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GlobalSecurity.org In the News


June 2004 News

  1. Saudi Pipelines Could Be Next Terror Targets By Liza Porteus FOXNews.com June 30, 2004 -- John Pike, founder of Globalsecurity.org, said it could be because of this resiliency and ratcheting up of security that terrorists are targeting Westerners working in the kingdom. "What we've seen in Saudi Arabia thus far appears to be the work of dozens of people and I think that dozens of people would have a real hard time making much of a dent if they went directly after the infrastructure," Pike said.
  2. Bagdad asume la soberanía sin acuerdo sobre las tropas extranjeras By Marc Marginedas El Periódico de Aragón June 29 2004 -- De ellos, sólo 34, además de EEUU, según la web www.globalsecurity.org, mantienen o han mantenido presencia militar en el país árabe.
  3. Surprise ending: Occupation over By Dan Murphy The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA) June 29, 2004 -- Sources: Department of Defense, Coalition Provisional Authority, Newsweek, wire services, globalsecurity.org, iraqbodycount.net
  4. To see or not to see; antiterrorism measures By Williams, Patricia J. The Nation June 28, 2004 -- Although the contracts are said to have expired, John Pike of globalsecurity.org says that imaging companies don't want to "gratuitously annoy their biggest customer, the US military. These companies are run by businessmen, not crusading journalists."
  5. U.S. hands power to Iraq By Matthew B. Stannard San Francisco Chronicle June 28, 2004 -- "The bad news is that there can be considerable day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month fluctuations in the level of violence. The good news is that it fluctuates because the insurgency is still relatively small and uncoordinated, " said John Pike, director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit military think tank GlobalSecurity.org. "We're going to have good days at the war and bad days at the war for a while now."
  6. Reflecting on year in Iraq summons divergent reactions By Kiley Russell Contra Costa Times June 27, 2004 -- Over the past year, the American-led war in Iraq evolved from an unexpectedly easy full-scale military conflagration to an unexpectedly difficult anti-insurgency campaign aimed at rooting out relatively small but dedicated groups of fighters, Pike said.
  7. Defining `casualty of war' By Larry Hanover The Times (Trenton, NJ) June 27, 2004 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based military think tank, said there have been spikes and drops in wounded counts from one month to the next. To him, that illustrates the counting is "fubar - fouled up beyond all recognition."
  8. Interest grows in blimps for homeland security, defense By Elliott Minor The Associated Press June 27, 2004 -- "Airships have gone in and out of fashion as the mission requirements have come and gone," said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense consulting group in Alexandria, Va. "There is probably more interest in airships today than there has been for some time. Whether any of that is going to pan out is a different question."
  9. Jinan war zone leads logistics revamp Chan Siu-sin South China Morning Post June 26, 2004 -- According to globalsecurity.org, the region has 190,000 troops.
  10. Military stretched thin in war efforts By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. GovExec.com June 25, 2004 -- The Web site maintained by GlobalSecurity.org called "Where are the Legions?" counts 15 of the Army's 34 active-duty combat units (brigades and regiments) as currently deployed.
  11. Slaughter, chaos in Iraq By Chrisopher Allbritton and Maki Becker NY Daily News June 25, 2004 -- "What they're doing is not hard to do," said John Pike, director of military think tank GlobalSecurity.org, about the insurgency. "That's the bad news," he said. "But the good news is that this is not the Tet offensive," referring to the Viet Cong uprising in the Vietnam War. "There were hundreds of thousands of Viet Cong. In Iraq, it's thousands."
  12. State Guard unit gets its second call to Iraq By Phil Long The Miami Herald June 24, 2004 -- ''Convoys have been one of the prime targets of insurgents,'' said Francois Boo, an analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that tracks space, security and military issues.
  13. Analysis: Iraq's military landscape By Neil Arun BBC News Online June 23, 2004 -- Figures for troop deployments provided by Globalsecurity.org and The Brookings Institution.
  14. Revenge of the Killer Drones By Glick, Jon AI Magazine June 22, 2004 -- 'We already have in this country a predisposition that the world is a set of problems with military solutions. One of the only checks on that is the threat of American boys coming home in body bags,' said GlobalSecurity.org director John Pike. Unmanned systems could remove one of those final checks.
  15. Saudis' security for oil extensive By Jeffrey Sparshott The Washington Times June 22, 2004 -- "The problem is we don't know how much security is needed. And Iraq is unique. The number of potential saboteurs is very large relative to any other country," said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a private defense and security firm.
  16. Allen's rocket soars By Andrew Garber Seattle Times June 22, 2004 -- Every time a private company has tried, "They've basically built one rocket, it's blown up, and the company has gone bankrupt," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense- and space-policy consulting group in Alexandria, Va.
  17. Iran satellite images raise nuclear questions By Rob Edwards NewScientist.com news service June 21, 2004 -- John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a defence policy group based in Alexandria, Virginia, agrees: "The images suggest that there are important elements of Iran's nuclear program that have not been disclosed by Iran, and may not be reflected in the IAEA's current understanding of Iran's nuclear efforts."
  18. Private Space Flight Is Go For Launch By Kurt Loft Tampa Bay Online June 21, 2004 -- Its suborbital flight path means the craft leaves the atmosphere but doesn't reach the speed needed to orbit the Earth, said John Pike, a space expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org. ``It may or may not develop into an extreme sport, and they may actually make a little money in the process,'' Pike said. ``But it doesn't have any connection to real spaceflight.''
  19. DID YOU HEAR?... The Washington Post June 21, 2004 -- "Lockheed has owned this program for four decades. I would characterize it as an upset." -- John Pike, executive director of Globalsecurity.org, which tracks the defense industry, after Boeing Co. won a $3.9 billion contract over Lockheed Martin Corp. to provide the Navy with airplanes.
  20. Interview With Henry Sokolski; Interview With Michelle Malkin SHOW: THE BIG STORY WITH JOHN GIBSON (17:29) June 17, 2004 -- JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: It's very clear that this very large facility has been completely buried under a thick layer of dirt, making it difficult to monitor by satellite, making it more difficult to attack. They have constructed a large number of positions around the perimeter of the facility. We're not exactly sure what they are, but they appear to be fighting positions that they could use to defend the facility against a commando raid that was trying to take it out.
  21. World: First Private Manned Space Mission Set To Blast Off By Margot Buff Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 18 Jun 2004 -- Naturally, any vision as ambitious as Diamandis' will attract a wide range of skeptics. John Pike, whose public policy group GlobalSecurity.org monitors technology developments, is one of them. (...) "I think it's silly," he says. "I think it'll be entertaining, I hope that too many people don't get killed in the process, but it really doesn't have anything to do with space flight. Normal people can't afford it, and anybody with close family ties won't be allowed to do it, because it'll be too dangerous. And the first time they kill someone, it may shut down the entire industry permanently."
  22. Dramatic reconstruction of the response to the attacks on the morning of 9/11 Talk of the Nation (2:00 PM ET) - NPR June 17, 2004 -- And joining us now is John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a security and defense policy group based in Alexandria, Virginia.
  23. Pipeline blasts cut off Iraq's cash flow By Estanislao Oziewicz The Globe and Mail June 17, 2004 -- The attacks are likely to continue after June 30, when the interim government is scheduled to assume formal control of the country, said analyst John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, which monitors developments in Iraq. "As long as it remains in their power to do so, they're going to continue to attack critical infrastructure, like pipelines and power stations, and they're going to continue to assassinate any functionary who, from their perspective, is simply collaborating," he said.
  24. Analysts defend NORAD's 9/ 11 role By Pam Zubeck The Gazette (Colorado Springs) June 17, 2004 -- "If bin Laden had attacked us when Ike was president, it would have been a different response. We were locked and loaded back then, and we were twitchy," said John Pike, executive director of the defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org in Alexandria, Va. "Under the circumstances I think it would have been difficult for them (fighter jets) to have made a difference," he said.
  25. Independent panel expected to criticize NORAD's response on Sept. 11 By Pam Zubeck The Gazette (Colorado Springs) June 17, 2004 -- "If Bin Laden had attacked us when Ike was president, it would have been a different response. We were locked and loaded back then and we were twitchy," said John Pike, executive director of the defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org in Alexandria, Va.
  26. Rebel Cleric Tells Fighters in 2 Iraqi Cities to Return Home By Edward Wong The New York Times June 16, 2004 -- "We've basically been in a race with the enemy to see if we can build them up faster than they can tear them down," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, which closely tracks developments in Iraq. "To go after the oil undercuts the ability of Iraq to finance its own reconstruction and makes it more dependent on the United States."
  27. Bush commission urges Nasa reform BBCnews.com June 16, 2004 -- "The reason that we've had big cost over-runs with the space station, and the reason we lost the Columbia shuttle was is over-reliance on private contractors," said John Pike, a space expert with the research group globalsecurity.org.
  28. 2 Pipeline Blasts Halt Oil Exports At Top Iraq Port By Edwards Wong and James Glanz The New York Times June 16, 2004 -- ''We've basically been in a race with the enemy to see if we can build them up faster than they can tear them down,'' said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, which closely tracks developments in Iraq. ''To go after the oil undercuts the ability of Iraq to finance its own reconstruction and makes it more dependent on the United States.''
  29. Boeing Wins Contract for Tracker Planes By Renae Merle The Washington Post June 15, 2004 -- "Lockheed has owned this program for four decades," said John Pike, executive director of Globalsecurity.org. "I would characterize it as an upset."
  30. Logistics headquarters gets new manager as DOD looks to transfer jobs to private sector By Ward Sanderson Stars and Stripes June 14, 2004 -- "It's really taken off like gangbusters in the last couple of years, because they need more trigger pullers," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank.
  31. Torture Guidelines with Tom Malinowski, Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch WashingtonPost.com June 14, 2004 -- http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/policy/army/fm/fm34-52/
  32. GIs marching away from re-enlistment By Dick Foster Rocky Mountain News June 14, 2004 -- "It sounds to me like the Army is voting with its feet," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., think tank.
  33. Kane'ohe Marines await their turn at war By William Cole The Honolulu Advertiser June 14, 2004 -- John Pike, director of the Virginia-based military think tank GlobalSecurity.org, said he doubts the Hawai'i Marines will remain out of the war zones. "At the rate we're going, everyone's going to get an opportunity to get a campaign medal," Pike said.
  34. Pressure grows on US to aid 'weak' states to curb terrorism By Howard LaFranchi The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA) June 14, 2004 -- "Over the last half-century we have set up 120 new states, and not all of them are working," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "There are large patches of this planet that don't have real states. We lack a systematic way to deal with this, and, as 9/11 showed us, we fail to take up the problem before it gets worse at our own risk."
  35. Extremists Using Web to Spread Terror By Sarah El Deeb The Associated Press June 13, 2004 -- "Over time, the propaganda is part of the conveyer belt to encourage people to figure out where they can join," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Virginia, research center on security issues.
  36. Reagan's vision of 'defense shield' to be deployed By Janene Scully Lompoc Record June 13, 2004 -- Critic John Pike from Virginia-based think tank GlobalSecurity.org phrased it a different way. "It's all his fault," Pike said. "He did it. He's the author of it ... Basically, today's missile defense is designed to deal with today's perceived threats, the same way that missile defense 20 years ago was designed to deal with the threats perceived at that time."
  37. Wanted: Spy Chief By Siobhan Gorman The National Journal June 12, 2004 -- There are also questions about whether appointing a DNI would treat the symptoms of the intelligence community's shortcomings, but not the causes. Most of the problems identified in decades of commission reports, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, point to lower-level difficulties -- dysfunctional agency management, or insufficient communication between the CIA and the NSA.
  38. National Guard combat units in Iraq, or on the way The Associated Press June 12, 2004 -- Source: National Guard Bureau and www.globalsecurity.org
  39. South Wire: Critics say Army relying too heavily on National Guard combat troops By Matt Gouras The Associated Press June 12, 2004 -- "It's pretty straightforward infantry," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., research center. "Doing routine security, guarding a gas station, there's not too much to that. It's not rocket science."
  40. Frustrated intelligence reformers see window of opportunity By Siobhan Gorman govexec.com June 11, 2004 -- There are also questions about whether appointing a DNI would treat the symptoms of the intelligence community's shortcomings, but not the causes. Most of the problems identified in decades of commission reports, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, point to lower-level difficulties -- dysfunctional agency management, or insufficient communication between the CIA and the NSA. "I think those problems are inherent in the existence of a CIA outside the Defense Department," Pike said. "You can relabel things all you want, but you're still going to be stuck" with the same old deficiencies.
  41. GPS signals jammed by military By James W. Crawley The San Diego Union-Tribune June 10, 2004 -- The Pentagon has spent millions on anti-jamming technology, said John Pike, a defense analyst. "They have to test it in the field" to see that it works, said Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an independent think tank in Virginia. "You can't rely on computer simulations."
  42. Lockheed, Boeing in a naval battle By Elyse Ashburn The Atlanta Journal-Constitution June 10, 2004 -- "I think Boeing has a lot going against them in terms of current reputation," said John Pike, aerospace analyst and director of GlobalSecurity. "There's an extra burden of proof that they didn't steal the award and that it's a cost estimate that you really can take to the bank."
  43. Controversial Commando Wins Iraq Contract by Pratap Chatterjee CorpWatch -- "It's not evident why they they would run a rent-a-cop contract through an Army transportation division in Virginia except that maybe the staff there are more experienced and can write a professional contract that can withstand a bid protest better than the Heritage foundation interns that run contracting in Baghdad," said John Pike, a spokesman for the military watchdog group Globalsecurity.org.
  44. GRAPHIC Birmingham News (Alabama) June 9, 2004 -- About 9,000 were produced in 20 years for use by the united states military, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
  45. U.S. force in Iraq to grow as Marine deployment pushed up BY Tom Squitieri and Dave Moniz USA TODAY June 09, 2004 -- Sources: Marine Corps, GlobalSecurity.org
  46. Reagan's Defense Buildup Bridged Military Eras By Greg Schneider and Renae Merle Washington Post June 09, 2004 -- That marked the end of a long period, dating at least to World War II, when the military was the nation's big technological innovator, said John E. Pike of Globalsecurity.org. (...) "The defense sector has become a consumer of technological innovation rather than a leader of technological innovation," Pike said.
  47. Reservist Michael Belter is recalled to duty in Iraq All Things Considered (8:00 PM ET) - NPR June 08, 2004 -- Mr. JOHN PIKE (GlobalSecurity.org): We have a peacetime Army that is making the transition to war. We have an Army that was basically structured to fight a short war, either the lightning war of Desert Storm or a brief World War III, that is confronting the probability that it's going to be fighting a protracted war.
  48. Security fears run high as G-8 Summit kicks off on Sea Island off the coast of Georgia Marketplace Morning Report (6:50 AM ET) June 08, 2004 -- Mr. JOHN PIKE (GlobalSecurity.org): Twenty-five million dollars is chump change for security planning these days. The Olympics is going to spend more than a billion dollars on its security.
  49. U.S. plans to cut troops in South Korea By Jack Kelly Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 08, 2004 -- John Pike, head of GlobalSecurity.Org, another Washington think tank, said he's puzzled by the Bush administration's Korea policy. The troop withdrawal "either suggests that there is a diminishing probability of war, or that they're just going to get American forces out of harm's way, to make it easier to blow up North Korea without getting a lot of Americans killed in the process," he said.
  50. Suddenly, USAF Wants A New Bomber By Laura M. Colarusso Defense News June 7, 2004 - One thing’s for sure, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a nonprofit defense analysis group: The Air Force’s current focus on the short-ranged JSF and Raptor, both by Lockheed Martin, won’t solve the long-range strike problem.
  51. Going Up? By Jim Melloan Inc June 2004 -- Then there's the fact that the ribbon needs to be stronger than anything in industrial use today -- about 30 times the strength of steel. Veteran space industry analyst John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, likes to joke that the required substance should be dubbed "unobtainium."
  52. Many ask if Tenet is fall guy for Iraq By G. Robert Hillman and Michelle Mitelstadt The Dallas Morning News June 04, 2004 -- "It's going to take a little while for the tea leaves to get read," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a nonpartisan research organization.
  53. Kennedy deployment part of Navy's new flexibility plan By Rachel Davis Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) June 03, 2004 -- About 4,300 sailors and airmen at Mayport Naval Station will deploy Monday with the Kennedy Strike Group, according to information about the group from Globalsecurity.org. Two squadrons from Jacksonville Naval Air Station also will be aboard.
  54. George Tenet quits as CIA director Marketplace (6:30 PM ET) June 03, 2004 -- Mr. JOHN PIKE (Director, Globalsecurity.org): Tenet has been in public service for a very long time, first as a Senate aide and then as director of Central Intelligence. As far as going to the private sector, he can go to just sit on corporate boards of directions, he's going to be making millions of dollars a year rather than $150,000.
  55. Is South Korea Exaggerating NK Hacking Threat? By Park Song-wu, Reuben Staines Korea Times June 03, 2004 -- John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, which maintains an online guide to North Korea's military, said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times that he would be surprised if the North did not operate a contingent of hackers. ``It is an obvious thing to do and is not that hard to do,'' Pike said. ``The North can build atomic bombs and long-range missiles. Computer hacking is easier than (making) an atomic bomb or a missile.''
  56. Huge Navy deployment to test emergency plan By James W. Crawley San Diego Union-Tribune June 03, 2004 - "It's pretty significant, but (the Navy) hasn't done a good job of explaining how significant it is," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an independent think tank in Alexandria. Va.
  57. Carrier Demonstrates New Deployment Plan SONJA BARISIC Associated Press June 02, 2004 - "Now they are demonstrating that they are set up to do it," Pike said. "If anybody anywhere gets any ideas - if North Korea gets frisky or the Red Chinese get too risky- they might have a half-dozen carriers show up on short notice."
  58. Carrier Demonstrates New Deployment Plan SONJA BARISIC Associated Press June 02, 2004 - This is "a fundamentally different way of deploying aircraft carriers than we had during the 20th century," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria research center on security issues.
  59. Accenture's big deal By James Bernstein Newsday June 02, 2004 -- "My general concern is that I've seen an awful lot of things that have been just annoying, but not effective," said John Pike, an analyst at GlobalSecurity.org in suburban Washington, D.C. "That is the worst of all possible worlds."
  60. War deaths not limited to combat By Demorris Lee The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) June 01, 2004 -- "The number of deaths shouldn't be a surprise," said John Pike, executive director of Global Security.org, an organization that follows all things military. "You are going to have some fraction of your military population to die of disease or accident under any circumstances. But now, the probability of being killed in an auto accident or by a heart attack is multiplied because of the environment."
  61. Hotlist: Hurricanes By Cay Dickson The Houston Chronicle June 01, 2004 -- 53rd WRS (Hurricane Hunters) - www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/usaf/53wrs.htm