Where is the USS Jimmy Carter?
By: cosmo on: 06.02.2008 [08:03 ] (311 reads)
Most probably busy cutting and installing surveillance equipement all over
the Middle East.
(6967 bytes) [c]
<http://www.iraq-war.ru/tiki-print_article.php?articleId=155579> Print
The Galloping Beaver
A tail dragging romp through the swamps of the world
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Where is the USS Jimmy Carter?
Why would I care? Well, for a couple of reasons. The USS Jimmy Carter isn't
just any old run-of-the-mill nuclear attack submarine. No, no. The Jimmy
Carter (SSN-23) is one hot piece of kit. It is the one submarine in the US
fleet which is designated a Multi-Mission Platform and is purpose built to
carry out a number of roles in special warfare, undersea surveillance and
other really sneaky stuff.
In short, USS Jimmy Carter, roughly 100 feet longer than its sister boats of
the new Seawolf-class because of its unique role, is a spy machine.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, first of all, the sheets and
pages of information on USS Jimmy Carter's multi-mission capabilities have
all disappeared off the US Navy's sites. Even the commissioning announcement
at Commander Submarine Group Two is gone.
The second thing is this:
Internet services in Qatar have been seriously disrupted because of damage
to an undersea telecoms cable linking the Gulf state to the UAE, the fourth
such incident in less than a week. Qatar Telecom (Qtel) said on Sunday the
cable was damaged between the Qatari island of Haloul and the UAE island of
Das on Friday. The cause of damage is not yet known, but ArabianBusiness.com
has been told unofficially the problem is related to the power system and
not the result of a ship's anchor cutting the cable, as is thought to be the
case in the other three incidents.
Well actually, there is no evidence that ships anchors did anything of the
sort. In fact, Egypt says ships did not sever the fiber-optic cables.
Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and
another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to internet
and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South
Asia.
A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on
Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said.
Egypt's transport ministry said footage recorded by onshore video cameras of
the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the
cables were damaged.
"The ministry's maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the
period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no
ships sailed the area," a statement said.
Those cables are about the width of a normal human thumb. And a ship's
anchor would indeed rip right through one. But four? In three different
locations in under a week? Run that little coincidence by any police
detective and ask what she/he thinks.
So, at the risk of perpetrating a conspiracy theory, I will state that I am
highly suspicious and until someone can point at USS Jimmy Carter snuggly
alongside at its berth in Bangor, Washington, the Bush administration
becomes as strong a suspect as any other possible perpetrator. There is also
the fact that USS Jimmy Carter was due to become operational this year.
The Jimmy Carter, interestingly, is purpose built where its predecessors
were regular attack subs modified for specific jobs. USS Parche was equipped
with a set of pick-up arms designed to rip an armoured fiber-optic cable
from its meter deep trench and tap into it. As a matter of certain
knowledge, the USN did exactly that with submarines on Soviet undersea
copper cables during the cold-war. They conducted a successful tap on the
Soviet navy's Pacific Fleet headquarters when they tapped an undersea cable
in the Sea of Okhotsk, which was discovered by the Soviets and another of
the Kola Peninsula tapping into the Soviet Northern Fleet headquarters which
remained undiscovered.
There have also been leaks which state that the US National Security Agency
tapped a fiber-optic undersea cable with some success. The problem was the
flood of information which NSA computers were unable to handle at that time.
Former intelligence officials say the agency made its tap with the help of a
customized sub. "It's a submarine capable of bringing a length of cable
inside a special chamber, where the men then do the work," while the sub
hugs the ocean floor, says one former official. The surface ships used by
undersea-cable companies to install and repair cables have similar
chambers--called jointing rooms--where crews work on the delicate fibers.
When repairing a broken cable, cable companies generally lift one end of the
rupture to the surface and into the jointing room, splice in a new length of
cable, then lift the other end of the rupture and repeat the process.
In fact, it is unlikely the Jimmy Carter would actually bring the cable into
the submarine. Aside from being a gargantuan pain-in-the-ass it's risky.
However, given the dimensions of the Jimmy Carter, it is probably equipped
with a lock-out system which would allow operations to occur outside the
sub.
That's not proof, however, and it still doesn't explain a total break in the
fiber-optic lines. Well, not quite. There is a possible explanation.
Whenever there is a tap on a fiber-optic line, there is a temporary
interruption in the information stream. Although short, the operator of the
system can detect it. In fact, they would see it instantly because the
data-rate would drop immediately raising an alarm. There is also the fact
that most cable operators diverge their systems by using two separate lines
to stream data. The geographic routes of these lines are far enough apart
that any rupture can be handled by rerouting data on the other line.
That's what makes the breaks so suspicious. The last two breaks interfered
with the secondary cable routes.
So, what explains the total breaks? Well, the fact that splicing the tap
into the fiber-optic cable is detectable. Since the only way to get accurate
data is to conduct a full splice, the only way to get accurate data is to
alert the cable operator. They're not going to be happy with that at all.
If I were conducting an intercept operation requiring an undersea
fiber-optic cable splice which I knew the cable operator would detect, I
need a way to prevent that operator from detecting it. Create a diversion.
By disabling the cable, either by severing it underwater or creating a
problem ashore, it gives me time to do my splice undetected in a location
far away from the diversionary problem. When the cable operator says it will
be days before a repair ship can get to it, that gives me plenty of time to
get the job done and get out of the area.
So, if I'm right then all we have to do is find USS Jimmy Carter. If I'm
wrong, I've just given the NSA a strategy for making undetected taps. On the
other hand, it might just be the most concerted attack on the global
fiber-optic network by merchant ship anchors in history.
<http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2008/02/where-is-uss-jimmy-carter.ht
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http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2008/02/where-is-uss-jimmy-carter.htm
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