-Caveat Lector-
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20011207-18997295.htm
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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
Notes from the Pentagon.
Chinese intercepts
China's military has been increasing aerial intercepts of U.S.
reconnaissance aircraft flying in international airspace along China's coast,
according to defense officials.
In one recent encounter, a Chinese interceptor jet flew alongside a U.S.
Air Force RC-135 monitoring aircraft and came within 1,000 feet of the jet as
it flew along the coast.
The Chinese jet, which was not identified by its type, flew at the same
altitude as the RC-135, an electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft. The
incident occurred Nov. 7.
An earlier intercept involved a U.S. Air Force EP-3 surveillance
aircraft being shadowed by a Chinese jet that came within 500 feet over the
East China Sea.
Until these recent encounters, Chinese interceptor jets had been staying
at distances of several miles from U.S. aircraft, which monitor Chinese
military and government communications and activities.
The incidents highlight China's continuing harassment of U.S.
surveillance aircraft. They follow a period of relative calm in the
cat-and-mouse aerial surveillance operations.
A Chinese F-8 jet collided with an EP-3 on April 1, causing the Chinese
jet to crash and forcing the EP-3 to make an emergency landing at a military
airfield on China's Hainan island.
The incident led to a standoff between the U.S. and Chinese governments.
Reports of the latest intercepts were disclosed as the head of the U.S.
Pacific Command, Adm. Dennis Blair, has begun a quiet effort to restart
U.S.-China military exchanges.
The effort runs counter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's
cautious approach to renewing exchanges with the Chinese military since the
Hainan island crisis.
Critics of military exchanges with the Chinese point out that they have
been used in the past by Beijing to increase its war-fighting knowledge —
something proponents of greater exchanges have sought to dismiss as
insignificant.
Chinese nuclear 'event'
U.S. intelligence agencies have detected new efforts by China on
strategic nuclear weapons. The latest evidence comes in intelligence reports
that China conducted a nuclear weapons-related experiment at the remote Lop
Nur test facility in western Xinjiang province.
The latest nuclear weapons test was an "event" last month that produced
no detectable nuclear yield or blast, officials said. It followed several
similar tests that were reported in classified intelligence reports in July.
The Chinese conducted three nuclear weapons-related tests at Lop Nur in
June and July. Preparations were spotted by U.S. intelligence imagery.
The tests are part of China's aggressive strategic nuclear weapons
buildup that includes two new road-mobile intercontinental ballistic
missiles, the DF-31 and the DF-41, and a new class of ballistic missile
submarines outfitted with JL-2 missiles — a naval version of the DF-31.
Terrorist movements
U.S. intelligence officials tell us terrorists associated with Osama bin
Laden's al Qaeda organization were recently detected in Yemen, where the
group carried out the deadly October 2000 suicide bombing against the
destroyer USS Cole.
Yemen is known as a terrorist haven, although the government says it has
taken steps to root them out. Al Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan may end up
operating out of Yemen.
Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih told London's Arabic newspaper
al-Sharq al-Awsat that al Qaeda terrorists have been identified in Yemen by
U.S. officials. "There are some suspects — two or three of them — and their
names are revealed," Mr. Salih said in the interview, published Sunday. "They
are currently under the surveillance of Yemeni security departments, and they
will be arrested."
Vieques moves
The Bush administration, trying to get a deal with Congress on the
future of the Vieques, Puerto Rico, bombing ranging, is promising lawmakers
that it will, if necessary, extend its deadline for ending Navy and Marine
Corps training by May 2003.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, responding for President Bush
and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, wrote a letter recently to Senate
Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, reiterating
the commitment.
We obtained a copy of the note that, while restating policy, does
emphasize the position that if no suitable replacement is found, then the
Navy and Marine Corps can continue training on Vieques past the president's
May 2003 deadline.
Mr. Wolfowitz says a decision to extend training, which is now
restricted to dummy ordnance only, will be left up to Navy Secretary Gordon
England and Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations.
"Until a suitable alternative is established, Vieques remains an
important element in the training of our forces deploying to fight the war,"
he said.
The Navy is now searching for alternative East Coast sites for Atlantic
Fleet carrier battle groups.
In a letter first disclosed by The Washington Times, Adm. Clark and Gen.
James Jones, the Marine commandant, have asked Mr. England to allow the next
deployed battle group to practice with real ammo in January on Vieques. They
cite the open-ended global war on terrorism.
Navy warnings
The Navy Criminal Investigative Service has sent a memo to commanders
with advice on how to recognize anthrax-tainted letters and other dangerous
mail.
Among the warning signs: "protruding wires, aluminum foil, oil stains or
a peculiar odor unprofessional wrapping with several combinations of tape
special endorsements such as 'fragile-handle with care' or 'rush-do not
delay' fictitious or non-existent return addresses."
The NCIS recommends that mail handlers wear rubber gloves and keep
plastic bags nearby to collect suspicious mail.
Military terms
The military phrase in vogue in recent weeks has been "special
reconnaissance," a mission carried out by special operations forces in
northern, eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Here is the official Defense Department definition: "Reconnaissance and
surveillance actions conducted by special operations forces to obtain or
verify, by visual observation or other collection methods, information
concerning the capabilities, intentions and activities of an actual or
potential enemy or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic
or geographic characteristics of a particular area. It includes target
acquisition, area assessment and post-strike reconnaissance."
Catching chickens
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld festoons his war briefings with
vivid similes. Looking for Osama bin Laden, for example, is like trying to
catch a chicken in a barnyard.
Yesterday, he served up new imagery for reporters as he described what
it would be like for U.S. and opposition forces to weed out the Taliban
leaders in Kandahar from the run-of-the-mill fighter. The scenario took Mr.
Rumsfeld back to his boyhood when he used to play carnival games.
He said, "This is an unusual situation It's the old glass box at the gas
station, where you're using those little things trying to pick up the prize,
and you can't find it. And it's all these arms are going down in there, and
so you keep dropping it and picking it up again and moving it, but — some of
you are probably too young to remember those glass boxes — but they used to
have them at all the gas stations when I was a kid."
•Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough are Pentagon reporters. Mr. Gertz can
be reached at 202/636-3274 or by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mr.
Scarborough can be reached at 202/636-3208 or by e-mail at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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