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GlobalSecurity.org In the News


February 2004 News

  1. Grasping for help at home By Chris Fusco Chicago Sun Times February 29, 2004 -- Still, "I think the Army leadership understands with profound clarity that they're running the risk that they're going to break up the National Guard by having too many service members deployed overseas for extended periods of time," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a group that analyzes defense policy. "People did not join the Guard to go to Iraq."
  2. On Bugging News, Annan Had Low-Key Reaction to Old Practice By Warren Hoge The New York Times February 28, 2004 -- John E. Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a nonprofit security policy group in Alexandria, Va., was even blunter. "You could say that there are more spooks in that building than any other on the planet," he said. "Everyone knows that there is a lot of spying and eavesdropping that goes on at the U.N. and during the cold war, it was a hotbed of Soviet espionage,"
  3. Secretary of Navy visits Yokosuka By Nancy Montgomery Stars and Stripes February 27, 2004 -- The LCS is to be an "agile, stealthy surface combatant," according to Global Security.org, that "will rely heavily on manned and unmanned vehicles."
  4. Army envisions futuristic supersoldier force By Frank Oliveri Gannett News Service February 26, 2004 -- Patrick Garret, an associate analyst with Globalsecurity.org, said tank battles are a thing of the past. "Enemy tanks will get (destroyed) by air power," he said.
  5. All 201st Troops Deployed Overseas By Brittany Morehouse WDTV NewsChannel Five(W. Virginia) February 25, 2004 -- Military experts at GlobalSecurity.com say convoy missions face the most attacks and suffer the highest casualties of all American troops in Iraq. "[Members of the 201st] will be protecting convoys as they travel from point A to point B," said Patrick Garrett, who updates the website's posting of deploying and returning troops. "They will be walking through some of the worst parts in Iraq, which are not very secure. They will be scouting ahead...determining if there's an active threat. If so, they are the ones who decide to attack."
  6. Bush administration faces dilemma on Haiti By Drew Brown Knight Ridder Newspapers February 25, 2004 -- "It's not too clear whose side you'd be on or what the exit strategy would be," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a military and intelligence analysis group.
  7. John Kerry's Defense Defense By Fred Kaplan Slate February 25, 2004 -- Another bit of dishonesty is RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie's claim, at a news conference today, that in 1995, Kerry voted to cut $1.5 billion from the intelligence budget. John Pike, who runs the invaluable globalsecurity.org Web site, told me what that cut was about: The Air Force's National Reconnaissance Office had appropriated that much money to operate a spy satellite that, as things turned out, it never launched. So the Senate passed an amendment rescinding the money-not to cancel a program, but to get a refund on a program that the NRO had canceled.
  8. Army scraps troubled copter plan St. Petersburg Times (Florida) February 24, 2004 -- Source: Globalsecurity.org
  9. Budget knife cuts 'copter at Redstone By Shelby G. Spires The Huntsville Times February 24, 2004 -- Older and smaller aircraft couldn't easily accommodate the software, said John Pike, a defense expert with Washington, D.C.-based GlobalSecurity.org. "It's hard to say if all the avionics and software work could go into the Apache or other uses," Pike said. "But that's an awful lot of money the Army has spent for something that will probably end up as a display at the Air and Space Museum" in Washington.
  10. Air Force Document Envisions Variety of Anti-Satellite Weapons By Jeremy Singer Space News February 23, 2004 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., group that tracks military affairs, said it is difficult to determine which of the weapon systems discussed in the plan have moved beyond paper concepts and into development at some level. "Some of them are probably PowerPoint, and some of them are probably funded at a higher level in the classified world, but which is which, I don't know," Pike said.
  11. Rummy Points To Al Qaeda In Iraq Carnage By James Gordon Meek Daily News (New York) February 23, 2004 -- In arguing that Iraq is the central battle in the global war on terror, the Bush administration has highlighted intelligence - such as the al-Zarqawi letter - that suggests Al Qaeda is behind deadly bombings there. "It's definitely to their benefit to connect those dots," said intelligence expert John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org.
  12. Pentagon to Cancel Comanche Helicopter Reuters February 23, 2004 -- The current estimated cost of the program, which has been in development for about two decades, was $38 billion, according to John Pike, director at GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy research group.
  13. Pentagon to cancel Comanche helicopter-sources By Will Dunham and Chelsea Emery Reuters February 23, 2004 -- "Its mission was to scout the field and to attack, but we're scouting with UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and we've got lots of other ways to shoot at tanks now," said John Pike director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org.
  14. Army set to kill its Comanche program By Shelby G. Spires The Huntsville Times February 23, 2004 -- The move is puzzling, said John Pike, a defense expert with Washington-based GlobalSecurity.org, because "just two weeks ago the White House sent a budget request for Comanche" to Congress.
  15. Under The Gun: Local supporters say N.M. bases will be fine By Miguel Navrot Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico) February 22, 2004 -- SOURCES: U.S. Air Force, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico State University, Globalsecurity.org
  16. Valley has keyless encounters of the weird kind By Juliet V. Casey, J.M. Kalil an Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada) February 21, 2004 -- John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a defense and intelligence policy organization based near Washington, D.C., said military technology could easily be responsible for Friday's phenomenon. One such operation is jamming, which involves the release of electromagnetic energy to interfere with an enemy's radar detection capability.
  17. Infantry units prepare to root out insurgents By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune February 21, 2004 -- "They better keep the Marines far away from the soldiers, because the Marines are only there for seven months while the soldiers are there for a year," said Patrick Garrett, a defense analyst for GlobalSecurity.org. "I am sure it is going to be a bone of contention between the two services."
  18. 'Pit bull' dogs Iraq Museum looters By Mary Wiltenburg Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA) February 20, 2004 -- Sources: Col. Matthew Bogdanos; globalsecurity.org; Associated Press.
  19. Partnering With China In Moon Quest By John Kelly Florida Today (Brevard County, FL) February 18, 2004 -- The "tinker-toy" connectable nature of the modular space station makes it possible to add partners as long as they adapt their hardware to latch on as needed, said John Pike, an international space policy analyst based in Washington. The Chinese Shenzou is a modified version of the Russian Soyuz that the station was designed to accommodate.
  20. Nightly Business Report NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT (NBR 6:30 pm ET) February 18, 2004 -- JOHN PIKE, DIRECTOR, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: These are not engineering problems which can be improved with time. But the basic efficiency of rocket technology was fully realized four decades ago. They're going up against the physics of spaceflight that the efficiency of rocket engines, the mass fraction of the boosters, simply cannot be improved as a way of making spaceflight less expensive.
  21. AEF Schedule Back On Track By Gordon Trowbridge Air Force Times February 23, 2004 -- Once the U.S. military has a base, it doesnt like to give it up,said Patrick Garrett, an analyst for GlobalSecurity.org. In the short term, operating more air bases gives commanders wider options for airlift and other operations. Start closing them down, and youve got more traffic running out of fewer bases,he said. Thats a problem the more air bases, the more difficult it is for terrorists to home in on one base.
  22. Portaaviones y otros buques de guerra estadounidenses y britanicos cruzaran el canal de Suez Agence France Presse February 16, 2004 -- No se especifico su destino exacto pero, segun la pagina de internet estadounidense especializada en asuntos de defensa Global Security, el "George Washington" y los buques que le acompanan cumplen una mision en el marco de la "guerra contra el terrorismo".
  23. 6300 Sailors, Marines Prepare To Deploy Under New Navy Strategy By Sonja Barisic Associated Press February 13, 2004 -- But the question is whether the ESG will prove to be a useful platform in an actual shooting war, said Garrett, of GlobalSecurity.org, a nonprofit military intelligence and space research organization in Alexandria. "It's not exactly clear what you use this against," Garrett said. "It doesn't have the standing or presence of a carrier ... group. This is something you use to kick around Third World countries. It's not even clear that you would need it for that."
  24. Brigade's Long, Proud History The Dallas Morning News February 13, 2004 -- SOURCES: 39th Brigade, Army National Guard, GlobalSecurity.org
  25. Inflection point on war: public evenly split By Brad Knickerbocker The Christian Science Monitor February 13, 2004 -- The unusually high number of National Guard and Reserve troops now on active duty - and growing concern of family and friends - adds to public discontent about the war. "Many service members signed up for the duration of the peace, and now find themselves in a war with no end in sight," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org.
  26. The Costs of Empire: Part 1 - Starting with a solid base By David Isenberg Asia Times February 13, 2004 -- The new outposts, dubbed enduring camps, will improve living quarters for soldiers and allow the military to return key infrastructure sites within the Iraqi capital to the emerging government. According to GlobalSecurity.org these include such places as Camps Anaconda, Dogwood and Falcon, just to name a few.
  27. Duck and Cover: Here Comes Another Patriot Missile! By James Ridgeway Village Voice February 11-17, 2004 -- Last November, John Pike, who runs the Global Security watchdog group, was surfing around on the army's Fort Bliss website when he stumbled on a confidential "Initial Lessons Learned" report about the Patriot's problems that had been posted by mistake. The army erased the report from its website, but not before Pike posted it on globalsecurity.org.
  28. Staking out new ground By Randall Edwards FCW.com February 09, 2004 -- "Imagery remains absolutely essential to military operations and to strategic intelligence, and it is more widely used today than at any point in the 20th century," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an organization that works to improve the capabilities of the intelligence community, including their use of geospatial information.
  29. Reading Satellite Photos, Then and Now By Douglas Jehl The New York Times February 08, 2004 -- One fragile element in the administration's case, said John Pike, an intelligence expert who heads GlobalSecurity.org, is that even the most advanced spy satellites provide only a piece of any intelligence puzzle. They can show buildings, but not what is inside; they can show vehicles, but not what they are carrying; they can even show people, but not what they know.
  30. Research contract stirs angst at NASA By Dave Schleck Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service February 07, 2004 -- The contract and buyout are just another sign of the times for NASA, said Charles Vick, a space policy observer for the think tank globalsecurity.org. Langley's work force is about 30 percent contractors while Kennedy Space Center's is 90 percent. "So Langley is different," Vick said. "I suspect the front office could be saying get in line with everyone else. It gets political. It gets economic."
  31. Bush Reverses Course on Prewar Intelligence Probe By Helen Fessenden Congressional Quarterly Weekly February 06, 2004 -- But there is still political utility in Bush's decision, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "It's a way to kick the can down the road past the election while keeping the intelligence community and the White House from devouring each other in an orgy of recrimination," Pike said. "It's basically a way of turning down the volume."
  32. How Accurate Is The Patriot Missile? CBS News February 08, 2004 -- ohn Pike of GlobalSecurity.org says complex computer systems can behave in mysterious ways. "The problem was not that there was not a single ghost in the machine but that it was a haunted house. They had lots of ghosts. Every radar was reporting a separate track and if you get enough data input the computer is going to get awfully confused."
  33. "Blue On Blue": How Did An Army Patriot Missile Battery Shoot Down A Navy F-18? By Robert Riggs CBS 11 News February 05, 2004 -- John Pike of the Washington DC-based think tank Global Security said he discovered a confidential "Initial Lessons Learned" power point report about the Patriot's problems that was inadvertently posted on the Army's Fort Bliss website in November 2003. Pike posted the report on his Global Security-dot-org before the Army realized its mistake and deleted it.
  34. Basnight floats an OLF idea By Bill Sandifer Washington Daily News February 05, 2004 -- Information on the design indicates the structure was to be positioned "20-30 km off the coast of the Virginia Capes." That area, according to Web site GlobalSecurity.org, is a military "surface and subsurface operating area off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts."
  35. UT System may bid on managing Los Alamos lab By Patrick Mcgee Fort Worth Star Telegram February 05, 2004 -- John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a Virginia-based think tank, said only heavyweight defense contractors and huge university systems such as the ones in Texas and California can seriously vie to manage an institution as big as the Los Alamos lab. "The number of university systems that think they could bite off that big of a piece of pie is probably not that great," he said.
  36. A desert mirage: How U.S. misjudged Iraq's arsenal By John Diamond USA TODAY February 04, 2004 -- Sources: Authors John Prados, Thomas Powers; Globalsecurity.org; CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence; news archives
  37. Defense tech stocks could key off new budget By Mike Tarsala CBS MarketWatch February 04, 2004 -- "The total defense budget (including supplemental spending) has gone from a third of a trillion to almost half a trillion dollars over the past three years -- you've seen almost a 50-percent increase," says John Pike, director of Global Security.org, a defense and space policy group based in Alexandria, Va. "And a lot of that is going to wind up in the hands of contractors."
  38. Democrats Oppose Bush Naming All Members for Independent Iraq Inquiry By Helen Fessenden Congressional Quarterly Today February 02, 2004 -- Political pressure is the main driving force behind Bush's announcement, according to John Pike, an analyst at globalsecurity.org. "This is a way for the president to kick the can down the road past the election and keep the White House and the intelligence community from devouring each other," said Pike, who added he expected "massive redundancies" between any new effort and the current reviews under way.
  39. Martian Dream Team By James Bernstein Newsday (New York) February 02, 2004 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a space policy think tank in Arlington, Va., applauds the idea of space travel and thinks the moon and Mars are achievable goals. But, he said, it will take longer and cost more than current estimates. "It's physically impossible to do it on the schedule and budget they [the White House] projected," Pike said. He said the plan Bush offered in January "is just a formula for shutting down the existing space program and replacing it with art work" - putting space exploration on a back-to-the-drawing-board stage.
  40. Crash shifts NASA's mission By Lisa Zagaroli The Detroit News February 01, 2004 -- That fascination with worlds unknown was fueled by political incentives, too. But it's a bit of a stretch to imagine that trying to beat China back to the moon in the next few years could ever come close to replicating the excitement of the initial space race with the Soviet Sputnik during the Cold War, says John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on space and defense issues.
  41. One Year Later: NASA's cautious re-entry By David Ballingrud St. Petersburg Times February 01, 2004 -- John Pike, the blunt, longtime observer of the space program for the Federation of American Scientists, agreed. Pike, now director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Web site globalsecurity.org, says there is no real reason NASA can't fly the 23 or so missions necessary to complete the space station. But the public should not think the three remaining shuttles will ever be safe, he said.