Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/472102
ByJuliePaceandAron Heller The Associated Press WASHINGTON Seeking to lower tensions, Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. offi- cials cast their dispute over Iran as a family squabble on Monday, but the Israeli leader still claimed that President Barack Obama did not — and could not — understand his nation's vi- tal security concerns. "American leaders worry about the security of their country," Netanyahu said as he opened a controversial trip to Washington. "Israeli leaders worry about the sur- vival of their country." Netanyahu's remarks to a friendly crowd at a pro-Is- rael lobby's annual confer- ence amounted to a warm- up act for his address to Congress Tuesday, an ap- pearance orchestrated by Obama's political oppo- nents and aimed squarely at undermining the White House's high-stakes bid for a nuclear deal with Iran. Netanyahu tried to pa- per over his personal dif- ferences with Obama, in- sisting he was not in Wash- ington to "disrespect" the president and saying that any reports of the demise of U.S.-Israel ties were "not only premature, they're just wrong." Still, Netanyahu made clear that he would not hold back in criticizing the U.S.- led nuclear negotiations with Iran. "I have a moral obliga- tion to speak up in the face of these dangers while there is still time to avert them," he told the cheering crowd of 16,000 at the American Israel Public Affairs Com- mittee conference. He said Israel had a unique under- standing of the security concerns posed by any Ira- nian pursuit of a nuclear bomb because of its posi- tion in a "dangerous neigh- borhood." As Netanyahu spoke, Sec- retary of State John Kerry was in Switzerland open- ing another round of talks with Iran, as the parties try to cobble together a frame- work agreement before an end-of-March deadline. Obama views the prospect of a nuclear accord with Iran as a central component of his foreign policy legacy — as much as Netanyahu views blocking such a deal as a component of his own. Netanyahu has been wary of Obama's diplomatic pursuits with Iran from the start, fearing the U.S. will leave Tehran on the cusp of being able to build a bomb. As the outlines of a deal have emerged and the deadline has drawn near, his criticism has become more forceful. U.S. officials have re- ported progress toward a prospective agreement that would freeze Iran's nu- clear program for at least 10 years but allow the Iranians to slowly ramp up in later years. Netanyahu has said that framework suggests the U.S. and its partners have "given up" on stopping Iran from getting a bomb. In response, Kerry has said America's major historic support of Israel suggests Washington deserves the benefit of the doubt. While Obama and Ne- tanyahu have never gotten along personally, the rift over Iran has sunk their relationship to a new low. The White House has crit- icized the prime minister's address to Congress as a breach of diplomatic proto- col and, officials have pub- licly questioned his judg- ment on the merits of the Iran deal. Obama has no plan to meet with Netanyahu this week, citing Israel's March 17 elections and longstand- ing U.S. policy to avoid ap- pearing to play favorites in foreign voting. Netanyahu's remarks at AIPAC were bracketed by speeches from a pair of se- nior U.S. officials: U.N. Am- bassador Samantha Power and National Security Ad- viser Susan Rice. Power, softening the re- cent harsh tone, spoke warmly of U.S.-Israeli ties, saying the relationship was rooted in "shared funda- mental values" and "should never be politicized." She highlighted the billions of dollars in military assis- tance Washington delivers as well as the constant de- fense the U.S. provides Is- rael at the United Nations. On Iran, Power said the U.S. shares Israel's commit- ment to preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While Obama pre- fers to achieve that goal through diplomacy, she sug- gested he would be willing to take more muscular steps if necessary. "If diplomacy should fail, we know the stakes of a nu- clear-armed Iran," she said. "We will not let it happen." Rice was expected to de- liver a more specific rebut- tal to Netanyahu's criticism of the U.S.-led nuclear ne- gotiations. She has been among the most outspoken critics of the prime minis- ter's plan to address Con- gress, calling it "destruc- tive" to the U.S.-Israel rela- tionship. Kerry and Netanyahu spoke by phone over the weekend, but it did not ap- pear the prime minister would hold any in-person meetings with Obama ad- ministration officials. Vice President Joe Biden was traveling in Guatemala on a trip announced only af- ter Netanyahu's plans to address Congress were re- vealed. Netanyahu did plan to meet with a bipartisan group of senators after the congressional address, ac- cording to his published schedule. As Senate president, Biden would have sat be- hind Netanyahu during his speech to Congress. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the senior Republican senator, was ex- pected to take Biden's place. NUCLEAR TALKS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Ne ta ny ah u as sa il s Ir an deal, touts US-Israel ties APPHOTO/CLIFFOWEN Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures while speaking at the 2015American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington on Monday. By Joan Lowy The Associated Press WASHINGTON The nation's system for guiding planes and other aircraft is at "in- creased and unnecessary risk" of being hacked, ac- cording to a report by gov- ernment watchdog released Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration has taken steps to protect the air traf- fic control system from cy- ber-based threats, but "sig- nificant security control weaknesses remain, threat- ening the agency's ability to ensure the safe and uninter- rupted operation," said the report by the Government Accountability Office. One area of weakness is the ability to prevent and detect unauthorized ac- cess to the vast network of computer and communica- tions systems the FAA uses to process and track flights around the world, the re- port said. The FAA relies on more than 100 of these air traffic systems to direct planes. There also are inade- quate protections to pre- vent entry into air traf- fic computer systems from other, less-secure computer systems not directly in- volved in traffic operations, the report said. Other problems identi- fied in the report include: • Security weaknesses identified by the FAA weren't always addressed in a timely way. • Security control as- sessments by the agency weren't always comprehen- sive enough to find weak- nesses. • Shortcomings in moni- toring for hacking incidents or unauthorized entries mean the FAA may not be able to "contain, eradicate or recover from incidents." These weaknesses put the air traffic system "at in- creased and unnecessary risk of unauthorized ac- cess, use or modification that could disrupt air traf- fic control operations," the report said. The accountability office made 14 recommendations to the FAA and another three to the Transportation Department. Keith Washington, a De- partment of Transporta- tion acting assistant secu- rity, said in a letter to the accountability office that the FAA is aware of the im- portance of the matter and has achieved several mile- stones in improving its cy- bersecurity. FAA officials had no com- ment. The agency is part of the Transportation Depart- ment. Following the report's re- lease, the chairman and se- nior Democratic member of the Senate Commerce, Sci- ence and Transportation sent a letter to FAA Admin- ister Michael Huerta asking for a "full accounting on the status" of the accountability office's recommendations. "These vulnerabilities have the potential to com- promise the safety and ef- ficiency of the national air- space system, which the traveling public relies on each and every day," said Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla. They called the report "trou- bling." CYBERSECURITY Watchdog: Air traffic control system a hacking risk EVAN VUCCI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Secretary of State John Kerry, le , discusses seating arrangements for a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for a new round of nuclear negotiations on Monday in Montreux, Switzerland. SMILEY N. POO — THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS Ebola survivor and nurse Nina Pham sits in a park with her dog Bentley in Dallas. By Jamie Stengle The Associated Press DALLAS The Dallas hos- pital that treated the first patient to be diagnosed in the U.S. with Ebola lied to Congress when it said its staff was trained to handle the deadly virus, a nurse who contracted the dis- ease contends in a lawsuit filed Monday. Nina Pham, who was an intensive care unit nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, says after being told last fall that she would be treating a patient suspected of having Ebola, "the sum total" of informa- tionshewasgiventoprotect herself was "what her man- ager 'Googled' and printed out from the Internet." She says in her lawsuit that the day after getting that information, the pa- tient, Thomas Eric Dun- can, tested positive for the disease. Duncan, who con- tracted Ebola in his native Liberia but started show- ing symptoms during a trip to the U.S., later died at the hospital. Pham, 26, and another nurse who treated Duncan, Amber Vinson, contracted the dis- ease but recovered. In a statement released through her lawyers, Pham said she felt she had no choice but to sue the hos- pital's parent company, Texas Health Resources. "I was hoping that THR would be more open and honest about everything that happened at the hos- pital, and the things they didn't do that led to me getting infected with Eb- ola," she said. The lawsuit describes a chaotic situation at the hos- pital, where nurses scram- bled to decide what kind of personal protective equip- ment to wear "without any formal guidance or train- ing" from their supervisors. Clear drop cloths were taped to the ceiling and walls of the hallway to cre- ate a makeshift contain- ment facility, nurses had to dispose of hazardous waste — a job they weren't trained for — and hazard- ous material placed in the room next to Duncan's was allowed to pile up, the law- suit alleges. On the first day Pham treated Duncan, when Eb- ola was suspected but not yet diagnosed, she wore a regular isolation gown, double gloves, a surgical mask with a plastic shield and double booties. She says her hair and neck were exposed and that she wasn't given disposable scrubs or a change of clothes to wear home, so she went home in the scrubs she wore while treating Duncan. After his diagnosis, nurses put on hazmat suits with double gloves and added "chemo gloves" and taped them to the suit. They also added a personal res- pirator they covered with a gown. These decisions, the lawsuit said, were made without any guidance or training by supervisors. Nurse who survived Ebola sues hospital DALLAS By Alan Fram The Associated Press WASHINGTON Congres- sional Republicans sent a message Monday that they hope the Supreme Court and voters will hear: The country's health care sys- tem won't crumble if the justices obliterate a bed- rock feature of President Barack Obama's heath care law. Three top senators said if the court invalidates federal subsidies that help millions of Americans buy coverage under Obama's law, they have a plan to protect them and create "better" insurance mar- kets by giving states more leeway to decide what in- surers must cover. But in an opinion arti- cle in Monday's Washing- ton Post, GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Orrin Hatch of Utah offered scant detail, saying nothing about how much assistance they would pro- vide, its duration or how they would pay for it. They also did not de- scribe how they would push such a package through Congress with Re- publicans split about how to respond to such a court ruling and so divided that even a must-pass bill fi- nancing the Homeland Security Department has bogged down. Or how they would get Obama, who op- poses any weakening of his 2010 law, to sign it. "First and most impor- tant: We would provide fi- nancial assistance to help Americans keep the cover- age they picked for a tran- sitional period," the sen- ators wrote. "It would be unfair to allow families to lose their coverage, partic- ularly in the middle of the year." The article appeared two days before the Su- preme Court hears argu- ments in a case brought by conservatives and Re- publicans claiming that tax credits helping millions of people who buy health cov- erage from a federally run insurance marketplace in 37 states are not legal. Most of those states are GOP-run and represented in Con- gress by Republicans. 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