Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/2/21/181251.shtml

Hanssen Case: A Trifle Compared to Clinton-China Connection
Sam Smith
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2001
Sam Smith edits the liberal online news service the Progressive Review, located at www.prorev.com. The following is an excerpt from his Wednesday report:
The Chinese connection exploded with the arrival of the Clinton administration. A younger crowd of American politicians had skipped the part about patriotism, about the pledge of allegiance, about loyalty not only to country but to much of anything other than themselves. The Clinton policy toward China was merely an extension of these values: What's in for us and how soon? The notion of national security was almost alien to them; besides, they had the new paradigm of globalization to keep them warm. Here are just a few of the things that happened along the way:

• Named Commerce Secretary, Ron Brown treated his post as just another place to wheel and deal. He was irrepressible, on one occasion okaying the sale of new American engines for China to put in its cruise missiles. The engines had been built as military equipment but Brown reclassified them as civilian.

• Neither was Brown above doing a little business on the side. The Saudis wanted some American planes; Brown told them: You want the planes, you also want a phone contract with ATT. Cost of the planes and hardware: $6 billion. Cost of the phone contract: $4 billion. Part of the deal, it turned out, was an ATT side agreement with a firm called First International. The owner: Ron Brown

• Former London Sunday Times correspondent James Adams wrote a book in which he described the Chinese success with the Clinton crowd as "an espionage coup of epic proportions."

• According to the New York Times, Clinton removed $2 billion in trade with China from national security scrutiny. Among the results: 77 supercomputers – capable of 13 billion calculations per second – that could scramble and unscramble secret data and design nuclear weapons. These were purchased by the Chinese without a peep stateside. At least some of them would be used by the Chinese military.

• With the transfer of the Panama Canal, four of Panama's ports ended up being controlled by a company partially owned by Hutchison-Whampoa Ltd., which in turn was owned by Li Ka-Shing, a billionaire so close to the Chinese power structure that he was offered the governorship of Hong Kong.

Another owner of the Panamanian ports was China Resources Enterprise, called an "agent of espionage" by Senator Fred Thompson. CRE was also a partner of the Lippo Group, owned by the Riady family that played a central if mysterious role in the rise of William Clinton. According to congressional testimony by ex-JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] chief Admiral Thomas Moorer, Hutchison-Whampoa won the right to pilot all ships through the Panama Canal, including U.S. naval vessels.

• President Clinton signed national security waivers to allow four U.S. commercial satellites to be launched in China, despite evidence that China was exporting nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan and Iran, among other nations. One of these satellites belonged to Loral. Nine days later a Chinese Long March rocket carrying a $200 million satellite belonging to Loral failed in mid-flight.

A subsequent lawsuit charged that the circuit board from the highly classified encryption device in the satellite was found to be missing when the Chinese returned debris from the explosion to U.S. authorities, even though a control box containing the circuit board was recovered intact. After the crash, NSA reportedly changed the encoded algorithms used by U.S. satellites because of the apparent release of highly classified information.

• President Clinton approved a waiver allowing the launch of another satellite on board a Chinese rocket, despite a recommendation by the Department of Justice that the waiver would have a significant adverse impact on any prosecution arising from its pending investigation of Loral.

• The New York Times reported in 1998 that the Defense Technology Security Administration said Loral's unauthorized release of sensitive technology to the Chinese gave rise to at least three "major" violations of U.S. national security, three medium violations and 12 "minor" infractions.

• Throughout these dealings, the CEO of Loral, Bernard Schwartz, contributed at least $1.5 million to the Democrats, making him the single largest contributor to these groups during the period in question.

• Softwar newsletter reported that that some of the radios and cell phones being used by Chinese police in their campaign against dissidents were those sold to the Chinese by Motorola after Clinton overrode human rights objections by the State Department.

• In the end, the brunt of the evidence was that the Chinese had obtained more American military secrets over the past two decades than had all the previous spies in American history put together. They had basic information on all nuclear weapons systems, they got our most advanced supercomputers, they gained extraordinarily important information about satellite systems. Some of this knowledge they used for themselves; some they retrofitted and repackaged and sold to other countries like Iraq, where it was used against our own fighter planes.

While the problem occurred under both Republican and Democratic administrations, it got completely out of hand under Clinton. Some of the information was stolen, some was given to China in the classic manner of spies, but a stunning proportion was obtained either as a direct result of political and economic decisions by the Clinton administration or as a result of what can best be described as premeditated indifference.

• Three major players in the China scandal – John Huang, Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung – were all allowed by the Justice Department to cop pleas.

• Carol Cameron of Fox News reported that cover stories provided by Chinese operatives to hide China's illegal campaign contributions may have come from or been approved by President Jiang Zemin. Transcripts of FBI wiretaps obtained by Fox News also pointed to the possibility that President Clinton may have known of both the illegal donations and what was to be said if they were discovered.

Johnny Chung told Congress he was under orders from the Chinese to keep the whole thing quiet. His orders, he said, came from a suspected Chinese intelligence operative named Robert Luu, who worked for a Los Angeles law firm. In a phone conversation tapped by the FBI, Chung was told by Luu to say the campaign money came from the so-called princelings: Chinese leaders' grown sons, who live, study and often live lavishly in the West.

A transcript of the wiretap, obtained by Fox News, contains the following:

LUU: "Shove the blame on the shoulders of the princelings."

CHUNG: "So blame it on the princelings. Do not implicate the Chinese government."

LUU: "Yes. Chairman Jiang agreed to handle it like this; the president over here also agreed."

• Newsweek quoted intelligence officials as saying that the Chinese "penetration is total. They are deep into the [U.S. nuclear weapons] labs' black programs."

• In an AP story ignored by major media, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey accused the Clinton administration of pursuing a policy of appeasement toward China and likened it to the way Britain and France dealt with Nazi Germany on Czechoslovakia before World War II.

• Last year, the Wall Street Journal wrote: "Top business executives are issuing a blunt warning to federal lawmakers: Vote against the trade deal with China, and we will hold it against you when writing campaign checks. Phil Condit, chairman of Boeing Co., and Robert N. Burt, chairman and chief executive of FMC Corp., said a coming vote to facilitate China's entry into the World Trade Organization will be a measure of every lawmaker's friendliness to business.

• Operating with an interim top secret clearance (but without FBI investigation or foreign security check) Commerce official Huang requested several top secret files on China just before a meeting with the Chinese ambassador. Huang and the Riadys then held a meeting with Clinton. Not long after, Huang went to work as a Democratic fund-raiser, but remained on Commerce's payroll as a $10,000-a-month consultant. Huang raised $5 million for the campaign. About a third of that was returned as having come from illegal sources. Among the problem contributions: $250,000 to the DNC from five Chinese businessmen in order to have a brief meeting with Clinton at a fund raiser.

• Macao businessman Ng Lap Seng, closely linked to a couple of major Chinese-owned enterprises, was regularly bringing in large sums of money to the United States, according to customs records. On one occasion, he arrived with $175,000 and then two days later met with Charlie Trie and Mark Middleton at the White House. That evening Ng sat at Clinton's table at a DNC fund raiser.

This is just a sample – not of treason, but of politics as it has been practiced. Now, let's turn to the recently arrested Agent Hanssen. So far there is no evidence that he helped the Russians build a missile, suppress dissidents, or buy U.S. politicians. Instead, in the FBI's own words, "The affidavit alleges that Hanssen compromised numerous human sources of the U.S. Intelligence Community, dozens of classified U.S. Government documents, including 'Top Secret' and 'code word' documents, and technical operations of extraordinary importance and value. It also alleges that Hanssen compromised FBI counterintelligence investigative techniques, sources, methods and operations, and disclosed to the KGB the FBI's secret investigation of Felix Bloch, a foreign service officer, for espionage."

Hanssen's major alleged crime, in other words, is not the betrayal of America but of the (note capitals) U.S. Intelligence Community, its personnel, its manuals, and its tricks of the trade. Open up Robert Hanssen and – as with a Russian doll – you just get another spy who is busily betraying another spy, all of whom are keeping secrets not so much from some foreign country as from the citizens of their own.

It is all bizarre, incestuous, of little known purpose, and, in the best postmodern manner, flexible. Just as American politicians and lawyers have redefined bribery so that the official bribee can escape punishment for the same crime for which the citizen bribee is punished, so the rules of loyalty to one's country now vary immensely not according to the nature of one's action but according to one's position. Hanssen will probably go to prison and may even be executed. Marc Rich's more acceptable foreign entanglements are used to justify his pardon.

Don't look for it written down anywhere. Except for the basic rule, laid down in 1613 by John Harington: "Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

From Alamo girl's research:

DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: BEHIND THE ABUSE OF POWER ALLEGATIONS
SUBSECTION: BRAC, IRIDIUM and COINCIDENCES
Revised 8/20/99

1995 DEFENSE BASE CLOSURE AND REALIGNMENT COMMISSION (BRAC)

Two months after signing the BRAC recommendations, Clinton said to workers at Kelly Air Force Base (San Antonio) "On July 1, you were dealt a serious blow when the independent Base Closing Commission said that we ought to shut Kelly down," said Clinton. "At my insistence, and my refusal to go along with that specific recommendation, the Air Force developed the Privatization-in-Place Plan that will keep thousands of jobs here at this depot."

Department of Defense has put out a new contract for maintaining three different types of aircraft engines made by three different companies. A stipulation of the contract is that interested parties must bid on all three jobs, or none at all. The engine manufacturers -- General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Allison -- have joined forces to submit a bid and are agreeing to keep the work at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Kelly and McClellan were targeted for closure by the 1995 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). The work being performed at those bases was to be transferred to Hill Air Force Base and other bases in Oklahoma and Georgia.

Washington Post 4/9/99 Al Kamen "...Acting Secretary F. Whitten Peters, the Air Force folks' favorite [for Air Force secretary], would have been considered the leading candidate but for a little memo he wrote last year, which leaked to Congress, in which he implied--falsely the White House insists--that politics somehow was being played on the issue of base closures. The memo infuriated White House Chief of Staff John D. Podesta and that appeared to doom any move up for Peters. The buzz now is that Podesta, feeling the spirit of the Easter season, is dropping his objection to Peters, which could lead to his nomination and likely prompt confirmation, shortly after the Senate comes back from recess. It probably won't hurt things that Peters yesterday was invited to accompany President Clinton to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Monday to show support for the troops, Barksdale being the home of the B-52s flying to the Yugoslavian theater...."

IRIDIUM

8/28/98 DAWN (Pakistan) Masood Haider "The brother of Osama bin Laden is a director of a US telecom giant, Irridium LLC, according to reports. Although the Clinton administration has made Osama the world's most wanted man, the rest of the family does millions of dollars in business with the US, reports say. Sheikh Hasan bin Laden, one of Osama's many brothers in a Saudi family of immense wealth and far- flung enterprises, is listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a director of Iridium LLC, the New York newspaper Daily News said. Irridium, which plans to put the first global network of cell phones and pagers into operation next month, has launched satellites four times aboard China's Long March rockets. The launches by Irridium, Hughes Electronics and Loral Space and Communications triggered a furore in Congress this summer amid allegations that China picked up missile targeting know-how from its arrangements with the US firms. Irridium confirmed that Hasan bin Laden is a director of the Irridium Middle East Corp subsidiary and that the Saudi bin Laden Group, the family's investment arm, has put money into the global phone link firm.."

Mr. Mondale, nephew of the former vice president, was the first employee of Iridium and is the Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning for Iridium LLC. Before joining Motorola, he was a Vice President at Fairchild Space and Defense Corporation where he was responsible for the international and commercial activities of Fairchild Space from 1989 to 1990. Prior to joining Fairchild, Mr. Mondale was Legal Counsel to the then Space Division of Matra, S.A. (now Matra-Marconi Space, N.V.), based in Paris, France, following several years of private legal practice in Washington, D.C. Mondale has guided the marketing, strategic planning, and government affairs disciplines within the company since its inception.

DR. EDWARD F. STAIANO Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Iridium LLC and Chairman, Iridium World Communications, Ltd. before joining Iridium LLC was a 23-year veteran of Motorola credited with growing Motorola's General Systems Sector to record levels. The sector is composed of cellular infrastructure, cellular equipment, computer, and network management businesses.

Iridium has ties to late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and the Democratic party. Leo Mondale and Motorola executive Edward Staino hired four of Brown's former employees with high level security clearances to help run Iridium's project on worldwide telecommunications. In May of 1995 a former assistant secretary of Commerce, Lauri Fitz-Pegado, a long-time friend of Brown and special adviser to the chairman of the DNC, became vice president of the Iridium division called Global Gateway Management. Her responsibilities at Iridium include coordinating meetings and trips with international investors. She was joined there by her former Commerce assistants Pilar Martinez, Charlotte Kea and Andrew Balfour, who was a director under the executive secretary for Commerce.

ROBERT W. KINZIE Chairman, Iridium LLC before joining Iridium was the Director of Strategic Planning for the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) - the 121 member-country international organization, which owns and operates the global commercial communications satellite system. Mr. Kinzie also has over 20 years experience in the satellite communications industry with the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT). From 1962 to 1965, Mr. Kinzie was an economist at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. He also held positions at the U.S. Bureau of the Census and was on the staff of a United States Congressman.

While at Commerce, Sockowitz, a 1992 Clinton/Gore fundraiser, held a top-secret clearance and kept classified files in a safe. After being transferred to the SBA (without a debriefing) he came back to Commerce and remove 136 files. After he left the SBA he was not debriefed. He now works for the Strategic Planning Group in Bethesda, Md., an international business consulting firm. Justice stopped looking into the security breach matter in December '96 without ever talking to Sockowitz, or his boss whom he followed to SBA, Ms. Lew. Nolanda Hill told Judge Lamberth in March of 1998 that Brown worried that Sockowitz might have ''funneled information to others.'' Documents include satellite encryptions from Hoyt Zia, chief counsel for Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration. Zia is a former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser and close friend of Huang. Also in the Sockowitz files were memos, notes, and file folders from Commerce and the National Security Council on encryption or decoding software, exports and policy options; Satellite-project information; "Space Launch;" "Uranium from Russia;" A CIA report on Russian economic development; and Biographies on foreign political leaders in Bosnia, Croatia, India, Turkey, and Russia.

Insight 9/1/97 Tim Maier concerning Sockowitz ". "He knew what he was doing," says one congressional investigator. "He had to. He held one of the highest level of clearance - top secret with code word." . "He is another Craig Livingstone," says one congressional investigator, referring to the bouncer and political operative who became White House security chief and resigned after supervising the illegal acquisition of 900 FBI files on Reagan and Bush appointees. Congressional investigators believe Sockowitz zeroed in on these files because they were a hot commodity in an explosive high-tech market. So hot were they that in November the CIA "blocked access" and prevented House investigators from viewing the documents taken by Sockowitz even though the investigators had all the proper clearances. "

Motorola took part in Brown trade-mission trips.

The Iridium system is backed by nineteen strategic investors from around the world. Seventeen of the investor partners also participate in the operation and maintenance of 12 ground station "gateways" that link the Iridium system to the public switched telephone networks:

Iridium Africa Corporation Iridium Africa is associated with Mawarid Overseas Company Limited.
Iridium Andes-Caribe is a consortium of private Venezuelan investors
Iridium Brasil is a diversified Brazilian corporation
Iridium Middle East Corporation is owned by Mawarid Overseas Company Limited (see Iridium Africa), and Triniford Investments S.A., which is affiliated with the Saudi Binladin Group. Binladin is among the largest industrial groups in Saudi Arabia.
Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center A leading aerospace engineering and manufacturing company in the Russian Federation
Lockheed Martin Corporation A world leader in defense and space systems technology
Iridium Canada, Inc. BCE Mobile Communications, Inc. and BCE Telecom International, Inc. - both of which are affiliated with BCE Inc., Canada's largest telecommunications company
Iridium China (Hong Kong) Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Aerospace, a major diversified industrial group in China and also the parent company of China Great Wall Industries Corporation.
Iridium India Telecom Limited is a consortium of Indian financial institutions that initially invested in Iridium LLC through infrastructure Leasing & Financing Services, Ltd..
Iridium italia S.P.A. is an affiliate of Telecom Italia,
Raytheon Company is one of the world's leading companies in

more from alamo girl: http://www.alamo-girl.com/0304.htm

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