THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC April 5, 2001 Thursday
U.S. IS SENSITIVE TO THE USE OF 'SPY'
In a debate over wordplay, the Bush administration has gone out of its way to refer to the plane as a "surveillance and reconnaissance" aircraft, not a spy plane, and to reject Chinese accusations that it violated Chinese airspace.
The plane is funded out of the classified intelligence budget. Eight of the crew members are listed as specialists in code-breaking. And the plane's intercepted messages end up at the supersecret National Security Agency.
Why the concern over the use of "spy"?
"Spying is pernicious; surveillance is not," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based defense and intelligence think tank.
Sensitivity to the use of the word "spy" also arises from the U.S. concern that China will claim it can hold the crew and the plane indefinitely as spies, not return them to the United States as U.S. citizens and U.S. property.
Copyright 2001 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
