SPY SATELLITES AND HOLLYWOOD. In this interesting op-ed in the July 2
Washington Post, Dwayne Day tells how Hollywood almost always gets the
facts wrong about spy satellites -- giving them much more capability
than they have in real life. In doing so, he also explains a lot about
imaging satellites. (Day is a space policy analyst and historian who
lives in Northern Virginia. He is the editor of "Eye in the Sky"
(Smithsonian Institution Press), a book about early spy satellites.)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33942-2000Jul1.html
WHEN DOES BLOWING SECRETS CROSS THE LINE? Also in Sunday's Post,
columnist David Ignatius offers a philosophical discussion of the issue
of journalists who expose secrets. The immediate inspiration for this
column were the two Bill Gertz stories that appeared in last Friday's
Washington Times. (Both in Stuff, June 30)
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-2000630231618.htm
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_gertzscar/20000630_xcgsc_chinalibya.shtml
AMONG OTHER THINGS, IGNATIUS WRITES:
"Bill Gertz of the Washington Times has to be the hottest reporter in
town. His scoops based on "top secret" intelligence reports have been
infuriating officials for years. What upsets Pentagon and CIA officials
is that Gertz's scoops often blow intelligence sources--especially
communications intercepts and satellite reconnaissance systems that cost
U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars to create. In terms of reportorial
hustle, it's hard to fault Gertz. He breaks dozens of big stories every
year, and he's read carefully by people who follow national-security
issues, not to mention the foreign spooks and military attaches around
town. Yet precisely because he's so aggressive, Gertz poses the
interesting question of what responsibility, if any, a journalist has to
avoid blowing secrets. The National Security Agency worries about the
leak problem so much that a senior official testified about it in
November to the House Intelligence Committee. The official said the NSA
counted 40 instances in 1998 when its signals-intelligence (SIGINT)
capabilities were disclosed for the first time in the media, and 34
instances during the first nine months of 1999. Gertz's stories
accounted for many of these leaks, officials said." (Ignatius, a
regular Post columnist, is savvy about intelligence and also writes spy
fiction including "Agent of Innocence," termed by George Tenet and
others as the best of all spy novels.)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33955-2000Jul1.html
WHEN INTELLIGENCE CONFLICTS WITH US POLICY. Intelligence reports
sometimes get in the way of policy preferences, and gets intelligence
into trouble by infuriating powerful policymakers -- especially when the
intelligence is leaked. That is happening now in regard to: (1)
National Missile Defense, (2) Chinese entry to the WTO, and (3)
relations with Russia. In the case of NMD, GOP Senators and Congressmen
are outraged because a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) now being
drafted will say, according to leaks, that US deployment of NMD would
upset China, Russia and our NATO allies and greatly destabilize the
world. At the same time, the Administration is angry because leaks of
sensitive intelligence in the Washington Times last Friday indicate both
China and Russia are continuing to support nuke and missile
proliferation to "rogue" regimes -- which is fueling legislative
initiatives to block those policies. As the Post puts it,
China's aid to Pakistan is in the spotlight because the Senate is
expected to consider this month a bill introduced by Sen. Fred D.
Thompson (R-Tenn.) and co-sponsored by Majority Leader Trent Lott
(R-Miss.) that would require the United States to impose stiff penalties
on China if "credible evidence" was found that it was helping other
nations develop or acquire nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass
destruction. Thompson had threatened to add the initiative to
legislation granting permanent normal trade relations to China,
jeopardizing final passage of the measure.
At the same time, Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) has vowed to block all
further ambassadorial appointments because he is angry about aid Russia,
including debt relief just announced by the Clinton Administration, in
the face of recent intelligence reports that Russia is giving economic
aid to Serbia as well as missile and nuclear assistance to Iran.
Intelligence gets caught in the middle of these big policy fights.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34100-2000Jul1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43769-2000Jul4.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncssun04.htm
HELMUT KOHL SCANDAL AND MISSING STASI INTERCEPTS.
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/05/17/timfgneur01001.html
MORE PRESSURE (IN ISRAEL) TO FREE JONATHON POLLARD.
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/06/29/Columns/Columns.8922.html
LOS ALAMOS SCIENTISTS RESIST POLYGRAPH.
http://chblue.com/Article.asp?ID=418
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43762-2000Jul4.html
SR-71 BLACKBIRD. Some in Congress still want it resurrected.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55585-2000Jun24.html
BILL WOULD ALLOW TROOPS TO PATROL BORDERS. The House of Representatives
has passed a measure that would allow U.S. troops to be permanently
deployed along the United States border to assist the Border Patrol in
the interdiction of drugs and illegal immigrants.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_dougherty/20000704_xnjdo_bill_permi.shtml
BOOKS & OTHER SOURCES
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY SOURCE BOOK. The 2000 edition is
posted on the web and has some interesting articles on UAV's, avionics,
space systems, etc, that touch on intelligence.
http://www.aviationnow.com/TwoShare/getPage/AWContent/AWST/awst_source10
http://www.aviationnow.com/TwoShare/getPage/AWContent/AWST/awst_source13
http://www.aviationnow.com/TwoShare/getPage/AWContent/AWST/awst_source15
US GOVT DOCUMENTS ON BUSINESS COUNTERINTELLIGENCE.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/403435.asp
Have an Great July 4th!
John Macartney
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