"There are no longer secrets, so there is nothing to steal."

      A poster on alt.politics.org.cia questioned my earlier post about 
  U.S. nuclear secrets being on Internet.  I cite a report from a recent 
  Washington Post article. (I recall that the Associated Press and any 
  number of other publications also carried this story). However the 
  "theft" of nuclear secrets by China is a major political/security 
  campaign issue drowning out all reality. 

      It is curious that we allow China to make our domestic security 
  policies -- the major basis of the Cox report was fed to us by a 
  Chinese double agent working for Chinese intelligence. The CIA probably 
  disseminated this information to Congress and others. 

   SEARCHING INTERNET

      China's State Council, put on a demonstration re the Cox
  Report. Zhao Qizheng, repeated China's long-standing insistence that it has
  never stolen American nuclear technology. He said the info China is accused
  of stealing -- including design of the W88 warhead and six others -- has
  long been openly available. He cited the nuclear weapons databook series
  published by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Also performance data
  about various types of nuclear warheads, ranging from the early MK-1 to the
  latest W88, can easily be found on the Internet," he said. "there are no
  longer secrets, so there is nothing to steal." a surfer, fang, logged on to
  the Internet to the web page of the Federation of American Scientists, a
  Washington-based group concerned with weapons proliferation and other
  issues. FAS was founded by scientists who worked on the Manhattan project
  and disseminates info on nuclear weapons to encourage debate on
  disarmament. 

      Fang's search produced a list of every U.S. nuclear weapon and
  its specifications including W88 with its explosive yield, weight, length
  and diameter of the warhead, and materials used and its key design
  features. Surfers also found academic bulletin boards used by American
  scientists to be sources of info on U.S. nuclear weapons. Washington Post
  6/1/99 a10

      China probably did not need to use spies to get some of the
  details and sketches of the latest us nuclear weapons because most is
  available on the Internet or in libraries, per the 17 May Los Angeles
  Times. The Times claims the Chinese have tried to access a Maryland-based
  online service -- USNI military database which carries estimates of the
  explosive yield of U.S. nuclear warheads and the accuracy of the missiles
  that carry them. The cost of the database is a minimum of $2,500 a year --
  which discouraged the Chinese from subscribing. The database provides info
  from military journals, conference reports, arms control treaties,
  congressional testimony and other open sources. China's nuclear web surfers
  kept asking for free samples from USNI. Some, of the classified material on
  U.S. warheads, missiles, and nuclear nose cones is available from Internet.
  Los Angeles times 5/15/99


Ralph McGehee
http://come.to/CIABASE