FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFESNE
Obama Calls on Congress to Avoid Sequestration
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2013 - President Barack Obama today called on Congress to avoid deep, across-the-board spending cuts looming March 1 under a "sequestration" mechanism in budget law and to take a balanced approach to America's debt problems.
If sequestration happens, hundreds of thousands of Defense Department civilian employees could be furloughed and readiness of the military force will plummet, Pentagon officials have said.
The American economy is poised to make progress in 2013, the president said in remarks at the White House today, but sequestration could put an end to any forward movement.
"We've seen the effects that political dysfunction can have on our progress," Obama said. "The drawn-out process for resolving the 'fiscal cliff' hurt consumer confidence. The threat of massive automatic cuts [has] already started to affect business decisions."
While it is critical for the U.S. government to cut wasteful spending, "we can't just cut our way to prosperity," Obama said.
"Deep, indiscriminate cuts to things like education and training, energy and national security will cost us jobs, and it will slow down our recovery," he added.
The president emphasized that sequestration does not have to happen.
"For all of the drama and disagreements we've had over the past few years, Democrats and Republicans have still been able to come together and cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a mix of spending cuts and higher rates on taxes for the wealthy," he said.
"A balanced approach has achieved more than $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction," the president continued. "That's more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties believe is required to stabilize our debt."
Obama called on Congress to finish the job with a balanced mix of spending cuts and more tax reform. Though he favors a balanced approach that will solve the problem, the president said, he is realistic.
"I know that a full budget may not be finished before March 1," he said. "And unfortunately, that's the date when a series of harmful automatic cuts to job-creating investments in defense spending ... are scheduled to take effect."
If Congress cannot act immediately on a bigger package, Obama said, "then I believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until Congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution."
There's no reason "that the jobs of thousands of Americans who work in national security or education or clean energy -- not to mention the growth of the entire economy -- should be put in jeopardy just because folks in Washington couldn't come together," he added. "Our economy right now is headed in the right direction, and it will stay that way, as long as there aren't any more self-inflicted wounds coming out of Washington."
Photo: SIGABA Cipher Device. Credit: Wikimedia
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFESNE
Cryptologists Reunite at NSA's 60th Anniversary
By Amaani Lyle
American Forces Press Service
FORT MEADE, Md., Nov. 8, 2012 - Many intelligence analysts and historians contend the SIGABA cipher device is one of the most important encryption systems the U.S. military has ever known.
Yesterday, it was also a time machine.
The unusual contraption first brought two young cryptologists together during World War II, and nearly 60 years later it has reunited them, sparking memories of their critical work.
The National Security Agency's National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Md., recognized Helen Nibouar and Marion Johnson during a ribbon cutting ceremony unveiling a new exhibit entitled, "60 Years of Cryptologic Excellence."
"We not only break codes, but we make codes ... and we stand on the shoulders of giants," NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis said of Nibouar and Johnson. "When we celebrate Marion and Helen's return to the scene of their early work, we're actually celebrating a long legacy of the history of the National Security Agency."
As the United States stepped up its search to fill non-combat positions in support of World War II, Nibouar and Johnson initially interviewed for typist-clerk positions. On the day of her interview in the Signal Corps building, Nibouar, while at a water fountain, met a woman who encouraged her to give cryptology a try.
She did, but confessed to having no prior familiarity with the field. Johnson said she took a similar path to cryptology, although she was more outspoken during her interview.
"The [hiring officials] asked me if I liked to do crossword puzzles and I said, 'No, I hate them!'" Johnson said. "But they hired me anyway."
Nibouar trained at Morrison Field in West Palm Beach, Fla., where she met Johnson, and the two became fast friends, with no idea they were forging their place in history by obscuring troop movements and other classified material.
"What was really, really difficult was all the messages came in five random letter groups separated by spaces," Nibouar said. And though she typed about 100 words per minute, putting code to tape was considerably more painstaking.
"You couldn't type very fast because you couldn't make a mistake or it would mess up the message," Nibouar said.
After Florida, Nibouar's cryptology journey took her to California, Hawaii and even Japan. And though Johnson worked in different locations, the women wrote letters to keep in touch.
All the while, a shrouded, arduous work life and extended time apart from family became the norm for the two women. A single message could take hours to process. They often received messages so secret that even they were excluded from seeing them.
"The first thing the message would say is 'eyes only,' and we had to stop, not hit another key, get up and go somewhere," Nibouar said. "And an officer in charge came and decoded the message, taking it by hand straight to Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur."
When asked what she thought the messages might have said, Nibouar quipped, "It might have been to have a party."
Transition back into normal life couldn't come too soon for the women, they said.
"I just wanted to go home and get married," Johnson said.
Nibouar also wed, had three children, became a teacher and spent a great deal of time volunteering -- which, at age 91, she continues to this day.
She marvels at modern intelligence technology, but describes SIGABA developer Frank Rowlett as a genius for the machine's simple design and complex capabilities.
National Cryptologic Museum Curator Patrick Weadon said the SIGABA derives from an earlier randomizing system, Enigma, developed by the U.S. Army's Signals Intelligence Service Director William Friedman.
During World War II, people frequently used electro-mechanical devices to communicate securely, Weadon said.
"Enigma was thought to be utterly secure by the Germans because it produced permutations and possibilities of 3x10114 which made it theoretically impossible to crack," he said.
But the Allies did crack Enigma -- as early as 1940 -- prompting the Signals Intelligence Service to develop SIGABA, Weadon said.
SIGABA designers looked at the shortcomings and the frailties of Enigma and designed a machine that had the power of Enigma without its shortcomings, Weadon said.
SIGABA's distinctive ability to advance rotors with another set of rotors made it impenetrable, Weadon explained.
"It was never cracked, it was a perfect machine from the moment it was put on line and it was perfect the day that they took it off," he said. "You're talking about a perfect encryption machine, which many people even today believe is practically impossible [to crack]," he added.
Weadon said he's sure the courage and bravery of U.S. and Allied troops won the war, but the ability to communicate securely on a more consistent basis than the Axis powers ultimately cinched victory.
"When you're reading the other guys traffic and they can't read yours -- you got 'em," he said
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFESNE
Motions to Resume for Suspect in USS Cole Attack
By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2012 - U.S. military commission proceedings against a suspect in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing and other alleged terrorist attacks are scheduled to resume in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, tomorrow.
Alleged al-Qaida member and Saudi-born Abd al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri, 46, is accused of being the mastermind behind the bombing of the Navy warship, defense officials said.
Charges against Nashiri also stem from an attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans in January 2000, and an attack on the French-flagged oil tanker Limburg in October 2002.
Nashiri is charged with perfidy, or treachery; murder in violation of the law of war; attempted murder in violation of the law of war; terrorism; conspiracy; intentionally causing serious bodily injury; attacking civilian objects and hazarding a vessel.
The Cole was in Aden, Yemen, for a routine fuel stop when a small watercraft approached the ship's port side and exploded. The bombing killed 17 sailors and wounded 40 others. U.S. officials allege Nashiri was under the supervision of Osama bin Laden, and that bin Laden personally approved the attacks.
The judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, is expected to hear up to 18 motions from the defense and three from the prosecution over the next three days. The majority of motions from the defense involve disclosure from prosecutors, appearances by expert witnesses and dismissal of the trial, officials said.
The U.S. prosecution's motions concern Nashiri's presence in the courtroom, reducing the amount of the proceedings that are closed as compelled by the defense, and disclosure of the defendant's mental health records.
If convicted, Nashiri could receive the death penalty.
