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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (23806)	3/6/1999 3:33:00 PM
From: brian h	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Maurice and all, Maurice, a balance report is always better than a biased report (Tero's or Mr. Cabi's). JGoren please hit "next". Jim please continue to write "go back to where you belong" (ggg). Clinton Acts After Possible Nuclear Theft By China WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton ordered tightened security at U.S. nuclear laboratories after receiving reports that China may have stolen nuclear secrets in the 1980s, U.S. officials said Saturday. The officials, commenting on a story in The New York Times, denied one aspect of the report -- that the Clinton White House tried to downplay the espionage because it clashed with efforts to improve relations with Beijing. One official said the theft of nuclear secrets apparently took place in the 1980s, but was only brought to Clinton's attention in 1997. ''Once he learned of it he increased security at the labs. It was something that happened a long time before,'' the official said. ''He acted quickly, but you don't draw attention to something like that.'' The Times said U.S. authorities believed China was still trying to steal secrets from the U.S. government's major nuclear weapons labs. The paper reported that China, using secrets stolen from the Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, had been able to produce small warheads that could be launched from a single missile at multiple targets. The CIA's former chief spy hunter Paul Redmond, who made his name by uncovering Soviet spy Aldrich Ames, said the theft had far-reaching consequences. ''This was far more damaging to the national security than Aldrich Ames,'' he said. The espionage was not detected until 1995 when the CIA analyzed Chinese nuclear test results and found similarities with America's most advanced miniature warhead, the W-88, the Times reported. In 1996, a Chinese-American suspect was identified at the U.S. Energy Department's weapons lab in Los Alamos. It was not until this year that the suspect was given a lie-detector test, which one official said he failed. He was not arrested. The Times quoted critics as saying the investigation into Chinese espionage had been delayed because the discoveries came at a politically sensitive time for the White House. The information came to light while Congress was investigating the role of foreign money in the 1996 presidential campaign and as charges emerged that Beijing had secretly funneled money to the Democratic Party. The Clinton administration has been trying in the last few years to strengthen its strategic and commercial links with China. ''This conflicted with their China policy,'' a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Times. ''It undercut the administration's efforts to have a strategic partnership with the Chinese.'' The Times said the espionage was referred to in a secret report by a U.S. House of Representatives select committee investigating the separate transfer of sensitive U.S. technology to China. The investigation found the theft had harmed national security, the Times reported. At the request of the committee, headed by California Republican Rep. Christopher Cox, the CIA and other agencies are conducting a thorough damage assessment, the paper said. Brian H.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (23806)	3/6/1999 8:39:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Maurice, Do You Know This Person> Talking about a revolution Waikato Times Smart managers have given Telecom investors a handsome return through the '90s. Retiring chairman Peter Shirtcliffe doesn't see that changing. -------------------- TELECOM chairman Peter Shirtcliffe has retired from top business jobs three times. This time it is for good. Mr Shirtcliffe, 68 in July, has been a leading figure in New Zealand business for three decades. After more than 10 years with Telecom he says it is "time to hang up the boots and saddle". "Some of you may not know that at the end of this year, I will have been in the workforce for 50 years," he said. "I know looking at me you will find that hard to believe." He announced his intention to retire as chairman of Telecom after nine years in that role and 13 years in total with the company as a director, then deputy chairman before taking over at the top of the board table. He has been with the company "from the time Telecom was a mere gleam in the eye of a group of reform-minded public policy makers". He will step down at the company's annual meeting on September 30. Mr Shirtcliffe has wide experience in New Zealand business. He was chief executive and managing director of baking giant Goodman Group between 1976 and 1985. From 1986 to 1990 he was chairman of the Trade Development Board. He has worked on many government and educational advisory committees and in the stockbroking business. In 1993, he gained a high public profile as the founder of the Campaign for Better Government, vigorously opposing the introduction of MMP system of government. Mr Shirtcliffe even donned a plastic raincoat and campaigned on the streets of Wellington, passing out leaflets. An old boy of Wellesley school in Wellington, then Huntley School, Marton, and Wanganui Collegiate, Mr Shirtcliffe completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree and became a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. In the 1950s and 1960s he was an active member of the Naval Volunteer Reserve, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1998 he was awarded a CMG and two years later the New Zealand Commemoration Medal. Mr Shirtcliffe said he had thought about retiring for some time, but it was now appropriate from the board governance and management perspective. The reasons for standing down were "entirely personal" he said -- the only thing he would give away was that he would be playing more golf. He wanted to make sure the timing of the transition was as "impeccable" as possible and ensure continuity with Telecom's new ventures. "We see no disruption to the company," he said. Telecom has been a big success for investors in the 1990s. An investment of just $1 in 1991 would now be worth more than $4 -- equal to a compound annual return of about 27 per cent. Critics argue that the Government sold Telecom too cheaply and the social costs have been enormous, with thousands of job losses. At the time, in 1990, when Telecom was sold for $4.25 billion, people were staggered at the amount, Mr Shirtcliffe said. The Government sold it for about $1 billion more than anyone thought it could get and everyone was pleased. "But all the risks were in front," he said. It was a high price for the structure of the business at the time. "If you are going to do the hard work and take the risks, you are entitled to the rewards," he said. Telecom had done well for investors in a competitive environment because it had smart managers. "We have done well for shareholders, but with a major focus on the customer and the competitive environment," Mr Shirtcliffe said. Many rivals in the phone business disagree and argue that there needs to be a fairer competition policy. "Of course" he regretted the thousands of jobs lost at Telecom in the past 10 years and the turmoil in their lives. "But a lot of them were not working in telecommunications. A lot of them were building furniture and converting vehicles to natural gas." He saw "with my own eyes" a little department in the Hutt Valley making rubber stamps for every post office in New Zealand, a business inherited from the Post Office. "People were not allowed to go and buy a rubber stamp at Whitcoulls next door. Goodness knows what the cost of all that was," he said. There was endless activity with Telecom that had nothing to do with the phone business, he said. "We got rid of all that. In a competitive environment you had to have a cost structure better than your competitors," he said. But he stressed that there would not be an organisation in New Zealand that had treated its departing people more generously. "The test of that is that we got through the period with virtually no industrial action," he said. Though Telecom had cut thousands of jobs, the telecommunications industry had grown to employ more people than Telecom did a decade ago. "They might not be working for Telecom, but they are still working in the industry." Mr Shirtcliffe was involved in the original break-up of the old Post Office through the Post Office Review Steering Committee in 1986, creating [ Post Bank ] , Post Office and Telecom. After that he joined the Telecom board. It took two or three years to get the company going. The most "fractious" issue was setting up proper accounts, which had not been kept before then. "We had to establish a set of accounts and a balance sheet. It was a very difficult process," he said. Then Telecom had to turn the company from an engineering and socially driven organisation into a "customer-driven" business. Telecom inherited a wonderful network for the times, but it was built without an ongoing focus on the customer and not necessarily for shareholder value. "The engineers decided what was a good thing and the politicians were pushing them along," he said. Telecom had been developing customer relations in the past three or four years in a growing competitive environment. The next big adventure for Telecom was the move "on-line", with business on the internet, Mr Shirtcliffe said. -- NZPA