From: "Pedro Martori"
Newsgroups: alt.military.uk,alt.politics.org.fbi,alt.politics.org.nsa,can.community.mili
Subject: CUBA'S ROLE IN THE TERRORIST ACTIVITIES
charset = "UTF-8"
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 17:42:49 -0400
NNTP-Posting-Host: 65.94.167.82
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 07 Sep 2002 11:41:08 EDT
Organization: Bell Sympatico
De: "Dan Christensen"
Asunto: CUBA'S ROLE IN THE TERRORIST ACTIVITIES
Fecha: Saturday, September 07, 2002 2:27 AM
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 four nations that use intensively their intelligence
services to
harm the interests of the United States. The nations are: Russia,
PRC, 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, 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
sniffers. 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 (HPCs) 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 asTelecommunications, 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
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.
II. 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 Rio, in a
region
known as El Cacho, a special troop military training school.
It is named Baragua school. It is situated in a big valley, near
the Pinar
del Rio mountains. A very large training camp, with arificial
lakes, and the
most modern training technology. The School is exactly located
where the
first missiles were seen during the 1962 missile crisis.
The School was founded by the de la Guardia brothers. It is now
under
General Jose Luis Mesa, very close to Raul Castro. General Mesa
is 50 years
old. Speaks fluent English, well mannered. Veteran of Vietnam as
a young
officer, and the African wars. He is assisted by Colonel Ramirez,
a black
Cuban. Veteran of Angola, Vietnam, and other war places. Colonel
Ramirez 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.
Their age range from 18 to 35 years old. They are a breed apart,
a cut above
the rest. Unquestionable, 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, cyberwarfare, espionage. Special
troops are
trained to deliver people, equipment, and weapons with surgical
precision.
Locate high-value, strategic, movable targets, and 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 Baragua 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.
· Direc 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,
cyberwarfare operations, infiltrations, commando attacks,
kidnapping,
espionage.
III. BIOWARFARE
· Cuba started its biological program in 1982. Dr. Ernesto Bravo
visited
Boston University. There, with Dr. Lynn Margulis, and Dr. Harlyn
Halvorson,
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
E.coli 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 interferons 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 include weapons based on tularemia,
anthrax, smallpox,
epidemic typhus, 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 are 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.
IV. 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 La Habana, Central Cuba, near
Sancti
Spititus, 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 Irak worked
together on this
chemical agent
OTHERS
· Buzz (13Z)- Hallucinogenic LSD derivative
V. 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, Cubanacan, 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.
VI. 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 Maria Jordan. The
civilian
authorities were the engineers Sergio Suarez, Amado Garcia, and
Jose 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 Guines.
· 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.
VII. 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 truy 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.
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, and
cyberterrorism.
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, obviously, represents a serious threat to the security of
the United
States.
--
Visit my website at
http://www.netcom.ca/~dchris/CubaPropagandal -- Dan]