Friend of China

We reported in this space several weeks ago about how the White House
National Security Council staff secretly placed a pro-Beijing operative
inside the Pentagon.

The appointment of David Shambaugh as a Pentagon consultant was a
rear-guard covert political action aimed at eventually replacing Kurt
Campbell, the deputy assistant defense secretary for East Asia. Mr. Campbell
had planned to return to the private sector this month.

After our item appeared, however, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen
stepped in and urged Mr. Campbell to stay on as his top China policy-maker.
Mr. Shambaugh's consultancy was restricted.

White House spokesmen and Mr. Shambaugh were quick to deny there was ever
any plot to wrest control of Pentagon policy-making, or that Mr. Shambaugh
and the NSC's China-meister, Kenneth Lieberthal, are pro-Beijing.

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Mr. Lieberthal's tilt toward China was revealed in an article he wrote
several years ago for the New York Times that called for the lifting all
U.S. sanctions against China that were imposed after the brutal 1989
military crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Now, word of Mr. Shambaugh's pro-Beijing credentials is confirmed from an
unlikely source. The official Chinese military newspaper, the Liberation
Army Daily, reported Nov. 11 that Mr. Shambaugh, an academic who holds a
secret-level security clearance, was a tremendous helper for a visiting
Chinese colonel who spent several months in Washington.

The Chinese colonel, Chen Bojiang, credited Mr. Shambaugh with giving him
the names and contact information for a group of U.S. specialists on China's
military, including Army Col. John Corbitt, currently Mr. Cohen's desk
officer in charge of contacts with the People's Liberation Army.

``Professor David Shambaugh not only gave me a detailed briefing on the
backgrounds and fields of study of each of the experts, but also strongly
recommended that I interview each one,'' Col. Chen wrote in the newspaper
article. ``He finally told me that he was very familiar with them all, and
that
he would write to each of them introducing me, asking them to let me
interview them.''

The Chinese article outraged several Pentagon officials, including one
who said Mr. Shambaugh's actions came close to assisting Chinese
intelligence gathering, since that is exactly how Chinese spies ``vacuum
clean'' U.S. experts for intelligence and information.

Mr. Shambaugh did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Bad command

A new Air Force report describes the results of an investigation into how
a $45 million unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in the California
desert. The new Global Hawk reconnaissance drone was being flight tested
over the China Lake Naval Weapons Center. The drones are the military's
latest high-technology reconnaissance aircraft that are piloted from the
ground electronically. Many traditionalist Navy and Air Force aviators view
them with disdain as a bad sign for the future of aviation.

The Global Hawk flight March 29 was a practice mission of the drone's
formidable aerial picture-taking capabilities.

Across the state line at nearby Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., military
technicians were testing out their control transmitters for Global Hawk. One
of them pressed the ``termination'' command ... and whoops, the signal was
picked up by the China Lake Hawk.

``This caused Global Hawk to go into a termination maneuver involving a
pre-programmed, rolling, vertical descent from an altitude of 41,000 feet,''
the Air Force said in a statement. ``When it crashed there was no fire, and
China Lake personnel secured the site.''

The UAV also erased all the data in its computers in preparation for the
nose dive to self-destruction. To avoid a repeat of the costly failure, the
Air Force has now ``modified'' its destruct features for the drone.

Army COOing

We've had a bunch of queries about COO, the Army's sensitivity training
program, ever since this column told of the service's top intelligence
officer speaking to a group of hardened senior sergeants. Instead of
focusing on future intelligence needs, the general lectured them on COO
(Consideration of Others), much to the dismay of some of those present.

What is COO?

We procured a document on the subject distributed by the Army's Military
District of Washington. COO's goal, the guidance states, is ``increasing
sensitivity in a diverse environment.''

How?

``On an annual basis, the Consideration of Others program for all
military and civilian personnel will include eight hours of small group
discussion with 15-25 attendees as the ideal method to maximize training
effectiveness. These sessions must be guided by a trained facilitator. Equal
opportunity advisers and equal employment specialists, ... along with
trained facilitators, have the requisite expertise to develop programs of
instruction and train facilitators for small group sessions.''

``Consideration of others is not just a concept to address sexual,
racial, or religious harassment -- it covers the broad perspective of
civility and encompasses harassment, discrimination, prejudice,
insensitivity, offensive behavior, verbal abuse, and basic thoughtlessness.

``Consideration of others is more than policy, it is a basic philosophy,
it is a value, not limited to race, religion, or gender. It encompasses any
type of harassment or discrimination to include age, height, weight, or
disability and applies to all categories of people and offensive behavior.
It is integral to the fundamental characteristics we require of our Army leaders
and is based on common courtesy, decency, and sensitivity to the feelings
and needs of others.''

The Army document goes on to quote the commander in chief. ``The actions of
soldiers for whom Consideration of Others is a bedrock value can be quite
extraordinary. President Clinton reminded the nation of that value and its
consequences when he presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to the
widows (of two Army sergeants killed in Somalia). In his remarks, the
President said, `They risked their lives without hesitation. Their actions
were clearly above and beyond the call of duty.'''