US Nuclear Plants Laughable ‘Security’ Exposed

[deathfromabove]

Cuban migrants land at Turkey Point, raising security questions​

BY JOHN DORSCHNER

Thirty-three Cubans landed in the cooling canals of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant at mid-day Thursday, Florida Power & Light reported to nuclear regulators.

The site is supposed to be protected by around-the-clock security, but the report indicates that at 1:28 p.m. on Thanksgiving day a member of the Cuban group called the Turkey Point control room saying they had landed in the canal area with 29 adults and four children.

The control room then called plant security, "who located and assumed control over the Cuban nationals without incident.'' Security called Miami-Dade police for assistance. Police arrived at 2:25 p.m., which then called U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

FPL did not immediately respond to a Herald question about why its security forces had not intercepted the Cubans before they landed.

After the 9/11 attacks, federal authorities demanded that nuclear power plants beef up security to make sure terrorists couldn't get close to the reactors.

In 2005, FPL officials told Herald reporter Curtis Morgan that the plant was strongly protected. "A small private army patrols the grounds. Each guard, clad in black body armor, totes an automatic weapon and is trained to drill holes in targets -- or torsos -- at long range through darkness, fog or smoke,'' Morgan wrote.

"Bulletproof towers, painted gray, occupy strategic positions to scan the perimeter or lay down crossfire. The plant. . . is ringed with barricades to stop vehicles and fencing to snare invaders,'' Morgan wrote.

Terry Jones, the man in charge of Turkey Point, told Morgan: "Should the bad guys penetrate our outside perimeter, they're going to encounter considerable resistance.''

Cuban migrants land at Turkey Point, raising security questions - Breaking News - MiamiHerald.com

Pakistanis Laugh At Weak U.S. Nuclear Safeguards​

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Pakistanis were laughing as a sensitive list of U.S. nuclear sites was mistakenly posted on Internet, the latest in a series of American nuclear security breaches that Pakistanis say places the United States as the world’s most dangerous nuclear power.

In 2007 a U.S. air force jet flew across the country without the pilot realizing he was carrying nuclear warheads more than ten times the Hiroshima bombs.

Pakistan’s nuclear community is yet to commit any blunders of this scale, although a Pakistani newspaper reported last week that the U.S. government secretly recruited 12 Pakistani scientists and technicians in 1978 to plan sabotage from within designed to look like a nuclear accident. The ISI aborted the CIA plan. Pakistan’s President Zia telephoned President Carter and strongly protested.

So if Pakistan ever came close to a nuclear accident, it was because of American mischief.

The U.S. media has been running an anti-Pakistan demonization campaign since 2007 and has intensified it in recent weeks with deliberate official and intelligence leaks, portraying Pakistani nuclear safeguards as weak and trying to convince the world that Pakistan was unable to protect its weapons.

The U.S. campaign is based on lies and cooked intelligence at best. Pakistan’s nuclear command and control system is probably the most advanced in the world, building on the work of the earlier nuclear powers. In fact, independent nuclear experts realize that the Pakistani nuclear command structure is more advanced than the one India has. India is a late entrant to the nuclear safeguards debate. U.S. officials were stunned during the negotiations for the U.S.-India nuclear technology transfer deal to discover how inadequate Indian nuclear safeguards were.



Links:

'Chain of errors' led to 36-hour US nuclear blunder - Americas, World - The Independent

How a jilted Karachi woman saved Pak N-programme

BBC NEWS | Americas | US in nuclear disclosure blunder

 

[deathfromabove]

Hackers Steal SKorean-U.S. Military Secrets​

By Kwang-tae Kim

The latest case came months after hackers launched high-profile cyberattacks that caused Web outages on prominent government-run sites in the U.S. and South Korea. Affected sites include those of the White House and the South's presidential Blue House. The attacker's IP address was traced back to North Korea's Ministry of Post.

South Korea's military said Friday it was investigating a hacking attack that netted secret defense plans with the United States and may have been carried out by North Korea.

The suspected hacking occurred late last month when a South Korean officer failed to remove a USB device when he switched a military computer from a restricted-access intranet to the Internet, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.

The USB device contained a summary of plans for military operations by South Korean and U.S. troops in case of war on the Korean peninsula. Won said the stolen document was not a full text of the operational plans, but an 11-page file used to brief military officials. He said it did not contain critical information.

Won said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that Pyongyang may have been involved in the hacking attack by using a Chinese IP address -- the Web equivalent of a street address or phone number.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, citing the January edition of its sister magazine Monthly Chosun, that hackers used a Chinese IP address and that North Korea is suspected of involvement. The Monthly Chosun cited South Korea's National Intelligence Service and Defense Security Command.

Yonhap news agency also reported the hackers used a Chinese IP address. It said the North's involvement was not immediately confirmed, also citing military officials it did not identify.

Officials at the NIS -- South Korea's main spy agency -- were not immediately available for comment.

The U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter any potential North Korean aggression. The two Koreas have remained technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

"As a matter of policy, we do not comment on operational planning or intelligence matters, nor would we confirm details pertaining to any security Relevant Products/Services investigation," said David Oten, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Seoul.

The latest case came months after hackers launched high-profile cyberattacks that caused Web outages on prominent government-run sites in the U.S. and South Korea. Affected sites include those of the White House and the South's presidential Blue House.

The IP address that triggered the Web attacks in July was traced back to North Korea's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, the chief of South Korean's main spy agency reportedly told lawmakers, noting the ministry leased the IP address from China. The spy agency declined to confirm those reports at the time.

South Korean media reported at the time that North Korea runs an Internet warfare unit that tries to hack into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather confidential information and disrupt service, and the regime has between 500 and 1,000 hacking specialists.

North Korea, one of the world's most secretive countries, is believed to have a keen interest in information technology, while tightly controlling access for ordinary citizens.

Hackers steal SKorean-US military secrets - World news- msnbc.com