We’re listening
Echelon, the supersensitive snooping network operated worldwide by
the U.S., with British assistance, is based at Menwith Hall Station,
England. It uses major downloading posts at the Joint Analysis Center,
Molesworth, England, and Bad Abiling Station, Germany, as well as other
sites around the word.
“The military downlinks only have access to military related
information, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro and these places,” an
intelligence source tells us.
“However, at the (National Security Agency and the White House), they
have links into economic intelligence that gives the U.S and England
incredible power over the global economic status and overall picture of
the European financial markets.”
The U.S. government does not acknowledge the existence of Echelon, a
vacuum for millions of telephone calls, faxes and e-mails. Its
satellites and ground-base listening posts home in on communications
based on “hearing” key words or certain telephone numbers.
The powerful Echelon has been in the news this year. A former
Canadian intelligence agent claims it eavesdrops on average citizens and
creates files on the innocent. Paris has begun an investigation to
determine if the Americans and Brits are using Echelon to spy on French
companies.
The National Security Agency, this country’s electronic eyes and
ears, briefly broke out of its secrecy shell in March. In a letter, the
NSA assured members of Congress that it does not violate U.S. law by
intercepting domestic communications.
Still, some in the intelligence field with whom we spoke are not so
sure.
Said a second intelligence source, “It is quite an incredible system
and it clearly has the capability to monitor line-to-line telephone
conversations as well as cellular phones. It can also derive specific
information from anything in a microwave transmission to a simple
computer message. It is used primarily for national-level strategic
intelligence collection. However, I am not unconvinced that economic
data is not collected by this system.”
Officer shortage
The Army is running short on officers and is cutting corners on
promotions to fill the gaps. That’s the message sent out last month by
Army Lt. Gen. David H. Ohle, the deputy chief of staff for personnel.
Gen. Ohle gave a presentation to an infantry conference and made these
points:
- The Army is extremely short of captains and to solve the
problems the service has decided to promote more second lieutenants to
first lieutenant and captain at a faster pace. “Commanders were asked
not to hold their captains from attending the career course,” one
defense official stated. - The Army also is running short on majors. “To fix that problem
the next major (promotion) board will have a selection rate of 93
percent,” an official told us. Gen. Ohle also said he did not believe
the quality of officers would decline as a result of the higher
selection rate for promotion. - The Army is also is running short on lieutenant colonels and
colonels. Army officials have been directed to work with light colonels
and colonels to find them an assignment that “is to their liking.”
“The days of take this assignment or retire are over,” the
official said.
To deal with the problem of lieutenants leaving the service, all Army
leaders have been asked to talk to lieutenants about staying in.
“Many lieutenants are getting out and saying they were never asked or
had a discussion to stay in,” the official said, noting that Army
leaders have been directed to “change” in order to keep younger
officers in. “Working 12- to 15-hour days in garrison every day doesn’t
help,” the official said.
Gen. Ohle said that to meet the Army chiefs’ goals of filling out all
divisions to 100 percent can be met. But doing so will be difficult. To
fully staff divisions it will require an additional 12,500 soldiers to
the authorized amount now permitted by Congress.
Also, beginning Oct. 1, all retiring service members must wait six
months after submitting a request before leaving.
“We used to work hard to get you retired in a week or two, if
circumstances required it. Not under this regulation anymore,” Gen.
Ohle said.
Mrs. Cohen in China
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen has been having protocol problems
after hastily adding his wife Janet to his week-long trip to China and
Australia.
Mrs. Cohen was put on the trip only three days before his arrival
July 11, driving the bureaucracy-heavy Chinese military crazy.
First, there was a dispute over not allowing Mrs. Cohen to ride with
her husband to the hotel because it would upset the rules laid down by
Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence in
the People’s Liberation Army.
Then on Wednesday, Mrs. Cohen was late in leaving the hotel and the
defense secretary left her behind to avoid offending his Chinese hosts.
Well, the Chinese insisted that Mrs. Cohen be there for the meeting and
waited until she arrived before starting the session.
Later, the Chinese insisted that Mrs. Cohen, a former TV newscaster,
visit China’s government-run television station. Mrs. Cohen was
hesitant, but agreed to go as long as her husband went along as her
guest. This created huge problems for the Chinese, who had trouble
figuring out the protocol for that event.
Intercepts
- Elaine Donnelly, who keeps an eye on military tradition as
head of the Center for Military Readiness, is not confining herself to
the U.S. armed forces. Her latest newsletter takes readers on a tour of
military social issues in seven foreign nations.Canada funded a soldier’s sex-change operation and is designing a
“combat bra” at a cost of $2.4 million. An advisory committee wants
Canada’s relatively small armed force to include 28 percent women and
“fast track” promotions for them.Britain is setting up trials for women in land combat. At the same
time, it is so low on ammo that some recruits fire “imaginary” bullets.
British soldiers who don’t like their orders can sue commanders under
the European Convention on Human rights.Sweden has opened its small coastal submarines to mixed-sex crews,
who shower and bunk together during brief stints at sea. “Love
relationships” are not unusual, the Navy Times reports. - Adm. Dennis Blair, head of U.S. Pacific Command, is defending a
decision by U.S. Forces Korea to send a warning message to the troops
about possible attacks from South Korean citizens. The command sent the
alert in late June after an Army major was stabbed to death and a
military wife assaulted — both in broad daylight.“We’ve had these pretty big demonstrations down off of Osan,” said
Adm. Blair, referring to the site of a U.S. base. “And so we have upped
the level of concern of U.S. officers and all of our folks around the
base. We haven’t buttoned up the bases or any of that. We’ve just told
people to watch out for each other, to be more careful because there are
more disturbances in the air and prudent measures are being taken. …
The Korean officers and officials that I’ve talked to do not see it as a
long-term increase in antipathy toward the United States.”
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WND Staff