Sunday, November 30, 2008

Bioterror, Nano Shields, Tactical DEW, Mumbai Attack Summary

Report Sounds Alarm Over Bioterror
Bipartisan Study Finds Insufficient Laboratory Safeguards, Loose Regulation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR2008112901921.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Seven years after the 2001 anthrax attacks, a congressionally ordered study finds a growing threat of biological terrorism and calls for aggressive defenses on par with those used to prevent a terrorist nuclear detonation.
Due for release next week, a draft of the study warns that future bioterrorists may use new technology to make synthetic versions of killers such as Ebola, or genetically modified germs designed to resist ordinary vaccines and antibiotics.
The bipartisan report faults the Bush administration for devoting insufficient resources to prevent an attack and says U.S. policies have at times impeded international biodefense efforts while promoting the rapid growth of a network of domestic laboratories possessing the world's most dangerous pathogens.
The number of such "high-containment" labs in the United States has tripled since 2001, yet U.S. officials have not implemented adequate safeguards to prevent deadly germs from being stolen or accidentally released, it says. "The rapid growth in the number of such labs in recent years has created new safety and security risks which must be managed," the draft report states.

Shields up! How nanotechnology can protect satellites from energy weapons
http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=8308.php
(Nanowerk Spotlight) When the U.S. military talks about space superiority it defines this as the "degree of control necessary to employ, maneuver, and engage space forces while denying the same capability to an adversary". Although 'space forces' has a Star Wars ring to it, the term basically refers to satellites and these satellites – at least as far as unclassified information goes – do not carry weapons (yet); although the public website of the U.S. Air Force Space Command in listing its capabilities mentions the ability to "conduct defensive and offensive counterspace operations, and space environment assessments". The main functions of the military's space capabilities today are information related – weather, communications, surveillance, reconnaissance, navigation and missile warning capabilities – and has become critical to many military operations. As other military powers build up their space programs, defensive and offensive space capabilities become more of an issue for war planers – something they call "counterspace" activities.

"The paper states that several nations, including the U.S., Russia and China, already have either built or are developing the technology to construct ground-based directed energy weapons."

Tactical Applications of Directed Energy Weapons are at Technical Readiness for Battlefield Application. http://www.pr-inside.com/tactical-applications-of-directed-energy-r939619.htm
2008-11-27 16:03:49 - A panel of experts will meet to discuss the application of Directed Energy Weapons to the battlefield.
Tactical applications of Directed Energy Weapons are at Technical Readiness Levels (TRL's) for conversion to the battlefield. In addition, exciting advances in technologies being developed for Strategic applications for Directed Energy (DE), such as anti-Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) lasers, are reaching critical stages.Paul McLeary writing in Aviation Week
last month reported that 'The U.S. government allotted $25 million in
this past summer's war supplemental funding bill for five (-Silent Guardian ADS-)
systems.' Continued investment
in research projects for DE applications, from anti-SAM lasers to crowd control systems such as the Active Denial System, ensures that this is the hottest area of development in weapons systems for the 21st century. 'It is the optimum time for militaries to discuss the practical aspects of using this technology in theatre, in the months before it goes into active service.' stressed Alastair Lewis, Event Director at Defence IQ......

Is China spreading 'Manchurian chips?'
"Trojan Horse on a chip" alleged
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/2EB64110D830150ACC25750E0077A87F
We don't often discuss conspiracy theories, but this technology-focused doozy needs to be debunked before it spreads any further. It's Daily Artisan's reprint of an essay written by former FBI "spy" Robert Eringer for the Santa Barbara News-Press.
In it, Eringer alleges that the Chinese government has taken advantage of the fact that virtually every computer on the market has parts from China and has fitted each component with a "Trojan Horse on a chip," or a "Manchurian chip."Eringer claims that while the spies-on-a-chip are not currently activated, the Chinese government can activate them at will, effectively gathering information on every US citizen with a PC as well as every US government and military computer system. To back up his story, he cites a classified DARPA report and quotes unnamed intelligence officials and industry experts, including one former intelligence officer who allegedly told him "it's the hottest topic concerning the FBI and the Pentagon"....

The suggestion that the Chinese have somehow managed to outwit multiple levels of industry and government-sponsored oversight to install and remotely activate "Manchurian chips" may appeal to the tin-foil hat crowd, but it should not be taken seriously. There is definitely a concern about the Chinese government gaining access to sensitive data on US networks, but to date, every compromised system has been due to holes in the software or on the networks, not the hardware.-->

India's 9/11. Who was Behind the Mumbai Attacks?
Washington is Fostering Political Divisions between India and Pakistan
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11217

Obama Who Sent You?
http://dotconnectoruk.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-who-sent-you.html

* Obama is a robot that was assembled to read scripts to make the same old crap more palatable to the public.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Mumbai Attacks Pave Way For Obama Into Pakistan

11/27 Mumbai Terror attacks

As soon as you hear the name Al Qaeda, just insert U.S. in its place. Obama/Brzezinski want to make a foray into Pakistan and start a larger war in the East (Russia/China) This apparent false flag attack is to get the ball rolling.

I have not had the chance to comb through the drill archives for Mumbai,but recall several exericses in the preceding months. There is almost little point


in debunking these scams anymore. Independent researchers quickly exposed 7/7 in London, and 9/11 as false flag is now mainstream, but the perps still roam freely and are openly stealing our money. I am on weekend holiday and don't want this crap in my head. Look for updates on India Monday.

Mumbai Attacks Look Like A Western Intel Operation
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=13014
NYPD Guards Against Mumbai-Like Terror Attacks

Lubavitch Spokesman: Brooklyn Rabbi, Wife Killed; NYC Police Deploys Forces To Hotels, Jewish Centers
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/rabbi.holtzberg.mumbai.2.875674.html

Saying Cheese For More Effective Border Security

Facial recognition systems perform some very challenging tasks such as checking an individual's photo against a database of known or suspected criminals. The task can become nearly impossible when the systems acquire poor facial images-a situation that occurs all too often in real-world environments. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have found



Robotics, UGVs and Remotely controlled systems
http://www.defenseupdate.com/features/2008/november/271108_robotics_ugv_ausa08.html

Can anyone else envision these robots roaming the streets in a post economic crash and
apocalyptic US collapse scenario?

Arkansas Department Of Health Sets New Record For Mass Dispensing Flu Exercise http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/131100.phpThe Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) set a new record for its Mass Dispensing Flu Exercise and immunized 123,172 Arkansans against influenza last week. The shots were dispensed during the mass flu vaccination clinics held statewide in 81 health units. All 75 counties were involved again this year, but the totals significantly surpassed last year's number of 103,541 vaccinations for the exercise. Dr. William Mason, Director of the Emergency Response and Preparedness Branch, said that the purpose of the drill was two-fold. "The first goal was to exercise the state's mass dispensing plan that is designed to insure that health professionals and volunteers are prepared to vaccinate or dispense medication to a large population in a very short period of time. If Arkansas were ever to experience pandemic influenza or another such disaster, it might be necessary to distribute medications to many citizens quickly. "The time to practice dispensing large amounts of medication is now, before we have a disaster," Mason said.


Russia to partake in joint naval exercises with Indian Navy
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-52663.html
Moscow, Nov 27 : A task force from Russia's Pacific Fleet will leave its main base in Vladivostok on December 9 to take part in joint naval exercises with the Indian navy in the Indian Ocean, a fleet spokesman said today.


Russia seeks new missiles due to U.S. shield plans
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4AR3S120081128


Anti-terrorism exercises at Welsh stations
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/11/28/anti-terrorism-exercises-at-welsh-stations-91466-22358571/

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

DC Criminals Distract W/Al Qeada Scam While Looting Treasury

* The first sentence says it all, the world's economic fears pushed aside -The Criminals in DC
want to distract the masses while they steal their money. It's like being mugged on the subway by a team of professional thieves who get your attention while one of the gang gets your wallet.
Does ANYONE believe in the terror scam anymore? We need to arrest the US Government
now more than ever.

Sources: Al Qaeda Targets Amtrak N'east Corridor
Heightened Security Presence In Place At Penn Station; Attack Could Cripple Transit Between Boston, Washington
http://wcbstv.com/national/nyc.subway.terror.2.874830.html

Cops, Feds Armed With M16s On Patrol For Forseeable Future

The world's economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat -- terrorism. A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting New York's subways and railroads. If Al Qaeda terrorists have their way there will be chaos and mayhem here this holiday season, a mass transit bomb plot that would probably affect all the subway and train lines at Penn and Grand Central stations. "The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible," said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. Uniformed officers, including this NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City's mass transit system. The report said: "These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems." Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak's northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service. "This is definitely linked to Al Qaeda and they had very significant details about exactly how they would carry out the attack, where they would carry it out -- that's what makes it sound so plausible," Rep. King said. (cont...)

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

DOD Pandemic Sim, JFCOM, Drill Watch


SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has contracted SimQuest to develop a training tool simulating an influenza pandemic outbreak.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense awarded Maryland-based SimQuest a phase II contract as part of an effort to establish emergency preparedness models to address the potential threat of an influenza pandemic outbreak in the United States. Under the phase II deal, SimQuest will develop a training tool simulating the spread of influenza.
SimQuest will also develop training models with various pandemic scenarios for military applications because of the likely involvement of the U.S. military during a pandemic.
Pentagon Should Battle Pirates and Terrorists with Laser Technology
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandSecurity/wm2144.cfm
Directed Energy Weapons, particularly those powered by lasers, have long been the stuff of science fiction. Due to recent innovations in commercial solid-state lasers and their adaptation to military uses, potential and immediate national security applications for these weapons are apparent. (cont...)
U.S. Army to Equip National Guard Unit With Future Combat System Aerial
Anti-terror exercise underway in Sydney
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=671589

Real explosives will blow up real buses and real trains in Sydney this week.
But there won't be any mock terrorists or fake casualties involved in Sudden Impact, a counter terrorism exercise at Holsworthy army base in southwestern Sydney.
The two-day operation, on Tuesday and Wednesday, is designed to test state and national capabilities to respond to a terrorist attack.
Hundreds of personnel are involved in the simulated attack on a public transport system


LGS Supports JFCOM in International Military Exercise Focusing on Ensuring the Defense of the Panama Canal http://br.sys-con.com/node/760087
LGS, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) dedicated to serving the U.S. government community announced today that it was a part of the Fuerzas Aliadas (FA) PANAMAX 2008 multinational training exercise that involved more than 20 nations.
The purpose of the exercise, which took place in August, is to help ensure the security of the Panama Canal. It was cosponsored by the U.S. Southern Command and the government of Panama and included more than 30 vessels, a dozen aircraft and 7,000 personnel

Israel Electric Company to hold nationwide war drill Wednesday
The Israel Electric Company (IEC) will hold a comprehensive nationwide drill on Wednesday to mimic the situation during a regional war.
Workers will hold exercises in preparation for various scenarios including a direct hit on electricity infrastructure and a terror attack on an electric facility.
IEC Director General Amos Lasker said the drill was vital in preparing for various security scenarios and principally for bolstering professional cooperation between different IEC departments and officials.
"The electric company holds a large-scale drill like this once a year to assess our crisis management and operates in order to lessen the possible risks in cases of emergency," said Lasker, adding that during wars, the IEC had always operated to the best of its ability in order to minimize damage caused by a strike on electric infrastructure.

Russia's Medvedev's Tough Guy Act
CBS News: New Russian President Seems To Be Reviving Adversarial Relations

Russia, Venezuela warships to hold live firing drills on Dec.1
Raytheon missile hits target (FCS)
Gates 'to stay as Pentagon chief'

U.S. Collapse: Updates

* regular postings tonight

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm

Citigroup collapses! Banking Shutdown Possible
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11147
Financial Meltdown: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11134

Monday, November 24, 2008

United States Bankrupt

Fed Pledges Top $7.4 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit




Our motto used to be "millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."That has change to "Trillions for the banks, but a few cents for the real economy."We need to break the cycle of giving our money to the banks so that they can lend it to us at interest if they are so inclined. What have they done to earn that interest? Take measured risks?The Republicans are looting the Treasury on their way out of town, and the Democratic leadership is incompetent or complicit in this end to the greatest financial fraud in recorded history. And you are paying for it.

“If you mark to market today, the banking system is bankrupt,” Tobin said. “So what do you do? You try to keep it going as best you can.” (Please take note holders of dollars and Treasuries. If the banking system is bankrupt, guess what is next - Jesse)


Financial Newsletter Predicts US to Default on National Debt
http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-28-is-available!-Global-systemic-crisis-Alert-Summer-2009-The-US-government-defaults-on-its-debt_a2250.html
A European financial newsletter, La Lettre Confidentielle de LEAP/E2020, is predicting a US default on government debt sometime in the summer of 2009. The default will be triggered by uncontrollable increases in public debt, uncontrolled inflation, and continuing deterioration in the nation's manufacturing, retail, and construction sectors.

"the US economy, now in deep recession, will collapse. The resulting lack of tax revenues will make it impossible for the federal government to pay even the interest on its ten trillion dollar national debt.On October 16, 2008, the "Global-Europe Anticipation Bulletin" told its subscribers that the present U.S. Dollar will be demonetized and a new currency imposed. "Old dollars" will be devalued by ninety percent (90%)"

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Chilton Expects New 'Attacks', Microsoft To Aid War On Terror

Chilton: Attacks may occur during transition

LOS ANGELES — The military’s top strategic officer warned Friday that terrorists or other nations may try to take advantage of the transition period between the administrations of President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama to strike or otherwise threaten the U.S., but he said the Defense Department is being vigilant against that possibility.
“At every transition, there comes risk,” said Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, speaking at the Air Force Association’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles. “It’s not a risk of who gets elected; it’s just a risk of change [and] how our adversaries around the world look at our vulnerability during that time period.”
Obama takes office on Jan. 20, but it could take months for him to assemble his entire team and for them to hit their stride. Rumors have swirled recently around Washington that Obama might retain Defense Secretary Robert Gates for a time to ensure continuity in national security issues.
Chilton, one of the military’s 10 combatant commanders, pointed to several examples of international incidents or attacks against the U.S. that have occurred shortly after a presidential transition: President John F. Kennedy’s confrontation with the Soviet Union regarding Cuba that began in 1961, the first World Trade Center bombing and the conflict in Mogadishu, Somalia, shortly after President Bill Clinton took office in 1993, and the Sept. 11 attacks under Bush in 2001.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081121-microsoft-to-aid-in-war-on-terror-builds-software-for-dhs.html
Microsoft and GIS vendor ESRI have announced that they are constructing a suite of collaboration tools for intelligence gathering and processing, intended for deployment at the Department of Homeland Security's national fusion centers. The software is built on top of Microsoft's SharePoint server platform and ESRI's ArcGIS Advanced Enterprise server.
The software will include a "situational awareness portal" with location-based RSS feeds and XML map overlay data. The information that is managed by the system will be made accessible to intelligence analysts through SharePoint. Microsoft says that the framework will be extensible and can be customized to meet additional, unforeseen needs. The bundle also includes terabytes of prerendered satellite imagery that can be used with mapping software. Microsoft plans to expand the scope of the system and use its components to provide a broader and more comprehensive technology solution for security applications.
The fusion center concept was conceived by the 9/11 Commission as part of a strategy that would streamline communication and intelligence sharing among various federal intelligence agencies and state law enforcement. The fusion centers, which are housed in high-security facilities across the country, provide government officials with a venue to collaborate on collection, analysis, and distribution of sensitive intelligence information.
Although the original function of the centers was to empower counterterrorism activity, the mandate has broadened to encompass virtually any perceived threat and the centers themselves are operated with minimal oversight and virtually no public scrutiny. The federal government has pushed aggressively to encourage passage of state laws that would block meaningful oversight of fusion centers in a variety of ways, including making their databases exempt from FOIA requests. (cont..)

Sounding the Nuclear Alarm
The U.S. will not have a credible arsenal unless Washington acts soon to replace aging warheads.

Friday, November 21, 2008

END WALL STREET BANKSTER RULE


END THE FED – END WALL STREET BANKSTER RULE
END THE DERIVATIVES DEPRESSION

The November 22 End the Fed rallies raise a vital issue: it is past time to abolish the unconstitutional, illegal, and failed institution known as the Federal Reserve System, the privately owned central bank which has been looting and wrecking the US economy for almost a hundred years. We must end a system where unelected, unaccountable cliques of bankers and financiers loyal to names like Morgan, Rockefeller, and Mellon set interest rates and money supply behind closed doors, leading to de-industrialization, mass impoverishment, and a world economic and financial depression of incalculable severity. The Fed helped cause the crash of 1929, did nothing to stop the banking panic of 1932-33, and is the main cause of the $1.5 QUADRILLION derivatives crisis which is devastating the world. The Federal Reserve System is Wall Street’s murder weapon against the United States, and the Fed must be stopped.

The purpose of abolishing the Fed is to get re-industrialization, economic modernization, full employment, and rising standards of living for all the people. Contrary to monetarist fetishes, the value and soundness of currency in the modern world are determined by the ability of a national economy to produce physical commodities that the rest of the world wants to buy. The decline of the dollar has its roots in the wanton destruction of the US industrial base initiated by the Trilateral administration of Jimmy Carter and Feds boss Paul Adolph Volcker with his 22% prime rate. Over the past forty years, the US standard of living has declined by two thirds, and the country has become a post-industrial rubble field, a moonscape monument to the folly of a post-industrial service economy. If you want to go back to sound money, you must gear up modern industrial production so that the world will need dollars to buy goods manufactured in this country. No amount of gold will do the trick.

Gold has a critical role to play in a new international currency system, but returning to a gold coin standard would create the most ferocious deflation of all time. Got any credit card debt? If you do, a gold coin standard would make it infinitely harder to ever pay it off. You would be slaving for the rest of your life to pay off a $5,000 credit card balance, or less.

The United States is blessed by the world’s greatest tradition of economics, the American System of political and national economy. Contrary to monetarist mythology, the American System never had anything to do with free trade or “free markets.” It is a tradition of protectionism, mercantilism, and dirigism. It starts with Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay in the 1600s, who promoted industry and launched a sovereign currency. Benjamin Franklin, the founder of the post office, was another dirigist. George Washington was always devoted to infrastructure projects, and Alexander Hamilton created the First Bank of the United States, without which the new nation would have collapsed into poverty, chaos, and a return of British monetarist rule. The Second BUS was created by James Madison, again to ward off chaos. Henry Clay coined the term of The American System, and it meant a national bank, a protective tariff, and national infrastructure financed by the federal government. Daniel Webster tried to create a third BUS, and when he fell short the slide into slave power and civil war resulted. Friedrich List, Matthew Carey, Henry Carey, and Justin Morrill were American System economists who influenced or advised Lincoln. The rise of the US as the world’s greatest industrial power came thanks to a protective tariff and a controlled currency, the greenbacks. When Wall Street imposed the Cross of Gold, the American System tradition was continued by the Populist Party. The New Deal, the fruit of mass struggles and the rise of the labor movement, provided a way out of the Herbert Hoover depression by forcing the Morgan-controlled Fed to knuckle under to the FDR presidency. JFK tried to revive the New Deal and break the power of the Fed, and was assassinated by the financiers with the help of the CIA.

Monetarists pretend that this history does not exist. Their hero is Andrew Jackson, whose hare-brained meddling caused the Panic of 1837 and shut down US economic development, putting the country firmly on course for the Civil War two decades later. When they talk about the constitution, monetarists seem to be working off the Confederate constitution of 1861, which eliminated the General Welfare clause, and ruled out a protective tariff. During the 19th century, the free trade party was the pro-British slavery party. Monetarist dogma is a mix of Herbert Hoover, Robert Taft (of the Skull & Bones family), Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and other reactionary Republicans. Monetarism is based on the von Hayek-von Mises Austrian school, which started when a bunch of rent-gouging Viennese landlords wanted to abolish rent control and hired some scribblers to prove that “the market” was always infallible and government is always the enemy. Von Hayek got his chance under the reactionary old battle axe Margaret Thatcher, who brought back rickets, scurvy and pellagra for British working people. The dumbed-down US version of the same doctrine is Milton Friedman and his Rockefeller-funded Chicago School, which got its big road test under the fascist Pinochet regime in Chile.

MONETARISM CAUSED TODAY’S WORLD ECONOMIC DEPRESSION

Today’s depression has been caused by 40 years of monetarist-inspired deregulation. Derivatives were illegal from 1936 until Reagan legalized them in 1982. Then Wendy Gramm, Greenspan, Bob Rubin, and Larry Summers teamed up to start the derivatives bubble during the Clinton years. Now there are $1.5 quadrillion of derivatives strangling the world economy. Derivatives, not subprime mortgages, are the reason for today’s crisis. Today’s depression also comes from privatization – like the privatization of Fannie Mae, which worked fine for thirty years as a government agency, but was then privatized, opening the door to the looting excesses which are now well known. The oil market is deregulated, and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were quick to exploit this situation. This past summer, when you were paying over $4 a gallon for gas, more than half of that was going directly to Wall Street hedge fund hyenas, with a full $1 per gallon for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley alone, the backers of the deregulated offshore ICE exchange.

The real enemies of economic progress are the Wall Street bankers, financiers, and finance oligarchs. If you let them control the government, the results are catastrophic. We must therefore fight to take government out of the hands of the bankers. Any other strategy amounts to surrender to Obama and his fascist corporate state.

HOW TO END THE DEPRESSION WITH A RETURN TO THE AMERICAN SYSTEM

1. Wipe out derivatives, destroying the largest mass of fictitious capital the world has ever known. This includes credit default swaps, mortgage backed securities, structured investment vehicles, collateralized debt obligations, repo agreements, and other toxic paper. Outlaw hedge funds. Outlaw adjustable rate mortgages. Stop all foreclosures. Seize bankrupt banks, brokerages, and insurance companies and put them through debt triage under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Re-establish the uptick rule against short sellers. Stop speculators with position limits and margin requirements for oil and other energy markets. Stop exporting jobs to third world sweatshops under NAFTA , CAFTA, and WTO.
2. Seize control of the Federal Reserve System and nationalize it as a bureau of the US Treasury. Decisions about money supply and interest rates must be made by public laws, passed by the House and the Senate and signed by the President. Re-start the US economy by issuing an initial tranche of $1 trillion in cheap 0.5% to 1% federal credit – federal lending, not spending – to state and local governments as well as to private companies engaged physical production. Production means infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, construction, farming, forestry, transportation, and commerce in tangible goods. Productive activities qualify for 1% or less federal credit. Gambling, narcotics, prostitution, financial speculation, speculation, and money laundering are not productive, so they must take their chances in the free market they claim to admire so much. A centerpiece of a recovery program would be the rebuilding of rail systems, water systems, electrical grids, and the interstate highways, all of which are approaching the point of physical breakdown. Nationalize the Big Three auto companies and reconvert them for mass transit.
3. We must keep Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, Head Start, WIC, and the remaining parts of the social safety net fully funded, since IRA/401k accounts and private insurance will increasingly be wiped out. Federal emergency relief on the model of FERA, CWA, and WPA will soon be needed. Any cuts in these programs will lead to death on a vast scale, especially among the old, the sick, and the very young. Monetarist ideologues who sneer at the nanny state should tell us where they stand when it comes to the very real threat of genocide against the American people.
4. Abolish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and set up a new world monetary system based on full employment through the revival of industrial production.

Webster G. Tarpley

Thursday, November 20, 2008

China DOD Hack, DHS Appointee, Russia Sub.


China's hackers stealing US defence secrets, says congressional panel
China is stealing sensitive information from American computer networks and stepping up its online espionage, according to a US congressional panel.
Beijing's investment in rocket technology is also accelerating the militarisation of outer space and lifting it into the "commanding heights" of modern warfare, the advisory group claims. The strident warning, which may have a chilling effect on relations between the two Pacific powers, comes in the annual report of the US-China economic and security review commission due today.
A summary of the study, released in advance, alleges that networks and databases used by the US government and American defence contractors are regularly targeted by Chinese hackers. "China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive information from US computer networks," says Larry Wortzel, chairman of the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to investigate US-China issues.
The commission, consisting of six Democrats and six Republicans, says in its unanimous report that China's military modernisation and its "impressive but disturbing" space and computer warfare capabilities "suggest China is intent on expanding its sphere of control even at the expense of its Asian neighbors and the United States."

A Napolitano Nomination Could Signal Shift in Focus at Homeland Security http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20081120/pl_cq_politics/politics2989141_3

The potential appointment of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to lead the Homeland Security Department could signal a shift in focus away from the war on terror and toward domestic concerns, especially immigration.
As governor of a border state, she has been on the frontline of the simmering debate over illegal immigration.
"From a policy standpoint, if I were to guess, she would want to do a pretty serious and systematic review of the border strategy at this time and whether it's achieving its goals," said Doris Meissner, head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Bill Clinton and now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
"Of all of the parts of the immigration system, more money has flowed into the border enforcement part of the system than by far in any of the rest of it. Any leader or new group of leaders needs to ask if we are getting the payoff that is commiserate with the investment," Meissner said.
A focus on immigration would necessarily entail a swing away from the department's focus on counterterrorism, but with the disparate DHS portfolio, the next secretary will not be able to ignore other issues.

"Operation Sweat Socks"
Full-scale anti-terrorism drill in Tucson Thursday
Units from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base will join crews from Pima County and the Tucson Fire and Police Departments in an anti-terrorist drill on Thursday.
"Operation Sweat Socks" will evaluate current response plans for a terrorist incident.

New generation Russian nuclear attack sub ready in 2010: report
The first of a new class of multipurpose Russian nuclear attack submarines currently in construction will be operational by 2010, a Russian news agency reported Wednesday.
The Severodvinsk "will be operational in 2010," Ria Novosti said citing naval official Nicolas Kalisstratov.




Medvedev's Venezuela, Cuba trips set to rile U.S.
State prepares forpandemic flu
NORFOLK,Va - Imagine the chaos if a pandemic flu, one that threatened the lives of every human being, hit Virginia.
It's the state health department's job to be prepared, so this week they're practicing.
"Every time we practice it, it's to make sure that we can do it efficiently during real world situations," said Hampton Health Department Assistant Planner, Jennifer Lupin.
In Hampton, inmates sat down for immunizations allowing staff to practice mass vaccinations

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Northrop FEMA National Exercise: US Collapse Prep?



Northrop to run national drill for FEMA


Northrop Grumman Corp. will conduct a national preparedness drill for the Federal Emergency Management Agency next year under a two-year, $12 million contract.
Northrop Grumman will conduct and evaluate the 2009 Tier 1 National Level Exercise, which is the largest and most complex national disaster drill conducted by FEMA’s National Exercise Division.
The drill will take place in FEMA’s Region VI, which encompasses Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Northrop Grumman’s subcontractors for the project are ICF International Inc., Battelle Memorial Institute, Alutiiq LLC, L-3 Communications Corp., Unitech and Interface Media Group.
"We are excited to be a part of an exercise program that prepares our nation's leaders to handle a wide array of emergent homeland security issues
Military, Industry Leaders to Speak at World’s Largest Simulation Event

The largest modeling and simulation exhibition event ever held will feature top leaders from the cutting edge of M&S technology. Speaking at the opening ceremonies of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference will be General William S. Wallace, head of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Joining him will be Daniel J. Crowley, Executive Vice President of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter Program.
The 2008 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference will cover almost 200,000 net square feet at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center. Over 575 exhibitors will attend the event, scheduled for December 1-4. On display will be modeling and simulation technology of all kinds, from medical applications to serious games to predictive structural, weather and natural disaster applications. Virtual reality and totally immersive virtual worlds will also be a major part of I/IITSEC 08.
Intel, Cisco, Sun helping to develop supercomputer for weapons lab http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2035717/

Lockheed Martin plans Hawaii ocean energy plant

Raytheon to build nuclear warning system for DHS
Raytheon Co. will develop new nuclear material warning technology for the Homeland Security Department under a multi-year contract that could be worth as much as $2.9 million.
The award calls for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems to develop standoff warning against radiological materials (SWARM) technology to help spot and stop the illegal movement of nuclear material across United States land borders.

Northrop sees defense spending steady in near term

In disaster drill, King County tries out temporary hospital
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008408399_emergency19m.html
Public Health — Seattle & King County and partner groups on Tuesday held a drill at Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, one of three sites designated to handle overflow of hospital patients in the event of a flu pandemic, earthquakes, bioterrorism or other disasters.
Lebanon Prepares for Pandemic (CT)
EGYPT: Contingency planning for an avian flu pandemic
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81520
Al Qaeda Coldly Acknowledges Obama Victory (Pentagon having fun again)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/world/middleeast/20qaeda.html?em

WASHINGTON — In a propaganda salvo by Al Qaeda aimed at undercutting the enthusiasm of Muslims worldwide about the American election, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy condemned President-elect Barack Obama as a “house Negro” who would continue a campaign against Islam that Al Qaeda’s leaders said was begun by President Bush.










Chemical Security 101
What You Don’t Have Can’t Leak, or Be Blown Up by Terrorists
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/11/chemical_security.html

Monday, November 17, 2008

World Depression/ U.S. Colllapse, India/China Exercises

* Readers of DDoT will notice i am focusing more on the collapse of the economy than PMC's and
Terrorism. I think the crisis unfolding will overshadow the 9/11 era. The real terror is financial terror- the prospect of no job, no food and a collapse of our way of life.

Depression 2009: What would it look like?Lines at the ER, a television boom, emptying suburbs. A catastrophic economic downturn would feel nothing like the last one
OVER THE PAST few months, Americans have been hearing the word "depression" with unfamiliar and alarming regularity. The financial crisis tearing through Wall Street is routinely described as the worst since the Great Depression, and the recession into which we are sinking looks deep enough, financial commentators warn, that a few poor policy decisions could put us in a depression of our own.

It's a frightening possibility, but also in many ways an abstraction. The country has gone so long without a depression that it's hard to know what it would be like to live through (cont..)
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/11/16/depression_2009_what_would_it_look_like/?page=2


Please see:
America’s Economic Crisis Is Beyond The Reach of Traditional Solutions
http://www.vdare.com/roberts/081112_financial.htm
Worse Than the Great Depression?

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11001
http://www.economyincrisis.org/

Indian Air Force to have joint exercises with Chinese air force: Air chief
Nagpur, Nov 17 : Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major today said the Indian Air Force (IAF) would soon have joint exercises with its Chinese counterpart, the first of its kind ever.
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-47234.html

Sen. Feinstein might head secretive intelligence panel
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/775048.html
WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California will find both spotlight and shadows if she becomes the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Feinstein stands to become the first woman, and the first Californian, to lead the 15-member panel since it was established in 1976. She's the front-runner for the job, due to a cascade of other Senate leadership changes that will become final this week.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Obama Threataganda Cont..,Robotic Weaponry,

I hope folks are working on survival plans and worrying less about the terror scam.
The age of false flag terror seems to be over and we are now witnessing open theft
of the treasury and preparation for the collapse of the U.S. I will continue updates
here but feel that working within my own community and off the internet much more important.
The Five Stages of Collapse
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/47157


Barack Obama is warned to beware of a ‘huge threat’ from al-Qaeda
Security officials fear a ‘spectacular’ during the transition period
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5158569.ece

Barack Obama is being given ominous advice from leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to brace himself for an early assault from terrorists.
General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, this week acknowledged that there were dangers during a presidential transition when new officials were coming in and getting accustomed to the challenges. But he added that no “real or artificial spike” in intercepted transmissions from terror suspects had been detected.
President Bush has repeatedly described the acute vulnerability of the US during a transition. The Bush Administration has been defined largely by the 9/11 attacks, which came within a year of his taking office.

DARPA: Self-repairing, learning kill-robot tech is go
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/13/darpa_aware_ware_srs_go/

Once again the observant techbeat watcher finds his or her lower-torso garments endampened by fear, as news emerges that heavyweight US military nerds believe that they have developed IT tech which can "regenerate" autonomously, allowing it to self-repair in the face of shutdown attempts - and even to learn and develop its capabilities. More terrifyingly still, plans are afoot to put this technology into the US forces' next generation of robotic weaponry.



Secret Directed-Energy Tech Protecting the President?
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/presidents-secr.html

The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the President of the United States from assailants; and given that President-elect Obama has already been the target of assassination plots they may have their work cut out after January. But they have more than earpiece radios and armored limos to help them; the Secret Service can call on the very latest technology. Documents from a recent court case indicate that they have advanced directed-energy devices which are highly classified.

FDNY Holds Annual "Bio-Pod" Drill
http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/law_enforcement/88995/fdny-holds-annual--bio-pod--drill/Default.aspx

Homeland Security and Justice Departments Providing More Info to Local
Officers http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272623792.shtml

US missile chief to Obama: anti-missile system 'is workable'

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Pandemic, Missile Defense, DHS to monitor Shit

In a Pandemic, Who Gets to Live?
Aftermath of a Pandemic Could Be More Disastrous Than the Pandemic Itself, Researchers Say
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ColdandFlu/story?id=6233508&page=1

As if wars and economic crises and natural disasters weren't enough, here's a challenge for some future president that few people even want to think about: Some day, perhaps soon, a president will have to decide whose lives are the most important to save, and whose lives are "nonessential."
This isn't going to be a doomsday story, because most people will survive the next influenza pandemic, which some public health experts believe is past due. It's not a question of "if," it's a question of "when," and one study from Harvard University estimates that the pandemic will kill somewhere between 51 million and 81 million people, mostly in developing countries.
Hundreds of organizations and institutions around the world are developing plans for dealing with the expected pandemic, and one challenging theme is begging for more public discussion. Some people will be more important than others in fighting the disease as it spreads quickly around the planet, and many more will be left to pretty much fend for themselves.



Inside the Ring: Missile defense working

Missile defense future
Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, outgoing director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said on Wednesday that U.S. missile defenses are working and he hopes President-elect Barack Obama will continue the multibillion-dollar programs once he is briefed on them.
Asked if current U.S. ground-based and sea-based systems are "workable," Gen. Obering said: "Absolutely."
"Not only are they workable, they've been proven in combat" in the Middle East, he said in a farewell interview with Defense reporters.
President Bush was prepared to shoot down a North Korean missile using the new U.S. missile defense system in July 2006, and Gen. Obering said he thinks the system would have been able to knock out one or two Taepodong-2 missiles if they had come toward the United States.
Additionally, U.S. war-fighting commanders are demanding more and better missile defenses to defend troops against missile attack, he said.
"Our testing has shown that not only can we hit a bullet with a bullet, we can actually hit a spot on a bullet with a bullet," he said. "The technology has caught up with that."
Gen. Obering, who retires this month, said questions have been raised by critics about the 10 ground-based interceptors planned for Europe. He said those missiles designed for a site in Poland are a low-risk, two-stage version of the 22 three-stage interceptors now deployed in Alaska and California.

Homeland Security Will Track Fertilizer Buyers

Raytheon unveils 300th surveillance tower
Raytheon has reached an important milestone in its production of its persistent surveillance towers. The Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment system provides surveillance support for use in both war and peacetime. Now the US army has three hundred of them.
The Waltham, Mass.-based defense contractor said the towers support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. They are used by the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq and are also used for domestic border surveillance — both in the United States and U.S. ally nations.
Russia rejects U.S. missile proposals

Financial Crisis: U.S. Will Default in '09


Some of the articles below are a few weeks old but
still timely. I agree with the conclusion of Jesse's
Cafe that the United States will have to default on its debt. I see this possibly before the summer of '09.
How this will play out is of the utmost concern.
I will continue to watch for signs of the U.S. military releasing a virus to start a flu pandemic. Martial law
and quarantines may be the only way for the the elites to manage the financial crisis......



In 2009 the US Will Be Forced to Selectively Default and Devalue Its Debt
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2008/10/in-2009-us-may-be-forced-to-selectively.html Jesse’s Cafe Americain blog says that U.S. will have no choice but to selectively default. “Once the deleveraging of the markets subsides, the dollar and Treasuries will drop, perhaps with some momentum, as the rest of the world realizes that the U.S. has no choice but to default. This can be resolved in several ways, including continued subsidies from foreign sources in the form of virtual debt forgiveness, devaluation of the dollar, raising of taxes, and higher interest rates on debt. The problem now is that the U.S. has breached the point where it can service its debt out of real cash flows, and turning this around will require a severe devaluation of the U.S. dollar. Devaluation and selective default are the only foreseeable systemic alternatives. There are other exogenous paths of a more political nature such as consolidation and war that may color the default a slightly different color, but a selective default it remains. This is the fundamental situation. Everything else is speculation and commentary.”

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/will-the-us-default-on-its-foreign-debt-interview-with-michael-hudson/

Financial Crisis
Washington's $5 Trillion Tab http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/11/12/paulson-bernanke-fed-biz-wall-cx_lm_1112bailout.html

Failure of auto industry could set off catastrophe
Advocates: Collapse of US auto industry could set off catastrophic chain reaction
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Failure-of-auto-industry-apf-13552316.html
DETROIT (AP) -- Advocates for the nation's automakers are warning that the collapse of the Big Three -- or even just General Motors -- could set off a catastrophic chain reaction in the economy, eliminating up to 3 million jobs and depriving governments of more than $150 billion in tax revenue.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Google Flu Trends, Earthquake Drill, DHS +

SICK SURVEILLANCE: GOOGLE REPORTS FLU SEARCHES, LOCATIONS TO FEDS
Google Uses Searches to Track Flu’s Spread

GOOGLE will launch a new tool that will help federal officials "track sickness"."Flu Trends" uses search terms that people put into the web giant to figure out where influenza is heating up, and will notify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in real time!GOOGLE, continuing to work closely with government, claims it would keep individual user data confidential: "GOOGLE FLU TRENDS can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week." Engineers will capture keywords and phrases related to the flu, including thermometer, flu symptoms, muscle aches, chest congestion and others. Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of influenza surveillance at CDC: "One thing we found last year when we validated this model is it tended to predict surveillance data. The data are really, really timely. They were able to tell us on a day-to-day basis the relative direction of flu activity for a given area. They were about a week ahead of us. They could be used... as early warning signal for flu activity."

County To Take Part In Major Earthquake Drill (CA)
http://www.10news.com/news/17948375/detail.html?rss=sand&psp=news
SAN DIEGO -- More than 5 million Southern Californians, including nearly a million in San Diego and Riverside counties, are scheduled to participate Thursday in the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history, it was reported Monday.
At 10 a.m. Thursday, about 405,000 people in San Diego County and about 565,000 in Riverside County will drop to the floor at schools, homes and offices for 1 1/2 minutes in an exercise that envisions a 7.8-magnitude quake centered near the Salton Sea, The North County Times reported.
Sprint Demonstrates How Southern California Citizens Can Be More Prepared During State-Sponsored Earthquake Drill
http://www.centredaily.com/business/technology/story/956755.html

KBR wins Army Corps contract
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/11/10/daily13.html
KBR Inc. has been awarded a $75 million disaster relief contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for emergency power.
The Houston-based engineering company will be supplying the power to the Western region of the United States.
The five-year contract was created by the Army to respond immediately to power emergencies caused by natural or manmade disasters.

Homeland Security now spying on Americans (this just in! of course DHS is spying on us, they need to know who is aware of the crimes the elites are committing)http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/81037 Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV´s) and Space-Based Domestic Spying Surveillance technology the U.S. Government is now watching American citizens under the guise of disaster management and controlling the U.S. Mexican border. The Reaper/Predator B UAV´s robotic killing machines are currently in operation with the USAF, US Navy and the Royal Air Force. In addition non military users of the Predator B include: NASA and Homeland security though the US Customs and Border Protection agencies. The Department of Homeland Security´s (DHS) space-based domestic spy program run by that agency´s National Applications Office (NAO) is now in full operation. Indeed during Hurricane Ike, U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the first time flew the Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle in "support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency´s relief efforts," the insider tech publication reported. (cont..)

Manny Diaz as Homeland Security Chief? http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2008/11/manny_diaz_as_homeland_securit.php

Bioterrorism expert to speak at Rutgers-Camden Wednesday http://www.nj.com/south/index.ssf/2008/11/bioterrorism_expert_to_speak_a.html

Monday, November 10, 2008

Threataganda Special Osama + Obama

Bin Laden 'plans new attack on US' (substitute Pentagon for Osama)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/11/10/1226165435339.html

Osama bin Laden is planning an attack against the United States that will "outdo by far" September 11, 2001, an Arab newspaper in London has reported.
And, a former senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative said, the terrorist organisation has entered a "positive phase", reinforcing specific training camps around the world that will lead the next "wave of action" against the West.
The warning, on the front page of an Arabic newspaper published in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi - and reported widely in the major Italian papers - quotes a person described as being "very close to al-Qaeda" in Yemen...

Brzezinski: Obama may be tested
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=74757&sectionid=3510203
A former US national security adviser says President-elect Barack Obama may be tested by terrorists after he takes office on Jan. 20. "It's possible. There's no way of predicting that. It's a possibility, but it's by no means a certainty," former Carter administration national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said in an interview with Deutsche Welle. Brzezinski said that history shows that every new US president is tested by transitional challenges and circumstances.

Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours
http://www.prisonplanet.com/warnings-from-world-leaders-all-within-72-hours.html

DARPA Sims, Directed Energy Weapons

Darpa Wants Sim to 'Resurrect' Battlefield Trauma

Far-off commanders can already watch battles unfold, thanks to spy drones, streaming video overhead. They can read after-action reports, to learn how troops on the ground experienced the fight. But those officers don't have detailed, digitally-animated simulations, merging all that info -- and showing how similar fights might go, in the future.
Which is a situation Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky research arm, would like to fix. The agency is holding a mid-December meeting in Virginia to launch its "RESURRECT" (REstoring SURvivability by REConstructing Trauma) project. It aims to "create high-fidelity computer simulations" of warzone events "for tactical, operational and strategic review."
The program will likely have a medical bent. Darpa says the simulations should merge "anecdotal descriptions of events [with] medical records, autopsy findings and imagery." RESURRECT's program manager -- Col. Geoffrey Ling, MD -- also chairs the Department of Neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He heads up Darpa efforts in prosthetics, long-term blood storage, and predicting disease.
RESURRECT could also do some forecasting, too. Darpa would like the program to include "descriptive and predictive algorithms that can be implemented in an existing simulation software package."
The most famous weapon of science fiction is rapidly becoming fact

LIKE so much else in science fiction, the ray gun was invented by H.G. Wells. In the tentacles of Wells’s Martians it was a weapon as unanswerable by earthlings as the Maxim gun in the hands of British troops was unanswerable by Africans. Science fiction, though, it has remained. Neither hand-held pistols nor giant, orbiting anti-missile versions of the weapon have worked. But that is about to change. The first serious battlefield ray gun is now being deployed. And the next generation, now in the laboratory, is coming soon.
The deployed ray gun (or “directed-energy weapon”, in the tedious jargon that military men seem compelled to use to describe technology) is known as Zeus. It is not designed to kill. Rather, its purpose is to allow you to remain at a safe distance when you detonate unexploded ordnance, such as the homemade roadside bombs that plague foreign troops in Iraq.

Please see: History of "Directed Energy Weapons"

EADS North America's Tentainer(TM) Mobile Shelter Debuts at the U.S. Military Surgeons Association's Annual Meeting
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/EADS-North-Americas-TentainerTM-Mobile/story.aspx?guid=%7BDFD967D1-66B1-470E-BA04-58188260670F%7D
ARLINGTON, VA and RUSSELLVILLE, AR, Nov 10, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- A compact and highly deployable mobile shelter for military medical support missions, emergency response and disaster relief will be unveiled by EADS North America at this month's Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, beginning Monday, Nov. 10.
The new unit, called Tentainer(TM), is a hybrid shelter that combines a rigid-walled, lightweight lower container with a multi-cell inflatable tent upper portion. Built by EADS North America Integrated Shelter Systems in Russellville, Ark., Tentainer is tailored for applications such as military forward surgical stations, trauma treatment facilities, first aid stations and mobile command posts.

Kuwaiti Navy, NATO conclude military drills in the Gulf
Kuwaiti Navy and ships from the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) concluded strategic military exercises Sunday, the first of their kind in the Gulf region.The joint exercises were part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) and a security agreement with the NATO on information exchange.The six-day drills included fast inshore attack training, anti-piracy demonstration, an air defense exercise, and a demonstration of firepower.

US NORTHCOM Exercise Vigilant Shield 09


NORAD, USNORTHCOM participate in Exercise Vigilant Shield 09


PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command will participate in Exercise Vigilant Shield 09 Nov. 12 - 18.
The focus of VS09 is on homeland defense and civil support. The exercise will include scenarios to achieve exercise objectives within the maritime, aerospace, ballistic missile defense, cyber, consequence management, strategic communications, and counter terrorism domains.
VS09 will run concurrent with other Department of Defense-sponsored and international exercises to more realistically test the synchronized response of federal, state, local and international mission partners in preparation for homeland defense, homeland security and civil support missions in the United States and abroad.
Concurrent exercises include U.S. Strategic Command GLOBAL LIGHTNING 09 and BULWARK DEFENDER 09; Canada Command DETERMINED DRAGON; California National Guard VIGILANT GUARD; and the State of California GOLDEN GUARDIAN.
VS09 is a Command Post Exercise. During a CPX, many of the forces involved in the exercise are notional and most of the real forces and equipment are not deployed from their home bases.
NORAD is the bi-national command charged with aerospace warning and control, missile warning as well as maritime for the United States and Canada.
Formed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, USNORTHCOM is responsible for Homeland Defense and civil support missions.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Miami Pandemic Drill, Russia/NATO, China Space

Test drill at Miami International Airport aims to slow pandemics
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/story/758787.html

About 400 people participated in the nation's first pandemic flu exercise at Miami International Airport.

What if a deadly global pandemic were sweeping across the world and the United States needed to try to delay its effect on our shores?
For the first time, at Miami International Airport on Wednesday, about a dozen federal, state and local agencies participated in a simulation exercise to review the steps needed to screen international passengers arriving in the face of a severe influenza pandemic.
''It's an opportunity to test the plan, see how it works and what needs to be improved, so that when we need to use it for real we are ready,'' said Christine Pearson, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
About 400 people participated in the test drill, including about 200 voluntary actors. CDC, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation led the effort.
In the 20th century, the nation faced three influenza pandemics, in 1918, 1957 and 1968. A pandemic is defined as a new virus for which no one has immunity, which can affect humans and is spread easily between people.
And more pandemics are expected. Bird flu, which affects mostly poultry and wild birds in Asia, Africa and Europe, is being watched, because it sickened about 300 humans during the past decade.
''A pandemic is inevitable, but we can't say it's imminent,'' said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of global migration and quarantine for the CDC.

Navy Intercepts Ballistic Missile Target In Fleet Exercise
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Navy_Intercepts_Ballistic_Missile_Target_In_Fleet_Exercise_999.html
Extensive analysis of the flight mission will be used to improve the deployed Aegis BMD system. The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) flight record is 16 of 19 intercepts.

Vice Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, Commander, U.S. Third Fleet has announced the successful Navy intercept of a ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean during Fleet Exercise Pacific Blitz. This was the first Fleet operational firing to employ the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) against a ballistic missile target.
Command and control of this mission resided with Commander, U.S. Third Fleet, based in San Diego, Calif.
Pearl Harbor-based Aegis destroyers, USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) and USS Hopper (DDG 70), which have been upgraded to engage ballistic missiles, fired SM-3 missiles at separate targets. During this event, a short-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii.....

NATO voices 'serious worries' about Russian missile plans
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/NATO_voices_serious_worries_about_Russian_missile_plans_999.html
NATO has "serious worries" about the compatibility of Russian plans to deploy missiles in a western Russian enclave with arm control "arrangements," an alliance spokesman said Wednesday.
"We have seen the press reports on the statement of President (Dmitry) Medvedev regarding deployment of Iskander missiles to the Kaliningrad region," spokesman Robert Pszczel told AFP.

"If confirmed, it would raise serious worries concerning the conformity with existing arms control arrangements which are important for European security," he added.

Venezuela, Russia discuss nuclear energy, flights
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081106/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_russia_1
CARACAS, Venezuela – Top Venezuelan and Russian officials met Thursday to discuss bilateral agreements on everything from nuclear energy to direct flights connecting Caracas to Moscow.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin headed a delegation of business leaders visiting Venezuela to discuss development plans prior to Russian President Dimitri Medvedev's visit later this month.
"In a moment when the banks of the developing world are going bankrupt and disappearing, our two countries are negotiating the creation of a binational bank that will allow the financing of development," Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said...

The Chinese Space Industry Set For Take Off
http://www.spacedaily.com/pageone/spacedaily-2008-11-06.html

China put another two satellites into orbit on Wednesday, just weeks after its third successful manned space mission and the first space walk by Chinese astronauts in September. The space industry is taking off, thanks to the 30-year-old Reform and Opening-up Drive, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program. China established its space sector in the 1950s, an ...


Postal Anthrax Aftermath: Has Biodefense Spending Made Us Safer?
The Anthrax attacks in 2001 led to a massive increase in biodefense funding, which critics claim has done more harm than good
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=postal-anthrax-aftermath