Clips February 27, 2003

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips February 27, 2003

ARTICLES

'Virtual March' Floods Senate With Calls Against an Iraq War 
California Gov Rethinks Net Taxes  
Spy Agencies Tight-Fisted on Data  
White House Finds Homeland Security Jobs a Tough Sell 
TSA prepares passenger screening system
Help is on the way for the tele-weary 
Where the Hall Monitor Is a Webcam
Fired programmer sues employer over integrity of voting software
Credit Card Cos. Watch Own Backs
Lawmakers seek a clear role for terror threat center 
State, local officials seek better info from feds on terrorist threats 
Agencies urged to set standards for electronic records 
Cyber-Blackbeards Beware 
Firing Leaflets and Electrons, U.S. Wages Information War
U.S. Fighters Place Faith in Weapons
Riddle of 'Baghdad's batteries'

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Washington Post
'Virtual March' Floods Senate With Calls Against an Iraq War 
By Juliet Eilperin
Thursday, February 27, 2003; Page A22 

Hundreds of thousands of antiwar activists flooded Senate phone lines yesterday as part of a "Virtual March" on Washington aimed at heading off a U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Protesters called and faxed senators in an innovative action, billed as a way to influence policy "without leaving your living room." Senators enlisted extra staffers to answer calls and to tally the number of constituents registering their opinions.

The calls tied up the lines of war opponents, such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), as well as supporters of President Bush's policies, such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Kennedy spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the senator's office received about 1,800 phone calls and 4,000 e-mails. "We've resorted to using cell phones because nobody can get through," she said. An aide to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) estimated his office received two or three calls a minute. 

The protest also jammed the phone lines to such offices as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

While an official count was unavailable, a Washington Post survey of several Senate offices suggested that perhaps 100,000 people had their calls answered. Tens of thousands of other protesters were unable to get through. Many thousands faxed and e-mailed lawmakers' offices.

Tom Andrews, national director of the group Win Without War, which organized the effort, said the outpouring "exceeded our expectations." He estimated that a million Americans called or faxed senators yesterday, and said that 500,000 had pledged to do so on the group's Web site.

"We wanted to make it clear to the political community in Washington there are large numbers of Americans who feel very strongly about this, and we are organized and politically active," Andrews said. "We think the Senate is in the best position to do something about this very serious mistake the United States is poised to be making."

But the massive phone drive apparently did little to change the positions of lawmakers. Chris Matthews, a spokesman for Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), said many of the calls came from out of state, and said Smith continued to back Bush's apparent decision to launch a preemptive strike against Iraq.

"Obviously he takes people's views into account," Matthews said. "He also has come to his own conclusions regarding this."

Nor did Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) reverse his support for a military strike, although he issued a statement praising the protesters. "I know what it's like to be an activist trying to get the public's attention and capture the attention of the government in Washington," said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who later led protests against that conflict.

Staff writer Ceci Connolly contributed to this report.
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Wired News
California Gov Rethinks Net Taxes  
February 26, 2003

SACRAMENTO, California -- With a state budget deficit that could hit $35 billion, California Gov. Gray Davis is rethinking his long-standing objection to imposing sales taxes on Internet commerce -- a reversal that could ignite similar steps around the nation. 

Lawmakers around the nation are increasingly eyeing online revenues to plug shortfalls that could collectively top $50 billion this year and $70 billion next year.

Last year, Internet sales ballooned to $79 billion, or about 3 percent of all retail sales, according to Forrester Research. 

California alone may be losing $1.7 billion this year by not taking a deeper cut of Internet sales -- which is why two bills to tax Internet sales have been filed in the Legislature. 

If either were to pass, the movement to tax Internet sales would gain serious clout, said Utah Tax Commissioner R. Bruce Johnson, a leader of the push. 

"It's difficult to overstate the importance of California's participation in this project," he said. 

A U.S. Supreme Court decision says states cannot force businesses to collect their sales taxes unless the company has a physical presence in that state. 

While California stores with online sites faithfully collect sales taxes for the state, most online sellers such as Seattle-based Amazon.com say it's impossible to collect sales taxes for an estimated 7,500 taxing districts nationally. 

But 34 states and the District of Columbia are trying to come up with a simple standard from a hodgepodge of sales tax definitions to persuade Congress to lift a national moratorium against Internet sales taxes. Also, major retailers have agreed on a way to collect Internet sales taxes in 37 states. 

So far, California and other states with tech and investment sectors -- including New York, Colorado, Massachusetts and Georgia -- have largely watched from the sidelines. 

New York Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, remains opposed to taxing Internet shopping. But Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, also a Republican, has expressed a willingness to examine the issue. The Legislature sent Romney a bill Tuesday that would make Massachusetts join the states working on the issue nationally. 

Some frequent online shoppers say they wouldn't be happy about giving up the sales tax benefit. 

"I buy everything online," said Noah Eckhouse of suburban Boston. "My attitude is, I'm a Yankee. A penny saved is a penny earned." 

It's unclear whether other online commerce sites, like auction house eBay, could be included in sales taxes. EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove notes that some sellers on the site already collect sales tax and says the company is closely monitoring the developments. 

In 2000, just months after the Internet bubble burst and tech stocks tumbled, Davis vetoed a bill passed by the California Legislature to require online merchants to collect sales taxes. Davis said it would send the "wrong signal" to a California-based industry transforming the world. 

But now, officials like California Controller Steve Westly, a former eBay executive, says it's time the state reaps sales taxes from the Internet. Westly says Davis is rethinking the issue and asked him for suggestions that could lead to bills Westly hopes will pass this year. 

For weeks, Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean has been saying Davis is open to Internet sales taxes, considering how California's economy and budget have turned for the worse. She also notes Davis' 2000 veto message said the state should revisit the issue in three to five years. 
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Wired News
Spy Agencies Tight-Fisted on Data  
02:00 AM Feb. 27, 2003 PT

As the U.S. government tweaks its computer networks to fight terrorism, one thing is clear: Wrangling in the intelligence community about how to share vital data has yet to die down even nearly 18 months after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Industry and government security gurus who gathered Wednesday in Washington for the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Homeland Security Conference said the resistance stems more from culture than technology.

"We have the technology," said William Dawson, chief information officer at the CIA's Department of Intelligence Communications. "But we don't have the processes yet. That's what we need to work on." 

Part of the problem is that the two leading U.S. intelligence agencies -- the CIA and the FBI -- are naturally prone to limiting access to intelligence, not to sharing it, and for obvious reasons. 

"Have any of you ever heard of Robert Hansen?" asked John Pistole, FBI deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, in reference to the FBI agent convicted in 2001 of spying for Russia. Pistole said it's because of such espionage risks that agencies avoid sharing data even within their own ranks, not to mention with other agencies. 

"FBI agents are trained to collect information, but not to be the Federal Bureau of Information," he said. 

John Gannon, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council and former member of the Homeland Security Department transition team, said that even if all of the government's networks could seamlessly share intelligence and filter it to the right people (which they can't yet), agencies would still resist using it. 

"I can tell you the lights are not going to go on," Gannon said. "This is very hard for the intelligence community to do." 

Also standing in the way are the "vastly different cultures" among various federal agencies, said Larry Castro, the coordinator for homeland security support at the National Security Agency. The challenge is devising data-sharing techniques with network protocols that protect intelligence sources and methods -- an often delicate and difficult feat. 

Pistole noted that the FBI recently brought in 25 CIA analysts to help train its agents in intelligence-gathering techniques. 

Sharing can become even harder when it involves state and local officials, who can only get threat updates through the Homeland Security Department, and have argued that they need more precise data to effectively protect their communities against threats. 

"We've had a couple of states call us directly and ask for information," said the CIA's Dawson. "We said no." 

The problem, said Gannon, is that state and local officials assume the federal government is holding out on the details when, in fact, there are usually few specifics to pass along. 

"Welcome to the world of intelligence," he said, noting that the federal government is currently developing a direct intranet link to better inform state officials. 

In any event, experts said improved technology infrastructures could help save lives in the crucial first few hours after a terrorist attack because they would help first responders get up-to-date information quickly. 

"The information sharing is a crucial element to this whole business," said John Parker, senior vice president of the Enterprise and Health Solutions sector of Science Applications International. 

Parker noted that because no two events are the same, responders likely won't be able to rely only on rehearsed response efforts. Rather, they will need to contact experts immediately and get answers back in real time. "The use of IT ... is terribly important to have that two-way speed," he said. 

In addition, linking biological sensors and other surveillance equipment to computer networks could help monitor patterns to detect a biological attack more quickly, said Peggy Hamburg, vice president for biological programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
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Washington Post
White House Finds Homeland Security Jobs a Tough Sell 
By Brian Krebs
Thursday, February 27, 2003; 12:00 AM 

Just two days before 22 federal agencies are set to move to the new Department of Homeland Security, the White House has yet to fill three top positions responsible for protecting the nation's physical and digital infrastructure and managing the department's intelligence-gathering activities.

The vacant posts are in DHS's Directorate for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP), a terrorist threat assessment and warning unit that includes five cybersecurity divisions previously scattered across other federal agencies. March 1 is the deadline for most federal agencies reassigned to DHS to have completed the move to the department.

The Bush administration's top pick for the IAIP undersecretary position, former Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Clapper, turned down the job last month. Two assistant secretary positions -- one charged with managing intelligence gathering and the other responsible for infrastructure protection -- also must be filled. 

Confusion about the IAIP's mission and authority is handicapping the White House search, according to people who have been approached to fill the positions, as well as observers closely following the massive homeland security reorganization.

As envisioned in the Homeland Security Act, IAIP is to serve as the gathering place for all information related to possible threats to the homeland. The architects of the law believed that a central clearinghouse for intelligence data would help avoid a repeat of events that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, where anti-terror agencies missed clues and failed to share information.

But recent Bush administration actions are casting doubt on IAIP's mission. Earlier this month, the president announced that a new terror threat intelligence center would be created and run by Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet, signaling that DSH's role in intelligence assessment would be limited.

One former Bush administration official approached about a key post within IAIP said he declined the job "when it became obvious that there was not going to be a serious investment of resources" in the division's intelligence-gathering mission. The source asked that his name not be printed.

Another former high-ranking Bush administration official who walked away from one of the top three positions in the division described working at IAIP as "the ultimate thankless job, where the people in charge will be raked over the coals by Congress the next time things go wrong."

"An even bigger concern is there seems to be a real lack of clarity as to what the directorate's mission is, and when you factor those two elements together it adds up to a real turkey," said the official, who asked not to be named.

James B. Steinberg, former deputy national security adviser under the Clinton administration, called the IAIP recruiting problems unsurprising, adding that the creation of the threat integration center under CIA leadership leaves the undersecretary for IAIP with a great deal of accountability but little authority on intelligence matters.

"Anyone qualified enough who would want to lead IAIP would naturally want to be where the action is, but with the administration's decision to put intelligence squarely in the hands of (the director of the CIA), I can't imagine why anybody would think IAIP is going to be where the action is," said Steinberg, who is currently vice president and director of foreign policy studies at The Brookings Institution. "It's clear from this move that the administration sees a very limited role for the directorate."

"Whoever takes this job is probably not going to be the guy in the room with the president, or if you are, it's going to be only because the CIA or FBI invited you," said Stewart Baker, former general counsel at the National Security Agency.

Until the administration sorts where IAIP ranks in the intelligence community, anyone who takes the helm at IAIP will be playing from a weak hand, Baker said. "It's like drawing the queen of spades in game of Hearts: If you're not careful, everyone will decide you're the one who didn't do his job."

The White House has also had trouble competing with the private sector for talented help, according to friends and close associates of several potential nominees who turned down assignments at IAIP.

Most of the qualified candidates the administration has approached are 20- to 30-year veteran military and intelligence officers who have since taken lucrative consulting jobs in the private sector. For many, returning to work for the government would mean not only much smaller salaries, but the loss of their government pensions -- since Uncle Sam generally prohibits "double dipping," or collecting pensions while on the government's active payroll.

"In some cases it's like asking people to take at least a 40 percent pay cut to come back and work for the government," said Mark Rasch, former head of the Justice Department's computer crimes unit and now senior vice president and chief security counsel for security vendor Solutionary Inc. "That's almost never an attractive option."

Such considerations likely played a role in influencing Clapper to turn down the IAIP top position. A retired Air Force lieutenant general who currently serves as director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Clapper was hired at NIMA under a benefits and salary package comparable to that of a private-sector contractor. He did not explain why he declined the job, but former co-workers say Clapper would have had to sacrifice his pension and his generous salary at NIMA to take a job with the new department.

Sources inside the Bush administration and outside observers who closely track the intelligence community said John Grimes, a top executive at Raytheon's intelligence and information systems unit, is a possible choice for the undersecretary job or for assistant secretary for infrastructure protection. Grimes was formerly deputy assistant secretary of defense under the previous two administrations.

The same sources said Paul Redmond, the former chief of CIA counterintelligence whose work led to the uncovering of CIA spy Aldrich Ames, is on the short list of candidates for assistant secretary for information analysis. Redmond is currently finishing up a report to Congress on the damage done to U.S. intelligence efforts by Robert Hanssen, the FBI counterintelligence expert convicted of spying for Russia.

Both Grimes and Redmond acknowledged being contacted by the White House about the positions but declined to comment further.
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Federal Computer Week
TSA prepares passenger screening system
BY Megan Lisagor 
Feb. 26, 2003

The Transportation Security Administration next month plans to begin testing a controversial computer system that will perform background checks and risk assessments on airline travelers. Delta Air Lines and IBM Corp. are collaborating with TSA on the preliminary stages of a pilot project for the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening II program, called CAPPS II.

Until now, the agency has kept details of the program largely under wraps. As it moves closer to making CAPSS II a reality, however, officials are beginning to paint a picture of how the system will work.

Passengers will activate CAPPS II when they make flight reservations, with their travel information passing from airlines to TSA. The agency will then run individual searches, scanning government and commercial databases for data that could indicate a potential threat. Based on its findings, the agency will assign a red, yellow or green score to travelers, ultimately appearing on their boarding passes.

The determination for red  a branding that prevents the passenger from flying  will rest on a watch list, compiled by the intelligence and law enforcement authorities, officials said. TSA plans to automate the list of "individuals that should deserve greater scrutiny," according to Transportation Department Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson, who outlined the program at a media briefing Feb. 26. 

Passengers branded in the yellow category, meanwhile, will face additional screening before being allowed to board. "Green" passengers will be free to go, officials said. "We're trying to answer a simple question: Is this individual a known and rooted member of the community?" Jackson said.

Privacy advocates argue that CAPPS II could violate constitutional prohibitions and that TSA has yet to fully explain what will go into labeling a passenger a threat. Lawyers for the Electronic Privacy Information Center sued the agency, saying it failed to disclose enough information about how the system will operate.

Transportation officials maintain that privacy issues are a top concern and insist that CAPPS II will not dig up irrelevant personal details. The system also will not house a new database or maintain files on passengers, officials said. 

"We're not looking to see what videotapes you rent," Jackson said, comparing the system to a credit card check.

This much is certain: CAPPS II is a substantially advanced version of the system now in use, one that has already been criticized for its seeming tendency to subject the elderly and children to increased scrutiny.

With the new system, the focus will turn to authenticating people's identities, being able to truly distinguish between two Mary Smiths, for example. 

TSA expects to select a systems integrator for CAPPS II this month. IBM is currently developing the front-end architecture.

Although the program will progress gradually, the agency could make significant progress this year, Jackson said. The system received $35 million for fiscal 2003  the same amount requested in the Bush administration's budget proposal for fiscal 2004.

CAPPS II could eventually spawn the Registered Traveler Program, which will allow certain credentialed and pre-screened passengers to speed through security checkpoints in airports.
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Government Computer News
Help is on the way for the tele-weary 
By William Jackson and Dipka Bhambhani 

The Federal Trade Commission has awarded a 10-year contract to AT&T Government Solutions of Vienna, Va., to develop and implement a national do-not-call telemarketing registry. 

An initial $3.5 million has been authorized for operation of the registry through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. There are nine optional years in the contract. 

Consumers will be able to add their telephone numbers to the registry either by phone or through a Web site. Most commercial telemarketers will be required to download the directory at least quarterly and will be forbidden from calling included numbers. The directory is expected to start operating this summer. 

The registry will cover landline telephone numbers initially and wireless phones eventually, said Richard Callahan, client business manager for AT&T. 

The contract calls for software, applications and database development, and the integration of voice and Internet services. The registry?s Website will be hosted from the AT&T Government Solutions data center in Ashburn, Va. 

Callahan said the company has to figure out how to give consumers access to the registry to download their numbers, how to let telemarketers view the registry without the key to change numbers, and how the FTC can electronically register consumer complaints if a telemarketer illegally uses the numbers. 

The company also has to determine how 17 states with existing registries can download numbers from their databases to the national registry. Callahan said states would likely use Extensible Markup Language.
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New York Times
February 27, 2003
Where the Hall Monitor Is a Webcam
By KATIE HAFNER

FRESNO, Calif. -- THEY look like small snow globes. The dozen inconspicuous cameras on walls and ceilings at the school campus at the center of this central California city capture video images of students as they enter and leave the two buildings, work in the computer lab, climb and descend the main staircase or relax outside.

Not only can the comings and goings of the 350 teenagers at the two public charter schools here be watched from a monitor in a small room next to the main building's reception area, but they can also be seen remotely over the Internet. Every night, someone in Jackson, Miss., home of the company that installed the cameras, watches over the buildings half a continent away. 

Sometimes the schools' executive director checks the cameras from her home. And if a crime occurs, the computers at the Fresno Police Department can display an immediate picture of what is happening.

As security becomes an ever more pressing concern, schools across the nation are seeking new ways to provide a sense of safety to students, staff members and parents. 

"The reality is that today's educators face greater threats to safety than ever before," said Ken Trump, a school security consultant in Cleveland. "Threats range from bullying to school shootings, and now terrorism and war."

Security equipment can include two-way radios for school staff members and metal detectors and panic buttons with a direct connection to the local police department. A few schools with special concerns about abductions or terrorism are turning to identification cards that can hold bar-coded biometric information like fingerprints. 

Mostly, however, schools are making use of increasingly sophisticated video cameras like those at the Fresno campus, home of the W. E. B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson charter schools. The Web-connected cameras here are among the most advanced available, their images viewable by anyone with a computer, Internet access and the proper password.

Perhaps it is a reflection of how security-conscious the nation has become that remote monitoring of students has so far raised few concerns about privacy. 

On the contrary, security experts and administrators who use the cameras say, students and teachers seem to appreciate the increased sense of security. And in some cases, administrators say, having cameras around has modified students' behavior.

The systems are expensive. A network in a single building can cost around $30,000 to install. Fresno's cost was $35,000, plus $350 a month for nighttime monitoring by CameraWatch, a company specializing in security systems for schools. Some school districts are buying much more extensive systems. Biloxi, Miss., for example, has spent $1.2 million to put a security camera in each of its nearly 500 classrooms.

While Biloxi may be an extreme case, "cameras are probably one of the better investments that most middle and high schools can make," said Mary Green, a security specialist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque who works with schools. She estimated that 30 percent of high schools and 15 percent of middle schools now have video cameras, although most are not as sophisticated as those used in Fresno. (Elementary schools have lagged behind, she added, with less than 2 percent using cameras.)

Security experts and even those educators who use the cameras acknowledge that no system can deter a person or group intent on violence. But that has not dampened interest in the systems. "I don't know that I've ever visited a school where they didn't immediately say, 'So, tell me about cameras,' " Ms. Green said.

For years, cameras that record video images on tape loops have been a fixture in stores and banks, intended for deterring crimes and as an aid in identifying suspects after a crime occurs. Some schools have been using them for similar purposes. 

The Fresno cameras were installed in the hope of deterring graffiti vandals, who began defacing the buildings soon after the schools opened in 2000. Linda Washington, executive director of Agape, the company that runs the two schools, said that after the cameras began operating, petty crimes decreased, but graffiti vandals simply moved to areas not covered by the cameras.

Administrators, teachers and students quickly realized the cameras' value in helping create a greater sense of security. That feeling is generated in large part by the system's real-time remote-monitoring capabilities. 

Ms. Green said that feature seems invaluable as the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., linger in the public memory. Security experts who have analyzed the Columbine shootings, in which two students killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before committing suicide, say that the police response was hampered because it was unclear where the shooters were. 

"When you're thinking of the kind of horrible tragedy like what happened at Columbine, you need the real-time," Ms. Green said. 

Gary Jones, assistant principal of the middle school in Reeds Spring, Mo., said it was the remote, real-time monitoring that he found most attractive when he was investigating camera systems. 

"If something happened, I wouldn't have to go into the building to find out what was going on," Mr. Jones said. "We're a little more prepared."

Reeds Spring installed a system for the school district that monitors four buildings. To pay the $68,000 bill, voters passed a bond measure. 

In most schools, cameras are placed sparingly in places known to attract crime or where security may be a concern: hallways, stairwells, common areas and parking lots. Cameras are customarily installed at entrances, too. At the Fresno campus, cameras are affixed to entrances, placed in hallways and positioned inconspicuously in computer labs. 

Giving a friendly wave to what she took to be a camera (it was an alarm) above a hallway door, Leah Cherry, 18, a senior at W. E. B. DuBois, said the cameras' presence had changed her behavior and that of her schoolmates.

"You don't ditch your class," she said. "You don't try to smoke in the hallways and you don't bring illegal things to school, because you'll get caught."

Some schools are installing cameras in greater numbers, like those covering every classroom in the Biloxi school district.

The system, a fully digital version that the district paid for with bonds, state gambling revenue and money from a federal program to bring Internet access to schools, can store up to 20 days' worth of images. The cameras have real-time functions as well.

The Biloxi cameras, 800 or so in all, act as silent witnesses to any number of transgressions, including spitballs, theft, vandalism and bullying.

"Right now I can walk over to my computer and tell you what's going on in any facility in my district," said Dr. Larry Drawdy, the Biloxi superintendent of schools. The Biloxi Police Department has the same ability, he said.

Dr. Drawdy said that since the cameras were installed, students have occasionally confessed even before the cameras pointed a finger.

"We have kids coming up and admitting to things we don't even have on camera," Dr. Drawdy said.

Privacy concerns have for the most part been minimized. "Our teachers don't have a problem, the parents love it, and the kids all know it's there," Dr. Drawdy said. "We've had little or no question about it."

Nor have schools encountered much resistance to another kind of security technology that is beginning to make its way onto the premises: identity cards with two-dimensional bar codes containing information that can include photos, fingerprints, personal information and iris scans.

Preventing kidnappings is one reason schools buy the systems. "There's a huge issue now of child abductions, and schools are interested in combating that crime any way they can," said Chuck Lynch, a vice president at Datastrip, the company that supplies the cards and the portable scanners that go with them. Datastrip has sold the systems to a Jewish day school in New York and two schools in Florida.

"With all the recent events, terrorism and 9/11, and some of these children having parents who are fairly high-profile people, the parents felt this was something they wanted to pursue," said the principal at one of the Florida schools, a private middle school in the Orlando area. He requested anonymity to protect the privacy of families with children at the school.

The Orlando school has been using the cards for nearly three months. A total of 300 were issued to students, parents, nannies and anyone else authorized to pick up a child. Each card contains a color photograph and other identifying information. But plans to add fingerprints were delayed. "It felt too encroaching," said the principal. "We decided, let's get everybody comfortable with it, then reinvestigate that." 

Public schools, on the other hand, generally must be more circumspect about security expenses. "With the way school budgets are going, they're lucky they have locks on doors," said Mr. Trump, the security consultant.

But for Ms. Washington of the Fresno charter schools, the choice was clear. "We can say we don't have money, but you have to put money into school safety," she said, "You have to find money in your budget." 

However reassuring such systems may be, whether they discourage violent crimes is doubtful, say even those who have come to rely on them.

"The security may be false in some way," Dr. Drawdy said. Those who go to school and open fire on teachers and fellow students are looking for attention, not hoping to escape, he said. "You could put the National Guard out there and it might not deter them."

Despite the violence in Columbine's recent past, the school's own surveillance system remains limited. Before the shootings, the school had security cameras in the cafeteria for monitoring lunchtime activity. They have been replaced with a $30,000 system of 24 cameras throughout the school. There is no remote-monitoring capability. The cameras are used as a deterrent for small crimes, and for investigations.

Rick Kaufman, the director of communications for the Jefferson County public schools, of which Columbine is one, underscored Dr. Drawdy's point.

"Cameras aren't going to stop the kind of mayhem, chaos and murder that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold did," Mr. Kaufman said, referring to the students who did the shooting.

He acknowledged that real-time remote monitoring might have helped during the incident. "But who foots the bill?" he added.

Ultimately, Mr. Kaufman said, no amount of technology can substitute for the human touch in stopping crime and violence in schools. "The greatest deterrence is students who report it," he said.
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San Jose Mercury News
Fired programmer sues employer over integrity of voting software
Associated Press
February 27, 2003

A whistle-blowing computer programmer is suing an electronic-voting company, alleging that it fired him because he intended to expose major flaws in its touchscreen voting software.

Daniel Spillane's lawsuit, filed Tuesday in King County, Wash., alleges several flaws in VoteHere's software, including unfinished code, software that fails to properly record votes and an inability to double-check results because of the lack of a paper trail.

In an e-mail Wednesday to The Associated Press, a spokeswoman for Bellevue-based VoteHere said the lawsuit had ``no merit'' but would not elaborate.

Some computer scientists have decried touchscreen voting machines as vulnerable to rigging and malfunction, even as hundreds of counties nationwide rushed to buy touchscreen terminals following the 2000 presidential election debacle.

VoteHere is a relatively minor player in touchscreen machines. It is better known for its work developing Internet voting systems in the United States and Europe; that work is not at issue in the lawsuit.

Spillane, 38, of Seattle, said Wednesday that VoteHere's software may have botched election results wherever it was used. The company would not say how many polling places have installed its products, but the lawsuit alleges that they have been approved for use in touchscreen terminals in Georgia and elsewhere.

``I don't think there's massive voter fraud going on,'' said Spillane, who was fired in 2001. ``But I do believe that ... the checks and balances in the election process have been erased over the years.''

Spillane said he was fired hours before he was to meet with officials from the Independent Test Authority, a private organization that certifies voting software, and the General Accounting Office, Congress' nonpartisan watchdog agency, which was reviewing ITA policies.

The lawsuit seeks at least $475,000 in lost wages and other damages.
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Wired News
Credit Card Cos. Watch Own Backs  
February 27, 2003

The credit card industry focuses too much on reducing its own fraud costs and not enough on protecting consumers. 

That's the central claim in a new report from research firm Gartner that slams credit card companies for failing to notify consumers when credit card records are compromised by malicious hackers.

The report notes that while credit card companies' "zero-liability" policies protect card holders from paying for unauthorized or fraudulent charges, they do not protect consumers from identity theft and the credit report hell that can follow. 

Avivah Litan, Gartner vice president and the report's co-author, said when security breaches happen, banks that issue credit cards seldom notify consumers. 

"The issuers claim they don't really know if a card was compromised after a merchant or transaction processing firm reports a problem, so they wait to see whether a consumer reports fraud against his or her card," Litan said. 

"Of course the fact that closing potentially compromised accounts and providing consumers with new cards costs the issuer about $35 per card is also a factor here. So the card issuers take a calculated risk that compromised cards won't be used fraudulently." 

On Feb. 18, Visa, MasterCard and American Express confirmed that a malicious hacker had gotten access to 8 million credit card records through Data Processors International, a company that processes credit card transactions for mail order and online businesses. 

The credit card companies quickly issued statements saying none of the stolen card-holder information was used fraudulently, and that all card-issuing banks had been alerted to the problem. 

According to Litan, the card issuers have tagged the accounts believed to have been compromised in the theft, and will watch them for a period of time, typically three to six months, for possible fraudulent use. 

"Based on a standard margin of error, I wouldn't be surprised to see 5 percent of those stolen cards compromised even while they are on the watch list," Litan said. "The only way to ensure that the cards will never be fraudulently used is to issue new cards to all 8 million users." 

Consumer rights groups agreed that credit card companies should notify card holders about potential problems, and should at least offer the option of replacement cards if account records have been illegally accessed. 

"Credit card issuers and other creditors should be required to let customers know immediately if they believe that their account information has been compromised," said Susan Grant, director of the National Fraud Information Center. "As it is now, it's hard for consumers to know exactly how security breaches happen or assess whether the companies who have their information have taken adequate steps to safeguard it." 

"Credit card companies have a rocky road ahead of them," said Linda Sherry of Consumer Action in San Francisco. "Consumers are getting increasingly worried and angry about how their personal information is being used and protected. I wouldn't be surprised to see the federal government step in soon." 

Litan said her research indicates that the only information stolen in the recent theft was card account numbers and expiration dates. 

Without the three- or four-digit security code that appears on the back of most Visas and MasterCards, and on the front of American Express cards, thieves do not have enough information to create duplicates of the stolen cards. Any fraudulent use of those accounts would probably be restricted to online or telephone purchases.
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
DOD wireless policy delayed
BY Matthew French 
Feb. 25, 2003

The Defense Department's policy on the use of wireless devices, originally due out this week, will not be available until sometime in March or April, according to Defense officials.

The policy, currently in draft form and collecting comments from those assembling it, is supposed to be more comprehensive and practical than the current policy, which affects only the use of wireless devices within the Pentagon.

DOD issued a wireless policy in October 2002, calling for development of a wireless network infrastructure across the Pentagon while prohibiting wireless access to classified systems. It required that wireless devices used within the Pentagon must incorporate technology -- including authentication and encryption -- for securing such communications.

The new policy is much more inclusive of the entire department, said Dawn Meyerriecks, chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency. DOD is trying to keep abreast of emerging technologies and recognizes that the proliferation of wireless devices could prove a valuable tool in the department's operations.

"A draft of the new policy is floating around now," Meyerriecks said. "We had hoped to have the policy done by the end of the month, but now we're looking at a March timeframe for its release."

Robert Lentz, director of information assurance for the Defense chief information officer's office, was less optimistic about the possibility of releasing the policy so soon.

"I'd say it's a number of weeks, at best," he said. "I still haven't seen the final draft with the comments of everyone putting the policy together."

The policy is being written by several agencies, including the National Security Agency, DISA and the information assurance staff in the DOD CIO's office. Ultimate responsibility for the policy, however, rests with DOD CIO John Stenbit.

"We still need to get the draft back with everyone's comments and then weigh the pros and cons," Lentz said. "I think it'll be longer than just a couple or few weeks."

Both Lentz and Meyerriecks agree that the new policy is more comprehensive and practical than what the Pentagon is using. 

In September, the Pentagon renewed its moratorium on wireless devices until it could better identify the security holes the devices could exploit. Some wireless devices are allowed under specifically defined circumstances, but until the security can be bolstered, the department is taking a cautious stance.

"The new policy that we helped draft says basically, 'We know you're going to use these devices, so here's what you've got to do to ensure security,' " Meyerriecks said.
*******************************
Government Computer News
Lawmakers seek a clear role for terror threat center 
By Wilson P. Dizard III 

Members of the Senate Government Affairs Committee today peppered witnesses from the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security Department with questions about how the new Terrorism Threat Integration Center would avoid overlapping the functions of existing threat centers and about who would be in charge of intelligence analysis. 

Committee chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) asked, "How will the integration center be an improvement over the existing intelligence structure? ... What is being done to ensure that the integration center will streamline and consolidate intelligence analysis rather than create duplication and confusion?" 

Administration witnesses, led off by Winston Wiley, associate director of central intelligence for Homeland Security, sought to allay the stated fears of the committee members that the new center?s functions would overlap those of the CIA Counterterrorism Center and the FBI Counterterrorism Division, as well as the HSD's Intelligence Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate. 

Wiley said the goal of the center is to integrate foreign intelligence collected overseas with domestic intelligence. The government needs to make intelligence cooperation among agencies "work better, and we need to institutionalize it," he said. 

The new center will be created from elements of the FBI, CIA, HSD, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Imagery and Mapping Agency and other intelligence agencies. 

It will have "unfettered access to all information," Wiley added. "TTIC will provide an all-source threat assessment to the intelligence community as well as to state and local governments and the private sector." 

In response to a question from Collins about the risk of organizational overlap, Wiley said, "What you have is a more vigorous integration of agencies. ... What we envision with TTIC is more robust capabilities to integrate the flow of domestic intelligence ... by bringing analysts together. That is a significant step up." 

Wiley's written testimony referred to the center's IT infrastructure as "the most advanced systems and techniques that are available, accredited and consistent with its mission objectives. 

"TTIC will use the existing and accepted intelligence community architecture that enables information sharing across boundariesi.e., the Intelligence Community System for Information Sharing,? he wrote. "TTIC analysts will have access to all necessary intelligence community networks, and, where required, native access to their home agency's internal network.? 

In a brief session with reporters following the hearing, Wiley said the CIOs of TTIC's participating agencies would meet to forge the center's IT plans. 

But in addition to taking a lead role in creating the new center's IT backbone by choosing its executive agent, the CIA appeared to further dominate TTIC by having its headquarters located at the CIA compound in McLean, Va. 

"My principal concern has been and continues to be who will be responsible for intelligence analysis?? Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said. ?I am not satisfied that this is clear." 

Levin said the CIA's terrorism center already deals with 17,000 pieces of intelligence each week, generates about 300 reports a month, and has about 300 analysts. He said the statute setting up Homeland Security is unclear, but could be interpreted to assign to HSD the responsibility for melding intelligence. 

HSD deputy secretary Gordon England said his department would participate with the center but would mainly rely on the CIA and FBI for intelligence collection and analysis. HSD would have some intelligence assessment functions, England said. 

Pasquale J. D'Amuro, executive assistant director of the FBI for counterterrorism and counterintelligence, said the bureau would continue sharing information with the 66 Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country. The bureau has received about 1,200 requests for secret level security clearances from state and local law enforcement officers and approved 935 of them for officers working in the JTTFs, he said. 

Levin said, "I want to be real clear: Foreign intelligence will be in the CIA, domestic intelligence will be in the FBI, and all this will come into the TTIC. That's correct?" 

England said it was. 

Separately, Collins expressed concern that the CIA would dominate the center: "How are you going to stop TTIC from being a creature of the CIA? When you locate an agency on the grounds of the CIA and have it report to the CIA, you are sending the wrong signal ? Wouldn't you say locating it in the HSD would help overcome these historic barriers [between the FBI and CIA]?" 

Wiley said the center would be on a par with other non-CIA agencies that have offices in the CIA compound. 
*******************************
Government Executive
February 26, 2003 
State, local officials seek better info from feds on terrorist threats 
By Molly M. Peterson, National Journal's Technology Daily 

State and local officials have been frustrated by the "imprecise and inadequate" information on terrorist threats they receive from the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies, several homeland security officials said on Wednesday.

"They don't feel like they have all the cards in the deck that we have," John Pistole, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said during a conference sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

Pistole said state and local officials have sought more frequent and thorough intelligence analyses from federal agencies about "where we are in the entire threat arena." He noted, for example, that many communities wanted to know more about why the Bush administration raised the color-coded alert level earlier this month. 

Although it is "very rare" for intelligence agencies to obtain information about specific terrorist targets, according to John Gannon, a former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, they must provide state and local officials with better information about how the threat-alert level might affect their communities.

"What we have now is not adequate, and it does not meet the serious needs of people who are out there protecting our critical infrastructures," said Gannon, who recently served as a captain of the homeland security transition office's information analysis and infrastructure protection team. "If you take imprecise and inadequate intelligence and you color code it, then you're just color coding imprecision and inadequacy." 

Gannon added that the increased threat level is impacting state and local budgets "in a very significant way" because even if officials perceive a low risk of the threat affecting their regions, such alerts will prompt a public demand for increased police protection.

Intelligence and law enforcement officials on the panel said they are working to improve communications with state and local agencies. For example, the CIA hopes to create "profiles" of authorized intelligence recipients throughout the country and disseminate information on a targeted basis, according to William Dawson, deputy chief information officer for the CIA's intelligence community office.

Dawson said that type of system would help state and local officials to "get the information they're interested in rather than having to go look for it." 

Pistole said the FBI is providing state and local officials with counterterrorism information on a daily basis, but he said much of that data distribution "is basically a manual system."

The agency needs an automated "push system" to quickly disseminate data to thousands of officials every day, according to Pistole. "Our greatest vulnerability is not having the [information technology] system we need yet," he said. 

But Gannon said he is optimistic that over time, counterterrorism agencies can create a system that is "much more sensitive" to the specific needs of certain regions and critical infrastructures. "It's always going to be an imperfect system in an imperfect world, but we can do a lot better than we're doing now," Gannon said.
*******************************
Government Executive
February 26, 2003 
Agencies urged to set standards for electronic records 
By Maureen Sirhal, National Journal's Technology Daily 


Public records experts said on Wednesday that the government should speed the development of a process for archiving digital documents such as e-mail and computer files, and it should set policies to determine what constitutes a record worth preserving.

The public and private sectors' increasing reliance on computer networks, software and the Internet to process business transactions has created challenges in saving information, said Catherine Teti, managing director of knowledge services at the General Accounting Office.

While agencies are deploying new systems to electronically sign and send documents and other data, for example, there are no guidelines as to how much of that information should be saved and no classifications for the type of data that constitutes a record.

"We need to focus on what is essential" because not everything can be saved, Teti said at a panel discussion on digital record-keeping hosted by the software maker Adobe Systems.

As the cost of storing data has decreased, organizations are tempted to retain everything, said John Mancini, president of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).

"That makes the management [of records] that much more difficult," Teti added. 

The question of how best to preserve documents has a new urgency, panelists said. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, leaders recognize that organizations require disaster-recovery plans and a means to preserve information, including cases where an office building or other physical structure might be destroyed, Mancini noted.

Additionally, new e-government mandates from the White House are compelling agencies to address the issue of information archives because they do not have resources to physically save paper-based data permanently. 

Panelists agreed that electronic storage of documents would be cost-effective but said that without clear policies, technical standards and resources, most agencies are struggling with a move to go "paperless" because they fear the data cannot always be accessed reliably.

The National Archives and Records Administration is charged with providing guidance for record-keeping within the federal government. But there is growing concern among federal agents charged with managing government records and documents who say there is "insufficient guidance" from NARA on how to retain information in a manner consistent with new technologies, Teti said. 

Additionally, agencies often lack resources to develop an infrastructure for archiving e-documents, panelists noted.

Efforts are underway within the government to address digital archiving. NARA is working on the issue, panelists said, and the Library of Congress is engaged in a collaborative initiative to preserve digital content over the long term. 

Meanwhile, Mancini's group, AIIM, is helping to establish Adobe's portable document file as an international standard for storing and retrieving documents in a predictable manner.
*******************************
Washington Post
Cyber-Blackbeards Beware 
By Cynthia L. Webb
Thursday, February 27, 2003; 9:42 AM 

Uncle Sam is getting serious about piracy. No, not the parrot-toting knaves of the high seas, but their modern-day broadband namesakes. The latest development: The Justice Department this week seized a domain name and Web site that traded tips and products about copyrighted movies and games. Officials are using the case to warn other potential pirates about the risks of swapping illegal files and copyrighted products on the Internet. 

The www.isonews.com site -- described by the U.S. government as dedicated to online copyright piracy -- now links to a message from the Justice Department with information on the case and this ominous message: "ISO News is now the property of the U.S. government." The domain's transfer to government control is part of a plea agreement with the site's 22-year-old owner, David M. Rocci of Blacksburg, Va. Rocci pleaded guilty in December to conspiring with others to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by importing, marketing and selling modification, or "mod," computer chips. The chips can bypass copyright protection mechanisms in Xbox and other online gaming devices. 

According to federal officials, Rocci sold 450 Enigmah Mod Chips, taking in $28,000. "Because the Web site was 'facilitating' the crime and because Justice Department officials wanted to send a message to other violators, they came up with the idea of seizing the site. Officials said this could be a harbinger of enforcement actions," The Washington Post reported. 
? The Washington Post: Government Takes Piracy Web Site 

The Register reported that the Feds are turning Rocci's former site "into a repository of anti-piracy propaganda." On the ISO News site, the Justice Department now warns of potential problems for illegal file sharers: "People who distribute pirated works over the Internet via IRC, FTP sites, web sites, or file-sharing networks, and people who download or reproduce pirated works are risking criminal prosecution. Piracy is a crime even when the works are distributed over the Internet for free or where the conduct does not involve monetary gain, such as the trading of pirated products for other pirated products." 
? The Register: DoJ Seizes ISOnews Site Over Xbox Mod Chip Sales 

"Piracy is not a game or a hobby, it is a crime," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Paul McNulty said in a statement. "This case is another example of our dedication to enforcing the intellectual property laws of this nation online. Whether you are engaged in conduct like David Rocci or you are purchasing mod chips to play pirated games, you should stop."

BBC News Online cautioned that "some civil liberties groups have expressed concern about the free speech implications of the government seizing Web sites and domain names. ISO News had more than 100,000 registered users and was estimated to get up 140,000 hits each day. The site did not contain illegal copies of video games, software and movies, but instead featured message boards where people could share tips about pirated material. But the site was also used to market modification, or mod, chips. These have been a headache for game hardware makers for years. Mod chips are grey-market add-ons that, once soldered to a console's main circuit board, defeat security systems and allow people to play games originally sent to different geographic markets, backup copies and bootleg discs." The Feds are not stopping with isonews.com; they're also seizing the domains of several drug paraphernalia sites raided earlier this week. 
? BBC Online: U.S. Seizes Bootleg Games Sites 
? Gamers.com: U.S. Government Occupies Mod Chip Site 
? CNET's News.com: Feds Confiscate Illegal Domain Names 

File this in the foreshadowing file. In January 2001, file-sharing site FreeDrive reportedly shut down its service amid Justice Department concerns (FreeDrive's site now links to online storage and file sharing company Xdrive, which now charges for its services). None other than Rocci talked to CNET's News.com at the time about the implications of sites like FreeDrive: "From what I understand, these free hard drive services have been a major hub for the distribution of pirated software for 'Web warez' sites," Rocci said. "These sites require their users to click banners and find passwords for their own profit, then after the users sort through a vast amount of garbage, they finally get a small app or game stored on one of these free online storage bins." 
? CNET's News.com: DOJ Concerns Shutter File-Swapping Service (Article is from Jan. 22, 2001) 

Rocci is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7. He is looking at up to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine. And speaking of punishing hackers, the pro-digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation opposes any move to increase sentences for federal computer crime offenses. According to EFF's Web site, the group, along with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers "to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which had been directed by Congress to review sentencing guidelines applicable to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act." 
*******************************
New York Times
February 24, 2003
Firing Leaflets and Electrons, U.S. Wages Information War
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23  Even before President Bush orders American forces to loose bullets and bombs on Iraq, the military is starting an ambitious assault using a growing arsenal of electronic and psychological weapons on the information battlefield.

American cyber-warfare experts recently waged an e-mail assault, directed at Iraq's political, military and economic leadership, urging them to break with Saddam Hussein's government. A wave of calls has gone to the private cellphone numbers of specially selected officials inside Iraq, according to leaders at the Pentagon and in the regional Central Command.

As of last week, more than eight million leaflets had been dropped over Iraq  including towns 65 miles south of Baghdad  warning Iraqi antiaircraft missile operators that their bunkers will be destroyed if they track or fire at allied warplanes. In the same way, a blunt offer has gone to Iraqi ground troops: surrender, and live.

But the leaflets are old-fashioned instruments compared with some of the others that are being applied already or are likely to be used soon.

Radio transmitters hauled aloft by Air Force Special Operations EC-130E planes are broadcasting directly to the Iraqi public in Arabic with programs that mimic the program styles of local radio stations and are more sophisticated than the clumsy preachings of previous wartime propaganda efforts.

"Do not let Saddam tarnish the reputation of soldiers any longer," one recent broadcast said. "Saddam uses the military to persecute those who don't agree with his unjust agenda. Make the decision."

Military planners at the United States Central Command expect to rely on many kinds of information warfare  including electronic attacks on power grids, communications systems and computer networks, as well as deception and psychological operations  to break the Iraqi military's will to fight and sway Iraqi public opinion. 

Commanders may use supersecret weapons that could flash millions of watts of electricity to cripple Iraqi computers and equipment, and literally turn off the lights in Baghdad if the campaign escalates to full-fledged combat.

"The goal of information warfare is to win without ever firing a shot," said James R. Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Central Command in Tampa, Fla. "If action does begin, information warfare is used to make the conflict as short as possible."

Senior military officials say, for example, that the American radio shows broadcast from the EC-130E "Commando Solo" planes follow the format of a popular Iraqi station, "Voice of the Youth," managed by President Hussein's older son, Uday.

The American programs open with greetings in Arabic, followed by Euro-pop and 1980's American rock music  intended to appeal to younger Iraqi troops, perceived by officials as the ones most likely to lay down their arms. The broadcasts include traditional Iraqi folk music, so as not to alienate other listeners, and a news program in Arabic prepared by Army psychological operations experts at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Then comes the official message: Any war is not against the Iraqi people, but is to disarm Mr. Hussein and end his government.

American commanders say they believe that these psychological salvos have, to some degree, influenced Iraqi forces to move their defenses or curtail their antiaircraft fire.

"It pays to drop the leaflets," Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, commander of allied air forces in the Persian Gulf, said by telephone from his headquarters in Saudi Arabia. "It sends a direct message to the operator on the gun. It sends a direct message to the chain of command."

Deception and psychological operations have been a part of warfare for centuries, and American commanders carried out limited information attacks  both psychological operations, or "psyops," and more traditional electronic warfare like jamming or crippling the enemy's equipment  in the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and the air campaign over Kosovo in 1999, as well as in Afghanistan. But commanders looking back on those campaigns say their current planning is much broader and more tightly integrated into the main war plan than ever before.

"What we're seeing now is the weaving of electronic warfare, psyops and other information warfare through every facet of the plan from our peacetime preparations through execution," said Maj. Gen. Paul J. Lebras, chief of the Joint Information Operations Center, a secretive military agency based in Texas that has sent a team of experts to join the Central Command info-warfare team for the Iraq campaign.

As modern combat relies increasingly on precision strikes at targets carried out over long distances, the military is likewise increasingly aware that there are many ways to disable the operations at those targets.

An adversary's antiaircraft radar site, for example, can be destroyed by a bomb or missile launched by a warplane; it can be captured or blown up by ground forces; or the enemy soldiers running the radar can be persuaded to shut down the system and just go home.

"We are trying very hard to be empathetic with the Iraqi military," said a senior American information warfare official. "We understand their situation. The same for the Iraqi population. We wish them no harm. We will take great pains to make those people understand that they should stay away from military equipment."

Even so, the military's most ardent advocates of information warfare acknowledge that American pilots ordered into enemy airspace would rather be told that antiaircraft sites were struck first by ordnance, rather than by leaflets.

Aerial pictures help the military assess bomb damage to a target. The softer kind of strike is harder to assess.

Information warfare experts look for what they call "the voilà moment."

"In Afghanistan, the biggest lesson we learned in our tactical information operations  the radio and TV broadcasts  was the importance in explaining, `Why are we here?' " a senior American military officer said. "The majority of Afghanis did not know that Sept. 11 occurred. They didn't even know of our great tragedy."

During the war in Afghanistan, this officer said, "The voilà moment came when we saw that the population understood why coalition forces were fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda."

In Iraq, he said, "it will be when we see a break with the leadership."

Delivering radios to the people of Afghanistan presented a particular problem. About 500 were air-dropped over the country, and all of them were destroyed on impact. The military and aid groups passed out more than 6,500, and millions of leaflets were dropped telling the Afghan people of frequencies used for the American broadcasts.

The American military also took over one important frequency, 8.7 megahertz, used by the Taliban for its official radio broadcasts. That became possible once the towers used by the Taliban for relaying their military commands were blown up as part of the war effort. As in most totalitarian governments, the military and government used the same system for their radio broadcasts. The American military continues to broadcast to the Afghan people over that channel.

Improvisation remains a hallmark of the emerging information war, said Brig. Gen. Thomas P. Maney, of the Army's Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command.

In Afghanistan, General Maney said, the American military found it hard to get its radio and television messages out to many villages that had access to neither. So Special Forces troops made contact with local coffee-house managers, and offered them the same radio programs being broadcast from Commando Solo planes, but on compact discs to be played over a boom box for the patrons.

The program gave birth to a new icon on the military's maps of Afghanistan: a tiny picture of a coffee mug to indicate the location of village businesses that agreed to play CD copies of the American radio programming.

If Mr. Bush orders an attack against Iraq, the information offensive will expand to a fierce but invisible war of electrons. Air commanders will rely on a small but essential fleet of surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, including the radar-jamming EC-130H Compass Call and electronic-eavesdropping RC-135 Rivet Joint. There are just over a dozen of each aircraft in the American arsenal.

Flying from Prince Sultan Air Base, outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Rivet Joint is already playing an important role in collecting Iraqi radio and radar emissions, which are jammed when American and British planes in the no-flight zones periodically attack targets on the ground. The RC-135, a military version of a Boeing 707 jet with a bulbous nose filled with sensors, is essentially a flying listening post, orbiting at the edge of the battlefield above 30,000 feet.

In the rear of the planes, filled with high-powered computers and other sensors, intelligence specialists, many of whom speak Arabic or Farsi, monitor the airwaves, intercepting conversations from military communications links or other networks. Much of this information is passed to the National Security Agency for analysis.

At the front of the plane, which has a 32-member crew, electronic warfare specialists sit at a separate bank of computers, gathering up radar signals of all kinds, including Iraqi air defenses. Rivet Joints have the ability to scan automatically across an array of communications frequencies, allowing an operator to home in on individual frequencies and pass that information on to the Awacs radar or J-Stars ground-surveillance planes, which have better ability to pinpoint the locations of the transmissions.

The Compass Call is a modified C-130 cargo plane, also filled with high-powered computers and sensors. Usually flying at above 20,000 feet and, ideally, about 80 to 100 miles from the target to be jammed, the Compass Calls are directed to their targets by the Rivet Joints, other aircraft or targets identified in their pre-mission planning. The 13-member crews include linguists, cryptologists, other analysts and the flight personnel.

Metal antenna cables hang down from the plane's tail in a distinctive pattern that looks like a metal trapeze or cheese-cutter. Electronic signals are collected from sensors in the blunt nose of the airplane; antennae in the rear of the aircraft blast electrons that jam enemy radar and other communications.

Flying perpendicular to the target to maximize the jamming, on-board specialists lock on to the frequencies to be disrupted. The plane can jam multiple targets at once. When it comes time to carry out a mission, a flight officer pushes a little red button on a computer keyboard, "JAM," and up to 800 watts of power is zapped at the target. If the target switches frequency, the Compass Call operators are ready to jam that in a constant cat-and-mouse game.

In a war against Iraq, military commanders say, new technology will probably allow those electronic combat planes to plant false targets in Iraqi radars and spoof the air defense systems.

In an interview, Gen. John P. Jumper, the Air Force chief of staff, declined to discuss the highly classified technical advances, except to say, "We're approaching the point where we can tell the SA-10 radar it is a Maytag washer and not a radar, and put it in the rinse cycle instead of the firing cycle."
*******************************
Los Angeles Times
U.S. Fighters Place Faith in Weapons
Sailors and pilots in the Persian Gulf express confidence that newer high-tech arms will reduce the risk for them as well as civilians.
By Carol J. Williams
February 27, 2003

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN THE PERSIAN GULF -- It may be hard to imagine deadly weapons as a source of comfort, but those charged with firing today's "smart" bombs say their accuracy eases the psychological burden of unleashing force that could kill innocents as well as the enemy.

"We all have wives and kids we worry about and I worry about people with wives and kids in Iraq, too," said Cmdr. Scott Swift, deputy chief of the air wing aboard this nuclear-powered carrier, a key launch pad if war with Iraq comes. "It's disturbing for everybody, but particularly for those individuals who have to pull the trigger, for those called upon to execute the nation's will.

"There's a lot of concern about collateral damage, about civilians being involved," said Swift, whose 2,400-plus aviators and support crew would deliver war's punch. "But the weapons are now precise enough that if there are no civilians placed at military targets, there will be no civilian casualties."

To take out the same number of military targets hit during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Swift estimates that U.S. forces will be able to use half as many bombs and missiles, thus halving the risk of strikes going awry.

"The difference this time is going to be the number of smart bombs we use," said Lt. Paul Dosen, the carrier's weapons assembly officer and a 1991 Gulf War veteran. "That means the collateral damage is going to be a lot less, and that's something we're very concerned about. We build these bombs of destruction and we want to know they are hitting the right targets."

The 320 Lincoln crew members responsible for storing and arming the weapons loaded onto the air wing's 70 fighter aircraft do so with the sobering knowledge that their behind-the-scenes combat role is just as much a life-or-death matter as it is for the pilots who deliver the strikes.

After seven months away from their own families, the added stress of an expected engagement is taking an emotional toll, Dosen said.

"Everybody needs to know about the sacrifice going on here," the 24-year Navy veteran said of his crewmates, who were turned around to the Middle East in December, halfway home to Everett, Wash. "There are divorces happening now. That's the sad part of it. The morale of the crew is phenomenal. Sailors always rise to the occasion. But it's always hard, especially for the families."

Part of that psychological weight has been eased by the technological breakthroughs in weapons design, say Lincoln sailors and fliers.

Each aircraft carrier group is escorted by cruisers and destroyers, all armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles with a 1,000-mile range. The fighter aircraft on board carry smart bombs outfitted with GPS targeting systems allowing strikes accurate within a few feet. Laser-guided "bunker busters" can burrow deep below the Earth's surface to destroy underground threats, and "glide bombs" can be programmed to circle a target and approach from any angle.

The predominance of precision-guided munitions to be used in any forthcoming battle means reduced risk for aviators, said Cmdr. Jeff Penfield, leader of the F/A-18E Super Hornet squadron that will be conducting the aircraft's first combat operations if the current face-off evolves into war.

"The weapons are so precise now that I can send one weapon per aim point and hit four targets with one plane," he said. "If you can send one airplane to do what it used to take four airplanes to do, you don't need to put as many people into harm's way."

Lt. Roy Ferreira, a tactical action officer from Placentia, Calif., who has the authority to approve the firing of on-board weapons, notes that state-of-the-art Tomahawk cruise missiles aboard each carrier group's escorting cruisers and destroyers give the Navy strike capability without putting U.S. aviators at risk of return fire.

Like most of those preparing the expected offensive, Ferreira believes that the U.S. and coalition forces have an overwhelming advantage because Iraq has been able to maintain little more than crude antiaircraft batteries and radar.

"I don't think the war will be nearly as long as people think," he said, describing coalition air and naval power as beyond comparison with anything Iraq could have, with one considerable caveat. "The biggest threat is on the asymmetrical side, that they could use chemical or biological weapons."

No one minimizes the risks of an Iraqi attack with nerve gas or smallpox, but those patrolling the "no-fly" zones over Iraq for the last dozen years say Baghdad has limited capacity to deliver those hazards.

At most, say pilots familiar with residual Iraqi munitions, biological or chemical agents could be launched at coalition ground forces with imprecise, unguided short- or medium-range projectiles.

Tempering confidence with caution, those managing the massive prewar buildup draw strength from their formidable arsenal.

"Suffice it to say that in any type of warfare scenario that involves aircraft carriers, we are certainly capable of bringing air power to the problem and using it very effectively," said Capt. Philip Greene, commander of the destroyer squadron accompanying the Lincoln.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Military facts

The U.S. military, preparing for a possible war with Iraq, said Wednesday that it had activated more than 16,000 additional Reserve troops. The following forces are in or near the Middle East and could be used in any U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

U.S. Navy

6 aircraft carriers -- five American and one British -- are within striking distance of Iraq, including the Kitty Hawk, Abraham Lincoln and Constellation, which are in or near the gulf.

Carriers typically deploy about 75 planes, including about 50 attack aircraft. Each warship is shepherded by about half a dozen cruisers, destroyers and submarines with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

1 hospital ship, Comfort, is in the region.

U.S. personnel

175,000 U.S. ground, naval and air troops are in the gulf region near Iraq -- including nearly 100,000 Army soldiers and Marines in Kuwait. The U.S. total could reach 230,000 by mid-March.

168,083 Reserve and National Guard troops on active duty, which include those called up this week.

Central Command

More than 1,000 U.S. communications personnel and several hundred British counterparts staff the mobile "CentCom" post in Qatar, the headquarters of Gen. Tommy Franks, who would direct any war on Iraq.

Air bases

Several radar-evading F-117A stealth fighters are exercising at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The Air Force has sent B-1B bombers, F-15C fighters, F-15E attack jets, F-16 fighters, A-10 attack jets, Predator unmanned spy planes and radar aircraft.

Turkey's parliament has given permission to upgrade an unspecified number of Turkish military bases. U.S. aircraft based there would join 200 other jets based in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.
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BBC Online
Riddle of 'Baghdad's batteries'

Arran Frood investigates what could have been the very first batteries and how these important archaeological and technological artefacts are now at risk from the impending war in Iraq.

War can destroy more than a people, an army or a leader. Culture, tradition and history also lie in the firing line. 

Iraq has a rich national heritage. The Garden of Eden and the Tower of Babel are said to have been sited in this ancient land. 

In any war, there is a chance that priceless treasures will be lost forever, articles such as the "ancient battery" that resides defenceless in the museum of Baghdad. 

For this object suggests that the region, whose civilizations gave us writing and the wheel, may also have invented electric cells - two thousand years before such devices were well known. 

Biblical clues 

It was in 1938, while working in Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad in modern day Iraq, that German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig unearthed a five-inch-long (13 cm) clay jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod.

The vessel showed signs of corrosion, and early tests revealed that an acidic agent, such as vinegar or wine had been present. 

In the early 1900s, many European archaeologists were excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, looking for evidence of Biblical tales like the Tree of Knowledge and Noah's flood. 

Konig did not waste his time finding alternative explanations for his discovery. To him, it had to have been a battery. 

Though this was hard to explain, and did not sit comfortably with the religious ideology of the time, he published his conclusions. But soon the world was at war, and his discovery was forgotten. 

Scientific awareness 

More than 60 years after their discovery, the batteries of Baghdad - as there are perhaps a dozen of them - are shrouded in myth. 

"The batteries have always attracted interest as curios," says Dr Paul Craddock, a metallurgy expert of the ancient Near East from the British Museum. 

"They are a one-off. As far as we know, nobody else has found anything like these. They are odd things; they are one of life's enigmas." 

No two accounts of them are the same. Some say the batteries were excavated, others that Konig found them in the basement of the Baghdad Museum when he took over as director. There is no definite figure on how many have been found, and their age is disputed. 

Most sources date the batteries to around 200 BC - in the Parthian era, circa 250 BC to AD 225. Skilled warriors, the Parthians were not noted for their scientific achievements. 

"Although this collection of objects is usually dated as Parthian, the grounds for this are unclear," says Dr St John Simpson, also from the department of the ancient Near East at the British Museum. 

"The pot itself is Sassanian. This discrepancy presumably lies either in a misidentification of the age of the ceramic vessel, or the site at which they were found." 

Underlying principles 

In the history of the Middle East, the Sassanian period (circa AD 225 - 640) marks the end of the ancient and the beginning of the more scientific medieval era. 

Though most archaeologists agree the devices were batteries, there is much conjecture as to how they could have been discovered, and what they were used for. 

How could ancient Arabic science have grasped the principles of electricity and arrived at this knowledge? 

Perhaps they did not. Many inventions are conceived before the underlying principles are properly understood. 

The Chinese invented gunpowder long before the principles of combustion were deduced, and the rediscovery of old herbal medicines is now a common occurrence. 

You do not always have to understand why something works - just that it does. 

Enough zap 

It is certain the Baghdad batteries could conduct an electric current because many replicas have been made, including by students of ancient history under the direction of Dr Marjorie Senechal, professor of the history of science and technology, Smith College, US. 

"I don't think anyone can say for sure what they were used for, but they may have been batteries because they do work," she says. Replicas can produce voltages from 0.8 to nearly two volts. 

Making an electric current requires two metals with different electro potentials and an ion carrying solution, known as an electrolyte, to ferry the electrons between them. 

Connected in series, a set of batteries could theoretically produce a much higher voltage, though no wires have ever been found that would prove this had been the case. 

"It's a pity we have not found any wires," says Dr Craddock. "It means our interpretation of them could be completely wrong". 

But he is sure the objects are batteries and that there could be more of them to discover. "Other examples may exist that lie in museums elsewhere unrecognised". 

He says this is especially possible if any items are missing, as the objects only look like batteries when all the pieces are in place. 

Possible uses 

Some have suggested the batteries may have been used medicinally. 

The ancient Greeks wrote of the pain killing effect of electric eels when applied to the soles of the feet. 

The Chinese had developed acupuncture by this time, and still use acupuncture combined with an electric current. This may explain the presence of needle-like objects found with some of the batteries. 

But this tiny voltage would surely have been ineffective against real pain, considering the well-recorded use of other painkillers in the ancient world like cannabis, opium and wine. 

Other scientists believe the batteries were used for electroplating - transferring a thin layer of metal on to another metal surface - a technique still used today and a common classroom experiment. 

This idea is appealing because at its core lies the mother of many inventions: money. 

In the making of jewellery, for example, a layer of gold or silver is often applied to enhance its beauty in a process called gilding. 

Grape electrolyte 

Two main techniques of gilding were used at the time and are still in use today: hammering the precious metal into thin strips using brute force, or mixing it with a mercury base which is then pasted over the article. 

These techniques are effective, but wasteful compared with the addition of a small but consistent layer of metal by electro-deposition. The ability to mysteriously electroplate gold or silver on to such objects would not only save precious resources and money, but could also win you important friends at court. 

A palace, kingdom, or even the sultan's daughter may have been the reward for such knowledge - and motivation to keep it secret. 

Testing this idea in the late seventies, Dr Arne Eggebrecht, then director of Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, connected many replica Baghdad batteries together using grape juice as an electrolyte, and claimed to have deposited a thin layer of silver on to another surface, just one ten thousandth of a millimetre thick. 

Other researchers though, have disputed these results and have been unable to replicate them. 

"There does not exist any written documentation of the experiments which took place here in 1978," says Dr Bettina Schmitz, currently a researcher based at the same Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum. 

"The experiments weren't even documented by photos, which really is a pity," she says. "I have searched through the archives of this museum and I talked to everyone involved in 1978 with no results." 

Tingling idols 

Although a larger voltage can be obtained by connecting more than one battery together, it is the ampage which is the real limiting factor, and many doubt whether a high enough power could ever have been obtained, even from tens of Baghdad batteries. 

One serious flaw with the electroplating hypothesis is the lack of items from this place and time that have been treated in this way. 

"The examples we see from this region and era are conventional gild plating and mercury gilding," says Dr Craddock. "There's never been any untouchable evidence to support the electroplating theory." 

He suggests a cluster of the batteries, connected in parallel, may have been hidden inside a metal statue or idol. 

He thinks that anyone touching this statue may have received a tiny but noticeable electric shock, something akin to the static discharge that can infect offices, equipment and children's parties. 

"I have always suspected you would get tricks done in the temple," says Dr Craddock. "The statue of a god could be wired up and then the priest would ask you questions. 

"If you gave the wrong answer, you'd touch the statue and would get a minor shock along with perhaps a small mysterious blue flash of light. Get the answer right, and the trickster or priest could disconnect the batteries and no shock would arrive - the person would then be convinced of the power of the statue, priest and the religion." 

Magical rituals 

It is said that to the uninitiated, science cannot be distinguished from magic. "In Egypt we know this sort of thing happened with Hero's engine," Dr Craddock says. 

Hero's engine was a primitive steam-driven machine, and like the battery of Baghdad, no one is quite sure what it was used for, but are convinced it could work. 

If this idol could be found, it would be strong evidence to support the new theory. With the batteries inside, was this object once revered, like the Oracle of Delphi in Greece, and "charged" with godly powers? 

Even if the current were insufficient to provide a genuine shock, it may have felt warm, a bizarre tingle to the touch of the unsuspecting finger. 

At the very least, it could have just been the container of these articles, to keep their secret safe. 

Perhaps it is too early to say the battery has been convincingly demonstrated to be part of a magical ritual. Further examination, including accurate dating, of the batteries' components are needed to really answer this mystery. 

No one knows if such an idol or statue that could have hidden the batteries really exists, but perhaps the opportunity to look is not too far away - if the items survive the looming war in the Middle East. 

"These objects belong to the successors of the people who made them," says Dr Craddock. "Let's hope the world manages to resolve its present problems so people can go and see them." 
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