FAS | Intelligence | News | 2000 ||||

January 2000 Intelligence News

• India plots against Pak, says US report Ashish Kumar Sen Deccan Chronicle, 28 Jan 2000 -- India�s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, has been engaged in disinformation campaigns, espionage and sabotage against Pakistan and other neighbouring countries, according to a report put out by the Washington DC-based Federation of American Scientists.
• NARCOTICS PLEA Voice of America 27 January 2000 -- The wife of a U-S army officer who once headed the U-S military anti-drug mission in Colombia has pleaded guilty in New York to smuggling drugs.
• S-A-F / OPEN DEMOCRACY Voice of America 25 January 2000 -- South Africa's African National Congress (A-N-C)-dominated parliament has adopted a law that grants citizens the right to information held by government departments. However in South Africa the law will also accord similar rights to government departments.
• CLINTON- COLOMBIA Voice of America 24 January 2000 -- Colombian President Andres Pastrana meets with President Clinton at the White House Tuesday on a Washington visit aimed at lining up support for a massive increase in U-S aid to Colombia.
• DE-FINANCING TERRORISM Voice of America 21 January 2000 -- Terrorist groups often try to raise money in countries where they are not active, but where their sympathizers can take advantage of ordinary people's misplaced generosity. The United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism is intended to make this more difficult.
• PAK/U-S Voice of America 21 January 2000 -- Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth says the subject of terrorism dominated talks with Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf.
• NEW INDICTMENTS AGAINST ALGERIANS Voice of America 21 January 2000 -- U-S officials in Seattle have filed new charges against two Algerian men, implicated in a bombing plot.
• COLOMBIA / US Voice of America 21 January 2000 -- Critic Larry Birns says the aid package is misguided because it will `further militarize' and `broaden and deepen' U-S involvement in Colombia's overlapping wars against leftist guerrilla groups and drug cartels.
• EGYPT AIR SITREP Voice of America 21 January 2000 -- Nearly three months into the investigation of the October crash of EgyptAir flight 990, U-S air safety investigators still have no evidence suggesting the New York-to-Cairo flight was brought down by mechanical failure.
• NARCO GRAVES Voice of America 21 January 2000 -- The search for bodies in clandestine graves near the US/Mexico border has now come to an end. Mexican officials say only nine bodies were found.
• CORRUPTION SURVEY Voice of America 20 January 2000 -- Transparency International, a non-profit organization based in Berlin that fights corruption worldwide, this week released (in Washington) an international survey of bribery.
• Text: Survey Finds Executives Perceive Bribery As Widespread USIA 20 January 2000 -- There is a widespread perception among private-sector executives in major emerging market countries that bribery continues to play a role in securing major contracts, particularly in public works, construction and the arms industries, according to a new survey by the anti-bribery advocacy organization Transparency International (TI).
• Richardson Releases Task Force Against Racial Profiling Report and Announces 8 Immediate Actions January 19, 2000 -- Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced eight immediate actions the department is taking to ensure that racial profiling is not used at any DOE facility.
• Task Force Against Racial Profiling Final Report January 19, 2000 -- The heightened security posture created a perception of ambiguity over the definition and treatment of both foreign nationals and naturalized U.S. citizens, resulting in increased anxiety at all levels of the workforce. In addition, it was believed that this atmosphere was hurting the Department's ability to recruit and retain highly qualified employees from all ethnicity groups.
• TERRORIST INDICTMENTS Voice of America 19 January 2000 -- A Federal grand jury in New York has indicted two Algerian men on charges of planning a terrorist bomb attack somewhere in the United States.
• CIA's recruiting drive pays off Associated Press January 17, 2000 -- The CIA is "pitching the romance of intelligence" through its ads and recruiting spiels, but such appeals are misleading, said Steve Aftergood, of the Federation of American Scientists. "A lot of these bright-eyed young people may be setting themselves up for disappointment in what is still a rather hidebound institution," Aftergood said.
• PAK-U-S TERRORISM Voice of America 16 January 2000 -- The United States is offering a reward for information about last November's rocket attacks on the U-S embassy, U-S cultural center, and U-N offices in Islamabad.
• Sale to Public of Satellite Photos Debated By BOB DROGIN Los Angeles Times Saturday, January 15, 2000 -- The images of North Korea's Nodong missile site first were shown on Jan. 3 on a Cable News Network broadcast. They next appeared in Japanese newspapers and then were posted on the Federation of American Scientists' Web site. They immediately became political fodder in the battle over national missile defense. John E. Pike, head of space policy at the federation, said that the images showed "an underwhelming missile test facility" most notable for its lack of paved roads, storage facilities or staff housing.
• A Missile Is a Missile MARK M. LOWENTHAL [letter to the editor] The New York Times January 14, 2000 - John E. Pike of the Federation of American Scientists is mistaken when he declares that if a site is not up to United States standards, it is not a threat.
• KING ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY Voice of America 14 January 2000 -- In December, a jury in Memphis, Tennessee ruled that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death was the result of a conspiracy.
• ALBRIGHT / COLOMBIA Voice of America 14 January 2000 -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says it will take hard work and determination to implement Colombian President Andres Pastrana's plan to fight drug traffickers and revive his country's economy.
• ALBRIGHT/LATAM TRIP Voice of America 14 January 2000 -- The major issues likely to dominate Secretary of State Albright's discussions are the ones that have tended to be at the top of the agenda every time a U-S official visits the region -- drugs, immigration, trade and aid.
• PRESS BRIEFING BY JOE LOCKHART January 14, 2000 -- Joe, why is it not payola when the government provides television networks millions in remuneration for reviewing the scripts of some of their programs for antidrug messages, and then it's not announced at any point during the program that the government is not identified as an advertiser.
• ALBRIGHT / COLOMBIA Voice of America 14 January 2000 -- Secretary of State Albright is the highest ranking U-S official to visit Colombia since President George Bush made a stop there in 1990.
• GENERAL PINOCHET'S REPRIEVE Voice of America 14 January 2000 -- The British Home Office has ruled former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, too ill to stand trial in Spain, where he is wanted for human rights violations.
• Clashing reports on spy satellites' Y2K problems BY JOHN DIAMOND San Jose Mercury News Friday, January 14, 2000 -- The satellite program is top secret, so Pentagon officials won't say who made the equipment or software involved in the glitch. But defense analyst John Pike at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington said Lockheed Martin Corp. is ``certainly the pre-eminent imagery satellite contractor'' for the U.S. military.
• Satellites On The Blink For Days By John Diamond, Chicago Tribune January 13, 2000 -- John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington-based group that closely follows intelligence matters, credited Hamre with acknowledging the intelligence interruption at all. But, he said, "Their claim that this outage did not seriously impact national security was overly optimistic and understated the level of the problem."
• PRE-Y2K PROBLEMS UNDERCUT OPERATION OF U.S. SATELLITE IMAGERY NETWORK By Richard Lardner Inside the Pentagon, January 13, 2000 -- While New Year's weekend was a long one for senior officials at NRO and NIMA, the final week of December was no more restful. On Monday, Dec. 27, a problem that defense officials have referred to as "chronic" surfaced again, crippling the operation of NIMA's Defense Dissemination System, the agency's primary platform for shipping "near original quality digital imagery to customers in near real time," according to information posted on the Federation of American Scientists' web site by John Pike, director of the group's Space Policy Project.
• PENTAGON OFFICIALS ADMIT GLITCH TRIGGERED BY SOFTWARE PATCH TO FIX GROUND COMPUTER FOR Y2K CRIPPLED SPY SATELLITES ALL THINGS CONSIDERED January 13, 2000, Thursday -- Defense analyst John Pike at the Federation of American Scientists says given the thousands of images the United States usually collects in a given day, losing some over a weekend was not very much of a problem.
• BLIND SPY Voice of America 13 January 2000 -- Intelligence expert John Pike, of the Federation of American Scientists, says the broken spy system could have been a serious problem.
• ALBRIGHT / COLOMBIA Voice of America 13 January 2000 -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travels to Colombia Friday for talks on a massive U-S aid proposal aimed at fighting drug traffickers.
• U-S - COLOMBIA AID Voice of America 13 January 2000 -- The White House plan will mean a four-fold increase in assistance to Colombia -which is already the third-largest U-S foreign aid recipient.
• Text: New Anti-Terrorism Convention Opened for Signing at the UN USIA 12 January 2000 -- A new anti-terrorism convention focused on targeting those who finance terrorism was opened for signing at the United Nations January 10. By the end of that day, the convention was signed by seven countries: Finland; France; Malta; Netherlands; Sri Lanka; United Kingdom and the United States.
• U.S. Signs Treaty Targeting the Financing of Terrorism By Judy Aita USIA 12 January 2000 -- -- The United States is urging other nations to sign the newest convention in a series of international anti-terrorism instruments, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
• Fact Sheet: U.S. Implements Updated Encryption Export Policy USIA 12 January 2000 -- Today, the Commerce Department published a regulation implementing the Clinton Administration's update to encryption export policy announced in September, 1999.
• Text: Clinton Administration Streamlines Encryption Rules USIA 12 January 2000 -- The Clinton administration has issued new encryption export regulations which permit U.S. companies to export any encryption software abroad to other businesses, individuals and other non-government users without a license, the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) says.
• DAKAR / CAIRO RALLY Voice of America 12 January 2000 -- The airlift, unprecedented in the more than 20-years of the rally, was launched after a terrorist threat obliged organizers to cancel four legs through the northern desert of Niger.
• BRITAIN - PINOCHET Voice of America 12 January 2000 -- British Home Secretary Jack Straw says (Wednesday) he will make a final decision on the fate of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet within seven days.
• Commerce Announces Streamlined Encryption Export Regulations January 12, 2000 - The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) today issued new encryption export regulations which implement the new approach announced by the Clinton Administration in September.
• S.Korea warns against under-estimating N.Korea's missile threat Agence France Presse January 12, 2000, Wednesday -- The Federation of American Scientists which had revealed the satellite images on its website said the facility lacked paved roads, propellant storage, and staff housing that would be needed to support an extensive test facility. "The modest ambitions of the North Korean test program are clearly revealed by the scale and nature of the Nodong test facility, which is surely the antithesis to Cape Canaveral," it said.
• Commercial Satellite Photos of DPRK Missile Base Viewed Yonhap [Seoul] 12 January 2000 -- The private Federation of American Scientists (FAS) insisted the rural site featured in the photo lacks basic facilities in order to qualify as a missile base such as rail links, paved roads, fuel tanks and staff housing needed to support one.
• Spy pictures show Korea's empty threat Michael Evans, The Times (London) January 12, 2000, Wednesday -- John Pike, director of the Federation of American Scientists, a private organisation in Washington that bought the pictures from the space company in Denver, Colorado, said: "These photographs make a nonsense of American foreign policy, which has been dominated in recent years by the perceived ballistic missile threat from North Korea."
• U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2000 -- We certainly welcome the entrepreneurial analysts' effort to assess the capabilities of other countries, and we recognize the serious effort that organizations like the Federation of American Scientists make in this area and other areas. But it is our judgment from a panoply of intelligence sources and methods that go far beyond this rather limited capability that the Federation of American Scientists has put on its website that there is a genuine threat and a risk from the potential missile program of North Korea. We believe this is a real danger that we are dealing with.
• DoD News Briefing Tuesday, January 11, 2000 -- Q Ken, what about these satellite pictures of the North Korean launch site, which appear to show pretty primitive conditions there, including no rails to move missiles? John Pike called it, I believe, the "mouse that roared." But have you all got any comment on that?
• US Group Puts N.Korea Missile Site Pictures on Web By Tabassum Zakaria (Reuters) Tuesday 11 January 2000 -- The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has posted photos of a North Korean missile test site on its Web site, giving the public access to previously top-secret spy satellite imagery and sparking debate over how serious the missile threat is.
• Spy Photos of Korea Missile Site Bring Dispute By WILLIAM J. BROAD The New York Times January 11, 2000 -- "It's the mouse that roared," said John E. Pike, director of the group's space program and author of the analysis. "It's a singularly unimpressive facility, and we've looked at all the main ones in the world."
• Special Briefing on U.S. Aid to Colombia Rand Beers, Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Peter Romero, Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, Special Assistant to the President for Inter-American Affairs -- January 11, 2000 -- We are here today to talk about a nearly $1.6 billion assistance package that the president is announcing and asking Congress to approve. It involves approximately $300 million in regular appropriations in the 2000 and 2001 budget, a $954 million emergency supplemental in fiscal year 2000, and $318 million of additional funds in fiscal year 2001.
• MEXICO DRUGS Voice of America 11 January 2000 -- In spite of law enforcement efforts in both the United States and Mexico, the major drug trafficking organizations operating in Mexican territory continue to prosper.
• CLINTON-COLOMBIA Voice of America 11 January 2000 -- The White House says the Colombia aid package is urgenly needed to help the South American country combat narcotics trafficking, bolster its slumping economy and shore up its beleaguered democratic government.
• CLINTON - COLOMBIA Voice of America 11 January 2000 -- The Clinton administration has announced a two-year, one-point-six-billion dollar plan to help Colombia implement political reforms and fight drug trafficking.
• Text: Albright Statement on Increased U.S. Aid to Colombia USIA 11 January 2000 -- Increased U.S. assistance to Colombia will go to support the plan of that country's president, Andres Pastrana, to achieve peace, fight crime, promote prosperity and improve governance throughout his nation, says Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
• Text: President Clinton's Statement on Assistance to Colombia USIA 11 January 2000 -- It is in the United States' "fundamental national interest" to aid the Colombian government in its fight against narco-trafficking and the resulting widespread violence in that country, President Clinton said in a January 11 statement.
• Text: White House Fact Sheet on Colombia Assistance Package USIA 11 January 2000 -- The Clinton Administration is proposing an expanded comprehensive package of assistance to Colombia, designed to complement and support Colombian President Andres Pastrana's strategy to address his country's urgent problems, the White House announced January 11.
• CHILE-PINOCHET REACT Voice of America 11 January 2000 -- In Chile, there is mixed reaction to the news former dictator Augusto Pinochet has been ruled unfit to stand trial in Spain over human rights abuses committed during his 17-year rule.
• U-S MILITARY/SYRIA/ISRAEL Voice of America 07 January 2000 -- Intelligence expert John Pike, of the Federation of American Scientists, says improvements in Israeli and U-S spy technology may convince top Israeli officials that they can safely keep watch over their neighbor's military without the Golan.
• CYBERTERRORISM Voice of America 07 January 2000 -- President Clinton says electronic attacks on U-S computer systems are a serious and growing threat. He plans to beef up U-S defenses against cyber- terrorism, and is trying to develop new tools and cyber soldiers for the effort.
• Director of National Security Agency Welcomes Ms. Beverly Wright, Chief Financial Manager NSA PRESS RELEASE 7 January 2000 -- Lt Gen Michael V. Hayden, USAF, Director, National Security Agency, has created a new executive-level Chief Financial Manager (CFM) position and has hired an external financial expert to fill the role.
• President Clinton Announces New Plan to Fight Cyberterrorism By Stephanie L. Cupp USIA 07 January 2000 -- President Clinton has announced a national plan to protect U.S. information technology (IT) from cyberterrorism, the first such plan launched by any nation.
• Transcript: White House Briefing on Counter-Terrorism Program USIA 07 January 2000 -- White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, Secretary of Commerce Bill Daley, NSC Staff Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Dick Clarke, and James Madison University President Linwood Rose all briefed.
• Transcript: Clinton Remarks on Cyberterrorism USIA 07 January 2000 -- President Clinton January 7 announced a new national plan to protect America's cyberspace infrastructure from the threat of terrorism. "Thanks to the hard work of many people, our computer systems were ready for Y2K. But that experience did underscore how really interconnected we all are. Today, our critical systems -- from power structures to air traffic control -- are connected and run by computers. We must make those systems more secure so that America can be more secure," he said.
• Fact Sheet: Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection USIA 07 January 2000 -- The President proposed today the creation of the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection to identify and fund research and technology development to protect America's cyberspace from attack or other failures.
• Fact Sheet: Promoting Cyber Security for the 21st Century USIA 07 January 2000 -- Today, President Clinton launches the National Plan for Information Systems Protection and announces new budget proposals for initiatives to strengthen America's defenses against the emerging threats posed to our critical infrastructure, computer systems, and networks.
• Text: NSC Advisor Berger's Remarks to the National Press Club USIA 06 January 2000 -- National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger told reporters at the National Press Club January 6 that the last weeks of 1999 "saw the largest US counter-terrorism operation in history." Berger said that "terrorist cells were disrupted in eight countries and attacks were almost certainly prevented thanks to the good work of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
• TERRORISM OUTLOOK Voice of America 05 January 2000 -- Despite fears of terror attacks at the end of the millennium, only one major incident marred the New-Year holiday: the seizure of an Indian Airlines plane by hijackers demanding freedom for Kashmiri militants.
• DoD News Briefing - Presenter: Richard Myers, General, USAF, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Space Command January 05, 2000 - It was after Eligible Receiver where we found out we had all these vulnerabilities. And I think it was Dr. Hamre who tells the story, he looked around the room and he says, "Well, okay, who's responsible for Computer Network Defense?" And nobody raised their hand. And so that obviously pointed out the problem, and that's why we tried to organize ourselves to address that, and that's why Unified Commander got the mission.
• The fallout from the spy-2K glitch By Robert Windrem NBC NEWS 05 January 2000 -- John Pike, who directs space policy for the Federation of American Scientists, believes the problem affected the ground link for the Lacrosse, not the KH-11. The primary ground link is at �Area 58,� an intelligence community designation for the Defense Communication Electronics Evaluation and Test Activity at Fort Belvoir, Va., a few miles down the Potomac from Washington.
• DoD News Briefing Presenter: Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre January 4, 2000 -- This is for one -- only one segment of our intelligence system and only one segment of our satellite-based capabilities, and for a period of several hours we were not receiving or able to process the information. And again, it was judged to have no significance, really. At no time did we not have positive control over the space assets. And they operated, but we were not able to process the information. They were able to put in place the backup procedure almost immediately.
• U.S. Recovers Spy System Hit by Y2K Glitch By Jim Wolf (Reuters) January 3, 2000 -- John Pike, head of a space policy project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said Area 58 typically processes thousands of images a day, most of them archived for reference.
• CONTINUATION OF LIBYAN EMERGENCY January 3, 2000 -- The President has transmitted a notice continuing this emergency to the Congress and the Federal Register every year since 1986.
• U-S TERRORISM ARREST Voice of America 03 January 2000 -- Authorities in Seattle are holding another Algerian national in connection with last month's attempt to smuggle explosives into the United States.
• In One of Few Problems, Link to Spy Satellite Fails By STEVEN LEE MYERS The New York Times 02 January 2000 -- Although the Pentagon refused to identify the satellite, one military official indicated that it was one that took images. John E. Pike, a military and intelligence expert at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington said the information broadcast by the five photographic or radar satellites was processed at Fort Belvoir, Va., an Army base near Washington.