-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ARTICLE 1 An Army Of One Feeling: Angst Ed.: More on the behind the scenes developments in the strategy review. Once again, we’re facing the danger that costly defense technologies could erode the close combat capabilities still needed for anti terrorism operations and other "muddy boots scenarios." Excerpts from a National Journal report, 06/09/01. By James Kitfield On Saturday, May 12, the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for a briefing on one of the most eagerly awaited of the many secretive ongoing reviews of U.S. defense policy. Dubbed the "Rumsfeld Reviews"… Leading this particular briefing-on the future of conventional war fighting-was David Gompert, a vice president at the RAND Corp. think tank…Gompert primarily emphasized the future value of long-range, precision-strike capabilities-bombs and missiles that airplanes and ships can fire at faraway targets. There was little mention of forward-based ground troops or the kind of "engagement" activities-joint training and exercises with foreign militaries-that characterize much of the day-to-day operations of today's U.S. Army. The review defined weapons either as fitting well into a future battlefield dominated by rapidly deployable forces with over-the-horizon firing capability, or as marginal or even irrelevant to that scenario. In the latter categories, reportedly, were the Army's 70-ton M1-A2 Abrams battle tank, which was so successful in Desert Storm, and the still-in-development Crusader mobile artillery system, which is designed to fire a huge number of shells very quickly. The Gompert review also suggested shrinking the number of people in uniform to pay for the new kind of warfare, including possible cuts to the Army, perhaps eliminating some of its heavy tank divisions. All of the service chiefs gave the briefing a frosty reception. They were still smarting over being largely excluded from the early stages of the Rumsfeld Reviews. In fact, to ease some of the isolation the services were feeling, Rumsfeld last week undertook an extraordinary series of daily meetings with the service chiefs to go over the reviews. And Pentagon spokesmen are now attempting to play down the importance of the reviews, describing them simply as "get-smart" exercises whose findings will be folded into the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, a report expected in September. Nevertheless, the Rumsfeld Reviews have provoked a profound anxiety in Army ranks, and it is not abating…. Defense experts believe the Army has every reason to feel threatened by the Bush Administration. After heading two influential commissions on national missile defense and U.S. military capabilities in space, Rumsfeld is known to favor these high-tech and far-aloft domains where the Army's foothold is tentative, at best. Rumsfeld's stated desire to pull U.S. Army peacekeepers out of the Balkans and the Sinai Peninsula also suggests a resistance to the entanglements and risks inherent in boots-on-the-ground operations that are the Army's stock-in-trade. Other aspects of the Rumsfeld Reviews have also sounded alarms inside the Army…Andrew Marshall, argues for a shift in focus, away from the European theater, which is dominated by U.S. Army ground troops and Air Force tactical air forces, and onto the Asian-Pacific theater, whose vast, watery distances favor naval forces, long-range air assets, and the avoidance of ground wars… Also worrying the Army, as well as the other services, is the Bush Administration's $1.35 trillion tax cut. Coupled with the demands on the federal budget from proposed reforms in education, Social Security, and prescription drug insurance, the tax cut could leave very little money to fund Rumsfeld's ambitious agenda… "I think Rumsfeld is discovering that the Pentagon is much more under-financed and dysfunctional than he anticipated, yet he's promised to transform it, modernize the arsenal, and keep faith with its people," said one longtime defense expert… Of all the armed services, the Army, because it is the most reliant on people, and the least high-tech, has always felt itself particularly vulnerable to cuts in what the Pentagon calls "force structure"-basically the number of fighting units… "The problem with Army force structure is that it has the least political constituency in Washington," said Thomas Donnelly, a former staff member with the House Armed Services Committee and currently a senior analyst with the Project for the New American Century, a conservative think tank in Washington. "Army force structure doesn't translate into home-state programs… Unease inside the Army is exacerbated by a sense that the service is already badly off balance… "The Army today is suffering from two self-inflicted wounds in terms of the controversies surrounding the beret and new recruiting slogan, plus it is feeling defensive," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Terry Scott, director of national security programs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Add to that defensiveness the Army's tendency to wear its heart on its sleeve and its inability to get its general officers singing in one voice, he said, and the Army has difficulty arguing its case effectively. "Right now, for instance, there are a lot of retired generals who are happy to tell you that Army transformation is a lot of bull," said Scott. Yet a number of experts believe that the Army is vulnerable, not because it has undertaken a risky transformation into a lighter, more mobile force, but rather because it began that process so late… "We spent a lot of time trying to understand the type of warfare the United States might confront in the next quarter-century, and it is very difficult to imagine where these great ground wars are going to occur in the future," said retired Air Force Gen. Charles Boyd, executive director of the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, a congressionally mandated panel studying future national security needs. "We saw a much greater requirement for the Army to deal with failed states and limited conflicts, where the premium would be on rapidly deployable, agile forces of great lethality. So no one on the commission felt that the Army was somehow obsolete, but I think we would like to see the Army transform itself as quickly as possible." Army officials point out that even if the Pentagon were to jettison the requirement of being able to fight two major theater wars nearly simultaneously, the Army would still find its forces stretched thin at today's level of 10 active divisions… On an even more fundamental level, Army officials are distressed by what they see as the growing belief in a sort of "immaculate warfare," whereby the United States can stand secure behind high-tech missile defenses and space systems and smite enemies from afar without fear of suffering casualties. Such a concept defies history… "A lot of us generals who spent 40 years in uniform are worried that the Army is now threatened by a lot of technological purists and dilettantes who have new ideas about how to fight wars that don't square with reality," said a retired Army four-star who served as one of the Pentagon's war-fighting commanders in chief…. ARTICLE 2 Study: US Must Help Colombia Ed.: More think tank recommendations to expand our role in Columbia and even neighboring countries, vs. taking measures at home and along our borders. It disturbs me to see the growing influence of Rand and other "tanks" who ruled supreme with McNamara and who are now filled to the gills with ex-Perfumed Princes. A recent AP report. WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States should rethink its commitment to fighting drug trafficking in Colombia and step up assistance to help the country remedy the weakness of its armed forces and state institutions, according to a study conducted for the U.S. Air Force. The report by Rand Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif., research group, says the threat of political and military deterioration in Colombia could soon lead to the United States' most serious security crisis in the hemisphere since the Central American wars of the 1980s. The study says U.S. policy ignores the fact that ``the political and military control that the guerrillas exercise over an ever-larger part of Colombia's territory and population is at the heart of their challenge to the Bogota government's authority.'' As for military assistance, the report urges help for Colombian efforts to reform its forces, improve anti-guerrilla operations and regain control of major roads and rivers. Meanwhile, the United States should work with neighboring countries to contain the risk of spillover and regional destabilization and to pave the way for a multilateral response if the crisis in Colombia deepens and containment efforts fail. A $1.3 billion U.S. assistance program is aimed primarily at assisting Colombian counter-narcotics efforts through the provision of helicopters, other equipment and military training. Funds also are set aside for social programs, development of the justice system and protection of human rights. The administration also is earmarking funds for neighboring countries to bolster their counter-drug efforts should coca growers in Colombia decide to relocate outside the country. ARTICLE 3 China Broke U.S. Military Codes After Taking Plane Ed.: This isn’t good news and the public doesn’t know much about it. As to the other capabilities, maybe we shouldn’t become totally dependent on space as the other battlefield. Good conventional and reliable backup never hurts. Charles R. Smith, Friday, June 8, 2001 China broke secret U.S. military codes after the capture of a Navy aircraft. Japanese defense officials informed the Pentagon that the Link-11 secure military communication system was compromised after a U.S. Navy plane was forced down. Japanese defense officials confirmed that Tokyo ordered its defense forces to change Link-11 codes immediately after the EP-3E was captured. The U.S. Navy EP-3E surveillance aircraft held by China is equipped with the most advanced version of the NATO Link-11 secure communication system. The Navy aircraft was forced to land on Hainan Island after a collision with a Chinese air force F-8 interceptor in April. Japan has bought several EP-3E aircraft from America and shares the Link-11 system with U.S. allies in NATO. The Link-11 system passes information between ground stations and airborne early-warning aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The EP-3E in question, aircraft PR-32, was equipped with the latest version of the NATO Link-11 system, code named "Story Book." Japanese officials are concerned that, even if the hard drives of the computers were magnetically wiped and the CD-ROM key disks were destroyed, there is still much the Chinese could learn. Chinese Army Uses Stolen U.S. System Chinese military engineers are already very familiar with the U.S. designed Link-11 communication system. The Chinese military employs a stolen version of the U.S.-made Link-11. The Link W system employed by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is an unlicensed copy of the U.S. Navy Link-11. Japan also shares the Link-11 system with America. Japan has two new Boeing 767 airliners, equipped with huge American designed radars to monitor aircraft and missile activity inside China. The Link-11 communication systems in these aircraft are identical to those used on the captured American EP-3E. Japanese military officials are worried that the new Boeing early-warning aircraft will be jammed and unable to pass critical data to command posts in the event of war with China. The Japan Defense Agency in Tokyo ordered an immediate evaluation of the risks to Japan after the U.S. Navy EP-3E was captured. Taiwan and Japan regularly fly electronic surveillance aircraft in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea to monitor Chinese army communications and Chinese navy warship activity. Since the April EP-3E incident, Japanese and Taiwanese flights have been escorted by fighters and watched closely by radar. Navy and CIA Ignored Warnings Pentagon sources are convinced that the EP-3E incident was not an accident. In March, U.S. Navy intelligence officials ignored the repeated close encounters with the Chinese air force's jets, deciding that they were the actions of a single "hot-shot" pilot. Now defense analysts stated that they are certain that Chinese pilot Wang Wei acted with permission from PLAAF command. The Chinese air force operates under a strict Soviet-style control system that does not allow pilots to fly close passes without permission. In addition, Chinese army intelligence officials warned their American counterparts in January that the People's Liberation Army disapproved of American spy satellites, warning that the PLA might shoot one down in the future. CIA officials reportedly ignored the warnings from Beijing at the time. Defense officials now acknowledge the China has the capability of disabling or destroying a U.S. satellite. U.S. spy satellites are considered strategic assets and are monitoring Chinese military exercises. U.S. satellites also monitored the recent deployment of Chinese DF-11 and DF-15 mobile missiles to forward bases opposite Taiwan. Army's Anti-satellite Weapons The Chinese military has several active anti-satellite programs and has demonstrated a conventional space-rocket-launched anti-satellite weapon. More importantly, the People's Liberation Army Air Force is working on an aircraft launched anti-satellite missile that can pop up unexpectedly to attack U.S. satellites. The PLAAF program reportedly included the purchase of a MiG-31 Foxhound aircraft from Russia to fire a large, two-stage, anti-satellite missile. The Russian Foxhound is capable of flying at speeds in excess of 2,000 miles an hour at extremely high altitudes. Apparently the Chinese attempt to buy the Foxhound from Moscow has failed. However, the new Chinese J-11 Flanker jet fighter is capable of carrying the large anti-satellite missile. The Chinese army is also working on a ground-based laser designed to destroy or disable U.S. satellites. Recent translations of Chinese military documentation show that the PLA accelerated development of beam weapons during 2000. The new PLA anti-satellite laser is estimated to be able to deliver over 10,000 watts of output power on a target up to 500 miles away. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions 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, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
