SOFTWAR and the Commerce Department are going to Federal Court. The upcoming legal battle is over the public release of Commerce documents on deals between Ron Brown and Chinese Army officers. The first hearing for pre-trial motions and to set a trial date is Feb. 18, 1999 at the Richmond Federal Court. In 1998, SOFTWAR performed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request on all documents in reference to the Chinese military unit COSTIND, the Chinese Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense. According to the GAO, COSTIND "oversees development of China's weapon systems and is responsible for identifying and acquiring telecommunications technology applicable for military use." In Sept. 1998, the Commerce Dept. withheld release of any documents claiming, among other things, that to release them would not be in the "national interest". The Commerce Dept. will not even acknowledge that any such documents exist. SOFTWAR appealed the Commerce FOIA denial, including several documents returned by previous FOIA request. The Commerce Dept. did not respond and ignored the SOFTWAR appeal. According to documents submitted to the Federal Court, the Commerce Dept. admitted it did not respond to the SOFTWAR FOIA appeal. In fact, the Commerce Dept. claimed it had no knowledge of any such documents, including those recognizing Softwar as a member of the public media. In response, Softwar submitted for the Court as evidence a letter from the Commerce Dept., dated March 12, 1998, recognizing Softwar as a member of the "media" for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act. The failure of the Commerce Dept. filing system over the Softwar status as a member of the media is minor in comparison to the sudden loss of records on Ron Brown and the Chinese Army. Softwar has the proof the Commerce Dept. has information on the PLA unit COSTIND. The proof comes from a Defense Dept. document found at the Commerce Department. In 1998 the Department of Defense, Directorate For Freedom of Information and Security Review, sent information on COSTIND on behalf of the Commerce Dept. The letter, dated August 18, 1998 states "The Department of Commerce referred one document to this Directorate for a release determination, The document was received on August 13, 1997." The Defense Dept. document found at the Commerce Dept. is a report on the U.S./Chinese telecommunications project called "Hua Mei". The DOD report states "We are aware that the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) is a part owner of Hua Mei Telecommunications. Such partial ownership is increasingly common as the Chinese military establishment invests in commercial (civilian) enterprises". Furthermore, the Defense Department wrote that Chinese Army "General Ding Henggao" is the Director and commanding officer of COSTIND. According to additional documents provided by the Commerce Dept., Ron Brown engaged in direct negotiations with Chinese military officials of COSTIND at the orders of President Clinton. President Clinton arranged an August 1994 meeting between the Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, Chairman of Loral, Bernard Schwartz, a U.S. satellite and aerospace manufacturer, and Chinese General Shen Rong-Jun, Vice Minister of COSTIND. Another document Commerce claims does not exist is a letter to Commerce Secretary Brown requesting his intervention to assist in the transfer of a "Synthetic Aperture Radar" (SAR) imaging radar to the Chinese National Remote Sensing Center in Beijing. SAR "imaging radar" is clearly defined as a controlled military item under the U.S. Munitions List category XI. According to the U.S.M.L., items such as SAR imaging radars are licensed only by the State Department. The Loral letter clearly states that Loral officials were aware that Defense and State Department licensing was required. According to the Loral letter, the President of Loral Defense directly appealed to Brown over-rule a denial of license for export of a SAR imaging radar issued by the Defense Department, the State Department and the Commerce Department. According to a recently declassified report from the Defense Department on Chinese weapons development, the Beijing "Institute of Remote Sensing" is actually a front for a Chinese Army missile guidance design laboratory. The Defense Department report states the Beijing Institute of Remote Sensing is "a developer of precision and guidance systems for surface-to-air missiles". Only the State Department is authorized to issue licenses for defense services under ITAR Part 120.9 and ITAR category XI. According to a report written by the Department of Defense, the Commerce Dept. issued licenses for technology transfers to Chinese military units covered by the State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) under the Arms Control Act (ACEA). The DOD report dated December 7, 1998 is on the "assessment of certain documents" for license authority and approvals issued by the defendant to Chinese military organizations in reference to satellite exports. The Defense Department report states the Commerce Department issued licenses to the Chinese military that constituted a "defense service" within the meaning of the State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) under the Arms Control Act (ACEA). The Defense Department wrote "This was clearly beyond the scope of Commerce export control jurisdiction because only the Department of State is authorized to issues licenses for defense services". You can view the documents that Commerce claims do not exist at the Softwar web site. - SAR Radar For PLA Missile maker http://www.softwar.net/sar.html <--- gif images http://www.softwar.net/sart.html <--- text - Loral CEO Meets Lt. Gen. Shen Rougjun http://www.softwar.net/schwartz.html - DOD Report on COSTIND/HUA MEI http://www.softwar.net/dod.html ================================================================ 1 if by land, 2 if by sea. Paul Revere - encryption 1775 Charles R. Smith SOFTWAR http://www.softwar.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pcyphered SIGNATURE: F88CE7DFECA059527F68A56F9C4F2DE235280F5A29A3FF5DA7458435B45FF96B D3786E8D0620A5FD0F3980BC688D9B0ECD70D3D9A20FE287E2539FA58EA5006C C2FC50212BA8AAB9 ================================================================ SOFTWAR EMAIL NEWSLETTER 02/08/99 *** to unsubscribe reply with "unsubscribe" as subject *** ================================================================
