USA: WASHINGTON: PENTAGON WARNING ON TERRORISM

Описание: (10 Mar 1999) English/Nat

A top Pentagon official has warned Congress that U-S commercial interests have been left wide open to sabotage from computer hackers who could wreak damage on the scale of Pearl Harbour.

Deputy Defence Secretary John Hamre delivered his grim warning on Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Committee also heard evidence of the growing threat to U-S citizens of terrorist attacks on their home ground.

Tuesday's sitting of the Senate Armed Services Committee was dedicated to the threat to U-S citizens of a domestic terrorist attack.

The committee heard that such an attack could take the form of physical violence.

But of equal importance was the new threat of cyber-terrorism.

Until now, the most obvious target of computer hackers - or so-called cyber-terrorists - was thought to be the U-S Defence Department computer network.

The Pentagon network is penetrated by hackers as often as 10 to 15 times a day.

But Pentagon officials testified on Tuesday of the Defence Department's readiness to repel these intrusions.

In response, Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Committee, adamantly stressed his desire that the Pentagon do everything in its power to ensure that vital national security interests are protected.

And he promised that his committee would play its part and remain ever-vigilant.

He said he would even consider diverting funds intended for military planes and ships to make sure that the United States could protect its citizens.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This country will be totally unforgiving if we were to experience a WMD attack here either perpetrated by a citizen of this country or a foreign terrorist and it was later discovered after that tragedy that we as a nation hadn't taken every possible step, A to avoid it, B to educate what you do when it happen and C, if it happens that such a tragedy, to all we can to render assistance to those suffering the consequences."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator John Warner

But whilst likely military terrorist targets are well defended, a top Pentagon official warned Congress of the threat which cyber-terrorists pose to U-S commercial interests.

Deputy Defence Secretary, John Hamre, said he is increasingly worried about the vulnerability of financial targets, which remain unguarded.

If the country's commercial infrastructure were attacked, Hamre said the consequences could be as serious as Pearl Harbour.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This Pearl Harbour is going to be different, it's not going to be against Navy ships sitting in a Navy shipyard; it's going to be against commercial infrastructure, and we don't control that. And there's been little progress on that."
SUPER CAPTION: Deputy Defence Secretary John Hamre

In terms of policy, General Joseph Ralston, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, informed the panel that the Pentagon has decided against a proposal to set up a new U-S-based military command to deal exclusively with the terrorism issue.

Instead, Ralston said Defence Secretary William Cohen would soon recommend to President Clinton the creation of a joint task force, made up of different services and agencies, to deal with terrorism threats - and particularly the threat of chemical or biological weapons.

The task force and its commander would report to the Atlantic Command, based at Norfolk, Virginia.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It's our judgement on the military side that a joint task force would be appropriate at this stage of where we are and we believe that Atlantic Command would be the proper place for that joint task force to report to."


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