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Subject: News of Interest: January 14 - 31, 1999
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 16:44:10 -0800
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From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: News of Interest: January 14 - 31, 1999
DRUMBEATS OF WAR
NORTH KOREA THREATENS "SEA OF FIRE" IF ATTACKED
BBC 1/22/99
North Korea has accused the United States and South Korea of
preparing for nuclear war, and said it will turn both countries
into a sea of fire if it is attacked. The South Korean
president, Kim Dae-Jung has meanwhile warned his country to be
ready for a surprise attack by the North.
The BBC Seoul correspondent says that these are some of the
strongest exchanges for sometime between the two countries, and
that they're probably a bargaining ploy as talks continue in
Geneva. The negotiations, involving the two Koreas, the US and
China are aimed at reaching a peace settlement to replace the
armistice that ended the Korean War in the nineteen-fifties.
RISING DANGER OF SIMULTANEOUS CRISES IN IRAQ AND KOSOVO
Global Intelligence Update Red Alert January 25, 1999
Something odd is going on. The Iraqis are not allowing the
latest crisis to die down, but are challenging U.S. aircraft with
missiles and are deploying forces southward. Their newspapers are
full of threats directed toward Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. At the same
time, the Serbs deliberately carried out a massacre that was intended
to be detected, and then intentionally exacerbated the crisis by
trying to expel a senior diplomat. There is now the real possibility
that Baghdad and Belgrade are coordinating their actions to
simultaneously pose challenges that strain U.S. military capabilities.
At the same time, Russia has taken on a much more assertive role,
demanding that the U.S. not attack either Iraq or Serbia. The U.S.
Post-Cold War coalition has completely broken down. Russia, France
and China are all resisting the U.S. A window of opportunity has
opened here for the Iraqis and Serbs. We see signs that they are now
taking advantage of it, perhaps in concert.
NORTH KOREA ACCUSES UNITED STATES OF THREATENING NUCLEAR WAR
Tokyo (Reuters) 1/25/99
North Korea accused the United States Saturday of pushing the
Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war. ``It is the final
goal of the U.S. warmongers to stifle the Korean socialist system with
nuclear attacks,'' said a commentary in the North Korean official
party newspaper Rodong Sinmun. The paper, monitored in Tokyo, said
that unless the United States changes direction, ``an armed conflict,
that is a nuclear war, is unavoidable.'' The paper said that the U.S.
had made the threat to use nuclear weapons against North Korea at the
20th Military Committee Meeting with South Korea earlier this week.
Pyongyang said it is ready to meet the U.S. challenge and that it will
attack the U.S. mainland if the U.S. ``attempts to inflict a nuclear
holocaust on the DPRK (North Korea).''
PREPARATION FOR WAR
SYRIA COULD BE CLOSE TO SEALING $2BILLION ARMS DEAL WITH RUSSIA
IsraelWire 1/27/99
News that Syrian Defense Minister Tlass plans 10-day visit to
Moscow suggests the two sides are on the verge of finalizing a
much-anticipated deal which will greatly enhance Syria's military
capabilities, says strategic affairs analyst Qassem Mohammad Jaafar.
Syria's much-anticipated $2 billion arms deal with Russia, which now
appears on the verge of being finalized, will constitute a strategic
breakthrough for Damascus, according to Gulf-based strategic affairs
analyst Qassem Mohammad Jaafar.
Even though Israel would retain its huge military edge, Syria's
first major weapons deal with Russia, since the Soviet Union's
demise, would be a vital step toward redressing the balance of
forces with the Jewish state, Jaafar told Mideast Mirror Tuesday.
Among the Russian weapons systems Syria is reportedly interested in
acquiring, al-Hayat cited Sukhoi-27 fighter aircraft, T-80 tanks and
S-300 anti- aircraft and anti-missile Sam systems (NATO code name SA
10), which it noted were equivalent to the US Patriot missiles
Washington is supplying to Turkey. Al-Hayat said the visiting Syrian
officials would also discuss upgrading and/or acquiring spare parts
for Soviet-made weapons already in use by the Syrian armed forces,
including tanks and MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-29 fighters. It quoted
sources involved in the arms trade as saying Syria's prospective deals
with Russia could be worth up to $2 billion over a five-year period,
including immediate multi-million-dollar contracts for the purchase of
T-80 tanks.
CHINESE EXERCISE TARGETS TAIWAN
By Bill Gertz The Washington Times 1/26/99
China's army conducted a military exercise last month with
simulated missile firings against Taiwan and also for the first
time conducted mock attacks on U.S. troops in the region,
according to Pentagon intelligence officials. The exercise began
in late November and ended in early December as road-mobile CSS-5
medium-range missiles maneuvered along China's coast, said officials
familiar with a Dec. 2 Defense Intelligence Agency report on the
exercise.
Disclosure of the Chinese exercise comes as officials in the
Clinton administration said efforts are under way to soften the
conclusions of a congressionally mandated report on missile
defenses and missile threats in Asia, including new details on
the rapidly growing Chinese missile arsenal.
According to sensitive intelligence gathered by U.S. satellites,
aircraft and ships that monitored the Chinese exercise, People's
Liberation Army units, including those equipped with
intermediate-range CSS-5s and silo-housed CSS-2 missile units
practiced firing missiles at Taiwan. Intelligence information
also indicated that the U.S. Army troops based in South Korea,
and Marine Corps troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa and
mainland Japan were targeted with strikes. "They were doing mock
missile attacks on our troops," said one official.
TERRORISM
CLINTON WARNS OF DANGER OF TERRORIST ATTACKS!
Drudge Report 1/21/99
President Clinton said Thursday that it was "highly likely" that
a terrorist group would launch a germ or chemical attack on
American soil within the next few years: "I just want the
American people to know what they need to know and have a
realistic view of this," the president said in a 45-minute
interview in the Oval Office, "not to be afraid, or asleep. I
think that's the trick." Clinton tells the NEW YORK TIMES that
"he is carefully weighing a proposal from the Defense Department
to establish for the first time a commander in chief for homeland
defense of the continental United States." The paper reports that
Clinton smiled repeatedly, yet spoke of spending sleepless nights
pondering the new security challenges facing America after the
end of the Cold War.
CLINTON WANTS MONEY TO PREVENT COMPUTER, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
ATTACKS
January 22, 1999 By Sonya Ross, Associated Press Washington (AP)
Targeting terrorists' high-tech threats, President Clinton is
proposing nearly $1.5 billion to help the United States guard
against attacks via computers, viruses or chemicals. Clinton, in
a speech today at the National Academy of Sciences, planned to
outline a 10-point plan to counter emerging threats from
cyberterrorism, biological and chemical weapons.
The threat that "keeps me awake at night,'' he told The New York
Times in an interview, is the possibility of germ attack. "A
chemical attack would be horrible, but it would be finite,'' he
said, adding that it would not spread. But a biological attack
could spread, "kind of like the gift that keeps on giving,'' the
president said. He told the newspaper it is "highly likely''
that a terrorist group would launch or threaten a germ or
chemical attack on American soil within the next few years. The
president warned that any attack with such would lead to "at
least a proportionate if not a disproportionate response.''
Clinton's plan, to be included in his fiscal 2000 budget proposal
next month, is intended to ensure the United States is able to
defend against, and ready to respond to, any such terrorist
attacks, national security spokesman David Leavy said. In his
State of the Union address Tuesday, Clinton told Congress that
the nation must upgrade its defenses in light of the advent of
technology and "increased dangers from outlaw nations and
terrorism.'' He cited the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa,
and the retaliatory U.S. air strikes on terrorist strongholds in
Afghanistan and Sudan, as examples.
He wants Congress to approve $1.46 billion for chemical,
biological or cyber security measures. The total includes funds
for research and development of vaccines and medicines, and
training doctors and other medical workers to recognize the
symptoms of a biological agents, according to a senior White
House official speaking on condition of anonymity. The bulk of
the money, $1.3 billion, would fund chemical and biological
weapons countermeasures, the official said.
The president also would establish a network of "intrusion
detection monitors'' that would alert and defend other computer
networks in case one was stricken by a cyberattack, the official
said. The monitors would help prevent certain federal agencies,
such as the State Department, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
from being crippled by such an attack.
US TO APPOINT ANTI-TERROR CHIEF
London Telegraph 1/29/99 Hugh Davies, Washington
President Clinton is expected to agree to the appointment of a
US-based military leader to deal with the aftermath of a
terrorist attack on America. Pentagon officials say someone is
needed to organise the nation in a crisis involving germs,
chemicals or interference with computer systems. The move will
draw fire from civil liberty groups which mistrust the military.
Unease has already been caused by the film The Siege, in which a
terrorist raid provokes martial law and an army general becomes a
loose cannon. Just how a new leader would affect the status of the FBI
is uncertain. The Posse Comitatus Act, passed after the Civil War to
curb the military, bars federaltroops from police work within US
borders.
NATIONAL GUARD CHANGES PLANS: New name for Y2K mobilization
exercises
By David M. Bresnahan 1999 WorldNetDaily.com 1/22/99
Top officers of the National Guard Bureau have decided to change
plans for a mobilization exercise because of reports in
WorldNetDaily. COMEX/MOBEX has been in the works for months.
It was planned as a test to see if the National Guard could be
mobilized without the use of telephones. The exercise was
scheduled for May 1 and 2 to prepare for a possible recall if the
Y2K computer bug causes massive communications failures, along
with civil unrest.
The plan was leaked to WorldNetDaily by five different officers,
some who are on the committee making the plans. Ever since the
first article appeared Janurary 4, the National Guard has been
hard at work planning their public relations strategy to deal
with the developing concerns by media over the Y2K threat.
Copies of e-mail memos between guard officers involved in the
planning have been provided to WorldNetDaily. Those memos
reveal plans to change the name of the exercise, and hide the
full significance of the planning from the public, according to
some of the officers involved.
Y2K PROBLEM
TROOPS BRACING FOR MASSIVE NEW YEAR'S DEPLOYMENT
Jennifer Ditchburn Ottawa Citizen (CP) 1/15/99
Canada's entire military machine of 60,000 troops, reservists and
civilians is being put on alert for the fallout from
malfunctioning computers a year from now, defence officials said
Friday. Nobody knows how much disruption will be caused by the
millennium bug. It could be concentrated in a few areas or small
enough for civil authorities to handle. But the Canadian Forces
aren't ruling out the possibility of a massive deployment.
A force of 14,500 servicemen and women has already been earmarked
for mobilization on Jan. 1, 2000 and beyond as part of Operation
Abacus. Another 4,000 reservists are expected to participate.
The rest of the Forces, from search and rescue personnel to
civilian staff, will be available for duty should the situation
get serious. Only troops on overseas missions or working on
projects within North America will be counted unavailable for the
year 2000 operation.
DENVER OFFICIAL: STOCK UP, JUST IN CASE
By Julia C. Martinez Denver Post Jan. 20, 1999
A Denver city official says city residents would be "prudent'' to
stock up to four days' supply of food and water at the end of the
year in case of year 2000 computer problems.
David J. Bufalo, Denver's point man on the so-called Y2K issue,
also said it makes sense to have blankets, batteries and portable
radios on hand as Dec. 31 approaches in case critical computer
systems fail. He said residents should prepare for the
millennium the way they would "a severe snowstorm, when you're
stuck in the house for a couple of days.'' "The world is not
going to end, but there will be some disruptions,'' Bufalo said
Tuesday. "It's just the prudent way to play it.''
CONTINGENCY PLANS SUDDENLY HAVE BECOME ALL THE RAGE: Survey shows
some rise in pessimism
By Rick Saia 01/18/99 ComputerWorld
Year 2000 contingency planning, anyone? Ask that question and
you're bound to get a lot more takers now than a year ago,
according to a survey conducted by Rubin Systems Inc. for Cap
Gemini America. Howard Rubin, president of Rubin Systems in
Pound Ridge, N.Y., found that all organizations surveyed were
developing year 2000 contingency plans in the fourth quarter of
last year. That's up from a paltry 3% in March.
But there are good and bad sides to that meteoric rise. It may
reflect prudent corporate planning or an admission that an
organization may not befully ready to meet the date change.
Rubin's survey found that 92% of organizations report an increase
in missed year 2000 project milestones, up from 84% in July.
And the number of organizations that expected to have more than
half of their systems ready by the start of this year dropped
from 81% in the second quarter to 74% in the third quarter of
last year.
MARK OF THE BEAST
MEDICAL RECORD ``SMART'' CARDS TESTED
New York, Jan 21 (Reuters Health)
In a small new study, a group of pregnant women in Missouri are
being issued an experimental microchip card which allows doctors
electronic access to their medical records. The ``smart cards,''
which look like a conventional credit card, will theoretically
give doctors quick access to the patient's most recent medical
information via computer, according to Dr. Gilad A. Gross of
Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish
Hospital in St. Louis. Gross presented preliminary data on the
cards on Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Society for
Maternal-Fetal Medicine in San Francisco, California.
``Most importantly, we want to see if the technology works,''
Gross said in an interview with Reuters Health. The patient's
medical records are stored in a secure server, which can be
accessed via the Internet using the smart card and a personal
identification number. Every time the patient attends for a
visit, new information is added to the records.
The researchers plan to enroll 250 pregnant women in the study.
So far, Gross and colleagues have enrolled between 60 and 70
women who plan to deliver at Barnes-Jewish Hospital where the
Smart Card computer database, containing the patients' medical
information, is installed. Once enrollment is complete, half of
the patients will be assigned to receive a smart card, while the
remaining patients will serve as ``control'' subjects, with their
medical records accessed by traditional means. All of the
patients will receive the same level of medical care at the same
facility.
The team hopes to complete this pilot study in about 3 months,
Gross told Reuters Health.
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