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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Georgetown Hack May Have Exposed Personal Data

Computerworld
Georgetown Hack May Have Exposed Personal Data
News Story by Jaikumar Vijayan

MARCH 13, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Georgetown University in Washington has called in the U.S. Secret Service to investigate a server breach that may have exposed confidential information on more than 41,000 individuals.

The breach appears to have been caused by an external hacker and involved a server that managed information on services provided by the District of Columbia Office on Aging, according to a university statement. The breach may have exposed the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of people taking part in the agency's programs.

The server was managed by a university researcher under a grant from the Office on Aging.

The breach was discovered Feb. 12 during a routine check of school networks by Georgetown's information security office, said a university spokesman. The compromised server was immediately disconnected from the network, he said.

But because "it took some time to recognize the scope and nature of the exposure," the intrusion was not disclosed to the Office on Aging for almost two weeks, according to the spokesman. Law enforcement officials were then notified on Feb. 27, and the Secret Service took custody of the compromised server for forensic testing the next day.

There is no evidence that the compromised information has been misused, the spokesman said. He said the breach did not affect any of the university's core computer systems containing student financial and admission records.

Damage Control

Georgetown is now notifying people whose information may have been exposed in the incident, the spokesman said. But that task is complicated because the breached server contained records dating back to 1983 on people who may now be deceased.

The university has established a toll-free phone number and a Web site where people can get more information.

In a March 3 e-mail to students and workers, Georgetown CIO David Lambert said the university's security office plans to focus on "enhancing the security of confidential information contained on campus and departmental servers" during the spring and summer. He did not elaborate.

According to a university source familiar with the incident who requested anonymity, the server in question was under the control of an individual who wasn't technically qualified to be a systems administrator. "Because we're a university and fairly open, there are many computing fiefdoms," often run by individuals with grant money, the source said in an e-mail.

Maryland House Votes to Oust Diebold Machines

Computerworld
Maryland House Votes to Oust Diebold Machines
Marc L. Songini

MARCH 13, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - The state of Maryland stands poised to put its entire $95 million investment in Diebold Election Systems Inc. touch-screen e-voting systems on ice because they can't produce paper receipts.

The state House of Delegates last week voted 137-0 to approve a bill prohibiting election officials from using AccuVote-TS touch-screen systems in the 2006 primary and general elections. The legislation calls for the state to lease paper-based optical-scan systems for the 2006 votes. State Delegate Anne Healey estimated the leasing cost at $12.5 million to $16 million for the two elections.

Healey, a Democrat, is the vice chairwoman of the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee, which recommended the passage of the bill. The bill was sent on to the state Senate for a vote after the House action, she said.

No Confidence

Healey said the effort was inspired in part by concerns raised by officials in California and Florida that the Diebold systems have inherent security problems caused by technological and procedural flaws.

"We've been hearing from the public for the last several years that it doesn't have confidence in a system without a paper trail," Healey said. "We need to provide that level of confidence going forward."

If the bill becomes law, the state's Diebold systems will be placed in "abeyance" and the vendor will be required to equip them to provide the necessary paper trail, she said.

Healey said the law would require the vendor to provide a paper trail before the 2008 elections or risk losing its contract to supply machines in the state. The bill also mandates that any leased optical-scan system be equipped to accommodate the needs of handicapped voters, to ensure compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act.

Healey said she expects the Senate to vote on the bill sometime in the next few weeks, before the legislative session ends.

A Diebold spokesman said the company will "work with the state of Maryland, as we always have, to support their elections as they see fit." He noted that Maryland has been using Diebold machines for several years without problems. The state first contracted with Diebold to provide the systems in January 2002.

Maryland is following in the footsteps of several other states in expressing concern over security flaws in the Diebold machines.

Earlier this month, Florida adopted a new set of security procedures for the use of e-voting systems from any supplier.

The implementation of the new procedures in Florida was largely a response to reports issued last month by California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson saying that tests found the Diebold systems vulnerable to external access via hacking or bugs.

Nonetheless, McPherson has granted conditional certification for the Diebold machines in California's elections -- with the proviso that supervisors adhere to new security guidelines when using the gear.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Railroad Loses $116,000 After Responding to E-Mail Pitch

findlaw.com
Railroad Loses $116,000 After Responding to E-Mail Pitch
By DONNA HIGGINS, Andrews Publications Staff Writer

Railroad giant CSX Transportation Inc. has lost its bid to collect almost $116,000 from a company whose name appeared in the domain name of an unsolicited e-mail that offered to buy old railcars for scrap.

The mere presence of the company's name as part of the sender's e-mail address is not enough, without more, to establish that the sender had authority to enter into a binding contract on the company's behalf, U.S. District Judge William G. Young in Boston said, noting that the issue appeared to be one of first impression.

"Before delivering goods worth over $115,000 to a stranger, one reasonably should be expected to inquire as to the authority of that person to have made such a deal," the judge said. "Given the anonymity of the Internet, this case illustrates the potential consequences of operating — even in today's fast-paced business world — as CSX did."

CSX filed the breach-of-contract case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Recovery Express Inc. and Interstate Demolition & Environmental Corp. IDEC shared office space with Recovery Express, and two of Recovery Express' principals were also active in IDEC, the opinion says.

CSX provides freight rail service in 23 states in the eastern United States and in two Canadian provinces.

As the ruling explained, a CSX employee received an e-mail from Albert Arillotta, who claimed he worked for Recovery Express and used the e-mail address albert@recoveryexpress.com. The message — rife with spelling and grammatical errors — claimed Recovery Express was interested in buying old CSX railcars to resell for scrap.

The CSX employee spoke by phone with Arillotta, who eventually showed up at a CSX rail yard and hauled away several railcars. There is no evidence as to where the railcars are now or what happened to them, the opinion notes.

A check from Arillotta for $115,757 bounced, and Recovery Express refused to pay, claiming Arillotta never worked for the company. The judge said Arillotta actually worked for IDEC, and the two companies apparently shared an e-mail system. IDEC is now defunct.

Recovery Express moved for summary judgment, contending that CSX has no grounds for forcing it to pay the bill for the railcars.

Judge Young agreed, saying the outcome of the case boiled down to whether the presence of Recovery Express' name as part of Arillotta's e-mail address was enough by itself to confer "apparent authority" on Arillotta to enter into a contract for Recovery Express.

The judge concluded it did not, and he likened an e-mail address to a business card or corporate stationary, which can create an association between an individual and a company but does not automatically mean the person has any authority to act on the company's behalf.

If the court adopted CSX's argument, the judge said, it would mean "every subordinate employee with a company e-mail address — down to the night watchman — could bind a company to the same contracts as the president. That is not the law."

CSX Transportation Inc. v. Recovery Express Inc., No. 04-12293, 2006 WL 235068 (D. Mass. Feb. 1, 2006).
Computer & Internet Litigation Reporter
Volume 23, Issue 20

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil, See No Evil

New Crystal Ball

What's the surprise?

Here we go again!

But Where Can We Find An American Company To Take Over The Ports ???

Sinking Ship

The Forbes 40,000,000

huffingtonpost.com
The Forbes 40,000,000
Tony Hendra

The good news: for the fifth consecutive year the poor got poorer! In this - the 24th edition of the Forbes 40,000,000 - the collective net worth of America’s poorest - after being offset against liabilities – plunged from $425 to $113. Weirdly, this happens to be exactly one ten-billionth of the combined net worth - $1.13 trillion - of the Forbes 400.

Surging real estate and oil prices drove down the pathetic individual assets of the Forbes 40,000,000 and added 3 million newbies to the legendary list. Meet a couple of the exploitable nobodies who form the lowest and largest segment of America’s Great Opportunity Pyramid or GOP:

#23,085,889 Garth Hambone, 51. Net worth: $-4,637.02. Education: High-school valedictorian Hambone entered lucrative IBM Selectric division in 70s, was laid off as IBM moved into personal computers in 80s, ended up doing a 7-year jail term in Huntsville Tex. for passing a bum $31 check. Chronically unemployable he makes his home in his 1992 Hyundai, ‘somewhere’ in Sugarland Tex. and owes his negative net worth to outstanding tickets for various traffic violations. Felon Hambone can’t vote but if he could would send his Congressman Tom Delay back to Washington in November because ‘Republicans stand up for America, freedom and white folks’.

#17,996,111. Gloria Estrada 48. Net worth (as of 5:30pm PT 3/13/06), $0.05. Like most of the Forbes 40,000,000, single mom of four Gloria is desperate enough to work 2 and 3 jobs at below-subsistence wages. Gloria last had a full night’s sleep in 1995. She is currently repurposing used duct-tape for her local Wal-Mart, helping boost the stock-price of Walton heirs Alice, Helen, Jim, John and Robson (#4-#8 on Forbes 400; combined net worth $94.0 billion). When she can afford the 5-buck tab Gloria feasts on a pizza and hot bread sticks at her local Little Caesar’s pizza joints. Little Caesar’s products are typical of the food-like cereal combos on which most of the Forbes 40,000,000 subsist; their only nutritional content being the skimpy cheese toppings supplied by newly minted billionaire James Leprino (#258 Forbes 400. Net worth 1.3 billion).

With no unions, no job projection, no contracts, America’s poorest can be fired with impunity and without notice, making them willing to do just about anything to hang on to their pathetic salaries. It doesn’t hurt that for every person with a job, five other members the Forbes 40,000,000 are waiting outside the job-site to grab their jobs if they’re fired, fall sick, are injured or killed. The effects on productivity are stellar; the ever-expanding bottom-lines of the Forbes 400 are being pushed to unprecedented heights by an ever-expanding work-force of meek, cooperative, docile, pliable, low-cost neo-slaves.

Speaking of slavery, some CEOs have been quietly talking about schemes to avoid paying the poorest anything at all for their work. One possibility: finding a way to arrest and incarcerate far greater numbers of the poor than are currently in correctional facilities and then tap the prison population as unpaid workers. One niggling objection: with so many CEOs in the slammer or headed there, they could end up working for un-incarcerated CEOs. Bigger question: would hard-pressed states be willing to underwrite a massive expansion of their prisons? This in turn underlines the wider problem of paying workers nothing. Like slave-owners of old, modern owners would be forced to feed, clothe, house, even provide rudimentary healthcare for their workers if they didn’t want them dying like flies. Studies show that however skimpy these services, they’d cost substantially more than prevailing rock-bottom wages, especially when it’s factored in, that the Forbes 40,000,000’s pathetic incomes are immediately repossessed by various sectors of the Forbes 400, in food and gas bills, rent, clothing, gambling debt, futile sports and entertainment costs and usurious interest rates.

With wages for the lowest headed still lower, patriotic CEOs are also toying with the possibility that jobs exported by such companies as Nike (founder Philip Knight #22 Forbes 400 Net worth $7.4 billion) to rock-bottom Asian and Latin American economies where humans will work for 2 bucks a day, can finally be brought back home again.

The bad news that goes along with all this good news?

There isn’t any.

Gale Norton Resigns

The New York Times
Gale Norton Resigns

Like her mentor, James Watt, the maniacally anti-environmental interior secretary under Ronald Reagan, Gale Norton came to Washington convinced that the pendulum of public policy had swung too far in favor of the protection of America's natural resources at the expense of their commercial exploitation — especially by the oil, natural gas and mining industries.

In this she was little different from the other ideologues whom President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney picked to fill most of the administration's important environmental posts. But as the cheerful, upbeat face of a retrograde public policy, she may have been the most successful of them all.

In public Ms. Norton spoke winningly of what she called her four C's: "cooperation, communication and consultation, all in the service of conservation." But this was little more than comfy language diverting attention from her main agenda, which was to open up Western lands, some of them fragile, to the extractive industries. Perhaps her signature moment was a secret deal in 2003 with Mike Leavitt, then governor of Utah, in which she not only exposed 2.6 million acres of previously protected lands to commercial development but also renounced her statutory authority to recommend additional lands for wilderness protection. There will be no new wilderness under my watch, she seemed to say, but there will be oil and gas.

The agency she leaves behind is not a particularly happy one. Many National Park Service employees oppose her rewrite of the service's management philosophy, a rewrite favoring recreational use over conservation. Biologists at the Fish and Wildlife Service have complained of political interference. Her emasculation of the mining laws pleased few outside the industry. The White House has hacked unmercifully at key departmental programs — including the vital Land and Water Conservation Fund, which Mr. Bush vowed to protect — without audible complaint from the secretary.

Ms. Norton has been an extraordinarily faithful steward of the Bush agenda — but not, we are sad to say, of the lands she was obliged to protect.

Cheney Roasted at Gridiron Club Dinner

washingtonpost.com
Cheney Roasted at Gridiron Club Dinner
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Bush headlined the annual Gridiron Club political press roast Saturday night, but Vice President Dick Cheney was the main target of the humor.

Cheney's well-publicized Texas hunting accident last month, drew ridicule from the press corps and all the speakers, including the president.

Bush pointed out that the vice president's full name is Richard B. Cheney.

"B. stands for bulls eye," Bush said to laughter from the hundreds of reporters and officials from the administration and Congress. The press, Bush joked, blew the matter way out of proportion: "Good Lord, you'd thought he shot somebody or something."

Cheney, who sat at the head table, laughed along with most of the jokes.

Bush said that while pundits speculate about whether Cheney or White House political adviser Karl Rove run the government, it's another person who actually pulls the strings. Cheney, Bush said, tells him what to do but Cheney's wife, Lynne, tells the vice president what to do.

"Lynne, I think you're doing a heck of a job. Although I have to say you dropped the ball big time on that Dubai deal," he said, in a joke about the controversial ports deal.

Lynne Cheney was the Republican speaker and opened by saying that because she came late in the program "the hunting jokes have been used."

The Democratic speaker was Illinois Sen. Barack Obama who sang a parody, "If I Only Had McCain."

His song alluded to a recent spat with Sen. John McCain over ethics reform. Obama was the lead Democrat on the issue, which has been a signature cause of the Arizona Republican.

Democrats didn't have an easier time than the Republicans and were mocked for being in disarray over their party's message and strategy, its position on the Iraq war and even whom to field for president in 2008.

"What do we stand for? We don't know. What's our platform? We ain't sure. All we know is Dubya's got it wrong," reporters sang, using a nickname for Bush.

The travails of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California also came in for a ribbing.

"This job is a zoo, I don't have a clue," a reporter sang. But then "Dubya messed up with the ports. I don't know why, but thank you, Dubai."

Bush made his fifth appearance and speech at the white-tie dinner.

Reporters dressed as sick chickens for a bird flu skit, as the Incredible Hulk to poke fun at Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who likes to wear a Hulk tie while waging fights in the Senate, and as Cheney hidden behind a Darth Vader mask.

Founded in 1885, the invitation-only Gridiron Club is the oldest organization for Washington journalists. It exists only for the annual dinner.

Now in its 121st year, the Gridiron claims to "singe, but never burn."

___

On the Net:

Gridiron Club: http://www.gridironclub.org/

Bush shocked by arrest of former adviser

USA TODAY
Bush shocked by arrest of former adviser

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — President Bush on Saturday said he was shocked to learn that his former domestic policy adviser was charged with theft for allegedly receiving phony refunds at department stores.

Allen walks with Bush on the White House complex following a meeting of black religious and community leaders Jan. 25.
By J. Scott Applewhite, AP

"I was shocked and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment — if it's true — that we were not fully informed," Bush said.

Claude Alexander Allen, 45, was arrested Thursday by police in Montgomery County, Md., for allegedly claiming refunds for more than $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy, according to county and federal authorities.

"If the allegations are true, Claude Allen did not tell my chief of staff or legal counsel the truth, and that's deeply disappointing" the president. "If the allegations are true, something went wrong in Claude Allen's life, and that is really sad."

Allen, named as domestic policy adviser in early 2005, resigned abruptly on Feb. 9, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Under investigation since at least January for alleged thefts on 25 occasions at Target and Hecht's stores, Allen had told White House chief of staff Andrew Card and White House counsel Harriet Miers there was some confusion with his credit card because he had moved several times. "He assured them that he had done nothing wrong and the matter would be cleared up," press secretary Scott McClellan said late Friday.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-11-ex-aide-bush_x.htm?csp=34

Study warns of lapses by port operators

USA TODAY
Study warns of lapses by port operators

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lapses by private port operators, shipping lines or truck drivers could allow terrorists to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States, according to a government review of security at American seaports.

The $75 million, three-year study by the Homeland Security Department included inspections at a New Jersey cargo terminal involved in the dispute over a Dubai company's now-abandoned bid to take over significant operations at six major U.S. ports.

The previously undisclosed results from the study found that cargo containers can be opened secretly during shipment to add or remove items without alerting U.S. authorities, according to government documents marked "sensitive security information" and obtained by The Associated Press.

The study found serious lapses by private companies at foreign and American ports, aboard ships, and on trucks and trains "that would enable unmanifested materials or weapons of mass destruction to be introduced into the supply chain."

The study, expected to be completed this fall, used satellites and experimental monitors to trace roughly 20,000 cargo containers out of the millions arriving each year from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Most containers are sealed with mechanical bolts that can be cut and replaced or have doors that can be removed by dismantling hinges.

The risks from smuggled weapons are especially worrisome because U.S. authorities largely decide which cargo containers to inspect based on shipping records of what is thought to be inside.

Among the study's findings:

•Safety problems were not limited to overseas ports. A warehouse in Maine was graded less secure than any in Pakistan, Turkey or Brazil. "There is a perception that U.S. facilities benefit from superior security protection measures," the study said. "This mind set may contribute to a misplaced sense of confidence in American business practices."

•No records were kept of "cursory" inspections in Guatemala for containers filled with Starbucks Corp. coffee beans shipped to the West Coast. "Coffee beans were accessible to anyone entering the facility," the study said. It found significant mistakes on manifests and other paperwork. In a statement to the AP, Starbucks said it was reviewing its security procedures.

•Truck drivers in Brazil were permitted to take cargo containers home overnight and park along public streets. Trains in the U.S. stopped in rail yards that did not have fences and were in high-crime areas. A shipping industry adage reflects unease over such practices: "A container at rest is a container at risk."

•Practices at Turkey's Port of Izmir were "totally inadequate by U.S. standards." But, the study noted, "It has been done that way for decades in Turkey."

•Containers could be opened aboard some ships during weekslong voyages to America. "Due to the time involved in transit (and) the fact that most vessel crewmembers are foreigners with limited credentialing and vetting, the containers are vulnerable to intrusion during the ocean voyage," the study said.

•Some governments will not help tighten security because they view terrorism as an American problem. The U.S. said "certain countries," which were not identified, would not cooperate in its security study — "a tangible example of the lack of urgency with which these issues are regarded."

•Security was good at two terminals in Seattle and nearby Tacoma, Wash. The operator in Seattle, SSA Marine, uses cameras and software to track visitors and workers. "We consider ourselves playing an important role in security," said the company's vice president, Bob Waters.

In theory, some nuclear materials inside cargo containers can be detected with special monitors. But such devices have frustrated port officials in New Jersey because bananas, kitty litter and fire detectors — which all emit natural radiation — set off the same alarms more than 100 times every day.

The study applauded efforts to install radiation monitors overseas. "While there is clearly value in nuclear detection at a U.S. port, that is precisely the concern — it is already on U.S. soil," it said.

Finding biological and chemical weapons inside cargo containers is less likely. The study said tests were "labor intensive, time-consuming and costly to use" and produced too many false alarms. "No silver bullet has emerged to render terrorists incapable of introducing WMD into containers," it said.

Sen. Patty Murray, who advocated the study, said: "There are huge holes in our security system that need to be filled." The Washington Democrat said the study "shows us there are major vulnerabilities over who handles cargo, where it's been and whether cargo is on a manifest."

Part of the study tested new tamper-evident locks on containers and tracking devices.

"It's important to figure out what works and what doesn't," said Elaine Dezenski, Homeland Security's acting assistant secretary for policy development. She said the study "gave us a much better view of vulnerabilities." The U.S. is looking for weaknesses across the shipping system to learn where terrorists might strike, she said.

The study, called "Operation Safe Commerce," undercuts arguments that port security in America is an exclusive province of the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is not managed by companies operating shipping terminals.

The theme was an important element in the Bush administration's forceful defense of the deal it originally approved to allow Dubai-owned DP World to handle significant operations at ports in New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

Bush and senior officials sought to assure lawmakers that safety at ports would not decline.

"I can understand people's consternation because the first thing they heard was that a foreign company would be in charge of our port security when in fact, the Coast Guard and Customs are in charge of our port security," Bush said Feb. 28. "Our duty is to protect America, and we will protect America."

DP World promised on Thursday to transfer fully to an American company its U.S. port operations it acquired when it bought London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

It was unclear how such a sale might occur, but the divestiture was expected to involve major operations at the six U.S. ports and affect lesser dockside activities at 16 other ports in this country.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., a leading critic of the Dubai deal, said anyone suggesting that port operators and shipping companies were not involved with security was "living in La-La land."

"You can obviously have stuff in containers that doesn't make it onto manifests, either by design or from the actions of bad actors," Menendez said in an AP interview Friday. "A terminal operator is so involved in the overall security equation of ports."

Parts of the U.S. study examined the safety of containers sent to the same cargo terminal in New Jersey that DP World would have managed jointly and operated with its Denmark-based rival, Maersk Sealand.

Hundreds of pages of study documents obtained by the AP do not list specific security lapses at the New Jersey terminal. The final two cargo containers being tracked under the study were expected to arrive there this week from the Middle East.

But the study broadly described problems in warehouses and other storage areas that raised doubts about the safety of containers brought to New Jersey's port. It cited problems with protective fences and gates, surveillance cameras and emergency plans.

The lengthy study has been beset by problems. Japan refused to allow officials to attach tracking devices to containers destined for the United States. Other tracking devices sometimes failed. Many shipping companies refused to disclose information for competitive reasons.

Some containers in the study were aboard a ship the Coast Guard held 11 miles off New Jersey's coast for security reasons in August 2004. An anonymous e-mail had claimed a container filled with tons of lemons was deliberately contaminated with a biological agent. The lemons were fumigated and burned, but no trace of poison was ever found; the containers also were destroyed.

Parts of the study could not be finished at all. U.S. officials went to Pakistan to inspect how workers in Karachi handle cargo containers. But they canceled plans for a return inspection because of an outbreak of terrorist attacks there.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-11-study-ports-security_x.htm?csp=34

Dean criticizes GOP on ports security

USA TODAY
Dean criticizes GOP on ports security

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Democratic National Committee sought to capitalize Saturday on the recent divide between President Bush and congressional Republicans over ports security, arguing that the GOP has a "pre-9/11 mind-set" on ensuring safety at U.S. entries.

In his party's weekly radio address, Howard Dean trumpeted the Democrats' success in helping to derail a plan for a Dubai-owned company to manage some operations at six U.S. ports.

Bush strongly backed the deal involving the United Arab Emirates-based company, but many lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, opposed having a foreign government oversee operations at ports vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

In a surprise announcement, DP World said Thursday it would transfer terminal operations at six ports to a U.S. entity, sparing Bush a veto showdown with GOP lawmakers.

However, the Financial Times newspaper of London reported Friday that DP World is considering retaining a 49% interest in the port operations. A DP World spokesman said he didn't know whether the report, attributed to a person involved in the deal, was accurate.

"Any of these plans that allow Dubai Ports World to retain any portion of ownership or control over U.S. ports is absolutely unacceptable," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "If they insist on doing so, we will move our legislation preventing them from owning or controlling any percentage of U.S. port operations."

"America had a great victory this week in the war on terror," Dean said in the radio address. "Key Democratic senators and representatives forced President Bush to give up the idea that six major American ports should be run by a foreign country. Republicans in Congress followed the Democrats' lead to demand the president change the policy."

Bush said Friday he was open to changing how the government reviews such transactions. But, he told a gathering of newspaper executives, "I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East."

"In order to win the war on terror, we have got to strengthen our friendships and relationships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East," he said.

National security has been Bush's signature issue since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, boosting him to a second term in 2004. In January, White House adviser Karl Rove promised to make the war on terrorism a central campaign issue as Republicans looked to maintain their grip on the House and Senate in the midterm elections.

Rove told the GOP activists: "Republicans have a post-9/11 view of the world. And Democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world."

In an echo of Rove's approach, Dean said the ports security controversy highlights a different Republican Party.

"Republicans have shown a pre-9/11 mind-set when it comes to closing the gaps in our security at our ports," the Democratic chairman said. "Democrats will continue to fight to secure our ports."

On another issue, Dean assailed Bush for running up the U.S. debt by $3 trillion during his tenure, contending that amounts to another security crisis.

"One of the implications of this increased debt is that increasingly, foreigners are financing this debt, putting the American economy in the hands of foreign debt holders, just like the ports deal would have put port security in the hands of a foreign-owned government," Dean said.

Dean said the Democrats will oppose budgets that deepen the deficit.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-11-dean-ports_x.htm?csp=34

Military shuns many of recruiting age

USA TODAY
Military shuns many of recruiting age

WASHINGTON (AP) — Uncle Sam wants YOU, that famous Army recruiting poster says. But does he really?

Not if you're a Ritalin-taking, overweight, Generation Y couch potato — or some combination of the above.

As for that fashionable "body art" that the military still calls a tattoo, having one is grounds for rejection, too.

With U.S. casualties rising in wars overseas and more opportunities in the civilian workforce from an improved U.S. economy, many young people are shunning a career in the armed forces. But recruiting is still a two-way street — and the military, too, doesn't want most people in this prime recruiting age group of 17 to 24.

Of some 32 million Americans now in this group, the Army deems the vast majority too obese, too uneducated, too flawed in some way, according to its estimates for the current budget year.

"As you look at overall population and you start factoring out people, many are not eligible in the first place to apply," said Doug Smith, spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command.

Some experts are skeptical.

Previous Defense Department studies have found that 75% of young people are ineligible for military service, noted Charles Moskos of Northwestern University. While the professor emeritus who specializes in military sociology says it is "a baloney number," he acknowledges he has no figures to counter it.

"Recruiters are looking for reasons other than themselves," said David R. Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. "So they blame the pool."

The military's figures are estimates, based partly on census numbers. They are part of an elaborate analysis the military does as it struggles each year to compete with colleges and companies for the nation's best and brightest, plan for future needs and maintain diversity.

The Census Bureau estimates that the overall pool of people who would be in the military's prime target age has shrunk as American society ages. There were 1 million fewer 18- to 24-year olds in 2004 than in 2000, the agency says.

The pool shrinks to 13.6 million when only high school graduates and those who score in the upper half on a military service aptitude test are considered. The 30% who are high school dropouts are not the top choice of today's professional, all-volunteer and increasingly high-tech military force.

Other factors include:

•the rising rate of obesity; some 30% of U.S. adults are now considered obese.

•a decline in physical fitness; one-third of teenagers are now believed to be incapable of passing a treadmill test.

•a near-epidemic rise in the use of Ritalin and other stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Potential recruits are ineligible for military service if they have taken such a drug in the previous year.

Doctors prescribe these drugs to about 2 million children and 1 million adults a month, according to a federal survey. Many more are believed to be using such stimulants recreationally and to stay awake longer to boost academic and physical performance.

Other potential recruits are rejected because they have criminal histories and too many dependents. Subtract 4.4 million from the pool for these people and for the overweight.

Others can be rejected for medical problems, from blindness to asthma. The Army estimate has subtracted 2.6 million for this group.

That leaves 4.3 million fully qualified potential recruits and an estimated 2.3 million more who might qualify if given waivers on some of their problems.

The bottom line: a total 6.6 million potential recruits from all men and women in the 32 million-person age group.

In the budget year that ended last September, 15% of recruits required a waiver in order to be accepted for active duty services? or about 11,000 people of some 73,000 recruited.

Most waivers were for medical problems. Some were for misdemeanors such as public drunkenness, resisting arrest or misdemeanor assault? prompting criticism that the Army is lowering its standards.

This year the Army is trying to recruit 80,000 people; all the services are recruiting about 180,000.

And about the tattoos: They are not supposed to be on your neck, refer to gang membership, be offensive, or in any way conflict with military standards on integrity, respect and team work. The military is increasingly giving waivers for some types of tattoos, officials said.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-12-military-recruiting_x.htm?csp=34

Democrats see political port in Dubai storm

Reuters
Democrats see political port in Dubai storm
By Patricia Wilson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats have seized on the collapse of the Dubai ports deal to buttress their case that George W. Bush is an incompetent president unable to get the job done at home or abroad.

Democratic congressional leaders, who hope to seize control of the Senate and House of Representatives in November elections from Bush's fellow Republicans, are using the political frenzy surrounding the president's support for an Arab company taking over some U.S. port operations as a metaphor for broader deficiencies.

"Forget the compassionate conservative," said Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, in a reference to Bush's 2000 campaign slogan. "Some of us would settle for just a competent conservative at this point."

From the conduct of the Iraq war to the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, to warrantless eavesdropping, the chaotic rollout of a new prescription drug benefit for seniors and the handling of the ports deal, Democrats believe Americans are seeing Bush differently and cite the lowest job performance ratings of his presidency as evidence.

"They're saying he's really not up to the job in terms of capability," said Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. "There's no chief operating officer in the White House. There's not anyone there making sure the government works day to day and they're finally learning that it catches up."

Schumer accused Republicans in Congress of simply rubber-stamping Bush's failures. "It's been utterly amazing to us that an administration that we've seen has been incompetent for so long got away with it," he said.

Other Democrats, including Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada have also tried out the incompetence tag. Kerry called the port situation a "case study in the administration's incompetence."

Bush's backing of the Dubai Ports World deal to assume management of six U.S. ports played into Americans' fear of terrorism after the September 11 attacks and left the president and his Republican allies vulnerable on their strongest political issue -- national security.

Democrats were gleeful at the spectacle of congressional Republicans turning on Bush and looking for political cover on a deal that was overwhelmingly opposed by the American public.

"The inclination of the Republican Congress when the president says jump is to say how high," Schumer said. "There is never a scintilla of opposition, that's what was so surprising ... but this one was so big and so deep that even they couldn't go along."

The White House rejected the notion that the Bush administration was short on accomplishments or that Republicans were abandoning the president.

"I think that there's a tendency in this town to try to selectively pick snapshots when the broader reality is that we have a record of results and that we're getting things done for the American people," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

He cited a strong economy, a determined war on terror, renewal of the Patriot Act and an innovative energy plan to wean Americans off foreign oil.

"We are a party that is moving forward on a record of accomplishment, a record of results," McClellan said.

The Republican National Committee fought back with a new Web ad entitled "Find the Leader," featuring clips from Reid and Kerry as well as other Democrats, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Joseph Biden of Delaware and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

"So who is the leader of the Democrat Party?" the spot asks. "No one seems to know."

With Dubai Ports World's pledge to transfer operation of U.S. terminals to an American entity, the White House hopes the controversy is dead. But even some Republicans think it has a shelf life.

"A lot can happen between now and November," said a congressional Republican leadership aide, "but I won't be surprised that on the issue of security a lot of Republicans run on their opposition to the port deal."

Democrat wants Bush censured on eavesdropping

Reuters
Democrat wants Bush censured on eavesdropping

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress should censure President George W. Bush for ordering domestic eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant, a Democratic senator said on Sunday.

Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin told ABC's "This Week" that he intends to push for a resolution that would censure the president for what he considers an unlawful wiretapping program authorized by the White House after the September 11 attacks.

"It's an unusual step," Feingold said of the measure he plans to introduce in the Senate on Monday. "It's a big step. But what the president did by consciously and intentionally violating the Constitution and laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping, has to be answered."

His proposal is unlikely to go far in the Republican-controlled Congress. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee told the same program that Feingold "is just wrong. He is flat wrong. He is dead wrong."

Frist said censuring the president would give U.S. enemies the impression that Bush doesn't have the nation's full support.

[Editor's comment: Guess Frist does not pay attention to the news, which has been reporting for quite some time now that Bush does not have the nation's full support. In fact, he has barely 30-something percent support.]

"The signal that it sends, that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander-in-chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that we know is making our homeland safer, is wrong," said Frist.

Rights groups, Democrats and some Republicans have fiercely criticized the Bush administration for the surveillance program.

It allows the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a warrant on Americans' international phone and e-mail communications in an effort to track down al Qaeda operations.

Critics say the NSA program could violate constitutional protections against unreasonable searches, as well as the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires the government to seek wiretap warrants from a secret court even during times of war.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the president has inherent constitutional powers to conduct warrantless surveillance to detect or prevent an attack.

He also has argued that a resolution passed by Congress after September 11 authorizing the use of military force gave Bush the right to approve the eavesdropping.

Democrats have urged a broad inquiry into the program. But Republicans have blocked that move, agreeing only to expand congressional oversight.

Lawmaker to press for US infrastructure ownership

Reuters
Lawmaker to press for US infrastructure ownership
By Philip Barbara

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Republican opponent of the collapsed Dubai ports deal said on Sunday that he would press ahead with legislation requiring U.S. ownership of infrastructure deemed critical to homeland security.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, said that under the bill, it would be up to the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to identify facilities critical to national defense.

"If something defined by the secretary of defense as being critical American infrastructure, we would give a five-year period for divestment by the parent company so you don't have a fire sale," Hunter told the "Fox News Sunday" program.

Hunter was among the Republicans who defied President George W. Bush last week in bitterly opposing the $6.85 billion deal under which Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates acquired the global assets of Britain-based P&O, including management operations of some facilities at six major U.S. ports.

The Dubai firm has since pledged to transfer those facilities to a U.S. entity.

Hunter's legislation would mean that facilities owned by all foreign companies, including those based in longtime allies in Europe, and identified as sensitive to U.S. homeland security might have to be sold to U.S. firms that would then own, operate and manage them.

Companies in France and Germany, Australia and Mexico, for instance, operate U.S. bridges and tunnels, ship terminals and water-purification plants, all of which would be reviewed by for security concerns.

It is unclear how much support Hunter's bill will have in the Republican-controlled Congress, since foreign companies are major investors in U.S. infrastructure.

Sen. John Warner, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee who tried to defuse the ports scandal and broker a compromise, said Congress should forego any legislation restricting overseas acquisitions.

"I do not think Congress should take any more action on this ports issue," said Warner, a Virginia Republican. He said Congress should focus on improving port security and the process of reviewing foreign investments.

REVIEWING INVESTMENTS

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said that at the very least, Congress would probably change the process under which the port deal was approved by the Bush administration.

The Tennessee Republican said the existing three-decade-old foreign investment review process, known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), was outdated in a post-September 11 world.

"We will fix it in the United States Senate," he told ABC's "This Week" program. "It lacks full transparency. It does not have any congressional oversight."

U.S. lawmakers have noted that two of the September 11 hijackers came from the UAE, that al Qaeda funding passed through UAE banks, and that a United Nations agency said disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan used Dubai as a hub for his nuclear black market.

News of the deal prompted a political showdown between Congress and Bush, who had threatened to veto any legislation to block the deal. The showdown was averted by Dubai Ports World's statement that it would transfer operations of the U.S. ports to a U.S. entity.

Capitol Hill critics in both parties said they wanted to see the fine print before backing away from legislation to unwind the contract, noting the company had not said to whom it was selling, or when.

Internet blows CIA agents' cover

BBC NEWS
Internet blows CIA agents' cover

The Chicago Tribune says it has compiled a list of 2,653 CIA employees, just by searching the internet.

The newspaper said it gathered the information from online services that compile public data, that any fee-paying subscriber can access.

It did not publish the names, at the CIA's request. Many of the agents are believed to be covert. The paper also located two dozen "secret" facilities.

A CIA spokeswoman admitted the internet had scuppered some of its methods.

"Cover is a complex issue that is more complex in the internet age," said Jennifer Dyck.

"There are things that worked previously that no longer work. [CIA Director Porter] Goss is committed to modernising the way the agency does cover in order to protect our officers who are doing dangerous work."

Ms Dyck declined to detail the remedies "since we don't want the bad guys to know what we're fixing".

Terror targets?

The Chicago Tribune article was headlined: "Internet blows CIA cover."

It began: "She is 52 years old, married, grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and now lives in Virginia, in a new three-bedroom house."

It went on to explain that the online service describes the woman in question as a CIA employee who has been assigned to several American embassies in Europe.

The CIA confirmed that she was a covert operative.

The paper also identified facilities in Chicago, northern Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington state. It said some were heavily guarded, but others appeared outwardly to be private residences.

Asked how so many personal details of CIA employees had found their way into the public domain, a senior US intelligence official told the Tribune "I don't have a great explanation, quite frankly".

Asked about fears that the details might be accessed by terrorist groups, he replied: "I don't know whether al-Qaeda could do this, but the Chinese could."

The disclosure comes as the US justice department continues an investigation into whether members of the Bush administration deliberately exposed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4799174.stm

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