QUES: Electronic theft by foreign and industrial spies and disgruntled employees is costing U.S. companies billions and eroding their international competitive advantage. That was the message delivered by government and private security experts at an all-day conference on corporate electronic espionage. "Hostile and even friendly nations routinely steal information from U.S. companies and share it with their own companies," said Noel D. Matchett, a former staffer at the federal National Security Agency and now president of Information Security Inc., Silver Spring, Md. It "may well be" that theft of business data is "as serious a strategic threat to national security" as it is a threat to the survival of victimized U.S. firms, said Michelle Van Cleave, the White House's assistant director for National Security Affairs. The conference was jointly sponsored by the New York Institute of Technology School of Management and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, a joint industry-government trade group. Any secret can be pirated, the experts said, if it is transmitted over the air. Even rank amateurs can do it if they spend a few thousand dollars for a commercially available microwave receiver with amplifier and a VCR recorder. They need only position themselves near a company's satellite dish and wait. "You can have a dozen competitors stealing your secrets at the same time," Mr. Matchett said, adding : "It's a pretty good bet they won't get caught." The only way to catch an electronic thief, he said, is to set him up with erroneous information.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Who does the government and private security experts say is committing electronic theft?

QUES: When American 11 struck the World Trade Center at 8:46, no one in the White House or traveling with the President knew that it had been hijacked. While that information circulated within the FAA, we found no evidence that the hijacking was reported to any other agency in Washington before 8:46. Most federal agencies learned about the crash in New York from CNN. Within the FAA, the administrator, Jane Garvey, and her acting deputy, Monte Belger, had not been told of a confirmed hijacking before they learned from television that a plane had crashed. Others in the agency were aware of it, as we explained earlier in this chapter. Inside the National Military Command Center, the deputy director of operations and his assistant began notifying senior Pentagon officials of the incident. At about 9:00, the senior NMCC operations officer reached out to the FAA operations center for information. Although the NMCC was advised of the hijacking of American 11, the scrambling of jets was not discussed. In Sarasota, Florida, the presidential motorcade was arriving at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School, where President Bush was to read to a class and talk about education. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told us he was standing with the President outside the classroom when Senior Advisor to the President Karl Rove first informed them that a small, twin-engine plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. The President's reaction was that the incident must have been caused by pilot error. At 8:55, before entering the classroom, the President spoke to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who was at the White House. She recalled first telling the President it was a twin-engine aircraft-and then a commercial aircraft-that had struck the World Trade Center, adding "that's all we know right now, Mr. President." At the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney had just sat down for a meeting when his assistant told him to turn on his television because a plane had struck the NorthTower of the World Trade Center. The Vice President was wondering "How the hell could a plane hit the World Trade Center" when he saw the second aircraft strike the South Tower. Elsewhere in the White House, a series of 9:00 meetings was about to begin. In the absence of information that the crash was anything other than an accident, the White House staff monitored the news as they went ahead with their regular schedules.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What is the NMCC and when did their senior operations officer discuss scrambling jets?

QUES: When a stream or river slows down, it starts dropping its sediments. Larger sediments are dropped in steep areas. Some smaller sediments can still be carried by a slow moving stream or river. Smaller sediments are dropped as the slope becomes less steep. Alluvial Fans In arid regions, a mountain stream may flow onto flatter land. The stream comes to a stop rapidly. The deposits form an alluvial fan. Deposition also occurs when a stream or river empties into a large body of still water. In this case, a delta forms. A delta is shaped like a triangle. It spreads out into the body of water.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What might you find when a mountain stream flows onto flatter land and comes to a rapid stop in arid regions?

QUES: You couldnt survive without your skin. It has many important functions. The main function of the skin is controlling what enters and leaves the body. It prevents the loss of too much water from the body. It also prevents bacteria and other microorganisms from entering the body. The skin helps maintain a constant body temperature. It keeps the body cool in two ways. Sweat from sweat glands in the skin evaporates to cool the body. Blood vessels in the skin dilate, or widen. This action increases blood flow to the body surface. This allows more heat to reach the surface. The heat is then able to radiate off the body. The opposite happens to retain body heat. Blood vessels in the skin constrict, or narrow. This decreases blood flow to the body surface. This reduces the amount of heat that reaches the surface. When this happens, less heat can be lost to the air.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
What happens when the heat reaches the surface of your skin?