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GlobalSecurity.org In the News


May 2003 News

  1. Tank success in Iraq war could mean more funding for Lima plant By Malia Rulon The Associated Press May 29, 2003 -- "The M1 Abrams was essentially the sledgehammer of the U.S. Army in this war," said Pat Garrett, associate analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy group in Virginia.
  2. Report links Iraqi trailers to weapons By Robert Schlesinger The Boston Globe May 29, 2003 -- ''These trailers had better turn out to be the tip of the iceberg rather than the smoking gun,'' said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank. ''If the rest of the program turns out to have been just totally indistinguishable from chlorine for water purification or pesticide production or baby milk, then I think there's going to be a problem here.''
  3. CIA opens report on Iraq trailers By John Diamond USA TODAY May 29, 2003 -- "The administration has got a serious credibility problem," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-area think tank. Pike called the CIA report credible but added, "This long after the war, for them to come up with two rusting trailers, it's pretty thin."
  4. Carrier fliers return home from Iraq By Sonja Barisic The Associated Press May 28, 2003 -- GlobalSecurity.org site with information about Carrier Air Wing Eight: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/cvw8.htm
  5. Bombing by Numbers: The Iraqi air war wasn't as modern as it looked By Fred Kaplan Slate.com May 27, 2003 -- The unclassified report-titled Operation Iraqi Freedom by the Numbers, signed by Lt. Gen. Michael Moseley, commander of CENTAF (Central Command Air Forces), and available on John Pike's wondrously useful Web site globalsecurity.org-confirms that the part of the war concerned with intelligence-gathering, target-acquisition, and real-time battlefield command-and-control was very high-tech indeed.
  6. They're in the Navy now: Six sea lions get drafted By Phil Long The Miami Herald May 27, 2003 -- Use of sea lions in the defense plan for America's ports would require a ''monumental increase in funding'' which isn't likely, said Patrick Garrett, associate analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank on military, intelligence and space issues.
  7. Aerial Advertisers Balk at Disney No-Fly Zone Fox News May 27, 2003 -- "The exclusion zone is simply too small to get an air defense fighter in place in time to do any good," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org.
  8. Blazing the trail for tech By Benjamin Pimentel The San Francisco Chronicle May 26, 2003 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said the military found that it made more sense to buy commercially most of the technology it needs. But it also made sense to work with private companies in pushing new research, because a robust technology industry also benefits the defense establishment.
  9. Unexploded ammunition may pose threat at Middletown plant The Associated Press May 26, 2003 -- Iowa Army Ammunition Plant: http://www.globalsecurity.org/
  10. How harmful is depleted uranium? By Susan Taylor Martin St. Petersburg Times (Florida) May 25, 2003 -- Sources: World Health Organization; U.S. Army; GlobalSecurity.org; USF
  11. US Army Chief Says Iraqi Troops Took Bribes To Surrender Dollar Notes Easier To Take Than Bullets By Andrew Buncombe The Independent (London) May 24, 2003 -- John Pike, director of the Washington-based military research group, GlobalSecurity.Org, said: "It certainly strikes me that this is part of the mix. I don't think there is any way of discerning how big a part of the mix it is ... but it is part of the long queue of very interesting questions for which we do not yet have definitive answers."
  12. Iraaks leger wordt ontmanteld; 'Uday Hussein overweegt overgave' Eindhovens Dagblad May 24, 2003 -- De elitetroepen, de Republikeinse Garde, leverden volgens de militaire denktank Global Security ongeveer zeventigduizend manschappen.
  13. IRAK VS ontmantelen Iraakse ministeries en leger By Bloemen/Heijt Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau ANP May 23, 2003 -- Het reguliere Iraakse leger telde voor de oorlog tegen de Amerikanen en Britten ongeveer 360.000 militairen en is in feite al tijdens de oorlog ontmanteld. De elitetroepen, de Republikeinse Garde, leverden volgens de militaire denktank Global Security ongeveer 70.000 manschappen.
  14. A General Changes Course By Robert Schlesinger The Boston Globe May 23, 2003 -- ''The campaign plan that they wound up with demonstrated far greater audacity than had been anticipated by many of his detractors,'' said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank. ''His detractors viewed him as being plodding and unimaginative and I would say the campaign plan he wound up with is quite the opposite. It's to his credit that he was both able and willing to do it and that the unavoidable back and forth that was occasioned in this process a year ago did not appear to have become acrimonious.''
  15. US slaps sanctions on Chinese, Iranian companies over missile trade By Maxim Kniazkov Agence France Presse May 23, 2003 -- It has a registered capital of about 30 billion dollars, is involved in more than 100 joint ventures around the world and, in addition to weapons, sells high technology products, chemicals and construction machinery, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a local research organization.
  16. Michigan might ban high-tech weapon By Dawson Bell Detroit Free Press May 22, 2003 -- John Pike, a defense analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, said a lot of research has been conducted but most of it is classified. Pike said he thinks a cruise missile-launched e-bomb may have been used on the first night of the war to disable Iraqi military communications systems. But the Pentagon has not confirmed it, he said.
  17. Wartime Grapevine FOX SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME May 22, 2003 -- JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG. The exclusions are simply too small to get an air defense fighter in time to do any good.
  18. List of previous base closings Scripps Howard News Service May 22, 2003 -- Source: GlobalSecurity.org
  19. Revolutionary tank tactics alter Iraqi conflict, future of urban warfare By Patrick O'Connor The Hill May 21, 2003 -- "Tanks were the sledgehammer in this war," added Pat Garrett, an associate analyst with GlobalSecurity.org. "The tank was the tool that allowed [the ground forces] to progress as fast as they did."
  20. Al-Qaieda a visiblement cesse d'hiberner Par Patrick Anidjar Agence France Presse May 21, 2003 -- "Al-Qaieda a garde un profil relativement bas au cours des dix-huit derniers mois environ", observe Patrick Garrett, specialiste du terrorisme a GlobalSecurity.org, un groupe d'experts des questions de defense.
  21. Das Pentagon plant die Matrix NetZeitung.de May 21, 2003 -- Der Chef von Globalsecurity.org, John Pike, sieht das ähnlich. «Wired» zitiert ihn mit den Worten: «Es sieht wie ein Auswuchs von TIA und anderen Überwachungsprogrammen des Ministeriums für Innere Sicherheit aus.»
  22. Military eyes next-generation GPS technology By Sarah Lesher The Hill May 20, 2003 -- "A decade ago it was almost too big to carry. Now the issue is making it big enough so you don't lose it," said John Pike, a military analyst and director of Globalsecurity.org in Alexandria, Va.
  23. A Spy Machine of DARPA's Dreams By Noah Shachtman Wired News May 20, 2003 -- John Pike, director of defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org, said he finds the explanations "hard to believe." "It looks like an outgrowth of Total Information Awareness and other DARPA homeland security surveillance programs," he added in an e-mail.
  24. Iraq 'first battle of a wider US war' By Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian May 20, 2003 -- The invasion of Iraq was a "single campaign in a much larger war" against the Bush administration's "axis of evil", the conference was told. "Iraq was not a war, Iraq was a battle," said John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, an American defence policy research group.
  25. Feds Want More Reliance On Commercial Satellites By Ann Rooselvelt Defense Week May 19, 2003 -- The policy "comes as a relief rather than a surprise, in the sense that it has been long awaited and I think is widely appreciated" by the industry, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a security web site.
  26. Military sees less ranks, more technology ahead By Ron Jackson The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK) May 18, 2003 -- "People are talking about Rumsfeld's plans to go from 10 artillery divisions to eight," said John Pike, a military defense analyst who heads a research group known as GlobalSecurity.org. "We're talking about roughly 35,000 soldiers. "That would be the equivalent of closing two American forts."
  27. 'Alone and unafraid': The Marines' 2nd Tank Battalion used speed and armor to make quick work of Saddam Hussein's regime By Jim Landers The Dallas Morning News May 18, 2003 -- In the 1991 Gulf War, the Marines played a secondary role in the land forces that reclaimed Kuwait, said Patrick Garrett, an analyst with the Alexandria, Va., online firm Globalsecurity.org. "In the Gulf War, they were used largely as a deception - to make the Iraqis believe there'd be an amphibious landing," he said. "It was not as front and center as the Marines would have liked. In Operation Iraqi Freedom, they got rid of that shadow."
  28. U.S. faces phalanx of dangerous, destabilizing groups in Iraq By Denis D. Gray The Associated Press May 18, 2003 -- Robin Leeds, an analyst with the U.S.-based think tank Globalsecurity.org, calls SCIRI "a very frightening component on a clear mission to undermine the U.S."
  29. Working hypothesis: wing hit by debris; Columbia Disaster; cause of space shuttle Columbia accident By R. Cowen Science News May 17, 2003 -- "Congress and the public are going to question the force and validity of their procedural recommendations without access to the evidence that led them to their conclusions," asserts John Pike, a space-policy analyst with GlobalSecurity.org in Alexandria, Va.
  30. Navy rethinking deployment strategy By James W. Crawley Copley News Service May 16, 2003 -- With so many ships returning from the war in coming months, defense analyst Patrick Garrett said the Navy may be hard-pressed to quickly deploy again. "If something were to crop up in two or three months with North Korea, there is a good chance much of the Navy would be in the shipyards," said the analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based think tank.
  31. 'Friendly Fire' Still a Problem By Peter Pae The Los Angeles Times May 16, 2003 -- "There was a number of new low-tech combat identification systems used, but none of the high-tech stuff that was under development since the Persian Gulf War," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a military research firm. "I'm sure that's going to be the subject of much discussion."
  32. Inside Air Force One U.S. News & World Report May 19, 2003 -- Sources: United States Air Force, HowStuffWorks.com, National Geographic, GlobalSecurity.org
  33. Homeland Security to look for anti-missile devices for airliners By Leslie Miller The Associated Press May 15, 2003 -- John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense policy group, said infrared devices used to protect Air Force cargo planes from shoulder-fired missiles could be used on civilian aircraft.
  34. Congress could reinstate 23 B-1 bombers By Tara Copp Scripps Howard News Service May 15, 2003 -- "The air war was the invisible war," said John Pike, a defense analyst for GlobalSecurity.org.
  35. US company has long history with Saudis By Michael Kranish The Boston Globe May 15, 2003 -- ''They hit Vinnell as opposed to McDonald's. It has certainly been a centerpiece of the US-Saudi relationship for a very long time,'' said John Pike, a defense analyst at Globalsecurity.org. ''It is absolutely at the core of the legitimacy of the monarchy and the symbiotic relationship between these two countries.''
  36. Algonac buys military surplus By Lori Paionk Times Herald (Port Huron, MI) May 15, 2003 -- Source: GlobalSecurity.org
  37. Home at last By Robert C. Withers The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, WV) May 14, 2003 -- For more about Ahmed al-Jaber Air Base, visit www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/ahmed-al-jaber.htm
  38. U.S. calls most diplomats home from Saudi Arabia; FBI sending investigators By Barry Schweid The Associated Press May 13, 2003 -- The Saudi National Guard protects the ruling monarchy and is the Saudi equivalent to the Republican Guard of Saddam Hussein, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense policy group. The National Guard is distinct from the regular Saudi Army.
  39. Va. Company's Saudi Ties Go Back 25 Years By Pete Yost The Associated Press May 13, 2003 -- The Saudi national guard protects the ruling monarchy and is the Saudi equivalent to the Republican Guard of Saddam Hussein, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense policy group.
  40. U.S. to Rely More on Private Companies' Satellite Images By Eric Lichtblau The New York Times May 13, 2003 -- A year ago, we had Tenet saying this is what we want to do, and now we have the president saying this is national policy," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org and a specialist in satellite technology. "This is basically long overdue," Mr. Pike said in an interview. "The benefits of buying commercial when it is possible have been evident for a long time."
  41. 'Land Warrior' technology is the next battlefield edge By David Whelan Contra Costa Times May 12, 2003 -- Military decisions to buy existing technology is a controversial, decade-old trend, says John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy group in Virginia. The military on the one hand sees the benefits of private industry's technology but worries it has less control over what gets developed.
  42. Fickle Planet By Amanda Onion ABCNews.com May 12, 2003 -- "If you go and look at the overall history of missions to mars, exploration has proven to be enormously risky," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a nonprofit organization focused on security and space issues.
  43. Canon system could be headed for Elgin Associated Press May 12, 2003 -- "I think it's a really big leap from the Crusader," said John Pike, a military defense analyst who heads GlobalSecurity.org, a military research group.
  44. What Price Shuttle Safety? by Ralph Vartabedian Los Angeles Times May 12, 2003 -- "The plan is to pretend the accident didn't happen and not change anything," said space policy expert John Pike. "They are going to invest chump change in upgrades. The risk is you are going to blow up another one."
  45. Ship Blast Has Local Family Anxious By Carl Orth The Tampa Tribune (Florida) May 11, 2003 -- According to a report by Globalsecurity.org, 11 members of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade were injured during an explosion Wednesday in a berthing area on the Saipan. None of the Marines suffered life-threatening injuries, according to the report.
  46. Blind Spots; The Impossible Task for America's Spies by WILLIAM J. BROAD New York Times May 11, 2003 -- Satellite view of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment complex and a new underground plant (magnified). (DigitalGlobe/GlobalSecurity.org)
  47. Satellites crucial to American warfare by JON SARCHE Associated Press May 11, 2003 -- "It's why the United States is unbeatable on a conventional battlefield," said John Pike, a military analyst with Globalsecurity.org.
  48. U.S. Aides Remain Divided As They Weigh Korea Risks by DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER New York Times May 11, 2003 -- Source: Department of Defense; Globalsecurity.org; International Institute of Strategic Studies
  49. NO-FLY ZONES SHIELD DISNEY'S RESORTS by Sean Mussenden and Henry Pierson Curtis Orlando Sentinel May 11, 2003 -- "Apart from warning away law-abiding pilots, it's not clear to me what this is going to buy you," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank in Alexandria, Va.
  50. OPINION; Letters to the Editor El Paso Times (El Paso, TX) May 08, 2003 -- An Associated Press story (April 23) included this statement from John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org: "Obviously the biggest technological disappointment is the Patriot."
  51. Aerospace experts: Delta IV work here too important to be stopped By Shelby G. Spires The Huntsville Times May 06, 2003 -- The Delta IV - built by Boeing in Decatur - is deemed a national security asset needed to place Air Force spy satellites into space. That makes it a vital commodity the government is not likely to do without, said Charles Vick, a senior analyst and space expert with GlobalSecurity.org. (...) John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said many times investigations into major defense contractors result "in nothing more than a slap on the wrist," and in some case a few people might face fines or jail time. Major program changes generally don't sprout out of investigations.
  52. Deadly mistakes By Gregor McGavin The Press-Enterprise May 04, 2003 -- "If we're spending money on reducing the possibility that the enemy can kill us, why not stop us killing us?" said John Pike, who heads GlobalSecurity.org., a Virginia military think tank.
  53. Where are Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? By Pauline Jelinek The Associated Press May 04, 2003 -- "As someone who supported the war, ... I wish they'd hurry up and find something," said John Pike, an analyst at GlobalSecurity.org.
  54. Families want the truth; The delay in finding out the cause of a loved one's death can add to the tragedy By Gregor McGavin The Press-Enterprise May 04, 2003 -- "I think it's a cultural problem that most institutions have," said Tim Brown, an analyst at the military think tank GlobalSecurity.org in northern Virginia. "There's always a tendency on their part to cover up, to minimize, to delay, to stonewall."
  55. Raytheon's Battle Maker Of Patriot Missile Aims For Big Postwar Orders By Ross Kerber The Boston Globe May 03, 2003 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington research group, said US officials will have to provide more data. "I think that at some point they're going to have to have some unclassified answers to these questions for customers," he said.
  56. Allies won with few casualties By Oscar Avila Chicago Tribune May 03, 2003 -- "I think the worst-case numbers would have had at least an extra zero on them," said John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a military research group. "But I'm not sure battlefield success with Saddam necessarily translates to other wars. Can you use a precision-guided missile to take out a coca field in Colombia?"
  57. The two U.S.-led wars with Iraq were different conflicts By Richard Pyle Associated Press May 03, 2003 -- Statistics, still being compiled, also reveal significant differences, especially in two categories - "troops and bombs," according to John Pike, founder of the Virginia-based military think-tank GlobalSecurity.org.
  58. Diplomacy puts North Korea weapons on table By Wayne Specht and Hana Kusumoto Pacific Stars and Stripes May 03, 2003 -- If North Korea joins the select nuclear club - nations with nuclear weapons - it could have a destabilizing effect for its neighbors, said John Pike, director of the Washington-based GlobalSecurity.org. "Japan will have great difficulty avoiding exercising its nuclear option and could become a nuclear-weapons state within a few months of taking this decision," Pike said in an e-mail interview with Stars and Stripes. "There will be some sort of ripple effect including South Korea, Taiwan, India, Pakistan and China."
  59. Syria: Friend Or Foe? Orlando Sentinel (Florida) May 03, 2003 -- PHOTO: Eye in the sky. Satellite imagery of chemcial-weapons storage facilities at the Al Safir chemical-weapons plant in northwest Syria.; GLOBALSECURITY.ORG; PHOTO: Hafex al-Assad
  60. Election 2003 The Mayor's Race: Military is local issue in this case Glover, Peyton will fight base closings By Rachel Davis Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL) May 02, 2003 -- The excess military bases annually cost taxpayers an estimated $ 3.5 billion, according to GlobalSecurity.org, an online military think-tank.
  61. Chinese submarine accident kills 70 United Press International May 02, 2003 -- The 250-foot long Ming class submarine was certified in 1983. There are approximately 19 in China's inventory. No. 361 entered service in 1995, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
  62. Chinese Submarine Accident Kills All 70 Aboard By Anthony Kuhn Los Angeles Times May 02, 2003 -- "This is an interesting development in transparency," said Patrick Garrett, an associate analyst at at the website GlobalSecurity.org, noting that military accidents are seldom reported in the Chinese media.
  63. China Submarine Mishap During Drill Kills All 70 Sailors Aboard By Todd Zeranski Bloomberg May 02, 2003 -- The accident highlighted China's growing involvement in submarine operations. China's Navy is trying to project more force regionally in part by improving its ability to send subs on extended patrols, according to Globalsecurity.org, an Alexandria, Virginia-based defense research group.
  64. Soldier in 'Las Vegas R-J' Story May Be Investigated By Rafe Bartholomew Editor & Publisher May 02, 2003 -- John Pike, director of the defense and intelligence policy organization Globalsecurity.org, said in an April 26 Review-Journal follow-up story that the inquiry would revolve around the question of whether Covarrubias killed a prisoner of war. "As soon as [the Iraqi soldier] had surrendered and obeyed a command to turn around, he was no longer an enemy combatant," said Pike in the story.
  65. Iraqi Weapons Agency Chief, Vice President Held-US By Jeff Franks Reuters May 02, 2003 -- The Military Industrialization Ministry headed by Hwaish was "the primary agency responsible for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs during the 1980s," according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based think tank for space and military issues.
  66. Jet co-pilot Bush: 'Yes, I flew it!' By John Ritter USA TODAY May 02, 2003 -- Sources: U.S. Navy, GlobalSecurity.org. Federation of American Scientists
  67. Military bases to be moved east By Duncan Campbell The Guardian (London) May 02, 2003 -- "If you want to talk about suns not setting on empires, you know, the Brits had nothing compared to this," John Pike, a defence analyst with the intelligence and military policy thinktank GlobalSecurity.org, told the LA Times.
  68. National nuclear weapons labs studying new bunker-busting bomb By Mark Sherman The Associated Press May 01, 2003 -- Excerpts from the administration's nuclear posture review: http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/dod/npr.htm
  69. Firm envisions high-tech combat By David Whelan Contra Costa Times May 01, 2003 -- Military decisions to buy existing technology is a controversial, decade-old trend, says John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy group in Virginia.
  70. U.S. Expedites Reshuffling of Europe Troops By Esther Schrader Los Angeles Times May 01, 2003 -- If you want to talk about suns not setting on empires, you know, the Brits had nothing compared to this," said John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, an intelligence and military policy think tank based in Alexandria, Va.