At 8:34 PM 6/4/96, Steven Levy wrote:

If it's a myth, it's quite an elaborate one. On Saturday night I was interviewed by the BBC about this. The producer read the entire article to me, telling me in was on the front page of the Times. (My comments were not about the specific story, but the underlying security issues.) I don't think he was making it up.

On the substance of Schwartau's claims about "HERF guns," I'm a bit skeptical that this is a real threat _at this time_. I'll say more on this later. On some of the points raised by the article, some things don't compute. At one point it is claimed that no one who in London (and presumably elsewhere) would ever dare to comment on threats received or extortion demands met. If so, how does the author know such threats have actually been made? (I mean credible threats, not anonymous call-in threats, such as bomb threats.) I read Winn Schwartau's book, "Information Warfare," as preparation for being interviewed for a BBC "Horizon" show called "The I-Bomb." Coincidentally, a friend of mine who shall remain nameless was doing some consultation work on this very issue (HERF guns, suitcase impulse sources, etc.). Magnetohydrodynamic RF sources--not to be confused with "electromagnetic pulse" (EMP) from extraatmospheric nuclear blasts--can generate huge RF fields in small packages, by focussing explosions in conjunction with coils to launch the pulses. So, why am I so skeptical? For a couple of reasons: 1. Conventional explosives work perfectly fine for a lot of sabotage efforts. It is unlikely that a mysterrious van is likely to be parked next to a London brokerage or computer firm in the City of London, given their history of terrorism. 2. To be a credible threat, there usually needs to be some form of "demonstration." I have heard of no such thing. Absent such a public demonstration, I find it hard to believe that beancounters would OK the giving away of hundreds of millions of dollars for a threat which is abstract and hard to understand for laymen. 3. This recent story smacks of hype. I'm not saying Schwartau is hyping his conferences and his book, and his consulting business, just saying it strikes me as a hyped threat without direct confirmation. So sue me. (On second thought, in this litigious society, please don't.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."