Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Ugly Truth of Post - Abortion Syndrome
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily Newsfbns@wayoflife.org. - David Cloud
Categories: Warning

The following is excerpted from "The Ugly Truth of Post-Abortion Syndrome: Testimony from Real Women Who Aborted Their Babies," Breitbart.com, Dec. 3, 2014: "In 2007, the New York Times stated that scientific evidence 'strongly shows that abortion does not increase the risk of depression, drug abuse or any other psychological problem.' This confident assertion--already dubious when it was made--is being overwhelmed by reams of evidence suggesting the contrary: that abortion leaves a discernible wake of sorrow, suffering, and devastation. Along with the disturbing statistics, however, is the compelling testimony of real women who have aborted their children and of what happened to their lives as a result. Though abortion does often provide a short-term solution to real problems pregnant women face, thus granting some immediate relief, the myth that women come out of abortion psychologically unscathed now seems unsustainable. ... Lori Nerad ... former national president of Women Exploited by Abortion ... says she still wakes up in the middle of the night, thinking she hears a baby crying. 'And I still have nightmares in which I am forced to watch my baby being ripped apart in front of me. I simply miss my baby. I constantly wake up wanting to nurse my child, wanting to hold my child. And that's something the doctor never told me I would experience,' she said. Katrina Fernandez makes no bones about the reality of what she did. 'I killed two of my children,' she said, 'robbed my parents of grand-children, and murdered my son's siblings.' She says that she would have given anything for someone to simply tell her: 'You don't have to do this.' The abortions also took a toll on Fernandez's life and mental health, a factor often overlooked in debate regarding abortion. ... 'The suffering I've endured and caused others is immeasurable and the guilt almost drove me suicidal. I am a coward in every way,' she said. And yet now, convinced that silence fails women who need encouragement to carry their babies to term, Fernandez declares: 'I refuse to be a coward anymore.'"

Scientists Store Massive Amounts of Information on DNA Through the Process of Blind Chance
Dec 19th, 2014
Commentaryfbns@wayoflife.org. - David Cloud
Categories: Creation - Evolution

Two scientists have successfully stored 700 terabytes of data on DNA, including a copy of a multimedia book, breaking the previous record by a thousand times. George Church and Sriram Kosuri of the Wyss Institute at the Harvard Medical School stored this massive amount of information on about one gram of DNA ("Harvard cracks DNA storage," Extreme Tech, Aug. 17, 2012). The stored information is equivalent to 233 3TB hard drives. As a test, the scientists made 70 billion copies of the DNA containing the information. They can foresee the day when "the entirety of human knowledge--every book, uttered word, and funny cat video--can be stored in a few hundred kilos of DNA." Now, let us address the title of this report: "Scientists Store Massive Amounts of Information on DNA through the Process of Blind Chance." Of course, that is a joke. Church's and Kosuri's wonderful achievement was accomplished via an extremely complicated process through the application of intelligence, and they doubtless pride themselves in the gifting and learning that allowed them to accomplish this. We would like to ask them one question: "Could your achievement, which is far less complex than processes within the self-replicating living cell, have been accomplished by the forces of unintelligent blind chance?" We will be waiting for that answer.

North Sea Oil Industry 'Close to Collapse'
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily NewsBBC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The UK's oil industry is in "crisis" as prices drop, a senior industry leader has told the BBC.

Oil companies and service providers are cutting staff and investment to save money.

Robin Allan, chairman of the independent explorers' association Brindex, told the BBC that the industry was "close to collapse".

Almost no new projects in the North Sea are profitable with oil below $60 a barrel, he claims.

'Everyone is retreating'

"It's almost impossible to make money at these oil prices", Mr Allan, who is a director of Premier Oil in addition to chairing Brindex, told the BBC. "It's a huge crisis."

"This has happened before, and the industry adapts, but the adaptation is one of slashing people, slashing projects and reducing costs wherever possible, and that's painful for our staff, painful for companies and painful for the country.

"It's close to collapse. In terms of new investments - there will be none, everyone is retreating, people are being laid off at most companies this week and in the coming weeks. Budgets for 2015 are being cut by everyone."

Mr Allan said many of the job cuts across the industry would not have been publicly announced. Oil workers are often employed as contractors, which are easier for employers to cut.

His remarks echo comments made by the veteran oil man and government adviser Sir Ian Wood, who last week predicted a wave of job losses in the North Sea over the next 18 months.Robin Allan from Brindex says low oil prices are hampering North Sea oil field developments

Decline

The US-based oil giant ConocoPhillips is cutting 230 out of 1,650 jobs in the UK.

This month it announced a 20% reduction in its worldwide capital expenditure budget, in response to falling oil prices.

Other big oil firms are expected to make similar cuts to their drilling and exploration budgets. Research from the investment bank Goldman Sachs predicted that they would need to cut capital expenditure by 30% to restore their profitability at current prices.

Service providers to the industry have also been hit. Texas-based oilfield services company Schlumberger cut back its UK-based fleet of geological survey ships in December, taking an $800m loss and cutting an unspecified number of jobs.

On Wednesday Aberdeen-based Wood Group announced a pay freeze for staff, and cut rates for its contractors.

Apache, one of the North Sea's biggest producers, has followed suit and will impose a 10 percent reduction on its contractors' wages from January 1st.

Investment record

The industry trade body, Oil and Gas UK, said: "While Oil & Gas UK cannot comment on the commercial decisions, and individual opinions, of its members, the industry trade body recognises that the falling oil price is affecting activity across the UK Continental Shelf and companies are having to take hard decisions in light of this challenging business environment."

UK oil and gas production has been in decline since 1999 - though the rate of decline slowed in 2013, a year which saw the highest level of investment on record.

The industry was hoping to see continued high levels of investment, stemming the inevitable decline of production as North Sea's resources are used up. But falling oil prices have put that in doubt.

However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "The recent sharp reductions in oil prices are very challenging for companies active in the North Sea. We have seen very little evidence of new projects being cancelled or deferred in reaction to lower oil prices."

Let the Headlines Speak
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes France's Guadeloupe: USGS
It said the quake's epicenter was located three miles (4.8 km)northwest of Lamentin on Basse-Terre and was 69.5 miles (111 km)deep. It struck at 3:49 p.m. (1949 GMT)  

Ebola: A wake-up call for leaders
Ebola has shaken and awakened decision-makers in a way that malaria, tuberculosis and other epidemic diseases that claim millions of lives in Africa each year have failed to do, with the possible exception of HIV/AIDS.  

5.5-Magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan
A 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's coast Friday evening at 5:49 p.m. local time. There were no reports of damage or injuries at sea or inland. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake depth was measured at 19.6 miles. The epicenter was approximately 40 miles south of Nemuro and 577 miles north-northeast of Tokyo.  

For North Korea's cyber army, long-term target may be telecoms, utility grids
The hacking attack on Sony Pictures may have been a practice run for North Korea's elite cyber-army in a long-term goal of being able to cripple telecoms and energy grids in rival nations, defectors from the isolated state said.  

‘Cursed by God’: Far-right activist claims Liverpool FC punished for backing gay rights
His other social media posts include criticism of the BBC for being “totally unpatriotic, anti-Christian & anti-white,” worshipping “sodomy & blackness” and pushing “pro-Moslem propaganda.”  

US appeals court deems gun law unconstitutional
A federal appeals court in Cincinnati deemed a law unconstitutional that kept a Michigan man who was committed to a mental institution from owning a gun.  

Putin: West wants to defang, declaw Russian bear
The mixture of blistering anti-Western rhetoric and constructive signals appeared to indicate that Putin is eager to negotiate a face-saving solution to the Ukrainian crisis, but has no intention of conceding defeat in his standoff with the West.  

CHANCE OF MAGNETIC STORMS TODAY
A CME is heading in the general direction of Earth, and it could deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field later today.  

Iraq: ISIS murdered 150 women and underage girls for refusing sex acts
According to the report,the women were buried in large mass graves after they were killed.  

China arrests American Christian aid worker near North Korea border
China arrested on Friday a Korean American Christian aid worker who was being held near the country's border with North Korea, signalling a toughening crackdown on Christian activists in the sensitive region.  

Magnitude 4.3 Earthquake Strikes Off NorCal Coast
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 4.3 struck off the coast of Eureka, California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s automated seismograph alert network.  

There They Go Again
each year the national press corps begins running columns by “religion scholars” who wish you to know that Jesus Christ is a fictional character. Mind you, no newspaper of note in the world is brave enough to run a similar story about the Prophet Mohammed.  

Mexico Earthquake 2014 Today
USGS indicates to news that a 4.8 magnitude Mexico earthquake today started just minutes ago, locally 4:12 pm. The quake was deep however. Reps tell news that the quake today started roughly fifty-two miles below sea level. As a result the quake could be felt across the region.  

American troops battle ISIS for first time as they see off attempted attack by militants on Iraqi base
A number of militants have been killed in Islamic State's very first battle with U.S. ground troops after the extremists attempted to overrun an Iraqi military base. The militants attacked Ein al-Asad military base on Sunday where more than 100 U.S. military support troops are based.  

Yes, Virginia, there is a ‘War on Christmas’: Atheists unveil anti-Christmas TV specials
Conservatives have been mocked for insisting there’s an ongoing war on Christmas, but now it looks like they may have simply been ahead of their time. American Atheists unveiled Wednesday the “War on Christmas” line-up on its television channel, AtheistTV, featuring “original programs proclaiming the truth about Christmas on December 24 and December 25...  

Islamic State Penal Code Promises Crucifixion, Lashing for Unbelievers
The Islamic State (IS) has published it own penal code, which harshly penalizes actions such as sodomy and blasphemy with punishments including execution, crucifixion, lashing, and the severing of limbs, among other penalties. IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS) issued the detailed document as a “warning and a reminder to people living under its rule” that any behavior not in accordance with strict Islamic law will be cruelly punished...  

Women could join British infantry by 2016
Women could be allowed to serve in British infantry units for the first time by 2016. An Army review of the ban on women serving in close combat has concluded the change would not have an "adverse effect" on troop cohesion. But more research is needed to assess the "physiological demands", a review for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.  

Merkel: EU strategy is to maintain Russia sanctions
Germany has warned the EU will not roll back Russia sanctions unless Vladimir Putin makes major concessions, in Europe’s first “strategic” talks on the crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel told press at an EU summit on Thursday (18 December) that each batch of sanctions was imposed for specific reasons and can be lifted only if the reasons are no longer there.  

Breaking: Gaza rocket explodes in southern Israel, no injuries
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip exploded in open territory near the Eshkol Regional Council on Friday around noon, the IDF confirmed. The 'red alert' rocket siren was sounded in southern Israeli communities in the area, and residents reported of hearing explosions. No injuries or damage were reported.  

IRAN: Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Dramatic Heart Change
Afshin was the prime example of a devoted militant Muslim. As a member of a volunteer paramilitary group, he and his companions would strictly enforce Muslim law, often resorting to inhumane methods that involved the arrest and ill-treatment of innocent Christians. Afshin was taught to be callous towards the regime’s harsh political actions and participated in six executions, heartlessly mocking the helpless victims.  

Russia Has Surpassed The US In The Production Of Combat Aircraft
According to the Joint Stock Company UAC (United Aircraft-building Corporation), Russia produced more combat aircraft than the US in 2014.  

Israel looks on Europe with utter dismay
Britain, we see the rise of an emerging independent party, UKIP, which is Eurosceptic and takes a corrective line on the UK’s unbridled open-door immigration policy. In France, the Socialist Hollande looks likely to be replaced by the center-right Sarkozy.  

China Tests ICBM With Multiple Warheads
The flight test of a new DF-41 missile, China’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, marks the first test of multiple warhead capabilities for China, officials told the Washington Free Beacon. China has been known to be developing multiple-warhead technology, which it obtained from the United States illegally in the 1990s.  

A Really Bad Day for Freedom
Freedom took a beating yesterday.America rolled over in the face of two of its longest standing adversaries, and we didn’t even get anything in return. North Korean despot Kim Jong Un and Cuba’s Raul Castro are probably exchanging celebratory emails as we speak after the one-two punch they landed on Obama’s America.  

China Earthquake 2014 Today Strikes Nepal
A strong China earthquake today 2014 has also just struck Nepal. Officials tell news that a 5.0 magnitude China earthquake today began just minutes ago. Damage assessment is pending.  

5.2 magnitude quake jolts parts of KP, Islamabad
Tremors were felt in various parts of Khyber Pakhunkhwa as well as the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi as earthquake measuring 5.2 was recorded on the Richter Scale on Thursday evening.  

3.4 quake hits Alabama county for second time in month
The quake happened just four weeks after a magnitude 3.8 earthquake occurred about 10 miles northwest of Eutaw. That quake was about 3 miles beneath the surface of the Earth.  

Leighton Ford Promoting Roman Catholic Contemplative Mysticism
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily Newsfbns@wayoflife.org. - David Cloud
Categories: False Doctrine

Leighton Ford, Billy Graham's brother-in-law, is one of the many evangelicals who are promoting contemplative prayer. Consider his 2008 book The Attentive Life. He recommends mindless centering prayer whereby the practitioner repeats a sacred word or mantra and lets go of his thoughts. He recommends the writings and practices of Roman Catholics, including Ignatius Loyola, co-founder of the Jesuits, G.K. Chesterton, Julian of Norwich, Henri Nouwen, "Saint" Benedict, Mother Teresa, Gerald Hopkins, John Cassian, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton (who was a Buddhist and a Catholic monk), Hilary of Tours, and Catherine of Siena. Leighton Ford wrote the forward to Ruth Barton's 2008 contemplative book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. He recommends The Music of Silence by David Steindl-Rast and Sharon Lebell. Steindl-Rast is not only a Catholic monk, laden down with Catholic heresies, he is a religious syncretist. Steindl-Rast says, "Envision the great religious traditions arranged on the circumference of a circle. At their mystical core they all say the same thing, but with different emphasis" ("Heroic Virtue," Gnosis, Summer 1992). Beginning in 1967, following the Second Vatican Council, Steindl-Rast became heavily involved with Catholic-Buddhist interfaith dialogue and studied under four Zen Buddhist masters. He came to believe that Catholics and Buddhists are communing with the same God and wrote The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice. This was co-authored by Zen Buddhist Robert Aitken Roshi. Steindl-Rast is involved with the Network for Grateful Living, which is New Age organization dedicated to the goal of creating a new world through such things as contemplative mysticism, visualization, interfaith dialogue, environmentalism, developing an awareness of angels, and the Buddhist concept of flowing gratefully with the moment and being one with the "ground of Being." Leighton Ford and countless others who are playing around with contemplative prayer are swimming in the most dangerous spiritual waters imaginable.

Iran to Hold Major Naval Drills At End of December
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily NewsMail Online
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran will hold widespread naval drills extending to the Gulf of Aden in December, its navy chief said Thursday, asking foreign forces to "leave the area" to avoid incidents.

The week-long exercises -- the first on this scale since the election of reformist President Hassan Rouhani in June last year -- are set to start on December 25 and take place between the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Aden, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari was quoted as saying by the official Irna news agency.

"The ballistic capacity of Iran will be on display during exercises including missile launches," Sayari said.

+1

Iranian Naval troops march during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of Iran's war with Iraq (1980-88) in Tehran, on September 22, 2014 ©Behrouz Mehri (AFP/File)

He said military manuevers would also take place in the southeastern provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchistan.

Sayari called on foreign forces to leave the drill zone for the duration of the exercises.

The manuevers will pose "no danger to foreign forces in the Persian Gulf," he added, in an apparent reference to the US Fifth Fleet, which is stationed in Bahrain.

Iran's navy has boosted its international presence over the past few years, in particular to help guard commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden against pirate attacks.

Tehran's last major military drills were held in May 2013, a month before Rouhani was elected.

The latest exercises come as Iran is locked in negotiations with global powers over its controversial nuclear energy programme.

Tehran denies that it is seeking a nuclear bomb and insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Ebola Deaths Reach 6,900 in West Africa; More Than 1m Could Face Food Shortage By March
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The number of Ebola-related deaths has reached an even 6,900 in the three most-affected countries in West Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday, the same day the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a U.S. senator kicked off tours of the devastated region.

Nearly half of the fatal cases hit Liberia, with 3,290, although the nation is seeing progress while the viral disease continues to rage in Sierra Leone, which has incurred 2,085 Ebola-related deaths.

Mr. Ban started his tour in Accra, Ghana, where the U.N.'s Ebola mission is headquartered. From there, he is set to visit the three hardest-hit countries and Mali, which saw a flare-up of cases in recent weeks but brought transmission under control.

"I want to see the response for myself, and show my solidarity with those affected and urge even greater global action," Mr. Ban said before he left New York, according to the U.N. daily Ebola mission report. "The Ebola response strategy is working, and we are beginning to see improvements. But now is not the time to ease up on our efforts. As long as there is one case of Ebola, the risk remains."

Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat who chairs a subcommittee on African affairs, announced late Thursday that he was flying to Liberia for a four-day visit with American troops who are battling Ebola in Libera.

"There are more than 2,000 U.S. troops currently serving on the front lines of our fight against Ebola, building hospitals and field clinics, but no member of Congress has visited them yet," he said. "I think it's important to show them our support, especially during the holiday season while they're away from their loved ones."

The senator will not be interacting with infect patients, but will adhere to self-monitoring protocols for the virus when he returns Tuesday, his office said.

Also this week, the U.N. said border closings, crop losses and other fallout from the Ebola outbreak is creating a food emergency at its three-nation epicenter.

More than 1 million people could face shortages by March "unless access to food is drastically improved and measures are put in place to safeguard crop and livestock production," a pair of U.N. agencies warned.

DIA: North Korea Planned Attacks on U.S. Nuclear Plants
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Free Beacon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

N. Korean leader Kim Jong Un at parliament session / AP

North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report.

The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country.

According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.”

The document states that the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, the ministry in charge of the military, “established five liaison offices in the early 1990s, to train and infiltrate operatives into the United States to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in case of hostilities.”

“One of the driving forces behind the establishment of the units and infiltration of operatives was the slow progress in developing a multi-stage ballistic missile.”

North Korea is known to have at least two long-range missiles capable of hitting the United States, the Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, and the KN-08 road-mobile ICBM, which has not yet been flight tested.

The report indicates that power plants would be targeted for attack “in the event of hostilities between the United States and DPRK” – the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea.

The Reconnaissance Bureau is part of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces and is in charge of the estimated 60,000 North Korean special operations commandos.

The heavily redacted report is what is known as a raw intelligence report, consisting of information possibly provided to the United States by a defector or agent, or possibly obtained from electronic surveillance.

Reconnaissance Bureau commandos have undertaken terrorist operations in the past in South Korea and other locations.

But the DIA report is the first intelligence document indicating North Korea had planned attacks inside the United States and dispatched agents for the operations.

Disclosure of the report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, comes amid threats by presumed North Korean agents to conduct September 11-style terrorist attacks against U.S. movie theaters.

The threats coincided with efforts by North Korea to prevent the showing Dec. 25 of the Sony Pictures film “The Interview,” a comedy involving a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The U.S. government determined that the massive hack targeting against Sony, which stole an estimated 100 terabytes of data including unreleased films, has been determined to be the work of North Korean hackers or those working for the regime of Kim Jong Un.

S.Y. Lee, a Department Homeland Security spokesman, declined to comment on the 2004 document.

A DHS official said the department is aware of the threat to attack movie theaters.

“We are still analyzing the credibility of these statements, but at this time there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters within the United States,” the official said.

The official said DHS will adjust its security procedures to protect Americans.

“This includes continued, regular information sharing with our state, local, federal and international partners, builds on ongoing work, such as enhanced protection at federal facilities,” the official said, adding that the public is encouraged to report suspicious activity to law enforcement agencies.

The FBI, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, said it was unaware of the DIA intelligence report on North Korean commando teams. In a July 9, 2012 letter, the FBI stated that it was unable to find any file records on North Korea’s Reconnaissance Bureau.

An FBI spokesman had no immediate comment. A DIA spokesman did not return emails seeking comment on the documents.

A second DIA document reveals that an American defector identified only as “Jackson” and as a former Air Force officer was working inside North Korea for the Reconnaissance Bureau.

The 1998 document stated that the officer had been “captured by North Korea” and was teaching North Koreans “U.S. Special Forces tactics, English [language], and interrogation techniques as chief of psychological operations studies at Madonghui Military College to North Korean seaborne snipers.”

The American also “visited the 52nd Seaborne Sniper Battalion to teach U.S. Special Forces tactics, American English, and interrogation techniques since before 1983,” the report said, noting that the training was carried out under the Reconnaissance Bureau.

The reference to “American English” is an indication the training may have been preparation for the future dispatch of North Korean snipers to the United States.

Mark Sauter, a security adviser to corporations and long-time North Korea watcher said the documents clearly raise alarms about whether North Korea could follow through on threats to conduct 9/11-style terrorist attacks.

“What they’ve done by the Sony hack is shown they’re certainly willing to attack a U.S. corporation,” said Sauter, who obtained the documents. “Now they’re threating a physical attack along the lines of 9/11 and it is certainly possible they could have agents inside the United States capable of carrying out terrorist attacks.”

“North Korean agents have committed terrorist attacks and kidnappings around the world,” said Sauter, a former Special Forces and infantry officer. “Why wouldn’t they send agents to the homeland of their biggest enemy?”

Sauter noted that it took the U.S. government weeks to determine that North Korea was capable of hacking a major company. “It would be a mistake for the government now to assume North Korea is not capable of launching a terrorist attack in the U.S.,” he said. “They may or may not have the desire to attack the U.S. homeland now or in the future, but there’s a good chance they have at least some capability.”

Bill Cowan, a former Army Special Forces officer, agreed and called the document an alarming disclosure.

“This demonstrates the North Koreans have capabilities most of us didn’t realize they had,” Cowan said. “It talks about them being on U.S. soil to carry out attacks and that takes the threat to a whole new level. And they’re probably still here.”

Past Reconnaissance Bureau operations included the bombing in Rangoon, Burma in 1983 in an attempt to kill then-South Korean President Chun Do-hwan. Three senior South Korean government ministers were killed in the attack.

Bureau commandos also carried out the attack on South Korea’s presidential Blue House in 1968 in an attempt to assassinate then-President Park Chung Hee, father of current South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

The Reconnaissance Bureau also is in charge of covert operations to infiltrate South Korea through tunnels and seaborne insertion of intelligence personnel.

North Korean intelligence activities in the United States have been limited.

In 2003, the FBI arrested Korean-American businessman John Joungwoong Yai, who was identified as a North Korean agent. He pleaded guilty to financial charges and served two years in prison.

Yai was paid for sending reports to North Korea through China based on publicly available sources. He had been tasked by North Korean officials to locate a North Korean agent who had defected.

Documents in the case revealed plans by North Korea to try and plant one of its agents inside the U.S. government.

China Tests ICBM With Multiple Warheads
Dec 19th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Free Beacon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

China's newest ICBM, the DF-41

China carried out a long-range missile flight test on Saturday using multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, according to U.S. defense officials.

The flight test Saturday of a new DF-41 missile, China’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, marks the first test of multiple warhead capabilities for China, officials told the Washington Free Beacon.

China has been known to be developing multiple-warhead technology, which it obtained from the United States illegally in the 1990s.

However, the Dec. 13 DF-41 flight test, using an unknown number of inert maneuvering warheads, is being viewed by U.S. intelligence agencies as a significant advance for China’s strategic nuclear forces and part of a build-up that is likely to affect the strategic balance of forces.

China’s nuclear arsenal is estimated to include around 240 very large warheads. That number is expected to increase sharply as the Chinese deploy new multiple-warhead missiles.

The current deployed U.S. strategic warhead arsenal includes 1,642 warheads. All 450 Minuteman III missiles have been modified to no longer carry MIRVs. However, Trident II submarine-launched missiles can carry up to 14 MIRVs per missile.

Additionally, the development of China’s multiple warhead technology was assisted by illegal transfers of technology from U.S. companies during the Clinton administration, according to documents and officials familiar with the issue.

Details of the flight test and the number of dummy warheads used during it could not be learned.

However, the DF-41 has been assessed by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), the intelligence community’s primary missile spy center, as capable of carrying up to 10 warheads.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeff Pool declined to comment on the DF-41 test. “We encourage greater PRC transparency regarding their defense investments and objectives to avoid miscalculation,” Pool said in response to questions about the Chinese missile launch.

China’s government has made no mention of the test, which was carried out at an unknown missile test facility. Past tests of the DF-41 have been carried out at the Wuzhai Missile and Space Testing facility, located about 250 miles southwest of Beijing.

A report made public earlier this month by a congressional China commission stated that the DF-41 will be able to carry up to 10 warheads and is expected to be deployed next year.

“The DF-41, which could be deployed as early as 2015, may carry up to 10 MIRVs, and have a maximum range as far as 7,456 miles, allowing it to target the entire continental United States,” the report said. “In addition, some sources claim China has modified the DF–5 and the DF–31A to be able to carry MIRVs.”

China also conducted a flight test in late September of another long-range missile, called the DF-31B that also could be outfitted to carry MIRVs.

“China could use MIRVs to deliver nuclear warheads on major U.S. cities and military facilities as a means of overwhelming U.S. ballistic missile defenses,” the report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said.

NASIC intelligence analyst Lee Fuell told the commission that China’s mobile MIRV-modified missiles provide greater targeting with fewer missiles and allow for a larger reserve of missiles during a conflict.

“China is likely to employ a blend of these three as MIRVs become available, simultaneously increasing their ability to engage desired targets while holding a greater number of weapons in reserve,” Fuell was quoted as saying in the report.

A classified NASIC report dated Dec. 10, 1996 stated that China developed a “smart dispenser” for launching multiple satellites using technology developed under a contract with Motorola to launch Iridium communications satellites. The technology transfer was approved by the administration of President Bill Clinton.

“An initial NAIC study determined that a minimally-modified [smart dispenser] stage could be used on a ballistic missile as a multiple-reentry vehicle post-boost vehicle” that could be used for multiple warheads “with relatively minor changes.”

In 2000, the State Department fined Lockheed Martin Corp. $13 million for improperly exporting weapons data on the rocket technology used in multiple-warhead missiles

The U.S. data was provided to China’s state-run Great Wall Industries, a missile manufacturer, through a Hong Kong company called Asiasat and used in systems called expendable perigee kick motors—a key element used in MIRV guidance.

The kick motors are used to position a multiple warhead “bus” or stage as part of the targeting process.

The transfers were made under loosened export controls by the Clinton administration beginning in 1993.

Larry Wortzel, a former military intelligence official who specialized on China, said the Chinese military has been working on a MIRV-modified DF-41 for a number of years.

Wortzel said Chinese military research literature has documented work on the DF-41 but the Pentagon “has been reluctant to discuss or confirm these developments.”

“The United States is now threatened with a more deadly and survivable nuclear force that makes our weak ballistic missile defenses less effective,” Wortzel said. “We need to improve our own defenses and modernize our own deterrent force as the Chinese are doing.”

Rick Fisher, a specialist on the Chinese military, said the advent of China’s MIRV capability should mark the end of U.S. efforts to reduce the number of nuclear warheads.

“The Chinese have not and likely will not disclose their nuclear warhead buildup plans, Russia is modernizing its nuclear forces across the board and violating the INF treaty with new classes of missiles, so it would be suicidal for the Washington to pursue a new round of nuclear reductions as is this administration’s preference.”

Fisher, with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said China may deploy a combination of single-warhead and multiple warhead DF-41s, with the single warhead version carrying a huge “city buster” multi-megaton bombs.

“The beginning of China’s move toward multiple warhead-armed nuclear missiles is proof that today, arms control is failing to increase the security of Americans,” Fisher said. “Instead, it is time to be rebuilding U.S. nuclear warfighting capabilities, to include new mobile ICBMs, new medium range missiles and new tactical nuclear missile systems.”

Georgetown University Professor Phillip Karber has studied China’s nuclear forces and believes its arsenal is far larger than the U.S. intelligence estimate of 240.

“The Chinese development of the DF-41 has been a long term, methodical process,” Karber said. “However, if as we suspect they are going to put a MIRVed version of the missile on both rail and road-mobile launchers, the number of reentry vehicles could grow quite rapidly depending on the number of warheads they end up putting on the missiles.”

The DF-41 was revealed inadvertently by the Chinese government last summer when details, including the fact that it will be a multi-warhead missile, appeared on a provincial government website before being quickly censored and removed.

The Shaanxi provincial government announced June 13 in a progress report on its Environmental Monitoring Center Station that the DF-41 missile was among its projects.

“On-site monitoring for Phase Two of the project’s final environmental assessment and approval of support conditions for the development of the DF-41 strategic missile by the 43rd Institute of the 4th Academy of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) was initiated,” the notice said. AVIC is China’s state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate.

A state-run Global Times report, also later censored and taken offline, quoted a Chinese expert as saying the missile will carry multiple warheads.

The flight test Saturday was the third such test for the new DF-41. The Free Beacon first reported the second flight test of the missile in December 2013. The first flight test was carried out July 24, 2012

After several years of silence on the DF-41, the Pentagon disclosed the existence of the new missile in its latest annual report on the Chinese military, made public in June.

“China also is developing a new road-mobile ICBM known as the Dong Feng-41 (DF-41), possibly capable of carrying multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRV),” the report says.