Friday, November 19, 2010

Conflicts of interest at the State Dept?

POGO also released an August 2008 e-mail exchange it obtained between Geisel and Patrick F. Kennedy, State's undersecretary for management. In the communication, Geisel told Kennedy he was getting pressure from Congress to improve oversight of operations in Iraq. At one point Geisel noted, "If we aren't going to be a strong IG, Congress will give us another."
Geisel later said, "I am trying to keep a lid on unreasonable expectations and behavior and to keep the numbers down in Iraq. However, the department committed to have an active State OIG as a quid pro quo for legislation, giving us back the lead in Iraq. Please tell Baghdad to stop shooting its friends."
State is transitioning to take over as the lead agency in Iraq as the Defense Department minimizes its military presence in the region.
"This e-mail is profoundly troubling because Geisel appears to be informing management that he is on their side and that his office needs to conduct just enough oversight to placate Congress and prevent a legitimately aggressive and independent IG from taking his place," Danielle Brian, executive director of POGO wrote in the letter.

The above is from Robert Brodsky's "Watchdog calls for removal of State Department's interim IG" (GovExec.com) and "POGO" is the Project On Government Oversight and they have sent a public letter to US President Barack Obama raising their concerns that the official lacks independence. Laura Rozen (Politico) reports on the development, "The report, by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), notes that the State Department has not appointed a permanent Inspector General for three years. Meantime, the deputy IG currently serving as the de facto acting Inspector General , Amb. Harold Geisel, is a retired career Foreign Service officer who may not have the independence he needs from the officials and issues he is investigating, the group contends."

Today on PRI's The Takeaway, John Hockenberry and Celest Headlee explore the role of the US military in Iraq with a military spokesperson. Religious minorities remain targeted in Iraq and we'll drop back to Tuesday's snapshot for an overview of one group being persecuted:

Now turning to the Mandaeans. This group goes back centuries -- and may date back to Antiquity -- and now is estimated to number less than 100,000. Until the Iraq War began, the majority of Mandaens could be found in Iraq. Like other religious minorities, they've become external refugees (many have fled to Iran, others to Syira and Jordan and a small number have left the Middle East). It's estimated that as much as 90% of the community has left Iraq since the start of the Iraq War. In 2007, US professor Nathaniel Deutsch wrote a column for the New York Times calling for the US to grant this community refugee status (which did take place) and noting, "Unlike Christian and Muslim refugees, the Mandeans do not belong to a larger religious community that can provide them with protection and aid. Fundamentally alone in the world, the Mandeans are even more vulnerable and fewer than the Yazidis, another Iraqi minority that has suffered tremendously, since the latter have their own villages in the generally safer nother, while the Mandeans are scattered in pockets around the south. They are the only minority group in Iraq without a safe enclave." Nadia Keilani is an Iraqi-American, an attorney and a Mandean. In 2008, she explained for CNN: "I belong to a religious minority called Mandaean, also known as Sabeans or Sabean-Mandaean. We are a Gnostic sect that claims Adam as the first in a line of "teachers" and John the Baptist as the last. Even today, our baptisms are conducted in the same manner that John the Baptist baptized Jesus and others of his time. Mandaeanism is a pacifist religion that forbids violence even in defense of life. In the anarchy that is today's Iraq, this has proved fatal to the existence of this small but important part of human religious history." The water issue is important to the faith when resettling. Lakes and rivers being ideal due to the baptisms. Settling is not a small issue and it goes beyond the issue of needing to be near a body of water. Keilani noted, "To be a Mandaean, you must be born to two Mandaean parents. To survive, Mandaean communities must exist in large enough numbers for young people to meet, marry and have children. Since 2003, the number of Mandaeans inside Iraq has dwindled to fewer than 5,000. Tens of thousands are scattered throughout Europe, Australia and the United States. The results of this diaspora are clear: Our religion probably will cease to exist in my children's lifetime."


Rudi Stettner (The Rant) notes some objections and concerns regarding asylum for Mandaeans:

That may well be the case, but Mandaeans seem to be very good low risk candidates to accept as refugees. They are pacifists, they do not proselytise and have an attitude of extending charity to Mandaean and non Mandaean alike. The largest community of Mandaeans in the US is the greater Boston area with about 450 of them.It would be good for the various countries that have taken in Mandaeans to work with the Mandaean leadership to at least settle groups of Mandaeans in close enough proximity that they can easily maintain regular contact. The Mandaeans have endured terrible trauma as a community since the start of the war in Iraq. It is not hard to understand their desire to survive as a community. We should try to work with them on this issue.

Jason Dzubow (ILW) argues, "In this instance, the UN and the receiving countries should make a greater effort to resettle the Mandaeans in larger number in order to create sustainable communities. If not, this ancient religion could vanish forever."

Meanwhile the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee issued the following:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Gina Drioane (Veterans’ Affairs)

November 18, 2010 (202) 224-9126

AKAKA HOLDS HEARING ON INTEGRATED VA/DoD DISABILITY EVALUATION SYSTEM

Questions on expansion concern staff shortages, funding, and participant satisfaction

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held an oversight hearing today on the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). This evaluation system, recently tested as a pilot program, is a collaborative effort between VA and DoD to streamline the process by which servicemembers are evaluated for disabilities by both departments.

"Both departments must ensure that each new location has what it needs to effectively operate the Integrated Disability Evaluation System before it is expanded," said Chairman Akaka. "The rush to move forward quickly should not come before our goal to provide a quality process to servicemembers.

"If broadened before it is ready, the new process could negatively impact servicemembers and veterans. I am optimistic that an effectively implemented program will improve the transition from active duty to civilian life for warriors disabled during their service to the nation."

Currently, wounded servicemembers who are discharged after receiving their disability rating from the military must go through the process again to receive a new rating from VA. The program, if implemented effectively, would eliminate this duplication.

At the core of IDES is a joint disability medical examination that can be used for the existing DoD Medical Evaluation Board/ Physical Evaluation Board process and VA disability compensation process. The hearing examined the problems that have surfaced over the course of the pilot program and VA and DoD’s plans to expand the program worldwide.

John R. Campbell from the Department of Defense, Daniel Bertoni from the Government Accountability Office, and John Medve from the Department of Veterans Affairs provided testimony for this hearing.

Chairman Akaka and the other members of the committee posed a number of questions regarding issues encountered during oversight visits in the pilot phase of the program, including shortages of staff to perform disability medical evaluations, program funding, and program participants’ satisfaction.

More information about the hearing including statements, testimony and the webcast is available here: LINK.

The following community sites -- plus NYT, wowOwow and Antiwar.com -- updated last night:

And we'll close with this from the Senate Democratic Policy Committee continues

Food Safety Statistics Index

The need to improve our nation’s food safety laws is being heightened by a series of high-profile food safety incidents. The following index catalogues some of the most notable public health, economic, food import, and polling statistics that underscore the need for improvement in our food safety system.

Top Ten Food Safety Statistics

1. Number of people that are sickened each year in the United States due to a food-borne illness [Centers for Disease Control; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

76 Million

2. Number of people that are hospitalized each year in the United States due to a food-borne illness [Centers for Disease Control; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

325,000

3. Number of people that die each year in the United States due to a food-borne illness [Centers for Disease Control; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

5,000

4. Amount that food-borne illnesses cost the United States each year [USA Today; Last Accessed 3.16.10] :

$152 Billion or
$1,850 per person

5. Percentage increase in the consumption of the product most likely to be associated with a food safety incident since 1992 [USDA; Last Accessed 3.6.10]:

180

6. Percentage increase in the incidence of salmonella infections since 1997 [Centers for Disease Control; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

20

7. Number of countries that import food into the United States [Food Safety.Gov; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

170

8. Decrease in the number of FDA inspections in foreign countries between 2001 and 2007 [GAO; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

115

9. Decrease in the number of countries where the FDA conducted inspections between 2001 and 2007 [GAO; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

15

10. Value of the domestic and imported food that is regulated by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

$417 Billion and
$49 Billion

Economic Impact of Recent Food Safety Incidents

1. Estimate of the immediate economic losses by the spinach industry due to E. Coli contamination of spinach in 2006 [GAO; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$37 to 74 Million

2. Estimates of the economic losses by the spinach industry one year after E. Coli contaminated spinach [USA Today; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$350 Million

3. Percentage reduction in spinach sales one year after E. Coli was detected in spinach [USA Today; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

20 Percent

4. Estimated value of the amount of peanut butter recalled by one company due to salmonella contamination in 2007 [CIO; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$1 Billion

5. Estimated cost of the peanut butter recall incurred by one company due to salmonella contamination in 2007 [CIO; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$78 Million

6. Estimated cost to Florida’s tomato industry due to a mistaken salmonella finding in 2007 [Sarasota Herald Tribune; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$500 Million

7. Estimated cost to the nation’s peanut producers from the 2009 salmonella contamination of peanut butter [Associated Press; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$1 Billion

8. Percentage reduction in pistachio sales ($800 million industry) more than year after salmonella was detected [USA Today; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

20

9. Estimated cost of the pet food suffered by one company due to melamine contamination in 2008 [USA Today, Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$50 Million

10. Economic cost of food-borne illnesses to the produce industry per year [Produce Safety Project; Last Accessed 3.17.10]:

$39 Billion

Concern and Support Food Safety

1. Percent of Americans who stated that they “trust the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that the food I purchase is safe” in a 2009 survey [FMI; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

76

2. Percent of Americans who stated that they are “somewhat, not too, or not at all confident” that the food they buy is safe in a January 2010 survey [CBS News; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

68

3. Percent of Americans who gave the United States a grade of “C” or lower for ensuring the safety of the nation’s food in a January 2010 survey [CBS News; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

58

4. Percent of Americans that said their confidence in the safety of the nation’s food supply had “somewhat” or “strongly” decreased in a November 2008 survey [Consumer Reports; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

48

5. Percent of Americans that were aware of instances of food recalls due to health and safety concerns in a March 2009 survey [ASQ; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

93

6. Percent of Americans that strongly or somewhat agree that “the government should have the ability to require a food recall when there are concerns about food safety” in a November 2008 survey [Consumer Reports; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

98

7. Percent of Americans that support giving the FDA the authority to issue mandatory food recalls in a September 2009 survey [Hart/Public Opinion; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

89

8. Percent of Americans that strongly or somewhat agree that “when food safety problems arise, the government should be able to quickly and accurately trace food from production to sale” in a November 2008 survey [Consumer Reports; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

97

9. Percent of Americans that support requiring tracing systems that enable the FDA to trace food back to its source in a September 2009 survey [Hart/Public Opinion; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

94

10. Percent of Americans that support requiring foreign countries that export food to the U.S. to certify that their food safety systems are as strong as ours in a September 2009 survey [Hart/Public Opinion; Last Accessed 3.18.10]:

92

Food Imports

1. Number of countries that currently import food into the United States [Food Safety.Gov; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

170

2. Number of countries that imported food into the United States in 2007 [CRS; Last Accessed 3.19.10]:

150

3. Decrease in the number of FDA inspections in foreign countries between 2001 and 2007 [GAO; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

115

4. Decrease in the number of countries where the FDA conducted inspections between 2001 and 2007 [GAO; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

15

5. Number of food import shipments that were refused entry into the United States between 1998 and 2004 [USDA; Last Accessed 3.19.10]:

49,448

6. Number of food import safety violations reported between 1998 and 2004 [USDA; Last Accessed 3.19.10]:

70,369

7. Number of vegetable and vegetable product violations between 1998 and 2004 [USDA; Last Accessed 3.19.10]:

14,463

8. Percentage increase in the number of foreign vegetable and vegetable product shipments refused for importation by the FDA since 2000 [FDA Import Refusal Statistics; Last Accessed 3.18.10; here and here]:

66

9. Number of salmonella safety import violations reported between 1998 and 2004 [USDA; Last Accessed 3.19.10]:

4,445

10. Value of the imported food that is regulated by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration; Last Accessed 3.16.10]:

$49 Billion

DPC FACT SHEET | Food Safety Statistics Index



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