Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 16 december 2005 / Time Line December 16, 2005
Version 3.515. December 2005, 17. December 2005
12/16/2005
An urgent message from the General Secretary of the American
Friends Service Committee
Dear Michael,
What I'm about to tell you is an outrage. This is an important
update for the peace and justice community.
Please share this message with all of your friends.
You may have been following the breaking scandal that the
Department of Defense has admitted spying on the American Friends
Service Committee, our coalition partners, and thousands of people
like you.
Take action now to tell your Congressional representatives that you
want the government to stop spying on the people of this
country.
Two years ago, the Defense Department directed its
Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) to establish a domestic
law enforcement database that included information related to
"potential terrorist threats directed against the Department of
Defense." Earlier this week, NBC broke the story that the Pentagon
was using the system to collect information on peaceful gatherings
and counter-recruiting activities.
NBC obtained a 400 page printout from the database of which 8 pages
have been released. In those few pages, we have found four events
sponsored by AFSC. The threatening events in the database included
handing out literature in front of military recruiting stations and
commemorating the second anniversary of the Iraq War.
We knew that our staff had already been under surveillance by the
FBI and local police in Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa for their work
to end this war. The courts agreed with us then that spying, not
free speech, is a threat, as they did during the Vietnam War, when
we helped win the guarantees that we are all supposed to enjoy
today that our military will not spy on Americans.
Take action now to see that history doesn't repeat itself.
Tell Congress that you support our fundamental right to speak our
mind and organize on the issues of the day. This new wave of spying
can only be seen as a threat to our rights to free speech and the
freedom of assembly. For decades, Cold Warriors criticized foreign
governments for exactly these types of activities. With the help of
friends like you, AFSC stood firm against the pressures of the
McCarthy era and we won't stop speaking truth to power today.
Tell your representatives in Washington that this isn't our
America.
Please, take action now.
In Peace,
Mary Ellen McNish,
General Secretary, AFSC
Report: Bush OK'd Top-Secret Agency To Spy On Americans
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter put
the Bush administration on notice Friday that his panel would hold
hearings into a report that the National Security Agency
eavesdropped without warrants on people inside the United
States.
Before the program began, the NSA typically limited its domestic
surveillance to foreign embassies and missions and obtained court
orders for such investigations. Overseas, 5,000 to 7,000 people
suspected of terrorist ties are monitored at one time. The report
surfaced as the administration and its GOP allies on Capitol Hill
were fighting to save provisions of the expiring USA Patriot Act
that they believe are key tools in the fight against terrorism. An
attempt to rescue the approach favored by the White House and
Republicans failed on a procedural vote Friday morning. Caroline
Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the
American Civil Liberties Union, said the group's initial reaction
to the NSA disclosure was "shock that the administration has gone
so far in violating American civil liberties to the extent where it
seems to be a violation of federal law."
The administration had briefed congressional leaders about the NSA
program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that
handles national security issues.
Pentagon Is Said to Mishandle a Counterterrorism
Database
By DAVID S. CLOUD
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16pentagon.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Pentagon analysts appear not to have followed
guidelines that require deleting information on American citizens
and groups from a counterterrorism database within three months if
they pose no security threats, Pentagon officials said on
Thursday.
As a result, dozens of alerts on antiwar meetings and peaceful
protests appear to have remained in the database, even though
analysts had decided that those involved presented no threat to
military bases or personnel, said the officials, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because the program is classified.
Pentagon officials said Thursday that the Talon program was created
in 2003 as a central repository of possible threats against
military personnel and installations. Tips and other unverified
information from military personnel, law enforcement agencies and
intelligence entities are entered into the system and evaluated,
they said.
Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501813_pf.html
A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that
President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence
and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with
Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against
Iraq.
Democrats said the 14-page report contradicts Bush's contention
that lawmakers saw all the evidence before U.S. troops invaded in
March 2003, stating that the president and a small number of
advisers "have access to a far greater volume of intelligence and
to more sensitive intelligence information."
12/16/2005
First storage tank successfully decontaminated
NEWPORT CHEMICAL DEPOT, Ind. – The Non-Stockpile Chemical
Materiel Project decontaminated the first of eight VX storage tanks
Thursday that are part of the former production facility being
demolished here. These empty tanks stored the nerve agent VX more
than 40 years ago.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This effort is related to destruction of the
former VX production facility, and is not part of the U.S. Army
Chemical Materials Agency’s project to destroy the VX
stockpile at Newport Chemical Depot.]
Two weeks ago, Team Industrial Services, a Texas-based company with
offices in Indiana, began wrapping the tank in electrical
resistance heaters, then covered the tank with insulation. On
Thursday morning they began the decontamination operation by slowly
heating the tank to 1,025 degrees Fahrenheit over eight hours. The
process drives off into carbon filters any residual chemical agent
that may remain in the empty tank, enabling workers to cut up the
tanks for recycling. “The operation went as planned, and
there were no issues,” said Bud Salsbury, Site Manager for
the project. The remaining seven tanks will be decontaminated by
spring 2006.
The project will help the nation meet the terms of the 1997
Chemical Weapons Convention, which requires the destruction of
chemical weapons and the facilities where they were produced.
Non-stockpile and depot officials met with the community in July to
solicit input on decontaminating the eight tanks. Electrical
resistance heating was selected to treat the tanks based on
feedback from this session; the process has the benefit of
increased worker safety and decreased waste when compared to liquid
decontamination, which was the original plan.
The Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project leads the nation in the
development and use of advanced technology to safely eliminate
America’s non-stockpile chemical materiel in an
environmentally sound and cost-effective manner. A division of the
U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, the project researches and
develops treatment options and destruction plans that comply with
all federal, state and local regulations. Public involvement is
welcome in non-stockpile activities. Visit
http://www.cma.army.mil/nscmp.aspx
for additional information.
12/16/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc.,Pittsburgh, Pa., is being awarded a
$166,318,354 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded
contract (N00024-02-C-2102) for naval nuclear propulsion
components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, Pa. (73 percent)
and Schenectady, N.Y. (27 percent). Contract funds will not expire
at the end of the current fiscal year. Work completion date or
additional information is not provided on naval nuclear propulsion
contracts. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. , is the
contracting activity.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded on 16 December
2005, a $50,597,051 modification to a firm fixed price contract.
This action will exercise an option to procure T-38C aircraft
upgrade packages for FY06. This effort supports foreign military
sales to Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Denmark. Total
funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by February
2007. The Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
(FA8617-04-C-6153/P00028).
Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif., is
being awarded a $28,679,009
indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-reimbursement
contract for engineering support for the Capital Asset Management
System (CAMS). CAMS is a computer network system that is designed
to manage asset accounting and reporting capabilities for all
military equipment. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif.,
and is expected to be completed by December 2010. Contract funds
will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This
contract was competitively procured via the SPAWAR e-commerce
business website, with one offer received. The Space and Naval
Warfare System Center San Diego, Calif., is the contracting
activity (N66001-06-D-0021).
Innovative Response Technologies Inc., Fairmont, W.V., is being
awarded a $9,948,365 firm-fixed-price contract for 309 explosive
ordnance disposal "BOMBOT" vehicles. These systems will be used by
technicians to neutralize Improvised Explosive Devices while
maintaining a safe distance. Work will be performed in Fairmont,
W.V., and is expected to be completed by December 2006. Contract
funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The
contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems
Command, Indian Head Division, Indian Head, Md. , is the
contracting activity (N00174-06-C-0018).
Tetra Tech EC Inc. (company's name changed from Tetra Tech Foster
Wheeler Inc.), San Diego, Calif., is being awarded $7,323,339 for
Modification 26 to Task Order 0072 under a cost-plus-award-fee
contract (N68711-98-D-5713) for base-wide radiological surveys and
remediation at Hunters Point Shipyard. Work will be performed in
San Francisco, Calif., and is expected to be completed by May 2006.
Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal
year. The basic contract was competitively procured with 182
proposals solicited, seven offers received and award made on June
2, 1998._ _ The basic total amount is not to exceed $250,000,000,
which includes the base period and six one-year options. The Naval
Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, Calif., is the
contracting activity.
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