Page 10 The Skanner Portland & Seattle February 13, 2019
NASA Rover Finally Bites the Dust
on Mars After 15 Years
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Opportu-
nity, the Mars rover that was built to operate for just
three months but kept going and going, rolling across
the rocky red soil, was pronounced dead Wednesday,
15 years after it landed on the planet.
The six-wheeled vehicle that helped gather critical
evidence that ancient Mars might have been hospita-
ble to life was remarkably spry up until eight months
ago, when it was finally doomed by a ferocious dust
storm.
Flight controllers tried numerous times to make
contact, and sent one final series of recovery com-
mands Tuesday night, along with one last wake-up
song, Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You,” in a somber
exercise that brought tears to team members’ eyes.
There was no response from space, only silence.
Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science mis-
sions, broke the news at what amounted to a funeral
at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, announcing the demise of “our
beloved Opportunity.”
“This is a hard day,” project manager John Callas
said at an auditorium packed with hundreds of cur-
FBI VIA AP
World News
Briefs
AP PHOTO/MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ
News
Scientists and other NASA officials applaud and embrace after a
mission briefing for the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in
Pasadena, Calif.
rent and former members of the team that oversaw
Opportunity and its long-deceased identical twin,
Spirit. “Even though it’s a machine and we’re saying
goodbye, it’s still very hard and very poignant, but we
had to do that. We came to that point.”
US Says Ex-Intel Official Defected to
Iran, Revealed Secrets
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former U.S. Air Force
counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran
despite warnings from the FBI has been charged
with revealing classified information to the Tehran
government, including the code name and secret mis-
sion of a Pentagon pro-
gram, prosecutors said
Wednesday.
The Justice Department
also accused Monica Elf-
riede Witt, 39, of betray-
ing former colleagues
in the U.S. intelligence
community by feeding
details about their per-
sonal and professional
lives to Iran. Four hack-
ers linked to the Iranian
government,
charged
in the same indictment,
used that information
to target the intelligence
workers online, prosecu-
tors said.
Witt had been on the
FBI’s radar at least a year
before she defected after
she attended an Irani-
an conference and ap-
peared in anti-American
videos. She was warned
about her activities, but
reassured agents that she
would not provide sensi-
This image provided by the FBI shows part of the wanted poster for
Monica Elfriede Witt. The former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence
specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has
been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran
government, including the code name and secret mission of a
Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019.
tive information about her work if she returned to
Iran. She was not arrested.
“Once a holder of a top secret security clearance,
Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to under-
mine the United States and support the government
of Iran — a country which poses a serious threat to
our national security,” said FBI executive assistant
director Jay Tabb, the bureau’s top national security
official.
Tabb said “she provided information that could
cause serious damage to national security,” though
he did not provide specifics.
In House’s Yemen Vote, Congress
Reasserts War-Making Powers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Asserting congressional au-
thority over war-making powers, the House passed a
resolution Wednesday that would force the adminis-
tration to withdraw U.S. troops from involvement in
Yemen, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s alli-
ance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the military
intervention.
Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy
over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and skeptical
of the U.S. partnership with that coalition, especially
in light of Saudi Arabia’s role in the killing of Wash-
ington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the
royal family.
Passage would mark the first time Congress has
relied on the decades-old War Powers Resolution to
halt military intervention. It also would set up a po-
tential confrontation with the White House, which
has threatened a veto. The House voted 248-177 to ap-
prove the measure, sending it to the Senate, where a
similar resolution passed last year.
“We have helped create, and worsen, the world’s
largest humanitarian crisis,” said Rep. Barbara Lee,
D-Calif., during the debate. “Our involvement in this
war, quite frankly, is shameful.”
The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said the vote rep-
resents “Congress reclaiming its role in foreign pol-
icy.”
Nevada Woman is the 6th to Accuse
Arias of Sexual Misconduct
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The longtime director of the
international center at the University of Nevada in
Reno is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize
winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias of sexual misconduct.
Carina Black said in interviews this week that Arias
boxed her in against a wall inside an elevator at the
university in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said
it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to
meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the
university.
“I just smacked him in the face and pushed him
away,” Black said. “Then the elevators doors opened,
and I left.”
Arias, 78, met with prosecutors in Costa Rica on
Wednesday to give a statement in two criminal com-
plaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexu-
al abuse, but he has declined to provide any specific
public comment since he denied the initial complaint
last week.
At least six women have made accusations against
him ranging from unwanted advances to alleged as-
sault. The Associated Press interviewed three people
Black told about Arias’ behavior shortly after she said
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