Chinese Spy Ship, Alaska Coast During Missile Defense Test

Posted on July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 by Denise Simon

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched from the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska in Kodiak, Alaska, during Flight Test THAAD (FTT)-18 on July 11, 2017. During the test, the THAAD weapon system successfully intercepted an air-launched intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) target. Grant Ferowich

Chinese spy ship lurks off coast of Alaska during missile defense test

(CNN) A Chinese spy ship has been sailing in international waters off the coast of Alaska for several days, having first arrived in the area shortly before the test of a US missile defense system, multiple US officials have told CNN.

US Navy Capt. Scott Miller, spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the ship is believed to be a “communications” or “intelligence” vessel and confirmed it has been in the area for the last few days.

Miller would not speculate on the reason for the ship being there.

Army-Navy Type 815 Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence (AGI) vessel. According to the PLA report cited by the China Daily, the PLA Navy now operates six electronic reconnaissance vessels. The report also gave specific information about the ships such as their capabilities and functions. The Tianlangxing arrived off the coast of Alaska shortly before the July 11 test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system against an intermediate-range ballistic missile. More here.

Two US military officials told CNN that the ship is operating approximately 100 miles off the Alaska coast in international waters.

The officials pointed out that the Chinese ship is operating legally and said the US does not have security concerns about the vessel.

US ships also regularly operate in international waters near China.

The officials said it is possible the ship was there to observe the recent successful Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system test off Alaska, but the US has no way of confirming that intent.

However, one official told CNN that it was rare for China to operate this type of ship in that area and that it was reasonable to assume it was there to observe the test.

China has long protested the US-South Korea decision to deploy THAAD to the Korean peninsula, saying that it could be used to target Chinese missiles.

South Korean and US officials say the system would be used to intercept missiles coming from North Korea.

The same official said that the US had observed similar Chinese vessels in recent days sailing off the coast of Guam and shadowing a joint US-Australia military exercise named Talisman Sabre. The official added this level of activity was unusual.

Published on Jul 28, 2016

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) Operational Test Agency, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, U.S. European Command, and U.S. Pacific Command conducted a complex operational flight test of the BMDS demonstrating a layered defense architecture.

The test, designated Flight Test Operational-02 Event 2a, was conducted in the vicinity of Wake Island and surrounding areas of the western Pacific Ocean. The test stressed the ability of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon systems to negate two ballistic missile threats while Aegis BMD simultaneously conducted an anti-air warfare operation.
Video by Ben Listerman
Missile Defense Agency

Macron, Trump Bastille Day

Posted on July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 by Denise Simon

The Bastille Day celebration held each July 14 in Paris commemorates the storming of the Bastille, the turning point of the French Revolution. Bastille Day features the oldest and largest military parade in Europe. This year’s centennial commemoration of World War I will feature a U.S. military contingent that will lead the Bastille Day parade down the Champs-Élysées.

***

PARIS, July 13, 2017 — French Chief of Defense Gen. Pierre de Villiers presented Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the Legion of Honor today for Dunford’s dedication to improving the military-to-military relationship between the two nations.

De Villiers presented the award to Dunford in the Ecole Militaire — the French military’s version of the War College. Napoleon Bonaparte established the award in 1802.

Close U.S.-French Relationship

Dunford said the United States has no closer ally than France and praised the close military cooperation with France.

“As we are standing here, our soldiers are together in West Africa, they are together in Libya, they are together in Syria, they are together in Afghanistan and we are operating together in the South Pacific,” the chairman said. “The sun doesn’t actually set on our relationship. Throughout the world there are French and Americans standing shoulder-to-shoulder doing the job.”

De Villiers spoke of the historic ties between the two nations, noting that tomorrow in Paris American troops will lead the annual Bastille Day parade down the Champs-Elysees to mark 100 years since their Doughboy predecessors arrived in France to fight in World War I.

“We are still together,” de Villiers said.

The French award recognizes Dunford for “the remarkable role he plays in the security of the world,” especially “against armed terrorist groups that shock us with their brutality,” de Villiers said.

Bastille Day Preparations

Earlier in the day, the chairman met with President Donald J. Trump at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and they both met with French President Emmanuel Macron. Later they met with American service members who will participate in the Bastille Day parade and members of the U.S. Embassy staff. They also met with U.S. World War II veterans who fought in France — former Army Tech. Sgt. Steven Melnikoff and former Army Pvt. Joe Reilly.

There are between 4,000 and 5,000 French service members in West Africa helping partners to build capabilities, provide stability to the region and to hunt down members of al-Qaida. The U.S. provides support to the French mission in the region, but France has the contacts in West Africa, officials traveling with the chairman said on background.

French is widely spoken in West Africa and French personnel are integral in developing intelligence in the area. They are also working with the United States to encourage regional nations to work together to combat the threats of armed groups.

U.S. forces provide airlift and refueling capabilities to French forces in the region.

GOP Operative Seeking Clinton’s emails from Russia, Committed Suicide

Posted on July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 by Denise Simon

Peter W. Smith, GOP operative who sought Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers, committed suicide, records show

In part, Chicago Tribune: A Republican donor and operative from Chicago’s North Shore who said he had tried to obtain Hillary Clinton‘s missing emails from Russian hackers killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room days after talking to The Wall Street Journal about his efforts, public records show.

Heavy

In mid-May, in a room at a Rochester hotel used almost exclusively by Mayo Clinic patients and relatives, Peter W. Smith, 81, left a carefully prepared file of documents, including a statement police called a suicide note in which he said he was in ill health and a life insurance policy was expiring.

Days earlier, the financier from suburban Lake Forest gave an interview to the Journal about his quest, and it began publishing stories about his efforts in late June. The Journal also reported it had seen emails written by Smith showing his team considered retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then a top adviser to Republican Donald Trump‘s campaign, an ally. Flynn briefly was President Trump’s national security adviser and resigned after it was determined he had failed to disclose contacts with Russia.

Related reading: Previously, this site provided information on Smith along with the podcast on his work.

At the time, the newspaper reported Smith’s May 14 death came about 10 days after he granted the interview. Mystery shrouded how and where he had died, but the lead reporter on the stories said on a podcast he had no reason to believe the death was the result of foul play and that Smith likely had died of natural causes.

One of Smith’s former employees told the Tribune he thought the elderly man had gone to the famed clinic to be treated for a heart condition. Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said Thursday she could not confirm Smith had been a patient, citing medical privacy laws.

The Journal stories said that on Labor Day weekend last year Smith assembled a team to acquire emails the team theorized might have been stolen from the private server Clinton had used while secretary of state. Smith’s focus was the more than 30,000 emails Clinton said she deleted because they related to personal matters. A huge cache of other Clinton emails were made public.

Smith told the Journal he believed the missing emails might have been obtained by Russian hackers. He also said he thought the correspondence related to Clinton’s official duties. He told the Journal he worked independently and was not part of the Trump campaign. He also told the Journal he and his team found five groups of hackers — two of them Russian groups — that claimed to have Clinton’s missing emails. Full story here.

Rick Perry: Corporate Espionage going by Russia and China

Posted on July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 by Denise Simon

Rick Perry: Russian, Chinese Corporate Espionage ‘Shouldn’t Surprise Anybody’

Russia and China are engaging in underhanded business practices involving American oil and gas companies, according to Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

During an appearance on Fox Business Tuesday morning, Perry said it “shouldn’t surprise anybody that there is corporate espionage going on” in Russia and China, particularly with U.S. companies that are involved in hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

The secretary also addressed a recent column from Fox Business contributor James Freeman, which detailed a congressional investigation into allegations of a Russian effort to undermine and “suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking,” according to a statement from House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith.

“When you think about Russia and China a lot of the businesses there have direct links back to their government,” Perry said. “So the idea that there are people trying to manipulate, to put propaganda out on a particular type of fuel, that doesn’t surprise me.”

He added that his case highlights the importance of cybersecurity.

“We need to be sophisticated when it comes to how we deal with Russia, how we deal with China,” he said. “Those are our competitors out there and we know that they may play with a different set of rules and we just need to be smart enough to identify.”

***

Rick Perry is more than right.

Primer 2013:

China’s cyber espionage against the U.S. government and defense industrial bases poses a major threat to

U.S. military operations, the security and the well being of U.S. military personnel, the effectiveness of

equipment, and readiness. China apparently uses these intrusions to fill gaps in its own research

programs, map future targets, gather intelligence on U.S. strategies and plans, enable future military

operations, shorten research and development (R&D) timelines for military technologies, and identify

vulnerabilities in U.S. systems and develop countermeasures.

China’s cyber espionage against U.S. commercial firms poses a significant threat to U.S. business

interests and competiveness in key industries.

General Keith Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, assessed that the financial value of these losses is about $338 billion a year, including intellectual property losses and the down time to respond to penetrations, although not all those losses are to Chinese activity. Chinese entities engaging in cyber and other forms of economic espionage likely conclude that stealing intellectual property and proprietary information is much more cost

effective than investing in lengthy R&D programs.

***

Example/2015: WASHINGTON—Six Chinese citizens, including two professors who trained together at the University of Southern California, stole sensitive wireless technology from U.S. companies and spirited it back to China, the Justice Department charged.

Example/2014: In one of the most notable actions, Dongfan “Greg” Chung, a naturalized American citizen who worked on NASA’s space shuttle program, was convicted in 2009 after investigators found hundreds of thousands of sensitive papers under his California home. Prosecutors said he gave some of the documents to Chinese officials, revealing details of military and space-related technology. Chung, a former Boeing employee, was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.

***

Chinese Industrial Espionage: Technology Acquisition and Military Modernization provides the most thorough and insightful review to date of the covert and overt mechanisms China uses to acquire foreign technology. Delving into China’s “elaborate, comprehensive system for spotting foreign technologies, acquiring them by every means imaginable and converting them into weapons and competitive goods,” the book concludes that “there is nothing like it in the world.” (2-3) The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is implementing “a deliberate, state-sponsored project to circumvent the costs of research, overcome cultural disadvantages and ‘leapfrog’ to the forefront by leveraging the creativity of other nations,” thereby achieving “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.” (78, 216)

Although PRC espionage is global in scope, the most important target is the United States. Relying primarily on Chinese-language government and non-government sources, the coauthors intend to raise awareness of the threat nationally and alert decisionmakers to the gravity of the problem. Trained as Chinese linguists, with considerable experience dealing with Chinese affairs, they are uniquely qualified for the task. William C. Hannas has a Ph.D. in Asian languages, published two books on Asian orthography and served in various US government posts, including at the Joint Special Operations Command. James Mulvenon is a leading expert on Chinese cyber issues and has published widely on China’s military affairs and communist party-army relations. Senior analyst Anna B. Puglisi studied in Beijing and subsequently was a visiting scholar at Nankai University, where she studied China’s science and technology (S&T) policies and infrastructure development.

Download PDF for complete review. [PDF 264.1KB*]

412 Charged in $1.3 Billion in Opioid Schemes

Posted on July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 by Denise Simon

U.S. charging 412 in health fraud, opioid schemes worth $1.3 billion

ChicagoTribune: More than 400 people have been charged with taking part in health care fraud and opioid scams that totaled $1.3 billion in false billing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday.

Sessions called the collective action the “largest health care fraud takedown operation in American history” and said it indicates that some doctors, nurses and pharmacists “have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of their patients.”

Among those charged are six Michigan doctors accused of a scheme to prescribe unnecessary opioids. A Florida rehab facility is alleged to have recruited addicts with gift cards and visits to strip clubs, leading to $58 million in false treatments and tests.

In the Northern District of Illinois, 15 people were charged in six cases involving an alleged $12.7 million in billing fraud of private insurers and government programs. At least two Chicago-area physicians, nurses, chiropractors and at least one physical therapist were among those indicted. In the Southern District of Illinois, five people were charged in separate alleged schemes to defraud Medicaid.

Related:

Officials said those charged in the schemes include more than 120 people involved in illegally prescribing and distributing narcotic painkillers. Such prescription opioids are behind the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history. More than 52,000 Americans died of overdoses in 2015 — a record — and experts believe the numbers have continued to rise.

“In some cases, we had addicts packed into standing-room-only waiting rooms waiting for these prescriptions,” acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said. “They are a death sentence, plain and simple.”

Nearly 300 health care providers are being suspended or banned from participating in federal health care programs, Sessions said.

“They seem oblivious to the disastrous consequences of their greed. Their actions not only enrich themselves, often at the expense of taxpayers, but also feed addictions and cause addictions to start,” Sessions said.

Health care fraud sweeps like Thursday’s happen each year across the country, but law enforcement officials continue to grapple over the best way to fight the problem.

The people charged were illegally billing Medicare, Medicaid and the health insurance program that serves members of the armed forces, retired service members and their families, the Justice Department said. The allegations include claims that those charged billed the programs for unnecessary drugs that were never purchased or given to the patients.

Inside an FBI opioid task force: