Cox-ucker report out--can you say "blah blah blah" with me?
The report also says the Chinese have set up as many as 3,000 front companies in the United States to assist its efforts and also gained valuable secrets about rocket components from two U.S. satellite manufacturers, Loral Corp. and Hughes Electronics, which remain under U.S. investigation.
''Loral and Hughes showed the PRC how to improve the design and reliability of the guidance system used in the PRC's newest Long March rocket,'' the report said.[Boeing and Lockheed are now secretly kidnapping Hughes and Loral SATELLITE engineers to perfect their ROCKET systems]
The report singled out Hughes for transfers of information in 1993 and 1995 that the committee alleged might assist China's MIRV missile ''if the PRC decides to develop them'' and said the company acted without getting proper U.S. clearance.
''Hughes deliberately acted without seeking to obtain the legally required licenses,'' the report charged.
or
-Two U.S. companies - Loral and Hughes Aircraft - went ''outside the scope'' of their export licenses and provided China with information that will help improve the reliability of China's nuclear missiles.
or
5/23/99 - Report shows security lapses at U.S. launch sites in China
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WASHINGTON _ Private security guards hired to watch over launches of U.S. satellites in China were repeatedly found sleeping on the job, coming to work drunk and frequenting prostitutes, according to a draft of a secret congressional report obtained by the Orange County Register.
These revelations about the security of launch sites in China are the latest in a series of disclosures surrounding the China spy scandal.
The report singles out Pinkerton Aerospace Division, which was hired by Loral Space and Communications, Hughes Electronics, Lockheed Martin and Motorola to provide security for U.S. interests while preparations were being made to launch the companies' commercial satellites on Chinese rockets.
The report of a select committee on the transfer of missile technology to China, chaired by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-California, is scheduled to be released Tuesday.
The report also chronicles how the Chinese obtained U.S. nuclear secrets, including detailed information about weapons systems. It also says that high performance computers, sold for commercial purposes, went to military agencies. And the committee's findings, which have been leaking out in recent weeks, are also sharply critical of the Department of Energy's national laboratories. Shoddy lab security procedures allowed much of the nuclear information to fall into China's hands, the committee says.
Officials at Pinkerton's suburban Los Angeles headquarters in West Lake Village say they have not seen the report so they cannot respond to the individual incidents cited.
But spokesman Mark Leaf said Saturday that government officials have commended, not criticized, Pinkerton for its launch security work. Company officials did not have an opportunity, Leaf said, to go before the committee to tell their side of the story.
The investigation by Cox's committee, as well as probes by the Senate and Justice Department, was kicked off last year after allegations that Loral and Hughes let key missile technology information fall into Chinese hands. Parts of the report the Cox committee hoped to declassify are remaining secret because of Justice's criminal investigation and national security concerns.
As a way to deal with the satellite security breaches, the Cox committee says it will seek legislation mandating several changes, including:
_The Department of Defense, not the satellite companies, must contract for security personnel.
_Defense would also have to insure background checks to verify the loyalty and reliability of security personnel.
_The panel also recommends 24-hour security of all satellite and related missile technology. All of the bipartisan panel's recommendations were unanimous.
The report also says the Clinton Administration is not fully implementing a defense authorization act that requires recruiting, training and maintenance of staffers dedicated to monitoring foreign launches of U.S. satellites.
The Cox committee report accuses Loral and other satellite companies of being more concerned about getting the launches completed than about proper security.
One Loral official is quoted as saying security was ninth on his list of priorities.
Officials at Loral said Saturday they were unable to respond to the committee's charges.
''We cannot comment on the specifics which appear to be in the report until we have had an opportunity to study the report and make an independent assessment of it,'' said Loral spokesman Tom Ross. But, Ross said, Loral has been in the defense business for a long time and ''has a track record of outstanding compliance with security regulations.''
Officials from Hughes, Lockheed Martin and Motorola could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The committee says that it has no documented evidence or reports from witnesses that prove that lax security has actually resulted in transfers of classified missile technology. But, the report goes on to list 33 security breaches ranging from equipment left unattended to unsupervised Chinese workers being allowed to work and take pictures at the launch sites.
And the report then explains how these security lapses could have led to missile technology falling into Chinese hands.
Monitors for the Defense Department as well as representatives of the satellite industry have complained about the quality of Pinkerton's security and the behavior of its guards, the report says.
One Defense monitor interviewed by the committee told of an instance during a launch in China where the Pinkerton guards moved a table out of view of a video surveillance camera so they could use it as a bed.
They positioned the table so that it also prevented access to the room.
Despite a telephone request from the Defense monitor to move the table, the guards refused. Then the monitor had to go to the remote building where the guards were stationed to personally force them to relocate the table.
This same monitor told the committee that the propositioning of prostitutes was so pervasive that a foreign affairs officer from the government of China told him that one of the security guards had been soliciting prostitutes in front of the local police department.
The draft report does not include any other details _ or the possible ramifications _ on the solicitation of prostitutes.
''It's very surprising to us that the report would contain any uncomplimentary comments about our service record,'' Leaf said. ''Pinkerton has never been cited for any violation'' by the government agency that oversees the satellite launch program, he added.
Leaf said that some of the information provided to the committee was given by two former employees who left Pinkerton because of poor performance.
Margaret Qualls is one of the former Pinkerton officials who told the Cox committee, under subpoena, about the security performance.
''The security was at a very poor level of performance and poor taste,'' said Qualls, a former Hughes employee who lives in Riverside. Qualls, who was a manager for Pinkerton in China, said she left the company because Pinkerton wasn't interested in her complaints about the guards they were sending to China.
Before working for Pinkerton, Qualls said she did launch security work for Hughes and another security firm, which is no longer in business. She praised the security work of Hughes and the other company.
Another Defense monitor, Allen Coates, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, said he worked last year at the southernmost launch site in China, Tiajuan.
Coates said he wrote a negative report about the launch security, citing inadequate locks and seals on doors. He said Chinese nationals had access to areas that they shouldn't have. Coates says he believes the fault was both Motorola's, the company whose satellite was being launched, and Pinkerton.
The Pinkerton guards, Coates said, ''just didn't seem to understand what was going on.''
(c) 1999, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).
Visit the Register on the World Wide Web at ocregister.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-05-22-99 1854EDT< -0- By Dena Bunis The Orange County Register
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