Burbank, Ca April 19, 2001

The New York Times

To the Editor,

Re your article headlined, "Spy Plane Talks End in Beijing Without Agreement."

The last phrase in the following sentence from that article bugs me.

"But Chinese officials apparently do not want to negotiate such rules, at least any time soon, in part because the negotiation itself could be seen as acknowledging the United States' right to conduct surveillance near China, even if it stays over international waters."

It is now 18 days since the spy plane incident and you still toss out the concept of "international waters" when you should be talking about defensive air space. I've given up waiting for your Journalism 101 editors to do it so I'll do it for you.

Where is the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone in relation to "international waters". At the latitude of the Golden Gate, the U.S. ADIZ extends almost 400 nautical miles west into the Pacific ocean. What does that have to do with "international waters" Journalism 101'ers? Absolutely nothing. What does it have to do with national defense? Absolutely everything.

The U.S. is completely surrounded by its ADIZ's. It acts like an old Idaho survivalist hunkered down behind his 360 degree defense perimeter and ever-wary of any intrusion into his compound. And yet it feigns the image of a trusting flower child or even a Marxian internationalist when it ventures out to spy. Then the talk is of internationalism, how it's really not spying but just getting to know each other, and how this contributes to world peace, after all. And anyone who can't see that is just a cold war relic with one foot in the dustbin of history and suffering from paranoia to boot.

NY Times, as the newspaper of record, it's your duty to tell it like it really is. Let's start with the basics.

1. This defensive airspace has nothing to do with "international waters". It is airspace defined by the military forces of the U.S. based on their self-perceived defense needs.

2. The U.S. does not permit any flights into it's ADIZ's without a flight plan being pre-filed and approved by the FAA.

3. Any aircraft violating this rule will be intercepted by U.S. fighter aircraft.

And it gets better.

4. The U.S. even defines a category of so called "Special Interest Flights". These are flights by aircraft of the following countries:

"Special interest countries include Albania, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Peoples Republic of China, Cuba, North Korea, Outer Mongolia, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine, and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

Even with approval to enter a U.S. ADIZ, these Special Interest Flights receive the following special handling:

"a. All flight movement data on the aircraft listed in subparas "9-2-1a1" and "9-2-1a2" below shall be immediately brought to the attention of the supervisory traffic management coordinator-in-charge and forwarded by the most expeditious means (voice, if possible) to the senior director at the concerned NORAD Region Operations Control Center/Sector Operations Control Center and to the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC). Voice messages will be followed up with a data communication message when directed. All flight plans on aircraft listed in subparas "9-2-1a1" and "9-2-1a2" below, including flights within the continental U.S., shall be retransmitted by data communication to ATT-200 and the Office of International Aviation, attention: AIA-101."

NORAD is not the diplomatic protocol desk at the State Department in charge of welcoming arrangements, as can be gleaned from its mission statement:

Mission

"The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a binational United States and Canadian organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America. Aerospace warning includes the monitoring of man-made objects in space, and the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, utilizing mutual support arrangements with other commands. Aerospace control includes providing surveillance and control of the airspace of Canada and the United States."

Now who's the paranoid relic of the Cold War?

Whatever happened to the reciprocity that China is entitled to?

Please circulate this to your editors. And if they want references please ask them to e-mail me. If they want graphics, send them to LINK.

Yours truly,
Otto Hinckelmann
Crescent City, CA