Economic Recovery has come to the White House, according to the speculated $1.2 Billion in costs for the latest planned upgrade for presidential helicopters announced by the Defense Department.

Official U.S. Marine Corps photo 050521-N-0295M-097 [1] from the USMC website [2]
A U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King helicopter, assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron 1 (HMX-1), in flight over Washington D.C. on 21 May 2005.
By  :  PH2(AW) Daniel J. McLain
Wikimedia.org

.....

• The New American

Monday, 12 May 2014 09:47

$1.2 Billion for New White House Helicopters Just the Beginning

Written by  Bob Adelmann

 

It didn’t take long for critics to scoff at the costs of the latest effort to upgrade the fleet of presidential helicopters announced by the Defense Department on Wednesday, May 7. They say the $1.2-billion contract awarded to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation will be just the beginning.
There are at least two reasons to be skeptical: the open-ended nature of the White House requirements, and recent history.
The Department of Defense outlined its requirements, stating that Marine Helicopter Squadron One, which currently operates 19 presidential helicopters, must provide "safe and timely transportation for the President and Vice President of the United States, heads of state and others as directed by the White House Military Office."

In addition, each aircraft must be equipped with various self-defense features such as bulletproof glass and body panels, as well as specialized communications equipment that allows the president to maintain “critical command functions” while airborne. Each helicopter must be large enough to carry up to 14 passengers and several thousand pounds of baggage while being small enough to operate from the White House lawn.

Each must have a minimum range of 300 miles and carry a full complement of defensive countermeasures to thwart heat-seeking and radar-directed missiles and also be hardened against an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), either from an enemy or from the sun. It must be able to send and receive encrypted communications and hold secure teleconferences while in flight.
And each must have air-conditioning and a toilet.
Under the contract Sikorsky promises to deliver two prototypes by 2016, with another 21 fully operational aircraft six years later.
Several questions arise. First, why so many? After all, there’s just one president and one vice president. According to Helimart.com, anytime the president flies somewhere by helicopter, four other helicopters are alongside him. They fly in varying formations to keep the president's aircraft as disguised as possible. This is often referred to as the presidential “shell game.” In addition, with a helicopter's range of just 300 miles, a longer trip must “cache” additional aircraft along the route.

Read More Here

Related articles

• Sikorsky to Build New Presidential Helicopters
• Presidential helicopter to be made in Chester County
• $20 Billion Helicopters: Obama Administration Plans to Upgrade the Presidential Helicopter Fleet at Great Expense
• Lockheed Martin awarded $1.26B to build presidential helicopters
• This is the president's new $1.2 billion helicopter
• Sikorsky wins $1.24 billion deal for new Marine One helicopters
• Sikorsky Wins Contract For Next Presidential Helicopter
• Celebrating landing Presidential Helicopter contract
• Obama administration to spend $20 BILLION on helicopter program to replace his private fleet of 23 choppers - but they won't be ready until 2022

Leaks Classified? US army blocks Guardian online over 'network hygiene'

RussiaToday

Published on Jun 28, 2013

The US army has restricted access to the Guardian website over its revelations of the NSA's snooping activities. The British daily has been breaking the news from Edward Snowden, shedding light on a number of secret documents. RT's Sara Firth talks to Rodney Shakespeare from Global Justice Movement about this issue.


 RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air ****************************************************************************************************

US Army restricts access to Guardian website over secrets in NSA leak stories

Published time: June 28, 2013 06:39 Edited time: June 28, 2013 19:46

The US Army confirmed on Thursday that access to The Guardian newspaper’s website has been filtered and restricted for its personnel. The policy is due to classified documents described in detail in the stories. Gordon Van Vleet, spokesman for the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, or NETCOM, said in an email to the Monterey Herald that the Army is filtering "some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks." The spokesman said the procedure was routine part of "network hygiene" measures to prevent unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information.

Screenshot from guardian.co.uk

"We make every effort to balance the need to preserve information access with operational security," he wrote, "however there are strict policies and directives in place regarding protecting and handling classified information." “Until declassified by appropriate officials, classified information - including material released through an unauthorized disclosure - must be treated accordingly by DoD personnel," Van Vleet explained. In a later phone conversation he clarified that the filtering was “Armywide” rather than restricted to some US Army facilities. Van Vleet said NETCOM, which is part of the Army Cyber Command, does not determine what sites its personnel can have access to, but "relies on automated filters that restrict access based on content concerns or malware threats." 

  Read More Here               ***************************************************************************************************

US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve 'network hygiene'

Military admits to filtering reports and content relating to government surveillance programs for thousands of personnel

• Spencer Ackerman and Dan Roberts in Washington
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 28 June 2013 11.42 EDT

The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was only seeking to restrict access to certain content. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country. A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve "network hygiene" and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems. The confirmation follows reports in the Monterey Herald that staff at the Presidio military base south of San Francisco had complained of not being able to access the Guardian's UK site at all, and had only partial access to the US site, following publication of leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was not seeking to block the whole website, merely taking steps to restrict access to certain content. But a spokesman for the Army's Network Enterprise Technology Command (Netcom) in Arizona confirmed that this was a widespread policy, likely to be affecting hundreds of defence facilities. "In response to your question about access to the guardian.co.uk website, the army is filtering some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks," said Gordon Van Vleet, a Netcom public affairs officer. "The Department of Defense routinely takes preventative 'network hygiene' measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks."  

Read More Here   ***************************************************************************************************

Related articles

• US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve 'network hygiene'
• Mind control: US army blocks access to Guardian website
• US Army restricts access to Guardian website over secrets in NSA leak stories
• Restricted web access to The Guardian is Armywide, officials say - Monterey County Herald
• GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP: "US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve 'network hygiene'" / The Guardian
• U.S. Army Blocks Internet Access to The Guardian Newspaper
• Report: Army blocks Guardian site
• US Army Restricted Access To Parts Of The Guardian Newspaper's Website
• RT NEWS: US Army restricts access to Guardian website over secrets in NSA leak
• US Army restricts access to Guardian website over secrets in NSA leak stories
• US Army restricts access to 'Guardian' website over secrets in NSA leak stories.