FYI:

> HILLINT
> Monday
> 10 Feb 03
>
> The Continuing Crisis:  The Pentagon has identified a growing $20 
> billion gap in its operations and maintenance accounts for fiscal 2003 
> - the result of actions against terrorist groups in Afghanistan and 
> elsewhere. The shortfall is growing at a rate of up to $1.5 billion a 
> month, Defense Department Comptroller Dov Zakheim said in a Pentagon 
> news briefing last week....Sometime this spring, our services will not 
> have money to conduct certain training operations....The Pentagon 
> needs the extra cash because it designed its FY '03 and FY '04 
> spending plans as peacetime budgets, expecting Congress to approve 
> supplemental requests to cover extra costs. Last fall, however, 
> lawmakers rejected all but $7 billion of the Pentagon's $19.4 billion 
> supplemental requests for FY '03, which were contained in two, roughly 
> $10 billion packages....Desert Spring is apparently the name chosen by 
> DoD for the Iraq operation....France passed a law against insulting 
> its flag or national anthem, punishable by a six-month 
> sentence....”Europe is such a bulky ragbag of countries with such 
> wildly different histories, languages and customs, that to say you're 
> European is about as precise as saying you're a world citizen or a 
> sentient being or a member of the mammal family.” (London Spectator).
>
> BIOSHIELD SLOW WALK
>
> In his State of the Union address, President Bush asked members of 
> Congress for $6 billion dollars to fund what he calls project 
> Bioshield. The program would develop new treatments and vaccines 
> against agents that could be used in a bioterrorist attack. One 
> challenge the nation faces is finding qualified researchers to be a 
> part of this project.
>
> The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would dole out the money for 
> biodefense under the president's plan. The plan calls for $6 billion 
> to be made available over the next 10 years.  Vaccinologist Dr. 
> Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic says researchers have had trouble 
> spending the $2 billion the NIH received last year from Congress.
>
> Poland predicts it'll be at least three years before researchers begin 
> using project Bioshield money. (Minnesota Public Radio, 30 Jan 03)
>  
> OMB FINDS HALF OF FEDERAL AGENCIES REVIEWED WORSE THAN INEFFECTIVE
>
> The Bush administration has a new tool for measuring how well agencies 
> and their programs are performing. Administration officials used the 
> new Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, during 2004 budget 
> process to review about 234, or 20 percent, of federal programs, 
> according to budget documents.
>
> Officials will review another 20 percent each year so that, by 2008, 
> all government programs will have been evaluated.
>
> The process, which was unveiled with the 2004 budget request, puts the 
> burden of proving a program effective on the shoulders of the > managers.
>
> The evaluation has about 30 questions that cover four areas of 
> assessment: purpose and design, strategic planning, management, and 
> results and accountability.
>
> Based on the answers, OMB scores programs in the four areas of 
> assessment and also gives programs one of five ratings: effective, 
> moderately effective, adequate, ineffective and results not 
> demonstrated.
>
> Slightly more than half of the programs rated in the 2004 budget 
> received a "results not demonstrated" rating. Of the rest, 6 percent 
> were found effective, 24 percent moderately effective, 14.5 percent 
> adequate, and 5.1 percent ineffective.  (Wash Tech, 02/05/03)
>
> IRAQ CALENDAR
>
> A notional calendar of events for the next and penultimate round of 
> pressure: based on newswires from Feb 5-7:
>
> Feb 9-10: Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei meet in Baghdad with the 
> Iraqis;
> Feb 14: Blix and ElBaradei give an update report to the UNSC;
> Feb 15: US forces in the Gulf reach 150,000
> Feb 15: Kuwait closes Iraq border and northern half of its territory 
> as a security zone.
> On/About (O/A) Feb 15-20: Powell and the British Government release 
> more documentary evidence
> Feb 16: The Arab League holds a foreign minister level summit in Cairo
> Feb 18: The Turkish Parliament votes to allow US ground forces access 
> to bases in Turkey and transit rights into Northern Iraq.
> O/A Feb 18: Britain's Parliament may approve use of military force to 
> disarm Iraq.
> O/A Feb 20: US troops begin passing through Turkey.
>
> "Final Jeopardy," from Feb 20-March 1. Expect daily "events" in those 
> final days running up to military action and, perhaps, Mr. Powell will 
> show even more compelling evidence.
>
> As US and British troops pass through Turkey and more flow into 
> Kuwait, Mr. Bush, Mr Powell and Prime Minister Blair can initiate the 
> final round leading up to the moment of decision. The range of dates 
> around March 1-4 remain optimal and sufficient allied military forces 
> will be on the ground and trained up for the missions they will likely 
> be called upon to execute.  (SIRIUS, 7 Feb 03)
>
> TODAY IN HISTORY
>
> 1763 - The Treaty of Paris ends the French-Indian War. France gives up 
> all her territories in the New World except Louisiana Territory and a 
> few scattered islands.
>
> 1814 - Napoleon personally directs lightning strikes against enemy 
> columns advancing toward Paris, beginning with a victory over the 
> Russians at Champaubert.
>
> 1846 -- The first edition of Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense 
> published by Thomas McLean. There are altogether 72 limericks in two 
> volumes selling at 3s 6d each.
>
> 1942 - Japanese sub bombards Midway: On this day, a Japanese submarine 
> launches a brutal attack on Midway, a coral atoll used as a U.S. Navy 
> base. It was the fourth bombing of the atoll by Japanese ships since 
> December 7.
>
> 1965 - Viet Cong guerrillas blow up the U.S. barracks at Qui Nhon, 75 
> miles east of Pleiku on the central coast, with a 100-pound explosive 
> charge under the building. A total of 23 U.S. personnel were killed, 
> as well as two Viet Cong. In response to the attack, President Lyndon 
> B. Johnson ordered a retaliatory air strike operation on North Vietnam 
> called Flaming Dart II.
>  
>
> HILLINT RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
>
> Permission to Revise and Extend
>
> Sharp-eyed reader notes “the $1.5 billion in the FY 04 Presbud is not 
> for CVN-77.   It is Not for a Nimitz Class carrier.  It is for CVNX or 
> the now named CVN-21 which will be the first carrier of the next 
> generation and which will initiate construction in FY 07.”
>
> HILLINT is drawn from open sources. HILLINT may be reproduced in whole 
> or in part without further permission with proper credit  given.
>
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>
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> and
> educational purposes only.
>
> SIGNATURE BLOCK
>
> Ted Cormaney
> HILLINT Info Services
> Washington, DC
> [log in to unmask]
> (v) 202-966-8801

FW

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