Russia Needs More Help With its Nukes
President Bush needs to give "continued high priority"
to trying to help Russia bring its nuclear security situation under
better control, urged Harold D. Bengelsdorf, former assistant director
of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
The status of nuclear security in Russia is "extremely troubling,"
posing national-security threats to the United States that "dwarf,
by many times over, the alleged risks" associated with potential
weapon materials in several other countries, Bengelsdorf said. The
Bush administration should continue U.S. efforts to help Russia
immediately improve physical security of nuclear materials, curtail
production, consolidate weapons storage and dispose of excess plutonium,
he said.
"This should not be viewed, on our part, as a foreign-aid
program designed to help the prickly and sometimes-difficult Russians,"
he told a recent arms control symposium in McLean, Va., "but
rather as an activity that is in our own strong national interest."
U.S. Presence in Europe Still Necessary, Says Caldera
Although President Bush said, in his campaign, that U.S. forces
are spread too thin and should be pulled out of several peacekeeping
missions, former Army Secretary Louis Caldera thinks that the new
administration will change its stance once it has a chance to see
for itself the effect that these operations have had.
"As the new administration comes on board and ... begins this
process of talking to our friends and allies around the world, they’re
going to appreciate how strong the sense is that the United States
must continue to be engaged in the world and ... be a force in Europe,"
Caldera told a group of defense writers. "There is a little
bit of that kind of talk about withdrawing our support, but they
will find that that is important for us to be there."
Why the Blue Marlin Was Nearby
The M/V Blue Marlin—the heavy transport ship that gave the
injured destroyer USS Cole a ride home for repairs after the deadly
terrorist attack in Yemen—had just arrived in the Persian
Gulf to deliver two U.S. Navy coastal mine-hunting ships (MHC) to
Bahrain, Navy officials explained.
Mine countermeasures ships are deployed routinely around the world
to provide coverage for U.S. naval forces, and that will continue
to be the case, at least until new, on-board, "organic"
anti-mine systems begin to come on line in 2005, officials said.
Currently, eight such ships are based in Bahrain and in Sasebo,
Japan.
Behind the Nuclear Worker Shortfall
The nuclear weapons industry—like the rest of the defense
community—is worried about recruiting younger workers, according
to Robert E. Ebel, director of Energy and National Security for
the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He cited
a recent report by the Commission on Maintaining U.S. Nuclear Weapons
Expertise, estimating that, in coming years, retirements in that
industry will be roughly 60 to 150 percent higher on average than
in the economy at large.
"The long-term challenge," said the commission, "is
to restore an adequate flow of new talent." The factors that
turn students away from careers in nuclear engineering, Ebel told
a recent conference, include:
Changing this image, Ebel said, is "easy to say, difficult
to do."
Expeditionary Communications Could Be Better
Knocking down a ballistic missile is a piece of cake, compared to
making the different elements of an expeditionary force communicate
with one another during an attack, observed Navy Capt. Harold Covert.
Covert—the commanding officer at the Coastal Systems Station
in Panama City, Fla.—spoke at a recent conference sponsored
by the National Defense Industrial Association.
"How," he asked, "do you get real-time info to MV-22s
(tilt-rotor aircraft) and LCACs (air-cushioned landing craft) that
are hitting the beach at high speed?" After all, he said, "they
need it in route," not after they reach the beach.
Commercial-off-the-shelf products, once championed as a solution,
are creating snafus of their own, partly because the many products
that are available may or may not be compatible with each other,
Covert said.
Navy Fishes for E-Business Ideas
The Navy’s new e-Business Operations Office, based in Mechanicsburg,
Pa., has received more than 300 proposals for ways to use electronic
technology to improve Navy and Marine Corps operations, according
to Rear Adm. Linda Bird, vice commander of the service’s Supply
Systems Command.
The office—established last fall to serve as a clearinghouse
for new ideas for e-commerce—has $20 million available to
fund pilot projects in fiscal year 2001.
The Navy is seeking ideas that can have far-reaching impact, be
completed within 90 to 120 days and cost under $1 million a piece,
Bird said.
Proposals received thus far cover the fields of training, personnel,
logistics and quality of life. One suggestion calls for a Web site
to permit sailors and Marines who are transferred to arrange for
the movement of their household goods online, 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, worldwide.
Details are available on the new Web site, http://www.don.ebusiness.navsup.navy.mil/.