FAS | Intelligence | News | 2001 ||||

April 2001 Intelligence News

• Does the U.S. Spy Too Much? by Fiona Morgan, Salon.com, April 26. "In the wake of the spy plane flap with China, experts propose international rules of order that would limit excessive espionage."
• Washington Cites Shortage of Linguists for Key Security Jobs by Diana Jean Schemo, New York Times, April 16. "National security officials are warning of critical shortages in their ability to understand the languages of other nations, and so unravel their secrets."
• Spy Missions to Go On Despite Plane Collision by Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times, April 15. "Tensions after the United States-China plane collision won't stop the Pentagon from eavesdropping on the world's hot spots."
• Dozens of Nations Fly Spy Aircraft by Nancy Benac, Associated Press, April 11. "This kind of surveillance can enhance stability between countries that are not hostile to one another," said Steve Aftergood of the private Federation of American Scientists. "It can aggravate tensions between countries that are in conflict."
• Spying from Space: U.S. to Sharpen the Focus by Joseph Fitchett, International Herald Tribune, April 10. "Anyone wondering where U.S. military investment is headed need look no farther than the next generation of spy satellites that are being built now and will start going into orbit in 2005."
• Spying on China Is Essential to U.S. Security, Analysts Agree by Keay Davidson, San Francisco Chronicle, April 8. "U.S. spying on China is essential to track developments in that unsettled part of the world, a diverse array of independent national security analysts agrees."
• Risks rise as plane standoff drags by Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor, April 6. "Pressure builds for Beijing and Washington to act tough as politics, pride collide."
• Pentagon Press Briefing on Status of Downed U.S. Navy Plane in China, daily briefing, April 5. "A lot of these questions are going to have the same answer to them, and that's something that we really need to talk to the aircrew about in considerable detail."
• Navy Crew Should Have Been Able to Destroy Tapes, Some Equipment by Rogers Worthington, Chicago Tribune, April 5. "If American crew members managed to destroy sensitive data and software aboard the Navy surveillance craft on Hainan Island, Chinese intelligence analysts would be unlikely to emerge with anything that could seriously damage future U.S. intelligence."
• Pentagon Press Briefing on Status of Downed U.S. Navy Plane in China, daily briefing, April 3. "To the best of my knowledge, there is nobody that has certain knowledge of the activities around that plane."
• Both Nations Face Threat of Political Aftermath by Scott Canon, Kansas City Star, April 3. "The collision of a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. spy plane over the South China Sea is more evidence of chilling relations between Washington and Beijing, analysts say."
• Congressional Hearing on Daniel M. King Espionage Case, press release from the King defense team, April 3. "The defense disclosed a series of demonstrably false statements made to the media and Congress by the Navy in the aftermath of the case."