UN nuclear chief suggests progress slow in Iran investigation
VIENNA - Iran has still not implemented all the nuclear transparency measures it had agreed to carry out by late August, the head of the UN atomic energy agency said on Monday, suggesting little headway in an inquiry into suspected bomb research.
Western officials say Iran must cooperate more with United Nations nuclear sleuths if it wants to settle a protracted dispute with six world powers over its nuclear program and be rid of crippling financial sanctions.
Nearly two months after an Aug. 25 deadline for answering questions about alleged activity that might be used to develop atomic arms, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made clear that Iran had not yet fully done so.
"In order to resolve all outstanding issues, it is very important that Iran implements, in a timely manner, all practical measures agreed under the Framework for Cooperation," Yukiya Amano said. That accord was reached with Tehran last year to help advance the long-running investigation.
Addressing a conference at IAEA headquarters on nuclear safeguards, he said the UN agency was not in a position "to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran".
Hunting for submarines: A Swedish military vessel patrols the Stockholm archipelago. Photo: AFP
Helsinki: The Swedish military's search for evidence of undersea activity in its waters has entered its third day, amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion.
The operation was reminiscent of the Cold War, when Sweden's armed forces routinely hunted for Soviet submarines in its waters.
The armed forces said it had launched an intelligence operation involving a few hundred people in the Stockholm archipelago after receiving information "from a credible source".
Military response: The Swedish navy corvette HMS Visby takes part in the hunt. Photo: AP
Officials declined to give more information, except to say they were investigating possible "foreign underwater activity" in the archipelago and other nearby coastal waters.
The Svenska Dagbladet daily reported Sweden had picked up an emergency message suggesting a Russian mini-submarine had run into trouble in Swedish waters and could be damaged.
But Russia's Defence Ministry said Russian submarines and ships have been "fulfilling their tasks in the world's oceans", according to plan, Russian news agencies reported.
"There have been no emergencies or accidents with Russian military vessels," an unnamed spokesman at the ministry was quoted as saying.
Anders Nordin, from the Swedish Maritime Administration, said a Russian-owned oil tanker, Concord, which had reportedly been circling near Swedish waters for days, started sailing in a north-easterly direction towards Russia on Sunday morning.
But it suddenly turned around and headed back in the direction of Sweden, according to Marine Traffic, a website that monitors vessels in the Baltic Sea.
Media reports said the movements of the Liberian-flagged tanker might be connected to the submarine search.
Swedish officials would not speculate on what foreign power could be behind the suspected intrusion on Friday.
Last month, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a violation of Swedish air space by two Russian military aircraft.
In a column in the New York Times, Israel Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz called for the Western power to not make a deal with Iran.
"Although Iran may have modified its anti-Western rhetoric, and has shown some degree of flexibility in minor issues, do not take these gestures to indicate a serious change in Iran's stance," Steinitz warned.
"I call upon President Obama to stand behind his committments, as no deal at all is better than signing a deal with the devil," Steinitz added.
Given the frenzy of interest following the announcement of the Apple Watch, you might think wearables will be the next really important shift in technology. Not so!
Wearables will have their moment in the sun, but they're simply a transition technology. Technology will move from existing outside our bodies to residing inside us. That's the next big frontier.
Here are nine signs that implantable tech is here now, growing rapidly, and that it will be part of your life (and your body) in the near future.
1. Implantable smartphones - Sure, we're virtual connected to our phones 24/7 now, but what if we were actually connected to our phones? That's already starting to happen.
Last year, for instance, artist Anthony Antonellis had an RFID chip embedded in his arm that could store and transfer art to his handheld smartphone. Researchers are experimenting with embedded sensors that turn human bone into living speakers.
Other scientists are working on eye implants that let an image be captured with a blink and transmitted to any local storage (such as that arm-borne RFID chip).
But what takes the place of the screen if the phone is inside you? Techs at Autodesk are experimenting with a system that can display images through artificial skin. Or the images may appear in your eye implants.
2. Healing chips- Right now, patients are using cyber-implants that tie directly to smartphone apps to monitor and treat diseases.
A new bionic pancreas being tested at America’s Boston University, for instance, has a tiny sensor on an implantable needle that talks directly to a smartphone app to monitor blood-sugar levels for diabetics.
Scientists in London are developing swallowable capsule-sized circuits that monitor fat levels in obese patients and generate genetic material that makes them feel "full".
It has potential as an alternative to current surgery or other invasive ways to handle gross obesity. Dozens of other medical issues from heart murmurs to anxiety have implant/phone initiatives under way.
3. Cyber pills that talk to your doctor - Implantables won’t just communicate with your phone; they’ll chat up your doctor, too.
In a project named Proteus, after the eensy body-navigating vessel in the film Fantastic Voyage, a British research team is developing cyber-pills with microprocessors in them that can text doctors directly from inside your body.
The pills can share (literally) inside info to help doctors know if you are taking your medication properly and if it is having the desired effect.
4. Bill Gates' implantable birth control - The Gates Foundation is supporting an MIT project to create an implantable female compu-contraceptive controlled by an external remote control. The tiny chip generates small amounts of contraceptive hormone from within the woman's body for up to 16 years. Implantation is no more invasive than a tattoo.
And, "The ability to turn the device on and off provides a certain convenience factor for those who are planning their family.", said Dr Robert Farra of MIT. Gives losing the remote a whole new meaning.
5. Smart tattoos - Tattoos are hip and seemingly ubiquitous, so why not smart, digital tattoos that not only look cool, but can also perform useful tasks, like unlocking your car or entering mobile phone codes with a finger-point?
Researchers at the University of Illinois have crafted an implantable skin mesh of computer fibers thinner than a human hair that can monitor your body's inner workings from the surface.
A company called Dangerous Things has an NFC chip that can be embedded in a finger through a tattoo-like process, letting you unlock things or enter codes simply by pointing.
A Texas research group has developed microparticles that can be injected just under the skin, like tattoo ink, and can track body processes. All of these are much wiser choices than the name of a soon-to-be-ex.
6. Brain-computer interface - Having the human brain linked directly to computers is the dream (or nightmare) of sci-fi. But now, a team at Brown University called BrainGate is at the forefront of the real-world movement to link human brains directly to computers for a host of uses.
As the BrainGate website says, "using a baby aspirin-sized array of electrodes implanted into the brain, early research from the BrainGate team has shown that the neural signals can be ‘decoded' by a computer in real-time and used to operate external devices."
Chip maker Intel predicts practical computer-brain interfaces by 2020.
Intel scientist Dean Pomerleau said in a recent article, "Eventually people may be willing to be more committed to brain implants." "Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts."
7. Meltable bio-batteries - One of the challenges for implantable tech has been how to get power to devices tethered inside or floating around in human bodies. You can't plug them in. You can't easily take them out to replace a battery.
A team at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is working on biodegradable batteries. They generate power inside the body, transfer it wirelessly where needed, and then simply melt away. Another project is looking at how to use the body’s own glucose to generate power for implantables. Think the potato battery of grammar school science, but smaller and much more advanced.
8. Smart dust - Perhaps the most startling of current implantable innovations is smart dust, arrays of full computers with antennas, each much smaller than a grain of sand, that can organize themselves inside the body into as-needed networks to power a whole range of complex internal processes.
Imagine swarms of these nano-devices, called motes, attacking early cancer or bringing pain relief to a wound or even storing critical personal information in a manner that is deeply encrypted and hard to hack. With smart dust, doctors will be able to act inside your body without opening you up, and information could be stored inside you, deeply encrypted, until you unlocked it from your very personal nano network.
9. The verified self - Implantables hammer against social norms. They raise privacy issues and even point to a larger potential dystopia. This technology could be used to ID every single human being, for example.
Already, the US military has serious programs afoot to equip soldiers with implanted RFID chips, so keeping track of troops becomes automatic and worldwide. Many social critics believe the expansion of this kind of ID is inevitable.
Some see it as a positive: improved crime fighting, universal secure elections, a positive revolution in medical information and response, and never a lost child again. Others see the perfect Orwellian society: a Big Brother who, knowing all and seeing all, can control all.
And some see the first big, fatal step toward the Singularity, that moment when humanity turns its future over to software.
Iran foremost on Netanyahu's mind, even at dedication of new road into Jerusalem.
In an indication of the degree to which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned about the direction the world’s negotiations with Iran are going, he used the naming of an entrance into Jerusalem on Sunday to warn of the danger of the Islamic Republic becoming a nuclear threshold state.
“We are standing before the danger of an agreement [between the world powers and Iran] that will leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, with thousands of centrifuges through which Iran can manufacture the material for a nuclear bomb within a short period of time,” he said at the naming of Road No. 9 into Jerusalem near Motza after former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir.
“This is a threat to the entire world, first and foremost to Israel, and it is much worse than the threat of Islamic State,” he said.
His comments come against the backdrop of reports reaching Jerusalem that the US was willing to accept an agreement with Iran that – according to Channel 2 – would allow it to retain some 5,000 centrifuges.
“There is concern in Jerusalem because we have not seen any evidence of the Iranians willing to show genuine flexibility, and we are concerned that in the framework of cosmetic concessions they are willing to make, they will retain the ability to become a nuclear threshold state,” one government official said.
Netanyahu, who served under Shamir as Israel’s ambassador to the UN and as deputy foreign minister, said that the seventh prime minister – who died in 2012 – was a realist who was not taken in by illusions and false hopes.
Regarding Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel would fight against those trying to redivide the capital. His comments came two days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Palestinians to prevent Jews from going up to and “desecrating” the Temple Mount.
Netanyahu said Shamir stressed at every opportunity the need to preserve the unity of Jerusalem, “He stood by our natural right to build and be built in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said. “Is it conceivable, he asked, that a Jew cannot establish his home in the capital of Israel. Do we have to be forbidden to build the capital of Israel, the inheritance of our forefathers? So we build and continue to build, for Jews and Arabs and members of other religions alike – for all its inhabitants.”
Netanyahu said that even though there are those who want to divide the city again, “to rebuild the walls in its heart,” Israel will not allow this and will fight against it “with an iron fist.”
The prime minister related to the uptick in violence in Jerusalem, saying that it was taking place almost exclusively in the eastern part of the city. “But that is part of the city, and it is our city,” he said. “We are not willing to tolerate the throwing of rocks in the capital of Israel, and will use all the means at our disposal to prevent it.”
Let the Headlines Speak Oct 20th, 2014 Daily NewsFrom the internet Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues
Three Big Quakes Hit Bárðarbunga in 24 Hours - Kristín Jónsdóttir, director of the Icelandic Met Office’s natural hazard division, told ruv.is that the seismic activity in the area is extremely high. Significant energy is unleashed when the earthquakes hit and they occur in consistency with the subsidence of the Bárðarbunga caldera, she explained.
Trusting This Administration On Ebola, Or Anything Else, Is Insanity We are seeing a real-life PowerPoint demonstration explaining exactly what happens when you turn the Executive Branch over to people who have never executed anything more complex than a sit-in at the local welfare office. Since everything they touch turns to failure, their response is to lie. And everyone sees it.
Nigeria declared Ebola-free after containing virus The World Health Organization declared Nigeria Ebola free on Monday after a 42 day period with no new cases, in a success story with lessons for countries still struggling to contain the deadly virus. "Nigeria is now free of Ebola," WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz told a news conference in the capital Abuja, prompting a round of applause from other officials.
Crowd of Democrats walks out on Obama The magic that President Obama once enjoyed at political rallies appears to have vanished into thin air, as a crowd of spectators walked out on the president during a speech for Democrats Sunday in Maryland.
Confirmed: Israel to Supply Gas to Egypt in $4 Billion Deal Seven-year gas contract to the tune of four billion dollars marks another sign of renewed cooperation between Cairo and Jerusalem.
Ebola crisis: the conspiracy theories The outbreak began in September, when The Daily Observer, a Liberian newspaper, published an article alleging the virus was not what it seemed – a medical disaster – but rather a bio-weapon designed by the US military to depopulate the planet.
Hagel orders military medical team to train, get ready for quick response to more Ebola cases in US The Defense Department said Sunday that it is preparing a quick-response medical team to help health-care professionals should the Ebola virus spread in the United States. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the training of the 30-member team and said the effort was in response to a Department of Health and Human Services request.
GROWING CHANCE OF FLARES Big sunspot AR2192 has grown even bigger, spreading across 1/3rd more solar terrain today than it did yesterday. The chances of an explosion are growing along with the sunspot. On Oct. 20th, NOAA forecasters boosted the odds of an M-class flare to 60% and an X-flare to 20%.
US sends lethal aid to Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in Kobani The Pentagon has publicly acknowledged an air-drop of lethal aid to Kurdish rebels fighting the hardline Islamic State in the pivotal Syrian-Turkish border town of Kobani.
Hamas admits rebuilding tunnel network in wake of Gaza conflict Hamas' military wing...is openly stating that the group is rebuilding the network of tunnels used for terror attacks, which was largely demolished by the IDF during the summer's conflict in Gaza. A reporter for the Gaza-based newspaper Al-Resalah visited a tunnel site...where he was shown the diggers hard at work repairing a tunnel bombed by IAF planes during Operation Protective Edge.
U.S. Humanitarian Aid Going to ISIS While U.S. warplanes strike at the militants of the so-called Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, truckloads of U.S. and Western aid has been flowing into territory controlled by the jihadists, assisting them to build their terror-inspiring “Caliphate.” The aid—mainly food and medical equipment—is meant for Syrians displaced from their hometowns, and for hungry civilians.
Islamic State: Turkey to let Iraq Kurds join Kobane fight Turkey will allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross the Syrian border to fight Islamic State (IS) militants in Kobane, its foreign minister says. Mevlut Cavusoglu added that talks on the subject were continuing, but gave no further details. Tens of thousands of people from Kobane have fled months of fighting between besieging IS forces and Syrian Kurd defenders.
9 Jewish families move into Jerusalem’s Arab Silwan neighborhood In a move certain to court international condemnation, nine Jewish families on Sunday night relocated into the Arab neighborhood of Silwan, south of Jerusalem’s Old City, nearly doubling the total number of Jews living in the contested area. Shortly after news of the controversial move was announced, President Reuven Rivlin criticized the development as surreptitious and potentially unsanctioned.
Houston's lesbian mayor turns tyrant
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson calls Christians to 'take the fight to the enemy'. Despite the all-out effort by the far left to portray the LGBT lifestyle as “normal,” there is growing evidence revealing the disturbing truth: Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder.”
Quake rattles Fiordland The 134km-deep quake, situated 35km northwest of Te Anau, struck shortly after 7am on Monday.
North and South Korea exchange gunfire at border in latest clash North and South Korea exchanged gunfire on Sunday when the North's soldiers approached the military border and did not retreat after the South fired warning shots, the South Korean Defence Ministry said.
Ebola crisis: Tests show Spanish nurse Teresa Romero no longer has the virus Medical tests have shown that a Spanish nurse who was the first person to catch Ebola outside of Africa no longer has the virus. The special committee responsible for monitoring the virus in Spain said initial tests showed Teresa Romero had tested negative and she would be given another test soon to confirm the results.
World War 3: Vladimir Putin Threatens West with Russia’s 5,000 Nuclear Warheads Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has threatened the West with his country’s 5,000 nuclear warheads. Putin has raised the specter of nuclear war for the third time in the past two months as he and Western countries such as the United States clash over the Ukraine conflict, which has been bringing to light other deep-seated animosity.
Stunning Scenes From California's Central Valley Drought No matter what you have read or seen so far on California’s historic Central Valley drought, you probably haven’t been touched by it as much as you will be by the following video from the New Yorker.
Obama makes rare campaign trail appearance, people leave early President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Sunday with a rally to support the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, but early departures of crowd members while he spoke underscored his continuing unpopularity.
Sweden: 3 credible sightings in submarine search The Swedish military said Sunday it had made three credible sightings of foreign undersea activity in its waters during the past few days amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion in the area.
A spiritual assault that traffics in the souls of mankind.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6
Halloween has strong roots in paganism and is closely connected with worship of the Enemy of This World, Satan. It is a holiday that generally glorifies the evil things of this world, rather than Jesus Christ.
Have you noticed how movies and TV shows are becoming more violent, gory and depraved each year? Even children’s costumes have become more gruesome and grotesque and the occult is increasingly glorified in American society, not only on Halloween but throughout the year, in frequent horror movies and television programs.
Karl Payne, an expert on demonology and the author of "Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization and Deliverance," believes these elements of America are more than just "fun and games."
Halloween is almost here, and the theaters and TV channels are flooded with ghosts, zombies, monsters and worse. Just entertainment, amusement and not representative of anything real, right? The 21st century is consumed with interest in the "the dark side" of the paranormal. The mysterious realm of demonic spirits and other-worldly beings literally fills our culture. The world operates virtually unaware of the oppression, depression and very tangible torment daily added to millions of lives by unseen spiritual forces – often filtering through the portal of popular entertainment. As Christians we play into the hand of Satan and his demonic hosts when we approach demonic warfare as a theoretical game of curiosity rather than a life-threatening conspiracy from the pit of hell.
"This culture is like demonism on steroids," Payne states. "The last time I turned on the TV, one channel was heavily promoting a gory show on zombies and then on another, a show on witches that flirted with the occult was being heavily promoted. The proliferation of media like this desensitizes the public's awareness of the evil in the world around us and opens up individuals to demonic influence."
The two shows he cites are some of the most popular on TV right now. "The Walking Dead" is known for depicting gruesome violence and follows a group of human survivors in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. It just broke cable television records with its latest season premiere.
"American Horror Story" has also topped the ratings chart, and its new season is set to focus on witchcraft and the occult.
Payne disputes the notion that media, like these two shows, promote no harm in daily lives.
"There's the notion that this stuff isn't real, it's all 'fun and games,' and we shouldn't worry about it," he says. "But the fact is that a part of this stuff is real, and it hurts real people in real life."
Payne believes that people should avoid media and cultural forms that promote these negative associations and enjoy culture with more positive messages. He contends it's naïve to think that these influences won't end up causing harm.
"If people play games with the occult long enough and still believe they won't end up hitchhiking with the demonic, they're naïve," he states.
In his book, Payne issues a provocative, biblically-based challenge for all Christians, regardless of their denominational, ecclesiastical or theological loyalties, to consider the subject of spiritual warfare in general and demonic warfare in particular.
How Firm a Foundation Oct 20th, 2014 Commentarywayoflife.org Categories: Exhortation
The lovely hymn "How Firm a Foundation," whose author was probably Robert Keene, has been popular since it appeared in Robert Rippon's 1787 A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors. Keene was the song leader in Rippon's church. This hymn was sung at the funerals of American presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and at the deathbed of Andrew Jackson. On Christmas Eve, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, it was sung by an entire corps of the United States Army encamped near Havana, Cuba. While leading this hymn in chapel, Charles Hodge, president of Princeton Seminary from 1865-78, was said to have become so overcome with emotion that he could not sing the words. The third stanza is based on Isaiah 41:10. Following are all of the stanzas:
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He hath said. You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health; In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth; At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow; For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love; And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I will not, I will not desert to its foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake.
Houston's Lesbian Mayor Turns Tyrant Oct 20th, 2014 Daily NewsRev. Jesse Lee Peterson - WND Categories: Moral Decline;Contemporary Issues;Commentary
Don’t give power to a radical homosexual. Case in point: the city of Houston.
In an unprecedented attack against religious freedom and free-speech rights, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, an open lesbian, recently issued subpoenas demanding pastors turn over sermons dealing with homosexuality and any remarks they’ve made in opposition to that city’s “non-discrimination” ordinance, which in part allows transgendered men to use ladies’ restrooms.
Why would the mayor want to silence Christians? After all, aren’t LGBT people all about “tolerance”?
Well, no. Mayor Parker and radical “gay” activists want to criminalize and censor anyone who speaks out against the perverse LGBT agenda.
LGBT groups and the left-wing media have campaigned to portray homosexuals, and now transgendered people, as minorities bullied by Christians. As a result, the LGBT agenda has a foothold in the popular culture. Homosexuals have ascended to positions of power.
LGBT activists across the country are proposing bizarre laws that are blurring gender lines. California Democrats passed AB 1266 (co-ed bathroom law), which allows transgendered boys to use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.
Despite the all-out effort by the far left to portray the LGBT lifestyle as “normal,” there is growing evidence revealing the disturbing truth:
Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder.” Dr. McHugh also reported on a new study showing that the suicide rate among transgendered people who had reassignment (sex-change) surgery is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among non-transgender people.
Dr. McHugh further noted studies from Vanderbilt University and London’s Portman Clinic stating that 70-80 percent of children who had expressed transgender feelings “spontaneously lost those feelings” over time. So if kids weren’t being pressured to embrace being transgendered, most would eventually get beyond the feelings.
But you won’t hear about these findings in the mainstream media because it threatens their whole concept that LGBT people are “born” that way.
Christian pastors threaten the LGBT’s scheme to normalize abhorrent behavior. If we don’t stop the attack on these Houston pastors, the left will surely be emboldened to use their Gestapo-like tactics against any other group that opposes them,and we’ll end up like Canada.
The left in Canada is silencing conservatives by criminalizing free speech. The criminal prohibitions on speech in Canada or so-called “hate speech” laws are used to silence and stifle a single (traditional values) viewpoint. This sounds eerily familiar. Remember the IRS targeting tea-party groups?
The left likes to harass Christians who don’t conform. A case has arisen in Idaho, where city officials have told ministers they have to officiate same-sex weddings or face fines and jail time. The ministers refused, now they face a 180-day jail term and $1,000-a-day fine.
If liberals want to go after intolerance, why don’t they target mosques and imams? Islam has harsh edicts against homosexuality. They won’t go after Muslims because they need them as part of their coalition to take down the Christians.
Weakness emboldens evil. There’s a leadership vacuum and lack of effective activism within the conservative Christian movement today, and that has emboldened the left.
Christians may not agree on everything, but we can certainly agree on the need to protect our freedoms and the family. But we will never win playing defense. If Christians unite and go on offense, we can defeat these radicals.
For proof that playing defense is a losing strategy, just look at the Republican Party. GOP leaders are so afraid of being called “racists” that they’re letting Obama have his way. Meanwhile, Obama is constantly putting them under pressure by going on offense with his evil agenda.
FILE: Oct. 9, 2014: marines arrival at the Roberts International airport in Monrovia, Liberia. (AP)
The Defense Department said Sunday that it is preparing a quick-response medical team to help health-care professionals should the Ebola virus spread in the United States.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the training of the 30-member team and said the effort was in response to a Department of Health and Human Services request.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said the move is “an added, prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases.”
The military is already assisting in efforts to stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa, where roughly 4,300 people have died so far this year from the virus.
Last week, six U.S. military planes delivered more supplies and 100 Marines to West Africa. The Marines’ arrival means roughly 300 U.S. service members are now in the region, said Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the commander leading the U.S. response.
The U.S. military is working to build medical centers in hard-hit Liberia and may eventually send as many as 4,000 soldiers to West Africa.
The Obama administration has faced sharp criticism for its handling of the virus so far in the United States, particularly about whether proper hospital protocol and safety measures are in place.
The first known Ebola patient in the country, Thomas Eric Duncan, was sent home from Dallas’ Texas Presbyterian Hospital in late September after arriving at the emergency room with Ebola-like symptoms. Duncan, who had just come from Liberia, returned to the hospital several days later and died.
Now, two health professionals who were treating Duncan have the virus.
In addition to the new Defense Department effort, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce changes in protocol, in response to the lapses and widespread public concern.
The members of the 30-member military team will be selected and led by Northern Command Commander Gen. Chuck Jacoby.
The team of 20 critical care nurses, five doctors trained in infectious disease and five trainers in infectious-disease protocols will go to Fort Sam Houston, in Texas, for as many as seven days to receive specialized training in infection control and personal-protective equipment.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told “Fox News Sunday” that one of the two health-care workers with Ebola, nurse Nina Pham, was likely infected because “she was not completely covered” with her protective clothing.
He also said she’s “very stable” and expressed guarded optimism about her recovery, saying she was “progressing very well.”
Kirby said the quick-response team’s training is expected to start within the next week and will be provided by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
When the training is completed, the team will remain in a "prepare to deploy" status for 30 days, making it ready to go to any CONUS, or contagious United States, location.
Kirby said the team will not be sent to West Africa or elsewhere overseas and will be called to respond in the U.S. only at the order of public health professionals.
“Secretary Hagel is committed to ensuring (the Defense Department) is prepared to provide appropriate capabilities, as required, to support our government's response to this deadly disease,” he also said.
