White House says computer viruses threat to USgreenspun.com : LUSENET : TB2K spinoff uncensored : One Thread |
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000517/pl/clinton_6.htmlWednesday May 17 3:16 AM ET
Computer Viruses Said Threat to US
By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The ``Love Bug'' computer virus is powerful proof that the threat from opposing armies is no longer the central danger facing America in an increasingly smaller, faster and more computerized world, the White House says.
President Clinton planned to point to the virus, which spread by electronic mail and disabled computers worldwide earlier this month, during a commencement address today at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.
Threats to America's national security are much more scattered and varied than they used to be, including everything from the alleged terror network operated by Osama bin Laden to diseases that move around the globe as fast as airplanes, White House officials said.
``We have in fact expanded our concept of what constitutes our country's national security,'' White House National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday.
The Coast Guard is on the front line of some of the new fights, such as drug interdiction, Crowley said.
``In this new age we have to think beyond traditional military threats to other ways in which countries or rogue groups can attack our national interests,'' Crowley said.
Clinton has struck this theme before, often making the point that terrific advances in science and technology can bring added or unforeseen risks.
Before leaving Washington on Tuesday, Clinton said he backs a bipartisan measure to give prescription drug benefits to military retirees and tried to shame Congress into offering the same benefits to every senior in America.
``How can they do this and say they're not going to do it for people in the same situation in the rest of the country?'' Clinton asked reporters in the Rose Garden.
Clinton also touched on his wife's Senate race. He spoke to reporters before leaving for Albany, N.Y., to attend the New York state Democratic Party's convention where Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated as a Senate candidate.
``It's a big deal for her,'' said Clinton, who decided at the last minute to attend.
-- (hour@ly.news), May 17, 2000
If Klintoon says so, it must be! Especially if the establishment media agree.
-- Lurker2 (lots@to.lurk.for), May 17, 2000.