CHINA - Crew member: we finished the checklist

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Newsday 04/05/2001 - Thursday - Page A 3 Crew Manages 'a Hint' - by Patrick J. Sloyan - Washington Bureau

Washington-Crew members of a Navy electronic espionage plane who are being held by the Chinese managed to hint to U.S. visitors that they had destroyed some of the most sensitive material on board before making an emergency landing on Hainan island, U.S. officials said yesterday.

"It was more of a hint or indication,'' one Pentagon official said.

It occurred during a brief session between U.S. Embassy representatives and the 24-member flight crew Tuesday in the Hainan city of Haikou. Because the session was monitored by Chinese escorts, topics were supposed to be limited to health and welfare, a Pentagon official said. But one U.S. questioner asked cryptically: "Did you finish the checklist?" A senior crew member responded, "Yeah," according to a Pentagon official.

The exchange was interpreted by senior defense officials as meaning some of the most sensitive encryption equipment managed by six technicians might have been eliminated.

"We may have reduced the risk of compromise,'' of vital U.S. intelligence, a senior Navy official said. "But I don't think we are out of the woods. There was probably stuff they did not destroy, and the aircraft and its equipment has fallen into the hands of the Chinese." The destruction checklist includes erasing computer disks, hard drives and digital tape. "It includes taking a fire axe to the consoles,'' said a veteran of the EP-3 aircraft, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The crew had from 15 to 20 minutes to destroy software and equipment after a midair collision with an F-8 Chinese interceptor over the South China Sea.

The severely damaged Navy plane dropped more than 8,000 feet before the pilot, Lt. Shane Osborn, regained control and managed what Navy officials described as a shaking and shuddering emergency landing. It was quickly boarded by Chinese soldiers.

Damage assessments made so far assumed a significant loss of secrets to the Beijing government, defense officials said. "You assume the worst,'' one said.

Computers and code machines, along with other high-tech recorders aboard the four-engine turboprop, represent the most secret equipment of the National Security Agency, which sorts the raw intelligence gleaned by the spy plane.

China has refused U.S. diplomats access to the plane, and officials in Washington say Chinese authorities appear to have removed internal equipment from it.

The Navy reconnaissance crew from VQ 1 Squadron on Whidbey Island, Wash.

was considered young and inexperienced. Still, there was growing evidence the 21 men and three women performed above expectations during a brief but dangerous flight after the collision, which ripped off the plane's nose cone and crippled two engines.

"There was a lot of second-guessing that they should have ditched the plane [at sea] rather than let the Chinese get it,'' a Navy admiral said. "Now, we can see they are lucky to be alive. They did a hell of job."

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001


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