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GlobalSecurity.org In the News


March 2001 News

  1. First commercial satellite photo of Cuba is released By Warren P. Strobel Knight Ridder Newspapers March 30, 2001 -- John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-area defense policy group, said it is one of the first "overhead" (aerial or satellite) images of Cuba made public since the Cuban missile crisis.
  2. NASA Glenn scientists anticipate budget cuts By JOHN MANGELS The Plain Dealer [Cleveland] Tuesday, March 27, 2001 -- "If we take at face value what [NASA] has said, they're building a research lab with enough room for the janitors but no room for the research," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense and space-policy organization.
  3. A space to call home By David L. Chandler Boston Globe March 27, 2001 - Most space policy analysts expect that, in the end, such crucial cuts to the space station are unlikely to prevail. For one thing, it calls for reducing the crew from seven to three - the minimum number required to run the basic functions of the station. Space policy analyst John Pike calls this shortsighted: ''Like having a school with janitors but no teachers.''
  4. Questions Linger About Health Effects Of DOD's 'Non-Lethal' Ray Christopher J. Castelli Inside The Navy March 26, 2001 - John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, told Inside the Navy the non-lethal ray concept sounds like "half of a radar," which might have information-gathering applications if equipment to receive and process radar pulses was included in the project. Perhaps, the U.S. military would develop an alternate version of the system for that purpose, suggested Pike, a defense expert.
  5. TARGETING THE 'ULTIMATE HIGH GROUND' Kathleen Kenna The Toronto Star, March 26, 2001 -- Washington should resist its obvious urge to develop anti-satellite and other space weapons, adds Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia- based think tank on defence policy. "Space should be a sanctuary from which American military satellites can operate to support troops on the ground," he says. "Attacks on satellites should be seen as untenable as attacking hospital ships."
  6. A NEW BATTLEGROUND Kathleen Kenna The Toronto Star, March 25, 2001 -- Critics contend the space-based laser is no more a sure thing than its controversial and still unproven cousin, the National Missile Defence (NMD) scheme. "This is right up there with the war on cancer and a cure for the common cold, " says Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington defence policy organization. "A lot of money goes in and not much comes out."
  7. Secret planes that helped America win the Cold War lie buried at Area 51 By KEITH ROGERS Las Vegas Review-Journal March 25, 2001 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org -- a Washington, D.C.-area defense-policy organization, said "the notion that the Air Force is burying its mistakes at Groom Lake makes sense. A stealth composite airplane is not the sort of thing that can be melted down to make pots and pans."
  8. Mir was cranky, but it symbolized much to Russians By Will Englund, Baltimore Sun March 24, 2001 - "The Space Race was one of three or four defining activities of the Cold War," John Pike, director of a Virginia-based organization called GlobalSecurity.org, said yesterday. "Mir was a very important component in ending the Cold War, because it showed everybody, 'No kidding, it really is over; the future will be different from the past.'"
  9. Space-based shield years away By FRANK SIETZEN, Jr., United Press International March 23, 2001 - John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, a research group in Washington, D.C. suggested that a space laser, even if developed successfully, would never be dependable enough for a U.S. president to use in a crisis. Pike also warned that if the U.S. were to field such weapons, countries like China might build more missiles for the laser to shoot down, overwhelming such devices. "Perversely, it will make us less secure rather than more secure," Pike said.
  10. EarthWatch sets sights a little lower By Tom McGhee, Denver Post Mar. 23, 2001 - The agencies have primarily relied on intelligence satellites that can take much sharper pictures than those planned for QuickBird II, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy organization.
  11. Like Soviets Who Launched It, Mir's Time Has Come and Gone By JOHN DANISZEWSKI Los Angeles Times March 22, 2001 -- For John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-area policy group, the geopolitical aspect of Mir's demise is the most important factor. "I think that its singular contribution was as a bridge from Cold War competition to post-Cold-War cooperation," he said.
  12. Pave Paws Here and Now News - March 21, 2001 - A look at what role PAVE PAWS, the controversial radar system, could play in defending the nation, and how it might work as part of a larger missile defense shield. We talk with John Pike, a space analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.org based in Alexandria, Virginia.
  13. Wanted : Thousands of engineers for supersecret spy satellite project The Straits Times (Singapore) March 20, 2001 -- John Pike, a Washington, DC-based military space consultant, believes that in all, the work could eventually mean jobs for at least 20,000 people in California and be similar in scope to the US$20-billion Manhattan Project, the 1940s programme to build the first atomic bomb.
  14. NEW BILLION-DOLLAR INTELLIGENCE PROJECT MARKETPLACE (6:30 PM ET) March 19, 2001, Monday -- The Future Imagery Architecture project, a fancy name for what essentially will be the next generation of spy satellites. They'll be smaller, cheaper and harder to detect than the current crop, and reportedly they'll be able to take pictures of military installations all over the world, anytime, anywhere, whatever the weather. John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy firm in Alexandria, Virginia, has to estimate the cost, since the government's keeping it secret.
    Sam Donaldson
    Bringing down Mir
    The Fall of Mir -- After 15 years in space and several near-fatal catastrophes, the space station is headed for Earth. Sam talks with former Mir resident and astronaut Jerry Linenger, and John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org.

  15. With rattletrap 'Mir' will fall a dream of Russian glory St. Petersburg Times March 19, 2001, Monday -- "Mir's scientific legacy? It doesn't have one," scoffed John Pike, a veteran space policy analyst. "For many years, the Soviets' space program was part of their claim to being equal to the U.S.," Pike said. "Mir helped the Russians sustain some measure of self-respect after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The end of Mir is the end of their claim to being a superpower."
  16. Project led by Boeing could boost Calif aerospace industry The Associated Press March 18, 2001 - John Pike, a Washington, D.C.-based military space consultant, believes the project could create 20,000 jobs in California and estimated the program's total cost at $25 billion.
  17. Massive Spy-Satellite Program to Cost Billions By PETER PAE, Los Angeles Times Sunday, March 18, 2001 -- John Pike, a Washington, D.C.-based military space consultant, believes that in all, the work could eventually mean jobs for at least 20,000 people in California. "Lots of kids will be sent to college, lots of swimming pools are going to get built and a lot of people will spend their career working on this project," Pike said.
  18. Want to see the Mir fall to Earth? It'll take $10,000 to get close enough By Seth Borenstein Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service March 17, 2001 - "The risk is not zero, but it's pretty close to zero," said John Pike, a longtime space analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., group that monitors the security challenges of nuclear and space technology.
  19. The Permanent Frontier BY James Kitfield The National Journal March 17, 2001 -- "We need to develop specific solutions to the vulnerability of our satellites, but it doesn't follow that we need to aggressively develop anti-satellite weapons," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. "Because the United States has, by far, the most important targets to attack in space-and the rogue nations we're always concerned about have no satellites-it's in our narrow interest to make attacks on satellites the moral equivalent of attacking a hospital ship."
  20. Freeh style; Director eludes criticism despite FBI's troubles BY Michelle Mittelstadt The Dallas Morning News March 14, 2001, Wednesday Pg. 1A - "Louis Freeh knows who he works for, which is to say he does not work for the attorney general; he works for the U.S. Congress," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington security policy organization.
  21. Bombing Accident Kills 5 Americans At Site In Kuwait By James Dao New York Times March 13, 2001 - "It is a quintessential plain vanilla dumb bomb," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy organization in Washington.
  22. Accidental bombing kills six in Kuwait By Robert Burns Associated Press Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - "It is quite lethal at hundreds of feet. If I was at one end of a football field and one of these things went off at the other end, I would duck" said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org.
  23. 6 Die in U.S. Jet Bombing Accident in Kuwait By PAUL RICHTER, Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - In latest tragedy to befall Navy, five U.S. troops are among the dead after unguided munition is dropped during training. Sources: U.S. Central Command; John Pike, GlobalSecurity.org
  24. Return of Mir stirs questions about re-entry by KURT LOFT The Tampa Tribune March 12, 2001, Monday, Pg. 1 -- "The history of Mir has been sort of like serving in the military - long periods of extreme boredom punctuated by brief episodes of terror," said John Pike. "So one thing the Russians learned was that a space station is more useful as a political tool than as a scientific instrument."
  25. Houston, we have no money BY: Jeff Hecht New Scientist March 10, 2001 - Bush is boosting NASA's Space Launch Initiative fund by 64 per cent to dollar 475.6 million in search of other successors to the shuttle. Details are vague at best. "I don't think anybody knows what this new initiative is," says John Pike, a space policy expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org, based near Washington DC.
  26. The Future of Intelligence Gathering and Global Security ABC Radio National Late Night Live March 10, 2001 -- Guests on this program: John Pike, Jonathan Stephenson
  27. Space flight crosses another frontier By David L. Chandler, Boston Globe 3/9/2001 -- John Pike, a space policy analyst for the Web site globalsecurity.org, said, the space station research will be ''absolutely essential'' as a prerequisite ''before you seriously think about returning to the moon, or going to Mars.
  28. POWELL EXPANDS LIST OF FACILITIES IN IRAQ THAT MAY BE BOMBED By John Diamond Chicago Tribune March 8, 2001 -- "The plain meaning of those words is that they're basically going to substitute air strikes for weapons inspections," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an online national security think tank. Under the Bush policy, Pike said, "strikes against Iraqi weapons facilities would become as routine and as much a part of the standing policy as against air defense--anytime, anywhere."
  29. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT INSPECTOR GENERAL MAKES SCATHING ASSESSMENT OF A PROGRAM AIMED AT DEALING WITH TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE US National Public Radio (NPR) ALL THINGS CONSIDERED 9:00 PM ET March 7, 2001, Wednesday - The inspector general's report was made public last month and was reviewed by veteran military analyst John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. Mr. JOHN PIKE (GlobalSecurity.org): Well, the report is an astonishing catalog of making just about every imaginable mistake in managing a program.
  30. The People Zapper By C. Mark Brinkley, Marine Corps Times March 5, 2001 -- John Pike, a longtime space and military policy analyst and founder of GlobalSecurity.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to international peace and security, said new weapon technologies are likely to face skepticism when they're unveiled before the public.
  31. GAO Shoots Holes in Plan for Deployment of Missile Defense System By PAUL RICHTER Los Angeles Times Saturday, March 3, 2001 -- The infrared satellite system "is an unavoidable part of any missile defense shield that goes beyond the most rudimentary, basic threat," said John Pike, a space and defense analyst at GlobalSecurity.org.
  32. NASA urged to go metric BY A.J. HOSTETLER Richmond Times Mar 03, 2001 -- Frequent NASA critic John Pike, director of Global Security.org, said he was disappointed by the report's failure to address how NASA can avoid the risk of a repeat disaster.
  33. NASA pulls the plug on space plane By Seth Borenstein Philadelphia Inquirer 02 March 2001 -- "It's 52-card-pickup time," space analyst John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington policy group, said of the NASA human spaceflight program. "It's in greater disarray than it's been in some decades."
  34. NEW CROWD-CONTROL WEAPON THAT THE PENTAGON IS DEVELOPING National Public Radio (NPR) MORNING EDITION March 2, 2001, Friday -- The scientists who developed the weapon say people instinctively move out of the beam before suffering any damage. Other weapon experts aren't so sure. John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org is impressed but skeptical.
  35. New budget gives NASA the blues Michael Cabbage Orlando Sentinel March 1, 2001 -- "Certainly, the conventional wisdom was that Abbey was basically the fall guy for the cost overrun," said John Pike, director of the Washington-based GlobalSecurity.com policy research organization.