Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 10. Mars 2005 / Time Line March 10, 2005
Version 3.503/10/2005
Protesters are locked on to a 25 foot mock Trident nuclear
submarine outside the Scottish parliament
Anti-Nuclear Protesters from across the country are locked on to a
25 foot mock Trident nuclear Submarine outside the Scottish
Parliament today. They are raising awareness of the UK’s
obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to get rid
of Trident. There are 17 people inside the submarine locked on
including a member of the Scottish Parliament Rosie Kane MSP. They
began their protest at 10.15 this morning. A number of MEPs have
come outside the parliament building to show their support. There
have been no arrests as yet although the protests will not move
until their Trident submarine has been dismantled –
symbolising the dismantling of the real Trident subs.
The protesters are taking their message to the Scottish parliament
because Westminster has refused to listen. On the 10th October 2004
the same submarine was outside Downing Street with protesters
locked on. The British Government did not dismantle the submarine,
just as it refuses to dismantle Trident. In Scotland 70% of people
oppose Trident.
Mell Harrison who is taking part in the protest said,
“We’ve taken Trident to the Scottish Parliament to show
how easy it could be to dismantle Trident. We’re staying here
till they’ve dismantled the model of Trident, as long as it
takes whether that’s days or weeks. Over 70% of Scottish
people don’t want Trident so we’re staying here until
they show us that they can dismantle Trident. We want the Scottish
parliament to put more pressure on Westminster to say this has got
to happen. With the NPT review coming up in May we feel that it is
extremely important for the nuclear weapon states to disarm, so
that other countries won’t feel they have to develop nuclear
weapons, because they won’t feel threatened by ours. These
weapons are illegal and immoral and we will continue to use direct
action until our voices are listened to.”
Rosie Kane MSP (Scottish Socialist Party, Glasgow Region)
who is locked on,
“70% of the Scottish public say they are opposed to nuclear
weapons. As an elected representative I represent more people
sitting on the street than I do sitting in a debating chamber.
We’ve raised this issue many times with the Scottish
executive. We’ve asked that they speak out in opposition to
Trident. We have asked that they take power from Westminster over
these weapons of mass destruction but their ears remain closed. The
Scottish Socialist Party, the Scottish Green party and the Scottish
National Party as well as independents in the parliament are
opposed to Nuclear Weapons. We are all united in asking the
executive to take action. You can join us on our protests here and
in the future. You can ask Westminster to pass power to the
Scottish Parliament. We can refuse to have nuclear weapons moved on
our roads so their hands are not tied. If they’re not going
to do anything then could they explain to the tax payers why we
have no money for hospitals, public housing and schools, yet we
have money for Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament congratulated protesters,
“Trident is an illegal and immoral nuclear weapon of mass
destruction and must be scrapped. Despite giving an
“unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination
of their nuclear arsenals” in 2000 the UK government has made
no progress towards disarmament. In fact in March 2002, Defence
Secretary Geoff Hoon said that the government reserved the right to
use nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear weapon states. Such a
policy is a breach of our legal obligations under the
Non-Proliferation Treaty and highlights the nuclear hypocrisy of
government policy. This year is the 60th anniversary of the nuclear
bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We must abolish
these immoral and illegal weapons now.”
There are members of Trident Ploughshares, Scottish
CND, National CND and Theatre of War taking part
in the protest.
03/10/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States
Department of Defense
Northrop Grumman/PRB Services Inc., Hollywood, Md., is being
awarded a $7,001,799, modification to a previously awarded
indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed fee,
performance-based contract (N65236-01-D-6813) to provide software
development, systems engineering, configuration management for
Tactical/Mobile variant, Tactical Support Center Communications
Module (TCOMM), Unit Operational Command (UOC), Common Air Command
and Control Systems (CAC2S), Global Command and Control System
(GCCS), GCCS-Maritime (GCCS-M) and other Mobile and Command,
Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (C4ISR) required by Space and Naval Warfare Systems
Center, Charleston, S.C. The cumulative value of this contract,
including this modification, is $48,110,766. Work will be performed
in Charleston, S.C. (50 percent) and Lexington Park, Md. (50
percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2005.
Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal
year. This contract was competitively procured through the
E-Commerce web site, with one offer received. The Space and Naval
Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, S.C. is the contracting
activity.
Raytheon Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded an $8,989,958
modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract
(N00019-04-C-0006) to exercise an option for the procurement of
AIM-9X Tactical Missiles for the U.S. Air Force (11), and the
Government of Denmark (40); Captive Air Training Missiles for the
U.S. Air Force (1); Sectionalization Spares for the Governments of
Denmark (1) and Korea (1); and containers for the U.S. Air Force
(4), and the Government of Denmark (10). This contract combines
purchases of the U.S. Air Force ($1,447,110; 16.1 percent), and the
Governments of Denmark ($7,027,931; 78.2 percent); and Korea
($514,917; 5.7 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program.
Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be
completed in April 2007. Contract funds in the amount of $340,283
will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air
Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting
activity.
The Boeing Co., Anaheim, Calif., is being awarded a $10,506,000
cost-plus award-fee contract modification to provide for Family of
Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T), Contract Change
Proposal (CCP)-0011: ACTS (Security Chip) Handling procedures. This
Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) is issued to enhance physical
protection and procedural changes in order to comply with ACTS
handling guidance provided by the NSA. Because of delays in the
completion of Crytographics Verification/Design Verification
testing of Government Furnished Equipment ACTS cryptographic
devices, the NSA has issued modified handling instructions to be
implemented during development, integration and testing of the
FAB-T modem processor group. This guidance mandates physical
security and emanation protection of the test facility, and will
limit contact of the test equipment to personnel with appropriate
clearances. At this time, $5,253,000 of the funds have been
obligated. This work will be complete by September 2008. The
Headquarters Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base,
Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-02-C-0048, P00051).
03/10/2005
Singapore, United States sign deal to deploy anti-terrorism
equipment
AP Worldstream; Mar 10, 2005
Singapore and the United States signed an agreement Thursday to
deploy equipment at the city-state's port to detect any hidden
shipments of nuclear and other radioactive material, the Singapore
government said.
The U.S.-Singapore agreement falls under a U.S. Department of
Energy initiative to work with foreign governments to interdict
illegal shipments of nuclear weapons materials.
03/10/2005
Griffon Unit Acquires The Systems Engineering Group
Business Wire; Mar 09, 2005
Telephonics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Griffon
Corporation (NYSE: GFF), announced today that it has purchased The
Systems Engineering Group (SEG), headquartered in Columbia,
Maryland. SEG, with sales in excess of $8 million in 2004, will be
operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephonics Corporation
and will remain within its existing facilities in Columbia,
Maryland, Dahlgren, Virginia and Moorestown, New Jersey.
SEG's capabilities include radar systems analysis, antenna systems
engineering, sonar analysis and processing, high fidelity threat
missile modeling, analysis and simulation, tactical missile defense
analysis, and federal aviation administration support. SEG's
customer base includes amongst others: The United States Navy, The
FAA, Johns Hopkins University - APL, Missile Defense Agency and the
Veterans Administration.
03/11/2005
GOVERNMENT SECRECY AGAIN ON THE RISE
On 8 March 2005, the Federation of American Scientists Project
on Government Secrecy reported that the number of national
security secrets increased last year, from the evidence of 16
million classification decisions in 2004 versus 14 million in 2003.
The figures show a rise in 75% since the Bush Administration took
office in 2001. During recent Congressional testimony, William
Leonard, Director of the Information Security Oversight Office,
stated "Based upon information furnished our office, the total
number of classification decisions increased from 9 million in FY
2001 to 11 million in FY 2002, 14 million in FY 2003 and 16 million
in FY 2004." He cautioned, however, that the numbers reflect the
creation of the Department of Homeland Security and American
involvement in wars. Thanks to the Project on Government Secrecy,
the text of Leonard's testimony and other related materials from
the 2 March 2005 hearing are available online at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2005/index.html .
Source: NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 11, 10; 11 March 2005)
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