Stephen E. Vogt Named Special Agent in Charge of Baltimore Division

Director Robert S. Mueller, III has named Stephen E. Vogt special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Division. Mr. Vogt most recently served as the legal attaché in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Mr. Vogt began his career as a special agent with the FBI in August 1989. He first reported to the Cleveland Division, where he investigated white-collar crime, public corruption, organized crime, and drug cases and was also a member of the SWAT team. While there, he received the FBI Director’s Award and the Attorney General’s Award for his work on a law enforcement corruption investigation. In 1999, Mr. Vogt was promoted to supervisory special agent of a drug task force/High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Group (HIDTA) and was named the 2004 HIDTA Task Force Commander of the Year by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In 2005, Mr. Vogt was promoted to team leader in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he managed teams of supervisors over a 12-month period as they conducted on-site inspections of field offices throughout the United States.

Mr. Vogt reported to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006, where he served as an assistant legal attaché and investigated kidnappings, hostage matters, and general criminal activity.

In 2007, Mr. Vogt was promoted to an assistant special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office. He oversaw the cyber, gang/criminal enterprise, organized crime, and violent crime programs. During this time, he also worked with the Baltimore Division to establish a Cross Border Task Force in Prince George’s County, Maryland, aimed at combating violent gangs in the county.

Mr. Vogt reported to Kabul, Afghanistan as legal attaché in 2010. In this capacity, he was responsible for all FBI personnel and operations throughout the country.

Mr. Vogt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Washington & Lee University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Baltimore. He is married and has three children.

Two Members of the U.S. Army Plead Guilty to Bribery Charges Related to Fuel Theft in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – Two members of the U.S. Army have each pleaded guilty to a bribery charge for their roles in a scheme to steal jet fuel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Fenty near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced today.

 Sergeant Regionald Dixon, 30, pleaded guilty yesterday in the District of Hawaii to one count of bribery and Specialist Larry Emmons, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on June 8, 2012.  Dixon and Emmons, both of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi.

 According to court documents, on or about Jan. 1, 2012, Dixon and another co-conspirator sergeant in the U.S. Army, agreed to participate in a scheme to steal JP8 jet fuel from FOB Fenty.  Specialist Emmons joined the scheme when he returned to FOB Fenty from midtour leave on or about Jan. 22, 2012.

 According to court documents, Dixon, Emmons and others surreptitiously filled 3,000-gallon trucks with JP8 jet fuel.  The trucks were owned by an Afghan military trucking contractor and were termed “jingle trucks” for their bright adornments.  When filling the jingle trucks, the defendants and their co-conspirators took steps to conceal their activities, including filling the trucks in clandestine locations and at times of day least likely to arouse suspicion.

 Court documents state that Emmons or a co-conspirator created fraudulent transportation movement requests (TMR), military documents that officially authorize the movement of fuel from FOB Fenty to another location, usually another military base in that geographic area.  Emmons and his co-conspirator gave the fraudulent TMRs to the drivers of the jingle trucks, who presented the fraudulent TMRs at the secure departure checkpoint at FOB Fenty to justify their departure with a truckload of JP8 jet fuel.

 In return for their official acts in facilitating the theft of fuel from FOB Fenty, Dixon, Emmons and a co-conspirator were paid $6,000 per 3,000-gallon truckload of JP8 jet fuel.

 As part of their plea agreements, Dixon and Emmons agreed to forfeit various amounts of cash seized from them or their residences or voluntarily surrendered to federal agents.

 At sentencing, scheduled for Oct. 4, 2012, Dixon and Emmons each face up to 15 years in prison.

 These cases are being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Mark W. Pletcher of the Fraud Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  The cases were investigated by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction; the Department of the Army, Criminal Investigations Division; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the FBI; and the Department of the Air Force, Office of Special Investigations.  Valuable assistance was also provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

Special Forces Soldier

On May 22, 2009, Conversations with Heroes at the Watering Hole will feature Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata, Jr. United States Army (ret.).

Program Date: May 22, 2009
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic: Special Forces Soldiers
Listen Live:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/05/23/Special-Forces-Soldiers-

About the Guest
Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata Jr., USA (ret.) was an Army Special Operations NCO and retired as a Master Sergeant in 2003 after 28 years of service with the U.S. Army Special Forces. He now lives in Gilroy (California). Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata, Jr. is the author of Desperate Lands: The War on Terror through the Eyes of a Special Forces Soldier.

According to the book description of Desperate Lands: The War on Terror Through the Eyes of a Special Forces Soldier it “is the unprecedented story of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and the missions they have carried out while fighting the war on terror in the Horn of Africa and in Afghanistan. The book is unique and timely, in that it tells the compelling story of our nations struggle and of its soldiers fighting a new and different kind of war never fought before a Global War on Terror. This true story comes at a time when our nation has divided feelings and opinions about this war a division that exists among both government leaders and the American people. These pages offer a different perspective that of lower enlisted soldiers reflecting their personal experience in combat zones in Africa and Afghanistan as they witnessed and experienced the fog of war. The author Special Forces Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata, Jr. shares his extraordinary journey through ancient and desperate lands at the front lines of this ongoing war. Here are true stories of sacrifice, bravery, excitement, horror, anger, tedium, fear, camaraderie, and more a firsthand look behind the headlines at the reality of the exceptional and difficult challenges U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers face as they defend America against the terrorist threat.”

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a Criminal Justice Department chair, faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in Law Enforcement, public policy, Law Enforcement Technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in Law Enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/05/23/Special-Forces-Soldiers-

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Civilian Job Skills Help Guardsmen Address Afghanistan's Poppy Problem

By Capt. Brian M. O'Malley, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

July 26, 2007 - Afghan and international forces are looking to solve to Afghanistan's poppy problem and to maximize agricultural output. Now, Army 1st Lt. Gris Babcock of the 207th Regional Security Assistance Command here may have found a way to help. The Afghan poppy trade produces most of the world's opium, the resulting illegal drug trafficking helps to finance the Taliban and other enemies of the government. Efforts to combat the problem include helping farmers in the impoverished nation learn economically viable alternatives to growing poppy.

An employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in his civilian job, this member of the Idaho National Guard applied his knowledge to develop the center. The center is remarkably comprehensive, with laboratories and classrooms, and even fish ponds with hatcheries. It includes beehives, vineyards and orchards. When completed, the center will even have a weather station.

Officials have begun work on 10 acres of orchards that will include apricot, plum, almond, pomegranate, mulberry, and wild pistachio trees. The next step for the orchards is to install a drip irrigation system. The saplings from the orchards will go to surrounding villages to start their own nurseries. Although the villages will be cultivating the nurseries, they will be under the auspices of the center.

Another 10 acres will be used to grow six different varieties of grapes. Grapes had been all but wiped out by the Taliban because they could be used to produce wine. "Grapes are lucrative and require very little summer watering, which make them an ideal crop. With the introduction of trellising, yields will increase at least 60 percent in this ideal climate," Babcock said. "The key is to teach trellising and pruning techniques, which are virtually unknown in this country."

The grapes will be sold as fruit and as raisins.

Saffron also will be introduced. This crop is the most promising to replace the poppy crop as a cash crop, officials said. It will be grown first at the center and then move to surrounding villages. "The main hold-up right now for the saffron is signing with a good export company in Herat, but we should have one soon without much difficulty," Babcock said.

The fish ponds will be virtually self-sufficient, with waste water used to fertilize the plants. A small-scale, sustainable, warm-water fish hatchery will be built for grass carp.

"Currently the fish market in Herat is completely under-supplied, though demand is huge. Our goal will be to link five ponds in the villages. This obviously is very site-specific, but can be done with the abundance of irrigation ditches," Babcock said.

"Grass carp eat everything, particularly grass, which will grow in wet, muddy pond bottoms in two weeks here," he said.

Babcock explained that the fish are induced to spawn by raising and lowering water levels. The effort will begin with only two spawning pairs. The high productivity of the pairs allows the initial breading stock to be relatively low. After the drawdown -- during which the water will irrigate crops -- adult fish will be removed and fingerlings can mature. "Soon, the fish can be taken to market in coolers filled with ice, or eaten locally," he said.

In addition, Honey production will begin at the station and at the village nurseries on a smaller scale. "This is a highly lucrative crop, and has the added benefit of increasing crop production," Babcock said.

"Currently, the honey that is available here is a low grade that comes from Iran," he said. "We will purchase all the equipment, and the (Agriculture) Department will bring down a trainer for a course. At the station, a small bottling room will be available for the station's production and locals if they want to use it."

When complete, this project will be run by Afghans, taught by Afghans and worked by Afghans, U.S. officials said.

(Army Capt. Brian M. O'Malley is assigned to Task Force Phoenix.)

Coalition Trains Afghan Police in Special Weapons, Tactics

By Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Cohen, USN
Special to American Forces Press Service

June 18, 2007 – The battle against the Taliban is an ongoing fight throughout Afghanistan. One of the groups leading the charge against the terrorists and insurgents is the Afghan National Police. A new capability is being added to make the Afghan police an even stronger force. The Afghan National Civil Order Police will be an elite group of police officers filling a variety of roles.

Superintendent James Rainville, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is assigned as a mentor with Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan and is in a lead role helping to develop the Afghan's police capabilities.

"These police officers have already finished basic training; some have been on the police force for a couple of years or more," Rainville said. "They recently completed a 60-day course in advanced police training and tactics focused on team building, unit cohesiveness and upgrading skills and abilities before becoming a fully operational unit."

The police officers undergoing Afghan National Civil Order Police training learn to work in small tactical teams, requiring dedicated professionals, said Rainville.

"These (police officers) are the cream of the crop," he said. "The police officers coming through this program are about 90 percent literate, which is very high for Afghanistan. They are eager to learn, and they are catching on very fast."

Coalition military and civilian mentors are instructing the 300 officers going through training here.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Warren Bockhol, an embedded trainer from Task Force Phoenix VI assigned to the Afghan National Army's 201st Corps, is working with the students to hone their skills.

"These guys are motivated and want to learn," Bockhol said. "They want to be here, and it shows."

The skills they learn, including techniques used by special weapons and tactics teams, will help keep them in the fight and establish dominance over their enemy.

"We are teaching them SWAT techniques. Some of these are very similar to infantry skills we use in the field," Bockhol said. "Cordon-and-search (operations) are things we do in an urban environment; these are things they will need to do, as well." Cordon-and-search operations involve clearing buildings and methodically making sure each room is secured and safe.

"We're teaching them how to go room by room, making sure it is safe to proceed," Bockhol said. "We are still in the 'walking' phase of instruction. They are learning the theory and application. By the time they finish this training, they will be effective operators."

Not every police officer will be in the SWAT unit.

"This is as much a selection process as it is training," Rainville said.

Those who do not make the cut for SWAT still will be part of Afghan National Civil Order Police, but will be used in other roles such as crowd and riot control.

"We are looking for people who can shoot accurately, think on their feet, take and follow orders," said Scott Hill, an Afghan National Civil Order Police training mentor with DynCorp. "We need them to be responsive and take in the situation and understand how it is developing."

Hill, a 13-year veteran of a U.S. sheriff's department, said it is not about shooting or hurting people.

"When a SWAT team enters a building, they are going in there to rescue people," Hill said. "The last thing they want to do is go in there, start shooting and kill the wrong person. Discipline is a key part to working in a SWAT unit, as is teamwork and communication."

Sgt. Abdul Shokoor has been an Afghan police officer for the past three years. He is motivated and is a standout among his peers, Bockhol said. Talking to him reveals a dedicated officer who wants to serve with the best Afghanistan has to offer.

"I want to serve my country and make Afghanistan safe for the people," Shokoor said. "Being part of ANCOP has given me the chance to learn new skills and serve with the best. The instructors are excellent and are willing to share their experience with us. They really make this training worthwhile."

Rainville said he is glad to see the progress in the overall training program.

"When these units go into the field, they will be on par with any police unit in the West," he said. "They will have the best training and the best equipment in Afghanistan and will be capable to carry out the tough missions with success."

These police officers will be assigned to Kabul, with future classes being stationed in other provinces throughout Afghanistan, officials said.

(Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Cohen is assigned to Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan Public Affairs.)

General Says Insurgency Connected to Afghan Opium Industry

By Carmen L. Gleason
American Forces Press Service

June 5, 2007 – The problems plaguing the Afghan government cannot be taken on without taking on the problem of poppy production, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan told Pentagon reporters in a teleconference today. Although he's not suggesting changing the charter of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill said coalition forces can likely work within the eight pillars of the Afghan National Strategy for Counternarcotics to help fight against the opium cultivation in the country.

"Poppy is a defining characteristic for this country at present," McNeill said. "And it's a negative definition any way you look at it."

In years past, Afghans have had to turn to growing opium poppy largely due infrastructure problems such as poor roads and destroyed irrigation systems. Since poppies need moisture once every five days, the plant was heavily relied upon to provide an income for farmers in the drought-stricken country.

With increased moisture from the snow melt in the Hindu Kush Mountains this year and the best spring rain the country has received in more than 50 year, the general said prime conditions have been set for optimum narcotic cultivation.

"I don't think there's any doubt that there is some connection between the insurgency and poppy," McNeill said. He said that while monitoring of convoys for insurgents and munitions, coalition troops have frequently come across narcotics convoys.

"It occurs to me that when I put all this together, that is some places in Afghanistan, probably especially in the south, they're almost inextricable - what the insurgents are doing and what the 'narco' dealers are doing," he said.

The general said that he didn't have any numerical evidence to assign to the relationship, but he is convinced of the relationship. And the NATO force, he said, isn't designed to challenge the poppy trade militarily.

"(Coalition troops) are not an eradication force," he said. "We're not trained, we're not equipped, we don't have the requisite number of helicopters, and we're not manned to do it."

However, McNeill said that NATO forces will be able to work within the country's counternarcotics pillars to operate against the problem.

"I don't believe that we can deal with the insurgency in a complete fashion without taking on the issue of poppy," McNeill said.

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U.S. Working to Pop Afghanistan's Drug Market Bubble

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

April 24, 2007 – The United States has a "five-pillar" plan to counter the Afghan narcotics industry, which supplies about 93 percent of the world's opium and has a virtual monopoly over the global heroin market, a top Defense Department official said here today. "The five pillars are public information, alternative livelihoods, eradication, interdiction and justice reform," Richard J. Douglas, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics, counterproliferation and global threats, told reporters at the Pentagon.

Narcotics trade in Afghanistan hinders the country's economic growth and undermines its democratic institutions by providing extremists, terrorists and other dissidents the resources to oppose the central government, Douglas said.

The Defense Department is using the five pillars to "increase the capacity of the government of Afghanistan ... to stop narcotics trafficking," he said. "When the Afghan government is in a better position to pick up the load, it's going to take a lot of pressure off of our people, and that's what we're hoping to see."

Douglas, who visited with the governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province last year, said that despite some "sobering challenges" operationally, there is "quite a bit of political will on the part of the Afghan government to deal with this problem."

"The fact is, we're better off than we were three years ago when we started the program," he said. "There's certainly cause for optimism that Afghans themselves ... are going to be able to deal with this mission."

Drug Enforcement Agency mentors are training and equipping a specialized Afghan interdiction unit to directly address traffickers. "We are developing an Afghan intelligence fusion cell, a communications system and a number of bases of operation," Douglas said.

Additionally, a squadron of MI-17 HIP H helicopters will support the interdiction unit. "The helicopter squadron is very important because of the need for air mobility in a country with extremely rugged terrain (like Afghanistan)," he said.

In conjunction with the State Department, the Defense Department will engage in the "border management initiative, which will assist in hindering the flow of drugs leaving Afghanistan and the importation of precursor chemicals needed to turn opium into heroin," he said.

Douglas said the tactical training Afghan border police are receiving "has already reduced casualties during confrontations with narco-traffickers at the border."

The Defense Department also is cooperating with counternarcotic authorities in Central Asian "transit zone" countries to help clamp down on illicit drug exports from Afghanistan -- the "source zone."

"We have efforts under way in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan," Douglas said. "The idea is to do similar efforts to build capacity on the other side of the border, so the Afghan and bordering authorities are able to cooperate and work better together."

A softer approach in which the departments of State and Defense are jointly engaged is the "alternative livelihood pillar" that aims to introduce new crops or alternative yields into Afghanistan's agriculture to wean Afghan farmers off the poppy crop used for opium and heroin production.

Douglas said international challenges are exacerbated by consumerism in "arrival zone" countries. "The No. 1 narcotics problem we face is demand in the United States," he said.

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Opium Funds Taliban Operations, Hurts Afghan Economy, Fallon Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

April 19, 2007 – The illicit, but lucrative, opium trade is helping to finance Taliban operations while placing a stranglehold on Afghanistan's economy, the commander of U.S. Central Command testified during a Congressional hearing yesterday. In fact, some military analysts credit the recent relative lull in Taliban activity to their participation in the annual opium harvest that's under way now in Afghanistan, Navy Adm. William J. Fallon told House Armed Services Committee members.

"This is opium harvest season, I'm told, and that's probably one of the reasons why the Taliban have been relatively quiet in the last couple of weeks because (intelligence analysts) tell me they're busy out in the fields harvesting their crops," Fallon told committee members.

Opium is a powerful illegal narcotic that's derived from poppy plants cultivated by many Afghan farmers as a cash crop. Heroin is an opium derivative and most of Afghanistan's opium is sold on the European drug market.

Fallon said it is unfortunate that some Afghans are dependent on opium-poppy farming for their livelihoods.

"It's painful to watch this, because the impact of this criminal activity runs throughout the country and I suspect it's one of the reasons life is challenging in Afghanistan, because it appears that at every level, from growers to farmers on up to higher levels, there's some degree of gain from this illicit trade," Fallon said.

As desirable as it would be to remove opium as Afghanistan's mainline cash crop, Fallon pointed out that a viable alternative agricultural crop would have to be identified to replace it.

"I think we have to come up with a realistic alternative," Fallon told committee members. Some have proposed that orchard crops could one day replace opium growing in Afghanistan, he noted.

"What I don't know how viable this is as a realistic, major 'muscle mover' in the (Afghan) economy," Fallon said, noting that he's been told it would be very challenging to get the orchard produce to market, given the rudimentary and poor state of Afghanistan's roads.

In fact, that's why ongoing work to establish a ring of paved roads that connect Afghanistan's major municipalities is such an important project, the admiral said.

"Everybody that I've talked to, from President (Hamid) Karzai on down, tells me (the new road network) is absolutely essential to the economic future" of Afghanistan, Fallon said.

Fallon took over as CENTCOM's chief March 16. Since then, he has traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries that come under his command's purview.

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