"Axis of Evil" Targeted by U.S. Nuclear Weapons

"Axis of Evil" Targeted by U.S. Nuclear Weapons

U.S. nuke list mushroomed in 2003 from traditional Cold War adversaries to smaller nations with nuclear ambitions

	NUCLEAR POSTURE:  The U.S. is incorporating more flexibility into its nuclear weapons strategic plan, including expanding the list of potential target countries.

The nuclear warheads resting on ballistic missiles in silos, circling the globe in submarines or carried—sometimes mistakenly—by aircraft hail from an era when the U.S. targeted its largest foe, the U.S.S.R. and, more recently, Russia and China. But a document newly obtained by the Washington, D.C.–based Federation of American Scientists (FAS)—founded by the creators of the original nuclear bomb in 1945 and monitoring the weapons ever since—reveals that in recent years the U.S. target list has expanded to include so-called "regional proliferators," smaller states seeking to acquire such weapons of mass destruction.

"This is the first formal confirmation at that high level that those countries entered mainstream strategic nuclear war planning," says Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at FAS, which obtained the excerpt from a 2002 U.S. Strategic Command (U.S. STARTCOM) briefing on the new war plan to take effect in 2003. Such "broadening of nuclear targeting" is troubling, Kristensen says, "especially when diplomats claim we have decreased the role of nuclear weapons."

U.S. Navy Lt. Denver Applehans said U.S. STRATCOM had no comment.

 

Specifically, the heavily redacted document includes pictures of a North Korean missile, an underground Libyan facility to produce nuclear material, and a short-range, Russian-made SCUD ballistic missile (the weapon that played a terrifying role in the Persian Gulf War). Whereas the latter is employed by many countries, only five such nations were listed in the broader Nuclear Posture Review put together by the Bush administration in December 2001: Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria.

Iraq was likely dropped from this list subsequent to the March 2003 U.S. invasion, Kristensen says, as was Libya when its leader, Col. Muammar Qadhafi, formally foreswore such weapons in December of that year. The 2003 revisions for including such regional states include a "series of [redacted] options" and a "scenario-driven approach" as well as "attack structure changed to increase execution flexibility."

Standing in the way of such military options, however, are a "decreased number of operational warheads," according to the report. That problem has been addressed by the design of a "new triad"—traditionally the three nuclear limbs comprising intercontinental ballistic missiles, air-delivered gravity bombs, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles—to include other weapons systems.

"Under the concept [of a new triad] essentially everything becomes strategic—and by including conventional weapons, missile defense and the weapons facilities, they can say that the prominence of nuclear weapons has been reduced," Kristensen says. "But as this document illustrates, the new triad also leads to an expansion of nuclear targeting policy."

Of course, given the classified nature of this information it is unclear whether it remains the most current; a similar revision took place in 2004. And documents describing that remain classified, though Kristensen has submitted a similar request under the Freedom of Information Act. "This one took three years from the point when I asked for it, so who knows when I will get it," he says. "I asked them in July what plan was in effect and that was still [the 2004] revision." But it seems clear that more flexible and broader targeting has officially been a part of U.S. nuclear weapons policy since at least 2003.

Shorter Winters Bring Later Blooms

Shorter Winters Bring Later Blooms

Global warming may be bringing an earlier spring bloom to the northern United States and Canada, but in some parts of the South, it’s actually making seeds sprout later, a new study shows.

As carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, Earth's average temperature is rising, which means that winter's chill isn't always lasting as long as it used to.

Balmier temperatures would seem to be good news for plants that must wait until spring thaws before they can bloom, and for some plants in northerly latitudes, it has brought earlier budding times.

But for some species, the relationship isn't all that simple because winter is a key time in seed development—the seeds need the chill and the period of dormancy to fully prepare for spring's bloom. So in some areas, an earlier spring means that seeds haven't had enough time to get ready, and the warming temperatures actually force them to take longer to sprout, says study author Xiaoyang Zhang of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Zhang and his colleagues examined satellite observations of how much vegetation has sprouted over different regions of the United States from 1982 to 2005 and field observations of the first bloom dates of lilacs (some extending from as far back as the 1950s) to see how spring blooms have changed with warming temperatures at different latitudes in North America.

They find that above 40 degrees north latitude (where New York City is positioned), spring blooms do indeed occur earlier (by about 0.32 days each year over the period of the satellite observations), because winter still lasts so long that taking a few chilly days away doesn't make a difference to dormant seeds.

"Even though the winter time becomes a little bit shorter, it's still long," Zhang said.

But below that latitude, things start to change. A transition zone can be found from 40 to 31 degrees north latitude, with the onset of spring blooms coming slightly earlier than they used to until about 35 degrees north latitude (just above Los Angeles) where it then switches to a delayed blooming trend, so that spring blooms come later.

South of 31 degrees north latitude (just below Dallas, Texas), the onset of spring has in fact been delayed by about 0.15 days per year over the period of satellite observations.

The results of the study are detailed in a recent issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

As global temperatures continue to warm, the transition zone is likely to move north, Zhang said, with later spring bloom times moving further north as more chilly winter days disappear.

This change can have profound impacts on ecosystems, Zhang said, because it could throw plants and the animals that depend on them for food out of synchrony with each other. 

Space Station Is Repaired in Spacewalk

Space Station Is Repaired in Spacewalk 

An astronaut on a daring spacewalk yesterday repaired a damaged solar array on the International Space Station. 

Dr. Scott E. Parazynski on the spacewalk, during which electrical hazards were a concern.

Dr. Scott E. Parazynski works along the International Space Station’s truss assembly as he prepares equipment for mounting during his solar array repair mission.

Dr. Scott E. Parazynski, a former emergency room physician, mended wounds on the wing, which developed two tears while being deployed Tuesday.

If the procedure had not been successful, the array, on the left side of the station, might have had to be discarded. The loss of a solar array would have reduced the ability to produce power, possibly constraining future construction on the station.

Mission managers knew that wires had become snagged and had torn the array during deployment. But they did not know the nature of the snag. They had hoped that repairs would be a simple matter of moving a wire off a hinge.

Dr. Parazynski, riding on an extension of the station’s robotic arm to reach the damaged array, said his view of the repair site revealed a “hairball” of wire, with guide wire for the array caught in another wire running through the hinge connecting the panels.

Looking at a close-up view available from Dr. Parazynski’s helmet camera, Pamela A. Melroy, the commander of the space shuttle Discovery’s current mission, said, “Sounds like you have some surgery to do, Dr. Parazynski.”

He inserted the first “cufflink,” a wire-and-metal contraption created by the astronauts using instructions from the ground, into place along the array shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern time. That stabilized the area around the tears so he could work on the wire.

With the sun at his back and his shadow sharp against the brilliantly golden array, Dr. Parazynski began cutting wires, cautiously planning each snip in consultation with Ms. Melroy and mission controllers on the ground.

Dr. Parazynski took care to keep clear of the swaying array, occasionally dampening its motion with a prodder shaped like a hockey stick. He cut out two offending lengths of wire and moved on to insert the remaining cufflinks.

Astronauts inside the station then began the delicate process of extending the array to its full length, with Dr. Parazynski and Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, stationed at the base of the array, watching for any hint of trouble.

The cufflinks held. Cheers could be heard over the communications loop.

Concerns going into the spacewalk focused on electrical hazards and possible damage to space suits. A list of warnings read to Dr. Parazynski by Paolo A. Nespoli, the Italian astronaut who was choreographing the spacewalk from the station, included touching sharp edges of bolts, solar cells, hinges and other areas of the array.

“I’m not sure there’s much left to touch,” Dr. Parazynski replied.

Mr. Nespoli said, “We’re not even halfway through the warnings,” and went on to warn against touching areas with “pinch points” and high electrical current, which carry a risk of shock and “molten metal.”

During the procedure, Dr. Parazynski said he saw no sparks.

Dr. Parazynski, by coincidence, was one of the best astronauts for the unusual spacewalk. Now on his fifth trip to orbit, he has spent more time in spacewalks than all but four others in the history of the program. And, at 6 feet 2 inches, he is among the tallest astronauts and well-suited to work on the array from a safe distance.

“It’s a bit of a reach here,” he said at one point.

Ms. Melroy responded, “That’s what those monkey arms are for,” and then added, “Not many people in the office could do what you’re doing right now.”

To which Dr. Parazynski replied, “I hope they don’t have to.”

The only apparent slip-up came at the end of the spacewalk, which lasted more than seven hours. An errant set of needle-nose pliers floated away and could be spotted drifting below the station. Mission managers said the tool is not likely to pose a threat to the shuttle or station before falling back to Earth, but said they would track it on radar.

The successful repair makes it possible to shoot for launching the next module for the station, the European-made Columbus laboratory, early next month, said Michael T. Suffredini, the manager of the station program.

Even after the spacewalk yesterday, the station still has one major problem: a damaged rotary joint on the right-hand side.

The crew of Discovery will bring back some of the metal shavings from the joint when they return this week, as early as Wednesday. Those shavings, Mr. Suffredini said, will provide clues about which part is damaged.

A full inspection of the joint, which was scheduled to take place during this mission, is now likely to be pushed back into next year, as will any repair.

Mr. Suffredini said the station’s current power set-up, with one set of two arrays rotating and the right-side arrays parked but drawing a reasonable amount of sunlight, should give the station enough power to get through the December mission and perhaps well beyond.

The repairs made to the solar array should hold through the predicted end of United States involvement in the station program in 2015, Mr. Suffredini said. It did, however, leave the array looking as though it had acquired a dueling scar.

“The idea for this was to regain the functionality of the solar array,” Mr. Suffredini explained. “It wasn’t about looking good when it was over with.”

The array, he acknowledged, “Doesn’t quite look like we’d expected. But you know, it’s just like anybody — you have your baby, your baby is beautiful to you. Our baby is still beautiful to us.”

Mythical Beast? No, Just Coyote

Mythical Beast? No, Just Coyote

The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in southern Texas is not the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote.

Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night they had identified the hairless doglike creature. San Antonio television station KENS-TV provided a tissue sample from the animal for testing.

"The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote,'' biologist Mike Forstner said in a statement. "This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero Chupacabra is a Texas Coyote.''

Phylis Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound (18-kilo) bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio, Texas.

Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she could get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.

Chupacabra means "goat sucker'' in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Puerto Rico and Mexico. 

 

Additional skin samples have been taken to try to determine the cause of the animal's hair loss, Forstner said.

Phylis Canion holds the head of what she is calling a Chupacabra at her home in Cuero, Texas, Friday, Aug. 31, 2007. She found the strange looking animal dead outside her ranch and thinks it is responsible for killing many of her chickens. The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in Cuero is not the mythical bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote. 

Mac Attack Targets Porn Surfers

Mac Attack Targets Porn Surfers

Does a scheme for stealing personal information from Mac OS X users mean that a few bad Apples are about to spoil the bunch?

	ENEMY AT THE GATE:  Reports surfaced earlier this week of a malicious new Trojan Horse-like piece of software that has the potential to let cyber thieves take control of infected Mac computers.

Be warned: Apple's comeback in the world of personal computing brings with it a heightened level of security risks for its customers, not unlike those Microsoft Windows devotees have faced for years. Reports surfaced earlier this week of a malicious new Trojan horse–like piece of software found on several pornography Web sites that has the potential to let cyber thieves take control of infected Mac computers so they can steal personal information.

Trojans are known for their ability to appear to be legitimate and necessary pieces of software that turn malicious once installed. Although the new Mac Trojan is easy to avoid because it is mostly limited to porn sites (and who visits those?), computer security experts say this piece of malware has the hallmark of being written by professional cyber criminals and is likely to be a sign of more bad things to come for Apple fans.

"This one comes from a professional source that's testing the water—maybe to see how Mac users react and how difficult it is to get Mac-specific malware out into the world," says David Harley, a computer security consultant based in England. "From the analyses that I've seen, it's got the fingerprints of the Zotob malware that's been around for awhile." Zotob, a type of computer infection called a worm, was written by a pair of programmers who were arrested shortly after its release in 2005. Zotob spawned a number of variant worms that continue to infect Windows PCs by spreading malicious code from computer to computer and installing backdoor programs that give cyber attackers access to personal information. These worms also allow attackers to remotely control the infected computers, which means they can use them as a launching pad for spam e-mail without the knowledge of the computers' owners.

 

DON'T DO IT!:  Web surfers visiting a Web site infected with the Trojan will be greeted with a deceptive message stating that a special video codec is required to view free pornographic videos.

Even worse, Trojans often use a technique known as social engineering to trick Web surfers into downloading them onto their computers. If a surfer visits a pornographic Web site infected with the Trojan, she will be greeted with a message stating that a special video codec is required to view free videos. A codec is a program used to encode and decode digital information so that it can be viewed only by those with permission to do so. If the surfer proceeds with the installation, the Trojan downloads to her computer with the ability to manipulate that computer's Domain Name System (DNS) server, which is then used to look up the correspondences between domain names such as SciAm.com and the IP addresses of Web sites and other Internet services. From then on, cyber criminals can hijack that infected computer, redirecting Web surfers from legitimate Web sites to those designed to steal Social Security, credit card or other personal information.

The Mac Trojan uses "simple social engineering, which works time and time again on Windows users, and I see no reason why it won't work with Mac users as well," Harley says.

The most dangerous security threat to computer users is one that takes advantage of software flaws before Apple, Microsoft or any other software company is aware these defects exist. Although Microsoft Windows users have been dealing with such so-called zero-day threats for years, Apple Mac users have generally been spared by cyber attackers because there are simply more Windows users to target.

This new Trojan, however, affects Mac computers running OS X versions 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard), according to reports from about a dozen information technology security research firms, including Austin, Tex.–based Intego, which first discovered the problem. Of course, such companies also sell software used to combat computer security threats and have been routinely criticized by Apple, Microsoft and other companies for pointing out security flaws (legitimate as they may be) in order to sell more of their security products. Apple did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story.

The good news is that Web surfers can prevent infection simply by not downloading the fake codec software, or by avoiding porn sites altogether—whichever is easier.