Think universities are making lots of money from inventions? Think again.

When Daria Mochly-Rosen discovered a compound in her lab that promised to lessen the effects of heart attacks, she set out to convince pharmaceutical companies to develop it. She couldn’t. So the professor of chemistry and systems biology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine took a leave of absence and started her own company to further test and potentially commercialize the drug. It seemed the obvious next step. After all, universities often speak of their success in turning research into products that make life better, with the added bonus of contributing to the economy. There are seemingly countless examples, including Gatorade, invented at the University of Florida; Google, which began at Stanford; web browsers and plasma screens, both created at the University of Illinois; and the drug that became the allergy medicine Allegra, developed at Georgetown University. But Mochly-Rosen quickly learned myriad obstacles stood in the way of those kinds of payoffs, which turned out to be more exceptions than rules. “Other universities look at those very few rare cases” and imagine they can also hit the invention jackpot, she said. But “academicians are absolutely clueless about what needs to be done to make a project attractive to industry.” For those and other reasons, and at a time when they would seem to be searching for new sources of revenue, U.S. colleges and universities are producing a surprisingly small proportion of the nation’s patents and start-ups and making so little money from licensing inventions that, at many schools, it doesn’t even cover the cost of managing them. Most of the more than $75 billion a year from the federal government and other sources that the National Science Foundation calculates is spent by academia on research is not intended to immediately result in commercial applications. It’s about fundamental knowledge. The basic research performed in university laboratories underpins discoveries that may take years to end up in the market, if they ever do. But higher education itself often draws a connection between its research and financial returns, as it did in December after Congress increased annual research funding by $2.6 billion. The money will “enhance U.S. global competitiveness [and] national security, and lead to innovations that grow our economy while improving quality of life,” the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities proclaimed. Trying to prod more commercialization of discoveries from federally sponsored research is also why, 40 years ago this year, Congress


Australians love a home among gum trees. But can eucalyptus forests recover from the fires?

a lodge in a national park to draft a letter to Australia’s environment minister about the threat posed by climate change, urging the government to act to protect World Heritage areas. The next day they were evacuated when a bush fire — later revealed to be caused by a discarded cigarette — ignited in the rainforest around them. The lodge was destroyed. David Camroux, a research fellow at the Center for International Studies at SciencesPo in Paris, agreed that the impact on Australia’s unique ecosystem has been unprecedented. “Now we see a rich country that is overwhelmed and incapable of dealing with the effects of climate change,” he said. Australia’s dense eucalyptus forests produce a blue hue in the air, the result of eucalyptus oil mixing with dust particles, water vapor and sunlight. This effect is commonly seen in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales. In this Australian summer, however, a more familiar image is of a sky choked with smoke. As the blazes fuel a political debate about climate policy, the traditional role of fire in the landscape has also come into focus, drawing on the expertise of Australia’s indigenous people, whose interaction with fire goes back 40,000 years. Much of that knowledge was lost, however, when European colonization decimated Aboriginal culture. Controlled burning is an ancient technique used by indigenous people to manage the land under certain circumstances. Since European settlement, fire agencies have adapted the practice and refer to it as hazard reduction, but some critics say it lost the integrity of historic practices. “If we’re just using Western mentality to manage landscapes — where they just fly over the top and drop water bombs, or hazard reduction, or solely for the protection of people — we’re going to miss all those layers and we’re going to continue to see a degraded landscape,” said Victor Steffensen, an indigenous expert on cultural burning practices. Steffensen told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. recently that many of the nation’s forested areas have become overgrown because they have not been managed. “People have been calling for better fire management for a long time,” he said. Traditionally, he said, small, controlled fires would be lit to clear invasive species or to trigger regeneration. Fire authorities have defended their approach. At a recent news conference, Shane Fitzsimmons, rural fire service commissioner in New South Wales, said hazard-reduction burns were hampered by longer


Boris Johnson doesn’t want to be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom

and Scotland is Brexit. Johnson was elected on the back of a promise to “Get Brexit Done.” That will be accomplished at the end of this month. Three-and-a-half years after the Brexit referendum, Brexit is finally happening. But at what price? At its simplest, without Brexit there would be little debate over Scotland’s place at the heart of the U.K. In 2014, Scots voted — 55 percent to 45 percent — in favor of maintaining a parliamentary union first established in 1707. And there the matter might have rested for a generation — if Brexit hadn’t come along. England (and Wales) voted to leave the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum, but 62 percent of Scottish voters opted to remain. At a stroke, the conditions for the “meaningful change in circumstance” Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the SNP and Scotland’s first minister, deemed necessary for reopening the independence box were met. Scotland, she insists, must have the right to choose its own destiny. Most opinion polls suggest the question is much too close to call. The most recent, published just before the December general election, reported support for independence at 49 percent. Hence Johnson’s abrupt dismissal this week of the Scottish government’s request for the legal right to hold another referendum. In 2014, Tory ministers note, senior SNP figures suggested that a referendum was a “once in a generation” opportunity to choose an independent future. Now Tory politicians are busy reinterpreting a “generation” as anything from 30 to 50 years or even, in one case, to the rest of Sturgeon’s “lifetime.” (She is 49.) That line will hold for now, not least since there is no majority enthusiasm for another referendum before the shape, meaning and implications of Brexit have become clear. The relationship forged between London and Brussels necessarily informs that between Edinburgh and London. As a practical matter, the possibility of a “hard” border between an independent Scotland and the rump-U.K. complicates the prospects for independence. As a matter of economic self-interest, independence might prove an expensive business for Scotland. But as Brexit has demonstrated, economic self-interest isn’t always the most important thing in voters’ minds. If Union remains something of measurable financial value to the nation in the north — Scotland spends roughly $16 billion more each year than it raises in taxes — psychologically it often feels semi-detached from the United Kingdom of which it


Can historical analysis help reduce military deaths by suicide?

war. Less than one percent of the nation’s population serves in the military, and for most people, the current military conflict is a distant and remote phenomenon that is easily put out of mind. Civilians are not asked to ration, pay increased taxes, endure mobilization or see their children face the prospect of being drafted, as they did in previous wars. The blood of the few now pays for the freedom of the many. While we venerate our service members, U.S. society has elevated them to the status of remote icons and rendered war a spectator sport. Thanks in part to this remoteness, the public has willingly countenanced extended war, which compelled the Army to reduce enlistment standards to meet recruitment goals while simultaneously seeking reductions to ballooning health-care costs that draw against funds used to maintain military readiness. That means a third of new Army recruits have preexisting mental illnesses and are simply more vulnerable at the outset of service than they have been in the past. As a result, the Army, and the military as a whole, are playing catch-up in mental health care. How to tackle this problem? The Defense Department’s November 2017 instruction codified mental health policies pertaining to suicide across all services, and although it was a good start, Defense should also look to replicate the strategies that paid dividends in the past. That means going beyond the military and mental health element of soldiers’ lives by making educational, legal and financial experts readily available. This will help their personal lives and careers, while securing their financial future. We frequently consider service members the best the nation has to offer, and their deaths by suicide do not fit into our triumphant narrative of heroic military service. Beyond the civil-military divide stands a volunteer force that is the best the nation has ever fielded. However, with the end of the draft, the increase in long wars, enlistment shortages, lowered recruitment standards and the erosion of military benefits, death by suicide has risen. Given the recent developments in the Middle East, it appears this trend will not end anytime soon. Perhaps at the start of the new decade, knowledge of our shared past can inform our future solutions. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this article are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official Defense Department position, policy, or decision.


We’re trying to keep the Galapagos pristine. That might destroy them.

in the islands each year, it would have been difficult to imagine a future when about 275,000 people visit annually. Most tourists come from North America and Europe and stay in the relative luxury we expect in any tourism destination — even one 600 miles off the Ecuadoran coast with very little freshwater. Some take cruises that continually circle the archipelago; others stay in one of four towns that are home to a total of 30,000 people, mostly Ecuadoran citizens. Tourism is the lifeblood of the local economy and an important source of funding for conservation. Yet as tourism increases, so does development in the islands — and its negative impacts for terrestrial and marine life because of pollution and encroachment on habitat. Supporting residents and visitors means importing fuel, food, air conditioners and automobiles from the continent. The amped-up air and sea travel has also led to the inadvertent introductions of new pests. One is the parasitic fly Philornis downsi, which kills young finches and other avian species, and whose virulence has increased in parallel with economic growth since the late 1960s. Conservationists have brought giant tortoise species back from the brink of extinction. Yet saving tortoises is not enough. The goal of restoring the archipelago as a natural laboratory ignores the human element. This is the key lesson that the Galapagos can offer us today: Conservation cannot focus exclusively on saving charismatic species or locking nature behind a fence. We cannot ignore the relationship between our economies — even seemingly beneficial nature tourism — and conservation. The Galapagos should not be idolized as a surviving remnant of a more natural past. The archipelago is instead a microcosm for understanding how human actions are shaping evolution in unpredictable ways. Its islands are a reminder that nature is not something we can preserve — it is a process that is always in motion and inseparable from the world’s rich, contradictory and human complexity. Restoration, then, is not the right goal for conservation. Instead of looking back with nostalgia, we must look ahead. Breeding tortoises and eradicating invasive species cannot restore the past. But conservation can help to ensure a vibrant future, as many biologists and conservationists in the Galapagos do every day. In the case of Philornis downsi, this involves encouraging finches to build their nests with fumigated cotton and enforcing quarantine and fumigation protocols for travel to and among


from the continent. The amped-up air and sea travel has also led to the inadvertent introductions of new pests. One is the parasitic fly Philornis downsi, which kills young finches and other avian species, and whose virulence has increased in parallel with economic growth since the late 1960s. Conservationists have brought giant tortoise species back from the brink of extinction. Yet saving tortoises is not enough. The goal of restoring the archipelago as a natural laboratory ignores the human element. This is the key lesson that the Galapagos can offer us today: Conservation cannot focus exclusively on saving charismatic species or locking nature behind a fence. We cannot ignore the relationship between our economies — even seemingly beneficial nature tourism — and conservation. The Galapagos should not be idolized as a surviving remnant of a more natural past. The archipelago is instead a microcosm for understanding how human actions are shaping evolution in unpredictable ways. Its islands are a reminder that nature is not something we can preserve — it is a process that is always in motion and inseparable from the world’s rich, contradictory and human complexity. Restoration, then, is not the right goal for conservation. Instead of looking back with nostalgia, we must look ahead. Breeding tortoises and eradicating invasive species cannot restore the past. But conservation can help to ensure a vibrant future, as many biologists and conservationists in the Galapagos do every day. In the case of Philornis downsi, this involves encouraging finches to build their nests with fumigated cotton and enforcing quarantine and fumigation protocols for travel to and among the islands. Such work also means cleaning up the damage from an economy that runs on fossil fuels. But neither preventing species introductions and accidents like the sunken barge, nor even the essential work of mitigating their fallout, is enough to ensure a thriving future for the Galapagos. Looking ahead means that conservation cannot focus solely on protecting what is left after centuries of environmental exploitation. We have wrought unprecedented species losses and a warming climate. We cannot predict, much less control, how these changes will shape the future of evolution in the Galapagos or elsewhere. Instead of idealizing the Galapagos as an escape to a more natural past, we must confront the causes of contemporary environmental crises: the ever-expanding economies that threaten not only the Galapagos but environments much closer to home as well.


Transportation secretary’s expert panel defends FAA system that approved deadly 737 Max jets

said his team’s investigation has shown that the approval process, known as Organization Designation Authorization, failed at multiple points and that legislation to improve safety was needed. “I want to be very clear: 346 people died because the system failed,” he said in a statement. “Despite the wishes of industry, it would be the height of irresponsibility to leave the ODA system as is and just hope for the best the next time. Not addressing the failures head-on would be a grave mistake and that will not happen on my watch.” Moak worked on the review with a retired Air Force general and three safety experts with a mix of experience in government and private industry. The group’s report offered an extended defense of the FAA’s oversight. It noted criticisms that giving companies broad authority to oversee themselves creates an “inherent conflict of interest” that results in “a regulatory blind spot.” “This interpretation is inaccurate,” the report states. “In fact, with strict FAA oversight, delegation extends the rigor of the FAA certification process” by “multiplying the technical expertise” focused on an aircraft’s safety, it said. But the report did not explain how and why the FAA’s oversight failed to catch the Max’s deadly flaws or the problems at Boeing that created them. “In summary, we found good faith compliance efforts with the regulatory requirements by both Boeing and the FAA,” it concluded. It noted that “no holistic assessment” of risk “was required, or presented” by Boeing. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the top Republican on the Transportation Committee, called the report unbiased said it “clearly dispels the narrative that our aviation certification system is broken and must be completely rebuilt.” The group did make several proposals for improving the safety certification process that were in line with previous findings by the National Transportation Safety Board and an international committee. Boeing and other companies should be required to build or expand internal “safety management systems” that would be overseen by the FAA, the report said. And it recommended that the FAA and industry “should work together” to address concerns about “potential undue pressure” on company representatives who are supposed to act on the FAA’s behalf in overseeing safety, though it did not offer specifics. The recommendations also include rethinking assumptions about how well pilots are trained, reviewing how multiple changes to an existing aircraft design might affect one another and improving communication


Maryland open houses Jan. 18-19

6912 Representation Lane 6914 Representation Lane 6916 Representation Lane 6918 Representation Lane 21704 5806 Zoe Lane 5802 Zoe Lane 5810 Zoe Lane 5818 Zoe Lane IJAMSVILLE 21754 3121 Cedar Grove Ter 3123 Cedar Grove Ter 3106 Cedar Grove Ter 3108 Cedar Grove Ter JEFFERSON 21755 4730 Old Middletown MONROVIA 21770 12529 Fingerboard Rd NEW MARKET 21774 6206 Nightfire Ct 6208 Nightfire Ct 6210 Nightfire Ct 9914 Arapahoe Rd 6520 Nightingale Ct POINT OF ROCKS 21777 1636 Gibbons Rd URBANA 21704 9227 Bealls Farm Rd 9245 Bealls Farm Rd 9279 Bealls Farm Rd 9264 Bealls Farm Rd 9262 Bealls Farm Rd 8803 Bealls Farm Lane 9233 Bealls Farm Rd 8795 Bealls Farm Lane 8799 Bealls Farm Lane WOODSBORO 21798 110 Copper Oaks Ct HOWARD COUNTY COLUMBIA 21044 5844 Wyndham Cir #303 10429 Owen Brown Rd 21045 8513 Window Latch Way 21046 7102 Willow Brook Way 9554 Quarry Bridge Ct ELKRIDGE 21075 7374 Matchbox Aly 6250 Lawyers Hill Rd ELLICOTT CITY 21042 2626 Vardon Lane 21043 7998 Hillsborough Rd GLENWOOD 21738 3512 Winding Path Ct MONTGOMERY COUNTY CLARKSBURG 20871 23514 Overlook Park Dr #101 23407 Harnes Point Dr 23520 Overlook Park Dr #101 23518 Overlook Park Dr 23522 Overlook Park Dr #201 23516 Overlook Park Dr #00704 23524 Overlook Park Dr #1504 23524 Overlook Park Dr #1604 13001 Martz St #0 21913 Woodcock Way 21917 Woodcock Way GAITHERSBURG 20878 428 Salk Cir 210 Decoverly Dr #10003 210 Decoverly Dr #105 210 Decoverly Dr #20503 20882 26201 Long Corner Rd 20886 9954 Hellingly Pl #182 GERMANTOWN 20874 18101 Cloppers Mill Ter #12-K 12810 Cloverleaf Center Dr 20396 Stol Run 3322 Provider Way 3330 Provider Way 20309 Century Blvd #0 20307 Century Blvd #0 20305 Century Blvd #0 20361 Century Blvd #174 20361 Century Blvd #173 12822 Cloverleaf Center Dr #156 18734 Curry Powder Lane 20573 Summersong Lane 12546 Laurel Grove Pl 20876 20039 Dunstable Cir #310 21929 Boneset Way 21933 Boneset Way #0 21937 Boneset Way #0 HYATTSVILLE 20782 5422 Sargent Rd KENSINGTON 20895 9505 Culver St ROCKVILLE 20850 587 Shorthorn Way 585 Shorthorn Way 921 King Farm Blvd #0 919 King Farm Blvd #0 591 Shorthorn Way 20852 10401 Grosvenor Pl #1306 SILVER SPRING 20902 2614 Henderson Ave 20905 2113 Countryside Dr 2015 Mayflower Dr PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY BOWIE 20720 5211 Shamrocks Delight Dr #116a 20721 1702 Fraser Fir Ct 13001 Contee Manor Rd CLINTON 20735 12428 Hillantrae Dr 6712 Craig Lane


Among the top tips for Maialino Mare: The Italian charmer doesn’t do gratuities

One of the gold standards in the hospitality world just opened an Italian restaurant on the ground floor of the new Thompson hotel at the Yards. Danny Meyer, whose portfolio of New York restaurants includes the beloved Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern, doesn’t view the freshly minted Maialino Mare as mere extension of a brand. “It’s significant for us to be opening in Washington, D.C., ” says Meyer, who has several Shake Shacks in the District. Maialino Mare, he says, “is our only full-service restaurant not in Manhattan.” While the fresh face borrows ideas from Meyer’s Roman-style Maialino in New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel, the Washington restaurant is an attempt for his Union Square Hospitality Group to “give D.C. something we hadn’t done before.” As its name suggests, Maialino Mare has more of a seafood focus. An early hit pairs supple fettuccine with sweet ruby red shrimp, a union bound with butter and pecorino. Installing Rose Noel as executive chef was a no-brainer. The Brooklyn native includes Maialino on her résumé. Most recently, she opened Manhatta, Meyer’s room with a view on the 60th floor of the 28 Liberty Street building in Manhattan. Noel’s mantra is that of a discerning Italian chef: “Simple food, done well,” a philosophy made apparent in every dish I sampled after scoring an already-challenging reservation. Fried baby artichokes — crisp and greaseless — are as good as any I’ve had in Rome, which Noel and some of the principals toured ahead of opening Maialino Mare. Octopus is on menus everywhere but “everywhere” does not braise the beast to such succulent chew, then char it so you can taste the seafood through the smoke. Do you really want to order chicken, a staple of hotel restaurants everywhere? You really do, here at least, where the peppery main course has its heat repeated in a pool of sauce, red as fire and tingling with heat. Maialino, in English, means “little pig.” Do yourself a favor and ask for the malfatti, flat pasta strewn with braised suckling pig that’s been seasoned with little more than fennel and onions. The pork, in other words, shines. Make time for the tiramisu, too, among the dreamiest in town. Half-curtains in the windows and blue-checkered table covers are cheery touches in the expansive dining room, poised to serve three meals a day and weekend brunch. (Scrambled eggs with bottarga? I’m in!)


World Digest: Jan. 16, 2020

SYRIA About 350,000 Syrians have fled a renewed Russian-backed offensive in opposition-held Idlib province since early December and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said Thursday. The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate as a result of the “escalating” hostilities, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report. Russian jets and Syrian artillery have pounded towns and villages in recent weeks in the renewed assault, which is backed by pro-Iranian militias and aimed at clearing out opposition forces. A cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia took effect Sunday, but Russian and Syrian jets resumed bombing civilian areas in the enclave two days later. The new wave of displaced people comes on top of close to 400,000 who fled earlier fighting for the safety of camps near Syria’s border with Turkey, U.N. officials say. — Reuters JAPAN Japan’s government said Thursday that a man treated for pneumonia after returning from China has tested positive for the new coronavirus identified as a possible cause of an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The man developed a fever and cough on Jan. 3 while in Wuhan, returned to Japan on Jan. 6, and was hospitalized four days later, with his X-ray image showing signs of pneumonia, the Health Ministry said. Tests conducted Tuesday found the same coronavirus as had been detected in patients in the Wuhan outbreak, the ministry said. The man has since been released from the hospital after his condition improved. He was identified as being in his 30s. The Kyodo News agency said he is Chinese. His family and medical staff who treated him have not been sickened. Officials in Wuhan said last weekend that 41 people had pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus and that a 61-year-old had died — China’s first known death from the virus. A case involving a Chinese traveler also has been reported in Thailand. An official at Japan’s Health Ministry said the man treated there did not go to the fish market in Wuhan linked to the outbreak but had “close contact” with at least one person with pneumonia symptoms at a place where he stayed during the visit. Ministry officials are checking the patient’s activities and people he contacted in China and Japan. — Associated Press Three aid workers, other hostages freed in Nigeria: Sudan names new spy chief in wake of failed


Fighting crime, one dotted ‘i’ and crossed ‘t’ at a time

I underwent analysis a few weeks ago, and a few things popped out. “You spread yourself too thin trying to be all things to all people.” True. “You get restless behind a desk all day.” True. You’re stubborn, don’t give up easily and prefer your own company. All true. You have unresolved issues with your parents. Who doesn’t? This isn’t a psychiatrist or psychic talking. It’s handwriting analyst Beverley East, owner of Strokes & Slants, who profiles people through their penmanship — a field known as graphology. East is also a forensic document examiner who specializes in tracking bank fraud, embezzlement and forgery. She has identified fake marriage licenses and traced a crew of embezzlers who made off with many millions of dollars. “I love it because I get to unravel the crisis on paper,” said East, whom I met at a reception at the Jamaican Embassy. “Each case is different. I bring truth and clarity to contentious situations.” She pulls in a low six-figure income that is augmented by royalty checks from “Finding Mr. Write: A New Slant on Selecting the Perfect Mate,” her guide to identifying a new love through handwriting. She is working on her fourth book, “Whose Signature is it Anyway? Complexities of Caribbean Fraud.” East has had multiple careers: from retail to software, consulting to public speaking, forensic investigation to teaching. She’s appeared on “Good Morning America” with Diane Sawyer to talk about “Mr. Write.” “I’ve done a ton of stuff during my working career,” East said. “Whatever you do, wherever you do it, you have to be creative.” Forensic document examination accounts for 80 percent of her income. She has offices and residences in Washington, London and Kingston, Jamaica. “Most of my work now is with large banks and government agencies,” she said. “As the economy changes, crime increases in such areas as money laundering, internal fraud and embezzlement. I also get cases with anonymous notes, suicide notes and lots of discrepancies on wills and land transfers in the Caribbean.” Graphology and document examination are very different pursuits. The first focuses on profiling people through handwriting. For example, how someone crosses a ‘t’ can indicate, in theory, whether that person is a daydreamer or strong-willed, a procrastinator or stubborn. Document examination is about verifying authenticity. Spotting forgeries, she said, “is about comparing strokes to determine whether the writing was random and habitual. You look


After Trump’s broadside on inspectors general scrutinizing Afghanistan, silence from those under fire

every line of it,” Trump said. “Those reports should be private reports. Let them do a report, but they should be private reports and be locked up, and if a member of Congress wants to see it he can go in and read.” Mandy Smithberger, the director of the Straus Military Reform Project for the Project on Government Oversight, called Trump’s comments “deeply concerning.” The American people deserve to know whether U.S. efforts in Afghanistan are achieving their goals or resulting in a fair return on investment, she said. “Classification decisions should be based on what information must be kept secret to keep our troops safe, but not as a way to obscure the public debate about our current wars,” Smithberger said. “We hope that Congress will continue, as they have in the past, to make sure these decisions are based on what serves the public interest.” Though Trump did not name him, the main subject of his ire is probably Sopko, who was appointed as SIGAR by President Barack Obama in 2012 and has spent years carving out a reputation as a pugnacious critic of government, much to the displeasure of some government officials. "I don’t like to embarrass people for the sake of embarrassing people,” Sopko said in a 2014 interview with The Washington Post. “I’m not evil. I don’t like to pull the wings off of flies, either. But embarrassment has been a recognized tool in the criminal justice system.” Sopko’s office has catalogued a gradual erosion of the Afghan government’s control of the country, which fell to 55.5 percent as of November, according to SIGAR’s findings. The watchdog’s strategy of marketing and releasing details about SIGAR investigations to the media through “special projects” publications without full reports has been decried by critics, who said it allowed him to publish unverified accusations. The Pentagon’s new defense spending bill reined in his ability to do so, a detail first reported by Politico. Lawmakers included language in the National Defense Authorization Act stating that any product published by an inspector general related to money spent on the Afghan security forces that the United States train must adhere to standards set by the Government Accountability Office or the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The legislation, in the National Defense Authorization Act, left a provision for quicker release if there was a waiver — but only if


Maryland releases videos related to football player Jordan McNair’s death

Post, on Thursday in response to public records requests. The school had initially declined requests to release video of the incident pending completion of the investigation. Body camera footage shows emergency responders arriving at Gossett Team House shortly after 6 p.m. on May 29, and walking through building’s hallways to the medical and training facilities. Significant portions of the video were redacted, citing medical privacy. McNair only appears from a distance in one video from a security camera the shows part of the practice fields. The footage shows the players running sprints and McNair needing to be helped by his teammates to finish the exercise. At 6:10 p.m., a university police officer said in apparent reference to paramedics on the scene, “They’re moving so f------ slow, it’s p------ me off.” Earlier in the footage, the police officer had also showed frustration with the lack of urgency while she waited for paramedics at the elevator inside Gossett, the football team’s headquarters that adjoins the practice field where the workout occurred. An independent investigation released in September found that Maryland’s training staff failed to properly diagnose and treat McNair’s heatstroke. According to that report, the 19-year-old offensive lineman began suffering cramps and exhaustion at 4:53 p.m., but he wasn’t taken from the field until 5:22 p.m. The first ambulance arrived at 6:03 p.m., and McNair arrived at the hospital at 6:36 p.m. McNair died on June 13. Medical experts have said that patients have a 100 percent survivability rate when heatstroke is treated promptly and the body temperature is lowered within 30 minutes. According to hospital records, McNair’s temperature reached 107 degrees and wasn’t lowered to 102 until 7:20 p.m. Surveillance video from the football facility shows players and staff members walking into the building after the workout, as well as the arrival and departure of an ambulance. “Our thoughts remain with Jordan McNair’s family, friends and teammates,” the university said in a statement on Thursday following the release of the videos. It noted in the statement that the footage was provided to the McNair family to review. Read more: A timeline of events at the University of Maryland in Jordan McNair saga U-Md. releases report on Jordan McNair, laying out timeline that led to player’s death Maryland football plays catch-up during signing period, but Locksley is confident Shakira Austin has boosted Maryland immediately, and Brenda Frese says it’s just the start


Trump says he’ll review case of Matt Golsteyn, a Special Forces veteran who faces murder charge

West Point, N.Y., was lauded for his performance in Afghanistan as the commander of a team from 3rd Special Forces Group in the Battle of Marja. About 15,000 coalition troops fought to take back a poppy-laden section of Helmand province that was controlled by the Taliban and laced with explosives. On Feb. 20, 2010, Golsteyn coordinated numerous airstrikes and repeatedly braved enemy fire after launching a mission to kill a Taliban sniper who nearly hit a nearby Marine, according to a military summary of his actions. He was later awarded the Silver Star for valor, and the Army was considering upgrading the award to the Distinguished Service Cross — one step down from the Medal of Honor — when the allegations against Golsteyn emerged. The accusations center on actions that occurred two days earlier. Two Marines — Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary, 27, and Lance Cpl. Larry M. Johnson, 19 — were killed, and others were wounded by a garage door that was booby trapped with explosives, prompting a search of nearby homes in which Golsteyn’s unit found bombmaking materials and a suspected bombmaker, according to the results of an investigation released to The Washington Post through the Freedom of Information Act in 2015. Golsteyn later recounted during his CIA job interview that the U.S. troops detained the man and brought him back to their base. While detained, the suspected bombmaker unexpectedly crossed paths with an Afghan tribal leader with whom Golsteyn’s team was working. When the leader expressed fear for his life, Golsteyn said, he grew concerned about the consequences of letting the suspected bombmaker go, according to Army documents. “CPT Golsteyn related there had been countless times when he detained someone and sent that person to a detention facility only to see that same person shooting at his unit weeks later,” an Army investigator’s summary of Golsteyn’s polygraph test said. “CPT Golsteyn stated he had no qualms about what he did because he couldn’t have lived with himself if [the suspected bombmaker] killed another Soldier or Marine.” The Army dropped Golsteyn from the Special Forces and stripped him of the Silver Star. The service accused him in a June 2015 administrative hearing of violating the law of armed conflict, but a panel of officers determined that was unsubstantiated. It instead recommended separating him from the military for conduct unbecoming an officer with a general discharge under honorable conditions. This


He’s a U.S. soldier deployed on the southern border — and an unlawful immigrant

in southeastern China is beautiful, he said, the region dotted with lakes and towering limestone karst formations. But it is also stifling. He felt trapped by family expectations, and a passion for engineering could take him only so far there. There were better opportunities in America, he believed. He joined his sister in California on a student visa and enrolled in college. The military seemed like a place to further his career, he said, and the Pentagon’s immigrant recruit program guaranteed something more than job security: “A sense of pride,” he said. His enlistment would also harness something that makes him especially valuable to the military — his voice. He speaks Mandarin Chinese, which is among several languages the Pentagon has deemed strategically vital but in short supply among U.S.-born troops. And as the Pentagon has increasingly worried about China’s military ambitions, it seemed like the perfect time, then, for the Chinese-born soldier to offer his skills. He was scheduled to begin training in August 2016, according to documents obtained by The Post. That’s about when everything started to go very wrong. The Pentagon program he enlisted through, Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest, was beginning its year-long implosion. Immigrant recruits commonly timed their enlistment so their student and visitor visas could carry them through with enough time to legally protect them. The Chinese soldier enlisted when he was still a lawful immigrant with a valid visa — in compliance with MAVNI requirements. But the Pentagon’s security screening was so slow that “some number of 4,300 MAVNI applicants” had fallen out of lawful status as they waited, according to an internal agency memo dated Sept. 30, 2016. The agency later said the number crested at 1,000 recruits. That number included the Chinese soldier, whose enlistment date slid back amid the chaos. Many recruits waited months, or years, to move forward. The Chinese soldier did not even have weeks. In September 2016, the Pentagon introduced vastly more complicated security checks amid fears of foreign infiltrators. Weeks later, in October, his legal status expired, making him an unlawful immigrant. He picked up fares as a Lyft driver while he waited for his enlistment to move forward, he said, and took pains to avoid the border when he ventured to San Diego. He wouldn’t risk flying, either. In August 2017, after nine grueling months under threat of deportation, he was granted deferred


Pentagon identifies Special Operations troops killed in Afghanistan

The Pentagon identified on Wednesday three U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan a day earlier as two Special Forces soldiers and a special tactics airman who was assigned to work alongside the Army. Army Capt. Andrew Ross, 29, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Eric Emond, 39, were members of the 3rd Special Forces Group, the Pentagon said in a statement. They were killed along with Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan Elchin, 25, a combat controller whose job included directing aircraft overhead to support soldiers on the ground. The deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in combat in Afghanistan this year to 13, drawing new attention to the longest war in American history. Five of those deaths occurred this month. A bomb exploded near their vehicle in Ghazni province, an area of Afghanistan that has been embattled for months, drawing renewed attention from the U.S. military. Three other U.S. service members were wounded, along with a U.S. military contractor. Emond had served the longest of the three killed, with more than 21 years split between the Marine Corps and, later, the Army, according to a biography released by his current service. A married father with three children, he grew up in Boston and was on his seventh deployment. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, his second, for his injuries. Ross was a native of Lexington, Va., a town in the Shenandoah Valley. He was on his second deployment and leaves behind a wife and parents. “Andrew and Eric were invaluable members and leaders in 3rd Special Forces Group and the Special Operations community,” said Col. Nathan Prussian, a commanding officer. “Our most heartfelt condolences go out to the families of these brave men.” Elchin deployed in August as part of an Army Special Forces team and was engaged to be married. He graduated from Hopewell High School in Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Air Force in August 2012 as a combat controller. After completing training, he was assigned to the 26th Special Tactics Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. "Dylan had an unusual drive to succeed and contribute to the team. He displayed maturity and stoicism beyond his years, and was always level-headed, no matter the situation,” said Lt. Col. Gregory Walsh, commander of the 26th Special Tactics Squadron. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dylan’s family, fiancé, and friends. He will be sorely missed,


Army Ranger mortally wounded in operation against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, military says

A soldier in the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment was mortally wounded by gunfire Saturday during an operation against al-Qaeda fighters in a remote part of southwestern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said Sunday. Sgt. Leandro Jasso, 25, was wounded in Nimruz province’s Khash Rod district, where the U.S. military is not known to conduct many operations. The operation was carried out with Afghan forces and concluded Sunday morning, said Maj. Bariki Mallya, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. One other U.S. service member was wounded, he said. “The loss of Sgt. Jasso is felt by his family and loved ones, by all who served with him and by all on this mission to protect our country and our allies,” Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, the top U.S. officer in Afghanistan, said in a statement. Additional details about the operation were not immediately available. U.S. Special Operations troops continue to carry out raids against militant groups in Afghanistan, but Nimruz is typically considered relatively sleepy. However, the area is prone to drug smuggling, which runs from poppy-rich areas of Helmand and Kandahar provinces to porous, desert borders with Pakistan and Iran. Jasso’s death marks the 10th combat fatality for the U.S. military in Afghanistan in 2018, the first full year since President Trump decided in August 2017 to keep about 15,000 U.S. troops in the country and extend U.S. involvement in the war. Jasso was a team leader in Alpha Company of the Ranger Regiment’s 2nd Battalion, according to an Army news release. The unit is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state when not deployed. “Sgt. Jasso was a humble professional who placed the mission first, lived the Ranger Creed and will be deeply missed,” Lt. Col. Rob McChrystal, the commander of Jasso’s battalion, said in a statement. Jasso received treatment in the field immediately after he was shot and was evacuated to the nearest coalition medical facility in neighboring Helmand’s Garmsir district, U.S. military officials said. The U.S. military did not identify the facility, but it has a hospital in Garmsir at a base known as Camp Dwyer. Jasso was a native of Leavenworth, Wash., and enlisted in the Army in 2012, according to the Army. He was on his third deployment with the Rangers and had earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, signifying that he had fought in ground combat.


DJ Durkin, Maryland part ways following outcry over coach’s reinstatement

coach remains and the president is basically asked to leave." To that end, in Annapolis, state legislators called a Nov. 15 hearing to hold the regents to account. State lawmakers control funding for the University of Maryland system, and though House Appropriations Chair Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore) acknowledged her committee has no authority over employment decisions, she said lawmakers can use their bully pulpit to force transparency about how and why those decisions are made. By Wednesday afternoon, 25 Democratic state lawmakers, including several influential committee chairs and party leaders, sent a sharply worded letter to Caret and the regents calling their actions “shameful” and “unacceptable.” For many, the issue revolves solely around the board of regents and Brady, its chair. The board, which met behind closed doors five times to discuss the football program, has refused to disclose the tally of its vote. Brady said he didn’t recall the breakdown but said it was a “clear majority.” Most other board members either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. "We knew that whatever decision was made, it was not going to be popular," said Barry Gossett, vice president of the board, said Wednesday afternoon. “There was no easy choice." The choice the regents made proved perhaps more contentious than anticipated. Several players tweeted their anger Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, upset at what they perceived as a lack of consequences for the death of their teammate, McNair. Students were planning a campus demonstration for Thursday to voice their concerns about the outcome. When news of Durkin’s firing spread Wednesday evening, both groups expressed satisfaction. “Justice served,” offensive lineman Ellis McKennie tweeted Wednesday evening. “Jordan McNair can begin to Rest In Peace. Go terps! See you Saturday!” “Pressure busts pipes doesn’t it??” linebacker Tre Watson wrote in a tweet. Jonathan Allen, Maryland’s student body president, said, “I think it says a lot about the power of student advocacy.” Former University of Maryland System chancellor William B. Kirwan and former Board of Regents chairman James L. Shea issued a statement late Wednesday saying they “strongly support” Loh’s decision to fire Durkin. "Dr. Loh's action will be remembered as a courageous and important decision in Maryland higher education," the statement reads. “Dr. Loh has taken this action despite an apparent ultimatum from the Board of Regents that he must retain Coach Durkin or else be terminated as


U-Md. regents schedule Tuesday briefing on football program report; professional fates of DJ Durkin, Wallace Loh and Damon Evans remain uncertain

This story has been updated. Following their fifth meeting in 11 days Monday evening, the University System of Maryland board of regents scheduled a news briefing for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Baltimore, at which time they were expected to discuss the findings of an independent commission’s report on the culture of the school’s football program. It remains unclear whether the briefing will include any updates on the job status of football coach DJ Durkin, school president Wallace D. Loh and Athletic Director Damon Evans. No personnel announcements followed Monday’s closed meeting, which took place via conference call. At the start of Monday, Durkin, Loh and Evans were all expected to speak with Robert L. Caret, the chancellor of the University System of Maryland. But Loh’s meeting, originally scheduled for 9:30 a.m., was canceled, according to a person familiar with the situation. Scheduled phones calls with Durkin and Evans also did not take place. The system’s board of regents has been debating the issue internally for 1½ weeks and has struggled to reach a consensus. On Monday afternoon, the university system released the 192-page report that resulted from the commission’s eight-week investigation into the football program. One person close to the situation stressed Monday that the situation remained fluid. The regents had given themselves a Tuesday deadline “to announce any initial decisions and/or recommendations from the board,” and had face-to-face discussions with Durkin, Evans and Loh at Friday’s meeting in Baltimore. But according to multiple people familiar with the situation, there was no consensus on the best path forward. Some of the 17 regents have been pushing to part ways with all three, while other factions have been in favor of retaining only Loh. Still others think all three should be allowed to remain in their current roles. School officials in College Park have been bracing for virtually every scenario, including the possibility that Durkin returns as coach this week. Even the three men weren’t sure after their appearances before the board Friday. “We just have to wait to see what happens,” Evans said following his session with the regents. A spokesman for the university system declined to comment Monday morning, amid some scrutiny of the extent of the regents' authority. James L. Shea, who served two terms as a regent and was the board’s chair until 2016, said he’d never heard of the board hiring or firing campus employees below


Regents discuss Maryland football in closed meeting, plan to reconvene Thursday

BALTIMORE — The University System of Maryland Board of Regents met for seven hours Tuesday to weigh the future of the Maryland football program. The only action they apparently took was agreeing to reconvene in two days for another special meeting to continue discussing the matter. Thursday afternoon’s meeting will take place via a conference call in a closed session. On Tuesday, the board heard from commission members who’ve spent the past eight weeks studying the culture of the Maryland football program. Five commission members were present at the board’s meeting in Baltimore: Redskins senior vice president Doug Williams; former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich; journalist Bonnie Bernstein; Baltimore attorney Charles Scheeler; and Ben Legg, a retired federal judge. The other three members teleconferenced in to the board’s meeting. After about two hours, commission members left the meeting room, and the 17 regents remained, discussing the matter – and presumably the professional fate of Maryland Coach DJ Durkin, among others – for the next five hours. The meeting adjourned around 4 p.m. Each of the regents and commission members was outfitted with a thick binder containing the commission’s investigative report. The group’s findings have not been made public, and no one with the commission or the board of regents has commented on the report. No one from the football program or the College Park administration was present at Tuesday’s meeting. The regents received the roughly 200-page report on Friday, but the board has refused to share a copy with university President Wallace D. Loh,, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. Loh originally formed the commission with three members in August, but days later, the board took over control of the investigation and added five members to the group. The commission wrapped up its work last week and made a PowerPoint presentation to the regents at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting Friday. The 17 regents also received a detailed written report from the commission. The board reconvened Tuesday solely to discuss the commission’s findings and plot a course for the future. The group voted to close the session shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, and was not planning to make any public announcements afterward. One member of the commission was expected to be on hand to answer any questions, but the bulk of the meeting was expected to be focused on what’s next for the football program. Among the most pressing


He returned from Afghanistan to applause. Then he resumed a dark and violent trade.

only when he left for Afghanistan. He could be imprisoned for decades, prosecutors said. Each of the sex-trafficking charges carries a sentence of 15 years to a life term. The sentencing will be at a later date. “The defendant in this case preyed upon young vulnerable women, exploiting their drug addictions and forcing them to engage in prostitution for his own profit,” acting assistant attorney general John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. Lia Bantavani, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said it was unclear whether Boston held a legal job beyond his part-time Army Reserve duties. Prosecutors detailed Boston’s violent and manipulative streak as he promised drugs, cars and money to women after they solicited for him in Charlotte, using the website Backpage.com. One of Boston’s tactics, prosecutors said, was to use drug addiction as an enforcement tool. He would supply heroin and then withhold it as punishment for perceived infractions, using the physical and mental anguish of withdrawal to bring the women in line, the documents say. He pistol-whipped one woman and broke her nose, prosecutors said, and threatened others with violence in Facebook messages, which prosecutors obtained. Other messages corroborate claims of sexual abuse. One image shared with friends over Facebook was of Boston having sex with a woman. One of his friends found it distasteful that she would allow it. “Letting me? U think I ask for permission I do what I want lol,” Boston wrote, according to court documents. Boston also used his military service to exert control over prostitutes. He told a woman who escaped that he was too credible to accuse because he worked in military law enforcement, the documents say. That career included a post in Afghanistan to protect one of the most senior commanders in the war from deadly insider attacks. Boston was part of a 10-member security detail for Maj. Gen. Richard G. Kaiser, who headed the Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. The command was tasked with helping develop Afghan security forces struggling to combat the Taliban and other militant outfits. In 2014, the deputy chief of the command, Army Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, was killed in an insider attack. Read more: U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan while helping colleagues whose vehicle hit bomb As crisis intensifies, what’s at stake in America’s military partnership with Saudi Arabia?


U.S. general wounded in attack in Afghanistan

U.S. military officials in Afghanistan and at the Pentagon have declined to comment on the attack or identify the wounded, describing them only as an American service member, an American civilian and a contractor who is part of the military coalition. “We’re not going to talk about the wounded,” said Army Col. David Butler, the top military spokesman in Afghanistan. The New York Times first reported that a general was wounded, without identifying him. After this story was initially published by The Washington Post on Sunday, Butler confirmed on Twitter that Smiley was wounded. The attack caught the U.S. military by surprise. General officers are rarely in situations where they face attack, and even more rarely wounded. An American general was last attacked in 2014, when Maj. Gen. Harold Greene was killed in an insider attack at the Marshal Fahim National Defense University west of Kabul. Among those present during the attack in Kandahar was Army Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, the top U.S. officer in Afghanistan. Butler has said that the U.S. officials present were caught in the crossfire after a gunman started shooting. The Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack and said Miller was among the main targets. Smiley has served in the Army for just over 30 years and became a general in May 2017, according to an official biography. He deployed in Afghanistan this summer, taking command of a unit with headquarters in Kandahar known as Train, Advise, Assist and Command-South. The headquarters is largely composed of members of the 40th Infantry Division, a unit of the California Army National Guard. Smiley has commanded Guard units in California for years. The Afghan officials killed include Kandahar’s top police general, Abdul Raziq, a powerful but controversial security official who had survived numerous assassination attempts. He had risen to power while clearing the Taliban from Kandahar but was accused of extrajudicial killings, torture and other human rights abuses. He denied the allegations. Also killed was Kandahar’s intelligence chief, Abdul Momin. The governor, Zalmai Wessa, was shot but survived. The attack prompted the Afghan government to postpone voting in Kandahar for parliamentary elections by a week. The elections were held Saturday across most of the country, with some Afghans waiting hours to vote. “Today we proved together that we uphold democracy,” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani tweeted Saturday. “With casting our ballots without fear we honor the sacrifices of the fallen.”


9 key questions Saudi Arabia hasn’t answered about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi Arabia offered an explanation early Saturday for what had happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, 17 days after he went missing at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. But even though the kingdom finally confirmed that Khashoggi had died inside the consulate, as Turkish officials had alleged, the Saudi account of how that happened conflicts with information from other sources, and key details appear to be missing. Below are nine questions that the Saudi kingdom still needs to answer. 1. Was Khashoggi really considering a return to Saudi Arabia? The Saudi statement said that the “suspects” in Khashoggi’s killing had traveled to Turkey to meet with the journalist as he had suggested he was interested in returning home. However, Khashoggi had traveled to the consulate with his fiancee, Turkish national Hatice Cengiz, who has said that her partner was seeking a document from the Saudi government that would allow them to wed. Khashoggi himself had told friends that he was suspicious of attempts to lure him back to the kingdom. “He said: ‘Are you kidding? I don’t trust them one bit,’ ” after one such attempt, Khaled Saffuri, an Arab American political activist, recounted to The Washington Post. 2. If this was just a discussion, why did at least 15 men travel to Istanbul for the meeting? The Saudi government account suggests that the encounter with Khashoggi began as a discussion but soon turned negative and developed into a “a fight and a quarrel between some of [the suspects] and the citizen." However, Saudi Arabia says it has detained a total of 18 people for their involvement in Khashoggi’s death, and the Turkish government has linked 15 people, Saudi citizens who had arrived at the consulate shortly before the journalist disappeared and who left hours later, to Khashoggi. It is not clear why such a big group of people would be needed for a discussion about a willing return to Saudi Arabia. 3. Why did this Saudi group include a forensic expert and members of security forces? Again, if this were a simple discussion, it would seem unnecessary to send members of the Saudi security services. However, The Post has found that at least 12 members of the alleged hit team identified by Turkish authorities had some kind of link to the kingdom’s security services. One of the suspects, Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, was a forensic expert known for pioneering


U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan while helping colleagues whose vehicle hit bomb

Sgt. 1st Class Debra Richardson, said Slape was based in Afghanistan at Camp Dwyer, an installation in Helmand province’s Garmser district. The U.S. military has used it to assist Afghan forces in a region of the country where the Taliban controls broad swaths of territory and where the Afghan military and police have suffered heavy casualties and are often shorthanded. “The soldier was medically evacuated to a medical care facility, but despite valiant efforts to save him, his wounds were fatal,” Richardson said. Slape’s unit deployed to Afghanistan in April and is scheduled to return in spring 2019, said Lt. Col. Matthew DeVivo, a North Carolina National Guard spokesman. The Slape family has asked that the media not contact them at this time, DeVivo said. U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan are orders of magnitude lower than at the height of American operations there in 2010 and 2011, when more than 100,000 U.S. troops were spread across the country and patrolling cities and countryside daily. However, there are still more than 14,000 U.S. service members in Afghanistan. President Trump increased the U.S. presence to that number from about 8,400 troops last summer, and he said he will withdraw them as the conditions there merit. Slape’s was the first combat death in Afghanistan since Sept. 3, when Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Bolyard, 42, was killed in an apparent insider attack by an Afghan he was training in Logar province. Bolyard was the senior enlisted soldier in a squadron of the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, a new adviser unit that deployed as part of the Trump administration’s increase in forces this year. Other deaths involving hostilities include those of Staff Sgt. Reymund Transfiguracion, 36, of the 1st Special Forces Group; Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz, 32, of the 75th Ranger Regiment; Cpl. Joseph Maciel, 20, a member of the 28th Infantry Regiment providing security to the Army’s adviser brigade; Spec. Gabriel Conde, 22, a member of the 25th Infantry Division who was providing security to a Special Operations unit, and Sgt. 1st Class Mihail Golin, 34, of the 10th Special Forces Group. Staff Sgt. Diobanjo S. Sanagustin, 32, also died Sept. 4 in an incident at Bagram Airfield that the military determined was “nonhostile” in nature. This story was initially published Thursday after Slape’s death, when his identity was not yet released, and was updated Friday night after the Pentagon identified him.


The Army is trying to find criminal conduct among immigrant recruits, email shows

The lawsuits and public pressure made it clear: The Army had a problem. In August, it reversed its decision to expel dozens of immigrant recruits who were seeking expedited citizenship by serving in the U.S. military. But days before, on Aug. 13, a military intelligence unit asked Army Reserve attorneys to scrutinize its completed security screening packets for admissions of potential crimes by immigrant recruits, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post. The email is written in a who, what, when, where, why format. The “why” says: "[Immigrant recruits] are currently suing the federal government claiming they were wrongfully discharged from the Army.” Critics say the request appears to be retribution for the lawsuits that helped overturn dozens of dismissals and was intended to legitimize a process beset with legal and bureaucratic problems that have been blamed internally for draining vast resources. “Instead of a good-faith attempt to give due process, it’s done in bad faith,” Margaret Stock, a retired Army officer and immigration attorney, told The Post on Tuesday. The Pentagon acknowledged the email but said the request was not designed to discharge immigrant recruits or charge them with crimes. Air Force Maj. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement that “the request for personnel to assist in the review was to ensure we were following federal guidelines and to ensure the packages were complete and accurate given the ongoing MAVNI litigation.” Gleason provided her statement on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she said the reviews were “determined to be unnecessary” two days after initial coordination and the packets were diverted back to Army intelligence officials “for reporting to other agencies.” The Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, or MAVNI, promises expedited citizenship for badly needed language and medical skills. More than 10,400 immigrants entered the force through the program since 2009, when it was implemented by Stock. It was shuttered last year. The August email followed a tumultuous summer where the Army responded to lawsuits by halting the discharge of recruits while the Pentagon figured out an orderly and fair screening process. Gleason said last month that the Pentagon wants to treat recruits with “dignity and respect.” An unknown number of recruits and reservists have been kicked out after their enlistment because of problems in their counterintelligence screening process — which typically occurs after recruits clear background checks through FBI and police databases, Stock


The Afghanistan war has gone on so long that people born after 9/11 can now enlist

and had joined for a number of reasons — to test their mettle, earn college benefits or maybe to escape dim prospects at home. But the replacements he received by 2003, who had all enlisted in the wake of 9/11, said they joined for different reasons. “It was a galvanizing time,” he told The Washington Post on Tuesday. “We sort of romanticize it now, but there was a lot of unity and sense of purpose in the country and in the military.” About 5.5 million troops have served since 9/11, and nearly 7,000 have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Kayla Williams, a former Army linguist, was in Arabic class during the attacks. Like Friedman, she later met recruits newly inspired to fight. In recent years, however, enlistees are less likely to say 9/11 played a role in their decision to join the military, said Williams, now director of the military, veterans and society program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. Pentagon data shows an 8 percent surge in the propensity for young men to enlist right after the attacks, continuing through 2005. Now, recruits report motivations that mirror those of their pre-9/11 forebears; they join to pursue adventure, secure benefits or are drawn to aspects of honor, she told The Post. The propensity to enlist has been in steady decline, said Phil Carter, a military and veterans researcher at Rand Corp. Researchers are not sure why. It could be a strong economy, the perceptions of military service as physically and mentally damaging, the wars themselves, or all the above, Carter said. There may have been spikes of interest in military service after the attacks, said Carter, a former Army officer. But he said 9/11 has always been a modest reason people have enlisted, never a major one, such as the economy — though sometimes 9/11 is an easier way to explain the often complicated reasons someone might enlist. The length of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, however, has produced a wide spectrum of why and when people enlist, and the connection to 9/11 has all but faded. Jon Gillis was in fifth grade on 9/11, and his friends had parents in the Pentagon during the attacks. But that was not a specific driver, he said. Gillis enlisted as a college graduate in 2013 after becoming close with a Marine veteran at


is an easier way to explain the often complicated reasons someone might enlist. The length of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, however, has produced a wide spectrum of why and when people enlist, and the connection to 9/11 has all but faded. Jon Gillis was in fifth grade on 9/11, and his friends had parents in the Pentagon during the attacks. But that was not a specific driver, he said. Gillis enlisted as a college graduate in 2013 after becoming close with a Marine veteran at Georgetown University. By then, the wars had passed their inflection points of media attention and combat deaths. He entered a Corps in transition, where Marines hoped for combat rotations and were dismayed by dwindling chances to fight in Afghanistan, as their leaders had. Gillis deployed to Romania instead. He left active duty last year, as fresh-faced, 18-year-old Marines arrived at his unit. Barracks talk focused on the generational gaps, he said, with 9/11 as the reference point. “They know it happened, but there is no memory attached to it,” Gillis said. The war in Afghanistan is arguably more of a legacy for the post-9/11 military than the terrorist attacks themselves. There are far fewer troops there than in past years, but insurgents still claim lives. The Taliban has focused on insider attacks to kill U.S. troops on their own bases, and on driving a wedge into the perpetually struggling mission to train Afghan forces. That mission is entering its second decade. Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard, 42, was the most senior enlisted man in the Army's unit created to train and advise front-line Afghan forces. He was killed by an Afghan policeman on Sept. 3, on his seventh deployment. Bolyard could recall a world before 9/11. But Cpl. Joseph Maciel, a 20-year-old soldier in the same adviser unit, could not. He was killed in an insider attack on July 7. Maciel would have been about 3 years old in 2001, learning colors and shapes when combat in Afghanistan was set in motion. Now the war is poised to grow older than he did. Read more: Benghazi survivor told Fox News he wanted to ‘choke’ Obama over ‘wild conspiracy’ comments The Army kicked out dozens of immigrant recruits. Now it’s allowing them back amid a legal battle. U.S. to close Palestinian office in Washington, citing lack of progress on peace process with Israel


The Army kicked out dozens of immigrant recruits. Now it’s allowing them back amid a legal battle.

The Army on Monday reinstated dozens of immigrant reservists who sought citizenship through military enlistment, reversing a decision that has affected more than a hundred foreign-born recruits amid a lawsuit contending some dismissals were unfair and given without cause. The decision puts the recruits back on a path of expedited citizenship the military has promised in exchange for crucial language and medical skills. Until recently, these soldiers could become American citizens within months of entering training, significantly faster than the naturalization process outside the military. The Army’s reversal is the latest concession in a barrage of court filings that claim the recent discharge of immigrant recruits violated Army policy and potentially violated due process guaranteed in the Constitution. Critics of the Pentagon’s handling of the program say it points to serious problems with how the military vets its foreign recruits. Army officials said in a Monday court filing that six reservists involved in a lawsuit had their discharges revoked, along with 32 reservists whose dismissals were halted. A total of 149 cases are being reviewed, the Army said. More than 10,000 immigrants have entered the military since 2009 through the program, which sought to enlist immigrants with skills the Pentagon has said are especially vital to military missions. An Associated Press report from July said the Army had begun discharging dozens of immigrant recruits, prompting questions over its decisions and process. That led to a July 20 memo ordering a halt to discharges of immigrants who enlisted in the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program, to evaluate its administrative process for separation. Days before the memo, the Army reversed the discharge of Lucas Calixto, a Brazilian reservist who first brought suit against the Army. His attorneys declined to comment. The reinstatement of dozens of recruits and the broader look at 149 total cases is an outcropping of that review, Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Carla Gleason told The Washington Post on Tuesday. Security concerns have driven the implementation of complicated and thorough vetting, Gleason said, which scrutinizes immigrants far more than U.S.-born troops. She has previously said 20 MAVNI recruits have been investigated for national security risks since 2013 but has not said if any of those probes led to charges or arrests. The new screening process implemented in September 2016, along with broad security concerns, led the Pentagon to shutter the program in December. But the


Criticism mounts over proposed parking in Union Station’s $8 billion overhaul

It may be years, if not a decade, before construction begins on a proposed multibillion-dollar redevelopment of Union Station. But debate has already been heating up over a parking garage planned as part of the overhaul. The proposed $8 billion expansion would add concourses and tracks, broaden the retail options and improve bus and parking facilities at Washington’s busiest transit hub. A replacement parking garage with nearly 1,600 spaces — about one-third less than what’s currently available — would be attached to the station, according to the plan. Some D.C. elected officials and residents aren’t happy with the parking space and are urging planners and the project’s proponents to go even further in limiting parking. Some are proposing eliminating the parking option altogether. “The amount of parking proposed runs directly counter to our efforts to reduce automobile travel,” said Drew Courtney, a member of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission who represents neighborhoods adjacent to Union Station. By keeping hundreds of parking spots at the terminal, he said, Union Station will send a message to commuters that it’s a destination to be driven to and from. “More cars means more traffic, more congestion and more pollution,” Courtney said. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which owns the station, is leading the federal review of the project expected to be out for comment this spring and finalized by the end of the year. This will bring the expansion concept first announced in 2012 closer to construction, though proponents say the project may not be completely realized until 2040. The project, proposed by the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation and Amtrak, promises a complete overhaul of the nation’s second busiest rail station — after New York’s Penn Station — whose many facilities date back to the station’s 1907 opening. It would triple passenger capacity and transform the overcrowded station into a hub for high-speed rail. Union Station gets about 40 million visitors each year and is served by 85 to 90 intercity Amtrak trains on any given day. It is also the Washington region’s busiest transit hub — connecting Amtrak, Metro, Virginia Railway Express, Maryland MARC commuter trains and intercity and local buses. “Union Station is really at the epicenter of the District’s plan for the 21st century,” former mayor Anthony A. Williams said recently, calling the redevelopment plan an opportunity to reach for “something very special.” That something special doesn’t have to be a magnet


Barry Tuckwell, Australian virtuoso of the French horn, dies at 88

something. Try this.’ And it was a French horn, and it was something I could do. So I was very lucky.” He said he drew inspiration from the musicianship of American jazz trombonist Tommy Dorsey, whose recordings he studied avidly. In 1950, after performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and later the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Tuckwell moved to England, where his appointments came to include a teaching position at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. Tuckwell led the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Australia before founding his ensemble in Hagerstown, a small city in western Maryland. He had been drawn to the area by Walter A. Lawson, a widely admired French horn maker who lived in nearby Boonsboro. “I didn’t know there were this many tuxedos in Hagerstown,” one attendee quipped to The Washington Post when the Maryland Symphony Orchestra debuted in 1982. On Mr. Tuckwell’s retirement, Lawson, who died in 2007, told the New York Times that his friend had “taken an orchestra that played really simple stuff, a sort of civic symphony, and made it into one that can perform Mahler’s First Symphony and Shostakovich’s Fifth very well.” “He’s a real conductor,” Lawson said. “He has left his imprint here, and the town loves him.” Mr. Tuckwell lived for a period in Hagerstown and became a U.S. citizen before returning to Australia. His marriages to Sally Newton, Hilary Warburton and Sue Elliott ended in divorce. He and Darling, companions of 14 years, were married last year. In addition to his wife, of Melbourne, survivors include two children from his first marriage, David Tuckwell of London and Jane Tuckwell of Bromham, in Wiltshire, England; and a son from his second marriage, Tom Shahani-Tuckwell of London. Reflecting on the difficulty of his instrument, Mr. Tuckwell told the Independent that “horn-players have evolved a kind of freemasonry over the years — a fierce sense of loyalty. If someone is having a bad night, the others will do what they can to cover him. Because nobody, but nobody, else really understands our problems.” But he also reported moments of transcendence. In one of the final performances of his career, he played a horn concerto by composer Reinhold Glière and told the Baltimore Sun that he “was very pleased with it.” “It was one of those evenings,” he remarked, “where you say to yourself, ‘I finally did something worthwhile.’ ” emily.langer@washpost.com


SpaceX plans to destroy a rocket in a key test of its spacecraft’s emergency abort system

Dragon capsule exploded during a test of its emergency abort engines, sending a plume of smoke off the Florida Space Coast. The company blamed a valve that caused a propellant leak. The company made some modifications that it said fixed the problem and has since tested the engines successfully on the ground. NASA and SpaceX hope they will never need to use the abort capability. But space is dangerous; rockets are lofted by a controlled explosion of enormous force, and accidents happen. In late 2018, the Russian rocket carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and his Russian counterpart, Alexey Ovchinin, suffered a problem when its side boosters failed to separate properly. The Soyuz spacecraft’s abort system kicked in, giving the astronauts a wild ride to the edge of space. The astronauts experienced “7Gs,” or seven times the force of gravity, and afterward Hague recalled “being shaken violently from side to side” as the escape motors fired. But they landed safely in what officials called a “successful failure.” The Soyuz incident “really drives home the point of why we need to have these systems,” Benji Reed, the director of crew mission management for SpaceX, said during a briefing Friday. SpaceX’s test Saturday should go quickly. Once the rocket takes off, sometime between 8 a.m. and noon, the Dragon’s abort engines should ignite 84 seconds into flight, when the rocket is about 12 miles high, two miles downrange over the Atlantic Ocean and traveling nearly twice the speed of sound. While the spacecraft flies away to safety, the rocket, which has been launched three previous times, is expected to come apart by aerodynamic forces that could also cause it to explode. “We expect there to be some sort of ignition and possibly a fireball of some kind,” Reed said. Any excess propellant “is expected to be consumed in the deflagration or aerosolized,” according to an environmental assessment compiled by the Federal Aviation Administration. SpaceX expects most of the debris “to sink relatively quickly after impact with the ocean’s surface.” But SpaceX would quickly deploy boats to clean up any debris left floating. It also will test recovering the capsule as quickly as possible. Kathy Lueders, who manages the Commercial Crew Program for NASA, said that if Saturday’s mission goes well, and SpaceX successfully completes a series of additional tests of its parachute system, the company could conceivably launch its first mission with crews


At the NSO, a vibrant program under vigorous control

Zealander with a burgeoning résumé — director of Ontario’s Hamilton Philharmonic, visiting privileges at the St. Louis and Dallas symphonies, a long list of guest engagements — displayed a vigorous, more-is-more style. Each beat was animated with a tight, controlled rebound; each moment was filled with movement, a stream of gestures seeming to tag the music’s every turn. It made for a busy, bustling podium presence. But the details were always there; New’s grasp of the scores’ elements was apparent. Such assurance marked “Rainphase,” a 2015 essay by New’s countrywoman Salina Fisher, evoking the wet weather of Wellington, with slow-shifting orchestral hues interspersed with plucked, tapped precipitation and scraped and respired gusts of wind. The conductor confidently managed transitions between sound effects and tone, and between every-player-for-themselves texture and coordinated scoring. Most crucially, she was true to the work’s equanimity. Much of the appeal of “Rainphase” is Fisher’s patient faith in her music’s reflective pace. Some of that moderation lingered into the orchestra’s prompt deposit on Beethoven’s 250th-anniversary year: his Piano Concerto No. 4, with soloist Yefim Bronfman. The orchestra took up the work’s famously gentle piano opening with notable deliberateness, taking some time to find the proper gear. But New’s tight leash also yielded dividends. The slow movement’s negotiation, with Bronfman seeming to gradually bring the brusque orchestra into his implacably understated orbit, was superbly realized, while the finale coursed with stunt-driver precision. Bronfman’s technique was on impressive display — I would happily listen to him practice trills for an hour — but the real star was his touch, every note landing with the deep, measured heft and rounded gleam of an ingot. Gustav Holst’s familiar survey of “The Planets” put the cost-benefit of New’s vigilant style into relief. Her emphatic gestures sometimes front-loaded the force of more assertive sections — Mars’s opening martial advance was virtually all climax — and the music had little chance to breathe unaided the air of other worlds. On the other hand, the playing was exceptional, with crisp ensemble and big, balanced sound. And conductor and orchestra produced numerous instances of meticulously calibrated beauty, from the saturated glaze underpinning “Venus” to the long, keenly judged fade of “Neptune” (with the women of the University of Maryland Concert Choir providing spectral offstage glimmer). If you’re going to voyage to distant orbits, there’s much to be said for a firm hand at the wheel. style@washpost.com


Sanders, Warren are hot discussion topics as global elites gather in Davos

presidency. “Young people have veered sharply leftward,” Greg Valliere, chief U.S. policy strategist at AGF Investments, wrote in a recent note to clients summarizing the sentiment shift. Other than President Trump, the attendee creating the most buzz at this year’s World Economic Forum is 17-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Last year, Thunberg traveled to Davos by train to tell world leaders that climate change was their fault. Her message has been echoed around the world in the past year by teenagers skipping school to march in support of stronger action to address climate change. Those students are asking their parents for change. “CEOs have kids and grandkids. I’ve heard a lot of stories from executives who were sitting down at the table for Christmas dinner and their nephew asked them, ‘What are you doing about climate change?’” said Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a former World Bank special envoy for climate change. Chief executives appear to be listening to these young people, many of whom also support liberal politicians. Larry Fink, head of the world’s largest money manager, penned a widely read letter this month urging his fellow business leaders to view climate change as a financial risk. He said his company would factor climate risk into its decisions about which businesses to invest in, and he specifically cited the September climate protests led by young people as evidence that this issue isn’t going away. “Awareness is rapidly changing, and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance,” wrote Fink, the chairman of BlackRock and a forum attendee. There’s a sense among business leaders that climate change is undeniable. Last year capped the world’s hottest decade in recorded history, and extreme events such as the devastating Australian wildfires are becoming more routine. There’s even increasing turbulence on flights from climate change that the many private jets landing in Davos can’t avoid. For the first time, “climate action failure” was the No. 1 risk in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report, which is based on a survey of more than 1,000 key business and political figures. Environmental issues beat out cyberattacks, disease, inequality and geopolitics. At Davos, the buzzword this year is “stakeholder capitalism,” the idea that companies have a responsibility to the environment and society to do more than maximize profits. There has long been criticism that


SpaceX completes key test of its Dragon capsule. Its first human spaceflight might come in spring.

being able to do so. I think that’s super exciting.” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine praised the company, and the progress it has made, but said the coming weeks and months would be crucial. “Make no mistake there’s a lot left to do,” he said, noting there were significant parachute tests yet to come and that the teams still needed to review the data from Sunday’s so-called in-flight abort test. Sunday’s test began shortly after a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from a launch site here at 10:30 a.m. amid concerns that heavy winds and incoming clouds would scrub the mission. But nearly 90 seconds after the booster blasted off, the engines of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ignited, shooting the capsule off like a champagne cork at more than twice the speed of sound, while the booster came apart midflight in a fiery spectacle miles above the Florida Space Coast. The capsule landed softly in the Atlantic Ocean nine minutes after liftoff, floating down under a quartet of parachutes, completing a test designed to show that the astronauts would be flown to safety if there ever were a problem with the rocket. “It looks like a great test,” SpaceX’s John Insprucker said during the live broadcast, as cheering broke out at SpaceX headquarters in California. In 2014, NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to develop spacecraft capable of flying humans to the space station, a bold bet by the agency to outsource human spaceflight to the private sector. Since then, both companies’ progress has been hampered by technical problems and funding issues that have delayed the first flights with crews by years. And the agency has been forced to continue to rely on Russia for rides to the space station at a cost of as much as $84 million a seat. Last spring, a Dragon capsule exploded during a test of its abort engines. The company blamed a faulty valve that caused a propellant leak. It has also struggled with its parachutes, but SpaceX has moved to a new design that seemed to work well Sunday. Kathy Lueders, NASA’s Commercial Crew program manager, said the agency was “very, very happy with the flawless execution” of the parachutes. Boeing also has had problems with its Starliner spacecraft. During a test of its abort system last year, one of its three main parachutes failed to deploy. And a test of its Starliner capsule


Space Force’s camouflage uniforms won’t help its members hide in orbit. They’re not supposed to.

to blend into a space jungle or hide behind a space bush.” “I’m dressed better for Space Force than this and I’m wearing $10 leggings from Target,” said one woman, who shared a photo of leggings with images of cats floating in space. Another person posted a picture of a camouflage pattern next to a completely black box. “Study these carefully until you can see the difference,” he wrote in response to the Space Force. Within hours, the Space Force tweeted again to explain its decision-making. Since the camouflage uniforms are the same ones used by the Army and the Air Force, the Space Force said they were more cost-effective than producing a new design. The newest military branch also clarified where Space Force members will be located: on Earth, not in orbit. “Members will look like their joint counterparts they’ll be working with, on the ground,” the Space Force wrote. The Space Force, a part of the Department of the Air Force dedicated to space warfare, was established in December. The Air Force Space Command was redesignated to form the military’s sixth branch. The Space Command’s roughly 16,000 military and civilian employees were assigned to the Space Force. Gen. John “Jay” Raymond on Dec. 20 became the nation’s first chief of space operations. The Space Force’s utility uniform mirrors those of other branches in more ways than just the camouflage pattern. The navy name tape, which identifies a service member’s branch, is the same color used by the Air Force. The Air Force’s space operations badge, the Space Command patch and the American flag are also embroidered on the Space Force uniform. The administrator of the Space Force’s Twitter account spent much of Saturday responding to continued criticism of the camouflage, which did not stop after the branch’s initial tweets offering clarification. In response to a comment from actor and author George Takei, the Space Force said that its members would work from Earth to maneuver U.S. space assets and track space debris, among other tasks. The Space Force has not announced its dress uniform. Alex Horton contributed to this report. Read more: Alleged members of white supremacy group ‘the Base’ charged with plotting to kill antifa couple 11 U.S. troops were hurt in the Iranian missile strike, reversing assurances of no injuries Lawsuit says Jeffrey Epstein trafficked and abused girls on his private island as recently as 2018


Social Security needs a fix. Here’s how the 2020 presidential candidates would resolve the looming crisis.

their primary source of income, according to a 2019 Gallup poll. In a 2018 Gallup survey, 44 percent of Americans said they worry “a great deal” about the Social Security system. Social Security hasn’t gotten much attention so far in the election campaign, despite the fact that nearly 9 in 10 individuals age 65 and older receive benefits. Among elderly beneficiaries, 50 percent of married couples and 70 percent of unmarried people receive 50 percent or more of their income from Social Security, according to the Social Security Administration. And think about this: In the private sector, 49 percent of employees don’t have pensions. Social Security matters — big time. As you consider which candidate to support as president, look carefully at the specifics, or lack thereof, of their plans to address the looming crisis facing Social Security, the financial lifeline for so many Americans. Secure Act FAQ Q: A: Reader Question of the Week If you have a retirement question, send it to colorofmoney@washpost.com. In the subject line put “Question of the Week.” Many readers continue to have similar questions to the one emailed by Ken Meisner of Overland Park, Kan. Q: A: Yes, this is correct. The new rule only applies to an inherited IRA where the account holder died after Jan. 1, 2020. If you’re wondering about how the Roth IRAs are specifically affected, read last week’s Secure FAQ. Additionally, Aron Szapiro, director of policy research for Morningstar, answered reader questions about the Secure Act during my recent online chat. Live Chat Please join me on Thursday, Jan. 23 at noon (Eastern time) for a live discussion about your money. I’m live every Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. (Eastern time). Retirement Rants and Raves Your thoughts: Tell me what you think of the ideas from 2020 presidential candidates on how they would fix Social Security. I’m also interested in your experiences or concerns about retirement or aging. You can rant or rave. Send your comments to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name, city and state. In the subject line put “Retirement Rants and Raves.” Last week I asked: With the passage of the Secure Act, what plans are you making to adjust to the new rules? Gerry L. from Beaverton, Ore., Others wanted to talk more about why they dislike the changes under the Secure Act. “In my opinion, the whole idea of the Secure Act changes


The lessons we can learn from Congo’s measles outbreak

months in three provinces. Both outbreaks offer important lessons about fighting infectious disease that should resonate everywhere. A highly contagious virus, measles is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can lead to serious complications and death, especially among children. The effective way to stop transmission is to immunize 93 percent to 95 percent of the population with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, usually starting with the first dose at 12 months through 15 months of age, and the second dose at ages 4 through 6. The vaccine has proved safe and highly effective. But when pools of people neglect to get immunized or fail to stay up to date, they become vulnerable. According to public-health officials, measles is one of the most contagious viruses on Earth; you can catch it just by being in a room where a person with measles has been — up to two hours later. Severe cases are more likely to occur among children who are malnourished, or whose immune systems have been weakened by HIV/AIDS or other diseases. No wonder it has moved so fast in Congo. Last year, a concerted effort was made by the health ministry and a group of international partners to inoculate 18 million children under age 5. But that was not enough: There are regions where routine vaccination coverage remains low and one-quarter of the infected children are above the age of 5. The World Health Organization says the outbreak response is underfunded. So far, $27.6 million has been spent, but another $40 million is needed for a six-month campaign to extend vaccination to children between 6 and 14 years old, and to improve the outbreak response beyond shots — such important matters as reaching out to communities, educating them and tracking the disease. The problems fighting measles are formidable. In addition to lack of access to basic health care and suspicions borne of cultural beliefs, the effort is hampered by violence and insecurity. The WHO, listing the most urgent health challenges of the decade, has included the deleterious impact of war, which works hand-in-glove with disease. The agency said it recorded 978 attacks on health-care providers in 11 countries last year, with 193 deaths. Millions of people were displaced by violence and thus are without any health care at all. The lesson is that disease and bullets are not separate problems but closely intertwined.


Mark your calendar for these celestial events in 2020

This year will feature a series of spectacular sky scenes, both close to home and around the world. Dazzling meteor showers, otherworldly eclipses and other celestial marvels will grace the heavens. Here are some of the most impressive events expected in 2020. Feb. 18: Lunar “occultation” of Mars from North America An “occultation” is not quite an eclipse, but it’s still noteworthy. An eclipse occurs when one object passes in front of the other. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth intercepts sunlight bound for the moon. Solar eclipses happen when the moon blocks the sun for a narrow path here on the Earth. Sometimes, though, smaller objects can disappear behind the moon or behind one another. Colloquially, we call these occultations. Technically, an occultation is any time one object hides another — so a solar eclipse is actually an occultation of sorts. On Feb. 18, a lunar occultation of Mars will greet many North Americans during or just before sunrise. According to EarthSky, Mars, which will look like a bright star flanking the moon, will disappear behind the lunar surface at 7:34:47 a.m. on Feb. 18 in New York City, about 45 minutes after sunrise. The moon will be 22 percent illuminated. Mars will “enter” behind the moon on the sunlit crescent side. It will reemerge from behind the moon around 9:04 a.m. in the southwest sky. By then, it will probably be a bit too bright outside to spot Mars anyway. When it comes to this occultation, the theme is “West Coast, best coast.” They’ll get to enjoy the full event before the sun interferes. Because it will be nighttime there, it’s safe, and even encouraged, to use binoculars to improve your view. EarthSky reports that Mars will disappear behind the moon at 3:37:08 a.m. in Los Angeles, reappearing about 50 minutes later. This will be the dimmest of five occultations of Mars visible from Earth this year, but it’s the only one that can be seen from the contiguous United States. June 21: Annular solar eclipse in Africa, Asia As the East Coast marks the summer solstice at 5:44 p.m. local time June 20, millions in Africa will be hours away from awakening to an extraordinary sunrise. A disk-shaped sun will climb first over Congo, then pass over South Sudan and Ethiopia before shining over the Arabian Peninsula. The interceding moon won’t fully block out the sun, which


Simone Biles calls USA Gymnastics interim training base ‘a good start’ on road to Tokyo Olympics

that USA Gymnastics has rented for its periodic national training camps for the next two years, with an option for a third. “Change is hard, especially in gymnastics,” added Biles, 22. “But I think it’ll be a good start to the Olympic year. It’s kind of a steppingstone to the road to Tokyo.” Biles stopped short of professing faith in the leadership of USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, which has declared bankruptcy as it seeks to settle hundreds of lawsuits over its failure to protect athletes from Nassar’s abuse and which faces potential decertification by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “Right now, I just kind of stay to myself,” Biles said when asked about her level of confidence in USA Gymnastics, which is on its fourth president and chief executive in the past three years. “I know I have a job to do. I try to do that to the best of my ability while representing them. Whenever it comes down to it, I just worry about me and what the team and I have to do at our meets.” The invitation-only training camp includes 2016 Olympians such as Biles and Laurie Hernandez, 19, who is attempting to earn a spot on the 2020 Tokyo squad after a two-year hiatus. It includes a few 15-year-olds eyed as having potential for the 2024 Games. And it includes several decorated gymnasts who will vie for a coveted spot on the 2020 team such as Sunisa Lee of St. Paul, Minn.; Kara Eaker of Grain Valley, Mo.; Grace McCallum of Isanti, Minn.; and Jade Carey of Phoenix, who joined Biles in winning team gold at the 2019 world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. For the 2020 Olympics, gymnastics teams have been pared from five members to four, heightening the competition for a spot, although there are provisions under which some countries could send a fifth and possibly sixth gymnast as a specialist on a single apparatus. Biles, who in October won her fifth world all-around title and a record-setting 25th world championship medal, is certain to lead the U.S. women into Tokyo. She led the American women to Olympic team gold at the 2016 Rio Games while claiming gold in the prestigious individual all-around, floor and vault, and taking bronze on the beam. This week’s camp marks a new phase of competition that will include additional national-team training camps and competitions