!!! ALERT !!! URGENT !!! ALERT !!! URGENT !!! ALERT !!! URGENT!!
The Department of Energy seems to be on the verge of taking a really big
and really bad step away from openess and public accountability, and I
hope that it is not too late to stop this very unfortunate move by DOE.
The DOE Congressional Question and Answer/Testimony Database (QADB)
http://www.doe.gov/html/osti/qadbpg.html
is a WAIS database containing the full-text of the Department's
testimonies before Congressional Committees and/or Subcommittees and
pre- or post-Hearing questions and answers. QADB is sponsored by the
Office of the Executive Secretariat and is maintained by the Office of
Scientific and Technical Information.
If you have not used this marvelous facility, you should definitely
check it out, because it is absolutely the very best thing that any
government agency has ever done in terms of making such material readily
accessible to the public. There is just simply nothing like it anywhere
else, and it is a model that all other agencies should be required to
emulate.
You should also check it out ASAP because as near as I can figure it is
going to vanish in the next several weeks. The Congressional Question
and Answer Database (QADB) has not been updated since last September. I
believe that I am reliably informed that Bette Mohr of the Office of the
Executive Secretariate (Dept of Energy HR-7) has directed the close-out
of the QADB system during FY97. Funding for the close-out activity is
expected within the next month.
This would be a really bad thing, both in terms of making DOE
information available to the public, as well as in terms of setting a
really bad precedent for other government agencies. If anyone has a clue
as to what could be done to get this decision turned around, let me
know, because I am very sad contemplating the prospect of losing this
resource.
!!! ALERT !!! URGENT !!! ALERT !!! URGENT!!! ALERT !!! URGENT!!!
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1 - Successful intercept in Pacific
SSDC MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS
February 7, 1997
2 - Silicon Graphics Cooperating With Commerce Department
Regarding Sale of Computers to Russian Laboratory - February 18, 1997
3 - * RUSSIA * NATO * SECURITY COUNCIL * WHILE NATO
EXPANSION PROBLEM EXISTS, START-2 WILL HARDLY BE
RATIFIED, SECURITY COUNCIL DEPUTY SECRETARY SAYS
MOSCOW, 18 FEBRUARY, RIA NOVOSTI -
4 - RUSSIAN AIR DEFENCE READY TO BECOME AEROSPACE
COMMAND It has enough weapons, but its position is difficult
(Segodnya, February 18. In full.) Yuri GOLOTYUK
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Successful intercept in Pacific
SSDC MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS
February 7, 1997
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and the U.S. Army
Space and Strategic Defense Command (USASSDC) today announced the
successful engagement of a tactical ballistic missile by an improved
PATRIOT missile defense system.
The target missile was launched from Bigen Island, Aur Atoll, toward the
U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Republic of the Marshall
Islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. The PATRIOT missile was launched
from Meck Island within the USAKA and intercepted the target over the
broad ocean area.
The objective of this mission was to obtain sensor data on target
tactical ballistic missiles and to demonstrate the feasibility of
theater missile defense (TMD) intercepts.
A PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Configuration 2 Air and
Missile Defense System utilized both PAC-2 and Guidance Enhanced Missile
(GEM) interceptors to intercept the target. The PATRIOT system includes
a radar to detect and track targets, an engagement control station to
operate the system, and launchers to transport and launch PATRIOT
missiles. The PAC-2 and GEM missiles were designed to destroy attacking
aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles. The PAC-3
Configuration 2 system includes a series of improvements to the PATRIOT
system used in the Gulf War.
BMDO and the Army are currently developing the PAC-3 system, which will
represent an improved TMD capability. The changes to the PATRIOT system
include radar modifications, communication upgrades, remote launch
capability, and other system improvements. The PAC-3 Configuration 3
system will also include the PAC-3 missile (formerly known as the
Extended Range Interceptor or ERINT), which is a smaller, more lethal
interceptor that destroys targets by directly impacting the
warhead/payload, which is known as hit-to-kill technology.
For further information, please contact Lt. Col. Rick Lehner at BMDO's
External Affairs Office at (703)695-8743,
William Congo or Gerda Sherrill at the USASSDC Public Affairs Office at
(205)955-3887, or
Mike Biddle and John Cummings at Headquarters, USASSDC, at
(703)607-2039.
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Silicon Graphics Cooperating With Commerce Department
Regarding Sale of Computers to Russian Laboratory
February 18, 1997
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (February 18, 1997) -- Silicon Graphics, Inc.
(NYSE:SGI) today announced that it has been working over the past month
with the Department of Commerce to investigate whether high-powered
computers shipped to a Russian laboratory are being used for nuclear
weapons testing.
"I am very concerned with this situation. Our reputation for integrity
as a company is extremely important to us," said Edward R. McCracken,
chairman and chief executive officer of Silicon Graphics. "These systems
were shipped on the understanding that they would be used for
environmental research. It would be a major concern to us if Silicon
Graphics systems have been diverted to end-uses that differ from the
representations we received at the time of the shipment."
"In our review of the situation it is apparent that errors in judgment
were made by not asking the right questions prior to the sale and by
not raising the issue to the top of our organization for consideration,"
continued McCracken. "I take full responsibility for this situation."
The systems were purchased by the Russian Scientific Research
Institute for Technical Physics in 1996, which stated that the computers
were to be used specifically for modeling of earth-water pollution
caused by extension of radioactive substances, for modeling of the
Earth's atmosphere and for the research of atomic power plant
safety. Based on these representations, Silicon Graphics believed
that this transaction did not require a license from the Commerce
Department.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. is cooperating with the Commerce
Department to determine if the systems have been diverted to an
inappropriate use.
"We take our obligations under the export laws seriously and
believe that all our exports to end-users in Russia were made
in compliance with applicable requirements," said McCracken.
"We are vigorously revising our entire procedure for exports
to Russia in order to assure that all Silicon Graphics exports
fully comply with all government regulations."
Silicon Graphics, Inc is a leading supplier of high-performance
interactive computing systems. The company offers the broadest
range of products in the industry -- from low-end desktop
workstations to servers and high-end Cray® supercomputers.
Silicon Graphics also markets MIPS® microprocessor designs,
Alias|WavefrontTM entertainment and design software and
other software products. The company's key markets
include the manufacturing, government, science and industries,
telecommunications and entertainment sectors. Silicon Graphics
and its subsidiaries have offices throughout the world and
headquarters in Mountain View, California.
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* RUSSIA * NATO * SECURITY COUNCIL * WHILE NATO
EXPANSION PROBLEM EXISTS, START-2 WILL HARDLY BE
RATIFIED, SECURITY COUNCIL DEPUTY SECRETARY SAYS
MOSCOW, 18 FEBRUARY, RIA NOVOSTI -
There is a consensus in Russia on NATO expansion, and while
this problem exists, START-2 between Russia and the US will
hardly be ratified, Russia's Security Council Deputy Secretary
Leonid Mayorov told a delegation of the US Centre for Navy
Analysis today.
The US experts headed by the Centre's President Robert Murrey
and the Commander of the US multi-purpose submarine force in
the Atlantic Rear Admiral Malcolm Fagie were received by
Mayorov following their request, Security Council press service
reports.
According to Mayorov, Russia is really concerned by the fact
that the practically unchanged military and political NATO bloc is
going not only to increase its potential by 20 percent, but also
advance its military infrastructure to Russia's frontiers. The talks
about the reduction of the US military presence in Europe seem
to be of poor guarantee to Russia, he stressed, as the military
potential can increase, again. Mayorov proposed to seriously
consider an agreement between NATO and Russia which will
impose political obligations on the two parties and include Russia
in the process of adoption of decisions on the issues relating to its
security.
In his turn, Robert Murrey noted that no discussion has been
held in the US so far in terms of NATO eastbound expansion, as
Washington does not treat Russia as an enemy any longer.
The participants to the meeting were unanimous that the
Russo-American dialogue on all the issues relating to the national
security of the two states should be expanded. -0-
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RUSSIAN AIR DEFENCE READY TO BECOME AEROSPACE
COMMAND
It has enough weapons, but its position is difficult
(Segodnya, February 18. In full.)
Yuri GOLOTYUK
The session of the Defence Council, which is to make practical
decisions on the reform of the armed forces, has been postponed
again. The army leaders are using this time to inform the public
of their views on the matter, most probably because they know it
would be futile to question Defence Council decisions after they
are approved in the Kremlin. Last Friday we were presented the
views of General of the Army Viktor Prudnikov, chief
commander of the Air Defence Forces, who seldom makes
statements of this kind.
Prudnikov said that the Air Defence Forces will be soon
transformed into the Aerospace Command, the air and space
defence of the country, "an integral system of combating all
aerospace attack weapons flying at all speeds and altitudes over
the territory of the Russian Federation." In fact, this concept is
nothing new, as it was outlined in Yeltsin's decree "On the Air
Defence Forces of the Russian Federation" back in 1993.
Since then, the concept was elaborated into a detailed programme
of the creation of the Aerospace Command and submitted to the
government. The authors of the programme prefer not to speak
about the details of the future transformation stages until the
programme's approval by the government. The chief commander
said, though, that these details roughly coincide with the stages of
the overall reform of the armed forces, announced by Yuri
Baturin, Secretary of the Defence Council.
These stages include reductions (until the year 2000),
restructuring and combat training (2000-2005), and full-scale
rearmament (after 2005). The reform of the Air Defence Forces
will boil down to "gearing the fighting structure of the Air
Defence groups, their capabilities and state of combat readiness
to the development level of aerospace attack weapons, the level
of threat of such an attack, and real economic possibilities of the
country."
In principle, the transformation of the Air Defence Forces into
the Aerospace Command is not a one-off action which calls for a
dramatic change. The bulk of the necessary elements of the
future command exist in the Air Defence Forces, such as the
global missile attack early warning and space control systems, the
ballistic missile defence system of Moscow and the Central
Region, deployed under the 1972 treaty with the USA, and air
control system ensured by the radio-technical force, the air
defence aviation and air defence missile systems.
In other words, the country has the requisite elements for the
aerospace defence, although Prudnikov did not exclude the
possibility that the Aerospace Command may also incorporate
some elements of the Strategic Missile Force, the Air Force and
the Military Space Force.
Although the chief commander of the Air Defence Forces said
that "Russia has enough troops and resources to ensure
aerospace security," the current situation in the forces is "rather
complicated." The army crisis has affected also the Air Defence
Forces. Combat readiness was maintained partly thanks to
calculated reductions of supply and logistics units, with the
maximum preservation of combat units, control and
reconnaissance systems.
The redistribution of allocations, coupled with troop reductions,
allowed the command to arm the forces with modern combat
technology, such as the fourth-generation MiG-31 and Su-37
interceptors and the S-300 missile air defence systems of
different modifications. Their lifetime is enough to allow their use
until the planned reform in 2005, but the maintenance of a high
level of combat readiness calls for outlays, which the Air Defence
Forces, and the army in general, do not have now. As a result,
the national air defences are gradually losing efficiency.
The hardest hit is the air defence aviation, as hardly any aircraft
are repaired now, interceptors seldom make flights (the average
flight time was 19 hours in 1996) and hence are losing their skills.
Prudnikov believes that this will result not in any abstract loss of
combat readiness, but in genuine tragedies, such as the crash of a
MiG-31 air defence interceptor, together with the crew, outside
Arkhangelsk this January.
This is far from the first crash of this type of planes, which is
becoming a high-risk aircraft in conditions of a dire shortage of
allocations. General Prudnikov, a fighter pilot himself, has said
that "the MiG-31 is a promising and powerful, but very
complicated aircraft," which calls for constant technical
maintenance and high piloting skills, with the annual flight time of
at least 100-120 hours. Otherwise we will have more tragedies of
this kind.
The chief commander of the Air Defence Forces made an
unprecedented statement. "I will prohibit MiG-31 flights, unless
we improve flight organisation this year," he said, since it is "a
sacrilege, a shame and a crime" to send pilots to a sure death.
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John Pike
Federation of American Scientists http://www.fas.org/
Space Policy Project http://www.fas.org/spp/
Public Eye http://www.fas.org/eye/
Intelligence Reform Project http://www.fas.org/irp/
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
- Jefferson
