VA secretary asks Iraq War veteran: 'What have you done?'

WASHINGTON –  Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Wednesday asked a Republican lawmaker who served in both Iraq wars, "What have you done?" as the two men sparred over huge cost overruns at a troubled Denver VA hospital.
McDonald was defending the VA's budget at a hearing when he and Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman tussled over construction delays and cost increases at the long-delayed hospital project.
After a few minutes of arguing, McDonald snapped at Coffman: "I've run a large company, sir. What have you done?"
Coffman, an Army veteran, did not respond at the hearing. But the four-term lawmaker said in a statement later that he could tell McDonald a few things he hasn't done.
"I have never run a federal agency that tolerates corruption the way the VA has. I've never built a hospital that's years behind schedule and hundreds of millions over budget. And I've never been a shill for inept bureaucrats who allowed American heroes to die on a medical waiting list," he said.
The last comment was a reference to a wait-time scandal that cost former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki his job. McDonald, a former Procter & Gamble CEO, took over as VA secretary in July. He has vowed to improve VA's delivery of services such as health care and disability benefits and make it a "model" for other government agencies.
The dust-up started when Coffman criticized the VA for citing its legal efforts to defend the Denver hospital project as a major accomplishment.
"How is that a success?" Coffman asked. "You lost that case on every single point for the hospital in my district that is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule."
"I think that that's just characteristic of your glossing over the extraordinary problems confronted by your department," Coffman added. "This is a department mired in bureaucratic incompetence and corruption."
McDonald said he was offended by Coffman's remarks and noted that he had only been on the job for six months.
"You've been here longer than I have. If there's a problem in Denver, I think you own it more than I do," he told Coffman.
McDonald then offered to give Coffman his cellphone, "and you can answer some of the calls and see if I'm making a difference for veterans."

Intel officials tight-lipped on American militant fighters back in US, admit tracking is difficult

U.S. intelligence officials declined to say Wednesday exactly how many Americans who went overseas to fight with foreign militant groups have returned to U.S. soil to pose a terror threat -- but acknowledged difficulties in identifying them and noted some have likely returned undetected.
“We know what we know, but we understand there is intelligence we don’t have,” Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, testified on Capitol Hill. “But it’s possible there are great numbers.”
He was joined before the GOP-led House Committee on Homeland Security by Michael Steinbach, an FBI counterterrorism expert, who told members: “This is a number we don’t know about,” regardless of the best intelligence.
Officials testified that roughly 20,000 people from around the world -- including at least 3,400 from Western countries -- have flocked to join the Islamic State and other extremist groups.
Rasmussen said the rate is “without precedent” and far exceeds anything similar in the past 20 years.
Officials think as many as 150 Americans have tried to reach the Syrian war zone. FBI Director James Comey said a few months ago that “about a dozen” had reached the zone and were actually fighting.
One known person is Douglas McAuthur McCain. The 33-year-old Californian died in August while fighting with the Islamic State near Aleppo, Syria.
However, the number identified as having returned to the United States is classified.
Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, called Islamic State fighters “barbaric terrorists” whom U.S. officials “must keep out of the homeland to protect the American people.”
Officials said that foreign fighters with the Islamic State pose a particularly dangerous threat of returning to the West and carrying out deadly terror strikes, considering they return with battle-ground experience, explosives training and access to a network of terror-related groups.
At least one of the men responsible for the attack last month on a satirical magazine in Paris had spent time with Islamic extremists in Yemen.
Rasmussen and Steinbeck were also joined at the hearing -- titled “The Urgent Threat of Foreign Fighters and Homegrown Terror” -- by Francis Taylor, a Homeland Security Department under secretary. He said officials have no information right now about any imminent, credible domestic terror threat.
The State Department did not send a witness, which McCaul called “very disappointing.”
McCaul also expressed concern about the Obama administration not having one federal agency in charge of countering the increasingly successful efforts by radical Islamic groups to convert Americans via social media without their having to leave U.S. soil. He also argued that none of the key federal departments or agencies have dedicated -- or “line item” -- spending for such efforts.
The intelligence officials also testified that a major problem in tracking foreign fighters overseas is that the U.S. Embassy in Syria is closed and the CIA has no permanent presence on the ground in that country.
"Once in Syria, it is very difficult to discern what happens there," Steinbach said. "This lack of clarity remains troubling."
The officials repeatedly said U.S. agencies continue to share information and work together on counterterrorism efforts.
However, they identified two other major concerns -- the need to improve information sharing with European countries and tracking foreign fighters engaged in what they called “broken travel” or hopscotching between countries by different modes of transportation to avoid detection.
“The volume and diversity of recruits flowing to and from the conflict areas make disruption especially challenging,” Rasmussen said. “There is no single pipeline for foreign fighter travel into and out of Syria. Violent extremists take different routes, including land, air, and sea.”
He also said most go through neighboring Turkey, which has signed visa, free-travel agreements with more than 69 governments. But he acknowledged the country has stepped up its efforts to deny entry to potential foreign fighters.
Another major concern was the State Department’s interest in resettling tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in the U.S.
McCaul called the idea a potentially “federally funded jihadi pipeline.”
Taylor said he also was “concerned” and that the State Department would need to look at watch lists to see if there was a connection to terrorist groups.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Pennsylvania town packs heat, and wants visitors to know it

Drive into tiny Conoy Township, Pa., and you'll see the standard "welcome" sign, but it also comes with a warning: "THIS IS NOT A GUN FREE ZONE."
The signs are meant to alert criminals to the fact that many people in the rural Pennsylvania town of 3,000 are armed. A dozen have been installed so far and three more are slated to go up, which would cover every major road into the town. Officials hope the signs give would-be criminals second thoughts before causing trouble.
“I think even those who have bad intentions can read,” Stephen Mohr, one of the township supervisors, told FoxNews.com. He said the town’s five supervisors unanimously decided to put the signs up.

"What we’re telling people is that when they do come here, they should feel safer knowing that everyone in the township is watching out for them."- Stephen Mohr, township supervisor, Conoy, Pa.

Mohr noted that the intent of the signs is to welcome good people to their town.
“The first word on there is “Welcome”… we have a lot here that we take pride in. What we’re telling people is that when they do come here, they should feel safer knowing that everyone in the township is watching out for them,” Mohr said. “And the criminal -- he should realize that going into this township he could have a bad day.”
But critics say the signs are unnecessary, and unlikely to send the message Mohr claims to be imparting.
“These signs are silly, because the Second Amendment guarantees the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens anywhere to own guns in their homes," said Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "As a matter of fact, no jurisdiction in America completely prohibits the carrying of guns in public.”
And despite the announcement that the townsfolk may be armed, there are still places within where guns are prohibited, noted Shira Goodman, executive director of Cease Fire PA.
"Are there no schools in this town?" Goodman asked. "How about U.S. post offices? What about private business owners or houses of worship who choose to bar firearms from their property?
“The intent seems to be to scare those who might consider criminal activity," Goodman added. "The likely effect will be to embolden a shoot first, Wild West mentality."
Mohr said residents are free to have to their own rules about guns, and the township follows federal and state policies regarding guns in post offices and schools. The signs, he said, refer to the fact that the township government welcomes the carrying of guns in the belief it promotes safety. A member of the National Rifle Association, he also seems to be sending a message of his support for the Second Amendment.
“Those people that need to wake up and realize that the right to carry a gun in a lot of areas have already been curtailed,” he said, noting that other jurisdictions, including New York City, put the onus on residents to show a “special need” in order to carry guns.
Economists who study crime said it will be interesting to see whether crime in the town is affected by the signs.
“My guess is that this may… lead a small number of people to reconsider committing criminal acts, but the signs are unlikely to provide so much new information [about the town] that they result in a large reduction in crime,” David Mustard, an economics professor at the University of Georgia, told FoxNews.com.  
Residents of the town reached by FoxNews.com had mixed views.
“I guess it’s a good idea. But it’s going to take more than just a sign -- I don’t think that would deter a hardened criminal,” Lyle Rider, who runs BMA Cycles in the township, told FoxNews.com.
“It doesn’t bother me… whether it’ll be a crime deterrent or not, I don’t know,” Mark Brosey, who works at Brosey’s Garage in the township, told FoxNews.com.
At least one other U.S. town is considering copying Conoy's idea.
“If you were a thief breaking into homes and businesses, would you choose a city that openly endorses the ownership and training of guns to protect persons and property?” Greenleaf, Idaho, Mayor Brad Holton told FoxNews.com. His town will consider posting such signs at a city council meeting in March.

Why NBC’s suspension is Brian Williams’ last hope for remaining anchor

NBC Universal tried to save Brian Williams’ job last night—and that’s why he was suspended for six months.
The company finally had to stop the bleeding, to halt the hemorrhaging of its own credibility along with that of its franchise player.
The brass slowly came to realize that Williams had to be punished, and significantly, for the sin of fabricating a story about his 2003 trip to Iraq. The betting is that with Lester Holt handling “Nightly News” for six months, things will cool off—the country will have moved on to some other outrage—and Williams will be able to return to the chair.
But that will also require a complete accounting by Williams of what he did wrong—in Iraq, in New Orleans, perhaps on other stories—and a full-throated apology that shows he understands the magnitude of his misconduct.
The note yesterday from Steve Burke, installed by Comcast as the head of NBC Universal, shows that this matter was decided at the highest reaches of the company. That’s how important Williams is to the network—not just for the 9 million viewers he drew to his newscast, but as a high-wattage spokesman and sometimes entertainer.
NBC News President Deborah Turness said that Williams’ Iraq tale was “was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position.” But the harsher words came from Burke:
“By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News.  His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.”
But then there was this: “He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him.”
NBC has so much invested in Williams that it wants to rehabilitate him—but is also buying time to line up a successor in case that proves impossible.
Despite the chatter about Matt Lauer or Savannah Guthrie, it would be difficult for NBC to take either one off “Today,” because morning shows are far more lucrative than evening newscasts.
NBC is also trying to recover from its own botched handling of the crisis. First, its executives allowed Williams to go on air with a lame and inaccurate apology that only inflamed his critics. Second, the brass let him announce that as managing editor he was taking himself off the broadcast for a short period—as if he didn’t report to anyone else.
In the end, NBC had little choice. While weighing Williams’ career against the self-inflicted damage, it is now trying to split the difference. The challenge for the network and its sidelined anchor is to regain the trust of the audience—if that is still possible.

The Back Story: Details emerge on Kayla Mueller’s capture, captivity at ISIS hands

The nightmare started in the summer of 2013, when Kayla Mueller and her boyfriend were forced off the road and kidnapped by the Islamic State.
While her boyfriend was eventually released, the 26-year-old aid worker spent the next several months shuttling between holding cells – a children’s hospital in Aleppo, an industrial area near the Turkish border, and the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.
Despite attempts to rescue her, including a failed U.S. raid last year, the Arizona resident – who was beloved by her family and friends and now has become a symbol of American sacrifice for the people of Syria – was killed.
Fox News first learned details about Mueller’s capture and captivity last fall, and, at the request of U.S. officials who cited national security concerns in ongoing efforts to secure her release, agreed to hold off on reporting them. A similar request was made by a spokeswoman for the family and agreed to by Fox.
Following the confirmation Tuesday of Mueller’s death, Fox News can now report those details, though some specifics are still deemed too sensitive for publication.
A source with first-hand knowledge of the efforts to free western hostages from ISIS told Fox News that Mueller and her Syrian boyfriend were kidnapped after being forced off the road in August 2013.
The Syrian man was eventually released. There initially was concern he may have been a plant to lure the American into a trap, but after he went back and pleaded with ISIS for Mueller’s freedom, the suspicion was discarded.
Between September2013 and May 2014, the hostages were moved between Aleppo, an industrial area near the Turkish border and Raqqa.The source said Kayla's ISIS captors were so confident in their self-described capital of Raqqa that there was limited visible security. The western hostages were often held in groups and by May had been in the same location for at least two weeks.
This is highly unusual because the practice is to move hostages on a regular basis to obfuscate their location.
In Raqqa itself, the male and female hostages were held in close proximity, but separated by sex. The source said Mueller was able to get a message to at least one of the western male hostages -- at the time American James Foley was held in the group --that was she was not being mistreated by her captors. Mueller made the same statement in a 2014 letter released Tuesday by her family.
By late May, specific intelligence had emerged on the hostage's likely location -- including a building, sources say.The intelligence was described to Fox News as "strong," "specific" and "perishable" --but the White House did not sign off on the rescue operation until much later.
The mission was launched over the July 4^th weekend.
In an interview with Buzzfeed on Tuesday, President Obama also confirmed that Mueller was among the hostages the U.S. tried to rescue in what ultimately was a failed raid that summer.
He objected to the notion that the U.S. may not have done all it could to rescue her.
Fox News asked the White House in November about the May timeline, and the apparent gap between the strong intelligence and the White House sign-off.
Spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said at the time, “U.S. forces conducted this operation as soon as the president and his national security team were confident the mission could be carried out successfully and consistent with our policies for undertaking such operations.”
Contacted Tuesday, Meehan said the White House position had not changed.
The May timeline nevertheless conflicts with administration claims that the White House signed off on the operation as soon as the intelligence allowed.
“The intelligence is never bullet-proof,” a former military official said. “When [the rescue team] finally did go, the general view was that the intelligence was drying up. … These guys were ready to go, on a lower threshold [for the intelligence than the White House] … We want the American people to know we are there for them, and ready to go 24 hours a day.”

US, UK and France announce closures, evacuations of embassies in Yemen

The State Department announced late Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Yemen had been closed and evacuated after much of the country was taken over by Shiite rebels last month.
Hours later, Britain and France followed suit and ordered their citizens to leave Yemen as soon as possible. 
The U.S. embassy had already been operating with severely reduced staff for several weeks. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said remaining diplomatic personnel had been relocated "due to the ongoing political instability and the uncertain security situation."
Yemen has been in crisis for months, with Iran-linked Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and then taking control and forcing the resignation of the U.S. and Saudi-backed president and his government.
"The security situation in Yemen has continued to deteriorate over recent days," U.K. Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood said in a statement. "Regrettably we now judge that our embassy staff and premises are at increased risk." Ellwood also urged all British citizens still in Yemen to "leave immediately."
In a statement on its website, the French Embassy said it would close as of Friday.
The embassy closures were announced as Houthi rebels, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and dressed in police uniforms and civilian clothes, patrolled the main boulevards of the capital, Sanaa, some in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
Scattered protests could be seen in the city, with demonstrators denouncing the Houthis for taking power and dissolving parliament. Shops closed early and helicopters also hovered overhead.
Houthis attacked one demonstration, stabbing and beating protesters trying to reach the local United Nations office, witnesses said. The rebels detained a number of people as well, they said.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the embassy closure would not affect ongoing operations against the terror group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). 
"The United States remains firmly committed to supporting all Yemenis who continue to work toward a peaceful, prosperous and unified Yemen," Psaki said. "We will explore options for a return to Sanaa when the situation on the ground improves."
The State Department also issued a travel warning advising U.S. citizens to defer travel to Yemen and urging U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart.
Two U.S. officials said Marines providing the security at the embassy will also likely leave, but American forces conducting counterterrorism missions against Al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate in other parts of the country would not be affected. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closure publicly on the record.
Although operations against AQAP will continue, the closure of the embassy will be seen as a blow to the Obama administration, which had held up its partnership with ousted Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's government as a model for his strategy in combatting terrorism, particularly in unstable countries.
"Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability," President Barack Obama said late last month as conditions in the capital of Sanaa became worse. "What I've said is, is that our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of Yemen without an occupying U.S. army, but rather by partnering and intelligence-sharing with that local government, is the approach that we're going to need to take."
The embassy closure will also complicate the CIA's operations in Yemen, U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge. Although CIA officers could continue to work out of U.S. military installations, many intelligence operations are run from embassies, and the CIA lost visibility on Syria when that embassy was evacuated in 2012. The CIA's main role in Yemen is to gather intelligence about members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and occasionally kill them with drone strikes. Both the CIA and the military's Joint Special Operations Command run separate drone killing programs in Yemen, though the CIA has conducted the majority of the strikes, U.S. officials have said.
There were 23 U.S. drone strikes reported in Yemen last year, 26 in 2013 and 41 in 2012, according to Long War Journal, a website that tracks them through media reports.
The Houthis last week dissolved parliament and formally took over after months of clashes. They then placed President Hadi and his Cabinet ministers under house arrest. Hadi and the ministers later resigned in protest.
Earlier Tuesday, Yemeni military officials said the Houthis, aided by troops loyal to Hadi's predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took full control of the key central province of Bayda province.
Bayda is the gateway to the country's south, which remains in the hands of pro-independence southerners and to the strategic oil-rich Maarib province, to the east, also still not in rebel hands.
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is the third in an Arab country that has closed since the turmoil of the Arab spring began in December 2010. The other two were embassies in Damascus, Syria and Tripoli, Libya. The embassy in Damascus was closed in Feb 2012 and the embassy in Tripoli was closed in July 2014.
The embassy in Yemen was operating with only a small portion of its usual diplomatic staff and had closed to the public for all but emergency services in January. It had been operating with reduced manpower since September 2014, when the State Department ordered all non-essential personnel to leave the country.
In May, 2014 the embassy in Sanaa was closed for several weeks due to heightened security threats.

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