What is a caliphate? News puts focus on ancient institution

WASHINGTON — When the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced Sunday that it was changing its name and reviving the caliphate, the news lit up the Internet and headlined news reports around the world.

But what is a caliphate? And what is the self-described Islamic State hoping to achieve with its declaration?

The answers, experts say, have more to do with the Sunni militant group’s rivalry with al-Qaida than with any plan to replicate the last caliphate, which was abolished in 1924 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

Understanding the history of the caliphate and its powerful symbolism is key to comprehending what the Islamic State’s declaration means. It’s the latest salvo in an inter-Muslim battle for territory and influence in the Middle East and beyond — a conflict that not only pits Sunnis against Shiites but radical Sunni jihadis against each other.

Question: What is a caliphate?

Answer: A caliphate is a political-religious institution led by a successor of the Prophet Muhammad, who died in 632 AD. In its original form, says Carool Kersten, a senior lecturer at King’s College in London, the caliphate was based on a pre-Islamic Arab tribal custom of picking a tribe’s leader by consensus. Early Muslims adopted this model to pick Muhammad’s successor, who was known as “khalifa” in Arabic, or caliph. A caliph not only governs politically but also ensures governance in accordance with Islamic law. He rules over the Ummah, the Muslim community.

Q: Who can be caliph?

A: The issue of who should succeed the prophet is one of the most divisive issues in Islam and is at the root of the division between Sunnis and Shiites. The first three caliphs were Abu Bakr, Omar and Uthman, close companions of Muhammad who governed after his death. The fourth caliph, Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was assassinated in 661 A.D.

Disagreement about who would lead Muslims after Ali’s death led to the schism between those who recognized the first four “rightly guided” caliphs, the Sunnis, and those who claimed that Muhammad had anointed Ali as his successor and that authority should pass to Ali’s sons, the Shiites. A caliph doesn’t have to be a descendent of the prophet, but it doesn’t hurt. “It’s extra bonus points,” said John Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University.

Q: Why has the Islamic State declared a caliphate?

A: The move is an effort by the group to make strategic use of powerful historic and religious symbols. The Islamic State named its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph and ordered all Muslims to swear allegiance to him. Baghdadi’s claim to the title of caliph — and his demand for fealty — is a warning to other Islamist militias: You’re either with us or against us.

It’s also a declaration of war against al-Qaida. By declaring a caliphate, the Islamic State is targeting al-Qaida’s funding sources and hoping to win over fighters from al-Qaida’s far-flung franchises in places such as Somalia and Yemen, said Patrick Johnston, who studies Iraqi insurgent groups for the RAND Corp., the California-based research institute.

Q: Have people claimed to be caliph before?

A: Over the centuries, different people have claimed the title, from members of the Umayya clan, who made the caliphate that stretched from Spain to Afghanistan into a hereditary dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, to the Mamluk kings who ruled Egypt in the Middle Ages. “Sometimes there were two or more separate caliphates at the same time with spheres of influence,” said Deina Abdelkader, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “Iran was once a base for a caliphate, and then you would have another caliphate in southern Spain. So they co-existed.”

With the coming of the Ottoman Empire, the definition of the word caliphate shifted. “Basically the sultan was the political power who ruled the Ottoman Empire, but then they added the title caliph so he was also the religious leader of the Ottoman Empire,” Abdelkader said. That lasted until a group of military officers seized power in what became Turkey and canceled the title in 1924. Baghdadi isn’t the first radical Muslim to take on the title of caliph in contemporary times. Afghanistan Taliban leader Mullah Omar declared himself caliph in the 1990s.

Q: Does the Islamic State want to recreate the Ottoman Empire?

A: In his Ramadan remarks on Tuesday, Baghdadi referred to the defeat of Muslims after the “fall of their caliphate,” apparently a reference to the end of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago. After the breakup of the empire, Western colonial powers Britain and France created new nation states in former Ottoman territories, divvying them up as part of the Sykes-Picot Agreement at the end of World War I. Baghdadi repudiates those borders as illegitimate. “Syria is not for Syrians, Iraq is not for Iraqis. ... The State is a state for all Muslims,” he said.

Given the Ottoman sultans’ reputation for corruption and what Kersten called “general decadence,” they are not likely to be Baghdadi’s role models. Instead, the Islamic State prefers a comparison to the “Golden Age” of the four original caliphs, which would cast the radical group’s caliphate as a return to Islam’s “perceived ‘pristine’ origins,” Kersten said. It’s all part of a strategy to use religious symbols and historic grievances to spread fear and attract funding and fighters. “Like any political group,” Abdelkader said, “they’re out to make a big splash.”

I watched all the terrorist beheadings for the US government, and here's what I learned

WASHINGTON — The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is, among other things, a social media powerhouse. The group skillfully exploits platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, among others, to promulgate many gut-churning images and videos of its war against Shiites and the Iraqi government broadly. These include one where the group claimed to have executed some 1,700 captured soldiers. Another video shows ISIS fighters beheading a police chief, then merrily tweeting: "This is our ball. It's made of skin #WorldCup."

As appalling as these examples are, ISIL is merely following a decade-old playbook. I should know, since one of my responsibilities during the Iraq war was to track al-Qaida in Iraq's media output for the CIA. Here's what I learned:

They'll exploit whatever tactic gains the most media attention.

Osama bin Laden's then-deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, famously told Al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2005 that "we are in a battle, and that more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media." But Zarqawi — whose group would eventually become ISIL — already knew that, because his brutal exploits had been earning free media for years, which the group used to gain new recruits, advance its message and terrify its enemies.

The problem is that even outrageous maneuvers cease to be newsworthy when they become normal. When Zarqawi's group captured and beheaded Philadelphia native Nicholas Berg in 2004 then uploaded the video of his murder, it was front-page news for a week. But the subsequent videotaped murders of Kim Sun-il, Eugene Armstrong, Jack Hensley, Kenneth Bigley and other foreigners did not have the same impact. Neither did any of the videotaped executions of the dozens of Iraqis that fell into AQI's hands. After a while, AQI surmised that these videos weren't shocking anymore, and the group stopped producing them as often as they had done in previous years.

Of course, other insurgent groups also shot hundreds of propaganda videos — many of which are still floating around the Internet. For instance, the jihadist group Ansar al-Sunnah videotaped its operation on Forward Operating Base Marez near Mosul in 2004, which killed 22 American soldiers and contractors. A kind of genre grew up around IED attacks on U.S. and coalition military vehicles. These groups loved to give speeches and make statements online. There was even the video legend of "Juba the Sniper," an insurgent who shot soldiers from afar with his Dragunov rifle. But AQI was by far the most influential, effective and violent purveyor of jihadist propaganda, because its media cadre followed the old newspaper adage: If it bleeds, it leads.

The videos became sophisticated — quickly.

I've watched dozens of these gory videos, and they used to be crude, amateurish efforts. But AQI's media operatives were quick learners and soon upgraded their product to the slick, multimedia productions commonplace today.

For instance, Berg's executioners didn't even bother to put their camcorder on a tripod when they shot his video. The result — while horrific — was a shaky, blurry product. By the time AQI kidnapped four Russian diplomats in 2006 and then released their murder video, their end products were far superior, complete with smooth edits, audio dubbing and computer graphics. Another video from around the same period showed the execution of a dozen Iraqi police officers; AQI had at least three different cameras taping it and seamlessly spliced all their terrible handiwork together in the post-production process. They clearly killed these people for the cameras.

Terrorists enjoy murdering people.

Despite the justifications for killing that often accompanied these videos, the murderers seemed to really have a good time putting people to the knife. Watch enough of these productions, and you'll generally notice the terrorist participants — the executioners and the others in the shot — seem very much at ease with what they are about to do. They take to their jobs with gusto. Even the chants of "God is great" that accompany each murder are happy, full-throated ones. And they sometimes go well beyond execution and into mutilation.

To my knowledge, few of these killers expressed remorse for their actions when they were caught. Those true believers felt that what they were doing was completely acceptable — even essential — to advance their warped cause. And many are now free men again: After ISIL staged a large breakout from Abu Ghraib prison in 2013, some 500 individuals at all levels of the terrorist organization found themselves back on the streets.

ISIL' delight in its gruesome exploits indicates the way its leaders would run its self-declared "caliphate" across a broad swath of Iraq and Syria. But their bloodthirstiness may prove to be the group's downfall; after all, no other Iraqi insurgent organization or Sunni tribe subscribes to its fanatical agenda. It's hard to imagine that any permanent political settlement there could tolerate such stunts for very long. The Sunni tribes of Iraq will eventually turn on ISIL, as they have done in the past. But when that occurs, expect even more bloodletting — and more gruesome videos.

Peritz is a former CIA counterterrorism analyst and coauthor of "Find, Fix, Finish: Inside the Counterterrorism Campaigns that Killed bin Laden and Devastated Al Qaeda."

Blake Carter, former Navy defensive back, dies at 27

The Navy football brotherhood lost one of its most beloved members last weekend when alumnus Lt. Blake Carter died unexpectedly.

Carter passed away June 29 in Norfolk, Virginia, in the apartment he shared with fellow former Navy football player Curtis Bass. Carter, 27, was serving as a surface warfare officer aboard the USS Wasp, a multi-purpose amphibious assault ship.

Carter was a standout defensive back for Navy from 2006 through 2009, appearing in 48 games with 25 starts. The 5-foot-11, 187-pound cornerback was a four-year varsity letterman on teams that posted a combined record of 35-18, captured the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy four times and appeared in four bowl games.

“Blake was one of the best corners we’ve ever had and also one of the best people,” longtime Navy defensive coordinator Budd Green said. “I became very close to Blake and loved him dearly. A huge part of my heart is missing right now. It’s a tough loss for the entire Navy football family and our thoughts and prayers are with Blake’s parents and relatives.”

Carter received other Division I scholarship offers after a standout career at Stillwater High in Oklahoma. He was steered to the Naval Academy by Terrence Anderson, a close family friend who had been an All-American center for the Midshipmen.

Anderson, whose father was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State at the time, used to babysit Carter when the latter was a young boy. Anderson knew the family because Craig Carter, Blake’s father, had played football at Oklahoma State.

Ram Vela first met Blake Carter at the Naval Academy Prep School in 2005. Capt. Joe Speed, a former Navy football player, was coaching the NAPS football team at the time and gathered the new recruits together.

“Capt. Speed went around the room and had each of us state our name, hometown and position,” Vela said. “When Blake stood up to introduce himself, I thought to myself. ‘What in the world is he doing here?’ Blake looked like he belonged at Texas or Oklahoma or something.”

As a junior, Carter turned in one of the most memorable performances of his career against service academy rival Air Force. He completely changed a close game by returning a blocked punt 25 yards for a touchdown then blocking a punt that Bobby Doyle recovered in the end zone for another score.

“Blake had a knack for coming up big in the big game. He just made a ton of critical plays over the course of four years,” Green said. “Blake was one of the most dependable players I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach. We could put him up against the best receivers and know for sure that he would get the job done. By the time Blake was a senior, I did not have to worry about that side of the field.”

Carter was credited with 51 tackles and led Navy with six pass breakups as a senior. His top individual performance that season came during a 23-21 upset of Notre Dame in South Bend as Carter led the Mids with nine tackles and also had two pass breakups.

“Blake just played great that day. He covered Michael Floyd (Arizona Cardinals) or Golden Tate (Detroit Lions) the whole game, and I remember he broke up two passes in the end zone,” Green said.

Green said Carter did not say much, choosing to lead by actions instead of words.

“Blake was a tremendous example to each and every young man who walked through the door of our locker room,” Green said. “Blake worked harder than anybody and always had a smile on his face while doing it. He loved the academy, loved the brotherhood and was very encouraging to the younger players on the team.”

Carter and Vela became best friends at the academy and were virtually inseparable. Carter routinely traveled back to Vela’s hometown of San Antonio during breaks and their two families grew close. Vela recalls a caring individual who was concerned with the welfare of others more than himself.

“Blake was really instrumental with providing that level of support everyone is searching for at the academy. I know that I leaned on Blake quite a bit,” Vela said. “We spent so much time together, and Blake had a great way of keeping your spirits up. He was an optimist and the type of person who could put it all in perspective.”

Since their son’s death, Craig and Phyllis Carter have received dozens of phone calls of condolence from his former Navy football teammates along with coaches and support staff. They have heard all sorts of stories about Blake’s kindness, such as the time he learned a classmate was struggling to pass the swim test and took it upon himself to help.

“Me and my wife just want everyone to know how much Blake loved the Naval Academy, loved the football program and loved his teammates,” said Craig Carter, who struggled to talk about his son without breaking down. “Blake was a wonderful child and a good person. Please tell everyone about that smile because that was his greatest gift.”

Services for Lt. Blake Cameron Carter will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, July 12, at Sunnybrook Christian Church in Stillwater.

Navy's downsizing plan calls for Norfolk to lose 3 warships

Norfolk, Virginia, will lose three aging warships, including the city's namesake, over the next 14 months as part of the Navy's plan to deactivate 17 vessels, according to a schedule the service released this week.

The loss of the three ships — two guided missile frigates and an attack submarine that, combined, are crewed by about 500 sailors — isn't unexpected. The Navy has signaled for years that it would phase out frigates.

Even with the losses, Hampton Roads is still home to more of the Navy fleet than any other single location, with five aircraft carriers, dozens of destroyers and other warships.

Craig Quigley, executive director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, is hopeful that new ships will eventually replace the older vessels — though the replacements would likely have considerably smaller crews.

The Navy's inactivation plan calls for decommissioning the Los Angeles-class attack submarine Norfolk in December. The 31-year-old sub, built by Newport News Shipbuilding, will be dismantled. It is the Navy's third ship named for the city.

The frigate Elrod, which is deployed, will be decommissioned in January, and the frigate Kauffman in September 2015. Both are to be sold to foreign military allies. Two other Norfolk-based frigates left the fleet in recent years, the Nicholas in March and the Carr last year.

"They're technologically and mechanically at the end of their service life," said Quigley, a retired admiral.

Quigley said the loss of the three will have a "modest impact" locally, given the Navy's presence in the region.

He said it's likely the frigates will eventually be replaced by the Navy's new littoral combat ships, which have crews of about 50, he said. The Navy hasn't announced plans to bring littoral combat ships to Norfolk, but Quigley said he hopes that will change.

The ship retirements coincide with the transfer of three Hampton Roads-based amphibious ships and 1,800 sailors to Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Fla. The amphibious transport dock New York moved there in December. The Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, and the Fort McHenry, a dock landing ship based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, are slated to follow this summer.

Hampton Roads has also seen the departure of several other warships in recent years.

The past two of a dozen coastal patrol ships, known as PCs, once based at Little Creek in Virginia Beach, are expected to transfer soon to Manama, Bahrain, home to the Navy's 5th Fleet. The Hurricane and the Monsoon, each with a crew of 28, will join eight other PCs there. Two others were shifted to Mayport.

At the same time, the Navy is moving three guided missile destroyers from Norfolk to a U.S. base in Rota, Spain. The Donald Cook left Norfolk in February, and the Ross departed last month. The Porter is expected to move next year.

The Navy's downsizing here is driven by a variety of factors, including an aging fleet, a commitment to bolster Europe's defenses against ballistic missiles, a defense strategy that shifts more resources to the Pacific, and the decision to increase the number of ships in Mayport to ensure the survival of Florida's ship-repair industry.

Air Force Special Ops leader retires after 33 years

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. — In an airplane hangar packed full of airmen, civilians, family and friends, Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel officially retired from the Air Force on Thursday after 33 years.

During that time, he rose to the ranks of leader of the Air Force Special Operations Command and garnered the respect and admiration of leaders all the way up the chain of command, including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh, who was on hand for the retirement and change of command ceremony.

“He’s an AFSOC icon, leader and man I have admired since the day I met him,” Welsh said. “No one knows this business better than Eric Fiel.”

Fiel, a navigator, first came to Hurlburt Field in 1982 as part of the 8th Special Operations Squadron flying MC-130s.

The Air Force special operations command had grown to 277 airplanes and 19,500 people by the time Fiel took over in 2011.

In addition to Fiel’s combat experience — he led a gunship squadron in Bosnia and Kosovo and was deployed repeatedly as a commander in Afghanistan and Iraq — he had a hand in helping to grow Air Force Special Operations into what it is today.

A lot of that was done at what Navy Adm. William McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, called the “Speed of Fiel.”

“Actions must be quick, results must be quicker,” McRaven said during the ceremony. “He pushes and pushes and pushes until he gets the air commandos to be the best they can be.”

Fiel was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on Thursday for his time as leader of Air Force special ops.

His wife, Donna, also received the Exceptional Service Award for her hard work as an advocate for airmen and their families and for being a role model for Air Force spouses, according to the award announcement.

The couple have not decided where to live after Fiel’s retirement, but he said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family.

To Donna, he said:

“I missed a lot of anniversaries and a lot of holiday, but in a few short minutes I’m going to be all yours.”

Iraq veterans 'seeing everything they fought for go out the window'

On the night of Oct. 8, 2004, U.S. Army Sgt. Ramon Guitard, a Brooklyn native serving his second tour in Iraq, was a 21-year-old generator mechanic working as a guard in a supply convoy.

En route from Baghdad to Tikrit, Guitard’s unarmored vehicle took a direct hit from a remotely detonated roadside bomb thought to be made of four artillery shells linked together. The impact of the blast shredded Guitard’s legs, collapsed his lung, buried a rock in his right eye and ruptured his internal organs so badly that he had to be cut open from chest to navel to allow them room to swell up.

Today, Guitard wears two gyroscopic, carbon-fiber prosthetic legs that allow him to walk, drive a car, climb stairs and even ride his motorcycle. And on this Fourth of July — a decade after the blast — he watches new developments in Iraq with deep sadness.

“It hurts,” said Guitard, who lives with his wife and four children near Columbia, South Carolina. “But my take on it is that I don’t want to lose any more American lives because of this. We’ve sacrificed too much already.”

Almost four years after U.S. combat troops left Iraq, the war has rekindled with a new vigor. Sunni insurgents, angry over the failure of the Shiite-led government to address tensions in their communities, have seized most of northern and western Iraq.

The front line in this new fight is the road between Tikrit and Baghdad, where Guitard was riding when he lost his legs 10 years ago.

Last week, President Barack Obama sent 300 U.S. combat troops back into Iraq to protect American interests and advise the Iraqi army. Some leaders — chief among them U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. — are calling for more involvement to stop the Sunni advance on Baghdad.

“Put American air power into the game,” Graham told CNN last weekend. The Sunni insurgents “are not 10 feet tall. Stop the advance on Baghdad, get people on the ground that the Iraqis trust.”

But many Iraq veterans — particularly those who were wounded in combat — are leery of another military push into the Persian Gulf country. And they are disappointed that their sacrifice seems to have been wasted, said John Trustruth, commander of the South Carolina Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

“They’re pissed off,” said Trustruth, a Vietnam veteran who was wounded in a rocket propelled grenade attack. “They went over there and put their lives on the line. Now they’re seeing everything they fought for go out the window.”

No easy solutions

The situation in Iraq is complicated at best.

Iraq’s parliament is considering starting a new government, questioning whether Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, can stay in power. Some are even asking if the country should be divided into three sectarian zones: Sunni, Shiite and Kurd.

The United States is pressuring Iraqi politicians to form a unity government with all three groups, but many question if that is possible, given the rifts.

The Sunni minority ruled Iraq for centuries until the U.S. invasion ousted Saddam Hussein. Shiites have dominated the government since al-Maliki became prime minister in 2006 with the support of Shiite clerics in neighboring Iran. Recently, a Sunni organization that is an offshoot of al-Qaida declared an Islamic state in the north and west of Iraq and much of Syria. Kurds in the northeast of the country have a formidable army and may declare independence.

Mohammed al Duliamy, a native of Fallujah, served eight years in his homeland as an interpreter and reporter for Knight-Ridder and McClatchy newspapers and other news organizations. He said any further U.S. involvement on the ground is fraught with danger.

“The Iraqi government failed to contain an insurgency and fueled this sectarian fight that might consume the whole country,” said Dulaimy, who has lived in Columbia since leaving Iraq to attend the University of South Carolina more than two years ago.

“I think the problem is so complicated on what the United States should do,” said Dulaimy, who is seeking asylum here. “Leave Iraq to be controlled by terrorists? Or fight alongside a government that is favoring Iran. It is a dilemma. It's too complicated, and boots on the ground would complicate it more.”

The toll on Americans

More than 1.5 million Americans served in Iraq between 2003 and 2011.

Since March 20, 2003, the day U.S. troops poured across the Kuwait-Iraq border to oust Saddam Hussein and search for weapons of mass destruction that did not exist, the United States lost 4,485 troops killed in action and an estimated more than 30,000 wounded in action.

Of those, 64 members of the U.S. military with ties to South Carolina died in Iraq; 48 have died in Afghanistan. More than 60 percent of American casualties nationally in Iraq were caused by roadside bombs.

Maj. Christopher Rauch of Lexington, South Carolina, was one of the first Americans to be wounded by a roadside bomb. It happened near Fallujah in October 2003, shortly after the rise of the Sunni insurgency after Saddam was driven from power.

“When I was hit, they were just starting,” he said.

Rauch was riding in a convoy that was taking VIPs to tour a factory in the town of al Habbaniyah that Iraqi officials were pitching to U.S. investors. As they traveled down the main highway between Fallujah and al Habbaniyah, an explosion went off — again, a roadside bomb made of four 155 millimeter artillery shells linked together in what is referred to as a daisy chain. Only two of the shells went off.

The hit was not direct. But Rauch’s Humvee — the fourth vehicle in the convoy — was blown off the road and into a ditch. Rauch was briefly knocked out, suffered a blown eardrum and was peppered with debris. The driver and the gunner in the vehicle were also wounded.

“I just remember waking up and saying ‘Oh shit’,” he said. “I waited a couple days to get over the concussion and went back to work.”

Rauch, still a member of the South Carolina National Guard, returned for a second tour in Iraq in 2009 as a convoy manager. And he served in Afghanistan in 2013-2013, replacing first gentleman Michael Haley on a South Carolina agricultural development team.

Rauch said that the United States gave up many of its options and influence in Iraq when it withdrew all combat troops in 2011.

“We gave up ground we had already paid for,” he said. “It was a decision made not just by (politicians). It was made by the people of the United States. That was a popular decision when it was done. But it had a cost.”

As for a return to a combat role there: “I don’t see what the gain would be,” he said

'It's their time to step up'

Steven Diaz of Columbia also was struck by a roadside bomb near Fallujah.

A native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Diaz joined the Marine Corps after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., out of patriotism and as a step toward citizenship.

“I felt like it was something I needed to do for the country that had done so much for my family,” he said.

Diaz’s parents were permanent residents, but not yet citizens. Diaz joined the Corps in 2003 with nothing but a green card and was deployed to Iraq in December 2004.

On March 26, 2005, the lance corporal was commanding the lead Humvee in a convoy on a resupply mission to a forward operating base called Camp Korean Village, located on the main highway from Amman, Jordan to Baghdad.

Diaz’s vehicle — a Humvee with armor plating the Marines had welded to its sides and its floorboard covered in sandbags — was to sprint ahead to draw enemy fire to alert the main convoy to trouble spots. The Marines called the vehicle “the suicide truck.”

“If you got hit, you were on your own,” he said.

The Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb — again four, linked 155-millimeter artillery shells. Diaz, who was 21 years old at the time, was riddled with shrapnel and one piece went through his left eye and lodged in his skull. Three other Marines in the vehicle also were severely injured.

“But I got it the worst,” he said.

Diaz spent a year and eight months at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., recovering from his wounds. He still suffers from traumatic brain injury and is blind in his left eye.

Diaz said he thinks the United States will have to take some sort of limited military action in Iraq to prevent the rise of more terrorist groups and support a Democratic government there.

“I don’t know if there is a diplomatic way out of this,” he said. “But for us to go back and take Fallujah for the third time, you’re going to have a hard time selling that.”

Guitard, who spent 18 months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and underwent more than 50 major procedures, agreed.

“I would support air strikes,” he said, “but nothing on the ground. We did our jobs. It’s their time to step up.”

Vet collapses in VA hospital, dies waiting for ambulance

Correction: The Associated Press previously reported that the patient had waited 30 minutes for an ambulance but later updated it to "around 20 minutes."

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A veteran who collapsed in an Albuquerque Veteran Affairs hospital cafeteria — 500 yards from the emergency room — died after waiting around 20 minutes for an ambulance, officials confirmed Thursday.

It took between 15 and 20 minutes for the ambulance to be dispatched and take the man from one building to the other, which is about a five-minute walk, officials at the hospital said.

Kirtland Air Force Medical Group personnel performed CPR until the ambulance arrived, VA spokeswoman Sonja Brown said.

Staff followed policy in calling 911 when the man collapsed on Monday, she said. "Our policy is under expedited review," Brown said.

That policy is a local one, she said.

The man's name hasn't been released.

News of the man's death spread Thursday at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center among veterans who were visiting for various medical reasons.

Lorenzo Calbert, 65, a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, said it was sad that a fellow veteran had to die so close to where he could have received help.

"There's no reason for it," he said. "They have so many workers. They could have put him on the gurney and run faster than that ambulance."

Paul Bronston, a California emergency-room physician and chair of Ethics and Professional Policy Committee of the American College of Medical Quality, said it may sound ridiculous that staff had to call 911 but that practice is the standard at hospitals. Typically, an ambulance would arrive faster, and other factors can stall workers trying to rush patients to the emergency room on foot, he said.

"The question I would have (is) ... was there an AED (automated external defibrillator) on site as required?" he said. Bronston said 90 percent of those who collapse are afflicted by heart problems and an AED could help them.

It was not known what caused the man to collapse or whether an AED was nearby.

The death comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs remains under scrutiny for widespread reports of long delays for treatment and medical appointments and of veterans dying while on waiting lists.

A review last week cited "significant and chronic system failures" in the nation's health system for veterans. The review also portrayed the struggling agency as one battling a corrosive culture of distrust, lacking in resources and ill-prepared to deal with an influx of new and older veterans with a range of medical and mental health care needs.

The scathing report by Deputy White House chief of staff Rob Nabors said the Veterans Health Administration, the VA sub agency that provides health care to about 8.8 million veterans a year, has systematically ignored warnings about its deficiencies and must be fundamentally restructured.

Marc Landy, a political science professor at Boston College, said the Department of Veterans Affairs is a large bureaucracy with various local policies like the one under review in Albuquerque.

Although the agency needs to undergo reform, Landy said it's unfair to attack the VA too harshly on the recent Albuquerque death because it appears to be so unusual.

"I think we have to be careful," he said. "Let's not beat up too much on the VA while they are already facing criticism."

Vet collapses in VA hospital, dies waiting 30 minutes for ambulance

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A veteran who collapsed in an Albuquerque Veteran Affairs hospital cafeteria — 500 yards from the emergency room — died after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance, officials confirmed Thursday.

It took a half an hour for the ambulance to be dispatched and take the man from one building to the other, which is about a 5-minute walk, officials at the hospital said.

Kirtland Air Force Medical Group personnel performed CPR until the ambulance arrived, VA spokeswoman Sonja Brown said.

Staff followed policy in calling 911 when the man collapsed Monday, June 30, she said. "Our policy is under expedited review," Brown said.

That policy is a local one, she said.

The man's name hasn't been released.

News of the man's death spread Thursday at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center among veterans who were visiting for various medical reasons.

Lorenzo Calbert, 65, a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, said it was sad that a fellow veteran had to die so close to where he could have received help.

"There's no reason for it," he said. "They have so many workers. They could have put him on the gurney and run faster than that ambulance."

The death comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs remains under scrutiny for widespread reports of long delays for treatment and medical appointments and of veterans dying while on waiting lists.

A review last week cited "significant and chronic system failures" in the nation's health system for veterans. The review also portrayed the struggling agency as one battling a corrosive culture of distrust, lacking in resources and ill-prepared to deal with an influx of new and older veterans with a range of medical and mental health care needs.

The scathing report by Deputy White House chief of staff Rob Nabors said the Veterans Health Administration, the VA sub agency that provides health care to about 8.8 million veterans a year, has systematically ignored warnings about its deficiencies and must be fundamentally restructured.

Marc Landy, a political science professor at Boston College, said the Department of Veterans Affairs is a large bureaucracy with various local policies such as the one under review in Albuquerque.

Although the agency needs to undergo reform, Landy said it's unfair to attack the VA too harshly on the recent Albuquerque death because it appears to be so unusual.

"I think we have to be careful," he said. "Let's not beat up too much on the VA while they are already facing criticism."

Young, active war wounded pushing medical science

SAN DIEGO — The blood is not the most jarring part of the photograph taken shortly after the bomb blew off Marine Gunnery Sgt. Brian Meyer's leg and hand.

It's his smile.

The bomb technician had asked a team member to take the picture. He knew his defiance in the face of death would keep his comrades going and ease the torment caused by what they had witnessed.

His attitude set the tone for the long journey the double amputee is taking along with nearly 2,000 troops who lost one or more limbs from combat injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's also pushing military medicine to find better ways to accommodate such a large population of young, severely disabled combat veterans who want to maintain an active lifestyle. Many wear out their prosthetic limbs in a matter of months doing everything from mountain climbing to running marathons.

With survival rates reaching historic highs during the two wars, the Naval Health Research Center is launching a major, six-year study on wounded warriors to track their quality of life and better understand the road to recovery.

So far, 1,500 people have signed up for the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project study. The Navy aims to recruit 10,000.

About 50,000 military personnel have been injured in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, with 16,000 hurt so severely that they likely would not have survived previous conflicts.

Doctors say a positive attitude is key to recovery, so the study will also examine mental resilience and why some troops have it and others don't. It will rely on Web-based, telephone and mailed surveys conducted every six months about mobility, ability to function and social activity. Researchers will also analyze military databases detailing clinical encounters with each service member injured while deployed.

The study aims to provide one of the broadest reviews yet of how post 9-11 veterans with a variety of combat injuries are coping and enjoying life, and how much their quality of life impacts their long-term care.

Meyer is not yet part of the study but intends to participate. His case was featured in the New England Journal of Medicine in May to demonstrate the success of battlefield trauma care over the past decade.

The retired Marine has benefited from a host of new medical strategies used by the military, including laser treatments.

Cmdr. Peter Shumaker, chief of dermatology at Naval Medical Center San Diego, helped pioneer the use of an ablative laser — commonly used to smooth wrinkled or acne-scarred skin — to ease Meyer's scar tissue, dramatically improving the range of motion in his fingers, among other things.

"It's a privilege to work with soldiers and Marines, like Brian, because they're young and motivated and healthy and they can go farther than we ever thought," Shumaker said. "They don't want to just walk, they want to do things that their colleagues are doing, their friends are doing."

Meyer was hospitalized for a month after the 2011 bomb blast in Afghanistan. He lost his right leg above the knee, and his right hand above the wrist. Only his pinky and ring finger remained intact on his left hand.

After multiple surgeries, he was outfitted for prosthetics and learned to walk again. But Meyer, 29 at the time, wanted full independence.

He turned down offers to install wheelchair ramps in his home. He debated before accepting a handicap parking permit. He did not want to avoid the struggle to reintegrate. He wanted to go anywhere.

"I focus on what I have left, not what I lost," Meyer said.

His prosthetic arm has a flashlight so at night he can see where he plants his prosthetic foot. His prosthetic arm has the knobs and battery pack positioned to one side so he can shoot a bow and arrow.

Thanks to the laser treatments on his scar tissue, he can now hold a toothbrush, write with a pen, dial his phone, and pull the trigger of a hunting rifle. Laser treatments also removed a sore, allowing him to withstand his prosthetic leg for 18 hours a day.

Shumaker and Dr. Chad Hivnor, who recently retired from Lackland Air Force Base, helped pioneer the method. Hivnor also discovered botulinum toxin A injections decrease perspiration where the prosthetic limb attaches, helping stop it from slipping off while the person is exercising or in hot climates.

The findings were recently presented to the American Academy of Dermatology to promote the treatment for severely scarred people in the general population.

"These are not special, scar lasers or special, wounded warrior lasers," Shumaker said. "We've taken these techniques that are primarily used for cosmetic purposes and altered them a bit to apply to trauma rehabilitation."

Such unconventional treatments make a big difference in daily life, veterans and their doctors say. One soldier's scar tissue has softened so he can grasp his daughter's hand; another can now type.

A week after a recent treatment, Meyers rode on his motorcycle through a shopping district in Murrieta, 60 miles northeast of San Diego. His pinky and ring finger operated the throttle that has been put on the left side because he only has a left wrist. It has a side car that can carry another amputee, wheelchair or his dog.

Meyer and two others have started the nonprofit organization, Warfighter Made, which modified his motorcycle. It also customizes sports cars, off-road vehicles and other transportation for veterans, who can join in the work.

"What we want is for a guy in the coolest car to drive into a handicap spot and have people be like, 'What's this guy doing?' Then they see him get out with his prosthetic legs," said Meyer, whose prosthetic leg sports a sticker of Bill Murray and the word "Laugh."

Meyer works for the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, counseling fellow combat veterans. He loves the photograph taken after he was injured because "it's the exact opposite of what somebody expects you to do. So when I show it to people and they are inspired by it, instead of being shocked, I know they get it."

New bomb fear prompts 'enhanced security measures' for US-bound flights

A Transportation Safety Administration agent is surrounded by travelers at Los Angeles International Airport in this file photo from Saturday, November 2, 2013.
Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times/MCT

By Brian Bennett

Tribune Washington Bureau

Published: July 3, 2014

WASHINGTON — Passengers flying to the U.S. from some airports in the Middle East and Europe will be put through tougher security screening in response to intelligence that a terrorist group in Yemen has developed a new method for smuggling a bomb onto a jetliner, two U.S. counterterrorism officials said Wednesday.

Intelligence agencies recently learned that a bomb maker working for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula had created a technique for hiding explosives that could evade existing metal detectors, body scanners and pat-downs, the officials said.

Officials are concerned that the method could be shared with Western fighters in Syria who might have valid passports and visas that would allow them to board a flight to the U.S.

The agencies did not have details about a specific plot directed at U.S.-bound airlines, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

In response to the information, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is ordering the Transportation Security Administration to take “enhanced security measures” in the coming days.

“We will work to ensure these necessary steps pose as few disruptions to travelers as possible,” Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. Johnson said details about the security concerns would be shared with foreign allies and airlines to protect passengers.

“Aviation security includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, informed by an evolving environment,” Johnson said.

In recent years, bomb makers working for al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen have come up with sophisticated ways to hide explosives.

On Christmas Day 2009, a Nigerian passenger successfully concealed a bomb in his underwear on a Northwest Airlines passenger jet bound for Detroit. The device went up in flames but failed to explode. The assailant was sentenced to life in prison.

The al-Qaida cell in Yemen is also blamed for a plan in October 2010 to hide bombs in printer toner cartridges and blow up two U.S. cargo planes. An informant tipped off Saudi intelligence officials and the plot was disrupted.

Japan to lift some sanctions on North Korea

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday his government will lift some of its sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's decision to create a committee to investigate the fate of at least a dozen Japanese who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

Abe said he was satisfied the committee has the mandate to carry out a serious investigation into the abductions, though previous deals with the North have fallen through. Japan will continue to abide by United Nations sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.

"We have determined that an unprecedented framework has been established, where an organization that can make decisions at a national level ... will be at the forefront of the investigations," Abe said. "However, this is only a start. We are determined to do everything we can, with a renewed effort, toward a comprehensive resolution."

Abe's decision was to be formally approved by his Cabinet on Friday, after the new committee holds its first meeting. The announcement follows a meeting between North Korean and Japanese negotiators in Beijing earlier this week.

After years of denial, North Korea acknowledged in 2002 that its agents had abducted Japanese to train its spies and eventually returned five of them. It said others Japan claimed were abducted had died or never entered the North. Tokyo disputes that and wants an investigation into at least 12 abduction cases.

Even that may not be enough, however.

Private organizations say hundreds of Japanese citizens were abducted, and suspect many may still be living in the North. Abe, who has made resolving the abductions issue one of his top political priorities, has vowed not to relent until all of the abductees are returned or accounted for.

Though Tokyo is as concerned about North Korea's nuclear program as its allies in Washington and Seoul, the abductions issue has for years been an added complication in its relations with the North, creating both strong anger among the Japanese public toward Pyongyang and also strong calls for some sort of agreement to bring any survivors home.

Although Pyongyang made a similar agreement in 2008 to investigate further, that deal fell through and relations between the countries have been virtually frozen since.

In addition to the UN sanctions, Japan unilaterally bans port calls by any North Korean-flagged vessels, all trade with North Korea and the entry into Japan of North Korean citizens. Abe's decision will ease travel restrictions, allow port calls for humanitarian purposes and loosen requirements on reporting money transfers to the North.

Japanese officials stress the eased sanctions will not give a significant economic boost to the North or weaken the impact of international efforts to punish and isolate North Korea for its nuclear weapons development. The North, however, sees even a partial thaw as a small but potentially meaningful boost to its recent efforts at promoting international tourism and, perhaps farther down the road, increased trade.

North Korea also is under sanctions based on U.N. resolutions since 2006 that include an arms-trade ban, a freeze of North Korean assets, a ban on people exchanges and restrictions on education and training.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tokyo wants the abductions investigation to be wrapped up "within one year." In Beijing, North Korea's negotiators said they will conduct the investigation promptly.

Suga said the investigation committee will also look into other issues ranging from the remains of Japanese who may have died in North Korea and the whereabouts of displaced Japanese.

"We were able to open North Korea's door that had been closed for many years, and we are now at a start line after patient negotiations," Suga said. "This is something that has never happened before. We will watch developments very closely."

FBI: Denver woman, 19, wanted to go to Syria to wage jihad

DENVER — FBI agents tried more than once to discourage a 19-year-old suburban Denver woman who said she was intent on waging jihad in the Middle East before arresting her in April as she boarded a flight she hoped would ultimately get her to Syria, court documents unsealed Wednesday show.

Shannon Maureen Conley had told agents that she wanted to use her American military training from the U.S. Army Explorers to start a holy war overseas, even though she knew that it was illegal, according to the newly released federal court records. Her "legitimate targets of attack" included military facilities, government employees and public officials, the documents say.

Conley, a Muslim convert, was arrested April 8 at Denver International Airport, telling agents she planned to live with a suitor she met online, apparently a Tunisian man who claimed to be fighting for an al-Qaida splinter group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The militant group also known as ISIL or ISIS has recently overrun parts of Iraq and Syria.

Conley has been charged with conspiring to help a foreign terrorist organization. Her federal public defender did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

A nurse's aide, Conley told investigators she planned to fly to Turkey and then travel to Syria to become a housewife and a nurse at the man's camp, providing medical services and training.

FBI agents became aware of Conley's growing interest in extremism in November after she started talking about terrorism with employees of a suburban Denver church who found her wandering around and taking notes on the layout of the campus, according to the court documents. The church, Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, was the scene of a 2007 shooting in which a man killed two missionary workers.

She spoke with agents several times after that, telling them of her desire for jihad, the records state. The agents tried openly to dissuade her, urging her instead to support Muslims through humanitarian efforts, which she told them was not an option.

"Conley felt that Jihad is the only answer to correct the wrongs against the Muslim world," the documents say.

Agents encouraged Conley's parents to get her to meet with elders at her mosque to find more moderate options. Her parents knew she had converted to Islam but were apparently unaware of her extremism, authorities said.

Her father told an agent in March that Conley and her suitor had asked for his blessing to marry and were surprised when he declined. Her father later found a one-way plane ticket to Turkey.

Four days before her arrest, she told agents "there was nothing they could do to change her mind and that she was still going." They stopped her as she was walking down the jetway.

Iraq putting Obama's foreign policy doctrine to the test

WASHINGTON — The conflict in Iraq presents the sharpest test yet of the foreign policy doctrine of President Barack Obama.

That philosophy, most recently outlined at a May speech at the U.S. Military Academy, resists pressures to intervene militarily at flash points around the globe; limits military force to cases where U.S. interests are clearly at risk, Americans are threatened or allies are in danger; and puts greater emphasis on allies or foreign governments.

Under that doctrine, Obama has ruled out sending combat troops to Iraq, instead announcing plans to send up to 300 military advisers. Another 200 troops were authorized this week to defend critical interests such as Baghdad’s airport.

While his actions in Iraq may be consistent with his doctrine, critics charge it’s not comprehensive enough for the complexities of the threat posed by the chaos in Iraq.

“Retreating from the world stage, in my view, is not an option,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “It only undermines our allies and leads to more chaos that puts Americans at risk.”

Barry Pavel, vice president and director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council, warned that Obama’s reluctance has fueled “perceptions among U.S. allies that think the U.S. does not have the will to defend certain interests.”

Obama’s first step is not unusual. The U.S. already has military advisers in more than 70 countries. But it is very much in keeping with a president who has always been “very cautious” on his use of the military, said James Goldgeier, dean of the School of International Service at American University in Washington.

“This is not a major move. It’s pretty minimal,” Goldgeier said of the U.S. advisers in Iraq. “I really don’t think we are going to have a major impact on the future of Iraq.”

Many observers say they’d be surprised if Obama ordered airstrikes, although the administration has not ruled them out. A senior administration official who was knowledgeable about the situation but was not authorized to speak publicly as a matter of administration policy said that strikes would be considered only after Obama receives “better information” about the situation in Iraq. Some officials have said the U.S. still lacks the intelligence information required to conduct effective strikes.

Obama considered airstrikes last year in neighboring Syria, where he’s also been reluctant to engage in an ongoing civil war. Instead, he backed off and endorsed a Russian plan to eliminate the Syrian regime’s cache of chemical weapons. The weapons were removed, but the war in Syria continues. Obama last week asked Congress for the first time for $500 million for lethal aid to arm moderate Syrian rebels.

Goldgeier said Obama’s approach is aimed at showing that he’s acting to help the Iraqi government fight the Islamic State — formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — while ensuring Americans that he won’t be dragged back into a war he campaigned against.

“He’s determined to make sure when he leaves office that we are out of both” Iraq and Afghanistan, Goldgeier said. “He’s not been eager to get us into new wars.”

Indeed, one of the few references to Iraq in Obama’s May 28 West Point speech came as he noted that the cadets he was addressing were “the first class to graduate since 9/11 who may not be sent into combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.”

One exception to Obama’s approach was his decision to intervene in Libya in 2011, but not until organizing an international coalition to remove Moammar Gadhafi. No U.S. troops were deployed on the ground in what Obama later called an operation that could be a “recipe for success in the future.” But the country remains mired in chaos and widespread violence, including the killings of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in 2012.

Obama’s thinking goes deeper than a reflexive campaign promise made when Americans yearned to get out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

“It’s a philosophical approach to international security,” said Rick Brennan, a career Army officer and senior political scientist at the RAND Corp. “It’s an underlying philosophical belief.”

Obama’s approach is not about using the military but about providing assistance in other ways and “getting others to do more,” Brennan said.

Obama said as much during the West Point speech. He said then that the biggest threat to the U.S. remains terrorist attacks launched by al-Qaida affiliates and extremists. He called for a way to “more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks seek a foothold.”

Obama has pointed to Yemen as a potential model of cooperation. The U.S. has no combat troops in Yemen but has launched drone strikes in support of the government’s war against al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

“Looking at how we can create more of those models is going to be part of the solution in dealing with both Syria and Iraq,” Obama said at the White House recently.

He said the U.S. has been able to help develop Yemen’s capacities “without putting large numbers of U.S. troops on the ground.” And he said the U.S. has “enough counterterrorism capabilities that we’re able to go after folks that might try to hit our embassy or might be trying to export terrorism into Europe or the United States.”

Obama’s West Point speech has limits, said Anthony Cordesman, the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“It really can’t apply when things escalate,” he said, noting that Obama’s actions in Iraq have been the “right first steps.”

But the problem is with his “second, third, fourth steps,” he said. “What happens when you need to take decisive action?”

Bergdahl venturing off base, interacting with public, Army says

HOUSTON — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was a prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five years, has been allowed to venture off the Texas military base where he is receiving care as part of his "reintegration process" into society, a U.S. Army spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Bergdahl has been allowed to go, with supervision, to a grocery store, restaurants, shopping centers and a library as part of the process of getting him comfortable with being out in public, Army spokeswoman Arwen Consaul said.

Bergdahl, 28, has been receiving care at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio since returning to the U.S. on June 13. He initially was being treated at Brooke Army Medical Center at the fort but was shifted last week to outpatient care at the military base.

The Idaho native was freed by the Taliban on May 31 in a deal struck by the Obama administration in which five senior Taliban officials were released from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bergdahl had disappeared from his post in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. Some former members of his unit have said that he left of his own accord.

He has not commented publicly on the circumstances of his disappearance, and the Army has made no charges against him. The Army has said it is investigating Bergdahl's disappearance and capture, but that investigators will not interview him until those helping him recover say it is all right to do so.

Bergdahl's "reintegration process" has slowly increased his exposure to social settings and groups of people, giving him "a little bit more every day," Consaul said.

It began with going to facilities at Fort Sam Houston, including the commissary and the gym. It has since progressed to going into San Antonio and visiting various businesses. On these visits, Bergdahl is accompanied by members of his reintegration team, including a psychologist.

The process is about "getting (Bergdahl) comfortable with being out in public and interacting with large groups of people," Consaul said.

It is unknown whether Bergdahl's family has seen him since his return to the United States. Consaul said because of a request by Bergdahl's family for privacy, the Army cannot comment on this.

Other people who have been held in captivity and that the military base has worked with in the past have gone through similar interactions as part of their reintegration, Consaul said.

No time has been set for when Bergdahl's reintegration process will finish, she said.

Staff Sgt. Colton Smith talks UFC loss, future career

The Army’s only active-duty UFC fighter may have fallen in the cage, but he doesn’t want sympathy.

“I’m not the kind of guy when I lose, or when I have a downfall, something bad happens I want someone to feel sorry for me,” Staff Sgt. Colton Smith said in a Wednesday phone interview with Army Times, days after his loss to Brazilian fighter Carlos Diego Ferreira.

An hour after his 38-second tap-out on Saturday in San Antonio, Smith said he was seated at Dick’s Last Resort with members of his cheering section — soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, where he serves as a senior combatives instructor.

“We just all sat around and traded war stories and just talked about the good times,” Smith said. “Most of them have competed in combatives tournaments ... they understand what it is, how it is. It’s a game of inches.”

Regarding the fight, Smith said he “felt amazing” going in, but that he suffered for an early misstep.

“Unfortunately I made a costly mistake against the fence, got my hips high and he threw me and got my neck,” he said.

Perhaps the bigger takeaway from the match, however, is that Smith’s fan base, even after his third-straight loss, is as strong as ever.

Army Times found that out the hard way on Monday, when we took a jab at Colton’s showing in the headline of a Facebook post linking to our fight recap—and paid the price. Readers said they were appalled at the “cheap” shot, and Smith’s phone quickly lit up, alerting him to the slight.

“I laughed at first, but then I started thinking, ‘It’s the Army Times writing that, not some small-time MMA news network,’ ” Colton said. “It hurt a little bit. It stung, but I did lose. It’s not a false headline.”

Even so, he appreciated the showing from his fans, some of whom drafted colorful responses to Army Times. (One reader said the Army Times editor officially earned the “asshole tab” for failing to support Smith, and another suggested the whole news operation shove a cactus where the sun don’t shine.)

“That felt good to know that I’ve got that many people in the corner from all over the globe,” Smith said.

He also got a call from Sgt. 1st Class Tim Kennedy, a National Guard member and professional fighter with an undefeated record in the UFC.

“Tim’s a wealth of knowledge,” Smith said. “He knows the level I possess as a mixed-marital arts fighter. He’s told me I’m a high level. I just need to apply it in the cage.”

Smith said he has yet to hear from UFC officials about his fighting future, and he acknowledges he could be cut.

“It’s inevitable if you lose enough fights or have a poor performance, then the UFC can cut you,” he said. “There’s a lot of hungry guys that want to come in and fill those spots.”

Smith has not won a fight since a Dec. 15, 2012, win by decision over Mike Ricci that earned him the title of “The Ultimate Fighter” for the 16th season of the promotion’s reality television show.

Despite the losses, Smith is confident he can bounce back.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint — you know, the whole career is — and I’m young in the sport, and have a lot to learn,” he said.

Staff writer Kevin Lilley contributed to this report.

PT365: Come train with us

Want to change up your running routine? Need to kick up your PT a notch? Check out our complete PT365 Run Plans — 5K, half-marathon and marathon — from Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. (Dr.) Mark Cucuzzella.

Come train with us, it’ll be fun.

Dempsey applauds Japan's move to expand military role

HONOLULU, Hawaii – U.S. and South Korean defense leaders strongly support Japan’s move toward allowing its armed forces to defend allies in combat, the chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a speech Tuesday.

“I think it’s a great first step,” Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said of the adoption of a resolution this week by Japan’s ruling coalition calling for changes in law that would allow Japan to assist countries with which it has “close ties” if those nations face “clear danger.”

Opponents argue the modifications are contrary to the country’s pacifist constitution.

Earlier in the day Dempsey met with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea “to discuss the common threat of North Korea and other challenges we face in the region,” he said.

“This was the first time in history that the (uniformed) chiefs of defense from our three countries have met together in person in that context,” Dempsey told an audience at the Pacific Forum held at the Pacific Club.

He declined to share many details of that tri-lateral discussion but offered that the topic of Japan’s proposed change of defense posture was central to the agenda.

“As chiefs of defense we had a conversation about what it could mean, but we also had a conversation about what it does not mean,” he said. “On that basis, I think we found a little opportunity to develop a little trust among each other.”

While the U.S. maintains close defense alliances separately with Japan and South Korea, relations between the two neighbors are icy. Resentments remain in South Korea over Japan’s conquest during World War II, and the countries have outstanding disputes over sovereignty of certain islands.

During a news conference Monday, Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, said he believed the change in Japan’s constitution would “help stability” in the region.

“Japan is one of our key allies, and I welcome any improvement in capability that helps improve the alliance that we have with Japan.”

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel also issued a statement Tuesday saying that the change would make the alliance between Japan and the U.S. “more effective.”

The resolution now moves to Japan’s elected Diet.

“Moving it from aspiration to reality is going to take some work, but as a first step in the relationship between Japan and the United States military becoming more interdependent – as opposed to us simply being responsible for protecting the region and the men and women who serve there – I think it’s a great first step,” Dempsey said.

The U.S. wants to maintain its commitment to its closest allies in the region, including Australia, Dempsey said, adding that “we also want to shape the future of the region so that we can manage a rising China in particular as a stabilizing influence, as an economic engine.”

The way to do that, he said, “is to actually be more present, not less present” in the Pacific. “[I]t would actually be our absence not our presence that could create miscalculation and misperception in the region,” he said. “We are a Pacific power and have always been.”

He described the tri-lateral relationship among Japan, South Korea and America as “not a matter of opportunity or choice,” but “an imperative” for defending the region against threats by North Korea and others.

“We’re well aware, though, that our elected leaders have other issues with which they have to deal,” Dempsey said, speaking for counterparts South Korean Navy Adm. Choi Yun-hee and Japanese Air Defense Forces Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki.

“But on certain issues -- for example, ballistic missile defense -- the future will absolutely demand that we work together,” he said. “We’re far more capable and can provide far more deterrence and actually defeat threats if we work more closely together.”

olson.wyatt@stripes.com

General: US assessing whether Iraq forces can hold

HONOLULU — A key role of the American troops in Iraq is assessing whether the country's security forces can hold together and whether its leaders are confident they can do their jobs, a top U.S. military official said Tuesday.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters after a speech that some of the 750 troops in Iraq are specifically there to help determine what the United States might do next to help Iraq fight an insurgency.

Some troops are manning a joint operations center with Iraqi security forces to give a better picture of how the situation is evolving, while others are visiting Iraqi units to answer some basic questions, Dempsey said.

"Will they hold? What's their makeup? Are they still a force that represents all Iraqis?" Dempsey said, adding that they are also asking whether Iraq's leaders are confident they can do their jobs.

"When we have that assessment in hand ... we'll make some decisions about whether there's other kinds of support that we can provide," he said.

The other role of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq is providing increased security at the U.S. Embassy and elsewhere in Baghdad, including the Baghdad International Airport.

Iraq has been seeking U.S. aid to help counter a threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq trying to create an Islamic state in the region. Baghdad's top envoy to the United States said Tuesday that Iraq is turning to other governments like Russia, Iran and Syria for help because it can't wait for more American military aid.

The U.S. assessment is happening at the same time as Iraq's political leaders try to form a government, Dempsey said.

"Their ability to find political reconciliation among groups and to present an inclusive face to the people of Iraq who are counting on them to lead will be an important factor in determining what we do going forward," he said.

Dempsey spoke with reporters after a speech that touched on the U.S. military rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region. Many of the reporters in Hawaii were from Asia and elsewhere to cover the 22 countries participating in Rim of the Pacific naval exercises.

The speech was hosted by the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu.

Dempsey also met earlier Tuesday with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea to talk about regional security and the latest provocations from North Korea. Dempsey said he and the other defense executives agreed to not publicly talk about their discussions.

"There's a lot of change in the Pacific, and it was an opportunity for us to talk about those changes," Dempsey said.

No guarantee of quick Senate approval of VA secretary pick

WASHINGTON — Debate over the White House nomination of former Procter & Gamble president and CEO Bob McDonald to head the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs is likely to take weeks and will be shadowed by past presidential VA appointments left to languish in the Senate.

Neither a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs or a full chamber floor vote will happen until lawmakers return from leave after the Fourth of July weekend. The chamber will then have four weeks — a legislative dash — to vote up or down on the VA secretary nomination before a monthlong recess in August, or push the decision into the fall.

Three other VA leadership appointments by the White House have languished on the Hill without a confirmation vote, one for more than a year.

President Barack Obama on Monday urged a quick confirmation of McDonald, 61, who graduated in the top of his class at West Point and spent over three decades at Ohio-based consumer goods giant P&G. Senate lawmakers have overwhelmingly agreed the nationwide VA health care system must be fixed after revelations of monthslong patient waits, systemic scheduling abuses and lack of accountability among management.

Congress is finalizing a VA reform package hammered out since the department scandal broke in late April. A key to the reform effort will be filling the secretary position, which oversees 340,000 employees and more than 1,700 facilities that serve about 9 million veterans, according to the Obama administration.

Former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki stepped down May 30 following widespread public outrage over the department’s deep dysfunction.

McDonald is expected to meet next week with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. In a released statement Sunday, Sanders said he wants to talk with McDonald about improved transparency and accountability as well as increasing the number of doctors and nurses at the VA.

A Sanders staff member said Tuesday that meetings with senators are customary before consideration, but a veterans’ affairs committee hearing is likely to be scheduled only after McDonald files a formal nominee questionnaire with the Senate.

For now, it is too early in the process to know when a committee hearing might be called, the staff member said. Such hearings are often scheduled at least a week in advance.

The White House declined to comment Tuesday on when a McDonald questionnaire, akin to a formal nomination request, may be filed in the Senate.

Meanwhile, a full Senate vote on the McDonald nomination could theoretically be put to the floor quickly if a majority of members approve, according to Senate bylaws. But dozens of Obama administration nominees have been blocked by political opposition in the chamber, and the VA has not been immune despite its raft of problems.

Obama said Monday the Senate is holding up nominations for Helen Tierney as the VA chief financial officer, Linda Schwartz as assistant secretary for policy and Constance Tobias as the head of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

“They have all been waiting and waiting and waiting for a vote — in Constance’s case, for more than a year,” he said.

The three nominees are only part of the department’s leadership issues as it struggles to rein in a widening crisis. Nine of its 16 top leadership positions are being temporarily filled until Obama appointees are approved.

Amid a landslide of health care scandals in recent weeks, management has been pinpointed as a key trouble area at VA. A damning report ordered by Obama and released Friday found the VA is suffers from “significant and chronic system failures” as well as a “corrosive culture.”

As secretary, McDonald would bring past military service as an Army Ranger in the 82nd Airborne Division and experience running one of the country’s biggest corporations.

During 33 years at P&G, he managed the Tide detergent brand and was president of global fabric before being promoted to president and chief executive in 2009. The corporation’s stock price grew by 60 percent under his leadership but he left in 2013 after investor dissatisfaction over earnings.

tritten.travis@stripes.com

Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Invictus Games: Ready to inspire the world

In my 2½ years as British ambassador to the United States, I have frequently had the honor of hosting British and American wounded warriors — both serving and veteran — at my home. I never cease to be moved and amazed by their tales of battlefield bravery and triumph over adversity.

On May 30, we honored an extra-special group: 20 members of the United States team for the inaugural Invictus Games, a sports competition especially for wounded warriors being held at the Olympic Stadium in London in September.

To secure a place on Team USA, these men and women have not only battled back from the trauma of being wounded but also overcome stiff competition from their peers. As you might expect, their personal stories are incredible.

Take Air Force Tech. Sgt. Israel Del Toro, for example. He was severely burned when his vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan and needed over 100 surgical operations, including amputations, to save his life. Undeterred, he re-enlisted in the Air Force in 2010. And he soon will be in London representing his service and his country. He was the life and soul of our party.

The games themselves are the brainchild of Prince Harry. This time last year, I had the privilege of accompanying him on a visit to the Warrior Games in Colorado. He helped open the games, cheered on the British team, and even became a temporary member of the seated volleyball team.

Inspired by what he saw in Colorado, His Royal Highness established something similar in the U.K. So London will soon welcome over 300 personnel from 13 countries whose troops have fought side by side. Among them will be 100 Brits, 100 Americans and a small but highly symbolic contingent of Afghans.

The Invictus Games will celebrate many things, among them the strong links among the countries taking part, the power of sport as a means of rehabilitating the wounded, and the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics.

Most of all, however, the Invictus Games will celebrate the servicemen and -women themselves.

The word “Invictus,” meaning “unconquered,” is a fitting description of these extraordinary athletes. It’s taken from the title of a poem by William Ernest Henley, of which the last verse sums up perfectly the spirit of the Games:

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Peter Westmacott has served 40 years in the British Diplomatic Service.

Obama sends more US troops into Iraq

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has nearly doubled the number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq in recent weeks to deal with the threat posed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants.

There are now approximately 750 American troops in Iraq, including the 150 or so who were assigned to the Office of Security Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad before the latest crisis erupted, according to Pentagon figures.

On Sunday and Monday, the U.S. military sent approximately 200 personnel to reinforce security at the embassy, its support facilities, and Baghdad International Airport. These troops arrived from locations in and around the Middle East. The augmented force includes helicopters and drones, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement. Kirby said the aircraft will bolster airfield and travel route security.

“Similar to the U.S. security personnel who arrived in Baghdad earlier this month to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, they will integrate with existing U.S. Embassy security teams. The presence of these additional forces will help enable the Embassy to continue its critical diplomatic mission and work with Iraq on challenges they are facing as they confront ISIL,” Kirby said.

Obama gave no end date for the deployment.

“This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat. This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed,” Obama said in a letter to lawmakers Monday informing them of the new deployment.

Obama has ruled out using ground forces for combat missions in Iraq, but U.S. military personnel always maintain the right of self-defense.

Another 100 troops who were pre-positioned in neighboring countries will also go into Baghdad to provide security and logistics support, Kirby said. The Pentagon previously had announced that those personnel had been placed near Iraq as a contingency force.

These additional 300 servicemembers being deployed are separate from the 140 troops that Obama sent to Iraq last week to establish a joint operations center and conduct an assessment of how the U.S. can provide support to Iraq’s security forces as they confront insurgents that have overrun much of the country. Those 140 troops joined 40 personnel that were already on the ground in Baghdad setting up the JOC. Obama has authorized up to 300 servicemembers to participate in the advisory mission, including special operators. The JOC is now up and running, according to the Pentagon.

The forces being sent this week will augment the approximately 170 troops that were deployed to Baghdad in mid-June to boost security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Amid ongoing violence, the State Department has sent some Embassy staff to safer locations in Iraq, including the consulates in Irbil and Basra.

During the past two weeks, the U.S. has been conducting 30 to 35 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights over Iraq each day using manned and unmanned aircraft. Last week, Kirby said that some of those planes had been armed to provide force protection to U.S. personnel on the ground and in preparation for potential airstrikes that Obama is considering.

Previous ISR flights had been conducted from neighboring countries and possibly U.S. Navy ships stationed in the Persian Gulf. With this new deployment, the U.S. military has stationed additional air power inside Iraq.

harper.jon@stripes.com

Twitter: @JHarperStripes

Army football breaks (arena) losing streak

The streak is over. Well, one of them.

Thanks to a tenacious pass rush and a late-game stop that stalled a Navy comeback, the Army representatives in Saturday’s Army-Navy arena football game in Philadelphia earned a 43-38 victory, avenging last year’s loss and marking the first Army football victory in the rivalry series of any sort since 2001.

The game served as a capstone for nearly a week’s worth of events put on by sponsor The Judge Group and other organizations in the Philadelphia area designed to showcase employment opportunities for veterans. About a dozen Naval Academy graduates, including former starting quarterback Ricky Dobbs, lined up for the blue squad, but the Army team consisted of veterans, players with family members who’d served, and exactly one West Point graduate — Reserve Capt. Alex Moore, offensive lineman and team captain.

“They were definitely stacked,” said Moore, who captained the Black Knights in 2002. “We just had a real hungry team.”

Army led 28-2 at halftime thanks in part to an interception return for a touchdown. Navy earned its two points when the Army quarterback accidentally stepped out of his own end zone, likely still getting accustomed to the smaller playing field.

Navy moved to a ground-based attack in the third quarter, triggering a comeback and negating Navy’s pass rush, led by Tyreek Spain, a former Temple defensive end whose father served in the Army.

“They really made it somewhat of a game and kept pushing,” Moore said. “We were having trouble moving the ball.”

With their captain rallying them from the sideline — Moore remembered offering motivational lines like “Hey, the Army doesn’t quit. Anywhere” — the defense held in the closing seconds.

Spain wasn’t the only contributor for Army who had never worn a soldier’s uniform. Aside from other defensive standouts, Army had Jen Welter, already considered the first female professional football player in a contact position, whose father served in Vietnam.

“She meshed right away,” Moore said of Welter, who flew in from Texas for the contest. “She played special teams, mostly. She laid out one of the Navy returners ... fun to watch.”

Perhaps in part because of these contributors, Navy players told The (Annapolis, Maryland) Capital after the contest that future games should work toward becoming alumni-only affairs. Moore wasn’t opposed to the idea, but said Army faces higher hurdles than Navy in fielding such a squad.

“It’d be extremely difficult, [a] logistical mess for us,” he said. “The guys that are in port [for Navy], on shore duty, they’re much more centrally located. For us, there’s multiple military posts. And a lot of the former [Army] players are banged up, from combat overseas.”

The Navy squad held workouts in Norfolk, Virginia, for example — an advantage Army couldn’t match, lacking such a massive hub of active and former service members.

The game drew more fans than the inaugural outing, event organizer Joe Krause said Monday, and the smaller venue — a 2,500-seat arena that hosts University of Pennsylvania hockey, instead of the Wells Fargo Center, home to the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers — contributed to a more boisterous atmosphere. Krause could not provide attendance figures by Tuesday.

The game had been scheduled to air live on ESPN3. Krause said he was not clear why the network didn’t choose to pick up the contest, but was hopeful the network would air a replay of the event at a to-be-determined date.

There was one bit of tradition left out, but Moore handled it after he returned home from the arena.

“When I got back to my apartment, because I live in Philadelphia, I cut the tape off my ankles and played the Army song and sang second,” Moore said, “for all the guys that I wish were with me.”

Online degree program's flexibility pays off for officer

SCRANTON, PA. — When Maj. Chris Costello of the Pennsylvania National Guard received his fourth overseas deployment in a decade, this time to Kuwait in 2012, he decided to go back to school — in the Arabian Desert.

Along with 20 other soldiers at Camp Buehring, about 10 miles south of the Iraqi border, Costello enrolled in an online MBA course through Marywood University, more than 6,000 miles away.

Camels would roam the outskirts of the base. Most of the servicemen and -women lived in tents. And sandstorms sometimes knocked out the base-wide Wi-Fi and sent some of the soldier-students scrambling through the stinging wind for a better connection in the recreation hall. As an officer, Costello had the benefit of living in an air-conditioned apartment on the base with his own Internet connection.

“The biggest challenge I had was dusting the place,” chuckled Costello, now 48 and living in Telford with his family.

The modern comforts and technological advances of online education are allowing more people to get degrees when life prevents or discourages a trip back to a brick-and-mortar school.

According to the Babson Survey Research Group, which has tracked students in online education since 2002, more than 7.1 million higher education students took at least one online course in fall 2012, the most recent time for which data is available. In the fall of 2002, 1.6 million students stayed home from class and took a college course on their computer screen.

A little over a third of all higher education students took an online course in 2012, an all-time high, according to the research group.

Costello, who is back working as a military instructor at Valley Forge Military College, and other middle-age students with full-time jobs and families, rave about the flexibility of an online program, which allows them to hop on to a computer after children go to bed to post in a mandatory online discussion or watch a recorded video lecture on a tablet on a lunch break.

Andrew Trinovitch, 47, from Spring Brook Twp., said he takes the online MBA program at the University of Scranton as a way to boost his résumé without sucking up all the time in his life.

“I want to spend as much time with my children as possible. Pretty soon (my 15-year-old son) will be hitting me up for gas money. My daughter still thinks I’m the greatest, but in a couple years ...” he trailed off with a laugh.

Concerns about a lack of face time with the instructor and the quality of online education are overblown, several online students said, pointing toward the ease in which most people operate and communicate via the World Wide Web.

And “the technology today has advanced to a point that a lot of those drawbacks are disappearing,” said Kingsley Gnanendran, Ph.D., a professor of operations management at the University of Scranton who also oversees the online MBA program there. “What we try to do is mimic a freewheeling classroom discussion.”

Videoconferencing software allows online classes to get guest lectures — What The Fork food truck chef and co-founder Mario Bevilacqua addressed the military Marywood class in January — and mandatory posting requirements on message boards mean students had better know their stuff before they put themselves out there, Gnanendran said. While a student in a classroom can make an off-the-cuff statement and not be challenged, a post is permanent and must hold up to constant scrutiny, the professor said.

But online education is not for everyone. Nearly half of the 20 soldiers who started the program with Costello dropped out or have put a freeze on their studies, he said. This type of strenuous education is for self-starters who can organize their time and get the work done while juggling everything else, said Trinovitch, who will sometimes arrive early to pick up his son from Boy Scouts just to steal an hour to do coursework on his iPad in the car.

That spinning-plate act is also paying off for Costello, who is scheduled to graduate in the fall. The former Iraqi military trainer is considering using his skills to become an entrepreneur after he leaves the military.

“I never thought I would own my own business,” he said. “But if there’s a good opportunity, that may be a road I go down, and it’s all because of this class.”

STEM skills more important to employers than bachelor's degree, study indicates

High school graduates with a background in science, technology, engineering and math are in higher demand in the job market than college grads without such skill, according to a new Brookings Institution study.

The report says STEM jobs that require only a high school or associate degree take more than twice as long to fill as other openings. They are advertised for 40 days on average vs. 37 days for jobs demanding a bachelor’s degree only.

The study tallied every job opening advertised by companies on their websites — a total 52,000 companies — in the first quarter of 2013.

Some economists have questioned the popular belief that a shortage of job candidates with science and math skills is keeping the 6.3 percent unemployment rate from falling more rapidly, citing weak wage growth for computer-and engineering positions. But Jonathan Rothwell, author of the Brookings study, says it can take several years for wages to adjust to market conditions.

According to his study, health care practitioners and technical occupations — a category that includes doctors, nurses and radiologists — were the toughest to fill, with ads advertised an average 47 days. Architectural and engineering jobs followed, at 41 days, and computer and math jobs, 39 days.

Even installation, maintenance and repair jobs — including auto mechanics and air-conditioning technicians, which require some training but not higher education — were advertised an average 33 days, the same as legal occupations.

At the other end of the spectrum, office and administrative support, manufacturing and buildings and grounds openings took the least amount of time to fill — 24 to 28 days.

ACT to 'polish' how scores reported for admissions exam

The popular ACT college admissions exam is broadening how it reports students’ scores.

The exam’s traditional 36-point scale remains unchanged. But, starting next year, students will also receive an ACT score on two new “readiness indicators” reflecting how they did in terms of career readiness and understanding complex text, the nonprofit testing organization announced recently.

A new category will offer students a separate score on STEM performance — short for science, technology, engineering and math — that combines the science and math portions. A second new category in the area of language arts combines how they did on the English, reading and writing portions — for those who took the writing portion.

The writing portion remains optional for traditional Saturday morning test takers, but the ACT said the writing section is also being modified to make the essay topics more advanced and to require test takers to potentially provide multiple perspectives on a topic, instead of just one view.

The announcement came in June, three months after the College Board, which operates the competing SAT, announced sweeping changes to that exam that include moving the perfect score back to 1,600, making the essay optional and shifting the vocabulary away from some high-sounding words in favor of those more likely to be used in school or on the job. The changes are expected in 2016.

ACT officials said their changes are much more subtle and not in response to the College Board’s announcement. They said the ACT changes are well-researched and have been years in the making.

“We’re continuing to polish it, but not rebuild it,” Jon Erickson, president of ACT, based in Iowa City, Iowa, said in an interview.

Erickson said he’s hopeful that when students get the results and are able to interpret them, “it will be enlightening and, dare I may say, exciting.”

The ACT was taken last year by 1.8 million students and overtook the SAT in popularity in 2012. That’s in part because of growth in the number of states funding and requiring high school juniors to take the exam during the school day. Four new states — Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi and Wisconsin — recently signed on to do so, bringing to 17 states participating at this level, according to ACT.

Last spring, the ACT said it would begin offering online testing and started piloting it this year.

Also, the ACT said it would begin making new open-ended questions available to districts in the subject areas of reading, math and science to offer to students as part of the school-day program. Unlike questions with fill-in-the-bubble responses, open-ended questions call for what the ACT describes as a “constructed response” by the student.

And it said it is working to develop language for 2016 that would explain what ACT scores mean as they relate to the Common Core standards being rolled out in most states. The Common Core standards spell out what math and language skills students should master at each grade level.