-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Espionage China Stole Nuclear Technology Finding of Cox Report WASHINGTON -- A select House committee, in a classified report unusual for its bipartisanship, has found that over the last 20 years China obtained, sometimes through theft, some of the most sensitive of American military technology, including nuclear weapons design, Government officials and witnesses before the panel say. The committee's final report, unanimously approved by its five Republican and four Democratic members Wednesday, found that during Republican and Democratic Administrations alike, China acquired a range of technical secrets far beyond the satellite- and missile-related technology whose transfer by American satellite companies during the Clinton Administration prompted the start of the panel's inquiry in May. In a carefully worded statement after the report had been approved, the committee's chairman, Representative Christopher Cox, Republican of California, said that China's acquisition of American technology had harmed national security and that its "acquisition efforts over the past two decades" had been a "serious, sustained" activity. The panel's 700-page report is secret because so much of its six-month inquiry dealt with classified information, and it released no details from that report Wednesday. It promised to begin a process, in consultation with the Clinton Administration, to declassify as many of the findings as possible. But witnesses and intelligence officials who worked with the committee said it agreed with assessments by the Pentagon and the State Department that information shared with Chinese scientists by two American companies, the Hughes Electronics Corporation and Loral Space and Communications, had improved Beijing's ability to launch satellites and ballistic missiles. In addition, witnesses said, the panel's conclusion that China had stolen military-related American technology may prove to be the most explosive part of the report. The panel uncovered, for example, a pattern by the Chinese of stealing nuclear-weapons design technology from American nuclear laboratories, said one person who has read part of the report. It was unclear when or over what period of time any of these nuclear-related thefts might have occurred. The committee, officials said, faulted policies of the Reagan, Bush and Clinton Administrations but did not say whether the problems were worse in one Administration than in another. It made 38 recommendations for legislation or executive orders to address those policy failures. The recommendations covered policy categories like security at weapons laboratories, the handling of sensitive intelligence data and export controls. While the committee did not directly examine covert Chinese contributions to the 1996 American election campaigns, officials said, it did investigate the activities of a Chinese aerospace executive, Liu Chao-ying. Ms. Liu was a conduit for Chinese Government payments to Democratic fund-raisers and, with her father, Liu Huaqing, formerly the senior general in the Chinese military, has been involved in Beijing's effort to acquire military-related technology. The House committee began its inquiry in the spring after The New York Times had disclosed that American satellite makers had helped Chinese scientists rectify failures in their rocket programs, conveying information applicable to long-range ballistic missiles. Over the last six months, the panel held 33 hearings, all closed, taking testimony from intelligence officials, industry executives and nuclear-weapons experts. The committee's inquiry initially focused on the interaction between China and the American manufacturers whose satellites were carried into orbit on Chinese rockets. It soon branched out to examine the export of other American technology to China, including advanced computers and machining equipment. The panel hired outside experts to examine whether scientists from Hughes Electronics, a subsidiary of the General Motors Corporation, and Loral Space and Communications had harmed national security by giving the Chinese lessons in rocket technology after the failure of two Chinese rockets in the mid-1990's. Both companies deny any wrongdoing, but earlier this month the Administration completed reports of its own that raised national security concerns about the assistance, especially help that Hughes provided the Chinese in 1995. The intelligence arm of the State Department found that the 1995 'tutorial" by Hughes "resulted in significant improvement" to China's rocket program and that the lessons were "inherently applicable to their missile programs as well." In a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday, members of the committee said their analysis had gone far beyond the reviews of the failed Chinese rocket launchings involving Hughes and Loral. "There was harm in some of the transfers of technology that occurred," said the committee's ranking Democrat, Representative Norm Dicks of Washington, "but it's also fair to say this is not the only problem we uncovered. These are serious problems that must be addressed by the Administration and by the Congress." It is public knowledge that the Chinese have an aggressive military and economic espionage program and that they have long sought to acquire American technology, legally and illegally. But the House panel, formally the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns With the People's Republic of China, learned new details about the depth and scope of these activities as it completed the most comprehensive examination of the issue ever conducted by any part of the American Government. The witnesses before the panel included officials from American nuclear weapons laboratories, one witness said. Last year the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, issued a report that questioned the adequacy of security at the weapons labs, and touched on a decision during President Clinton's first term to reduce background checks of various foreign visitors there. (The visitors, most of whom are Russian and Chinese, are not allowed access to classified areas.) It is unclear exactly how much the American public will ever learn about the committee's findings. The issue of what to disclose is usually resolved by the release of general conclusions, and the withholding of details that might reveal how the sensitive information was acquired. Any process in which the report is declassified would involve the Clinton Administration, officials at various intelligence agencies like the C.I.A. and the House of Representatives. "Certainly we look forward to reading the report and studying its recommendations," said David C. Leavy, a White House spokesman. "In terms of declassification, we need to work with the committee and relevant agencies in an appropriate way to move forward." That the committee could find political unity in a year of divisive discourse was probably due to the serious national security concerns that were the panel's work. Other than Cox and Dicks, the members of the committee were Representatives Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, Porter J. Goss of Florida, James V. Hansen of Utah and Doug Bereuter of Nebraska, all Republicans, and John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, Robert C. Scott of Virginia and Lucille Roybal-Allard of California, Democrats. Most of the members have been active in national security issues. The New York Times, Dec. 31, 1998 Single Currency E-Day for Europe Euro Debuts in 11 Nations BRUSSELS - In the biggest transfer of sovereignty since the creation of the Common Market in 1957, finance ministers will hand the reins of monetary power to the European Central Bank on Thursday and usher in a new currency, the euro, for some 290 million people in 11 nations. The ministers, meeting at the European Council headquarters in Brussels and acting on advice from central banks and the European Commission, will adopt the final and irrevocable rate at which the participating national currencies will convert to the euro. The ministers' meeting will be televised throughout the European Union, and the rates will be made available on the Internet ( http://europa.eu.int) at about 1:30 P.M. Central European time as 3,000 blue balloons are launched into the sky. Following publication in the European Union's Official Journal in Luxembourg, the rates will go into effect and the euro will become the single currency for all participating countries at midnight local time on Friday - meaning that it will first become reality in Finland, which is an hour ahead of most of its EU partners. Around the world, from Tokyo to London, traders and back-office staff in financial institutions will be at work over the holiday weekend to prepare for trading in the powerful new currency - an instant rival to the dollar - when business starts on Monday. When they awake Friday morning, most Europeans will not notice much difference. They will still have francs, marks, lire, pesetas and other familiar currencies in their pockets and purses. But those expressions of national sovereignty will effectively have ceased to exist as independent entities. Until euro bank notes and coins are introduced in the first half of 2002, the existing currencies will continue to circulate, but only as units of the euro. The euro will be immediately available, however, for noncash transactions - such as check and credit card payments. Also, beginning Monday when the markets reopen, European stock and bond trades will be denominated entirely in euros, as will all government borrowing and other financial transactions. Until the actual currency begins to circulate, however, no one will be obliged to accept or make payments denominated in euro. But many of Europe's largest companies have announced that they will start using the currency immediately, simplifying their accounting procedures and eliminating transaction costs within the single currency zone. For the first time, Europeans will have the means of directly comparing prices and costs across the Continent, which could lead to increased cross-border trade in goods and, above all, in financial services. In return for stability and low inflation, countries will surrender monetary policy to the Frankfurt-based central bank, which will establish the exchange rate for the euro against the dollar and other external currencies. Leading European stock markets ended the last trading day of the year Wednesday on a nostalgic note, as Frankfurt completed its last Deutsche mark-denominated session and the Paris Bourse saw out the last hours of the French franc. European currencies have remained rock steady in the face of crises in Asia, Russia and Latin America, and the European Commission predicts that the euro zone will continue to be a ''pole of stability'' in the world, even though growth in the region is expected to slow next year to around 2.4 percent. The countries entering the currency zone are France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Finland and Ireland. The finance ministers will also decide the terms under which Europe's postage-stamp nations - Vatican City, San Marino and Monaco - can participate in the euro. Three members of the European Union, Britain, Denmark and Sweden, are staying out of the monetary union by choice and a fourth, Greece, was unable to join because it was not able to meet the standards for entering and staying in. But Greece is joining the European exchange-rate mechanism, pegging the drachma to the euro, and hopes to adopt the currency by the time the notes and coins are introduced. The introduction of the single currency fulfills the dreams of united Europe's founding fathers, such as Jean Monnet, who envisaged federation. This is just what scares the independent-minded British and many in the EU who are apprehensive that such a dramatic transfer of sovereignty will whittle down the power of the state. To deal with problems, such as persistent high employment, governments will no longer be able to juggle exchange rates to make their countries' goods and services more attractive. They will have to become more efficient and, many experts say, they will be forced into cooperating in areas such as taxation and social policy. Already they are considering highly controversial proposals to tax interest on savings accounts held by nonresidents, and to eliminate corporate tax loopholes. The introduction of the euro is officially the final phase of economic and monetary union, or EMU, which was called for by the Maastricht treaty on European Union. In effect, EMU is so far only a monetary union. Economic union is likely to follow as governments establish a policy framework. The existing national central banks, such as the powerful German Bundesbank, will continue to exist, in effect as branches of the European Central Bank, which recently established a base interest rate of 3 percent for the entire zone. The national banks will transfer 50 billion euro ($58.38 billion) in reserves to the central bank. Their chiefs will travel to Frankfurt twice a month to debate and decide policies. But the central bank's president, Wim Duisenberg, Europe's counterpart to the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, will bear ultimate responsibility for those decisions. International Herald Tribune, Dec. 31, 1998 Russian Follies The Return of Bride Snatching Get 'em while they last THE practice of bride-snatching, in which young suitors abduct women with or without their consent, could soon be legalised in the wild north Caucasus region of Russia. The president of Ingushetia, a small republic bordering Chechnya, has spoken in support of the return of the ritual and is to give his people a chance to vote on the issue at the end of February. Single Russian women already give the region a wide berth, afraid of falling victim to young locals eager to emulate their forefathers by whisking girls off their feet, riding off into the hills and forcing them to marry. The latest development threatens to turn Ingushetia, its reputation already blackened by widespread kidnapping, into a complete no-go area for anyone except local women. President Ruslan Aushev said that he wants to rehabilitate only "fictitious bride-snatching", in which the couple have agreed to the abduction in advance, often as a way of avoiding the expense of a lavish wedding. He said: "Let's assume a young lad is in love with a girl, they've reached an agreement and he abducts her and takes her for his wife. For this he is threatened with criminal sanctions. How can he be prosecuted for something like this?" However, in a part of the world where women always defer to men and few girls would survive the shame of returning from an abduction unmarried, the difference between fictitious bride-snatching and the real thing will always be a fine one. Turning a blind eye to this exotic form of kidnapping is not the only way in which the Ingush authorities intend to defy Russian law and underline their independence from Moscow. Mr Aushev, a former general and hero of the Afghan war, is also claiming the right to exonerate those guilty of murders committed as part of blood vengeance feuds between families that often last for generations. He has already pronounced himself a supporter of the vendettas, which oblige the male relatives of a murder victim to kill the murderer. The authorities have found it almost impossible to stop this cycle of bloodshed. Mr Aushev also wants to secure Ingush men the right to wear the long daggers which are part of their national dress without fear of prosecution. London Telegraph, Dec. 31, 1998 Fin-de-siecle God is a COBOL Programmer Year 2000 Bug is Virtual Punishment FEARS that the millennium bug will bring chaos and could represent God's judgment on a sinful mankind are growing among some Evangelical church leaders in Britain. British Evangelicals have not gone as far as their American counterparts, who are stocking up food in anticipation of the collapse of society, but many are concerned over what might happen if computers fail to cope with the date-change. About 20 Christian leaders in London heard recently from Peter Erbele, of the Noah project in Atlanta, who believes that communities should stockpile goods to survive "total devastation". He told the meeting that 2000 could usher in the "Last Days" described in the Book of Revelation. The instrument of devastation, he argued, would be the millennium bug, which he compared to the Flood described in Genesis. "We have forgotten all that is sacred," he said. Miles Protter, who formerly worked for an investment bank and is now assessing the impact of the bug with Evangelical leaders, believes he has a mission to make churches available to help in what could become a global crisis. "It is probable that a number of systems will break down," he said, adding: "This is another of the daily examples of God's judgment. I don't believe it is the end of the world, or that we will see Christ's Second Coming. But we must be clear that this is something we should all pray about. We should reach out to everyone with the message that God will be there, no matter what." The Rev Dr Margaret Joachim, an Anglican priest in West London and computer management consultant, said: "The problem is man-made. It happened because technology 20 years ago was not as advanced as it is now. I don't foresee major disasters, if people act sensibly now." The London Times, Dec. 29, 1998 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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