1998 Congressional HearingsIntelligence and Security
1998 Congressional Hearings
Statement of Chairman Jim Saxton
Joint Economic CommitteeWednesday, May 20, 1998
"Terrorism and Intelligence Operations"I am pleased to welcome our distinguished panelists before the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) this morning.
As we reach the end of this century and enter the next one, we must anticipate and prepare for the changes, new realities, and challenges that will come in the near future. How we handle those challenges will determine our success in the millennium ahead. Unpreparedness and the exercise of bad judgement could put the United States in a significantly disadvantaged position economically and militarily, and it could even threaten our national security.
It is the opinion of many experts, a few of whom will testify today, that terrorists and the intelligence services that support terrorists will step up attacks using electromagnetic pulse weapons and biological weapons. Terrorists will continue to deny responsibility while maintaining the capabilities to continue the high-profile attacks.
Many believe, as do I, that our success in High Technology Warfare has deterred our enemies and, in many ways, contributed to the conclusion of the Cold War. Our continued success in the Gulf War made it very clear that to challenge the United States conventionally was a death sentence.
It is this very success in conventional warfare that has caused those who hate democracy, the West, and everything the United States stands for, to create new weapons heretofore unknown or unmentioned. While these new weapons are being developed, our enemies increasingly strengthen their commitment in terms of manpower, money, and intelligence services capabilities, particularly in the areas of covert actions, counter intelligence, and surveillance.
That, I would suggest, could have significant national security and economic impact on the United States. We need to develop our defensive and offensive capabilities against the new and improved weapons of mass destruction and demand that our intelligence services develop a new and dynamic pursuit of counter intelligence and operational security capability for the millennium.
We, the Congress, must be prepared to eliminate our obsolete Cold War institutions and create new and dynamic organizations quickly because we simply do not have time to waste in maintaining a status quo that is irrelevant to the preservation of the nation into the next century.
I will now introduce our witnesses for today's hearing:
Before we begin, I want to thank each of you for your hard work, dedication, and commitment, which has oftentimes required great personal risk. The United States is a better nation, and its citizens are much safer because of your courage and dedication.
Our first witness is Mr. Victor Sheymov, who defected to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1980. At that time, he was a Major in the 8th Directorate of the KGB -- the Russian equivalent of our National Security Agency. His last position in the KGB involved the coordination and responsibility for the overall security of the KGB's foreign cipher communi-cations. Mr. Sheymov graduated from Moscow State Technological University, and was a researcher at the Russian Military Research Institute. He has also worked within the Soviet "Star Wars" program and has written a book, entitled Tower of Secrets.
Our second witness, Dr. Kenneth Alibek, defected to the United States in 1992. At that time, Dr. Alibek was the First Deputy of the Soviet Union's Offensive Biological Warfare Program and a retired Colonel of the Soviet Army. Dr. Alibek holds a medical degree in infectious diseases, a Ph.D. in microbiology, and a Doctor of Science in industrial biotechnology.
Dr. Alibek spent 21 years in pathogen laboratories studying the production of many types of biological weapons, such as plagues and anthrax. He also developed medical protocols for the treatment of these diseases, and for the treatment of mass casualties caused by biological weapons. Since his arrival in the United States, Dr. Alibek has worked with various government agencies and is currently continuing his work combating biological weapons.
Our third witness is Mr. Nicholas Eftimiades, who currently works for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He is here today as the author of his book, Chinese Intelligence Operations, which is considered to be the first ever scholarly analysis on the subject and has been translated into four languages. He has also held positions in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with the counter-intelligence staff at the State Department, and has been a naval officer.
Mr. Eftimiades has written numerous articles and a monograph entitled "China's Ministry of State Security: Coming of Age in the International Arena." For this work, he was awarded the "Scholarly Work of the Year on Intelligence" by the National Intelligence Center. He is also the recipient of the Director's Intelligence Medal by the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Eftimiades graduated from George Washington University with a B.A. in East Asian studies and a Master's in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College.
Our final witness is Mr. Brian Fairchild. From September 1976 to October of 1995, Mr. Fairchild was a staff operations officer in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Fairchild is also a former member of the Army's elite special force -- the Green Beret. He is a graduate of California State University with degrees in international relations and Asian studies, and speaks several Asian and European languages. Mr. Fairchild is now retired from the CIA and owns his own company.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you are not impressed, you should be!