Friday, January 22, 1999 Published at 22:51 GMT
US cyber terrorism plea
President Clinton warned of the threat from weapons of the future
President Bill Clinton is to seek an additional $2.8bn from Congress to help defend the US against attack by computer viruses, and chemical or biological weapons.
"If we prepare to defend against these emerging threats, we will show terrorists that assaults on America will accomplish nothing but their own downfall," he said in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences.
Mr Clinton insisted that such threats should not cause panic, but said they were a serious long-term concern for Pentagon planners.
He proposed to spend
He said the threat was made clear last spring when a satellite malfunctioned, disabling pagers, automatic money machines, credit card systems and television networks around the world.
The presidential co-ordinator for the counter-terrorism effort, Richard Clarke, said there was a threat of "information warfare" in which a rogue nation, terrorist group or criminal cartel could perform a "systematic national intrusion" into computer systems, with effects comparable to the strategic bombing of infrastructure during WWII.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, America's armed forces have no equal anywhere in the world.
Shadow of conspiracy
But according to BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus some analysts fear that having lost the Soviet Union as a gauge against which to measure its military spending, the US risks conjuring up some vast, shadowy international conspiracy which might resort to chemical or biological attack.
Other experts fear that there may be as great a threat from the fringes of American life, where survivalists and right-wing opponents of the Federal government appear to be taking a greater interest in chemical weapons.