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Graziano Montanini - Reggio Emilia - 29 Anni

 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-te.md.nsa24apr24.story
se permetti, e` talmente interessante che lo riporto per intero, a
beneficio di chi non e` cablato. (alberto 
p.es
.)
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                  New book on NSA sheds light on secrets
                  U.S. terror plan called Cuba invasion pretext 
                  By Scott Shane and Tom Bowman 
                  Sun Staff
                  Originally published April 24, 2001
                  WASHINGTON - U.S. military leaders proposed in 1962 a
                  secret plan to commit terrorist acts against Americans
and
                  blame Cuba to create a pretext for invasion and the
ouster of
                  Communist leader Fidel Castro, according to a new book
                  about the National Security Agency.
                  "We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in
                  the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in
                  Washington," said one document reportedly prepared by
the
                  Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We could blow up a U.S. ship
in
                  Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," the document says.
                  "Casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a
helpful
                  wave of indignation."
                  The plan is laid out in documents signed by the five
Joint
                  Chiefs but never carried out, according to writer
James
                  Bamford in "Body of Secrets." The new history of the
Fort
                  Meade-based eavesdropping agency is being released
today
                  by Doubleday.
                  NSA regularly picks up the conversations of suspected
                  terrorist financier Osama bin Laden, says Bamford, and
has
                  monitored Chinese and French companies trying to sell
                  missiles to Iran. He provides new details about an
Israeli
                  attack on a Navy eavesdropping ship in 1967,
suggesting that
                  the sinking was deliberate. And he reveals the loss of
an
                  "entire warehouse" full of secret cryptographic gear
to the
                  North Vietnamese in 1975, at the end of the Vietnam
War.
                  Bamford, a former investigative reporter for ABC News
                  who wrote "The Puzzle Palace" about the NSA in 1982,
said
                  his new book is based mostly on documents obtained
                  through the Freedom of Information Act or found in
                  government archives. "NSA never handed me any
                  documents," he said. "It was a question of digging."
                  He said he was most surprised by the anti-Cuba terror
plan,
                  code-named Operation Northwoods. It "may be the most
                  corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government," he
                  writes.
                  The Northwoods plan also proposed that if the 1962
launch
                  of John Glenn into orbit were to fail, resulting in
the
                  astronaut's death, the U.S. government would publicize
                  fabricated evidence that Cuba had used electronic
                  interference to sabotage the flight, the book says.
                  A previously secret document obtained by Bamford
offers
                  further suggestions for mayhem to be blamed on Cuba.
                  "We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to
Florida
                  (real or simulated). ... We could foster attempts on
lives of
                  Cubans in the United States, even to the extent of
wounding
                  in instances to be widely publicized," the document
says.
                  Another idea was to shoot down a CIA plane designed to
                  replicate a passenger flight and announce that Cuban
forces
                  shot it down.
                  Citing a White House document, Bamford writes that the
                  idea of creating a pretext for the invasion of Cuba
might
                  have started with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in
the
                  last weeks of his administration, when the plan for an
                  invasion by Cuban exiles trained in the United States
was
                  hatched. Carried out in April 1961, soon after Kennedy
                  became president, the Bay of Pigs invasion proved a
fiasco.
                  Castro's forces quickly killed or rounded up the
invaders.
                  Army Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, chairman of the Joint
                  Chiefs, presented the Operation Northwoods plan to
                  Kennedy early in 1962, but the president rejected it
that
                  March because he wanted no overt U.S. military action
                  against Cuba. Lemnitzer then sought unsuccessfully to
                  destroy all evidence of the plan, according to
Bamford.
                  Lemnitzer and those who served with him in 1962 as
chiefs
                  of the nation's military branches are dead. But two
former
                  top Kennedy administration officials said yesterday
that
                  they were unaware of Operation Northwoods and
                  questioned whether such a plan was ever drafted.
                  "I've never heard of Operation Northwoods. Never heard
of
                  it and don't believe it," said Theodore Sorenson,
Kennedy's
                  White House special counsel. "Obviously, it would be
totally
                  illegal as well as totally unwise."
                  Robert S. McNamara, Kennedy's defense secretary, said:
"I
                  never heard of it. I can't believe the chiefs were
talking
                  about or engaged in what I would call CIA-type
operations."
                  Bamford writes that besides the Joint Chiefs,
                  then-Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul H. Nitze also
                  favored "provoking a phony war with Cuba."
                  "There may be a piece of paper" on Northwoods, said
                  McNamara. "I just cannot conceive of [Nitze] approving
                  anything like that or doing it without talking to me."
                  The book contains many other revelations in its
detailed
                  account of NSA, the biggest U.S. intelligence agency
and
                  Maryland's largest employer, with more than 25,000
                  personnel at Fort Meade, site of its global
eavesdropping
                  efforts.
                  Among them:
                  In recent years, NSA has regularly listened to bin
Laden's
                  unencrypted telephone calls. Agency officials have
                  sometimes played tapes of bin Laden talking to his
mother
                  to impress members of Congress and select visitors to
the
                  agency.
                  In the late 1990s, NSA tracked efforts by Chinese and
                  French companies to sell missile technology to Iran,
                  particularly the C-802 anti-ship missile. The
eavesdropping
                  led to U.S. protests to the Chinese and French
governments.
                  When U.S. troops evacuated Vietnam in 1975, "an entire
                  warehouse overflowing with NSA's most important
                  cryptographic machines and other supersensitive code
and
                  cipher materials" was left behind. It was the largest
                  compromise of such equipment in U.S. history, Bamford
                  writes, but the agency still has not acknowledged it.
                  When Israeli fighter jets attacked the NSA
eavesdropping
                  ship USS Liberty in the Mediterranean in 1967, killing
34
                  Americans and wounding 171, an NSA aircraft was
                  listening in and heard Israeli pilots referring to the
                  American flag on the ship. U.S. officials, including
                  President Lyndon Baines Johnson, decided to forget the
                  matter, Bamford writes, because they did not want to
                  embarrass Israel. To this day, Israeli officials say
their forces
                  mistakenly attacked the U.S. ship.
                  Bamford says the reason for the strike was Israel's
desperate
                  effort to cover up its attacks on the Egyptian town of
El
                  Arish in the Sinai. The Liberty was sitting offshore
and the
                  Israelis feared that the ship would detect the
operation,
                  which included the shooting of prisoners.
                  Yesterday, an NSA spokesperson questioned a point made
                  in the book about the USS Liberty.
                  "We do not comment on operational matters, alleged or
                  otherwise; however, Mr. Bamford's claim that the NSA
                  leadership was `virtually unanimous in their belief
that the
                  attack was deliberate' is simply not true," the
spokesperson
                  said.
                  When he wrote "The Puzzle Palace" in 1982, Bamford was
                  attacked by some NSA officials, who said his
revelations
                  gave the Soviet Union and other U.S. adversaries too
much
                  information on the secret agency. One former director
                  referred to him as "an unconvicted felon."
                  With the end of the Cold War, the agency has been less
                  guarded. NSA's current director, Air Force Lt. Gen.
                  Michael V. Hayden, has granted a number of interviews.
                  Hayden "cracked the door open a tiny bit," said
Bamford,
                  partly to burnish NSA's public image and correct
                  misconceptions.
                  Sun staff writer Laura Sullivan contributed to this
article. 
                  Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun 
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sapeste che pena per chi organizza la scena
restare dietro al banco
come un cane con la sua catena.