Intelligence

September 18, 2007

Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’ | Secret raid on Korean shipment

Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’ - Times Online

Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv, Sarah Baxter in Washington and Michael Sheridan

IT was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15Is
crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air
defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from
the Iraqi border was under way.

At a rendezvous point on the
ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their
laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had
arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground
depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.

Ten days after the jets
reached home, their mission was the focus of intense speculation this
weekend amid claims that Israel believed it had destroyed a cache of
nuclear materials from North Korea.

The Israeli government was
not saying. “The security sources and IDF [Israeli Defence Forces]
soldiers are demonstrating unusual courage,” said Ehud Olmert, the
prime minister. “We naturally cannot always show the public our cards.”

The Syrians were also keeping mum. “I cannot reveal the details,”
said Farouk al-Sharaa, the vice-president. “All I can say is the
military and political echelon is looking into a series of responses as
we speak. Results are forthcoming.” The official story that the target
comprised weapons destined for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese
Shi’ite group, appeared to be crumbling in the face of widespread
scepticism.

Andrew Semmel, a senior US State Department official,
said Syria might have obtained nuclear equipment from “secret
suppliers”, and added that there were a “number of foreign technicians”
in the country.

Asked if they could be North Korean, he replied:
“There are North Korean people there. There’s no question about that.”
He said a network run by AQ Khan, the disgraced creator of Pakistan’s
nuclear weapons, could be involved.

But why would nuclear
material be in Syria? Known to have chemical weapons, was it seeking to
bolster its arsenal with something even more deadly?

Alternatively,
could it be hiding equipment for North Korea, enabling Kim Jong-il to
pretend to be giving up his nuclear programme in exchange for economic
aid? Or was the material bound for Iran, as some authorities in America
suggest?

According to Israeli sources, preparations for the
attack had been going on since late spring, when Meir Dagan, the head
of Mossad, presented Olmert with evidence that Syria was seeking to buy
a nuclear device from North Korea.

The Israeli spy chief apparently feared such a device could eventually be installed on North-Korean-made Scud-C missiles.

“This
was supposed to be a devastating Syrian surprise for Israel,” said an
Israeli source. “We’ve known for a long time that Syria has deadly
chemical warheads on its Scuds, but Israel can’t live with a nuclear
warhead.”

An expert on the Middle East, who has spoken to Israeli
participants in the raid, told yesterday’s Washington Post that the
timing of the raid on September 6 appeared to be linked to the arrival
three days earlier of a ship carrying North Korean material labelled as
cement but suspected of concealing nuclear equipment.

The target
was identified as a northern Syrian facility that purported to be an
agricultural research centre on the Euphrates river. Israel had been
monitoring it for some time, concerned that it was being used to
extract uranium from phosphates.

According to an Israeli air
force source, the Israeli satellite Ofek 7, launched in June, was
diverted from Iran to Syria. It sent out high-quality images of a
northeastern area every 90 minutes, making it easy for air force
specialists to spot the facility.

Early in the summer Ehud Barak,
the defence minister, had given the order to double Israeli forces on
its Golan Heights border with Syria in anticipation of possible
retaliation by Damascus in the event of air strikes.

Sergei
Kirpichenko, the Russian ambassador to Syria, warned President Bashar
al-Assad last month that Israel was planning an attack, but suggested
the target was the Golan Heights.

Israeli military intelligence
sources claim Syrian special forces moved towards the Israeli outpost
of Mount Hermon on the Golan Heights. Tension rose, but nobody knew why.

At
this point, Barak feared events could spiral out of control. The
decision was taken to reduce the number of Israeli troops on the Golan
Heights and tell Damascus the tension was over. Syria relaxed its guard
shortly before the Israeli Defence Forces struck.

Only three
Israeli cabinet ministers are said to have been in the know � Olmert,
Barak and Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister. America was also
consulted. According to Israeli sources, American air force codes were
given to the Israeli air force attaché in Washington to ensure Israel’s
F15Is would not mistakenly attack their US counterparts.

Once the
mission was under way, Israel imposed draconian military censorship and
no news of the operation emerged until Syria complained that Israeli
aircraft had violated its airspace. Syria claimed its air defences had
engaged the planes, forcing them to drop fuel tanks to lighten their
loads as they fled.

But intelligence sources suggested it was a highly successful Israeli raid on nuclear material supplied by North Korea.

Washington
was rife with speculation last week about the precise nature of the
operation. One source said the air strikes were a diversion for a
daring Israeli commando raid, in which nuclear materials were
intercepted en route to Iran and hauled to Israel. Others claimed they
were destroyed in the attack.

There is no doubt, however, that
North Korea is accused of nuclear cooperation with Syria, helped by AQ
Khan’s network. John Bolton, who was undersecretary for arms control at
the State Department, told the United Nations in 2004 the Pakistani
nuclear scientist had “several other” customers besides Iran, Libya and
North Korea.

Some of his evidence came from the CIA, which had
reported to Congress that it viewed “Syrian nuclear intentions with
growing concern”.

“I’ve been worried for some time about North
Korea and Iran outsourcing their nuclear programmes,” Bolton said last
week. Syria, he added, was a member of a “junior axis of evil”, with a
well-established ambition to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The
links between Syria and North Korea date back to the rule of Kim
Il-sung and President Hafez al-Assad in the last century. In recent
months, their sons have quietly ordered an increase in military and
technical cooperation.

Foreign diplomats who follow North Korean
affairs are taking note. There were reports of Syrian passengers on
flights from Beijing to Pyongyang and sightings of Middle Eastern
businessmen from sources who watch the trains from North Korea to China.

On
August 14, Rim Kyong Man, the North Korean foreign trade minister, was
in Syria to sign a protocol on “cooperation in trade and science and
technology”. No details were released, but it caught Israel’s attention.

Syria
possesses between 60 and 120 Scud-C missiles, which it has bought from
North Korea over the past 15 years. Diplomats believe North Korean
engineers have been working on extending their 300-mile range. It means
they can be used in the deserts of northeastern Syria � the area of the
Israeli strike.

The triangular relationship between North Korea,
Syria and Iran continues to perplex intelligence analysts. Syria served
as a conduit for the transport to Iran of an estimated £50m of missile
components and technology sent by sea from North Korea. The same route
may be in use for nuclear equipment.

But North Korea is at a
sensitive stage of negotiations to end its nuclear programme in
exchange for security guarantees and aid, leading some diplomats to
cast doubt on the likelihood that Kim would cross America’s “red line”
forbidding the proliferation of nuclear materials.

Christopher
Hill, the State Department official representing America in the talks,
said on Friday he could not confirm “intelligence-type things”, but the
reports underscored the need “to make sure the North Koreans get out of
the nuclear business”.

By its actions, Israel showed it is not interested in waiting for diplomacy to work where nuclear weapons are at stake.

As
a bonus, the Israelis proved they could penetrate the Syrian air
defence system, which is stronger than the one protecting Iranian
nuclear sites.

This weekend President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran
sent Ali Akbar Mehrabian, his nephew, to Syria to assess the damage.
The new “axis of evil” may have lost one of its spokes.

September 18, 2007 at 08:59 PM in Syria | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

September 16, 2007

Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’

Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’ - Times Online

Secret raid on Korean shipment Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv, Sarah Baxter in Washington and Michael Sheridan IT was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15Is crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from the Iraqi border was under way.

At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando
team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the
approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up
position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in
flames.

Ten days after the jets reached home, their mission was
the focus of intense speculation this weekend amid claims that Israel
believed it had destroyed a cache of nuclear materials from North Korea.

The
Israeli government was not saying. “The security sources and IDF
[Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers are demonstrating unusual courage,”
said Ehud Olmert, the prime minister. “We naturally cannot always show
the public our cards.”

The
Syrians were also keeping mum. “I cannot reveal the details,” said
Farouk al-Sharaa, the vice-president. “All I can say is the military
and political echelon is looking into a series of responses as we
speak. Results are forthcoming.” The official story that the target
comprised weapons destined for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese
Shi’ite group, appeared to be crumbling in the face of widespread
scepticism.

Andrew Semmel, a senior US State Department official,
said Syria might have obtained nuclear equipment from “secret
suppliers”, and added that there were a “number of foreign technicians”
in the country.

Asked if they could be North Korean, he replied:
“There are North Korean people there. There’s no question about that.”
He said a network run by AQ Khan, the disgraced creator of Pakistan’s
nuclear weapons, could be involved.

But why would nuclear
material be in Syria? Known to have chemical weapons, was it seeking to
bolster its arsenal with something even more deadly?

Alternatively,
could it be hiding equipment for North Korea, enabling Kim Jong-il to
pretend to be giving up his nuclear programme in exchange for economic
aid? Or was the material bound for Iran, as some authorities in America
suggest?

According to Israeli sources, preparations for the
attack had been going on since late spring, when Meir Dagan, the head
of Mossad, presented Olmert with evidence that Syria was seeking to buy
a nuclear device from North Korea.

The Israeli spy chief apparently feared such a device could eventually be installed on North-Korean-made Scud-C missiles.

“This
was supposed to be a devastating Syrian surprise for Israel,” said an
Israeli source. “We’ve known for a long time that Syria has deadly
chemical warheads on its Scuds, but Israel can’t live with a nuclear
warhead.”

An expert on the Middle East, who has spoken to Israeli
participants in the raid, told yesterday’s Washington Post that the
timing of the raid on September 6 appeared to be linked to the arrival
three days earlier of a ship carrying North Korean material labelled as
cement but suspected of concealing nuclear equipment.

The target
was identified as a northern Syrian facility that purported to be an
agricultural research centre on the Euphrates river. Israel had been
monitoring it for some time, concerned that it was being used to
extract uranium from phosphates.

According to an Israeli air
force source, the Israeli satellite Ofek 7, launched in June, was
diverted from Iran to Syria. It sent out high-quality images of a
northeastern area every 90 minutes, making it easy for air force
specialists to spot the facility.

Early in the summer Ehud Barak,
the defence minister, had given the order to double Israeli forces on
its Golan Heights border with Syria in anticipation of possible
retaliation by Damascus in the event of air strikes.

Sergei
Kirpichenko, the Russian ambassador to Syria, warned President Bashar
al-Assad last month that Israel was planning an attack, but suggested
the target was the Golan Heights.

Israeli military intelligence
sources claim Syrian special forces moved towards the Israeli outpost
of Mount Hermon on the Golan Heights. Tension rose, but nobody knew why.

At
this point, Barak feared events could spiral out of control. The
decision was taken to reduce the number of Israeli troops on the Golan
Heights and tell Damascus the tension was over. Syria relaxed its guard
shortly before the Israeli Defence Forces struck.

Only three
Israeli cabinet ministers are said to have been in the know � Olmert,
Barak and Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister. America was also
consulted. According to Israeli sources, American air force codes were
given to the Israeli air force attaché in Washington to ensure Israel’s
F15Is would not mistakenly attack their US counterparts.

Once the
mission was under way, Israel imposed draconian military censorship and
no news of the operation emerged until Syria complained that Israeli
aircraft had violated its airspace. Syria claimed its air defences had
engaged the planes, forcing them to drop fuel tanks to lighten their
loads as they fled.

But intelligence sources suggested it was a highly successful Israeli raid on nuclear material supplied by North Korea.

Washington
was rife with speculation last week about the precise nature of the
operation. One source said the air strikes were a diversion for a
daring Israeli commando raid, in which nuclear materials were
intercepted en route to Iran and hauled to Israel. Others claimed they
were destroyed in the attack.

There is no doubt, however, that
North Korea is accused of nuclear cooperation with Syria, helped by AQ
Khan’s network. John Bolton, who was undersecretary for arms control at
the State Department, told the United Nations in 2004 the Pakistani
nuclear scientist had “several other” customers besides Iran, Libya and
North Korea.

Some of his evidence came from the CIA, which had
reported to Congress that it viewed “Syrian nuclear intentions with
growing concern”.

“I’ve been worried for some time about North
Korea and Iran outsourcing their nuclear programmes,” Bolton said last
week. Syria, he added, was a member of a “junior axis of evil”, with a
well-established ambition to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The
links between Syria and North Korea date back to the rule of Kim
Il-sung and President Hafez al-Assad in the last century. In recent
months, their sons have quietly ordered an increase in military and
technical cooperation.

Foreign diplomats who follow North Korean
affairs are taking note. There were reports of Syrian passengers on
flights from Beijing to Pyongyang and sightings of Middle Eastern
businessmen from sources who watch the trains from North Korea to China.

On
August 14, Rim Kyong Man, the North Korean foreign trade minister, was
in Syria to sign a protocol on “cooperation in trade and science and
technology”. No details were released, but it caught Israel’s attention.

Syria
possesses between 60 and 120 Scud-C missiles, which it has bought from
North Korea over the past 15 years. Diplomats believe North Korean
engineers have been working on extending their 300-mile range. It means
they can be used in the deserts of northeastern Syria � the area of the
Israeli strike.

The triangular relationship between North Korea,
Syria and Iran continues to perplex intelligence analysts. Syria served
as a conduit for the transport to Iran of an estimated £50m of missile
components and technology sent by sea from North Korea. The same route
may be in use for nuclear equipment.

But North Korea is at a
sensitive stage of negotiations to end its nuclear programme in
exchange for security guarantees and aid, leading some diplomats to
cast doubt on the likelihood that Kim would cross America’s “red line”
forbidding the proliferation of nuclear materials.

Christopher
Hill, the State Department official representing America in the talks,
said on Friday he could not confirm “intelligence-type things”, but the
reports underscored the need “to make sure the North Koreans get out of
the nuclear business”.

By its actions, Israel showed it is not interested in waiting for diplomacy to work where nuclear weapons are at stake.

As
a bonus, the Israelis proved they could penetrate the Syrian air
defence system, which is stronger than the one protecting Iranian
nuclear sites.

This weekend President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran
sent Ali Akbar Mehrabian, his nephew, to Syria to assess the damage.
The new “axis of evil” may have lost one of its spokes.

September 16, 2007 at 02:32 AM in Iran, Syria | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

September 15, 2007

Drop your silly Atlantic solidarity and support us, Putin tells West

Drop your silly Atlantic solidarity and support us, Putin tells West - Times Online

President Putin called on the West yesterday to drop its “silly Atlantic solidarity” if it wanted improved relations with Russia.

He accused America and some of the countries of the EU of harbouring outdated
Cold War attitudes that led to distrust, particularly on issues such as
energy security and trade. Such stereotypical positions were “absolutely
inappropriate” in the economic arena, he said, insisting that one source of
friction – Russia’s decision to build a pipeline bypassing Poland – was not
infringing anybody’s rights.

He also warned the West to stop giving Russia blanket lectures on democracy.
“We will participate in any debate with our partners, but, if they want us
to do something, they must be specific. If they want us to resolve Kosovo,
let’s talk Kosovo. If they are worried about nuclear programmes in Iran,
let’s talk about Iran, rather than talking about democracy in Russia.”

Neither would he take lectures over Russia imposing higher gas charges on
Ukraine after years of Western preaching about the need for market prices.
“If the West wants to support the Orange movement, let them pay for it. Do
you think we are idiots?”

At the same time, he sounded a more conciliatory note, sayinmg: “We in Russia
and you in Europe and the United States should be more patient. We should
not be faultfinding in our relations and we should look for positive things.
We should engage in friendly relations and support each other.”

He made his comments in a long and forthright session with Western reporters
at his holiday residence overlooking the Black Sea in Sochi and gave the
first inkling of his thinking about his successor and what role he saw for
himself after he leaves office in March next year. “I have no interest in a
weak president after me,” he said. His successor had to be “a
self-sustainable and efficient individual who will serve the people”.

But Mr Putin gave a blunt warning that he had no intention of leaving the
political scene. He was young and fit still, and wanted to continue serving
his country. “This will be a factor with which any future president must
reckon and we must agree how we will function.” He said that he would do
what he could to help his successor and he had no intention of allowing all
the achievements of recent years to be wiped away.

Mr Putin defended his authoritarian style, making clear that he thought a
strong president was essential for many years to come as the country had not
developed strong enough political parties for a Western-style democracy.
Otherwise, he said, there would be chaos. Even in Germany, the system could
misfire, as it did after the last election, and the Czech Republic, he said,
had been without a government for months.

Mr Putin said that, after he had stepped down, he would not disappear or take
up residence in another country. He loved his country and felt rooted to it.
But he all but ruled out any return to power for himself in 2012. “In 2012 I
hope to find a place where I will be comfortable instead of reading in the
Western press nasty things about becoming the new president.”

In a three-hour meeting, the fourth he has held with the same group of Western
academics and journalists, Mr Putin demonstrated an extraordinary grasp of
detail and statistics and ranged across domestic policy, Iraq, Afghanistan,
investment policy, macroeconomics and the future of the various political
factions in the Duma.

He began by defending his choice and timing of a new prime minister, which
stunned Russia this week, saying that he had to change the Government now
because people had begun to cast around for other jobs in anticipation of
change.

He said it was not his idea but that of Mikhael Fradkov, the former Prime
Minister, to dissolve the Cabinet and reform the Government under a
different leadership. Mr Putin praised both the outgoing Prime Minister and
his successor, Viktor Zubkov, who he said had a fine record of service. He
said the 65-year-old new Prime Minister might himself want to run for
president, just as Mr Putin did when appointed Prime Minister in 1999, but
he would first have to prove himself.

He spoke at length on the need to strengthen multiparty democracy in Russia,
saying that he would like to see a proper, modern, left-wing social
democratic party that could be an alternative to United Russia, the ruling
party, which supports him.

He did not see United Russia as a permanent party of government, but it was
vital in securing a parliamentary majority so that he and his successor
could enact necessary legislation. It was no use having only a “holdover
from the past, such as the Communist Party”, as the only real opposition.

Mr Putin also sought to quash Western fears that Russia would use its vast
foreign currency reserves, the result of the high oil price, to buy up vital
Western industries or undermine the Western economy. If there was any idea
that Russian would improperly invest in foreign economies, that was wrong.

He also told the United States that it should set a timetable for withdrawal
from Iraq as this would spur the Iraqi Government into meeting its own
security needs. Without a time-frame, he said, there would be no pressure
for the necessary political and security measures.

Overall, the President appeared remarkably confident about the legacy he will
leave and made much of the huge rise in living standards, in health,
education and housing, which he said most Russians saw as the key factors in
their lives. This, he said, was vital in creating a confident and stable
middle class, which must be the backbone of the new democratic Russia.

September 15, 2007 at 01:51 PM in Russia | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

September 13, 2007

Israel's Syria 'raid' remains a mystery

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel's Syria 'raid' remains a mystery

By Jonathan Marcus BBC diplomatic correspondent During the early hours of last Thursday morning, a number of Israeli jets appear to have entered Syrian air-space from the Mediterranean Sea, possibly penetrating deep into the country.

Later unidentified drop tanks, which may have
contained fuel for the planes, were found on Turkish soil near the
Syrian border, indicating perhaps the Israeli jets' exit route.

The Syrian authorities are livid. They say that the
aircraft were driven off but that they fired their weaponry into a
deserted area.

The implication is that the planes effectively dumped their munitions so better to manoeuvre during their escape.

The Syrian government has briefed Western diplomats and complained to the United Nations.

But there have been no images of the empty countryside where the weapons are alleged to have landed.

Israeli sources are saying nothing.

Long-standing contacts are uncharacteristically silent, noting only
that Israel's military censorship on this subject is as tight as they
can ever remember.

Mood of satisfaction

From Washington has come some partial illumination of the shadows.

US officials indicate that at least one target in northern Syria was
hit and despite the Israeli silence there does seem to be a perceptible
mood of satisfaction in Israel; a sense that what they wanted to
achieve was carried out.

So what actually went on during the early hours of Thursday morning? Why were Israeli jets over Syria at all?

And if they indeed released weapons, what were they firing at?

Initially experts suggested that this might simply have been an
over-flight to trigger air defence radars and gather electronic
intelligence.

Such a probe might be linked to new air defence missiles reportedly supplied to Syria by the Russians.

Other pundits wondered if a potential strike path to Iran was being
tested out; though a southern route here into US-controlled Iraqi
air-space would be more logical.

And neither option would explain why such aircraft might be armed with air to ground weapons.

North Korea link

As far as likely targets of any attack go there are two broad suggestions.

One, cited by the New York Times newspaper quoting a US source,
suggests that the attack was in some way linked to North Korea.

The former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, in a
recent article in the Wall Street Journal, raised the possibility that
Syria is sheltering technology or materials relating to North Korea's
nuclear programme.

When I spoke to Mr Bolton in London just the other day
he strongly defended this thesis though he would not be drawn on the
reliability of his sources.

Another suggestion is that maybe a missile store or factory with weaponry heading to Hezbollah in Lebanon was hit.

Israel has long complained that the Damascus government is at the very
least turning a blind eye to such weapons supplies coming from Iran.

Maybe Israel decided to send the Syrian government a message that it would understand.

Muted response

What is intriguing is that the response of both the Syrian and Israeli
governments has been muted - in the Israeli case largely mute.

The Syrians, while angry, are clearly embarrassed that something may have occurred that they failed to prevent.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6991718.stm



Published: 2007/09/12 20:38:31 GMT



© BBC MMVII

September 13, 2007 at 01:50 AM in Israel, Syria | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

September 08, 2007

Study of the Tribes of the Anbar Governorate

349 page insight into Sunni Arab tribal life.

The Athenaeum: The Iraq Tribal Study, June 2006 - Todd, Lang, Hashim et al

OSD Public Affairs has released this study of the Tribes of the Anbar Governorate to the public.

Document

September 8, 2007 at 10:13 PM in Iraq | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

China’s cyber army is preparing to march on America, says Pentagon

China’s cyber army is preparing to march on America, says Pentagon - Times Online

Tim Reid in Washington Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report obtained by The Times.

The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the
People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to
achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050,
particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea.

China’s ambitions extend to crippling an enemy’s financial, military and
communications capabilities early in a conflict, according to military
documents and generals’ speeches that are being analysed by US intelligence
officials. Describing what is in effect a new arms race, a Pentagon
assessment states that China’s military regards offensive computer
operations as “critical to seize the initiative” in the first stage of a war.

The plan to cripple the US aircraft carrier battle groups was authored by two
PLA air force officials, Sun Yiming and Yang Liping. It also emerged this
week that the Chinese military hacked into the US Defence Secretary’s
computer system in June; have regularly penetrated computers in at least 10
Whitehall departments, including military files, and infiltrated German
government systems this year.

Cyber attacks by China have become so frequent and aggressive that President
Bush, without referring directly to Beijing, said this week that “a lot of
our systems are vulnerable to attack”. He indicated that he would raise the
subject with Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, when they met in Sydney at
the Apec summit. Mr Hu denied that China was responsible for the attack on
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary.

Larry M. Wortzel, the author of the US Army War College report, said: “The
thing that should give us pause is that in many Chinese military manuals
they identify the US as the country they are most likely to go to war with.
They are moving very rapidly to master this new form of warfare.” The two
PLA hackers produced a “virtual guidebook for electronic warfare and
jamming” after studying dozens of US and Nato manuals on military tactics,
according to the document.

The Pentagon logged more than 79,000 attempted intrusions in 2005. About 1,300
were successful, including the penetration of computers linked to the Army’s
101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and the 4th Infantry Division. In August
and September of that year Chinese hackers penetrated US State Department
computers in several parts of the world. Hundreds of computers had to be
replaced or taken offline for months. Chinese hackers also disrupted the US
Naval War College’s network in November, forcing the college to shut down
its computer systems for several weeks. The Pentagon uses more than 5
million computers on 100,000 networks in 65 countries.

Jim Melnick, a recently retired Pentagon computer network analyst, told The
Times that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions to identify and
recruit talented members for its cyber army.

He described a competition held two years ago in Sichuan province, southwest
China. The winner now uses a cyber nom de guerre, Wicked Rose. He went on
to set up a hacking business that penetrated computers at a defence
contractor for US aerospace. Mr Melnick said that the PLA probably
outsourced its hacking efforts to such individuals. “These guys are very
good,” he said. “We don’t know for sure that Wicked Rose and people like him
work for the PLA. But it seems logical. And it also allows the Chinese
leadership to have plausible deniability.”

In February a massive cyber attack on Estonia by Russian hackers demonstrated
how potentially catastrophic a preemptive strike could be on a developed
nation. Pro-Russian hackers attacked numerous sites to protest against the
controversial removal in Estonia of a Russian memorial to victims of the
Second World War. The attacks brought down government websites, a major bank
and telephone networks.

Linton Wells, the chief computer networks official at the Pentagon, said that
the Estonia attacks “may well turn out to be a watershed in terms of
widespread awareness of the vulnerability of modern society”.

After the attacks, computer security experts from Nato, the EU, US and Israel
arrived in the capital, Tallinn, to study its effects.

Sami Saydjari, who has been working on cyber defence systems for the Pentagon
since the 1980s, told Congress in testimony on April 25 that a mass cyber
attack could leave 70 per cent of the US without electrical power for six
months.

He told The Times that all major nations – including China – were scrambling
to defend against, and working out ways to cause, “maximum strategic damage”
by taking out banking systems, power grids and communications networks. He
said that there were at least a thousand attempted attacks every hour on
American computers. “China is aggressive in this,” he said.

Programmed to attack

Malware: a “Trojan horse” programme, which hides a “malicious code”
behind an innocent document, can collect usernames and passwords for e-mail
accounts. It can download programmes and relay attacks against other
computers. An infected computer can be controlled by the attacker and
directed to carry out functions normally available only to the system owner.

Hacking: increasingly a method of attack used by countries determined
to use electronic means to gain access to secrets. Government computers in
Britain have a network intrusion detection system, which monitors traffic
and alerts officials to “misuse or anomalous behaviour”.

Botnets: compromised networks that an attacker can exploit. Deliberate
programming errors in software can easily pass undetected. Attackers can
exploit the errors to take control of a computer. Botnets can be used for
stealing information or to collect credit card numbers by “sniffing” or
logging the strokes of a victim’s keyboard.

Keystroke loggers: they record the sequence of key strokes that a user
types in. Logging devices can be fitted inside the computer itself.

Denial of service attacks: overloading a computer system so that it can
no longer function. This is the method allegedly used by the Russians to
disrupt the Estonian government computers in May.

Phishing and spoofing: designed to trick an organisation’s customers
into imparting confidential information such as passwords, personal data or
banking details. Those using this method impersonate a “trusted source” such
as a bank or IT helpdesk to persuade the victim to hand over confidential
information. (Michael Evans)

September 8, 2007 at 12:33 PM in China | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home