W*****B
发帖数: 4796 | 1 基于一个90年代的导弹条约。现在俄国想在飞机上装高清摄像机，美国害怕了。
Russia Asks Permission for Closer Look From Above the U.S. 1 / 16
The New York Times The New York Times
By ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL R. GORDON
4 hrs ago
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Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of the United States Strategic Command,
during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington last year.&#
169; Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images Adm. Cecil D. Haney,
commander of the United States Strategic Command, during a Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing in Washington last year.
WASHINGTON — Russia asked for permission on Monday to fly surveillance
planes equipped with high-powered digital cameras over the United States,
fueling a long-simmering debate among Pentagon and intelligence officials
over Russia’s intentions to use such flights to spy on American power
plants, communications networks and other critical infrastructure.
Russia has for years conducted unarmed observation flights over the United
States — as the United States does over Russia — as part of the Open Skies
Treaty that was signed in 1992 by both nations and 32 other countries at
the end of the Cold War. Although the treaty and the flights, unfamiliar to
most Americans, amount to officially sanctioned spying, their goal has been
to foster transparency about military activity and to help monitor arms
control agreements.
Now some senior American intelligence and military officials say the new
digital technology combined with shifting Russian flight plans would violate
the spirit of the treaty. Some Republicans also expressed alarm.
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“I cannot see why the United States would allow Russia to fly a
surveillance plane with an advanced sensor over the United States to collect
intelligence,” Representative Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican who heads
the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement on Monday.
American intelligence officials say Russia’s spy satellite network is
frayed, so the flights over the United States are a relatively cheap way for
Moscow to fill in some important intelligence gaps. That was not so
alarming when the Russian flights mainly flew over American missile silos,
bunkers and bomber fields, as permitted in the treaty.
In the past few years, however, the Russians flights have developed a
wandering eye, critics say, and now fly more routinely over some of the
country’s most important infrastructure, according to classified military
intelligence assessments. (The United States relies on its own powerful
satellites, rather than these flights, for such intelligence.)
The State Department sees the Russian proposal as a small concession that
could help preserve the Open Skies Treaty, which is important to European
allies, and avoid adding strain to the United States’ troubled relationship
with Russia.
Allowing Russia to switch to the new electro-optical sensors for these more
intrusive flights would give Moscow a more reliable means of conducting
surveillance (and an easier way of concealing their objectives) than the
clunky, 1960s-era wet-film processing that most nations, including the
United States, are transitioning away from, critics said.
Both methods capture the same level of resolution allowed under the treaty.
But some senior American military and intelligence officials say the change
could leave America’s most important infrastructure vulnerable to targeting
by new long-range Russian cruise missiles.
The Associated Press first reported Russia’s request to put the sensors on
longer-range Tu-154 aircraft that Russia flies in the United States.
The Russian request comes at a time when Moscow has steadily increased
restrictions on where American treaty surveillance planes can fly over
Russia, according to the State Department’s most recent arms control
compliance reports. The Russian restrictions have added to what is already
one of the most tense periods in United States-Russian relations since the
end of the Cold War, with the two nations in strong disagreement over
Russian activity in Syria and Ukraine.
The administration must decide in the next four months whether to object to
the Russian request that is now before the Open Skies Consultative
Commission in Vienna.
“The treaty has become a critical component of Russia’s intelligence
collection capability directed at the United States,” Adm. Cecil D. Haney,
commander of the United States Strategic Command, wrote in a letter in April
to Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican who heads the House
Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces.
“In addition to overflying military installations, Russian Open Skies
flights can overfly and collect on DoD and national security or national
critical infrastructure,” Admiral Haney wrote, referring to the Department
of Defense. “The vulnerabilities exposed by exploitation of this data and
costs of mitigation are increasingly difficult to characterize.”
In the United States, a typical Russian Open Skies flight covers 2,500 to 3,
000 miles over two days. There are always seven to 10 American personnel
from the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency on the Russian plane to
ensure compliance.
In addition, the visiting country and the host nation must agree on a flight
plan before a mission proceeds. The host nation may propose changes to it.
“All inspected parties are notified ahead of time of the flight path of
observation flights, and are able to provide ample warning to sensitive
locations within the flight path,” Rose E. Gottemoeller, the undersecretary
of state for arms control and international security, said in a statement.
“Nothing in the treaty precludes shrouding these types of sensitive
facilities or activities. Further, the United States receives a copy of
every photo taken of flights over its territory, so we have a crystal clear
idea of what countries are observing.”
The Russians have been using the new electro-optical sensors on shorter-
range flights in Europe for the past year, a change approved by European and
American officials. In return, Europeans say their Open Skies flights over
Ukraine and western Russia since February 2014 have provided them with vital
information during Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Still, military and intelligence officials express serious concern.
“The Open Skies construct was designed for a different era,” Lt. Gen.
Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told lawmakers
when asked about the Russian flights at a congressional hearing last
February, a position his spokesman said he maintains. “I’m very concerned
about how it’s applied today.”
Robert Work, the deputy secretary of defense, told Congress in a letter last
June: “Russia’s recent activities in a range of areas raise questions
about its willingness to abide in good faith with its international
commitments, including its obligations under the Open Skies Treaty.”
According to the State Department’s arms control compliance report in 2015,
Russia placed altitude limitations on American Open Skies flights over
Chechnya, certain areas around Moscow, and along the border of Russia with
the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In 2014, Russia imposed
flight restrictions over the heavily militarized Kaliningrad.
Russia conducted five flights over the United States in 2014 and four in
2015, according to the Defense Department. This year, Russia is expected to
conduct six flights, starting from either Dulles International Airport
outside Washington, or Travis Air Force Base in California. | c***l
发帖数: 2490 | 2 主要是检查对方尊不遵守导弹条约的，侦察机不许带武器。 |
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