ELINT/SIGINT

[David Honig]

At 01:34 PM 4/16/01 -0400, Alan Simpson wrote:
>Ok, Jim, here goes.
>
>It is a fallacy that any hardware, commercially produced, and sitting on the

Yeah, I wish I could go down to my local HAM shop and pick up that kind
of equiptment.

>tarmac, and in stores around the world, with many copies of supporting
>literature, manuals, and specifications, can be secret, secure, and worth
>dying for, and in this case murdering 23 of your crew.

Read _Between Silk and Cyanide_ to find out how disposable lives are.



>So, Jim, the EP3, fully operational, complete with data, reference
>materials, and a co-operative crew is a Queen. (Chess, not San Francisco.)
>The EP3, sabotaged, with a tighter than.... crew, is a Pawn. (For further
>reading look at the WWII obsession with the Germans getting H2S.)
>
>The loss of the crew on the other hand would have been a significant blow.
>The cost of training, the wealth of expertise, and knowledge, and the loss
>to the Squadron, not to mention the cost, time, and facilities needed to
>replace that crew.

A blow to PR and the ability to continue such missions.

The cost of training 24 is much less than the cost of the equiptment.


Also take into consideration the morale question, public
>sentiment, and the effects on the overall national pride.

Corpses dragged in underwear through the streets.



>So, the Chinese got a 35 year old sabotaged, piece of Aluminum/Magnesium,
>with bent engines, and slightly warped airframe.

And million-channel receivers...


>We got the crew back.

But we're sending more in their place.


>List, Consider this:  Even if they had given a fully operational EP3 to the
>Chinese, complete, with no sabotage, the damage would have been less than
>Pollard, Walker et. al. Should Pollard, Aimes, Walker, Hanssen be
>Martyred/Grenaded and take 23 of their inmates with them? They volunteered
>too!

Isn't the penalty for treason hanging?

Wouldn't it have been better if the crew bailed and torched the plane?

D Honig













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