(Courtesy of the GI Film Festival)

Both of Saturday’s back-to-back films were inspired by the epidemic-level suicide rate among veterans, with 22 returning veterans taking their own lives each day, according to a February 2013 Veterans Affairs Department report. About 11 percent of Afghanistan and 20 percent of Iraq veterans have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the report. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares and emotional separation from others.

The first film, “SAM,” an artistic short, shows rather than tells about veteran suicide through the life of a young man returning from service in Afghanistan to find nothing has changed except himself. Based on a short story by Juan Garcia and directed by Alexis Garcia Rocca, the film seeks to raise awareness about the debilitating and sometimes deadly effects of PTSD.

“That was one of the main characteristics of the theme that we were trying to put across in the film — that there are not enough people caring about it,” said Juan Garcia in an interview. “But we’re starting to come together.”

“It was to put a face to the statistic, because a lot of people don’t have a military connection,” Garcia Rocca said. “I come from a military family, and that’s what brought me to the issue, and this was kind of made for everyone else — to be made aware that this exists.”

The second film, “Project 22,” follows two combat-wounded veterans, directors Scott Hansen and Doc King, on a 6,500-mile motorcycle ride to raise awareness about veteran suicide. They reveal their own story of struggle and recovery as they meet with advocates, program directors and researchers along the way. Many veterans they speak to open up about their struggles and the painful reality of life with PTSD and even suicide attempts.

Some audience members knew the difficulties of reintegrating into society and finding support.

“This country is absolutely not doing enough for these guys when they come back,” said veteran Beaux Watson, who watched “Project 22.”

“[When] we went to Vietnam, we went for one tour. You could ask for another tour … but you didn’t have to come again if you didn’t want to. But these guys, they’re going back three and four times.”

Members of the motorcycle club Men of War — one of its members rode with “Project 22” on a leg of the journey — attended the fest to support their friends’ film. The club’s mission is to help veterans with depression, anxiety, PTSD and separation anxiety.

“All of us suffer from PTSD, so the movie is very special to us,” said Tommy Caldwell, a Men of War member. “On top of it, it’s Memorial Day, and all of us know someone who has died or taken their own life.”

Joe Robert, national sergeant at arms for the club, put post-traumatic stress in context with today’s holiday.

“I feel like Memorial Day is rough because everyone remembers the ones who were lost in the theater, and everyone forgets about the ones who are lost here,” Robert said.

For those service members who return at risk of suicide, the men said that with support, there’s hope for regaining a normal life.

“There’s a lot of stuff out there,” Caldwell said. “But a lot of people don’t know.”

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FBI Director James Comey told an audience he thinks the government should have a back door to gain access to secure devices. (Holly LaFon/MEDILL NSJI)

WASHINGTON — FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday criticized tech giants including Apple and Google for opposing so-called “back doors” in security software for government agencies to access encrypted phones, computers, and other devices.

The tech companies along with academic experts and advocacy groups wrote a letter to President Obama on Tuesday opposing statements by administration officials who have come out strongly against more robust encryption on consumer products. In fact, some officials have advocated that tech companies stop selling encrypted products altogether unless the government has a way to decrypt the data.

The letter makes the case that weakening products’ security would only make them more vulnerable to “innumerable criminal and national security threats.”

But Mr. Comey, addressing the Cybersecurity Law Institute at Georgetown University, said the FBI faces increasing difficulty in unlocking encrypted devices – and those who signed the letter were either not being fair-minded or were failing to see the societal costs to universal strong encryption.

“Either one of those things is depressing to me,” he said.

Citizens’ privacy interests and public safety are coming closer to “a full-on collision,” he said. Acknowledging “tremendous societal benefits” to encryption, Comey said the inability of law enforcement officials to gain access to encrypted devices when they have probable cause and strong oversight threatens public safety.

“As all of our lives become digital, the logic of encryption is all of our lives will be covered by strong encryption,” he said. “Therefore all of our lives … including the lives of criminals and terrorists and spies will be in a place that is utterly unavailable to court-ordered process. And that to a democracy should be utterly concerning.”

However, tech companies and encryption advocates argue in the letter that creating back doors would also pose an economic threat to the companies, especially in light of the Edward Snowden leaks.

“US companies are already struggling to maintain international trust in the wake of revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs. Introducing mandatory vulnerabilities into American products would further push many customers – be they domestic or international, individual or institutional – to turn away from those compromised products and services,” the letter said.

What’s more, critics – including many lawmakers – who oppose efforts to weaken encryption say that creating a system in which government agencies have access to secure data would also create vulnerabilities exploitable by criminal hackers and other governments.

Comey acknowledged the business pressures and competitive issues involved, but urged tech companies to find a safe way to cooperate with government needs to access information.

“Smart people, reasonable people will disagree mightily, technical people will say it’s too hard,” he said. “My reaction to that is, ‘Really? Too hard? Too hard for the people that we have in this country to figure something out?’ I’m not that pessimistic.”

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“I see it as just starting to get attention. It’s an emergent issue on the international agenda,” said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Both the Korea Economic Institute and the House’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held meetings in Washington D.C. in April and May to address the trafficking.

North Korea, frequently ranked as the world’s worst human rights abuser, has lured between 50,000 and 60,000 citizens to work in industries around the globe with the promise they would keep their wages, according to a paper from the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights presented on Tuesday. Instead, the wages are sent to the North Korean government, generating as much as $2.3 billion per year.

Industries employing the laborers range from logging and mining to restaurants, and workers who complain or escape risk reprisal against themselves and their families who remain in North Korea, said Robert King, special envoy for North Korea Human Rights Issues at the State Department, at the House hearing.

Workers have been sent through bilateral contracts to around 40 countries, primarily Russia, China, Mongolia and nations in Africa, central Europe and the Middle East, according to a State Department Trafficking in Persons Report from March.

Snyder said the increased trafficking is one of North Korea’s ways of earning foreign exchange. Previously, the government sustained itself through other illicit means, such as drug trafficking, counterfeiting and weapon sales, but those income sources have been declining.

“They’re running a trade deficit with the rest of the world and it’s mostly shown in trade with China,” Snyder said.

“Whatever North Korea can do to make a profit it does, and much of it turns out to be illegal.”

One defector, Lim Il, told the Lantos commission that he had been a state employee in North Korea but went to Kuwait to work at a construction company, where he was required to put in 14-hour days under strict surveillance, with two days off per month.

“I think we were slave laborers,” Il said.

After escaping to the South Korean embassy, he learned that his salary had all gone to the Office of the Worker’s Party that manages foreign currency. “The money obtained through the export of laborers overseas [is] used as a personal fund for Kim Jong-un,” the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights paper said.

The U.S. and international community are facing difficulty curtailing the trafficking, said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch at the House hearing. The biggest reasons are that most of the work occurs in Russia and China, it provides North Koreans minimal exposure to the outside world which may help undermine the government, and officials have not decided whether to approach it from a sanctions or human rights perspective.

“To address this is going to require attention and focus from the international community,” Snyder said. “And the best way of doing that would probably be to make this an issue of concern for the counterparts.”

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CLINTON, Md. — From soldier to CEO is a more natural transition than many veterans realize. A large support network has sprung up to help vets start their own businesses, but many do not know it exists.

On Tuesday night the Small Business Administration and VetFran partnered with Marriott’s TownPlace Suites to host a workshop aimed at educating veterans on the basics of entrepreneurship as well as special programs available to former service members. The two biggest components for veterans preparing to start their own business are choosing the right kind of business for them and securing capital, they said.

They also recommended that aspiring business owners take time to think about their passion.

“If they’ve always wanted to own their own business they should definitely write down what they’re passionate about, what their interests are, what they want to do,” said Paul C. Rocchio, senior director of development and member services of International Franchise Association, which owns the franchising organization, Vet Fran. “Maybe tie it into what they did in their military service – what kind of responsibility, what kind of job they had.”

VetFran Manager George Eldridge works with veterans every day

He helped an Air Force veteran start a franchise in his living room and garage that has become so successful the vet has opened a showroom and warehouse.

“He is in his third year of franchising and in the program and doing great,” he said.

Eldridge encourages vets interested in business ownership to do their research and examine all possibilities.

“In the military you think ‘I can’t fail,’ but sometimes you have to think about the risks you’re getting into and have a balance expectation when getting into something like this,” he said.

Veterans interested in franchise ownership may find a good match for their interests on Vet Fran’s website, which offers a plethora of options, he said. Over 100 different industries franchise, the most active being food, followed by hospitality, home-based businesses, childcare and pet care.

Contacting SBA is also a good place to start, advised Laurie Sayles Artis, a Marine vet who owns Civility Management Solutions, a management consulting firm.

“The reason I say that is because they are free mentors there to do just that,” she said. It’s a cost-effective way to decide what area a vet wants to work in compared with paying for training that turns out to be in an area outside of the vet’s passion.

“I’ve watched people fumble through who didn’t know what business they were getting into before they got there,” she said. “I highly recommend no training until you decide what training you want to get.”

Financing opportunities also abound for veterans. The Small Business Administration, which has 68 field offices around the United States and 1,000 resource partners, has Veterans Business Outreach Centers throughout the country offering information on how to gain access to capital.

For veteran-specific programs, the SBA helps businesses obtain reduced loan fees for any loan under $350,000.

Earlier this year, the SBA also launched LINC, Leveraging Information and Networks to Access Capital, an online tool that simplifies the connection between loan seekers and lenders. By answering just a few questions, an applicant can reach out to lenders all over the country.

“If you qualify for something, and even if it’s maybe a non-traditional loan or a micro-loan, the lender will reach back out to you and say hey, maybe this is we can talk about and this is the next level,” Chris James, a SBA assistant administrator said.

At least 3,000 vets have used LINC to make a connection since the program launched two months ago.

“That doesn’t mean it translates into a loan exactly, but at least it’s linking up a business with a potential lender all around the country, and not just your bank,” James said.

VetFran does not provide financing, but, like LINC, it connects veterans to help with funding, working closely with the Small Business Association and lenders within its supplier group to help them afford the franchise opportunity they want.

Those shopping for a franchise can expect to pay from $10,000 to $20,000 for a home-based business, Rocchio said, to in the millions for a McDonald’s or hotel brand, with options everywhere in between.

“Our members that are participating in the Vet Fran program are offering their franchise at a discounted rate or in some cases are waving the initial franchise fee to make it easier for [veterans] to become an owner operator and to own their own business,” he said.

Rocchio and the other speakers urged veterans to think like entrepreneurs and be aggressive in reaching out for help.

“As veterans you do have a few more opportunities than some other folks,” he said.

Text by Holly LaFon. Video by Nick Kariuki.

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