EXCLUSIVE: Obama Never Told 21 States Russians Were Hacking Their Voting Systems
State election officials still don’t know which 21 of their
jurisdictions Russian hackers targeted, The Daily Caller News Foundation
Investigative Group has learned. Secretaries of state — who are the top election officials in 40
states — told TheDCNF they were shocked to learn of the Russian hacking
when Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials first divulged it
at a June 21, 2017, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing.(RELATED: Obama Administration Never Warned State Election Officials Of Russian Hacking) “We can’t find any secretaries of state who say they have been told
they are part of this list of ‘targeted’ states.” said a spokeswoman for
the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), which is the
oldest nonpartisan professional organization for public officials,
representing top state election officials in all 50 states, plus the
District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
The testimony of
Jeanette Manfra, acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity and
communications at DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate,
before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence stunned NAAS.
obama regime and Russians Cybersecurity Firm Kaspersky Sues US For Banning Its Products Russian Cybersecurity Firm Kaspersky Sues US For Banning Its Products
Eugene Kaspersky Nigel Treblin / Getty Images Kaspersky Lab is suing the US Department of Homeland Security for banning federal government agencies from using its products. The ban, issued in September, was the culmination of months of
speculation from officials in the US government that using Kaspersky was
a security risk after national security officials said the Russian
government had stolen hacking tools from the National Security Agency
through Kaspersky software on a NSA employee’s home computer. The ban
gave US agencies until Dec.12 to stop using the software. Kaspersky is one of the world’s foremost cybersecurity companies and
has long denied that it conspires with any nation except when a court
orders it to do so in a criminal prosecution. But its ties to Russian
intelligence – its founder, Eugene Kaspersky, was trained at a school
run by the KGB spy agency during the Soviet era – have long been an for
some US officials. The lawsuit, announced Monday, charged that DHS never afforded the
company the chance to rebut the claims against it. In July, the company
claims in its lawsuit,
Kaspersky offered to discuss how its products are used. DHS responded
in August that they would “be in touch again shortly,” but didn’t
respond before issuing the ban. DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Kaspersky’s suit cites the Administrative Procedure Act, which allows
individuals to sue the federal government if it decides a contract
award without adequate evidence. “The APA provides a framework by which
those theories can be pursued, but the company will have to substantiate
them,” Ronald Levin, a professor at Washington University Law. told
BuzzFeed News. Complicating the issue is the difficulty in learning exactly what
role Kaspersky software might have played in the pirating of NSA hacking
tools. In November, an employee of NSA’s elite Tailored Operations
Unit, Nghia Hoang Pho, pleaded guilty
to taking such tools home and loading them onto his personal computer,
which was running Kaspersky anti-virus software. The software detected
the tools as a virus and transmitted them back to Kaspersky’s servers in
Moscow for analysis, Kaspersky has said. The Kaspersky suit cites DHS official Jeanette Manfra’s testimony in a
Nov. 14 congressional hearing that she doesn’t have conclusive evidence
that Kaspersky facilitated a breach of US government computers. But in
May, the chiefs of the US’s top intelligence agencies, including the
NSA, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and the Defense Intelligence Agency, all said they would not personally use Kaspersky. It’s unclear exactly how badly DHS’s decision has affected Kaspersky’s business. Eugene Kaspersky has described the company’s sales to the US government as “very few.” But competitors have seized on the ban as a selling point since September, and Kaspersky recently closed
its suburban Washington, DC, office because, according to a company
spokeswoman, “the opportunity for which the office was opened and
staffed is no longer viable.”. It’s also unclear whether Kaspersky still has plans to open offices in Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, a Republican from Vice
President Mike Pence’s home state, said she was shocked to learn of the
hacking during the hearing and incredulous that federal officials have
provided no further information. “Well it is extraordinary and is somewhat ridiculous,” Lawson said.
“It’s frustration beyond belief. I have never heard from any secretaries
of state and I believe that NASS has not heard either from any
secretary that they have been told that their state was one the states
that was targeted during the 2016 election,” she said. “Here’s what I’m learning unless a secretary of state gets the proper
clearance, I’m not sure we will ever find out if our state was
mentioned,” Lawson said. She is president of NASS and co-chairwoman of
the group’s election cybersecurity task force. Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, who is a Democrat and
president-elect of NASS, agreed with Lawson. “We were not notified. None
of the states were notified,” he said. “One of the reasons why they said they couldn’t tell us about the 21
states is because we didn’t have security clearances. Doesn’t it make
sense that they might find a way to give us a security clearance so we
can talk to each other about this?” Condos added. A DHS spokesman confirmed to TheDCNF that state election officials
were out of the loop when the Russians targeted them. “When we become
aware of a potential victim, DHS notifies the owner or operator of the
system, who may not necessarily be the secretary of state’s office,” the
spokesman said. Owners and operators are usually private vendors that maintain
election registration lists, according to the DHS spokesman. Russian
hackers never attacked actual tabulation systems but voter registration
rolls, most of which are public and available for purchase. “If a local election system is hacked, you should notify the state
system, and you probably should be notifying all state systems to let
them know this breach was made so we can all take action to prevent it
from impacting us,” Condos said. State election officials are also disturbed that former DHS Secretary
Jeh Johnson designated state election systems as “federal critical
infrastructure” with no prior consultation. DHS officials informed the
states the federal designation was being considered in August 2016. But
Johnson made it official in January 2017 just weeks before the Obama
administration ended. Both Democrat and Republican secretaries of state have opposed the
federal designation. Many see it as a power play to “nationalize” our
election system, which is now run at the state and local level. They
also charge federal officials are clueless about how state and local
election systems operate. “The disconnect is what we’ve been saying since last August that they
need to understand how our system works before they start creating
regulations to secure it,” Condos said. “We plan to work with secretaries of state and senior election
officials to determine how best to share this information, while
protecting the integrity of investigations and the confidentiality of
system owners,” the DHS spokesman told TheDCNF. “As part of this effort, we have begun the process to grant security
clearances in coordination with the National Association of Secretaries
of State, and have made this a priority for the election sector,” the
spokesman said. Follow Richard on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News
Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher
that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our
original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
There is a lot of meat for conservatives to chew on in former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s memoir cum exposé Stonewalled: My Fight For Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation and Harassment in Obama’s Washington. It is easily one of the most important political books published last year. One can infer from the subtitle of the book much of what Attkisson
has on offer. One might not have guessed, however, that in Attkisson’s
telling those “forces” in the book’s subtitle include the current head
of CBS News. Attkisson adds a compelling inside/outside element to the
story of her coverage of the Obama administration scandals around which
the book is organized. I have been puzzled by the dearth of attention the book has received
in the conservative media, even following the filing of Attkisson’s
lawsuit against the Obama administration earlier this month. In the
lawsuit Attkisson and her family assert explosive claims against the
Obama administration based on the monitoring of her computers as
revealed in the book. Seeking to interest readers in her story, I wrote a column on the book for NRO. My column is posted on the site this morning as “The Attkisson file.”
My thanks to NRO associate editor Molly Powell for her thoughtful work
on the draft I sent editor Rich Lowry to make it a stronger column.
Please check it out if you have any interest in the subject. Loretta Lynch did a superb job of testifying
this morning. She artfully ducked the few tough questions directed to
her, while somehow managing to sound like the most accommodating nominee
ever. Only Sen. Sessions laid a glove on her, in my opinion.
The afternoon session will begin soon. I think I’ll present my
live-blogging of this one in chronological order rather than reverse
chronological order, as I did this morning. 1:42 Ted Cruz is up. Attorneys general have a long history of
standing up to the president, Cruz says. But Eric Holder hasn’t upheld
that tradition. How would Lynch’s tenure differ from Holder’s, Cruz asks? She regurgitates Cruz’s statement about the need for the AG to act in
a fair way. How will she differ from Holder? She “will be Loretta
Lynch.” It’s a perfectly tautological and vacuous answer. She then reverts to her mantra — she looks forward to talking with Cruz about his concerns. Sure, she does. 1:46 Cruz turns specifically to immigration. Does Lynch agree with
the OLC opinion affirming the legality of the executive amnesty? She
says she doesn’t see amnesty being upheld in that opinion. She sees
prioritization of prosecution resources, and finds it “reasonable.” Cruz points out that the OLC operates as the official opinion of the
DOJ. So does she agree with the analysis and would it have been her
analysis? Lynch won’t say. She filibusters, presumably hoping to run down the clock on Cruz. Cruz quotes Obama’s 2011 statement that he can’t override Congress on
immigration. Does Lynch agree with what Obama said then? Lynch ducks.
She doesn’t know the context, she says. As U.S. attorney, did Lynch ever carve out a class of offenders that
she wouldn’t prosecute. Lynch hems and haws, but basically agrees that
she never did. 1:52 Al Franken is now taking his turn. In keeping with his status as
class clown, his first question is “how was lunch.” Lynch says it was
great. Everything seems to be great from Lynch’s perspective. She is proving
to be the Ernie Banks of confirmation witnesses. It’s a beautiful day
in the friendly confines of the Capitol. Let’s play two. 1:56 Franken claims that our prisons contain many people who
shouldn’t be there, but should be in “mental health court” instead.
Lynch doesn’t dispute this claim. She seems on board with, and indeed
enthusiastic about, Franken’s quest to blur the lines of criminality
through the wonders of therapy. If this were a movie, I would say “this is where I came in.”
Franken’s BS was all the rage when I studied criminal law in the early
1970s. It was only when such nonsense went out of fashion that we began
to make headway in reducing crime. 2:02 It’s Jeff Flake’s turn. Can’t say I’m expecting much worthwhile from him. Lynch assures Flake that her commitment to securing the border is firm. We can all sleep better at night now. Flake is pressing Lynch about failure to carry through on an
effective border control program in Yuma, Arizona (“Operation
Streamline”). Is she committed to the program? Lynch says she’s
committed to talking with Flake about his concerns. It’s a beautiful day in the friendly confines… 2:13 Sen. Blumenthal is on the clock. I should get paid double for listening to this segment. He commends Lynch for her “forthright and erudite” testimony. Lynch
is doing a masterful job, but forthright and erudite she has not been. Blumenthal thanks Lynch for her sympathy for veterans who commit
crimes. He does so as the father of a vet who has served in a combat
theater, and he lists all the veterans in Lynch’s family. But wait! Didn’t Blumenthal himself serve in Vietnam? That’s what he once claimed, but it was a lie. 2:23 Sen. Vitter is up. He was an early skeptic of Lynch and
criticized her for not answering his questions when they met in the
office. Lynch told Vitter she would get back to him. But yesterday he
received a letter from her stiffing him on his questions. Accordingly,
we should be very skeptical of her claim that she will discuss
substantive issues with Republican Senators. Lynch seems like Ernie Banks now, but I suspect that, as Attorney General, she’ll turn out more like her namesake, Marshawn. Vitter insists that the executive amnesty, by granting work permits,
goes beyond simple removal and prosecution issues. In other words, as
Sen. Lee pointed out, it is more than an exercise of prosecutorial
discretion. Lynch filibusters. Vitter, like Cruz, asks Lynch whether she agrees with the OLC opinion
on amnesty. Again, she finds it “reasonable” but won’t answer the
question of whether it’s correct. There is no reason why Lynch shouldn’t answer this question. This
isn’t a Supreme Court nominees declining to discuss a case he or she
might have to decide. If these hearings are to have any meaning, the
penalty for non-responsiveness on a key issue like this one should be a
vote not to confirm. Vitter asks for the statutory basis for having the decisions on
deportation made by DHS when the statute says its to be made by DoJ.
Lynch won’t answer. Vitter turns to mandatory minimums. They are in the statute, so why
shouldn’t they be enforced whether we agree with them or not? Lynch
cites limited resources and the need to prioritize. But, as Vitter says, this makes the mandatory minimums non-mandatory and allows bureaucrats to override Congress. This is the defining characteristic of Holder’s lawless reign at DoJ.
And in no instance today has Lynch shown any discomfort with it.
Indeed, as just occurred in response to Vitter, she has embraced it. How many Republican Senators will accept this lawlessness by voting
to confirm Lynch? The answer, it appears, is more than enough to confirm
Lynch. Vitter won’t be among them. He’s probably been the second toughest questioner so far (behind only Ted Cruz). 2:37 Sen. Coons is now asking questions. Nothing but softballs questions and hackneyed answers so far. Guess what. Lynch looks forward to talking with Senators about issues related to the Patriot Act. Coons asserts that the criminal justice system is broken because
blacks disproportionately are incarcerated — a non sequitur if ever
there was one. Lynch doesn’t question Coons’ assertion. We can assume that she will
follow Eric Holder’s model and take a race-conscious approach to
criminal justice. She likely will be a good General in the war on
standards. 2:46 Sen. David Perdue is asking questions now. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in action. He’s asking about a very interesting case, that of a Francois
Holloway, a repeat carjacker who was convicted and lawfully sentenced
under the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. Judge John Gleason,
who has been described as a “defense lawyer in a robe,” made it his
crusade years later to obtain leniency for Holloway, whom he had
sentenced. He sought Lynch’s help, asking her to permit Gleeson to reopen the
matter to review, and presumably reduce, the sentence. To Lynch’s
credit, she originally declined, but a year later changed her position.
Perdue wants to know why. Lynch responds that Holloway got a much tougher sentence than the guy
who masterminded the crime (but that’s because Holloway rejected a plea
deal). She also says she consulted with the victims before agreeing to
Gleeson’s request. And she looked at the case under current DoJ
standards which, Lynch says, are more favorable to Holloway. I’m not sure that anything in this answer explains why she changed
her mind. It sounds to me like Lynch simply caved to pressure from a
judge that, as a prosecutor, she might have to deal with. Bill Otis
has written about the Holloway case. I will probably take a look at
this matter in light of Lynch’s answer to Sen. Perdue’s question. 2:55 The Committee is in recess because there are no Senators present
who haven’t questioned Lynch in the first round (only Sen. Tillis
hasn’t had a turn, but he’s not present). The next round will begin
soon, but I’m going to conclude my live-blogging for the day. Unlike Ernie Banks, I’m not willing to “play two.’
New emails show IRS stalled criminal probe of targeting
Emails obtained by Judicial Watch
show that the IRS stalled a criminal investigation into its practice of
targeting conservative groups. IRS delayed granting permission to an
agency employee to meet with investigators, despite the employee’s
eagerness to testify. The employee’s attorney expressed his frustration with the IRS’s
delay to the Department of Justice on June 12, 2013, saying “we find it
amazing that [IRS attorneys] didn’t immediately respond giving us the
green light to meet with you.” The DOJ lawyer appeared to share the
concern. He wrote back: “Let’s talk in a.m. if they don’t get back to
you.” Nonetheless, it was another month before the employee met with two
Justice Department prosecutors, two FBI officials, and an investigator
from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The meeting
appears to have occurred on July 11. Of the two Justice Department attorneys present, one apparently was
from the Public Integrity Section and one was from the Civil Rights
Division. The Public Integrity previously has been tied
to an effort to work with the Obama IRS against the very groups and
individuals critical of the Obama administration and the president’s
reelection that the IRS has admitted to illicitly targeting. As for the Civil Rights Division, it is an ultra-left-wing enclave within the liberal DOJ. Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote has slammed the Justice Department
for refusing to meet with her about “targeting” complaint without the
presence of an attorney from the Civil Rights Division. At the time, the
Civil Rights Division was trying to block True the Vote from
intervening in voter ID litigation. Barbara Bosserman, an attorney at the Civil Rights Division,
reportedly has taken a lead role in the IRS investigation at Justice.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Bosserman contributed
$6,750 to Obama’s campaigns and the DNC from 2004 to 2012. William J.
Wilkins, the Chief Counsel for the IRS, was a former Democratic Senate
staffer and a donor to Democratic candidates and committees. Wilkins is a
political appointee. The latest batch of emails obtained by Judicial Watch (it’s the
second) is far from complete. The production consists of 34 pages of
heavily redacted emails. DOJ admits that it reviewed 938 pages of
responsive records related to this production. All told, the DOJ has
reviewed 1,772 pages of records in this case, but only produced 36
heavily redacted pages. Nonetheless, the newly released documents provide the first real
glimpse into the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the IRS
targeting scandal. The picture isn’t pretty. As Judicial Watch President
Tom Fitton says:
These documents show that the Obama IRS Counsel’s office, run by an
Obama political appointee, was stonewalling a federal criminal
investigation. And only in the Holder Justice Department would it be
deemed appropriate that the offices implicated in the IRS abuses should
investigate the IRS abuses. . . . This is an ugly mess and it is no surprise that, after nearly two
years, the criminal investigation of the Obama IRS by its
co-conspirators at the Obama Justice Department is widely acknowledged
as a farce.
No wonder the House Oversight Committee plans to press on with its probe of this scandal.
LLC 501C- 4 UCC 1-308.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
(1982, California) Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the
few to contend for the Darwin Awards and live to tell the tale. "I
have fulfilled my 20-year dream," said Walters, a former truck driver
for a company that makes TV commercials. "I'm staying on the
ground. I've proved the thing works."
Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his
dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from
the job of pilot. After he was discharged from the military, he sat in his
backyard watching jets fly overhead.
He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his
"extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather
balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered
lawnchair (dubbed the Inspiration I) and filled the four-foot diameter
balloons with helium. Then, armed with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a
pellet gun, he strapped himself into his lawnchair. He figured he would
shoot to pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.
Larry planned to sever the anchor and lazily float to a height of about 30
feet above the backyard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before
coming back down. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.
When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did
not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead he streaked into the LA sky as if
shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 45 helium balloons, holding 33
cubic feet of helium each.
He didn't level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After
climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.
At that height he felt he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest
he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed
there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more
than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where
startled Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports
of the strange sight.
Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly
descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line,
blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to
safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was
led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue
asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't
just sit around."
The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety
Inspector Neal Savoy said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal
Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will
be filed."
_____________________________________
The Darwin Awards News Report
(May 2014, England) In the interest of public safety, Darwin Awards editors
are releasing this ribald event to the public to serve as a warning to
adventurous amorous males. The event was brought to our attention by an
eyewitness, who provided additional details (withheld for privacy reasons)
to confirm it.
"Being part of emergency services, firemen are called upon to get people
out of unlikely situations. We were summoned to the A&E Department of a
central London hospital to assist in removing a "thing ring." With our
ring cutters at the ready, we were presented with the patient, his 'meat
and two veg' extremely swollen and such a dark purple that they were almost
blackened. The whole sorry mess was encircled by a thick titanium
ring. Normally the procedure to remove a thing ring is a five-minute
affair, but our cutters could not make a mark on the titanium! After
expending a number of cutter blades we had to concede defeat.
"The man in question had put himself into this situation three days
prior to committing himself to A&E, delaying the hospital visit due
to embarrassment and a vain hope that it would resolve itself in time.
Unfortunately this error in judgement cost him dearly. The wonderful
doctors can often drain blood and remove the ring the way it went
on--yet by the time he sought help, and our tools had been defeated, his
jewels was past saving. Full castration--the result of the man's own
actions and decisions--make this eunuch a self-selected nominee for a
living Darwin Award.
_____________________________________
The Darwin Awards News Report
(25 May 2014, Georgia) 18-year-old Chance Werner had recently graduated
from high school and early on Sunday morning he was at Lake Allatoona
celebrating with friends by playing the Shopping Cart Game. Lake Allatoona
is a large reservoir created by damming the Etowah River in 1949. The
shoreline is lined with vacation rentals and campgrounds, as well as two
yacht clubs and a sailing club.
The Shopping Cart Game is evidently popular. News reports state that the
cart is usually anchored to a pole or tree at the dock. The cart is
poised on the dock, someone climbs in, and friends launch the shopping cart
off the dock and into the water. Ha! The soggy rider climbs out of the
water, the cart is reeled back in, and the game begins again.
In the wee hours of between Saturday night and Sunday morning--the timing
hints at an evening spent partying at the lake--Chance inexplicably decided
to be the tree and tie the cart to his belt. Chance took a chance
that did not stand a chance! He was dragged into the
water and drowned. Several hours later his body was recovered from nine
meters of water, still tied to the shopping cart.
Although Chance was a young man who had only just graduated from high
school, the editors voted to give him a Darwin Award because--as his family
says--the tragedy contains an important message they wish to share about
thinking before you act. "We have all done stupid things. Not one person
thought that this was not a good game to play." People of Earth! This is
not a good game to play. Leave that shopping cart at the mall, lest you
find yourself in the hereafter swapping stories with Chance.
READER COMMENT "Guess he really did make Anchor."
"Last Chance."
"Knot Funny."
___________________________________
The Darwin Awards News Report
(18 February 2014, United Kingdom) Scott McKimmie's purple Volkswagen
Cabriolet would not be considered roadworthy by most people, but to a handy
mechanic a flaw can be considered a security feature. Early on Tuesday
morning outside The Phoenix pub in Corby, the 39-year-old started the 1998
Cabriolet in his usual unusual way -- he put the car in gear and
reached beneath the hood (the 'bonnet') and touched two wires together to
create an ignition spark.
Unfortunately Scott failed to remember that he had not set the
handbrake. To make matters worse he had modified the purple VW to run with
a fast idle to prevent stalling. As black wire touched red wire the engine
turned over and started, and the car lurched forward and knocked him
over. Due to the fast idle the vehicle continued on its merry way,
inflicting 36 "separate injuries" on the unfortunate man as -- like the
Duracell/Energizer bunny -- it kept going and going.
As demonstrated in a police investigation video shown to the court, the
engine modifications allowed the car to move forward without stalling
when it was in first, second or third gear! Coroner Anne Pember recorded
a verdict of accidental death with this summary: "It is quite clear
that the cause of this tragedy was the unusual starting method Mr.
McKimmie used to start his car."
___________________________________
The Darwin Awards News Report
"Winner of the 2012 Hide And Seek Tournament."
(19 May 2014, Arizona) The mummified remains of a man discovered in a
Tucson manhole tell their own poignant story. In May the manhole was
opened to investigate a fluctuation in electrical power. According to
records kept by Tucson Electric Power the manhole had not been opened in
the past five years, so the team that entered the underground high-voltage
vault was quite surprised to find the dessicated remains of a man slumped
near cut copper wires. In his shriveled hand was -- can you guess? -- a
bolt cutter.
Crime pays so little, and costs so much. This nominee not only failed and
fried but also, nobody noticed, making his death both stupid and sad. An
autopsy confirmed the obvious conclusion that electrocution was the likely
cause of death. The date of death was set at somewhere between one and two
years previous to the discovery.
The mummy was carrying ID for a 51-year-old man, and DNA testing is
underway to verify the identiy of the crispy copper critter.
LLC 501C- 4 UCC 1-308.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
NEWPORT, Ore. - The U.S. Coast Guard agreed to keep its Newport Air Station open - for now.
An agreement was reached in a conference call between Federal Judge
Michael McShane, the United States Coast Guard, and five plaintiffs in a
lawsuit.
The plaintiffs included the City of Newport, Lincoln County and the non-profit Newport Fishermen's Wives.
According to the plaintiff's attorney, Mike Haglund, the suit called for
an injunction on the air station's closure, which was scheduled to be
Monday, December 15.
Due to budget cuts, the Coast Guard announced it was closing the Newport
Air Station and a facility in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Coast Guard said it would move its personnel to stations in Astoria
and North Bend, and that the helicopter would be redistributed to fill
other operational gaps in the system.
Following repeated calls to ensure the safety of residents and visitors
in coastal areas, Oregon's Congressional delegation created a
reauthorization bill that would keep the Coast Guard's air stations open
through January 1, 2016.
The bill was passed by the Senate and the House Wednesday.
"This bill buys us some much-needed time to keep fighting for Newport,
for the air facility and for the continued safety of residents living
and working along the Oregon Coast," Senator Ron Wyden said.
The Press Secretary for Sen. Wyden's office said all that remains is for
President Barack Obama to sign the bill into law, which is expected to
happen.
Ginny Goblirsch, a member of the Newport Fishermen's Wives group, said
the U.S. Coast Guard agreed to not close the Newport air facility until
President Obama signs the bill.
"We are thrilled," Goblirsch said. "This is great news for Newport."
She warned that the fight is not over; it only secures the helicopter for one more year.
Goblirsch said the plaintiffs have decided to keep the case open and
revisit it at the end of next year, if the Coast Guard tries to close
the facility again.
