WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has reversed a decades-old decision to revoke the security clearance of Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist called the father of the atomic bomb for his leading role in World War II’s Manhattan Project.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the 1954 decision by the Atomic Energy Commission was made using a “flawed process” that violated the commission’s own regulations.
“As time has passed, more evidence has come to light of the bias and unfairness of the process that Dr. Oppenheimer was subjected to while the evidence of his loyalty and love of country have only been further affirmed,” Granholm said in a statement on Friday.
Oppenheimer, who died in 1967, led the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The theoretical physicist was later accused of having communist sympathies and his security clearance was revoked following a four-week, closed-door hearing.
In stripping Oppenheimer of his clearance, the Atomic Energy Commission did not allege that he had revealed or mishandled classified information, nor was his loyalty to the country questioned, according to Granholm’s order. The commission, however, concluded there were “fundamental defects” in his character.
Years later, an Atomic Energy Commission lawyer concluded after an internal review that “the system failed” and a “substantial injustice was done to a loyal American,” according to the secretary’s order.
Granholm said the commission’s decision was driven by a desire among its political leadership to “discredit Oppenheimer in public debates over nuclear weapons policy.”
“Such political motives must have no place in our personnel security process,” she wrote.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont applauded the reversal, saying the 1954 decision followed a “manifestly unjust and unethical hearing that would be resoundingly condemned today.”
“This decision reaffirms that government scientists, whether renowned like Oppenheimer or a technician doing his or her daily job — including those willing to raise safety concerns or to express unpopular opinions on matters of national security — can do so freely and that their cases will be fairly reviewed based on facts, not personal animus or politics,” Leahy said in a statement.
The decision comes as the story of Oppenheimer is headed to the big screen. Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” film is expected to be released in theaters in July. It’s based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” and stars Cillian Murphy in the title role.
WHITINGHAM, Vt. — Organic dairy and other livestock farmers are seeking emergency federal aid as they grapple with skyrocketing organic feed costs, steep fuel and utility expenses as well as the consequences of drought in many parts of the country.
Two dozen U.S. senators and representatives wrote to U.S. Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack this week asking for emergency assistance for these farms. National and regional organic farming groups have also reached out to the department and the heads of the congressional committees.
Organic dairy farmer Abbie Corse, whose more than 150-year-old family farm is located in the southern Vermont town of Whittingham, said she doesn’t know what the future of the farm will look like.
“If a farm like ours is questioning how we’re going to keep going if something doesn’t change, I don’t know how we think there’s a future for anybody,” said Corse, 40, who farms with her mother and father.
On top of the high feed, energy and fuel costs organic farmers are facing, labor is a pressing challenge for The Corse Farm Dairy, which has a herd of about 90 and sells its milk to Organic Valley, an international milk cooperative based in LaFarge, Wisconsin. If anyone is unable to work, the family doesn’t have backup to keep the farm running.
“We are a medical emergency away from selling our herd,” she said.
In May of this year, prices for organic soybeans in the U.S., used as feed on organic farms, soared to $40.52 per bushel, an increase of nearly 110% from January 2021, according to the letter the members of Congress sent to Vilsack on Monday.
Feed costs normally average over half of organic dairy and poultry farmers’ total production costs “but dramatic increases year-over-year in organic feedstuffs are now creating unsustainable circumstances that could lead to farm closures, reduced competition and ultimately, limited consumer choice,” the letter said.
The war in Ukraine and the Agriculture Department’s discontinuation of the National Organic Program recognition agreement with India has reduced imported grain supplies and pushed up prices, officials said.
The drought in the West and other areas of the country has caused California, the country’s top dairy state, to have its driest three-year stretch on record and, this summer, challenged farmers in the Northeast. Western forages have been depleted and organic alfalfas, hays and sileages are in limited supply and nearly doubled in price, said Albert Straus, the founder and CEO of Straus Family Creamery in Marin County. The creamery has formed a crisis coalition of organic dairy farms, processors and brands in the West to petition for emergency drought relief.
California has lost 10 organic dairies in the last several months and as many as 50 are projected to go out of business if no relief comes in the next couple of months, said Straus. Twelve farms had provided organic milk to the creamery until one recently went out of business, he said.
“I’m concerned that the viability of these farms and the future of our communities is at risk,” Straus said.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he’s heard from Vermont organic dairy farmers, companies that buy their milk and the state’s agriculture secretary about “the severe financial pressure” organic dairies are facing.
While Leahy, a Democrat, said the longer term solution must be found in more stable markets and a risk management program that works for organic dairy, he’s confident “that the federal government will find an approach to provide temporary support to our struggling organic dairy farm families.”
A spokesperson said the Agriculture Department “is exploring avenues to address the challenges faced by organic dairy farmers, while also pursuing ongoing work to support organic and transitioning farmers through USDA programs.”
For Kathie Arnold, who farms with her son at Twin Oaks Dairy in the central New York town of Truxton, this is likely one of the most financially difficult periods she has seen since the farm became organic in 1998. They’re going to survive, but for other younger farmers, who bought their farms in recent years and have debt to pay off monthly, “they’re not going to be able to weather this storm,” Arnold said.
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 15, the 319th day of 2022. There are 46 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 15, 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh (teh-KUM’-seh) Sherman began their “March to the Sea” from Atlanta; the campaign ended with the capture of Savannah on Dec. 21.
On this date:
In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation.
In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike sighted the mountaintop now known as Pikes Peak in present-day Colorado.
In 1937, at the U.S. Capitol, members of the House and Senate met in air-conditioned chambers for the first time.
In 1942, the naval Battle of Guadalcanal ended during World War II with a decisive U.S. victory over Japanese forces.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1959, four members of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, were found murdered in their home. (Ex-convicts Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were later convicted of the killings and hanged in a case made famous by the Truman Capote book “In Cold Blood.”)
In 1961, former Argentine President Juan Peron, living in exile in Spain, married his third wife, Isabel.
In 1966, the flight of Gemini 12, the final mission of the Gemini program, ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic after spending four days in orbit.
In 1969, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.
In 1984, Stephanie Fae Beauclair, the infant publicly known as “Baby Fae” who had received a baboon’s heart to replace her own congenitally deformed one, died at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California three weeks after the transplant.
In 2003, two Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed in Iraq; 17 U.S. troops were killed.
In 2019, Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted of all seven counts in a federal indictment accusing him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation of whether Trump coordinated with Russia during the 2016 campaign. (As Stone was about to begin serving a 40-month prison sentence, Trump commuted the sentence.)
Ten years ago: The Justice Department announced that BP had agreed to plead guilty to a raft of charges in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and pay a record $4.5 billion, including nearly $1.3 billion in criminal fines. Four veterans were killed and 13 people injured when a freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded warriors and their spouses at a rail crossing in Midland, Texas.
Five years ago: Zimbabwe’s military was in control of the country’s capital and the state broadcaster and held 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe and his wife under house arrest; the military emphasized that it had not staged a takeover but was instead starting a process to restore the country’s democracy. (The military intervention, hugely popular in Zimbabwe, led to impeachment proceedings against Mugabe, who was replaced.) Eight members of a family who were among more than two dozen people killed in a shooting at a small Texas church were mourned at a funeral attended by 3,000 people.
One year ago: President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping spoke for more than three hours by video amid mounting tensions in the U.S.-China relationship. Biden signed his hard-fought $1 trillion infrastructure deal into law before a bipartisan, celebratory crowd on the White House lawn. A Connecticut judge found Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones liable for damages in lawsuits brought by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting; the parents sued Jones over his claims that the massacre was a hoax. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2022 to the seat he’d held since 1975.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Petula Clark is 90. Actor Sam Waterston is 82. Classical conductor Daniel Barenboim is 80. Pop singer Frida (ABBA) is 77. Actor Bob Gunton is 77. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is 75. Actor Beverly D’Angelo is 71. Director-actor James Widdoes is 69. Rock singer-producer Mitch Easter is 68. News correspondent John Roberts is 66. Former “Tonight Show” bandleader Kevin Eubanks is 65. Comedian Judy Gold is 60. Actor Rachel True is 56. Rapper E-40 is 55. Country singer Jack Ingram is 52. Actor Jay Harrington is 51. Actor Jonny Lee Miller is 50. Actor Sydney Tamiia (tuh-MY’-yuh) Poitier-Heartsong is 49. Rock singer-musician Chad Kroeger is 48. Rock musician Jesse Sandoval is 48. Actor Virginie Ledoyen is 46. Actor Sean Murray is 45. Pop singer Ace Young (TV: “American Idol”) is 42. Golfer Lorena Ochoa (lohr-AY’-nah oh-CHOH’-uh) is 41. Hip-hop artist B.o.B is 34. Actor Shailene Woodley is 31. Actor-dancer Emma Dumont is 28.
Across the U.S., families are looking to the winter with dread as energy costs soar and fuel supplies tighten.
The Department of Energy is projecting sharp price increases for home heating compared with last winter and some worry whether heating assistance programs will be able to make up the difference for struggling families. The situation is even bleaker in Europe, with Russia’s continued curtailment of natural gas pushing prices upward and causing painful shortages.
In Maine, Aaron Raymo saw the writing on the wall and began stocking up on heating oil in 5-gallon increments over the summer as costs crept upward. He filled a container with heating oil as he could afford it, usually on paydays, and used a heating assistance program to top off his 275-gallon oil tank with the arrival of colder weather.
His family is trying to avoid being forced into a difficult decision — choosing between food or heating their home.
Aaron Raymo lives with his partner, Lucinda Tyler, and 8-year-old son in Jay, Maine, an area known for its bitter-cold winters. Tyler wept with relief when she learned they qualified for a modest amount of heating assistance.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
“It’s a hard one,” he said. “What are you going to choose for food, or what amount of fuel oil are you going to choose to stay warm?”
What’s driving up heating costs
A number of factors are converging to create a bleak situation: Global energy consumption has rebounded from the start of the pandemic, and supply was barely keeping pace before the war in Ukraine further reduced supplies.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association says energy costs will be the highest in more than a decade this winter.
The Energy Department projects heating bills will jump 28% this winter for those who rely on natural gas, used by nearly half of U.S. households for heat. Heating oil is projected to be 27% higher and electricity 10% higher, the agency said.
That comes against inflation rates that accelerated last month with consumer prices growing 6.6%, the fastest such pace in four decades.
Also, the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries earlier this month decided to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could raise home heating costs as well as gas prices.
The pain will be especially acute in New England, which is heavily reliant on heating oil to keep homes warm. It’s projected to cost more than $2,300 to heat a typical home with heating oil this winter, the energy department said.
Across the country, some are urging utilities to implement a moratorium on winter shut-offs, and members of Congress already added $1 billion in heating aid. But there will be fewer federal dollars than last year when pandemic aid flowed.
“It seems that it’s not enough”
In Jay, Maine, where Raymo lives with his partner, Lucinda Tyler, and 8-year-old son, residents were already bracing for the worst before the local paper mill announced it’s going to close, putting more than 200 people out of work. That has the potential to wreak havoc on the town budget, and cause higher property taxes that will further eat into residents’ budgets.
Both Raymo and Tyler work full-time jobs. He works as many as 70 or 80 hours a week in an orthopedists’ office and she works from home in shareholder services for a financial services company. They don’t qualify for much help even though they’re scraping by to keep up with repairs, buy gas and put food on the table — and heat their 100-year-old home in a state known for bitter cold weather.
“We work significant hours but it seems that it’s not enough,” said Tyler, who wept with relief when she learned they qualified for even a modest amount of heating assistance.
Last month, Congress added $1 billion in funding to Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, bringing the total to at least $4.8 billion and making additional heating aid available for the start of the winter season.
The third hottest summer on record already strained LIHEAP funding, “so I am glad that we were able to secure these new resources before the cold of winter sets in,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont.
But that level represents an overall reduction from last year, when federal pandemic relief pushed the total energy assistance package past $8 billion.
Some are seeking help who’ve never done so in the past. In Auburn, Maine, 72-year-old Mario Zullo said he worked all his life and never asked for help until last year when he received heating assistance last year. The program helped upgrade his heating.
“It came to us at a time when we needed it the most,” Zullo said.
Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, said he fears the federally funded program won’t be enough because of the high cost of energy and continued instability in energy markets. It could be even worse if the winter is especially cold, he said.
“The crisis is coming,” he said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty and factors in play that could drive these prices higher.”
In Maine, the state has the nation’s oldest population and it’s the most reliant on heating oil, creating a double whammy.
“People are scared. They’re worried. They’re frustrated,” said Lisa McGee, who coordinates the heating aid program for Community Concepts Inc. in Lewiston, Maine. “There’s more anxiety this year.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — A veteran senator’s objections over Egypt’s human rights record, including its holding of an estimated 60,000 political prisoners, have compelled the Biden administration to trim a symbolically significant $75 million off its planned annual military aid to that country.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy, the senator responsible, said in a statement Monday it was important that U.S. administrations not allow other policy interests to override congressionally mandated attention to Egypt’s poor human rights record, “because the situation facing political prisoners in Egypt is deplorable.”
The U.S. gives more than $1 billion in military aid annually to Egypt, which it views as a regionally important ally to the U.S. and Israel. That’s despite President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s record on human rights, including what rights groups say is the killing, imprisonment and torture of critics of the Egyptian government.
Congress in recent years has made the U.S. payment of $300 million of that aid contingent on Egypt’s government showing progress on rights, although the State Department can and often does overrule that requirement. Congress’s conditioning of some of Egypt’s security aid makes for an annual public test of U.S. administrations’ balancing of strategic interests and human rights.
The Biden administration said last month it planned to give a portion, $170 million, of that $300 million. It cited Egypt’s release of 500 political prisoners. Rights advocates, and family members of imprisoned activists, called Egypt’s releases a token.
Leahy objected to the administration’s decision, urging State to either clarify its standards on the matter or give the money as scholarships to Egyptian students or as military aid to Ukraine, Leahy spokesman David Carle said. The funding remained at an impasse until it hit a Sept. 30 spending deadline, and expired.
Egyptian news organization Mada Masr first reported the partial block of funding by a senator it did not identify. Reuters first reported it was Leahy.
In a statement Monday, the State Department said “we will continue to consult closely with Congress as we engage on human rights with the Egyptian government and seek tangible steps to address the concerns shared by the administration and the Congress.”
