U.S. Agencies – constantly monitoring U.S. Borders

Last Updated 30/11/04 18:33

The following articles were published by “The Rocky Mountain News”, November 8^th 2004 – they substantiate the claims made by the un-named informant in the previous report (Bob Pratt).

  By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News November 8, 2004

NORAD and Northern Command, both based in Colorado Springs, are in charge of watching for attacks on North America and fighting back. NORAD is a joint U.S.-Canadian operation focused on the air. Northern Command is a U.S.-only command that works closely with NORAD and adds monitoring and defense on land and sea. They were joined at the Colorado Springs conference in October by officials from the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. Their needs represent the next great opportunity for the nation's high-tech inventors, Warr said.

Dr. Ruth David, whose company Anser runs the research and development arm of the Department of Homeland Security, wants technology that can provide advance warning of a chemical or biological attack so police and soldiers don't have to wait until they are swabbing vehicles for samples to find out if they've been hit.

David, who was deputy CIA director for technology, also brought up surveillance.

"We need to know what's happening on the Mexican border, when we can't afford to put a person every 10 yards," she said. "The No. 1 thing for me is detection."

That may mean eavesdropping satellites or unmanned aerial drones equipped with better sensors to detect weapons of mass destruction. Satellite surveillance is limited by clouds and night - and the generals want that problem solved, too.

"If terrorists acquire WMD, we would like to be able to see it approaching," said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense. For aircraft, McHale wants the ability to determine a pilot's intent if he deviates from a flight plan. He left vague whether he meant eavesdropping on the cockpit or some other, not-yet-developed- idea. McHale said he'd also like the ability to change the course and altitude of an aircraft.

Ports and coastlines are considered North America's most vulnerable spots. U.S. and Canadian officials are working on a plan for a "maritime NORAD" to provide joint monitoring of every ship and tiny sailboat along the coasts. In fact, the new commander of NORAD and Northern Command is Navy Vice Adm. Timothy J. Keating. Some new technology that Northern Command needs already is being built.

Stealth Blimp - being developed in 1983 by Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is constructing a prototype blimp airship, which could fly unmanned for months at 50,000 feet. The airship is designed to use lookdown radar to spot low-flying aircraft that ground radar may miss, said Maj. Gen. Bill Hodgkins, -NORAD's director of plans.

Meanwhile, NORAD is installing a new command center inside Cheyenne Mountain large enough for the missile defense equipment and maritime monitoring screens expected in the next year or so. The new facility may be up and running as soon as February.

Eyes and ears protecting U.S. borders

 Created after 9/11, Northern Command finds, crushes threats

By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
 

COLORADO SPRINGS - On Sept. 11, 2001, the defenders of North America at NORAD were still looking for Russian missiles. They were deaf and blind inside the borders of the United States. NORAD could not hear Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers or see FAA radar tracks of planes flying over America. The FAA didn't even tell the military about the four hijacked airliners until three had crashed.

In the days after Sept. 11, NORAD officials inside Cheyenne Mountain rushed to plug gaping holes in the nation's defense. They pulled half a dozen AWACS combat control and surveillance planes back from Europe and sent them into constant flight over the U.S. so their look-down radar could track every flight. Sept. 11, 2001, made it clear that attack could come from any quarter.

NORAD was born during the Cold War and its mission was defined by the threat of Soviet missile attack. So, NORAD watches only the air, and its reaction is limited to launching fighters and retaliatory ballistic missiles. For every other danger lurking on land and sea, the United States was amazingly unprepared. No part of the far-flung U.S. military was responsible for protecting the United States from every kind of threat.

So after Sept. 11, the Pentagon formed the U.S. Northern Command, or Northcom, to find those threats and crush them before they could do damage. If something slipped through, Northern Command was given responsibility to fight back.

Two years after its creation, Northern Command is the military's eyes on our borders. With a staff of 1,250, mostly in Colorado Springs, it analyzes tips on terrorist plots and organizes a response when threats turn out to be specific and credible. Northern Command also offers aid in natural disasters, which gives it daily, real-life training for spotting and responding quickly to an unnatural one.

The officers check out terrorist threats on land and sea, and coordinate with NORAD in watching the air. Exactly what they do is classified, and their computers go blank in front of visitors. Overhead, 3-inch-long fighter jets dangle from the ceiling on barely visible threads - serving as both a bit of décor and a grim reminder. Any day they might have to order a fighter pilot to destroy an airliner full of American passengers before it can be used to attack the White House or other target.

"We've never shot down an aircraft," said Maj. Douglas Martin, a Canadian officer with NORAD. "But many times, we've had to force a landing elsewhere."

The decision to shoot

On Sept. 11, U.S. fighter pilots didn't have authority to stop the attacks by shooting down an airliner. The order wasn't even given by Vice President Dick Cheney until after all four planes had crashed. Today, a standing order authorizes such action under certain, detailed circumstances. Martin isn't allowed to reveal the circumstances but said, "The main thing is to determine, 'Is there or isn't there a threat?' "

It's a decision these officers must make, on average, every day.

"We have to be right 100 percent of the time," Martin said.

This decision must be made every time a plane deviates from its flight plan, sends a hijack alert to the FAA, or turns off its transponder - a beeper that identifies a flight to air traffic control.

"My job is running around every day with my hair on fire," said Canadian Maj. Gen. Angus Watt, NORAD's operations manager.

The sheer enormity of the task is daunting.

If there's something odd about a flight, the FAA air traffic controller picks up a phone line already connected to officers at NORAD inside Cheyenne Mountain, at Northern Command at Peterson and at McKinley's fighter bases.

Then, "everyone can listen in and track it" on radar, Martin explained.

McKinley said at any point he may decide to scramble fighters or divert a patrol. "If I sense something is happening, I have the authority to respond," McKinley said.

That's no rarity. Since Sept. 11, -NORAD fighters have rushed to check out suspicious flights more than 1,700 times - an average of once or twice a day. Only two of those have been hijackings. Both came out of Cuba, both in the same week in March 2003.

"The planes squawked hijacking, and we saw them going the wrong way," Martin said. U.S. fighter jets escorted them to the Key West airport.

Intelligence gathering

But hijacking is not the only potential threat facing the United States. Northern Command also runs an intelligence center, where analysts pore over data about terrorist threats against the homeland from around the world.

"A lot of Northcom's focus is to stop them in Iraq and Afghanistan," said spokesman Maj. Eric Butterbaugh. "We're trying to stop them from ever getting here."

Another Northern Command task force is based in Washington, D.C., to respond to any attack there. A third is based in Colorado Springs, ready to move anywhere it's needed. And a fourth offers a four-hour response to an attack with chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons anywhere in the country. But each of these units is a headquarters, not a combat unit. When Northern Command needs actual troops, it must go to other parts of the military to get them. Some critics have said Northern Command needs its own. It also has been on-scene for events considered likely targets for terrorists, including the Republican and Democratic national conventions. The military set up command posts and had troops on standby just in case. When Florida and its surrounding states were pounded by hurricanes this fall, Northern Command shipped in emergency supplies and medical personnel where needed.

Eberhart, the general in charge of defending the country since shortly after Sept. 11, says Northern Command has been successful, but he can't put numbers on it.

"I don't know of a plot we've foiled," said Eberhart, who stepped down as head of Northern Command and -NORAD on Friday.

There have been only general threats, he said. These have prompted increased security measures, which may have discouraged attackers. "As a result of intelligence, (and) actions we've taken as a result, we may have foiled some plots. We'll never know for sure," Eberhart said.

As an example, Eberhart points to last Christmas when numerous trans-Atlantic flights were canceled. "There was another hijacking threat," Eberhart explained. "We canceled flights and looked very, very carefully at passenger manifests. If there were hijackers out there, we deterred them."

The four-star general counts his command's success in every terrorist killed or caught overseas. When the captives are interrogated, "we find information that is important," Eberhart said, which may lead to other arrests or increased security on a target. He said he believes those breaks have caused the meticulous planners of al-Qaida to drop the compromised plans and start over.

Eberhart's view of the next terrorist attack is horrifying. "What we saw on Sept. 11 will pale in comparison to what we will see . . . because I'm convinced they'll use weapons of mass destruction next time." He predicts the war on terror will be a long struggle and one that won't be won on the battlefield. The challenge, he said, is to provide opportunities for young people around the world who have none and are angry at those who do.

"For every terrorist that's out there in the ranks today, sadly, there are many more waiting in the wings," Eberhart said. "All we'll do is keep our finger in that dike," by killing terrorists in the meantime, he said.

Summation

The above articles substantiate the claims made by the undisclosed informant in the previous report – - in so much they make it quite clear that U.S. agencies are constantly monitoring any approaching craft (sea and air) to the U.S. borders . It is also of interest that great importance is given to coastal ports etc.., this surely means that there is a very good chance that the Gulf of Mexico is monitored very closely indeed

NorthCom not only conducts military surveillance but is available to other agencies - for instance in the case of approaching natural disasters etc...     Surely this makes it reasonable to assume that there is a good possibility that NorthCom could have notified the DEA regarding the approach of several unidentified craft. (see previous report) Initially they could well have thought they were dealing with drug laden aircraft. Hence the initial mistake in broadcasting the events over the communications network.

Further substantiation is provided by the comment by Maj. Gen Angus Watt (NORAD) in his comments which end "everyone can listen in and track it".