Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

ABC News
October 9, 2011

A computer virus has hit the US Predator and Reaper drone fleet that Washington deploys to hunt down militants, logging the keystrokes of pilots remotely flying missions, Wired magazine reported.

The virus was first detected about two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System, but it had not halted missions flown remotely over Afghanistan and other warzones from Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base, Wired said on Friday (local time).

No classified information was believed to have been lost or sent outside the network, though the resilient virus resisted several attempts to remove it.

“We keep wiping it off and it keeps coming back,” a source familiar with the network infection told the US magazine.

“We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”

Military network security specialists said it remained unclear whether the virus was intentional and how far it had spread, but they were certain it had infected Creech’s classified and unclassified machines.

Secret data may have leaked out and reached someone outside military officials.

The US military does not hide its own drone flights in Libya Afghanistan, in contrast to the CIA’s covert missions to take out Al Qaeda extremists in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

The drones have become a critical weapon of choice for the United States in fighting militants abroad. …

Read on: www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-09/computer-virus-hits-us-drone-fleet/3403024

Yahoo! News
AFP – October 7, 2011

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday acknowledged what has long been an open secret — that the CIA deploys armed Predator drones to hunt down Islamist militants.

The US government officially declines to admit to the spy agency’s drone strikes, but Panetta — who served as Central Intelligence Agency director until taking over the Pentagon in July — made two casual references to the CIA’s use of robotic aircraft during a visit to US bases in Italy.

“Having moved from the CIA to the Pentagon, obviously I have a hell of a lot more weapons available to me in this job than I did at CIA — although Predators aren’t bad,” Panetta told an audience of sailors at the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet headquarters in Naples.

Later at a joint US-Italian air base in Sigonella, Panetta thanked air crews for their role in the NATO air campaign over Libya as he stood in front of a Global Hawk drone, a larger unmanned aircraft that flies at high altitude for surveillance missions.

Panetta cited the important role of drones in the Libya operation, including the Predator drones. …

Read on: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-cia-chief-acknowledges-open-secret-drones-184628103.html

The Washington Post
October 7, 2011

President Barack Obama will meet at the White House later this month with the prime minister of the Czech Republic.

Some in the Czech Republic have bristled at the Obama administration’s handling of its relationship with the Central European nation. And the Czechs withdrew this summer from U.S. missile defense plans out of frustration with their diminished role. …

Read on: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-meet-with-czech-republic-leader-follows-czech-withdrawal-from-missile-defense-plans/2011/10/07/gIQAvQp0SL_story.html

Wired News (blog)
October 6, 2011
By David Kravets

A federal judge won’t hold the CIA in contempt for destroying videotapes of detainee interrogations that included the use of a torture technique known as waterboarding, ruling instead Wednesday that the spy agency merely committed “transgressions” for its failure to abide by his court order.

Punishing the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of New York ruled, “would serve no beneficial purpose.” …

Alexander Abdo, an ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] staff attorney, blasted Hellerstein’s ruling.

… “The truth is that the CIA destroyed evidence of torture, and the destruction of this evidence has made it harder to hold high-level officials accountable for the abuse that they authorized.”

The CIA in 2007 admitted to destroying the tapes of interrogations of alleged al-Qaeda members Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. A special prosecutor last year found that CIA officials should not be charged for the tapes’ destruction. …

Read in full: www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/cia-dodges-contempt/

Stars and Stripes
By Geoff Ziezulewicz
October 5, 2011

Four U.S. Navy ships will be stationed at Naval Station Rota, Spain, beginning in 2013 as part of a European missile defense system, defense officials announced Wednesday.

The ships will bring with them about 3,000 U.S. military personnel and family members, roughly doubling the American community in Rota, which presently serves as a logistics hub and has no ships home-ported there.

At a news conference Wednesday evening at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta hailed the agreement as a first step in a 10-year European missile defense plan, as well as a vindication of the alliance’s relevance.

“This announcement should send a very strong signal that the United States is still continuing to invest in this alliance,” Panetta said. …

The ships will act as a floating defense shield against potential missile strikes from Iran.

All are equipped with the Aegis combat system, a complex array of sensors, communications and weapons systems that can detect, track and fire on incoming missiles and other threats, according to the Navy.

These ships make up the first piece of the European Phased Adaptive Approach missile defense plan, which the White House introduced in 2009 and NATO endorsed last year.

Last month, Turkey agreed to emplace U.S. early warning radar on its soil, facing Iran and linked to the Aegis system. …

Read in full: www.stripes.com/news/four-u-s-navy-ships-to-be-stationed-at-rota-as-part-of-missile-defense-system-1.157031

Trend Daily News
October 4, 2011

Following an agreement to be reached to deploy European missile defense system (MDS) in Turkey, the U.S. missile cruisers carrying anti-aircraft missiles modified SM-2 blok3B will be deployed in Turkish territorial waters in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Hurriyet newspaper reported citing a source NATO.

These ships with a modified version of the Aegis system have the ability to watch over the airspace of neighboring countries.

An early-warning radar system will be deployed in Turkey, Turkish Foreign Ministry’s official representative Selcuk Unal said earlier.

He said the decision to deploying anti-missile defense system was adopted at the NATO summit in Lisbon in 2010. Turkey supported the initiative from the beginning.

The already established anti-missile defense systems, including Aegis, are planned to be deployed in Europe during the first stage of creating European MDS. According to the plan, it must be completed this year. The radar is an offshore radar detection system AN / TPY -2. The deployment of the radar and interceptor missiles will reflect regional ballistic missile threats to Europe. …

Read on: http://en.trend.az/regions/met/turkey/1940102.html

key.aero
By Gary Parsons
September 27, 2011

Making a rare visit to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire yesterday was B-52H Stratofortress 61-0008 from the 93rd Bomb Squadron, 917th Wing based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. B-52s used to be a common sight at RAF Fairford during the 1990s, but visits are few and far between these days.

The B-52 night stopped en-route to the USA from the Ostrava Airshow, held in the Czech Republic over the weekend of September 24/25. The ‘Buff’ brought in a VIP who was then seen departing in the back of a Czech Air Force JAS-39D Gripen – an expensive taxi!

www.key.aero/view_news.asp?ID=4091&thisSection=military

Voice of America
september 24, 2011

Defensive system is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles before they reach their targets.

President Barack Obama announced approximately two years ago, plans to pursue a new approach to missile defense in Europe – one that provides more comprehensive protection for NATO Allies and forces, against the growing threat of ballistic missiles.

“The proliferation of ballistic missiles that are more lethal, more accurate, and can cover greater distances poses a growing threat to the people and security of both Europe and the United States,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on September 13. …

In October 2009, Poland was the first country to commit, in principle, to host a land-based missile defense base on its territory. Poland was also first to conclude negotiations and sign a basing agreement in July 2010. Now with the Polish ratification process complete, the two countries issued a statement announcing that they are ready to take the next step toward ensuring European security:

“The United States and Poland are pleased to jointly announce that the Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement of 2008 and its Amending Protocol of 2010 on deployment of the land-based SM-3 system within Poland has entered into force, effective September 15, 2011.”

The Standard Missile-3, or SM-3 interceptor which will be deployed in Poland was originally mounted on U.S. naval ships. It is a defensive system designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles before they reach their targets. It is composed of a network of sensors for target detection and tracking; interceptors which will destroy incoming missiles by colliding with them; and a command and control system. …

Read in full: www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/europe/US—Polish-Missile-Defense-Agreement-In-Force–130571008.html

NewsMax.com
By Gary Cohen
September 24, 2011

A confirmed military hardware sale from the United States to Israel will not only strenghten the Jewish state’s security, it is expected to bolster President Obama’s odds of luring more American Jewish voters in 2012.

As reported in The New York Times, the el-Defense Security Cooperation Agency confirms the United States government has sold to Israel bombs which have the ability to incinerate buried targets, including suspected sites in Iran which are believed to be part of Tehran’s nuclear weapons program.

The agency said in a statement, “This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country.” …

Read on: www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Supplies-Israel-Bunker-BustingBombs/2011/09/24/id/412148

Sudan Tribune
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
September 24, 2011

The United States is reportedly set to build a new drone base in Ethiopia for counter-terrorism operations in the Horn of Africa, the Washington Post reports.

The establishment of the drone base in the East African country will be used to carry out strikes against targets in the region mainly to confront the activities of designated terrorist groups such as Al-Shabab an al-Qaeda affiliate who are fighting the the weak transitional government of Somalia.

Ethiopia has in recent years proved as “a valued counterterrorism partner to deal with the threats posed by al-Shabaab.” according to US officials who spoke to the Washington Post.

“The CIA and other agencies also employ Ethiopian informants who gather information from across the border,” the Washington Post reported.

The United States and Ethiopia have been discussing creating a drone base inside the Horn of Africa nation for the past four years according to one US official…

The US government had carried out unauthorised deadly drone attacks in at least six countries namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen where in most cases the attacks have sparked public anger.

Read in full: www.sudantribune.com/US-to-build-drone-base-in-Ethiopia,40239