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ASSIGNMENTS / APPOINTMENTS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
SOURCE: Office of Senator Mitch McConnell
Memorial Day 2015
‘Memorial Day is also a time to express our gratitude to the families of the fallen, to let them know they are not forgotten.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued the following statement honoring the members of our Armed Forces on this Memorial Day, May 25:
“This Monday we’ll honor our nation’s greatest heroes: Every American who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom, democracy, and the American way of life. We’ll proudly fly the flag that these brave heroes sought to protect.
“Memorial Day is also a time to express our gratitude to the families of the fallen, to let them know they are not forgotten. Kentucky has always played a vital role in the defense of our nation, and I want to especially remember the heroes of the Bluegrass State on this day. I’m honored to represent Kentuckians in the Armed Forces, including those stationed at Fort Knox, Fort Campbell, the Blue Grass Army Depot, and members of the Reserves and Kentucky National Guard.”
Washington Is Paying Attention to Opioid Abuse
SOURCE: Office of Senator Mitch McConnell / National Journal.com
nationaljournal.com/health-care/washington-is-paying-attention-to-opioid-abuse-20150520
Caitlin Owens
Momentum is building around addressing opioid abuse in Washington as drug overdoses rapidly increase.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been holding a series of hearings on the topic; the latest, scheduled for Thursday morning, addresses what state governments are doing about the opioid epidemic.
Hillary Clinton said last month that she would address the issues of substance abuse and mental health as part of her campaign.
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts—not usually a pair seen working together—wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell this week, asking her to call on the surgeon general to address opioid abuse and for more information on HHS’s recently-announced initiative to reduce opioid-related deaths and addictions.
“This crisis of opioid related overdoses strikes without regard to geography, age, race, or socio-economic status and it requires an immediate and sustained response,” McConnell said in a statement, calling opioid abuse a “public health crisis.”
Opioid-related deaths—including both prescription drug and heroin overdoses—have been skyrocketing. Between 1999 and 2013, the death rate from painkiller overdoses nearly quadrupled. Heroin-related deaths increased by 39 percent from 2012 to 2013, and the drug’s use has been increasing since 2007, according to an Energy and Commerce Committee white paper.
The opioid abuse epidemic can be traced, in part, to the -overprescription of painkillers. The number of Americans seeking treatment for painkiller addiction has increased by 900 percent since 1997.
The HHS initiative, announced in March, will provide training and resources to health professionals to aid them in making prescription decisions, increase the use of naloxone—which is used to reverse the effects of narcotics—and expand the use of medication-assisted treatment, which combines medicine with counseling and behavioral therapies to address substance abuse.
Witnesses scheduled to speak at Thursday’s House committee hearing include Jerome Adams, Indiana’s health commissioner. Indiana has made headlines recently because of an HIV outbreak, resulting in Gov. Mike Pence allowing communities to seek approval to run needle exchanges in an attempt to control the spread of HIV or hepatitis C. The outbreak is tied to needle sharing among drug users injecting a liquified painkiller.
General Officer Assignments
The chief of staff, Army announced the following assignments:
Maj. Gen. Paul C. Hurley Jr., deputy chief of staff, G-4, U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to commanding general, 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), Kuwait.
Maj. Gen. Darsie D. Rogers Jr., commanding general, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to special assistant to the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.
Maj. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, commanding general, 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), Kuwait, to commanding general, U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command/Sustainment Center of Excellence and Fort Lee, Fort Lee, Virginia.
Brig. Gen. (Promotable) James E. Kraft Jr., assistant commander, support, Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to commanding general, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Brig. Gen. (Promotable) Flem B. Walker Jr., commanding general, 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Fort Knox, Kentucky, to deputy chief of staff, G-4, U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Brig. Gen. Douglas F. Anderson, U.S. Army Reserve, commander (Troop Program Unit), Great Lakes Training Division, 75th Training Command, Fort Sheridan, Illinois, to deputy commanding general (Troop Program Unit), 63d Regional Support Command, Mountain View, California.
Brig. General William P. Barriage, U.S. Army Reserve, commander (Troop Program Unit), Southern Training Division, 75th Training Command, Houston, Texas, to commander (Troop Program Unit), 351st Civil Affairs Command, Mountain View, California.
Brig. Gen. Peter A. Bosse, U.S. Army Reserve, director, Army Reserve Engagement Cell, and deputy commanding general, Reserve Affairs (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), U.S. Army North, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. He most recently served as commander (Troop Program Unit), 87th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command (East), Birmingham, Alabama, and deputy commanding general, First Army Division East, Fort Meade, Maryland.
Brig. Gen. Thomas P. Evans, U.S. Army Reserve, deputy director, force protection and counter weapons of mass destruction, J-8, Joint Staff, Washington, District of Columbia, to deputy commanding general, operations, Troop Program Unit, 80th Training Command, Total Army School System, Richmond, Virginia.
Brig. Gen. Malcolm B. Frost to chief, public affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Army, Washington, District of Columbia. He most recently served as the deputy commanding general, support, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Brig. Gen. Chris R. Gentry, U.S. Army Reserve, commanding general (Troop Program Unit), 91st Training Division (Operations), Jolon, California. He most recently served as deputy commanding general (Support) (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), Eighth U.S. Army, Korea.
Brig. Gen. Norman B. Green, U.S. Army Reserve, commander (Troop Program Unit), 4th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, to deputy commander (Troop Program Unit), 377th Theater Sustainment Command, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Brig. Gen Janice M. Haigler, U.S. Army Reserve, director (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), Cybersecurity, Office of the Chief Information Officer/G-6, U.S. Army, Washington, District of Columbia, to deputy commander (Signal) (Troop Program Unit), 335th Signal Command (Theater), East Point, Georgia.
Brig. Gen. James B. Jarrard, deputy commanding general, operations, 7th Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to director, Pakistan and Afghanistan Coordination Cell, J-5, Joint Staff, Washington, District of Columbia.
Brig. Gen. Phillip S. Jolly, U.S. Army Reserve, commander (Troop Program Unit), Army Reserve Sustainment Command, Birmingham, Alabama, to director, Army Reserve Engagement Cell (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), U.S. Army Europe, Germany.
Brig. Gen. Kenneth D. Jones, U.S. Army Reserve, commander (Troop Program Unit), 451st Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Wichita, Kansas, to commander (Troop Program Unit), 4th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
Brig. Gen. Troy D. Kok, U.S. Army Reserve, commander (Troop Program Unit), 11th Aviation Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky, to deputy commanding general (Support) (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Brig. Gen. Kurt J. Ryan, commanding general, 593d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to commandant, U.S. Army Ordnance School, U.S. Army Sustainment Center of Excellence, Fort Lee, Virginia.
Brig. Gen. Tammy S. Smith, U.S. Army Reserve, deputy chief of staff (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to commanding general (Troop Program Unit), 98th Training Division (Individual Entry Training), Fort Benning, Georgia.
Brig. Gen. Lawrence F. Thoms, U.S. Army Reserve, deputy commander (Troop Program Unit), 311th Signal Command (Theater), Fort Shafter, Hawaii, to commander, 335th Signal Command (Theater) (Operational Command Post) (Forward), Kuwait.
Brig. Gen. Richard J. Torres, U.S. Army Reserve, deputy commanding general, operations, (Troop Program Unit), 80th Training Command (Total Army School System), Richmond, Virginia, to director, Army Reserve Engagement Cell (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), U.S. Army South, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Whitlock, U.S. Army Reserve, strategic planning and policy mobilization assistant (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), U.S. Pacific Command, Camp Smith, Hawaii, to deputy director, Politico-Military Affairs (Western Hemisphere), J-5, Joint Staff, Washington, District of Columbia.
Col. (Promotable) R. Scott Dingle, commander, 30th Medical Brigade, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany, to deputy chief of staff for operations (G-3/5/7), U.S. Army Medical Command, Falls Church, Virginia.
Col. (Promotable) Robert D. Harter, U.S. Army Reserve, assistant chief of staff (Active Guard Reserve), Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to deputy chief of staff (Individual Mobilization Augmentee), Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
PHOTO(s) OF THE DAY
SOURCE: Department of Defense /Defense News Lead Photo
A United States Marine Corps color guard present the colors at the Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks in Washington D.C., where Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work was the invited guest of honor May 22, 2015. (Photo by Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz)(Released)
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and his wife Stephanie present a coin to Layla Hornsby, daughter of the late Blackhawk helicopter pilot CW3 Brian Hornsby, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. May 22, 2015. The Carters welcomed Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors family members to the Pentagon for an evening of events hosted by each of the services. (DoD News photo by EJ Hersom)
18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey talks with surviving children at the 21st annual T.A.P.S. National Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp for Young Survivors, in Arlington, Va., May 22, 2015. Gen. Dempsey addressed surviving family members of fallen service members from both behind a podium and behind a microphone as he sang a few songs. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Hinton/released)
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Sandy Winnefeld greets members of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors at the Pentagon, May 22, 2014. The Pentagon hosted the families for a night of fun and remembrance in honor of Memorial Day. DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Hurt/ Released.
The Patriot Act’s strange divide
SOURCE: PBS NEWSHOUR
On June 1, the NSA will lose legal authority to collect bulk phone records, as key provisions of the Patriot Act expire. The House has passed a new bill replacing bulk collection with more targeted searches. But some senators, including the majority leader, want to extend the Patriot Act, leaving lawmakers scrambling before the holiday. Judy Woodruff talks to Mike DeBonis of The Washington Post.
beenetworknews 
May 24, 2015
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