*EPF303 11/20/2002
Coalition Warplanes Continue to Take Iraqi Fire and Respond
(Defense Department Report, November 20: Iraq, Afghanistan) (480)

OPERATION SOUTHERN WATCH PLANES ARE FIRED ON, HIT BACK

Coalition aircraft enforcing U.N. resolutions in Iraq's southern no-fly zone dropped precision-guided munitions against three unmanned air defense facilities November 20, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Navy Rear Admiral David Gove, deputy director for operations on the Joint Staff, said Iraqi forces fired surface-to-air weapons at coalition aircraft enforcing Operation Southern Watch at about 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT).

"We responded by dropping precision-guided munitions on three Iraqi air-defense communication facilities near al-Kut and al-Basra. These facilities are part of the Iraqi integrated air defense system," Gove said.

Briefing along with Gove at the Pentagon, Defense Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said, "The regime in Baghdad is attacking aircraft ����that are there to protect the Iraqi people ����at the very same time that Saddam Hussein is professing he'll comply fully with the U.N. resolutions and the international community."

U.S. FORCES TAKE FIRE IN THREE AFGHANISTAN INCIDENTS

In Afghanistan, U.S. forces were fired on in three separate but apparently unrelated incidents November 19.

According to Defense officials, a military firebase at Tarin Kowt, about 200 miles southwest of Kabul, was fired upon at about 6:30 a.m. local time (0200 GMT). At 7 a.m. local time (0230 GMT), a Special Forces unit based in Jalalabad was searching a compound and was fired on by five persons who fled when the soldiers returned fire, officials said.

Meanwhile, a Special Forces unit based in Asadabad on Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan reported enemy contact, officials said. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts were called in, and they dropped two 500-pound bombs and fired more than 300 rounds from 30mm cannon on the target area. No details on casualties were available, the officials said.

DARPA RESEARCH PROJECT DRAWS MEDIA INTEREST

At the Pentagon briefing November 20, reporters closely questioned Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions Edward "Pete" Aldridge about a research project being done by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

According to Aldridge, the project is called the Total Information Awareness System (TIA) and involves three main components: technology to enable rapid language translation; the discovery of connections between purchasing transactions and suspicious activities; and "collaborative reasoning and decision-making tools to allow interagency communications and analysis." The purpose is to develop a working prototype which could be turned over to domestic law enforcement agencies.

Reporters asked several questions concerning the possibility that such a system could result in illegal "domestic spying" on ordinary Americans going about their daily lives. Aldridge stressed that there will be "the normal checks and balances through the law enforcement agencies who will be exercising the tool, as they do today."

Asked about the propriety of a Defense Department agency (DARPA) conducting the research, rather than a domestic law enforcement agency, Aldridge said, "I think it is appropriate for the Department of Defense. We're in a war on terrorism. ����DARPA ����has the technical capability to make this work."

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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