Free Republic

A report commissioned in mid-1999 by Rep. Curt Weldon (R) looks into possible Chinese front companies in the US seeking technology for the Chinese military. Dr. Eileen Preisser and Michael Maloof are commissioned to make the report. Dr. Preisser, who runs the Information Dominance Center at the US Army's Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA) and will later become closely tied to Able Danger, uses LIWA's data mining capabilities to search unclassified information. According to Maloof, their results show Chinese front companies in the US posing as US corporations that acquire technology from US defense contractors. When the study is completed...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 - With lawmakers facing tough questions at home about the war in Iraq, Senator John W. Warner, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, says he intends to summon Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld quickly for a hearing when Congress returns next week. Mr. Warner, a Virginia Republican who is one of the most important Congressional voices on military policy, said mounting numbers of dead and wounded Americans, the contentious process of drafting an Iraqi constitution and the economic cost of the war were adding up to new anxiety in Congress. "The level of concern is, I...

Just under four months from today, Americans will be able to walk out of a gun store with an AK-47 rifle, an Uzi or other weapon of mass murder under their arm. Unless Congress acts — and Republican leaders show no inclination to do so — the 10-year-old federal assault gun ban will expire Sept. 13. A word from President Bush would get a renewal before lawmakers, a majority of whom would probably approve it. But the president is silent. Most people, including most gun owners, are properly alarmed. A survey released last month by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg...

Virginia's two senators are urging Congress to approve $40 million next year -- nearly four times what President Bush wants to spend -- for getting rid of decrepit ships in the James River Reserve Fleet, also known as the Ghost Fleet. In a letter to the White House released Thursday, U.S. Sens. John W. Warner and George F. Allen said the 97 old ships moored off Fort Eustis in Newport News represent ``a clear and present environmental danger to the river and the coastline.'' A federal study last November said an oil spill could spread for 50 miles, from Jamestown...