PA Drill, SAIC, China: Bird flu + Cyber Attack, Weaponized Space

Drill tests response to attack (PA)
http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_7691119
'Victim' April Dawn McCann passes through a decontamination station set up outside the building. (Earl Brightbill / Lebanon Daily News)
From a distance, it looked real enough: flashing red lights, fire trucks and police. But the activity in the 300 block of North Fourth Street in the city shortly before daybreak this morning was only a drill.
The exercise was designed to test the ability of city and county agencies and the Pennsylvania National Guard to work together in an emergency.
The scenario called for the city fire department to be sent to a vacant warehouse on the west side of the 300 block of North Fourth Street just before 6 a.m. for a report of smoke inside the structure, said Mayor Robert Anspach, who served as the civilian public information officer (cont..)

SAIC Announces Army and Homeland Security Strategic Account Executives
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NETU08911122007-1.htm
SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation announced today that it has appointed two key strategic account executives, Joe DeFrancisco (lieutenant general, U.S. Army, retired) and Bill Carroll, a longtime employee and leader within the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), are the Army and Homeland Security strategic account executives respectively. (cont…)

Bioterrorism drill termed 'a fantastic success' (CA update)
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=6588
When terrorists let loose a deadly airborne disease at a crowded concert in San Jose -- the story behind the Golden Guardian disaster drill Nov. 14 -- Palo Alto officials and volunteers snapped into action, the City Council heard from participants Monday night.
"It was amazing to me how many people took part in it and how well it went," Councilman Jack Morton said.
The exercise was a "fantastic success," according to Vicki Running, administrative director of the Office of Service Continuity and Disaster Planning at Stanford University Medical Center.
Nonetheless, many lessons were learned from the day-long event that involved more than 160 city staff members, community volunteers and representatives from Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Stanford, among other organizations. (cont..)

South China holds exercise on bird flu outbreak
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/12/content_7231832.htm

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, both in south China, on Tuesday launched a joint bird flu outbreak drill, days of a father and a son were confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 virus. (cont…)

India-China war games from December 20
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14571142
New Delhi: The Indian and Chinese armies will conduct their first war games December 20-28, a defence spokesman said Tuesday.
"The exercise will begin on December 20 and conclude on 28th. It will be conducted in China's Chengdu military region," Wing Commander RK Das of the Indian Army's Kolkata-based Eastern Command, told IANS on the telephone.
The exercise will see each side fielding some 100 officers and men.
"The exercise will feature a special anti-terrorism drill. We have considerable experience in handling insurgency and terrorism and the Chinese would like to learn from us," Das added.
(cont…)

Oak Ridge Cyber Attack May Be From China
http://www.crn.com/security/204800541

A cyber attack reported last week by a federal government nuclear weapons laboratory may have been launched from China, according to a confidential Department of Homeland Security memorandum.
The Department of Homeland Security distributed the confidential warning to public and private security officials Wednesday, which security researchers said included a list of Web addresses linked to locations in China, according to a New York Times report.
While appearing to be from China, such links do not necessarily mean that Chinese government or malicious Chinese agencies were behind the attacks, experts said. Security researchers assert that cyber criminals from any location in the world could possibly infiltrate or compromise computers based in China and subsequently use them for their own malicious aims. (cont..)

STRATCOM: Chilton: U.S. Needs ‘Balanced’ Approach to Anti-Satellite Threat
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3233186&C=america
The U.S. military should explore a range of options when responding to a future foe attempting to destroy an American satellite, said Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, U.S. Strategic Command chief.
The Pentagon should use “all the tools in the toolbox” if a potential foe like China, which sent ripples around the globe in January when it destroyed one of its own weather orbiters with a ballistic missile, targets an American satellite.
Sources have indicated there are different ways of thinking about how best to deal with the new threat.
Some military officials say space assets should be hardened — or even weaponized — to counter such weapons. Others, particularly within the Air Force, think the answer is better intelligence to warn of anti-satellite (ASAT) launches, followed by quick bombing strikes to take out the missiles before they are fired. (cont..)