Washington Times
July 14, 2000
Inside The Ring
By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
We're listening
Echelon, the supersensitive snooping network operated worldwide
by
the United States, 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 United
States
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-based 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 British are using Echelon to
spy on
French companies.
The National Security Agency, this country's electronic eyes and
ears, briefly broke out of its 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 the Army chief's goal of filling out all
divisions to
100 percent can be met. But doing so will be difficult. To fully
staff all the divisions, it will require an additional 12,500
soldiers to meet 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 weeklong 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 forces 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 fatally stabbed
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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