Joe DeAngelo

Campaign for National Judge Advocate Statement

Dear My HealtheVet member:

At VA, Veterans are at the center of everything we do. We are constantly working to make sure you know about the health care and benefits you have earned through your service to our country.
A new law, called the MISSION Act, strengthens VA's ability to provide you with state-of-the-art care and services through a network of providers and cutting-edge technology. The law makes several enhancements to VA care that begin on June 6, 2019.
With the MISSION Act, you will see VA continue to be a trusted, caring partner. We are focused on providing an excellent experience of care to you and the important people in your life. You'll see us expand our efforts to meet you where you are, with the right care at the right place and the right time - including through telehealth and in your community.
To help you learn more about your VA health care options, we have created a booklet that provides information on:

• Enrollment and health care eligibility;
• Expanded community care eligibility;
• Accessing new Urgent Care benefits for minor illnesses;
• Information on how copayments and insurance will be used;
• Learning more about VA's access and quality standards and how those relate to you;
• Awareness of the complaints and appeals process for health care delivery.

You can view the booklet at https://www.missionact.va.gov/library/files/MISSION_ACT_Community_Care_Booklet.pdf
We appreciate that you choose VA for your health care and we are honored to serve you.
Sincerely,
Richard Stone, MD Executive in Charge Office of the Under Secretary for Health
For more information about the MISSION Act visit www.missionact.va.gov .
You can keep up with your health care issues by subscribing to the bi-weekly 'My HealtheVet Update' at https://www.myhealth.va.gov/subscribe .

 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Advisory Committee Objectives

VA National Academic Affiliations Council

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs regarding partnerships between VA and its academic affiliates. 

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Advisory Committee on Cemeteries and Memorials (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the administration of national cemeteries, Soldiers’ lots and plots, the selection of cemetery sites, the erection of appropriate memorials, and the adequacy of Federal burial benefits.

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Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation Committee

Provides advice on VA cooperative studies, multi-site clinical research activities, and policies related to conducting and managing these efforts and ensures that new and ongoing projects maintain high quality, are based upon scientific merit, and are efficiently and economically conducted. 

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Creating Options for Veterans’ Expedited Recovery (COVER) Commission (Statutory)

Provides advice to VA, the President, and Congress, and examines the evidence-based therapy treatment model used by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for treating mental health conditions of veterans and potential benefits of incorporating complementary and integrative health treatments available in non-Department facilities. 

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Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on establishing and supervising a schedule to conduct periodic reviews of VA’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities.

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Veterans’ Advisory Committee on Education (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the administration of education and training programs for Veterans and Servicepersons, Reservists, and dependents of Veterans under Chapters 30, 32, 35, and 36 of Title 38, and Chapter 1606 of Title 10, United States Code.

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Veterans’ Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards (Statutory) – Administratively Inactive

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on adverse health effects that may be associated with exposure to ionizing radiation and makes recommendations on proposed standards and guidelines regarding VA benefit claims based upon exposure to ionizing radiation. 

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Advisory Committee on Former Prisoners of War (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary on the administration of benefits for Veterans who are former prisoners of war, their survivors, and the needs of such Veterans and their families in the areas of service-connected compensation, dependency, and indemnification compensation, health care, and rehabilitation.

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Genomic Medicine Program Advisory Committee

Provides advice on the scientific and ethical issues related to the establishment, development, and operation of a genomic medicine program within VA.

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Geriatrics and Gerontology Advisory Committee (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on all matters pertaining to geriatrics and gerontology.

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Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on proposed research studies, research plans, or research strategies relating to the health effects of military service in Southwest Asia during the Gulf War.

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Health Services Research and Development Service Merit Review Board

Provides advice on the fair and equitable selection of the most meritorious research projects for support by VA research funds; ensures the high quality and mission relevance of VA’s legislatively mandated research and development program; advises on the scientific and technical merit, originality, feasibility, and mission relevance of individual research proposals; and advises on the adequacy of protection of human and animal subjects.

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Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on benefits and services to Veterans experiencing homelessness. 

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Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and Development Services Scientific Merit Review Board

Provides advice on the scientific quality, budget, safety, and mission relevance of investigator-initiated research proposals submitted for VA merit review consideration.  The proposals to be reviewed may address research questions within the general area of biomedical and behavioral research or clinical science research.  The Board also advises VA research officials on program priorities and policies, as well as administration of VA’s intramural program.

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Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary on the administration of VA benefits for Veterans who are minority group members in the areas of compensation, health care, rehabilitation, outreach, and other services. 

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National Research Advisory Council

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on research and development sponsored and/or conducted by the Veterans Health Administration, to include policies and programs of the Office of Research and Development.

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Advisory Committee on Prosthetics and Special Disabilities Programs (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on VA prosthetics programs and the rehabilitation research, development, and evaluation of prosthetics technology; assesses VA programs that serve Veterans with spinal cord injury, blindness or vision impairment, loss of or loss of use of extremities, deafness or hearing impairment, or other serious incapacities.   

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Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veterans (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on policies, organizational structures, and the provision and coordination of services to address Veterans' post-war readjustment to civilian life, with particular emphasis on post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, other substance abuse, post-war employment, and family adjustment. 

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Veterans' Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the rehabilitation needs of disabled Veterans and the administration of VA's rehabilitation programs.

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Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board

Provides advice on the fair and equitable selection of the most meritorious research projects for support by VA research funds; provides advice for research program officials on program priorities and policies; and ensures that the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development program promotes functional independence and improves the quality of life for impaired and disabled Veterans.

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Veterans’ Rural Health Advisory Committee

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on health care issues affecting enrolled Veterans residing in rural areas.

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Special Medical Advisory Group (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary and the Under Secretary for Health on matters relating to the care and treatment of Veterans and other matters pertinent to the operations of

the Veterans Health Administration, such as research, education, training of health manpower, and VA/Department of Defense (DoD) contingency planning.

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Advisory Committee on Structural Safety of VA Facilities (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on structural safety in the construction and remodeling of VA facilities, and to recommend standards for use by VA in the construction and alteration of facilities.   

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Veterans’ Family, Caregiver, and Survivor Advisory Committee

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, through the Chief Veterans Experience Officer, related to Veterans’ families, caregivers, and survivors across all generations, relationships, and Veteran status; the use of VA care and benefits services by Veterans’ families, caregivers, and survivors, and possible expansion of such care and benefits services; Veterans’ family, caregiver, and survivor experiences; VA policies, regulations, and administrative requirements related to the transition of Servicemembers from the DoD to enrollment in VA that impact Veterans’ families, caregivers, and survivors; and factors that influence access to, quality of, and accountability for services and benefits for Veterans’ families, caregivers, and survivors.  

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Veterans and Community Oversight and Engagement Board (Statutory)

Coordinates locally with VA to identify the goals of the community and Veteran partnership; provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to improve services and outcomes for Veterans, members of the Armed Forces, and the families of such Veterans and members; and provides advice and recommendations on the implementation of the Draft Master Plan approved by the Secretary on January 28, 2016, and on the creation and implementation of any other successor master plans.

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VA Voluntary Service National Advisory Committee

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Under Secretary for Health on how to coordinate and promote volunteer activities within VA health care facilities.  

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Advisory Committee on Women Veterans (Statutory)

Provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the needs of women Veterans regarding health care, rehabilitation benefits, compensation, outreach, and other programs administered by VA.

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Jeffrey A. Moragne (00AC)

Director, Advisory Committee Management Office       

(202) 266-4660        

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Jelessa M. Burney (00AC)

Program Specialist

(202) 266-4549

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LaTonya L. Small, Ed.D. (00AC)

Program Specialist

(202) 266-4565

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Livestream at: http://www.facebook.com/WSDVA

Washington, D.C. --

The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert Neller, announced last month the establishment of the Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary (Cyber Aux), a volunteer organization aimed at increasing Marine Corps cyberspace readiness. The Cyber Aux is comprised of a small cadre of highly-talented cyber experts who train, educate, advise, and mentor Marines to keep pace with constantly-evolving cyber challenges.

The Cyber Aux assists in simulated environments and during periods of instruction, but are not authorized to execute hands-on cyber activities. Qualified volunteers must be US citizens with advanced cyber experience and will be screened and assessed before assignment to a specified unit or project. Cyber Aux members do not wear a uniform nor need to meet the Marine Corps physical fitness and grooming standards.

The Cyber Aux is part of the larger Marine Corps effort to better posture forces to conduct Operations in the Information Environment and is managed by the Deputy Commandant for Information, Lt. Gen. Lori E. Reynolds.

This is all the information currently available for release at this time. In the near future there will be opportunities for media to engage with Marine Corps leadership to learn more about plans for the Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary. If you are interested in participating, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Highly qualified talent should email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information or to begin volunteering with the Marines.

source: https://www.marines.mil/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Display/Article/1845538/marine-corps-establishes-volunteer-cyber-auxiliary-to-increase-cyberspace-readi/

Meet Brett Shavers, DFIR Training Manager

ADF Bret: Hi Brett, thanks for taking time to talk! My first question is, what’s with the extra “t”? I’m just kidding of course.  Growing up, one of my best friends spelled his name with two “t”s so we just refer to one another as Brettt so as not to offend one another.   

Brett:     A rose by any other name…

ADF Bret: You’re a digital forensic examiner providing private consulting and training to government agencies and you’ve also found time to write quite a few books, including Placing the Suspect Behind the Keyboard, Hiding Behind the Keyboard, and X-Ways Forensics Practitioner’s Guide, all of which have received nominations for Best Forensic Book of the Year.  How did you get started writing books for the forensic community and what (besides the money and fame) keeps you writing?

Brett:  Much like any author writing forensic books, I wanted to write the books that I wish were already written by someone else. I would have bought them if they already were written! My first two books were published within the same year, so they competed against each other for Best Forensic Book of the Year and the X-Ways book won. That was neat, and certainly having Eric Zimmerman as my co-author helped. I will keep writing books whenever I need a book that hasn’t already been written, so hopefully we get more authors writing books.

ADF Bret: Who do you create for? In other words, do you have a specific type of person in mind when you are producing content?  

Brett: I tend to create content for myself, or at least what I want to learn, what I think is important to learn, and what I think others would want to learn. There really isn’t a specific type of person, because in this field, you can be having a cup of coffee while watching a progress bar and the next minute the phone rings and you’re running out the door to handle someone’s emergency. That’s a broad audience for creating any content!

ADF Bret: Your readers have come to rely on you for forensic knowledge and best practices. How do you stay current with as busy as you are writing, training and running DFIR Training?

Brett:    Constant reading. That’s the secret. Books and blogs and blogs and books. And of course, squeezing in a few good conferences and courses to meet great people. I give presentations a few times a year, and even a one-hour talk forces me to seriously learn what I am going to talk about. Then putting all of it into use, either on real cases or real practice cases ties it up all in a nice package.

The DFIR Training website does take up a lot of time, but the content that I put on the site is the content that I also need to know, and that what I think many of us should know. Whether to find a tool or training or artifact, my intention is to have the information one click away for when you need it. Just wait and see when I finish the forensic artifact database. When the forensic artifact database is done, or at least populated with enough data, you will be able to search for a tools linked to an artifact, or an artifact linked to multiple tool to recover that artifact, and have the white papers for that artifact, videos, and training courses all cross referenced.

ADF Bret: It’s my understanding that you served in the USMC before a career in law enforcement.  Can you tell us about that experience and your transition from the service? Do you have any advice for others transitioning out?    

Brett:    Ah, yes. I was 17 years old in bootcamp, then went straight to 2/3. Any Marine reading this knows exactly what 2/3 means…Marine infantry. 2^nd Battalion, 3^rd Marines.  This was quite a bit before the Cyber commands were created and I much rather had gone into the Marine Corps Cyberspace Command had it existed at the time. But my time in the Corps was worth it for more reasons than any job training.

I had an easy time transitioning mentally as I knew that I wanted to get into law enforcement. It took a few years after the Marines, and I worked in a jail before eventually being hired as a police officer. Since I always knew what I wanted to do after the Marines, I prepared myself and just drove on until I got it. Not knowing what you want to do or not know what you will accept doing until then will make transition difficult. Being patient and persistent never hurts either.  Make a plan. Follow the plan. Adjust as necessary.

ADF Bret: Do you have a favorite case that you participated in?  Can you share any stories?

Brett: I only spent a few years on the street in patrol, with some years in SWAT and bike patrol. I didn’t have any cases per se, other than handling emergency calls. But since the majority of my time was undercover narcotics, I had quite a few memorable cases. I bounced around different state and federal task forces and was part of many really cool cases. I have some favorites, but the favorite thing was being able to work with so many experienced officers, detectives, and agents, with some of them having worked famous investigations. One of the agents that I worked a case with had his case turned into a movie a few years ago. That’s the kind of people that I had the honor to work with, those with great investigative skills. I hung around them as much as possible hoping that their experience would rub off on me. I hope that a little of it did.

I can say that I’ve had more than a few experiences that could have gone the wrong way and glad to have not had that happen. I’ve solved murders, infiltrated outlaw motorcycle gangs, operated undercover in international crime organizations, was hired as hitman to kill informants, worked a few terrorism cases, broke up some human trafficking operations, and bought a lot of drugs. I never did kill any informant by the way, but I did make the arrests for the conspiracies to commit murder.

ADF Bret: Brett, you also teach in the University of Washington, Computer Science and Engineering department.  What led you to that and how has being a professor changed you?

Brett: UW asked me to teach years ago, and I accepted thinking it would be fun, and I was right. But I also learned that the time needed to teach in academia is way more than you could ever expect. I have been teaching and instructing for over 30 years now, but UW was my first-time teaching at a graduate level setting, which meant that I kept the tempo up, which also meant that I had to keep up with everything! My personal goal was to make sure everyone gained 100% from the program and be motivated to keep learning after graduation. I met some exceptional students in the program, in that some were already top in their current fields of software development and others I know will be.

ADF Bret: You’ve taken hundreds of hours of training from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Do you have any advice for officers and agents considering training at FLETC, NW3C or other similar training programs?

Brett: The most important aspect of training is to take it when you can get it, because opportunities don’t come at you when it is convenient. Especially if you are already in government, grab the training now because it is not as plentiful in the private sector as you have it in the government sector.

Before I left law enforcement, I had over 2,000 hours of formal training, in a chair in classrooms across the country. On top of that, I had too many hours of on-the-job training to count. Then the practical experiences from case initiation-to-court. After I entered the private sector, all of that trained grinded to a near halt because corporate spending is tighter than public tax dollar spending. Now, I carefully evaluate every training expense, not just because of funding, but because of time. It’s a different world, so my advice for those in LE now, is to grab the training when you can get it because you don’t know when you can get it later.

ADF Bret: What do you think forensic investigators and examiners can do better?  

Brett:  That’s a tough one, because of perspectives. With where I am at now, I can choose who to work with, which clients I want to accept, and the types of cases I want to work. Because of this, I choose to work with really good folks and companies and tend to only see highly skilled and professional (as in also nice) people. With this, everyone is practically helping everyone else to be better and to work good cases and incidents.

But I am certainly aware of that some of us can do things better. Communication and mentoring are probably the two most important suggestions that I can give. If we communicate effectively and help each other, we can each grow in skills and competence. It’s a win-win when you help someone else perfect a skill or learn a process that they didn’t know before you showed it.

ADF Bret: You spend a vast amount of time helping others improve themselves. How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?    

Brett:    Next year, I want to be better. That is about all I can say for next year because I go day-by-day. My goal for today is to learn something that I didn’t know yesterday or do something a little better than I did yesterday. Or maybe encourage someone today for them to do better tomorrow. I want to focus daily on the little things for constant improvement, even if the forward movement is only an inch.

ADF Bret: Do you have any thoughts or predictions on how IoT, AI, machine learning, robotics, drones and the like will impact the role of forensic investigators and examiners in the coming years?

Brett:   More work! Crimes will be the same as it is only the tools that facilitate crimes that change. I believe it will be easier to solve cases because data propagates likes bunnies, which means evidence is strewn everywhere, and this makes it harder, if not impossible to destroy, hide, or prevent evidence from being discovered. I can’t wait to do my first case on a robot!

ADF Bret: Where can people see you speak or teach in 2019?

Brett:  I have one USA presentation confirmed at CTIN at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. I have a few tentative overseas potentials to work out. But I am always “on demand” at a Patreonpage with online courses ?.

ADF Bret: What do you like to do for fun?  

Brett:    Traveling to neat places with my wife is probably my number one go-to for fun. Taking pictures and flying a drone all over the world is pretty cool, especially since my favorite person likes coming along too.

I'm also a member of the Marine Corps League and hold a few positions in a local detachment - the Puget Sound Marines. For any Marine or Navy Corpsman, I can't recommend an organization more worthy to join to help veterans. And kids! Being part of an organization that puts toys into the hands of thousands of kids during the holidays makes the year's effort well worth it.

ADF Bret: Do you have a favorite Netflix or podcast binge?   

Brett:    When Breaking Bad ended, I thought my binges would end, so then of course it resulted in re-watching Black Mirror episodes, just to keep me up at night.

ADF Bret: You live in Seattle, Washington.  Do you have any recommendations for investigators or examiners who might be planning to attend the CTIN Digital Forensic conference or the Northwest Internet Crimes Against Children conference later this year?  

Brett: This year, CTIN is at Microsoft, so that is quite cool. You’ll be at the company that develops the operating system that we typically exam all the time. The list of speakers is really good too, and there’s not one speaker that wouldn’t like you to walk up and introduce yourself to them.

I presented at ICAC a few years ago, again at Microsoft, but won’t be there for the next conference. I can say that if you have never been to an ICAC conference, you should go for more reasons that you should have no issue in justifying. Nothing beats the objectives of ICAC training.

ADF Bret: Brett, thanks so much for all your time and everything that you do to educate and inform.

Brett: More than a pleasure and thanks!

Original Article