Info war alert

U.S. intelligence agencies are on heightened alert for what may be
the first international cyber-warfare operations -- across the Taiwan
Strait. With Taiwan's presidential elections a week away, the CIA
believes China could launch covert computer attacks on the island
nation.

The targets could include Internet sites operated by Taiwanese and
the computer networks of Taiwan's government and business sector.
Chinese military writings have discussed use of cyber-warfare as part of
Beijing's strategy of conducting regional conflicts under
high-technology conditions.

The cyber-attacks would be China's way of threatening the island
without a
repeat of the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis. Before elections that year,
China carried out large-scale military exercises that included
short-range missile firings north and south of Taiwan. The United States
responded by sending two aircraft carrier battle groups to the troubled
waters.

Chinese-directed information warfare is expected to be very difficult
to detect because of the electronic resources available to the military
and intelligence services. The U.S. National Security Agency, in
particular, will be watching to determine the tactics and methods used
by the Chinese if such attacks are launched.

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Taiwan is not expected to ignore the assault and will retaliate with
its own information operations against the mainland, we are told by
intelligence sources.

Chinese hackers of unknown origin attacked U.S. government computer
Internet
sites last year, prompting the FBI to send out a warning. There also
were attacks last year on Taiwanese websites believed to have come from
computer operators in China.

Run cramped

The Navy cannot meet minimum living standards for all-male crews on
its Trident ballistic missile and Los Angeles attack submarines.

The Pentagon's Defense Advisory Commission on Women in the Services
is nonetheless pressing the Navy to open subs to female crew members.

But current submarines, a Navy report shows, don't meet habitability
benchmarks for men, much less for an influx of women needing special
privacy considerations.

Among the shortfalls: inadequate number of bunks for assigned
personnel, no restrooms in the engine room, and not enough space for
crew chairs, desks, and mess seating. Refitting subs to take on women
would "further reduce existing below-standard conditions or require the
removal of equipment as a space and weight trade-off which would result
in reduced operational capabilities of the ship or require lengthening
the ship to obtain additional space and weight margin, this option would
be very costly."

Navy Secretary Richard Danzig has broached the possibility of
breaking the all-male barrier aboard subs. But his spokesman says no
change is imminent. Most admirals oppose the change, sources say.

The report concludes: "The Navy's decision regarding the assignment
of women to submarines has been reviewed, determining that no new
information has become available ... which would provide a basis for
changing the policy."

Joint Fighter worries

Top Pentagon officials may hold up development of the Joint Strike
Fighter. Costing $320 billion over 40 years for 3,000 planes, the
all-services fighter-bomber program is the largest defense program ever.

Defense sources say the JSF could be delayed for a year, possibly
two. The reason: the two main competitors for the contract, Boeing and
Lockheed Martin, are encountering developmental problems.

Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler also wants to make sure
that the U.S. defense industrial base is protected. Mr. Gansler recently
sent a memorandum asking the contract bidders how they would share the
work to keep the loser from going under.

Prototypes of the JSF are being built in a conventional, runway
takeoff mode and a vertical lift configuration.

"Both planes are having problems," one defense official told us.

Boeing is having problems on its runway version, and Lockheed Martin
recently had a failure of the vertical lifting system.

A year or so delay in the development schedule would provide the
aircraft makers with more flexibility in flight testing, we are told.

The Air Force is not too worried. It views the delay as helping
protect the F-22 fighter -- their next generation warplane -- from
budget cutters. The Navy can fall back on its advanced F-18 Super
Hornet.

The Marine Corps is another story. The Corps decided against buying
the advanced F-18, betting the JSF would come along before its old
Hornets wear out.

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