---------- Activists
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 20:11:49 -0500 From: Carol Moore <CarolMoore@kreative.net> Subject: 12-21 Y2K Nuke Press Conference/Rally Tuesday, 9:00 A.M. National Press Club, 14th and F
The Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday (Y2K WASH), an international alliance of more than fifty public interest organizations, will present experts from the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project and others to brief the press on the realities and uncertainties of nuclear power and Y2K. They will explain the danger of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's plan to suspend safety regulations in order to keep reactors running at New Year's, at a time when a surplus of electricity will make nuclear power unnecessary."...
"Following the briefing, leaders of Y2K WASH will present to President Clinton's representative, 80,000 petition signatures calling for world leaders to protect global health and safety by implementing the Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday."
There will be a rally at the White House/Lafayette Park at Noon. For more information contact: 415-505-5987
Check out their web page: http://www.y2kwash.org
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ALSO, on FRIDAY DEC 31 a number of local groups (and probably some national) are sponsoring a Y2K NUCLEAR COUNTDOWN at the White House from Noon-Five PM (or later if there are any major nuclear- related problems as Y2K breaks worldwide). We also will be available to comment on/protest any incidents that happen earlier that day or during that time period.
We are finalizing our leaflet/demands but generally:
We will do the "Y2K Nuclear Countdown" at the White House to remind the world that we are all under a countdown to the almost inevitable nuclear power plant or weapons accident that may kill thousands, millions or even billions of people on the planet. We will use a large map of the world to track the year 2000 as it enters each new time zone. And we will demand that the United States and the 33 other nuclear nations:
* Take all Nuclear Power Plants Offline Until Y2K Compliance of all Systems and Chips is Proven
* Mandate Nuclear Plants Keep a Month's Supply of Diesel Fuel for Backup Generators
* De-alert Nuclear Weapons from Current "Launch on Warning" Status
* Until De-alert Occurs Inform the Press and Public Immediately of any False Nuclear Missile Alerts
* Until De-alert Occurs Keep Open the Center for Strategic Stability and Y2K at the U.S. Space Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs
(Note: this event replaces doing a Dec. 30 evening vigil, which was discussed earlier.)
If you are working or not, or getting out of work early, please drop by!
Contact me if you or your group are interested in getting involved. Carol Moore 202-635-3739
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Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 06:45:02 -0500
From: Elizabeth McAlister <disarmnow@erols.com>
Subject: Plowshares witness this a.m. (December 19, 1999)
The PLOWSHARES VS. DEPLETED URANIUM disarmed two A-10 Thunderbolt planes, nicknamed Warthogs, at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Essex Maryland in the early morning hours of December 19, 1999, the fourth Sunday of Advent.
From a phone conversation initiated by Philip Berrigan about 6:00 a.m. today (Dec. 19, 1999), we learned that he and three others - Susan Crane, Rev. Steve Kelly S.J., and Elizabeth Walz - were arrested at the National Guard base by Federal Air Police as they were disarming two Warthogs. What we learned from the phone conversation was that Phil and Elizabeth worked together on one plane, hammering on the Gatling gun in the nose of the plane and on the pylons under the wings, and pouring their blood into the engines of the plane. Meanwhile Steve and Susan did similar transformation to a second plane and that, in addition, Steve climbed onto a wing, peeled back the vinly cover and poured his blood into one of the engines of the plane. They hung their banner: PLOWSHARES VS. DEPLETED URANIUM on the site.
All four were stopped by Federal Air Police who were not quite content with the speed with which Steve and Susan complied with their orders and sprayed Steve with pepper spray - "to get my attention," as Steve articulated it on the phone. Susan was tackled by security when she did not desist.
The four were transported to the police precinct in Essex where they are being photographed and finger-printed. It is likely that they will see a Commissioner later in the day. Charges, at this time, are trespass and destruction of property. It is unknown whether that will be government property, federal property or what.
The four directed us to papers they had prepared ahead of time: a statement, an indictment against the planes themselves and those who use them for destructions, fact sheets on the Warthog and on Depleted Uranium and its use in recent wars. We attach these papers with this account.
Their Statement:
PLOWSHARES VS. DEPLETED URANIUM
December 19, 1999 - Fourth Sunday of Advent
Attack a village with an A-10 Warthog and leave a trench.
Attack a village with an A-10 Warthog firing depleted uranium and leave a poisoned graveyard -- the people dead, plants dying or sterile, the earth eternally toxic.
The A-10 is an aircraft built around a gun -- a 30 mm 7 barrel Gatling that can spew 3.900 rounds per minute. This criminal plane fired 95% of the depleted uranium deployed by the U. S. during the Gulf War, leaving behind 300-800 tons (Dutch Laka Foundation) poisoning humans and the elements in Kuwait and Iraq.
Sanctions (a crime against humanity) and depleted uranium (a war crime) have killed 2 million Iraqis since the war's end. Said Dr. Jannan Ghalib while showing Olivia Ward of the Toronto Star a photograph album of malformed babies: "This one, no head. This one, legs fused together. Another, no limbs and tiny buds on the misshapen chest. Then a face with no eyes, just flaps of skin over the empty sockets. Another with a huge water swollen head with no brain." (Atomic Veteran's Radiation News, Vol. 3, No. 6)
Depleted uranium is a delayed response weapon which burns its way through tank armor and oxidizes, throwing radioactive particles as far away as 25 miles. When ingested, these particles cause chemical and radioactive damage to the bronchial tree, to kidneys, liver and bones, causing somatic and genetic trauma. Cancer often results.
Iraq and Yugoslavia are template wars, blueprints for future imperial wars -- targeting the total of a society -- military, civilians, the unborn, the infrastructure, the ecology, the health and spirit of a people. These wars even overflow against the troops that fight them. 90,000 American Gulf War veterans are now chronically ill. A U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs study of 251 veteran's families in Mississippi shows that 67% had children with severe illnesses or birth defects.
The U. S. has made another fatal mistake with depleted uranium -- it has given it away to a score of other countries, openly inviting them to make their own weapons, fight their own nuclear wars and infest the planet with more radiation.
December 19th ends Advent - a time of reparation and conversion. We mark this day by mourning the civilians killed in America's wars - nine civilians to every soldier, and by converting one hellish instrument of their death. They die forgotten and alone - no grateful nation to sorrow their passing - no flags nor official ritual. They are expendable; they are the true cannon fodder.
We come to the Maryland Warfield Air National Guard Base to convert the A-10, as Roman Catholic Christians, in obedience to God's prohibition against killing. Also, to embody Isaiah's vision of a disarmed world where hearts are converted to compassion and justice and the weapons are converted to the tools of peace. Finally, to atone for another nuclear war in Iraq, and a third in Yugoslavia.
So help us God.
WHY THEY CHOSE THE WARTHOGS - DEPLETED URANIUM
1. DU is a dense radioactive waste used in munitions because it can pierce 4 inches of armor. It is radioactive; it is a heavy metal; it poisons environment and people. It has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
2. Uranium-238 is mined and U-235 and U-234 removed in an enrichment process for nuclear weapons and power plants. What remains, depleted of the enriched isotopes, is a radioactive waste. Stockpiles of depleted uranium have accumulated since the 1940's, (about 500,000 tons). The government has been looking for a use for this radioactive waste to reduce storage difficulties and costs.
3. DU has physical properties that are useful to the military. It is almost twice as dense as lead. On impact, it ignites and aerosolizes, spreading fine dust particles of DU that can travel far as 26 miles.
4. The US began producing DU ammunition in 1978; the munitions were first used during the Gulf War. 940,000 DU shells were fired from U.S. planes and 14,000 DU shells were fired from tanks. 300-800 tons of DU particles and dust were scattered over ground and water in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The majority of the DU rounds fired in the Gulf were from the Fairchild A-10 '"tank-killer" aircraft. About 564,000 pounds of DU were fired from A-10 planes during the Gulf War.
5. DU weapons are toxic, radioactive weapons which cannot be contained in time or space, and are indiscriminate weapons which violate international law.
6. In the US Army base in Doha, Kuwait, an ammunition vehicle caught fire on July 11, 1991. An estimated 9,000 pounds of DU were burned. During the Gulf War, 29 US vehicles were contaminated with DU through friendly fire incidents. Soldiers inside the vehicles were wounded; soldiers assigned to recover the vehicles were contaminated. Thousands of Iraqi vehicles were contaminated by DU. American soldiers entered these vehicles to salvage equipment, look for souvenirs or pose for pictures. They were not warned that there was DU dust on the equipment and in the air.
7. Of the 697,000 US troops in the Gulf, over 90,000 reported medical problems. DU could be responsible for respiratory, liver, and kidney dysfunction, memory loss, headaches, fever, low blood pressure and birth defects. 8. The people of Iraq - particularly in the south - have been contaminated through the air, water, soil and crops. Doctors in Iraq have documented an increase in leukemia and other cancers.
9. DU threatens unborn generations. Children are the most affected because DU accumulates in their bones, replacing calcium. High rates of leukemia, lymphoma, bone cancer have been recorded in Iraq. DU causes birth deformities: children are born with shortened or webbed arms and legs, lacking eyes, mouth, brain, and abnormalities in the number and shape of organs.
10. The military use of DU has contaminated areas of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bosnia, US military bases in Vieques, Puerto Rico and Okinawa, Japan as well as neighbors of weapons manufacturers, such as in Colonie, NY where the National Lead Plant was manufacturing DU penetrators. Research and development of DU penetrators and armor has been done at the nearby Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.
Further reading:
Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium, Ramsey Clark, Rosalie Bertell, Michio Kaku et al, International Action Center, 39 W. 14th St, Room 206, NY, NY 10011 email: iacenter@iacenter.org
LAKA Foundation, Kotelhulsplein 43, 1054 RD, Amsterdam, Netherlands email: laka@laka.antenna.nl
Swords to Plowshares (Veterans Group) 995 Market, 3rd floor, San Francisco, CA 94103
Military Project, 471 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Lewiston ME 04240 email: mtp@igc.apc.org
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Jonah House, 1301 Moreland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21216 Ph: 410-233-6238 or disarmnow@erols.com
PRESS RELEASE--IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 19, 1999
CONTACT: Max Obuszewski 410-323-7200 or 410-377-7987 or mobuszewski@afsc.org Jonah House 410-233-6238 or disarmnow@erols.com
PLOWSHARES DISARM A10s AT MARYLAND NATIONAL GUARD BASE
WHO: On the day the Christian feast of Advent ends, Philip Berrigan and Susan Crane of Baltimore's Jonah House, the Rev. Stephen Kelly, SJ, and Elizabeth Walz, a Catholic Worker from Philadelphia, calling themselves the Plowshares Vs. Depleted Uranium, disarmed two A-10 Warthog [Fairchild Thunderbolt II] aircraft. The activists hammered on the A-10s, because the plane has a Gatling gun which fires 3,900 rounds of depleted uranium per minute and was used against Iraq and Yugoslavia. It is a delayed response weapon, which burns its way through tank armor and, if it oxidizes and is ingested, these toxic particles can cause chemical and radioactive damage.
They were taken into custody by Federal Air Police and turned over to Baltimore County police. During the arrest, Rev. Kelly was pepper-sprayed, and Crane, a mother of two, was tackled.
WHAT: They are being held in the precinct station at Essex, Maryland and will appear before a magistrate. Possible charges include trespass and destruction of government property for enacting the biblical prophecy of Isaiah 2:4, which calls for the turning of the swords into plowshares.
Blood is a powerful Biblical symbol, which affirms the covenant with the nonviolent Jesus and stresses again the prohibition against killing. Besides hammering, the four also threw their own blood on the planes.
WHEN: Sunday, December 19, 1999 at 4:00 AM
WHERE: Maryland Warfield Air National Guard Base, Middle River, Maryland
WHY: The religious activists were moved to resistance because of the environmental damage done caused by the use of depleted uranium in Iraq and Yugoslavia and the fact the Pentagon sold DU ammunition to a host of other countries, including Israel and Turkey. In the Plowshares' statement, they explained: "We mark this day by mourning the civilians killed in America's wars - nine civilians to every soldier, and by converting one hellish instrument of their death." The statement continued, "We come to the Maryland Warfield Air National Guard Base to convert the A-10, as Roman Catholic Christians, in obedience to God's prohibition against killing. Also, to embody Isaiah's vision of a disarmed world where hearts are converted to compassion and justice and weapons are converted to tools of peace."
There have been more than 60 Plowshares actions. The first took place on September 9, 1980, when Philip and Daniel Berrigan and six others hammered on nuclear nose cones at a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Penn. Phil Berrigan, Crane and Kelly were members of the Prince of Peace Plowshares, which disarmed an Aegis destroyer at the Bath [Maine] Iron Works on February 12, 1997. After Rev. Kelly served his sentence for the Maine action and refused to cooperate with federal probation, he managed to avoid arrest and engage in another act of resistance to the nuclear menace.
At their trial, the Plowshares Vs. Depleted Uranium intend to issue an indictment of the Clinton administration. This indictment will charge U.S. government officials with violating the 1945 Charter of the International Military Tribunal [Nuremberg Charter], the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1996 International Court of Justice ruling and the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Section 2 for the use of depleted uranium ammunition in Iraq and Yugoslavia. DU shells are a toxic nightmare.
In 1973, Philip Berrigan, Elizabeth McAlister and other anti-war activists founded Jonah House, a Christian resistance community. Over the years community members have been involved in protests against U.S. government policies.
The community prays and works together, has a common purse, and has a long history of nonviolent civil disobedience. The community, moreover, is convinced the U.S. government is involved in criminal activity by disregarding international law in refusing to disarm its nuclear arsenal.
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"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one... I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds." -Oppenheimer July 16, 45 at Trinity from 5,000 year old Bhagavad-Gita
"We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesized in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark. Anyway we think we have found the way to cause the disintegration of the atom." -Quote from Truman's diary July 25, 45 after Pottsdam and the "baby was born" and grew into "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" and the hydrogen bomb delivered by bomber named "Dave's Dream." Enola Gay's pilot, after Hiroshima, enters "My God' in the log.
"The Doctor of the future will give No Medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease." -Attributed to Thomas Alva Edison
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -George Orwell
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Iraqis Nervous About New Bombings By Waiel Faleh
Associated Press Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999; 1:23 p.m. EST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991219/aponline132334_000.htm
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Nervous residents in Baghdad wondered Sunday if the government's denunciation of a new U.N. policy toward their nation would prompt another round of U.S. bombings like those that devastated the capital a year ago.
Some said the United States has been looking for an excuse to bomb Iraq. Others said Iraqis are well versed in preparing for the worst.
"We have learned to stock up on food and other needs whenever the situation gets tense between Iraq and America," 45-year-old Jalal Abbas said while shopping in a downtown market. "I cannot hide my fears of an American act of aggression, but what can we do?"
Adding to the tension has been recently deteriorating power and telephone service, a reminder of past government action to dismantle power-generating and communication centers when rhetoric and expectations of an attack would rise. The cause of the utility troubles could not be confirmed.
The resolution approved Friday by the Security Council would return weapons inspectors to Iraq and improve the oil-for-food program. But rather than immediately lifting U.N. sanctions as Iraq has demanded, the resolution offered merely the prospect for renewable suspensions based on an unspecified level of cooperation by Iraq.
Iraq, as expected, said that wasn't acceptable, bucking a U.N. decision for the third time in a month.
Al-Thawra daily, the newspaper of the ruling Baath Party, said in a front-page editorial Sunday that "if America is tempted to make a new stupid move, as it has done in the past, Iraq will not stand still. It will defend its rights by making the proper decision to face foolish American or non-American moves."
As the Security Council was finalizing the proposal, it twice voted for short extensions to the oil-for-food program that allows Iraq to sell up to $5.2 billion in oil every six months. Iraq rejected the one- and two-week extensions as impractical, halting its oil exports until a full six-month renewal was approved.
Whether the United States' British and Arab partners from the 1991 Persian Gulf War could stomach another bombing raid on Iraq isn't clear. But in Baghdad, memories of last year's Operation Desert Fox are fresh: Iraqis desperately seeking shelter as U.S. and British planes fired more than 500 cruise missiles during a four-day campaign that began the night of Dec. 16.
Khalil Fahim, 55, said he has learned not to trust American policy-makers. "They are obsessed with the idea of toppling Saddam Hussein, making us pay the price. ... If they want to help the people of Iraq, they must forget this obsession and leave us alone."
Mohammed al-Meshhadani, a 48-year-old instructor at Baghdad University, said the United States and Britain "are seeking excuses to attack Iraq. This is why they issue more and more resolutions that they very well know Iraq will reject."
Saddam has yet to give his final word on the resolution. That generally takes at least a few days and comes in an announcement following a joint meeting of the ruling party's highest leaders and the Revolutionary Command Council, which is chaired by the president.
On Saturday, Saddam seemed to refer to the resolution but did not mention it directly.
"After this long period with them (Americans) they must have learned some lessons, otherwise they are stupid since the beginning and will continue to be stupid until the end. At the end they must learn a good lesson," the state-run news agency quoted him as saying.
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Iraq Rejects U.N. Weapons Inspection Plan By Waiel Faleh
Washington Post Sunday, December 19, 1999; Page A54 Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/19/162l-121999-idx.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 18-Iraq has rejected a new U.N. resolution that would return arms inspectors to Baghdad after a year-long hiatus, declaring today it is "ready to face all of the consequences in defense of its sovereignty and legal rights."
U.S. diplomats said they view the resolution, passed by the U.N. Security Council on Friday, as a key step in their efforts to prevent Saddam Hussein's government from developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In return for cooperation, the resolution provides for a possible suspension of nine-year-old U.N. sanctions.
But Iraq, which has expressed its opposition to the resolution all along, formally rejected it today, with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz saying it does not meet Iraq's "legitimate demand for the lifting of the sanctions."
Iraq is "ready to face all of the consequences in defense of its sovereignty and legal rights," Aziz said, according to the state-run Iraqi News Agency.
Aziz derided the United States and Britain, chief backers of the resolution, saying their true objective is "to cheat international public opinion," not to achieve an end to U.N. sanctions.
The resolution establishes a new weapons inspection agency to oversee the destruction of Iraq's biological and chemical weapons along with missiles that could deliver them. If inspectors report full cooperation and progress toward answering outstanding disarmament questions, the resolution offers to consider suspending sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
State Department spokesman James Foley said that Iraq's reaction did not come as a surprise, but that the nation does not have the right to refuse to comply with the Security Council resolution.
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Salt Lake Tribune
Sunday, December 19, 1999
Asia, Middle East Briefs Compiled by Jennifer Skordas
http://www.sltrib.com/1999/dec/12191999/nation_w/7473.htm
Japan: A government panel has blamed the nation's worst nuclear accident on a disregard for safety procedures. A Science Agency panel said workers at the nuclear-fuel processing plant caused the Sept. 30 disaster by mixing uranium in buckets to get the job done quickly. It also admitted that the government had been lackadaisical about inspecting the facility. _________
Jennifer Skordas worked as an editor for an English-language newspaper in Tokyo. She compiled this column from wire-service reports. She welcomes e-mail at jskordas@sltrib.com.
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Los Angeles Times
Sunday, December 19, 1999
Nuclear Safety Rules Ignored, Panel Says From Times Wire Reports
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/19991219/t000115562.html
A disregard for safety procedures led to Japan's worst nuclear accident, a government panel concluded, confirming the findings of other investigations. The Science Agency panel said workers at the nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, caused the Sept. 30 disaster by mixing uranium in buckets to save time. The panel also said the government had been lackadaisical about inspecting the facility. "The accident resulted from the pursuit of efficiency at the expense of safety," the panel said. The disaster happened when workers set off an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that left three people hospitalized.
Search the archives of the Los Angeles Times for similar stories about: Nuclear Accidents - Japan, Nuclear Safety. You will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one.
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Spokesman Review
December 19, 1999
Japanese government reviews nuclear mishap Compiled from wire services
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=121999&ID=s721713&cat=
A disregard for safety procedures led to Japan's worst nuclear accident, a government panel concluded, confirming the findings of other investigations.
The Science Agency panel said in a report, obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, that workers at the nuclear-fuel processing plant caused the Sept. 30 disaster by mixing uranium in buckets to get the job done quickly.
The panel also admitted that the government had been lackadaisical about inspecting the facility because it seemed less significant than a nuclear reactor.
"The accident resulted from the pursuit of efficiency at the expense of safety," the panel said.
The disaster happened when workers at the plant in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, set off an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that left three people in the hospital and exposed at least 66 others to radiation. Thousands of people were forced indoors or evacuated.
The panel said failure to ensure safe nuclear energy generation will hurt the nation's long-term energy plans. Japan hopes to increase reliance on nuclear energy in the upcoming decade, while reducing dependency on petroleum.
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Associated Press
Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999; 12:11 p.m. EST
Japan, North Korea Talk Food Aid The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991219/aponline121146_000.htm
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562713068-50f
BEIJING -- Japanese and North Korean Red Cross officials opened talks Sunday on food aid to the starving communist country in a prelude to negotiations by their estranged governments on normalizing relations.
Japanese Red Cross Vice President Tadateru Konoe thanked Ho Hae Ryong of the North Korean society for his group's past help in rescuing Japanese fishermen stranded at sea. This set what one official described as a "friendly atmosphere" for the first of at least three scheduled sessions.
Those discussions were to wrap up Monday, giving way to meetings between North Korean and Japanese diplomats on setting an agenda to open full official relations.
Although the pair of meetings on neutral ground in Beijing comes 2 1-2 weeks after Japan and North Korea agreed to resume normalization talks, success was not assured. North Korea frequently criticizes Japan for its brutal 50-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula and for supporting the United States and rival South Korea.
North Korean media, controlled by the secretive, often belligerent communist government, sounded ominous Saturday. A commentary in Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers' Party newspaper, defended North Korea's right to develop missiles.
Pyongyang's firing of a rocket over Japan 15 months ago raised tensions throughout Northeast Asia and caused Tokyo to suspend food aid to North Korea and freeze normalization talks.
The communist country's Korean Central Radio also warned Saturday that the improvement in relations with Tokyo would be wiped out if Japanese negotiators brought up suspected North Korean abductions and other "unreasonable issues."
The alleged kidnappings of Japanese nationals led Tokyo to scuttle normalization talks in 1992. The Japanese Red Cross delegates hope to persuade the North Korean Red Cross to provide information on the abductions as well as discuss food aid.
Pyongyang has repeatedly denied the kidnapping charges.
North Korea is entering its fifth year of chronic food shortages and is in critical need of fuel to revive its decrepit economy. Japan was providing as much as 67,000 tons of food to Pyongyang before the program was suspended after the August 1998 missile test.
In addition to reaching out to Japan, Pyongyang has in recent months agreed to stop testing missiles to improve relations with the United States, which has lifted trade sanctions. South Korea also has resumed cultural exchanges.
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Associated Press
Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999; 10:13 p.m. EST
AP Top News at 10 p.m. EST Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999 The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991219/aponline221311_000.htm
Indicted Physicist Lee To Sue FBI
WASHINGTON (AP) - Alleging his privacy was violated and that he has been wrongly portrayed as a Chinese spy, former Los Alamos laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee has decided to sue the FBI, Justice Department and Energy Department. Lee, who was indicted Dec. 10 on charges he improperly removed nuclear secrets from Los Alamos, plans to file the lawsuit tomorrow in U.S. District Court in Washington, according to people familiar with Lee's plans.
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Associated Press
Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999; 7:06 p.m. EST
Report:Indicted Physicist To Sue FBI By John Solomon Associated Press Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991219/aponline190608_000.htm
WASHINGTON -- Hoping to turn the tables on his accusers, former Los Alamos laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee has decided to sue the FBI, Justice Department and Energy Department alleging they violated his privacy and wrongly portrayed him as a Chinese spy.
Lee, who was indicted Dec. 10 on charges he improperly removed nuclear secrets from Los Alamos, plans to file the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, according to people familiar with Lee's plans.
The suit will allege the three agencies violated the Privacy Act by making unauthorized disclosures of private information about Lee, much of which was false or unsubstantiated. The suit will suggest the motive for the leaks was to deflect attention away from poor security at U.S. nuclear weapons labs, the sources said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
In making a case against the government agencies, the suit will cite recent Associated Press articles that disclosed that the FBI had doubts as early as November 1998 that Lee was a Chinese spy, but that agents continued to pursue him for many more months amid continued leaks portraying Lee as a Chinese spy, the sources said.
The indictment eventually brought against Lee accused him of downloading a wide array of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos computers and illegally removing them from the lab on computer tapes but it offered no evidence that Lee gave the information to a foreign government.
Brian Sun, a California attorney representing Lee, his wife Sylvia and their two adult children, declined to discuss the lawsuit but said Sunday his clients tried months ago to get the federal agencies to stop news media leaks.
"The Lees were very concerned about this biased and unfair media coverage and requested that this activity stop, but they were unsuccessful," said Sun, who has represented other prominent Asian-Americans including fund-raiser Johnny Chung.
"It is troubling to any American, much less the Lees, to have a system where government officials can systematically leak for their own purposes and ends and not be held accountable," Sun said. "This may be how government officials in Washington operate but the law does not allow it and such conduct should not be condoned."
An FBI spokesman was not immediately available for comment Sunday afternoon, the bureau office said.
The suit will set up a second front for Lee's legal attack, allowing him to pursue the agencies in civil court while his criminal lawyers defend against the indictment. And it comes at a sensitive time for federal authorities.
FBI Director Louis Freeh persuaded Congress last week not to hold hearings that could divulge government dissension and doubts in the China espionage investigation, fearing they might help Lee's defense.
Senate investigators had gathered internal FBI memos, including one addressed to Freeh, that showed agents doubted more than a year ago that Lee had leaked nuclear secrets to China. The memos analyze and identify flaws in the original Energy Department investigation that identified Lee as a suspect.
Senate investigators have been reviewing whether the FBI and Energy Department focused too narrowly on Lee and the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico during the first three years of the investigation, excluding other possible suspects and sites.
AP has reported that the FBI doubts were fueled in part by an agent's interview in September 1998 in which Lee's boss divulged that an average of 250 workers each year at several federal facilities had access to the W-88 nuclear warhead secrets that the FBI once thought Lee gave to China.
FBI agents also recently learned that some scientists who participated in the 1996 Energy review that identified Lee as a possible suspect disagreed with its conclusions, officials have said.
The FBI recently refocused its investigation on other labs, facilities and suspects.
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Washington Post
Sunday, December 19, 1999; Page A22
Redwood Activist Ends 2-Year Perch, Settles With Logging Firm Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/19/173l-121999-idx.html
STAFFORD, Calif., Dec. 18-After living in an ancient redwood for two years, environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down to earth today, her legs wobbly after her sojourn in the towering tree she called "Luna."
After working out the kinks, she hiked the two miles from the tree to a news conference on bare feet.
Although Hill said she was sad at leaving her treetop aerie, "it was so cold and wet this morning, I had to laugh, because I was so thankful that I don't have to sit through another winter."
The 25-year-old woman, who has lived in the tree since Dec. 10, 1997, to protest logging, reached an agreement Friday with Pacific Lumber Co. and promised to climb down from her 18-story-high perch, which is on company property.
"There is no way to be in the presence of these ancient beings and not be affected," Hill said of the redwoods. "There's something more than a profit, and that's life."
One of her closest neighbors was Lonnie Vones, who lives below the ridge on which Luna is rooted.
"She's my hero," said Vones, who fears the land above his home would have collapsed if it had been logged. "She at least delayed a major disaster. If a big mudslide started there, it would wipe out my house."
In a statement, Pacific Lumber said it agreed to the deal with Hill "in an effort to end a community controversy and concentrate . . . efforts upon implementing a viable harvesting program" under the terms of the Headwaters Agreement.
In the settlement, Hill and her supporters pledged to pay $50,000 to Pacific Lumber to make up for lost logging revenue. The company agreed to spare Hill's redwood and a 2.9-acre buffer zone around it.
"Luna shall remain undisturbed on the Luna property in perpetuity and under no circumstances, living or dead, shall Luna be removed from the Luna property," the contract states.
The company will donate the $50,000 to Humboldt State University for forestry studies.
"We can now focus on our business and the future, and it allows Julia to get on with her life," said Pacific Lumber spokeswoman Mary Bullwinkel.
Hill, who plans to write a book, travel and speak, spent the past two years bathing in a bucket, hauling up food and supplies by rope and sleeping under a tarp on an 8-by-8-foot plywood platform.
In the rainy Northern California forest, she braved howling winds and damp winters, and became something of a celebrity. Television crews from Israel, Germany and England filmed her. Singers Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez visited her. And she became the "in-tree correspondent" for a cable TV show about the environment.
Using her cellular phone to communicate, she gave interviews and spoke at rallies against old-growth timber logging.
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Yahoo News
09:54 PM ET 12/19/99
Smuggler's Alleged Accomplice Sought
By LUIS CABRERA Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562722682-bcc
SEATTLE (AP) _ Police in the United States and Canada searched Sunday for a suspected accomplice to an Algerian man who is charged with trying to smuggle explosives into the United States.
Ahmed Ressam, 32, was apprehended last week trying to smuggle nitroglycerin and other explosives through Port Angeles, Wash., in his car aboard a ferryboat from Victoria, British Columbia.
Police found a van belonging to Ressam in Montreal on Sunday in the east end of the city, said Cpl. Leo Monbourquette, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A security perimeter was set up and police evacuated people from around the area.
A police bomb squad from Ottawa was called in to inspect the orange GMC van, which police suspected may contain more explosives.
Ressam's arrest sparked fears of terrorism in connection with millennial New Year celebrations. Security at U.S. borders has been tightened.
Newsweek magazine reports Ressam is tied to the Montreal cell of an Algerian radical group. A Montreal Police spokesman said Sunday that the link was a rumor not yet confirmed.
Spokesman Andre Poirier did say a massive manhunt was underway in Canada and the United States for a suspected accomplice.
``He might be returning to Vancouver'' Poirier said of the second man, believed to have stayed with Ressam for a few weeks in a Vancouver motel before Ressam's arrest Dec. 14.
``He might be in Seattle. We don't know,'' Poirier said.
Ressam reportedly had two ferry ticket stubs in his possession _ suggesting a companion may have walked off the boat _ when he was arrested in Port Angeles, a port city of 20,000 about 60 miles northwest of Seattle.
The FBI will not confirm that another man is being sought or otherwise comment on the case, Seattle spokeswoman Roberta Burroughs said. RCMP spokesman Monbourquette confirmed the search but did not provide other details Sunday.
Newsweek, citing unnamed Canadian police sources, reported in this week's issue that Ressam lived in Montreal for a time with Said Atmani, who was extradited from Canada to France in connection with the 1995 Paris subway bombing that killed four people and injured 86. The bombing was attributed to the Algerian radical Armed Islamic Group.
Poirier said there may be strong reason to believe Ressam and Atmani are connected. Atmani was believed to be the head of a ring in Montreal that stole laptop computers and cellular phones from cars in order to raise funds for extremist actions.
Ressam was jailed for a few weeks in Montreal for the exact same type of thefts from cars in 1998, though ``when we arrested Mr. Ressam last year ... we weren't looking at that time to associate him with terrorism,'' he said.
Last week, police arrested 11 alleged members of the ring, eight of them Algerian nationals, Poirier said.
Meanwhile, The Seattle Times reported in Sunday editions that Ressam would be indicted by a secret grand jury before a scheduled appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. attorney Jerry Diskin, reached at home Sunday, would not confirm or deny that a grand jury was meeting, and a call to defense attorney Tom Hillier was not immediately returned.
Ressam was charged in U.S. District Court Friday with bringing nitroglycerin into the United States, in addition to a charge of having false ID and making false statements to U.S. Customs officials.
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Salt Lake Tribune
Sunday, December 19, 1999
Asia, Middle East Briefs Compiled by Jennifer Skordas
Afghanistan: Taliban rulers vowed Saturday to protect Osama bin Laden after the arrest of several followers who were allegedly planning to carry out terrorist attacks on U.S. interests. At least 14 alleged members of bin Laden's Al Qaida group have been detained in Jordan in connection with possible attacks against U.S. targets in the kingdom during millennium celebrations. The Taliban said U.S. fears of an attack were "not logical
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12:27 PM ET 12/19/99
Berger Urges Caution Over Holidays
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562713237-af3
WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Clinton's national security adviser urged Americans to be ``vigilant'' against potential terrorist attacks at home and abroad over the holidays.
Sandy Berger, head of the National Security Council, said Sunday that authorities still were seeking to determine whether an Algerian arrested for allegedly bringing a trunkful of bomb-making explosives into Washington state was part of a terrorist network.
``We're not aware of any other specific threat against particular targets in the United States,'' Berger said on CBS' ``Face the Nation.'' ``Obviously, if that changes we'll alert the American people.''
Nevertheless, Berger asked listeners to report suspicious packages or activities to the police and to take extra care when traveling abroad during the New Year period. The State Department previously issued a terrorism alert for U.S. travelers.
``This is a period of heightened risk of terrorist actions involving Americans,'' Berger said. ``I would say Americans should be vigilant as they go about their plans for the New Years.''
On other topics, Berger said Baghdad's rejection of a U.N. plan to resume weapons inspections would help solidify support for sanctions against Iraq and he expressed optimism about the prospects for peace between Syria and Israel.
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Associated Press
Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999; 10:13 p.m. EST
AP Top News at 10 p.m. EST Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999 The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991219/aponline221311_000.htm
Smuggler's Alleged Accomplice Sought
SEATTLE (AP) - Police in the United States and Canada searched today for a suspected accomplice to an Algerian man who is charged with trying to smuggle explosives into the United States. Ahmed Ressam, 32, was apprehended last week trying to smuggle nitroglycerin and other explosives through Port Angeles, Wash., in his car aboard a ferryboat from Victoria, British Columbia. A Montreal Police spokesman said a Newsweek magazine report that Ressam was tied to an Algerian radical group had not yet been confirmed. But, the spokesman did say a massive manhunt was underway in Canada and the United States for a suspected accomplice.
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Washington Post
Sunday, December 19, 1999; Page A01
U.S. Puts Borders On High Alert Hunt for Terrorists Shifts From Abroad After Seattle Arrest By Vernon Loeb and Steven Pearlstein Washington Post Staff Writers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/19/223l-121999-idx.html
The U.S. Customs Service has placed all 301 ports of entry into the United States on high alert after the arrest of an Algerian in Washington state who had crossed the border from Canada with more than 100 pounds of bomb-making supplies and a sophisticated detonating device in a rental car.
Ahmed Ressam, 32, a resident of Montreal who had been denied refugee status by Canadian officials because of his alleged links to a terrorist group known as the Islamic Armed Group (GIA), was arrested by customs officials in Port Angeles, Wash., five days ago and charged in Seattle on Friday with transporting explosives into the United States, providing false identification and lying to authorities.
Andre Poirer, a spokesman for the Montreal police, said last night that his department has information possibly linking Ressam to Karim Said Atmani, who was extradited by Canada to France on charges that he participated in a Paris subway bombing in 1995 that killed four people and injured 86.
Poirer also said that authorities in Montreal are investigating whether Ressam is linked to a theft ring in the city suspected of funneling money to radical Islamic groups around the world.
Montreal police announced Thursday they had arrested 11 men, most of Algerian origin, over the past four months for thefts during the previous two years that netted more than 5,000 items, including computers, cellular phones, passports and credit cards. Based on information from Interpol and French police, Montreal police said they have concluded that the real purpose of the ring was to generate cash to help finance Muslim extremist groups.
"There are terrorists in Montreal," said Claude Paquette, an investigator. "They are doing things like financing their fighting friends overseas."
U.S. authorities, meanwhile, intensified efforts to find an accomplice who apparently had been with Ressam at a motel in British Columbia for three weeks before Ressam's passage into the United States. The FBI is also investigating links agents believe Ressam has to other Islamic extremists in the United States, one U.S. official said yesterday.
Harvey Kushner, a terrorism expert at Long Island University who has close ties to federal law enforcement officials, said he had been told by authorities that a search for Ressam's accomplice extends from the West Coast to New York.
"They're extremely concerned," Kushner said, adding that the bomb-making equipment and timing device Ressam had in his possession are virtually identical to those used by associates of Osama bin Laden, the millionaire Saudi militant based in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have yet to establish a definitive link between Ressam and bin Laden, but one senior U.S. official said yesterday that "there is evidence that would lead me to believe that he has associations with bin Laden, or people who have associations with bin Laden."
Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorist operations at the CIA who now works as a security consultant, said U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials believe Ressam is tied to bin Laden but have thus far refused to describe the exact nature of the connection.
What is clear, Cannistraro said, is that Ressam's arrest has left law enforcement and intelligence officials deeply concerned about possible terrorist attacks on U.S. soil as millennium celebrations approach.
"It is a little scary, because they weren't looking here," Cannistraro said. "They were looking abroad."
Cannistraro said the detonation device found in Ressam's rental car--circuit boards linked to a Casio watch and a nine-volt battery--is "the method they teach in [bin Laden's] camps in Afghanistan--and the Casio device turned up in one of the Moscow apartment bombings" thought to have been carried out earlier this year by Islamic radicals.
Canada's Globe and Mail, quoting a source in Washington, said U.S. counterintelligence agents had alerted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about Ressam's presence in Vancouver and that the Mounties had been keeping an eye on him.
Ressam and the accomplice reportedly checked into the 2400 Motel in Vancouver three weeks ago, paying cash for the $325-per-week suite of two rooms, a kitchen and bath.
On Friday, as Ressam made his first appearance in a Seattle courtroom, Mounties staked out his apartment house at 1250 Fort St., in Montreal's East End, telling reporters they were awaiting a search warrant.
Finally, about 9 p.m., after evacuating the building and cordoning off the block, a bomb squad entered the apartment looking for any other explosive devices or materials, according to spokesman Leo Monbourquette. After a two-hour search that turned up no explosives, residents were allowed back in the building. Monbourquette would not say what other items were found in the apartment.
Ressam's arrest and the disclosure by Montreal police of the theft ring tied to Islamic militants came just days after the arrest of 14 bin Laden associates in Jordan and Pakistan for allegedly plotting attacks on tourist sites abroad and American travelers during the millennium celebrations.
Bin Laden has been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy and murder in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 220 people. Based on intelligence reports of terrorist activities overseas tied to millennium celebrations, the State Department issued a worldwide warning to travelers a week ago, saying terrorist attacks that could take place any time before the end of the year.
Loeb reported from Washington, Pearlstein from Toronto.
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Associated Press
Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999; 2:11 p.m. EST
Europe Y2K Fears Center on Power By Anca Paduraru Associated Press Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991219/aponline141130_000.htm
BUCHAREST, Romania -- The official line in much of eastern Europe goes like this: Computers aren't used as much as in the highly automated West, so the Y2K problem is less of a concern.
True, many computers in former East bloc nations are late-generation, increasing the chances that they are bug-free. And much government record-keeping is still manual, like Romania's Social Security records.
"I am not worried; things are under control," says Iuliu Bara, the Romanian government's Y2K coordinator.
But older computer systems that are most vulnerable to the millennium bug do exist, and often they control sectors like energy - which in Romania harbors the greatest potential for failure.
Y2K analysts and Western governments are worried about the power grids of Romania and other eastern European nations from the Baltic states to the Balkans. Because the region's power grids are interconnected, failures in one country could trigger a temporary collapse of a neighbor's network.
Aging Soviet-era nuclear power plants provide much energy to these countries. And while experts are reasonably certain Y2K-triggered failures at such plants would not lead to meltdowns or radiation releases, there is concern about widespread blackouts.
Adding to the uncertainty is Russia. Many of these countries get the bulk of their oil and gas from that vast eastern neighbor, whose ability to deliver fuel is in question because of poor Y2K readiness.
Many Romanians are anxious.
"What might happen is so terrible that not even during the World War II did Romania experience such a thing," offers 79-year-old retiree Elena Ionidi, who lives alone in a 10th-floor apartment.
If power fails, Ionidi's elevator wouldn't work and the electric pumps that lift water to her apartment would halt.
Officially, Romania's national electricity company Conel says it held readiness tests, but company sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press no such tests have occurred.
In many former Soviet bloc nations, old government secrecy habits die hard. With less transparency on Y2K readiness, crossing fingers and hoping for the best is often the rule of thumb.
"We don't actually know the extent of the possible damage because anything can happen - from nothing to a major disaster," said Dan Georgescu, an information technology official at Bucharest's water company.
While declining to specify areas of concern, the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest has advised Americans there to be prepared to "tough it out" a few days if the power goes out and recommended they have a full tank of gas and extra batteries, candles and cash.
Worried about disruptions in electricity and natural gas deliveries, Bulgaria's government declared Jan. 3 a holiday and the smaller of the nation's two oil refineries said it would suspend operations during the New Year's rollover.
In Estonia, the power company recently conducted tests that separated parts of its electrical grid from a regional network that includes Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus.
"We're just operating on the assumption Russia will have trouble," said the company's Y2K project manager, Toomas Tutt.
As a precaution against blackouts, Hungary's hospitals will perform only emergency surgery over New Year's and send ambulatory patients home, the country's hospitals association said.
In Poland, the state railway director, Tadeusz Sawa, rated just 14 of the 33 local power companies well-prepared for Y2K. All trains in Poland will halt, possibly for as long as 45 minutes, shortly before midnight Dec. 31.
Energy is not the region's only worry. Government records and health care systems in many countries are not fully Y2K-compliant.
Officials in Moldova expect power outages and anticipate failures in the railway network and police department. In Slovakia, work remains unfinished on purging life-sustaining medical devices of the Y2K bug. Officials say some patients may have to be transferred from less-prepared hospitals.
To be on the safe side, Hungary is closing its banks from Dec. 30 to Jan. 3; Romania from New Year's Eve through Jan. 3. Poland's banks will be closed Dec. 31 so employees can print out all balances before midnight.
In Ukraine, widely considered among nations least-prepared for the millennium bug, the central bank is recommending that commercial banks complete all large transactions two weeks before New Year's and avoid them in early 2000.
The bank also warned than any commercial banks failing to report their Y2K readiness by Dec. 22 would be disconnected from the country's electronic payment system, the Interfax news agency reported. Computers in laggard institutions could disrupt the entire system with a "chain reaction," it said.
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Washington Post
Sunday, December 19, 1999; Page A01
Area Amasses Workers, Supplies, Plans for Y2K By Stephen C. Fehr Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/19/255l-121999-idx.html
With the year 2000 and its potential for computer-related problems less than 13 days away, Washington area officials are mobilizing an unprecedented volume of people, equipment and supplies--a buildup that follows months of pretend-it's-New-Year's emergency drills.
No one is really sure whether it's all necessary, but with Y2K, as with politics, perception makes it real. Or real enough.
And so, driven by worst-case paranoia--the notion that computers having trouble reading "2000" could malfunction and wind up affecting electricity, telephone service and the water supply, among other things--officials are rushing to wrap up their preparations in the waning days of 1999.
"We are hoping that this is all going to be a flop," said John Patton, chief deputy sheriff in the tranquil suburb of Loudoun County, whose office has bought gas masks in case deputies need to use tear gas on New Year's weekend to break up crowds angered by Y2K problems. "We're anticipating that we'll all be ridiculed for overkill. But if it does go bad, we'll be able to deal with it."
There are signs of the mobilization in virtually every jurisdiction in the region.
On Thursday, the District is scheduled to roll out its new 37-foot-long mobile command center, which includes six work stations and a conference room for use by police, fire and other emergency officials during Mall events on New Year's weekend--but also if there are Y2K problems. Cost to taxpayers: $350,000.
In a giant warehouse in Northeast Washington, workers are stockpiling more than $1 million worth of bottled water, generators, ready-to-eat meals, cots, blankets and heaters in case the D.C. government has to shelter thousands of residents.
Meanwhile, Anne Arundel County has recruited amateur radio volunteers to take over police and fire communications if the regular system shuts down. And Fairfax County officials have ordered dry ice so the county's health department can store medicine if the power goes out.
Government officials say they don't want to look foolishly unprepared if, by some remote chance, older computers involved in running everything from traffic lights to power plants to banks freeze up when the date changes from 1999 to 2000.
"We're preparing for the worst," said St. Mary's County Sheriff Richard J. Voorhaar, "and expecting nothing to happen."
If the phones go out in Arlington, county employees will sit in cars with mobile radios at 33 locations, waiting for any turmoil. Residents could walk up to the cars to report fires or crime. The District has 125 similar "emergency service sites." Anne Arundel police have set up "anti-looting patrols" around the county.
Already, the federal and local governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars making computer repairs and have conducted all sorts of drills to try to simulate problems that could arise because of the calendar change. At Andrews Air Force Base alone, more than 40,000 computers and other types of equipment have been certified as Y2K-ready.
"We've been at it for three years now," said Capt. Paul Roberts, commander of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County, echoing the feeling of many officials. "We've tested things to death."
Arlington replaced its entire traffic signal system, and the District--which lagged behind other governments in Y2K repairs but says it will be ready--moved the clock ahead to test its 1,500 traffic lights. Howard County has planted posts at more than 30 key intersections so that if the lights go out, police officers carrying stop signs in their patrol cars can hang them on the posts. Montgomery County also has 200 portable stop signs in case signals fail, as they did during last January's ice storm. The District will station people at the city's 150 busiest intersections if the signals aren't working.
In Prince William County, water towers have been checked and their levels documented, in case water has to be rationed. Even though Howard County uses Baltimore's antiquated water system--"You just go turn a few valves and you've got water," said Y2K coordinator Richard V. Biggs Jr.--the county has made plans to ration 10 million gallons of water to residents at nine locations if something goes wrong.
Prince George's County officials replaced the fuel pumps that provide gasoline to county vehicles. Montgomery, Arlington and other jurisdictions have printed two weeks of payroll checks as a precaution.
The fire engines at Baltimore-Washington International Airport will be revved up just before midnight to be ready for any incidents there. Five minutes before midnight, all Metrorail cars will stop at station platforms and then restart a few minutes past midnight on a night when Metro expects as many as 750,000 riders.
"This is just an extra precaution," Metro spokesman Ray Feldmann said. "We want the trains sitting safely in a station when the midnight hour occurs."
The preparations in some jurisdictions also include setting up shelters where people could eat and sleep. The District has 21 such shelters at schools, recreation centers and other facilities. Prince George's would direct residents to the nearest of the county's 47 fire stations. Montgomery has six high schools for use as shelters, if necessary; the detention center kitchens would prepare food if the shelters open.
Millions of dollars in supplies and equipment are being delivered to warehouses throughout the area. A visit to a D.C. warehouse near Catholic University this week found forklift operator Anthony Green unloading a pallet stacked with 500 bottles of water as his boss, Milton Dyer, checked over a list of supplies still to be delivered by New Year's Eve:
Five hundred cases of water, 3,000 blankets, 6,000 ready-to-eat meals, 1,105 cots, 23 generators, 100 heaters and 150 radios.
The District is rounding up a relic of the past--manual typewriters--in case all things electronic stop functioning. Fairfax has lined up portable toilets for its shelters and emergency command center and has bought battery-powered laptop computers for its building code inspectors to record information during emergency inspections.
Legions of additional emergency personnel are being called in to help out, with some jurisdictions starting their stepped-up staffing as soon as Dec. 28 and continuing through Monday, Jan. 3, the first business day of the new year.
Leave has been canceled for many police officers and firefighters, and hundreds of government employees either will be working or "on call." Fairfax has scheduled 1,500 employees for Y2K duty, with 2,000 more on call. The bill for overtime will be more than $100,000 in several jurisdictions.
Calvert County has tripled its number of officers working New Year's Eve. Loudoun will have 50 deputies--instead of the usual 15--on duty each day from Dec. 27 through New Year's and about 80 patrol officers each night, compared with about 20 officers on most nights. St. Mary's is adding a "power shift" of 18 additional officers and the SWAT team on New Year's Eve.
The Washington region's only nuclear power plant, the Baltimore Gas installation at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland, will have 90 workers--triple the normal contingent--on hand at the plant on New Year's Eve from 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. No one there is expecting any problems, however.
Special 24-hour emergency command centers are set up in every jurisdiction, where representatives of major agencies and top government officials will huddle to monitor and respond to any Y2K problems. The rollover from 1999 to 2000 will take place as much as 12 hours earlier in other parts of the world, tipping off authorities here to potential disruptions.
Although area officials are confident they are ready for any problems associated with the date change, they worry about what they can't control: an ice storm hitting the Mall and stranding thousands of people while the power goes out. Panicked people calling 911 for non-emergencies.
"Our biggest fear is that people will overload the 911 number with frivolous calls, or just dial it to see if it still works," said Arlington County spokesman Dick Bridges. "Like everyone in a college dorm flushing toilets at the same time, it would overload the system."
Prince William's deputy coordinator of emergency services, Tom Hajduk, said he is more concerned about people overreacting to routine problems that have nothing to do with Y2K.
"There are a lot of people out there who think the world's going to come to an end because it's the millennium," Hajduk said. "How they're going to react and what they might do is a big concern."
Part of the uncertainty stems from the mixed messages the public is receiving from government and industry officials: Don't worry about your money, but take out some extra cash. The water supply is safe, but buy bottled water.
"I don't expect trouble, but we have to plan for trouble," replied Peter LaPorte, the District's emergency preparedness director.
James Heller, director of fire and rescue services in Howard, said that "our confidence level is pretty high that the basic infrastructure is going to be there. But by the same token, we want to be sure that if something happens, we're going to be up and ready to deal with it. We won't be out partying."
Staff writers Maria Glod, Annie Gowen, Ann O'Hanlon, Lyndsey Layton, Angela Paik, Lisa Rein, Michael D. Shear, Jackie Spinner, Steve Vogel and Scott Wilson contributed to this report.