The American Legion Department of Colorado Blog

Meeting with members of federal agencies, NSFR Assistant Director Freddy Gessner stressed the importance of continued accounting for missing personnel.

Assistant Director Freddy Gessner represented the Legion’s National Security/Foreign Relations Division in a Feb. 16 discussion with key members of the federal government about the impact of the 2012 DoD budget on national security and issues abroad. Particularly, Gessner addressed the topic of accounting for all U.S. prisoners of war and personnel missing in action overseas and the affect the new budget might have on those issues, which the Legion emphatically supports with several resolutions. Gessner will remain in contact with representatives of the Department of State and Agency for International Development who attended the meeting to ensure that the POW/MIA issue remains a priority throughout the new fiscal year.

Other items highlighted at the meeting include an increase in DoS and AID budgets, which will provide continued significant levels of funding for operations and assistance in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specifically, a focus will be made on improving food security and global health in those regions.

Additionally, support will be given to the president’s National Export Initiative, which promotes U.S. exports and economic growth. The budget will also help implement the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, an initiative that targets investments that foster economic growth, democratic governance abroad, innovations, sustainable capacity and mutual accountability. Per the budget, a multi-year initiative to strengthen U.S. expertise in its relations with strategically important countries will also continue.

By Alan Dowd

Stuxnet computer worm may now be the signature weapon in the high-tech covert war against Iran.

Just as the F-117 stealth fighter was the star of Operation Desert Storm, and Predator UAVs have played a leading role in Afghanistan and Iraq, the high-tech, 21st-century covert war against Iran may now have its signature weapon: the Stuxnet computer worm.

Launched sometime in 2008, Stuxnet was a guided, time-released cybermissile that targeted and sabotaged the computers running Iran’s uranium-enrichment program and centrifuges. The Bush administration initially authorized a secret operation to “undermine the electrical and computer systems around Natanz, Iran’s major enrichment center,” as The New York Times reports. The Obama administration eagerly continued the effort and sped it up.

Stuxnet was probably delivered via a USB flash drive, due to the fact that the Iranian nuclear program is intentionally cut off from the Internet. As Stuxnet made its way from computer to computer, it left those computers not related to the centrifuges unaffected, as Newsweek reports. But once it found its intended target, Stuxnet quietly ripped through Iran’s nuclear program. For 17 months, it targeted the operating systems running the program; tricked centrifuges into running faster than normal, and then abruptly slowed them down, corrupting the uranium produced in the centrifuge tubes; and confounded Iran’s nuclear scientists.

Then, as Fox News reports, when a Belarusian subcontracting firm discovered traces of the worm at the power plant in Bushehr, its staff contacted computer-security experts from around the world via e-mail and the Internet, as is common practice in the industry. “Ordinarily, these experts would immediately begin tracing the worm and dissecting it,” according to the Fox analysis. But that didn’t happen with Stuxnet. Instead, “all the alert sites came under attack and were inoperative for 24 hours.” This further delayed Iran’s ability to respond to the attack.

The result: an Institute for Science and International Security study cited by Newsweek concludes that Stuxnet crippled Iran’s ability to activate new centrifuges throughout 2009; Iran’s second set of 5,000 centrifuges was “beset by delays”; and at least 1,000 centrifuges “simply broke down.” Best of all, as the Fox analysis explains, Stuxnet was designed in such a way that it allowed Iran’s nuclear processing program “to continue but never succeed, and never know why.” That’s because, as The New York Times recently reported, Stuxnet had “secretly recorded what normal operations at the nuclear plant looked like, then played those readings back to plant operators, like a prerecorded security tape in a bank heist, so that it would appear that everything was operating normally.”

As late as December 2010 – long after the revelation of Stuxnet – computer-security firms such as Tofino, which develops industrial-level cybersecurity systems, were reporting massive increases in the number of Iranians visiting their sites. Industry experts view this as “a likely indication that the virus is still causing great disarray at Iranian nuclear facilities,” according to The Jerusalem Post.

Ralph Langner, an expert in industrial computer systems, says Stuxnet “was as effective as a military strike.” Indeed, the attacks were effective enough to force Iranian strongman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to concede, “They had been successful in making problems.”

That’s an understatement. A leading Iranian IT firm reports that 30,000 computers supporting the nuclear program had been hit by Stuxnet.

A Newsweek analysis calls Stuxnet “the most sophisticated computer worm ever detected and analyzed.” Langner has likened Stuxnet to “the arrival of an F-35 into a World War I battlefield.”

So sophisticated, intricate and expensive is Stuxnet that most cyberwarfare experts believe it was the work of multiple intelligence agencies and/or militaries. Among those suspected are Israel, the United States, Germany, France and even Russia, though observers increasingly believe Stuxnet was largely a U.S.-Israeli project.

The good news for Iran’s many enemies is that Stuxnet may have set Iran’s nuclear program back several years, perhaps delaying an Iranian bomb to 2015.

The bad news, though, is twofold: first, Iran’s drive for nukes continues. What’s most worrisome about Iran – or any regime that funds terrorism, foments revolution and promises to destroy a fellow member of the United Nations – is not so much the idea of nuclear weapons as who’s in charge of those weapons.

Second, if a cyber-smart bomb like Stuxnet can be designed and deployed against the nascent nuclear infrastructure of America’s enemies, it can surely be deployed against our own highly networked military and civilian infrastructure. Already, U.S. allies in Estonia, Georgia and Israel have learned that attacks in cyberspace can have devastating real-world consequences. “Cyberwar doesn’t make you bleed,” Ene Ergma, the speaker of the Estonian parliament, told Wired, “but it can destroy everything.”

Mindful of this 21st-century reality, the British government worries that utilities-network upgrades carried out by the Chinese telecom firm Huawei may have given Beijing the ability to shut down essential services. The Pentagon concluded in 2007 that China “has established information-warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks.”

To deter, or at least defend against cyberwar, the Pentagon has been given a green light to treat cyberspace like any other military domain, and is developing capabilities to “deceive, deny, disrupt, degrade and destroy” enemy information systems.

“We have to have offensive capabilities to, in real time, shut down somebody trying to attack us,” says Gen. Keith Alexander, who leads the Pentagon’s new Cyber Command.

Perhaps some of those capabilities were put on display with Stuxnet.

Early last December, the Bulldogs of The Citadel and the Keydets of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) faced off for a charity hockey game – the Third Annual Military Classic of the South on Ice (www.militaryclassiconice.org at the Raleigh (N.C.) Ice Plex. The Citadel captured its first winning trophy in the series after defeating VMI 5-4, but the real winner of the game was The American Legion’s Legacy Scholarship Fund.

For the past three years, The American Legion Department of North Carolina has teamed up with The Citadel and VMI to conduct the charity contest which benefits the Legacy Scholarship. Since the Military Classic’s inception in 2008, more than $14,000 has been raised for the scholarship, including the $4,000 raised during December’s game.

And as a result of their continuing participation in the Military Classic and efforts to raise funds for the Legacy Scholarship, American Legion plaques will be presented to the two teams during the Department of North Carolina’s midwinter conference on Feb. 19.

By Craig Roberts

Approximately 42,000 veterans enrolled in health-care system will be asked to participate in telephone interviews.

On Feb. 28, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Health Administration (VHA) will begin an extensive, 12-week survey of former servicemembers, the results of which will help VA shape its future policies, programs and budgets. In all, about 42,000 veterans enrolled in the VA system will be asked to participate in a 15- to 30-minute telephone interview.

“It is critically important for veterans to participate in this survey, so that VA can address their needs and concerns,” said Verna Jones, director of The American Legion Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division. “As veterans, we need to take advantage of opportunities to speak openly about ways that VA can make their health-care services even better and create new services as well.”

Survey questions range from the collection of routine demographic data such as age, marital status, race and ethnicity, employment status, household income and the like to more specific queries regarding state of health, insurance coverage type (such as TRICARE, Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance), prescription use, and costs and even whether or not the veteran smokes cigarettes.

The last such survey revealed that the median age of VA health-care enrollees was 63 years and, for the most part, they were male, married and white. Sixty-one percent of enrollees were not in the labor force, and the median household income of those surveyed was $30,000. Most enrollees reported one dependent, served in the armed forces for over six years and were discharged from active duty nearly 40 years ago. Forty-three percent of those surveyed were exposed to combat during their military service.

Though the majority of veterans taking advantage of VA health care are senior citizens, previous surveys have shown the median age as trending downwards. This continuing trend is expected to be reflected in this year’s census, as is the rapidly increasing number of women veterans. Both factors could influence significant changes to VA’s programs and fiscal planning.

Veterans selected to participate in the survey will soon receive a letter of invitation and explanation.

National commander says problems are more wide-spread than isolated, pledges Legion’s help in correcting the situation.

Reported incidents of improper equipment sterilization and procedures to protect veterans from contamination are growing too frequent at VA medical centers and clinics across the country, American Legion National Commander Jimmie Foster said today.

“Recent reports out of St. Louis, Mo., and Dayton, Ohio – along with a number of other incidents in the last three or four years – show that this problem is more system-wide than it is isolated,” Foster said. “VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has assured our staff that corrective measures are being taken to better ensure patient safety. We look forward to seeing his plan and helping however we can to assist in its implementation.”

Last week, the St. Louis, Mo., VA Medical Center suspended surgical procedures for several days while an investigation was conducted after an employee reported spots on surgical trays and a water stain on one surgical instrument at the facility. “We appreciate that it was a VA employee who reported this, which shows they are self-monitoring,” Foster said. “However, we are also disappointed and frustrated by the development, especially since we were just in St. Louis hearing about measures that had been taken to improve equipment cleanliness there.”

The American Legion’s System Worth Saving Task Force, which inspects VA medical facilities throughout the country before producing an annual report to Congress each year, visited the St. Louis VA Medical Center Jan. 12-13. There, members of the task force asked about sterilization procedural changes since letters were sent last year to about 1,800 veterans in the area, informing them that they may have been at risk of exposure to Hepatitus B, C, or even HIV. The task force was told that a number of corrective measures had been taken, including better compliance with manufacturer instructions for cleaning, disinfecting and sterilizing equipment, improved staff training, better monitoring and semi-annual self-assessments and action plans for areas in need of improvement.

“We believe the St. Louis VA Medical Center has been trying to establish procedures to prevent contamination since the problem last year,” Foster said. “But those procedures have clearly not yet been effective. VA has been dutiful in reporting the problems, but The American Legion wants to know how VA is going to solve them, not just in St. Louis, but throughout the country. And we want to know what we can do, as the largest veterans service organization, to help.”

Last week, VA also announced that more than 500 veterans were being contacted about potential hepatitus or HIV exposure after a Dayton, Ohio, clinic dentist admitted he had not always washed his hands or changed gloves between patients over an 18-year span. The clinic was offering free tests to those who may have been exposed. “The encouragement to get tested is strictly a precautionary measure,” a VA spokesman said. “It’s a very low risk that there’s any potential contamination.”

Reported sterilization discrepancies involving endoscopic procedures at facilities in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Augusta, Ga., and Miami, Fla., compelled VA to contact thousands of veterans after 2008, offering testing and treatment.

A 2009 report from the VA Inspector General’s Office concluded that the three facilities had not complied with management directives to employ a standardized approach on the re-use of endoscopic instruments. Following that, according an update posted on the VA website, the IG office completed a 129-facility investigation nationwide and found just one discrepancy – a typographical error. “VA is committed to transparency, sharing lessons learned from this process with the public sector and with the private health-care industry, with the intent of improving care for all patients,” the website reported.

Foster said he is confident that no one in VA is intentionally negligent about cleanliness and sterilization of equipment. “This is a problem that will get fixed quicker and better if we focus on real solutions, system-wide, rather than finger-pointing at any one facility. I look forward to seeing the secretary’s overall strategy and understanding how it will be

“Good, bad, but not ugly,” was how The American Legion’s national commander characterized the Obama administration VA budget recommendations for 2012.

“First the good,” National Commander Jimmie L. Foster said today. “There is much to like in this budget. The administration actually exceeded our expectations in total medical care by $4.3 billion. The $54 billion that the administration wants to spend in VA medical care alone would help preserve and, indeed, improve the best health care system available anywhere.”

Overall, the $132 billion budget marks a 4 percent increase over the administration’s 2011 budget, which still has not been approved by Congress. Federal spending is currently being funded by continuing resolution, meaning that the Obama administration’s request for VA actually is a 10 percent increase over 2010 levels.

“Now for the bad,” Foster continued. “There are some very important construction projects that VA needs in order to serve the 6 million veterans who are expected to use their facilities next year. We find the cuts in major and minor construction for these facilities to be unacceptable. During my congressional testimony last fall, I submitted recommendations of $1.2 billion for major construction and $800 million for minor construction. The administration budget includes only $590 million and $550 million in those respective areas – well short of what is needed.”

Foster called on Congress to immediately approve the $208 million allotted to fund the veterans’ caregivers program, which has experienced delays in its implementation.

“This program was signed into law last May and the program was supposed to be implemented last month,” Foster said. “We understand that it takes time to publish regulations and complete training, but these caregivers are depending on the stipends and benefits that this program is supposed to provide. We need it up and running now.”

The discretionary portion of the VA budget is divided among nine major categories, areas which will require thorough review by The American Legion.

“Whether it’s providing the best treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury or helping VA Secretary (Eric) Shinseki fulfill his promise to end veterans homelessness, there are many complex areas of this budget that I have directed my staff to study in the coming days,” said Peter Gaytan, Executive Director of the Legion’s Washington headquarters. “We will report our findings to our members and on our website, www.legion.org. We look forward to working with the administration and Congress to make sure that we serve our veterans in a manner worthy of a grateful nation. We are all partners in this endeavor.”

Today people are always looking for opportunities to save time and spend less money. TRICARE Pharmacy Home Delivery allows beneficiaries to do this by delivering maintenance medications safely and securely to their home through the U.S. mail.

“For more than 10 years, TRICARE has offered home delivery as a convenient alternative to picking up prescription medications at a civilian retail pharmacy,” said Rear Adm. Thomas McGinnis, chief of TRICARE Pharmacy Operations. “TRICARE undertook an aggressive campaign to increase awareness of the benefits and savings of home delivery in 2010, which contributed to a 12.3 percent increase in participation.” More than one million prescriptions were filled through home delivery in each of the last five months of 2010 – a record.

Pharmacy home delivery is available to many categories of beneficiaries, including active duty service members deployed overseas.

“Home delivery can be to any U.S. postal address and overseas Army Post Offices (APO), Fleet Post Offices (FPO) and in some cases, U.S. Embassies,” McGinnis said. “Beneficiaries have convenient and secure Internet access to their plan information and can manage their prescriptions online.”

Home delivery is especially useful for beneficiaries with prescriptions they need to take on a regular basis – maintenance medications. These medications are used to treat illnesses such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. If beneficiaries need immediate relief from a pain medication or antibiotics, they should have their prescription filled at a military treatment facility or retail network pharmacy.

Pharmacy home delivery also features an automatic prescription refill option to ensure beneficiaries are always supplied with the medications they need and checks medical and prescription history to avoid harmful drug interactions. A phone line is available 24/7 to speak directly to a pharmacist.

TRICARE retail network pharmacies fill prescriptions with a 30-day supply. Home delivery fills prescriptions for the same copayment, but for 90 days. Home delivery costs beneficiaries $3 for a 90-day supply for generic formulary medications and $9 for a 90-day supply for formulary brand-name medications.

TRICARE beneficiaries switching to pharmacy home delivery from retail pharmacies in 2010 saved 66 percent on their copayments, up to $176 a year for a non-formulary prescription. They also saved taxpayers $30.7 million.

McGinnis attributes this growth to outreach in 2010. For example, new “explanations of benefits” from retail pharmacies show beneficiaries how much they can save by switching to pharmacy home delivery. The new automatic prescription refill program also contributed to this success.

To sign up for pharmacy home delivery or to learn more about the program, go to www.tricare.mil/homedelivery or call the Member Choice Center toll free at 1-877-363-1343.

“Shinseki Pledges to Continue to be “Good Steward” of Resources”

In announcing the proposed budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during the next fiscal year, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki emphasized “making every dollar” count in the $132 billion budget proposal for VA.

“We will continue to wisely use the funds that Congress appropriates for us to further improve the quality of life for Veterans and their families through the efficiency of our operations,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki

“In the current constrained fiscal environment, every dollar counts,”

Shinseki added. “We have put into place management systems and initiatives to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, and to eliminate waste.”

The budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 must be approved by Congress before taking effect.

Health Care

The budget request seeks nearly $51 billion for medical care. It would provide care to more than 6.2 million patients, including nearly 540,000 Veterans of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The budget request also includes almost $1 billion for a contingency fund and $1.2 billion of operational improvements to manage the appropriated funds in a fiscally responsible manner.

Major health care provisions include:

* $6.2 billion for mental health programs, including $68 million directly for suicide prevention;

* $344 million to activate newly constructed medical facilities;

* $208 million to implement new benefits for Veterans’ caregivers;

* Nearly $509 million for research; and

Shinseki noted the department has created “a portfolio of initiatives” to improve the quality of VA care while making it easier for patients to access services. Primary care providers will put more emphasis upon disease prevention and healthy living. New technology – securing e-mails, social networking and telehealth – will be harnessed to meet the evolving needs of patients.

For example, in 2010, a daily average of more than 31,000 patients took advantage of VA’s telehome health care. The budget proposal will allow more than 50,000 people daily to use this innovative, at-home care.

Among the department’s operational improvements is a provision that calls for VA to implement Medicare’s standard payment rates, a measure that will free $315 million for other health care needs.

Benefits

The proposed budget for the new fiscal year includes more than $70 billion in “mandatory” benefits programs, a category consisting mostly of VA disability compensation and pension payments.

Shinseki reaffirmed his commitment to “break the back of the backlog” of claims from Veterans for disability compensation and pensions. VA’s goal is to provide Veterans with decisions on their claims within 125 days at a 98 percent accuracy rate by 2015.

Various initiatives support continued redesign of VA’s business processes and development of a paperless claims system to improve the efficiency of VA’s handling of applications for compensation and pensions. Among the major projects is one to provide Veterans with streamlined forms to present to non-VA physicians who are evaluating Veterans for disability benefits, while another new program allows online application for claims related to exposure to Agent Orange.

Homelessness Prevention

The funding request includes nearly $940 million for specific programs to prevent and reduce homelessness among Veterans and their families.

This funding is a 17 percent increase over the current budget of nearly $800 million.

“Homelessness is both a housing and a health care issue,” Shinseki said.

“Our 2012 budget plan supports a comprehensive approach to eliminating Veterans’ homelessness by making key investments in homeless and mental health programs.”

Education and Training

The requested budget for “mandatory” benefits programs includes nearly

$11.5 billion for VA education, training, vocational rehabilitation and employment programs, including educational benefit programs VA administers for the Department of Defense. Approximately 925,000 people will receive benefits under these programs. Nearly three-quarters of the funds will go to recipients of the new Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The budget proposal continues development of an automated Post-9/11 GI Bill claims processing system that will speed tuition and housing payments to eligible Veterans.

Information Technology

VA will seek nearly $3.2 billion for the new fiscal year to operate and maintain its information technology (IT).

“IT is the key to bringing VA into the 21st century,” Shinseki said. “It allows for the efficient delivery of health care and benefits.”

A recent independent study found that VA invested $4 billion in medical IT from 1997 to 2007, which generated $7 billion in savings, mostly from the elimination of duplicate medical tests and the reduction of medical errors.

VA has a major role in the development of the “virtual lifetime electronic record” as part of an inter-agency federal initiative to provide complete and portable electronic health records for service members, Veterans, other family members and, eventually, all Americans.

Through a disciplined approach to IT projects, VA transformed its software development processes, meeting product delivery schedules over 80 percent of the time.

VA is consolidating its IT requirements into 15 major contracts, which will lower costs and increase oversight and accountability. Seven of the 15 contracts are set-aside for Veteran-owned businesses, and four of those seven are reserved for small businesses owned by service-disabled Veterans.

Construction

Nearly $590 million in major construction is included within next year’s budget request.

“This reflects the department’s continued commitment to provide quality health care and benefits through improving its facilities to be modern, safe and secure for Veterans,” Shinseki said.

The funding proposal provides for the continuation of seven ongoing construction projects at health care facilities – New Orleans; Denver; San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Louis; Palo Alto, Calif.; Bay Pines, Fla., and Seattle – plus new projects in Reno, Nev.; Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Also in the budget request is $550 million for minor construction for such purposes as seismic corrections, improvements for patient safety, and enhancements for access and patient privacy.

Additionally, the spending proposal includes funds for a gravesite expansion project at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

National Cemeteries

VA is seeking more than $250 million next year for the operation and maintenance of its 131 national cemeteries.

The department expects to inter about 115,000 people next year at its national cemeteries. Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population is within 75 miles of a VA-run national cemetery or a state-run Veterans cemetery.

For the fourth consecutive time in 10 years, VA’s system of national cemeteries has bested the nation’s top corporations and other federal agencies in a prestigious, independent survey of customer satisfaction.

The fiscal year 2012 budget plan includes $46 million to fund creation and improvement of state Veterans cemeteries and tribal government Veterans cemeteries.

Further information about VA’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 is available on the Internet at www.va.gov/budget/products.asp.