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Old August 24th, 2014 #61
Alex Linder
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Admiral Sees Storm Clouds Over Red China
Source: FreeRepublic.com “A Conservative News Forum”

Admiral Sees Storm Clouds Over Red China

By Richard Halloran ,THE WASHINGTON TIMES HONOLULU

Washington Times, 02-20-99 Richard Holloran

The United States faces a period of difficult relations with China in the months immediately ahead, according to the outgoing commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific and Asia.

Adm. Joseph Prueher, who is turning over his command here Feb. 19 after three years in the post, said China is having problems maintaining its economic growth rate and might run into widespread unemployment.

If China’s economic plans start to crumble, Adm. Prueher said, that would generate “great problems with stability.” As Chinese leaders seek to stabilize the nation, he added in an interview, “that bleeds into human rights, it bleeds into control. It’s a dilemma and that creates a problem with the United States.”

Adm. Prueher is turning over the command to Adm. Dennis Blair, who has been director of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.

Looking ahead, Adm. Prueher remarked: “I think our approach needs to be one of respect and also of strength in dealing and working and moving forward with the Chinese.”

The course that Adm. Prueher advocates contrasts with inconsistencies in the administration’s policy.

President Clinton, for instance, was conciliatory toward the Chinese during his trip to China in June, but Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright recently gave them a tongue-lashing at an embassy reception in Washington.

Despite differences, Adm. Prueher said he was optimistic about U.S. relations with China, notably those he has cultivated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

In the long run, Adm. Prueher said he believes the Chinese are seeking to revive the concept of the Middle Kingdom in which China dominates Asia.

“The Chinese believe they are the hub of the region,” he said. “At some point in the future, they would like to have everyone in the region have to have China’s approval for whatever they might want to do.”

In Shanghai recently, Adm. Prueher cautioned the Chinese that the United States seeks to ensure “that no hostile coalition arises” in Asia. “It is not in our mutual interest for any state, including the United States, to become a Pacific hegemony,” he said.

With China and North Korea building long-range missiles, Adm. Prueher predicts the United States will build a missile-defense system in the western Pacific — a prospect that has generated vigorous protests from Beijing.

Adm. Prueher, however, was adamant. “We would be irresponsible as nations develop missiles if we did not worry hard as we send our troops and our ships and our aircraft around the world,” he said. “So we are going to do theater missile defense. We will do it in the Pacific.”

Whether that would include Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty, was left open. Adm. Prueher said only: “We’ve had no discussions with Taiwan on that.”

Adm. Prueher said the possibility of hostilities had been discussed with senior officers of the Peoples Liberation Army, as well as with military leaders of Taiwan, with which the United States has quasi-diplomatic relations.

“All of us agree that bringing the China-Taiwan issue to a military type of confrontation is a no-winner,” he said. “That path doesn’t take anybody anywhere any of us want to go.”

Asked about the sea lane through the South China Sea — which is vital to the economies of East Asia and, indirectly, the industrial world –Adm. Prueher said, “We support freedom of navigation,” even though China claims sovereignty over a number of islands in that sea.

Adm. Prueher said that 114 ships a day, or 41,600 a year, pass through the Straits of Malacca at the southern entrance to the waterway, with most turning toward Northeast Asia. In contrast, 42 ships a day, or 15,300 a year, pass through the Panama Canal.

To preserve the freedom of navigation, Adm. Prueher said, “We have a fairly robust military presence transiting through the South China Sea frequently,” including amphibious ships loaded with Marines.

“We do not advertise it a lot,” he said, “but we’re looking at making a little bigger show of our presence there than we have in the past.”

On other issues, Adm. Prueher said:

The United States should pay more attention to Indonesia because that nation, troubled by economic calamity and political distress, sits athwart the Straits of Malacca and is the strategic center of Southeast Asia.

Indonesia’s army has been criticized for being heavy-handed in seeking to keep order, but Adm. Prueher argued it has done a “good job at keeping anarchy from prevailing.”

Japanese and Americans, including Congress, should be more aware of the mutual costs and benefits of stationing U.S. forces in Japan. Japan pays $5 billion a year in support and bears the irritations of foreign troops on its soil.

The United States defends Japan with soldiers and sailors who would rather serve at home. “In most of the dialogue I hear,” Adm. Prueher said, “all of these costs and mutual benefits are not usually brought out.”

The Pacific Command has sufficient forces to meet an emergency in Korea or “for any contingency we think is remotely likely,” even though units have been dispatched to the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere in Europe.

But the command is deficient in communications, logistics, intelligence, mobility and base facilities. A year from now, staff officers said, those shortcomings will begin to hurt.



Mission to Beijing: Troubled times with the Middle
Kingdom

by Richard Halloran, Special to The Times

A year of turbulence in U.S. discourse with China has plunged relations to the lowest point since American and Chinese fought each other in the three year Korean War that ended in 1953. That makes for a formidable challenge confronting the prospective American ambassador to Beijing, retired Admiral Joseph W. Prueher.

Quarrels between Beijing and Washington erupt almost by the day. On the front burner now are President Clinton’s proposal to Congress that China’s trade status be renewed under the Normal Trade Relations act, known before as Most Favored Nation. That will surely trigger off vigorous criticism on Capitol Hill and an equally vehement response from Beijing.

In addition, Chinese President Jiang Zemin has told Clinton that China is not interested in reopening discussions on China’s admission to the World Trade Organization because Sino-U.S. relations are not good. The Chinese are angry because the U.S. has been blocking Beijing’s admission to the WTO until Beijing removes what Washington considers to be protectionist trade barriers.

Further, the Justice Department in Washington is reportedly considering an indictment against a Chinese company for alleged violation of U.S. export laws by diverting civilian equipment to military use. That is almost certain to provoke a heated response from Beijing.

Earlier, unanimous resolutions passed by the House and Senate condemned Beijing for killing unknown hundreds of protesters in Tiananmen Square 10 years ago on June 4. The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, charged that “the U.S. Congress brazenly and peremptorily interfered in China’s internal affairs.”

Those resolutions were overshadowed by the raging dispute over the Cox Report alleging that Chinese agents had stolen U.S. nuclear secrets and conducted 20 years of intelligence operations through 3000 “front” companies. The chairman of the bipartisan House committee that compiled the report, Rep. Christopher Cox, Republican of California, said China “has mounted a widespread effort to obtain U.S. military technology by any means, legal or illegal.”

Chinese officials first scoffed at the report as the work of Americans “clinging to the Cold War mentality,” then fired a furious barrage asserting that it raised “the specter of McCarthyism,” was filled with “malign slander,” and was a “fabrication” that should be repudiated by President Clinton.

Several days earlier, the Chinese revived the ancient tactic of keeping the barbarian waiting at the gate to underscore Chinese superiority. President Jiang Zemin stalled for a week before picking up the telephone to accept President Clinton’s apologies for the NATO bombing of Beijing’s embassy in Belgrade in early May. Clinton said the bombing was an accident; Jiang insisted it was deliberate to humiliate China.

Afterward, Jiang asserted: “The United States continues to pursue hegemonism and power politics and wantonly interferes in the internal affairs of other countries.” He was echoed by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, which contended that the recent expansion of NATO, a new U.S.-Japan defense agreement, and “aggression against Yugoslavia” were part of a U.S. strategy for “world hegemony.” Hegemony is China’s buzzword for domination.

The assault on the American embassy in Beijing by government-sponsored demonstrators in retaliation for hitting the Chinese embassy in Belgrade has triggered a backlash. A former ambassador to Beijing, Winston Lord, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “the Beijing government has exploited the NATO blunder in an extremely provocative, irresponsible and dangerous manner.”

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, told the London Daily Telegraph that the Chinese “have got to start showing some maturity here and right now, otherwise, we are going to end up in a confrontation, which is in the interest of neither country.”

The next outburst will probably be provoked when Clinton asks Congress to renew China’s trading status under Normal Trade Relations, formerly known as Most Favored Nation. Many members of Congress may object vigorously, thus roiling the waters in Washington even more. Clinton’s China policy has been shredded by dissent in Congress and even in the search for an envoy to replace Ambassador James Sasser, who planned many months ago to resign. Five or six politicians and diplomats turned down the position, a silent critique on Clinton because rarely in the American tradition does anyone decline a request by the president to serve.

Then the job was offered to Adm. Prueher, former commander of U.S. Pacific forces, with headquarters in Hawaii. But it came under a cloud. The staff of the National Security Council leaked word of the appointment, perhaps as a trial balloon. Critics in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill have contended that Prueher became cozy with Chinese military leaders in promoting exchanges, even though his message was explicit: Do not miscalculate U.S. military capabilities.

White House spokesmen did not deny the leaks but neither did they confirm them. Prueher has had no comment on his nomination, which must be confirmed by the Senate. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and a critic of Clinton, heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will conduct hearings.

Prueher will most likely advocate the balanced strategy he forged during his tenure as Pacific commander. “I think our approach needs to be one of respect and also of strength in dealing and working and moving forward with the Chinese,” he said.

His respect for China, he said, came from challenges of governance – providing food, clothing, shelter, jobs and energy for 1.2 billion people.

“I think it’s going to be more difficult in the months ahead,” Prueher said, because many economists estimate that China’s growth rate has been 5.5 percent instead of the nearly 8 percent claimed by Beijing. They say 8 percent is needed to keep unemployment at a tolerable rate.

Added to China’s economic problems at home are those with Washington, which is angry about the $57 billion trade deficit with China caused by Beijing’s protectionist barriers.

The strength on which Prueher would rely is U.S. military power. In 1996, he recommended and Washington approved the dispatch of two aircraft carriers to the waters east of Taiwan after China fired missiles toward that island, considered a breakaway province by Beijing.

In addition, Prueher cultivated professional relations with leaders of China’s People’s Liberation Army, to assure them that the U.S. does not intend to contain China and to caution them against military miscalculation, the greatest cause of war. He made these points in private conversations and public pronouncements.

Prueher has also been adamant in urging the U.S. and its allies in East Asia to build a regional defense against expanding Chinese and North Korean missile forces. The Chinese have been equally adamant in opposing the plan because it would render most of their missiles obsolete.

In the past three years, Prueher has become an avid student of China. He has read Chinese strategists from Sun Tzu of the fifth century, B.C., to Mao Tse-tung in the 20th century, talked with scholars from Stanford to Harvard, made a half-dozen trips to China, and read a flood of intelligence reports “to learn more about Chinese culture as an influence on their decision-making, more than Communism.”

In the concept of the Middle Kingdom, China sees itself as a dominant power with other states submitting tribute. Prueher said “the Chinese believe they are the hub in the region.” Therefore, they “would like to have everyone in the region have to have China’s approval for whatever they might want to do.”

Richard Halloran, former foreign and military correspondent with The New York Times, writes on Asia from Honolulu.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #62
Alex Linder
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Barak Tries to Resolve Plane Dispute
Source: The Associated Press-NY-07-03-00 1217EDT

Barak Tries To Resolve Plane Dispute

By Mark Lavie, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP)–Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Monday he doesn’t want to hurt ties with the United States over Israel’s planned sale of a spy plane to China–a comment that came amid growing indications the deal could be called off.

Israel is looking to solve the problem without creating an “an obstacle in our relations with the United States,” Barak said. He did not mention damage to relations with China if the deal is canceled. China is a major purchaser of Israeli arms.

Israel’s planned sale of the plane, called PHALCON, has become a stumbling block between Israel and the United States in recent months.

The United States insists that Israel scrap the sale, pointing to tensions between China and Taiwan and expressing concern that China could use the plane to track American planes if hostilities erupt. In the U.S. Congress, representatives from both parties have threatened to cut American aid to Israel if the deal goes through. Israel receives $1.9 billion in annual defense aid from the United States.

But the Israelis say the U.S. government is trying to undermine Israeli competition for arms markets in Asia. They warn that if they have to cancel a signed contract with China, it would harm their future credibility in arms deals.

With the Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty talks in a critical phase, Barak depends on the Clinton administration’s good will. The Israeli leader has been urging President Clinton to convene a trilateral summit with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in which the leaders would try to finalize a peace accord.

If such an agreement is reached, Israel would ask for billions of dollars in additional U.S. aid–something Congress would be unlikely to approve as long as the disagreement over the spy plane has not been resolved.

Israeli newspapers and others have begun raising the possibility of American compensation to Israel for calling off the spy plane deal. Last week, an Israeli Cabinet minister close to Barak said it was in Israel’s interest to cancel the deal. And during last week’s one-day visit by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, both Barak and Foreign Minister David Levy referred to the plane deal and said Israel would take no steps that would harm American interests.

The PHALCON deal includes a Chinese option to buy up to four more of the spy planes, which are built on a Russian chassis with Israeli technology.

(Webmaster’s Note: , if you believe that this is “Israeli technology,” I have some Manhatten real estate I would like to sell you for real cheap. Keep in mind that this reporter, Mark Lavie… is a Jew)

Copyright 2000, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Source: The Associated Press-NY-07-04-00 1746EDT
Israel Might Sell PHALCON

JERUSALEM (AP)–Israel will propose selling an advanced airborne warning system to China through a third country in hopes of
reducing U.S. pressure to drop the sale, an Israeli TV channel reported Tuesday. Channel Two said Israel’s ambassador to
Washington, David Ivri, and Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh would present the proposal to U.S. administration officials in
the coming days. The report, which cited unnamed Israeli defense officials, did not name a proposed third country.

Sneh’s aide, Hillel Fertouk, denied the report. Israel has come under tough criticism in Congress for going ahead with the
$250 million sale of the PHALCON advanced warning system to China. Some members of Congress say the system presents
an immediate threat to Taiwan, and a potential threat to U.S. air forces who could conceivably be involved in defending Taiwan.

Israel has all but agreed to give up further PHALCON sales to China, but fears that scrapping this one–after the Chinese have
already paid $100 million toward the sale–would undercut its carefully cultivated reputation as a reliable arms dealer. Selling
the plane through a third party could allow Israel to lower the sale’s profile in the United States, while saving face with the Chinese.

Congressional efforts last month to punish Israel for the sale by cutting its aid collapsed under pressure from the Clinton
administration. But the U.S. ambassador to Israel warned that the danger of damage to relations still existed.

In recent weeks, some Israeli officials have noted that U.S. sales to Saudi Arabia–technically at war with Israel, and
vulnerable to a takeover by militant anti-Western Islamic militants _ have included advanced radar systems and combat aircraft.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #63
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Barak Won't Cancel China Deal
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Barak Won’t Cancel China Deal

By Sari Bashi, Associated Press Writer

Monday, April 3, 2000; 10:45 a.m. EDT

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak today turned down a request by visiting U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen to cancel a deal to sell a sophisticated airborne surveillance system to China.

Barak said he was aware of U.S concern over escalating tensions between China and U.S.-backed Taiwan but that Israel had already signed a contract to equip a plane with the system for China.

The United States has on several occasions expressed its displeasure over Israel’s $250 million plan, announced in November, to sell China the AWACS system, which allows aircraft to conduct long-range radar surveillance and coordinate forces during battle.

A plane outfitted with the system is to be delivered to China soon, and the sale of two more planes is being negotiated.

“The United States does not support the sale of this kind of technology to … China because of the potential of changing the strategic balance in that region,” Cohen told a news conference. “With tensions running as high as they are in China and Taiwan, we see this as being counterproductive.

“I have expressed that to the prime minister,” Cohen added.

Israeli media reports said the United States has linked some of its annual $3 billion in foreign aid to Israel to cancellation of the deal. Cohen did not mention any possible repercussions.

Barak, who also serves as defense minister, said he was aware of the need to coordinate sensitive arms deals with the United States. But, he said, “We of course are aware of our commitments in the contracts we have signed.”

He left open the possibility of taking U.S. interests into consideration in future deals, like the proposal to provide two additional planes to China.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #64
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Beijing Rockets Target US Cities
The New Australian, No. 75, 4-10 May

Beijing rockets target US cities: is this China’s price
for funding the Clintons’ campaign?

It is now being why Clinton insisted on the transfer of sensitive technology to China that would improve the accuracy of its ICBMs. This technology quickly found its way into ICBMs that are now aimed at American cities. Despite Clinton’s denial that China has targeted the US, the CIA has conclusive proof to the contrary. This denial, like so many of his other denials, is completely without substance.

Despite detailed intelligence briefs, Clinton approved the export of hi-tech know-how to China by Loral, now under investigation by a federal grand jury. That the deal may have involved classified information does not seem to have fazed Clinton one bit. In addition, last year Bernard Schwarze, Loral’s chairman and CEO, made the largest personal contribution to the Democratic National Committee. Now it seems we have it: Clinton gets what he wants, Beijing gets what it wants, Schwartz gets what he wants and Americans get to be targets for Chinese missiles. Guess who’s got the biggest grin. This is not to suggest that Clinton deliberately endangered his country, only that he is totally irresponsible, lacking even the most rudimentary sense of patriotism and guided only by semi-digested ’60s dogma and the kind of short term gratification that he should have left behind in kindergarten. (His wife, however, is a very different kettle of fish.)

The whole squalid trail leads right back to Chinese funding for the Clintons’ election campaign. Anyone who thinks the Chinese would fund anyone without getting something in exchange is definitely inhaling. The CIA and FBI have ample evidence that Beijing ran agents in the US in the guise of fund-raisers. Charlie Trie, who contributed $US640,000 to Clinton’s defence fund, is unquestionably considered to be one of those agents. It was Charlie who introduced Clinton to the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Polytech at a White House fund-raiser. This gentleman, surprise, surprise, is also known to be strongly connected with Chinese intelligence. Not that this would bother Clinton who seems to think everything is for sale, even national security. After all, if he were genuinely concerned with security he would not have ignored the intelligence briefs that the CIA gave him.

There is little doubt that there have been serious security leaks from the White House. Equally, there is little doubt in the minds of some the sources of those leaks.

Hillary Clinton took it upon herself, with her husband’s support, to appoint a great many of the White House staff. Many of these appointees are known for their very strong left-wing views and their belief that the US is an unjust society that needs radical changes. It should come as no surprise if this deep-rooted animosity to their own country should take the form of an occasional phone call to a Chinese agent. Of course, this raises the question of why Hillary was so keen on appointing people who despise their own society. But maybe that’s something she shares with them.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #65
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China Arms Deal at Root of Israel-US Dispute
China Arms Deal at Root of Israel-U.S. Dispute

By Aluf Benn, 04/02/2000, Ha’aretz

As Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak waits for U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen to arrive tomorrow, he is leaning toward carrying through the large arms deal between Israel and China, despite the tremendous American pressure on him to cancel the deal.

China purchased an early warning aircraft (AWACS) from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), which incorporates an advanced Israeli-made radar with a Russian-made transport aircraft. While the first such aircraft is being built, options for other aircraft involve several hundreds of millions of dollars. The Defense Ministry believes that Beijing is interested in exercising its option to acquire more early warning aircraft.

Government sources said on the weekend that Israel has a “vital interest” in close ties with China, both because it is an up-and-coming superpower, and also because of its links with Iran and other Gulf states.

Barak has not yet decided how to present his position to Cohen in view of the opposition the secretary of defense is expected to raise to the China deal. Chinese president Jiang Zemin is expected to arrive on his first state visit to Israel next week and his itinerary includes a tour of IAI.

Israel’s China policy has become the sorest point in relations with Washington during Barak’s tenure in office. The U.S. argues that transfering advanced military technology to China upsets the balance of power between China and Taiwan and may present a threat to American forces in east Asia.

Washington has transmitted this message to Israel through every available channel, including government officials, Congressmen and key figures in the American defense establishment.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced that “we take very seriously what the Americans are saying. The issue is being examined on various levels and a decision has not yet been made.” However, the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry seem to have differing opinions on the matter, with the former supporting the deal while the diplomatic service believes that Israel’s relations with the United States must be given preference.

Observers feel that behind Barak’s tendency to support the Defense Ministry’s position lies a belief that Israel is less sensitive to American pressure in light of the stalemate in the negotiations with Syria. There had been concerns in Jerusalem that the U.S. Congress would demand that Israel cancel its deal with China in return for the aid package Barak requested as part of the process of withdrawing from the Golan Heights following a peace agreement with Syria. Israel also has reason to be optimistic because Taiwan’s newly elected government is taking steps to lessen tensions with China.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #66
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China Cautions Israel Against Selling AWACS to India
Source: The Times of India | Tuesday, January 1, 2002

China Cautions Israel Against Selling
AWACS to India

BEIJING: In a veiled attack on Israel, China on Thursday cautioned countries against doing anything that would endanger peace and stability in South Asia in the wake of reports that Israel was planning to sell advanced Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) to India.

“We hope that the various countries will make their efforts to preserve stability and peace in South Asia,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters here when asked to comment on reports that Israel may sell the Phalcon AWACS system to India.

“There are some press reports that Israel wishes to sell the early warning system to some other countries. We have taken notice of that,” Zhang said.

The Phalcon radar, developed jointly [Bullshit!] by the US and Israel, can simultaneously track up to 60 targets over 800 km radius to support defensive and offensive operations.

China’s relations with Israel is reportedly under strain after the latter cancelled a firm order to sell Phalcon radar to the communist giant under strong US pressure in June 2000.

The US had expressed deep concern over the possible sale [They already have it] of Phalcon to China which would have given Beijing a decisive military edge over Taiwanese and US fighters in any conflict over the Taiwan issue.

Commenting on Sino-Israeli negotiations on a compensation amount, Zhang said the talks are still continuing.

As for the questions between China and Israel, the two sides are still holding consultations with each other. We hope that the Israeli side will make positive efforts for the improvement of bilateral ties, Zhang said.

China is reportedly demanding that Israel either uphold its contract or, according to unconfirmed figures published in an Israeli newspaper, pay China $1.26 billion as compensation.

This figure includes $232 million paid as advance for the first plane, one billion dollars as compensation and $28 million as interest on the advance payment.

However, Zhang did not comment on the compensation figure of $1.26 billion.

( PTI )
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #67
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China Deploys Drones From Israel
Source: The Washington Times | Published 7/2/2002

China Deploys Drones from Israel

by Bill Gertz

U.S. intelligence agencies have identified an Israeli-made anti-radar weapon deployed with Chinese forces opposite Taiwan, The Washington Times has learned.

Several “Harpy” drone weapons were spotted with Chinese military forces engaged in large-scale exercises in southern Fujian province opposite Taiwan, said defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“The Chinese were observed moving them close to the coast,” said one official, who declined to say how many of the weapons were seen.

The Harpy is an unmanned weapon equipped with anti-radar sensors and a bomb. The weapon flies near a target radar for up to two hours and once illuminated by electronic waves is guided to the target and explodes.

U.S. intelligence officials said the Harpys identified with Chinese forces were equipped with anti-radar bomb systems and were not reconnaissance drones.

China’s military has been engaged in large-scale military exercises opposite Taiwan for the past several weeks. At least 100,000 troops have been deployed in exercises near Dongshan island along the Chinese coast.

Doron Suslik, a spokesman for the division of Israel Aircraft Industries that manufactures the Harpy, declined to comment in an e-mail message when asked whether the company sold the drone to China.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on reports of China’s acquisition of the Israeli weapon.

The propeller-driven Harpy system has been in use by Israel’s military for decades and was first used during the 1973 Middle East war.

The drone has a 6-foot wingspan, is 7 feet long and can loiter over a target for more than two hours before attacking. It has a range of up to 210 miles and a high-explosive warhead weighing about 48 pounds.

According to defense analysts, South Korea purchased 100 Harpys in 1997. The Indian armed forces also have the weapon.

Disclosure of the Harpy deployment by China comes as Beijing last week test-fired a new Russian-made air-to-air missile, which also is a new weapons capability for Beijing in its standoff with Taiwan.

Richard Fisher, a specialist on the Chinese military, said the Harpy is a new capability for the Chinese military, which also has Russian-made anti-radar missiles.

“This is only an offensive weapon, and on the Taiwan Strait it is a particularly threatening device,” Mr. Fisher said in an interview. “Its only purpose is to take out Taiwan’s electric eyes and ears and to make Taiwan vulnerable to Chinese missiles and bombs.”

China has threatened to use force to reunite the island with the mainland if Taiwan’s government were to declare formal independence.

Israel Aircraft Industries stated on its Web site that the Harpy system “is currently operational with several air forces, and is the only existing operation attack [unmanned aerial vehicle] system.” The drone is launched from a vehicle.

Israel in recent years has become a major supplier of weapons and weapons technology to China.

Israel’s government stopped the sale of four Israeli airborne warning-and-control aircraft known as Phalcon in 2000 under pressure from the United States.

In 1992, the Pentagon investigated intelligence reports that Israel covertly exported U.S. Patriot missile technology to China. Israel and China denied the reports. U.S. intelligence officials were convinced the transfer took place.

Several weeks ago, a Chinese government technical journal stated in an article that it is possible to defeat the Patriot anti-missile systems by calculating the “optimum ejection altitude for the cargo projectile to avoid its being intercepted.”

U.S. officials said the article, which contained detailed technical specifications for the Patriot, such as speed and intercept capabilities, is a sign that China has obtained technical details of the missile system.

The United States deployed Patriots to Israel during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

Former CIA Director Robert Gates said in 1993 that he believed that China had acquired the Patriot technology, but government officials were divided about whether Israel had secretly supplied it.

In another case of China-Israel military cooperation, a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report stated in 1999 that Israel was suspected of sharing restricted U.S. weapons technology with China related to a battlefield laser gun.

Israeli agents attempted to obtain embargoed weapons know-how from U.S. defense contractors on the Tactical High-Energy Laser, known as THEL, the report said.

The DIA also stated that Israeli officials from the government-run Rafael arms company obtained restricted technology from U.S. defense contractor TRW in 1996.

The suspicions about the THEL weapons-technology transfer to China were based on reports from U.S. contractors in Israel who saw Chinese technicians working with one of the Israeli companies involved in the laser program and from a Chinese official with knowledge of the THEL.

The Israelis had been trying to obtain the source codes for the laser’s computer-targeting software so that the range of the weapon could be increased, U.S. officials said.

The DIA report stated that Israel Aircraft Industries had offered transfers of restricted weapons technology to foreign customers to try to conclude weapons deals. “IAI has transferred technology to China, possibly including U.S.-supplied technology,” the 1999 report said.

The discovery is likely to raise questions about whether the weapons contain U.S. technology, defense officials said.

The U.S. government imposed an embargo on weapons and weapon-related sales to China after Beijing’s military crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #68
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China Prepares for War Against the United States
Source: Newsmax, http://www.newsmax.com, November 15th 2000

China Eyes War vs. No.1 Enemy

[The author fails to mention Israel's role in arming communist China to the teeth with U.S. military technology. For more information on how the Jews sold us out, a betrayal which will someday result in hundrds of thousands, if not millions of White gentiles being killed, click here.]

Within the inner circles of Communist China, the possibility of waging war against the United States is coming to dominate the thinking of the leadership. According to a front-page story in the Wednesday issue of the Washington Post:

Writing recently in the China Military Science, the military’s pre-eminent open-source publication, one of the People’s Liberation Army strategists, Liu Jiangjia, stated bluntly:

“War is not far from us now. A new arms race has started to develop.”

That is typical of the latest line appearing in government pronouncements, stories in the state-run press, books and interviews.

They all routinely portray the United States as Enemy No. 1.

Strategists spend their time grappling publicly with the possibility that the United States and China will go to war, specifically over Taiwan.

At the basis of this is an obsession that the United States will not allow China to become strong and powerful.

It is a fear that seems to have unified Chinese officials of varying political persuasions. They are talking openly about the two nations heading for a military showdown in Asia in the next decade.

Beijing now regards the United States as actively, even belligerently, standing in the way of its two main goals in the region – recapturing Taiwan and controlling strategic shipping lanes in the South China Sea, through which most of Asia’s oil must transit.

This wasn’t the talk as recently as two years ago, when nearly all references to the United States were favorable, sometimes admiring.

The came the summit meeting between President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin.

Shen Dingli, a noted arms-control expert at Fudan University in Shanghai, put the Chinese perspective on that event this way:

“Jiang staked a lot of his credibility on improving ties with the United States. But after the summit in 1998 he had no successes, so he was weakened.

“The leadership tried their best, and their face was slapped by America. They must listen to the military now.

“China’s public view of the United States has changed quite seriously since 1998. The United States has been painted as a threat to Asian-Pacific security. We’ve never said it so bluntly before.

“China is more clearly preparing for a major clash with the United States.”

That is borne out by recent developments within the Chinese military capability and orientation:

The military modernization program is concentrating on upgrading and expanding its missiles, nuclear-warhead delivery systems and their accuracy.
China has already launched its first homemade navigation-positioning satellite, a cornerstone in its nuclear-warfare strategy.
The air force and navy are being upgraded by the acquisition of Russian-made Su-27 and Su-30 fighter jets, three Sovremenny-class destroyers armed with supersonic anti-ship missiles and at least two Kilo-class submarines.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #69
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China’s Arsenal: Born in America
Chinese Arsenal Born in America

By Rowan Scarborough

A confrontation between U.S. and Chinese fighter jets would find China equipped with weapons rooted in American technology and sent via Israel, military analysts say.

The White House is weighing the dramatic military move of providing fighter escorts for the normally solo EP-3E surveillance planes that routinely fly near the Chinese coastline in international airspace. When U.S. pilots are briefed on potential threats, they will study Chinese air-and land-based missiles that, weapons specialists say, could not have reached full potential without American know-how.

Chinese fighters carry Israel´s potent Python 3 heat-seeking missile, a weapon painstakingly developed by Israel based on the venerable Sidewinder missile that the United States gave to the Jewish state decades ago, say former intelligence officials. Reconnaissance photographs of Chinese F-8 fighters intercepting, and in some cases harassing, U.S. patrol planes clearly show the fast, short-range Pythons affixed under the fighters´ wings.

China has bought the rights to domestically produce the Python 3, an early 1990s transaction that the Pentagon says it learned of only after the fact. “I think we would have preferred to know in advance, but we didn´t get that,” said Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the Defense Department´s chief spokesman, expressing Washington´s latest irritation with Israel over arms deals with communist China.

Richard Fisher, a China analyst with the Jamestown Foundation who is writing a book about the People´s Liberation Army (PLA), has traced the Python´s maturation.

‘´The first of the Israeli Python family of missiles was the American Sidewinder,” said Mr. Fisher, a former aide to Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican. Mr. Cox led a 1999 congressional commission that concluded China was engaged in an extensive campaign to steal U.S. military secrets and technology.

“The Python 3 is completely different than the Sidewinder series,´´ Mr. Fisher said. “But without being able to copy the Sidewinder, the Israelis would not have been able to develop and produce the Python.”

The April 1 emergency landing of the Navy EP-3E surveillance plane, after a Python-armed Chinese F-8 fighter flew into its propeller, once again has thrown the spotlight on the Israel-China arms connection.

Larry M. Wortzel, a former U.S. military attache in Beijing and now an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said the Israel-China arms channel has flowed for more than 50 years. “It grew and grew, and the United States just winked at a number of serious transfers,” he said.

“China is benefiting from reverse-engineering American technology provided to Israel,” added Mr. Wortzel, a retired Army colonel who says he saw evidence of improper transfers while a counterintelligence officer in the 1980s.

When photographs surfaced of the Python 3 dogfight missile, it spurred China analysts to recall other Israeli sales — or purported transfers — of U.S. know-how to Beijing.

None matched the seriousness of a 1992 U.S. intelligence report that said Israel, in the immediate aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, transferred Patriot anti-missile data to China. The United States had given Patriots to Israel for protection against Iraqi Scud missile attacks. Tel Aviv vehemently denied the intelligence report, first disclosed by The Washington Times. In fact, Israel has denied several other accusations that it violated agreements by exporting restricted American technology it buys with yearly U.S. subsidies.

Richard B. Cheney, the defense secretary at the time, said he had ‘´good reason” to believe the Patriot diversion occurred. The Pentagon´s Defense Intelligence Agency compiled evidence substantiating the transfer. Yet a special State Department team said it could find no evidence that Israel, a close ally of Washington and beneficiary of $3 billion annually in U.S. economic and military aid, sold China Patriot secrets.

To this day, intelligence analysts in and out of government continue to stress that the transfer occurred.

Mr. Fisher believes advanced technology from the Patriot, a ground-based anti-aircraft and anti-missile interceptor, found its way into China´s new advanced surface-to-air missiles now on watch. He also believes the PLA used illicit Patriot data to improve M-9 short-range missiles aimed at Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway republic and has vowed to reincorporate with the mainland — by force if necessary.

“They used the information from the Patriot for the M-9 to be able to evade Patriot interception,” Mr. Fisher said. Taiwan operates Patriot batteries.

“Obtaining foreign technology and reverse-engineering technology is fundamental to the ongoing military modernization program,” he added. “They´re looking to reverse-engineer advanced military technology from wherever they can get it.”

Not long after the Patriot brouhaha subsided, Israel again was denying charges that it illegally exported U.S. technology to the communist regime in Beijing. This time, the suspicions revolved around the ill-fated Lavi fighter. Israel spent more than $1 billion in U.S. aid on the aircraft, which was based on the U.S. F-16 Falcon. After Israel ditched the program at Washington´s insistence, intelligence reports said Tel Aviv was selling the F-16 avionics technology to China for incorporation into that country´s new F-10 ground-attack fighter.

The Cox report confirmed the suspicion in 1999, stating, “Significant transfers of U.S. military technology have also taken place in the mid-1990s through the re-export by Israel of advanced technology transferred to it by the United States, including avionics and missile guidance useful for the PLA´s F-10 fighter.”

One of Israel´s most detailed explanations of its arms policies came last year in an op-ed article in The Washington Times by Lenny Ben-David, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy here.

“Israel´s ties with China do not and will not come at the expense of American national interests,” Mr. Ben-David wrote. “Israel will not permit that to happen.”

He added: “A strong indigenous Israeli arms industry is vital to Israel´s national interest.”

His column was prompted by another heated debate on the Israel-China connection — this one over Israel Aircraft Industries´ planned sale of the Phalcon early warning radar system that would be fitted inside Chinese patrol jets.

The Clinton administration objected. It feared a system much like the U.S. AWACS “over-the-horizon” radars would increase the danger to American aircraft that one day might be forced to confront China in defense of Taiwan. Israel denied Washington´s suspicions that U.S. technology was incorporated into Phalcon. Nonetheless, Tel Aviv canceled a deal potentially worth $2 billion in the long term, as some in Congress threatened to withhold aid.

Mr. Wortzel said the Reagan administration approved limited arms sales to China during the Cold War to offset Soviet military buildups. However, he said successive White Houses never have condoned the illegal transfer of high-technology items meant for Israel´s use only.

“It didn´t upset the security balance in the region. But now it does,” he said. “I think China´s behavior has changed. China now has the advantage of some of the best American-provided technology that it may use against the United States or certainly against Taiwan.”
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #70
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China's Secret Visit to Israel Military Industries
China’s Secret Visit to Israel Military Industries

Wednesday, December 1, 1999

The Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress, Li Peng, secretly visited Israel Military Industries yesterday, where he surveyed an aircraft fitted with the AWACS radar system that has been prepared especially for the Chinese air force. The visit had not been coordinated with the Defense Ministry and was added to the official’s timetable at the last moment.

The American magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology reports in its latest issue that the U.S. government has requested Israel to reconsider its deal with the Chinese. American air force experts claim that the system is capable of locating stealth aircraft and cruise missiles. They estimate that China will need four planes fitted with the system to operate 24 hours a day around the year. The periodical also claims that Israel has offered the system to India, South Korea and Turkey.

A senior source in Israel Military Industries called the American stance cynical and hypocritical.

Li wanted to visit Israel Military Industries in order to view the progress of the AWACS plane. Li Peng was welcomed by the company’s chairman, Uri Or, and CEO Moshe Karet. His visit was shrouded in secrecy, even the head of the company’s media department and its spokeswoman were not informed.

The early-warning system was built by Alta, a daughter company of Israel Military Industries and is considered a leader in the field. The system provides information on a 360 degree range of up to 360 kilometers. Along with locating stealth planes, it can also recognize warning systems in enemy planes.

The magazine adds that Israel has promised the United States that the system does not include American technology and that it had informed the U.S. government back in 1996 of its deal with the Chinese. The Israelis are asking why the American government did not involve itself when the British offered a similar system to the Chinese.

Israel is concerned about current pressure from the United States to cancel the deal with the Chinese.

The fear is that the Republican controlled Congress may threaten Israel’s security aid if Israel does not comply.

(c) copyright 1999 Ha’aretz. All Rights Reserved
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #71
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China's Strategic Threat to the United States
Source: By Jon E. Dougherty 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

China’s Strategic Threat to the United States:
Expert says Clinton administration oblivious

China wants the U.S. out of Asia, and will continue to upgrade and enhance its military capability to accomplish that goal, according to a senior congressional policy analyst.

Al Santoli, a foreign policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, and an analyst at the American Foreign Policy Council, believes current administration policies toward China of so-called “constructive engagement” are “worse than appeasement,” and will further jeopardize U.S. national security in the long run.

Santoli made his remarks in a telephone interview with WorldNetDaily, and was adamant that all indications point to the Chinese continuing their decade-long effort to obtain more sensitive U.S. technology before their “window of opportunity closes” at the end of the Clinton administration.

The latest attempt by China to obtain more U.S. technology occurred earlier this month, when Chinese businessman Collin Shu was arrested in Massachusetts trying to buy gyroscopes from U.S. undercover agents.

The gyroscopes are precision tools used to guide everything from missiles to smart bombs, and officials said that Shu was attempting to ship them to China through Canada via a front company he owns.

What is equally important, however, are the uses China has found for all the new knowledge. Both Rohrabacher and Santoli are worried that Chinese military buildups in key areas surrounding mainland China will not only threaten the stability of the region but make any eventual U.S. intervention costly and difficult.

Santoli told WorldNetDaily that while he believes the issue of Taiwan is currently the most contentious between the U.S. and China, he also indicated that a threat is emerging in the South China Sea because of China’s claim of sovereignty over a small collection of islands.

For years China has continued a military buildup in the Spratly Islands, adding a three-story structure and completing work on multiple helicopter pads and communications facilities all within the past 60 days.

Critics have denounced the opinions of Rohrabacher and Santoli as alarmist, but both men say their concerns are based on first-hand observations. Santoli is an expert in the area of Asian foreign policy and the California congressman has personally visited the Spratly Islands twice in the past several weeks.

Not only are new structures complete on portions of the island chain, but they added that more projects are already underway that will be completed over the next several months. The additional capabilities will put China in the best position to make good on their claim over the islands — reportedly rich in natural gas and oil — which will result in a likely foreign policy nightmare for the United States.

Other U.S. allies in the region also claim some or all of the Spratly Islands, but attempts to soften the Chinese position on the sovereignty issue have met with resistance.

As a result, the Clinton administration’s policies favoring the Chinese appear to legitimize their claim over the Spratlys which may have emboldened their efforts to beef up existing garrisons.

Because of the State Department’s willingness to ignore technology sales and transfers, and because of the Clinton administration’s continued ambivalence toward China, Santoli believes “we’re actually helping to facilitate the Chinese military buildup, especially with all this military-to-military cooperation.”

Last week Rohrabacher addressed these concerns in a letter he sent to Defense Secretary William Cohen. The Pentagon has just announced increased military ties with China in 1999, including high-level contacts that may end up providing the Chinese military with insights into improving logistics, battlefield tactics and technological efforts.

In his letter, the congressman said continuing to provide the Chinese with access to sensitive U.S. technology, military tactics and logistical expertise was “insanity.”

Rohrabacher wrote, “There is no country in the world that we are more likely to be at war with 10 years from now than Communist China, and here we are modernizing their military. It’s insanity.”

Santoli addressed a gambit of concerns he has with current U.S.-China policies. He spoke to issues of trade and appeasement, and summarized the current status of several Chinese military projects.

Most importantly, he pointed out that while it is not prudent to abandon all contact with the Chinese, it is foolish to believe they are the benevolent behemoth the administration says they are.

Santoli said the Chinese have been able to upgrade weapons systems so rapidly because of huge trade imbalances. He said, “We’ve got a $60 billion per year trade deficit with China, mostly because of the imbalance within import and export duties.” That imbalance, he explained, has enabled China to accumulate huge sums of disposable cash to purchase weapons, technology and expand their own domestic production capability.

Not only that, Santoli said, loopholes in U.S. trade policy with China “have made it very easy to continue to get access to U.S. technology, even today,” despite congressional reports that national security has been already been harmed due to the sale of sensitive technology. “Many PLA (People’s Liberation Army) businesses are fronts in Hong Kong, and the importation/exportation rules into Hong Kong from America are much less restrictive,” he said.

And he pointed some of the blame for lax trade policies on members of the White House advisory staff. For example, he said, before joining the Clinton White House as the president’s National Security Adviser, Sandy Berger had substantial business contacts in which have been enhanced since Clinton relaxed the technology export rules.

“The Commerce Department has definitely improved Mr. Berger’s business relationships,” Santoli said. And it is precisely these kinds of relationships throughout the Clinton administration that have led to a series of foreign policy gaffes and missteps.

Regarding the current status of Chinese weapons systems, Santoli said the PLA is making progress in a number of areas. Besides building their first supersonic bomber, the Hong-7, China has developed the first stages of an anti-satellite capability, are building anti-ship missiles that can be fired from helicopters, are expanding into a blue water navy, and have “an aggressive military aircraft production capability, which includes in-flight refueling capacity purchased from Russia.”

Santoli said China’s regional goal is simple. They “want the U.S. out of the Pacific and they want to dominate the region.” Admiral Joseph Prueher, outgoing commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific and Asia agrees, telling reporters last week, “At some point in the future they (the Chinese) would like to have everyone in the region have to have China’s approval for whatever they might want to do.”

Their military strategy for gaining influence is time-tested, Santoli explained. “Basically, they are island-hopping,” he said, referencing a military strategy widely used by the Japanese in the years leading up to World War II.

He said that since the Chinese do not currently possess the logistical capacity of the United States, they are acquiring existing land masses in the region and turning them “into floating military bases instead.”

For instance, China recently acquired the island of Tarawa — the site of a bloody World War II battle — from the island nation of Kiribati, where they have built a major satellite listening and observation post.

Tarawa is strategically located between the U.S. and the Chinese mainland, and is only about 1,500 miles from Hawaii. “It gives China the ability to monitor all U.S. anti-missile systems and missile tests,” Santoli said.

The Asian foreign policy expert said he also sees China simultaneously developing other military technologies that are designed to attack U.S. information systems. He explained that China is “very interested” in exploiting “asymmetrical warfare” — a concept that involves attacking an enemy’s satellites, computer systems, and information infrastructure.

He was also blunt about Chinese intentions towards Taiwan. “They want to take Taiwan over, pure and simple. Even last week they were talking about it,” he said, referring to China’s anger over U.S. intentions to construct an ad hoc missile defense system for Taiwan and Japan as a result of ongoing ballistic missile threats from both China and North Korea.

Santoli appeared skeptical about the U.S. decision, saying, “Any missile defense system in the short term would be inadequate” because “there really isn’t one that would go against the number of missiles China could deploy — at this time.”

Santoli also questioned China’s budding new relationship with Russia, calling it “a danger for us, but one that will end up being a mistake for Russia.”

He predicted that “they (the Chinese) will turn on Russia after they get what they want from them and after they deal with us,” and he dismissed recent attempts by Russia to include India in any future coalition with China as unworkable. “India just doesn’t trust the Chinese, and they aren’t enemies of ours — nor do they want to be.”

Finally, Santoli said he was not “quite as worried about Chinese aggression” during the final years of the Clinton administration as he is in the years immediately following the expiration of Clinton’s term.

He believes the Chinese know the window of opportunity to access U.S. technology will close soon, but he believes “they’ll have already perfected several new weapons systems and will be much more enhanced strategically by then,” he said.

“Some kind of confrontation with China could happen before then, but they’re really not ready yet,” he explained. “They want to build more missiles, improve their blue water navy, enhance their air forces, and perfect their high-tech anti-satellite capabilities.”
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #72
Alex Linder
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China’s Arsenal: Born in America
Chinese Arsenal Born in America

By Rowan Scarborough

A confrontation between U.S. and Chinese fighter jets would find China equipped with weapons rooted in American technology and sent via Israel, military analysts say.

The White House is weighing the dramatic military move of providing fighter escorts for the normally solo EP-3E surveillance planes that routinely fly near the Chinese coastline in international airspace. When U.S. pilots are briefed on potential threats, they will study Chinese air-and land-based missiles that, weapons specialists say, could not have reached full potential without American know-how.

Chinese fighters carry Israel´s potent Python 3 heat-seeking missile, a weapon painstakingly developed by Israel based on the venerable Sidewinder missile that the United States gave to the Jewish state decades ago, say former intelligence officials. Reconnaissance photographs of Chinese F-8 fighters intercepting, and in some cases harassing, U.S. patrol planes clearly show the fast, short-range Pythons affixed under the fighters´ wings.

China has bought the rights to domestically produce the Python 3, an early 1990s transaction that the Pentagon says it learned of only after the fact. “I think we would have preferred to know in advance, but we didn´t get that,” said Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the Defense Department´s chief spokesman, expressing Washington´s latest irritation with Israel over arms deals with communist China.

Richard Fisher, a China analyst with the Jamestown Foundation who is writing a book about the People´s Liberation Army (PLA), has traced the Python´s maturation.

‘´The first of the Israeli Python family of missiles was the American Sidewinder,” said Mr. Fisher, a former aide to Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican. Mr. Cox led a 1999 congressional commission that concluded China was engaged in an extensive campaign to steal U.S. military secrets and technology.

“The Python 3 is completely different than the Sidewinder series,´´ Mr. Fisher said. “But without being able to copy the Sidewinder, the Israelis would not have been able to develop and produce the Python.”

The April 1 emergency landing of the Navy EP-3E surveillance plane, after a Python-armed Chinese F-8 fighter flew into its propeller, once again has thrown the spotlight on the Israel-China arms connection.

Larry M. Wortzel, a former U.S. military attache in Beijing and now an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said the Israel-China arms channel has flowed for more than 50 years. “It grew and grew, and the United States just winked at a number of serious transfers,” he said.

“China is benefiting from reverse-engineering American technology provided to Israel,” added Mr. Wortzel, a retired Army colonel who says he saw evidence of improper transfers while a counterintelligence officer in the 1980s.

When photographs surfaced of the Python 3 dogfight missile, it spurred China analysts to recall other Israeli sales — or purported transfers — of U.S. know-how to Beijing.

None matched the seriousness of a 1992 U.S. intelligence report that said Israel, in the immediate aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, transferred Patriot anti-missile data to China. The United States had given Patriots to Israel for protection against Iraqi Scud missile attacks. Tel Aviv vehemently denied the intelligence report, first disclosed by The Washington Times. In fact, Israel has denied several other accusations that it violated agreements by exporting restricted American technology it buys with yearly U.S. subsidies.

Richard B. Cheney, the defense secretary at the time, said he had ‘´good reason” to believe the Patriot diversion occurred. The Pentagon´s Defense Intelligence Agency compiled evidence substantiating the transfer. Yet a special State Department team said it could find no evidence that Israel, a close ally of Washington and beneficiary of $3 billion annually in U.S. economic and military aid, sold China Patriot secrets.

To this day, intelligence analysts in and out of government continue to stress that the transfer occurred.

Mr. Fisher believes advanced technology from the Patriot, a ground-based anti-aircraft and anti-missile interceptor, found its way into China´s new advanced surface-to-air missiles now on watch. He also believes the PLA used illicit Patriot data to improve M-9 short-range missiles aimed at Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway republic and has vowed to reincorporate with the mainland — by force if necessary.

“They used the information from the Patriot for the M-9 to be able to evade Patriot interception,” Mr. Fisher said. Taiwan operates Patriot batteries.

“Obtaining foreign technology and reverse-engineering technology is fundamental to the ongoing military modernization program,” he added. “They´re looking to reverse-engineer advanced military technology from wherever they can get it.”

Not long after the Patriot brouhaha subsided, Israel again was denying charges that it illegally exported U.S. technology to the communist regime in Beijing. This time, the suspicions revolved around the ill-fated Lavi fighter. Israel spent more than $1 billion in U.S. aid on the aircraft, which was based on the U.S. F-16 Falcon. After Israel ditched the program at Washington´s insistence, intelligence reports said Tel Aviv was selling the F-16 avionics technology to China for incorporation into that country´s new F-10 ground-attack fighter.

The Cox report confirmed the suspicion in 1999, stating, “Significant transfers of U.S. military technology have also taken place in the mid-1990s through the re-export by Israel of advanced technology transferred to it by the United States, including avionics and missile guidance useful for the PLA´s F-10 fighter.”

One of Israel´s most detailed explanations of its arms policies came last year in an op-ed article in The Washington Times by Lenny Ben-David, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy here.

“Israel´s ties with China do not and will not come at the expense of American national interests,” Mr. Ben-David wrote. “Israel will not permit that to happen.”

He added: “A strong indigenous Israeli arms industry is vital to Israel´s national interest.”

His column was prompted by another heated debate on the Israel-China connection — this one over Israel Aircraft Industries´ planned sale of the Phalcon early warning radar system that would be fitted inside Chinese patrol jets.

The Clinton administration objected. It feared a system much like the U.S. AWACS “over-the-horizon” radars would increase the danger to American aircraft that one day might be forced to confront China in defense of Taiwan. Israel denied Washington´s suspicions that U.S. technology was incorporated into Phalcon. Nonetheless, Tel Aviv canceled a deal potentially worth $2 billion in the long term, as some in Congress threatened to withhold aid.

Mr. Wortzel said the Reagan administration approved limited arms sales to China during the Cold War to offset Soviet military buildups. However, he said successive White Houses never have condoned the illegal transfer of high-technology items meant for Israel´s use only.

“It didn´t upset the security balance in the region. But now it does,” he said. “I think China´s behavior has changed. China now has the advantage of some of the best American-provided technology that it may use against the United States or certainly against Taiwan.”
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #73
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Chinese Believed Preparing for a Nuclear Weapons Test
Source: www.washtimes.com | May 11, 2001

Chinese believed preparing for a nuclear weapons test

by Bill Gertz

China is stepping up preparations for an underground test at its Lop Nur nuclear weapons testing facility, according to U.S. intelligence officials. A test could be carried out in the next several days, they said.

Vehicle activity at the test site in the remote western province of Xinjiang was detected by spy satellites last week, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Intelligence reports of the upcoming test coincide with the resumption Monday of U.S. reconnaissance flights near China, which could be used to detect intelligence related to the test, the officials said.

The officials said they did not know if the RC-135 Rivet Joint flight on Monday was looking for electronic signals in eastern China that may be related to the test, but RC-135s have collected nuclear testing information from the Chinese in the past.

China is believed to be working on development of a new small warhead based on the design of the U.S. W-88 nuclear warhead. China obtained secret design information on the W-88 through espionage in the United States, according to U.S. intelligence reports.

Asked about the upcoming test, Sen. Richard C. Shelby, Alabama Republican and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would not comment directly.

“It´s my judgment the Chinese will benefit immensely from what went on at Los Alamos and Livermore,” Mr. Shelby said of Chinese espionage activities at U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories.

“In the years to come, you will see a modernization of their nuclear weapons and a lot of it will be based on our models, including the W-88,” he said, noting that when the Chinese succeed in developing their nuclear arms it will be a “quantum leap” in their strategic power.

Test preparations at Lop Nur were first reported by The Washington Times on April 9, after U.S. intelligence agencies detected the first signs of an impending nuclear test in March.

Officials said the upcoming test, which could take place before the end of the month, may be a “subcritical” nuclear test — a small explosion designed to simulate a nuclear blast.

Other officials suspect the Chinese will carry out a small nuclear test despite their pledge to have stopped all nuclear testing in 1996.

U.S. intelligence agencies suspect China is engaged in covert nuclear testing that relies on small, low-yield underground blasts. The suspicions are based on intelligence reports indicating Beijing´s agents purchased special containment equipment from Russia several years ago that masks the effects of underground nuclear tests.

The last Chinese nuclear-related test took place in 1999, shortly before a senior State Department official delivered an apology to Beijing for the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, during the NATO aerial bombing campaign.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government yesterday defended its use of aircraft to intercept U.S. surveillance flights near its coast and said they threaten its security.

The surveillance is “a grave threat to China´s security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told reporters in Beijing.

Chinese jet fighters did not challenge the RC-135 flight Monday, but Mr. Sun said sending jets to monitor the planes is “necessary and very reasonable.” He said the United States should “learn from the past” to avoid further incidents.

U.S. surveillance flights were halted after the April 1 collision between a U.S. EP-3E aircraft and a Chinese F-8 interceptor. The F-8 crashed and its pilot was killed after the collision. The EP-3E made an emergency landing on China´s Hainan island and the crew was held 12 days before being released.

Mr. Sun said again yesterday that China will not allow the U.S. aircraft to be repaired and flown off.

“Due to the nature of the plane, it will not be allowed to fly back from Hainan to the United States,” he said. “The specific means of transporting the plane will be talked about by the sides.”

China´s Deputy Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Wednesday that returning the aircraft by allowing it to fly out of China would “further hurt the dignity and sentiments of the Chinese people” and cause “strong indignation and opposition from the Chinese people.”

* This article is based in part on wire service reports.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #74
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Chinese Checkmate
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townhall.com

Oliver North (back to story)

April 6, 2001

CHINESE CHECKMATE

“Speak softly and carry a big stick.” –Theodore Roosevelt, 1901

WASHINGTON, D.C. –We’ve tried diplomatic recognition, trade and calling them “strategic partners.” We’ve sold them our most sensitive technology and let them steal what they couldn’t buy. We’ve even offered to buy 24 million dollars worth of their black berets and make the entire U.S. Army wear them.

What do we get in return? An intercepted and damaged U.S. Navy EP3-II surveillance aircraft being disassembled piece by piece by communist Chinese intelligence specialists and 24 U.S. military personnel held in “protective custody” by Beijing in flagrant disregard of international law. Add to that 21 other American citizens being held on allegations ranging from petty theft to espionage. One might conclude that the nice folks running the People’s Republic of China really don’t like us. But that’s not what the “Blame America First Crowd” is saying.

The stand-off over the fate of our airmen and aircraft drove defenders of the despotic regime in Beijing into high dudgeon. Not surprisingly, most of them are long-term apologists for the Clinton-Gore administration’s fatally flawed policies that led to the PRC’s current spate of provocation, repression and aggression. And the blow-dried air-heads of “broadcast journalism” proved willing to give these appeasers plenty of face time.

Former Clinton ambassador to Beijing Jim Sasser counseled the Bush administration to “keep a moderate tone” and avoid “harsh rhetoric.” His predecessor, Stapleton Roy, our representative in “The Forbidden City” from 1991 until 1995, urged “patience” in dealing with despots who flout international conventions. Ambassador Marc Ginsburg, a “foreign policy advisor to the Democratic National Committee,” suggested that the “cowboys and cold warriors” in the Bush administration were “exacerbating the situation.”

The masters of the media joined the chorus of criticism. Even before we knew the location and condition of the 22 Navy personnel, an Air Force officer and a U.S. Marine, one cable-network newsreader insinuated that the incident was a case of “the U.S. being caught with its hand in the cookie jar.” Another allegedly experienced reporter noted that U.S. Navy destroyers, dispatched to search for the missing Chinese Air Force pilot who caused the accident, were “threatening.”

Others, parroting Beijing’s line, have left the impression that U.S. military aircraft flying in international airspace are “provocative.” Talking heads billed as “military experts” and “former intelligence specialists” critiqued the commander of the EP-3 for failing to “ditch” the aircraft — as though its equipment was more valuable than the lives of the crew. And every network rushed to put on the air anxious relatives of detained crewmembers who understandably want an “official U.S. apology” to free their loved ones.

Despite the criticism, the Bush administration has stuck steadfastly to Teddy Roosevelt’s admonition regarding words and sticks. Based on what I’ve learned about this incident, it’s the right approach.

My sources tell me that the EP-3 now being pawed over by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Hainan Island was on a mission to collect information on the most advanced warship in the red Chinese navy, a Russian-made Sovremenny-class destroyer and its lethal Sunburn sea-skimming anti-ship missiles — a major threat to U.S. aircraft carriers. The U.S. surveillance plane was in international airspace when two F-8 fighters launched from Guangdong Province tried to drive it away from the destroyer with a series of close passes — a dangerous tactic that began last year yet was never divulged by the Clinton administration.

But last Sunday, one of the F-8 pilots came too close, struck the EP-3 and crashed into the South China Sea. According to a source at Hawaii’s CINCPAC Headquarters, when the badly damaged U.S. aircraft broadcast an international distress “Mayday” and tried to turn east toward safety, the other F-8 may have opened fire with its machine guns, forcing the EP-3 to land on Hainan Island. While enroute, the crew, in accord with instructions, gutted the innards of the sophisticated reconnaissance plane to limit what PLA intelligence experts could learn when they combed through its wrecked equipment.

In Washington, Beijing’s unwillingness to turn over our aircrew and aircraft galvanized a high-level national security review of China policy options that had been stimulated by information provided by Col. Xu Junping — a senior member of the PLA general staff who recently defected to the U.S. Already alarmed by the intelligence provided by Xu, Bush administration national security experts were further troubled by Beijing’s efforts, as the crisis dragged on, to coerce the Japanese government to ban any more such surveillance flights from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. All this prompted the drafting of a short list of “Biejing Bargaining Chips.”

Alternatives under discussion are said to include: ending military-to-military exchanges; powering-up Radio Free Asia; challenging Beijing’s bid for WTO membership and the 2008 Summer Olympics; re-activating COCOM to review licenses for all technology sales; revoking Permanent Normal Trade Relations and commercial port leases on U.S. territory; encouraging Taiwan’s request for WTO membership; canceling a planned presidential visit to Beijing; and booting out the red Chinese scientists who, amazingly enough, still have access to our super-sensitive nuclear labs. Already on the table before the EP-3 incident: selling Taiwan four Aegis Class destroyers and the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 ballistic missile defense systems our allies want to buy.

There’s another item that ought to be included. Cancel the purchase order for those black berets being made in communist China. After this, no U.S. Army soldier should ever have to wear one.

©2001 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

townhall.com
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #75
Alex Linder
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Concerns in US About Israel-China Arms Deals
Concerns in U.S. About Israel-China Arms Deals

Fri Aug 30,12:50 PM ET

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China and Russia have faced repeated U.S. sanctions for their arms sales, but a largely unheralded player in what Washington considers the troubling proliferation game is Israel, one of the closest U.S. allies.

The Jewish state, recipient annually of $3 billion in U.S. aid, is second only to Russia as a weapons provider to China, U.S. congressional investigators say.

Some experts fear sensitive U.S. technology may show up via Israel in systems sold by China to Iran and North Korea ( news – web sites), which President Bush ( news – web sites) termed “axis of evil” states after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon ( news – web sites).

“Israel ranks second only to Russia as a weapons system provider to China and as a conduit for sophisticated military technology, followed by France and Germany,” according to a recent report by the U.S.-China Security Review Commission, a panel established by Congress to examine security and economic relations between the two countries.

“Recent upgrades in target acquisition and fire control, probably provided by Israeli weapons specialists, have enhanced the capabilities of the older guided missile destroyers and frigates” in the Chinese navy’s inventory, it said.

The commission, which holds hard-line views on China, cited Israel as a supplier to Beijing of radar systems, optical and telecommunications equipment, drones and flight simulators.

“Israel has established itself as an important exporter of high-technology niche weapons containing more sophisticated technology than what is provided by Russia,” it said.

WORRYING RELATIONSHIP

“Among the people who are aware of this (Israel-China) trade, there is a consensus that this is not a healthy relationship,” commission chairman Richard D’Amato told Reuters. “There is a growing consensus that transfers of these technologies is worrisome given the balance of power in the Taiwan Straits,” he said.

D’Amato referred to the fact that Israel-China cooperation persists even as Washington has sold increasingly sophisticated weapons to Taiwan as a defense against China.

Beijing considers the island a renegade and has pledged to use force, if needed, to achieve eventual reunification.

This creates an ironic possibility: In the event of war, China, with weapons supplied or enhanced by Israel that may have been supplied or enhanced by the United States, would face Taiwan, armed with U.S.-made jets and other military hardware.

In November 2000, China promised not to assist any country in developing ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons and to enact strict export-control rules.

But Beijing only just now published the export rules and in the interim, the CIA ( news – web sites) said Chinese firms provided dual-use missile-related items, raw materials, and/or assistance to several countries of proliferation concern, including Iran, North Korea, and Libya.

Two senior U.S. officials told Reuters there has been little attention given to China-Israel arms ties since Bush took office.

Issues that could draw criticism of Israel are sensitive in America, where pro-Israel interests wield considerable clout.

“It is a concern when anybody sells the Chinese advanced systems — and the Israeli systems are very advanced — that we might, at one point, find ourselves opposite those systems in the hands of the Chinese,” said one senior U.S. official.

But, he added, “I’d be more concerned about it if there was more evidence of (recent) activity” between Israel and China.

The Washington Times in July said U.S. intelligence identified an Israeli-made anti-radar weapon, the unmanned “Harpy” drone, deployed with Chinese forces opposite Taiwan.

A U.S. government source confirmed to Reuters that Israel provided the weapon to China. He called the transfer “astounding” because it is a key weapon that, in China’s hands, could impair the effectiveness of U.S. Aegis cruisers.

China, a rising economic and military power, has embarked on a major military modernization and some U.S. officials and analysts view Beijing as a serious potential threat.

BUT DOUBTS PERSIST

Despite the U.S.-China Security Review Commission’s concerns, some analysts doubt Israel made any significant recent transfers to China.

Two years ago, under U.S. pressure, Israel suspended the sale to Beijing of four $250 million-a-copy advanced early warning Phalcon aircraft, similar to U.S. AWACS planes.

The proposed deal alarmed the Pentagon and infuriated some members of Congress, who threatened to cut U.S. military aid to Israel if the lucrative deal went through.

U.S. officials and other knowledgeable sources say Israel was stunned at the vehement U.S. reaction and this made Israel even more cautious about future deals with China.

The proposed Phalcon deal “involved indigenous Israeli technology and would have provided lots of jobs for our defense industries,” an Israeli official told Reuters.

But it was canceled “because Israel has an understanding with the United States that we will not act in a way that will endanger U.S. national security interests,” he said.

“I think Phalcon was a watershed. It showed the level of our commitment” to the United States, said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Added a senior U.S. official, “Before the Israelis get in another situation where they are crosswise with us, they’ll think twice about it — the last flap still reverberates.”

But D’Amato disagreed. “We still think they are involved in this in a serious way,” including high-tech intelligence exchanges and a sharing of missile technology.

Israel began an arms relationship with China in the Cold War with U.S. backing as a means of balancing off the Soviet Union. But the ties have increasingly troubled Washington.

Six years ago, U.S. government reports accused Israel of illegally transferring U.S. technology from the largely U.S.-funded Lavi fighter plane program to China. China’s new F-10 fighter jet is said to be nearly identical to the Lavi.

Analysts said that in addition to reaping profits and lowering defense production costs, Israel believes arms sales to China raises its influence with Beijing and gains it vital intelligence about its enemies, with whom China does business.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #76
Alex Linder
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Cox Report Is a Real Who dunit
Source: The New Australian , No. 124, 21-27 June 1999

Cox Report is a Real Who dunit

By Phyllis Schlafly

The Cox Report establishes the nexus among Chinese espionage, trade with China, and illegal Chinese campaign donations. They are all cut from the same cloth, and the Cox Report stitches the pieces back together. That Communist China engaged in massive espionage to acquire U.S. military secrets, which can some day be used to threaten us and our allies, comes as no surprise. What is sensational about the Cox Report is the scope of China’s success, and that it was achieved with the assistance of lax security, commercial transactions that concealed the transfer of military technology, and illegal campaign contributions to elect Bill Clinton and the Democrats in 1996.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has “stolen classified information” on all seven of the United States’ most advanced thermonuclear warheads, plus classified design information on our never-tested neutron bomb. The first of China’s mobile ICBMs, the DF-31, “may be tested in 1999 and could be deployed as soon as 2002.”

The nuclear secrets stolen by Communist China are not inconsequential; they give the PRC “design information on thermonuclear weapons on a par with our own.” The Cox Committee states that the PRC will surely “exploit this design information in its next generation of weapons.” The hallmarks of the PRC’s espionage strategy are the blurred lines between military and commercial technology. The Central Military Commission adopted Deng Xiaoping’s “16-Character Policy,” his command to combine the military and civil, combine peace and war, give priority to military products, and let the civil support the military.

The Cox Report unravels the many ingenious Chinese techniques used to acquire U.S. military technologies. The Chinese constantly pressure U.S. commercial companies to transfer technology in joint ventures, and they extensively exploit dual-use products and services for military advantages. Nepotism is the name of the game in China’s socio-political structure. The elite of the post-Deng ruling clique are the “princelings,” the sons and daughters of Party officials who are credentialed with exalted business, military and political titles.

Their status, as well as the cash bulging in their pockets,gave them extraordinary access to the Clinton White House. Among these specially anointed emissaries from China were Wang Jung, son of the late PRC President, and Liu Chaoying, daughter of the former most powerful PRC military boss.

Wang, who attended one of the notorious Clinton coffees in the White House, was connected to $600,000 in illegal campaign contributions made by Charlie Trie to the Democratic National Committee, and also to the 1996 Chinese attempt to smuggle AK-47 assault rifles to Los Angeles street gangs.Liu, who was ostentatiously garbed with the titles Colonel in the People’s Liberation Army as well as Vice President of a major missile and space corporation, attended a Clinton fundraiser in California. She gave $300,000 to Johnny Chung to use for Clinton’s reelection in order “to better position her in the United States to acquire computer, missile, and satellite technologies.”

Hughes Space and Communications, after the explosion of two of its communications satellites launched by China, gave China valuable information to make its rockets “more reliable.” This information, which was directly applicable to China’s military rockets and satellites, was not licensed by the United States for export. Loral Space and Communications, as a result of the 1996 crash of a rocket carrying its communications satellite, performed “an unlicensed defense service for the PRC that resulted in the improvement of the reliability of the PRC’s military rockets and ballistic missiles.” This information about Western diagnostic processes facilitates improvements in reliability for all PRC missile and rocket programs.

The Defense Department concluded that “Loral and Hughes committed a serious export control violation by virtue of having performed a defense service without a license.” The State Department referred the matter to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution. Don’t hold your breath until Janet Reno indicts. Loral’s CEO was the largest Democratic contributor of legal campaign money.

We are kidding ourselves if we think that these are the acts of a friendly trading partner whose rough edges can be smoothed over by admission into the World Trade Organization (which means automatic status as what used to be called Most Favored Nation). Like all Communist countries, “the Party controls the gun”; i.e., the Communist Party is supreme over all government, military and civilian entities, including the army, navy, air force, espionage operations, government bureaucracies, commercial enterprises, and foreign trade.

Don’t let anybody tell you that the Cox Report is a dud. Even though the Clinton Administration censored out a third of the text it’s an explosive missile.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #77
Alex Linder
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Downed Chinese F-8 Carried Israeli Missile
Source: WorldTribune.com | Monday April 16, 2001

Downed Chinese F-8 Carried Israeli Missile

MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE

TEL AVIV – China has deployed Israeli air-to-air missiles on its F-8 fighter-jet, one of which was downed during a crash with a U.S spy plane on April 1.

The Israeli Haaretz daily reported that the Chinese F-8 fighter-jet contains the Python-3 air-to-air missile. The misile was developed and produced by the state-owned Rafael, Israel Armament Development Authority.

The Python-3 missile can be seen in a video taken in January that was played during a weekend news conference by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after the release of the captured American crew. The crew of the EP-3 plane was released last week.

The newspaper said Israel’s defense officials are concerned that the appearance of the Python-3 on the Chinese F-8 could lead to renewed U.S. demands to end all defense cooperation between Jerusalem and Beijing. In July, the Republican-dominated Congress and the Clinton administration pressured Israel to halt the sale of the Phalcon airborne early-warning system to China.

Since the suspension of the sale, Israeli-Chinese military cooperation has been shelved. Over the last few months, officials from both countries are discussing a revival of such relations.

The Python-3 was sold to China with U.S. consent, Israeli defense sources said. Israel has since developed and marketed the Python-4.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #78
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FBI Probes Espionage at Clinton White House
Source: Matt Drudge, Published: 5/5/00 Author: Matt Drudge
FBI Probes Espionage at Clinton White House

A foreign spy service appears to have penetrated secret communications in the Clinton administration, which has discounted security and intelligence threats.

By J. Michael Waller and Paul M. Rodriguez

The FBI is probing an explosive foreign-espionage operation that could dwarf the other spy scandals plaguing the U.S. government. Insight has learned that FBI counterintelligence is tracking a daring operation to spy on high-level U.S. officials by hacking into supposedly secure telephone networks. The espionage was facilitated, federal officials say, by lax telephone-security procedures at the White House, State Department and other high-level government offices and by a Justice Department unwillingness to seek an indictment against a suspect.

The espionage operation may have serious ramifications because the FBI has identified Israel as the culprit. It risks undermining U.S. public support for the Jewish state at a time Israel is seeking billions of tax dollars for the return of land to Syria. It certainly will add to perceptions that the Clinton-Gore administration is not serious about national security. Most important, it could further erode international confidence in the ability of the United States to keep secrets and effectively lead as the world’s only superpower.

More than two dozen U.S. intelligence, counterintelligence, law-enforcement and other officials have told Insight that the FBI believes Israel has intercepted telephone and modem communications on some of the most sensitive lines of the U.S. government on an ongoing basis. The worst penetrations are believed to be in the State Department. But others say the supposedly secure telephone systems in the White House, Defense Department and Justice Department may have been compromised as well.

The problem for FBI agents in the famed Division 5, however, isn’t just what they have uncovered, which is substantial, but what they don’t yet know, according to Insight’s sources interviewed during a year-long investigation by the magazine. Of special concern is how to confirm and deal with the potentially sweeping espionage penetration of key U.S. government telecommunications systems allowing foreign eavesdropping on calls to and from the White House, the National Security Council, or NSC, the Pentagon and the State Department.

The directors of the FBI and the CIA have been kept informed of the ongoing counterintelligence operation, as have the president and top officials at the departments of Defense, State and Justice and the NSC. A “heads up” has been given to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, but no government official would speak for the record.

“It’s a huge security nightmare,” says a senior U.S. official familiar with the super-secret counterintelligence operation. “The implications are severe,” confirms a second with direct knowledge. “We’re not even sure we know the extent of it,” says a third high-ranking intelligence official. “All I can tell you is that we think we know how it was done,” this third intelligence executive tells Insight. “That alone is serious enough, but it’s the unknown that has such deep consequences.

A senior government official who would go no further than to admit awareness of the FBI probe, says: “It is a politically sensitive matter. I can’t comment on it beyond telling you that anything involving Israel on this particular matter is off-limits. It’s that hot.

It is very hot indeed. For nearly a year, FBI agents had been tracking an Israeli businessman working for a local phone company. The man’s wife is alleged to be a Mossad officer under diplomatic cover at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Mossad – the Israeli intelligence service – is known to station husband-and-wife teams abroad, but it was not known whether the husband is a full-fledged officer, an agent or something else. When federal agents made a search of his work area they found a list of the FBI’s most sensitive telephone numbers, including the Bureau’s “black” lines used for wiretapping. Some of the listed numbers were lines that FBI counterintelligence used to keep track of the suspected Israeli spy operation. The hunted were tracking the hunters.

“It was a shock,” says an intelligence professional familiar with the FBI phone list. “It called into question the entire operation. We had been compromised. But for how long?

This discovery by Division 5 should have come as no surprise, given what its agents had been tracking for many months. But the FBI discovered enough information to make it believe that, somehow, the highest levels of the State Department were compromised, as well as the White House and the NSC. According to Insight’s sources with direct knowledge, other secure government telephone systems and/or phones to which government officials called also appear to have been compromised.

The tip-off about these operations – the pursuit of which sometimes has led the FBI on some wild-goose chases – appears to have come from the CIA, says an Insight source. A local phone manager had become suspicious in late 1996 or early 1997 about activities by a subcontractor working on phone-billing software and hardware designs for the CIA.

The subcontractor was employed by an Israeli-based company and cleared for such work. But suspicious behavior raised red flags. After a fairly quick review, the CIA handed the problem to the FBI for follow-up. This was not the first time the FBI had been asked to investigate such matters and, though it was politically explosive because it involved Israel, Division 5 ran with the ball. “This is always a sensitive issue for the Bureau,” says a former U.S. intelligence officer. “When it has anything to do with Israel, it’s something you just never want to poke your nose into. But this one had too much potential to ignore because it involved a potential systemwide penetration.

Seasoned counterintelligence veterans are not surprised. “The Israelis conduct intelligence as if they are at war. That’s something we have to realize,” says David Major, a retired FBI supervisory special agent and former director of counterintelligence at the NSC. While the U.S. approach to intelligence is much more relaxed, says Major, the very existence of Israel is threatened and it regards itself as is in a permanent state of war. “There are a lot less handcuffs on intelligence for a nation that sees itself at war,” Major observes, but “that doesn’t excuse it from our perspective.

For years, U.S. intelligence chiefs have worried about moles burrowed into their agencies, but detecting them was fruitless. The activities of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard were uncovered by accident, but there remains puzzlement to this day as to how he was able to ascertain which documents to search, how he did so on so many occasions without detection, or how he ever obtained the security clearances that opened the doors to such secrets. In all, it is suspected, Pollard turned over to his Israeli handlers about 500,000 documents, including photographs, names and locations of overseas agents. “The damage was incredible,” a current U.S. intelligence officer tells Insight. “We’re still recovering from it.

Also there has been concern for years that a mole was operating in the NSC and, while not necessarily supplying highly secret materials to foreign agents, has been turning over precious details on meetings and policy briefings that are being used to track or otherwise monitor government activities. The current hush-hush probe by the FBI, and what its agents believe to be a serious but amorphous security breach involving telephone and modem lines that are being monitored by Israeli agents, has even more serious ramifications. “It has been an eye opener,” says one high-ranking U.S. government official, shaking his head in horror as to the potential level and scope of penetration.

As for how this may have been done technologically, the FBI believes it has uncovered a means using telephone-company equipment at remote sites to track calls placed to or received from high-ranking government officials, possibly including the president himself, according to Insight’s top-level sources. One of the methods suspected is use of a private company that provides record-keeping software and support services for major telephone utilities in the United States.

A local telephone company director of security Roger Kochman tells Insight, “I don’t know anything about it, which would be highly unusual. I am not familiar with anything in that area.

U.S. officials believe that an Israeli penetration of that telephone utility in the Washington area was coordinated with a penetration of agents using another telephone support-services company to target select telephone lines. Suspected penetration includes lines and systems at the White House and NSC, where it is believed that about four specific phones were monitored – either directly or through remote sites that may involve numbers dialed from the complex.

“[The FBI

uncovered what appears to be a sophisticated means to listen in on conversations from remote telephone sites with capabilities of providing real-time audio feeds directly to Tel Aviv,” says a U.S. official familiar with the FBI investigation. Details of how this could have been pulled off are highly guarded. However, a high-level U.S. intelligence source tells Insight: “The access had to be done in such a way as to evade our countermeasures … That’s what’s most disconcerting.

Another senior U.S. intelligence source adds: “How long this has been going on is something we don’t know. How many phones or telephone systems we don’t know either, but the best guess is that it’s no more than 24 at a time … as far as we can tell.

And has President Clinton been briefed? “Yes, he has. After all, he’s had meetings with his Israeli counterparts,” says a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge. Whether the president or his national-security aides, including NSC chief Sandy Berger, have shared or communicated U.S. suspicions and alarm is unclear, as is the matter of any Israeli response. “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” White House National Security Council spokesman Dave Stockwell tells Insight. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that someone else doesn’t know.” Despite elaborate precautions by the U.S. agencies involved, say Insight’s sources, this alleged Israeli intelligence coup came down to the weakest link in the security chain: the human element. The technical key appears to be software designs for telephone billing records and support equipment required for interfacing with local telephone company hardware installed in some federal agencies. The FBI has deduced that it was this sophisticated computer-related equipment and software could provide real-time audio feeds. In fact, according to Insight’s sources, the FBI believes that at least one secure T-1 line routed to Tel Aviv has been used in the suspected espionage.

The potential loss of U.S. secrets is incalculable. So is the possibility that senior U.S. officials could be blackmailed for indiscreet telephone talk. Many officials do not like to bother with using secure, encrypted phones and have classified discussions on open lines.

Which brings the story back to some obvious questions involving the indiscreet telephone conversations of the president himself. Were they tapped, and, if so did they involve national-security issues or just matters of the flesh? Monica Lewinsky told Kenneth Starr, as recounted in his report to Congress, that Lewinsky and Clinton devised cover stories should their trysts be uncovered and/or their phone-sex capers be overheard.

Specifically, she said that on March 29, 1997, she and Clinton were huddled in the Oval Office suite engaging in a sexual act. It was not the first time. But, according to Lewinsky as revealed under oath to the investigators for the Office of Independent Counsel, it was unusual because of what the president told her. “He suspected that a foreign embassy was tapping his telephones, and he proposed cover stories,” the Starr report says. “If ever questioned, she should say that the two of them were just friends. If anyone ever asked about their phone sex, she should say that they knew their calls were being monitored all along, and the phone sex was just a put on.”

In his own testimony before a federal grand jury, Clinton denied the incident. But later – much later – he admitted to improper behavior and was impeached but not convicted. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright found him to have obstructed justice. Curiously, Starr never informed Congress whether the Lewinsky tale was true. For that matter, according to Insight’s sources, Starr never bothered to find out from appropriate agencies, such as the FBI or the CIA, whether the monitoring by a foreign government of the president’s conversations with Lewinsky occurred.

Insight has learned that House and Senate investigators did ask questions about these matters and in late 1998 were told directly by the FBI and the CIA (among others) that there was no truth to the Lewinsky claim of foreign tapping of White House phones. Moreover, Congress was told there was no investigation of any kind involving any foreign embassy or foreign government espionage in such areas.

But that was not true. In fact, the FBI and other U.S. agencies, including the Pentagon, had been working furiously and painstakingly for well over a year on just such a secret probe, and fears were rampant of the damage that could ensue if the American public found out that even the remotest possibility existed that the president’s phone conversations could be monitored and the president subject to foreign blackmail. To the FBI agents involved, that chance seemed less and less remote.

The FBI has become increasingly frustrated by both the pace of its investigation and its failure to gain Justice Department cooperation to seek an indictment of at least one individual suspected of involvement in the alleged Israeli telephone intercepts. National security is being invoked to cover an espionage outrage. But, as a high law-enforcement source says, “To bring this to trial would require we reveal our methods of operation, and we can’t do that at this point – the FBI has not made the case strong enough.” Moreover, says a senior U.S. policy official with knowledge of the case: “This is a hugely political issue, not just a law-enforcement matter.”

‘You’ve Got the Crown Jewels’

If spies wanted to penetrate the White House, a facility widely considered the most secure in the world, how might it be done? For that matter, how might any agency or department of government be penetrated by spies?

“Actually, it’s pretty easy if you know what you’re doing,” says a retired U.S. intelligence expert who has helped (along with other government sources) to guide Insight through the many and often complicated pathways of government security and counterespionage.

Access to designs, databases, “blueprints,” memos, telephone numbers, lists of personnel and passwords all can be obtained. And from surprising sources. Several years ago this magazine was able to review from a remote site information on the supposedly secret and inaccessible White House Office Data Base, or WHODB (see “More Personal Secrets on File @ the White House,” July 15, 1996).

Despite the spending of additional millions to beef up security when the White House installed a modern $30 million computerized telephone system a few years ago, communications security remains a big problem. Whatever the level of sophistication employed, there are soft underbellies that raise significant national-security problems. And potential for espionage, such as electronic intercepting of phone calls, is very great.

Calls to or from the White House dealing with classified information are supposed to be handled on secure lines, but it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, according to Insight’s sources, despite the existence of special phones at the White House and elsewhere to handle such calls, some don’t use them or only one side of the call does. An Insight editor recently was allowed for demonstration purposes to overhear a conversation placed over an unsecured line involving a “classified” topic.

Carelessness always has been a problem, but former and current FBI special agents say that under the Clinton administration the disregard for security has been epidemic. Many officials simply don’t like the bother of communicating on secure phones.

In another instance, Insight was provided access to virtually every telephone number within the White House, including those used by outside agencies with employees in the complex, and even the types of computers used and who uses them. Just by way of illustration, this information allowed direct access to communications instruments located in the Oval Office, the residence, bathrooms and grounds.

With such information, according to security and intelligence experts, a hacker or spy could target individual telephone lines and write software codes enabling the conversations to be forwarded in real-time for remote recording and transcribing. The White House complex contains approximately 5,800 voice, fax and modem lines.

“Having a phone number in and of itself will not necessarily gain you access for monitoring purposes,” Insight was told by a senior intelligence official with regular contact at the White House. “The systems are designed to electronically mask routes and generate secure connections.” That said, coupling a known phone number to routing sequences and trunk lines would pose a security risk, this official says.

Add to that detailed knowledge of computer codes used to move call traffic and your hacker or spy is in a very strong position. “That’s why we have so many redundancies and security devices on the systems – so we can tell if someone is trying to hack in,” says a current security official at the White House.

Shown a sampling of the hoard of data collected over just a few months of digging, the security official’s face went flush: “How the hell did you get that! This is what we are supposed to guard against. This is not supposed to be public.” Indeed. Nor should the telephone numbers or locations of remote sites or trunk lines or other sundry telecommunications be accessible. What’s surprising is that most of this specialized information reviewed by Insight is unclassified in its separate pieces. When you put it together, the solved puzzle is considered a national-security secret. And for very good reason.

Consider the following: Insight not only was provided secure current phone numbers to the most sensitive lines in the world, but it discovered a remote telephone site in the Washington area which plugs into the White House telecommunications system. Given national-security concerns, Insight has been asked not to divulge any telephone number, location of high-security equipment, or similar data not directly necessary for this news story.

Concerning the remote telecommunications site, Insight discovered not only its location and access telephone numbers but other information, including the existence of a secret “back door” to the computer system that had been left open for upward of two years without anyone knowing about the security lapse. This back door, common to large computer systems, is used for a variety of services, including those involving technicians, supervisors, contractors and security officers to run diagnostic checks, make repairs and review system operations.

“This is more than just a technical blunder,” says a well-placed source with detailed knowledge of White House security issues. “This is a very serious security failure with unimaginable consequences. Anyone could have accessed that [back door

and gotten into the entire White House phone system and obtained numbers and passwords that we never could track,” the source said, echoing yet another source familiar with the issue.

Although it is not the responsibility of the Secret Service to manage equipment systems, the agency does provide substantial security controls over telecommunications and support service into or out of the White House. In fact, the Secret Service maintains its own electronic devices on the phone system to help protect against penetration. “That’s what is so troubling about this,” says a security expert with ties to the White House. “There are redundant systems to catch such errors and this was not caught. It’s quite troubling.… It’s not supposed to happen.”

Insight asked a senior federal law-enforcement official with knowledge of the suspected Israeli spying case about the open electronic door. “I didn’t know about this incident. It certainly is something we should have known given the scope of what’s at stake,” the official says.

Then Insight raised the matter of obtaining phone numbers, routing systems, equipment sites, passwords and other data on the telecommunications systems used by the White House: How hard would it be for a foreign intelligence service to get this information? “Obviously not as hard as we thought,” a senior government official said. “Now you understand what we’re facing and why we are so concerned.”

That’s one reason, Insight is told, the White House phone system is designed to mask all outgoing calls to prevent outsiders from tracing back into the system to set up taps. However, knowing the numbers called frequently by the White House, foreign agents could set up listening devices on those lines to capture incoming or outgoing calls. Another way of doing it, according to security experts, is to get inside the White House system. And, though it’s considered impossible, that’s what they said about getting the phone numbers that the president uses in his office and residence. Like trash, information is everywhere – and often is overlooked when trying to tidy up a mess.

- PMR and JMW



Clinton Endangers America’s Security

Joseph Farah, Editor, WorldNetDaily
January 27, 1999

There’s a good reason personnel are screened for sensitive security positions in government with checks on their sex life, basic honesty, deep-dark secrets, personal idiosyncrasies.

It’s not because a bunch of sex police like prying into the “personal lives” of would-be government employees. It’s because those personal lives can compromise the employee — and thus compromise national security.

That’s just one of the many reasons — regardless of whether the impeachment counts of perjury and obstruction of justice are proven to the Senate beyond a shadow of a doubt — that Bill Clinton must be turned out of office. It’s the right thing to do for the country. It’s the only thing to do for the country.

Even some Democrats seem to get it. It’s just too bad none of them appear to be serving in the U.S. Senate at the moment.

Former Sen. Sam Nunn got it just about right in an appearance on a CNN special last week.

Asked by Judy Woodruff if he thought the U.S. is at any greater risk from a national security standpoint with Clinton in the White House, the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said: “I think there’s a heightened risk. I’ve thought that for several months.”

Nunn went on to raise the ugly specters of espionage and blackmail.

“For people to say that the president of the United States having — allegedly — telephone sex, is strictly private, has nothing to do with official duties. It means they’ve never been acquainted with the world of espionage and the world of blackmail,” Nunn explained. “And, certainly, the White House is one of the most targeted places in the world in terms of foreign espionage. And so you have to ask the question: What if a foreign agent heard a young woman carrying on discussions, and then tapped her telephone? Those are the kinds of questions that have to be asked, and we have to understand there are consequences and risks and dangers anytime the president has conversations on the phone which could be intercepted and could be embarrassing to him personally.”

Bernard Shaw asked Nunn if he could elaborate on those “consequences.”

“The consequences are there’s exposure and risk,” Nunn said. “I have no idea whether there was any kind of intercept here. I’m not on the committees, but those questions have to be asked because you don’t want any president, or any high-ranking official in a position to be leveraged by any kind of either foreign power or even domestic source. So that’s the danger here. And private conduct that can be used in that way becomes a matter of great public concern.”

Even at that, Nunn wasn’t finished. Once again, he added that “these are questions that must be asked.”

“They may not go to the articles of impeachment, but I keep hearing people say that strictly private behavior has nothing to do with official duties,” Nunn said. “And I just don’t see how anybody can come to that conclusion that knows anything about how the world operates.”

Nunn’s common-sense warning is refreshing, if a bit late. Can you believe with all the windbags pontificating on the talking head shows night after night that it has taken this long for a responsible U.S. leader to state the obvious — that the would-be emperor has no clothes, no sense, no judgment, no self-control?

Nunn is right. Those questions need to be asked. But they’re not the only questions that still need asking. There are lots of them. And all we seem to hear in this three-ring circus is a hairsplitting, legalistic debate over whether Clinton is technically guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Maybe we ought to put the nation’s best interests ahead of the questions of whether there is reasonable doubt about his guilt. After all, the Senate and Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist have decided that Clinton’s fate is not in the hands of a jury, but rather in the hands of a political body that is sworn to uphold the Constitution and be guided by the best interests of the nation.

Clearly, neither the Constitution nor the country is served well by having a sticky-fingered moral reprobate with one hand on the nuclear button and the other dialing for phone sex.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #79
Alex Linder
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Fugitive Arrested in Spain
U.S. fugitive arrested in Spain

The Associated Press

MALAGA, Spain (July 21, 2001 04:27 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com/) – Spanish police have arrested a 71-year-old American wanted for the past 16 years by the United States for allegedly selling nuclear weapon mechanisms to Israel.

A police statement Saturday said Richard Kelly Smith has been living in Spain since 1985, when he fled the United States while awaiting sentencing for his conviction on 30 charges of arms trafficking and forged documents.

He was arrested on July 10, said the statement issued by police in the southern coastal city of Malaga.

The statement said Kelly, an electronic engineer, ran a business in Los Angeles that manufactured Krypton microchips used in firing nuclear weapons. The manufacture and sale of the chips were under strict control by the U.S. government at the time.

Between 1980-82, he is said to have forged documents that allowed him export the chips illegally to Israel for unspecified large sums of money. Kelly was later arrested but fled to Spain while out of prison.

Kelly is expected to be taken to Madrid while his extradition is studied.
 
Old August 24th, 2014 #80
Alex Linder
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Get Ready for the Coming Conflict with China
Source: Pat Buchanan

Get Ready for the Coming Conflict with China

Pat Buchanan

“Israel is engaged in the moral equivalent of America selling Stingers to Hezbollah.”
- Pat Buchanan, January 29, 1999

29 JAN 99 – China’s army conducted a military exercise last month with simulated missile firings against Taiwan and also for the first time conducted mock attacks on U.S. troops in the region … “

That was the jolting lead of a Jan. 26 story by Bill Gertz of The Washington Times. With those mock attacks, China is sending a message: We will collar Taiwan and drag the renegade province back to the embrace of the Motherland, even if it means war with America.

In 1996, Bill Clinton sent two carrier battle groups to respond to China’s menacing of Taiwan. The confrontation dissolved. By practicing with silo-housed missiles, and targeting U.S. troops in Korea, in Japan and on Okinawa, China is saying: Next time, we do not back down.

China’s imperial intentions are clear: Seize all the disputed islands off Asia’s coast, especially the Spratlys. Build up nuclear and conventional missile forces to deter America. Put China at the center of a Beijing-Moscow-Teheran axis to overturn U.S. hegemony in Asia.

Indispensable to the modernization of China’s war arsenal are three collaborators – Israel, Russia and the U.S.A.

“The Defense Intelligence Agency suspects Israel shared with China restricted U.S. weapons technology obtained during a joint U.S.-Israeli effort to build a battlefield laser gun,” writes Gertz on Jan. 27. U.S. employees have twice “spotted Chinese technicians working secretly with one of the Israeli companies involved in the laser weapon program.” A Chinese official in Israel exhibited hard knowledge of the super-secret program to build lasers to shoot down the Katyusha rockets used by Hezbollah on Israeli towns.

Israel has been charged before with betraying vital U.S. secrets. In 1992, The Washington Times reported Israel had given Beijing the secret technology of the U.S. Patriot missile. A U.S. investigation found that, while Beijing had acquired the secrets of the Patriot, it could not say for sure who gave them up.

According to Richard Fisher of the Heritage Foundation, Russia and Israel have teamed up to build China an AWACS system, using Israel’s Phalcon radar.

Arms expert Duncan Clarke wrote in the July 22 Christian Science Monitor that Israel has used “U.S. technology to assist China in developing its next fighter aircraft – the J-10 – airborne radar systems, tank programs and a variety of missiles. Over vigorous Pentagon objections, Israel has apparently transferred to China the most lethal air-to-air missile in the world: the Python 4. This system employs an advanced helmet-mounted sight, developed together by American and Israeli firms.”

China’s J-10 is based on the Lavi, an Israeli plane subsidized with $1.4 billion in U.S. tax dollars. As ominous, writes Clarke, is “Israel’s transfer to China of its STAR-1 cruise missile technology (that) … incorporates U.S. stealth technology and is … ‘a growth version’ of Israel’s Delilah-2 missile, which contains U.S. parts and technology.”

Thus does critical U.S. weapons technology go into machines of war that Beijing prepares for use on Americans. Israel is engaged in the moral equivalent of America selling Stingers to Hezbollah.

Why is Israel doing this? “When the customer is interested,” Israeli scholar Yitzhak Shichor is quoted in Clarke’s piece, “it (is) difficult for the Ministry of Defense to abort or prevent an Israeli arms transfer to whatever country for whatever reason.” Adds Clarke: “Yet neither President Clinton nor Congress will confront Israel and its most powerful American partisans.”

For such cowardice, U.S. Marines, airmen and sailors may one day pay with their lives.

Russia’s contribution? Moscow has sold China 48 SU-27 fighters with a licensing deal for 200 more and hinted at selling the SU-30. This, says Heritage’s Fisher, would give Beijing “the basis of a modern strike capability.” Russia is also producing for China 30 Sunburn anti-ship missiles that skim the ocean’s surface at twice the speed of sound. Guess whose ships they will be targeted on.

Why is Russia doing this? As one Russian newspaper put it, Moscow “is ready to assist China’s transformation into a first-class military power. Especially considering the fact that Beijing is ready to pay for that in freely convertible currencies.”

Where does China get the hard currency to pay the Israelis and Russians? From a $60 billion annual trade surplus with the United States.

When one considers that China covets Russia’s Far East, sends missile technology to Israel’s mortal enemy, Iran, menaces our old ally, Taiwan, and uses profits from its U.S. trade to buy weapons to target U.S. troops, ships and planes, all three of us may one day come to rue our stupidity and our greed.

PAT BUCHANAN
Copyright 1999, Creators Syndicate
 
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