I just surfed and read at length the Chinese language site of Huawei (I read Chinese at advanced level). My, these buzzards are indeed all over the place.....
Posted on 07/03/2002 7:31:13 AM PDT by honway
http://www.ipcs.org/archives/12dec2001/cr-dec01.html
Revelations that the Taliban was working on a telecom surveillance equipment with the help of the Chinese in a Bangalore-based project actually cleared by the Government of India has caused red faces in the country’s security establishment.A senior government official in fact said that India did not want to upset the Chinese government but conceded that India might ask 300 Chinese software engineers to leave the country. Official sources said that since all the requisite permission had been obtained there was no question of “deportation”. The official agreed it was a serious security lapse given the developing situation in Afghanistan.The tip-off apparently came from Western Intelligence sources but it was later verified by Indian Intelligence agencies. A final view on how to deal with the situation is yet to be taken.
The Chinese telecom software company had brought in the telecom engineers from China in September on six months’ visa to ensure total secrecy over the project. No Indian apparently is directly involved in the project.
Please consider why would the Taliban need 300 Chinese software engineers working in secret on their telecommunication surveillance program post 9-11 considering the status of their infrastucure.
Chinese firm gives govt the jitters
(R. Krishnan )
Hindustan Times
10 December 2001
More than a year after it commenced operations, the Ministry of External Affairs has gathered evidence to suggest that a Chinese software firm's business deals may be prejudicial to India's security interests. Top official sources confirmed that the government is perturbed by the fact that the software exported by the Bangalore-based Huawai Technologies may have helped Pakistan and the Taliban regime in the years 2000 and 2001 to upgrade their telecommunication network.
The government has also got credible information that the company helped Iraq improve its military communication systems. A detailed note to this effect has been prepared with inputs from various agencies. The Cabinet Committee on Security is expected to discuss the matter once Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee returns from Japan.
(Srinivasa Prasad and R. Krishnan )
Hindustan Times
11 December 2001
A tip-off from agencies in the US had alerted Indian authorities about the activities of the Bangalore-based software firm Huawei Technologies. Citing a note compiled from intelligence inputs that is to come up for discussion when the Cabinet Committee on Security meets next, the Hindustan Times reported that the firm may have had business dealings with Pakistan, the Taliban and Iraq which were prejudicial to India's security interests. Central agencies had put Huawei on the watchlist well before the September 11 attacks, but the revelation seems to have taken the Karnataka government by surprise.
State information technology secretary Vivek Kulkarni dispatched officials to Huawei to question senior executives about the company's business dealings. The Karnataka government hasn't come up with anything but senior software professionals attribute Huawei's "unusual growth" to the firm's "unusual activities" and known disrespect for intellectual property rights. The company, formed in 1988, claims total sales of US$ 2.66 billion in 2000, an increase of almost 80 per cent over the previous year's US$ 1.5 billion.
a) December 2001, article appears.
b) February 21, 2002, this article from "People's Daily"
Bush Visit Another Milestone: U.S. Ambassador The visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to China will be "another important milestone" in building the cooperative and constructive relationship between the United States and China, said U.S. Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt Jr. in an interview at the eve of Bush's upcoming China visit. President Bush's China visit will coincidentally take place on the same day as former President Richard Nixon's historical "ice-breaking" visit three decades ago. "We are very delighted that the President could schedule his visit on this momentous day," Randt said, noting it is also important to know that this is the first time a sitting American President has ever set his foot on China twice within four months during his term in office, a movement that clearly indicates the importance President Bush attaches to the bilateral relationship.
c) June 2002 article on aQ cyberattacks (already know that China (computer geek/super hacker clubs in China enlisted by the PLA) will form the bulwark of cyberattacks against the USA
What is wrong with this picture? Why all the touchy/feely business with China by our leaders, all the while they, the PRC, shoot down our naval surveillance aircraft in international airpace and also work with the enemy Taliban during the exact time in winter our own US boys are hot in the Afghan field taking 'incoming'. Disgusting. What gives?
The Silicon Tong
( Ashok Parthasarthi)
The Times of India
21 January 2002
A while ago, several national dailies carried reports about the government having “discovered” that the Bangalore-based Chinese company Huawei Technologies may have helped Pakistan and the Taliban upgrade their telecom network with both hardware and software during 2000 and 2001. The reports go on to state that, according to intelligence sources, all the company’s 300 software professionals are Chinese and that the chief executive of the company was formerly an officer of the People’s Liberation Army of China
Also attempting to set up a beachead for American market in Latin America, through Mexico, etc. Per Mexican press on Huawai:
"Anticipándose a la apertura de las telecomunicaciones de China, Huawei Technologies dirige su mirada hacia los mercados emergentes en Europa, África y América Latina, donde México ocupa un lugar preponderante"
(Hey, why aren't more Freepers interested in this thread?)
I don't know. In my opinion, the information in the linked Washington Post article(all 7 pages)"Cyber Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared" along with the China-Taliban-Iraq post 9-11 connection is the most important story I have ever found on the Internet.
Counterterrorism analysts have known for years that al Qaeda prepares for attacks with elaborate "targeting packages" of photographs and notes. But, in January, U.S. forces in Kabul, Afghanistan, found something new.
A computer seized at an al Qaeda office contained models of a dam, made with structural architecture and engineering software, that enabled the planners to simulate its catastrophic failure. Bush administration officials, who discussed the find, declined to say whether they had identified a specific dam as a target.
The FBI reported that the computer had been running Microstran, an advanced tool for analyzing steel and concrete structures; Autocad 2000, which manipulates technical drawings in two or three dimensions; and software "used to identify and classify soils," which would assist in predicting the course of a wall of water surging downstream.
To destroy a dam physically would require "tons of explosives," Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff said a year ago. To breach it from cyberspace is not out of the question. In 1998, a 12-year-old hacker, exploring on a lark, broke into the computer system that runs Arizona's Roosevelt Dam. He did not know or care, but federal authorities said he had complete command of the SCADA system controlling the dam's massive floodgates.
Roosevelt Dam holds back as much as 1.5 million acre-feet of water, or 489 trillion gallons. That volume could theoretically cover the city of Phoenix, down river, to a height of five feet. In practice, that could not happen. Before the water reached the Arizona capital, the rampant Salt River would spend most of itself in a flood plain encompassing the cities of Mesa and Tempe -- with a combined population of nearly a million.
Las Vegas Terror Update(there is a very big dam there)
The words he hears make him freeze. It is pure Arabic, with no English and is one voice speaking to a second voice that keeps saying "Tayeb." Tayeb in Arabic means more than OK, it means acceptance or recommendation, "I got it."
"The first voice had a thick, harsh accent from the Gulf Region. It could have been from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dabu or Iraq," Hamdan said firmly.
The exact words - words that affected room holiday reservations in Las Vegas were:
"We are in the city of corruption. We are in the city of gambling and prostitution. And they are talking about freedom. We are going to hit them on their day of freedom." He repeats this twice during 60-90 seconds.
"In the background, I heard more people, and another Arabic voice could be heard yelling, 'It's enough! Stop it! It's enough!'". Hamdan implies that someone realized that his loud mouth associate was spilling the beans over a cell phone.
Mr. Hamdan was frozen in fear and began to sweat.
I just surfed and read at length the Chinese language site of Huawei (I read Chinese at advanced level). My, these buzzards are indeed all over the place.....
More info for FR. Perhaps someone can work the link function. Sorry the font is small. You get the idea, though.....
Thanks for the help. If this information is as important as I think it is, your contributions would be invaluable and appreciated.
The Chinese military is preparing to launch new "exploratory" cyber-attacks against U.S. defense and civilian computer networks and systems as part of Beijing's continuing efforts to level the playing field against the American military, according to a noted intelligence bulletin. Quoting Asian sources, the China Reform Monitor, or CRM – a publication of the American Foreign Policy Council reported Wednesday that the attacks are scheduled to take place in early summer.
Something does not smell right in all of this.
Book says China involved in 9-11 attacks: Beijing used bin Laden to assault U.S., claims author
Saying that bin Laden has traveled to China numerous times to meet with officials there, Thomas contends that "almost certainly he talked to them about obtaining" material to build weapons of mass destruction.
China's President Jiang Zemin, adds Thomas, waited three days to contact Bush about the Sept. 11 attack and told the U.S. president that, vis-à-vis the war on terrorism, China would find itself in a "difficult situation, given our well-known position of opposing any interference in the internal affairs of any country."
Washington sources say that Bush "gritted his teeth and said he would push on without China," Thomas wrote.
The author also cites what he calls the "happy parties in the streets of Beijing" following the 9-11 attacks.
"They're selling videos there with commentary saying, 'America had it coming,'" said Thomas. "Their message is: 'America can be defeated.'"
Thomas also claims that the head of Pakistan's intelligence service was in Washington to meet with Tenet on Sept. 11, and that he briefed Tenet that day on the links between bin Laden and China.
China Reform Monitor
No. 450, May 28, 2002
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C.
CIA, DOD warn of China cyber attack on U.S.; Clinton paid $250,00 for half-hour speech in China
Editor: Al Santoli May 21
The CIA has issued an alert that China is preparing a new round of exploratory cyber attacks on American defense and civilian computer networks in the U.S. and Taiwan, reports the Asia Times. The Institute for Strategic Studies, run by the U.S. Army War College, has also released a classified report on the subject as an early warning to the Defense Department, warning U.S. diplomats and law-enforcement agencies to be vigilant for attempts by Chinese student hackers to spread computer viruses to sensitive government Internet sites some time in early summer.
Three years ago, Chinese anger spilled into cyberspace to protest the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Chinese hackers broke into the U.S. Department of Energy's website and replaced its homepage with a note written half in English, half in Chinese, which read: "We are Chinese hackers who take no cares about politics... You have owed Chinese people a bloody debt which you must pay for. We won't stop attacking until the war stops."
Only a year ago, a successful Chinese cyber knocked out the White House's website for almost four hours. In addition, Chinese hackers defaced more than 660 sites in the U.S., according to Michael Cheek of the security firm iDefense.
U.S. cyber technologies - including surveillance, encryption, firewalls, and even viruses - have been willingly transferred to Chinese entities over the past several years. U.S. companies like Network Associates (McAfee Anti Virus) and Symantec (Norton Anti Virus), for example, gained entry to China's market by voluntarily providing China's Public Security Bureau with more than 300 computer viral strains.
"The Chinese military views cyberwarfare as a way to overcome America's superiority," claims Toshi Yoshihara, a research fellow on security issues with the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis and a doctoral candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Two years ago, John Serabian, the CIA's information operations manger, revealed in written testimony presented to the Joint Economic Committee that the U.S. was indeed vulnerable to a major cyber attack from China's military - an assault which would be truly damaging interruptions to the national economy and infrastructure
http://www.kwx.com.my/kwX/asp/joblisting/huawei02.asp
Huawei has set up over 40 branch offices worldwide. It has set up research institutes including the Silicon Valley, Bangalore, Stockholm, Moscow, Beijing and Shanghai. Huawei's products have been in application in over 40 countries, including Brazil, Germany, Kenya, Russia, Thailand, USA, etc.
Huawei also emphasizes the importance to partner with leading global players in the industry on both product development and marketing promotion. Huawei has been cooperating with Texas Instruments, IBM, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, Intel, Sun Microsystems and others
There is little doubt that the present system allows American exports to endanger our security. A recent example is American transfers to Huawei Technologies, the Chinese company caught helping Iraq improve its air defenses by outfitting them with fibre optic equipment. The assistance to Iraq was not approved by the United Nations, and thus violated the international embargo.
The history of Huawei shows how American exports to China can wind up threatening our own armed forces. At about the time when this company’s help to Iraq was revealed earlier this year, Motorola had an export license application pending for permission to teach Huawei how to build high-speed switching and routing equipment – ideal for an air defense network. The equipment allows communications to be shuttled quickly across multiple transmission lines, increasing efficiency and reducing the risk from air attack.
Motorola is only the most recent example of American assistance. During the Clinton Administration, the Commerce Department allowed Huawei to buy high-performance computers worth $685,700 from Digital Equipment Corporation, worth $300,000 from IBM, worth $71,000 from Hewlett Packard and worth $38,200 from Sun Microsystems. In addition, Huawei got $500,000 worth of telecommunication equipment from Qualcomm.
Still other American firms have transferred technology to Huawei through joint operations. Last year, Lucent Technologies agreed to set up a new joint research laboratory with Huawei “as a window for technical exchange” in microelectronics. AT&T signed a series of contracts to “optimize” Huawei’s products so that, according to a Huawei vice president, Huawei can “become a serious global player.” And IBM agreed to sell Huawei switches, chips and processing technology. According to a Huawei spokesman, “collaborating with IBM will enable Huawei to...quickly deliver high-end telecommunications to our customers across the world.” Did IBM know that one of these customers might be Saddam Hussein?
As a result of deals like these, Huawei’s sales rocketed to $1.5 billion in 1999, to $2.65 billion in 2000, and are projected to reach $5 billion in 2001. These are extraordinary heights for a company that began in 1988 as a $1,000 start-up. Real growth did not begin until the mid-1990s, when American help started rolling in. Texas Instruments started its assistance in 1994, and by 1997 had set up laboratories to help Huawei train engineers and develop digital signal processing technologies. Also in 1997, Motorola and Huawei set up a joint laboratory to develop communication systems.
These exports no doubt make money for American companies, but they also threaten the lives of American pilots.
Chinese telecom company accused of aiding Taliban
BANGALORE, India — Huawei Technologies Inc., a Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, is mired in controversy following reports that India's intelligence agencies have placed the company's Indian operations on a watch list for alleged business dealings with the Taliban, Pakistan and Iraq.
The reports quoted Indian government sources as saying that Huawei India allegedly helped supply communication surveillance equipment to Taliban forces in Afghanistan. It is also alleged to have helped upgrade Iraq's military communication systems. Another allegation had Huawei selling telecommunication gear to Pakistan, India's military rival. No further details on the precise nature of the technology supplied was available...
Huawei has close cooperation with leading Indian software companies such as Satyam Computers, Sasken and Tata Elxsi, and has completed about 20 projects with its partners. Huawei's India center develops wideband switching, mobile communications, wireless infrastructure, network management and voice-over-Internet Protocol application technologies.
The Bangalore center, Huawei's largest outside China, plays a strategic role in Huawei's ability to rapidly develop technologies and scale up its engineering processes. Launched in 1999, the center was formally opened in February of this year. It currently employs 513 workers, including 178 Chinese nationals. The remainder are Indians.
The Taliban controversy was also fueled by the fact that Huawei is known to be one of the best-paying firms for software professionals in Bangalore, a haven for software development. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Huawei pays its staff about 150 percent more than other companies here.
a) It can be proven that Huawei Technologies, a Chinese government owned-and-operated entity supported the terrorist technology infrastructure of al-Qaida or the war technology infrastructure of the Afghan Taleban from a business base in South Asia (Bangalore, Pakistan, etc), in direct oppostion to US forces; and
b) There is further evidence that Huawei Technology was predicated upon assistance in joint venture or technology transfer arrangements with US corporations; and
c) US corporations were aware of the spinoff capabilities to official US enemies but sold nevertheless; and
d) they are still doing it even eight months into the War;
then, what provisions of the "US Patriot Act", or "Trading with the Enemy", or Treason Proceedings could be leveled against such US firms, and/or Congressional hearings called and further, what specific federal government blacklist could Huawei Technologies be placed on that would forbid any US government work and/or any US corporations to have dealings with them and cease any dealings in-place?
"Huawei Technologies, a leader in the international telecommunications industry with 20,000 employees and over US$ 3.2 billion in sales is currently establishing a major Research & Development facility in Plano, Texas, USA. The R&D center, FutureWei Technologies, Inc., will focus on new technology innovations, pre-study/feasibility studies of product development and product/technology strategies. Specific assignments will be in the areas of CDMA 2000, W-CDMA, optical networks, broadband networks, and ASIC design. The Texas facility is located three miles from the world famous Telecom Corridor and 10 miles from Dallas. Our employees enjoy an excellent quality of life, moderate cost of living, and no state income tax. FutureWei offers a very competitive wage and benefit package and provides an environment with an emphasis on teamwork and a strong pay for performance culture. We are actively seeking full-time/contract senior professionals and technical staff to become key members of our organization. If you are ready for the challenge and tremendous opportunities of being “on the ground floor” of this R&D facility please submit your resume with job code to recruiting1@hwusa.com."
FutureWei Technologies, Inc.
Job Openings
March 2002
The Texas facility is located three miles from the world famous Telecom Corridor and 10 miles from Dallas.
This company was on the receiving end of British and US warplanes, and they are conducting R/D in Texas as we speak.
1700 Alma Drive, Suite 500
Plano, TX 75075, USA
Tel: +1-972-509-5599
Incorporated in 2002, FutureWei is a subsidiary wholly owned by Huawei Technologies, China's leading telecom equipment and network solutions provider. FutureWei aims to become a leading supplier of carrier class telecom equipment and low to mid-range enterprise network equipment in North America. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, FutureWei is dedicated to the research and development, sales and marketing and customer services for its owned branded and Huawei branded network equipment and solutions.
If there is a cyber-attack on the U.S., hopefully an investigation will consider the Huawei/Al Qaeda link.
China Reform Monitor No. 452,
June 26, 2002
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C.
Chinese military provided training to Taliban/al Qaeda; Beijing remains world's number one weapons importer
Editor: Al Santoli June 21
U.S. intelligence has found that China's military provided training for Afghanistan's Taliban militia and elements of al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks on the United States, reports Bill Gertz in the Washington Times. The training of the Taliban forces was carried out in cooperation with Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, defense officials told the Times.
The report, and others like it, is unwelcome news for some of the pro-China analysts within the U.S. government who are pushing the Bush administration to adopt a more conciliatory posture toward the communist government in Beijing. In addition, evidence of Chinese military backing for the Taliban continues to surface. Late last month, U.S. Army Special Forces troops discovered 30 Chinese-made SA-7 surface-to-air missiles in southeastern Afghanistan. Still other intelligence reports have indicated the Chinese shipped missiles to the Taliban after September 11.
Link May 12
China has replaced Russia as Fidel Castro's main partner for electronic espionage and other activities directed against the United States in the Western hemisphere, NewsMax.Com reports in an article that first appeared in the April 2002 American Legion Magazine. Until recently, Russia paid Castro more than $200 million annually in much-needed hard currency for use of its massive electronic spy station at Lourdes. In a surprise move, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin suddenly withdrew his support and 1,500 advisers from Cuba in the wake of the September 11th attacks on Washington and New York. Now China, which had been building its own spy stations in Cuba, has supplanted the Russians as Castro's primary electronic espionage partner. Beijing has built a sophisticated new signals intelligence complex in Bejucal, Cuba, operating under the cover of Radio China.
In addition to being used for espionage, these installations are reportedly part of a robust cyber-warfare capability Castro is developing. The FCC has stated they are capable of interfering with U.S. communications and air traffic control. In one incident originating in Cuba, the report adds, U.S. officials claim that Chinese operatives sent a message to New York air traffic control replicating U.S. military fight codes and falsely identifying themselves as U.S. military transport planes - a chilling indication of things to come.
January 9, 2002 China is expected to have between 75 and 100 long-range nuclear missiles pointed at the United States by 2015, roughly quadruple the current number, according to a CIA study released Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Many of those intercontinental ballistic missiles will be on mobile launchers, helping China maintain a nuclear deterrent against the vastly larger U.S. missile force, says the report, titled "Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic Missile Threat Through 2015."
The Chinese military is developing three new missile systems, all of which could be fielded by 2010, the study says. The Chinese may also be able to mount multiple-independent re-entry vehicles - MIRVs - on its older silo-based missiles. These enable a single missile to launch warheads at several targets, vastly increasing potential damage.
---------------------------------------------------
Why do we allow a high technology Communist Chinese company to place their headquarters in Plano, TX while China is building up the nuclear arsenal aimed at the U.S.?
About FutureWei Technologies
1700 Alma Drive, Suite 500
Plano, TX 75075, USA Tel: +1-972-509-5599
Incorporated in 2002, FutureWei is a subsidiary wholly owned by Huawei Technologies, China's leading telecom equipment and network solutions provider.
If bin-Laden is alive and if his terror network has the capability to do significant damage via a cyber-attack, I believe it will likely begin on the 4th of July.
The biggest fear IMHO at the senior levels of our defense and intel. establishment as I write is a so-called "1-2 combi punch", i.e. first hit the Homeland from overseas with a massive cyber attack where vulnerable and critical infrastructure systems are shut down, and then the physical attacks orchestrated from within by sleepers and other illegal entrants, i.e. WMD delivery, more hijacked airliners or NukeBiosChems on subways or in crowded areas or anthrax puffed about here and there. Or vice versa. Does'nt matter.
The pandemonium would be horrendous. It would be every man, woman, and family for themself.
China could very easily have copies of the source code of our FAA, military, and other government computers. The implications here are enormous.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/cyberspace/july-dec99/y2k_7-27.html
FIVE MONTHS AND COUNTING...
July 27, 1999
Economics correspondent Paul Solman of WGBH, Boston, provides an update of the Y2K and potential computer problems.
JIM LEHRER: Our economics correspondent Paul Solman of WGBH-Boston has the Y2K story.
PAUL SOLMAN: .... we wanted to talk to those sober souls who are trying to solve the Y2K problem, the people whose job it is to get inside the old computer systems, find the Y2K bug and fix it. And what they told us was genuinely surprising. Before the surprise, though, a quick cram session on Y2K for those who still don't get it. At Primeon outside Boston, Carl Giallombardo showed us an actual line of computer code.(snip)
PAUL SOLMAN: So Y2K could benefit US companies, communities, and also, some experts now say, the work force, because the US, already ahead in computer innovation, has used Y2K to speed the recruitment of the globe's top high-tech talent.
SPOKESMAN: Let me show you some of the programming staff that works here at Primeon. Robert Yang has a Ph.D. from Chinghua University and was a professor at Chinghua for ten years. Jason [Zhicheng] Shi is the manager of year 2000 development. Jason has two Ph.D.'s. Lu Sun is a project manager, has a Masters in Computer Science from Cinghua University, and ended up number two in his class. His wife ended up number one.
PAUL SOLMAN: Primeon itself was founded by Fred Wang, a member of China's crème de la crème Class of '77, the first class to enter the reopened colleges after Mao closed them during the cultural revolution and sent students out into the fields. Wang scored higher than-- get this-- some 200 million potential college applicants. Just to get his spot at one of China's top engineering schools, he was one in 10,000. He has recruited his fellow best and brightest.
PAUL SOLMAN: This really the very smartest of the computer people in china that have you here?
FRED WANG: Yes, I'm sure. Yeah, we have about ten Ph.D.'s and professors. Yeah, it's a very, very-- I mean, they are like a superstar.
PAUL SOLMAN: Superstars like Fred Wang and his top classmates.
JAMES DONOHUE, Vice President, Human Resources, Primeon: Getting people of Fred's quality to do this kind of work in the US is just about impossible. Y2K is not a glamorous business. The Internet's the glamorous business these days. And to go in and basically spend your time cleaning up "other people's messes" when you could be working on Internet and E-commerce type of situations may put you in a big competitive disadvantage. You can't hire people of that quality to do Y2K.
PAUL SOLMAN: Americans won't do it?
JAMES DONOHUE: That's right.
PAUL SOLMAN: But the Chinese will.
JAMES DONOHUE: That's right.
PAUL SOLMAN: To most economists, immigrants are a huge plus for the US economy.
LESTER THUROW: There is no question about it, if you look at immigrants, they've got more get up and go because we know that, right? They got up and went. It's a big advantage when, hey, you can get a fully trained, let's say, computer software engineer to migrate to the United States. That's a plus-plus, right? We don't have to pay for the education and we get the benefits.
FAA Faulted for Security Lapse
The Associated Press
AP-NY-01-04-00 2037ESTWASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration failed to conduct security checks on dozens of foreigners hired to fix Y2K problems in sensitive computer systems used for air traffic control, congressional investigators said Tuesday.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said it found the FAA had violated its own security policies by allowing its contractors' foreign employees, who had not received background checks, to be involved in repairing 15 of 153 critical computer systems.
Citizens of Ukraine, Pakistan, Britain and Ethiopia were given access without proper checks, as well as 36 Chinese who performed Y2K reviews on eight critical systems, including one involved in air-to-ground communications.
``By not following sound security practices, FAA has increased the risk that inappropriate individuals may have gained access to its facilities, information or resources,'' said Joel C. Willemssen, the GAO's director of civil agencies information systems, in a report to the House Science Committee. The panel had asked the GAO to investigate the extent to which the FAA relied on foreign nationals for Y2K preparedness.
The nation's air traffic systems were at greater risk to people wishing to insert faulty or deliberately harmful changes to the computer code, Willemssen said. One of the systems reviewed by the foreign citizens helps manage the flow of air traffic across the nation.(snip)
The FAA's policy requires background checks of all FAA and contractor employees. The agency's Y2K Program Office told the investigators it didn't know about the requirement, the GAO said. The FAA also was unaware of whether the agency or the contractors had performed background checks on any of the contractor employees, including foreigners.
The contractors, Primeon and Computer Generated Solutions Inc., were not given direct access to the FAA's computers. Instead, the FAA sent them copies of the program codes on computer disks through express mail, the investigators said. The contractors had to sign agreements requiring them to return or destroy all copies of the program codes.
But the investigators warned that ``copies of the code could be sold and/or reviewed to identify system weaknesses that could later be exploited.''(snip)
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Science Committee, sent a letter to National Security Adviser Sandy Berger on Dec. 20, expressing concern that other agencies might have violated security rules while rushing to repair Y2K problems.
In a statement on the FAA, Sensenbrenner said, ``The extent of access unscreened individuals had to the air traffic control system merits serious attention by the White House and others responsible for ensuring the security of sensitive computer systems on which we all rely.
Blacked out Nearly all 355,000 JEA customers left without power
About 4:30 p.m., two large electric lines heading east out of the Brandy Branch Generating Station near Baldwin shut down when circuit breakers tripped on both lines. It's unclear why those trips occurred, but the breakers are designed to shut down portions of the lines to prevent further faults from the actual point of trouble.
When those lines shut down, electric lines heading west out of Brandy Branch picked up the load along with other electricity coming from Georgia and redirected that flow back into the city grid over two other lines. Electricity was still flowing freely and not overloading the grid into the city.
A short time later, there was an unexplained transformer fire at the Kennedy Generating Station north of Talleyrand and the generator at the plant shut down. Electricity generated from Kennedy had been flowing in the two operating transmission lines along with the electricity from the Northside Generating Station and the nearby St. Johns River Power Park.
Officials discount rumors of al Qaeda links in Jacksonville (and Florida)
I have no evidence confirming the power outage in Jacksonville was a cyber-attack. However, the official explanation for the outage is 100% consistent with a cyber-attack. This event is consistent with the concerns outlined in the Wash. Post article, "Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared", linked above.
Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared
The devices are called distributed control systems, or DCS, and supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems. The simplest ones collect measurements, throw railway switches, close circuit-breakers or adjust valves in the pipes that carry water, oil and gas. More complicated versions sift incoming data, govern multiple devices and cover a broader area.
What is new and dangerous is that most of these devices are now being connected to the Internet -- some of them, according to classified "Red Team" intrusion exercises, in ways that their owners do not suspect.
Because the digital controls were not designed with public access in mind, they typically lack even rudimentary security, having fewer safeguards than the purchase of flowers online
What a comforting thought. Thanks for all your excellent research on this.
Thanks for that article. IMHO, this scenario is much more likely than deliberate release of smallpox or other chembio agents.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.