NOW THAT THE EP-3 CREW IS HOME, DEBATE WILL FOCUS ON NECESSITY OF THESE
AERIAL SURVEILLANCE MISSIONS. Jim Bamford, author of forthcoming book
on NSA has been on TV and in the NY Times arguing that satellites and
ground stations can do the job
<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/05/opinion/05BAMF.html>
-- aircraft aren't needed and are unnecessarily provocative, he says.
Most other knowledgeables say, however, that satellites are too far
removed, pass over too quickly and on precise schedules, while aircraft
can appear unexpectedly and loiter for hours. Also, by their very
presence, ferret aircraft provoke and excite shore based radar and
communication nets -- thus providing information to collect. The NY
Times article below summarizes the pro and con arguments. In the second
piece below, Bill Arkin, gives a good rundown of the US aerial
surveillance programs, schedules and equipment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/columns/dotmil/A50504-2001Apr6.html
IMPACT OF EP-3 LOSS ON US ASIAN ALLIES. America's allies in Asia are
hastily changing computer codes and electronic identification codes in
the wake of the detention of the US Navy's most important electronic
intelligence (ELINT)-gathering aircraft by the Chinese authorities on
Hainan Island. The article goes on to say that Japan also operates
EP-3's and Taiwan too operates surveillance aircraft in the Sea of Japan
and the East China Sea. For the past week, these missions have been
escorted by fighters. Also, China operates it's own electronic
surveillance aircraft (9 converted Russian An-12 transports dubbed
Y-8x's by the US) along the coasts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, South
Korea and Japan.
http://www.janes.co.uk/aerospace/military/news/misc/aries010412_1_n.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15477-2001Apr13.html
EP-3e RADIOED HOME AFTER LANDING ON HAINAN. An April 13 story in the
Chicago Tribune reported US communicators (probably on Okinawa) heard
the EP-3 pilot's Mayday call. Also, after landing one of the
intelligence specialists in the back of the aircraft send a message to
an NSA facility in Hawaii to the effect that the aircraft had landed on
Hainan, all crew members were safe, and that armed Chinese soldiers had
surrounded the aircraft and were demanding the Americans get off. That
message was immediately flashed to NSA headquarters at Ft Meade
(probably as a "CRITIC") and to thence to the White House.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/15/world/15CREW.html
________________________________-
LETTER FROM FORMER RC-135 SURVEILLANCE PILOT.
> Dear Mr Macartney,
>
> Thank you for your dedicated efforts to produce the "Stuff" e-mail on
> the IntelForum [http://www.intelforum.org/]. I read it eagerly and
> appreciate your work in compiling the sources.
> I was intrigued by your summary of possible causes of the EP-3 and
> F-8 collision. All of the scenarios you describe are not only
possible > all are highly probable. For many years I was an RC-135
aircraft
> commander and flew PARPRO missions around the world. In many
> cases we were escorted by a variety of interceptors from nations
> ranging from the USSR to Israel. These visits broke the monotony
> and were usually quite enjoyable---indeed, some of the best formation
> flying I have ever had was flying the RC-135S COBRA BALL
> while escorted by a Soviet Tu-16 BADGER for well over three hours,
> including a trip to a tanker with a terrified boom operator.
Conversely,
> some interceptor pilots were aggressive to the point of dangerous,
> usually trying to "shoo" us away or to establish their pilot bona
fides.
> The North Koreans and Vietnamese were automatic "get out of town" >
intercepts because of their outright hostility to the United States and
> the highly unpredictable nature of their controllers. The Israelis
were
> indignant at having us fly along their borders, and were among the
> most dangerous in encouraging us to leave.
> The US Navy has a real tradition of knowing how to shadow visitors,
> as a number of my colleagues in the F-4 and F-14 community revel in >
their tales of how close, how long, and how risky they could get.
> I mention this as a way of saying that all of the possible causes of
> collision between the EP-3 and the F-8 are common environments in
> the escort world. A high-speed pass from behind and above (or
> below) at near Mach is extremely routine and is called "thumping." As
> the fighter passes the heavy intruder, the fighter pulls up abruptly
and
> the shock wave beats the bigger airplane pretty substantially.
> Another routine form of annoyance is the fighter pulling in front of
an
> engine (average pilots would go for the outboards, hot dogs would
> go for the inboards) and stroke their afterburner in an effort to
cause
> cavitation of our engine forcing us to leave the area, or they would
> simply slow down to a point where we would leave to avoid
> ramming them from behind. As you can well imagine, a fighter has a >
tough time doing this as it becomes increasingly unstable at high
> angles of attack and slow speeds, whereas the heavy airplane is fairly
> stable.
> We have learned more about the collision since the aircrew was
> returned. According to the Navy EP-3 pilot, the F-8 had previously
> made two aggressive passes below and to the left of the EP-3, and
> the third was too close. Part of the interceptor's goal is to be as
> close as possible, but it doesn't absolve the interceptor pilot of the
> responsibility to be safe.
> All the Best,
> Robert [[log in to unmask]]
______________________________-
INTERIOR PHOTOS OF EP-3 AIRCRAFT TAKEN IN 1996.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0004/Ep_3/frameset.exclude.html
WHO'S IN CHARGE IN CHINA? One advantage that "ferret" aircraft like the
ill fated EP-3e have over satellites, is that their very presence
provokes the other country to turn on, or "light" up, its air defense
and communication nets. That is, radars are turned on to track the EP-3
and messages go back and forth on air defense nets -- all info the EP-3
is designed to collect. Well, this flight seems to have provoked
something else of intelligence interest -- hesitancy and confusion in
the Chinese political decision making mechanism. Who's in charge?
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-2001416214813.htm
SURVEILLANCE FLIGHTS OFF CHINA'S COAST MAY RESUME -- WITH FIGHTER
ESCORTS. US and Chinese diplomats are meeting today (Wednesday) in
Beijing to discuss surveillance flights in general and the April 1st
collision incident in particular. At the same time, the Pentagon has
developed a series of options for resuming surveillance flights. Among
the options are stationing an aircraft carrier in the area to provide
fighter escorts. Another option is to place an Aegis anti-aircraft
equipped ship in the area. If US fighter escorts are provided, the
jets would not actually "escort" surveillance aircraft which fly
approximately 50 miles off China's coastline, but instead the fighters
would be airborne perhaps 100 miles or so off shore -- just in case. [I
don't know much about this, but it would seem to me that when flights
along China's coast are resumed, it would be prudent to start with Air
Force RC-135's instead of Navy EP-3's. Because the RC-135 is a jet, it
flies much higher than the EP-3 and therefore, can presumably remain
farther off the coast. Also, because it's faster, the RC-135 would have
a much better chance of "getting out of dodge" if Chinese fighters are
scrambled. --jdmac]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20010418-30679124.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24803-2001Apr16.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21625-2001Apr15.html
CHARGES FILED AGAINST NAVY LAWYERS & SPOKESPERSON.
Attorneys for Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel M. King filed military
charges this week against three Navy attorneys and a Navy spokeswoman
for their actions in a failed espionage prosecution brought against King
in the fall of 1999. King, 41, a cryptologic analyst who worked
decoding other countries' secret communications, was held for more than
500 days on suspicion of divulging highly classified information to
Russia before the case against him was dropped in March for lack of
evidence. In legal papers filed Monday, King's court appointed military
defense attorneys initiated a variety of charges against Cmdr. Lara L.
Jowers, the Navy's chief prosecutor, and Lt. Mindi D. Seafer, a staff
attorney, for allegedly denying King his constitutional right to counsel
and failing to divulge relevant statements King made during an October
1999 interrogation. A third Navy lawyer, Cmdr. Mark E. Newcomb, was
charged by King's attorneys with allegedly making false statements and
failing to divulge relevant information to the defense. King's lawyers
also filed charges against Cmdr. Roxie Merritt, a Navy spokeswoman, for
allegedly telling reporters that King was a "self-confessed traitor"
after the case against him was dropped on March 9.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30390-2001Apr18.html
INFANTRYMAN PORTABLE SURVEILLANCE UAV. American soldiers may soon get
new power to see beyond hills, buildings and trees - thanks to a 4-1/2
pound, unmanned plane that can be stored in a backpack and is designed
to send live images of enemy positions. The Marines Corps Warfighting
Lab and Naval Research Lab soon will award a contract to build 40
miniature planes that can be stored in a soldier's backpack, assembled
in the field of battle, and sent on one-hour missions to beam back live
pictures of enemy positions.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/CuttingEdge/cuttingedge010413.html
NORTH KOREA SHIPS MISSILE PARTS, TECHNOLOGY TO IRAN. Bill Gertz, the
Washington Times reporter who frequently writes scoops based on
classified US intelligence documents, reports that a US "spy" satellite
imaged the parts being loaded onto an Iranian Il-76 transport jet at a
North Korean airfield two weeks ago.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20010418-25542720.htm
US INTELLIGENCE FACES SHORTAGE OF LINGUISTS. At a time when there is
ever greater demand for linguists in US intelligence, fewer and fewer
are available. According to this NY Times article, the Trade Center
bombing might have been averted and preparations for the Indian nuclear
test in 1998 detected except that documents and intercepts which had
been collected could not be translated. American colleges and
universities graduated only nine students who majored in Arabic last
year. Only about 140 students graduated with degrees in Chinese, and
only a handful in Korean. These days, only 8.2 percent of American
college and university students enroll in foreign language courses
nearly all in Spanish, French and German. Because of the dearth of
linguists, both the State Dept and DOD run their own language schools.
Compared with the nine students majoring in Arabic last year in
colleges, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey graduated 409. It
also graduated 120 students in Farsi. And for the first time, the
military is planning to set quotas for the recruitment of so-called
heritage speakers the children of immigrants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/16/world/16LANG.html
US GIVES ASYLUM TO UKRAINIAN DISSIDENT. The US confirmed that it has
granted asylum to a former bodyguard of Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma -- the same bodyguard who leaked a controversial recording
of Kuchma.
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2001/04/16042001185312.asp
BIOMETRICS MAY HELP SECURE PENTAGON COMPUTERS AND CLASSIFIED
FACILITIES. The Defense Department has set up its first biometrics
testing laboratory to scientifically scrutinize hundreds of commercial
products that scan unique physical traits - such as eye, finger or voice
- to prove a person's identity
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0319biometrics.html
SHAYLER TRAIL TESTS OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT. The trial of David Shayler,
the former MI5 officer who has been a persistent source of embarrassment
to the security and intelligence agencies, is expected to be postponed
for as much as a year and may never take place, according to lawyers and
Whitehall officials familiar with the case. The issue at the heart of
the high profile case - and the one which threatens to torpedo it - is
whether the Official Secrets Act, which Mr Shayler has been charged with
breaching, is incompatible with the Human Rights Act.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4170075,00.html
POST COLD WAR SPIES LIST.
1991 Jeffrey Carney, USAF, passed secrets to E Germany.
1993 Frederick Hamilton, DIA, passed secrets to Ecuador.
1994 Aldrich Ames, CIA, and his wife, Maria Del Rosario Casas Ames,
provided secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1995 Michael Schwartz, US Navy, passed intelligence to Saudi Arabia.
1996 Kurt Lessenthien, US Navy, offered nuclear submarine technology
to Russia.
1996 Philip Seldon, US Army, passed secrets to El Salvador.
1996 Robert Lipka, NSA, was arrested for espionage.
1996 Harold Nicholson, CIA, spied for Russia.
1996 Earl Pitts, FBI, spied for Russia.
1996 Robert Kim, US Navy, passed secrets to a foreign country.
1997 Peter H. Lee, US nuclear physicist, passed secrets to a foreign
government.
1997 Kelly Therese Warren, U.S. Army, passed secrets to Hungary and
Czechoslovakia.
1997 Kurt Stand and his wife, Therese Marie Squillacote, a senior
Pentagon lawyer, spied for East Germany and Russia [see below]
1998 David Boone, NSA, sold secrets to the former Soviet Union.
1998 Douglas Groat, CIA, passed secrets to 2 foreign govts.
2001 Robert Hanssen, FBI, was arrested for spying for the Soviet Union
and later Russia.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/inbeltway.htm
CONVICTED SPIES LOSE COURT APPEAL. Squillacote, a former Pentagon
lawyer, and Stand, a former labor union representative, were convicted
in 1998 of spying against the US. Squillacote was sentenced to nearly 22
years in prison, Stand to more than 17. The two were accused of an
espionage conspiracy dating back decades. Govt accounts of the case
read like a script for a spy movie, including an alleged love affair
between Squillacote and a former East German spy master, and coded
secrets allegedly hidden inside hollow toys. At times, the couple
wanted to provide U.S. secrets to the former East Germany, the former
Soviet Union, Russia and South Africa, the
government claimed. The two Marxists are almost unique among post WWII
American spies in that they were motivated by ideology.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-Spies.html
SENATOR BOB GRAHAM (D-FL) BELIEVES IN INTELLIGENCE. The Vice Chairman
of the SSCI is, as they say, only a heartbeat away from the
Chairmanship. Graham is an advocate of reform -- including more
diversity in the CIA's clandestine service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12923-2001Apr12.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
BOOKS & OTHER SOURCES
JAMES BAMFORD, "BODY OF SECRETS: ANATOMY OF THE ULTRASECRET NSA,
Doubleday, April 2001.
NOTE: MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
NMIA's Potomac Chapter is hosting author James Bamford on Thursday,
April 26, 6:30 to 8:45pm, at the new offices of Anser, in Shirlington,
2900 South Quincey Street, Arlington. Copies of "Body of Secrets" will
be available on its first day of sale. $10; parking, food, refreshments.
For reservations, call (703) 921-1800, visit website
<http://www.intelweb.org/potomac>, or email <[log in to unmask]>.
DDCI JOHN McLAUGHLIN ON-LINE. Post reporter Vernon Loeb, who hosts a
bi-monthly on-line Q&A session, had the DDCI as his guest on April 1st.
Among other things, Mr McLaughlin said that the CIA now has an
"ombudsman" who acts as a sort of devil's advocate against
politicization -- to ensure analysts "tell it like it is."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/01/nation_loeb040201.htm
STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE. The latest unclassified edition of the CIA's
in-house journal, "Studies in Intelligence," (Fall 2000) is now posted
on the CIA/CSI website. This is the 45th anniversary issue with a
number of classic articles including one by Sherman Kent.
http://www.odci.gov/csi/studies/fall00/index.html
ANNE CAHN, "KILLING DETENTE: THE RIGHT ATTACKS THE CIA," Penn State
Press, 1998.
This is about the A-Team/B-Team episode of 1976 when President Ford and
DCI George Bush, under pressure from GOP conservatives, invited a B
Team of noted university professors and other nongovernment Soviet
scholars in to review the same threat data that the CIA (the A Team) was
using and develop a competing analysis. The professors were handpicked
hardliners led by Harvard historian Richard Pipes, and their analysis
was (as intended) much more hawkish than that of the CIA's.
Subsequently, the CIA adopted much of the professors' hardline views of
the evil empire.
The thesis of this book by AU Scholar in Residence, Anne Cahn, is that
the B-Team's more dire threat analysis led directly to the "Reagan arms
build" up [which began, lest we forget, during the last year and a half
of the Carter administration] and thus caused tens of billions of
dollars in unnecessary US defense spending.
This is an interesting book about an important episode in intelligence
history. [Although in my view, it may attribute too much influence to
intelligence threat assessments. As I see it, US defense spending
proceeds, unfortunately, not from threats but from a host of domestic
political considerations, especially lobbying by defense contractors
(and associated labor unions), influence from within the military
services, and especially pressure from local communities and with
defense plants and their representatives in Congress. For example,
during the 1992 campaign, President Bush famously curried favor with the
Ft Worth, Texas area as well as New London, Connecticut by ordering
F-16's be sold to Taiwan and new Seawolf submarine be built --
candidate Clinton immediately pledged to do likewise if elected. Those
(and many other defense budget decisions) are best explained, I'm
afraid, by politics rather than intelligence threat assessments, whether
accurate, inflated or otherwise. Also, going back to the Carter/Reagan
defense build-up, in the late 1970's, both right and left leaning
defense intellectuals were harping on the neglected "hollow Army" that
needed beefing up -- and the mainstream media were also pushing that
line. In short, I believe that most pressures for defense spending have
precious little to do with external threats, real or imagined, or to
intelligence assessments of those threats -- although as a former
intelligence officer I would prefer it were otherwise. --jdmac]
http://www.psu.edu/psupress/titles/FW_98_books/cahn_detente.html
SUBMARINES, SECRETS AND SPIES. Webpage devoted to a TV program on
submarines broadcast by NOVA in 1999.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/subsecrets/
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE
http://www.scip.org/news/cimagazine.html
POSTURE OF USCENTCOM.
http://www.arabialink.com/GulfWire/Archives2001/GulfWire20010417SpecSupp.htm
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OLD "STUFF."
http://www.spiescafe.com/newswatch.htm
http://www.intelforum.org/stuff.html
John Macartney
http://www.spiescafe.com/newswatch.htm
[log in to unmask]
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