[iwar] [fc:Curb.On.Computer.Exports.Eased.-.Bush's.move.criticized.as.endangering.national.security]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-01-04 18:23:13
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Report.Finds.Shortcomings.In.Energy.Dept..Arms.Testing]"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Arafat.Balloons.Sent.into.Israel.from.HizbAllah]"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Message-Id: <200201050223.g052NDM30182@red.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 18:23:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Curb.On.Computer.Exports.Eased.-.Bush's.move.criticized.as.endangering.national.security]
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Washington Times
January 3, 2002
Curb On Computer Exports Eased - Bush's move criticized as endangering national security
By Joseph Curl, The Washington Times 
CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush yesterday more than doubled the limit on
the speed of supercomputers that U.S. companies can sell to such countries
as China, Pakistan and India, a move critics said endangers U.S. security
and puts American troops at risk.
Under the new guidelines, U.S. producers of supercomputers can export
hardware capable of running at 190,000 millions of theoretical operations
per second without notifying the federal government. The current cap is
85,000 MTOPS.
"The president's decision will promote national security, enhance the
effectiveness of our export-control system and ease unnecessary regulatory
burdens on both government and industry," the White House said in a fact
sheet released yesterday.
Critics, however, called that claim laughable, noting that supercomputers
that run at such high speeds are used only for two purposes: code decryption
and nuclear-weapons development.
"This has nothing to do with national security," said Gary Milhollin,
director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control in Washington.
"Their argument is that our computer companies will make more money, and
what's good for the computer industry makes America stronger because it
creates jobs and brings money in. National security's being equated to
profits," he said. "That's what they mean when they say that. It's not true,
of course."
Stephen Bryen, director of Aurora Defense in Bethesda, said, "What they
really have in mind is keeping alive the supercomputer companies. That's the
only argument they can make that fits.
"The entire supercomputer industry is underwritten by the NSA, the Defense
Department, Los Alamos [National Laboratory]. That's really where most of
the purchasing is done."
Mr. Bryen said the move puts U.S. troops in jeopardy.
"We're putting our fleet at risk because tactical communications there are
all encrypted. This sort of thing creates real dangers because the Chinese
can now listen," he said.
Mr. Bush notified congressional leaders by letter yesterday that he was
raising the threshold for government approval of computer exports to "Tier
3" nations, which the White House said includes India, Pakistan, all of the
Middle East, the countries of the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and
parts of southeastern Europe. The order will take effect 60 days after the
notification letter.
"These reforms are needed due to the rapid rate of technological change in
the computer industry. Single microprocessors available today - by mail
order and the Internet - perform at more than 25 times the speed of
supercomputers built in the early 1990s," said White House Deputy Press
Secretary Scott McClellan.
"These changes will advance the president's goal of updating the U.S.
export-control system so that it protects U.S. national security and, at the
same time, allows America's high-tech companies to innovate and successfully
compete in today's marketplace," the spokesman added.
The United States will continue to maintain strict limits on computer
exports to nations under U.S. sanctions, such as Iraq, Iran, Libya, North
Korea, Cuba, Sudan and Syria.
The issue has been contentious since the Clinton administration, when
congressional Republicans - and even some Democrats - opposed moves to raise
the caps and to drop any distinction between military and civilian buyers.
The computer industry has been pushing for the higher cap, which prompted
Mr. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign to pledge he would raise the
threshold.
In October 2000, then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse
Helms, North Carolina Republican, and Sen. Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin
Democrat, strongly objected when President Clinton raised the cap to 28,000
MTOPS, a threshold that has been raised since.
"This is basically the computer lobby getting its way again, as it has been
doing under the Clinton administration for the last eight years," said Mr.
Milhollin, reached on vacation in Paris. "They're seeking the same campaign
contributions that the Clinton people did and they're doing the same thing
to get them."
Mr. Bryen said the move is particularly ill-timed in light of the September
11 terrorist attacks.
He said the White House has been "extraordinarily lazy" in gathering
information before raising the cap.
"I know the administration hasn't done any serious analysis, particularly of
code security, especially tactical-code security, and that's where we're
really vulnerable," he said.
"Now with our forces deployed where we have to worry about our
communications, we have to worry about the fact that our adversaries can
listen. Why we would want to do this right now leaves questions in my mind.
We're on a war footing."
Mr. Milhollin also questioned the timing.
"We're worried about nuclear war in India and Pakistan, but we're giving
both countries the means to make better nuclear weapons and better missiles
to deliver them with," he said.

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Tiny Wireless Camera under $80!
Order Now! FREE VCR Commander!
Click Here - Only 1 Day Left!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/WoOlbB/7.PDAA/ySSFAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Report.Finds.Shortcomings.In.Energy.Dept..Arms.Testing]"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Arafat.Balloons.Sent.into.Israel.from.HizbAllah]"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2002-12-31 02:15:02 PST