WHY THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE NEXT

MANUEL CEREIJO

PREAMBLE

The United States have the military power to do what they want, but they need a broad-base global coalition to back their action, preferably with military contributions as well as words. To get this kind of support is not easy. The danger is that they will insist of qualification of American action that will amount, in effect, to appeasement, and that this in turn will divide and weaken both the administration and U.S. public opinion.

It is very important that the United States sticks to the essentials of its military response and carries it through relentlessly and thoroughly. Although only Britain can be guaranteed to back the White House in every contingency, it is better in the long run for the United States to act without many allies, or even alone, than to engage in a messy compromised dictated by nervousness and cowardice.

That would be the worst of all solutions and would be certain to lead to more terrorism, in more places, and on an ever-increasing scale. Now is the ideal moment for the United States to use all its physical capacity to eliminate terrorism in all its forms.

The cause is overwhelmingly just. The nation is united. The hopes of decent, law-abiding men and women everywhere go with American arms. Such a moment may never recur.

The resources of civilization are not yet exhausted. Those resources are largely in the United States hands, and this nation — the last, best hope of mankind — has an overwhelming duty to use them with purposeful justification and to the full, in the defense of the lives, property, and freedom of all of us. This is the central point to keep in mind when the weasel words of cowardice and surrender are pronounced.

All terrorist groups, and terrorist governments, and states, should be abolished. Let us live a future of peace, freedom, and justice!

PREFACE

Let us analyze very objectively Cuba’s capacities in several potential terrorist resources, and I will let the readers reach their own conclusions. But first, keep in mind that really Castro is.

Castro has been in absolute power in Cuba for the last 42 years. The Cuban people have been terrorized, jailed, shot — their properties confiscated. There is no freedom of any type or kind whatsoever. These are facts.

Castro has intervened, assisted, invaded, or provided logistic and armaments to groups, terrorists, and organizations throughout the world: Africa, South, Central and North America, and Asia. Cuba serves as a sanctuary to hundreds of criminals and terrorists, from diverse parts of the world. Cuba has provided, and still does, military training to thousands of persons who later on have returned to their respective countries to try to overthrow their legitimate governments. These are facts.

Castro has expressed in numerous occasions, in public and private appearances, nationally and in foreign countries, his hate towards the United States, its way of life, its political system, its economic system. These are facts.

Castro allowed the Soviet Union in 1962 to install atomic warhead missiles in Cuba. Once discovered, he tried very insistently to launch a surprising missile attack against the United States. These are facts.

The United States government, for the last several years, has classified Cuba as a terrorist nation. These are facts.

With these premises, let us analyze what facilities and infrastructure Cuba has that could be used in terrorist activities.

INTRODUCTION

CUBA’S ADVERSARY FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

When the Cold war ended, it was widely believed that a new era of international cooperation had begun. However, simply put, the end of the cold war has not led to a more peaceful world.

The United States is the target of those who challenge the status quo, and one of those is Cuba. Furthermore, the PRC has joined efforts with Cuba in a new axis. The deterioration in China’s relations with the United States is also being accompanied by a warmer relationship with Russia. There are three nations that use intensively their intelligence services to harm the interests of the United States. These nations are: China, Cuba, and North Korea. These nations continue to expend significant resources to conduct intelligence operations against the United States.

These efforts are centered on producing intelligence concerning the United States military capabilities, other national security activities, and military research and development activities. They have now expanded their collection efforts to place additional emphasis on collecting scientific, technical, economic, and proprietary information. These collection efforts are designed to provide technologies required for the acquisition and maintenance of advanced military systems, as well as to promote the national welfare of these nations. Each one of these countries has the ability to collect intelligence on targeted U.S. activities using HUMINT, SIGINT, and the analysis of open source material. Also, Cuba, China, and Russia have access to imagery products that can be used to produce IMINT. The United States is now the target of those who want to challenge the existing state of affairs. Security threats, in this new era of asymmetric warfare, will inevitable emerge more and more frequently.

The "fall of communism" has not reduced the level or amount of espionage and other potential serious activities conducted against the United States. Recent espionage cases involving Russia, China, and Cuba are just the tip of the iceberg. Software is one weapon of information-based attacks. Such software includes computer viruses, Trojan Horses, worms, logic bombs, and eavesdropping snuffers. Advanced electronic hardware can also be useful in information attacks. In terms of maturity of the threat, the numbers tell the story. So far, in July of this year there have been over 300 reported hacked web sites. High Performance Computers (Hips) are important for many military applications, including processing information acquired through espionage. HPCs provided to Cuba by the PRC could facilitate many of Cuba’s asymmetric military modernization objectives.

The PRC has obtained the HPCs from the United States. The contribution of HPCs to military modernization is also dependent on related technologies such as Telecommunications, Microelectronics, and Computer Networking, areas in which the PRC has been assisting Cuba intensively since 1998. The principal intelligence collection arms of the Cuban government are the

Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) of Ministry of Interior, and the Military Counterintelligence Department of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The DGI is responsible for foreign intelligence collection.

The DGI has six divisions divided into two categories of roughly equal size: The Operational Divisions and the Support Divisions.

The operational divisions include the Political/Economic Intelligence Divisions, the External Counterintelligence Division, and the Military Intelligence Division.

The support divisions include the Technical Support Division, the Information Division, and the Preparation Division. The Technical Support Division is responsible for production of false documents, communication systems supporting clandestine operations, and development of clandestine message capabilities. The Information and Preparation Divisions are responsible for intelligence analysis functions.

The Political Economic Intelligence Division consists of four sections: Eastern Europe, North America, Western Europe, and Africa-Asia-Latin-America. The External Counterintelligence Division is responsible for penetrating foreign intelligence services and the surveillance of exiles. The Military Intelligence Department is focused on collecting information on the U.S. Armed Forces and coordinates SIGINT operations with the Russians (until now) at Lourdes, and controls the Bejucal base.

The Military Counterintelligence Department is responsible for conducting counterintelligence, SIGINT, and electronic warfare activities against the United States.

The full range of Cuba’s espionage activities are a very serious matter of concern. Despite the economic failure of the Castro regime, Cuban intelligence, in particular the DGI, remains a viable threat to the United States. The Cuban mission to the United States is the third largest UN delegation The United States’ intelligence agencies should devote their resources to the most serious security threats, principally international terrorism, and adverse political trends.

WAYS AND MEANS

I. CUBA’S ELITE MILITARY GROUP: SPECIAL TROOPS

What are Cuba’s elite forces? Who commands them? Who trains them? Where is their training camp? What are the main missions they are prepared for? Since mid 1980s, Cuba established in Los Palacios, Pinar del Río, in a region known as El Cacho, a special troop military training school.

Named Baraguá School, it is situated in a big valley, near the mountains of Pinar del Río. It is a very large training camp, with artificial lakes, and the most modern training technology. The School is exactly located where the first missiles were seen during the 1962 missile crisis. The De la Guardia brothers founded the School. It is now under General José Luis Mesa, very close to Raúl Castro. General Mesa, 50, speaks fluent English, and is well mannered. Veteran of Vietnam as a young officer, and of, the African wars, he is assisted by a black Colonel Ramírez, Veteran of Angola, Vietnam, and other war places. Colonel Ramírez is an expert on this kind of special troop training. Presently they have assistant from special personnel from China and Vietnam. The special troop school has about a constant flow of 2500 men in training.

Ranging from 18 to 35 years old, they are a breed apart — a cut above the rest. Unquestionable, they are one of the world’s finest unconventional warfare experts. Certainly, second only to the United States Special Troops in this Hemisphere. They are kept on an uncommon physical and mental caliber. Mature, highly skilled, and superbly trained. They are always ready to serve anywhere, at any time: Infiltrations, commando operations, biowarfare, cyber warfare, and espionage. Special troops are trained to deliver people, equipment, and weapons with surgical precision. They locate high-value, strategic, movable targets and they deliver firepower more accurately. They are trained to operate in small independent units.

They have advanced personal camouflage with enhanced protection against harsh environments and climatic conditions. Clothing will offer them individual body armor and safeguards against biological and chemical agents. They have helmets fitted with enhanced sensory head-up displays including thermal, image-intensified, and acoustic sensors. External and imbedded optics enable them to see long distances clearly without using handheld optical systems. They have external skeletal systems that will improve individual skills, enabling special operators to move faster, jump farther, and lift more weight. Such enhanced physical attributes allow them to deliver more deadly force with greater accuracy and penetrating power. They also have miniaturized command, control, and communication functions, as well as embedded artificial intelligence for situational decision-making. In Baraguá School, Special troops are trained to perform the following missions: · Unconventional Warfare, UW: A broad spectrum of military operations conducted in politically sensitive territory or "enemy" held territory. Including interrelated fields of guerrilla warfare, evasion and escape, subversion, sabotage. · Direct Action, DA: Either overt or cover action against an "enemy" force. Seize, damage, and destroy a target. Short duration, small scale offensive actions. Ambushes, direct assault tactics, emplace mines. · Special Reconnaissance, SR: Infiltration behind "enemy" lines. Collect meteorological, hydrographic, geographic, and demographic data. · Psychological Operations, PSYOP: Induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to Cuba objectives. Influence emotions, motives, and behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. They also receive additional training and skills in freefall parachuting, underwater operations, target interdiction strategic reconnaissance, and operations and intelligence. Obviously, this group is strictly an offensive military group. Cuba is an island, and therefore has not borders to defend from neighboring countries. The most serious threats from the Special troops are: biowarfare operations, cyber warfare operations, infiltrations, commando attacks, kidnapping, espionage.

II. BIOWARFARE

Cuba started its biological program in 1982. Dr. Ernesto Bravo visited Boston University. There, with Dr. Lynn Margulis, and Dr. Harlyn Halvorson, they created NACSEX- North American/Cuban Scientific Exchange. By 1985 NACSEX had conducted several seminars and short courses in Cuba. Also, several Cuban scientists, engineers, physicians spent time at Boston University. Dr. Silva Rodriguez spent three months at Boston University, under Dr. Robert Zimmerman, learning new technology related to genetic engineering. While these events were happening, Castro had visited the Soviet Union in 1982, where he obtained from Brezhnev a laboratory donated to Cuba, where Ecoli bacteria could be genetically altered to produce interferon. This visit was followed by a visit to Cuba of General Vladimir Lebedensky, with a team of military scientists in biowarfare. By 2000, Cuba is the world’s second largest producer, by volume, of Alpha Interferon. Cuba is also the only country, besides highly developed nations, producing a high range of human and recombinant interferon on an industrial scale.

Therefore, for the past thirty years, Cuba has been working in the research and development of biotechnological agents. Viruses and toxins have been altered genetically to heighten their lethality, paving the way for the development of pathogens capable of overcoming existing vaccines

The arsenal in Cuba includes weapons based on tularemia, anthrax, smallpox, epidemic typhus, and dengue fever, Marburg, Ebola. It also includes neurological agents, based on chemical substances produced naturally in the human body.

Cuba has acquired the technology and capacity to manufacture their own equipment. Some of the equipment required is very similar to equipment related to diary production, sugar cane processing, and liquor manufacturing, areas where Cuba has had experience and technology

Cuba has developed, in conjunction with the PRC’s company Medical Instrumentation Neuke, a toxin that paralyze the nervous system.

Cuban main Centers dedicated to the research and development of biotechnological agents are: CIGB, or Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; National Bio-preparations Center, or Biocen; the Institute of Tropical Medicine; The Finlay Institute; the Center for Molecular Immunology, or CIM; the National Academy of Sciences.

There are also some other 160 Centers, smaller, disseminated throughout the country. Approximately 10,000 researchers-scientists, engineers, physicians, are working nationally in the field of biotechnology research and development.

III. THREAT: ANIMAL AND AGRICULTURE BIOTERRORISM

Anti-agricultural and animal biowarfare differ from the same activities directed against humans. Also, attacks are substantially easier to do; the agents aren’t necessarily hazardous to humans; delivery systems are readily available and unsophisticated; maximum effect may only require a few cases; delivery from outside the target country is possible; and an effective attack can be constructed to appear natural .Cuba has done extensive research and development in this field of agriculture and animal bioterrorism.

Agriculture is considered by many to be the perfect target for bioterrorism. Why? The agriculture industry is unmatched in revenue and scope. Food account for approximately 14% of the GDP and 25 million Americans are employed in agriculture directly, that is 2% of the population. In 1998, the agriculture industry generated over $1.5 trillion worth of business, a large portion of which was derived from export markets. If any of the many USA commodities were to be significantly impacted by bioterrorism the results could be catastrophic.

A widespread-epidemic, or any outbreak that triggered the imposition or relaxation of trade restrictions, could result in significant changes of supply of the affected plant or animal materials on domestic and international markets. In general, what goals might terrorists have in its readiness on this field?

Attack the food supply of the United States Destabilize the US government by initiating food shortages or unemployment Alter supply and demand patterns for a commodity

The impact of a devastating attack on our food supply would not be limited just to the farmer. Businesses such as farm suppliers, transportation, grocery stores, restaurants, equipment distributors, and in the end consumers, all pay the price. Agricultural terrorism is not about killing animals; it is about crippling our economy. Once released, an agro terrorism event may go unnoticed for days to weeks and by then it may be nearly impossible to determine how the event occurred. Countries might consider agricultural attack for military, political, ideological, or economic reasons. Since there could be quite severe consequences of being recognized as responsible for a biological attack, such efforts would likely be covert. This would entail an effort to make the outbreak appear natural (CANKER?) — most probably a point-source outbreak, or multiple outbreaks with an apparently natural common source. Intelligence sources suspect, for example, that Cuba and Iraq have developed wheat cover smut as a weapon.

Direct financial loss due to mortality or morbidity of domestic animals or crop plants can very from insignificant to catastrophic .In many cases the direct losses would be modest and would fall on a small number of farms. One of the major determinants of the magnitude of the direct losses will be the rapidity with which the disease is noticed and diagnosed.

Destruction of exposed hosts is often the only option when the agent is bacterial or viral. With plants, thousands of acres of crop plants may have to be destroyed to contain the outbreak. Thus, the losses attendant on outbreak control can exceed, often by several orders of magnitude, the direct losses due to the disease itself.

With the exception of a few agents of zoonotic disease, most of the diseases that are likely to be considered for an attack on the agricultural sector are completely harmless to humans. They are much less challenging to produce, stockpile, and disseminate than lethal human pathogens. Cuba has two main centers dedicated to this kind of research Iraq also has a few.

A military style attack by airplane on large acreage of crops would require crop dusters and large stockpiles of agent. Less ambitious attacks would require much less in the way of equipment or agent stockpiles. If the goal is to cause only a few cases in order to disrupt society, then no special equipment and only a few amount of agent are needed. And, as mentioned before, it is possible to introduce biological agents without even entering the target country. (West Nile virus?).

If the goal is to disrupt the dynamics of the United States by introducing a highly contagious disease into territory from which it is absent, then the attack does not have to be constructed to cause a large number of cases-a handful of cases may be sufficient.

The emerging sciences of genomic and proteomics, which Cuba has researched and developed extensively, are already beginning to transform biology. Agriculture has several properties that make it vulnerable to attack with genotype-specific weapons.

This constellation of characteristics presented here makes biological attacks on the agricultural and animal sectors of the United States a real threat, perhaps more so than attack on the civilian population. That is why Cuba, since 1992, has dedicated large efforts and funds on the development of these agents. We have to be aware in the United States of a new wave of bioterror: agricultural and animal attacks. What types of agents might fulfill some of the bioweapons?

Foot and Mouth Disease, Hog Cholera Velogenic Newcastle Disease, African Swine Fever, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, and Rinderpest. For plants the list of agents that might be used is nearly endless, although some, such as Wheat Smut or Rice Blast, appear more harmful than others. The route of introduction of these agents may vary, but aerosol, as mentioned above seems to be one of the most effective means. As with crops, this could be done in animals by crop dusters and hand spray pumps. Clever methods could include the coating of turkey feathers with the agent, filling small bomblets with the feathers, then exploding them over the target where they drift on the wind and contaminate a vast area.

Cuba has excelled in agricultural research and development since the early 1900s. Castro has outstanding scientist and excellent Centers in Cuba just dedicated to the research and development of bioagro weapons.

The threat to agriculture is real. We must become fully aware and be on the alert.

IV. KILLER VIRUS AND NEW NANOTECHNOLOGY

An engineered mouse virus leaves up one step away from the ultimate bioweapon. A virus that kills every one of its victims, by wiping out part of their immune system, is been researched, according to some intelligent sources, at Cuba’s CIGB. The virus, a modified mouse pox, does not affect humans, but it is closely related to smallpox, raising fears that the technology could be used in biowarfare. Scientists in Australia accidentally found the virus.

The virus was produced accidentally by merely trying to make a mouse contraceptive vaccine for pest control. But it is a good way to show how to alter smallpox to make it more virulent. A gene that creates large amounts of interleukin 4, IL-4 was inserted into a mouse pox. Mouse pox normally causes only mild symptoms in the type of mice used in the study. But with IL-4 gene added it wiped out all the animals in nine days. If IL-4 were put into human smallpox, it would increase the lethality quite dramatically. The smallpox virus was given to Cuba by the former USSR.

To make matter worse, the engineered virus also appears unnaturally resistant to attempts to vaccinate the mice, as found in labs working on it in Australia and Oregon. This fact highlights yet another fact that one or another could overcome any vaccine genetically engineered virus or bacterium.

The CIGB in Cuba has acquired the capacity also to work with nanotechnology, the new frontier in biotechnology. Agreements have been made by a delegation headed by Fidel Castro Díaz Balart, between Cuba and scientific institutes in India, which has achieved tremendous advances in nanotechnology.

Many cells, where numerous life activities and the interactions of protein surfaces take place, are measured in nanometers. Engineers at the CIGB, again according to some intelligent sources, are working on extremely small machines and tools that can enter the human body. This is the millionth-of-a-millimeter world of biotechnology today.

By using a person’s saliva, body fluids, or blood, nanobiosensors can be created to reliably work with pathogens such as viruses. In tissue engineering, a scaffold, measuring only 50 nanometers in diameter, can be built using nanofibers. These are the secrets of life and they are taking place at the nanoscale.

Using nanochips to test various medications or combination of chemicals and vaccines can reduce drugs and virus development costs. The tests would use nanoprobes so thin and sharp they could enter the cell and leave a few molecules of a virus behind and then exit. This way, genetically, they could be altered.

Nanotechnology, the new frontier in biotechnology, have many ethical issues surrounding the medical advances that it will spur. Is it possible that research into new vaccines against cancer and other diseases could inadvertently, or on purpose, create lethal human viruses? Defense experts are worried about preserving the freedom to publish medical findings while trying to stop the information falling into the wrong hands. There is no solution on how to deal with this.

V. Cuba’s chemical warfare capabilities

Chemical warfare is the use of poison gases and other toxic chemicals to kill or incapacitate an enemy. Modern nerve gases and chemical warfare agents are a by-product of insecticide research. They are composed of organic chemicals known as organophosphorus compounds that inhibit the production of cholinesterase.

Cuba initiated its first steps in chemical warfare during the Wars in Africa. Cuba learned its manufacturing, maintenance, and use from the Vietnamese, and the PRC. Later on, by the former Soviet Union. Small and efficient plants can turn out chemical weapons by the ton. These plants are scattered in Cuba, but mainly in the province of Habana, Central Cuba, near Sancti Spíritus, and in Santiago de Cuba.

Chemical weapons usually cause burns, asphyxiation, and neurological damage. Cuba has developed, in conjunction with the PRC, a very effective neurological damaging gas. They have also developed, with the assistant of the former Soviet Union, a nerve gas called Novichok. This gas is five times as deadly as conventional nerve gases. It is purported that 40,000 tons of Novichok is enough to kill all human life on earth.

Of course, the use of chemical weapons is limited by the excessive bulk of the chemical agents. Weather, winds and the practical limitations of dispersal would generally limit chemical weapons to use against concentrated targets. Chemical weapons can be very effective against troop concentrations, military facilities, and highly populated areas.

Intelligent sources strongly suspect that Cuba has worked on, and developed the following:

NERVE AGENTS

Tabun (GA)-cholisterase inhibitor

Sarin (GB)-cholinesterase inhibitor

Soman (GD)- cholinesterase inhibitor

Yellow Rain-Unknown compound that causes bleeding and rapid death, may include mycotoxins produced by the genus Fusarium fungi-Tropical Medicine Institute.

Novichok-A choline sterase inhitor. Affect human genes.

BLISTER AGENTS

Mustard- (H, HID, HS)-causes skin and membrane inflammation. Blindness Phosgene Oxime (CX)-destroys skin and membrane tissue

BLOOD AGENTS

A blood agent is absorbed into the body through the lungs where it is then picked up by the blood.

Arsine Trihydride (SA)-causes gasping and choking, asphyxiation Hydrogen Cyanide (PB)-Penetrates current issue U.S. military gas masks.

Causes convulsions, gasping, choking. Cuba and Irmak worked together on this

chemical agent

OTHERS

Buzz (13Z)- Hallucinogenic LSD derivative Blue X- Incapacitates humans for 8-12 hours.

VI. CUBA’S CORE FOR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE: CIGB

The core of the biowarfare efforts of the Cuban government is the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), located at 31 Avenue, between 158 and 190 streets, Cubanacán, La Habana. This institution is at the vanguard in the Hemisphere, second only to selected centers in the United States. Over 1,100 engineers, scientists, technicians work at the Center. It occupies a total area of over 62,000 square meters, with buildings occupying approximately 44,000 square meters, including laboratories, offices and service areas. There is a huge greenhouse of 1,700 square meters and 2.7 hectares of fertile soil. They also house a theater for conferences and congresses, and rooms for seminars, libraries, gymnasium, etc. The main production plant of bioagents covers 7,500 square meters, although the CIGB shares production with the Biopreparations Center, or BIOCEN, located in Bejucal, at Carretera Beltran km 1 ½, nearby the electronic espionage and interference base. The CIGB is structured into several big sub directions: research, quality control, production, engineering and services, teaching.

The main oriented work lines are: pharmaceutical, vaccine, immunology, clinical, preclinical, automation, chemistry/physics, mammal cell genetics, plant molecular biology, cloning. The CIGB has a CIGBnet which is the network for the Center. It provides computer communications, database access, information services and data processing. It is operated by the Network Services Group of the Automation Division of the CIGB. It provides computer networking access to some 600 members.(out of the 1,100). LANs located in the Center are linked together using both dialup UUCP technology and RENACYT, the national academic X.25 network, operated by ICIMAF/CIDET. Protocols running on the LAN side are IPX/SPX, giving access to both Netware based and UNIX base services. PWGlue is an off line email management system of the Center, based on the Pegasus Mail. Glue code to get those two shareware packages working together was developed at the Center.

Data batching and compression engines were also added. Data compression engines are compatible with UNIX standard compress utility or GNU’s gzip.email for certain personnel in the Center follow as this: last name@ingen.cigb.edu.cu The CIGB has a biotherium, barrier zones, white rooms, for research with sensitive and lethal bio agents. The CIGB’ modern and efficient technological equipment includes mass spectrometers, infrared and ultraviolet electron and scanning microscopes, gamma counters, DNA synthesizers. Also, and very important, downstream fermenters, drying and milling machines, centrifuges, which can guarantee research and development of bioweapons, such as bacteria and virus agents. The process of weaponizing anthrax, for example, can be done at these facilities. A few grains of the freeze-dried bacteria are kept in a stoppered vial. Then, a small amount of a nutrient medium is put into the vial. A mother culture is created. With tiny pippetes, the mixture is drawn out of the vial and a small amount is transferred into several slightly larger bottles. The bottles are left to incubate in a thermostatic oven for two days. This process, up to this point, is very similar to the one to make a vaccine. A seed stock in a standard vial will swell to billions of microorganisms after 48 hours, but it will take weeks of brewing to produce the quantities required for weaponization.

Once the culture emerges from the oven, it is siphoned off into large flasks. The flasks are taken into a special room, where they are connected to air-bubbling machines, which turn the liquid into a light froth. The bacteria then grow more efficiently. Each new generation of bacteria is transferred into larger vessels, until is vacuum pressure into fermenters. The substance is incubated for two days in the fermenters, until it reaches maximum concentration. At this stage, the process is passed through a centrifuge to be concentrated as much as thirty times further. However, we do not have a weapon yet. The pathogen has to be mixed with special additives to stabilize it over a long period. Then, the weapon is ready.

Smallpox virus can also be produced at the Center. Tissue cells are obtained from animals or humans. The tissue is kept alive outside its natural habitat in cell lines and stored at very precise temperature. Cells are obtained from the kidneys of green monkeys or from the lungs of human embryos. A special combination of amino acids, vitamins, salts, and sera, distilled with de-ionized water, is crucial for the process. Many of the equipment needed for the production of bioagents are similar to the equipment used in the dairy industry, liquor industry, and sugar mills. Therefore Cuba has the technology and the facilities to produce its own specialized equipment.

China has developed a large biotechnological area in its Northeastern part of the country. It is close to one of China’s nuclear research centers. China has concentrated its efforts in the development of viral diseases and toxins. Since 1997 China has been working very closely with Cuba in the research and development of bioweapons. China has provided Cuba, among other equipment, with two High Performance Computers, needed in the specialized production of certain bioagents, as well as to study weather patterns for a better delivery or attack with bioagents. Chinese military scientists have now joined Cubans at the CIGB conducting joint ventures in the biowarfare area.

VII. CYBERWARFARE

On 1991 Cuba formed a group, under the Military Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces. The group was charged to obtain information to develop computer viruses. The project was under the military authority of Major Guillermo Bello, and his wife Colonel Sara María Jordan. The civilian authorities were the engineers Sergio Suárez, Amado García, and José Luis Presmanes Cuba’s main centers are: the Lourdes base, under Russian authorities; the Bejucal base, under Cuban authorities; the Paseo complex, between 11th and 13th streets; the Jaruco complex; the Wajay complex. There are several research and development Centers at universities and Institutes, as well as centers in Santiago de Cuba and Güines. Cuba has done extensive studies on electromagnetic radiation weapons. These are weapons capable of destroying microelectronic equipment from a two miles distance radius.

There are several areas under cyberterrorism, all of which Cuba has the capacity and the technology to produce. We have: electronic eavesdropping or espionage; computer network intrusion, in the form of viruses; computer networks intrusion to change, alter, or read files; destruction of computer and electronic equipment through electromagnetic radiation Cuba has obtained from PRC several HPC-high performance computers-which can be used for military research and development in the areas of biowarfare and cyberwarfare. Since 1998, Cuba has being working very closely with the PRC in these areas, as well as in the biowarfare area.

VIII. WHAT CAN BE DONE FROM THE BEJUCAL BASE BESIDES ELECTRONIC ESPIONAGE?

From the Bejucal base in Cuba, besides the listening to telecommunication channels in the United States, they can also produce attacks on the security of the United States’ computer systems or networks. The general categories of attack are: Interruption: An asset of the system is destroyed or becomes unavailable or unusable. This is referred to as an attack on availability. Examples include destruction of a piece of hardware, such as a hard disk, the cutting of a communication line, or the disabling of the file management system. .

Interception: They get access to an asset. This is referred to as an attack on confidentiality. Example is the unauthorized copying of files or programs.

Modification: The attacker tampers with an asset. This is referred to as an attack on integrity. Examples include changing values in a data file altering a program so that it performs differently, and modifying the content of messages being transmitted in a network Fabrication: The attacker inserts counterfeit objects into the system. This is referred to as an attack on authenticity. Examples include the insertion of spurious messages in a network or the addition of records to a file.

CATEGORIES OF ATTACKS A useful categorization of these attacks is in terms of passive attacks and active attacks. Passive attacks are in the nature of monitoring of transmissions. The goal of the attacker is to obtain information that is being transmitted.

Two types of passive attacks are(1) release of message content;(2) traffic analysis. A release of message content is easily understood. A telephone conversation, an electronic mail message, and a transferred file may contain sensitive or confidential information. The second passive attack, traffic analysis, is more subtle. Suppose that we had a way of masking the contents of a message or other information traffic so that Cuba, even if they capture the information, could not extract the real information because of the use of encryption. The attacker could after a period of time extract the information and messages, defeating the encryption process.

The second major category of attack is active attacks. These attacks involve some modification of the data stream or the creation of a false stream. It can be subdivided into four categories: masquerade, replay, modification of message, denial of service. A masquerade takes place when the attacker, under certain entity, pretends to be a different entity, and therefore enabling an authorized entity to obtain extra privileges. Replay involves the passive capture of a data unit and its subsequent retransmission to produce an unauthorized effect.

Modification of service simply means that some portion of a legitimate message is altered, or that messages are delayed or reordered, to produce an unauthorized effect. The denial of service prevents or inhibits the normal use or management of communications facilities. This is a very important and serious possible attack. It could disrupt an entire network, either by disabling the network or by overloading it with messages so as to degrade performance.

The attacker could target airports, financial centers, power companies, dams control centers, etc. It is quite difficult to prevent active attacks. The goal is to detect them and to recover from any disruption or delays caused by them.

INTRUDERS There are three classes of intruders: Masquerader: the intruder is not authorized to use the computer and penetrates a system’s access controls to get inside. This can be done from the Bejucal base Misfeasor: A legitimate user who access data, programs, or resources for which is not authorized. This can be done by an insider, not from the Bejucal base Clandestine: the intruder seizes supervisory control of the system. Can be done from inside or from the Bejucal base The objective of the intruder is to gain access to a system or to increase the range of privileges accessible on a system. The intruder must acquired information that should have been protected. In most cases, this information is in the form of a password. The password file can be protected by one way encryption or by limiting the access control to the file.

What are the most common techniques used so far to try to break into a system? Try words on the system’s online dictionary Collect information about the users. Full names, spouses’ names, children’s names, pictures in their offices, books in their offices, etc (Here the operating personnel in Bejucal needs inside information) Users’ phone numbers, social security numbers, room numbers, license plate numbers, etc (inside information is also needed) Use a Trojan horse Tap the line between a remote user and the host system

Network security has assumed increasing importance. Individuals, corporations, government agencies, must heighten their awareness to protect data and messages, and to protect systems from network-based attacks. The disciplines of cryptography and network security have matured, leading to the development of practical, readily available applications to enforce network security.

IX. CUBA AND THE THREAT OF ELECTRONIC HIGH TECHNOLOGY WEAPONS

Cuba has worked extensively, with the cooperation of the PRC, on:

DEW- Directed energy weapons

HERF- High energy radio frequency

EMP – Electromagnetic pulse

The potential threat comes from the fact that an attacker can quickly assemble an arsenal of various high-technology weapons to capitalize on the weakness of Information Systems through DOS ( denial of service) attacks-rendering those systems unavailable.

The Information Warfare (IW) attacks on computers can be classified as attacks through legitimate gateways of the computers, such as modems and the keyboard (software attacks), and attacks through other than legitimate gateways (backdoor attacks). At the current technology level, backdoor attacks can be carried out mainly by utilizing radio frequency (RF) technology. Cuba and China are experimenting on these methods in a join effort in Cuba territory, mainly in the Bejucal Electronic Base, the electronic farms in Güines and Santiago de Cuba.

We have, as a taxonomy, the following Table. The Table describes the three main areas: DEW, HERF, EMP. There are those which are directed energy weapons ( DEWs) and those which are undirected (UEWs).

ELECTRONIC HIGH TECH WEAPONS

UEWs

The UEWs are unspecific, that is they are not aimed or focused. One premise underlies many special applications here. Any wire or electronic component is, in fact, an unintended antenna, both transmitting and receiving. Importantly, every such unintended antenna is particularly responsive to its specific resonance frequency, and to several related frequencies. If an objective is to eavesdrop on the device, then the EM emanations coming from functioning components of the device are received by highly sensitive receiving equipment and processed in order to duplicate information handled by the device. If an objective is to influence the device’s functioning, then appropriate RF signals are transmitted to the targeted device.

Probably the best example of UEWs in the EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) are inadvertent problems of natural cause, like a lightning strike. In the case of LERF, we can consider the problems caused by cellular phones when they are close to a local area network (LAN)

HERF AND LERF

A classic example of HERF (HIGH ENERGY RADIO FREQUENCY) energy disrupting computer systems was for example a situation where a computer center built within 200 meters of a high power FM transmitter never worked correctly, and the Center had to be relocated.

LERF technology uses relatively low energy, which is spread over a wide frequency spectrum. It can, however, be more disruptive than HERF due to the high probability that its wide spectrum contains frequencies matching resonance frequencies of critical components. The LERF does not require time compression, nor does utilize high tech components.

HERF weapon’s accuracy is relatively high, but it is not yet quite up to the military requirements anywhere. But this certainly is not deterrence for terrorists because collateral damage is what they are usually after in the first place. HERF technology is being developed in the Güines, Cuba, electronic farm.

LERF weapons are notoriously inaccurate, virtually by definition. However, LERF weapons’ impact on computers is devastating and highly indiscriminate. This is why very likely these LERF weapons are more attractive to terrorists. LERF weapons are being developed at the Bejucal base, Cuba.

POTENTIAL THREAT FROM THESE WEAPONS

Disruption Temporary or permanent loss of system Physical damage High energy fields-damage to personnel Disguised as a "natural occurring phenomena."

HOW CAN THEY BE BUILT

These LERF weapons can be made from commonly available items, such as:

Camera flash units Microwave ovens Cellular phones Transmitters Welders Defibrillators Spark-discharge ignition systems

The basic building blocks needed are:

Power supply Pulsing system Target acquisition "Linking" to the target Cover/disguise

HERF weapons’ accuracy is relatively high. HERF requires advance technology. It is based on concentrating large amounts of RF EM energy in within a small space, narrow frequency range and a very short period of time. The result of such concentration is an overpowering RFEM impulse capable of causing substantial damage to electronic components. The HERF impulse is strong enough to damage electronic components irrespective of their specific resonance frequencies.

LERF technology utilizes relatively low energy, which is spread over a wide frequency spectrum. It is cheaper to build ( approximately $800 per unit). LERF weapons have been utilized over the years.

The Russians’ FAPSI have been on the lead in the development of HERF and LERF FAPSI was partially privatized, and some of its members went to Cuba to work. Now, Russians (private personnel), Chinese, and Cuban personnel are joining efforts, directed by Cuban military, on the development of these weapons.

Electronic Farm: 230 00’ 17"’ 820 25’ 26’’

BEJUCAL BASE 220 56’ 00"’ 820 23’ 30"

X. DIRTY BOMBS

Of the countless scenarios of terrorist mayhem, none quickens the pulse quite like the menace of a nuclear bomb, and for good reason. A nuclear weapon embodies essentially everything a terrorist could hope for: the ability to kill at least tens of thousands of people at once, a fiery explosion that reverberates globally in images of death and destruction, and a lingering, lethal legacy, in the form of radioactive fallout.

Fortunately, most groups and terrorist nations are limited in their resources and lack the infrastructure to build a nuclear bomb. But, why build a bomb when there are far cheaper and simpler ways of waging nuclear terror?

There are two other possibilities that, for their comparative simplicity, would deliver much of the bang of a bomb. Flying a fully fueled jumbo jet into a nuclear reactor is one. The other is using radioactive nuclear materials to kill or sicken people or render tracts of land uninhabitable by, for example, scattering the materials with a conventional explosion.

Nuclear reactors are surrounded by a massive containment structure with concrete-and-steel walls more than a meter thick. These containments were designed to withstand earthquakes and extremely violent impacts, but not the sort a plunging jumbo jet would cause if fully loaded with fuel, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Vienna, Austria.

In a 26 September release, the agency suggested that such an impact would not trigger a runaway nuclear reaction, because automatic safety systems would flood the reactor with water. A direct hit by a large, fueled aircraft might nevertheless breach the containment and damage the reactor, possibly causing a leak of radioactive steam and fallout.

The IAEA’s assessment predicts that the worst damage would be confined within 10 Kms. of the plant. Even so, dangerous levels of radioactivity would likely persist for 10 to 15 years.

Radiological dispersion devices-the poor man’s nuclear weapon-, or dirty bomb, are another possibility likely to attract increasing interest from terrorists. Scattering radiation without a nuclear explosion, they are a near-term terrorist threat. Several nations-including a few sponsors of terrorism-have dabbled in dispersion devices. In the 1980s, Iraq produced and tested conventional bombs filled with radioactive materials-apparently, spent fuel from its research reactors, according to a 1991 report by the CIA. Cuba, by the way, has two research reactors.

Spent fuel is the obvious choice for the radioactive material in a terrorist device. Many tens of thousands of tons of it lie scattered around the world, including small accumulations in Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, North Korea, and Cuba.

A single, half-ton spent fuel assembly from a reactor contains more than enough radioactivity to put a transportation terminal or some other strategic location out of action for months, or years, if the radioactivity is well dispersed.

The most accessible nuclear device for any terrorist would be a radiological dispersion bomb. This so-called ‘dirty bomb’ would consist of waste by-products from nuclear reactors wrapped in conventional explosives, which upon detonation would spew deadly radioactive particles into the environment.

This is an expedient weapon, in that radioactive waste material is relatively easy to obtain. Radioactive waste is widely found throughout the world, and in general is not as well guarded as actual nuclear weapons. In the United States, radioactive waste is located at more than 70 commercial nuclear power sites in 31 states. Enormous quantities also exist overseas — in Europe and Japan in particular. Tons of wastes are transported long distances, including between continents (Japan to Europe and back).

Cuba, since 1988 has two experimental nuclear reactors in La Habana. Very low power. One is a 10 Watts. The other is referred to as zero Watts. They are used for nuclear medicine and research on nuclear biotechnology. But they do generate nuclear waste.

In Russia, security for nuclear waste is especially poor, and the potential for diversion and actual use by Islamic radicals has been shown to be very real indeed. In 1996, Islamic rebels from the break-away province of Chechnya planted, but did not detonate, such a device in Moscow’s Izmailovo Park to demonstrate Russia’s vulnerability. This dirty bomb consisted of a deadly brew of dynamite and one of the highly radioactive by-products of nuclear fission — Cesium 137. Extreme versions of such gamma-ray emitting bombs, such as a dynamite-laden casket of spent fuel from a nuclear power plant, would not kill quite as many people as died on Sept. 11. Worst-case calculation for an explosion in downtown Manhattan during noontime: more than 2,000 deaths and many thousands more suffering from radiation poisoning. Treatment of those exposed would be greatly hampered by inadequate medical facilities and training. The United States has only a single hospital emergency room dedicated to treating patients exposed to radiation hazards, at Oak Ridge, Tenn. A credible threat to explode such a bomb in a U.S. city could have a powerful impact on the conduct of U.S. foreign and military policy, and could possibly have a paralyzing effect. Not only would the potential loss of life be considerable, but also the prospect of mass evacuation of dense urban centers would loom large in the minds of policy-makers.


The threat from radiological dispersion dims in comparison to the possibility that terrorists could build or obtain an actual atomic bomb. An explosion of even low yield could kill hundreds of thousands of people. A relatively small bomb, say 15-kilotons, detonated in Manhattan could immediately kill upwards of 100,000 inhabitants, followed by a comparable number of deaths in the lingering aftermath. Fortunately, bomb-grade nuclear fissile material (highly enriched uranium or plutonium) is relatively heavily guarded in most, if not all, nuclear weapon states. Nonetheless, the possibility of diversion remains. Massive quantities of fissile material exist around the world. Sophisticated terrorists could fairly readily design and fabricate a workable atomic bomb once they manage to acquire the precious deadly ingredients (the Hiroshima bomb which used a simple gun-barrel design is the prime example).


Obviously, intelligence that helps localize the bomb is the main key to success. Just as obviously, intelligence of such quality is seldom available — as proven on Sept. 11. Such a search could be truly looking for a needle in a haystack, as detection normally would succeed only if the detectors come within a few feet or so of the hidden bomb. Disabling a bomb is easy by comparison. A radiological bomb might be surrounded by a tent enclosure several tens of feet in height and width, then filled with a special foam to contain the deadly radioactive material (such as Cesium 137) if the bomb explodes during further defusing attempts. For a nuclear device there are available a set of options for disabling the weapon, including using explosives to wreck the bomb’s wiring to prevent the triggering of the nuclear detonators. Because of the difficulty inherent in finding a nuclear weapon once it entered the country, near-term U.S. response efforts would be best focused on prevention and intervention to secure possible sources of nuclear terrorism.
A state sponsor of terrorism would simply give the spent fuel or perhaps even an entire dispersion device to terrorist groups. We must be on the alert, and start thinking from the terrorist’s perspective of maximizing the destruction.

XI. INFRASTRUCTURE

Our nation’s critical infrastructures are highly interconnected and mutually dependent in complex ways, both physically and through a host of information and communications technologies, so called "cyber-based systems).

As shown by the 1998 failure of the Galaxy 4 telecommunications satellite, the prolonged power crisis in California, and many other recent infrastructure disruptions, what happens to one infrastructure can directly affect other infrastructures, impact large geographic regions, and send ripples throughout the national and global economy.

In the case of the Galaxy 4 failure, the loss of a single telecommunications satellite led to an outage of nearly 90% of all pagers nationwide. From an interdependency perspective, it also disrupted a variety of banking and financial services, such as credit card purchases and automated teller machine transactions, and threatened key segments of the vital human services network by disrupting communications with doctors and emergency workers.

In California electric power disruptions in early 2001 affected oil and natural gas production, refinery operations, pipeline transport of gasoline and jet fuel within California and to its neighboring states, and the movement of water from northern to central and southern regions of the state for crop irrigation.

These disruptions also idled key industries, led to billions of dollars of lost productivity, and stressed the entire Western power grid, causing far-reaching security and reliability concerns.

Identifying, understanding, and analyzing such interdependencies are a significant challenge, and a very important aspect against home terrorism.

INTERDEPENDENCY

In the general case, infrastructures are connected as a "system of systems." The term "interdependencies" is conceptually simple. Interdependencies vary widely, and each has its own characteristics and effects on infrastructure agents. There are four principal classes of interdependencies: physical, cyber, geographic, and logical. Although each has distinct characteristics, these classes of interdependencies are not mutually exclusive. We will examine two of them in detail.

PHYSICAL INTERDEPENDENCY

Two infrastructures are physically interdependent if the state of each is dependent on the material output(s) of the other. For example, a rail network and a coil-fired electrical generation plant are physically interdependent, given that each supplies commodities that the other requires to function properly.

The railroad provides coal for fuel and delivers large repair and replacement parts to the electrical generator, while the electricity generated by the plant powers the signals, switches, and control centers of the railroad. Consequently, the risk of failure or deviation from normal operating conditions in one infrastructure can be a function of risk in a second infrastructure if the two are interdependent.

CYBER INTERDEPENDENCY

Cyber interdependencies are relatively new and a result of the pervasive computerization and automation of infrastructures over the last decades. This interdependency is the one where terrorist countries have developed in the last 10 years the appropriate methods to cause damage to the United States.

Cyber interdependencies connect infrastructures to one another via electronic, informational links. The output of the information infrastructure are inputs to the other infrastructure, and the "commodity" passed between the infrastructures is information.

Due to the extensive dependency of the nation’s infrastructures in computer networks, this interdependency is the most vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

The science of cyber infrastructure interdependencies is still relative immature and vulnerable. A deeper appreciation of its importance to national security has developed only in the last 10 years. Infrastructures are connected at multiple points such that a bi-directional relationship exists between the states of any given pair.

SECURITY DATA ISSUES

A highly detailed, comprehensive database of national infrastructures would be a valuable target for hackers, terrorists, and foreign intelligence services-particularly if it were coupled to advanced modeling and simulation.

There is still the not completely solved case of the Moonlight Maze, an operation traced back to Moscow, by private engineers, and possible, not yet proven, with the assistance of other terrorist countries engineers and computer scientists, in which unclassified DOD technology-related computer systems were compromised and sensitive data copied. This is the danger of creating of collecting data into one unclassified comprehensive database.

The information and ability to understand the dynamics of U.S. infrastructures is considered very valuable by terrorist governments, which considers the U.S. as an ideological enemy.

NETWORK SECURITY ESSENTIALS

Attacks on the security of a computer system or network are best characterized by viewing the function of the computer system as providing information.

In general, there is a flow of information from a source, such as a file or a region of main memory, to a destination, such as another file or user. We have the following general categories of attack:

Interruption: An asset of the system is destroyed or becomes unavailable or unstable. This is an attack on availability. Examples include destruction of a piece of hardware, such as a hard disk ( through HERF or LERF technology). The cutting of a communication line, or the disabling of the file management system.

Interception: An unauthorized party gains access to an asset. This is an attack on confidentiality. Examples include wiretapping to capture data on a network, and the unauthorized copying of files or programs.

Modification: An unauthorized party not only gains access to but also tampers with an asset. This is an attack on integrity. Examples include changing values in a data file, modifying the content of messages being transmitted in a network. This can be done from any foreign terrorist country

Fabrication: An unauthorized party inserts counterfeit objects into the system. This is an attack on authenticity. Examples include the insertion of spurious messages in a network or the addition of records to a file.

Replay: it involves the passive capture of a data unit and its subsequent retransmission to produce an unauthorized effect.

Masquerade: it takes place when one entity pretends to be a different entity.

CUBA AND CHINA

The fall of communism has not reduced the level or amount of espionage and other serious intelligence activity conducted against the United States. The targets have not changed at all: there is still a deadly serious foreign interest, and mainly from the new China/Cuba consortium, in traditional intelligence activities such as penetrating the U.S. intelligence community, collecting classified information on U.S. military defense systems, and purloining the latest advances in the nation’s science and technology sector.

There is also a growing importance in maintaining the integrity of the country’s information infrastructure. Our growing dependence on computer networks and telecommunications has made the U.S. increasingly vulnerable to possible cyber attacks against such targets as military war rooms, power plants, telephone networks, air traffic control centers and banks. China and Cuba have increased their cooperation in this area through the Bejucal base in Cuba, as well as in Wajay (near Bejucal), and Santiago de Cuba. On these bases they use technologically sophisticated equipment, as well as new intelligence methodologies that makes it more difficult, or impossible for U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor or detect.

The international terrorism threat can be divided into three general categories. Each poses a serious and distinct threat, and each has a presence already in the United States. The most important category is the state sponsored threat. This category, according to the FBI, includes the following countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, North Korea. Put simply, these nations view terrorism as a tool of foreign policy. In view of this list, we need to evaluate the recent trip made by Fidel Castro.

There are three main areas of concern for us in the new and dangerous axis formed by China and Cuba: radio frequency weapons, computer technology, missile capabilities. The problem with the Chinese Cuban rapprochement is that it is driven by mutual hostility towards the United States.

Radio frequency weapons are a new radical class of weapons. Radio frequency weapons can utilize either high energy radio frequency (HERF), or low energy radio frequency(LERF) technology. HERF is advanced technology. It is based on concentrating large amounts of RF EM energy in within a small space, narrow frequency range, and a very short period of time. The result is an overpowering RF EM impulse capable of causing substantial damage to electronic components.

LERF utilizes relatively low energy, which is spread over a wide frequency spectrum. It can be no less effective in disrupting normal functioning of computers as HERF due to the wider range of frequencies it occupies. LERF does not require time compression neither high tech components. LERF impact on computers and computer networks could be devastating. The computer would go into a random output mode, that is, it is impossible to predict what the computer would do. A back up computer will not solve the problem either. One example of LERF use was the KGB’s manipulation of the United States Embassy security system in Moscow in the late 80s.

Worldwide proliferation in RF weapons has increased dramatically in the last five years. The collapse of the Soviet Union is probably the most significant factor contributing to this increase in attention and concern about proliferation. The KGB has split into independent parts. One of them is referred to as FAPSI. It has been partially privatized. Spin-off companies have been created, with very attractive golden parachutes for the high officers. FAPSI, or its spin-off companies have been heavily involved in China and Cuba in RF technology, as well as computer technology.

China, PRC, has stolen design information on the United States most advanced thermonuclear weapons. The stolen information includes classified information on:

Seven U.S. thermonuclear warheads, including every currently deployed thermonuclear warhead in the U.S. ballistic missile arsenal Classified design information for an enhanced radiation weapon (neutron bomb), which neither the USA , nor any other country has yet deployed Classified information on state of the art reentry vehicles, and warheads, such as the W-88, a miniaturized, tapered warhead, which is the most sophisticated nuclear weapon the United States has ever built.

These and other classified information have been obtained in the last 20 years. However, the now presence in Cuba, with the use of the Bejucal base, and the proximity to the United States, makes the China/Cuba new axis a very serious threat to this nation. In 1993, a Cuban nuclear engineer, and high officer of the Cuban Intelligence military apparatus, was awarded a one year stance at Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, doing research on Physical protection of nuclear facilities and materials. The officer is, since 1999, in exile in the United States.

The PRC has acquired also technology on high performance computers(HPC). HPCs are needed for the design and testing of advanced nuclear weapons. The PRC has targeted the U.S. nuclear test data for espionage collection. This can be accomplished through the facilities in Cuba.

China’s new venture in Cuba will:

Enhance China’s military capability

Jeopardize U.S. national security interests

Pose a direct threat to the United States

CUBA AND IRAQ

Viruses and bacteria can be obtained from more than fifteen hundred microbe banks around the world. The international scientific community depends on this network for medical research and for the exchange of information vital to the fight against disease.

According to American biowarfare experts, Iraq obtained some of its most lethal strains of anthrax from the American Type Culture Collection in Rockville, Maryland, one of the world’s largest libraries of microorganisms. For $35 they also pick up strains of tularemia and Venezuelan equine encephalitis, once targeted for weaponization at Fort Detrick, United States.

Iraq was also given by the CDC the West Nile virus in the late 1980s. At the same type, the CDC gave Cuba the St. Louis encephalitis virus, very similar to the West Nile virus. Since the 1980s, Cuba and Iraq established very close relations. This was partially due to Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez Cambra, a well known orthopedic surgeon, who has operated on Hussein’s knee, and also has treated other members of his family.

By early 1990s, Iraq had provided Cuba with anthrax, for its further development. A report submitted by the U.S. Office of Technological Assessment to hearings at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in late 1995 identified seventeen countries believed to posses biological weapons-Libya, North Korea, South Korea, Iraq, Taiwan, Syria, Israel, China, Egypt, Vietnam, Laos Bulgaria, India, South Africa, Russia, and Cuba.

At the time Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law, Hussein Kamel, defected in 1995, he not only denounced Iraq activities in these weapons of massive destruction, but also the close relationship of Iraq, first with the former Soviet Union, and presently with Cuba. Yury Kalinin , one of the most important persons in Russia’s biological development, visited Cuba in 1990 to establish in Cuba the Biocen, a Center very similar to Russia’s Biopreparat. He acknowledged at the time, the involvement of Cuba in biological weapon development. Some 25 Cuban scientists were periodically trained in the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1992.

Furthermore, Cuba has advanced tremendously in the area of nanotechnology, an essential tool in the development of bio-weapons, and computer related technology. Fidel Castro Diaz Balart, Castro’s oldest son, and former head of Cuba’s nuclear program, visited India and Iraq to strengthen collaboration on this vital area.

Castro visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASSR) in October, 2000. Cuba and India agreed in collaboration on areas like biotechnology, tropical medicine, nanotechnology and computational technology.

Prof. V. Krishnan, JNCASR President said Cuba had tremendous advancement in biotechnology and nanotechnology. After his visit to India. Castro Diaz Balart visited Iraq and Iran.

The Cuba/Iraq cooperation is the most important threat faced by the United States in this fight against terrorism.

CUBA CHINA, RUSSIA

Neither groundbreaking nor unexpected, the friendship pact signed by Russia and China on July 16, 2001, was nonetheless far from empty. For one thing, it formalized a relationship that had grown ever warmer since the end of the Cold War.

Though both parties contended that the new pact is not directed at third countries, this is a fig leaf that can be quickly discarded. The naked truth is contained in their hope for a "just and rational order," and in their opposition to numerous U.S. policies.

Both sides also denied that the friendship pact is a military alliance. And yet their relationship is largely a military one. Russia is the second-largest exporter of arms (after the United States), and China is Russia’s biggest client.

Over the last decade, China has bought from its northern neighbor a full complement of modern armaments, particularly in air and sea power. Also, Russian-Chinese cooperation extends further, to intelligence sharing and the training of Chinese officers in Russian military academies.

The Su-30, for example, is an all-weather, two seat, deep-strike fighter, equipped with a range of precision-guided weapons. Comparable to the U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle, and far better than anything currently serving in the UK’s Royal Air Force.

In exchange, Russia receives much needed cash, as well as a willing industrial partner. China’s nuclear-powered submarines, for example, are being built with Russian know-how.

Refer to Table below for a summary of Russian arms bought by China since 1990.

XV. WE DON’T THINK AS THE ENEMY THINKS

Part of the terrorists’ playbook is to inflict as much damage as possible, including maximum carnage among rescue teams. The kamikaze hijackers counted on the rescuers reacting precisely as trained-rushing into a building regardless of its structural integrity.

The fact that the 300 and more firefighters who perished did not hesitate to enter when the first plane hit the North Tower testifies to their bravery, but also suggests their commanders were not thinking like terrorists. Had they been, they would have been on the alert for what is a classic terrorist tactic: luring emergency workers in with one destructive act before delivering the second.

That is the problem, we don’t think the way the enemy thinks .We have to rethink our strategy now under the biological/nuclear terrorist attack. If we limit ourselves to looking just at the types of attacks we have already seen, we are going to leave ourselves vulnerable to different kinds of attacks. This is precisely Castro’s philosophy of terrorism, and infiltration activities during his 42 years of terrorism.

Just because someone uses an old terrorist tactic-a hijacking- to cause a much deadly result, and now they use a rather inefficient, although scary, anthrax delivery, doesn’t mean we don’t need to be concerned about a chemical, biological, or radiological attack, in a more aggressive and lethal form. Even a cyberattack could bring down some of our critical infrastructure.

Then, what could we expect?

A liaison between Cuba and Iraq. They will attack as soon as the war turns into Iraq.

What kind of attack? Either one of, or a combination of biological weapons, such as: anthrax in its more virulent form and in a much more effective way for inhalation purposes. Variola major, smallpox, and biotoxins, such as botulinum toxin, produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and ricin, which is isolated from castor oil

Really, we could expect even a mix of 23 bacteria, 43 viruses, and 14 toxins as potential threats

These biological attacks will certainly be accompanied by chemical attacks, mainly in crowded areas: stadiums, shopping centers, subways. Also, we should expect cyber attacks, threatening and damaging: the 911 emergency systems, the financial centers, power systems, dams, and major airports Finally, they will try an attack with radiological bombs.

Usama bin Laden is the master of unconventional suicidal attacks, like trucks with dynamite, the hijacked planes, explosives. However, Castro and Hussein know that they are playing their last card to damage and even, in their unthinkable way of reasoning, defeat the United States. They have the appropriate arms of massive destruction. They have the criminal minds, they have a complete lack of moral, ethics, compassion. They have the hate against the United States.

Let’s be ready and let us get rid of evil in the world. We can think as the enemy to defeat them. This is our greatest opportunity. We have to fight relentlessly and thoroughly. This is the only way to respond. The cause is overwhelmingly just. Such a moment may never recur.

SUMMARY:

This report is an assessment of the Cuban threat to the United States national security. The assessment addresses the unconventional or asymmetric threats of infiltrations, commando attacks, espionage, biowarfare, cyberterrorism, and radiation and radiological attacks.

The FBI has identified the following countries as State sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Syria, Sudan, Libya, North Korea. The U.S. Office of Technological Assessment has identified seventeen countries believed to possess biological weapons. Cuba is one of them.

There is a definite and important relationship between Cuba and Iran in the field of biotechnology. Luis Herrera, one of the founders of the CIGB and the biowarfare industry in Cuba is directing the Iran/Cuba activities. Cuba sells to Iran equipment and technology to assist Iran in the development of its biowarfare industry. Dr. Miyar Barruecos, a physician, very close to Castro, has very strong ties to the Iran government. He was the main official involved in the initial development of this relationship.

Cuba and Iraq also maintain a close relationship in this field. Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez Cambra, an orthopedic surgeon, very close to Castro, has been the main official involved in the Cuba/Iraq relations. He has operated on some members of the Hussein’s family. Iraq and Cuba interchange scientists, and technology in the biowarfare field.

Cuba’s intelligence activities against the United States have grown in diversity and complexity in the past few years. The Director of the CIA stated before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 1998, that Cuba was among six countries that poses a threat to the United States in electronic espionage.

Cuba, due to its proximity to the United States, its electronic espionage facilities, and the constant flow of people between the United States and Cuba, has served as a Center for Logistics for all terrorist groups and nations.

Cuba has the means and technology to develop the so called "dirty bombs" capable of producing radiological bomb attacks.

Cuba, obviously, represents a serious threat to the security of the United States

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Joint Economic Committee Hearing, U.S. Congress, February 25, 1998

Joint Economic Committee Hearing, U. S. Congress, May 20, 1998

Preston, Richard; Annals of Warfare, The Bioweaponeers, The New Yorker, March 9, 1998

Davis, Christopher,; Nuclear Blindness: An Overview of the Biological Weapons Programs of the Former Soviet Union and Iraq, John Hopkins University, July, 1999

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, January 28, 1998

Joint Economic Committee Hearing, U. S. Congress, June 17, 1997

Joint Economic Committee, U. S. Congress, February 25, 1998

Webster, Robert; Granoff, Allan; Encyclopedia of Virology Plus, Academic press Ltd, 1999

Moscow’s Bioweapon Threat, Mindszenty Report, Vol. XXXX, April 1998

Critical Foundations, The President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure protection March, 1999

Technology Report on Cyberterrorism, Joint Security Commission, 1998

Alibek, Ken; Biohazard, Random House, New York, 1999

Couch, Leon; Digital and Analog Communication Systems, Prentice Hall, 1997

Roden, Martin; Analog and Digital Communication Systems, Prentice Hall, 1996

The Unpredictable Certainty, National Research Council, National Academy Press 1998

Computing and Communications in the Extreme, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 1996

Davis,D.W.;Barber,D.L., Communication Networks for Computers, John Wiley and Sons, 1997

Computing the Future, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 1993 Information Technology for Manufacturing, National Research Council, National Academy Press 1996

Preston, Richard, The Cobra Event, Ballantine Books, New York, 1999

Recent articles, interviews published in leading U.S. newspapers, such as New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal

Hundreds of personal conversations and electronic communication of the author with Cuban engineers and scientists who have defected in the past 10 years

Personal conversations and electronic communication with American scientists who worked and/or visited biotechnological facilities in Cuba

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