Missile Technology

Dennis M. Sesak, who helped develop cruise missile technology at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, died Monday of multiple myeloma. The Howard County resident was 54. Mr. Sesak was a gardener and a carpenter who was passionate about conservation and public radio and television. He also was a leading expert on targeting systems for cruise missiles, a fact that came as a complete surprise to his family last week when his former boss escorted them into Mr. Sesak's office. "He never told them much about what he did," said Mr. Sesak's supervisor, Mike Foust.

WASHINGTON -- A divided Clinton administration is considering imposing stiff penalties on China for selling nuclear technology or missile parts to Pakistan and Iran, a senior U.S. official said yesterday.Some U.S. officials argue that China's recent sales have flouted both international treaties and U.S. law. If they're right, the administration could eventually slap an array of costly penalties on Beijing, including a halt in the sharing of sophisticated U.S. technology.In anticipation of some kind of decision, the Clinton administration has advised the Export Import Bank to put billions of dollars worth of loans for U.S.-China trade on hold.

WASHINGTON -- The administration plans to warn China that its weapons exports could bring punitive sanctions, and a debate continues within the government over whether the message is tough enough, according to senior administration officials.In response to what Washington calls mounting evidence that Beijing is shipping missile technology to Pakistan, Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher will raise the issue when he meets with Foreign Minister Qian Qichen Sunday in Singapore, the officials said.

If the Clinton administration seemed less than fervent when it flung a boomerang at China last week, it had good reason. Its ban on the sale of U.S.-made space technology to Beijing in retaliation for China's shipment of missile components to Pakistan will impact financially only on American firms. They will lose half a billion dollars in annual sales that others will be happy to pick up.Knowing of these adverse repercussions, officials emphasized they were acting only because existing laws forced them to do so. The body language seemed to convey a dual message: that Congress ought to reconsider current statutes and that China need not take more than pro-forma offense.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's proudest foreign policy achievement, his program for large-scale multinational aid for Russia, has suffered a pair of embarrassing and unexpected setbacks, leaving U.S. officials scrambling to recover.An ambitious Clinton plan to raise $4 billion to reform Russia's giant state-owned enterprises and turn into private companies abruptly shrunk to an initial $500 million after Japan and other allies balked at the president's price tag, U.S. officials said yesterday.

What if China exploded economically in a miracle like South Korea's while developing weaponry full blast and remaining defiantly Communist?There is no what-if about it. That is what is going on.China is the most important nation in the world for the U.S. The old dream of 400 million customers, now a billion-two, is coming true. Only the wrong way. The trade balance is in China's favor.China is growing like crazy, arming steadily and brooking no dissent to the communism that, in the economic sphere, it does not practice.

WASHINGTON -- The United States imposed new economic sanctions on China and Pakistan yesterday in retaliation for the Chinese export of technology and parts for a missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The move could cost U.S. companies as much as $1 billion in lost business.The action came after a U.S. investigation turned up evidence that China and Pakistan traded components for the M-11 intermediate range missile in 1992. Both countries have denied the exchange, but President Clinton found the evidence conclusive.

UNITED NATIONS -- President Clinton plans today to offer greater access to U.S. technology for nations that abide by international missile proliferation controls, senior officials said last night.Mr. Clinton plans to make efforts to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction a key theme of his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.Citing this spread as one of the main threats to the post-Cold War world, Mr. Clinton will focus on three proposals the officials said:* Easing U.S. curbs on technology exports for nations that agree to abide by the Missile Technology Control Regime.

WASHINGTON -- The United States cleared Israel yesterday of transferring prized Patriot missile technology to China.In another move likely to help ease tensions with Israel, the United States announced that the sixth round of Middle East peace negotiations would be moved out of Washington to a city closer to the region. The next round -- the fifth -- will open here April 27.A State Department announcement giving Israel a "clean bill of health" on the Patriot charge ended a particularly bitter episode in U.S.-Israeli relations.

JERUSALEM -- A team of U.S. Army inspectors began an investigation yesterday into allegations that Israel sold Patriot missile technology to China without required U.S. approval.The 15-member team, mostly Army technical specialists, arrived in Israel this past weekend, and plans over the next few days to inspect sites where Israel keeps the two Patriot batteries sent here a year ago as a defense against Iraqi Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf war.Once again, Israeli officials vociferously denied having handed the Chinese either Patriot missiles or their technology, as reported in several news articles from Washington.

BEIRUT - Iran announced its first-ever successful satellite launch yesterday, a step into the space age as well as a showy demonstration of firepower amid continued concerns about Tehran's nuclear program and regional ambitions. The satellite, called Omid, or "hope," was apparently launched into orbit late Monday or early yesterday using an Iranian-made Safir-2 carrier rocket, the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA, reported. State television showed fire erupting from a rocket painted with the red, white and green colors of the Iranian flag as it rose against a pitch-black sky. A U.S. Pentagon official and other analysts confirmed the launch.

Dennis M. Sesak, who helped develop cruise missile technology at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, died Monday of multiple myeloma. The Howard County resident was 54. Mr. Sesak was a gardener and a carpenter who was passionate about conservation and public radio and television. He also was a leading expert on targeting systems for cruise missiles, a fact that came as a complete surprise to his family last week when his former boss escorted them into Mr. Sesak's office. "He never told them much about what he did," said Mr. Sesak's supervisor, Mike Foust.

U.S. says rebels misuse Colombia demilitarized zone WASHINGTON - The State Department has accused Colombia's leading leftist guerrilla group of using a government-authorized demilitarized zone to abuse prisoners, hold kidnap victims and engage in narcotics trafficking. Department spokesman Philip Reeker said yesterday that the guerrilla group, known as FARC, also reportedly received training in the zone from members of the Irish Republican Army. Reeker praised the efforts of President Andres Pastrana to achieve peace but said the FARC rebels "have not made reciprocal efforts to further peace and are misusing the demilitarized zone."

BEIJING - A visiting U.S. official praised China yesterday for becoming "a major participant" in nonproliferation efforts in Asia and around the world but said two days of talks did not allay concerns about Chinese help for Pakistan's anti-ballistic missile program. Allegations of such aid to Pakistan, made by U.S. intelligence agencies, have complicated the passage by the Senate of normal trade status for China and are fueling the push for a Senate bill that singles out China for scrutiny and penalties if it exports advanced weapons technologies.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. intelligence community is writing a report warning the Clinton administration that construction of a national missile defense system could trigger a wave of destabilizing events around the world and possibly endanger relations with European allies, a U.S. intelligence official said yesterday. The National Intelligence Estimate will sketch an unsettling series of political and military ripple effects from the proposed U.S. deployment that would include a sharp buildup of strategic and medium-range nuclear-armed missiles by China, India and Pakistan and the further spread of missile technology in the Middle East.

WASHINGTON -- A divided Clinton administration is considering imposing stiff penalties on China for selling nuclear technology or missile parts to Pakistan and Iran, a senior U.S. official said yesterday.Some U.S. officials argue that China's recent sales have flouted both international treaties and U.S. law. If they're right, the administration could eventually slap an array of costly penalties on Beijing, including a halt in the sharing of sophisticated U.S. technology.In anticipation of some kind of decision, the Clinton administration has advised the Export Import Bank to put billions of dollars worth of loans for U.S.-China trade on hold.

What if China exploded economically in a miracle like South Korea's while developing weaponry full blast and remaining defiantly Communist?There is no what-if about it. That is what is going on.China is the most important nation in the world for the U.S. The old dream of 400 million customers, now a billion-two, is coming true. Only the wrong way. The trade balance is in China's favor.China is growing like crazy, arming steadily and brooking no dissent to the communism that, in the economic sphere, it does not practice.

UNITED NATIONS -- President Clinton plans today to offer greater access to U.S. technology for nations that abide by international missile proliferation controls, senior officials said last night.Mr. Clinton plans to make efforts to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction a key theme of his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.Citing this spread as one of the main threats to the post-Cold War world, Mr. Clinton will focus on three proposals the officials said:* Easing U.S. curbs on technology exports for nations that agree to abide by the Missile Technology Control Regime.

If the Clinton administration seemed less than fervent when it flung a boomerang at China last week, it had good reason. Its ban on the sale of U.S.-made space technology to Beijing in retaliation for China's shipment of missile components to Pakistan will impact financially only on American firms. They will lose half a billion dollars in annual sales that others will be happy to pick up.Knowing of these adverse repercussions, officials emphasized they were acting only because existing laws forced them to do so. The body language seemed to convey a dual message: that Congress ought to reconsider current statutes and that China need not take more than pro-forma offense.

WASHINGTON -- The United States imposed new economic sanctions on China and Pakistan yesterday in retaliation for the Chinese export of technology and parts for a missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The move could cost U.S. companies as much as $1 billion in lost business.The action came after a U.S. investigation turned up evidence that China and Pakistan traded components for the M-11 intermediate range missile in 1992. Both countries have denied the exchange, but President Clinton found the evidence conclusive.