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U.S. faces huge loss of data if Chinese get access to plane

WASHINGTON -- The seizure of a Navy spy plane by the Chinese could cost the Pentagon vital information about how China's military operates and might inflict wider damage if Beijing shares U.S. secrets with other potential adversaries, defense officials and experts said Monday.

The EP-3E reconnaissance plane that was forced to land in China on Sunday after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet functions like a huge, electronic vacuum cleaner. With a variety of sensitive antennas, it picks up signals that reveal how Chinese ships, planes and ground installations communicate with one another and gather information on potential targets.

If the Chinese gain access to the plane's top-secret equipment, they can find out what the Pentagon knows -- and what it doesn't know -- about their communications and operations. With that knowledge, they can change their methods and develop countermeasures, thus depriving the Americans of what would be a powerful advantage in wartime.

``They could develop a good sense of how they look to us,'' said Daniel Goure, a former Pentagon official at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia think tank. ``And it's very important to . . . find out what the other guy can read.''

It remained unclear whether the Chinese had boarded the plane to try to obtain the secrets, or whether the plane's 24-member crew was able to destroy their gear before the EP-3E landed. China told the Associated Press early today that it has the right to inspect the plane -- despite the U.S. claim that it is protected American territory.

``Based on Chinese law, and international practice, we have the right to conduct an investigation,'' Zhu Bangzao, spokesman of China's Foreign Ministry, said at a news conference.

Defense officials said the crew members have an ``emergency destruction plan'' for quickly eliminating eavesdropping equipment and data they have collected.

Some of the information is in the form of paper documents that can be shredded; other material is in computer software and electronic media that can be quickly erased.

But there also is hardware that might have to be destroyed, including the antennas, for example, and special-purpose ``signal processing hardware.'' U.S. officials said that in the final moments before the spy plane landed, the crew may have been trying to destroy the hardware with hammers and axes.

Some analysts speculated that the Chinese might try to sell some information gleaned from the EP-3E to countries that are buying Chinese military or commercial goods, such as Iraq.

The loss of the EP-3E's secrets would be a serious setback, requiring a laborious rebuilding process, several analysts said. But it might not be a catastrophe.

Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after a briefing by National Security Agency officials that he believes there will be ``some loss'' of U.S. intelligence, ``although we can't be sure yet how great that will be.''

The EP-3E is one of 12 aircraft of its kind. The planes are in constant demand by regional U.S. military commanders .

The United States generally bases two of them at Misawa Air Base, Japan, for use in East Asia, according to John Pike, of GlobalSecurity.org, a research organization.

The 24-member crew of the plane includes three pilots and a navigator, plus a variety of technicians and mechanics. Along a windowless fuselage, the technicians sit at a row of ``watch stations,'' searching for and analyzing signals and gathering data.

Pike said the EP-3E can intercept communications that are broadcast and pinpoint the location of military headquarters, ships, radio and radar installations and other electronic equipment in use. ``Basically, they just fly down the coast of China and check to see who is at home,'' he said.

But the Chinese often change electronic frequencies, he said, ``and that is why they keep flying these things. It's sort of like your phone book is always going bad, and you would not want to go into battle with a three-year-old phone book. So you continuously update the electronic order of battle.''