Former Sailor Arrested on Terror Charge

WASHINGTON - A former Navy Sailor was arrested Wednesday for allegedly releasing classified information that ended up in the hands of a suspected terrorism financier.

Hassan Abujihaad, 31, of Phoenix, is accused in a case that began in Connecticut and followed a suspected terrorist network across the country and into Europe and the Middle East.

For full text see: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,127817,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl

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Sri Lanka: Will the Tigers' Strike Backfire?

Summary

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fired on Sri Lankan military helicopters carrying seven foreign diplomats, including the U.S. and Italian ambassadors, in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province on Feb. 27. The Sri Lankan government accused the Tigers of targeting civilians, though the Tigers have said they did not know the foreign diplomats were present. In either case, the Tigers have raised their profile and given the Sri Lankan government a better chance to elicit greater military aid and support from Washington and the European Union to counter the rebels.

Analysis

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fired four mortar shells Feb. 27, injuring the Italian and U.S. ambassadors to Sri Lanka as they were visiting parts of Eastern Province on a humanitarian mission. The shells were fired at an air force base at Batticaloa at about 8:45 a.m. local time. Italian Ambassador Prio Marini suffered minor shrapnel wounds to the head and was taken to a hospital, whereas U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake sustained only minor injuries and was treated on site. The ambassadors were among seven foreign diplomats accompanied by Sri Lanka's human rights minister and were touring an area that Sri Lankan forces had recently wrested from the rebels.

The Tigers are an extremely sophisticated militant organization with excellent intelligence and surveillance on this specific air force base and on the movements of Sri Lankan diplomats in general. That said, it does not appear that the Tigers intended to attack the Western diplomats. The rebels likely thought they were targeting a large Sri Lankan military delegation. The envoys probably were traveling in Bell-412 and Bell 412EP helicopters, which are used for conveying VIPs. These helicopters have clear Sri Lankan air force markings, giving the Tigers good identifiers for attack targets.

The Tigers immediately released a statement expressing shock and dismay that the diplomats were injured, but blamed the army for putting foreigners in harm's way. The army replied by saying that the attack began after the diplomats stepped off the helicopter and was clearly intended to injure civilians on a humanitarian mission. The Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington said the helicopters landed in an area that is used exclusively by VIP guests. Furthermore, it was a pre-arranged meeting, which would have allowed the Tigers time to prepare an attack.

The Sri Lankan government has an interest in playing up the attack to encourage Western governments to increase military aid to Sri Lanka and to crack down further on the Tigers' worldwide financial networks. The U.S. State Department says the Western ambassadors likely were not the specific target of this attack, and the United States is unlikely to respond to the incident in the short term; however, the attack could have a longer-term effect on U.S. and European military aid to Sri Lanka. Washington has been pushing for a harder stance against the rebel group -- especially in getting the European Union to designate the Tigers as a terrorist organization -- which could mean that Sri Lanka might eventually find enhanced support for its military policies in the West. Very few countries in South Asia -- or in the wider international community -- support the idea of a separate Tamil homeland, and this attitude is likely to be strengthened in light of the recent attack.

Though the Tigers have avoided targeting Westerners in their attacks, there is precedent for the Tigers targeting select foreign representatives, such as the attack on Pakistani Ambassador Bashir Wali Mohamed in August 2006. That attack came as a response to increased defense cooperation between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The Tigers were sending a clear message that any military aid or assistance to Colombo would result in retaliation.

Attacking Western diplomats would be especially counterproductive for the Tigers, as they depend on the foreign Tamil diaspora, particularly in Canada and Europe, for financial support. The Tigers also maintain global networks to raise funds and even arrange weapons purchases. Approximately 300,000 Tamils live in Europe, but the Tigers are on thin ice with the Europeans. The Tigers have kept up a facade of negotiations to keep the Europeans engaged, but even the Norwegians mediating the talks between the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government are beginning to show signs of fatigue after years of deadlock. Europe's exasperation over the continuous tit-for-tat fighting between Colombo and the Tigers with no sign of a resolution was made apparent in May 2006, when it made the decision to list the Tigers as a terrorist organization and freeze their official bank accounts. Besides knocking the wind out of the rebels' fundraising, the EU decision set back the Tigers' propaganda war because they have a large official presence in many EU countries, including their international secretariat in Paris.

The Batticaloa attack is unlikely to change the ongoing cycle of violence on the island; in fact, Sri Lankan planes bombed suspected rebel sites just hours after the attack against the diplomats. The Tigers have, however unintentionally, raised their profile in Western capitals in such a way that the group will find it harder to get concessions from foreign governments and maintain a level playing field against Colombo. Furthermore, the Sri Lankan government will certainly use this attack as leverage to get increased military funding and assistance.

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China's Offensive Space Capability

The report suggests that a ballistic missile launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center inserted a kinetic kill vehicle into orbit. Kinetic kill vehicles, using the energy of impact at thousands of miles per hour rather than explosive fragmentation, are also used in the U.S. ballistic missile defense program. This could be consistent with reports indicating that an extremely energetic event resulting in a massive breakup took place in low Earth orbit Jan. 11. Such an event seems unlikely to be anything other than a satellite breakup caused by a physical impact. Though a debris strike could certainly be responsible, the chances of a coincidental impact by random debris seem unlikely.

Past reports of Chinese attempts to blind U.S. spy satellites temporarily with ground-based lasers have not been publicly confirmed by the U.S. military, although it was certainly aware of the attempt. In this latest case, too, Space Command knew what happened. The U.S. 1st Command and Control Squadron at Cheyenne Mountain carefully tracks and monitors all orbiting satellites and space debris. The launch would have been detected and tracked by the 1st Space Operations Squadron. Any breakup would have been immediately noticed. Nevertheless, Washington offered no official response until after the release of the Aviation Week report.

Both Washington and Beijing are party to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (Beijing signed in 1983), although the treaty's vague wording fails even to define "outer space." Moreover, the treaty does not legally prohibit interference with other satellites or the use of non-nuclear ASATs.

Because of a lack of accuracy, early U.S. and Soviet ASAT programs both used nuclear warheads, including a successful U.S. "intercept" in 1963 that used a 1-megaton warhead. The Air-Launched Miniature Vehicle used a two-stage rocket fired from an F-15 Eagle fighter to insert a Miniature Homing Vehicle (MHV) into orbit. The MHV conducted a successful heat-seeking intercept in 1985 before being canceled, although the remaining ordnance might have been retained in storage.

Legality aside, the increasing visibility and aggressiveness of China's pursuit of offensive space capability represents a potential future threat to U.S. military dominance in space. In December, Robert Joseph, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, issued a public reminder of official U.S. Air Force doctrine: The United States opposes any further ban on the weaponization of space. Although the U.S. Air Force rightly considers itself the master of its domain in space operations, these developments halfway around the world are a painful reminder that such dominance will not go unchallenged.

The U.S. military's technological edge rests heavily in space. With the assets currently orbiting the Earth, U.S. communication, navigation and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities are unsurpassed. From GPS-guided munitions and MASINT to launch detection and links to strategic forces, space is vital to the modern U.S. military. One or two ASATs cannot change that. But in a major military confrontation over Taiwan, for instance, a successful strike by a dozen Chinese ASATs would be a significant blow to Washington's situational awareness in the region -- and would result in massive U.S. retaliation.

Prudence would suggest that if two Chinese programs to develop the capability to control space have recently come to light, at least several more are in the works. And this is not China's first foray into space.

The U.S. Air Force is certainly far ahead of China -- or any other nation, for that matter -- in what the 2004 Air Force Counterspace Operations doctrine calls the "five Ds" of targeting an adversary's space system: deception, disruption, denial, degradation and destruction. Nevertheless, China's rise as a competitor should be of particular concern to the United States. Beijing's first attempts to control space will not be an effort to match U.S. capabilities but rather to become master of its own domain above East Asia. Facing the major competitor in all of space, China will tailor its offensive space capability specifically toward countering U.S. dominance -- at least in part. Tokyo and other challengers to Beijing's regional hegemony, however, will not be far behind.

The new cloud of debris orbiting the Earth is an indication of things to come should two space-faring nations face off in a major conflict. Especially in the case of the United States, space-based assets have become too essential an operational tool to be ignored any longer in times of war.

Click HERE to see image...

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China successfully carried out its first test of an antisatellite weapon last week, signaling its resolve to play a major role in military space activities and bringing expressions of concern from Washington and other capitals, the Bush administration said yesterday.

Only two nations — the Soviet Union and the United States — have previously destroyed spacecraft in antisatellite tests, most recently the United States in the mid-1980s.

Arms control experts called the test, in which the weapon destroyed an aging Chinese weather satellite, a troubling development that could foreshadow an antisatellite arms race. Alternatively, however, some experts speculated that it could precede a diplomatic effort by China to prod the Bush administration into negotiations on a weapons ban.

"This is the first real escalation in the weaponization of space that we've seen in 20 years," said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launchings and space activity. "It ends a long period of restraint."

White House officials said the United States and other nations, which they did not identify, had "expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese." Despite its protest, the Bush administration has long resisted a global treaty banning such tests because it says it needs freedom of action in space.

Jianhua Li, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said that he had heard about the antisatellite story but that he had no statement or information.

At a time when China is modernizing its nuclear weapons, expanding the reach of its navy and sending astronauts into orbit for the first time, the test appears to mark a new sphere of technical and military competition. American officials complained yesterday that China had made no public or private announcements about its test, despite repeated requests by American officials for more openness about its actions.

The weather satellite hit by the weapon had circled the globe at an altitude of roughly 500 miles. In theory, the test means that China can now hit American spy satellites, which orbit closer to Earth. The satellites presumably in range of the Chinese missile include most of the imagery satellites used for basic military reconnaissance, which are essentially the eyes of the American intelligence community for military movements, potential nuclear tests and even some counterterrorism, and commercial satellites.

Experts said the weather satellite's speeding remnants could pose a threat to other satellites for years or even decades.

In late August, President George W. Bush authorized a new national space policy that ignored calls for a global prohibition on such tests. The policy said the United States would "preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space" and "dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so." It declared the United States would "deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."

The Chinese test "could be a shot across the bow," said Theresa Hitchens, director of the Center for Defense Information, a private group in Washington that tracks military programs. "For several years, the Russians and Chinese have been trying to push a treaty to ban space weapons. The concept of exhibiting a hard-power capability to bring somebody to the negotiating table is a classic cold war technique."

Gary Samore, the director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview: "I think it makes perfect sense for the Chinese to do this both for deterrence and to hedge their bets. It puts pressure on the U.S. to negotiate agreements not to weaponize space."

Hitchens and other critics have accused the administration of conducting secret research on advanced antisatellite weapons using lasers, which are considered a far speedier and more powerful way of destroying satellites than the weapons of two decades ago.

The White House statement, issued by the National Security Council, said China's "development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area."

An administration official who had reviewed the intelligence about China's test said the launching was detected by the United States in the early evening of Jan. 11, which would have been early morning on Jan. 12 in China. American satellites tracked the launching of the medium-range ballistic missile, and later space radars saw the debris.

The antisatellite test was first reported late Wednesday on the Web site of Aviation Week and Space Technology, an industry magazine. It said intelligence agencies had yet to "complete confirmation of the test."

The test, the magazine said, appeared to employ a ground-based interceptor that used the sheer force of impact rather than an exploding warhead to shatter the satellite.

Dr. McDowell of Harvard said the satellite was known as Feng Yun, or "wind and cloud." Launched in 1999, it was the third in a series. He said that it was a cube measuring 4.6 feet on each side, and that its solar panels extended about 28 feet. He added that it was due for retirement but that it still appeared to be electronically alive, making it an ideal target.

"If it stops working," he said, "you know you have a successful hit."

David C. Wright, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a private group in Cambridge, Mass., said he calculated that the Chinese satellite had shattered into 800 fragments four inches wide or larger, and millions of smaller pieces.

The Soviet Union conducted roughly a dozen antisatellite tests from 1968 to 1982, Dr. McDowell said, adding that the Reagan administration carried out its experiments in 1985 and 1986.

The Bush administration has conducted research that critics say could produce a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would be used against enemy satellites.

The largely secret project, parts of which were made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress last year, appears to be part of a wide-ranging administration effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive.

The administration's laser research is far more ambitious than a previous effort by the Clinton administration to develop an antisatellite laser, though the administration denies that it is an attempt to build a laser weapon.

The current research takes advantage of an optical technique that uses sensors, computers and flexible mirrors to counteract the atmospheric turbulence that seems to make stars twinkle. The weapon would essentially reverse that process, shooting focused beams of light upward with great clarity and force.

Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a group that studies national security, called the Chinese test very un-Chinese.

"There's nothing subtle about this," he said. "They've created a huge debris cloud that will last a quarter century or more. It's at a higher elevation than the test we did in 1985, and for that one the last trackable debris took 17 years to clear out."

Krepon added that the administration had long argued that the world needed no space-weapons treaty because no such arms existed and because the last tests were two decades ago. "It seems," he said, "that argument is no longer operative."

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PAKISTAN AND U.S. - STILL BEST OF FRIENDS?   

Pakistan and the United States have been shoulder to shoulder in fighting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the rugged mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the U.S. declared its war on terror in 2001. But five years down the road there seems to be some strains in the relationship between the allies.

Read full article here: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/19/36666.aspx

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Six Arab states join rush to go nuclear
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia seek atom technology.

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Read the full article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2436948,00.html

10 May 2006 - Have 200,000 AK47's Fallen Into the Hands of Iraqi Terrorists? - Fears Over Secret U.S. Arms Shipment.
< Short URL Link to article >

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** Resourcing blamed over July bombs **
A lack of resources stopped security services from uncovering the 7 July London bomb plot, a report says.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4757915.stm >

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China May Be Funding Cyber Invaders Intrusions Into US Defense Department Computer Systems To Look For Defense Logistics Data

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33530&printerfriendlyVers=1&

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Microsoft Says it Did Not Provide Info Leading to Chinese Web Journalist's Arrest

http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2006/0,4814,109335,00.html
Chinese HotMail User Charged With Subversion
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/07/ms_cyberdissident_denial/print.html

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Elite Troops Get Expanded Role on Intelligence Click Here - NY Times March 8, 2006

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U.K.-Russian Spy Scandal: Terrorism Intelligence Caught Between a 'Rock' and a Hard Place
January 27, 2006 18 57  GMT

More to come...