mack earned the worst attendance record in the House of Representatives and has come in dead last in three Senate primary straw polls, including the Florida Federation of Republican Women and statewide Tea Party leaders. If Florida Republicans nominate Connie Mack the Fourth, he will surely come in last to Bill Nelson in November.”

 

 

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Guetzloe sentenced for not filing tax returns

Posted May 21, 2012 by William March

Updated May 23, 2012 at 02:18 PM

Radio talk show host and conservative political activist Doug Guetzloe of Orlando has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for willfully failing to file federal tax returns, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Guetzloe, 57, was convicted by a federal jury in February on two counts of failure to file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, despite making more than $180,000 in gross income in both of those years, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill.  Guetzloe owed more than $39,000 in taxes for those two years.

O’Neill said evidence at the trial showed Guetzloe also filed eight late returns between 1992 and 2004, including four returns filed more than three years late. He paid more than $200,000 in additional taxes, penalties and interest as result.

Guetzloe, an anti-tax crusader, has long had a reputation as a maverick in the Republican Party, and has often been accused of unethical behavior by political opponents, which he denies.

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