The Clinton administration allowed the export of advanced
radiation-hardened microchip technology, vital electronic components for
military satellites and nuclear weapons, to Russia and China.
The specialized computer chips are designed to withstand the intense
radiation of space and global thermonuclear warfare.
Radiation-hardened chips were controlled under the State
Department and the Defense Department as a "military" technology
until 1996. In early 1996, all export license authority for
radiation-hardened microchip technology was transferred to the
Commerce Department by President Clinton.
On Jan. 13, 1999, the Commerce Department responded to a June
1998 Freedom of Information Act request for information
on radiation-hardened chip technology transfers to China and
Russia. The Commerce response, a two-page letter, states "we
issued two licenses for Russia and three for China for the
export of microprocessor technology."
The Commerce Department response noted that the licenses issued
not only included the export of radiation-hardened chips to
Russia and China but also included "non-U.S. citizens employed
by U.S. firms in the U.S. to work with controlled microprocessor
technology."
The response also stated that "BXA (Bureau of Export
Administration) is unable to provide you with any more detailed
information on these exports. Specific information on
applications to export technology for microprocessor or
microchips to China or Russia is being withheld ... from public
disclosure unless the release of such information is determined
by the Secretary to be in the national interest."
The Clinton administration allowed Chinese and Russian engineers
inside the U.S. to study how chips designed to withstand intense
radiation are manufactured. The Chinese and Russian engineers
took those skills, techniques and equipment back to Russia and
China to produce their own advanced, radiation-hardened,
computer chips. The Commerce Department has more but will not
give up the secret documents without a legal fight.
Military technology certainly went east and money certainly went
west. The crossroads for the high-tech military commerce was
the White House. The list of Clinton officials taking money
from, or acting as agents for the Chinese government grows
longer and goes to higher levels with each return of FOIA documents.
For example, Webster Hubbell was selected by Janet Reno in 1993
to oversee a secret encryption chip project. John Huang sought
and obtained 37 classified briefings on encryption technology
from the CIA. Both Hubbell and Huang were well paid by the
Lippo Group, the Riady family empire run with the Chinese
government as half partners.
In addition, there is abundant evidence that Chinese army agents
met directly with Clinton officials to obtain military
communications satellite technology. In August 1994, Lt.
General Shen Roujun, the vice minister of the Commission of
Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense
(COSTIND), met with Loral CEO Bernard Schwartz and Ron Brown in Beijing.
According to the GAO, COSTIND is "an agency of the Chinese
military. ... COSTIND oversees development of China's weapon
systems and is responsible for identifying and acquiring
telecommunications technology applicable for military use."
The documents obtained from the Commerce Department clearly note
the 1994 Peoples Liberation Army/Loral meeting was arranged by Ron Brown
and President Clinton. General Shen arranged to buy satellites for
the Chinese army from Loral using phony commercial licenses
issued through Ron Brown's Commerce Department.
In February 1996, a Chinese Long March rocket carrying a Loral
Intelsat satellite failed and crashed on lift-off. The Loral
Intelsat payload was also destroyed. The Chinese intended to
launch the Loral satellite into deep space as they had been paid
to do by Mr. Schwartz.
However, it was discovered that a vital computer control board
was missing from the satellite. The satellite would have failed
in orbit. The missing board from the Loral Intelsat satellite
is no mystery. Chinese engineers removed it and kept the board
for examination. The stolen Loral electronics consist of
radiation-hardened, encrypted, telemetry chips, stored in a
hardened flight control box similar to those found on airliners.
The Chinese operation was the perfect crime. China could blame
American engineers when the satellite failed to function. The
sabotaged satellite would be given up as space junk and lost
forever. The U.S. could not recover the satellite to discover
the real cause of the failure without great expense.
However, fate took a twisted path, and so did the Chinese
rocket. The Long March rocket failed on launch and crashed into
a nearby Chinese village, killing over 200 innocent civilians.
The failure of the Long March allowed the U.S. to recover the
sealed satellite guidance box that revealed the control board of
radiation-hardened chips was missing.
The NSA changed all U.S. satellite codes as a result of the
stolen Loral chips, costing the taxpayer millions of dollars.
Further documentation obtained from the Defense Department shows
that China has launched a massive and expensive laser weapons
build-up. The new Chinese weapons include anti-cruise missile,
anti-satellite and lasers designed to instantly "blind" soldiers
on the battlefield. China has already deployed the blinding
laser and is currently offering the man portable unit for
export.
According to the documents, Chinese laser technology is being
run by Li Hui, the director of the Beijing Institute of Remote
Sensing Equipment. The Defense Department document noted that
the Chinese "Institute of Remote Sensing" is actually a front
for Army missile guidance design laboratories. The Institute of
Remote Sensing is "a developer of optical precision and
photoelectric guidance systems for surface-to-air missiles."
Director Li Hui recently stated that "laser technology is the
only effective means to counter cruise missiles."
Recent translations of PLA documentation shows the Chinese army
has accelerated development of beam weapons. Red Chinese army
doctrine states laser weapons will be used for "active jamming
of electro-optics, blinding combatants and damaging sensors,
causing laser guided weapons to deviate from their true targets
and target destruction."
The newly declassified Defense Department documentation
describes in detail the use of high speed computers with a
powerful new laser, controlled through "fast-steering mirrors."
The new laser uses "piezoelectric" actuators that flex very thin
mirrors at high speeds to "compensate for beam wander caused by
device jitter and atmospheric turbulence."
The system allows the laser to focus a powerful light beam over
long distances. An air defense version of the new PLA laser is
estimated to be able to deliver over 10,000 watts of output
power on a target up to 500 miles away.
According to the Defense document, China will deploy an even
more powerful ground-based laser by the year 2000. The new
laser requires a "4 meter (M) diameter beam director mirror for
an antisatellite mission. The Nanjing Astronomical Instrument
Research Center ... is currently producing a 4.3 M (meter)
diameter mirror for the Beijing Observatory. This mirror is
scheduled to be installed in the year 2000."
In addition, the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings magazine has
revealed that China is also offering a blinding laser weapon for
export. The January 1999 issue of Proceedings noted the Chinese
are now offering their ZM-87 battlefield laser on the open
market.
The ZM-87 is a "dazzler" system, designed to disable
night-vision equipment and to instantly blind combatants on the
battlefield. Blinding lasers are banned by several
international treaties. The ZM-87 resembles a conventional
machine gun on a tripod mount with a separate power unit and
sighting system.
The U.S. military, starved by Clinton budgets into a shell of
its former self, cannot afford to counter the PLA laser. U.S.
armed forces have deployed no counter-measures, such as simple
protective glasses to shield soldiers from lasers. American
pilots rely on aging night-vision equipment that cannot deal
with the intense light-beam threat.
Furthermore, the current U.S. missile inventory relies on 1970s
microchip technology with a fraction of the speed, resistance to
radiation and capability of those in their PLA counter-parts.
The American military relies on a satellite communications
system that is rapidly degrading into useless junk. According
to the GAO, the current U.S. military satellite network is
already not capable of supporting a major war and will fail
within the next five years.
In contrast, the success of the Communist Chinese espionage
effort to penetrate America can be measured by the sudden and
rapid advance of PLA weapons during Bill Clinton's presidency.
China has taken a great leap forward from the frail force of
ex-Soviet 1950s, vacuum tube driven, left-overs, deployed in
December 1992.
Current PLA weapons such as the C.802 cruise missile, the DF-15
mobile, tactical-ballistic missile and the Hong-7 super-sonic
bomber, all use state-of-the-art, radiation-hardened,
microchips. These advanced weapons communicate directly with
PLA troops using state-of-the-art, radiation-hardened, global
satellite communication systems.
The successful effort by China to obtain details on U.S.
microchip technology included both espionage and sabotage. The
red intelligence windfall freed the Chinese army to finance new
weapons such as lasers while it modernized using advanced
American technology. The legacy that President Clinton will
leave for the next century is a modern Chinese army equipped for
global war.
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