------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
The nuclear reaction that went critical
Hill claims no deals made on Kakadu
Pakistan makes Kashmir peace offer
Rubin Experts Examining Kursk Fragment for Wreck Reason
Russians Suggest Computer Error For QuickBird Failure
Richardson says ready if Iraq boycotts oil
'In the event something happens'
DayTips' Strange News
Fire Destroys Two Buildings in N.D.
Ten Year Study by New York Litigator Reveals Nuclear Weapons Unlawful
Indian Tribe Turns To Nuclear Waste
Yucca Mountain May Store Waste
Vigil at the Pentagon

MILITARY
TP400 Selected to Power A400M Transport Aircraft
Canada's C-Mac purchase of DY 4 Systems 95% accepted
Skepticism surrounds Colombia talks
Denmark Orders Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules for New Airlift Fleet
Drug battle grows more regional
Pakistani party forms new alliance
Computerized nose finds land mines
Anti-mine campaigners renew pressure
Russia Dismisses Pentagon Claim
NASA Mulls Solar Array Problems
Astronauts Attach Solar Wings
Massive Sunnyvale-Built Solar Arrays Launched to International Space Station
Endeavour Astronaut Thumbnails
Boeing-Built Thuraya Satellite Completes Initial Operational Test Phase
Newly Formed Boeing Satellite Systems Ends Record-breaking Year
Space station's wings spread
Problems delay unfurling in space
NASA evaluating solar wings options
Report: Taiwan may buy destroyers
Annan visits Sierra Leone warzone
Weldon seeks top military spot
O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Company Receives $30.3 Million
Rockwell Collins Completes Acquisition of Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics
U.S. picks its Bosnia peacekeepers

OTHER
Corporations Get Bigger and Bigger
When rats and mice won't do the job Should humans really be used in toxic tests?
U.S., EU Discuss Greenhouse Talks
U.S., EU TRY TO SAVE GLOBAL WARMING PACT:
Attack on Luna
Antarctic ozone hole may be shrinking
Pollution negotiations in S. Africa
Angola moves to help wildlife
Sierra Nevada logging lalted
Conn. Sanctuary faces destruction
Clinton moves to defend Hawaii coral
NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS

ACTIVISTS
Organizing in the Face of Increased Repression
Brockovich readies for new crusade
Greenpeace blocks U.S. shipment


-------- NUCLEAR

-------- australia

The nuclear reaction that went critical
Those against Lucas Heights have missed the point, writes Imre Salusinszky.

Sydney Morning Herald
12/04/2000
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0012/04/text/features6.html

Two weeks ago I launched an apparently extraordinary defence of a nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights that has been a good neighbour to the people of Sutherland Shire for 42 years, and has provided significant benefits to the entire Australian community during that time.

Now, I'm a sensitive man, and a good deal of the response has been hurtful. For example, I got a call from one anti-reactor activist, who could not speak freely because his phone is bugged, but who accused me of professional dereliction, given that thousands of undergraduate students live in Sutherland Shire.

Hey - there's your environment hazard, right there!

Some supportive correspondents were able to point to such factors as the necessity of a local producer of isotopes, for use in nuclear medicine, and to the fact that the Lucas Heights reactor was there before all the houses came along.

That kind of retrospective NIMBYism is, as far as I know, a Sydney special. We saw it in the war of attrition against Luna Park, which broke the hearts of thousands of Sydney kids (many of them disabled). My worst fear now is that Judy Davis will buy a shack in Dural, then insist that we tear up the F3.

Yet, in all the responses to my article, nobody has challenged my account of the outrageous attempt by Sutherland Shire Council to confound the Senate, the media, and the public by importing a well-known Californian anti-nuclear activist and parading him around as if he were an objective technical expert.

You will recall that, according to reputable sources like Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times, Mr Daniel Hirsch is a prominent anti-nuke campaigner. Yet, taking their cue directly from a Sutherland Shire press-release headed "High-Profile US Nuclear Expert Flies in to Appear before Senate's Nuclear Reactor Committee", media outlets here described him simply as a "nuclear expert" who "advises the US Government on nuclear safety".

In his own contribution to this great organ 10 days ago, Mr Hirsch was finally able to clarify what content, if any, should be given to these descriptions. He told us that he has been "an expert witness in several licensing proceedings before the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission", and that he currently co-chairs "an advisory panel overseeing health studies of workers and the nearby community potentially exposed to radioactivity from a Department of Energy nuclear site".

Niels Bohr, watch your back!

Mr Hirsch repeated his claims against the remodelled reactor, but did not respond to the view formed on those claims by an independent British safety management consultant three years ago. Here's an example of the basic misunderstandings identified in the Hirsch report, by P.R. Parkman and Co.

Because, like Lucas Heights, the Windscale reactor in Britain does not produce power, Hirsch used the accident there as an example of what could happen in Sydney. But while the proposed new Lucas Heights reactor is a pool reactor, Windscale is an air-cooled reactor using natural uranium fuel for plutonium production: "No sensible conclusion can be drawn ... for a pool reactor which has none of those features".

One stinging response to my column came from the Mayor of Sutherland Shire, Councillor Tracie Sonda. Apparently I have "fallen for the propaganda from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation that residents of Sutherland Shire have been too smart to swallow".

We all know that the real gullibility at issue here is that of the Australian media, a gullibility that Sutherland Shire Council counted on, and duly received - until they were comprehensively sprung on this page a fortnight ago.

It's easy to see why they thought their strategy might work. In a journalistic culture that, politically, often sounds like the student press circa 1977, anything involving the "n" word is bound to bring out the worst. In her crusading on-line Web Diary, Herald Canberra reporter Margo Kingston was free-associating last week about a proposal "to build a nuclear power station at Lucas Heights".

Close, except that a power reactor would be more than 25 times the size of the research reactor, and require more than 14,000 times as much uranium.

But one suggestion I liked from Mr Hirsch was an adjudicatory hearing in which experts for all sides would testify under oath, and be subject to cross-examination. And I wonder who would have most to lose in such a hearing: the scientists from ANSTO, with their facts and their safety record; or Sutherland Shire Council, whose "high-profile US nuclear expert" turns out to have no scientific qualifications whatsoever?

Come on, Your Worship: crank up the mayoral letterhead again and give us a view on that, won't you?

---

Hill claims no deals made on Kakadu

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Mon, 4 Dec 2000 16:34 ADST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-4dec2000-55.htm

The Federal Environment Minister, Robert Hill, says Australia did not do any deals or make any threats to keep Kakadu off the World Heritage endangered list.

The Australian Democrats Senator, Lyn Allison, has asked Senator Hill how many officials were sent to last week's World Heritage Committee meeting in Cairns, how much it cost and how many travelled overseas before the meeting to make deals.

Senator Hill told the Senate an independent scientific body has confirmed Kakadu is safe and no undue pressure was applied by Australia.

"The issue of Kakadu was on the agenda because we had to report back and I am pleased that that report was received positively," he said.

"The independent scientific reports further evidence that no damage had been done by the 20 odd years of mining in the nearby uranium mines in Kakadu."

-------- india / pakistan

Pakistan makes Kashmir peace offer

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By KATHY GANNON Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405220949

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan has made a new offer in its bitter dispute with India over Kashmir, saying for the first time that it will not oppose one-on-one talks between Kashmiri separatists and the Indian government.

Pakistan shifted its position over the weekend when it announced a unilateral cease-fire on its border with India in Kashmir, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Riaz Khan said Monday.

It was a significant concession from Pakistan, which in the past has said it must be included in any negotiations on Kashmir, a Himalayan region that has been a focus of bitter contention with India for decades.

But militant Pakistan-based separatists have rejected recent efforts to forge peace in Indian-ruled Kashmir and continued their 11-year-old insurgency, claiming responsibility for a deadly explosion Monday.

The blast near a bus station in Baramullah, 30 miles north of Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, killed two people _ a soldier and a civilian _ and wounded 22 people, 18 of them military personnel, an Indian army official said.

The Hezb-ul Mujahedeen group, which leads a council representing 14 guerrilla groups, claimed responsibility for the explosion, which it claimed killed 10 Indian soldiers.

The militants have rejected bilateral talks and demanded three-way talks with Pakistan and India. However, leaders of an alliance of Kashmiri separatist political parties were in New Delhi seeking to start a peace process.

``We have to rise above prejudices, bitterness in history as well as hostilities rooted in the past, and find a way out,'' said Abdul Gani Bhat, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference. He said that ``the opportunity has to be seized.''

Pakistan would not object to bilateral talks between India and Kashmiri separatists as long they lead to three-way negotiations involving Pakistan, Khan told The Associated Press.

Khan called the statement an ``important initiative'' and said Pakistan wants three-way talks to start ``immediately after Ramadan,'' the Muslim holy month that began last week.

Since Britain gave the subcontinent independence in 1947, India and Pakistan have both claimed all of Kashmir and have fought two wars over it. A 1972 cease-fire line divided Kashmir between the countries, most of it going to India.

Pakistan-based rebels have been fighting since 1989 to carve out a separate homeland or merge Indian-controlled Kashmir with Islamic Pakistan. At least 30,000 people have been killed.

Indian and Pakistani troops routinely engage in cross-border gunbattles, and a border conflict last year threatened to escalate into all-out war. Both countries possess nuclear weapons, and a nervous international community has been pressing for a peaceful resolution.

A unilateral Indian cease-fire took effect with the advent of Ramadan and is to last through the holy month. The guerrillas rejected it as a propaganda move and have been blamed for several deadly attacks since it began.

India has refused to hold talks with Pakistan, which it accuses of arming and training the rebels. Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said Sunday that his country would not hold talks with Pakistan until Pakistan puts a stop to cross-border terrorism.

Pakistan says it provides the rebels only moral support and has no control over their actions.

``Nobody can stop us from going to Indian-occupied Kashmir to fight for the freedom of our motherland,'' Hezb-ul Mujahedeen spokesman Salim Hashmi told AP.

-------- russia

Rubin Experts Examining Kursk Fragment for Wreck Reason

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=v1203060.2xi&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=763&date=20001204

MOSCOW (Dec. 3) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - Experts in Russia's Rubin central design bureau are examining a fragment of the hull of the sunken submarine Kursk that could throw light on the reason of the world-shocking tragedy.

The Interfax quoted a high-ranking official of the Northern Fleet as saying that a dent cut out from the Kursk's right-hand side is being examined.

According to the source on condition of anonymity, the fragment measures 15 meters in length, 2 meters in width, and weighs 10 tons.

The dent was 60 centimeters above the waterline, and was thought a result of a bump from above, not of faulty mooring, he added.

A total of 60 tons of wreckage of the Kursk has been lifted from the bed of the Barents Sea, where the submarine sank on August 12 in a military exercise of the Northern Fleet.

"We were interested in torpedo equipment, some of which was cut out and delivered to Rubin. A preliminary analysis of this equipment suggests that the disaster was not caused by the explosion of torpedo equipment," he said.

But he meanwhile said it would be premature to assert that the Kursk sank as a result of a collision with a foreign nuclear submarine.

---

Russians Suggest Computer Error For QuickBird Failure

Space.com
04 December 2000
By Yuri Karash Moscow Contributing Correspondent
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/quickbird_update_001204.html

MOSCOW -- Russian investigators looking into the November 28 failure of a Cosmos 3M booster do not think the rocket was at fault, according to an official with the Russian State Interdepartmental Commission.

Instead, they suggest a computer error inside the satellite may have caused the U.S.-built spacecraft to unfurl its electricity generating solar arrays while the rocket was still climbing through the atmosphere.

Initial reports had blamed a failure of the Comos 3M rocket's second stage for not placing the satellite into orbit.

"If the failure was caused by an absence of a second burn of the second stage, we would have noticed the anomaly during the first burn of this stage already," a member of the commission said in an interview with the Russian Kommersant newspaper, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Cosmos 3M rocket is a version of a former Soviet-era nuclear missile now modified to serve as a small commercial space launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. Marketed in the West by United Start Corp. of Huntsville, Alabama, the Cosmos hardware has a success record of 238 out of 240 launches since 1986 for a 99.2-percent success rate.

A computer error may have resulted from a hold in the launch, which was delayed one-hour because a Norwegian tracking station was not ready to monitor the satellite. Russian officials propose someone forgot to reset the satellite computer to account for the new launch time.

As result, according to the theory, the spacecraft's flight command sequence began at the original launch time and, following its preprogrammed time line, attempted to deploy the satellite's solar panels while it was still attached to the rocket during the early phase of the flight.

If this happened, it would have resulted in the destruction of the satellite and possibly the loss of the rocket.

Data that may help clear this up has not yet been provided to Russian officials, the commission source said.

FUTURE SPACE Coming Friday: The spaceships of the future? Self-healing hulls, gossamer thin solar sails and radiation proof technology could soon take flight.

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

-------- colorado

Richardson says ready if Iraq boycotts oil

Excite News
December 4, 2000
http://news.excite.com/news/r/001204/20/energy-richardson

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.(Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Monday that the Clinton administration is not concerned by Iraq's threat of an oil export boycott and would tap its oil stockpiles if needed.

"I believe the price of oil is stabilizing, so we're not terribly worried about what Iraq threatens. We're prepared and we're not going to be bullied by Iraq," Richardson said in response to a reporter's question.

"The United States has contingency plans if Iraq makes any cuts, including using the strategic oil reserves, and acting in concert with our allies, particularly Japan," he said.

Iraq said this weekend that it would boycott companies and countries that sold its crude oil to countries it regards as hostile. Although the statement did not name countries Baghdad considered hostile, it was clearly referring mainly to the United States, which led the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq.

Iraq is the sixth largest supplier of oil to the U.S. market, shipping an average of 621,000 barrels per day in the first nine months of this year, more than it shipped on average before the Gulf War.

Iraq has suspended shipments of its oil because of a disagreement with the United Nations over whether Baghdad can levy a 50-cent surcharge on each barrel of Iraqi crude bought by energy companies in December.

Richardson was in Colorado to transfer the deed to 46 acres of land from what had been a government-run uranium mine to a local body that will redevelop the area once environmental clean-up work is completed in 2006.

The U.S. Army bought the Grand Junction site in 1943 and used it to mine the uranium used in the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the conclusion of World War Two.

Grand Junction is about 240 miles (390 km) west of Denver.

---

'In the event something happens'
Metro medical response plan being fashioned for handling terrorism or major accidents

Denver Rocky Mountain News
December 4, 2000
By Mike Patty Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
mailto:pattym@rockymountainnews.com
http://insidedenver.com/news/1204emer6.shtml

AURORA - It seems unlikely the Denver area would be the target of a terrorist attack involving nuclear, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction.

But if it does happen, the Metropolitan Medical Response System will be ready.

"We are currently preparing an emergency response plan to deal with a terrorist attack involving the use of weapons of mass destruction," said Kurt Schlegel, project manager.

This year, Denver and Aurora put together a steering committee of representatives from all aspects of emergency response: hospital, fire, police, the FBI and public health service, Schlegel said.

"That core group was broken into 10 different subcommittees to handle different areas and specialities," he said. "We will be building the plan based on responses and reports from those subcommittees."

When completed, the plan will determine how to handle the first 24 hours of an attack in the metro counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson. Two specialized units, a decontamination team and a medical technology unit, will be established and trained under the plan.

The system also calls for mobile decontamination units and the stockpiling of relevant antidotes, vaccines and drugs to treat victims.

"Because it would take about 24 hours to get such pharmaceuticals from the national stockpile at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, we want to have enough on hand to treat a significant number of patients and emergency responders," Schlegel said.

The plan will also establish guidelines for coordinating with existing medical and emergency agencies, and for developing and monitoring training for emergency and hospital personnel.

"This isn't just about being ready for a terrorist attack, but to be prepared for an accident," Schlegel said. "We have hazardous materials being transported through Denver every day, and in the last four or five weeks sarin bomblets have been found at the arsenal. We want to be proactive instead of reactive in case of an accident."

Similar plans are being developed in about 75 metro areas around the country. That will eventually be expanded to about 150 areas. Colorado Springs is scheduled to begin its plan next year.

"People won't see the direct impact of this in their lives," Schlegel said. "But in the event something happens, we will be ready."

Contact Mike Patty at (303) 892-5423 or pattym@RockyMountainNews.com.

-------- new mexico

DayTips' Strange News

Mon, 04 Dec 2000 04:45:54 -0800
DayTips.Com Daily Lists Strange News
info@daytips.com http://www.daytips.com
AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

14 security guards at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., are, collectively, $131 million richer. They've become the first residents of New Mexico to win the 20-state Powerball lottery.

The group purchased 140 $1 tickets, with each member contributing $10 to the pool, at a convenience store in Albuquerque.

One of the winners, 43-year-old Duane Carr of Albuquerque, said they haven't had much sleep since learning late Wednesday he had won the jackpot. "We were all stunned," he said.

Carr said he first learned the news when the holder of the winning tickets called him, but he had to drive home to verify the numbers before he could believe it. Soon, he said, some of the winners had bought a few bottles of champagne and started partying.

The winners said they haven't decided whether to take the entire $131 million through payments over a 25-year period or in a lump-sum payment of $70.3 million. They're consulting with a lawyer.

The Sandia laboratory is one of the nation's three nuclear weapons research labs.

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

Fire Destroys Two Buildings in N.D.

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=h1130233.300&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=139501&date=20001204

PLAZA, N.D. (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - A fire thought to have started near a diesel generator destroyed two buildings Thursday at a multimillion-dollar missile command center, officials said.

Air Force authorities said an underground missile control capsule with two men inside was sealed off, but the men were unharmed. Thirteen others escaped to the surface.

There are no missiles at the facility, which sits under a farm field.

``The two down there are probably the most comfortable of anybody right now,'' said Lt. Col. Les Miller, of the 91st Space Wing at the Minot Air Force Base. ``At no time was there any threat to them, to national security or the missiles under their command. They've got enough food, water and oxygen to stay down there for 30 days.''

Responsibility for missile management was transferred to another facility, officials said, during an investigation of the fire five miles north of Plaza. Dozens of similar missile facilities dot the North Dakota prairie.

Each missile command center consists of above-ground structures for security and missile control personnel, and self-contained capsules, about 100 feet below ground. The capsules are staffed round the clock by two people who oversee 10 Minuteman missiles in silos scattered through the countryside.

---

Ten Year Study by New York Litigator Reveals Nuclear Weapons Unlawful;
Litigator Available for Comment

U.S. Newswire
4 Dec 7:00
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/1204-101.html

To: Assignment Desk; Daybook Editor; Defense, Military and Legal reporters Contact: Barbara Marx-Webber, 301-390-1114 or e-mail: bwebber@erols.com

News Advisory:

Although chemical and biological weapons have long been deemed illegal world-wide, New York litigator and former St. John's law professor Charles J. Moxley, Jr. found it troubling that nuclear weapons, equally dangerous and uncontrollable weapons of mass destruction, are not recognized as unlawful by the U.S. Moxley dedicated ten years to study the legality of nuclear weapons and his shocking findings have now been published in "Nuclear Weapons and International Law in the Post Cold War World" (Austin & Winfield, Publishers, University Press of America). Moxley says his findings unequivocally conclude, "The use of nuclear weapons under established rules of international law is unlawful, even according to official U.S. and military documentation."

Charles Moxley will be available for interviews in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Dec. 5 and Wednesday, Dec. 6. To arrange for an interview or for a press copy of the book, contact Barbara Marx-Webber at 301-390-1114.

Experts in the fields of politics, law, and national security are calling Moxley's work groundbreaking, comprehensive and of the utmost importance. In an indictment that Columbia Law School Dean David Leebron concludes "requires a response" and Robert McNamara says should call on the President and Congress to investigate, Moxley expertly challenges the U.S. position on legality. Moxley also reveals that to stave of an ICJ decision recognizing such total unlawfulness, the United States, acting through State and Defense Department attorneys, resorted to misrepresenting the facts and law to the Court.

Robert McNamara describes Moxley's book as "the best exposition I have seen of the irrationality of the U.S. policy in this area, the irrationality of the policies of the other nuclear weapons states, and the irrationality of the human race in permitting the potential use of these weapons to continue."

A live internet debate with Charles Moxley will be broadcast at 12 noon EST, Tuesday, Dec. 5 at www.voa.gov/talk.

-------- us nuc waste

Indian Tribe Turns To Nuclear Waste

NewsEdge Corporation
December 4, 2000
By HANNAH WOLFSON Associated Press Writer
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=h1202015.400&level1=46600&level2=46601&level3=473&date=20001204

SKULL VALLEY INDIAN RESERVATION, Utah (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - Leon Bear knows the boundaries of his tribe's land by heart.

From the reservoir that provides water to his tiny village, Bear sweeps his arm across the parched valley, pointing out fences and smokestacks that ring the last remnant of his tribe's traditional lands.

To the north, a magnesium plant sits on the shore of the Great Salt Lake; to the south, the Army tests equipment for exposure to nerve gas on a stretch of desert as large as Rhode Island. A bombing range and hazardous waste incinerator lie over the Cedar Mountains to the west; a stockpile of chemical weapons and the incinerator that destroys them sit to the east.

Now the tiny Skull Valley Band of Goshutes has agreed to turn its reservation into one of the country's largest nuclear waste dumps.

Opponents, including other tribe members, say the plan could endanger people, the wildlife of the West Desert and the region's economy.

But that hasn't stopped Bear from pressing forward with the project, which he says could be the only salvation for his dying tribe.

``They made that an industrial waste zone out there,'' said Bear, the Goshutes' tribal chairman and the project's main supporter. ``Nobody asked the Goshutes, 'Do you mind if we do this out here on your traditional territory?' Nobody said, 'Hey, it could be dangerous for you guys to be out here.'''

``When a neighbor does that to you, you don't want to be like them,'' he added. ``So we gave our neighbor, the state of Utah, an opportunity to be a part of this, and the first reaction was 'Over my dead body.'''

If Bear gets his way, about a square mile of the reservation will be fenced off for nuclear waste, and 450 acres will be covered with concrete pads. On top will sit 16-foot tall, concrete-and-steel casks filled with radioactive rods _ as many as 4,000 of them holding 40,000 metric tons of used-up nuclear reactor fuel.

The fuel will come from Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight power companies from California, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Florida and Alabama. Neither the consortium or the Goshutes will say what the deal costs.

The consortium has promised to build a cultural center on the reservation to revive the tribe's fading language and crafts, Bear says, and has pledged to give Goshutes and other tribes the first shot at about 40 jobs at the site.

The money is sorely needed. Most of the estimated 150 Goshutes have fled the 17,000-acre reservation. Fewer than 30 remain, most living in a tiny cluster of run-down trailers. Jobs are virtually nonexistent.

It's not that the tribe hasn't tried. At the village entrance, the last examples of one failed project _ portable toilets and showers built for the military _ sit unused.

Only two real options remained: nuclear waste and gambling, an industry Mormon-dominated Utah considers nearly as toxic.

``How can you blame Leon?'' said Chip Ward, author of an environmental history of the West Desert and a project opponent. ``What's he going to do? Grow food? No one's going to buy a tomato off this land.''

But some Goshutes say the plan is tearing apart the tribe.

``We believe in our reservation as Mother Earth, and we're allowing our Mother Earth to be contaminated if we bring this waste onto our reservation,'' said Margene Bullcreek, a lifelong resident.

It's a far cry from the old days, when thousands of Goshutes roamed the Utah and Nevada desert, gathering native plants and hunting deer.

That changed in the first half of the 19th century, when the first Mormon settlers arrived, pushing the Goshutes west into the dry, desolate Skull Valley.

Today, the West Desert includes the Utah Test and Training Range, where the Air Force tests F-16 fighters and cruise missiles; Dugway Proving Grounds, a test center for chemical and biological weapons; Deseret Chemical Depot, which holds the Army's stockpile of nerve and blistering agents; and the Tooele Chemical Demilitarization Facility, where those chemicals are destroyed.

Other industries fill the spaces between military installations: Safety Kleen, which runs a hazardous waste dump and incinerator; Envirocare of Utah, which stores low-level radioactive waste and wants to take higher-level radioactive materials left over from dismantled nuclear power plants; and Magnesium Corp. of America, which regularly tops a federal list of the nation's biggest air polluters.

``There is certainly a history of getting on bended knee out here for these types of projects,'' said Steve Erickson of Downwinders, one of the groups opposing the project. ``The Great Basin has often been perceived as a vast, useless wasteland. We've opened the door for these kinds of projects, and we're finding it's getting pretty hard to close it.''

Gov. Mike Leavitt _ the first to say ``over my dead body'' _ is trying to block the project, saying transporting the waste on Utah's rail lines could lead to a catastrophe.

Environmentalists say that the spent fuel should be left at nuclear plants and they should be shut when they run out of storage space.

Despite the protests, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already approved safety measures for the project, and Bear says it's time for outsiders to admit they can't stop it.

``They want us to be self-determined and they want us to be self-governed, and yet when we make these judgments, they don't like it,'' Bear said.

---

Yucca Mountain May Store Waste

NewsEdge Corporation
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=h1202000.700&level1=46600&level2=46601&level3=473&date=20001204

LAS VEGAS (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - The Department of Energy has been working behind the scenes with the nuclear industry to recommend that high-level nuclear waste be stored at Yucca Mountain, the Las Vegas Sun reported Friday. The department is currently studying the feasibility of sending tons of highly radioactive garbage to the site, but it is prohibited by federal law from taking sides during the selection process.

A draft of a 60-page department overview concludes that Yucca Mountain is safe to store radioactive waste, even though an extensive study has not been completed.

Attached to the draft is a two-page note, written by department contractors, suggesting the overview is designed to help nuclear industry officials sell the Yucca Mountain project to Congress. The note says the overview ``makes a convincing case that Yucca Mountain is a technically suitable site for a repository....''

Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both Democrats, reacted angrily, calling the note evidence of bias by the department.

Ivan Itkin, director of the department's Radioactive Waste Management office in Washington, confirmed the note's existence, but disavowed its language.

``The department's position, as long as I'm director, is to do a professional job _ that is, to make a scientific and technical evaluation of Yucca Mountain to see if it's suitable for the repository,'' he said.

The note has been removed from subsequent drafts, Itkin said. Still, he acknowledged he is close to recommending Yucca Mountain as a safe site for the repository, which would store 77,000 tons of the nation's high level nuclear waste.

``We do not see any show-stoppers,'' he said. ``So far, the work that we've done leaves us to suspect this could be a suitable site. But we need to do further scientific work.''

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied by the federal government to entomb the nation's high-level radioactive waste.

The final decision rests with the next president, Itkin said.

In visits to Nevada during the presidential campaign, both Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore promised they would veto any legislation making the site a temporary nuclear storage facility.

Nevada scientific experts have called the site unsafe.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, described the draft overview as a ``slick sales brochure.''

``The Department of Energy never surprises me,'' Reid said. ``They can't get out of bed with the nuclear power industry, and this is another example.''

Reid said he planned to bring Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials, who ultimately will decide whether Yucca Mountain is a suitable site, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to make sure they understand his concerns. The committee has jurisdiction over the national nuclear waste plan.

The Energy Department overview says the price tag for the Yucca Mountain dump has soared to $58 billion, well above the previous $36 billion estimate. But it says the repository could be ready to accept its first nuclear waste shipment in 2010.

-------- us nuc politics

Vigil at the Pentagon

Washington Post
Monday, December 4, 2000
By William M. Arkin Special to washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10894-2000Dec1.html

If you want to win a bet in a bar some day, ask the question: who was Bill Clinton's first secretary of defense? It's a trick question because the answer isn't Les Aspin, the late House Armed Services Committee chairman from Wisconsin.

The answer is Dick Cheney. While all other Cabinet officers tendered their resignations for noon Jan. 20, 1993, at the transition between George Bush and Clinton, Cheney stayed on, his resignation contingent on confirmation of a successor. It was a legal necessity to preserve the "national command authority" should a nuclear attack occur on inauguration day, or should a Saddam Hussein do something requiring immediate U.S. military response and a sitting secretary of defense to give orders.

For the coming transition, first we need a president, let alone a defense secretary. The extended wait has provoked an even greater degree of handicapping than is normal among Pentagon wonks, not just about who will be the new secretary but also about what changes will be made in defense policy. Not surprisingly, most think that even if and when George W. Bush takes office, big changes are unlikely.

A Smooth Transition?

Though the Pentagon is always accorded special treatment, even in these days of zero interest in military matters, one of the issues that should be put to rest is that the shortened transition somehow threatens government operations, let alone national security.

Jeffrey H. Smith, a lawyer at Arnold and Porter in Washington who headed the Clinton defense transition team, says that by this time after the '92 election, their process was barely just getting underway. "I've long thought that the amount of time needed for a transition was overstated," Smith says. "The three months could be cut in half, and the world would be just fine."

Speculation about the impact of a shorter transition on any Bush or Gore defense policy would, of course, be easier if it were clear what their policies were. Absent any military crises, few see any likelihood - particularly under divided government - of early or bold initiatives. In the words of one congressional observer, "They threw a bone to everybody, and now they have to decide which to take back."

That's My Toy!

In theory, a Bush administration would choose which bone to abandon on the basis of careful analysis and new priorities in the world. In reality, as John Robinson, editor of the trade newsletter Defense Daily, says, "high-profile vertical cuts will just have to be made to pay for some of the things they're really interested in."

One high-profile program that consistently gets mentioned as a prime candidate for cancellation is the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a new multi-billion dollar short-range fighter bomber slated for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in about 2008. Perhaps just by coincidence, defense observers say, the Clinton defense team issued its formal request for proposals in the winner-take-all JSF competition right after the election. Moreover, sources say, the JSF program office is specifically discussing whether a Bush administration would be harder on the JSF than a Gore one would be. And they concluded that Bush would be harder than Gore.

Why a sense that Bush might be prone to cancel JSF? Some say it is simply because the airplane doesn't seem to have a strong proponent, either in the services or on Capitol Hill. Only the Marines, these observers say, would be severely affected by a cancellation, as it would throw its entire ship- and land-based short takeoff aircraft program into question. But, congressional observers say that of all the services, the Marines have the strongest institutional supporters in Congress. "It would be a real dog fight, though one worth it, to force the Marines to reexamine their need for a Harrier replacement," one observer says.

Needs? Policy? Congress does ultimately decide. They do so regardless of how coherent the Pentagon plan is, or how incoherent their pork barrel result is. The first Bush administration killed the Seawolf attack submarine and the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor airplane, both later resurrected by Capitol Hill.

On JSF, some make the intellectual argument that there's no point of picking a contractor until the Quadrennial Defense Review and a new National Military Strategy are completed. If some right-wingers have their way, long-range airpower and not the JSF would be the priority, particularly for Pacific contingencies if China becomes enemy number one. "China policy does have implications for what kind of aircraft we buy," one congressional analyst says.

Meanwhile another observer scoffs at any such speculation: "The Bushes are anything if not anti-China. Dad was the first ambassador to Beijing." Still, JSF would be early an indicator to all of the Bush administration's willingness to make tough decisions.

A Hard Time With Commitments

Defense experts generally agree that there are at least two themes of a George W. government that will influence defense policy in the short term: A desire to reassert strong civilian control over the uniformed military, and resolution of the perceived crisis in military readiness.

Thomas Donnelly, deputy executive director of the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative think tank that issued a preelection report titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses," speculates that Bush will add some $20 billion to $25 billion a year to defense. But he doubts that the tough decisions suggested during the campaign will be quickly pursued. "Getting out of the Balkans?" Donnelly asks, "I'll believe it when I see it."

When I asked Donnelly and others whether the desire to increase readiness suggests reducing some commitments abroad, their response was basically "now that would be logical, wouldn't it?" But on Bosnia and other "commitments," Donnelly already sees a tendency of the Bush camp to try to put the toothpaste back into the tube. "After consultation with the allies," Donnelly says, that's their out. "Do you really think we're just going to bug out and leave NATO with a stinking turd?"

Ready for Beltway Combat

When George W. Bush takes office, if he takes office, one of the few sectors where he will be able to make a unique mark is defense. There is already some momentum for Bush to make changes, particularly given Cheney and prospective Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's backgrounds in defense, and the resonance that military readiness already had in the campaign.

Surprisingly, although Bush has attempted to associate himself with military transformation and the so-called "revolution in military affairs" (RMA) that is the darling of the military intellectual complex these days, most observers see this as an area where there is likely to be the least amount of emphasis, at least in the short term.

"Cheney is very we've got to fix here and now, deal with what's in your face," Donnelly says. He believes that futuristic programs will get short shrift in the face of the immediate agenda of dealing with readiness, retention and morale. Powell for his part is also not known as an RMA advocate, and he wasn't a big fan of missile defense when he was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, nor would he want to be the guy to lead the way to kill the ABM Treaty, another right-wing target for Star Wars dreamers who think a Bush win will shake up a few things.

The most important priority of any new administration on defense, Jeff Smith says, is to communicate to the world that there will be a smooth handoff, a continuity in the chain of command, and that there will be no precipitous change in the rules of engagement. Given that the next administration's defense policies are so unclear, Smith has nothing to worry about.

William Arkin can be reached at william_arkin@washingtonpost.com.


-------- MILITARY

TP400 Selected to Power A400M Transport Aircraft

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=p1201090.501&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=788&date=20001204

LONDON, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation - Rolls-Royce announced today that Airbus Military Company (AMC) has selected the TP400 engine to power the planned A400M European transport aircraft. The three-shaft turboprop engine will be jointly developed and manufactured by the six participating companies of FiatAvio (Italy); ITP (Spain); MTU Aero Engines (Germany); Rolls-Royce (UK and Germany); Snecma Moteurs (France) and Techspace Aero (Belgium).

The TP400 is a turboprop engine with a range of power between 10,000 and 13,000 shaft horse power. It is a three-shaft engine concept built around the M88 core engine which takes advantage of the recognised know-how of Rolls-Royce three-shaft engine technology. It also incorporates state of the art technologies from the other partners.

The provisional workshare percentages under the TP400 programme will be 24.8 per cent each for Rolls-Royce, Snecma and MTU, 13.6 per cent for ITP, 8 per cent for FiatAvio and 4 per cent for Techspace Aero. Assignment of the major engine components and roles has also been agreed by the partners.

Rolls-Royce will be responsible for the low-pressure compressor and overall integration, Snecma for the high-pressure compressor and high-pressure turbine, MTU for the intermediate-pressure and low-pressure turbines and final assembly, ITP for the engine casings and dressings, FiatAvio for the propeller gearbox and Techspace Aero for the accessories.

A joint venture company, with headquarters in Munich, Germany will be set up to manage the programme and to act as a single point of contact for customers. The participating companies will staff the management company in accordance with their percentage participation in the programme. The TP400 management company will be one of the major partners of AMC.

The European nations participating in the A400M plan to purchase 225 of the four-engined transport aircraft which translates into an engine requirement of around 1,000 turboprops.

The six participating companies are delighted that AMC has chosen the TP400 engine thereby demonstrating the trust it puts in the capabilities and competitiveness of the European aero engine industry. It also testifies to the co-operative skills of the major European engine builders, as previously seen in several other joint programmes.

SOURCE Rolls-Royce plc

CONTACT: Chris Springham, Head of Corporate Media Relations, +44-207-227-9289, or fax, +44-207-227-9178, or chris.springham@rolls-royce.com, or Martin Brodie, Head of Media Relations, +44-207-227-9140, or fax, +44-207-227-9178, or martin.brodie@rolls-royce.com, both of Rolls-Royce plc

-------- canada

Canada's C-Mac purchase of DY 4 Systems 95% accepted

BridgeNews
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=b1201018.8rg&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=139950&date=20001204

Toronto--Dec. 1--Canada's C-Mac Industries Inc. reported Friday that it received acceptance from 95% of DY 4 Systems Inc. shareholders for its purchase of DY 4. The acquisition adds the DY 4 mission critical military and aerospace products to the C-Mac military and aerospace electronic component product line.

--Philip Saunders, BridgeNews

The following is the text of today's announcement with emphasis added by BridgeNews. BridgeStation links to company data have been inserted at the end:

C-MAC Industries, Inc. Completes Acquisition Of DY 4 Systems Inc.

KANATA, ONTARIO, DEC. 1 /CNW/ -- C-MAC INDUSTRIES, INC. (NYSE: EMS; TORONTO: CMS), MONTREAL, QUEBEC, HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS RECEIVED OVER 95% ACCEPTANCE OF ITS OFFER FOR THE COMMON SHARES OF DY 4 SYSTEMS INC. (TORONTO: DYF), THE WORLD'S LEADING SUPPLIER OF HIGH RELIABILITY BOARD LEVEL PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS FOR MISSION-CRITICAL MILITARY AND AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS. C-MAC PROVIDES A FULL RANGE OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS FOR HIGH-GROWTH INDUSTRIES, INCLUDING DEFENSE AND AEROSPACE.

Commenting on the acquisition, DY 4 President and CEO Danny Osadca stated that, "This is an exciting announcement at an exciting time in the history of DY 4. The acquisition by C-MAC will give us the financial strength to stimulate even greater growth in the future. Rapid growth and complete customer satisfaction are both at the top of our agenda. The greater financial resources, purchasing power and strategically placed worldwide manufacturing and R&D facilities of C-MAC and DY 4 together make for a powerful combination that can meet the growing worldwide demand for electronics outsourcing on an even more responsive and cost competitive basis."

Osadca also noted that, "DY 4 is the acknowledged world leader in the design and development of embedded, real-time computing solutions for use in mission-critical environments. This is our expertise and our focus. We have invested heavily in the development of new products, technologies and services -- this year alone we plan to invest 14% of our revenues in R&D to ensure a continuous stream of new and innovative products for the COTS market -- greater than any one of our competitors.

DY 4 will continue to concentrate on its key defense and aerospace operations. The synergy of our combined resources and access to a broader technology base will fuel our ability to offer our defense and aerospace customers more complete solutions as their needs evolve."

For further information, contact Duncan Young, DY 4 Canada, 333 Palladium Drive, M/S 212, Kanata, Ontario K2V 1A6, Canada. Tel: 613-599-9199, x298; Fax: 613-599-7777; E-mail: salesdy4.com; Web: www.dy4.com.

ABOUT C-MAC

C-MAC is a leading internationally diversified designer and manufacturer of integrated electronic manufacturing solutions, from components to full systems, primarily serving the communications, automotive, instrumentation, defense and aerospace equipment markets worldwide. C-MAC services also include product design, supply chain management, and assembly and testing. C- MAC, headquartered in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), employs more than 8,800 employees and operates 47 manufacturing facilities located in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. C-MAC's manufacturing operations are supported by six strategically located design centers in North America and Europe. C-MAC (CMS) stock is traded on The Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (EMS).

ABOUT DY 4

DY 4 Systems Inc. designs leading-edge Commercial-Off-The-Shelf embedded solutions. Based on open systems architectures, DY 4's boards, software and systems are deployed in mission-critical, high-reliability commercial and defense applications. Coupled with best in class products, DY 4 also provides complete life cycle management, engineering integration services and tailored customer support services.

/For further information: Duncan Young of DY 4 Canada, 613-599-9199,ext. 298, or fax, 613-599-7777, or sales(at)dy4.com/

/Web site: http://www.dy4.com /

---------- columbia

Skepticism surrounds Colombia talks

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By MICHAEL EASTERBROOK Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405218710

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - With a deadline looming on whether to continue peace talks with leftist rebels, President Andres Pastrana faces a skeptical public and U.S. accusations of deepening guerrilla involvement in the drug trade.

Pastrana must decide by Dec. 7 whether to authorize continued rebel rule over a vast southern region the government ceded two years ago to spur negotiations with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Taking back the New Jersey-sized DMZ from the FARC could require heavy fighting and would probably be the death knell for negotiations begun in January 1999 to end the South American country's 36-year-war.

Pastrana has made peace his government's top priority, and has already extended the DMZ several times since pulling some 2,500 troops from the region in November 1998, just prior to the beginning of the talks.

Most observers expect him to do so again _ even though the FARC recently declared a ``freeze'' on negotiations. Lengthy meetings took place Friday between a presidential peace envoy and top FARC commander Manuel Marulanda to seek a solution to the impasse.

With negotiations yielding few results to date _ and accusations mounting that the FARC has used its safe haven to harbor kidnap victims, launch attacks, and smuggle cocaine _ public sentiment is against further government generosity.

Seventy-six percent of Colombians believe Pastrana should take back the DMZ unless the talks get back on track, according to a poll published Sunday in the country's leading newspaper, El Tiempo.

Eighty-three percent of Colombians do not believe the FARC sincerely wants peace, added the survey of major cities, which had a 3.7 percent error margin.

While refusing to question Pastrana's peace strategy, U.S. officials launched a barrage of accusations this week of FARC involvement in cocaine trafficking.

A State Department spokesman on Wednesday backed recent allegations by Mexico's Attorney General that the FARC has supplied cocaine to a major Mexican cartel in return for cash and possibly weapons. The spokesman urged the FARC to sever its ties to the drug trade.

The rebels admit they finance their operations in part through a ``tax'' on peasant farmers who grow drug crops. But the FARC denies any involvement further up the international drug trafficking chain of operations.

Growing rebel and paramilitary involvement in the drug trade is one of the main justifications behind a $1.3 billion U.S. anti-drug aid package for Colombia.

-------- denmark

Denmark Orders Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules for New Airlift Fleet

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=p1201101.300&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=139498&date=20001204

VAERLOSE, Denmark, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation - In a signing ceremony today at Air Material Command Headquarters, Vaerlose Air Base, the Royal Danish Air Force ordered three Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Hercules tactical transport aircraft. The order also includes an option for a fourth. The aircraft will be 'stretched' configuration C-130J-30s, equipped with an enhanced cargo handling system and a comprehensive integrated electronic warfare system. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2003. In addition, the order contains options for an accompanying logistics goods and services package.

The new C-130J-30s will greatly increase Denmark's airlift capability, as the new Hercules is capable of greater range and payload. "This order brings to 99 the number of C-130Js selected by air forces around the world," said Dain M. Hancock, president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. "The C- 130J is becoming the new generation airlifter of choice for tactical missions and, with the stretched J-30 variant, even strategic operations. The C-130J's amazing performance and ease of operation make it a true force multiplier for any operator."

The Danish Air Force currently operates three C-130H Hercules, which it acquired in 1975. The C-130Js will be operated by the 721 Transport Squadron at Vaerlose Air Base and will not only support national interests of Denmark, but continue to provide air mobility in support of worldwide humanitarian and relief missions.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is a leader in the design, development, systems integration, production and support of advanced military aircraft and related technologies. Its customers include the military services of the United States and allied countries throughout the world. Products include the F-16, F-22, C-130J, F-117, U-2, X-33 and Joint Strike Fighter, among other renowned aircraft.

LM Aeronautics is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT). Lockheed Martin is headquartered in Bethesda, Md., and is a global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and services. The corporation's core businesses are systems integration, space, aeronautics, and technology services.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin Corporation

CONTACT: Peter Simmons of Lockheed Martin, 770-494-6208, or peter.e.simmons@lmco.com

Web site: http://www.lmasc.com (LMT)

-------

Drug battle grows more regional

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By SCOTT LINDLAW Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405221250

WASHINGTON (AP) - With cocaine use waning, authorities waged the war on drugs this year with strategies tailored to the regional battlegrounds: Marijuana in the Appalachian states, methamphetamine in the Rocky Mountains, cocaine in South Florida.

``There is no longer any one drug that consumes America as cocaine did in the 1980s,'' said Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

``We need to be ready to defend against emerging threats of a wide variety by region, as well as increasingly sophisticated changes in the operations of drug traffickers,'' he said.

McCaffrey's prepared remarks accompanied his annual report on drug threats and strategies, to be released Tuesday.

It outlines the government's war on drugs in 26 ``High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas,'' where drug manufacturing and sales flourish and where federal, state and local law enforcement agencies cooperate. HIDTA spent more than $191 million in fiscal year 2000, up from nearly $187 million the previous year.

McCaffrey reported that the cooperating agencies destroyed $787 million worth of marijuana in Kentucky last year, a value greater than the state's tobacco crop. Authorities eradicated another $700 million in Tennessee and West Virginia.

They also battled against ``a general judicial sentiment within some of the state judicial circuits that trafficking marijuana was a less serious offense than trafficking other substances.''

Marijuana is also the most prevalent illegal drug in the Atlanta area, but cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin are also widespread, the report said.

Heroin is the principal problem in central Florida, though the region is also favored by drug traffickers because of its air, land and sea transportation networks. Hawaii, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and the Gulf Coast are other hot spots for drug smugglers.

The New England states are seeing ``unprecedented'' increases in heroin-related deaths and overdoses, according to the report.

The central California valleys are favorite locations for methamphetamine labs, which are proliferating at an ``alarming'' rate, the report warns. The region's two international airports, hundreds of private airstrips and interstate highways make it a clearinghouse for movement of all types of drugs.

Chicago, meanwhile, remains another ``major distribution hub of narcotics and other controlled substances for the entire heartland of the United States.''

Mexican, Colombian and Nigerian drug cartels distribute drugs throughout the city and the entire Midwest. Ecstasy and other ``club drugs'' are growing in popularity among suburban residents.

In the Northwest, heroin, marijuana and cocaine are growing threats, and methamphetamine labs are proliferating throughout the region, according to the report. Smuggling at the U.S.-Canadian border is on the rise.

While the use of crack and powder cocaine is declining nationwide, it remains the No. 1 problem in the Ohio region. Moreover, the report states, ``marijuana is ubiquitous in Ohio.''

McCaffrey, a retired Army general, will leave his post next month to teach national security at West Point and write books on drug policy and the Gulf War.

On the Net: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov

-------- india/pakistan

Pakistani party forms new alliance

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By AMIR ZIA Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405220955

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A new opposition alliance said Monday they would boycott upcoming local elections and stage protests for an immediate end to military rule in Pakistan.

``We demand the military government lift its ban on political activity,'' said Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, head of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.

The alliance, formed Sunday, represents 18 of the country's discredited and disgraced political parties, including those of two ousted prime ministers and one-time archrivals, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif, convicted of hijacking and kidnapping, is serving a life jail term and faces further corruption charges. Bhutto, who divides her time between Britain and the United Arab Emirates, was convicted in absentia of corruption and sentenced to five years in jail when Sharif was in power.

The other parties include ethnic and nationalist groups and small religious organizations, which have a history of sharp political and ideological differences.

``We have put behind our differences for democracy,'' Khan said Sunday in demanding an immediate transfer of power to a caretaker government. ``Today our priority is to return the country to democracy.''

Local elections for district and municipal councils will begin later this month and last for several months. Khan said the alliance rejected the elections because political parties are not allowed to participate. All candidates must run as independents.

The government also bans all public meetings, but Khan said his alliance would hold peaceful demonstrations.

In October 1999, the army threw out Sharif's government in a bloodless coup on charges of corruption and misrule. Gen. Pervez Musharraf has promised elections before the end of 2002.

Many political parties, including some in the alliance, had welcomed the military takeover, but now criticize the government's anti-corruption drive as unjust and draconian.

About 35,000 lawyers held a one-day strike on Monday to demand an immediate return to democracy. Courts throughout the country were closed.

-------- land mines

Computerized nose finds land mines

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By GREG SUKIENNIK Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405218507

BOSTON (AP) _ Researchers at Tufts University Medical School are teaching a machine to do what humans cannot _ sniff out land mines.

In controlled testing conditions, the machine can detect odors at two parts per billion, which equals the performance of trained dogs. The inventors hope it will successfully detect land mines in open-field conditions in two years.

``It's an extremely difficult task'' to smell explosives used in most land mines, said John Kauer, who is working on the project with fellow neuroscience professor Joel White. ``These are odors you or I cannot smell.''

The machine Kauer and White have built differs from existing artificial noses in two ways. It is specifically designed to search out land mines, and it is built to simulate the way animals detect odors.

The machine has an air intake, which brings odors into a box which contains 32 sensors. The machine is programmed to recognize the signature patterns of certain odors. It also has a simulated voice to tell operators what it has found.

Artificial noses are not new. The technology was first developed in 1982, but they are often used to tell the difference between kinds of coffees or cheeses.

But White and Kauer, who are researching the way animals detect smells, decided to take their research a step further and see if a machine could replicate a sense living creatures take for granted.

The machine has been tested at an inactive minefield at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, with limited success. ``The movement of air disturbs the plume or odor,'' Kauer said.

The project is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the central research and development agency of the Defense Department.

The agency is also funding studies of honeybees, which can detect vapors given off by land mine explosives. Researchers have successfully placed sensors in bee hives that can tell if a bee has detected an explosive and brought back traces to the hive.

In February, Regina Dugan of DARPA said systems that detect vapors from land mines are ``the holy grail of mine detection.''

The United States, China and Russia have yet to sign the 1997 treaty outlawing land mines. It has been signed by 138 nations and ratified by 101.

According to Physicians Against Land Mines, there are more than 60 million unexploded land mines in 70 countries, killing or maiming a civilian every 22 minutes. The present technology for finding them includes infrared and ground radar systems, heavy rakes and rollers and searching by hand.

``We are not happy that the U.S. is funding mine removal and victim assistance but not joining efforts to prevent their future use and deployment,'' said Susannah Sirkin of Physicians for Human Rights.

But she added that the new technology is ``certainly a positive development if it works.''

---

Anti-mine campaigners renew pressure

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405221264

GENEVA (AP) - Anti-land mine campaigners marked Monday's third anniversary of the signing of a global treaty to ban the weapons with a call on 54 governments to drop their ``excuses'' for staying out of the accord.

The treaty, clinched in Ottawa, Canada on Dec. 4, 1997, has now been signed by 139 countries and ratified by 109. It bans stockpiles of mines and commits nations to destroy stocks within four years and clear all mines from their territories in 10 years.

The United States, China and Russia _ among the world's major holders of land mine stockpiles _ have yet to sign.

``The civilian victims of land mines are tired of being told excuses,'' Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel Peace prize for campaigning against land mines, said in a statement.

``They are tired of being told that this nation has unique circumstances, that that nation has special security requirements,'' she said.

The United States says it needs land mines to deter North Korea from invading South Korea. President Clinton wants Washington to approve the treaty by 2006, but only if the armed forces can produce an alternative. Russia and China say they need land mines for defensive purposes.

The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines condemned Russia, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Congo and Angola _ which has signed the treaty _ for continuing to lay the mines.

It also blasted their use by rebel groups in places including Congo, Angola, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, Chechnya and Kashmir.

Nations that have ratified the Ottawa accord are in Geneva this week for a regular meeting to discuss implementation of the treaty, which came into force on March 1 last year.

-------- russia

Russia Dismisses Pentagon Claim

NewsEdge Corporation
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=h1201095.802&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=139498&date=20001204

MOSCOW (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - The Russian air force on Friday dismissed a claim by the Pentagon that it plans to fly its Tu-95 bombers close to U.S. airspace off Alaska and described the aircraft deployment as a routine training mission.

Kenneth Bacon, spokesman for Defense Secretary William Cohen, said Thursday that the U.S. military thought the Russians might fly some of the planes up through the Bering Straits and close to Alaska in a Cold-War style exercise.

Russian Air Force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky confirmed that the four-engine, propeller-driven strategic bombers flew to several air bases in northern Siberia for regular training.

``It's not some saber-rattling in the Cold War style,'' Drobyshevsky told The Associated Press. ``The bombers aren't going to approach Alaska or pose any threat to the United States. They will stay in the Russian airspace.''

Drobyshevsky said the Tu-95s would carry no weapons during the flights. ``Pilots have to restore their skills,'' he said, adding that Russian bomber pilots flew an average of 10 hours a year compared to more than 200 hours a year in Western air forces.

Bacon, the Pentagon spokesman, said the Russians last sent bombers over the Bering Sea in March. His comments appeared designed to pre-empt a Russian claim to have penetrated U.S. air defenses off Alaska. The Russians twice this fall flew warplanes near the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan and afterward released photographs showing they had approached the carrier.

Bacon said the Navy tracked the Russian aircraft and dismissed the Russian suggestions that the U.S. carrier was caught off guard.

-------- space

NASA Mulls Solar Array Problems
Spacewalking Astronauts Open One Of Two Solar Arrays NASA Holds Up Further Work After Small Errors Discovered Space Shuttle Endeavour Crew Could Finish Work Monday

CBS
HOUSTON, Dec. 4, 2000
http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0%2C1597%2C252710-412%2C00.shtml

(CBS) NASA engineers have been studying all Monday morning if space shuttle astronauts should unfurl the second of two newly attached immense solar arrays after the minor problems were discovered when the first structure uncoiled on the international space station.

Two spacewalking astronauts from visiting shuttle Endeavour bolted a $600 million powerful solar power tower to the orbiting outpost Sunday and one of two huge solar wings was successfully installed after several false starts.

But deployment of a second wing was put on hold after NASA officials determined the two solar cell blankets making up the first wing were not as taut as expected after the wing was fully extended, reports CBS News Space Consultant William Harwood.

While the 115-foot-long array was generating power and otherwise performing normally, flight directors wanted more time to study the unexpected slack in the gold and blue reflective array blankets before unfolding the second wing.

"We want to make sure we're in a good posture before we deploy the second wing," lead flight director William Reeves said Sunday. "The systems are very safe at this point. Even if the shuttle had to leave early, the system is self sustaining."

In the meantime, he added, "we're going to do some analysis on the wing that's out and when we're convinced we're ready, we'll deploy the second wing."

The Endeavour crew has two more space walks planned during the linkup with space station Alpha.

NASA could try to unfurl the left wing Monday or could delay the attempt until Tuesday, when astronauts in the shuttle conduct their second of three spacewalks during this mission.

"Since we are in a good, safe posture, there's no reason to be in a big hurry and deploy the other blanket until we absolutely understand what we saw, or what we're looking at right now," Reeves said.

The crew of Endeavour was to have a light schedule of activities Monday after a busy day of construction work.

During a 7-1/2-hour spacewalk, astronauts Carlos Noriega and Joe Tanner helped guided the truss containing the solar wings to Alpha.

Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, operating the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm with surgical precision, helped in positioning the 17.5-ton array within inches of a mechanical claw-like hook on top of the space station truss.

The installation continued smoothly until the right wing's unfurling didn't proceed after commander Brent Jett Jr. entered computer commands to do so. A computer software problem prevented the latches and retention pins on the wings to open so the panels could be deployed.

New software was sent up, and Jett was able to open all the latches and pins, except one on the left wing. He continued to send commands and eventually freed the stuck pin.

The right wing's deployment delighted Noriega and Tanner.

"Ah, it looks beautiful," Noriega exclaimed.

"More power to the station," Tanner said.

It took less than 14 minutes for the first folded wing to spread to its full 115 feet.

Noriega and Tanner were the first spacewalkers to have their helmets equipped with small cameras that provided live views of what they saw as they drove in bolts and released latches while attaching the solar wings.

"We promise to make all of our movements nice and slow and steady so nobody gets sick looking at the pictures," Tanner said before the flight.

The future of space station construction hinges on the astronauts' ability to install the solar panels, which will provide much needed power to the newly inhabited outpost.

Two more spacewalks are planned this week by Tanner and Noriega, on Tuesday and Thursday, to finish wiring the solar wings and to install other equipment on the space station.

The solar wings, which will measure 240 feet from tip to tip once completely unfurled, have a wingspan longer than that of a Boeing 777 jetliner. The solar panels, which are 38 feet across, will make the space station one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

The Boeing-built P6 solar array is the most powerful solar electric power system ever launched, capable of generating 65 kilowatts at peak power - four times what currently is produced by the small Russian-built solar wings already on the space station. Without this extra electricity, the space agency could not launch its Destiny science lab in January - or any other power-hungry pieces.

By the time the space station is completed in 2006, NASA will have installed three more sets of these solar wings. Each is designed to last 15 years and will keep operating even if individual solar cells are pierced by bits of space junk.

Alpha commander Bill Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates have been on board since Nov. 2.

The two crews are unable to meet until Friday. The hatches between the two craft remained sealed because of the difference in cabin air pressure.

---

Astronauts Attach Solar Wings

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=h1203160.701&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=19846&date=20001204

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - Two spacewalking astronauts attached the world's largest, most powerful set of solar wings to the international space station on Sunday.

It was a task as monumental as the wings themselves: The future of space station construction hinged on the astronauts' ability to install the solar panels, which will provide much needed power to the newly inhabited outpost.

Space shuttle Endeavour astronauts Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega guided the $600 million solar wings onto space station Alpha and then bolted them down. They had spent more than three years training for the mission, and everything went according to plan.

Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, working inside Endeavour, moved the folded wings to the space station using the shuttle's robot arm. Tanner and Noriega, positioned on either side of the attachment point, gave him instructions for closing the final 3 feet.

``Looking good. Keep it coming,'' Tanner urged Garneau. ``You're dead center almost, man.''

With no direct view himself, Garneau needed the spacewalkers' eyes. He also needed their hands to drive the capture latches.

Before the wings could be unfurled to their full 240 feet and begin generating electricity, Tanner and Noriega had to release all the bolts and pins that were used to secure the payload for Thursday's launch aboard Endeavour.

The blue and gold-colored wings, made of silicone cells and thin Kapton layers, were folded like an accordion for liftoff. They were to be commanded open, one by one, with a few computer keystrokes by shuttle commander Brent Jett Jr.

Each wing was expected to take 13 minutes to spread.

Alpha's shiny wings, covering half an acre, will be the largest structure ever deployed in space and will make the station one of the brightest objects in the night sky. The larger the wings, the more sunlight that can be collected for conversion into electricity.

Each wing is 38 feet wide and covered with 32,800 solar cells, and has power-storing batteries and radiators at the base. The combined wingspan _ 240 feet _ exceeds that of a Boeing 777 jetliner.

NASA expects the solar panels to generate 65 kilowatts at peak power _ four times what currently is produced by the small Russian-built solar wings already on the space station. Without this extra electricity, the space agency could not launch its Destiny science lab in January _ or any other power-hungry pieces.

By the time the space station is completed in 2006, NASA will have installed three more sets of these solar wings. Each is designed to last 15 years and will keep operating even if individual solar cells are pierced by bits of space junk.

Alpha commander Bill Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates were mere observers to all the action 235 miles above Earth on Sunday. The hatches between the docked spacecraft remained sealed because of the difference in cabin air pressure.

Two more spacewalks are planned this week by Tanner and Noriega, on Tuesday and Thursday, to finish wiring the solar wings and to install other equipment on the space station. If all goes well, the two crews will meet on Friday.

Sunday's spacewalk featured something new: helmets equipped with small cameras that provided live views of what the astronauts were seeing. They were dubbed ``Joe-cam'' and ``Carlos-cam.''

``We promise to make all of our movements nice and slow and steady so nobody gets sick looking at the pictures,'' Tanner said before the flight.

---

Massive Sunnyvale-Built Solar Arrays Launched to International Space Station

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=b1201090.106&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=19846&date=20001204

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - The first of four pairs of massive solar arrays for the International Space Station, built at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, were launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station on November 30, 2000. During the 12-day mission, astronauts will connect the package of giant solar arrays and associated electronics, batteries, radiators, and support structure to the Station. Subsequent pairs of arrays will be delivered on shuttle flights currently scheduled for 2002, 2003, and 2006.

"We're enormously pleased to see the first pair of flight wings headed for the International Space Station, while work continues here on the remaining flight articles," said Ron Paulson, Vice President, Remote Sensing and Space Science, at Space Systems in Sunnyvale. "A very thorough series of tests and analysis has demonstrated to us that this complex technology will harness the Sun's energy for the Space Station and provide the power required for many years to come on this vitally important international mission."

The functional testing of the solar array flight hardware has involved several extension and retraction cycles of the 107-foot deployment mast and solar array blankets. Additionally, all individual solar panel circuits have been flash-tested with simulated sunlight to verify output power. Further, a close inspection has ensured that individual solar cells can withstand the harsh environment of space while converting sunlight into electricity. Arrays have also been exposed to harsh vacuum and thermal environments that simulate conditions 200 miles above the Earth's surface, and tested further in an acoustic chamber to simulate the violent shaking vibrations that accompany launch aboard the Space Shuttle. The technology has already been flight proven in a demonstration prototype solar array replacement flown by NASA and Space Systems on the Russian MIR space station.

The Space Systems ISS solar arrays are the largest deployable space structure ever built and will be by far, the most powerful electricity-producing arrays ever put into orbit. When the Station is completed a total of eight flexible, deployable solar array wings will generate the reliable, continuous power for the on-orbit operation of the ISS systems. The eight array wings were designed and built under a $450 million contract from the Boeing-Rocketdyne Division in Canoga Park, Calif., for delivery to the Boeing Company and NASA.

Each of the eight wings consists of a mast assembly and two solar array blankets. Each blanket has 84 panels, of which 82 are populated with solar cells. Each panel contains 200 solar cells. The eight photovoltaic arrays thus accommodate a total of 262,400 solar cells. When fully deployed in space, the active area of the eight wings, each 107 by 38-feet, will encompass an area of 32,528-sq. ft., and will provide power to the ISS for 15 years.

In addition to the arrays, Space Systems in Sunnyvale has also designed and built other elements for the Space Station that will be launched on future shuttle missions. Rotary mechanical joints for the ISS will move the solar arrays and thermal radiators into positions relative to the Sun that will optimize their individual functions. These mechanical joints are the largest mechanisms ever designed to operate in a space environment.

The two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ) are each 10.5 ft diameter and 40 inches long. Their purpose is to maintain the solar arrays in an optimal orientation to the Sun while the entire Space Station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes. Drive motors in each SARJ will move the arrays through 360 degrees of motion at four degrees per minute.

The Thermal Radiator Rotary Joints (TRRJ) are each five and a half feet long and three feet in diameter. Their purpose is to maintain the Space Station thermal radiators in an edge-on orientation to the sun that maximizes the dissipation of heat from the radiators.

Space Systems has also produced the Trace Contaminant Control System, an advanced air processing and filtering system that will ensure that over 200 various trace chemical contaminants, generated from material off-gassing and metabolic functions in the Space Station atmosphere, remain within allowable concentration levels. It will become an integral part of the Space Station's Cabin Air Revitalization Subsystem.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, CA, is a leading supplier of satellites and space systems to military, civil government and commercial communications organizations around the world. These spacecraft and systems have enhanced military and commercial communications; provided new and timely remote-sensing information; and furnished new data for thousands of scientists studying our planet and the universe.

For more information, high and low resolution photos of the solar array, see our website at http://lmms.external.lmco.com

CONTACT: Lockheed Martin | Buddy Nelson, 510/797-0349 | Jeff Richmond, 408/742-7532

---

Endeavour Astronaut Thumbnails

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=h1130224.300&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=19846&date=20001204

Five space shuttle astronauts are en route to the international space station. A brief look at each:

Commander Brent Jett Jr. approves of the new name for the international space station: Alpha, the choice of the station's three residents.

``I'm just happy that we have something to call them on the radio,'' says Jett, who will steer space shuttle Endeavour to the linkup. ``International space station is somewhat cumbersome.''

Jett, 42, a Navy commander from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is making his third space flight since becoming an astronaut in 1992. He will have the honor of sending the computer commands to unfurl the space station's new solar wings, which are being carried to the station by Endeavour.

``I guess I could have said, `I'm going to get to do it because I'm the commander.' But the task really fell to me because all the people are busy working and commanders are supposed to sit back and sort of observe ... So I guess I got a little bit lucky.''

^___=

Pilot Michael Bloomfield has football to thank for his flying career.

At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Bloomfield was too small to play major college football in his home state of Michigan. He ended up a linebacker at the Air Force Academy and was team captain in 1980.

A teammate's father, a general, suggested he become a pilot. Fighter pilot was followed by test pilot, then space shuttle pilot. ``I fell into it,'' he says with a laugh.

Bloomfield says he wouldn't change careers for anything, not even professional football. ``I'd do this in a minute. No choice.''

The 41-year-old Air Force lieutenant colonel from Lake Fenton, Mich., is making his second shuttle flight since becoming an astronaut in 1994. He will be at the controls when space shuttle Endeavour undocks from the space station and flies around the station for camera views.

^___=

Joe Tanner says his last shuttle flight, a Hubble Space Telescope maintenance mission, is hard to beat.

``Hubble being the national treasure that it is ... nothing can ever compare with that experience because of how special it was and always will be,'' he says. ``This is a different experience and the goal is different. We're in the construction business, and we're building something that we all believe in or we wouldn't be here.''

Tanner, 50, the crew's lead spacewalker, began his career as a Navy pilot. He joined NASA in 1984 as an engineer and research pilot, and was selected as an astronaut in 1992.

A three-time space flier, Tanner will perform three spacewalks to rig the space station with new solar wings. He is a veteran spacewalker and is from Danville, Ill.

^___=

Carlos Noriega could barely speak English when he immigrated to America from Peru as a child. But he studied hard, joined the Marines and eventually became an astronaut.

``It's the classic immigrant's story,'' says the 41-year-old lieutenant colonel and helicopter pilot. ``This is what this country is all about, and I'm living it.''

Noriega grew up in Santa Clara, Calif., thinking astronauts came from palaces or were raised in labs. Years later, while working at the U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., he saw a colleague filling out an astronaut application. He did, too, and was picked by NASA in 1994.

This is Noriega's second shuttle flight, but his first as a spacewalker. He will perform three spacewalks to install giant solar wings on the international space station.

He has five children, including 8-year-old triplets. He acknowledges the risk of flying in space, but says it was also dangerous making night helicopter landings for the Marines.

^___=

Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau expects this to be his last space shuttle flight.

He wants to spend more time with his two youngest children, ages 1 and 4, and would like to move back to Canada and continue working for his country's space agency.

``Since way back, when I first heard about the station I thought, 'Boy, I'd like to contribute to building that station.' This mission will do it for me,'' he says. ``I feel I probably will have done everything I wanted in the program, and so this may be a natural exit point.''

Garneau, 51, an electrical engineer and retired Navy captain from Quebec, was among the first group of Canadian astronauts selected in 1983. He became the first Canadian in space in 1984. This is his third shuttle flight.

He will use Endeavour's robot arm to attach new solar wings to the international space station.

---

Boeing-Built Thuraya Satellite Completes Initial Operational Test Phase

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=b1203130.301&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=27715&date=20001204

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - In little more than a month following its launch, the Thuraya-1 satellite has successfully completed its Initial Operational Test (IOT) phase.

During IOT, Thuraya's C-band antenna, solar wings and 12-meter-diameter L-band reflector were deployed and tested, and the first telephone calls on the Thuraya-1 satellite have been completed.

The first call was placed to Mohammad Hassan Omran, chairman of Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company in the United Arab Emirates. Thuraya, a turnkey space-based mobile communications system, was built for Thuraya by Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. (BSS), formerly Hughes Space and Communications Company, and now part of The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA).

"The culmination of IOT testing is a critical milestone for the program," stated Tig Krekel, president of Boeing Satellite Systems. "The satellite is operating beautifully and we have now entered the overall system integration and verification phase."

During the next few months, Boeing engineers will test the other major elements of the Thuraya system including the communications gateway, billing subsystem, network operation center and mobile phones. Service is due to start in the first half of 2001 when Boeing hands over the system to Thuraya.

Thuraya-1 was launched on Oct. 20 by a Sea Launch Zenit rocket. The Thuraya Company will provide satellite-based mobile communications and payphone services to approximately 1.8 billion people in 100 countries across the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and other parts of Asia.

Shortly after launch, controllers unfolded the satellite's high-efficiency solar wings, which stretch 113 feet (34.5 meters) from end to end. Thuraya-1 is the second satellite to carry this new style of wing, which has angled solar reflector panels along each side that concentrate more of the sun's rays onto the solar cells in order to generate increased power. The gallium arsenide solar cells, from Boeing Spectrolab, are among the most efficient available, able to convert nearly 25 percent of the sun's rays into spacecraft power.

Controllers also unfurled the innovative, 40-foot (12.25-meter) L-band transmit-receive reflector provided by TRW Astro Aerospace. The large reflector combined with Boeing's on-board digital signal processing, create an active phased-array antenna which allows the spacecraft to create more than 200 spot beams and handle 13,750 simultaneous phone calls. The digital signal processor, five times more capable than any previous Boeing digital processor, has more computing power than 3,000 Pentium III-based computers.

This was the first satellite launched under the BSS name, as well as the first in the Boeing GEO Mobile (GEM) line. The GEM satellites are geosynchronous spacecraft derived from the high-power Boeing 702 series, providing services to mobile users via GSM-compatible cell phones.

"Whenever you debut a new product, like a spacecraft line, you do careful calculations and simulations, and hope your best estimates are correct," added Krekel. "I'm pleased to say that everything is going according to plan. We will continue to test voice, fax, data and other GSM services in various geographic locations within Thuraya's expansive coverage area over the next several months."

The $960 million Thuraya contract was signed on Sept. 11, 1997. It included the manufacture of two high-power GEM satellites, launch of the first spacecraft, insurance, the primary gateway, and user handsets. The second satellite is a ground spare, and there is an option for a third. The Thuraya primary gateway includes a collocated network operations center, communications gateway, and satellite control facility in the United Arab Emirates. The dual-mode, GEM/GSM mobile phones, network operations center, and communications gateway are provided by Hughes Network Systems.

Thuraya-1 is among the most powerful satellites orbited to date, with 13.5 kilowatts. To dissipate the heat generated by such power, the satellite carries two large (80-square-foot/7.4-square-meter) radiator panels, which have also been successfully deployed.

BSS is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites. The company was formed in October 2000 when Boeing acquired the Hughes Electronics satellite manufacturing businesses, which included Hughes Space and Communications Company, Hughes Electron Dynamics, Spectrolab Inc., and Hughes Electronics' 50 percent share of HRL Laboratories.

The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), with headquarters in Seattle, is the largest aerospace company in the world and the United States' leading exporter. It is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft, and the largest NASA contractor.

The company's capabilities in aerospace also include rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, rocket engines, launch vehicles, and advanced information and communication systems. The company has an extensive global reach with customers in 145 countries and manufacturing operations throughout the United States, Canada and Australia.

CONTACT: Boeing Satellite Systems Inc., El Segundo | George Torres, 310/364-5777

---

Newly Formed Boeing Satellite Systems Ends Record-breaking Year;
World's Largest Satellite Systems Manufacturer Continues to Break New Ground

NewsEdge
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=b1203130.300&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=788&date=20001204

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS), the world's largest satellite manufacturer, will end the year 2000 with an all-time record delivery of 15 satellites and a number of breakthrough achievements.

BSS ends the year with more than 34 spacecraft in its backlog, valued at about $6 billion. At least seven new commercial spacecraft have been ordered, and on the government side of the business, the company was selected to be a member of the $2.5 billion National Team for Advanced EHF program and is also a major contender for the $700 million Wideband Gapfiller System.

"Our operations tempo is at an unprecedented level," said Tig H. Krekel, president of Boeing Satellite Systems. "We have enacted a number of initiatives to enable us to meet cost and schedule while supplying best-value products to our customers, and I believe that our performance this year is a strong indicator of our commitment to this goal.

"Beyond the sheer numbers, our `degree of difficulty' has been very high," Krekel added. "The last 12 months have seen a number of company firsts with industry-leading technological innovations."

Galaxy XI, the very first Boeing 702 model spacecraft, was launched on Dec. 21, 1999. The satellite was then the largest ever built, with 64 transponders and 10 kW of spacecraft power. Galaxy XI was also the first commercial spacecraft to carry an on-board camera that captured the deployment of the state-of-the-art solar wings in orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

This innovative design features solar wings with solar concentrators running the entire length of the wing, concentrating more of the sun's power onto the solar cells in order to generate higher power. Fully extended, the 111-foot spacecraft's wingspan approximates that of a Boeing 737 jetliner.

In June 2000, the first of NASA's next generation of communications satellites which link astronauts and Earth, as well as orbiting satellites to their ground stations, was launched. Called the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), it is based on the proven Boeing 601 satellite bus. Boeing is under contract for three of these specialized relay satellites.

In October 2000, the first Boeing GEM (for geomobile) satellite was launched for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company. Thuraya-1, the heaviest commercial satellite ever built, weighed 5250 kg (11,576 lbs.) at launch. The Thuraya system, which consists of two satellites, ground facilities and user handsets, is a true turnkey system and will serve about 100 countries in the Middle East, Southern Europe and Northern Africa.

Thuraya will offer GSM-compatible mobile telephone services, transmitting and receiving calls through a single 12.25-meter-aperture reflector. The Thuraya communications payload design was one of the most powerful ever undertaken by Hughes, now Boeing, and uses an enhanced active phased-array antenna design in combination with a company-developed state-of-the-art, digital signal processor for beam forming, channel formation and switching.

The more than 200 spot beams can be redirected on-orbit, wherever needed from big cities to rural areas and even at sea. Thuraya has the capacity for 13,750 simultaneous calls. The Thuraya-1 satellite has completed in-orbit testing and the first satellite telephone call has been placed.

Last month, Boeing Satellite Systems launched the second and third Boeing 702 satellites. The first, PAS-1R for PanAmSat Corporation, launched on Nov. 15 and was followed just six days later by Anik F1, currently the highest power satellite built, with more than 17 kW of power and 84 operational transponders. Anik F1, when fully deployed, measures 132.5 feet in length and is 15 times more capable than the satellite it replaces.

November 2000 was also the month that Boeing announced the development of a satellite-based service, Cinema Connexion by Boeing(SM). For the first time ever a major motion picture was delivered via satellite to the silver screen.

The system features the best in communication technology -- integrating satellite, fiber, software and hardware in an open systems environment -- into a seamless network offering customers complete connectivity and control. It delivers secure content with 100 percent reliability.

Boeing Satellite Systems has rounded out the year with the award of ASTRA 3A, the 10th satellite in as many years ordered by long-time customer Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) of Luxembourg, and will launch ASTRA 2D, a Boeing 376 model spacecraft, for SES on Dec. 20.

BSS is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites and a major provider of space systems, satellites and payloads for national defense, science and environmental applications.

The company was formed in October 2000 when Boeing acquired the Hughes Electronics satellite manufacturing businesses, which included Hughes Space and Communications Company, Hughes Electron Dynamics, Spectrolab Inc., and Hughes Electronics' 50 percent share of HRL Laboratories.

The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), with headquarters in Seattle, is the largest aerospace company in the world and the United States' leading exporter. It is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft, and the largest NASA contractor.

The company's capabilities in aerospace also include rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, rocket engines, launch vehicles, and advanced information and communication systems. The company has an extensive global reach with customers in 145 countries and manufacturing operations throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. At year-end 1999, Boeing and its subsidiaries employed 197,100 people.

CONTACT: Boeing Satellite Systems Inc., Los Angeles | George Torres, 310/364-5777

---

Space station's wings spread

USA Today
12/04/00- Updated 10:19 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/ndsmon01.htm

CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) - Space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts slowly but successfully unfurled the second of the International Space Station's giant solar wings Monday, completing the largest structure ever deployed in orbit. NASA had delayed spreading the second wing by one day after the first wing appeared too slack. Shuttle commander Brent Jett Jr., using computer commands, carefully unfolded the second wing a few feet at a time in a start-and-stop procedure that took almost two hours. A couple sections stuck together and had to be jarred loose by retracting the panel a little and then shooting it back out.

The glimmering, blue and gold-colored wing began generating electricity even before it reached its full 115 feet. To NASA's relief, the panel stretched tight.

''Great work, gentlemen,'' Mission Control said. ''You've got a lot of happy folks down here. We think you've earned your solar wings.''

''There was a fair amount of tension in the cockpit,'' replied astronaut Joe Tanner.

Following Monday night's feat, the space station's new solar wings spanned 240 feet from tip to tip, including connecting beams. That's longer than the wingspan of a Boeing 777 jetliner.

The right wing was extended Sunday night via computer command to its entire length in just 13 minutes. But it snapped back and forth as it went out, and two tension cables apparently came off their pulleys, leaving the blanket of solar cells less taut than desired.

The problem did not appear to affect the wing's electricity-generating ability, said flight director Bill Reeves.

The main concern was whether the wing would be secure enough during the docking or undocking of a space shuttle, or during orbit-changing maneuvers. The worry is that vibrations could tear, bend or break off the solar panels.

The space agency said that it is possible no repairs or extra work will be needed and that the solar wing has an acceptable amount of tension.

Shuttle astronauts Carlos Noriega and Tanner, who installed the panels on Sunday afternoon, said there is little they could do during a spacewalk to provide more tension to the right wing. They plan to go out two more times, on Tuesday and Thursday.

''There are not too many options because the work site is very high,'' Tanner said. One possibility would be for Noriega to step into a foot restraint and hold Tanner's feet ''and we essentially become a stack of two people to get me up high enough to get a tether around the tension bar and pull it down.''

''It should be exciting - if we try it,'' Tanner said, cautioning that nothing has been approved.

The $600 million set of solar wings is the largest, most powerful and most expensive ever built for a spacecraft. The panels are based on a design originally intended for NASA's space station Freedom, a project proposed by President Reagan in 1984 that slowly and agonizingly evolved into what is currently orbiting Earth.

With a combined length of 240 feet and a width of 38 feet, space station Alpha's solar wings have half an acre on which to collect sunlight and transform it into electricity.

Alpha commander Bill Shepherd and his Russian crew need more power in order to spread out in the complex where they have been living for the past month. One of the space station's three rooms has been unheated and sealed to conserve power. A fourth room, the American-made Destiny lab module, due to soar in January, requires considerable electricity for experiments.

--------

Problems delay unfurling in space

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405218358

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Two spacewalking astronauts attached the world's largest, most powerful set of solar wings to the international space station on Sunday, but a computer software problem delayed the unfurling of the wings.

The task was as monumental as the wings themselves: The future of space station construction hinged on the astronauts' ability to install the solar panels, which will provide much needed power to the newly inhabited outpost.

Space shuttle Endeavour astronauts Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega guided the $600 million solar wings onto space station Alpha and then bolted them down. They had spent more than three years training for the mission and, except for some stubborn latches, accomplished everything with relative ease.

However, a computer software problem initially left shuttle commander Brent Jett Jr. unable to command the latches and retention pins on the wings to open so the panels could unfurl. New software was sent up, and Jett was able to open all the latches and pins but one.

With Tanner floating nearby, ready to help, the astronauts and Mission Control worked on the problem. Noriega, his oxygen running low, returned to the shuttle airlock for replenishment.

At the start of their spacewalk, Tanner and Noriega had helped Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, the shuttle robot arm operator, line up the wings for installation. The spacewalkers, positioned on either side of the attachment point, gave Garneau instructions for closing the final 3 feet.

``Looking good. Keep it coming,'' Tanner urged Garneau. ``You're dead center almost, man.''

With no direct view himself, Garneau needed the spacewalkers' eyes. He also needed their hands to drive the capture latches.

Before the wings could be unfurled to their full 240 feet and begin generating electricity, Tanner and Noriega had to release all the bolts and pins that were used to secure the payload for Thursday's launch aboard Endeavour.

The blue and gold-colored wings, made of silicone cells and thin Kapton layers, were folded like an accordion for liftoff.

Each wing was expected to take 13 minutes to spread.

Alpha's shiny wings, covering half an acre, will be the largest structure ever deployed in space and will make the station one of the brightest objects in the night sky. The larger the wings, the more sunlight that can be collected for conversion into electricity.

Each wing is 38 feet wide and covered with 32,800 solar cells, and has power-storing batteries and radiators at the base. The combined wingspan _ 240 feet _ exceeds that of a Boeing 777 jetliner.

NASA expects the solar panels to generate 65 kilowatts at peak power _ four times what currently is produced by the small Russian-built solar wings already on the space station. Without this extra electricity, the space agency could not launch its Destiny science lab in January _ or any other power-hungry pieces.

By the time the space station is completed in 2006, NASA will have installed three more sets of these solar wings. Each is designed to last 15 years and will keep operating even if individual solar cells are pierced by bits of space junk.

Alpha commander Bill Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates were mere observers to all the action 235 miles above Earth on Sunday. The hatches between the docked spacecraft remained sealed because of the difference in cabin air pressure.

Two more spacewalks are planned this week by Tanner and Noriega, on Tuesday and Thursday, to finish wiring the solar wings and to install other equipment on the space station. If all goes well, the two crews will meet on Friday.

Sunday's spacewalk featured something new: helmets equipped with small cameras that provided live views of what the astronauts were seeing. They were dubbed ``Joe-cam'' and ``Carlos-cam.''

``We promise to make all of our movements nice and slow and steady so nobody gets sick looking at the pictures,'' Tanner said before the flight.

---

NASA evaluating solar wings options

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405220953

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - NASA officials were assessing their options Monday about when to finish unfurling the international space station's newly attached set of powerful solar panels.

The debut of the $600 million solar wings was incomplete as only the right panel was deployed Sunday. Although the right wing has started generating electricity, some of its tension cables appeared to be slack.

Engineers spent the night trying to figure out if that would be a problem in unfurling the left wing. They decided on a slight change in procedures, and Mission Control tentatively aimed for an opening of that panel late Monday afternoon, provided all the preparatory work could be completed by then.

As for the slack right wing, officials said it posed no major long-term problem, even if it remains that way.

``Since we are in a good, safe posture, there's no reason to be in a big hurry and deploy the other blanket until we absolutely understand what we saw, or what we're looking at right now,'' lead flight director Bill Reeves said.

The crew of Endeavour had a light schedule of activities Monday after a busy day of construction work.

During a 7-hour spacewalk, astronauts Carlos Noriega and Joe Tanner helped attach the truss containing the solar wings to space station Alpha. It went smoothly until the right wing's unfurling didn't proceed after commander Brent Jett Jr. entered computer commands to do so.

A computer software problem prevented the latches and retention pins on the wings to open so the panels could be deployed.

New software was sent up, and Jett was able to open all the latches and pins, except one on the left wing. He continued to send commands and eventually freed the stuck pin.

The right wing's deployment delighted Noriega and Tanner.

``Ah, it looks beautiful,'' Noriega exclaimed.

``More power to the station,'' Tanner said.

It took less than 14 minutes for the first folded wing to spread to its full 115 feet.

Noriega and Tanner were the first spacewalkers to have their helmets equipped with small cameras that provided live views of what they saw as they drove in bolts and released latches while attaching the solar wings.

``We promise to make all of our movements nice and slow and steady so nobody gets sick looking at the pictures,'' Tanner said before the flight.

The future of space station construction hinges on the astronauts' ability to install the solar panels, which will provide much needed power to the newly inhabited outpost.

Two more spacewalks are planned this week by Tanner and Noriega, on Tuesday and Thursday, to finish wiring the solar wings and to install other equipment on the space station.

The solar wings, which will measure 240 feet from tip to tip once completely unfurled, have a wingspan longer than that of a Boeing 777 jetliner. The solar panels, which are 38 feet across, will make the space station one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

NASA expects the solar panels to generate 65 kilowatts at peak power - four times what currently is produced by the small Russian-built solar wings already on the space station. Without this extra electricity, the space agency could not launch its Destiny science lab in January - or any other power-hungry pieces.

By the time the space station is completed in 2006, NASA will have installed three more sets of these solar wings. Each is designed to last 15 years and will keep operating even if individual solar cells are pierced by bits of space junk.

Alpha commander Bill Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates have been on board since Nov. 2.

The two crews are unable to meet until Friday. The hatches between the two craft remained sealed because of the difference in cabin air pressure.

-------- taiwan

Report: Taiwan may buy destroyers

Infobeat
December 4, 2000
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405218562

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan is considering buying powerful Kidd-class destroyers from the United States as part of the island's latest move to upgrade its military, a defense journal reported.

The U.S. Navy decommissioned the last of its four Kidd-class destroyers in 1999, and has tried to sell all four to Australia and Greece for as much as $700 million, Jane's Defense Weekly said in a report seen Sunday on its Web site.

Both countries had turned down the offer, and Taiwan was mulling the possibility of buying the warships, the report added, without saying how many Taiwan was planning to buy. The report cited anonymous military sources.

Taiwan's defense ministry declined to comment on the report.

If the deal goes through, the Kidd-class destroyers would be the largest warships in Taiwan's navy.

The Kidd-class destroyers were once among the most powerful combat and anti-submarine warships used by the U.S. Navy. The warships measure 563 feet and weigh 9,574 tons.

The warships are fitted with guided missiles and air-defense radar that allow them to command a wide swath of the ocean, and were designed to handle simultaneous air, surface, and submarine attacks.

The United States is required by law to sell Taiwan the necessary arms in order to defend itself. Taiwan wants to buy submarines and warships from America and has worked hard to cultivate support in the U.S. Congress.

China, which considers the island to be a breakaway province since both sides split in 1949, opposes the weapons sales.

-------- u.n.

Annan visits Sierra Leone warzone

Infobeat
December 04, 2000
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=405218427

PORT LOKO, Sierra Leone (AP) - Sixteen times in the past six months, this fishing and farming town has been attacked by a brutal rebel army that razed houses, raped women and kidnapped children.

On Sunday, crowds of Port Loko residents implored U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to ``deliver us from this bondage of war.'' Local leaders crowned him honorary successor to a legendary 19th-century freedom fighter who defied British colonial rule.

Annan, on the second and last day of a visit to this West African nation, promised that ``the U.N. will stick by Sierra Leoneans in these difficult times.''

Thousands of cheering adults and children in school uniforms greeted Annan, waving white handkerchiefs and singing in the Krio language. The crowds thronged around Annan and his wife, asking for assurances that the U.N. peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone plans to stay.

Since the Revolutionary United Front rebels launched Sierra Leone's civil war in 1991, the renegades have systematically murdered and maimed tens of thousands of defenseless civilians in a terror campaign to increase their influence. The RUF's signature atrocity is cutting off the hands, legs and lips of women, children and the elderly.

The U.N. chief flew by helicopter to Port Loko, a town on the edge of government-held territory some 45 miles northeast of the capital, Freetown. Nigerian U.N. peacekeepers are the main deterrent preventing yet another attack by rebels on the town, and the roads remain unsafe.

At a ceremony in a military tent, local traditional leaders paid tribute to Annan's U.N. peace efforts by proclaiming him ``honorary paramount chief Bai Bureh Kabelai II'' after Sierra Leone's beloved warrior who fought British imperial rule in the late 1800s.

Kabelai was eventually captured and sent to prison in Gold Coast, now Ghana, where he died.

Annan met with a few of the 20,000 refugees living in makeshift tents made from plastic sheeting and sticks in a camp at the edge of town. Many of them had been driven from villages by the rebels and some told stories of rebels pillaging their homes, capturing young girls as sex slaves and boys as porters.

Later, he met with former child soldiers at a rehabilitation center in Lakka, outside Freetown.

``Slowly but surely, these ex-child combatants are being rehabilitated from the horror they experienced. ... Once they get their childhood back it will be a great gift,'' Annan said.

On Saturday, Annan renewed the world body's commitment to the U.N. peacekeeping force, which has been plagued by organizational troubles and has failed to stem rebel attacks against civilians.

However, Annan's pledge made no mention of the RUF rebels, who have abandoned three peace accords since the war began in 1991. Human rights workers say the renegades have failed to implement the latest 30-day cease-fire signed last month.

On Sunday, Chernor Jalloh, a senior member of Sierra Leone's parliament, spoke with Annan, warning the United Nations not to trust the rebels, who he said were ``rearming and regrouping to unleash more atrocities on the people.''

``We have no doubts about (Annan's) sincerity and commitment to restore peace in Sierra Leone, but our doubt is about the sincerity of the RUF rebels, who are demons and vampires,'' he said.

Jalloh called on the 13,000-strong U.N. force known as UNAMSIL to cooperate more closely with Britain, which has 600 troops in Sierra Leone retraining the nation's shattered army and helping the United Nations with advice and intelligence.

``Peacekeeping alone cannot restore normalcy. ... The presence of British troops here has restored confidence to Sierra Leoneans,'' Jalloh said. ``Therefore the British troops and UNAMSIL must work together to restore peace in Sierra Leone.''

Annan, for his part, asked Sierra Leoneans not to give up on dialogue.

``A divided Sierra Leone is one that will not signify peace. I urge all of the fighting groups to honor the terms of the cease-fire agreement.

``There is an urgent need for dialogue and reconciliation among the people of Sierra Leone. Let it start now,'' he said.

After meeting Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah for a second time Sunday evening, Annan flew out of Freetown's Lungi airport on Sunday night for the nearby West African nation of Benin.

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

Weldon seeks top military spot

December 4, 2000
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2000124232612.htm

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Curt Weldon has begun a campaign to win the chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee over rivals with more seniority in an effort to improve military readiness as well as life for U.S. military personnel.

"I think I have an excellent chance," said Mr. Weldon, noting he has garnered key congressional backing and letters of support from such diverse circles as former Clinton administration CIA Director R. James Woolsey, former Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Harvard academic Graham Allison and conservative activist Paul Weyrich.

The powerful chairmanship, which overseas activities of the U.S. military and its annual $300 billion-plus budget, is open under rules limiting terms for committee chairmen to six years.

The current chairman, Rep. Floyd D. Spence, South Carolina Republican, could take over the Veterans Committee, now headed by Rep. Bob Stump, Arizona Republican, who is also a contender for the Armed Services Committee post. Mr. Spence also could take an Armed Services subcommittee chairmanship.

Mr. Weldon, 53, says he wants to use the position to bolster U.S. defenses through legislation and as a bully pulpit to increase public awareness of defense and national security issues.

"If you look at what happened in the last eight years, it has been one of the worst times in American history in terms of undermining our national security," Mr. Weldon, a seven-term lawmaker, said in an interview. "Yet when you look at polls, defense and foreign policy are at the bottom of list of priorities.

"I want to elevate defense and national security issues for the American people to a new level."

Mr. Weldon, a volunteer firefighter and school teacher, represents a district west of Philadelphia and has made a reputation as a key pro-defense leader in the House. He is a strong advocate for building missile defenses, both nationwide and in regions, and took part in special committees that investigated Chinese technology and espionage, and U.S. policy toward Russia.

A Russian-language speaker, Mr. Weldon also has established ties between House members and Russian democratic reformers and lawmakers.

The outcome of the race for chairman ultimately will be settled by House Republican bosses, led by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican; Majority Leader Dick Armey, Texas Republican; and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Texas Republican.

Mr. Army is said to be backing Mr. Stump, and Mr. DeLay is said to favor Mr. Weldon. The speaker's preference could not be learned.

Under current rules, the speaker has five votes for a committee chairman, the majority leader has two, and all other members have one.

Mr. Stump said in an interview he's been on the committee for 23 years and expects to assume the post under the normal seniority system. He noted that Mr. Weldon is 10 years younger.

"The challenge is to rebuild our defenses and overcome the Clinton administration's shortcomings on defense," Mr. Stump said of his priorities. "It's going to be a great time with a Republican administration."

Mr. Weldon has outlined his ambitious program as chairman in a glossy, 36-page booklet that calls for new and aggressive leadership.

"Now more than ever it is clear we need a focused and integrated effort in the House to strengthen our military and promote the excellent work of the Republican conference on defense and national security," Mr. Weldon stated.

"Over the past eight years, the Clinton-Gore administration has dramatically compromised our military readiness, abandoned our troops, bungled away our nuclear secrets, and auctioned off our most sensitive technology; yet we did little to exploit these scandals in defense of our military or to the benefit of our party and its candidates," he said.

Mr. Weldon wants to reconfigure the current Armed Services subcommittees by creating air power, sea power, strategic and land forces subcommittees to improve oversight of weapons development programs.

He also is calling for a new nuclear and energy security subcommittee to monitor U.S. nuclear weapons labs beset with security and management problems.

Legislative priorities for Mr. Weldon would include focusing on computer-based warfare, relations with Russia and China, specific goals for improving military readiness and life for U.S. military personnel.

"If I have the gavel, there will be a steady stream of substantial legislation ready to go to the floor -legislation that will unite our party and command overwhelming majorities in the full House," Mr. Weldon stated.

"Under a Weldon chairmanship, the annual defense authorization will be the cornerstone of a legislative schedule that will send a variety of winning bills to the House floor."

He is also calling for more briefings by Pentagon officials and regular visits to troops and a new "virtual reality" hearing room that would use high-technology video conferencing for hearings.

Mr. Weldon was on the special House committee that investigated Chinese nuclear spy and missile technology acquisition, and plans to pursue the recommendations of the Cox committee, named after its chairman, Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican. Those recommendations include better oversight of the national nuclear weapons labs and a crackdown on exports of high-performance computers.

Mr. Stump said Republicans will begin interviewing prospective Armed Services chairmen next week and he expects to win the post.

"Most people generally support the seniority system, and I think if we don't, we could be in trouble in Congress because of our slim majority," Mr. Stump said.

The Republican Steering Committee, made up of House leaders, is set to meet tomorrow to begin the process of interviewing committee chairman candidates.

Mr. Weldon is scheduled to be questioned by the panel tomorrow and Mr. Stump will appear on Wednesday.

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O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Company Receives $30.3 Million Option Exercise for 447 Up-Armored HMMWVs for U.S. Army

NewsEdge Corporation
December 4, 2000
http://www.individual.com/browse/story.shtml?story=p1201093.902&level1=46636&level2=46563&level3=788&date=20001