Sequester cuts to force closure of crucial flood-warning gauges

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  July 5, 2011: This handout photo provided by the US Geological Survery (USGS), taken near Westhope, N.D., shows the Souris River at the peak for the great Souris River flood of 2011, with equipment stored in cooler bolted to roof of gage house because water level was above gage house shelf.AP

WASHINGTON –  More than 100 crucial gauges that warn of imminent flooding or lack of needed water will be shut down starting next month as part of the federal government's automatic budget cuts.

Some are in the nine states threatened with spring flooding, U.S. Geological Survey officials said in interviews with The Associated Press.

In rivers where flooding is imminent, such as near Fargo, N.D., officials are scrambling to keep needed monitors working and make the cuts elsewhere. Details are still to be worked out, officials said.

Jerad Bales, the agency's chief scientist for water, said at least 120 gauges, and as many as 375 in a worst-case scenario, will be shut down because of the mandatory cuts known in Washington budget language as sequestration.

"It's a life and property issue. It's a safety issue," Bales said in a telephone interview.

Agency flood coordinator Robert Holmes said that without a full fleet of stream gauges, it is harder to warn people about flooding. For example, he said, the Illinois River was rising fast a few nights ago and the National Weather Service forecast was so dire that officials figured it wasn't worth fighting the flood if they were going to lose anyway.

But then new stream gauge data showed that it wouldn't quite be as bad and that the levee could be strengthened enough to hold. So far it has worked, he said.

There are 8,000 gauges across the country, paid for by a combination of federal, state and local governments. The federal government last year spent nearly $29 million on gauges, while other governments pitched in $116 million.

The sequester cuts 5 percent from the federal share and that means shutting down a handful of gauges in each state.

Because it is a joint program, decisions on which gauges to shut down are being made only after federal and state officials meet.

For example, USGS officials originally proposed shutting four gauges in North Dakota, including two on the Red River which is facing what might be a record flood. After meeting with state officials, those two gauges will stay working, but two others may be closed, said Gregg Wiche, who runs the USGS North Dakota Water Science Center.

Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said the Red River gauges are crucial not just to weather forecasters, but to the public. Gauges are monitored at times on an hourly basis because "our level of protection is based on what the river is doing," he said.

In Illinois, 10 gauges have hit record high levels, with 53 others at or above flood levels, according to the USGS.

James Lee Witt, who ran the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Clinton administration during the 1993 Mississippi flooding, said, "There are as many as nine states that will be impacted by spring floods and this not the time to make such harmful budget cuts."

Paul Higgins, a meteorologist who is associate director of the American Meteorological Society's policy program, said cutting federal programs that help the country avoid natural disasters is "a costly mistake."

The gauges will be shut down at different times in different states, starting in May in Idaho and Maine, according to the USGS.

Water levels are important for monitoring drought and keeping nuclear power plants on the river operating, USGS officials said. In Idaho, fisherman and whitewater river rafters use monitors to tell them where they should go, said Michael Lewis, head of the USGS Idaho Water Science Center.

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Six official US Air Force cyberweapons may codify digital war

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  July 20, 2010: Lt William Liggett works at the Air Force Space Command Network Operations & Security Center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.REUTERS/Rick Wilking

The U.S. Air Force’s Space Command center has officially designated six cyberweapons in its digital arsenal, an senior officer said Monday -- opening the door to a codified definition of cyberwar.

Lieutenant General John Hyten, vice commander of Space Command, said the new designations would help the military to fund the rapidly changing theater of war, according to Reuters.

“What is a cyberweapon? Does it kill? Does it destroy? Does it hurt human beings?'

- Mischel Kwon, former director of US-CERT

Hyten did not offer any details on what the weapons were, whether “cyberbombs” like the Stuxnet virus that temporarily disabled Iran’s nuclear power ambitions or something more mundane, like well trained cyber soldiers or digital tools that might facilitate attacks on electronic, real-world weapons.

But the very act of acknowledging such weapons has dramatic implications, said Mischel Kwon, former director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and former Chief IT security technologist at the Department of Justice.

“What is a cyberweapon? Does it kill? Does it destroy? Does it hurt human beings? Is there life at risk because of the use of this?” Kwon told FoxNews.com.

“If we’re going to call [these capabilities] weapons, are we going to have to revisit treaties? And rethink how they fit in the context of international negotiations? It opens a lot of discussions that have needed to take place, because we don’t have a way of talking about things that happen and align them with plain English language in the physical world.”

 Hyten’s comments -- given at a cyber conference held in conjunction with the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs -- were meant to underscore the challenges of funding cyber in a difficult budgetary period; Hyten said the Air Force planned to expand its cyber workforce of about 6,000 by 1,200 people, including 900 military personnel.

He said it took the Air Force decades to explain the central importance of space-based assets for warfare, but did not have time to wait with cybersecurity, according to Reuters.

"We have to do this quickly. We cannot wait. If we just let decades go by, the threat will pass us screaming by," he said.

But Hyten’s statements are also a window into the shadowy world of cyberwar, something all countries engage in but few are willing to publicly acknowledge or discuss, the U.S. included, Kwon told FoxNews.com.

“The veil is being lifted,” said Kwon, who now heads security consultancy Mischel Kwon & Associates. “We tend to call everything cyberwar -- even cybercrime and hacktivism. And espionage. And it’s been very difficult to define what is cyberwar.”

When the U.S. is officially at war, a specific definition and set of terms is applied, she noted.

“Does that same definition apply to cyber or is there another well-crafted set of words we need to define cyberwar?”

“The discussion is just beginning,” she said.

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Bad brake lights could force recall of over one million GM cars

Safety regulators in the U.S. are investigating whether to add more than a million General Motors midsize cars to a recall for brake light problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's checking into complaints about the 2004 to 2011 Chevrolet Malibu and the 2007 to 2009 Saturn Aura. The safety agency says the brake lights may not come on when the pedal is pressed, while at other times the lights can illuminate for no reason.

In 2009, GM recalled about 8,000 Pontiac G6 midsize cars from the 2005 model year for the same problem. The government announced in February that it's investigating whether to add 550,000 G6s sold from 2005 to 2009.

Now the agency is investigating 97 complaints from Malibu and Aura owners about the same problems. The two cars share many of the same parts with the G6, but GM spokesmen were unsure Tuesday whether all three cars have the same brake lights.

The Detroit company sold more than 1.5 million Malibus and Auras from 2004 through 2011, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank, but it was unclear how many of them are included in the investigation.

No additional recalls have been issued beyond the 8,000 cars called in for repairs in 2009, although NHTSA says it opened the probe "to determine if the scope of the recall should be expanded or an adjustment in existing remedies is required."

NHTSA says if the brake lights don't illuminate, drivers behind the cars won't be warned, and that could lead to a crash. A GM spokesman said Tuesday the company has no reports of crashes or injuries.

In the 2009 recall, GM traced the problem to corrosion in a wiring connector. Dealers were to fix it by putting a lubricant on the connector to prevent corrosion. The company sent dealers a service bulletin in October of 2010 detailing how to fix similar brake light problems in Malibus and Auras, NHTSA said.

Some of the owners who complained about G6 brake light problems also said the cruise control may not engage or will disengage unintentionally.

Owners who suspect brake light or cruise control problems should take their cars to any Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac or GMC dealer. GM shut down the Pontiac and Saturn brands in 2010 as part of its massive restructuring.

Shares of General Motors Co. rose 16 cents to $28.47 in morning trading Tuesday.

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