-------- NUCLEAR (by country)

-------- australia

Giving legs to an arms race

Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 20/07/2000
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0007/20/text/features02.html

The US missile system which Australia has pledged to support could take the world back to the nuclear brink, writes Bob Howard.

THE United States Secretary of Defence, William Cohen, has indicated that facilities in Australia such as the satellite relay station at Pine Gap might play an important role in America's proposed National Missile Defence (NMD) system, and the Australian Government has given its backing to the Pentagon's research and development on the project.

But Canberra would do well to ponder the arms control implications of missile defences before agreeing to any US appeal for assistance on NMD.

The idea of protecting the United States by deploying land-based anti-ballistic missiles to knock down incoming nuclear warheads was first seriously proposed by the Johnson and Nixon administrations in the 1960s and '70s.

From the beginning, these seemingly benign proposals were attacked by those who argued that missile protection of the US would erode the system of mutual deterrence on which peace between the superpowers allegedly depended, and would provoke the USSR to engage in a frantic build-up of its missile forces.

The argument was eventually decided in favour of those opposed to what Johnson, Nixon, and probably Moscow, had in mind. The anti-ballistic (ABM) treaty signed between the US and the USSR in 1972 effectively banned missile defences in both countries. Later, it was to play an important role in the successful campaign to defeat President Reagan's "star wars" program.

The ABM treaty enshrines the principle that missile defences are destabilising and a stimulus to the nuclear arms race. It remains as a centrepiece of nuclear arms control in our era.

But this nuclear settlement is now under threat. Washington is pressing for an NMD system to protect it from so-called "rogue" nuclear states like North Korea, Iran and Iraq, and to this end is anxious to amend the ABM treaty to allow some version of the proposed system.

Washington has argued that the system it is proposing will not trigger a new nuclear arms race because it will not be large enough to threaten Russia's deterrent capability vis-a-vis the US.

But this sounds like wishful thinking. The anti-ballistic missile programs proposed in the past by the Johnson and Nixon administrations were also not regarded in Washington as a threat to Moscow's capacity to deter the US. (Indeed, they were rationalised as a counter to the more limited forces of the "rogue" nuclear state of the time, China.)

But this did not deter Moscow from threatening to expand its armory of offensive nuclear weapons if the US proceeded to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system, however limited.

Similarly, the Putin Government has threatened to expand its nuclear forces if the US deploys an NMD system.

And what about China? Clearly it has moved way beyond the status of a fledgling nuclear power. It has already deployed a full range of land-based ballistic missiles, including a few of intercontinental range capable of reaching the US, and is likely to regard an American NMD system as a threat to its capacity to deter the US.

Should Beijing choose to respond by significantly upgrading its nuclear forces, it is reckoned to have the capacity to do so.

The ABM treaty and the principles enshrined in it are an example, albeit a very extreme one, of the "common security" approach to the building of a more peaceful world.

That missile defences have been regarded as destabilising and a stimulus to the arms race defers to the idea that states share a common strategic space, and that the security measures adopted by one, necessarily impact on the security of others.

In a world where the total elimination of nuclear weapons seems highly improbable, adherence to these principles has helped reinforce the precarious strategic stability we presently enjoy.

The "go it alone" approach embodied in Washington's NMD proposal is a dramatic departure from a central plank of the contemporary arms control regime.

If there are good reasons for such a grave and historic step, Washington has yet to advance them. Until it does so, the Australian Government should resist the temptation to again go "all the way" with its "great and powerful friend".

Dr Bob Howard is a research associate in government and international relations at the University of Sydney.

-------- britain

FORMER PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER APPLAUDS GOVERNOR BUSH'S LEADERSHIP ON MISSILE DEFENSE

From: "Boddy, Lee" <LBoddy@georgewbush.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 14:46:27 -0500

AUSTIN- Speaking at the Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Palo Alto, CA, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher yesterday praised Governor Bush's leadership for speaking about the need to build a missile defense system, in a speech entitled "A Time For Leadership."

"In the course of a series of penetrating speeches on security matters, Governor George W. Bush has spoken about the need for an effective ballistic missile defense which would also protect America's allies. I applaud his vision. The peace and security of the whole world depends on wise and courageous leadership from the White House."

Paid for by Bush for President, Inc.

-------- india / pakistan

Pakistan says could use nukes if attacked

By Adam Tanner
From: Ndunlks@aol.com

BERLIN, July 20 (Reuters) - Pakistan would consider using nuclear weapons first if attacked by conventional forces, its deputy foreign minister said on Thursday.

``There is no way Pakistan can hold out any assurance that it will not use any nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened,'' said Inam ul Haque, the highest-ranking Pakistani official to visit Germany since nuclear tests in 1998.

``There is no such assurance on the part of India either,'' he said during a breakfast briefing for journalists.

Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in May 1998 in response to similar tests from arch-rival India, which drew worldwide criticism and sanctions. India has said it is committed to a ``no first use'' nuclear policy.

Haque added that NATO maintained a first-use threat to deter a Soviet attack during the Cold War. At the time, NATO worried about the possibility of an overwhelming conventional ground attack on western Europe.

Haque's remarks, at the start of a visit aiming at improving ties with Germany, appeared to go further than Pakistan's nuclear policy of ``responsibility and restraint.''

Speaking to journalists before a meeting with his German counterpart Wolfgang Ischinger, Haque defended Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons.

``India, we believe, is a hegemonic power,'' he said. ``Our nuclear programme has been a response to our security threat perceptions....Nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence.''

An Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman said there was ``nothing new'' in the Pakistani minister's remarks.

``Pakistan does not subscribe to a 'no first use' policy as India does,'' he said. ``The policy of 'no first use' is one of the central elements of our nuclear posture.''

COUP LED TO FURTHER ISOLATION

Already isolated over its nuclear development programme, Pakistan drew further international condemnation after army chief General Pervez Musharraf ousted democratically elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup last October.

Haque said the coup was a necessary reaction to what he called Sharif's efforts to build a dictatorship in Pakistan, but added the military leaders would restore democracy by 2002. In the meantime they needed outside financial help, he said.

``Major economic assistance to Pakistan has dried up,'' he said. ``The reserves of the government are $1.5 billion. This is not a very large figure.''

The European Union condemned the military coup in October and suspended a new cooperation pact in protest.

``We need to re-engage with the members of the European Union, both individually and as the European Union,'' Haque said.

Germany has given $3.7 billion in direct aid to Pakistan since 1961, but the assistance has stopped with the recent sanctions. Trade has also fallen sharply in recent years.

``It is possible that businesses do not feel too confident doing business in Pakistan,'' Haque said.

Pakistan is also seeking to reschedule its debts again by next year, when $3.5 to $4 billion is due to foreign creditors. It owes a total of $32 billion in external debts.

``Pakistan would like a multi-year arrangement,'' Haque said. ``Discussions are now going on.''

Pakistan's inability to broaden its tax base and boost domestic fuel prices had already caused the International Monetary Fund to put a hold on a $1.56 billion loan programme before the October coup.

----

Navy acquires Russian missile submarine

Thursday 20 July 2000
TIMES OF INDIA HEADLINES
From: Stephen Kobasa <skobasa@pop.snet.net>

ST PETERSBURG: A kilo-class submarine, fitted with Klub anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), latest sonars and having a range of 220 km, was commissioned on Wednesday in the Indian Navy by Naval Chief Admiral Susheel Kumar here.

The state-of-art submarine, INS Sindushastra, is the tenth kilo-class submarine to be inducted into the Navy.

Dubbed as `Black Hole' by NATO for its noiseless operation in sea depths making it invisible to the enemy sonars, the vessel has been acquired by the Indian Navy from Russia under a $200 million deal signed in November 1997 for the purchase of two kilo-class submarines.

With the commissioning of Sindushastra, the Navy would acquire three kilo-class submarines currently undergoing refit at a shipyard here. These three submarines are also likely to be armed with Klub missiles with land attack capability.

Indian naval crew took charge of the submarine from the Russian naval crew, which had jointly conducted trial sailings in the Baltic Sea. The handing over ceremony was attended by Indian Ambassador to Russia S K Lambah and Deputy Governor of St Petersburg Anatoly Aleksashin.

Russia had delivered INS Sindhurakshak in December 1997. (PTI)

----

Pakistan Says Could Use Nukes if Attacked

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 11:19 AM ET
By Adam Tanner
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/wl/arms_pakistan_nuclear_dc_1.html

BERLIN (Reuters) - Pakistan would consider using nuclear weapons first if attacked by conventional forces, its deputy foreign minister said Thursday.

``There is no way Pakistan can hold out any assurance that it will not use any nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened,'' said Inam ul Haque, the highest-ranking Pakistani official to visit Germany since nuclear tests in 1998.

``There is no such assurance on the part of India either,'' he said during a breakfast briefing for journalists.

Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in May 1998 in response to similar tests from arch-rival India, which drew worldwide criticism and sanctions. India has said it is committed to a ''no first use'' nuclear policy.

Haque added that NATO maintained a first-use threat to deter a Soviet attack during the Cold War. At the time, NATO worried about the possibility of an overwhelming conventional ground attack on western Europe.

Haque's remarks, at the start of a visit aiming at improving ties with Germany, appeared to go further than Pakistan's nuclear policy of ``responsibility and restraint.''

Speaking to journalists before a meeting with his German counterpart Wolfgang Ischinger, Haque defended Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons.

``India, we believe, is a hegemonic power,'' he said. ``Our nuclear program has been a response to our security threat perceptions....Nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence.''

An Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman said there was ``nothing new'' in the Pakistani minister's remarks.

``Pakistan does not subscribe to a 'no first use' policy as India does,'' he said. ``The policy of 'no first use' is one of the central elements of our nuclear posture.''

Coup Led To Further Isolation

Already isolated over its nuclear development program, Pakistan drew further international condemnation after army chief General Pervez Musharraf ousted democratically elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup last October.

Haque said the coup was a necessary reaction to what he called Sharif's efforts to build a dictatorship in Pakistan, but added the military leaders would restore democracy by 2002. In the meantime they needed outside financial help, he said.

``Major economic assistance to Pakistan has dried up,'' he said. ``The reserves of the government are $1.5 billion. This is not a very large figure.''

The European Union condemned the military coup in October and suspended a new cooperation pact in protest.

``We need to re-engage with the members of the European Union, both individually and as the European Union,'' Haque said.

Germany has given $3.7 billion in direct aid to Pakistan since 1961, but the assistance has stopped with the recent sanctions. Trade has also fallen sharply in recent years.

``It is possible that businesses do not feel too confident doing business in Pakistan,'' Haque said.

Pakistan is also seeking to reschedule its debts again by next year, when $3.5 to $4 billion is due to foreign creditors. It owes a total of $32 billion in external debts.

``Pakistan would like a multi-year arrangement,'' Haque said. ``Discussions are now going on.''

Pakistan's inability to broaden its tax base and boost domestic fuel prices had already caused the International Monetary Fund to put a hold on a $1.56 billion loan program before the October coup.

---

By Adam Tanner

BERLIN (Reuters) - Pakistan would consider using nuclear weapons first if attacked by conventional forces, its deputy foreign minister said Thursday.

``There is no way Pakistan can hold out any assurance that it will not use any nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened,'' said Inam ul Haque, the highest-ranking Pakistani official to visit Germany since nuclear tests in 1998.

``There is no such assurance on the part of India either,'' he said during a breakfast briefing for journalists.

Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in May 1998 in response to similar tests from arch-rival India, which drew worldwide criticism and sanctions. India has said it is committed to a ``no first use'' nuclear policy.

Haque added that NATO maintained a first-use threat to deter a Soviet attack during the Cold War. At the time, NATO worried about the possibility of an overwhelming conventional ground attack on western Europe.

Haque's remarks, at the start of a visit aiming at improving ties with Germany, appeared to go further than Pakistan's nuclear policy of ``responsibility and restraint.''

Speaking to journalists before a meeting with his German counterpart Wolfgang Ischinger, Haque defended Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons.

``India, we believe, is a hegemonic power,'' he said. ``Our nuclear program has been a response to our security threat perceptions....Nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence.''

An Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman said there was ``nothing new'' in the Pakistani minister's remarks.

``Pakistan does not subscribe to a 'no first use' policy as India does,'' he said. ``The policy of 'no first use' is one of the central elements of our nuclear posture.''

Coup Led To Further Isolation

Already isolated over its nuclear development program, Pakistan drew further international condemnation after army chief General Pervez Musharraf ousted democratically elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup last October.

Haque said the coup was a necessary reaction to what he called Sharif's efforts to build a dictatorship in Pakistan, but added the military leaders would restore democracy by 2002. In the meantime they needed outside financial help, he said.

``Major economic assistance to Pakistan has dried up,'' he said. ``The reserves of the government are $1.5 billion. This is not a very large figure.''

The European Union condemned the military coup in October and suspended a new cooperation pact in protest.

``We need to re-engage with the members of the European Union, both individually and as the European Union,'' Haque said.

Germany has given $3.7 billion in direct aid to Pakistan since 1961, but the assistance has stopped with the recent sanctions. Trade has also fallen sharply in recent years.

``It is possible that businesses do not feel too confident doing business in Pakistan,'' Haque said.

Pakistan is also seeking to reschedule its debts again by next year, when $3.5 to $4 billion is due to foreign creditors. It owes a total of $32 billion in external debts.

``Pakistan would like a multi-year arrangement,'' Haque said. ``Discussions are now going on.''

Pakistan's inability to broaden its tax base and boost domestic fuel prices had already caused the International Monetary Fund to put a hold on a $1.56 billion loan program before the October coup.

---

INS Sindushastra commissioned

The Hindu
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By Vladimir Radyuhin
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2000/07/20/stories/01200008.htm

MOSCOW, JULY 19. India's first missile-firing submarine, INS Sindushastra, was commissioned in St. Petersburg on Wednesday at a ceremony kept off-bounds to Indian media in Russia.

The 70-metre submarine belongs to the Russian Kilo-class, dubbed ``Black Hole'' by NATO for its silent run and superior listening capabilities. India has acquired 11 Kilo-class submarines from Russia, but INS Sindhushastra is the first to be armed with the anti-ship Klub missile. With a range of close to 300 km, the missile will give the Navy a new deterrent capability in the Indian Ocean. The other 10 Kilo-class submarines will also be equipped with Klub missiles soon.

None of the Indian correspondents accredited in Russia was allowed to attend the induction ceremony conducted by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sushil Kumar, at the Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg. The ban is understood to have been ordered by the Indian side. A terse five-line press-release issued by the Indian Embassy in Moscow said INS Sindhushastra was inducted into the Indian Navy at ``an impressive ceremony''. The new boat was described as ``a state-of-the-art submarine having advanced sensors and weapon systems'' and equipped with ``a tune- launched Klub missile.''

The secrecy shrouding the commissioning ceremony had far less to do with the submarine than with the visit of Admiral Sushil Kumar. The Indian delegation is expected to discuss plans for the Indian submarine fleet to go nuclear and acquire medium- range ballistic missiles.

Russia is under international restrictions on exporting nuclear submarines or missiles with a range of over 300 km to nuclear- aspiring countries, including India, but according to media reports, Moscow is helping India build a nuclear-powered Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), similar to a fourth-generation multi- purpose nuclear submarine under construction at Severomorsk in Russia.

INS Sindushastra, which was commissioned at a ceremony in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

---

For the Record

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000; Page A24
From an article by Stephen P. Cohen
Wilson Quarterly summer edition

Since its birth as a nation more than 50 years ago, India has seemed poised on the edge of two very different futures. On one side lay greatness; on the other, collapse. That drama has now ended, and a new one has begun. The specter of collapse has passed, and India is emerging as a major Asian power, joining China and Japan. The 1998 nuclear tests in the Rajasthan desert that announced India's entry into the nuclear club only served to underscore the nation's new stature.

India has begun economic reforms that promise at last to realize its vast economic potential. It possesses the world's third largest army. . . . Its population, which crossed the 1 billion mark this year, may surpass China's within two decades. . . . For the last 53 years, against all odds, it has maintained a functioning democracy.

For most of those 53 years, the United States and India have maintained a strained relationship--a relationship that has not been helped by years of American neglect and misunderstanding. Now there are signs of change. . . . Bill Clinton in March became the first American president to visit the subcontinent in more than two decades. Addressing the Indian Parliament, he acknowledged the richness of Indian civilization. . . .

Speaking less guardedly before his visit, he had called the Indian subcontinent "perhaps the most dangerous place in the world."

-------- korea

Putin remarks on North Korea missile stance expected to draw G8 attention

CNN
July 20, 2000 Web posted at: 4:17 p.m. HKT (0817 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/07/20/nkorea.putin/index.html

From staff and wire reports

PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- A day after surprising analysts by saying North Korea was willing to abandon its missile program, Russian President Vladimir Putin left North Korea for the G8 summit in Japan.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/07/20/nkorea.putin/map.n.korea.pyongyang.gif

Putin's comment -- that North Korea would end its missile program if other nations provided it with rocket technology for space exploration -- was expected to receive attention during the G8 summit.

The three-day summit of the world's leading industrial nations begins Friday; G8 leaders plan to meet officials from developing nations on Thursday, however, to discuss debt- and poverty-related issues.

"The country which could probably steward North Korea out of isolation, help them, if they are looking to get out of isolation, might be Russia," said former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev.

Few details offered

Putin, the first Russian leader to visit North Korea, offered few details about how a program of shared technology would work, or who would finance it. He rejected a suggestion that Russia send its rockets to North Korea. He also told reporters that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had assured him that North Korea's missile program was only used for peaceful purposes.

"The North Korean government is prepared to use exclusively the rocket technology of other nations if they provide such an opportunity for the peaceful exploration of space," Putin said.

While Putin's statement, which followed a two-hour meeting with Kim, was greeted with skepticism by U.S. officials, Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the Brookings Institute told CNN that the development could be positive.

"The United States so far has had practically no success at all on the missile issue with the North Koreans, except for the suspension for the time being of tests," Sonnenfeldt said.

"We'll have to see whether Putin has had any better luck," he added.

North Korea raised fears

North Korea's missile program has raised fears and concerns throughout the West, and is one of the reasons behind the American push to implement a National Missile Defense, or NMD, system.

North Korea alarmed much of Asia in 1998 when it test- fired a medium-range ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. North Korean officials said it had been a space shot to launch a satellite. However, most analysts dismissed that explanation.

North Korea is believed to have missiles capable of reaching Hawaii and Alaska. CIA reports show that North Korea has the potential to develop longer-range missiles that can reach the U.S. continent.

A senior U.S. official expressed skepticism at Putin's announcement, and said that the United States was not sure if Russia wanted to help North Korea build a peaceful satellite-launching capability or enhance its offensive missile program.

"It's not clear if it's good or bad news," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. "We are going to have a number of opportunities to get clarification ... We'll use every channel available to us.

"If, repeat if, Russia is contemplating providing North Korea with additional launch capability so as to enhance and accelerate its capability to launch its own rockets, that is a total non-starter," the U.S. official said.

Putin, Jiang sign declaration

In Beijing this week, Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin denounced America's proposed NMD. They signed a declaration calling on the international community to implement all necessary measures to oppose the NMD. It was Putin's first state visit to China.

The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would have to be amended before the United States could implement the system, and Russia has opposed reopening the treaty.

Jiang and Putin said NMD would give the United States "unilateral superiority in military and security matters ... (and) upset the world's strategic balance."

U.S. officials, meanwhile, have tried to alleviate such concerns. They have said NMD was being designed to protect the United States against possible missile attacks by rogue nations.

The officials have cited in particular North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- countries that have begun acquiring nuclear and missile technology.

Renewing an old friendship

Although no Soviet or Russian leaders before Putin had visited North Korea, Putin's trip marked the arrival of an old political ally. Russia, meanwhile, has had six summit meetings with South Korea.

The former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, had supported communist North Korea, but relations soured in the early 1990s after Moscow recognized South Korea. Russia ended a defense agreement with the North in 1995.

Putin also sought to rebuild economic ties with North Korea. Many of the North's major industrial plants -- now outdated and in need of repair -- were built with technology from the former Soviet Union.

In post-Soviet times, Russia, with its own economic problems, has virtually neglected impoverished North Korea. Trade, which once exceeded $1 billion, stood at a mere $50 million in 1999, compared with $2.2 billion in bilateral trade between Seoul and Moscow that year, South Korean officials said.

"Due to economic reforms in the (former) USSR, and later in Russia, in particular ... at the beginning of the 1990s, our trade and economic cooperation with North Korea ... has been seriously reduced," Russian Trade Ministry officials said.

CNN Correspondent Steve Harrigan, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

---

Breakthrough unlikely in N. Korea missile program

Denver Rocky Mountain News
July 20, 2000
Holger Jensen hjens@aol.com
http://insidedenver.com/jensen/0720holge.shtml

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hopes to chat with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun next week on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific security forum in Bangkok.

If such a meeting takes place, it would be the highest-level contact between the United States and a country our State Department only recently stopped calling a "rogue."

But don't expect any breakthrough on North Korea's missile program, which is President Clinton's primary justification for wanting to build a $60 billion anti-missile shield strongly opposed by Russia, China and some of our European allies, who fear it will undermine existing arms control agreements.

Four years of on-again, off-again missile talks have produced only one agreement between Washington and Pyongyang: a North Korean promise to stop testing the long-range Taepodong missile in return for lifting U.S. trade barriers.

The three-stage rocket, first fired over Japan in 1998, unnerved the region and gave rise to the belief that North Korea could develop a missile capable of hitting an American city by 2005.

Since then, Washington has been trying to convince Pyongyang to stop exporting missiles and missile parts to Pakistan and the Middle East. But North Korea says missile exports are one of its few sources of hard currency needed to stave off economic collapse.

Talks broke down earlier this month over Pyongyang's demand for $1 billion in compensation for every year it refrains from exporting missiles. "The North Koreans should not be compensated for agreeing to stop conducting an act which they should not be conducting in the first place," huffed Robert Einhorn, U.S. assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation.

But that is precisely what has happened over the years.

North Korea has made an art form of blackmailing the United States and its Asian allies, primarily South Korea and Japan, into paying for the removal of real or imagined threats posed by its weapons of mass destruction.

In 1994, Pyongyang used allied suspicions that it was manufacturing nuclear bombs to secure a promise of two new nuclear reactors, worth $4.6 billion, and a 10-year supply of free fuel oil in return for closing down its plutonium-producing plant at Yongbon.

It then turned around and built a new nuclear complex at Keumjongri. When U.S inspectors demanded access to the plant, Pyongyang sought a fee of $300 million but settled for fertilizer and advice on how to grow high-yield potatoes.

Over the next four years, North Korea's economy nosedived, crippled by the loss of Soviet subsidies, barter trade with China and natural disasters caused by four consecutive years of drought and floods. But Pyongyang secured massive amounts of humanitarian aid while maintaining a bellicose stance toward its donors.

The combination of begging and belligerence led to the historic June summit between North Korea's Kim Jong-il and President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea. But much of their announced agreement turned out to be a rehash of older pacts, specifically the Joint Declaration of 1972 and the Basic Agreement of 1992.

And, while both call for eventual reunification of the divided peninsula, only 100 of more than 7 million South Koreans with family ties to the North will be able to meet their relatives in August reunions agreed to by both countries. This is but a fraction of the 76,000 South Koreans who applied.

Adding to their anguish is not knowing the number of relatives killed in North Korea's famine, during which an estimated 2 million to 3 million people perished. The only other reunions allowed by both regimes in 1985 involved only 50 people.

In an interview with the Financial Times, South Korea's Kim speculated that reunification could take 20 or 30 years. Its cost, estimated at $1 trillion, would be much greater than the reunification of Germany, he said, because South Korea is much more economically advanced than impoverished North Korea.

Besides the cost, there is a psychological barrier erected by decades of isolation. Moon Huyn Choi, who travels to North Korea four times a year for an institute promoting reunification, admits that "every time I go there I feel like I'm on another planet."

Holger Jensen is international editor. E-mail: hjens@aol.com

---

Putin Reports North Korean Offer On Missile Program

San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, July 20, 2000
Washington Post
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/20/MN105445.DTL

Moscow -- President Vladimir Putin, on the first day of a historic visit to Pyongyang, said yesterday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has promised his country will abandon its missile program if other states provide it with technology for ``peaceful space research.''

On the first trip by a Russian or Soviet head of state to the closed, secretive country, Putin said that ``North Korea is altogether prepared to use exclusively rocket equipment of other states'' for space research.

A North Korean abandonment of its missile program would remove one of America's main military worries and eliminate the threat cited most often by advocates of building a U.S. missile defense system.

Initial U.S. reaction was cautious, as a senior State Department official said Washington would welcome Putin's announcement only if it meant North Korea would use other countries' space launch facilities rather than importing missile technology from abroad.

Putin's remarks to reporters in Pyongyang were in keeping with Russia's claim in recent months that direct diplomacy, not a missile defense system, is the most effective way to deal with North Korea's missile threat.

Putin said countries that view North Korea as a threat should support it with missile technology. ``We can minimize the threat by providing (rocket) boosters to North Korea,'' he said, according to a report by the Tass news agency.

The Interfax news agency said Kim assured Putin that Pyongyang's rocket program is entirely peaceful.

Concern over North Korea's missile program escalated in August 1998 when it launched a three-stage missile over Japan. A declassified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for the Clinton administration has predicted that North Korea's Taepodong II missile will be capable of hitting the United States by 2005.

In June, North Korea announced it would extend a moratorium on missile flight tests that was declared last September, and U.S. officials said talks would resume with North Korea on curbing its missile development program. Three days of talks in mid-June focused on Pyongyang's previously stated demand for cash compensation for suspending its missile exports -- a trade-off Washington has rejected.

The United States plans to press for more details of Kim's offer at Clinton's meeting with Putin tomorrow at the start of the Group of Eight economic summit in Okinawa, as well as at three other meetings involving State Department officials over the next week.

Leon Sigal, a specialist on northeast Asia at the Social Science Research Council in New York, said North Korea's offer appeared to be an echo of the nuclear deal it had struck previously with the Clinton administration.

Under that arrangement, North Korea agreed to shut down its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon, which had been a major worry for Western experts who feared the plutonium was being used for nuclear bombs.

---

Ballistic Politics

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000; Page A25
By Jim Hoagland
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/20/105l-072000-idx.html

Conceived as a political scarecrow to use against conniving Republicans and irrational North Koreans, the Clinton administration's limited version of a national missile defense is becoming an albatross fastened around the neck of Vice President Al Gore.

You would expect Bill Clinton to get the politics of missile defense right, even if you have qualms about having him choose the "architecture" of the $60 billion to $100 billion ballistic missile flyswatter the Pentagon is designing. Politics is what drives Clinton, and politics is what drives his version of missile defense.

The Republican threat of the year 2000 is more urgent for Clinton and Gore than is the North Korean missile threat of 2005 they cite. The need to knock down incoming Republican campaign salvos has shaped Clinton's unrealistic testing and decision-making schedule on what the bureaucrats call "baseline NMD" more than has recent intelligence analysis.

To be blunt: The tail of campaign politics wags the dog of national security on missile defense promises. This is dangerous terrain for Democrats, who have traditionally found it difficult to outbid Republicans when it comes to scaring and then reassuring voters.

This is not to say that the threats--campaign and Korean--are wholly imaginary.

Anyone who has seen the lurid, despicable 30-second television ad that accuses Clinton and Gore of leaving America naked against an imminent and inevitable missile attack knows exactly how low this campaign can sink.

The group that finances this ad, the Coalition to Protect Americans Now, says it has no connection to Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Clinton's baseline proposal would deploy 100 interceptors in Alaska to knock down a few "rogue" missile warheads after they reenter the atmosphere. That is just enough to allow the administration to say, "We have done something, but not too much."

The proposal Clinton will decide to implement or ditch by summer's end would create a system that would have great difficulty succeeding in the best of circumstances.

Bush edged toward a better idea on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. He endorsed looking at a much more ambitious boost-phase interception system.

"Many think the most effective systems are those that intercept a rocket on launch, as opposed to trying to intercept a rocket on reentry," Bush said. "It's the boost-phase system that we need to spend money and time and efforts . . . to determine its feasibility. Why would we want to put a system in place that doesn't work?"

Among the "many" who think like Bush are Israeli defense officials, already at work researching a boost-phase option. Their experiences in the Gulf War point up the difficulty, and the dangers, of exploding enemy warheads over your own territory.

A system combining available U.S. theater and sea-borne missile shields with early boost-phase technology could be ready within seven to 10 years, according to some dissident Pentagon officials, who say it would work at least as well as Clinton's 2005 scheme.

Politically, endorsing boost-phase research enables Bush to move away from the crazies in his party who wage a crusade against mutual deterrence and who scorn the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty of 1972. Bush insists on time for research and diplomacy. And he promises Americans a bigger and sweeter dream of eventual protection. With dreams, why go halfway?

Across the electronic aisle, the albatross shifted uneasily on Gore's neck on NBC's "Meet the Press." Asked only glancingly about national security, the vice president was stuck with defending the half-measures he has helped Clinton elaborate as a way of saving the ABM treaty.

"Keeping deterrence in place obviously makes sense," Gore said. "And you don't want to discard the ABM treaty and trigger the chance of a renewed arms competition." Gore, who has said he will support Clinton's decision, has not taken a position on the boost-phase idea.

Clinton's advisers have given him a Rube Goldberg contraption to meet his many requirements: Preempt the Republicans, keep the Russians on board with ABM, reassure the Chinese the system is not aimed at them, protect America against a barely glimpsed and improbable North Korean missile threat. The chewing gum and baling wire are obvious.

The final nail in Jimmy Carter's 1980 reelection coffin was, for me, his admission of surprise and outrage at the Kremlin's ignoring his embraces of its leaders and invading Afghanistan anyway. Now, Carter promised, he was going to get tough.

But American voters decided that if they needed someone to mouth tough against commies, they preferred a Republican with long experience doing that. And if Clinton and Gore scare Americans enough about missiles this autumn, Bush may stroll into the White House.

---

Russia Says N. Korea Offers to End Missile Program
Pyongyang Demands Technology for 'Space Research' in Return

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000; Page A16
By David Hoffman Washington Post Foreign Service
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/20/328l-072000-idx.html

MOSCOW, July 19-President Vladimir Putin, on the first day of a historic visit to Pyongyang, said today that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has promised his country will abandon its missile program if other states provide it with technology for "peaceful space research."

Putin, making the first trip by a Russian or Soviet head of state to the closed, secretive country, said that "North Korea is altogether prepared to use exclusively rocket equipment of other states" for space research.

By abandoning its missile program, North Korea would remove one of Washington's main military worries and eliminate the threat cited most often by advocates of a U.S. missile defense system. Initial U.S. reaction was cautious. A senior State Department official said Putin's announcement would be welcomed only if it meant North Korea would use other countries' space launch facilities rather than importing missile technology from abroad.

Putin's remarks to reporters in Pyongyang today were in keeping with Russia's claim in recent months that direct diplomacy, not a missile defense system, is the most effective way to deal with North Korea's missile threat. Putin said countries that view North Korea as a threat should support its offer with missile technology.

"We can minimize the threat by providing [rocket] boosters to North Korea," he said, according to a report by the Russian Tass news agency from Pyongyang. The Interfax news agency said Kim assured Putin that Pyongyang's rocket program is entirely peaceful.

Concern over North Korea's missile program escalated in August 1998 when it launched a three-stage missile over Japan. A declassified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for the Clinton administration has predicted that a North Korean Taepodong II missile will be capable of hitting the United States by 2005.

In June, Pyongyang announced it would extend a moratorium on missile test flights declared last September, and U.S. officials said they would resume discussions with North Korea on curbing its missile development program. Talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 10-12 focused on Pyongyang's stated demand for cash compensation for suspending its missile exports--a trade-off that Washington has rejected.

President Clinton may make a decision later this year--or a new president may decide next year--whether to proceed with a limited national missile defense system, which would include 100 interceptor rockets based in Alaska, to protect against an attack from North Korea.

Putin, who joined with Chinese leaders in denouncing the U.S. anti-missile plan while in Beijing this week, said the statement by the North Korean leader about ending the missile program was made "for the first time." However, there were unanswered questions about the scope and meaning of the statement that Putin quoted.

In Washington, the senior State Department official said Putin's comment about letting Pyongyang use foreign rocket technology "lends itself to at least two interpretations--one constructive and promising and the other very much the opposite." U.S. reaction, the official said, would await clarification about whether rocket technology would be sent to North Korea or whether Pyongyang could make nonmilitary use of rockets fired by other countries.

"If what Putin and Kim Jong Il agreed to would be that Russia and others provide launch capability outside North Korea," the senior State Department official said, stressing the word "outside," "that could push a difficult and dangerous situation to a solution. If what they are talking about is Russia providing to North Korea the technology to accelerate its own rocket program, that would go very much in the other direction. That means this would exacerbate the problem instead of contributing to the solution."

The Clinton administration plans to press for more details at the president's meeting with Putin at the start of the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa on Friday, as well as at three other meetings involving State Department officials over the next week.

Russia has warned that the contemplated U.S. missile defense system would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and disrupt the entire regime of strategic arms control agreements that have supported big-power stability. Russia fears the limited system will be expanded and that a larger missile defense umbrella for the United States would weaken Russia's own strategic deterrent, making it more vulnerable to attack.

Putin and the North Korean leader tonight signed a joint declaration that called for "preservation and strengthening" of the ABM treaty. However, when Clinton visited Moscow in May, Putin also put his signature on a joint statement acknowledging that missile proliferation is an emerging security threat. Putin tried to co-opt U.S. plans for a limited system by proposing a jointly developed missile defense with Western Europe, but he has never made clear precisely what Russia has in mind.

Meanwhile, Moscow has continued to insist that it would be far cheaper and better to dissuade North Korea from building missiles than to build a defense system.

Russian officials have said Putin's visit would revitalize strategic and economic ties that flagged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eager for investment, Russia looked more toward prosperous South Korea in the 1990s. Before the 1997 financial crisis that bludgeoned their economy, South Koreans were among the major holders of Russian bonds.

In February, the Russian and North Korean foreign ministers signed an agreement that did not include promises of mutual military assistance.

The higher-level talks in Pyongyang are expected to focus in part on military issues.

"Our relations have been at a low level, but we can view the bilateral treaty signed in February as a positive step," Putin said, according to Interfax. The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, ratified the treaty today.

Russian news agencies also said Putin invited Kim to visit Moscow and that he agreed. In addition, Putin expressed support for a formal settlement of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended without a peace treaty.

Staff writer Steven Mufson in Washington contributed to this report.

---

North Korea Reported Open to Halting Missile Program

New York Times
July 20, 2000
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/072000nkorea-missile.html
http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/world/docs/nkorea20.htm

MOSCOW, July 19 -- In an announcement intended to remove the prime rationale for an American missile defense plan, Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, said today that North Korea had offered to abandon its missile program if other nations would provide it with rockets to launch satellites into space.

Mr. Putin announced the offer after a meeting in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, with that country's leader, Kim Jong Il. The visit was a first for a Russian president and was part of an intensive round of Asian diplomacy aimed at mobilizing opposition to the American antimissile plan. On Tuesday, Mr. Putin signed a joint statement with the Chinese denouncing the United States' plans for a missile defense.

The United States responded to the announcement today by saying it hoped to clarify the North Korean offer when Mr. Putin meets Western leaders at a meeting of the world's leading industrial countries in Okinawa, Japan, starting Friday.

A senior American official said Washington could not agree to the offer if it meant putting Western missile technology in North Korean hands. But he said the United States would be willing to explore an arrangement in which North Korea's satellites would be brought to other nations to be launched into space.

After meeting with Mr. Kim, Mr. Putin implied that North Korea had offered to give up the testing, development and production of missiles. What North Korea is seeking in return was not entirely clear, but Mr. Putin suggested that it was not just launch services that would be provided by other nations, but foreign rocket boosters that would be brought to North Korea so that it could launch satellites into space.

Or, as Mr. Putin put it, the North Korean leader "voiced an idea under which North Korea is even prepared to use exclusively the rocket equipment of other countries for peaceful space research if they offered it."

"One should expect that countries that assert the D.P.R.K. poses a threat to them would support this project," Mr. Putin added, using the abbreviation for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the formal name of North Korea.

The United States has repeatedly urged North Korea to stop the development, production and sale of missiles. North Korea has halted flight tests as part of an understanding with Washington, but has not previously suggested that it might stop making missiles.

Leon V. Sigal, a specialist on northeast Asia at the Social Science Research Council in New York, said the North Korean offer signaled a willingness to reach an accommodation with the United States. "North Korea's basic strategy is to use its missile program to move its relationship with the United States away from one of hostility," he said.

North Korea's missile offer, Mr. Sigal noted, appeared to be an echo of the nuclear deal North Korea had struck previously with the Clinton administration.

Under that arrangement, North Korea agreed to shut down its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon, which had been a major worry for Western experts who feared the plutonium was being used for nuclear bombs. In return, the West agreed to provide North Korea with two light-water nuclear reactors, which would supply electricity but are far less useful for making nuclear weapons.

But Kurt Campbell, a former senior Pentagon official with responsibility for Asia and the Pacific, doubted the West would provide rocket boosters to North Korea.

"The technology would be transferable," he said. "Japan would be anxious, and there is still much that we don't understand about what is going on in North Korea."

The North Korean offer comes at a critical time. The United States is nearing a decision on whether to build a missile defense system. It is engaged in sensitive talks with Pyongyang about its missile program. And relations have begun to thaw on the Korean peninsula.

The atmosphere in recent missile talks between the United States and North Korea was businesslike, although there was no breakthrough. The Clinton administration has sought to persuade North Korea to abandon its sale of missile technology, offering assistance in agriculture and public health in return.

North Korea, in contrast, has demanded $1 billion a year for stopping missile exports. And it has insisted that it will continue to develop missiles for its own defense, a stance that seemed at variance with the proposal announced today.

The United States became especially concerned about North Korea after Pyongyang tried to launch a satellite into orbit in August 1998 using a three-stage Taepo Dong-1 missile. Though the satellite never went into orbit, North Korea's use of a three-stage missile caught American intelligence officials by surprise. It was a sign that North Korea's missile program was moving along more quickly than American officials had suspected.

More recently, North Korea has abandoned work on the Taepo Dong-1 in favor of a newer Taepo Dong-2 missile.

American intelligence has judged that if North Korea did violate the test moratorium it might be able to develop in a matter of months a rudimentary missile capable of reaching the United States.

The deeper issue is what North Korea might do with such a weapon. Some American experts fear that North Korea could use it to threaten the United States in a crisis. North Korea is believed to have nuclear material for two warheads at most, compared with 6,000 for the United States. The experts argue that North Korea is so unpredictable that it might threaten a strike anyway.

Other specialists, however, say North Korea has shown a healthy respect for the United States military might. It has concluded an accord to freeze its nuclear program and has suspended missile test flights. Now, they say, it may be willing to bargain away its missile program, albeit for the right price.

---

Putin Praises North Korea's 'Modern' Leader

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 8:18 AM ET
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/wl/russia_korea_putin_dc_1.html

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin praised North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Thursday as ``an absolutely modern man'' who showed great understanding of world affairs.

Putin met the reclusive Kim Jong-il Wednesday in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, allowing the world a rare glimpse of him.

The North Korean leader's contacts with foreign dignitaries have been limited to a visit to China earlier this year and a summit in Pyongyang last month with the South Korean president.

``The leader of the DPRK is an absolutely modern man, objectively assessing the world situation,'' Itar-Tass news agency quoted Putin as saying on a stopover in Blagoveshchensk, in Russia's far east bordering China.

``He was well informed, he had a good reaction to the talks...discussion was possible on any subject,'' he said.

Putin said the two shared ``good personal relations'' and had found common ground on most subjects.

They pressed their opposition to Washington's anti-missile defense plans in a statement Thursday, saying U.S. concerns about a possible threat from Pyongyang were ``groundless.''

The United States wants to set up a nationwide anti-missile shield, or National Missile Defense (NMD), because of a threat it sees from ``rogue states'' among which it numbers North Korea.

Putin has vigorously opposed the NMD plan as a threat to global security and rejects any attempt to modify the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which Moscow considers a cornerstone of deterrence.

Russia fears it is the real target of NMD.

The declaration by the two countries, whose ties have languished since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, followed a day of talks cemented by common suspicion of U.S. intentions.

Both men championed sovereignty, territorial integrity and the right to act outside international bodies in a thinly veiled reference to Western criticism of Russia's military campaign in Chechnya and of North Korea's human rights record.

Putin, cheered by thousands when he left Pyongyang, invited Kim to visit Moscow.

``We agreed to continue our dialogue in Moscow,'' Putin said, giving no information about when Kim would visit Russia.

-------- lithuania

U.S. calls for closure of Lithuania nuclear plant

From: Ndunlks@aol.com

VILNIUS, July 20 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday called for the closure of Lithuania's Soviet-era Ignalina nuclear power plant, based on the same design as Ukraine's Chernobyl reactor which exploded in 1986.

Ignalina supplies more than 70 percent of Lithuania's electricity needs, making the Baltic nation one of the world's most nuclear power-dependent nations.

``The RBMK design is inherently unstable, we believe it's unsafe, and today I've seen nothing that has led me to think otherwise,'' said Jeffrey Merrifield of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission after touring the plant.

``It is the opinion of the United States government, and our agency, that the facility should be shut down as early as is feasibly possible,'' he told reporters.

Lithuania, which has invested $220 million in modernising Ignalina, is committed to closing the first of its two reactors by 2005 as a condition for discussions on joining the European Union.

It has been searching for the funds needed to close the entire plant, which could cost as much as 2.5 billion euros ($2.31 billion) according to some estimates.

-------- scotland

Radioactive particle on Scottish beach judged safe

July 20, 2000
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7531

LONDON - Scotland's environmental watchdog said yesterday a radioactive particle has been found on a public beach near the Dounreay nuclear reprocessing facility in northern Scotland but it did not present a danger to people.

"We do not believe the radioactivity level of the particle warrants the appropriate authority closing the beach," a spokesman for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) told Reuters.

Workers from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which operates Dounreay, found the particle of irradiated fuel, roughly the size of a grain of sand, at Sandside Beach on July 17.

Similar particles have been found on the private foreshore at the Dounreay facility at the rate of about one per month since 1983. The particles exited the plant during the 1960s and 1970s.

SEPA said it had assessed the level of danger posed by the particle found on July 17 if ingested by a human.

"Calling for the beach to be closed was one of the options considered, but rejected," the spokesman said. Dounreay is located in the far north of Scotland in a sparsely populated area.

In March last year the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) said radioactive particles from Dounreay could cause fatalities if ingested in sufficient quantities.

SEPA said it would take "several thousands of the low level radioactive particles of the kind found on the public beach to be ingested over a six month period to cause a fatality".

But, a number of particles found on the Dounreay foreshore, where there is no public access, have had much higher radioactive levels and one of these particles by itself could cause serious injury, SEPA said.

The National Radiological Protection Board concluded in 1998 the main risk to health was from eating locally caught shellfish. Since October 1997 there has been a government ban on fishing within two kilometres of Dounreay.

Dounreay was at the cutting edge of nuclear technology when built in the 1950s, but is set to close by 2006.

Mounting health and safety criticism and a catalogue of errors which included using household polyfilla and plaster of paris to solidify liquid waste helped prompt the government in June 1998 to shut the plant on economic grounds.

-------- treaties

"Giant Laser Project Is Running Over Budget, the GAO Reports"

The Wall Street Journal,
July 20, 2000
By John J. Fialka Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- A new report by the General Accounting Office says that the Department of Energy and officials at Livermore National Laboratory have underestimated the cost of one of their largest projects, a giant laser, by at least $600 million.

The report puts the total cost of the project, called the National Ignition Facility, at $3.9 billion. It also asserts that laboratory officials misled the Energy Department and an outside contractor into giving the program high ratings for management excellence.

The laser, which would be the world's largest, is being designed to exert enough power to ignite a small thermonuclear reaction to model the way energy is released from a hydrogen bomb.

The laboratory initially estimated the program's cost at $2.2 billion, later revising the estimate to $3.3 billion. But because major scientific obstacles remain unresolved, including problems with the laser's glass lenses, the program's cost could climb still higher, the GAO report says.

The report urged the Energy Department not to divert more money into the program from other projects until a committee of outside experts reviews it. It also criticized the University of California, which manages the lab, and Energy Department officials for failing to spot cost overruns sooner. As late as last August, according to the report, the department gave the laboratory's managers an "excellent" rating and paid them a bonus.

A laser-project manager changed the report of an outside contractor asked by the Energy Department to review the program last year before submitting the report to Congress, the GAO report said.

The GAO also said that the Energy Department imposed a tight deadline and asked the contractor not to examine vital parts of the program. The contractor, Lockwood Greene Technologies Inc., of Oak Ridge, Tenn., described the laser program as "by far the best-managed of any U.S. government project."

Richard Pearson, a manager for Lockwood, said "somebody has come up with an awful lot of information. All I can say is that's really interesting."

Rick Malaspina, spokesman for the office of the president at the University of California, says it has admitted that there were management problems at the lab and at the university and it is working with advisers from industry to correct them.

A senior Energy Department official said Secretary Bill Richardson shares the GAO's critical view of the program's management. But the agency has told GAO it believes the additional $600 million should not be added to the laser's construction costs because the funds have already been accounted for as part of the project's operating expenses. The official said that most of the money is earmarked to build a target for the lasers.

Susan Houghton, a spokesperson for Livermore, said it agrees with the Energy Department about the accounting. "It's like adding apples and oranges at this point," she said.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R., Texas) said the GAO findings on cost overruns raise new problems for other weapons programs because Mr. Richardson has said he wouldn't ask Congress for more money for the laser project. Mr. Richardson said he would get the money from other departmental nuclear-weapons-related programs.

Rep. Thornberry is the chairman of a House Armed Services Committee panel overseeing the reorganization of the section of the Energy Department that handles nuclear-weapons programs. "An outside group should take a look at this before they start draining money from other programs," he said.

The NIF would focus 192 beams of light on a dime-size target of frozen hydrogen isotopes for about 20 billionths of a second. The beams would be powerful enough to implode the target almost instantly, creating the world's first "ignition" -- the term physicists use for a minuscule thermonuclear explosion -- for study by weapons scientists and energy researchers.

-------- turkey

NEW REPORT ON TURKEY'S PROPOSED AKKUYU NUCLEAR PLANT RELEASED PRIOR TO JULY 24TH DEADLINE FOR VENDOR SELECTION

AKKUYU ALERT --
July 20, 2000
From: Nuclear Awareness Project (Canada)

Nuclear Awareness Project, an independent Canadian nuclear watchdog group, has released a new 100 page report that provides a comprehensive evaluation of Turkey's proposal to build a nuclear plant at Akkuyu Bay on the Mediterranean coast just north of Cyprus. An Executive Summary of the report, "Nuclear Threat in the Eastern Mediterranean", is attached to this memo, and the full text is available free of charge in Acrobat PDF format from the web site address noted below.

On April 21, 2000, the Turkish government delayed selection of the nuclear vendor to build the proposed Akkuyu nuclear plant, suggesting that the announcement would be made on Monday July 24, 2000. The April 21st deferral was at least the eighth delay of the vendor selection for Akkuyu. There are three contenders bidding to build Akkuyu. Canada's state-owned nuclear company, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is competing against Nuclear Power International (NPI -- a consortium of the German company Siemens and the French company Framatome), and a third bidder, a partnership of Westinghouse (USA/UK) and Mitsubishi (Japan).

The stated reason for the latest delay was that the Turkish Treasury department refuses to provide a sovereign (state) financial guarantee (at least initially) for the loans being made by vendor country governments for the nuclear mega-project, worth about $3 billion (US). In a surprise development, Westinghouse has reportedly offered to proceed without a sovereign guarantee. It is not known if the other vendors have matched this offer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Martin, Research Director, Nuclear Awareness Project, Canada E-mail: nucaware@web.ca Tel/FAX: +905-852-0571

--

NUCLEAR THREAT IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN:
THE CASE AGAINST TURKEY'S AKKUYU NUCLEAR PLANT

By David H. Martin, Research Director,
Nuclear Awareness Project June 2000

Download the full report here (106 pages, Acrobat PDF format, 1071K) http://www.cnp.ca/issues/nuclear-threat.html http://www.cnp.ca/issues/nuc-threat-mediterranean.pdf

(thanks to the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout for posting this report)

A bound hard copy of the report can be obtained by sending $25 (US) or $35 (CDN) to Nuclear Awareness Project, PO Box 104, Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada L9P 1M6.

NUCLEAR THREAT IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: THE CASE AGAINST TURKEY'S AKKUYU NUCLEAR PLANT By David H. Martin, Research Director, Nuclear Awareness Project June 2000

Executive Summary

In December 1996, the Turkish state electrical utility TEAS invited bids from foreign reactor vendors for the construction of a 100% financed nuclear power station to be built at Akkuyu Bay on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Three nuclear vendors are bidding to build the plant: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL); Nuclear Power International (NPI, a partnership between Siemens of Germany and Framatome of France); and Westinghouse/Mitsubishi (UK/USA/Japan).

Ironically, Turkey's latest attempt to start a nuclear program comes just as most of the developed world has stopped building new nuclear plants and has opted for cheaper, cleaner, and safer generating options such as renewable energy and high efficiency natural gas. Nuclear power is plagued by high cost, erratic performance, endemic technical problems, the risk of catastrophic accidents, and environmental problems such as routine radiation releases and radioactive waste management. World nuclear power use is expected to peak in 2002, and then begin a period of sustained and permanent decline. Reliable independent cost studies show that nuclear power plants are about twice as expensive to build and operate as high-efficiency natural gas generating plants. Canada has been forced to temporarily shut down one-third of its own nuclear power reactors because of poor performance, bad management and safety problems. CANDU reactors have the worst performance among competitive reactor designs, yet AECL is trying to sell this flawed technology to countries in the developing world.

Turkey's state utility TEAS vastly overestimates electricity demand over the next twenty years, and does not take into account the effects of electricity sector restructuring. As electricity prices rise to reflect the phase-out of historic subsidies, demand will be moderated. Private sector projects will easily meet new demand without requiring an expensive and risky nuclear power plant. An Integrated Resource Plan can determine the right balance of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, which are cheaper, cleaner and safer than nuclear power. Turkey has the historic opportunity to 'leapfrog' ahead of other countries with efficiency programs and renewable energy development, and by avoiding the disastrous mistake of building nuclear power plants in the first place.

Turkey has made five attempts to start a nuclear power program, beginning in the 1960s. The selection of the winning nuclear vendor to build the Akkuyu plant was first supposed to have been made in June 1998. Between then and April 2000, the selection announcement was delayed at least 8 times. There has been increasing opposition in Turkey to the proposed nuclear plant at Akkuyu Bay. That opposition includes local citizens who depend on the land and the sea for their livelihoods, as well as members of the intelligentsia and nuclear establishment itself.

Some of Turkey's most prominent earthquake experts are demanding a halt to the nuclear plant until further research is conducted on the Akkuyu area. The death of over 18,000 people in the Izmit earthquake is a tragic testimony to the human cost of poor planning and inadequate regulation. The Turkish government and the nuclear vendors are conspiring to cover up the real earthquake risk at the Akkuyu site. An earthquake is the most likely cause of a catastrophic nuclear accident at Akkuyu. Such an accident could have devastating consequences for the 165 million people in the eastern Mediterranean region. The Akkuyu nuclear plant, if built, will also aid in the extinction of one of the world's most critically endangered species, the Mediterranean Monk Seal, of which there are only 50 to 100 individuals left in Turkey.

The dark underside of nuclear power has always been its potential for nuclear weapons proliferation, either through the production of plutonium -- an inevitable byproduct of reactor operation -- or through the transfer of sensitive nuclear information, technology and materials. Turkey's nuclear program will fan the flames of the nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Turkey has also been implicated in nuclear arms aid to Pakistan. An earlier attempt to build an Argentinean-designed reactor was likely aimed at plutonium production for nuclear weapons. Evidence of nuclear smuggling based in Turkey, and Turkey's push for its own nuclear fuel capability and indigenous reactor design, all point to possible nuclear weapons development. The support of prominent Turkish citizens for nuclear weapons development lends credence to this evidence.

Turkey has a long history of gross human rights abuses, which include systematic widespread torture and murder of prisoners in custody; death squad murders; disappearances; restrictions on freedom of speech; and incommunicado detention without legal representation. Despite the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, and his ceasefire call, human rights improvements have been minimal. Incidence of torture actually worsened in 1999 as compared to the previous two years. Restrictions on free speech and overt political repression have continued despite pressure on Turkey to meet western standards in order to join the European Union.

Turkish political history over the last 40 years has been characterized by a series of unstable governments, interrupted at intervals by four military coups -- in 1960, 1971, 1980, and most recently in June 1997, when the government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, was forced out of office. Allegations of corruption at the highest levels have added to this political instability, which has been accompanied by economic instability. Inflation has averaged more than 80% per year over the last ten years, and the national debt is over $100 billion (US). It remains to be seen if the current $4 billion (US), three-year anti-inflation program sponsored by the International Monetary Fund will succeed. Five similar programs in the 1990s failed, and many Turks believe that the cure may be worse than the disease.

Financially, the Akkuyu deal carries risks for both the vending countries and Turkey. In Canada, the government is prepared to provide $1.5 billion (CDN) in government funds to finance the Canadian component (35%) of AECL's bid. The governments of AECL's other partners will be providing funds through their respective state export/import banks. Similar arrangements will take place in other vendor countries. The $3 billion (US) deal is too big and too risky for commercial banks to even consider making the loans. This deal is also a problem for Turkey, where the treasury department has recently stalled the deal because it does not want to provide a sovereign (state) guarantee for the loans. Westinghouse has said that it is willing to proceed without a Turkish guarantee (at least initially). It is not clear if the other vendors are willing to do likewise.

There are many good reasons why the nuclear vendors and their governments should withdraw their bids to build the Akkuyu nuclear plant. Similarly there are many good reasons why the government of Turkey itself should stop the Akkuyu project. Simply put, nuclear power is an outdated technology that is very expensive, and carries real safety, environmental, and security risks. Renewable energy, conservation programs, and high efficiency natural gas plants are cheaper, cleaner and safer. A nuclear power program will only interfere with the hard road ahead for Turkey in building a sustainable energy future, healing its economy, democratizing its political system, and improving its human rights record.

-------- u.s. nuc facilities

-------- idaho

Air permit OK'd for INEEL facility

Spokane Spokesman Review
July 20, 2000
Associated Press
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=072000&ID=s828441&cat=

IDAHO FALLS _ The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has approved an air quality permit for a new treatment facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

The permit allows the Department of Energy and contractor British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. to construct and operate the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project for the treatment of plutonium-contaminated waste.

The facility will not be an incinerator.

The plant is supposed to be completed by 2003, as part of a deal reached in 1995 between the state and federal government. All trans-uranic waste is to be removed from Idaho by 2018, under the agreement. The treatment facility is part of the plan to meet that deadline.

-------- maryland

Radium Found In Hundreds of Arundel Wells

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000; Page B01
By Matthew Mosk Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/20/324l-072000-idx.html

A map details areas and levels of contamination. {vbar} Page B7 Extensive testing for radium in Anne Arundel County well water has found contamination in hundreds of homes clustered in a relatively small pocket just north of Annapolis, where subdivisions line the banks of the Severn and Magothy rivers.

Overall, 63 percent of the 1,300 wells examined by the county to date had elevated levels of the cancer-causing substance, and a substantial number had radium levels that experts consider alarmingly high, according to county findings reviewed by The Washington Post.

The screenings, many of them at the homeowners' request, have given scientists their first clear look at where the substance has invaded aquifers that span for miles beneath the Maryland suburbs. They will use that information to draft the first three-dimensional map of a Maryland county to pinpoint the depth and location of radium-laced groundwater.

"The tests have been very revealing and very valuable," said Tom Gruver, who supervises Anne Arundel's water quality program.

Radium, a naturally occurring metal that dissolves in water and is more than a million times more radioactive than uranium, was discovered in Anne Arundel County's water in 1996, when scientists stumbled on it during a search to explain the county's high cancer rates.

Prolonged exposure to the radioactive substance--which bears no relation to the commonly known, airborne carcinogen radon--can cause bone cancer. But officials have discounted any public health threat, saying people would have to drink two liters of radium-contaminated water each day for decades before the risk of the disease would increase even slightly. Home water filtration systems that use the ion exchange or reverse osmosis methods have been successful in reducing contamination in most cases.

Officials do not believe pollution is to blame for radium, which forms naturally in acidic water that is rich in sodium and chloride.

Traces of radium also have been found in private wells in Prince George's, Harford and Baltimore counties. But a map compiled by The Washington Post shows some wells in Crownsville, Pasadena and Millersville yielded radium levels approaching 593 picocuries per liter. The maximum safe level is 15 picocuries per liter, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The initial reports of the radium problem prompted the county to begin carting bottled water to a half-dozen area schools. In March, health officials sent letters to 20,000 residents who draw their water from private wells, recommending they get their taps screened.

At the same time, county and state environmental experts began plotting a solution to the problem.

With a $150,000 grant from the EPA, a collection of agencies teamed up to build the first three-dimensional model of the region to identify segments of the area's aquifers that are free from radiation.

"Our whole goal here is to reduce the risk to people, and the best way to do that is to know where the radium is, and where it isn't," said John W. Grace, who heads the water supply program at the state Department of the Environment. "This is a new approach, and I think a very creative one."

It is not, however, a simple task.

Flowing beneath the feet of Anne Arundel residents are three major aquifers--the Magothy, the Patapsco and the Patuxent--and all carry pockets of radium. That means that a 100-foot well could yield contaminated water, while a 200-foot well at the same spot could provide clean water.

The hard part is figuring out, at any given spot, which depth offers the best source of safe water.

Once they have a firm map of the aquifers, said David Bolton, a geologist for the Maryland Geological Survey, scientists will plot the exact location of the 1,300 wells. They will then use a computer modeling program to give them estimates of where the safest waters are flowing.

The map, when it is finished, will enable people drilling wells to locate depths that will yield clean water, Bolton said. Already, they are well along on their survey and expect to complete work by the end of this year, he said. That's none too soon for Walter Campbell, a Crownsville resident whose household well had a radium reading of 285 picocuries per liter--19 times the safe limit.

"I'm hoping they find they can just drill down further to find safe water," Campbell said. "I'm getting very tired of bottled water."

Anne Arundel readers can find a more detailed map of radium contamination in today's Weekly section.

-------- new mexico

Computers show nuke blast in 3-D

AP
July 20, 2000
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/news/435695.asp?cp1=1#BODY

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - Computers for the first time have simulated the beginning of a hydrogen bomb blast in full-scale 3-D, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists say.

The simulations took 42 days to run using super-fast computers at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.

The simulations, completed April 30 and announced this week, are a major step toward replacing underground nuclear test blasts.

A Lawrence Livermore simulation showed the detonation of the plutonium spark plug that starts an H-bomb bomb blast. The Los Alamos simulation showed the second step, when a burst of radiation from the plutonium ignites the fuel that gives a hydrogen bomb its big blast.

Nuclear weapons scientists in the past have devised two-dimensional computer simulations. They then built bombs and triggered them underground to check their theories.

But the United States, as part of an international arms control effort, stopped underground testing in 1992.

Since then, the nation's nuclear lab scientists have been working to develop faster computers and better simulations to replace the information they once received from underground tests.

A key problem was how to simulate the complex whorls and eddies of materials mixing as they are compressed.

Tackling the problem was impossible until a new supercomputer was deliver to Los Alamos lab in 1998, said Bob Weaver, test leader. The computer is capable of performing 1.6 trillion calculations per second.

-------- washington

Firefighters who worked in contaminated areas offered radiation testing

Wednesday, July 19, 2000
By Linda Ashton
Associated Press
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/07/ap_41hanfd19.frame

RICHLAND, Wash. -- The U.S. Department of Energy is offering urine tests for strontium-90 to about 700 firefighters who worked in contaminated areas during last month's wildfire at Hanford nuclear reservation.

The department is in the process of notifying fire departments and agencies of the availability of the test kits. So far, 29 Hanford firefighters have undergone testing, Harry Boston, DOE's deputy manager for Hanford, said Wednesday.

Firefighters concerned about possible exposure to strontium-90, a radioactive chemical isotope, can submit urine samples using the kits, which will be analyzed for free. Results would be available in seven to eight weeks.

Firefighters working in contaminated areas, primarily the B-C Cribs area, were offered full-body testing during the blaze, but no one wanted it, Boston said.

The June fire, which burned 191,000 acres and destroyed 11 houses in nearby Benton City, spread over the B-C Cribs, a contaminated area that contains Cold War-era waste from production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

The B-C Cribs were filled with uranium-bearing waste from 1952 to 1958 from Hanford's U-Plant Metal Recovery mission. The wastes were not very high in radioactivity, and there was no evidence of radioactive releases at the site during the fire.

Cribs operate like septic tank drain fields. Liquids were poured into a trench and percolated through the soil, which worked as a filter to capture most of the radioactive materials.

Hanford crews control vegetation growing over the cribs and nearby waste ponds to prevent deep-rooted plants from bringing radiation back to the surface.

The urinalysis would provide evidence of exposure to strontium-90, which is the mostly likely radioactive isotope to have been released at the site.

At a Wednesday news conference, Boston said 17 more air monitoring samples have been analyzed from sites on and off the 560-square-mile reservation.

None showed evidence of elevated radioactivity levels, Boston said.

"We don't expect to see anything of concern, on site or off site," Boston said.

Fire, wind and firefighting efforts stirred up surface contaminants at Hanford, which is the most contaminated nuclear site in the nation.

One air sample from earlier tests around Hanford's 200 areas, where the site's most-dangerous radioactive waste is stored, showed the presence of plutonium, but at a level well below standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Thirty-four other samples taken earlier, mostly from around the 200 areas, showed the presence of alpha particles and three showed beta particles -- indicators of radioactive substances. Additional analysis is under way on those samples to determine their origin.

----

UC Blames Federal Cuts for Security Lapses at Labs

Los Angeles Times
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By KENNETH R. WEISS, Times Education Writer
http://www.latimes.com/news/front/todays.topstory.htm

SAN FRANCISCO--Breaking their silence for the first time, University of California leaders suggested Wednesday that federal officials who have loosened rules and slashed security budgets should share the blame for security violations at the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories.

Although contrite for their part in security lapses at the labs, which UC manages for the government, university officials noted that cost-cutting pressure from Congress and the Energy Department have forced the labs over the years to scale back security measures--sometimes at the Energy Department's prompting.

One major example came in 1992, when a budget cut caused the Los Alamos National Laboratory to abandon its elaborate bar code checkout system for top secret data stored in its highly secure vaults.

The absence of that system, university officials assert, was one of the reasons that lab officials could not determine who had possession of two computer hard drives, loaded with highly classified nuclear weapons data, that were missing for at least six weeks from the vault in the lab's X Division.

"I don't think it would have prevented someone from doing something illegal," said John C. Browne, director of the Los Alamos lab. But with the bar code system "we would have had a timeline of who had it last." The computer drives were eventually found behind a copying machine in the laboratory.

The elimination of the checkout system was just one of many security measures that were relaxed in the post-Cold War era when the labs' budgets were being cut and their missions being redefined from the traditional role of designing, developing and testing nuclear weapons.

The university has come under blistering attack from Congress and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson for national security violations involving the missing hard drives and the alleged misappropriation of nuclear secrets by Wen Ho Lee, a former weapons designer at Los Alamos who is in jail awaiting trial.

After an extended period of grumbling privately about those attacks, university officials are now airing their grievances in public.

"What some critics of UC's role have lost sight of is that Washington, not the University of California, is responsible for setting [national security] policy and providing resources," said UC President Richard Atkinson.

Atkinson said he believes the university's strong stewardship of the labs will become apparent as more facts become public. When it comes to implementing security policies, he said, "we have been comparable or better than other national laboratories."

Regent Ward Connerly, echoing a view of many university leaders, complained that the national security scandal has become politicized during this election year, making the university an easy target.

"The university is not asleep at the wheel," Connerly said. "We understand our responsibilities. We are trying to be as diligent as we can be."

Several members of Congress have called for terminating UC's contract to manage the nuclear weapons laboratories in Los Alamos, N.M., and Livermore, in the eastern Bay Area. UC has managed the labs since the first atomic bombs were designed in the 1940s.

Earlier this month, Richardson announced his plans to restructure the university's contract and shift security and some other responsibilities either to another contractor or to a new joint venture between the government and a private entity.

Under the current contract, UC officials are responsible for implementing a complex array of security policies set by the Energy Department. But UC officials point out that those policies have become looser over the years.

For instance, the Energy Department, under congressional pressure to save money, urged the labs to end their formal accountability procedures for handling all secret documents and computer data. Under the old system, each scientist who generated a document would be held accountable for every copy in circulation.

The Energy Department also nudged the labs to eliminate color-coded badges so that lab officials could easily determine who had access to the most restricted data. Los Alamos has three levels of security: 7,000 employees have secret clearance, only 700 have top secret clearance and 70 have access to the highly restricted data in the vaults.

In March 1999--a year before the hard drives disappeared and as the Wen Ho Lee espionage scandal was going public--the lab directors sent a fax to the Energy Department, urging a return to the old restrictions on classified material, including a bar code tracking system.

Energy Department officials say that the faxed memo got lost at the time in a flurry of recommendations about tightening security.

Although the Energy Department permits UC to have stricter security than the government requires, UC officials point out that the government has not provided money for additional security measures. Since the disappearance of the hard drives, the lab has independently bar coded 66,000 computer disks and hard drives to reinstitute tighter controls.

Browne, the lab director, questioned how the new security arrangements will work if the newly created National Nuclear Security Administration decides to bring in an outside group and puts it in charge of all classified material.

"Who's responsible for locking the safe at night?" Browne asked. "Who's responsible for sending an e-mail? It has to be the individuals who create the information."

Yet Atkinson was optimistic. He said that John Gordon, director of the National Nuclear Security Administration, left him with the impression that he understands the nuances of enforcing security without stifling all scientific work.

"He's not going to be a cowboy and say, 'You are going to do it this way, or else.' I think the scientific community will be comfortable with the way things work out."

---

Former Energy Official's Hard Drive Confiscated

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000; Page A14
By Vernon Loeb Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/20/235l-072000-idx.html

The FBI has obtained a computer hard drive used by former Energy Department intelligence chief Notra Trulock III after officials at the CIA and other federal agencies complained that Trulock may have included classified information in a proposed article, senior officials said yesterday.

FBI spokesman John Collingwood said last night that the FBI "received information from other government agencies that classified information was subject to possible compromise." The FBI has an obligation, he added, "to obtain the facts and determine whether further investigation is warranted."

One senior Clinton administration official said the FBI's investigation began after Trulock, who gained national prominence last year for spearheading an espionage investigation at Los Alamos National Laboratory, forwarded a manuscript for possible publication to the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence.

CIA officials declined to publish the article, in which Trulock alleged that there were espionage and security lapses throughout the Energy Department's nuclear weapons complex, the official said. But in declining publication, the official said, CIA officials expressed concern that it contained classified information.

When other federal officials agreed, the FBI began investigating and obtained the hard drive on which agents believed the article had been drafted, the official said.

Trulock, who abruptly resigned as the Energy Department's deputy director of intelligence 11 months ago for a job in the private sector, could not be reached for comment.

But Trulock told the National Review this week in an interview that the FBI confiscated the computer hard drive last Friday on the suspicion that an article he wrote for the July 31 issue of the National Review contains classified information. Trulock said that FBI agents told his landlady that they would break down his door if she did not cooperate.

In the National Review article, Trulock said that the FBI was "dilatory" in pursuing espionage allegations at Los Alamos, and alleged that top Energy Department officials lied to Congress about the case.

Trulock is quoted by the magazine as alleging that he was dismissed from his job at TRW Inc., a major defense contractor in Northern Virginia, because of pressure from the Energy Department.

Darryl M. Fraser, a TRW spokesman, said the company does not discuss personnel matters but denied that Trulock's dismissal was related to pressure from the Energy Department.

Natalie Wymer, the department's spokesman, said the department has had no contact with TRW with regard to Trulock's employment there.

One senior Energy Department official, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the department is reviewing, at the FBI's request, the article Trulock submitted to the CIA to determine whether it contains classified information. The document under review, the official said, is much longer than the article Trulock wrote for the National Review.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), who chaired a House select committee on Chinese espionage that took lengthy testimony from Trulock, called the FBI's confiscation of Trulock's computer hard drive "highly irregular" and demanded an explanation from the FBI.

"Congress ought to be briefed about these things, when there are such obvious appearances of abuse of power," Cox said.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, meanwhile, has spoken to Trulock and asked for a briefing by FBI officials, a Capitol Hill source said.

After a largely anonymous career as an analyst and intelligence official at Los Alamos and the Energy Department, Trulock emerged in the spring of 1999 as the figure most responsible for pursuing allegations of espionage at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Subsequent official reviews of the case have faulted both Trulock and the FBI for prematurely focusing on former Los Alamos physicist Wen Ho Lee as a prime espionage suspect in the absence of hard evidence that nuclear weapons designs from the lab were actually compromised.

---

F.B.I. Seizes Computer Drive in a China Nuclear Inquiry

New York Times
July 20, 2000
By JAMES RISEN
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/072000los-alamos-security.html

WASHINGTON, July 19 -- Federal Bureau of Investigation agents seized a computer hard drive from the home of a former Energy Department intelligence official in an effort to determine whether he had disclosed classified information about the government's investigation into whether China had stolen United States nuclear secrets, officials here said today.

The F.B.I. agents removed the computer drive last Friday from the home of Notra Trulock, the Energy Department's former director of intelligence, after questions were raised about an unpublished, 62-page manuscript that he had written.

Mr. Trulock, who resigned from the department last year and has been a major critic of the government's handling of the espionage inquiry, said the seizure of the computer drive was an effort to intimidate him into silence.

"I came to expect this kind of treatment while I was at D.O.E.," he said in an interview. "But I thought by leaving D.O.E. and going into the private sector, I would avoid it. Instead, it's only gotten worse. I have no job, no benefits and I was trying to start a consulting business and all my contact information was on the computer the F.B.I. seized. So I am dead in the water."

Mr. Trulock was also questioned by the F.B.I. agents about whether he had kept any classified documents, and whether he believed there was any classified material in the manuscript, Mr. Trulock said.

He said he told the agents that he had not had access to classified material on the spy case since he left the government and that there was nothing classified in the document.

The agents also questioned the owner of the suburban Virginia town house where Mr. Trulock lives who is an Energy Department employee. She consented to the search of the house and agreed to the removal of the computer, which she also owns. But the F.B.I. agents did not show a search warrant to either Mr. Trulock or the owner of the town house, they said.

Mr. Trulock had acted as a whistleblower on the handling of the nuclear espionage case, revealing that the investigation had not been pursued aggressively within the government.

In late 1998 he was a secret star witness for the House panel that investigated illegal technology transfers to China and revealed the existence of the long-delayed espionage investigation at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Mr. Trulock became a lightning rod for criticism of the way the spy case played out. Scientists and Asian-American groups attacked the F.B.I. and the Energy Department for prematurely making Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos, the focus of the counter-intelligence inquiry.

Dr. Lee was never charged with espionage, but has been arrested on charges of mishandling classified material.

The F.B.I. now says that the initial inquiry conducted jointly by the bureau and the Energy Department into the possible theft of nuclear data from Los Alamos was flawed, and has broadened the espionage inquiry to look beyond the New Mexico lab.

Mr. Trulock wrote the manuscript about the spy case earlier this year, and then distributed a few copies to, among others, Congressional aides and former intelligence officials. One former intelligence official who read it suggested that it be submitted for possible publication in Studies in Intelligence, a C.I.A. journal.

Studies in Intelligence declined to publish the manuscript and told Mr. Trulock that he should have it checked to determine whether it contained classified material. But at the same time, a C.I.A. official also referred the matter to the F.B.I., informing the bureau that the article represented an unauthorized disclosure of classified material.

The F.B.I. has begun what one official described as a preliminary investigation to determine whether the manuscript revealed secrets.

"The F.B.I. received information from other government agencies that classified information was subject to a possible compromise," said an F.B.I. spokesman, John Collingwood. "The F.B.I., working with the Department of Justice, has an obligation to at least preliminarily determine the facts and determine if further investigation is warranted."

Mr. Trulock recently wrote a shorter article on the spy case for the conservative magazine National Review, but that article did not prompt the F.B.I. inquiry, officials said.

By the time he left the government last year, Mr. Trulock had not only become controversial with outside groups angered by the Wen Ho Lee case, but his willingness to speak out and criticize senior administration officials had made him plenty of enemies within the government. He was given a $10,000 award last year by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson for persevering in the espionage case.

After leaving Energy, Mr. Trulock moved to the Washington office of TRW, a government contractor. But he was dismissed from his job in June. He says that he was told by one official there that he was being let go because TRW had a big contract with the Energy Department, and company officials had received pressure from the Energy Department to dismiss him.

Both TRW and Energy Department deny the accusation.

---

Ex-Energy official faces FBI probe

Washington Times
July 20, 2000
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000720221543.htm

The FBI is investigating former Department of Energy counterintelligence chief Notra Trulock for possible disclosure of classified information, a Bureau spokesman said last night.

FBI agents Friday seized a desktop computer used by Mr. Trulock, who was the first government official to disclose Chinese espionage efforts against U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories two years ago.

"The FBI received information from other government agencies that classified information was subject to possible compromise," said FBI spokesman John Collingwood said when asked about the computer raid. "The FBI, working with the Department of Justice, has an obligation to at least preliminarily determine the facts and determine if further investigation is warranted."

Mr. Collingwood declined to say whether the FBI had obtained a warrant to search Mr. Trulock's Falls Church, Va., home.

But other people close to the probe said the two FBI agents took the computer from the residence without a search warrant and that it belonged to the landlord of the town house on the 6000 block of Midhill Place.

The computer was turned over to the FBI voluntarily, they said.

The action followed the publication of an article by Mr. Trulock critical of the Clinton administration in the current issue of National Review magazine.

Reached for comment by telephone, Mr. Trulock said the investigation is political retribution for blowing the whistle on Chinese spying and going against the administration's pro-China policies.

"This is what happens to whistleblowers who speak truth to power," he said. "The notion that there is classified information on [the computer] is outrageous."

The National Review article stated that the recent mishandling of computer hard drives at Los Alamos National Laboratory and other lapses "underscore the Clinton administration's continuing failure to safeguard America's nuclear secrets."

Energy Department security has been "a tale of cover-ups, complacency, bungling and outright dishonesty."

"I watched as senior DOE officials repeatedly lied under oath during congressional testimony," the article stated.

Mr. Trulock's piece also stated that the FBI bungled the investigation of Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee by failing to pursue 11 other suspects and delayed placing Mr. Lee under surveillance.

Mr. Trulock was director of counterintelligence at the Energy Department from 1994 to 1998. He was pressured out by senior department officials who disagreed with his assessment that Chinese spies had obtained the secrets of every deployed U.S. nuclear weapon, including the W-88, the most compact and modern U.S. thermonuclear warhead.

Mr. Trulock testified to Congress that Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler once blocked him from briefing Congress about Chinese espionage because she said Republicans would use the information to criticize President Clinton's pro-China policy.

He received a $5,000 bonus from Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, but had been stripped of his intelligence duties after clashing with political appointees over Energy's handling of the Chinese spying investigation.

Mr. Trulock quit the department in August to protest an inspector general's report that disputed his counterintelligence findings.

Mr. Trulock went to work for the defense contractor TRW Inc. but was recently dismissed under pressure from the Energy Department, according to people close to the case.

The FBI probe was initiated after the CIA obtained a copy of a monograph Mr. Trulock wrote on the Chinese spying case and notified the FBI that they believed the monograph contained classified information.

---

Los Alamos and Race

New York Times
July 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/00/07/20/letters/l20ala.html

To the Editor:

Re "Amid Race Profiling Claims, Asian-Americans Avoid Labs" (front page, July 16): It's important for Los Alamos to understand that its human resources challenges -- the "soft sciences" stuff -- can critically affect its excellence in the hard sciences.

Los Alamos has always been the aggressive leader of secret nuclear science, but a passive follower in human resources. For example, the lab started building the atomic bomb in the spring of 1943, and successfully tested just 27 months later. On the other hand, it started its Equal Employment Opportunity program in 1968 and today is still in denial about the racism that its ethnic minority employees face every day.

For the lab to continue to do world-class science, it must vigorously address its human resources problems.

JOHN E. FOLEY Rio Rancho, N.M., July 17, 2000 The writer, a nuclear engineer, was director of human resources at Los Alamos from 1986 to 1993.

---

UC defends stewardship of weapons labs

USA Today
07/20/00- Updated 08:01 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/digest/nd1.htm#delay

SAN FRANCISCO - University of California officials defended their stewardship of the nation's nuclear weapons labs Wednesday and said some of the responsibility for recent security gaffes lies with the federal government. Trouble surfaced at Los Alamos in 1999 with reports that nuclear secrets had leaked to China. After a lengthy investigation, former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee was charged with mishandling classified information. Lee, who maintains he is innocent, has not been charged with espionage. In May, hard drives containing classified information that were missing from a Los Alamos vault weren't reported to senior management for at least three weeks. The drives reappeared last month behind a photocopier in an area that had been searched twice. A criminal investigation is under way.

-------- new york

Prime Nuclear Storage Base Closes

Associated Press
July 20, 2000 Filed at 11:47 a.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Nuclear-Departure.html

ROMULUS, N.Y. (AP) -- Tucked in rolling farmland between two of the fjordlike Finger Lakes, the Seneca Army Depot evoked pride and fury in the 1980s when defense analysts revealed it was home to the nation's largest Army stockpile of nuclear missiles.

But after 59 years as a major East Coast storage site for everything from bullets to radar-evading cruise missiles, post-Cold War budget cuts are finally shuttering the place. The flag came down Thursday morning, and the last military commander was shipping out.

``If you told somebody you worked at the depot, it meant something. There was a lot of pride in that,'' said Fred Kaufman, 58, a maintenance chief who retired this month after 24 years at the base, visible from his home in this western New York village.

The 11,000-acre base was the site of tempestuous protests, where demonstrators camped for years outside the razor-wire perimeter, and rumors abounded about what sort of weapons were inside the ``Q Area'' ringed with signs warning that ``Deadly Force is Authorized.''

More than 900 protesters were arrested in 1983. Two years later, weaponry experts confirmed decades-old suspicions that nuclear missiles were stored at Seneca. The Army never acknowledged nor denied the presence of such weapons.

``I never felt the soldiers were my enemies -- they were just doing their job and I felt a lot of them were misguided,'' said Lucinda Sangree, a protester who stayed at the Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice next to the base. Begun in 1982, the camp dissolved a decade later when major cutbacks in the U.S. nuclear arsenal began.

``This is a mankind struggle -- through our generation and the next few generations -- to get a peaceful world, one that doesn't involve weapons,'' said Sangree, 69, a retired sociologist in Rochester. ``There are still thousands of nuclear missiles out there.''

In their 1985 book ``Nuclear Battlefields,'' William Arkin and Richard Fieldhouse numbered the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal at 26,000, with 1,265 warheads kept at Seneca.

``At that time, it was so controversial to reveal this information that the Reagan administration was even threatening to put me in jail,'' recalled Arkin, a former Army intelligence analyst. ``That was a different era.''

The depot stored as many as 3,000 warheads in the late 1960s, and the last of them were removed by 1993, Arkin said. During the 1991 Gulf War, 15,000 tons of conventional ammunition left the base but were never shipped back.

``That was kind of the beginning of the end,'' said Bruce Johnson, the base commander's civilian executive assistant.

All but 300 of the depot's 1,000 civilian employees were laid off in 1993 and nearly all 600 military personnel were transferred. In 1995, the depot was one of 57 military bases the Pentagon recommended for closure by 2001.

There is a mess: An estimated $79 million is being spent for an environmental cleanup of mainly solvents and heavy metals. No evidence of radioactive contamination has been found.

Another fight of sorts has cropped up over what to do with the site, which the state has chosen for the 1,500-inmate Five Points prison. It is scheduled to open Aug. 28 and create 638 full-time jobs.

``I'm very much in sympathy with the economic plight of people in western New York, but I'm very sad to see New York state having such an investment in the prison industry,'' Sangree said.

``At first I was really against the prison,'' Kaufman said. ``But it'll be a plus. Believe me, if you drove by, you wouldn't know it's there.''

-------- washington

Free radiation tests offered to firefighters

Spoakane Spokesman Review
July 20, 2000
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=072000&ID=s828571&cat=

Richland _ The U.S. Department of Energy is offering free radiation tests to about 700 firefighters who worked in contaminated areas during last month's wildfire at the Hanford nuclear complex.

The department is notifying fire departments of the availability of the urine test kits. So far, 29 firefighters have undergone testing, Harry Boston, the department's deputy manager for Hanford, said Wednesday.

The blaze burned 191,000 acres and destroyed 11 houses near Hanford. Fire, wind and firefighting efforts stirred up the ground at Hanford, the most contaminated nuclear site in the nation.

Firefighters working in contaminated areas, primarily the so-called B-C Cribs area, were offered full-body testing during the blaze, but no one wanted it, Boston said. The B-C Cribs were filled with uranium-bearing waste from Cold War-era weapons production.

---

Tests of Hanford air during fire are negative But human exposure to radioactivity still not certain

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By LISA STIFFLER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/hanfx20.shtml

New tests of air samples taken during the fire that swept through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation last month have come up negative for radioactive material. But results quantifying human exposure -- the most important indicator of potential health risk -- are still unavailable.

Last week the Department of Energy announced that airborne plutonium and other radioactive material were present during the fire, but at levels lower than the government deems dangerous.

During the blaze the DOE offered firefighters full-body scans to look for radiation exposure, but none accepted.

Since the fire ended June 30, the department has made urine test kits available to about 100 firefighters employed by DOE to fight the fire. Twenty-nine took the kits; 20 have returned them. Results will not be available for seven to eight weeks. Between 700 and 1,000 firefighters working for the U.S. Forest Service and other state and federal agencies were also involved with the blaze, said Wayne Glines, senior technical advisor with the DOE.

Yesterday, the DOE began sending out testing information to more than 700 firefighters from around the state who fought the Hanford fire off site.

The offer of free testing was delayed because the DOE didn't have all of the addresses for the firefighting units, Glines said.

Jamie Tackman, a U.S. Forest Service pilot based out of Wenatchee, flew through a smoke cloud over the reservation waste site known as 200 West. In an interview yesterday, he said he was not given any safety equipment nor informed of any potential risks of flying over Hanford, a former nuclear weapons factory.

After the DOE last week announced that plutonium had been detected in an air sample collected during the blaze, Tackman called DOE officials and requested radiation testing.

Federal and state officials have said the amount of plutonium detected was higher than background levels, but lower than levels deemed dangerous. If inhaled, plutonium is extremely toxic and a lung carcinogen.

Tackman said he understands that there is only a small chance that he was exposed to harmful levels of radioactive material, but he has decided to err on the side of caution and participate in the urinalysis.

"My biggest concern . . . is the energy commission doesn't have all that great a record as far as being truthful," Tackman said. "I have zero trust in those guys."

While levels of radioactive isotopes in the air give some indication of exposure, human testing is needed to "help complete an incomplete picture," said Dr. Tim Takaro, a University of Washington professor in the occupational and environmental medicine program and a member of the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation, an organization promoting nuclear waste cleanup.

"I hope that some firefighters will step forward and help complete the exposure picture."

The urine test will look for the presence of strontium-90, not plutonium. The DOE believes this is the radioisotope most likely to be present, based on which areas of the reservation were struck by fire.

If firefighters were exposed to strontium-90, early detection is essential. If the isotope remains in the body it is deposited in the bones, replacing calcium and potentially causing cancer. Treatment can help rid the body of the radiation and mitigate damages.

Some have questioned the decision to make the tests optional, rather than mandatory.

"You're putting the burden (of getting the tests) on these firefighters," said Tom Carpenter, director of the West Coast office of the Government Accountability Project, a watchdog group.

However requiring tests was not necessary, said Debra McBaugh of the state Department of Health.

"It wasn't a radiation emergency," she said. Sampling from the DOH has also detected radiation below levels deemed unsafe.

There are "strong indications there was no release," McBaugh said yesterday.

The federal DOE and state health department, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, have been conducting independent tests on and off the Hanford site, all with similar results.

There are plans to continue increased testing. McBaugh said her agency will keep performing special sampling until vegetation returns to the site, stabilizing the soil.

P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or lisastiffler@seattle-pi.com

-------- us nuc politics

Gejdenson Russian Submarine Bill Passes Congress as Nikitin Faces New Legal Jeopardy

From: "Gross, Jason" <Jason.Gross@mail.house.gov>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 15:49:26 -0400

As Gejdenson Bill on Decaying Russian Submarines Passes Congress, Lawmakers Protest Putin Government's Persecution of Russian Environmental Whistleblower

Members of Congress Send Letter to Putin to Protest 'Double Jeopardy'

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Barbara Feinstein / Jason Gross, (202) 225-6735

Washington, DC. -- July 20, 2000. Late last night, the Senate approved HR 4249, the Cross Border Cooperation and Environmental Safety in Northern Europe Act, authored by U.S. Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee. The legislation, which passed the House in May, seeks to combat the environmental and security threats posed by rotting nuclear submarines in Russia's Northern Fleet.

H.R. 4249 calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin to rapidly conclude pending nuclear waste management agreements to enable assistance programs from European sources to go forward. The bill also mandates a study from the Secretary of State to assess the environmental threat of decaying submarines to American allies in Europe and proliferation threats to the national security of the United States. The legislation now awaits the President's signature.

Just as the Gejdenson legislation passed a milestone, startling developments emerged in the case of the Russian whistleblower who helped bring the world's attention to the threat of these decaying nuclear submarines, Aleksandr Nikitin. Mr. Nikitin, who arrived in the United States believing he was acquitted of all charges, now faces new potential legal action. Today, Gejdenson led key Members of the U.S. House of Representatives in a strongly worded letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning him to "rein in" the Office of the Prosecutor-General and to terminate a new investigation of Nikitin.

Nikitin is in Washington this evening to receive an award from the Sierra Club for exposing the Russian Navy's nuclear waste dumping in the Arctic Ocean. Mr. Nikitin was acquitted on previous charges brought by the Prosecutor-General by the St. Petersburg City Court on December 29, 1999. On April 17, 2000, a three-judge panel of the Russian Supreme Court confirmed this verdict. The Prosecutor-General recently wrote to the entire Russian Supreme Court Presidium questioning the validity of the verdict and seeking to re-open the case to collect additional evidence against Mr. Nikitin.

"In view of your public statements pledging to sustain Russian civil society based on democratic principles -- 'a dictatorship of law,' as you have put it, we find this latest action by the Prosecutor-General incomprehensible," said the lawmakers.

"This investigation will send the wrong message to global business, environmental, and human rights groups at a time when your government is seeking Western financial support," they continued. "Together with the decision to liquidate the State Committee for Environmental Protection, it is viewed as part of a disturbing pattern of actions by your government against environmental voices," Gejdenson added.

Gejdenson will present the letter this evening at the Sierra Club event, where he will serve as honorary co-host. "My legislation is designed to ensure that the heroic work of Aleksandr Nikitin and the Bellona Foundation leads to a resolution of this dangerous situation," said Gejdenson. "This letter puts the Russian government on notice that environmental whistleblowers cannot be intimidated or silenced."

Sam Gejdenson Committee on International Relations Ranking Democratic Member U.S. House of Representatives B-360 Rayburn Building Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-6735

-------- us nuc science

Speed of light may not be the last word

Boston Globe
7/20/2000
By David L. Chandler, Globe Staff, 7/20/2000
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/202/nation/Speed_of_light_may_not_be_the_last_word+.shtml

The real world is starting to behave a lot like a science fiction movie. Traveling much faster than light? No problem. Things arriving before they depart? Happens all the time.

It seems to fly in the face of one of the few real absolutes in science, a principle discovered nearly a century ago by physicist Albert Einstein: According to the theory of special relativity nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever travel faster than the speed of light.

Well, almost nothing.

According to a report being published today in the respected scientific journal Nature, scientists at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., say they have succeeded in getting a brief pulse of laser light to move 310 times as far in a given time as it would have traveled at the normal, absolute speed of light in a vacuum, considered the universe's absolute speed limit, or 186,000 miles per second.

But that limit remains inviolable both for physical objects and for information of any kind, said the principal researcher, Lijun Wang. ''You cannot use this kind of phenomenon to send information faster than the speed of light,'' he said. That would violate the theory of special relativity, and Wang and his co-authors, Alexander Kuzmich and Arthur Dogariu, insist that their experiment does not involve any such violation.

But the light pulse moved so fast, they said in their report, that the pulse actually began to leave the experimental apparatus before it went in. And while no object that has any mass at all can ever exceed the speed of light, Wang said, some of the individual photons (particles of light) in their experiment, which have no mass at all, did actually travel faster than the speed of light, while some moved more slowly.

''The peak of the pulse appears to leave the cell before entering it,'' the authors wrote in their paper.

The bizarre experiment seems to recapitulate an old limerick:

There was a young lady named Bright
Whose speed was far faster than light She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned home the previous night

But, the scientists insist, their experiment does not really violate the principle of causality, that is, that causes must come before their effects, not later. (In ordinary life, for example, houseguests don't usually go out the door before they've come in). Having a pulse of light leave before it arrives certainly sounds like a violation of this fundamental rule, but the researchers say it has to do with properties of light itself, because of its wave nature, and that it could never apply to physical objects.

It is possible that the new experiments could someday have practical implications for computers or electronics, but Wang said it is too early to speculate on what such applications might be.

In a commentary accompanying the Nature paper, physicist Jon Marangos of Imperial College, London, wrote that ''even if the `effect' appears to precede the `cause,' you still can't send useful information, such as news of an impending accident, faster than'' the speed of light.

The experiment is related to one carried out last year at Harvard University which produced the opposite effect, slowing down a beam of light so much that it approximated a walking pace. Such research is aimed at understanding fundamental principles of physics whose potential practical applications are hard to predict. Other research has shown movement of microwaves at slightly more than the speed of light - in one case, 7 percent faster - but these experiments also caused distortions in the shape of the pulses that made them difficult to interpret.

In the new research, pulses of laser light were sent through a two-inch cell made of glass coated with paraffin, and containing cesium gas. It was placed in a magnetic field, and then two laser beams were trained on the cell. One of these sent pulses through the gas, which were then recorded by photocells.

Normally, at the speed of light through a vacuum, it should have taken 0.2 nanoseconds (billionths of a second) for the light to cross the cell, but the scientists measured the pulse as appearing 62 nanoseconds before it should have. That translates to the pulse traveling 310 times farther than it should have if it was moving at the speed of light.

''This corresponds to the wavepacket leaving the cell 62 nanoseconds before it arrives,'' wrote Marangos, ''in other words, traveling nearly 20 meters away from the cell before the incoming pulse enters it.''

Marangos hastens to add that ''although amazing, this type of superluminal pulse propagation does not violate the principle of causality.'' Superluminal means faster than light.

Or, to put it differently, there is still no way to travel at ''warp speed,'' at least, unless you are a pulse of laser light in a small glass cell.

This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 7/20/2000.

---

Physicists Find Particle Evidence

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 4:29 PM ET
By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA, AP Science Writer
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000720/sc/subatomic_particle_2.html

After a two-decade search, scientists have found the first direct evidence of one of the most elusive and ghostly subatomic particles in nature - the tau neutrino.

The breakthrough, announced on Thursday, was achieved by scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago.

The tau is one of the fundamental building blocks of all matter. It is the last of the impossibly tiny particles described in the Standard Model of Particle Physics to be confirmed in experiments.

``It's a tremendous milestone,'' said Stanford University physicist and Nobel Prize winner Martin Perl, who theorized the existence of the tau neutrino in 1978. ``Now it has been seen and it behaves in the way we expected.''

Neutrinos are hurtling everywhere and all the time at the speed of light. Trillions pass through all of us every second. Yet they are among the shyest of all subatomic particles, carrying no electrical charge and virtually no mass - perhaps one-millionth that of an electron.

Fifty-four scientists from the United States, Japan, Korea and Greece collaborated on tracking down tau neutrinos since 1997 at the Fermilab.

``We finally have direct evidence that the tau neutrino is one of the building blocks of nature,'' said Byron Lundberg, a physicist and spokesman for the international team. ``It is one thing to think there are tau neutrinos out there. But it is a hard experiment to do.''

The tau neutrino is the third and perhaps final type of neutrino to be found. The first two types - electron neutrinos and muon neutrinos - were discovered in 1956 and 1962.

In 1978, tests by Perl and others at Stanford discovered the existence of another class of subatomic particle, the tau lepton. This suggested there would be a tau neutrino, too, because neutrinos are precursors to leptons.

Finding the tau neutrino was more difficult.

In 1997, scientists using the ring-shaped particle accelerator at Fermilab fired an intense neutrino beam into a 50-foot detector composed of iron plates coated with an emulsion. Then the scientists analyzed the 6 millions impressions left on the coating.

The researchers used computer-assisted video cameras to create 3-D images of the particle tracks. They narrowed down the field and found four clear tracks of a tau lepton that scientists say were caused by tau neutrino collisions.

``Because neutrinos have no charge, you can never detect them directly,'' Perl said. ``Tau neutrinos make tau leptons, which decay very quickly. Their signature is what you detect.''

The findings are being prepared for publication in a scientific journal.

---

A Pulse of Light Breaks the Ultimate Speed Limit

Los Angeles Times
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By USHA LEE MCFARLING, Times Science Writer
http://www.latimes.com/news/asection/20000720/t000068166.html

The textbooks all say the same thing: Nothing can move faster than light shooting through a vacuum. The textbooks, it seems, could be wrong.

A new experiment published in today's issue of the journal Nature has found an exception to the rule, showing that a pulse of light can apparently break the ultimate speed limit of 186,282 miles per second. A speeding light pulse can bend the laws of common sense--but not relativity--by exiting a chamber before it enters it, the experiment indicates.

If you're mystified, you're not alone. Even the lead physicist on the experiment, Lijun Wang of the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., said many of his colleagues are still puzzling about the true nature of light and over the new findings, which have been widely discussed among physicists. "There are lots of questions to be answered," he said.

For nearly a century, physicists have believed that anything moving faster than the speed of light in a vacuum would violate the most basic notions of Einstein's theory of relativity. Because of relativity's relationship between speed and time, moving faster than light would, it was thought, be like taking a sneak peek into the future. That would crumble the deeply held notion of causality, that the cause of something always precedes its effect.

Now those assumptions may need to be reexamined. "People have said nothing can go faster than light. Nothing is too strong a word," said Raymond Y. Chiao, a professor of physics at Berkeley who first predicted that light pulses could surpass the speed of light.

"The broadest message is, never trust your textbook," said Aephraim Steinberg, a physicist at the University of Toronto who has conducted similar experiments.

The physicists are clear on one point--nothing in the new experiment actually contradicts Einstein's theory. Ultra-fast light pulses are possible--and explainable in the world as we know it--because light, unlike matter, has no mass and can be viewed as a series of particles and as waves.

"Einstein's theory of relativity still holds," Wang said.

The new experiment does not mean that ordinary objects somehow can go backward or forward through time, said Chiao, an expert in the field of quantum optics, the study of the quantum nature of light. "No, you can't kill your ancestors," he said.

While some more fanciful minds see a future of warp speed and time travel arising from such experiments, scientists say those ideas remain fantasies. The experiments do offer hope, however, that information may one day travel across computer systems and the Internet much faster than is now possible. Currently, because of electrical effects, information travels across computer circuits at a relative crawl, moving across a tiny chip in the same time that light jumps a foot or more.

It's agreed by most physicists that information carried by a light pulse still has a speed limit. That's because meaningful information consists of complex signals that could not take the same "shortcut" across space as a simple light pulse.

"Unfortunately, energy and information still can't break any speed limits," said Steinberg.

Light pulses, however, apparently can.

Here are the details: A pulse of light is actually an ensemble of waves of different frequencies. The pulse, like a wave in the ocean, has a peak, but also a leading edge that precedes it.

Passed through very particular materials that physicists can create in their labs, light can begin to act very strangely. Physicists at Harvard and Berkeley have shown in the last year that they can slow light--in one case down to the speed of an Olympic runner. While that is a feat, experiments to accelerate light beyond light speed are considered much more difficult.

In this case, the experimenters used a clever and highly artificial creation--a 2.4-inch glass cell filled with cesium vapor. They shot the cell with two laser pulses that raised each of the cesium atoms in the vapor to a specific altered energy level. A precisely tuned third laser soaked up the excess energy and shot out of the cell at a speed faster than light.

According to Wang and several other physicists, the reason the light behaves the way it does is that when the leading edge of that third laser pulse begins to enter the chamber, it carries with it all the information needed to reconstruct the entire light wave. That allows the cesium atoms in the chamber to spit out a light beam before the entering pulse has fully reached them.

As a result, the time needed for the pulse to move through the cell is about one three-hundredth the time it would normally take light to travel the length of the cell in a vacuum. That transit time was incredibly short: two-tenths of a billionth of a second.

The experiment was conducted by Wang, Alexander Kuzmich and Arthur Dogariu, all physicists at the NEC Institute, a basic research arm of computing giant NEC.

The latest experiment is one in a series of tests in optics research showing that light pulses can be superluminal, or move faster than the speed of light, if they are sent through special materials.

Data from the current experiment is "very nice and very clear. The effect is very dramatic," said Steinberg, who had conducted similar research in 1993. Earlier descriptions of superluminal pulses of light date back to 1970 and include work by Stephen Chu, a Nobel-winning physicist at Stanford.

But those early experiments did not attract much attention or many converts and lay dormant for several years, Steinberg said. Some of the early experiments were not as acceptable to physicists because the light waves that were accelerated were absorbed or distorted by the equipment used in the experiments.

At least some physicists, however, remain skeptical of the experiment, which has been the topic of private mutterings among some academics who disagree with the conclusions. Several physicists who are critical of the work declined to be interviewed about their reservations. Others who are critical said they did not know the experiment in enough detail to comment publicly.

But many who have read the actual report are impressed. "This is a very clean experiment," said Chiao. "I hope it will convince everyone that [light] pulses can travel faster than light."

Breaking the Speed Limit

Scientists have succeeded in pushing light pulses to go faster than the speed of light. Objects cannot move at such speeds. The feat is possible only with light because it has no mass and acts as a wave.

Light pulses consist of waves of different frequencies. Scientists shoot a light pulse toward a glass chamber containing cesium vapor that has been primed by laser beams.

All information about the incoming light pulse is contained in the leading edge of its waves.

This information is all the cesium atoms need to replicate the pulse and send it out the other side.

By the time it would normally take light to cross the 2.4-inch chamber, the exiting pulse already has traveled 60 feet.

Source: NEC Institute

---

Getting There Faster: Light's Speed Accelerated

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 4:15 PM ET
By Deborah Zabarenko
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/sc/light_speed_dc_1.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists using lasers and specially prepared atoms have managed to make a pulse of light exceed its own top speed of 186,000 miles per second, appearing to leave a laboratory tube before it had fully entered.

This feat might seem more like wizardry than physics to some scientists, who have long assumed that nothing in the universe could go faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.

But researchers at the NEC Research Institute found they could make pulses of light zoom through a tube at a much faster speed, with the peak of the pulse emerging from the tube 62 billionths of a second before the peak had entered.

``It looks as if you've done something magical ... but you can explain this based on physics. This is not a time machine,'' James Chadi, vice president of the institute's science division, said on Thursday in a telephone interview from Princeton, New Jersey.

The NEC team's findings, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, do not contradict Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, in which the great 20th century physicist set the speed of light in a vacuum as the absolute maximum speed for the universe.

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, nothing with mass -- like people or things -- can ever go faster than light, the researchers noted. But something with no mass, like a packet of light waves known as a pulse, can.

``Our experiment is perfectly consistent with Einstein's theory of special relativity,'' said lead researcher Lijun Wang in a telephone interview. ``Precisely speaking, it is the speed of information transfer that is limited by the speed of light in a vacuum.''

EXITING BEFORE IT ENTERS?

All the necessary information about the pulse is contained in its tiny leading edge. As soon as this sliver of the pulse enters the chamber, the specially prepared atoms can begin making another, identical pulse at the chamber's far side.

This finding might have implications for telecommunications, Chadi said.

A telecommunications application may exist even though information cannot move any faster than the speed of light, and it usually moves much more slowly, according to Arthur Dogariu, one of the authors of the Nature paper.

``Information is basically pulses,'' Dogariu said by telephone. ``When you talk about the Internet and fiber optic communications, it's limited by how the pulses can move through the wires, by how many of them there are, how thick the wires are.

``If you can create the medium in which pulses propagate, it would allow them to go through faster as a packet of waves,'' he said.

Any such application will not occur soon, and Dogariu said the environment he and his colleagues created in their laboratory could be re-created in other labs but not in nature.

Researchers at the NEC lab created this medium by using lasers to specially prepare atoms of cesium gas inside a cylindrical chamber about 2.5 inches long, and then shooting pulses of light through it.

Wang said the laser pulse should be thought of as a group of undulating waves of light, with peaks and valleys.

Normally light would pass through a vacuum chamber of that length in 0.2 nanoseconds, or .2 billionths of a second. But the cesium atoms in the chamber shift the light pulse, making it zip through the chamber and exit 62 nanoseconds sooner, or more than 300 times earlier.

As soon as the leading edge of the pulse enters the chamber, the atoms start to reconstruct the pulse at the chamber's far side. This reconstructed pulse can then emerge from the far end of the chamber sooner than it would go through a vacuum.

The NEC Institute is funded by Japan-based NEC Corp., which makes computers and communications products.

---

The Speed of Light Is Exceeded in Lab

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000 ; A01
By Curt Suplee Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9431-2000Jul19.html

In a landmark experiment, scientists have broken the cosmic speed limit, causing a light pulse to travel at many times the speed of light--so fast that the peak of the pulse exited a specially prepared test chamber before it even finished entering it.

That seems to contradict not only common sense, but also a bedrock principle of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which sets the speed of light in a vacuum, about 186,000 miles per second, as the fastest that anything can go.

But the findings--the long-awaited first clear evidence of faster-than-light motion--are "not at odds with Einstein," said Lijun Wang, who with colleagues at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., report their results in today's issue of the journal Nature.

"However," Wang said, "our experiment does show that the generally held misconception that 'nothing can move faster than the speed of light' is wrong." Nothing with mass can exceed the light-speed limit. But physicists now believe that a pulse of light--which is a group of massless individual waves--can.

To demonstrate that, the researchers created a carefully doctored vapor of laser-irradiated atoms that twist, squeeze and ultimately boost the speed of light waves in such abnormal ways that a pulse shoots through the vapor in about 1/300th the time it would take the pulse to go the same distance in a vacuum.

As a general rule, light travels more slowly in any medium more dense than a vacuum (which, by definition, has no density at all). For example, in water, light travels at about three-fourths its vacuum speed; in glass, it's around two-thirds.

The ratio between the speed of light in a vacuum and its speed in a material is called the refractive index. The index can be changed slightly by altering the chemical or physical structure of the medium. Ordinary glass has a refractive index around 1.5. But by adding a bit of lead, it rises to 1.6. The slower speed, and greater bending, of light waves accounts for the more sprightly sparkle of lead crystal glass.

The NEC researchers achieved the opposite effect, creating a gaseous medium that, when manipulated with lasers, exhibits a sudden and precipitous drop in refractive index, Wang said, speeding up the passage of a pulse of light. The team used a 2.5-inch-long chamber filled with a vapor of cesium, a metallic element with a goldish color. They then trained several laser beams on the atoms, putting them in a stable but highly unnatural state.

In that condition, a pulse of light or "wave packet" (a cluster made up of many separate interconnected waves of different frequencies) is drastically reconfigured as it passes through the vapor. Some of the component waves are stretched out, others compressed. Yet at the end of the chamber, they recombine and reinforce one another to form exactly the same shape as the original pulse, Wang said. "It's called re-phasing."

The key finding is that the reconstituted pulse re-forms before the original intact pulse could have gotten there by simply traveling though empty space. That is, the peak of the pulse is, in effect, extended forward in time. As a result, detectors attached to the beginning and end of the vapor chamber show that the peak of the exiting pulse leaves the chamber about 62 billionths of a second before the peak of the initial pulse finishes going in.

That is not the way things usually work. Ordinarily, when sunlight--which, like the pulse in the experiment, is a combination of many different frequencies--passes through a glass prism, the prism disperses the white light's components.

This happens because each frequency moves at a different speed in glass, smearing out the original light beam. Blue is slowed the most, and thus deflected the farthest; red travels fastest and is bent the least. That phenomenon produces the familiar rainbow spectrum.

But the NEC team's laser-zapped cesium vapor produces the opposite outcome. It bends red more than blue in a process called "anomalous dispersion," causing an unusual reshuffling of the relationships among the various component light waves. That's what causes the accelerated re-formation of the pulse, and hence the speed-up. The new results are almost precisely the reverse of a celebrated experiment reported last year, when Lene Hau, now at Harvard University, together with Stanford physicist S.E. Harris and others, created an ultra-cold gas of sodium atoms that reduced the speed of a light pulse to an amazing 38 miles per hour--slow enough to be honked at on the Beltway.

The new work by Wang, A. Kuzmich and A. Dogariu is also very different from other methods used recently to exceed the light-speed limit. Raymond Y. Chiao of the University of California at Berkeley, Aephraim M. Steinberg of the University of Toronto and others have shown that units of light, called photons, that "tunnel" through a mirror or opaque barrier apparently do so at about 1.7 times the speed of light.

However, physicist Jon Marangos of Imperial College in London writes in a companion commentary that "the light pulses have always been distorted in the process, so interpreting these experiments has been difficult."

The NEC results, experts emphasized, do not violate the fundamental law of causality: Namely, that an effect cannot occur before its cause. Such an irrational outcome is captured in a famous limerick:

There was a young lady named Bright,
Whose speed was far faster than light; She set out one day,
In a relative way,
And returned home the previous night.

That is not the case in the NEC experiment, the researchers said, because all the effects are explainable by traditional theories of wave behavior. The initial pulse is plainly the cause of the reconstituted pulse, even if the latter travels faster.

Although the pulse in the new experiment clearly exceeded the speed of light in a vacuum, it did not convey any information--thus leaving intact the belief of virtually all experts that no meaningful signal or energy can exceed light speed.

The NEC experiment, said Steinberg of Toronto, "comes closer than any previous work at violating the thing about energy," but "of course, it's still not true." And although the leading edge of the pulse emerges from the chamber in 1/300th the time that it would have taken in a vacuum, no information was actually conveyed.

For genuine information transfer, he said, "you can't talk about just a single pulse. You need two things that can be distinguished, even in principle--two different states."

In theory, the work might eventually lead to dramatic improvements in optical transmission rates. "There's a lot of excitement in the field now," said Steinberg. "People didn't get into this area for the applications, but we all certainly hope that some applications can come out of it. It's a gamble, and we just wait and see."

-------- u.s. nuc weapons

Computers Simulate Nuclear Blast

Associated Press,
July 20, 2000
From: Ndunlks@aol.com

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Computers for the first time have simulated the beginning of a hydrogen bomb blast in full-scale 3-D, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists say.

The simulations took 42 days to run using super-fast computers at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.

The simulations, completed April 30 and announced this week, are a major step toward replacing underground nuclear test blasts.

A Lawrence Livermore simulation showed the detonation of the plutonium spark plug that starts an H-bomb bomb blast. The Los Alamos simulation showed the second step, when a burst of radiation from the plutonium ignites the fuel that gives a hydrogen bomb its big blast.

Nuclear weapons scientists in the past have devised two-dimensional computer simulations. They then built bombs and triggered them underground to check their theories.

But the United States, as part of an international arms control effort, stopped underground testing in 1992.

Since then, the nation's nuclear lab scientists have been working to develop faster computers and better simulations to replace the information they once received from underground tests.

A key problem was how to simulate the complex whorls and eddies of materials mixing as they are compressed.

Tackling the problem was impossible until a new supercomputer was deliver to Los Alamos lab in 1998, said Bob Weaver, test leader. The computer is capable of performing 1.6 trillion calculations per second.

----

Two visions of NMD

Washington Times
EDITORIAL • July 20, 2000
http://208.246.212.80/op-ed/ed-house-2000720185626.htm

Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore each shed more light over the weekend on their different positions on one of the most important issues in the presidential campaign - a national missile defense system.

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Mr. Gore made clear that his highest priority would be the preservation of the outdated Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. "You don't want to discard the ABM treaty," emphasized Mr. Gore, who has repeatedly called the treaty the "cornerstone" of strategic stability. As such, whatever type of anti-missile system Mr. Gore might seek to deploy would have the distinction of requiring the fewest changes to the highly restrictive ABM treaty that Mr. Gore so warmly embraces. In other words, Mr. Gore's version of national missile defense would be the least effective imaginable - and deployable. Mr. Gore also declined to say whether he would encourage President Clinton to begin construction next spring of an Alaska-based radar.

Such policy dereliction would merely build on the record the Clinton-Gore administration has compiled on the strategic arms control front. Indeed, the Clinton-Gore administration's principal contribution, negotiated with Russia in 1997, delayed by four years the START II treaty requirement that Russia eliminate its land-based, multiple-warhead missile launchers by 2003. These launchers have long been the most destabilizing and most threatening weapons in the Russian arsenal. Also in 1997, the Clinton-Gore administration negotiated changes in the ABM treaty that would significantly restrict the speed and range of interceptor missiles developed for U.S. theater missile defense systems and would ban satellite-based theater defense systems. These changes were never ratified by the Senate.

For his part, Mr. Bush, who was interviewed on ABC's "This Week," was quite emphatic that his administration would not be restricted by the ABM treaty. "[W]e ought to do everything we can to develop a system that will protect America and our allies. Absolutely," Mr. Bush declared, promising that as president he would pursue "a full-scale effort to make sure we develop an anti-ballistic missile system."

Mr. Bush embraced the far more promising sea-based anti-missile system that would have the capability of shooting down ballistic missiles in their boost phase before they have released their warheads and decoys. Mr. Bush assured voters that he would terminate those self-imposed testing restrictions that limit the speed and range of the Navy's interceptor missiles and that preclude the sea-based system from using space-based sensors.

Unlike Mr. Gore, who favors the most ineffective, constrained anti-missile system, Mr. Bush seeks the most effective system. The sole purpose of the system Mr. Bush envisions would be the protection of the American public and U.S. allies and forces overseas. On the issue of missile defense, voters are given a clear choice.

---

Lab Computers Show Nuke Blast in 3-D

Albuquerque Journal
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By John Fleck Journal Staff Writer
mailto:jfleck@abqJournal.com
http://www.abqjournal.com/scitech/83705scitech07-20-00.htm

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have for the first time completed a full-scale three-dimensional computer simulation of key parts of a thermonuclear blast, a major step toward replacing underground test blasts with computer simulations.

Combined with a similar simulation done recently at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, it shows for the first time that the detailed physics of a nuclear weapons blast can be re-created in a computer, according to an announcement from lab officials.

The simulation was a monstrous job, taking 42 days to run using the fastest computer in the world, at Sandia National Laboratories, along with the third-fastest computer in the world, at Los Alamos.

Even using the fastest computers, the simulations are somewhat crude, according to the lab announcement, but faster computers are planned to refine the calculations.

Work was finished April 30 and is being announced this week.

The Livermore test simulated the detonation of the plutonium-fueled spark plug that starts a hydrogen bomb's blast.

The Los Alamos team simulated the second step in a hydrogen bomb explosion, when a blast of radiation from the plutonium ignites the fuel that gives a thermonuclear bomb its enormous explosive force.

Simulating both steps "will allow us to simulate an entire nuclear explosion in three dimensions," test leader Bob Weaver said in the announcement.

Weaver couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, and lab officials declined to comment further.

Three-dimensional physics simulations have long been the Holy Grail of nuclear weaponeers.

In years past, weapons scientists constructed two-dimensional simulations in their computers to try to determine how nuclear weapons worked, then built test bombs and set them off in underground tests to see if their theories were right.

It was like looking at a single thin slice of an apple and trying to determine what the whole apple looked like.

As part of an international arms control effort, the United States stopped underground testing in 1992, and in the years since, lab scientists have been working to develop faster computers and better simulations to replace the information they once got from underground tests.

While no new weapons are planned, laboratory scientists have been assigned the job of figuring out if the nuclear weapons now in the U.S. stockpile will continue to perform as their parts age.

Three-dimensional simulations are a key part of that, replacing the apple slice with a computerized view of the entire apple.

In a paper written last year on the work, Weaver said a key problem facing his research team was how to accurately simulate the complex whorls and eddies of materials mixing as they are compressed.

Tackling the problem wasn't possible until the new "Blue Mountain" supercomputer was delivered to Los Alamos in 1998, Weaver wrote.

Blue Mountain is part of the Department of Energy's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, a push to build supercomputers 100 times faster than available today.

Blue Mountain is capable of performing 1.6 trillion calculations per second, as if every human on Earth were using a hand-held calculator to do more than 250 calculations in a second.

A new computer planned for Los Alamos will run 20 times as fast, and by 2004, the Energy Department plans to have a computer capable of performing 100 trillion calculations per second.

---

Computers Simulate Nuclear Blast

Associated Press
July 20, 2000 Filed at 12:44 p.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Simulated-Nuke.html
http://www.msnbc.com/news/435695.asp?cp1=1
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/203/nation/Lab_simulates_hydrogen_bomb_blast_in_3_D+.shtml

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) -- Computers for the first time have simulated the beginning of a hydrogen bomb blast in full-scale 3-D, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists say.

The simulations took 42 days to run using super-fast computers at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.

The simulations, completed April 30 and announced this week, are a major step toward replacing underground nuclear test blasts.

A Lawrence Livermore simulation showed the detonation of the plutonium spark plug that starts an H-bomb bomb blast. The Los Alamos simulation showed the second step, when a burst of radiation from the plutonium ignites the fuel that gives a hydrogen bomb its big blast.

Nuclear weapons scientists in the past have devised two-dimensional computer simulations. They then built bombs and triggered them underground to check their theories.

But the United States, as part of an international arms control effort, stopped underground testing in 1992.

Since then, the nation's nuclear lab scientists have been working to develop faster computers and better simulations to replace the information they once received from underground tests.

A key problem was how to simulate the complex whorls and eddies of materials mixing as they are compressed.

Tackling the problem was impossible until a new supercomputer was deliver to Los Alamos lab in 1998, said Bob Weaver, test leader. The computer is capable of performing 1.6 trillion calculations per second.

---

U.S. Military Plans Saturday Missile Defense Test

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 11:52 AM ET
By Charles Aldinger
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/pl/arms_usa_patriot_dc_1.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has tentatively rescheduled for Saturday a delayed attempt to shoot down a speeding rocket over New Mexico in a theater missile defense test, defense officials said Thursday.

Air Force Lt. Col. Co Woods, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said the test of a Patriot PAC-3 missile was now set for Saturday morning, depending on final checks of a pre-launch problem which forced a postponement of the shot Wednesday morning.

If all goes well, the attempt will be made at 7 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time (1300 GMT) Saturday, officials said.

The Army would be trying high over White Sands Missile Test Range for a fourth straight successful intercept of a target with the advanced Patriot. Wednesday's test was delayed by trouble in safety equipment on the PAC-3 launcher designed to respond to simulated launches.

The PAC-3 is an improved version of Patriots used against Iraqi Scud missiles during the Gulf War. It is being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. for use against attack by short- and medium-range missiles.

Over the past 16 months, the 17-foot (5.2 meters) PAC-3 has tracked and collided with Hera target rockets three times in a row over White Sands in New Mexico.

Unlike a planned limited U.S. National Missile Defense (NMD) program to shield the whole country from long-range attack, the theater program is designed to protect U.S. troops and bases from short- and medium-range ``theater'' missiles.

Boeing Co. makes the PAC-3's ``seeker,'' which guides it to a target, and Raytheon Co. provides integration for components of the system.

The Army and the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization conducted successful intercepts by the PAC-3 in March and September of last year and again last February. More than a dozen more tests of the upgraded Patriot are planned.

At the same time that U.S. theater anti-missile systems are being developed, the Pentagon and aerospace firms are conducting research on weapons that could result in a controversial ``NMD'' shield designed to protect U.S. cities from future attack from states like North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

Russia and China are opposed to NMD, and critics of the plan say a recent test failure high over the Pacific Ocean -- the second miss in three tries -- proves the system cannot work.

President Clinton, under pressure from NMD supporters to proceed with the plan and critics to delay a decision, plans to decide later this year whether or not to take the first step and begin building an advanced radar for the system on wind-swept Shemya Island in Alaska next year.

---

Clinton Targets Tensions in Okinawa

Associated Press
July 20, 2000 Filed at 9:42 p.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-G-8-Summit.html

ITOMAN, Okinawa, Japan (AP) -- Pivoting from the Mideast peace summit, President Clinton stopped Friday on the hallowed ground of the last major land battle of World War II and sought to soothe long-simmering tensions over the huge American military presence on Okinawa.

``We take seriously our responsibility to be good neighbors, and it is unacceptable to the United States when we do not meet that responsibility,'' Clinton said in prepared remarks. He pledged to complete a process of consolidating U.S. bases on Okinawa and ``to reduce our footprint on this island.''

A day before Clinton's arrival, tens of thousands of demonstrators formed a chain around a major U.S. air base in protest of the American military presence here. Organizers claimed to have mobilized more than 25,000 people for the chain, which stretched 11 miles around Kadena Air Base, one of the largest U.S. military installations here.

Clinton arrived after nine days of tense and inconclusive peace talks at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland to attend his final summit with leaders of the world's wealthiest nations. He also is to hold one-on-one meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Putin, en route to the summit, picked up North Korea and China as allies in his campaign to derail American plans to build an anti-missile nuclear shield.

He was joined by North Korea's ruler, Kim Jong Il, in urging Washington to scrap the proposed missile shield.

On Tuesday, Putin and Chinese leader Jiang Zemin signed a statement denouncing the U.S. missile shield plan. France and Germany share Russia's concerns that it could be destabilizing, and Putin hoped to capitalize on that sentiment to drive a wedge between Europe and the United States.

The Group of Eight summit in Okinawa runs through Sunday. But White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said Clinton ``might go back a little early'' to rejoin the Camp David negotiations.

After a 13 1/2-hour flight, much of which he spent sleeping, Clinton went directly to the Cornerstone of Peace memorial on the cliffs above the island's southernmost shore. He was accompanied to Okinawa by his daughter Chelsea, while his wife Hillary stayed home to campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from New York.

Native dancers, some of them beating drums, greeted the president as he stepped off his plane. The Cornerstone of Peace memorial stands on a former battlefield -- now a graveyard -- where some of World War II's bloodiest fighting took place.

A shoulder-high, black granite monument, similar to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, is inscribed with the names of 237,318 people -- soldiers and civilians -- who died. The battle, lasting more than 80 days, was especially fierce because the island was used as the last line of defense by the Japanese, desperately hoping to keep the Allies from moving north to their main islands.

Clinton said the memorial was ``a monument to the tragedy of all war, reminding us of our common responsibility to prevent such destruction from ever plaguing humanity again.''

``Asia is largely at peace today because our alliance gives people throughout this region confidence that the peace will be defended and preserved, that no more such monuments need ever be built,'' Clinton said.

Clinton is the first U.S. president to visit Okinawa since the United States returned these southern islands to Tokyo's control in 1972. The United States maintains a high military profile, with 26,000 troops stationed here and bases occupying about 20 percent of Okinawa.

While the local economy benefits from the American presence, Okinawans are angry about crimes ranging from thefts and assaults to rapes and killings. Tens of thousands staged anti-military protests five years ago when three U.S. servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl. Days before Clinton's visit, a drunken, 19-year-old Marine was arrested for allegedly breaking into a local home and climbing into bed with a sleeping schoolgirl.

``Most Okinawans welcome the summit,'' said an editorial in the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper. ``But there are concerns as well. We are concerned that the bases, which cause such damage to us, will be praised by the summit leaders.''

Clinton said Okinawa has played a vital role in allowing peace to endure but he acknowledged that Okinawa did not ask to play that role, housing more than 50 percent of American forces in Japan on less than 1 percent of the country's land mass.

``I have tried hard to understand your concerns,'' the president said. He said the United States began five years ago consolidating its bases on Okinawa, agreeing on a 27-step process. ``We have already completed over half and today I want to reaffirm we will work with you to complete every single one,'' Clinton said.

``We are going to keep doing what we can to reduce our footprint on this island,'' he pledged.

The G8 -- the United States, Japan, Britain, Italy, Canada, Germany, France and now Russia -- has held summits each year for the past 25 years. This is the fourth summit Japan has hosted, and the first it has held outside of Tokyo.

The meetings are being held at a subtropical, seaside resort in the city of Nago. Officials are hoping it will put Okinawa on the international tourism map. The Foreign Ministry says the summit is expected to cost $750 million, including security, construction and road repairs.

---

Clinton Leaves for Group of Eight Summit in Japan

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 5:09 AM ET
By Arshad Mohammed
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/ts/group_summit_dc_1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/00/07/20/late/20cnd-clinton-g8.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton left for the annual Group of Eight (G8) summit in Okinawa, Japan on Thursday as Israeli and Palestinian officials stayed at Camp David to continue their struggle to secure a peace agreement.

The G8 summit will gather the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia.

In addition to the formal summit talks, Clinton is due to hold one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Russia, Britain and Japan.

A White House aide said Clinton had been so embroiled in the nine-day negotiations at Camp David that he will be briefed on the summit both during the nearly 14-hour flight to Japan on his Air Force One aircraft as well as after his arrival.

Clinton had initially delayed his departure by a day to spend more time with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the wooded presidential retreat in the hopes of brokering a deal to end their 52-year dispute.

No agreement was in sight as the talks wound down on Wednesday, but at the last moment Arafat and Barak agreed to stay at Camp David and keep talking while Clinton was out of town.

Clinton left Dulles International Airport aboard his Air Force One aircraft shortly before 5 a.m. EDT, with a brief refueling stop scheduled in Alaska.

As a result of the delayed departure, Clinton canceled several events in Tokyo, including a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and talks with developing countries about information technology.

He will now fly direct to Okinawa, and his meeting with Mori was to be rescheduled to be held there.

The G8 leaders are expected to ponder a wide range of issues from the Middle East and North Korea, to AIDS and information technology during their Friday-to-Sunday meeting on the southern Japanese island.

Clinton is also expected to sound out his fellow leaders on financial support for any Israeli-Palestinian settlement. But unlike past years, no single issue, such as the Bosnia conflict or the Indian subcontinent's nuclear tests, is likely to dominate the summit.

On Friday morning, Clinton is scheduled to give a speech at Okinawa's Cornerstone of Peace Park, a memorial on the cliffs above the island's southernmost tip that was the scene of savage fighting during the Second World War.

The U.S. president is then due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks that are expected to cover arms control, Russian economic reform and regional stability.

Given that Clinton has yet to decide whether to proceed toward building a U.S. missile defense shield -- which is fiercely opposed by Moscow -- U.S. officials say there is unlikely to be any significant progress on arms control.

Clinton will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday and visit Camp Foster, a U.S. Marine base on Okinawa, before flying back to Washington on Sunday.

-------- MILITARY (by country)

-------- colombia

Attacks by Colombian Rebels Appear as Response to U.S. Plan

New York Times
July 20, 2000
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/072000colombia-violence.html

BOGOTÁ, Colombia July 19 -- Apparently responding to the passage of $1.3 billion in aid for Colombia's armed forces in the United States Congress, the country's largest guerrilla group has made a series of audacious attacks on isolated towns and police headquarters in recent weeks, killing more than 200 people.

The attacks by rebels operating in large units have underscored the military's lack of mobility and intelligence tools, which the aid is intended to remedy. They have also further weakened President Andrés Pastrana by hampering his efforts to bring the armed forces and the opposition Liberal Party fully behind his effort to negotiate a peace settlement with the rebels.

The attacks by the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia are considered so serious that on Monday the army announced that it would reinforce its defenses around the capital, putting 7,000 troops on alert.

The rebels have been increasing their efforts to organize more urban cells and even a clandestine political party to expand their reach from rural fronts to the cities, according to military analysts. They say the latest attacks appear intended to disperse the armed forces into defensive positions around the country.

Many of the attacks have been staged from a demilitarized zone handed to the guerrillas by the government in 1998 as a gesture to promote peace talks, which have sputtered for more than a year. Military and police units were removed from the zone, giving the rebels a safe haven in the heart of the country.

Senior military officials said the rebels appeared to be trying to expand the zone, which is already the size of Switzerland, and create corridors to other areas they control in the southern provinces of Tolima and Huila.

"People ask why we don't simply surround the zone, but it is impossible," Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramírez said in an interview this week. "It is easy for them to attack and return to the zone the same day without having to carry heavy provisions."

The most serious attacks came late Friday when 180 rebels assaulted the ranching town of Roncesvalles, 100 miles southwest of Bogotá, overwhelming a police station and killing 13 of the 14 policemen. In a coordinated action, the rebels blew up sections of highway leading to the town to block army reinforcements.

A policeman who hid said that his colleagues had surrendered and then been executed. When the armed forces finally arrived the next afternoon, they found the mayor's office, a telephone office, a supermarket and a dozen houses destroyed. They also found propaganda pamphlets criticizing the new American aid package strewn around the town.

Rebel communiqués have called the aid program "a threat to the peace process." In an interview with The Associated Press, a rebel leader, Ivan Ríos, compared the stepped-up American involvement to "throwing fuel on the fire."

The aid will provide 60 Black Hawk and Huey helicopters and support for intelligence and training to a new antinarcotics army brigade that will provide protection for stepped-up police activities in the southern provinces of Putamayo and Caquetá.

Critics of the American program note that the brigade will not operate in the demilitarized zone and that the guerrillas can simply move their operations out of Putamayo and Caquetá while planters grow their coca deeper in the jungle.

-------- drug war

No fungus in Ecuador

Washington Times
July 20, 2000
Embassy Row James Morrison
http://208.246.212.80/world/embassy-200072021323.htm

The U.S. ambassador to Ecuador yesterday dismissed newspaper reports that said the United States and Ecuador are spraying a highly toxic fungus to destroy coca crops near the Colombian border.

Ambassador Gwen Clare pointed out that the United Nations has rejected testing the fusarium oxysporum fungus, and that an "innocuous" chemical called gliphosate is being sprayed in Colombia to control the crops that produce cocaine.

"We are not using [the fungus] either in Colombia or in Ecuador," she said, calling an article in Miami's Neuvo Herald "factually incorrect."

To contact James Morrison, call 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail morris@twtmail.com

-------- puerto rico

Navy Establishes Vieques Bilingual Website

IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2000
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PUBLIC AFFAIRS),
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301 No. 429-00
(787) 865-5691(media) (787)865-5691(public/industry)

The Navy announced today that it has established a bilingual website dedicated to operations on Vieques and its relationship with the island municipality off Puerto Rico's East Coast. The website, http://www.navyvieques.navy.mil, was constructed as a public service to provide accurate information on Navy operations on Vieques Island and provide a brief history and insight into the unique nature of this island and its relationship with the U.S. Navy. For more information, contact Navy Lt. Jeff Gordon, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, at (787) 865-5691.

[From: "Laka Foundation" laka@antenna.nl]

-------- u.s.

Congress Completes Annual Pentagon Spending Bill

Christopher Hellman, Senior Analyst, chellman@cdi.org
Defense Monitor,
July 29, 2000

This week the Senate joined their House colleagues in adopting the conference agreement on the Fiscal Year 2001 Defense Department Appropriations Act. The legislation provides $289.6 billion, $5.1 billion more than requested by the Clinton Administration. Added to this amount is the $8.8 billion Military Construction Act, and about $13 billion from the Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which funds the nuclear weapons programs of the Department of Energy. In all FY'01 Pentagon funding totals over $310 billion.

The $289.6 billion includes $1.8 billion in emergency supplemental spending for FY'00. This was done in order to keep FY'01 funding levels below the caps set by the annual Congressional budget resolution. Given that the current fiscal year ends on September 30, however, little of the $1.8 billion will likely be spend in FY'00, and will actually go towards FY'01 programs. The FY'00 appropriation, not including any supplemental funds, is $266.1 billion.

Aircraft -- The legislation fully funds the Administration's $3.9 billion for the Air Force's F-22 program, including the purchase of 10 aircraft. The bill cuts the Joint Strike Fighter program's request by $170 million, providing $689 million. The cut is the result of concerns in the House and Senate about schedule delays in the program. The legislation also includes $1.2 billion for the Marine Corps' V-22 "Osprey" tilt-rotor aircraft, and $2.8 for the Navy's F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet."

Shipbuilding -- The package cut nearly $1 billion of the $1.5 billion requested by the Administration for construction of two LPD-17 amphibious assault ships, due to delays in the program and cost increases of 40%. Congress added $460 million not requested by the Administration for construction of LHD-1 amphibious ship. The Navy had not planned to request these funds until FY'05. The legislation also includes $4 billion for a new aircraft carrier, $1.7 billion for the "Virginia" class New Attack Submarine, and $3.1 billion for DDG-51 destroyers.

"Transforming" the Army -- The Conference agreement includes $1.6 billion to fund the Army's development of a lighter, more mobile force. This is nearly twice the amount requested by the Pentagon. The legislation also funds the $355 million request for the Crusader artillery system.

Congressional "Add-ons" -- As in recent years, Congress added substantial funding for programs not requested by the Pentagon. CDI has identified $3.3 billion in funds added by either the House or Senate for unrequested programs. In addition, CDI has identified nearly $350 million in funding that was added by members of the House-Senate Conference Committee (which wrote the final version of this legislation) that was not only not requested by the Pentagon but was not even included by either the House or the Senate.

For CDI's complete list of Congressional add-ons, see:
http://www.cdi.org/issues/budget/add-ons01.html

-------- u.s.

House Approves $289 Billion For Defense in 367 to 58 Vote

Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2000; Page A09
By Dan Morgan Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/20/212l-072000-idx.html

In a testament to the enduring popularity of defense spending even as other programs scramble for funds, the House gave overwhelming final approval yesterday to a $289.6 billion defense bill for next year that provides the Pentagon with billions more than President Clinton requested. The vote was 367 to 58.

The bill will cover the 3.7 percent military pay increase, better health care and improvements in U.S. readiness sought by Clinton in the budget that he sent to Congress earlier in the year. But to the $15.9 billion increase requested by the administration, Congress tacked on an additional $5.1 billion to pay mainly for defense research contracts in dozens of congressional districts, along with extra missiles, ships and planes--and even $1 million for the Army to conduct research on socks that help prevent blistering.

House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.)--who lobbied tirelessly to delay the Pentagon-proposed phaseout of Boeing Co.'s F-15 assembly line, which he termed "the backbone of our military superiority"--was rewarded with $400 million to build five more of the aircraft in St. Louis. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) came away with $460 million more than the Navy had requested for LHD amphibious assault ships to be built in Pascagoula, Miss.

"This appropriations bill is moving very quickly because Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate agree that we must provide the resources our men and women in uniform need to maintain America's role as the world's last superpower," said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Appropriations national security subcommittee.

The Senate is expected to give its final approval quickly and the president has indicated he will sign the bill, which will channel Pentagon dollars to almost every county and corner of America.

But even as the mammoth measure sped through, some Democrats called attention to the stark contrast between its easy passage and the struggles of other bills funding school construction, housing, legal services for the poor and national service.

Away from the easy sailing for the defense bill, Clinton has threatened to veto a number of major appropriations bills for what aides describe as inadequate funding. Democratic aides said yesterday that there is a gap of $20 billion to $30 billion between the amounts needed to pay for the president's programs and what Republican leaders in Congress are offering.

Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, noted that the defense increases exceeded the entire foreign aid program, which covers such things as child health care and AIDS prevention in Africa.

He was one of only 47 Democrats who voted against the defense bill.

"If we are going to do this [on defense], we have an obligation to take care of our other national priorities and make sure the accounting is . . . forthright," he said.

Yesterday, Republicans indicated that they were ready to seek a compromise with Democrats over the annual bill that covers many key social programs run by the departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services.

"You don't go to the negotiating table with only hard-line positions," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman C. W. Bill Young (R-Fla.).

Young said Republican leaders had given him assurances that additional billions of dollars will be available to beef up spending in the bill when House and Senate negotiators meet starting today to iron out the differences in their versions of the measure.

The House version now offers less than $100 billion, less than the Senate version's and about $7 billion to $10 billion less than what Clinton wants. To help make the bill more palatable to the White House, GOP leaders contemplate appropriating funds from the anticipated surplus, sources said.

In the Senate, Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that drafts the budget for veterans, environmental protection and housing, complained on Tuesday that his allocation was so low that he doubted he could get his subcommittee to send a bill forward. The House version of the same bill cuts NASA funds well below what the administration wants.

By contrast, the final defense measure negotiated over the past weekend by House and Senate negotiators is sprinkled with home state projects and military purchases that were not requested in the original Pentagon budget.

Included is an extra $125 million for Army Blackhawk helicopters made by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Connecticut; $49 million for SH-60R helicopters made by Lockheed Martin Corp.; $490 million for C-40 aircraft for the politically influential Naval Reserve, along with funds for four additional F-16s, to be made at Fort Worth; and $100 million to accelerate the purchase of an additional DDG-51 class destroyer to be built at either the Pascagoula or the Bath, Maine, shipyard.

The House-Senate conferees, who met in closed session, also added $3.5 billion for research and development, aiding hundreds of defense contractors.

Aides noted that the recently signed supplemental appropriations bill contained $6.5 billion for the Defense Department to fund readiness requirements, including operations in Kosovo, military health programs, depot maintenance and costlier fuel purchases, and that the new bill provides an additional $175 million for bonuses and other incentives to keep service members in the military.

But Obey charged yesterday that the final version reduces some readiness accounts, notwithstanding the Republican rhetoric about the bill's contribution to readiness and to improving the conditions of military life.

Other Democrats strongly disagreed.

"This . . . bill provides the funding for the security and defense of the United States and assures that our military strength remains second to none," said Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.).

---

Search for man who left bombs at base ends

USA Today
07/20/00- Updated 08:01 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/digest/nd1.htm#delay

MILWAUKEE - A former National Guard pilot was arrested Thursday on suspicion of breaking into an Air National Guard base, scrawling ''Free Kosova'' on a satellite dish and leaving behind a bag with two bombs, authorities said. Authorities acting on a tip from a hot line arrested 35-year-old Milan S. Mititch at his Milwaukee home, FBI agent David J. Williams said. Mititch was an officer in the Wisconsin Army National Guard from April 1988 until he resigned Nov. 1. The suspect, a former chief warrant officer, flew UH60 Blackhawk helicopters and was not assigned to Kosovo and did not participate in the Gulf War.

---

Boeing Installs Propulsion System in STOVL JSF Demonstrator

NewsEdge
July 20, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0719080.505&level3=139498&date=20000720

SEATTLE, July 19 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation - Boeing recently installed the propulsion system for its short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator aircraft in less than four hours, the second time in three months the team installed a JSF propulsion system quickly and without incident.

Each of the Boeing X-32B and X-32A demonstrators now carry their flight- rated propulsion systems. Pratt & Whitney engines power both aircraft, which will make their first flights this year. Rolls-Royce makes the vertical lift and attitude-control system components necessary for the X-32B to perform STOVL operations.

In April the engine for the X-32A, which will demonstrate conventional and aircraft-carrier-approach flight characteristics, was installed in four hours.

"The STOVL system installation is a tribute to our team and validates our belief that a straightforward design is best," said Boeing JSF Propulsion Director Steve Kyle. "Customers will be able to remove or install the engine of an operational Boeing JSF as easily as we did." The Boeing STOVL system is based on combat-proven direct-lift technology. During testing the system transitioned between conventional and STOVL modes in as little as one second. The typical transition was three seconds. Many of the 190 transitions during testing occurred with Pratt & Whitney's JSF119-614 engine at full power.

Boeing is competing to build the JSF, with a winner to be selected during 2001.
SOURCE The Boeing Company

CONTACT: Mike Tull for Boeing, 206-655-1198
Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/543287.html or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 543287
Web site: http://www.boeing.com (BA)

---

General Dynamics Second Quarter Per Share Earnings Increase 17 Percent
Chabraja: With Strong Cashflows, Growing Backlog, We're on Target to Meet All Our Objectives for 2000

PRNewswire
July 20, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0719082.401&level3=788&date=20000720

FALLS CHURCH, Va., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) today reported 2000 second quarter net earnings of $204 million, or $1.01 per share, on sales of $2.6 billion. This is a per share increase of 17 percent over the second quarter of 1999, when net earnings were $175 million, or 86 cents per share, on sales of $2.1 billion. The quarter ended on July 2, 2000.

For the first six months of 2000, sales were $5.2 billion, compared with $4.1 billion for the first six months of 1999. Half year 2000 net earnings were $388 million, or $1.92 per share on a fully diluted basis. This is a per share increase of 16 percent over the first six months of 1999, when earnings were $333 million, or $1.65 per share on a recurring basis. (With the effects of a one-time gain from a research and development tax credit recognized in the first quarter of last year, netearnings for the first half of 1999 were $498 million, or $2.46 per share fully diluted.)

"This was another excellent quarter, showing superb performance and steady, dependable, organic growth. We are generating high quality earnings, backed by strong free cash flow from operations, and our backlog is growing. At the year's halfway point, we're right on target to achieve all of our objectives for 2000," said General Dynamics Chairman and CEO Nicholas D. Chabraja.

Second quarter 2000 sales in the Aerospace group were up 16 percent and earnings were p 30 percent compared with the second quarter of 1999. "Gulfstream had its best quarter for new orders in a year and a half," said Chabraja. "And with orders from customers in Europe, the Mideast and Africa during the quarter, Gulfstream is penetrating markets in addition to North America," said Chabraja. "They continue to make significant improvements to production processes and to become more efficient."

Second quarter sales in the Information Systems and Technology group increased 143 percent over the same quarter of 1999, and operating earnings improved by 121 percent. "This was driven by our acquisition of Worldwide Telecommunication Systems, Electronic Systems, and Communication Systems, which was completed in the third quarter of 1999, as well as by organic growth," Chabraja noted. "Information Systems and Technology is our fastest growing business area, with ever widening markets, exceptional potential, and improving performance metrics," Chabraja said.

Marine Systems sales were up 12 percent in the second quarter of 2000 compared with the second quarter of 1999. While earnings in the group declined modestly quarter over quarter, they were about even over the half year compared with the 1999 six-month period. Marine Systems operating earnings for the full year are expected to be equal to or slightly exceed 1999 results.

Second quarter revenues in the Combat Systems group declined by 6 percent from the year-ago quarter, but earnings increased by 6 percent.

"The Combat Systems group is awaiting decisions on more than $8 billion in proposals submitted in response to government requests for bids," Chabraja said. "Our acquisitions in the past few years have given us a broad array of technologies and products, and access to a wider market.

"In July, we completed our acquisition of Saco Defense, a unit of New Colt Holding Corp.," said Chabraja. "Its machine guns, cannon barrels and other equipment are in the inventories of more than 40 countries; it is a highly complementary addition to our Armament Systems Business."

General Dynamics ended the second quarter of 2000 with a funded backlog of $13 billion, and a total backlog of $19 billion. Comparable amounts at the end of the second quarter of 1999 were $11 billion, and $18 billion, respectively.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF EARNINGS (UNAUDITED) DOLLARS IN MILLIONS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS SECOND QUARTER SIX MONTHS
------------------
2000 1999 2000 1999
-------- -------- -------- --------
NET SALES $ 2,617 $ 2,087 $ 5,163 $ 4,089
OPERATING COSTS AND EXPENSES 2,282 1,808 4,522 3,569
-------- -------- -------- --------
OPERATING EARNINGS 335 279 641 520
INTEREST, NET (16) (5) (35) (11)
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET (1) (4) (2) 5
-------- -------- -------- --------
EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAXES 318 270 604 514
(BENEFIT)PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES:
R&E TAX CREDIT - - - (165)
PROVISION 114 95 216 181
-------- -------- -------- --------
NET EARNINGS $204 $175 $388 $498
========= ========= ======== ========
EARNINGS PER SHARE BASIC-BEFORE NON-RECURRING ITEMS $ 1.02 $0.88 $1.94 $1.67
========= ========= ======== ========
EARNINGS PER SHARE BASIC-AFTER NON RECURRING ITEMS $ 1.02 $0.88 $1.94 $2.50
========= ======== ======== ========
BASIC COMMON WEIGHTED AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING (IN MILLIONS) 200.1 199.2 200.5 199.3
========= ======== ======== ========
EARNINGS PER SHARE DILUTED-BEFORE NON-RECURRING ITEMS $1.01 $ 0.86 $ 1.92 $1.65
========= ========= ======== ========
EARNINGS PER SHARE DILUTED-AFTER NON-RECURRING ITEMS $1.01 $0.86 $1.92 $2.46
======== ========= ======== ========
DILUTED WEIGHTED AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING (IN MILLIONS) 201.8 202.3 201.9 202.3
======== ======== ======== =======
NET SALES AND OPERATING EARNINGS BY SEGMENT (UNAUDITED) DOLLARS IN MILLIONS SECOND QUARTER SIX MONTHS
------------------ ------------------
2000 1999 2000 1999
-------- -------- -------- --------

NET SALES:
AEROSPACE $821 $708 $ 1,551 $ 1,333
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY 590 243 1,196 476
MARINE SYSTEMS 855 764 1,701 1,572
COMBAT SYSTEMS 288 306 603 596
OTHER 63 66 112 112
------ ------- ------- -------
TOTAL $ 2,617 $ 2,087 $ 5,163 $ 4,089
====== ======= ======= ======= OPERATING EARNINGS:
AEROSPACE $151 $116 $282 $213
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY 53 24 111 45
MARINE SYSTEMS 82 88 170 176
COMBAT SYSTEMS 36 34 73 69
OTHER 13 17 5 17
------- ------- ------- -------
TOTAL $335 $279 $641 $520
======= ======= ======= =======

SOURCE General Dynamics
CONTACT: Norine Lyons of General Dynamics, 703-876-3190
Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/349193.html or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 349193
Web site: http://www.generaldynamics.com (GD)

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Harris Corporation Awarded $3 Million U.S. Army Contract For MIDS LVT-2 Tactical Radio Production

NewsEdge
July 20, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0719103.402&level3=788&date=20000720

MELBOURNE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - Harris Corporation, in partnership with prime contractor ViaSat, Inc., Carlsbad, California, was recently selected to produce the Multi-function Information Distribution System (MIDS) Low Volume Terminal (LVT)-2 supporting the U.S. Army. Harris anticipates over $3 million in initial orders associated with this win. MIDS is a line-of-sight, tactical radio system that collects data from many sources and displays an electronic overview of a battlespace.

This modification to a previously awarded contract includes first article qualification test (FAQT) followed by initial production. The contract contains an ordering ceiling of 84 additional MIDS LVT-2s over the next five years. ViaSat awarded Harris a $2.8 million contract earlier this year to provide long-lead materials and engineering work supporting FAQT and production of 27 MIDS LVT-1 units. Harris anticipates $13 million in orders resulting from the MIDS LVT-1 FAQT and initial production. To date, Harris has been awarded over $16 million in MIDS-related contracts. Harris estimates the worldwide market for MIDS LVT to approach 8,000 units over the next five to seven years.

The secure, anti-jam data link is based on the Link 16 protocol for digital tactical communications. France, Spain, Italy, and Germany are expected to be the European military customers for MIDS. MIDS LVT-1, for which the ViaSat/Harris team is currently undercontract with the DoD, is initially targeted for U.S. Navy F/A-18 and Air Force F-16 aircraft. The Army has targeted MIDS LVT-2 for use in weapons systems such as Patriot.

In cooperation with ViaSat, engineers and technicians at Harris Government Communications Systems Division will manufacture the MIDS LVT chassis and several critical electronic modules integral to the tactical radio system's operation.

"The competitive award of MIDS LVT-2 demonstrates the continued success of the ViaSat/Harris team in this very important communications market," said Robert K. Henry, president of Harris Government Communications Systems Division. "Harris' legacy of providing the military with assured communications solutions and extensive manufacturing expertise, coupled with ViaSat's strong Link 16 credentials, makes for a winning MIDS team."

The Government Communications Systems Division of Harris Corporation conducts advanced research studies, develops prototypes, and produces state-of-the-art airborne, spaceborne, and terrestrial communications and information processing systems for military and government agencies, their prime contractors, and the company's commercial businesses, as well as select commercial organizations worldwide.

Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) is an international communications company focused on providing product, system and service solutions that take its customers to the next level. The company provides a wide range of products and services for markets such as wireless, broadcast, government, and network support. The company has sales and service facilities in 90 countries. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.

CONTACT: Harris Corporation, Melbourne | Government Communications Systems Division | Sleighton Meyer, 321/727-6514 | smeyer@harris.com | or | Corporate Headquarters | Tom Hausman, 321/727-9131 | thausm01@harris.com

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Report on gay soldier's death criticized
Army inspector general blames sergeant but not senior officers

USA Today
07/20/00- Updated 08:11 PM ET
By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsthu10.htm

WASHINGTON - Military observers are questioning an Army inspector general's report out Friday that absolves senior officers of blame in events surrounding the beating death of a gay soldier at Fort Campbell, Ky.

And they criticize the finding that there was no "climate" of homophobia on the post.

"Investigators find the result that the people who appoint the investigators want to find," says Charles Gittins, a military lawyer. "Basically: Don't tell me bad news."

The report blames one first sergeant for failing to stop a four-month campaign of anti-gay harassment against Pfc. Barry Winchell, 21. Winchell was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat as he slept in his barracks last July.

Two soldiers were court-martialed. Pvt. Calvin Glover, 19, was sentenced to life in prison. Spc. Justin Fisher received 12 1/2 years.

The Army report says that though some members of Winchell's Delta Company held anti-gay attitudes, a pervasive homophobic atmosphere did not exist on the base, home to the elite 101st Airborne Division. It blamed 1st Sgt. Roger Seacrest, Delta's top sergeant, for failing to stop Winchell's harassers.

Seacrest has been relieved of his duties and given an administrative job. He declined to comment. No officers, from the company captain up to the fort's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Clark, were assessed blame. That "leaves a bad taste in my mouth," says Ralph Peters, a former Army officer. "If it's the first sergeant's fault, it's the company commander's fault. It's the officer's business to set the tone."

"If the first sergeant knew, the company commander did," says Gittins, whose clients include service members fighting discharges under the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gay men and lesbians to serve provided they keep quiet about their sexual orientation.

Army officials refused comment before the report's release. But among observers there was a consensus that the company commander, Capt. Daniel Rouse, should have shared some blame. Others, including members of Congress and gay activists, say responsibility should start with Clark.

"There has been a great degree of reluctance to hold senior commanders accountable for things occurring within their commands," says Kenneth Allard, a retired Army officer. "That reflects a very steady erosion in what used to be an unquestioned military ethic that if you were there, you should be held accountable."

Sara Lister, former assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, blames the military's "zero defects" mentality, which implies that one misstep can derail a career. Officers "try not to know what's happening so as not to have a blot on (their) record," she says.

But Joseph Collins, a former Army officer, says that though it "stresses credulity to the breaking point" to think only the first sergeant was at fault, "responsibility and culpability are not the same thing. We have to use common sense when we try to hang senior officers for something happening six or seven levels below."

A senior military official says the Winchell tragedy has damaged Clark's career. Instead of being rewarded with a third star and given command of an Army corps - as most of his predecessors were - Clark was denied a promotion and last month reassigned to a staff job at the Pentagon.

Patricia Kutteles, Winchell's mother, says, "They're more concerned about covering up for the brass than for the soldiers' safety. The ultimate responsibility" rests with Clark .

Kutteles has filed a $1.79 million wrongful death claim against the Army. It claims that Winchell's section leader told Rouse about the harassment but he "essentially ignored the complaint." Other sources say Rouse verbally counseled some of Winchell's harassers.

Rouse, stationed in Hawaii, was unavailable for comment.

In a phone interview, Clark said, "There was not a homophobic climate at Fort Campbell during my time on watch. Allegations to that effect are false."

Michelle Benecke, co-executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay rights advocacy group, disagrees. She cites Clark's statistics, released in June before he left Fort Campbell. They show that 120 soldiers there were discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy from July 1, 1999, through May 31, 2000. Six were discharged in the same period a year earlier. The Army booted out 271 gays in 1999.

Clark attributed the skyrocketing rise to "hypersensitivity to this issue" after Winchell's murder and the effects of a base refresher course on the military's homosexual policy. Benecke says the numbers reflect an exodus by gay soldiers fearing for their safety.

Gay rights activists say it was inevitable that the Army inspector general found no climate of homophobia because its review team made it clear that any soldier found to be gay would be turned in. The result was that those most likely to have suffered or witnessed harassment were the least likely to report it to investigators.

A separate Pentagon inspector general's survey of more than 70,000 troops found anti-gay harassment was widespread. The survey reported that 80% had heard "offensive speech, derogatory names, jokes or remarks" about gays in the last 12 months. Of those who said a senior person had witnessed anti-gay harassment, 73% reported that he or she "did nothing to immediately stop" it.

The findings led the Pentagon to commission a panel to devise an "action plan" to reduce anti-gay harassment. The results are to be released Friday.

---

Bias seen in Army probes of sex cases

Washington Times
July 20, 2000
By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000720222334.htm

The sexual harassment case of Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy illustrates a trend in today's military: A male charged with sexual harassment must prove his innocence or face discipline, military experts and retired officers say.

A female officer was the lead investigator in the Army's probe of Gen. Kennedy's complaint. The officer substantiated the charge against Maj. Gen. Larry G. Smith largely on the premise that the Army's first female three-star general was credible and had no reason to lie.

With that conclusion, the Army ended the 34-year, unblemished career of the married father of two. His personnel file will permanently hold a letter of reprimand after he retires Sept. 1.

Gen. Smith's friends, who declined to be identified for this article, say in interviews they firmly believe the 1996 incident in Gen. Kennedy's open-door Pentagon office was a case of a misunderstanding.

Gen. Smith said he hugged Gen. Kennedy and gave her a light kiss on the cheek as he concluded a visit with his friend and colleague. She charged he grabbed her and forced a kiss.

Gen. Smith submitted a rebuttal of the Army inspector general's report to Gen. John Keane, Army vice chief of staff. Among other points, Gen. Smith argued it defied common sense to think any officer would sexually harass another officer in a Pentagon office - with the door open 6 feet away.

Nonetheless, Gen. Keane accepted the IG conclusion. One military source said Gen. Keane worked hard to limit Gen. Smith's penalty to a reprimand and retirement. The source said some civilian officials wanted to bust Gen. Smith in rank, a further humiliation that also would reduce his retirement benefits.

"Should he have kissed a two-star general? Probably not," says a senior retired officer, referring to Gen. Kennedy's rank at the time. "Should it have been handled this way? Absolutely not. She should have handled it herself."

The Army, in a report endorsed by Lt. Gen. Michael W. Ackerman, the IG, concluded Gen. Kennedy had no motive to tarnish her stellar 31-year career by filing a false report. If that were her design, the report said, she could have filed the report back in 1996.

Gen. Kennedy brought up the matter three years later only after learning the Army had tapped Gen. Smith as its next deputy inspector general, a job that would have him overseeing sexual harassment charges, among other misconduct cases.

Military experts say such "he said, she said" standoffs are more common today than 10 years ago as the four branches urge personnel to report harassment. The experts contend men are at an immediate disadvantage. In fact, an official Army health guide issued to commanders states that sexual harassment complaints usually are true.

"In a practical sense, it seems to me that men are guilty until proven innocent and it was definitely a career wrecker just to have an accusation leveled against them," says Jim Renne, who served as legal counsel to a 1999 congressional commission on issues of sex and the military.

"The military spends far too much precious resources and time on sexual harassment prevention when they ignore the underlying policy mistake," Mr. Renne says. "This may be politically incorrect, but it's true: Men and woman are very different biologically, mentally and emotionally. Mixing them in military units may be workable with considerable effort but not optimal."

In private life, a charge of sexual harassment in the office can be handled privately. But in the military, the same incident is potentially a criminal matter. Commanders may charge a person under the catchall "conduct unbecoming an officer," or file counts of indecent assault.

Military sources say that in today's "zero tolerance" climate, commanders are reluctant to handle cases themselves. They fear that anything short of a full-blown investigation could ruin their careers on grounds they were insensitive to the woman's complaint or soft on harassment, according to two senior retired officers.

"Sexual harassment or sexual misconduct have become the foremost of crimes in terms of attention by the command," says lawyer Charles Gittins, who has defended high-profile military personnel. "Commanders are afraid to resolve weak allegations by labeling them unfounded because they are likely to gain the attention of the feminist lobby and pro-feminist media. . . . It has had a weakening effect on the entire structure of command authority and the chain of command."

The Army and Gen. Kennedy, who retires next month after serving as the service's top intelligence officer, have plenty of defenders regarding how they handled the sensitive matter. None is more supportive than Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Democrat.

"They went through the procedure," Mrs. Maloney says. "The IG issued a report, and it found that Gen. Kennedy's credibility was an important factor, and apparently there were people who reliably verified her story. I have talked to Gen. Kennedy, and I truly believe her intention was to protect the Army. She did not make any complaint until he was appointed to be an assistant IG to oversee harassment cases, which was very troubling to her. I think any three-star general has a great deal of credibility."

A military source says Gen. Kennedy, after the October 1996 meeting, told one or more staffers not to let Gen. Smith back in her office.

"This was not a quick decision," the congresswoman says. "It was a very measured decision. It was a thorough investigation. I think she's very dedicated to the military. And what really angered me the most are the anonymous sources who said she made them angry because she reported it. The only person who made the military look bad was Gen. Smith."

Anita Blair, a lawyer who was chairman of the 1999 congressional commission, says Gen. Smith should have received the benefit of a doubt.

"I think that given all the equities, the proper thing to have done is say: 'Well, time has passed here. It's he said, she said. We can't make a determination.' I think on the whole, the thing should have gone the other way.

"What must a private think if a general with a sterling career can't get the benefit of the doubt," adds Mrs. Blair, president of the Independent Women's Forum, a group that counters liberal feminism. "How on earth is any private or sergeant or young lieutenant going to get the benefit of the doubt? It must be a horrible message to men in the ranks."

The Army, perhaps more than the other three services, urges soldiers to report sexual harassment. The policy is aimed at heading off a repeat of well-publicized sex scandals at Aberdeen Proving Ground and other training bases. In fact, Gen. Kennedy was the service's leading proponent of immediately reporting harassment.

---

USA Today
07/20/00
Maryland

Ellicott City - Dozens of explosive devices found last week in the home of a former candidate for Howard County sheriff were the property of the U.S. military. Authorities say it is unclear how Colbert Laney, 43, obtained the weapons or what he planned to do with them. He was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bond and charged with reckless endangerment.

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Raytheon, Lockheed and Northrop Grumman Shoot Past Expectations

New York Times
July 20, 2000
By JENNIFER BAYOT NYTimes.com/TheStreet.com, 4:13 p.m.
http://www.nytimes.com/00/07/20/news/financial/20tsc-raytheon.html

Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, all leading military contractors, reported second-quarter earnings Thursday that exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

Raytheon said that excluding one-time charges for discontinued operations, its earnings fell 66 percent, to $95 million, or 28 cents a diluted share, compared with $277 million, or 81 cents a diluted share in the year-earlier second quarter. Analysts had expected earnings of 27 cents a share in the latest quarter, according to a survey by First Call/Thomson Financial.

Including charges, Raytheon's net income fell to $49 million, or 14 cents a diluted share, compared with $290 million, or 84 cents a diluted share, in the comparable period last year.

During the quarter, the Lexington, Mass.-based company closed the sale of its engineering and construction unit, taking a charge of $46 million, or 14 cents a share, on disposal of discontinued operations.

Sales for the three-month period were down to $4.1 billion from $4.6 billion in the second quarter of 1999. The company attributed the decline to lower volume in missiles and missile defense systems.

Raytheon's actively traded class B shares finished up 2 1/2, or 11.94 percent, to 23 7/16.

The company said it did experience a sizeable backlog of orders from continuing operations - up 20 percent to $25.6 billion from $21.2 billion a year earlier.

"Our increasing backlog gives us confidence in our revenue growth outlook for 2001 and beyond," Daniel P. Burnham, Raytheon's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, Md., reported net income of $42 million, or 11 cents a diluted share, in the second quarter, in contrast to a net loss of $41 million, or 11 cents a diluted share, in the year-earlier period.

Excluding one-time items, Lockheed Martin said it earned 29 cents a share. The consensus estimate of 13 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial was 21 cents a share.

Nonrecurring items decreased second-quarter 2000 results by 18 cents a diluted share, while such items increased the net loss per diluted share in the comparable 1999 period by 3 cents a share.

Sales for the second quarter of 2000 were $6.2 billion, virtually unchanged from the second quarter of 1999.

Lockheed Martin finished up 1 3/8, or 5.42 percent, to 26 3/4.

During the second quarter, Lockheed Martin entered an agreement for the divestiture of Control Systems to BAE Systems North America. During the third quarter, the company said it would sell its Aerospace Electronics Systems to BAE Systems North America for $1.67 billion.

The corporation reaffirmed its 2000 earnings outlook of about $1.05 a diluted share, excluding the effects of any nonrecurring and unusual items.

Lockheed Martin said it generated $1 billion of free cash flow in the quarter and $1.4 billion year-to-date. This includes a cash advance of $900 million by the United Arab Emirates for the purchase of 80 "Block 60" F-16 aircraft and associated equipment.

The company increased its 2000 cash flow outlook from at least $500 million to at least $900 million for 2000 with a target $1.7 billion, up from $1.3 billion, by the end of 2001. The 2000 expectation was raised in part to reflect sales of surplus real estate and a change in government billing policy that will provide a one-time improvement to cash.

"Our generation of free cash flow is ahead of plan, and with the realization of full and fair value for our announced divestitures, we will significantly reduce our net leverage in 2000 and 2001," Vance Coffman, Lockheed Martin's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Northrop Grumman posted second-quarter net profits of $175 million from continuing operations, or $2.50 a share. Wall Street analysts had anticipated earnings of $2.40 a share. The company's earnings for second quarter 2000 represent a 42 percent increase from $123 million, or $1.78 a share in the second quarter of 1999.

Earnings for the three-month period ended June 30, rose despite sales down 3 percent to $1.86 billion from $1.92 billion a year ago.

Operating margin for the quarter was $113 million, up 2.7 percent from $110 million in the second quarter of 1999.

The company cited a record quarter in sales and margin for Logicon, its information technology sector, on strong growth in the government information technology business area. Sales rose 16 percent to $425 million from $365 million. Operating margin for the quarter was $33 million, compared with $21 million a year ago.

During the quarter Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector acquired 72 percent more contracts than it did during the year-ago period. The company said it aims to secure $4 billion in contract acquisitions for the year.

Northrop Grumman's business backlog at the end of the second quarter 2000 was $8.8 billion, compared with $8.5 billion a year earlier.

In June, the company said it expects to sell its commercial aerostructures business to The Carlyle Group. Viewing the business as a discontinued operation, Northrop Grumman reported a loss of about $15 million in the second quarter. The company will determine the final loss from the sale following the close of the transaction.

Net debt at June 30 was $1.86 billion, down from the $2.08 billion reported at Dec. 31, 1999. Interest expense for the first six months was $92 million, a $17 million decrease from the $109 million reported for the first six months of 1999.

Shares of Northrop Grumman rose 3 5/8, or 5.25 percent, to finish at 72 11/16.

---

EIGNER + PARTNER Announces Alliance With TASC to Provide Product Data Management Solutions

NewsEdge
July 20, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0719141.700&level3=788&date=20000720

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - TASC Will Provide Value-Added Component to e-Engineering Software for Aerospace and Defense Industries in North America

EIGNER + PARTNER Inc., a global leader in providing e-Engineering solutions, Wednesday announced that it has formed an alliance with TASC, a division of Litton Industries (NYSE:LIT) and a leading information systems integrator, to jointly provide Product Data Management (PDM) solutions to the aerospace and defense industries in North America.

The alliance offers customers in these industries access to EIGNER + PARTNER's world-class e-Engineering software and Litton TASC's best-of-practice implementation services.

Product Data Management is a process that digitizes data and automates the procedures required to design and manufacture a product. EIGNER + PARTNER's axalant(TM) software is a Web-based e-Engineering software system that allows companies to define their products and processes electronically, in cooperation with suppliers, partners and customers throughout the entire product lifecycle.

As the system integrator, TASC will tailor axalant to each manufacturing firm's unique requirements and then integrate the software with the firm's existing legacy systems. The installed system is Web-enabled and can support an organization's requirements from product concept through production planning, manufacturing and maintenance.

For manufacturing companies, this can mean reduced costs and faster time to market for their products. One of TASC's customers, Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control-Dallas has credited TASC's implementation of EIGNER + PARTNER's PDM product for reducing their engineering change order cycle-time by 85 percent.

"EIGNER + PARTNER is well recognized in Europe as one of the best in the PDM business," said James H. Frey, Litton TASC president. "When you combine that with TASC's reputation for integrated systems management solutions, Litton's position as a top shipbuilder and electronic components manufacturer and our large customer base, you've got the experience and ability to capture a large share of the North American product data management market."

"Our agreement with Litton TASC gives EIGNER + PARTNER access to government and aerospace companies that we, as an international company based in Germany, otherwise wouldn't have," said Dr. Martin Eigner, president of EIGNER + PARTNER. "TASC's legacy of providing information technology solutions to the federal government makes them an ideal partner. We're proud of the association and excited about the opportunity."

To complement its partnership, TASC has developed a one-of-a-kind implementation methodology called PDM Edge(TM). The PDM Edge approach ensures total understanding of an engineering or manufacturing company's requirements before tailoring and integrating an axalant PDM system. Using Software Engineering Institute Level III standards plus its own mature project management and cost control systems, TASC has been recognized by CIMDATA, a leading PDM analyst group, for achieving the world's first PDM pilot implementation and roll-out in just one year.

"Customers have attributed our implementation with a greater ability to interface and interact with all parts of their corporate enterprise, as well as with their suppliers and customers," said TASC director Stuart Peskoe. "The defense, aerospace, automotive and electronics manufacturing industries all stand to benefit tremendously from recent strides in PDM software and technology."

In less than 18 months, TASC has grown its list of PDM customers to include the Federal Aviation Administration Engineering Center, Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Magna Seating (a division of Magna International) and one of the nation's leading design facilities associated with nuclear propulsion.

Founded in Germany in 1985, EIGNER + PARTNER has helped more than 800 customers and research organizations worldwide to meet their e-Engineering requirements. Companies in a wide range of markets, including aerospace and defense, automotive, heavy equipment and electro-mechanical, rely on EIGNER + PARTNER for everything from system introduction, implementation and management to pilot installations, workshops, training, customer hotlines and technical support. With offices worldwide, EIGNER + PARTNER is a global company committed to providing e-Engineering solutions. More about EIGNER + PARTNER can be found at www.axalant.com.

TASC is one of the world's premier providers of advanced information technology solutions for government and industry in such areas as enterprise security, federal services, information management, signals intelligence and space systems. Founded in 1966, TASC has more than 25 offices throughout the United States. More about TASC can be found at www.tasc.com.

Litton is one of the nation's leading shipbuilders for the U.S. Navy and the largest builder of non-nuclear ships. Litton designs, builds and overhauls surface ships for government and commercial customers worldwide. The company is a leading information technology contractor to the U.S. government and provides specialized IT services to commercial and government customers in local/foreign jurisdictions. Litton provides defense and commercial electronics technology, components and materials for customers worldwide. With headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif., the company has more than 40,000 employees and is expected to have more than $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2000 revenue. For more information, visit Litton's Web site at www.litton.com.

CONTACT: EIGNER + PARTNER, Irvine | Tatjana Jovanovic, 949/453-0399 | or | TASC Inc. | Joseph F. Ailinger, Jr., 781/205-7255 | or | Fleishman-Hillard | Kim Reiss, 314/982-9170

-------- OTHER

-------- alternative energy

Alstom, Ballard plan 8 fuel cell units for Europe

July 20, 2000
Story by Claire-Louise Isted
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7536

FRANKFURT - French engineers Alstom and fuel cell specialist Canada's Ballard will install eight fuel cell demonstration units in Europe over the next two years, the companies' joint venture said yesterday.

The first of the eight 250 kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) units - at Berlin-based utility Bewag's Treptow heating plant site - started its five years of operation in June. The second unit will be installed later in the year for Basel-based Swiss utility EBM.

Energy companies are increasingly looking to energy-efficient fuel cells as part of a trend to decentralise electricity production from traditional power stations.

Fuel cells take up less space than power plants and produce no harmful emissions, enabling smaller units to be set up near residential consumer sites.

"Fuel cells operate at high efficiencies and ...combined with renewable energy forms, lay the foundation for a future hydrogen-based energy industry," the head of the Berlin project, Bewag's Martin Pokojski, told Reuters.

Alstom and Ballard formed their German joint venture Alstom-Ballard AG in 1998.

The company said it will also install systems for the Belgian consortium Promocell and the Dutch utility Nuon. Alstom-Ballard's key account manager Ralf Keitil declined to reveal the names of the remaining four companies as discussions were not yet concluded.

The Berlin unit is the world's second in the 250 kW class after an identical unit installed for Cynergy in Indiana. The U.S. unit also started operating this year.

----

Solar powered lamp to shed light in Africa

July 20, 2000
Story by Bill Rosato
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7535

LONDON - The British inventors of a solar powered lamp promise that it will provide cheap, reliable, ecologically friendly light to millions of African homes.

The New Scientist journal reported yesterday that the Glowstar lantern produced by a British non-profit development organisation called Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) was launched commercially in July after tests in Kenya.

But at about $105 the cost of the lantern may be prohibitive. The annual gross national product per capita in sub-Saharan Africa is $510, according to World Bank figures.

A spokeswoman for ITDG, which will be selling the lantern at cost price, said the organisation would be teaming up with micro-finance agencies so villagers can buy it in affordable instalments.

"Obviously $100 is a lot of money but is you look at how much money they spend over time on kerosene, batteries and candles and the fact that the lantern is expected to last five years the purchasers will save money in the long term," the spokeswoman told Reuters.

NOT FOR PROFIT

"We are a British-based charity who are not in it to make a quick buck. We are looking to improve the lives and livelihoods of people in rural communities in the developing world by giving them access to affordable, appropriate and renewable energy options," she added.

ITDG was currently looking throughout East Africa for a company that could assemble and distribute 5,000 of the lanterns in Kenya by December.

A clockwork radio which drew plaudits for its originality and Third World potential in 1996 has found that its major market is the United States. It has failed to make inroads in Africa due to its cost.

The Glowstar uses a special microchip that constantly ensures the battery remains charged and controls how much solar energy is transferred from the solar panel.

"Existing systems don't do this effectively. As a result, performance gradually drops off and within six months the system is dead," the Glowstar's designer, Kieron Crawley, said in the New Scientist.


----

FPL to build 160MW West Texas wind power project

July 20, 2000
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7534

DALLAS - TXU Electric & Gas said yesterday FPL Energy LLC will build a 160 megawatt wind power project for it in West Texas that will generate enough electricity to supply about 29,000 homes.

Calling the project one of the largest wind power contracts in U.S. history, the TXU Corp utility subsidiary said the FPL Group Inc. unregulated subsidiary was selected for the effort based on its response to the utility's Requests For Proposals in support of a Texas goal to increase the use of renewable energy as part of the state's electric industry deregulation.

Construction will begin late this year, and FPL Energy officials say that TXU Electric customers should be receiving power from the project by the third quarter of 2001.

FPL Energy will build, own and operate 242 wind turbines in West Texas. It declined to discuss the cost of the project.

Each white wind turbine stands 166 feet tall and weighs a total of 143,000 pounds. The fiberglass blades are 76 feet long.

----

Floating Californian power plant faces protest, regulators

July 19, 2000,
by Leonard Anderson,
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7499

SAN FRANCISCO - PG&E Corp. is moving ahead with plans to anchor a floating power plant in San Francisco Bay to prevent more summer blackouts in the region, including Silicon Valley's high-technology industry, in spite of concerns about possible water and air pollution.

And besides generating opposition from environmentalists, it is uncertain if the San Francisco-based energy company's 95 megawatt (MW) scheme will get the needed permits and be ready this summer, when electricity demand in the region typically is greatest.

One megawatt of electricity can light 1,000 homes.

The plant, an aviation-jet fuelled engine mounted on a barge, is already being towed to San Francisco from Houston via the Panama Canal, and is expected to arrive August 8 or 9.

The Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), a California state agency, will hold a hearing on the proposal Thursday, said Will Travis, executive director.

Greenaction, a San Francisco environmental group, said PG&E is "short circuiting" air and water quality reviews required before the plant can be permitted to operate.

Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction, said the group is "exploring legal remedies" to challenge the plant, but is prepared to take "non-violent direct action" to stop it.

The floating plant would be a temporary measure to avoid a rerun of the rolling blackouts that cut off electricity to more than 100,000 customers of PG&E's Pacific Gas & Electric Co. utility unit during a heat wave in June.

Record-high temperatures and soaring demand for electricity to run air conditioners combined with a shortfall of energy supplies to strain the northern California grid June 26-29.

"We want to have the floating plant available as an option to use on days when there's high heat and strong demand for electricity," said Greg Pruett, a PG&E spokesman. "Northern California will not get new permanent power plants until after 2001."

PG&E already has three mobile "peaking" plants in place in Ohio to supply 126 MW of emergency power to the American Municipal Power Association in Bowling Green, Napoleon and Galion, said Pruett.

The company is also looking at the need for peaking plants elsewhere in the Midwest and Florida, he said.

PG&E is working with environmental agencies, local officials, the California Energy Commission, and the California Independent System Operator (ISO) to get the required approvals, he said.

The ISO manages most of the state's transmission grid.

PG&E's preferred site for the barge plant is near San Francisco International Airport, where it would connect to the grid through an airport substation.

It is also looking at the Port of Redwood City, closer to Silicon Valley, and near a San Francisco power station.

----

USA Today
07/20/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
South Dakota

Sioux Falls - The chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is planning an October meeting on boosting wind energy in the state. Jim Burg says national experts and representatives of energy companies are among those who will study ways to increase the use of computer-controlled wind turbines.

-------- environment

CONSERVATION BILL IS CALLED DISHONEST

Anchorage Daily News
July 20, 2000
By David Whitney Daily News Washington Bureau
http://www.adn.com/nation/story/0,2360,178709,00.html

Washington -- Sen. Frank Murkowski's fellow Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday denounced a sweeping conservation measure that would share about $3 billion a year in federal offshore oil revenues with states for parks, wildlife and related programs.

They called the bill, a compromise Murkowski worked out with Democrats last week, crafty, dishonest and an attack on private property rights.

The partisan sniping at the committee chairman is expected to intensify today as Republican critics try to weaken or mortally wound the sweeping conservation package. The weapons will be amendments designed to force Murkowski to vote against closely held principles.

"I will oppose some amendments that will surprise Alaskans," Murkowski forecast during a meeting with reporters after Wednesday's opening work session on the Conservation and Reinvestment Act.

The measure is a similar version to what passed by a wide margin in the House in May. It has drawn fire from Western conservative Republicans who oppose a core provision giving the federal government $450 million a year to buy environmentally sensitive lands.

Private property rights groups have blasted the legislation as an unprecedented "land grab" that will lead to new restrictions on public and private land uses.

"I believe the great American legacy is the right to own private land," said Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, a leading torch-carrier for the property rights groups.

So angered are Craig and other Republican critics that they used rarely invoked Senate rules to prevent Murkowski's committee from going into session on the legislation Tuesday afternoon. And on Wednesday the rule was invoked again to stop the panel from doing anything more serious than speechmaking.

Murkowski said he would like to wrap up the bill today, but it could be dragged into next week.

After gaveling the meeting to order Wednesday, Murkowski labored to explain how his package protected private landowners and guarded against wholesale land purchases by the federal government.

Murkowski said all land purchases would have to be with willing sellers and that proposed purchases would have to pass review by his committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee. A similar process would be followed in the House.

To make sure appropriators spend all of the $450 million a year for new land purchases, that sum would have to be approved on the annual Interior Department spending bill -- an action that would "trigger" the automatic release of the other $2.5 billion in recreation, coastal protect and other programs to the states.

This trigger clause brought Murkowski the most grief because Senate budget leaders see it as a trick to create a $3 billion annual entitlement program without actually calling it that.

Congressional budget rules requiring that every dollar of new entitlement spending be paid for with a dollar of savings from some other program. If no such savings are identified, a senator could raise a point of order against the bill that would require 60 votes to defeat -- a hurdle high enough to block any flow of money into the conservation programs.

"This is a statement that conservation is more important that education, health care -- more important that anything else we do," said Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that writes the annual Interior Department spending bill.

"Almost all of this $3 billion we're going to give to other states to spend, rather than to pay down our own debt," he said. "We'll be giving it to states that have huge surpluses."

Gorton cited the case of Alaska, which "gives away" its proceeds from Prudhoe Bay in annual dividends to residents. The Murkowski bill will ship the state about $164 million a year.

"It's absolutely irrational," Gorton said.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Murkowski's budget maneuver, while impressive, is also disturbing.

"I don't know how we are going to run the government if everyone figures out this mechanism," he said.

Despite all the Republican consternation, Democrats said they are delighted with the Murkowski compromise.

"This may be the most important conservation measure Congress has taken up in 50 years," said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.

"This Congress will be known for the next 50 to 100 years because of this," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

The Murkowski compromise was also hailed by more than 330 national and regional organizations, including the Wilderness Society, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the National Recreation and Park Association.

"This unique opportunity to advance landmark legislation should not be threatened by damaging amendments," they pleaded in a letter Wednesday to committee members.

But amendments there will be, and some of them will be designed to put Murkowski on the spot.

Among them will be one by Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., to prohibit any net gain in federal property ownership in states where 25 percent or more of the land is already owned by the federal government.

"The legacy of the government has been to acquire more and more land and make them less and less accessible to the public," Thomas declared.

Murkowski is expected to vote against that amendment today, even though it reflects a sentiment he has often expressed himself.

Reporter David Whitney can be reached at dwhitney@adn.com.

---

ARB Strengthens Asbestos Air Toxic Control Measure

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20, 8:20 pm Eastern Time
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000720/ca_air_res.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 2000--The California Air Resources Board (ARB) today strengthened its air toxic control measure for asbestos by eliminating the use of asbestos-containing ultramafic rock for surfacing operations, such as road covering or landscaping.

Dr. Alan Lloyd, ARB Chairman, said, ``This amendment improves the existing control measure and better protects the public from the cancer-causing effects of asbestos-laden dust from gravel roads, parking lots and landscaping.''

Asbestos has been known to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of lung tissue that is nearly always fatal. The ARB's action limits the asbestos content of serpentine rock to less than 0.25 percent, the detection limit of current test methods.

Serpentine rock, a subset of ultramafic rock and commonly found throughout California, has been used both to cover unpaved roads and as bedrock material. While today's action eliminates the further use of all ultramafic rocks where public exposure may occur, it does not affect the use these materials in asphalt or as base material, such as drain rock where public health is not at risk. Sellers of rock containing more than 0.25 asbestos must provide written notice that the rock cannot be used in surfacing applications.

The amendments also give local air quality agencies the flexibility to exclude or include rock quarries from the rules based on additional testing. According to ARB data, there are about 200 mines and quarries in California that produce aggregate subject to the asbestos rules. Of these, five may be impacted economically by today's amendment. Staff estimates the costs of asbestos testing to range between 6 and 10 cents per ton of rock sold for surfacing.

The ARB identified asbestos as a toxic air contaminant with no safe threshold level in 1986. In 1990, the ARB adopted the present rules that limit the asbestos content of serpentine rock to 5 percent or less for any surfacing application.

The ARB revisited the asbestos rule after numerous public complaints by citizens of El Dorado County who expressed concern about airborne asbestos exposure from quarries in the county. Asbestos is the common name for a group of naturally occurring minerals that can separate into thin, inhalable fibers. The principal forms of asbestos include: chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite and anthrophyllite. Chrysotile is the common form of asbestos found in El Dorado County, although some other forms have been found during searches by state officials. All forms of asbestos are harmful to human health.

In November, the ARB will consider an air toxic control measure for asbestos dust from construction activities, quarries and mining operations.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

Contact:

California Air Resources Board, Sacramento erry Martin, 916/322-2990 Richard Varenchik, 626/575-6730 www.arb.ca.gov

---

U.S. Department of Justice Willamette Industries to Spend More Than $90 Million To Settle Clean Air Act Case

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20, 11:25 am Eastern Time
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000720/dc_epa_wil.html

WASHINGTON, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Willamette Industries will spend more than $90 million to settle a major environmental suit alleging that it failed to control the amount of air pollution released from its wood product factories in four states, under an agreement reached today with the Justice Department and the EPA.

The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon, requires the company to install state-of-the-art pollution controls at 13 facilities in Arkansas, Oregon, Louisiana and South Carolina. The company also must pay an $11.2 million penalty -- the largest ever assessed for factory emissions of air pollution. The agreement also requires the Portland-based company to spend an additional $8 million on environmental projects.

``This settlement will improve air quality for thousands of people who live around these factories,'' said Attorney General Janet Reno. ``Willamette must now take responsibility and curb its pollution, so these factories will not pose a health risk to our citizens.''

The settlement resolves allegations, contained in a complaint that was filed along with the agreement, that Willamette failed to install pollution controls, accurately report air emissions, and obtain air emissions permits for 13 of its facilities. As a result, thousands of tons of pollution were illegally released into the air. The facilities, which produce plywood and other building materials, are located in: Chester, S.C.; Emerson and Malvern Ark.; Dodson, Ruston, Zwolle, Lillie, and Simsboro, La.; and Albany, Bend, Eugene, Foster and Springfield, Ore.

``Today we are announcing the largest enforcement penalty ever taken against a single 'smokestack' company under the Clean Air Act,'' said EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner. ``When a company chooses to pollute the air, it is not just breaking the law, it is placing the health of our families at risk. The Clinton-Gore Administration has fought and will continue to fight to protect the health of our families -- especially our children -- from polluters.''

The settlement covers more facilities than any other case ever brought under the Clean Air Act provision designed to ensure that air quality does not deteriorate in areas that have previously been deemed to have clean air. Under the provision, companies in these designated areas must install air pollution controls before building new plants or modifying old ones.

The new pollution-control equipment required by today's settlement, with an estimated cost of $74 million, will prevent Willamette's factories from releasing an estimated 27,000 tons of pollutants, resulting in significantly cleaner air in the surrounding communities.

The states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and South Carolina are joining the federal settlement, and they will share in the civil penalty that Willamette must pay. The states will be instrumental in carrying out the environmental improvement projects that Willamette will fund under the agreement.

Pollution of the type emitted from Willamette's facilities, known as volatile organic compounds, is a component of smog. This air pollution can lead to breathing problems, especially among children and the elderly, eye irritation, and reduced resistance to colds and other infections. It can also accelerate the aging of lung tissue.

The United States reached similar settlements with Georgia-Pacific in 1996 and Louisiana-Pacific in 1993 under a nationwide initiative to ensure that the entire wood products industry complies with the Clean Air Act.

WILLAMETTE INDUSTRIES, INC. SETTLEMENT FACT SHEET July 20, 2000

Background: Willamette Industries, Inc. of Portland, Oregon must pay a civil penalty of $11.2 million for failure to comply with Clean Air Act (CAA) permitting procedures. Willamette will spend an additional $8 million on Supplemental Environmental Projects, making this the largest stationary source Clean Air Act case.

To protect the environment and public health, the settlement requires Willamette to install state-of-the-art pollution control equipment, valued at approximately $74 million, at 13 of its facilities located in four states.

The Willamette Industries, Inc., settlement is the latest action in EPA's national enforcement effort against wood product manufacturers for violations of the Clean Air Act. EPA or states have already reached settlements with three other companies (Louisiana Pacific, Georgia Pacific and Weyerhauser). This action is a natural culmination of the government's investigation of the Wood Products Industry and a continuing effort against recalcitrant violators since a Consent Decree was first lodged against Louisiana-Pacific in 1993.

With today's action, the four largest companies, representing well over half the value of the wood products industry, have been brought into compliance with the major permitting requirements of the Clean Air Act.

Violations:

* The government alleges that Willamette failed to obtain proper Clean Air Act permits.

* The PSD program was designed to prevent deterioration of these clean air areas, and only by being subjected to PSD review, or by taking and abiding by federally enforceable permit limitations, can we guarantee emissions will not have detrimental impact on the air quality in attainment areas.

* Under the law, a company seeking to construct or modify a major facility that emits air pollution must obtain a permit before proceeding. To comply with the permitting procedures, a company must determine the nature of the emissions created by its manufacturing processes and report its findings to state and federal air permitting authorities.

Willamette Facilities Required to Install Pollution Controls:

* 13 facilities in four states. The facilities are specifically located in: Chester, SC; Emerson and Malvern Ark.; Dodson, Ruston, Zwolle, Lillie, and Simsboro, LA; Bend, Eugene, Foster, Springfield and Albany, Oregon.

Settlement:

* Civil penalty of $11.2 million for failure to comply with permitting procedures.

* The company has agreed to spend a total of $8 million dollars in extra projects to be shared with South Carolina, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The SEPs to be performed include pollution reduction projects, alternative fuels projects, community sewer and water system improvements, and state parkland donations, and concentrated in the immediate areas where Willamette facilities are located, many of which are economically disadvantaged areas. Up to $4 million dollars will be spent for additional pollution control at plants in Oregon and up to $4 million dollars will be spent for parkland acquisition (Ark); sewer system improvements (LA) and ethanol fueling stations to encourage fleets to use clean fuels (SC)

* To protect the environment and public health, the settlement requires Willamette to install state-of-the-art pollution control equipment, valued at approximately $74 million, at 13 of its facilities located in four states.

Environmental benefits derived from the consent decree:

* Installation of state-of-the-art pollution control equipment at 13 of Willamette's facilities over the next 2 1/2 years will mean emission reductions of 17,500 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); 8,100 tons of particulate matter (PM); and 1,020 tons of Carbon Monoxide (CO) over the life of the consent decree (approximately five years).

* The consent decree also requires the company to conduct multi-media audits at the facilities affected by this settlement, develop and implement parametric monitoring plans, and apply for proper air permits for the facilities currently out of compliance.

SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Department of Justice

---

Plywood Maker to Pay $90 Million to Settle Pollution Complaint

New York Times
July 20, 2000
By MATTHEW L. WALD
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/science/21cnd-epa-fines.html

WASHINGTON, July 20 -- The Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced today that a manufacturer of plywood and other building materials with 13 factories in four states had agreed to a more than $90 million settlement over air pollution violations, the largest such settlement based on pollution from factories.

The action means that the E.P.A. has reached agreements recently with companies that make up more than half the wood products industry. In a sector-by-sector campaign, it has also completed agreements with the diesel engine manufacturers, but is still waging full-scale battle with the refineries and with coal-burning power plants, all under the terms of the Clean Air Act.

The plywood manufacturer, Willamette Industries, Inc., based in Portland, Ore., but with plants in Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina as well, follows settlements with Louisiana Pacific, Georgia Pacific and Weyerhauser; the government is still pursuing an agreement with Boise-Cascade.

In addition to a civil penalty of $11.2 million, Willamette will also spend $8 million on environmental projects, and $74 million on new pollution-control equipment, according to government officials. Carol M. Browner, the administrator of the E.P.A., said that the company had saved money for years by failing to install equipment to reduce emissions, but that with the settlement, "the economic benefit has been captured in the penalty, and then some."'

In a statement, Duane McDougall, the company's chief executive officer, said the company had reached the agreement "to resolve certain historic air permit questions." Willamette will install emission control equipment that is "well beyond what is required," he said.

Ms. Browner, at an announcement this morning, said "These guys didn't even say they needed a permit." The E.P.A. finds it harder to catch companies operating without a permit, she said, because "the system is based on self-disclosure."

---

White House to Delay a Decision on Breaching Dams in Northwest to Save Fish

New York Times
July 20, 2000
By DOUGLAS JEHL
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/072000wa-dams.html

WASHINGTON, July 19 -- In a decision on an issue politically charged in the Pacific Northwest, the Clinton administration will postpone by at least five years a plan that could have led to the breaching of four major Snake River dams for the benefit of wild salmon.

Instead, the administration will propose a menu of smaller steps intended to protect the salmon and other fish from a dozen endangered species, in part by placing logs along riverbeds to provide the fish with an illusion of home.

The new steps, which are to be made public next week, were outlined today by administration officials. The proposal was portrayed as an alternative to more severe measures that faced opposition by elected officials in the Northwest. But it will also reverberate across the politically important region.

The dams, in Washington State, are part of a cluster on the Snake River and the Columbia River that interrupt the fishes' migratory path. But they also generate enormous quantities of electricity, and in the debate over their fate, the potential cost to consumers of electricity in the region has weighed heavily.

Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, has already declared his opposition to any breaching of the dams. By contrast, Vice President Al Gore, the likely Democratic nominee, has refused to comment directly on the issue.

An administration move to put off any decision about breaching the dams could insulate Mr. Gore from criticism from environmentalists, who have argued that more needs to be done soon to repair the damage to the habitat of the endangered fish.

The decisions about the dams are being weighed by several federal agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, with the ultimate decision being made by the White House.

The vice president has cast himself as an environmentalist, but a decision made in the name of federal agencies could help to shield him from attack by those who might seek to portray the administration as an enemy of economic development.

Asked about the administration's decision this morning, Mr. Gore told reporters that he was "going to bring all of the parties together to come up with a solution that respects the environment and does not cause an upheaval in the economy."

Asked whether he agreed with the administration's decision, Mr. Gore sidestepped the issue. "I'm going to review it carefully.

I think that what's needed is to bring all of the stakeholders together."

Later, the Gore campaign released a statement from the vice president that said, in part, "I feel it provides a solid foundation for restoring the salmon while strengthening the economy of the Pacific Northwest."

The statement also says that "if sufficient progress toward recovery is not being made, we may then have no choice but to pursue options such as dam breaching. But we must first exhaust all reasonable alternatives."

Still, news of the postponement prompted expressions of concern from Ralph Nader, the Green Party nominee who is running well in Washington, Oregon and other Northwest states where polls have shown the race between Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush to be extremely close.

Mr. Nader made it clear that he was eager to join the debate. "Everybody knows the dams cannot be removed overnight, but you have to move toward that goal," he said.

The decision to postpone any breaching of the dams was reported today in USA Today. Details were discussed by administration officials who cited testimony that was to have been given before Congress today.

In remarks prepared for those sessions, which were postponed, George Frampton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, tried to explain why the administration had elected not to recommend that the dams be breached as soon as possible. Mr. Frampton said such efforts "may not be essential" to recovering salmon habitat "and may not be sufficient."

As an alternative, at least for now, the new proposal calls for several other measures, including steps aimed at making it easier for fish to overcome the Snake River dams.

The progress made by the salmon and other fish toward recovery is to be monitored for the next five years. If it is not sufficient to remove the fish from the list of endangered species, other actions would have to be taken, including a renewed review of whether to breach the dams.

A spokesman for American Rivers, an environmental advocacy group, said the group would be watching to see whether the final plan provided adequate guarantees both now and in the future.

"The science shows that the dams need to be removed to save salmon," said the spokesman, Justin Hayes. "And if we delay too long, salmon runs, and even extinction, are at stake."

In interviews, administration officials have signaled that a preferred course might have been to have directed that the dams be breached.

But such a step would require the approval of Congress, including members of the Northwest delegations who have been steadfastly opposed to such an overhaul.

---

NFPA Applauds Creation of House Biotech Caucus Bipartisan Congressional Focus Will Bring Support and Balance to the Issue

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20, 11:17 am Eastern Time
National Food Processors Association
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000720/dc_nfpa_bi.html

WASHINGTON, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 65 members of the U.S. House of Representatives launched the House Biotech Caucus. Organized by Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA 20), the goal of the Caucus is to provide sound scientific and academic information on all aspects of biotechnology and alert Caucus members regarding legislative or regulatory activities that may impact biotechnology.

Kelly Johnston, Executive Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications, with the National Food Processors Association shared the following comments:

``As the scientific voice of the food industry, we applaud the creation of the House Biotech Caucus. This is a clear demonstration of the strong bipartisan support for th e benefits and promise of biotechnology that exists in the U.S. House of Representatives. We share many of the Caucus goals including:

Reduced use of pesticides Being strong advocates of consumer choice Providing opportunities to help starving countries Using science-based facts to assess emerging biotechnology benefits Serving as a clearinghouse of credible, science-based information to all

Members of Congress

``This Caucus is made up of an impressive and diverse group representing all demographic and geographic regions in the United States -- urban and rural. The Caucus includes strong farm advocates who want to improve soil quality, reduce pesticide use, and increase yields -- looking out for the best interest of the American farmer. Others strongly support the technology for the elimination of world hunger and the other future benefits provided by biotechnology.

``NFPA looks forward to sharing the scientific expertise of our 3 laboratory centers, as well as our 70+ scientists and regulatory experts to educate Members and their staff regarding the U.S. regulatory framework ensuring the safety of food. This Caucus is just another example of the broad support for biotechnology and biotech foods. As the science-based voice for the food industry, we look forward to working closely with the Caucus in their activities.''

NFPA is the voice of the $460 billion food processing industry on scientific and public policy issues involving food safety, nutrition, technical and regulatory matters and consumer affairs.

---

USA Today
07/20/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Delaware

Dagsboro - Fish with suspicious sores are still turning up in Indian River and its tributaries. Researchers with the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control say they found more fish with lesions over the weekend. The find comes days after 50,000 dead menhaden, small bait fish, were found near the mouth of Pepper Creek.

-------- spying

New York Times
July 20, 2000
World Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/world-briefs.html

IRAN: CONVICTED JEWS APPEAL The defense team for 10 Jews convicted and jailed on espionage charges filed an appeal, a spokesman for them said. The 10 were convicted July 1 of spying for Israel and sentenced to prison terms of from 4 to 13 years. Three others were acquitted. The spokesman, Esmail Naseri, said he was hoping the charge of cooperating with a hostile government, the most serious one, would be dropped. (AP) Compiled by Terence Neilan

------- terrorism

Vulnerable to Attack?

ABC
07/20/00
By David Briscoe The Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/terror000719.html

Report: U.S. Bases Overseas at Risk for Terrorism Saudi military personnel stand beside the crater, June 26, 1996, after a deadly truck bomb exploded at a U.S. military facility near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. At least 19 were killed and hundreds injured. (U.S. Navy/AP Photo)

WASHINGTON, July 20 - U.S. forces around the world remain vulnerable to terrorist attack despite improvements made after a truck bomb killed 19 Americans at a U.S. military complex in Saudi Arabia four years ago, congressional investigators reported Wednesday.

Among the examples from unidentified installations abroad: A pizza delivery man did not realize he had entered a U.S. military compound; students at an American base in Europe have created a shortcut by cutting holes in the fence; at a Pacific base, local residents' drain pipes extend through the base wall.

The Pentagon said the report contained errors and did not reflect its "strong commitment to combat terrorism." Officials agreed with some recommendations.

A Failure to Protect

Investigators from the General Accounting Office visited 19 sites in Europe, the Mideast and the Pacific. Their report cited several inadequacies in protection and procedures and gave examples without disclosing the facilities' location.

"Significant security and procedural anti-terrorism/force protection problems continue at many installations," said the report from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

It noted a lack of effective ways of stopping unauthorized vehicles, of workable plans for dealing with terrorist attacks, and of secure access to important intelligence information at some U.S. installations.

Some Praise for Pentagon

The report praised the Pentagon for developing standards to ensure that anti-terrorism protections are included in all new construction. It also mentioned the creation of permanent anti-terrorism protection offices and development of systems for monitoring vulnerabilities at bases around the world.

But a lack of funds for local commands has left some vulnerable, investigators said.

"Congress does not have an accurate picture of the extent of the risk that U.S. forces face from terrorism," the report said, urging the Defense Department to provide a list of all unfunded anti-terrorism projects.

The Pentagon, in the response by Brian E. Sheridan of the special operations and low-intensity conflict office, agreed on a need for improvement in vulnerability assessment reporting and in training of anti-terrorism managers. It said a separate report on unfunded projects is unnecessary because the most critical programs are funded.

Sheridan's response cited "numerous inaccuracies" and said the report "should not and cannot be used as a measure of quantifying (the department's) true anti-terrorism posture."

Problems Cited in Report Among problems cited in the report:

- Some Pacific installations have no gates or other means of stopping unauthorized vehicles.

- A barrier system designed to stop cars at one base was broken and there were no plans to fix it because it was not considered cost effective to keep it operating in cold weather.

- Guards at some gates were unaware of control procedures or did not follow them.

- Perimeter fences were overgrown or poorly maintained.

- Some facilities have no system for alerting personnel to an attack or threat.

- Air Force and Army personnel assigned to security or intelligence often are deployed elsewhere, leaving facilities unprotected.

---

IRELAND: UK minister blames dissident republicans for London bomb

BridgeNews
July 20, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0719312.4rg&level3=139498&date=20000720

London--July 19--U.K. Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson Wednesday blamed dissident Irish republicans opposed to the Ulster peace agreement for bringing gridlock to parts of London with a railway bomb on the day of the Queen Mother's 100th-birthday pageant, the U.K. Press Association reported. Organizers of Wednesday evening's pageant said the bombers were clearly attempting to disrupt the event.

Mandelson told the House of Commons the bombers delivered a warning using the same code word as that used in an attack on a railway line at Newry in Northern Ireland recently.

The alert began after a bomb was spotted at the start of the rush hour on a rail line near Ealing Broadway station in west London following calls made in the Dublin area to a number of organizations. Police shut the rail line and carried out a controlled explosion.

The alert later spread to central London, with Victoria and Westminster stations paralyzed just hours before crowds were due to flood into the area for the Queen Mother's centenary pageant.

Police had feared further attacks by breakaway Irish republicans since London's Hammersmith Bridge was damaged by a bomb on June 1. End

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BRITAIN: IRISH BOMB SNARLS LONDON

New York Times
July 20, 2000
World Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/world-briefs.html

A bomb planted by dissident Irish republicans on a suburban rail line brought traffic gridlock to London. Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson said the bombers used a known code word in telephone warning calls from Dublin. The police shut down the rail line and safely detonated the bomb. Renegade groups have pledged a bombing campaign to protest the cooperation of the Irish Republican Army and its political party, Sinn Fein, in the Northern Ireland peace pact. Warren Hoge (NYT)

---

Queen Mum braves birthday bomb threats

Washington Times
July 20, 2000
World Scene
http://208.246.212.80/world/ed-column-200072021235.htm

LONDON - Queen mother Elizabeth disregarded bomb threats yesterday and went to her 100th birthday party - an outdoor pageant of singing, dancing, floats and even camels.

The hugely popular royal, mother of Queen Elizabeth II and widow of King George VI, will be 100 on Aug. 4. But celebrations began in earnest a week ago.

Early yesterday, as the last arrangements for the afternoon pageant were falling into place, bomb threats at three underground railway stations shut down extensive sections of the main transport system.

One bomb was found, and the government said it might have been the work of a dissident Northern Ireland paramilitary group opposed to the 1998 peace accord.

---

New York Times
July 20, 2000
World Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/world-briefs.html

SPAIN: BASQUE OFFENSIVE CONTINUES Armed Basque separatists continued an offensive with the bombing of a shopping center in Vitoria, the capital of the Basque region, and a failed bid to blow up a politician's car in Málaga as he took his wife and daughter shopping. There were no injuries in either incident, the fourth and fifth in a week tied to the E.T.A. group. Benjamin Jones (NYT)

-------- activists

Judge Denies Los Angeles Convention Protest Zone

UPI
Thursday, July 20, 2000
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/7/20/11252

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles federal judge said late Wednesday he would not allow the city to limit and restrict protesters at the upcoming Democratic convention to a designated sectioned-off protest area.

The American Civil Liberties Union went to court June 30 seeking an order that would overturn city plans to limit protests to a sun-baked parking lot next to a car wash nearly 300 yards from Staples Center, the venue for next month's convention.

U.S. District Judge Gary Feess announced from the bench that he would issue a written order on Thursday that would declare the designated protest zone concept as "overly broad" and unconstitutional.

"It was a complete victory for us," declared ACLU spokesman Chris Calhoun. "This is great news for people who are in favor of free speech."

The protest zone concept, which was used at the 1996 party conventions in Chicago and in San Diego, is aimed at allowing demonstrators to voice their opinions, but at the same time prevent the interference of the comings and goings of the delegates and support staff.

The ACLU and the groups planning to demonstrate in Los Angeles had complained that the protest area plan prevented the legitimate expression of their viewpoints on national social issues to an audience of influential politicians, the media and Democratic Party officials.

"Free speech can't be swept under the rug and kept so far away that you can't get your message across," said ACLU spokesman Dan Tokaji. "Free speech never takes a back seat to the convenience of the catering trucks."

Fears that demonstrations could turn violent were reinforced late last year when rioting erupted during the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, and last month in front of Staples Center itself when a victory celebration following the Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship game got out of hand and resulted in scattered looting and the burning of two police cars.

Critics of the security plan, however, have contended that free speech rights should not be infringed merely on the assumption that the protests will turn violent.

Tokaji said Feess's pending ruling does not require the city to completely scrap its entire security plan; vehicle access around the center will continue to be restricted, and entry to the arena will require formal credentials.

"There is no question that there are security concerns," said Tokaji, adding that legally the city is required to come up with a "narrow" plan that will ensure security while not infringing on the constitutional rights of the public.

The injunction can be appealed, but Calhoun said Judge Feess has indicated he will not allow the city to launch a series of appeals that will keep the injunction from being put into effect until after the convention.

The city is also fighting to keep planned protest marches under control and moving along agreed-upon routes. A master plan for traffic control was unveiled Wednesday by Mayor Richard Riordan that should keep traffic well away from Staples Center and, at the same time, allow convention delegates to shuttle between their hotels and the arena, and downtown workers to access their freeway ramps.

"I think traffic is going to move more efficiently," said Mayor Richard Riordan, citing plans by downtown businesses to stagger employee work hours or close altogether during the convention.

"We want this convention to be something to celebrate, but we do not want to create any undue inconvenience to Angelenos," he said.

The parade permit process allows police to set up a traffic-control plan ahead of time in order to close streets, set up detours, and assign officers to direct traffic in order to minimize the bottlenecks. An impromptu march, however, would force the Los Angeles Police Department to clear streets on the run and at the same time ensure that marches remain peaceful.

The prospect of hundreds or thousands of demonstrators refusing to stick to their designated routes and marching at will through the streets of downtown could upset traffic control plans and lead to gridlock in the area.

"There will be people who want to exercise their freedoms who may not apply for permits," said protest organizer Celia Alario.

The city's Police Commission on Tuesday approved parade permit requests for three protests groups that plan to march during the convention; an Aug. 13 march on behalf of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal; an Aug. 14 parade by the D2K Convention Planning Coalition against overall corporate greed, and Aug. 15 by the Save the Iraqi Children Coalition.

The permits require all three marches to stay outside the security zone, although the commission rejected a Police Department proposal to ban the use of a sound system by the D2K group during their march.

The parades are part of a raft of protest-oriented events scheduled to coincide with the convention. One such event - a drug-and-alcohol-free gathering of anarchists - is scheduled for an undisclosed location Aug. 11-17. The North American Anarchist Conference said that up to 1,000 people were expected to attend a series of workshops, presentations and discussion groups with an anti-authority theme.

Anarchists were blamed for much of the trouble at the WTO summit in Seattle, but the organizers of the Los Angeles event said they would not be holding a war council to plan convention protests.

"The participants are welcome to organize on their own, but the goal of the conference is to look far beyond the week of the DNC, towards building a truly democratic society," the group said in a release.

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Groups Launch Campaign Against Biotech Foods

Washington Post
Thursday , July 20, 2000 ; A05
By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8583-2000Jul19.html

Opponents of biotechnology have begun a national campaign to pressure major food companies to stop using ingredients made through genetic engineering, or at least to label their products that contain genetically modified material.

A coalition of activist groups announced yesterday that it has selected Campbell Soup Co. as the first of six targets, and that it would encourage consumers to protest directly to the company about its use of genetically engineered ingredients.

"As an American family icon associated with trust and wholesomeness, Campbell's has a responsibility to the American public," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, one of seven groups leading the campaign. He said that Campbell's does not use genetically engineered ingredients in Europe, and should do the same in the United States.

Campbell spokesman John Faulkner said yesterday that the company has no intention of avoiding the genetically engineered corn and soybeans it uses in the United States, and that foods made with the help of biotechnology are "equally safe and nutritious" as conventional foods. He said the company does not use genetically modified ingredients in Europe because the "supply chain" there is free of genetically modified foods. "Things are different in the U.S."

The anti-biotech campaign comes on the heels of a $50 million, nationwide effort by the biotechnology industry to promote the safety and usefulness of its products. The issue has been a highly contentious one in Europe for several years, and the newly organized campaigns for and against biotech suggest that it may become a higher profile fight in the United States as well.

The Food and Drug Administration has generally regarded plants and grains made through gene modification as no different from conventional crops. The National Academy of Sciences has largely supported the technology, saying in a recent report that it is safe and useful, though in need of increased regulation.

But opponents contend the technology has not been well tested, and that American consumers have become "guinea pigs" for a wide array of genetically modified products. They also say that the unplanned spread of modified seeds could have potentially harmful effects on the environment.

Their campaign against individual food companies parallels earlier European campaigns, and is designed to raise public concern before the September release of new Clinton administration rules on biotechnology. The activists believe that the proposed administration rules--which call for voluntary labeling of genetically engineered foods and mandatory notification when new biotech products are invented--are inadequate.

Genetically engineered foods are widespread in the United States; approximately one-third of the corn supply, for instance, comes from biotech sources. The biotechnology industry has opposed the additional government testing the activists are demanding, and has also opposed the labeling of genetically engineered foods.

"It would be unfortunate if those who are concerned about biotech foods feel they have to resort to using intimidation in order to promote their cause," said Stanley Abramson, an attorney who represents the biotech industry, in response to yesterday's announcement.

---

Hundreds of Japanese protest G8mmit, U.S. military Okinawa residents form human chain around base

CNN
July 20, 2000 Web posted at: 5:52 p.m. HKT (0952 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/07/20/G8/index.html

OKINAWA, Japan -- World leaders began arriving in Japan on Thursday for the G8 summit, as hundreds of Japanese protested the meeting and U.S. military presence in Japan and accused the nations of failing to aid developing countries.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/07/20/G8/japan.okinawa.jpg

"Most people here welcome the summit," the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper said Thursday. "But there are doubts. When the world leaders gather, isn't there actually the danger that in fact they will praise the bases?"

A group of Okinawa residents formed a human chain around Kadena Air Base, America's largest military installation in the region, to demand withdrawal of the troops. The chain was approximately 17.4 kilometers (11 miles) long.

"Fifty-five years ago Okinawa was the only place in Japan to suffer a land battle. In all of Japan, we have the greatest experience of suffering in this way," said protest organizer Seishu Sakaihara.

"So we don't want this tragic history to repeat ... If we permit the bases to stay we are allowing war, despite having experienced it ourselves," Sakaihara said.

The G8, or Group of 8, consists of the world's seven leading industrial nations -- the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy -- plus Russia. The three-day summit was to begin Friday.

Students chant in Tokyo

Japan is hosting the G8 for the fourth time, but the first time outside Tokyo. The G8 leaders are expected to discuss issues ranging from the Middle East conflict to North Korea, AIDS and information technology.

In Central Tokyo, a group of radicals chanting "Smash the summit!" marched through the streets protesting the meeting. The protesters, from a student movement, were ringed by approximately 80 plainclothes, traffic and riot police.

The students had a long list of grievances, including recent talks between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, U.S. consideration of a missile-defense shield, Russia's war against Chechen separatists and France's nuclear weapons tests.

"We think it's nonsense for the U.S. and Japan, or the G8 authorities to say they can issue a message for peace or seek a peaceful 21st century," said Sei Sumiyoshi, vice chairman of Zengakuren, the All-Japan Federation of Students' Self-Governing Associations.

Years of objections

Okinawa's residents have objected for years to the military base. They have also been upset that Okinawa, with less than one percent of Japan's land, hosts 75 percent of America's military presence in the country. Approximately 26,000 of the 48,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan have been stationed in Okinawa.

Security was tight on the southern Japanese island ahead of the G8 summit, and Clinton's visit. Approximately 22,000 police officers had been positioned around Okinawa, and several patrol boats had been placed in the bay.

Approximately 25,000 people were expected to protest Thursday at the Kadena base. Thousands of Okinawans demonstrated against the base weeks ago. They said U.S. military personnel on the base, which has been in Okinawa for nearly 50 years, had committed crimes within their community.

Two U.S. soldiers have been arrested -- a marine accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl and an airman for hit-and-run. Their cases are pending. Some of the residents also said the G8 summit was an attempt by the governments to try and appease their anger over those incidents.

Symbolic red clothes

In an attempt to diffuse the tension, the U.S. military imposed an indefinite curfew on its 26,000 members stationed in Okinawa.

"We do not believe that it will overshadow the opportunity for the Okinawa people to host this summit, or our relations with Japan," said U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley.

"But it is an incident that we deeply regret," he said.

On Thursday, many of the protesters wore red, symbolic of a "red card" for the bases. Colored balloons were tied to the fence around the Kadena base, and a women's group displayed handkerchiefs with messages written in Japanese.

"Bases are places where they practice killing people every day," was written on one handkerchief near the base's main gate.

Despite the repeated calls for the closure of the bases, Washington was not likely to shut them down. U.S. officials have said the bases are vital to security in the Asia-Pacific region, especially on the Korean Peninsula.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people waving flashlights and chanting "cancel the debt," marched through Okinawa's streets. They were calling on the G8 leaders to ease the debt crippling the world's poorest nations. Jubilee 2000, a global coalition of charity groups, led the march.

"We remind the creditors that it is a cause of humanity. Life must come before profits," said Charlotte Mwesingye, of Ugandan Debt Relief, to 300 supporters attending Jubilee 2000's conference.

Debt relief undelivered

The G8 leaders were to meet officials from developing nations on Thursday to hear their demands for debt- and poverty-relief. Last year, the G8 announced a $100-billion package of debt relief by the end of 2000 for the 40 poorest nations on earth, or Highly Indebted Poor Countries.

A year later, hardly any of that relief has been delivered.

"The historic promises made then have been left hanging in the air," said Phil Twyford, an advocacy director with the relief group Oxfam International. "The glacial pace at which debt relief has been proceeding threatens the whole plan."

Clinton's debt-relief pledges have been blocked by budget rows with Congress, while the European Union has delayed releasing unspent development funds earmarked for relief until it sees concrete action from Washington.

Critics have said several nations including Japan -- the world's biggest creditor nation -- have refused to write off debt because of fears that countries would run up huge debts again or spend the money saved from debt payments on arms.

"Of course, it is honorable for the debtors to pay their debt. But you must look at the conditions," Mwesingye said.

CNN Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

---

Thousands Form Human Chain Around U.S. Air Base

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 3:09 AM ET
By Elaine Lies
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/wl/group_chain_dc_1.html

OKINAWA ISLAND, Japan (Reuters) - Thousands of residents of the southern Japan island of Okinawa linked hands on Thursday to form a human chain around a U.S. air base in a protest on the eve of a world leaders' summit here.

The protest, to demand the withdrawal of the U.S. military, was held a day before the expected arrival of President Clinton for the Group of Eight summit.

The initially festive atmosphere as the protesters gathered at Kadena, the largest U.S. military installation in the Asia-Pacific region, turned solemn when the chain was formed.

Protesters linked hands then held up their arms as they stood within touching distance of the base's perimeter fence, which stretches 11 miles through central Okinawa.

At the main gate many protesters joined in a children's song, ``Everyone be happy in peace.'' About 30 Japanese policemen kept a low-key presence at the gate, and there were no U.S. servicemen on duty there.

Five minutes after the chain was formed organizers using loud hailers announced: ``The chain has been a success. Thank you for your help.''

The protesters included union members, teachers and homemakers. A group of Christian nuns dressed in white sang peace songs accompanied by a guitar.

Many protesters wore red, symbolizing a ``red card'' for the bases. Colored balloons were tied to the perimeter fence and a women's group displayed banners made up of hundreds of handkerchiefs, each with peace messages written in Japanese.

``Bases are places where they practice killing people every day,'' was written on one floral handkerchief.

``Fifty-five years ago Okinawa was the only place in Japan to suffer a land battle. In all of Japan we have the greatest experience of suffering in this way. So we don't want this tragic history to repeat,'' said Seishu Sakaihara, one of the organizers, adding: ``If we permit the bases to stay we are allowing war, despite having experienced it ourselves.''

More urgency has been injected into the anti-base campaign after a U.S. Marine was recently arrested for molesting a 14-year-old girl and an airman was nabbed for a hit-and-run accident, setting off a wave of protests and demonstrations.

Residents of semi-tropical Okinawa have long objected to the fact that while they have less than one percent of Japan's land, they play host to more than 75 percent of U.S. military bases in the nation, a legacy of the U.S. occupation of the island from 1945 until its return to Japan in 1972.

About 26,000 of the total 48,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan are stationed there -- just over one-quarter of the entire U.S. military presence in Asia.

``We are expressing 55 years of pain through this chain,'' an editorial in the local Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper said. ``It is the only way we can do it.''

The massive Kadena base has the longest runway in the Asian region. The base's Web site says it ``contributes significantly to the island's economy.''

Long-standing resentment of the bases flared after the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl by three U.S. marines, a bitter memory revived by the July 3 arrest of the marine for fondling the 14-year-old girl as she slept in her bed at home.

The incident sparked a flurry of protests, including a rally of 7,000 people last week, and prompted the U.S. military to slap strict disciplinary measures on its forces.

Despite calls for removal of the bases, Washington is unlikely to do so, arguing that their presence is essential for security in the Asia-Pacific. But the recent reduction of tension in the region, especially on the Korean peninsula, brings the issue into question as never before.

The event's organizers say the summit of the Group of Seven industrial nations and Russia being held in Okinawa from Friday to Sunday is a crucial chance to bring their issue to the attention of the world.

``Most people here welcome the summit,'' the Ryukyu Shimpo said. ``But there are doubts. When the world leaders gather, isn't there actually the danger that in fact they will praise the bases?''

The G7 comprises the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Britain and Canada.

---

Protesters ring U.S. base ahead of summit

USA Today
07/20/00- Updated 07:57 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm#g8

OKINAWA CITY, Japan - Tens of thousands of protesters formed a chain around a major U.S. air base Thursday in a show of opposition to the American military presence here ahead of President Clinton's visit for this weekend's Group of Eight summit. There was no independent confirmation of the protesters' numbers, but the demonstration appeared to be one of the largest anti-base protests in years. Organizers claimed to have mobilized more than 25,000 people for the chain, which stretched 11 miles around Kadena Air Base, one of the largest U.S. military installations here. The protest, organized by local labor unions and civic groups, was peaceful, and there were no reports of arrests or incidents.

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Judge Voids Convention Security Zone
Jurist says that large security area planned by L.A. officials for Democratic Convention is a violation of the First Amendment.

Los Angeles Times
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By JEFFREY L. RABIN and BETH SHUSTER, Times Staff Writers
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/elect2000/pres/demconven/lat_dnc000720.htm

U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess ruled Wednesday that the large security zone planned by Los Angeles officials to encircle the Democratic National Convention at Staples Center is overly broad and unconstitutional, a violation of the 1st Amendment rights of demonstrators to be heard.

The judge's action Wednesday is significant for the Los Angeles Police Department's convention planners, who must now accommodate the court and the protest groups who brought the lawsuit.

It was clear from the outset of the federal court hearing that Feess was troubled by the size of the security zone wrapping the entire convention site for several blocks in most directions. At one point he said the officially designated protest zone was "the stepchild here. It is shunted off to the side. . . .I don't believe the 1st Amendment will tolerate that."

Although a formal written order will not be issued until today, the judge said from the bench that the security zone stretching for many blocks around the convention was overly broad and cannot be justified.

He told attorneys for the city that "there is going to have to be an accommodation to allow the plaintiffs to reach their intended audience"--the delegates and officials attending the convention.

And Feess said his formal order will probably require the city to reconsider the application of protest groups to use Pershing Square downtown as an assembly point.

Police Say They Will Comply

LAPD spokesman Sgt. John Pasquariello said the department intends to abide by the ruling.

But officials also acknowledged that it won't be easy.

"This is extremely problematic because of the timing of the potential changes," said LAPD Cmdr. Dave Kalish. "Various agencies have been in the planning process for nearly two years and now changes will have to be made in the final minutes before the event."

The Police Department's convention security plan now must be reexamined, LAPD officials said. Police must reconsider a range of security issues from protecting Staples Center entrances from rowdy--and potentially violent--protesters to its transportation plans for delegates and dignitaries and even its plans to deploy officers during the convention.

Those plans already had been made but LAPD officials say they will be forced to redraw the lines for demonstrators. That work will begin today.

To a packed and hushed courtroom, Feess made it clear he believes the zone extending from the Harbor Freeway on the west to Flower Street on the east and Olympic Boulevard on the north to Venice Boulevard on the south is not sufficiently tailored to balance the legitimate security interests of law enforcement with the constitutional rights of demonstrators.

The decision came in a case filed on behalf of several protest groups by the American Civil Liberties Union against the city and the Los Angeles Police Department.

ACLU attorney Daniel Tokaji hailed the Wednesday ruling. "The court followed the 1st Amendment law to the letter. . . . We expect his ruling . . . will allow our clients close enough [to the convention] to be seen and heard and not swept under the rug. You can't keep them out of sight."

Debra Gonzales, a deputy city attorney, had no immediate comment on whether the city would appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. But city officials will meet this morning to consider what to do next. Gonzales said that if the city doesn't appeal, it will "do the best we can to meet the judge's expectation to keep it [the convention] safe."

In the lawsuit and in court, the civil liberties group sought to have part of the security zone opposite the main entrance to Staples Center opened to protesters, possibly at 11th and Figueroa Streets.

The judge ruled without hearing any direct testimony from the LAPD or the Secret Service, which had declared that the security zone was necessary to protect President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and numerous delegates and officials. Cmdr. Thomas Lorenzen, head of the LAPD's planning for the convention, was in the courtroom, but left through a side door after the ruling.

Feess agreed with the ACLU's arguments that court rulings require government agencies to balance security concerns with free speech rights. The judge said he is not convinced that there aren't alternatives to closing off a large area around Staples to all but delegates, media and convention workers.

He pointedly told Gonzales he felt that the 1st Amendment concerns had been "substantially disregarded" by the city in designing the security zone. Law enforcement agencies had insisted that the secure perimeter was needed to screen for explosives and weapons and to ensure the movement of convention delegates, officials, workers and media representatives.

Feess declined to be drawn into a discussion about specific changes to the zone, although he said relatively minor modifications could accommodate the competing interests between security and free speech. The judge said he did not have a problem with the western or southern boundaries of the zone, those most distant from Staples. And he had no quarrel with planned restrictions on vehicular traffic inside the secured area.

'You Can't Shut Down the 1st Amendment'

In his remarks, the judge took note of the problems that occurred during demonstrations last year in Seattle that threatened to shut down the World Trade Organization meeting. "It's not pretty and it needs to be dealt with in an appropriate way," he said. But "you can't shut down the 1st Amendment about what might happen. You can always theorize some awful scenario."

Tokaji filed the case on behalf of the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, the D2K Convention Planning Coalition, the L.A. Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Los Angeles chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Jennafer Waggoner and Tom Hayden.

He said the protest zone designated on the north side of Olympic Boulevard between Francisco and Georgia Streets was too far removed to be seen or heard by delegates.

Instead, Tokaji suggested the opposite side of Figueroa from the main entrance to the arena. Feess also was sharply critical of the city's parade and permit procedures, saying a 40-day application period was grossly excessive. In his ruling, he intends to address that issue as well.

The city's Recreation and Parks Department has denied the D2K group the right to use Pershing Square opposite the Biltmore Hotel as the start of its march on the first day of the convention, Aug. 14. The Mumia Abu-Jamal group also wanted to begin in Pershing Square, but has not obtained approval to do so.

The Police Commission on Tuesday approved parade permits for the two organizations plus a third group concerned about Iraqi children, but prohibited them from entering the secure zone around Staples.

Protest group representatives were thrilled with the judge's ruling. "We're extraordinarily pleased with this decision," said Don White, who had filed the application for the D2K group's Aug. 14 march. "The court has validated our arguments that the 1st Amendment must be exercised within a reasonable distance of these delegates."

Margaret Prescod, another organizer of the marches and protests, called the ruling "a very warm invitation to the residents of Los Angeles, to people all around the country to join us to make sure your issues are heard."

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.

---

Judge to Block Democratic Convention Security Plan

Yahoo News
Thursday July 20 1:07 AM ET
By Dan Whitcomb
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000720/pl/campaign_convention_dc_3.html

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge said he would strike down as unconstitutional plans by Los Angeles officials to keep protesters at the upcoming Democratic National Convention fenced in and well away from delegates.

U.S. District Judge Gary Feess said he would issue a formal order on Thursday barring the city from enforcing its security plan -- which includes a special ``no access zone'' ringing the Staples Center arena, where the convention will take place -- on the grounds that it violated the demonstrators' free speech rights.

Los Angeles police officials have predicted mass arrests, rioting in the streets and chaos at the Democratic National Convention in August, and have made elaborate plans for containing demonstrators and protecting conventioneers.

Some protest groups have said that they will not be shunted off to the city's designated areas for demonstrations, which are more than a block from the arena, and have vowed to resort to civil disobedience to make their voices heard.

About 60 members of a pro-life youth group called Survivors turned out for Wednesday's 90-minute hearing, which stemmed from a lawsuit filed against the city and its police department by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

``It's the court's view that the no-access zone is unconstitutionally overbroad,'' Feess told the packed courtroom. ''The zone is violative of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution'' which guarantees free speech.

Debra Gonzalez, a lawyer for the city, told Feess that the no-access zone and other security arrangements were necessary to protect those attending the convention, including President Clinton and presumptive nominee Vice President Al Gore.

But Feess, who reviewed detailed plans of the security arrangements, said that some the restrictions seemed to have been put in place mostly for the convenience of conventioneers. He cited one area that was cordoned off so that shuttle buses bringing in delegates would not be disturbed.

``When its convenience vs. the First Amendment, convenience loses every time,'' he said. ``Maybe (the delegates) are going to have to walk a little further. Maybe they are going to have to hoof it.''

Feess said that a major political convention was exactly the type of event that Americans should be allowed to attend and protest without being muzzled by authorities.

``Somehow, somewhere, there has to be communication (from demonstrators) and there can't be communication from parking lot four,'' he said, referring to one of the Staples Center car parks set aside for protests.

Gonzalez said after the hearing that the city would consider appealing Feess' ruling.

Daniel Tokaji, a lawyer for the ACLU, hailed the decision as a victory for the First Amendment and for the demonstrators, many of whom had vowed to risk arrest rather than be confined behind fences.

Sarah Dawson, a spokeswoman for Survivors, said she was pleased with Feess' decision, but said the group would stage protests in front of the Staples Center on Thursday to hammer home their position.

---

Labor Won't Join Protests at Democratic Gathering Convention: Leaders say they'd rather work with Gore than his GOP rival, so they won't join protesters next month in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Times
Thursday, July 20, 2000
By NANCY CLEELAND, Times Staff Writer
mailto:Nancy.Cleeland@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/natpol/20000720/t000068169.html

Labor leaders have closed ranks around Vice President Al Gore and distanced themselves from protests planned for the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles next month, suggesting that the streets will be far less mobbed than some had feared or hoped.

Law enforcement projections of 10,000 to 50,000 protesters have been based largely on the size of crowds that gathered to protest global trade policies in Seattle last year and in Washington, D.C. earlier this year.

But the groundbreaking Seattle demonstrations involved a coalition of union members, environmentalists and students who had clear objectives: to shut down the World Trade Organization summit and force the WTO to consider labor and environmental standards when setting new trade rules.

Organized labor accounted for most of the estimated 45,000 demonstrators in Seattle, and the involvement of major national unions also gave those protests institutional weight.

Some labor activists complained privately that the goals of convention protesters are not as focused, and could hurt Gore's image while accomplishing little else.

Labor has plenty to be unhappy about in Gore, including his position on China trade. But AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said those differences will be set aside from now until November because the alternative of a Republican victory "would be horrible." He also noted that union members account for about one-third of the convention delegates, and thus have a chance of shaping party policy. Sweeney is a delegate, and will address the convention. "We will be inside the hall," he said, "not outside it."

Protest organizers, including some rank-and-file union members, said they had hoped for greater official union support because many of their events will address labor issues, such as the growing wealth gap and trade agreements that shift jobs to low-wage countries.

But they refrained from openly criticizing union leaders. "There's been a lot of dialogue acknowledging that we have different interests," said Lisa Fithian, a veteran labor organizer who is helping to direct the protest effort, dubbed D2KLA. "We want to be sure that we don't create divisions."

The group has not given up on labor, however, and recently leafleted union leaders attending a meeting of the County Federation of Labor, the umbrella group representing union locals. "We're working hard on drawing labor in," said Michael Everett, a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, who chairs D2KLA's labor committee. "We're approaching rank-and-file members and locals and finding a great deal of interest. . . . We're hoping that labor participation will flow into this more in the last days."

Everett and other D2KLA organizers planned to ask local labor officials today to help smooth tensions that have been building between the protest planners and the Los Angeles Police Department. But it was not clear whether the County Federation of Labor would intercede.

D2KLA organizers have repeatedly declared that their protests--meant to criticize the "corporatization" of the Democratic party--will be peaceful.

With about 800,000 union members, the labor federation here is among the largest and fastest-growing in the nation, and played an important role in electing Gov. Gray Davis and numerous state legislators. The federation also has shown it is willing to back militant street action, as it did during a boisterous three-week strike by thousands of union janitors this spring.

Federation officials said they considered organizing a "working families" convention that would spotlight the growing wage gap and lack of health insurance in Los Angeles, as well as support among local workers for immigration reform. But they decided the effort would drain resources just as they are gearing up for the campaign season.

Also, several militant unions have been mollified by winning good contracts in recent months. Two involved engineers and concession workers at Staples Center, the convention site. With those disputes settled, the federation and affected unions have agreed to sign a "labor peace" agreement with the Democrats later this month. The accord will apply only to union members working at the convention.

Several bitter labor disputes are likely to remain unresolved by August. They include contract negotiations involving 41,000 Los Angeles teachers and 45,000 county workers. Also, the hotel workers union is in the middle of an aggressive organizing campaign at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, where a number of Democratic fund-raisers plan to stay during the convention. Hoping to capitalize on the large media presence in town for the convention, which runs Aug. 14-17, all three unions are planning marches and candlelight vigils. But spokesmen emphasized that they will be peaceful gatherings, supportive of the convention and separate from D2KLA events.

"We may not have a convergence when it comes to how we view the Democratic Party and Vice President Al Gore," said Bart Diener, communications director for the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, which represents the county workers. "We are strong supporters, and our members will be working very hard on [Gore's] campaign. We will be very careful that nothing we do will reflect badly on him or hurt his candidacy."

Diener said about 3,000 members, ranging from librarians to welfare eligibility workers, will march past Staples Center on their way to a strike authorization vote Aug. 15. At some point, they will converge with a "pilgrimage" of about 6,000 teachers heading toward a rally at school district administration offices.

"With so many people trying to grab the spotlight, we're a little concerned that our message could be lost," said Steve Blazak, spokesman for the United Teachers of Los Angeles. "But we have a lot going for us. We can turn a lot of people out--our teachers are angry. This is the nation's second-largest school district, and education is high on the national agenda and on Gore's agenda."

Blazak hastened to add, however, "Ours is peaceful and meant to be extremely positive and pro-Gore. Electing Al Gore president is our top priority."

---

Minneapolis braces for animal conference

USA Today
07/20/00- Updated 08:01 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/digest/nd1.htm#delay

MINNEAPOLIS - Police have bought riot gear in anticipation of protests during an animal genetics conference that starts Friday and are consulting with Seattle officials who dealt with riots at last year's World Trade Organization meeting. About 500 scientists from around the world will attend the six-day conference of the International Society of Animal Genetics. At least two animal rights groups have said they are organizing demonstrations and will do whatever is necessary to end what they call the exploitation of animals and dangerous manipulation of genetic material. ''We hope this doesn't turn into another Seattle. We won't tolerate another Seattle,'' police spokeswoman Cyndi Montgomery said.

---

When in romaine . . .

Washington Times
July 20, 2000
Inside Politics Jennifer Harper
http://208.246.212.80/national/inpolitics.htm

Long lines outside the Rayburn House Office Building attested to the truth of that old Capitol Hill adage, "Feed them, and they will come." Add Playboy playmates, and crowds congregate, even if the hot dogs are faux.

"We've had a phenomenal turnout," said Kristie Sigmon, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who threw a vegetarian feast yesterday to counter the "invited guests only" lunch sponsored by the American Meat Institute.

PETA promised that two vegetarian Playmates would adorn the event, clad only in lettuce.

Within an hour, nearly 400 of the tofu-based "not dogs" were gone.

"I am hoping that it is on account of the vegetarian food," said Miss. Sigmon.

She conceded that Miss February 1986, Juli McCullough, and Miss February 1988, Kari Whitman, might have helped the turnout.

How many congressmen did the pair serve?

"Tons," said Miss Whitman.

But the former Playmates didn't wear real iceberg, bibb or even arugula . Both wore fake lettuce-leaf tops and miniskirts.

Jennifer Harper can be reached at 202/636-3085 or by e-mail at harper@twtmail.com.

---

New York Times
July 20, 2000
World Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/world-briefs.html

CXHINA: FALUN GONG ARRESTS Armed policemen rounded up more Falun Gong followers in Tiananmen Square on the eve of the first anniversary of the government's crackdown on the spiritual group. Plainclothes officers converged on a man who tried to unfurl a banner, bustling him into one of the many police vans that are parked around the clock on the square. Dozens of others were rounded up and the square cleared for a visit by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Craig S. Smith (NYT)

OneList subscribers:

1. FW: NCI G-8 Summit Plutonium Fact Sheet Now Available
From: "Viviane Lerner" <vlerner@interpac.net>

2. NucNews 00/07/20 - Daybook
From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org>

3. Fw: [downwinders] Nader has signatures to get on Ohio Presidential ballot (http://www.dispatch.co
From: "Vina Colley" <vcolley@earthlink.net>

4. Nucler Missile Defense: Corruption and Conflicts of Interest in NMD Test Program
From: "Frida Berrigan" <BerrigaF@newschool.edu>

5. NUCLEAR FREE ACTION CAMPS THIS SUMMER!
From: "Bill Smirnow" <smirnowb@ix.netcom.com>

6. Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay (Albeit Sometimes Barely)?
From: easlavin@aol.com

7. National Veterans Committee Community commitment
From: magnu96196@aol.com

8. Our Views: Director sees leaner, meaner national lab
From: magnu96196@aol.com

9. BNFL officially ordered to stop release of metals
From: magnu96196@aol.com

10. Defense bill funds OR robotics work
From: magnu96196@aol.com

12. Panel OKs $18 billion for DOE Proposed funding is a $1.34 billion increase
From: magnu96196@aol.com

13. Former Energy Official's Hard Drive Confiscated
From: magnu96196@aol.com

14. A-bomb workers closer to deal Panel to hammer out compensation
From: magnu96196@aol.com

15. PATENTED PROCESS PACKS DEPLETED URANIUM IN PLASTIC
From: magnu96196@aol.com

16. Radium Found in Well Water More Than Half of Wells in Maryland County Contaminat
From: magnu96196@aol.com

17. 'STAR-WARS'/MISSILE DEFENCE CAMPAIGN TARGETS G 8
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au>

18. Monster international Sign-On letter on NMD/BMD/Star Wars Seeks Signatures
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au>

19. Message From Mayak, Russia
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au>

--------

NCI G-8 Summit Plutonium Fact Sheet Now Available

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 01:43:26 +0100
From: "Viviane Lerner" <vlerner@interpac.net>
Check-out http://www.downwinders.org

This week's G-8 economic summit on Okinawa is likely to address the disposal of plutonium from dismantled U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads. Efforts will be made to establish a framework to fund this plutonium disposition, which will involve the irradiation of plutonium-uranium mixed-oxide fuel ("MOX") in commercial nuclear power plants in both nations.

The Nuclear Control Institute has prepared an issue brief for the summit, detailing the non-proliferation and safety problems with MOX, and urging the G-8 nations to support direct disposal of weapons plutonium as waste by immobilizing it in a highly radioactive glass matrix. The issue brief is available on the NCI website at http://www.nci.org/g8brief.htm

More information about weapons plutonium disposition and the dangers of MOX are available at http://www.nci.org/nci-wpu.htm

We welcome your comments.
Paul Leventhal President
Nuclear Control Institute

---------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 08:04:50 -0400
From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org>

NucNews 00/07/20 - Daybook

1) Washington Daybook, by FIND/AFP and The Washington Times. - July 20, 2000 http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-2000720211950.htm

Nuclear stockpile study release - 1 p.m. - Tri-Valley CAREs holds a news conference to release a new study, "Managing the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile: A Comparison of Five Strategies." Location: Zenger Room, National Press Club, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 925/443-7148.

9a.m. - Senate Agriculture's Nutrition and Forestry Committee holds hearing to examine the implications of high energy prices on U.S. agriculture. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson testifies. Location: 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-2035.

9:30 a.m. - Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on the General Accounting Office investigation of the Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico, and on federal agencies' fire policies in general. Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-4971.

9:30 a.m. - Quadrennial Defense Review conference - The Lexington Institute holds a conference on the Quadrennial Defense Review. Location: 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 703/522-5828.

9 a.m. - Agriculture's Nutrition and Forestry Committee holds hearing to examine the implications of high energy prices on U.S. agriculture. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson testifies. Location: 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-2035.

10 a.m. - Senate Indian Affairs Committee holds a hearing on the Native American Languages Act of 2000. Location: 485 Russell Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-2251.

Livable communities symposium - 6:30 p.m. - The National Building Museum holds a symposium on "Setting the Standard for Creating Livable Communities." Location: 401 F St. NW. Contact: 202/272-2448.

---------

Nader has signatures to get on Ohio Presidential ballot

Message: 3
From: "Vina Colley" <vcolley@earthlink.net>
Thursday, July 20, 2000
James Bradshaw Dispatch Statehouse Reporter
http://www.dispatch.com

The Green Party of Ohio has enough signatures to get Ralph Nader on the November presidential ballot, a party spokesman said yesterday.

"We'll have over 10,000 signatures,'' said Paul Dumouchelle, treasurer of the state party.

A candidate must have a minimum of 5,000 signatures of registered voters on a nominating petition under Ohio election laws.

Under state law, Nader would be listed as an independent rather than carrying the Green Party label, Dumouchelle said, but the party might take legal action seeking ballot recognition.

"The Libertarians sued to have their candidate on as a Libertarian,'' he said. "The Green Party . . . may follow a similar route.''

Nader will be in Columbus on Friday to speak at 6:30 p.m. in Independence Hall on the Ohio State University campus.

Dumouchelle said the Green Party will accept no contributions from political-action committees and intends to offset the dollars of the major parties with the hard work of enthusiastic volunteers.

Volunteers are skilled in gaining free exposure over the Internet, in letter-to-the-editor columns and on call-in broadcast shows, he said.

"Utilization of the Internet makes grass-roots efforts much more effective than they were even four years ago,'' he said.

Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, said the court case Dumouchelle referred to was filed in U.S. District Court in Dayton in 1998 and is still under appeal.

"The Green Party candidate would be listed as an independent on the Ohio ballot because the Green Party holds no standing as an official party in Ohio,'' LoParo said.

Meanwhile, Libertarians and officials of the Reform Party filed the required 35,542 signatures to regain recognized party status on the ballot.

The Green Party's Web site is www.ohiogreens.org.

-----------

Nucler Missile Defense:
Corruption and Conflicts of Interest in NMD Test Program

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 10:50:55 -0400
From: "Frida Berrigan" <BerrigaF@newschool.edu>

Dear Friends,

The following report was originally released July 7, 2000, the day of the latest Missile Defense test. It was updated after the test. You can access this and other reports at www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports.html.

Thanks,
Frida Berrigan, ATRC

Nuclear Missile Deception:
Corruption and Conflicts of Interest in the National Missile Defense (NMD) Test Program

I. Fraud and Incompetence in Missile Defense Programs

"It's not a defense of the United States . . . It's a conspiracy to allow them to milk the government. They are creating jobs for themselves for life." Former TRW Engineer Nira Schwartz, quoted by William Broad, New York Times, March 7, 2000

"We rigged the test," the scientist said. "We put a beacon with a certain frequency on the target vehicle. On the interceptor, we had a receiver." In effect the scientist said, the target was talking to the missile, saying, "Here I am, come get me . . . The hit looked beautiful, so Congress didn't ask any questions." Scientist involved in the Pentagon's June 1984 missile defense test, quoted by Tim Weiner, New York Times, August 18, 1993

The spectacular failure of the Pentagon's latest National Missile Defense (NMD) test on July 8th dramatically underscores the fact that this deeply flawed program is simply not up to the task of defending the United States from even a small number of ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The NMD project has now failed two of its first three "hit-to-kill" tests, in which an interceptor vehicle is supposed to destroy a mock nuclear warhead in mid-flight. And even in the one "successful" test, last October, it was later revealed that the interceptor vehicle had originally honed in on a large, brightly illuminated decoy balloon that in effect helped guide it to the mock warhead. Despite this dismal track record, the Clinton administration is still seriously considering moving towards deployment of an NMD system by preparing to award contracts for long lead-time procurement to begin construction on a key NMD radar system in Shemya, Alaska in the spring of 2001.

What's the rush? Why move full speed ahead on a system with no demonstrated capability for actually protecting the United States against ballistic missiles? The short answer is politics. In the short-term, the Clinton administration is seeking to inoculate Al Gore from Republican charges of being "soft on defense" by throwing money at the defense budget generally and missile defense projects in particular. But now Vice President Gore, who has tried to carve out a reputation for himself as a knowledgeable reformer of costly and inefficient government programs and practices, is in danger of being charged with being "soft on defense contractors" as he stands by in silence while billions of dollars of missile defense contracts are doled out to companies that have records of fraud, corruption, and mismanagement. Given their recent performance, it would be risky to buy a used car from these companies, much less trust them to build one of the most technically demanding and costly weapons programs ever undertaken by the Pentagon.

Fraud is nothing new in missile defense research. But the Clinton Administration's National Missile Defense initiative is permeated with fraud to a degree not seen since the heyday of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in the 1980s. Under persistent pressure from conservative true believers and cash hungry contractors, the Clinton/Gore NMD plan has been an ad hoc undertaking from the start, characterized by scientific fraud, exaggerated threat assessments and political manipulation. Hopefully, the mounting revelations of fraud and mismanagement in the NMD program will force Congress, the Executive Branch, and the defense industry to stop the mad rush to deploy this dangerous and ill-conceived system BEFORE U.S. taxpayers waste tens of billions of dollars pursuing what John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World has aptly described as "a new Maginot Line."

On March 7th of this year, in a front page article entitled "Ex-Employee Says Contractor Faked Results of Missile Test," New York Times science writer William Broad revealed that Nira Schwartz, a senior research scientist at TRW, had filed suit against the company alleging that she had been fired for refusing to falsify basic research findings on the essential question of whether an NMD interceptor could tell the difference between a decoy and a nuclear warhead. On May 11th, after conducting the only independent scientific analysis to date on test data released pursuant to Dr. Schwartz's lawsuit, Dr. Theodore Postol of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta presenting evidence of "criminal fraud" in the NMD testing program.

More than two months later, after another failed NMD test, Dr. Postol's charges have yet to yield a serious, substantive response from the Clinton administration. Instead, the Pentagon and the White House have countered with political spin control, arguing that Dr. Postol would change his mind if only he knew of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) full, classified plans for addressing the decoy problem. The Department of Defense has also engaged in a clumsy and counterproductive effort to chill public discussion by declaring Postol's May 11th letter itself to be classified.

At a May 25th press briefing in Washington, DC, Postol urged the White House to "stop playing politics with an important decision that directly effects the security of the nation," and called for the establishment of "a team of scientists who are truly independent in their fields and independent of the Pentagon . . . to look into this matter." Postol urged the Department of Defense's Inspector General to "investigate and determine whether the BMDO classified the May 11, 2000 letter to the White House in order to hide waste, fraud, and abuse in the BMDO." While the White House has failed to act on Postol's charges, they have resonated on Capitol Hill, where 53 House members led by Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and John Conyers (D-MI) have called for an FBI investigation of potential fraud in the NMD program. Meanwhile, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) has put forward an amendment that would require the Pentagon to test the NMD system in realistic conditions against multiple decoys before making any decisions about deployment.

Durbin's amendment responds in part to further revelations by Postol regarding the Pentagon's "dumbing down" of the test series for the NMD interceptor from now through 2005. Postol persuasively demonstrates that the BMDO redesigned the test series to purposely exclude the numbers and types of decoys that the interceptor had been unable to tell from the mock warhead during preliminary tests. In fact, Postol noted, the large, balloon shaped decoy that had played a part in the only successful NMD intercept to date acted not as a decoy but as a "beacon" which assisted the kill vehicle in its efforts to locate the mock warhead.

The test of July 8th was no better -- it failed despite the Pentagon's best efforts to ensure a positive outcome. As Mark Thompson noted in the July 10th issue of Time magazine (released on July 3rd), the latest test of the system used a similar decoy to the one that served as a beacon in last fall's test (the decoy balloon failed to inflate during the test). In addition, the other parameters of the test were so carefully scripted that Thompson rightly suggested that the experiment is all but rigged:

There are virtually no unknowns in the procedure. The Pentagon knows the type of rocket launching the target as well as the nature of the target; it knows how powerful the rocket's engine is, where it is coming from, and when it is being launched. The crew launching the interceptor will even get to listen in on the countdown of the warhead's rocket as it takes place. All that is valuable intelligence -- and much, if not all of it, would be denied to the U.S. if a rogue state decided to strike. Such advantages "place significant limitations" on the value of the test, says Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.

If the NMD system can't even pass a test that is "all but rigged," how would it fare in a more realistic test environment involving multiple decoys? The extreme difficulties involved in discriminating decoys from warheads and the inadequacy of the Pentagon's current testing regime have been highlighted in a major joint study by scientists affiliated with MIT and the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement by the American Physical Society (the largest organization of physicists in the U.S.), and in a recent letter by 50 American Nobel Laureates organized by the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists which also underscores the strategic risks of proceeding with NMD. But, much like Richard Nixon's "secret plan" for peace in Vietnam, the BMDO's sole response to this avalanche of informed technical criticism has been to claim that it has classified plans for dealing effectively with decoys that cannot be revealed at this time for fear of tipping off potential adversaries.

The Pentagon's continued stonewalling in the face of valid technical critiques of NMD underscores the need for an independent assessment of the program by scientists and organizations that do not stand to profit by ignoring the system's glaring weaknesses. Unfortunately, the NMD testing program as currently structured does just the opposite: it maximizes the authority and influence of companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon which stand to make billions of dollars if a decision is made to go full speed ahead towards deployment.

II. Nonstop Money Dispenser: The Corporate Role in NMD Fraud

As the debate over whether or not to deploy the Clinton Administration's National Missile Defense (NMD) system heats up, it's worth taking a good, hard look at the companies responsible for building the Pentagon's most sophisticated and demanding weapon system yet. Since Ronald Reagan gave his March 1983 speech touting a new missile defense program that could render nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete," the U.S. has spent over $70 billion researching and developing the various mutations of missile defense.

According to the Congressional Budget Office the first two phases of the Clinton administration's NMD system will cost taxpayers at least another $60 billion (counting the costs of dual use communications and tracking satellites). The Council for a Livable World has suggested that the multi-tiered approach favored by George W. Bush could cost $120 billion or more. Even by the standards of the Pentagon, that's a hell of a lot of money.

For the four "lumbering behemoths of the apocalypse" -- the military mega-firms Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and TRW, which despite splitting over $30 billion per year in Pentagon contracts are still struggling financially -- a lead role in the NMD program offers a glitzy new set of projects and a major stream of potential new revenues to lure back investors and skilled personnel who have been turned off by the companies recent track records of corruption, cost overruns, and mismanagement. These four companies dominate the missile defense program at this point, accounting for 60% of total missile defense contracts issued by the Pentagon during the last two fiscal years -- a total of over $2.2 billion during that time period. Since the results of the missile defense tests they are helping to carry out will determine whether they start reaping lucrative, multi-billion dollar NMD production contracts, these major corporate players in the NMD testing program have serious and direct conflicts of interest.

Boeing/TRW

As noted above, recent news reports indicate that TRW, a subcontractor for NMD, faked tests and evaluations of a key component in the NMD system, the "hit-to-kill" vehicle that is supposed to seek out and destroy incoming nuclear warheads against a backdrop of chaff and decoys. The whistle-blower, former TRW senior engineer Dr. Nira Schwartz, served on TRW's anti-missile team in 1995 and 1996. Schwartz contends that in test after test the interceptors failed to discriminate decoys from warheads, but management at TRW refused to report these failures to the Pentagon. After repeated appeals to her boss and colleagues to alert industrial partners and the military to her findings, Schwartz was fired.

Schwartz's allegations revolve around the interceptor being developed for the NMD system. In using computer programs to certify to the government that TRW's interceptor would pick out enemy warheads from decoys, Schwartz found that the proposed interceptor could do so only 5 to 15% of the time rather than 95% of the time, the performance goal established by the BMDO.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon has tried to wave off charges of fraud involving the TRW "hit to kill" vehicle by arguing that a different vehicle, being developed by Raytheon, has been chosen for inclusion in the final NMD system. However, Bacon and his colleagues at the Pentagon have consistently failed to mention that Boeing, which is now the Lead Systems Integrator for the entire NMD project, designed the TRW interceptor vehicle that has been the subject of the fraud allegations. Indeed, Boeing proudly notes on its web site that the Boeing/TRW interceptor is still a "hot backup" in case the Raytheon version fails to perform adequately.

Furthermore, as Theodore Postol pointed out in his May 25th press briefing, "BMDO continues to make transparently false statements about the capabilities of the Raytheon Kill Vehicle relative to the Boeing Kill Vehicle. The Raytheon Kill Vehicle was NOT selected over the Boeing vehicle for technical reasons, as claimed by BMDO. It was selected because a Boeing employee illegally obtained sensitive Raytheon technical documentation on their Kill Vehicle." Postol's charge is particularly damning in the light of Boeing's central role in the biggest defense contracting scandal of the 1980s, Operation Ill Wind, in which the company and several of its key employees were at the center of a network of contractors and Pentagon employees trading in classified information in order to rig bids on major Pentagon weapons development programs.

Boeing's record of fraud and manipulation is especially troubling when one considers how dependent the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization has become on the company for carrying out even the most basic tasks relating to the testing program. As the Lead Systems Integrator for the NMD program, Boeing has unprecedented authority: the company is in charge of organizing and evaluating the entire BMD test series and supervising the work of key prime contractors and subcontractors involved in the research program. To cite one small recent example of the BMDO's dependence on Boeing, the New York Times reported on July 6th that journalists who want to view the July 7th NMD test via satellite would have to do so at Boeing's auditorium in the DC area because the Pentagon lacks the necessary equipment and facilities to provide simultaneous viewing of the test.

Whether Boeing colluded with TRW's manipulation of test results or merely overlooked them, it doesn't bode well for its role as the principal monitoring agent for subcontractors involved in NMD and the chief architect of the entire NMD testing program. Indeed, the most recent report on the NMD program by Philip Coyle, Director of the Pentagon's Independent Office of Testing and Evaluation, found that in its role as Lead Systems Integrator Boeing failed to establish a system for evaluating the testing program OR supervising the myriad subcontractors involved in NMD research and development.

For all practical purposes the fox is guarding the chicken coop: If Boeing is able to orchestrate a series of seemingly credible tests, it stands to make billions of dollars in production contracts for decades to come.

As the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has demonstrated in a series of recent reports on waste and mismanagement in the defense sector, "until contractors improve their performance record and eliminate fraud, oversight remains crucial for protecting the public purse." POGO cites DOD Inspector General Eleanor Hill's similar concerns: "While we understand the many benefits of the new emphasis on Government/industry teamwork, the Department should not assume that procurement fraud no longer occurs. To the contrary, our criminal investigators report that their proactive undercover efforts regularly reveal significant fraudulent activity . . . Many advocates of drastic changes in Government acquisition practices are unaware of, or choose to ignore, the fact that procurement fraud remains a threat to the DOD and the U.S. taxpayer." For example, another POGO report notes that between 1994 and 1996, the defense industry returned more than $850 million to the government just to settle fraud cases under the False Claims Act.

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed has long been associated with the best and the worst of defense contracting, from successful programs like the F-16 fighter and the SR-71 reconnaissance plane to emblematic episodes of fraud and mismanagement like its bailout by the U.S. government in the early 1970s, its central role in the foreign bribery scandals in the mid-1970s, and its infamous role as the provider of the $600 toilet seat in the 1980s. Which Lockheed Martin will we see in the NMD program -- the world class weapons producer or the world class purveyor of cost overruns and contract manipulation? A few examples may help shed light on this conundrum.

Lockheed Martin was in charge of the 1984 Homing Overlay Experiment (part of Reagan's Star Wars) that was later exposed as fraudulent (see source notes for further details).

Lockheed Martin agreed to pay $13 million to settle government accusations that it violated arms export laws by sharing satellite technology with China. The violations date back to 1994 and cover 30 charges concerning dealings with Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite. Lockheed Martin provided Asia Satellite Telecommunications with technology that State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said could be used in missile development.

An independent review of expensive and well-publicized launch failures of Lockheed Martin's rockets and satellites found that the company focused too heavily on cutting costs and not enough on supervising the quality of its work. More than $2 billion worth of military and private satellites were either destroyed or deployed into useless orbits after launch from Lockheed's Titan, Centaur and Athena rockets. Lockheed Martin provided the booster for the failed test of July 8th. The test was delayed for several hours due to a problem with a fuel cell in the Lockheed Martin booster rocket, and when it was finally launched the kill vehicle failed to separate from the booster, which in turn triggered the failure of the kill vehicle to destroy the mock warhead.

Lockheed Martin will pay the government $5 million to settle claims that two subsidiaries overcharged the Navy for anti-submarine devices. U.S. Attorney Paul Gagnon stated that the government paid between $1.8 million and $3.8 million too much for products from Nashua-based Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company, and Marietta, Georgia-based Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. He also noted that the settlement would save the government the expense of a court battle over Lockheed's pricing practices.

A rash of last-minute technical problems prevented Lockheed Martin's new rocket from lifting off in May of this year. It was the third delay in three days for the Atlas III, the first U.S. rocket to be equipped with a Russian engine. A broken radar thwarted the following try. In addition to the diplomatic and political issues raised by the professed willingness of the Clinton/Gore administration and the Bush campaign to share missile defense technology with Russia, the problems with the Atlas III raise an additional warning flag regarding such cooperative efforts.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the PAC-3 theater missile defense system, which is running more than 30% over budget (or approximately $233 million). Lockheed Martin may have to pay about $70 million to cover its portion of the cost overrun.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Army's troubled Theater High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), which has succeeded in only 2 of 8 tests to date and was plagued by such serious problems that there was talk in late 1998 of taking the program away from Lockheed Martin and giving it to another contractor. A $15 million fine against Lockheed Martin for poor performance was lifted last year after THAAD scored two hits after six consecutive failures. Despite the history of problems in the program, Lockheed Martin recently received clearance to proceed to the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the THAAD project, which could be worth up to $4 billion in contracts to the firm.

Raytheon

Raytheon, which just a few years ago seemed like the "most likely to succeed" among the new breed of military mega-firms, has been plagued by its own problems lately, ranging from an embarrassing "recall" of hundreds of Patriot missiles it had sold to U.S. allies after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to an admission that it had not engaged in proper testing of electronic components provided to the Pentagon.

The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) being developed for the NMD program has been the object of serious concern and criticism. The Welch panel stated, "The visit to the Raytheon facility in Tucson highlighted the impacts of the 'hardware-poor' nature of the EKV program. There were no spares, no development articles, and no articles available for parallel activities that could significantly reduce development and test risk. The first article built appears to be the one that will fly." The panel also pointed out that the EKV may not be able to withstand the shock loads once mounted on the actual Ground Based Interceptor booster, which will not be demonstrated until 2003 when the integrated GBI (operational version of the booster and EKV) will be tested.

Other technical problems with the EKV have included fuel leaks, problems with the Inertial Measurement Unit (which independently guides the test kill vehicle in flight), and failure of components of the IR sensor system on the EKV. The failure of the July 7th NMD test was due in large part to the failure of the Raytheon kill vehicle to separate properly from the Lockheed Martin booster rocket. As a result, the sensors used to hone in on the mock warhead were never turned on, and the vehicle sailed wide of its target.

The Army had to replace hundreds of PAC-2 missiles after problems with components of the missile. While the Army is working with Raytheon to find the root of the problem, so far they were able to pinpoint it to the missile's black box, or the radio frequency downlink, which sends signals back and forth to the ground station and the missile.

As part of a settlement with the government, Raytheon will pay back $1.06 million to the federal government for cutting corners on tests of electronic weapons components.

Raytheon Aerospace Co., a subsidiary of Raytheon Co., has agreed to settle allegations that it used a security firm to spy on a small competitor in Alabama three years ago. Raytheon agreed to pay $16 million to AGES Group, of Boca Raton, FL, to settle allegations that it had engaged in at least three days of industrial spying that included video and audio surveillance and thefts of documents.

Raytheon agreed to pay the federal government more than $400,000 to settle a claim that its Beech Aerospace Services subsidiary overcharged the Pentagon on a 1991 aircraft maintenance contract. The government claimed that Raytheon double-billed for certain parts in maintenance work that was performed at various sites around the world.

The Bottom Line: Still Rushing to Failure

Given their inherent conflicts of interest and their recent histories of fraud and mismanagement, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, TRW and Raytheon must be closely monitored -- by both the Pentagon and by a panel of outside experts on ANY testing and research and development work they undertake on the NMD program. Until an effective monitoring system can be established, the Clinton Administration should suspend the NMD program and take it off what the first Welch panel rightly described as its "rush to failure."

Selected Sources (consult the authors for additional details):

These source notes include selected excerpts from key articles along with a list of some of the major sources consulted in the production of this report. For additional information, consult www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms, as well as the web sites of the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers (www.crnd.org), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (www.ceip.org, click on Nonproliferation Project), and the Federation of American Scientists (www.fas.org, click on Space Policy Project).

New York Times by Tim Weiner, August 27, 1993 "Last year, the GAO audited seven 'Star Wars' tests between 1990 and 1992. The auditors found that three of the tests were accurately described to Congress. Those three tests were complete or partial failures. The missile defense program's officials told Congress the other four tests were successes. That was untrue, the auditors said.

The inaccurate claims included the success rate of experiments, the progress of the programs, the sophistication of the tests, the ability of interceptor missiles to distinguish between a target and a decoy and the missiles' achievement of accuracy and altitude goals, the GAO reported.

'They have lied about certain functions that their missiles are supposed to perform,' said a Federal investigator who agreed to speak only if he was not identified. 'They've used things to enhance the target. The fact is that you've got something up there solving your guidance problem. And you've got an incentive to deceive. That's how you keep your program going.'

A former Reagan administration official, a nuclear physicist who closely studied the missile defense program in the 1980s, said it was characterized by 'secrecy, greed, self-deception, deception of Congress and actually even of the President.' The former official, who remains a Pentagon consultant and who spoke on condition of anonymity, is not among the accusers in the debate."

New York Times by Tim Weiner, August 18, 1993 "Officials in the 'Star Wars' project rigged a crucial 1984 test and faked other data in a program of deception that misled Congress as well as the intended target, the Soviet Union, four former Reagan administration officials said."

"Lockheed Will Pay $13 Million to Settle Charges of Sharing Satellite Technology," by Helene Cooper, Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2000.

"Report Hits Lockheed Cost Cutting," by Tim Smart, Washington Post, September 1, 1999.

"Lockheed Martin to Pay $5 Million," The Associated Press, May 21, 2000.

"New Rocket Runs Into Rash of Woes," The Associated Press, May 18, 2000.

"Patriot PAC-3 Missile 37 percent Over Budget," by Tony Capaccio, Defense News, June 21, 1999.

"National Missile Defense Review," Panel headed by Gen. Larry Welch, USAF, released November 1999.

DOD News Briefing with Lt. Gen. Paul Kern, Military Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Logistics and Technology, March 23, 2000.

"Raytheon Settles for $1.06m," by Ross Kerber, Boston Globe, June 10, 2000.

"Raytheon Unit Settles Industrial-Spying Allegations," by Gregg Krupa, Boston Globe, May 13, 1999.

"Raytheon Agrees to Settle Claim," Wall Street Journal, January 22, 1999.

"A Missile Defense With Limits: The ABC 's of the Clinton Plan," by William Broad, New York Times, June 30, 2000.

"Ex-Employee Says Contractor Faked Results of Missile Tests," by William J. Broad, New York Times, March 7, 2000.

Frida Berrigan Research Associate Arms Trade Resource Center 65 Fifth Avenue, Suite 413 New York, New York 10003 212-229-5808 ext. 112 fax: 212-229-2279 email:berrigaf@newschool.edu

---------

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 15:46:32 -0400
From: "Bill Smirnow" <smirnowb@ix.netcom.com>

NUCLEAR FREE ACTION CAMPS THIS SUMMER!
NIRS http://www.nirs.org & http://www.antenna.nl/~wise

Maybe some of our colleagues around the world, especially in Europe & Asia which are so laden with nuclear power reactors want to set up similar anti-nuclear action camps.

A map of the world's nuclear reactors should be at: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/locations.html

-Bill Smirnow

Make plans now to attend one (or both!) of this year's Nuclear Free Action Camps! Come to the Nuclear Free Northeast camp near Brattleboro, VT August 18-22. The Nuclear Free Great Lakes camp is near Kalamazoo and runs August 20-27. Both camps will feature great workshops, trainings, speakers, actions, and fun. People and groups interested in setting up action camps elsewhere in the country (esp the Southeast!) next year are especially encouraged to attend the Great Lakes camp.

Below are new releases from each camp....

See you at camp!

Michael Mariotte Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Back by populist demand!.... Nuclear Free Great Lakes ACTION CAMP August 20-27 Van Buren Youth Camp, Bloomingdale, MI to register, call: 1-877-9NF-GLAC

July, 2000

Dear Friend of "Clean Energy NOW!,"

We're back! We're sending you this invitation to come to a summer camp unlike anything you've ever experienced or imagined. In fact, we want this camp to be one of the most memorable and important experiences of your life!

Welcome to the Nuclear Free Great Lakes Action Camp!

The Nuclear Free Great Lakes Campaign  consisting of seven of the region's most active and involved safe-energy environmental organizations  is actively working to rid the Great Lakes Bio-Region of all hazardous nuclear reactors and contamination sites. We've created this special annual summer training camp to

educate activists and the general public about nuclear power hazards, and promote safe-energy alternatives to its continued use train the next generation of safe-energy and environmental activists, both on the energy-related issues affecting the bio-region, and in the skills needed to become effective and successful activists and organizers, and put your skills to work immediately by targeting a local nuclear facility and working for its closure

But, to make this work, we need one more thing  YOU!

This year's Camp will be all that last year's was, and much more. We learned a lot from last year's Camp, and for a year have made plans that improve on that successful first Camp -- which was attended by over 200 safe energy activists from all over the country!

Like last year's Camp, participants will attend a daily series of workshops, plenaries, events, and training exercises on issues topics relating to nuclear power, alternative energy, radioactive wastes, and environmental justice (see the "Camp Schedule" Excel attachment). Other workshops on topics like media work, fundraising, non-violence training, and grass roots organizing are designed to teach activist and organizer skills.

No previous knowledge of either nuclear power issues or grass-roots organizing is required  just a desire to do something meaningful and important for the environment, work with other committed and like-minded people, and make yourself a better person in the process.

We have invited some of the best and most effective trainers and presenters in the nation on these topics and skills. And we have invited some very inspirational speakers who will tell you from first hand experience what it means to be an environmentalist, what it takes to be successful, and what's at stake in our success or failure.

But, more than that, the Camp is also meant to teach people that they must balance their own personal lives to be effective and successful. This means a healthy dose of FUN IN THE SUN in addition to workshops and events. After all, it is at a youth Camp. You can camp, play, swim, hike, whatever. While we're arranging for several musical groups to come, bringing musical instruments and play materials is strongly encouraged.

Two pieces of not-so-fine but important print: to make this Camp a success, and to begin building the kind of team we'll need to defeat the nuclear industry, EVERYONE will be required to perform some daily task to help keep the Camp running. We don't care who you are, or what you do "out there," at this Camp it's "everyone pulls his/her weight." Everyone takes responsibility to make it run well. Second, again to make this Camp work, keep people focused, and avoid hassles with the locals, this Camp will be drug and alcohol free.

The Camp WILL be fun. It WILL be intense and challenging. It WILL give you the information and skills that can be used in all aspects of environmental work. It WILL help you confront your own "areas of growth" and "blind spots" to make your own environmental work more effective.

And, perhaps most important of all, it will continue last year's effort to build an effective, multi- state, multi-national, multi-cultural MOVEMENT calling for the end of the nuclear age, and the beginning the Age of "Clean Energy -- NOW!", the theme for Earth Day 2000. Sustainable Energy for the New Millennium!

And if you can't wait to get started, or if you can't come but want to get involved some how, there are ways you can help the Camp from home right now. Take a look at the attachment information ("WYCD") for ways to get involved and help promote the Camp and its goals.

Please look over the attachments, fond in Word and WordPerfect. Feel free to contact any of the organizing groups. Ask yourself to what better use of time you could put that week in August. Then, fill out the application ("2000 flier" attachment), send or call in your tuition (we take credit cards), and start making your plans to attend! We would appreciate having your registration in by August 5th.

We look forward to meeting you, and working with you to make the Great Lakes nuclear free. Stay well, keep doing great things. See you in Camp!!

For a Nuclear Free Great Lakes,

Dave Kraft, Director, NEIS Steering Committee

MA: Box 83 Shelburne Falls, MA 01370 P/F: 413-339-5781/8768 CT: 54 Old Turnpike Road, Haddam, CT 06438 P/F: 860-345-8431 VT: C/O Box 566 Putney, VT 05346 P/F: 802-387-4050 NH: 9 Evens Road, Madbury, NH 03820 P/F 603-742-4261 NY: 164 Cambridge St, Syracuse, NY 13203 315-472-5478/ 7923 CITIZENS AWARENESS NETWORK FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 17, 2000 Contact: Debbie Katz, CAN, 413-339-5781 Michael Mariotte, NIRS, 202-328-0002

ACTION CAMP CENTERS ONTHE GLOBALIZATION OF NORTHEAST NUKES HUNDREDS TO GATHER FOR WORKSHOPS AND DIRECT ACTION

The third Northeast anti-nuclear "action camp" begins near Brattleboro, Vermont, August 18, 2000 and runs through August 22. During that period, activists will participate in workshops and training sessions in a forested, camp setting; and will arrest Vermont Yankee Nuclear Corporation in Brattleboro, VT on August 21st.

The camp is occurring again in Vermont to focus on the potential sale of Vermont Yankee to a controversial multinational holding company, and the potential sale of the remaining Northeast reactors to AmerGen and/or Entergy, two global holding companies. The goal of this year's Camp is to educate people about these corporations and provide activists with the skills and resolve to oppose the sale of their local nuke. These deals tie ratepayers to bailing out the nuclear industry from its bad debts, and locks ratepayers into 12-15 year above-market power contracts.

The camp, in nearby Dummerston, Vermont, includes morning panel discussions and afternoon training workshops featuring many of the most knowledgeable members of the environmental/anti-nuclear movements. The camp will include training in civil disobedience tactics/strategies and the philosophy of nonviolence. A full agenda is available upon request, or at CAN's Website www.nukebusters.org; and NIRS' Website (www.nirs.org).

On Monday, August 21, camp participants and local residents will gather at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Corporation's headquarters in Brattleboro for a disciplined, nonviolent direct action intended to demonstrate that the real criminals are those operating the reactor, not those demonstrating against it.

"The prospect of holding companies with limited accountability buying aging, embrittled nukes and gambling on cost cutting and decommissioning funds to make a profit is unconscionable," said Deb Katz, Executive Director of Citizens Awareness Network. Ms. Katz was referring to both Entergy and AmerGen's corporate downsizing policy - firing the skilled work force and cutting back on maintenance to cut corners. "The skilled workforce is our first line of defense to protect workers and people who live near these failing stations. In fact, there could be more nuclear workers employed during decommissioning than after AmerGen downsizes. Long term on-site cool down of the station would employ a lot of workers for a long time." Katz said. "These reactors should be shut down now by the people."

"By denying even informal hearings on these sales to citizens groups and state governments, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made clear that it does not want public involvement in their processes, said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the national Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), which co-sponsors the action camp. "That's because these sales cannot withstand the light of day. The NRC seems to be emulating the WTO; by eliminating all meaningful public participation, they're forcing the public to take its stand in the streets. That's why one purpose of the action camp is to train people to participate in growing non-violent civil disobedience actions."

"It's hard to figure out what's more troubling: companies like Entergy and AmerGen running New York and New England reactors, or the subversion of democracy that is making it possible," said Tim Judson of Central New York-CAN. "NYPA and the utilities are prepared to give away literally billions of dollars of ratepayer money to unload these nuclear lemons. Safety isn't even on the table. It's time they heard the people's voices on the issues, which is why we've focused this year's camp on the sales."

"At Indian Point, we're already catching a glimpse of what's to come," said Marilyn Elie of Westchester-CAN. "Indian Point 2 has only gotten worse under deregulation. We've had an accident and a near accident in the last year because of utility cost-cutting and postponing maintenance." Ms. Elie was referring to the February 15 accident and the August 31 emergency at IP2; in both cases, government inspectors found that Consolidated Edison has neglected maintenance and operator training for years. "Things aren't much better at Indian Point 3. Workers have suffered harassment for voicing safety concerns, and 188 workers were contaminated last fall because NYPA rushed a maintenance outage to impress Entergy while they were negotiating the sale. There's no reason why anyone would want these reactors, except to make a lot of money gambling at the people's expense. But that alone is enough to say no to the sales."

"The people in the Northeast have had enough atomic turkeys; we don't have to import them from England or the south," said Fred Katz, President of the Citizens Awareness Network. "Given the ever-mounting costs of decommissioning and the effects of a single, massive failure by one large company, holding dozens of facilities, the financial consequences could easily outstrip the Savings and Loan scandal."

"In Connecticut, holding the local utility, NU, accountable for its shoddy and dangerous management practices at its reactors has been near impossible. Holding multinational/global corporations responsible, when they have no ties to our communities, will be impossible," said Rosemary Bassilakis, a researcher with CAN.

"Nuclear power is a technology that has failed us. According to recent polls, 70% of the American people are against nuclear power and want resources directed to energy efficient alternatives," said Derrik Jordon, of VTCAN. "The state's ratepayers have already paid the vast majority of the cost for these reactors, and they will be forced to pay the rest if the sales are allowed. The decision of whether the plants continue to run or not should belong to the people. But these transfers are happening so quickly, there has been little to no opportunity for ordinary citizens to participate in the process, nor even to become adequately informed about what is taking place. This represents a meltdown of democracy, which we believe the state government still has the opportunity and responsibility to prevent."

The media is welcome at the New England Action Camp and related activities. For maps, logistical information, to set up interviews with speakers, workshop leaders, etc., please contact CAN at 413-339-. 5781 or NIRS at 202-328-0002

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Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay (Albeit Sometimes Barely)?
Lockheed Martin Declares 11-Cent Quarterly Dividend

Message: 6
From: easlavin@aol.com
July 20, 2000

BETHESDA, Maryland, July 20, 2000 -- Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) board of directors today declared a regular quarterly dividend on the Corporation's common stock of 11 cents per share.

The dividend is payable September 29, 2000, to holders of record at the close of business on September 1, 2000.

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National Veterans Committee Community commitment

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 20:14:36 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

To the Editor:

This letter is in reference to the Letter to the Editor from Ms. Patsy Pesterfield on Friday, July 7, Subject: "Reader takes issue with Defense Operations of East Tennessee."

We are sorry that Ms. Pesterfield misinterpreted the objective behind our commitment to have our senior managers and leaders live in the community so closely involved in and benefited by Y-12's operations.

Commitment and support to the community can come in many forms, and for the leaders of Defense Operations, we have chosen as one form of that commitment having our families live and work in the Oak Ridge community. We have not nor do we intend to "require" other employees live in any locality; that is their personal choice.

For Y-12's future, the support and backing of the Oak Ridge community is essential, as is the commitment and support from its workforce. In this regard, Defense Operations also has committed to return to Y-12's employees a significant portion of its fee for successful operations of Y-12 in the form of performance bonuses, so that all those who contribute to Y-12's success share in the reward for a job well done.

Y-12's capability to perform its mission safely and cost effectively depends not only on the support of the community, but also its people, and an efficient plant and operating processes.

David W. Swindle, Jr. Vice President, Deputy Gen'l Manager Science and Engineering Division 101 N. Rutgers Ave., Suite 201

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Our Views: Director sees leaner, meaner national lab

Message: 8
From: magnu96196@aol.com
July 20, 2000
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

Oak Ridge National Lab Director Bill Madia brings the right attitude to an otherwise very difficult task.

"We must become far more efficient and cost-effective in a tough scientific market with lots of competition for research dollars," Mr. Madia said as he announced ORNL will be cutting operating costs by $30 million over the next two years.

The cuts total $20 million in the first year and an added $10 million the second, a pretty sizable chunk of change even for a lab budget of $237 million annually.

But the national labs are having imposed upon them the lessons earlier directed at many college campuses across the nation: cut costs and become more lean, mean and focused for the futu

Mr. Madia has appointed eight groups to make recommendations on cost reductions and to determine staffing effects, as the possibility of personnel cuts remains on the table. The lab employs 4,500. Layoff plans are expected to be announced by August 15. The director insists no corner of the lab -- including his own office -- will be spared in the review.

But it was, after all, UT-Battelle's proposed plan to reduce ORNL's operating costs that helped it to win the contract to manage the Oark Ridge facility.

Now, painful as those reductions may be, it is time to make good on the promise. And we share the director's assessment that paring costs can make the lab stronger and more competitive down the road.

"If we do that -- when we do that -- we'll go from being a relatively expensive laboratory to a highly competitive laboratory," Mr. Madia said.

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BNFL officially ordered to stop release of metals

Message: 9
From: magnu96196@aol.com
July 20, 2000
by Paul Parson
Oak Ridger staff
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

BNFL Inc. has officially been ordered by the Department of Energy to stop releasing potentially contaminated materials from its cleanup work at the Oak Ridge K-25 site.

The notification follows last Thursday's suspension by U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on the release of potentially contaminated scrap metals from DOE facilities.

In a letter to BNFL Inc. General Manager James L. McAnally yesterday, Mark Million, contracting officer for DOE, states "this correspondence is to provide you with formal Departmental notification to immediately suspend the unrestricted release for recycling of scrap metals from radiation areas within Department of Energy facilities under the subject contract."

The letter adds DOE expects to request a proposal from BNFL once the federal agency has determined the scope of the work suspension and its duration.

The suspensionis part of a new policy aimed at ensuring contaminated materials are not recycled into consumer products and at improving management of scrap materials at DOE sites, according to Richardson. When announcing the suspension, he added it will remain in effect until DOE sites can confirm that recycled metal would contain "no detectable contamination from departmental activities."

BNFL is under contract to clean up three gaseous diffusion processing plants at the Oak Ridge K-25 site.

David Campbell, a representative for the company, said more than 600 people are employed through BNFL and its partners on the project. He would not specify how many of those jobs might be at risk.

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Defense bill funds OR robotics work

Message: 10
From: magnu96196@aol.com
July 20, 2000
from staff reports
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

An Oak Ridge company should benefit financially from a defense bill approved Wednesday by the House of Representatives.

The bill includes $1.55 million, requested by Congressman Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, to upgrade high-tech robots used to locate and dispose of chemical and biological weapons.

The funds will go to the U.S. Navy, which buys the robots from a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, REMOTEC of Oak Ridge. REMOTEC employs about 100 people in the design and manufacture of the robots.

The robots are used by the military, civilian and police agencies around the world to protect against chemical, biological and other weapons of mass destruction.

"Given the growing terrorist threats that we face at home and around the world, it is very important that we have the very latest and best equipment to combat this dangerous menace to people everywhere," Wamp said in a press release. "This money will help an Oak Ridge firm to perform this vital mission."

Wamp had the money added to the Defense Appropriations bill that passed the House. A joint House-Senate Conference

See ROBOTICS, Page 10A

also has approved including money in the final defense appropriations bill. That final version of the bill was approved by the House Wednesday and will go to the Senate before being sent to President Clinton for his signature.

"We sincerely appreciate Congressman Wamp's ongoing support of this important robotics technology development work here at REMOTEC in Oak Ridge under the sponsorship of the U.S. Navy," said Ken Farnstrom, manager of production at REMOTEC.

Farnstrom said REMOTEC hopes to add employees in the future as a result of additional funding.

The $1.55 million obtained by Wamp will allow REMOTEC to develop robotic vehicles with various enhancements, such as improved transmissions, Global Positioning Systems for better mapping and location work and greater ability to navigate around obstacles.

The military now uses more than 200 REMOTEC robots around the world. The robots are also used by police and civilian agencies, including the Oak Ridge Y-12 Weapons Plant. And the Knoxville Police Department has recently bought a second REMOTEC robot.

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Panel OKs $18 billion for DOE
Proposed funding is a $1.34 billion increase

Message: 12
From: magnu96196@aol.com
July 20, 2000
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/
by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved yesterday the Energy and Water FY01 Appropriations bill providing $17.95 billion for the Department of Energy -- $1.34 billion more than the current year and $202 million below the budget request.

Under this bill, DOE science programs are appropriated $2.87 billion, which is $82.5 million more than the current year and $292.5 million below the budget request. Included in that recommendation is $221.9 million to continue construction on the Spallation Neutron Source. DOE officials were seeking $278 million for work on the $1.4 billion project.

Other DOE science programs receiving funding are high energy physics, nuclear physics, biological and environmental research, basic energy science and fusion energy science.

The appropriations bill includes $309.1 million for non-defense environmental management and $297.8 million for uranium enrichment decontamination and decommissioning activities.

In addition, $6 billion is provided for defense environmental management, which is $326 million more than the current year and $117.6 million below the budget request.

Also included in the appropriations bill is $691.5 million for energy supply, including $444.1 million for renewable energy resources, which is $53.6 million over the current year. The committee also recommends $118.1 million for biomass research, $28 million for geothermal energy research, $5.5 million for hydrogen programs, $112.1 million for solar programs and $43.9 million for wind.

The committee recommendation also provides $262.1 million for nuclear energy research, $38.3 million for environmental, safety and health and $8.5 million for energy support activities.

Funding totaling $6.497 billion is included for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is $319 million more than the fiscal year 2001 budget request.

Recommendations include $4.88 billion for weapons activities, $908.9 million for defense nuclear nonproliferation, $694.6 million for naval reactors and $10 million for expenses in the administrator's office.

Other areas funded include power marketing administrations, $199.6 million; nuclear waste disposal program, $351.2 million; and $579.5 million for other defense activities which consists of intelligence activities, security and emergency operations, defense environmental, safety and health, and worker and community transition programs.

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Former Energy Official's Hard Drive Confiscated

Message: 13
From: magnu96196@aol.com
July 20, 2000
By Vernon Loeb Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/20/235l-072000-idx.html

The FBI has obtained a computer hard drive used by former Energy Department intelligence chief Notra Trulock III after officials at the CIA and other federal agencies complained that Trulock may have included classified information in a proposed article, senior officials said yesterday.

FBI spokesman John Collingwood said last night that the FBI "received information from other government agencies that classified information was subject to possible compromise." The FBI has an obligation, he added, "to obtain the facts and determine whether further investigation is warranted."

One senior Clinton administration official said the FBI's investigation began after Trulock, who gained national prominence last year for spearheading an espionage investigation at Los Alamos National Laboratory, forwarded a manuscript for possible publication to the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence.

CIA officials declined to publish the article, in which Trulock alleged that there were espionage and security lapses throughout the Energy Department's nuclear weapons complex, the official said. But in declining publication, the official said, CIA officials expressed concern that it contained classified information.

When other federal officials agreed, the FBI began investigating and obtained the hard drive on which agents believed the article had been drafted, the official said.

Trulock, who abruptly resigned as the Energy Department's deputy director of intelligence 11 months ago for a job in the private sector, could not be reached for comment.

But Trulock told the National Review this week in an interview that the FBI confiscated the computer hard drive last Friday on the suspicion that an article he wrote for the July 31 issue of the National Review contains classified information. Trulock said that FBI agents told his landlady that they would break down his door if she did not cooperate.

In the National Review article, Trulock said that the FBI was "dilatory" in pursuing espionage allegations at Los Alamos, and alleged that top Energy Department officials lied to Congress about the case.

Trulock is quoted by the magazine as alleging that he was dismissed from his job at TRW Inc., a major defense contractor in Northern Virginia, because of pressure from the Energy Department.

Darryl M. Fraser, a TRW spokesman, said the company does not discuss personnel matters but denied that Trulock's dismissal was related to pressure from the Energy Department.

Natalie Wymer, the department's spokesman, said the department has had no contact with TRW with regard to Trulock's employment there.

One senior Energy Department official, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the department is reviewing, at the FBI's request, the article Trulock submitted to the CIA to determine whether it contains classified information. The document under review, the official said, is much longer than the article Trulock wrote for the National Review.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), who chaired a House select committee on Chinese espionage that took lengthy testimony from Trulock, called the FBI's confiscation of Trulock's computer hard drive "highly irregular" and demanded an explanation from the FBI.

"Congress ought to be briefed about these things, when there are such obvious appearances of abuse of power," Cox said.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, meanwhile, has spoken to Trulock and asked for a briefing by FBI officials, a Capitol Hill source said.

After a largely anonymous career as an analyst and intelligence official at Los Alamos and the Energy Department, Trulock emerged in the spring of 1999 as the figure most responsible for pursuing allegations of espionage at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Subsequent official reviews of the case have faulted both Trulock and the FBI for prematurely focusing on former Los Alamos physicist Wen Ho Lee as a prime espionage suspect in the absence of hard evidence that nuclear weapons designs from the lab were actually compromised.

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A-bomb workers closer to deal
Panel to hammer out compensation

Message: 14
From: magnu96196@aol.com
Subject: A-bomb workers closer to deal Panel to hammer out compensation
July 20, 2000
By Lisa Pevtzow Staff Writer
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/201nd6.htm

Chicago-area workers exposed to the toxic metal beryllium while developing the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project 50 years ago are a step closer to receiving compensation for their illnesses. A committee composed of members of both houses of Congress will review the Thompson Amendment, a Senate proposal to compensate U.S. Department of Energy workers harmed by exposure to hazardous materials.

On July 13, the Senate approved 97-3 a defense spending bill, which includes the compensation provision giving defense workers a choice of lost wages and medical care or a lump sum payment of $200,000 and medical care.

Illness, according to the bill, is assumed to be work-related if the employee worked at a facility where exposure was likely.

It also would compensate federal employees, whose illnesses are likely to be connected to exposure from radiation and other toxic substances at bomb factories and labs.

However, since the House of Representatives already passed its own version of the defense spending bill, which does not include the compensation provision, the matter will be hammered out in the coming weeks by legislators from both houses, said Burson Taylor, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), who sponsored the Senate amendment.

If the amendment makes it through the conference committee, the final bill will be sent back to both houses for a vote this fall.

Larry Kelman, a retired scientist at Argonne National Laboratory who was exposed to beryllium during his work on the Manhattan Project, expressed cautious optimism about the legislation Wednesday.

"I guess it reassures us that, yes, they mean business," said Kelman, who suffers from beryllium-induced disease. "They've made motions in the direction of doing something and reneged on it so many times. But I don't have confidence until I actually see something (passed into law)."

Hundreds of Manhattan Project staff inhaled tiny particles of beryllium while helping develop the atomic bomb at a University of Chicago laboratory, now Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont.

Energy Department officials have estimated that 2,300 people in Illinois were exposed to beryllium while doing government weapons work, mostly at Argonne.

Disease rates suggest that between 75 and 125 have or will develop the debilitating lung disease, which is fatal to about a third of its sufferers. It can develop up to 40 years after exposure.

Until recently, the government has fought lawsuits demanding compensation, and argued that there is no proof the illnesses were caused by their work. But in January, a federal panel concluded there was "credible evidence that the illnesses were related to work exposure."

The Energy Department has since proposed minimum lump sum payments of $100,000 for employees of DOE contractors who developed cancer as a result of radiation exposure at the weapons plants.

"Workers ... across the country who served our nation during the Cold War have waited too long for the federal government to address their grievances," Thompson said in a statement. The Senate action "is an important step toward remedying a grave injustice."

The Argonne high-energy lab, operated by the University of Chicago for the DOE, has not produced large amounts of beryllium dust since the early 1970s, and no workers now handle the toxic metal on a daily basis, according to a lab spokeswoman.

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PATENTED PROCESS PACKS DEPLETED URANIUM IN PLASTIC

Message: 15
From: magnu96196@aol.com
July 19, 2000
http://www.stat e.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10718.htm

UPTON, New York, July 19, 2000 (ENS) - Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have been awarded a patent for a process that encapsulates depleted uranium oxides in thermoplastic polymers. The process converts depleted uranium to a form the researchers say is stable and safe for long term disposal or reuse. The encapsulated uranium could be used in the production of radiation shielding and counter weights for airplanes, helicopters and ships, the scientists said. Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of enriching uranium ore to make fuel for nuclear reactors. Storing DU requires labor intensive and expensive maintenance. The Brookhaven Lab process converts uranium oxide powder from a reactive form through chemical processing, and combines it with a thermoplastic binder. The final product can be formed into shapes and is cooled to form a dense solid. BNL's patented process for encapsulation requires simultaneous heating and mixing of depleted uranium powders and non-biodegradable thermoplastic polymers such as polyethylene or polypropylene. Virgin or recycled polymers can be used. The result is a mixture of depleted uranium and molten thermoplastic polymer, which can be molded into any shape. The final form emits very low levels of radioactivity, and the dense material would make good shielding against gamma or neutron radiation, the scientists said. "By creating safe, secondary end use products from these materials, we are addressing health and safety, environmental protection, and waste reduction issues," said Paul Kalb, senior research engineer Brookhaven's Environmental Research and Technology Division.

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Radium Found in Well Water
More Than Half of Wells in Maryland County Contaminated

Message: 16
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 20:39:17 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com
The Associated Press
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/radioactive000720.html

ANNAPOLIS, Md., July 20 - Radium contamination has been found in well water used by hundreds of homeowners who live just north of Annapolis along the Severn and Magothy rivers.

Of the 1,300 wells tested by Anne Arundel County workers, 63 percent had elevated levels of the cancer-causing substance, according to a Washington Post review of county records. A substantial number of wells showed radium levels considered alarmingly high by experts.

Radium dissolves in water and is more than a million times more radioactive than uranium. It was discovered in the county´s water four years ago, when scientists found it while searching for the cause of the county´s high cancer rates.

Traces of radium also have been found in private wells in Prince George´s, Harford and Baltimore counties.

Unsafe Levels?

But The Post reports that some wells in Crownsville, Pasadena and Millersville yielded radium levels approaching 593 picocuries per liter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers 15 picocuries per liter the maximum safe level. Prolonged exposure to radium can cause bone cancer, but officials said contamination in Anne Arundel does not pose a public health threat. They say people would have to drink two liters of radium-contaminated water each day for decades to increase their risk of developing the disease.

Home water filtration systems that use the ion exchange or reverse osmosis methods can reduce contamination.

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'STAR-WARS'/MISSILE DEFENCE CAMPAIGN TARGETS G 8

Message: 17
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 16:46:18 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au>
AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE FRIENDS OF THE EARTH 21/7/2000

A global campaign against the United States proposed 'Star Wars' National Missile Defence (NMD) system has been targeting the G 8 leaders for over a month in the leadup to the G8 summit now happening in Okinawa.

The cyberspace-based campaign, coordinated from Sydney, amongst organizations from Washington to Moscow to Patagonia to Adelaide and Perth, has asked people to ask their leaders to press the US not to proceed with NMD at the G 8 summit. People and organizations worldwide have been requested to ask President Clinton and US Defence Secretary Cohen who was in Sydney last weekend, not to deploy NMD. A protest took place in Sydney at the US consulate over the presence of defence secretary Cohen and US plans for NMD.

Last weeks meeting of G 8 foreign ministers has already produced a declaration that supports the integrity of the ABM treaty, and G 8 foreign ministers have expressed strong concern over US plans to deploy the missile defence system.

According to FOE and APC: "The Australian Government last week should have just said 'NO' to US plans to use joint facilities in NMD. Everyone from the UN secretary-general to Russia and China to the European Union to Sweden, France, and Germany have expressed dismay at the US proposal to violate the ABM treaty and risk another nuclear arms race by deploying NMD. The Australian government is almost the only government that has said it 'understands' the position of the US government. Statements by our government that they 'understand' the US position are reckless and irresponsible. The US needs to hear, above all from close allies such as Australia, that there is no way we will cooperate in wrecking the ABM treaty and re-starting the nuclear arms race."

"It is to be hoped that the G 8 leaders will send a very strong message to Clinton, as their foreign ministers did last week that NMD/BMD must not proceed."

Contact: John Hallam, Friends of the Earth 02-9517-3903 h02-9810-2598 Ron Gray, Australian Peace Committee 08-8364-2291

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Message: 19
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 16:51:06 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <nonukes@foesyd.org.au>

Message From Mayak, Russia
please, distribute widely

PRESS-RELEASE
Chelyabinsk-Moscow July 21, 2000

For more information: +7(095)7766546, 7766281 - Vladimir Slivyak +7(3512) 135457 - Eduard Meilah e-mail: ecodefense@glasnet.ru http://www.ecoline.ru/antinuclear

LARGEST ALL-RUSSIAN ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTION 2000: CAMP NEAR "MAYAK" About 100 of representatives of environmental, scientific, human rights groups get together for 11th annual public opposition to dangerous industrial projects; July 23 - August 5, 2000

THE All-Russian anti-nuclear camp near the "Mayak" nuclear reprocessing plant and one of the proposed dump sites for foreign nuclear waste (Chelyabinsk region, close to the Ural Mountains of Russia) begins on July 23, 2000. THE camp is co-organized by ECODEFENSE! and Anti-nuclear campaign of the Socio-Ecological Union, also Chelyabinsk' environmental groups Techa, Pravosoznanie, Ecofront.

Groups which assisted in organizing all-Russian action to protest the nuclear threat: Planet of Hope (Ozyorsk), Environmental Students' Inspection (Tomsk), Siberian Scientists for Global Responsibility (Novosibirsk).

During two weeks activists will stage anti-nuclear protests in several cities of Chelyabinsk region to protest the nuclear policy of the authorities that may cause great nuclear accidents, additional radioactive contamination and more nuclear waste.

Goals of the anti-nuclear campaigners organizing this camp are:

1. To prevent the import of nuclear waste, including spent nuclear fuel to Russia (to the region of Chelyabinsk with the "Mayak" facility).

2. To introduce the legal status of the 30 km zone around the "Mayak" facility , which would improve the social benefits of the population affected by radioactive contamination.

3. To stop the construction of the South-Ural nuclear plant.

75% of THE local citizens voted against the construction of the South-Ural nuclear plant in a referendum on March 17, 1991. This public decision can not be changed unless the authorities organize another referendum. But the Ministry of atomic power (Minatom) included the South-Ural nuclear plant into its new "strategy of atomic development of Russia for 2000-2050" and will get the money for this illegal project. Implementation of this project could result in widespread plutonium contamination of the Chelyabinsk region. The South-Ural nuclear plant would be loaded with extremely dangerous uranium-plutonium oxide fuel (MOX-fuel) once it's completed.

According to Minatom' statements, more than 10,000 ton of high-level nuclear waste can be imported to Russia as soon as national legislation will be changed to allow it. Minatom confirmed that it lobby for such changes in legislation. At the same time, several polls across Russia show that 80-90% of population speak strongly against this idea.

Many thousands of local residents living close to "Mayak" facility are suffering from widespread radioactive contamination as a result of several nuclear accidents at "Mayak". Presently, both Russian government and nuclear industry refuses to provide those residents with social benefits and compensations needed for re-settling people from polluted areas.