San Francisco Says No To Marines' High-Tech Exercise

Interesting military test plans. Why do I suspect this is partly about Y2K? Good for S.F.! -- Diane

JANUARY 20, 1999 . . . 18:30 EST

San Francisco says no to Marines' high-tech exercise

http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/0118/web-urban-1-20-99.html

BY DANIEL VERTON (dan_verton@fcw.com)

San Francisco this week slammed the door on a Marine Corps proposal to use neighboring national parklands as the site for a major military exercise designed to test cutting-edge information technologies in an urban environment.

The National Park Service, which oversees much of the land earmarked for the exercise, turned down the Marines' request for a permit to conduct the exercise because of environmental and safety concerns.

In a letter obtained by Federal Computer Week, B.J. Griffin, general manager of the Presidio in San Francisco, told the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab that the plan for Urban Warrior "presents a very complex, high-profile project that differs greatly in scale from that originally presented to us."

Known as Urban Warrior, the exercise was scheduled to take place in March along portions of the coastal areas of San Francisco and throughout various buildings of the Presidio, a military base turned over to the National Park Service in 1997. The Marines developed Urban Warrior to address the inability of standard command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems to overcome interference caused by concrete walls, phone lines, electronic devices and urban structures.

"We determined that [Urban Warrior] was of such a large scale that it was no longer consistent with the mission of the National Park Service," a spokesperson for the service said.

In his letter, Griffin argued that the proposed landings at Baker Beach "will attract a far larger number of spectators than can be accommodated or controlled."

In addition, the Park Service's Advisory Commission yesterday passed a resolution recommending that the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes the Park Service and the Presidio Trust, "not support [the exercise] occurring on Park Service or Presidio land," according to the spokesperson.

A spokesperson for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., said the Marine Corps had scaled down the exercise from the original plans and is willing to add additional personnel and resources to ensure the safety of endangered species and other sensitive areas of the environment. As a result of the Park Service's decision, the Marine Corps has moved its proposed landing site from Baker Beach to a nearby Coast Guard beach and is looking for alternative locations for other portions of the exercise.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 22, 1999

Answers

boy this is f*ed up. The Marines are chomping at the bit to learn how to invade our shores. And the sheeples eyes just glaze over.

-- a (a@a.a), January 22, 1999.

Thanks Diane! OK, there's the Marines, know about the Navy & National Guard. What's the Air Force gonna do for Y2K sugar-coated Exercises? Any of our flierdudes know?

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 22, 1999.

Leska,

Air Force...they would be the ones droping leaflets telling everyone "Don't panic, it's only an exercise........this time!"

c

-- c (c@c.c), January 23, 1999.

Last time I was up close to an Urban Warrior exercise with the Marines (1992), our base in New Jersey was their staging point to "invade" Camden and Philadelphia. Of couse in their scenario, our base was "an airport in Africa". And the Marines were practicing to evacuating foreign nationals from cities during crisis situations. Like was done in Nigeria, the Congo and Liberia to name a few places since that exercise.

Not every military excercise is a script from the X-Files. They do have to train to be able to do what we legitimately expect them to do. And "borrowing" time and space twice a year in real cities is a lot cheaper than forcing the military build a full-scale city to use for a training range.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), January 23, 1999.

WW,

I agree. They have to train. What I object to, is not being "open" with the public about the key reasons for training. That lack of openness fosters mistrust.

In reading the article another point bothered me ... the plan for Urban Warrior "presents a very complex, high-profile project that differs greatly in scale from that originally presented to us."

I wonder, HOW did it differ from the original intention?

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 23, 1999.

Diane,

What's low profile to the Marines (a few dozen helicopters and a couple hundred troops) is awfully high profile to voter sensitive local officials who get only "horror story" reporting from previous Urban Warrior exercises.

Past press coverage of "noisy, smelly helicopters disgorging Marines who run around carrying guns" doesn't get much of a warm response from the local communitiy. Add the human interest stories of "scared pets and small children" and the local officials who agreed to the exercises realize they never agreed to upsetting the sheeple, er, voters.

Meanwhile what the Marines are looking for is a city that resembles the next predicted overseas troublespot so they can see if their plans and gear will have problems when they face the real thing. Hmmm, a hilly, built-up city. Sounds like Seoul to me. And isn't smart money on the North Koreans attacking South Korea during any severe Y2K crisis? I'd guess the Marines are covering bases to see about evacuating the US Embassy in Seoul because of a Y2K-induced war (but you didn't hear about it from me).

Strange isn't it. We're worried about the Marines making their version of Y2K preparations (Jack-booted thugs invading our cities!) while people are worried about us making our Y2K preparations (food, fuel and water hoarding, gun-owning, Y2K-fearing, gonna-be domestic terrorists!).

It's a Y2Krazy world out there.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), January 23, 1999.

Rumors have been swirling for years that some military folks have been given questionnaires which asked (among other things) if they would be able, if necessary, to fire on US citizens. Maybe they have a better solution should air power be needed next year to keep some of us under control....

http://www2.cnn.com/US/9605/03/german.airbase/

http://gafftc.net/

http://www.techmgmt.com/restore/germtrop.htm

Sorry they arent hotlinks.

-- Happy Serf (conspiracynut@newworldorder.gov), January 23, 1999.

WW, agree, the U.N. personnel are living on shifting sand. So are we all.

Happy Serf ... Thanks, will check later . -- Diane

Hotlinks:

http:// www2.cnn.com/US/9605/03/german.airbase/

http://gafftc.net/

http:// www.techmgmt.com/restore/germtrop.htm

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 24, 1999.

Well, Happy Serf those are interesting, and the information is not secret. (That http:// www.techmgmt.com/ site is pretty poorly designed however).

Perhaps the Mil types are training other forces to meet the Y2K, or other global challenges, we all face together. I've noticed most things aren't what they appear to be.

300 german pilots, does not a mercenary air force make. Now, if they could be linked to the criss-cross sky pilots, discussed on other threads, that might be "interesting."

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 25, 1999.

Diane, have you seen this article from the Orange County Reg? Realize it's not too local, but I love the non-derisive tone it uses...

http://www.ocregister.com/community/y2k022w.shtml

-- lisa (lisab@shallc.com), January 25, 1999.

Thanks Lisa, Hotlink:

Y2K bug bites early with buying frenzy in O.C.

TRENDS: It's not just survivalists scooping up those solar flashlights and freeze-dried meals.

January 22, 1999

By FELIX SANCHEZ The Orange County Register

http:// www.ocregister.com/community/y2k022w.shtml

Used to live in Laguna Beach. Need to e-mail that article to a few friends down in Orange County.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 25, 1999.