Here's the story:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,79450,00.html
Monday, February 24, 2003
WASHINGTON — Iraq could be planning a chemical or biological attack on American cities through the use of remote-controlled "drone" planes equipped with GPS tracking maps, according to U.S. intelligence.
The information about Iraq's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program has caused a "real concern" among defense personnel, senior U.S. officials tell Fox News. They're worried that these vehicles have already been, or could be, transported inside the United States to be used in an attack, although there is no proof that this has happened.
Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a picture of a small drone plane during his presentation to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month.
"UAVs outfitted with spray tanks constitute an ideal method for launching a terrorist attack using biological weapons," Powell said during his speech. "Iraq could use these small UAVs, which have a wingspan of only a few meters, to deliver biological agents to its neighbors or, if transported, to other countries, including the United States."
Powell said there is "ample evidence" that Iraq has dedicated much time and effort to developing and testing spray devices that could be adapted for UAVs. "And of the little that Saddam Hussein told us about UAVs, he has not told the truth," Powell said.
In the arms declaration Iraq submitted to the U.N. Security Council in December, the country said its UAVs have a range of only 50 miles. But Powell said U.S. intelligence sources found that one of Iraq's newest UAVs went 310 miles nonstop on autopilot in a test run. That distance is over the 155 miles that the United Nations permits, and the test was left out of Iraq's arms declaration.
Officials tell Fox that there is solid intelligence that Iraq has tested many different types of sprayers on these drones to disperse chemical and biological weapons.
President Bush addressed the threat in October in Cincinnati, making his first big case outlining Iraq's defiance.
"We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical and biological weapons across broad areas," Bush said in preparation for a congressional vote authorizing the use of force against Iraq. "We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs for missions targeting the United States."
The president noted, however, that sophisticated delivery systems aren't required for a chemical or biological attack. "All that might be required are a small container and one terrorist or Iraqi intelligence operative to deliver it," he said.
Even though it has been mentioned a few times by administration officials, the issue of UAVs and their capabilities has been largely overlooked.
But some experts say that even if the UAVs do get assembled for use in the United States, the chances that they could cause widespread damage are low.
"These technologies are not terribly well proven," F. Whitten Peters, a former Air Force Secretary, told Fox News, referring to vehicles that can be used to disperse harmful agents.
Peters said in order to go undetected in the air, the UAVs would have to be small -- and therefore would not be able to carry too much of a harmful substance, and they would have to fly over densely populated areas if they want to achieve maximum casualties.
But because many large metropolitan areas such as Washington have air traffic watchers keeping an eye out for any nearby planes that have not filed a flight plan, the UAVs likely would not succeed in a large-city attack.
It's the smaller cities and towns that would be more vulnerable.
"It's not clear air traffic would actually see this aircraft," Peters said, adding that if the vehicles flew low enough to evade radar detection, "they would be basically invisible."
As to what the government could do to protect Americans from any threat UAVs may pose, Peters said: "I don't think there's much to be done besides the steps we're already taking to deal with chemical and biological threats."
Fox News' Bret Baier and Liza Porteus contributed to this report.
If Iraq does not do something stupid with there weapons of mass destruction (use them) then the liberals will say "see they were no threat".
I'm skeptical they would have the technological know-how to build such things. Sounds like more scare tactics to me. Let's see the evidence.
Kill the source of the drones.
This reads to me like Iraqi Psych Opps.
but, but, Azziz when in Rome and blew off the Israeli journalist but then answered somewhat snappily the German journalist said that Iraq DOESN'T have the means to bomb anyone.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/1998/980330-gps.htm
March 30, 1998
VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES ENHANCEMENTS TO THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM THAT WILL BENEFIT CIVILIAN USERS WORLDWIDE
Message Creation Date was at 30-MAR-1998 11:14:00
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
__________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release Contact:
Monday, March 30, 1998 (202) 456-7035
VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES ENHANCEMENTS TO THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM
THAT WILL BENEFIT CIVILIAN USERS WORLDWIDE
Washington DC--Vice President Gore today announced that a second civilian
signal will be provided by the U.S. Global Positioning System.
&This new civilian signal will mean significant improvements in navigation,
positioning and timing services to millions of users worldwide--from
backpackers and fishermen to farmers, airline pilots, and scientists,8 the
Vice President said.
The addition of a second civil signal represents a strong commitment by the
United States to civil GPS users worldwide and is a major step in the evolution
of GPS as a global information utility. Much like the Internet, GPS is
becoming increasingly indispensable for navigation, positioning, and timing by
users around the world. Also like the Internet, GPS has become an engine of
economic growth and efficiency as businesses and consumers continue to develop
new and creative applications of this technology.
The addition of a second frequency will greatly enhance the accuracy,
reliability and robustness of civilian GPS receivers by enabling them to make
more effective corrections for the distorting effects of the Earth,s
atmosphere on the signals from space. GPS has always provided signals on two
frequencies for military users for this purpose. Today,s announcement marks a
new era in which civilians will have access to the same type of capability.
&The decision announced today demonstrates that we can successfully balance
the needs of civilian users with the demands of national security,8 Vice
President Gore said. &GPS civil signals are, and will continue to be,
provided free of charge to consumers, businesses, and scientists around the
world. We will continue to do everything we can to protect these GPS signals
and to promote GPS applications for commercial, public safety, and national
security purposes.8
The addition of a second civil signal has been recommended by a number of
expert panels, the most recent of which was the White House Commission on
Aviation Safety and Security, chaired by the Vice President. Today,s
announcement fulfills a pledge made last March by the Departments of Defense
and Transportation to reach a decision on a second civil frequency within a
year. The Departments of Defense and Transportation co-chair an Interagency
GPS Executive Board, created by President Clinton in 1996 to manage GPS and its
U.S. government augmentations.
###
&This new civilian signal will mean significant improvements in navigation,
positioning and timing services to millions of users worldwide--from
backpackers and fishermen to farmers, airline pilots, and scientists,8 Vice
President Gore said.
The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of 24
satellites developed, launched, and maintained by the U.S. Air Force that
provides positioning, timing, and navigation signals free-of-charge to both
military and civilian users worldwide.
A second civil frequency will allow receivers to measure the time of arrival
for two signals that have passed through the Earth,s atmosphere and correct
for the distortion introduced by passage from space to earth.
An improved location calculation will allow safety-critical users requiring
dynamic, reliable capability to be more reliant on the GPS signal, improve the
overall accuracy of the system for the average user, and allow the
high-accuracy users (surveying, geodesy, weather forecasters, etc.) to
determine their data in a faster, more reliable manner. In addition, the
second civil signal will allow the safety-critical users to have a backup
signal in the event of inadvertent disruption of the current civil signal.
The Interagency GPS Executive Board (IGEB) has selected the 1227.6 MHZ band
(currently known as the L2 signal) for the addition of new civil capability. A
third civil signal will also be added with a decision on the frequency to be
made in August of this year. The decision on which of these two new signals
the Government will pursue to become the safety-of-life service signal will
also be made in August.
One of the key factors in deciding which frequency to pursue as the
safety-of-life signal is a commitment by all members of the IGEB to have a
safety-of-life service signal available by 2005.
The new signals are intended to be added to the GPS Block IIF satellites.
The new signals will be available to all civil users worldwide.
Internationally, interest has been expressed via the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the use of a second GPS civil signal in
conjunction with the Japanese MSAS and the European EGNOS augmentation programs.
Currently the GPS system is used by a wide range of users: from cars and
trucks on the nation,s highways to ships at sea and on inland waterways; from
civil aviation to satellites in space, from earthquake monitoring equipment to
surveyors to backpackers; new industries such as precision farming; and the
electrical power companies and long-distance phone systems which derive timing
and synchronization from the signals.
Rumsfeld has got to be laughing his ass off over this one.
What gets me is the first three words of this headline. "U.S Fears Iraq" That is the big part of the problem in my opinion. We as a country are supposed to believe that Iraq and Saddam Hussein are the epitome of evil in the world. Sorry gang, but this craphole of a country and their so called leader does not cause me to shudder with fear.
