Newsday 04/03/2001 - Tuesday - Page A 3
Loss of Secrets
Sources: Crew had no time to destroy vital information
by Patrick J. SloyanWashington Bureau
Washington-The United States has suffered what defense officials termed a "major intelligence loss" after Chinese military officials boarded a Navy spy plane loaded with advanced computers and the most sophisticated electronic eavesdropping system in the intelligence community.
"This was a substantial compromise of our intelligence systems," said a senior Navy official expert on the equipment and capabilities of the EP-3 Aires II that was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island after a midair collision with a Chinese F-8 jet interceptor.
Senior defense officials said the pilot of the four-engine turboprop had only about 15 minutes between the collision Sunday morning (local time) and the landing at a Chinese military base at Lingshui.
"That was not enough time to destroy very vital information aboard the aircraft," said a senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Code book, encryption materials, hard drives-that plane was loaded with sensitive stuff. This was a major intelligence loss." Crews aboard the EP-3 routinely rehearse destruction of sensitive equipment code-named "story book, story teller and story classic." Top priority is destruction of code books and computers. But based on the timing of these rehearsals, defense officials said they are convinced the most sensitive equipment fell into Chinese hands before they could be destroyed.
Aires II is a reconfigured Lockheed P-3 Orion, a long-range subhunter during the Cold War that has found new life in the intelligence community.
Defense officials described it as a giant electronic vacuum, sucking up all kinds of electronic communications-voice, facsimile, computer mail-and radar signatures that are filed away for contingency plans against the Chinese military.
John Pike, an intelligence equipment expert with GlobalSecurity.org, said if digital cassette tapes and hard drives were compromised, it would be a windfall for the Chinese military. "They could see U.S. monitoring priorities and recordings of communications networks which would show them what was secure and what was vulnerable.
"This would be very interesting for them. But to get at other sensitive equipment, they would have to take the plane apart," Pike said.
It was the second confrontation between China and U.S. Navy intelligence gatherers in recent days. On March 24, the survey ship Bowditch, conducting ocean floor mapping 50 miles off the China coast, was confronted by the Chinese Frigate Huangshi, Pentagon officials said. The Chinese warship used "aggressive and provocative maneuvers" within 100 yards of the Bowditch, the United States said in a formal complaint to Beijing.
The Bowditch was escorted outside the 200-mile economic exclusion zone by the Chinese frigate. Electronic mapping of the ocean floor is a key part of U.S. submarine warfare. The Navy conducts such operations under the guise of scientific research.
For the past six months, U.S. intelligence aircraft have stepped up surveillance of Chinese seaports and military bases as Beijing expands air and sea forces to project its power in Asia. U.S. Navy experts foresee China completing an ocean-going navy by 2010. Until now, it has deployed mainly a defensive fleet of coastal ships.
During this same period, Chinese warplanes have been intercepting one of three U.S. surveillance flights, according to defense officials. The Chinese warplanes were maneuvering closer and closer to the U.S. planes-sometimes only 20 feet from the left side of the Aires II.
In December, the United States formally complained about the Chinese execution of the intercepts over the South China sea. "This was simply an outrage," said one Navy admiral. "It was probably an accident but we could see this coming." On Sunday, after landing, the captain of the Navy plane confirmed in his last messages that the crew was safe and that Chinese soldiers had boarded the aircraft.
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