The Modern Day Marine Military Exposition will celebrate that anniversary by continuing a tradition of leadership in the defense trade show industry with various special programs and events. The event will include a new “Warfighters Corner”; meetings between industry officials and the Marine Corps’ authorities on the service’s equipment requirements; a parade; award ceremonies honoring outstanding members of Marine commands and two distinguished Americans; and presentation of a major financial donation to a youth group by a defense company exhibiting at the exposition.

Defense manufacturers will have representatives on hand to discuss their companies’ products and services, respond to questions and exchange information with the Marine warfighters concerning their recent forward deployments.

On Sept. 30, the Modern Day Marine Military Exposition will also host a “Family Day,” during which family members of DoD military and civilian personnel can tour the exhibits.

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Photo: mag.ma/whitehouse/140379

The President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board will hold its next public meeting Aug. 27, 2010 via conference call beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Time to continue discussion of issues impacting the strength and competitiveness of the nation’s economy.

The discussion–open to the public via live audio stream at White House Live–will include an update on the research and preparatory work conducted in the PERAB subcommittees. The tax reform subcommittee of the PERAB will present a report during the meeting, which discusses the pros and cons of reform ideas relating to tax simplification, enforcement of existing tax laws and reform of the corporate tax system, without considering policies that would raise taxes on families making less than $250,000. The PERAB will vote on presenting the report from the tax reform subcommittee as formal advice to the president.

The public is invited to submit written statements to the advisory committee through the Public Comment tool on the PERAB website.

Generally, all statements will be posted on the White House website without change, including any business or personal information provided. The Department of the Treasury will also make such statements available for public inspection and copying in the department’s library on official business days between 10  a.m. and 5 p.m. EST.

Individuals can make an appointment to inspect statements by telephoning 202-622-0990. All statements received, including attachments and other supporting materials, become public record and subject to public disclosure.

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The new website will allow consumers to learn about different issues in telecommunications, make it easy for consumers to find out what’s going on at the FCC, get tips for making the best choices in purchasing communications devices and services, have their voices heard by filing comments on issues that interest them, and file a complaint when problems arise. Consumers will also be able to test the speed of their broadband service, and access more than 150 consumer fact sheets on telecom subjects.

“Our new Consumer Help Center makes it easy for consumers to learn about our work and take action,” said Joel Gurin, chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau of the FCC. “Here, in one place, consumers can do a number of things such as read about consumer issues, get practical advice for avoiding problems, file a complaint, comment on our rulemakings, or read what our FCC experts are saying in our Consumer Blog.”

The Consumer Help Center is produced by the FCC’s Consumer Task Force, an interbureau group Chairman Julius Genachowski established earlier this year.

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Photo: The Washington Note

Dr. Jill Biden stressed the importance of quality education and support for children of military families during a conference last week for the Military Child Education Coalition.

The conference was held to raise awareness, address the impact of the stresses of military life on school children and hear feedback from military families about changes that would best serve them.

“School faculty and staff are in a unique position to support children while they cope with having a parent deployed,” she said.

Biden explained one of the largest challenges for military children in school is the changing of schools due to relocations. The changes are difficult for the children, she explained, because it means transferring credits, getting to know new teachers and navigating a new school system.

That is why Biden, along with first lady Michelle Obama, announced a national movement to support military families. They are working toward the development of www.serve.gov, a website dedicated to military families and veterans.

“Whether it’s offering to mow the lawn or babysit the kids,” she said, “as a military mom, I have seen first-hand how acts of kindness and service can improve the life of a service member.”

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Department of Defense officials have reported a rise in cyber criminals posing as military members to take advantage of patriotic women seeking love online. The criminals oftentimes say they’re deployed, and claim to need money for everything from leave papers to a flight back home.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center reported nearly 340,000 complaint submissions last year, according to the center’s 2009 Internet Crime Report. The total dollar loss from all cases of fraud in 2009 referred to law enforcement by the center was $559.7 million, the report said.

“It’s not a bad thing to be patriotic, but people are trying to distort that for personal gain,” said Paul Sternal, the cyber crimes program director for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

To combat cyber threats, Sternal explained Internet users need to use caution when surfing the web or discussing personal information.

“The Internet is a great resource, and look how the Defense Department uses it to communicate the good we do, to recruit, to get information out to help people,” he said. “There are tremendous benefits, but we need to be smart about how we do this.”

To remain safe online, Sternal outlined several tips. He explained all computer users should always use caution on the Internet or reading emails, stay smart and pay attention to security bulletins and alerts, expect the unexpected, and take responsibility by using security measures.

“I think people let their guard down on the Internet,” Sternal said. “The thing to remember is that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

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Addressing the audience at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, Okla., Sebelius encouraged local officials to adopt a long-term, sustainable and holistic approach to fight child obesity in their communities.

“You occupy a unique position in your community,” Michelle Obama told the Conference of Mayors via video. “You can bring communities together around great challenges, you know how to develop effective solutions, and you can spur action at the grassroots unlike anyone else.”

The initiative includes four pillars: helping parents make healthy choices, creating healthy schools, providing access to healthy and affordable food, and promoting physical activity.

“Mayors and local leaders are critical to the Let’s Move! campaign” Sebelius said.  “We recognize that every community is different, and every town requires a distinct approach. We designed Let’s Move Cities and Towns to empower local leaders to take steps that will have a real impact on their own unique communities, whether that’s building sidewalks and parks, supporting local farmers markets or bringing healthier food into schools.”

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese. The first lady launched the Let’s Move! campaign in February to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

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FCC Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Joel Gurin posted a blog last Friday about these breaches that have led the agency to ramp up its cybersecurity efforts.

“Although the Google and AT&T incidents are different kinds of intrusions, each is worrisome in its own way and has a different remedy, Gurin wrote.

The iPad incident appears to be a classic security breach and is, according to Gurin, exactly the kind of incident that has led the FCC to focus on cybersecurity.

“Our Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is now addressing cyber security as a high priority,” he wrote. “The FCC’s mission is to ensure that broadband networks are safe and secure, and we’re committed to working with all stakeholders to prevent problems like this in the future.”

The case of Google’s collection of personal information sent over WiFi, whether intentional or not, clearly infringes on consumer privacy, and serves as a warning for everyone to take precaution when using public or open networks, Gurin wrote.

“Here, there are some immediate remedies,” he wrote. “The Google incident is a reminder that ‘open’ WiFi networks – those that are not encrypted – are all too vulnerable to cyber snooping.”

To help consumers and their information stay safe, the FCC has published a guide to wireless safety, which among many other things, encourages the use of encryption to scramble communications over the network and using a firewall and anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

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During a June 3 DotMilDocs interview on Pentagon Web Radio, Dr. Kevin M. Holloway, a T2 clinical psychologist and the project lead for the Virtual Worlds project, explained how the web-based project uses a 3-D computer-generated environment to help improve psychological services and care.

With the new project, service members will have access to tutorials, information and training, as well as get an opportunity to socialize with other service members or counselors, regardless of their location.

In the future, T2 hopes to launch other beneficial attributes to help learn more about psychological issues such as a virtual simulator where service members learn by doing.

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“This program is one of our many layers of security—coordinated with our partners in the airline industry and governments around the world—that we leverage to protect the traveling public against threats of terrorism,” she said.

The Secure Flight program prescreens passenger name, date of birth and gender against government watchlists for domestic and international flights. The program also helps prevent the misidentification of passengers who have names similar to individuals on government watchlists.

“We are quite pleased to see the positive outcome from the collaborative work that ATA, its member airlines and TSA have invested in the development of the Secure Flight program,” Air Transport Association President and CEO James C. May said. “We are especially pleased that TSA phased program implementation to ensure that commercial airline travelers experience a seamless transition.”

A majority of passengers will be cleared by Secure Flight to print boarding passes at home by providing their date of birth, gender and name as it appears on the ID they plan to use when traveling when booking airline tickets. Those found to match watchlist parameters will be have to go through secondary screening, a law enforcement interview or prohibition from boarding an aircraft, depending on the specific case.

TSA began implementing Secure Flight in late 2009 and expects all international carriers with direct flights to the United States to begin using Secure Flight by the end of this year.

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With activities, training and presentations, International Green IT Awareness Week aims to spotlight green IT and make way for organizations to initiate, promote and support green IT discussions, enabling employees with knowledge and innovative ideas to decrease the environmental footprint of the organization.

Discussions will focus on standards, best practices and technology, with topics that include the future of green IT, energy consumption of the Internet, and procuring green IT. A three-day virtual event will also allow the message of the initiative to reach across timezones and give the audience an opportunity to live chat with speakers.

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