FAS | Intelligence | News | 1999 ||||

September 1999 Intelligence News

• Assessing Emerging Threats Through Open Sources by Graham H. Turbiville Jr.; Lieutenant Colonel Karl E. Prinslow, US Army; and Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Waller, US Army, Retired Military Review September / October 1999 - World Basic Information Library (WBIL) uses skilled Reserve Component (RC) personnel from all services, operating in "virtual teams" around the world, to build an authoritative open-source database of military and other security-related information. Open Source Information System (OSIS) is a virtual private network that provides US government personnel access to foreign open-source material hosted by over 30 government agencies and organizations.
• CLINTON-IRAN Voice of America 29 September 1999 -- President Clinton has sent a message to Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, seeking Iranian help in tracking down those responsible for the bombing of a U-S military barracks in Saudi Arabia.
• US - PAKISTAN Voice of America 28 September 1999 -- The United States and Pakistan have held what a U-S official calls frank but friendly discussions on a range of issues, including an American request that Pakistan help obtain the arrest of suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
• BRAZIL-PERU DRUGS Voice of America 24 September 1999 -- Brazil and Peru plan to work closer together to halt the flow of illegal drugs across their common border.
• Text: Statement of Perm Five UN Security Council Members on TerrorismUSIA 23 September 1999 -- The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have urged all nations to implement a six-point action program to combat international terrorism, which, they say, "endangers the lives and well-being of ordinary people world-wide, as well as threatening the peace and security of all states."
• U-S - MEXICO DRUGS Voice of America 22 September 1999 -- The United States has arrested 93 people in a crackdown on what U.S. officials call one of Mexico's largest drug cartels.
• CONGRESS-PUERTO RICO CLEMENCY Voice of America 21 September 1999 -- U-S law enforcement officials say the clemency granted to imprisoned Puerto Rican nationalists could bring new acts of terrorism. Congress is holding more hearings on President Clinton's controversial action.
• Administration Announces New Approach to Encryption The White House - September 16, 1999 -- The strategy announced today continues to maintain the balance among privacy, commercial interests, public safety and national security.
• FACT SHEET Administration Updates Encryption Export Policy September 16, 1999 -- Any encryption commodity or software of any key length can now be exported under a license exception (i.e., without a license) after a technical review, to commercial firms and other non-government end users in any country except for the seven state supporters of terrorism.
• FACT SHEET The Cyberspace Electronic Security Act of 1999 September 16, 1999 -- The "Cyberspace Electronic Security Act of 1999" (CESA) would protect the growing use of encryption for the legitimate protection of privacy and confidentiality by businesses and individuals, while helping law enforcement obtain evidence to investigate and prosecute criminals despite their use of encryption to hide criminal activity.
• TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES September 16, 1999 -- I am pleased to transmit for your early consideration and speedy enactment a legislative proposal entitled the "Cyberspace Electronic Security Act of 1999" (CESA).
• PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR JIM STEINBERG, ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JOHN HAMRE, UNDER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE BILL REINSCH, AND CHIEF COUNSELOR FOR PRIVACY AT OMB PETER SWIRE September 16, 1999 -- We're here today to announce a series of actions that will bring new balance to the four pillars on which our encryption policy rests: national security, public safety, privacy and commerce.
• PRESERVING AMERICA'S PRIVACY AND SECURITY IN THE NEXT CENTURY: A STRATEGY FOR AMERICA IN CYBERSPACE A REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES September 16, 1999
• Keeping an 'ear' on East Timor By Robert Windrem MSNBC Sept. 12 � As the East Timor crisis has heated up, the United States has been using electronic intelligence gathered nearby in Australia and New Zealand, two nations in a spying alliance officially known as the UKUSA treaty.
• PUERTO RICAN PRISONERS RELEASE Voice of America 10 September 1999 -- Eleven jailed Puerto Rican militants granted clemency by President Clinton were released on Friday from separate federal prisons all over the country. Most are headed back to Puerto Rico where they are expected to be warmly welcomed.
• Text: Clinton on Convention for Suppression of Terrorist Bombings,Sept. 8 USIA 09 September 1999 -- President Clinton late September 8 transmitted to the U.S. Senate the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 15, 1997.
• CONGRESS-PUERTO RICO Voice of America 09 September 1999 -- President Clinton's decision to offer clemency to 16 Puerto Rican nationalists is drawing sharp criticism on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning the action.
• PUERTO RICANS - CLEMENCY Voice of America 07 September 1999 -- A dozen jailed Puerto Rican nationalists have accepted U-S president Bill Clinton's offer of clemency, while two have rejected the offer. A total of 16 nationalists have been in prison since the early 1980's, when they were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the activities of a Puerto Rican pro-independence organization.
• PANAMA DRUG BASE Voice of America 02 September 1999 -- The new president of Panama has shown little enthusiasm for allowing the United States to maintain an anti-drug-smuggling operation in her country.
• Web page hacker arrested, government sites becoming more secure (Army News Service, Sept. 1, 1999) - FBI agents arrested a 19-year-old Wisconsin man Aug. 30 for malicious altering of a U.S. Army Web page.