The desire to reduce US dependence on foreign energy, ongoing environmental concerns, and the rising cost of petroleum have sparked significant development of greener alternative and renewable energy ...sources such as alcoholbased biofuels. To address these issues, the Department of Defense (DOD) has moved to diminish its reliance on petroleum for fueling aircraft and ground equipment. The US Air Force, in alignment with DOD objectives, has initiated several goals for reducing its use of energy: (1) decrease the use of petroleum-based fuel by 2 percent annually for the vehicle fleet, (2) increase the use of alternative fuel in motor vehicles annually by 10 percent, (3) certify all aircraft and weapon systems for a 50/50 alternative fuel blend by 2011, and (4) have Air Force aircraft flying on 50 percent alternative fuel blends by 2016.1 This aggressive timetable moves the world s single largest petroleum consumer, the DOD, squarely into the alternative energies market. As the world s most prodigious fuel consumer, the DOD would likely drive segments of the aviation and motor fuels markets around the world to meet the demand for newly formulated alternative fuels and to convert existing fueldelivery systems to support the new market. Although conversion to alternative fuels can clearly lower the production of carbon dioxide, the risks that potential fuel spills pose to soil and groundwater are only now becoming clear.
Published in Air & Space Power Journal, p41-46 Summer 2011.
Published in the United States Coast Gurad Proceedings, p51-57 Spring 2011.
After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, Congress enacted the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which changed how we deal with ...oil pollution prevention and response and made participation in Coast Guard vessel traffic services (VTS) mandatory. One other important provision in the law was the mandate to create a dependent surveillance system to monitor tankers navigating to and from Valdez, Alaska. Room for Improvement Prior to this incident, vessel traffic services typically provided vessel information by inquiring about vessels intentions and tracking their movement within the system via some manual plotting board or similar device. Though the inclusion of radar greatly enhanced the ability to track and monitor vessel movements, its range is limited, so the cost of providing full radar coverage throughout an entire VTS area and its approaches was prohibitive. Further, radar does not provide the ability to positively identify a vessel among other vessels or physical objects, such as ice. This limitation was always known, but became more evident after the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Despite the presence of melon-headed whales in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, little is known about this species. To assess population structure in Hawai'i, dedicated field efforts were ...undertaken from 2000 to 2009. Using only good quality photographs, there were 1,433 unique photo-identified individuals of which 1,046 were distinctive. Of these, 31.5% were seen more than once. Resighting data combined with social network analyses showed evidence of two populations-a smaller, resident population, seen exclusively off the northwest region of the island of Hawai'i, and a larger population, seen throughout all the main Hawaiian Islands (hereafter the main Hawaiian Islands population). A Bayesian analysis examining the probability of movements of individuals between populations provided a posterior median dispersal rate of 0.0009/yr (95% CI = 0-0.0041), indicating the populations are likely demographically independent. Depth of encounters with the Hawai'i Island resident population was significantly shallower (median = 381 m) than those with the main Hawaiian Islands population (median = 1,662 m). Resightings of individuals have occurred up to 22 yr apart for the Hawai'i Island resident population and up to 13 yr apart for the main Hawaiian Islands population, suggesting long-term residency to the islands for both populations.
To be published in Marine Mammal Science, p1-24, 2001.
Published in United States Coast Guard Proceedings, p22-24 Spring 2011.
The United States Coast Guard Office of Marine Transportation Systems Management develops and implements policies and ...procedures that facilitate commerce, improve safety and efficiency, and inspire dialogue within the maritime community to make our waterways safe, efficient, and commercially viable. One way we do this is by establishing risk baselines that guide our decisions. Three tools that guide these efforts: ports and waterways safety assessments, waterways analysis and management system studies, and port access route studies. The Coast Guard established the ports and waterways safety assessment (or PAWSA) process to address waterway user needs and place a greater emphasis on partnerships with industry. The process involves convening a group of waterway users and stakeholders and conducting a structured workshop to elicit their opinions.The primary objectives: improve coordination and cooperation between government and the private sector by involving stakeholders in decisions affecting them; develop and strengthen harbor safety committees; support Coast Guard responsibilities in waterways management and environmental stewardship; provide input for projects related to aids to navigation, regulations, or other risk mitigation measures, including potential vessel traffic management projects.
The US government (USG) conducts a host of operations abroad. Some are responses to crises, such as natural disasters, man-made humanitarian emergencies, or an attack on a friendly foreign country. ...Others are deliberately planned, such as preemptive military strikes or complex postconflict reconstruction and stabilization operations. Still other operations address such long-term issues as countering narcotics trafficking or global terrorism. In complex operations requiring participants from more than one US agency, coordinated planning and execution at the operational level often is lacking. This leads to redundancies, gaps, friction, and frustration. Several examples herein of US operations abroad highlight both successes and shortcomings. This analysis discusses four organizational reform models and recommends the interagency task force (IATF) as the preferred structure. Expertise for these many different missions is spread across several executive-branch agencies. The US Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) responds to disasters like the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The military conducts offensive and defensive operations, such as coming to the aid of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait or removing Saddam Hussein from power in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The State Department's (DoS) office of the Coordinator of Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) has been assigned the lead role in postconflict reconstruction and stabilization operations. The DoS Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, together with US law enforcement agencies, most operating under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have the leading role in counternarcotics operations abroad.
Published in Strategic Studies Quarterly, p113-152, Summer 2011.
