NEWS - Cyber spies

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

NOTE: Singapore's hightech military "STAR" unit has also provided the
junta with high-tech communications and tracking.

Cyber spies

Micool Brooke

Thailand is fighting a full-scale war in cyber-space with the United Wa
State Army (UWSA) in an effort to intercept drug caravans infiltrating
northern Thailand through more than a 100 traditional smuggling routes.

At the Thai army's signals-intelligence (SIGINT) post in Mae Ai
district, opposite the UWSA city of Mong Yawn in Burma's special
autonomous zone, the deputy commander of the 17th task force, Col Sutat
Jarumanee, explained to reporters how Thailand was fighting a high-tech
battle in cyber-space to win the war against drug traffickers.

Col Sutat said both sides were eavesdropping on each other's radio
transmissions in spite of modern channel-hopping and encryption
devices.

He said there was reason to believe that the Burmese army and the
UWSA were sharing signals intelligence.

He said he was certain that both the Burmese military and the UWSA had
the technology to tap Thai army radio transmissions but their
intelligence gathering capability was limited, given the channel-hopping
and encryption code capability of the Thai equipment.

Col Sutat said Thailand was monitoring UWSA signals traffic in the hope
it may identify the location of drug caravans about to cross the border
into Thailand.

He said SIGINT helped Thai troops intercept UWSA traffickers entering
Thailand, in one ambush seizing 4 million metamphetamine pills and 12
kilogrammes of heroin.

The Burmese army's and the UWSA's ability to intercept Thai military
signals is revealed extensively in Burma's Military Secrets; Signals
Intelligence (SIGINT) from 1941 to Cyberwarfare by Desmond Ball.

"Since 1988-89, Burma's SIGINT capabilities have been dramatically
enhanced. An extensive array of SIGINT equipment has been acquired,
mostly from China, but also evidently from Singapore and Israel," says
the book.

"The new capabilities include ground stations for collection of foreign
SIGINT as well as ocean surveillance, mobile SIGINT facilities,
tactical SIGINT systems for military operations, electronic warfare (EW)
systems, capabilities for monitoring microwave telecommunications, and
a better capability to jam HF radio broadcasts.

"... Burma has engaged in extensive monitoring of communications in
Thailand. The SIGINT station in the Burmese embassy in Bangkok is very
active. From Burma itself, the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) has
intercepted Thai government broadcasts as well as Thai Armed Forces
radio traffic, the latter mostly in connection with insurgency
activities along the Thai-Burmese border. In particular, Tatmadaw SIGINT
units regularly monitor Thai Army radio traffic during Tatmadaw
counter-insurgency operations in border areas, especially where
cross-border operations are involved or when major movements of Thai
troops are generated.

"China has reportedly provided Burma with a mobile SIGINT capability.
For example, it was reported in April 1997 that a six-wheel truck with
SIGINT equipment was operating at Loi Htwe, a mountain in northeast
Burma, just across the Thai border, about 100 kms north of Chiang Mai.
The system was operated by Tatmadaw personnel, but the equipment
was supplied by China, the operators were trained by Chinese experts,
and the SIGINT collected was reported to have been shared with the
Chinese. The system was probably monitoring the HF and VHF signals of
the UWSA."In recent years the UWSA is believed to have invested some
of its huge drug profits in modern equipment for cyber warfare.

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