Nominee Vows to Bring Unified Focus to African Continent

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 27, 2007 - The new U.S. Africa Command will bring a more unified focus to the African continent and help strengthen stability and security in the region, the general nominated to stand up and lead the new command told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward, who currently serves as deputy commander of U.S. European Command, told the senators during his confirmation hearing that he will build on U.S. efforts already under way to solidify relationships and develop capabilities of African nations.

If confirmed, Ward said, he will help bring AFRICOM to initial operational capacity as a command subordinate to EUCOM by October. AFRICOM is slated to be established as a separate unified command by Sept. 30, 2008, consolidating efforts currently being conducted by EUCOM, Pacific Command and Central Command.

"I see the establishment of AFRICOM as a wonderful opportunity to efficiently and effectively apply the elements of U.S. national power in ways that help the Africans develop and implement their solutions to African concerns," Ward said in his written response to questions raised by the senators.

The new command will enable the Defense Department "to view all of Africa through a single lens of a single unified command, allowing us to maximize our participation as a partner in pursuit of our mutual interests for peace, prosperity, and stability," he said during today's testimony.

Ward noted that the African continent is linked to the United States by history, culture, economics and geostrategic significance. Meanwhile, its importance in global affairs has increased tremendously, he said.

After traveling extensively through the region, Ward said, he has concluded that "our assistance to existing and emerging African security institutions is most effective when it fosters African solutions to African challenges."

Many African leaders and organizations such as the African Union have committed to working toward a safe and secure environment on the continent to promote effective development and governance, Ward told the senators.

He said he will build on the "great strides" the U.S. European, Central and Pacific commands have made in working with African militaries to enhance African security through military exercises, humanitarian programs, training events and support to peacekeeping operations.

"Much of their success stems from listening to the Africans and getting their perspectives and applying the solutions in accordance with their stated needs and within our means," he said.

Ward acknowledged that establishing the new command and transferring responsibilities to it will be complex. He noted that three unified commands and AFRICOM's transition team have been working together to ensure no disruption or confusion in continuing ongoing Defense Department efforts on the continent.

"My goal is to make the transition of operations and activities to AFRICOM's responsibility as seamless as possible," he said. "I will reinforce the excellent work currently being done on the continent and the strong relationships already established."

Meanwhile, Ward said, he will build on existing coordination among the Defense Department, State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and various non-governmental organizations in Africa.

As a reflection of that interagency relationship, Ward's command will have two deputy commanders. In addition to a military flag officer to focus on military operations, AFRICOM will have a deputy to the commander for civil-military activities, a position to be filled by a senior State Department Foreign Service officer.

The Foreign Service official will direct the command's plans and programs associated with health, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian mine action, disaster response and security-sector reform.

This team will work together to help build a stable security environment that enables Africans to pursue broader goals such as economic security, Ward told the committee. He described a three-pronged approach toward this objective, with the Defense Department advancing U.S. military goals and activities, the State Department conducting diplomacy, and USAID carrying out development work.

AFRICOM will lead these efforts as it focuses on conducting security cooperation to build partnership capabilities in areas ranging from peacekeeping to maritime security to border security to counter terrorism, he said.

Admiral Describes Evolving U.S.-Asia Relations, 21st Century Maritime Strategy

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 26, 2007 - Warm and transparent relationships with emerging Asian nations are key in today's global ideological struggle, and a forthcoming U.S. maritime strategy will consider the modern security and economic landscape, a top military official said today. During a conference on National Security Strategy and Policy at the Ronald Reagan Building here, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chief of naval operations, addressed an auditorium packed with military and private-sector members and reporters.

Mullen said he hosted his Chinese naval counterpart in the U.S. in April and traveled to China in August to enhance the nations' military-to-military relationship.

To diversify its force structure from a ground-heavy force to one with increased air and sea power, China is investing in high-end technology that will greatly expand its naval capabilities there in 10 to 20 years.

The admiral expressed trepidation over the level of China's military investment and said that an anti-satellite missile China launched in January also is cause for concern.

He acknowledged that, as a sovereign nation, China is acting within its right to beef up military might. "But what we've asked for is more transparency and more of a strategic understanding of why these capabilities are being developed, (and) what their expectations are for the use of those capabilities down the road," Mullen said.

Mullen said a dialogue between the United States and China, possibly spurned on by military relations, could prevent strategic miscalculations and help the U.S. better understand the emerging Asian power and the implications of such growth.

"The peaceful evolution of China -- being the huge economic engine that it is -- is a good thing not just for the Chinese people or for the region, but for the world," he added.

Speaking about U.S. relations with other Asian countries, Mullen called Japan a "very critical partner." Like the United States, Japan supports global stability and economic prosperity. He added that Japanese military officials share his "uncertainty" over China's aggressive investment in new military technologies.

The admiral said he is encouraged by recent joint maritime operations with Japan and India. A benefit of such operations, Mullen said, is that young servicemembers of various nationalities are able to interact.

"(These operations) speak to the idea of many different countries working with each other on the military side across the full spectrum," he said. "When I'm in these countries, one of the things I try emphasize with every leader is the need to have exchanges with our young officers.

"We invest there now so that when they become more senior, they're not working for the first time to establish relationships," he continued.

The admiral said such international exchanges are the result of globalization, or the notion that the world's nations and people have become -- and continue to grow -- more interdependent. In this shifting environment, Mullen said, cooperation within the international economy likely will create partnerships in the field of global security.

The cumbersome foreign military system, a complex procurement mechanism that delivers private-sector supplies to foreign buyers, is inhibiting smooth exchanges on the United States' end of global production, Mullen said. He added that he advocates making a simpler system to foster enhanced economic partnering.

Mullen alluded to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's book, "The World is Flat," in which the author posits that just as democratic nations abstain from fighting each other, nations that cooperate in a global economy, or supply-chain, will not fight. The motive that pacifies such partners, Mullen said, is that neither desires to disrupt a common value system.

Such shifting security and economic considerations will factor into a doctrine outlining U.S. maritime strategy, Mullen said. The doctrine will be presented next month at the International Seapower Symposium in Newport News, Va.

Mullen called the strategy a work in progress that's in its final stages and said the doctrine represents input from hundreds of experts representing combatant commands and joint partners, including the U.S. Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

"(Such expertise) helps us look above and beyond," Mullen said. "That is, to get our heads above operations and tactics and look well beyond the horizon."

Acro Announces Technology Agreement with LSRI

Acro to provide multi- type explosive tester for commercial and military explosives, complementing its existing peroxide explosive tester

New York, NY – September 26, 2007 – Acro, Inc. (OTC BB:ACRI), a developer of explosive detection solutions, today announced the conclusion of the negotiations of a technology agreement with LSRI – Life Science Research Israel Ltd., a subsidiary of IIBR – Israel Institute for Biological Research.

Under the terms of the agreement, LSRI will license the long-proven technology of IIBR's explosives testing kit (ETK) to Acro, for incorporation into Acro's pen-like device, allowing the detection of commercial and military explosives. The agreement is subject to minimum annual revenues to be achieved by Acro and royalties to be paid to LSRI. The technical appendix of the agreement will be signed in the next few weeks.

The new device will complement Acro's ACRO-P.E.T., the company’s peroxide explosive tester for the detection of improvised explosives.

"The agreement with LSRI will allow Acro to provide unique, reliable and easy-to-use explosive testers for the entire spectrum of military, commercial and improvised explosives, using the company's patented pen-like tool," said Acro Chairman and CEO Gadi Aner. "This is an important milestone in Acro's evolution as a company offering a full array of explosive testers providing immediate detection in the field."

IIBR's ETK is a portable micro-laboratory for rapid field detection of explosives. It is used by many security forces around the world.

ACRO-P.E.T. is designed for rapid field detection of peroxide-based explosives, such as triacetone triperoxide (TATP). Its main advantages include high sensitivity, high selectivity, fast response, simple operation, small size and cost effectiveness.

About LSRI - Life Science Research Israel Ltd.
LSRI focuses on the commercialization of IIBR’s novel technologies and scientific achievements. Established in 1979, LSRI’s mandate is to promote biomedical projects and market IIBR-developed products and services. LSRI represents IIBR in the establishment of all forms of collaboration, joint ventures and partnerships with private and public companies. For more information about LSRI, visit www.iibr.gov.il/LSRI.asp

About Acro, Inc.
Acro, Inc. develops explosives detection technologies. The company has developed a unique patented technology for identifying peroxide-based explosives, such as TATP. Acro’s Advisory Board includes Prof. K. Barry Sharpless, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and Prof. Richard A. Lerner, President and CEO of The Scripps Research Institute, considered one of the world’s most influential scientific institutes. For more information about Acro, visit www.acrosec.com.

Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning our marketing and operations plans. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made based on management's current expectations and estimates, which involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks related to the evolving homeland security market, our ability to successfully market and sell our TATP Explosive Tester product worldwide and ETK licensed from LSRI, the results of the technology agreement with LSRI, our ability to satisfy the minimum annual revenues set in the agreement with LSRI, and the ability to successfully demonstrate solutions to governmental national security agencies and national police forces, and additional orders from the US military, general economic conditions and other risk factors. Acro does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements made herein.

Media contact:
David Kanaan
Kanaan Public Relations
Tel: +972-3-540-8188
E-mail:david@kanaan.co.il

Army Leaders Urge Congressional Support to Meet Current, Future Demands

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 26, 2007 - The Army, stressed and stretched by six years of conflict, needs continued and uninterrupted support and resourcing to maintain its current operational levels while preparing for the future, its top civilian and military leaders told Congress today. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. outlined four imperatives for the House Armed Services Committee that he called critical to the Army's ability to restore balance and maintain the all-volunteer force:

-- Improving the way the Army sustains soldiers, families and civilians;

-- Preparing troops for success in the current conflict;

-- Resetting troops and equipment for future deployments; and

-- Transforming the force for the 21st century.

Casey urged committee members to support these efforts into the next fiscal year, and to ensure there's no funding gap after Oct. 1 that could slow efforts under way.

"The Army is the best in the world at what it does, because of our values, our ethos, our people and your support," he said.

Keeping that standard, he said, will require more hard sacrifices by soldiers and their families and clear recognition by national leaders of the threat the country faces and the need to maintain an Army able to face it.

Calling soldiers "our ultimate asymmetric advantage" in the war on terror, he said the Army needs to continue improving the way it recruits, trains and retains them.

While increasing the readiness of the force, the Army also must increase the quality of life it provides its members as well as their families, he said.

Army Secretary Pete Geren noted that the Army's focus has moved from pay issues that dominated the 1970s and housing issues that dominated the 1990s. Today, in an era of persistent conflict that's expected to continue into the foreseeable future, the big emphasis must be on taking care of families, he said.

"Twelve months (deployed overseas) was asking a lot of those families, and 15 months is asking more," he said.

Casey said the Army needs to ensure that the quality of life it provides its soldiers and their families "is commensurate with the quality of service" they are providing.

Meanwhile, the Army must continue to prepare its troops to succeed in the current conflict, he said. The Army has made "great strides," continually adapting as the operational environment changes, he said.

It's also committed to providing the best equipment possible to give soldiers the technological advantage on the battlefield, he said, as well as tough, demanding training at their home stations that ensures they have the skills and confidence to win.

"Military success is tied to the capabilities of our leaders and soldiers," Casey said, promising that the Army won't fail them.

To keep that promise, the Army must focus on resetting the force, he said. Resetting means more than simply fixing or replacing equipment that's being used at five times its programmed rate, he told the committee. It also means giving soldiers and their families time to regroup between deployments.

Geren noted that the current Army force is carrying the lion's share of the third-longest conflict in U.S. history. Not since the Revolutionary War has the country asked this much of an all-volunteer force for this long, he told the committee.

And as the country faces what is expected to continue to be an era of persistent conflict, it must take care of its troops and their families to ensure the all-volunteer force remains strong, he said.

Today's Army is the best-led, best-equipped and best-trained force that's ever been to the field, Geren said. He expressed hope that with congressional support and funding, the Army will be able to continue making that claim five, 10, even 20 years into the future.

So as the Army focuses on the current conflict, it must keep looking ahead as well to ensure it's ready to face future threats, Casey said. This involves fielding the best new equipment to fighting forces, incorporating new techniques and fielding the Army's future combat systems to brigade combat teams to ensure the Army has a decisive advantage on the battlefield.

The Army's transformation is "a holistic effort" that affects the way it fights, trains and modernizes, he said. "It's a journey for us, not a destination," Casey told the lawmakers.

Navy to Unveil New Maritime Strategy

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 26, 2007 - The U.S. Navy will unveil a new maritime strategy next month that will address the demands of a globalizing world, a top military official said here today. Navy Vice Adm. John G. Morgan, deputy chief of naval operations for information, plans and strategy, spoke to a group gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building for a conference on National Security Strategy and Policy.

He told the audience that during the International Seapower Symposium next month in Newport News, Va., the Navy will present a new maritime strategy to some 91 heads of allied navies, Marines and coast guard. The doctrine, which took some 16 months to complete, is the Navy's first attempt to document a seapower strategy since the 1980s.

"If you contrast the last time we made an effort to write a maritime strategy in the 1980s, you'd agree that the world today looks a lot different," he said.

Globalization -- the notion that the world's nations and people have become, and continue to grow, more interdependent -- was in its early stages during the drafting of the last strategy. Since that time, important maritime milestones have occurred. Russia recently placed a flag on the floor of the North Pole, Morgan said, and the Northwest Passage, a sea route through the Arctic Ocean along the North American coast, has opened for the first time.

Furthermore, climate change is altering the planet's shape and the number of navigable areas. The growing human population is moving closer to coastlines and into urban centers, and as a result, people are moving goods around the world by sea more than ever before, Morgan said.

Morgan declined to describe in full detail the elements of the new strategy, but said that it addresses the changing 21st century world. Furthermore, strategy planners tried to anticipate what Morgan called the key uncertainty: what the United States' grand military strategy and foreign policy will be in the next few decades.

"Instead of looking for a specific answer, what we did was consider a range of options: primacy, cooperative security, selective engagement and offshore balance," he said.

These paradigms commonly are used by military planners to measure the quality of strategic components against hypothetical challenges. In addition to these theoretic structures, the Navy added "concert of power," or the idea that major world powers will work in concert with the United States to preserve a mutually beneficial status quo. In contrast, planners introduced the "coalition of denial," a paradigm pitting all major players against strategic interests sought by the United States.

From the six hypothetical paradigms, Morgan said, a team that comprises hundreds of American and foreign experts drafted five possible maritime strategies. The experts then whittled the five strategies down to three.

Morgan's team traveled to seven locations around the country to present the strategies to American citizens. In what was dubbed "the conversation with the country," Morgan and his team used Americans' feedback and helped shape one strategy, which currently is a work in progress in its final stages.

"This has been an open and loose process," he said. "We are creating an unclassified document, one with significant international flavor, informed by constructive dialogue with friends around the world."

Plan Calls for Sweeping Changes to Mental Health Care Services

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 26, 2007 - Servicemembers and their families can expect sweeping changes throughout the Defense Department's mental health care services during the next year. A plan submitted to Congress this month details hundreds of proposed actions that officials hope will make the system more patient-focused. Many of the major changes are slated to be in place by as early as May 2008.

The plan is based on 95 recommendations for change that the department's Task Force on Mental Health reported to Congress in June.

Congressionally directed and funded last year, the task force reported that stigma attached to mental health care, difficult access, bureaucracy and a lack of resources contributed to a lack of adequate care for servicemembers and their families.

Congress provided $900 million for improvements in mental health care services, some funds specifically for advancements in traumatic brain injury and psychological health research, development and services.

The department responded by partnering with the departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services to develop a plan to work through each of the recommendations, in many cases crossing the bureaucratic borders of each organization, to refocus the delivery of care to the patient's point of view.

This is a paradigm shift for military medicine, said Ellen Embrey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for force health protection and readiness.

"Patient centered-care is a standard of practice in some of the more effective health systems around the country. For large federal systems like the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, patient-center care being imposed on a large number of specialty departments requires a significant commitment to understanding what the patient has to go through and making sure that the providers in that system keep that in mind," Embrey said. "We are absolutely committed to doing what's best for the patient."

The changes also call for a shift in how the department has traditionally focused its mental health care, she said.

"If you look at how the department is currently organized to provide care, ... overall our focus in the past has been on diagnosis and treatment. The shift ... is to help people understand that prevention, and helping people maintain their health, is as important," Embrey said.

This calls for education and training for leaders, providers and patients, she said. The new plan also includes more research.

"That shift requires everyone in the system to understand what psychological health is, how to recognize when it's starting to falter, and what you can do yourself or what resources are available to you," Embrey said.

Probably one of the most visible changes in the system will be streamlined mental and physical evaluation board processes that will offer more consistency between Defense Department and VA assessments, Embrey said. A pilot of the new system will be conducted in the next few weeks, she said. A final system is to be in place by May.

Also key in the plan is ensuring servicemembers and their families receive a full continuum of care during transitions, especially from military to civilian life. Most of the changes have to do with recordkeeping and working to improve provider "hand-offs" of patient information. This is critical, officials said, as patient information often is recorded on the battlefield and passed successfully to military hospitals for care, but sometimes there are gaps as the patient transitions to Veterans Affairs or to a civilian provider.

Officials are also working to bring mental health care access policies more in line with those of primary care access policies. For example, officials want policies across the system to provide initial mental health care services to a patient within seven days of contact, or fewer if the situation requires. This is the standard for primary care access. But in the past, mental health care was always perceived as specialty care, and the standard for receiving an appointment was 30 days.

"Psychological health and fitness must be placed on an equal footing with physical health and fitness," Embrey said. "We have a responsibility to effectively identify and treat all psychological health conditions and ill effects of war, and are committed to accomplishing that through a consistently excellent standard of care across DoD."

Many changes will revise department policies to reflect a more current knowledge of psychological health. And part of the plan is an anti-stigma public education campaign targeting servicemembers and family members who neglect or postpone treatment.

The aggressive timeline for implementing the changes reflects the department's commitment to timely change to the mental health care system, Embrey said.

"This has the attention of our senior leadership, and they are committed to making these necessary changes," she said. "Our families and our servicemembers are the most important part of our ability to do our mission and they deserve the very best treatment."

Since the initial recommendations went to Congress in June, senior Defense Department officials have met weekly. Many changes were already implemented as officials developed the overall plan, officials said.