European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 21, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pago 10 the stars and stripes february space War Dod is reportedly pushing Tor the development of High Energy laser Battle stations Washington up the defense department is recommending an accelerated program to develop High Energy laser Battle stations with a potential to alter the world balance of Accord ing to aviation week space the Magazine said a draft report to be delivered to Congress next month recommends adding million to the fiscal 198 defense budget to step up research and development that could result in the first laser Battle station in space in the late if full development is the Pentagon had no comment on the magazines which said the defense department report claimed space deployed laser Battle stations offer the potential to alter the world balance of the United states and soviet Union Are known to be working on laser and charged particle beam weapons that have both ground and space whoever gets them into space first would have an awesome if forecasts Are they could de stroy nuclear missiles thousands of Miles from their targets and also kill or disrupt Spain Shesky or Early warning satellites and even ground and airborne a laser is an acronym for Light amplification by stimulated emission of lasers accumulate concentrate it into an extremely powerful beam in the form of can destroy a space tar get thousands of Miles charged rather than using Light As an Energy propagate an intensely radioactive Stream of atomic and subatomic particles on the the Pentagon draft aviation week lists a number of reasons for seeking an accelerated laser weapons pro technology being developed in cur rent defense department space laser weapons systems makes existing arsenals of strategic nuclear armed weapons Vul with Large numbers of ballistic missiles and aircraft at risk to the deploy ment of a modern number of chemical lasers operating with a 4meterdiameter optics and 5 megawatts of this Type can Range on targets up to Miles instantaneous worldwide ballistic missile defense using a Constellation of space laser systems providing an Awe some Force capable of Check mating a Mas Sive icbms intercontinental ballistic mis Sile a Hundred laser Battle stations in each operating with 25 megawatts and a 15meterdiameter sys turn up in computer Check a finds deaf bears on payroll Washington a the veterans administration turned to government pay Roll computers hoping to find some of the Hal million deadbeats who owe it Mil and out popped the names of 000 Federal they will be Dunne next the amount owed the a by these Feder Al employees totals ranging from overpayment for education assistance to defaults on to a Home loan said an Agency the debts go Back As much As 10 credit card surcharge ban due to expire Washington a merchants would be free to give unlimited discounts to customers who pay with Cash under pro posed legislation to keep alive a prohibition against surcharges on credit card custom the prohibition will end next week unless Congress extends John said thurs Day that his Bill to ban such surcharges for three More years also would eliminate a 5 percent ceiling on discounts that can be Given for paying with he would let Market forces determine How Large the discounts should during a hearing on the Jim a spokesman for the consumer federation of said his organization supported the ban on surcharges in 1975 but now believes that position was the ban on surcharges is ant free Enterprise and in special interest Protection for credit card issuers who do not wish purchasers to know the True Cost of buying on Boyle Cash customers should not be put in the position of subsidizing a Cost which is created by credit card he Hugh Smith of the american express said Cash paying customers Benefit indirectly when other people use credit cards at the same stores because the credit card users increase the stores far from getting a free ride at the expense of Cash credit card customers help to keep a merchants unit costs As Low As possible and therefore con tribute to lower prices for All he Peter Hood of the Industrial National Bank in said the Ameri can Bankers association wants the prohibition against credit card surcharges to be made he next week we Are going to some 60 agencies and departments where we located debtors and notify them that they have x number employees who owe the government Well advise them we Are going to Contact supervisors and re quest assistance in the government debtors were identified by running names of people who owe Money to the a through Federal payroll com each a sends out 5 million compensation and pension the debts Are created through overpayment for Edu default on education Over payment either of compensation or pen or default on a guaranteed Home the source said people owed the a nearly million As of he said about half Are hardcore debtors those with debts of Long the a was owed billion six years but that has been reduced through an aggressive program of going after the this is not to say veterans Are a bad said the the percentage is very the default rate on i Loans is lower than among conventional he cites repayment of nearly Mil lion to the Agency in the last three months of we started the computer checks with a the source we cleaned out our own House there were recently there were 27 employees still indebted to the we got after them and got them the government is barred by Law from Garnish eing the wages of its even though the debt is to Uncle but it is a violation of the Federal personnel code of conduct not to pay violations of the Federal personnel code of conduct can Lead to Federal personnel be coming former Federal Whisler and his dog footer the dog gives the camera a soul Ful look As be hugs his 8year old Raymond Whisler of and receives a hug in return after a Romp in Cooper River Park in the Spring like up photo Tern is considered within the current technology such a system could severely inhibit a soviet War initiative or first strike failing it should significantly limit damage to the United space based laser Battle stations deployed to Cope with a Large missile attack could also easily handle Hig Altitude air Craft submarine launched ballistic missiles and satellites As Well As icbms the lasers could also be used to suppress airborne air defense radar and interceptor aircraft before a Friendly bomber another possibility is destruction of All Low orbit Miles satellites within seconds to achieve space lasers also could interdict air lift operations worldwide and support ground forces and air forces to achieve local air the draft according to aviation warned that deployment of the Battle stations would probably bring two immediate soviet responses the hardening of strategic systems to laser and development of weapons to destroy laser Battle aviation week said one critic of the report argued that the study Calls for a perfect laser just As we have done in recent years seeking the perfect tank or the perfect bomber while the went ahead and fielded lots of Les than perfect tanks and the critic was said to have suggested going ahead now with a Les powerful sys tem that could be deployable in about eight while More powerful systems would take from 15 to 25 the study said a soviet laser Battle Sta Tion Constellation could be an awesome threat to the United a space laser race will be compelling to to Lead and to it aviation in earlier articles on Las quoted intelligence estimates that the soviets Are moving at a Pace that could permit them to place High Energy lasers in space Between 1984 and there were reports last december the soviets were building a particle beam device at near the chinese the arms control association has said space Basing of laser systems raises a potential conflict with conventions on the uses of outer space for military including the 1963 and 1967 outer space treaties and the Salt ii it none of these agreements specifically prohibits placing directed Energy Transfer weapons in referring instead to nuclear and other weapons of mass the definition of what constitutes a weapon of mass the association is a loophole in these provi tuberculosis vaccine urged despite doubts new York not an anti tuber Culosio vaccine whose Efficacy questioned last year after a report that it failed to work in a Large study in should still be used to immunize children against the according to two groups of experts convened by the world health Organiza the experts met at who Headquarters in Geneva to clarify the confusion that resulted from the study in the study was designed in part to test which of two types of an anti tuberculosis vaccine called big was More health officials were surprised by the Lack of Protection afforded by either the India study was also designed to test the protective value of big because earlier studies showed varying degrees of one which has been that virtually everything known about the vaccines protective effect is derived from studies done in temperate countries in Europe and North