European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page z the stars and strikes Friday january 23,1887 say hello to army s am a system no s line of work is stopping abuse by Brenda Hoster Suft writer Worms. Germany the 5th signal come has declared War on  in and civilians in Europe who make unofficial Calls on government telephones. The command which Servo As he communication Economy and discipline manager Tor the army in Europe has armed its european Telephone system with an automatic message accounting system or am a to help fight the Battle Ama in effect since last january gives Sec. Mark Toms of the command s commercial services division the ammunition he needs to detect phone abuse. It gives him dates times numbers called to and from and lengths or Calls which Heathen uses in monthly random audits with the help of Ama in the first nine months of 1986, he referred 28 cases to criminal investigators in which 148 peo ple were charged with phone abuse total ing $167,666, a Case can be either a single Telephone number or Many numbers in one Community Toms said in one Case three soldiers from the Mannheim area made unauthorized Calls Otaling 52,400 and consequently received bad conduct discharges a. Total of15,935 in fines reduction to private and tour to five months hard labor a gs-12 from the Pir Masens Community was prosecuted in German courts for phone abuse because the . Military Judi Cial system does not have authority Over temperatures european weather civilians. He received a 3 May suspension without pay and was ordered to pay $10,000 to the . Government and18,000 Marks about $10,000 to the Ger Man government for court costs. "1 just Don t think people realize that someone has to pay for these Calls they re certainly not free Toms said. We Usa eur must pay 23 pfennig for every meter unit used Aureng a com Mercial phone Call just like everyone else in Germany. We recently found a number that had quite a few Calls of Long duration during late evening hours he said. I called the number Ana talked with the Soldier at the other end. He said he would Call his wife often at night but did t know it Cost Money to do  Toms said the Soldier paid $31 to he . Treasury for the local Calls he made. If Ama had been in effect earlier the army could have charged a Soldier who listened to a football game Over a phone in his guard Post. The Soldier was on guard duty and wanted to listen to a football game so he called his Home and had his wife put the phone receiver by the to so he could hear the game Toms said. The Soldier was not charged because the army had no proof of the incident he said. Toms said there is some confusion As to the definition of phone abuse. Some people think it s of to Cal commercial when they could have used an ets line or to Call a Friend in Ger Many using ets he said but people also make a Quick Call Home to Tell their spouse they la be late for dinner or Call their car insurance company to straighten out a problem. Thai seems legitimate since that May be the Only Lime to make such Calls he said. The simple fact is if the cat is not in the interest of government business then technically it is an unauthorized Call he said. People need to use Good com Mon sense when making phone  statistics on phone abuse within Safe Are not available officials said because it docs not have the Ama capability to track Calls. At our level we Don t have any such mechanism to say we know of x num Ber of phone abusers said maj. Michael Bofferding chief of system operations for Safe s Deputy chief of staff for information systems. Nothing gets to one level Tike the army s system but base switchboards can provide the commanders with some information which they in turn can use to detect a phone abuse problem he said. The air Force considers it a com Mand responsibility to sort out whether a phone Call is official or  however Bofferding said Safe is working on updating its automation capability in order to provide similar phone use information to commanders. Within Safe ets capability exists at Only four air bases in Germany one in Spain and two in the United kingdom. Lines at other bases Are due to be updated by 1995. Bofferding said Safe has Good control Over it commercial phone lines. Because we have a limited number of commercial phones very few people can pick up the receiver and dial out. Most of the phone Are restricted to a certain area Fie said. While the army s Ama system can track both ets and commercial Calls made on ets phones Toms relies on itemized listings of Calls for the 3,300bundespost phones within Usa eur. Toms request itemized listings on randomly selected numbers front the German phone company and audit them against unit phone logs to deter mine if there is an abuse problem. Usa eur s monthly commercial phone Bill in Germany alone avenges 2.5 million Marks about $1.38 million he said. Half that Bill is for Calls made on Ger Man lines and half of that Cost ii Lor calling places that could have been reached using a military or ets number Toms said. If a Call can be made using an ets number military Lin that s what should be dialled he said. The plan is to replace most of the Bun despot phone with ets phones thai Are class marked for commercial dial Access Toms said. Well lose the lock and meter on the German phone but we gain the use of Ama on the ets  the increase in unauthorized phone Calls makes Toms believe people Are unaware of Iheama system or Don t under stand the seriousness of Telephone abuse. People caught making unofficial phone Calls must pay for the cafes plus a$7 administration surcharge for each Call be Aid. Abusers also Are subject to did pantry action. And depending on the evidence against the individual the Penon i but no can be reported to the Ujj Tanny Crim records Center in Baltimore where la is kept on file for 40 years. Usage has no Standard Frh Trathen fee but officials said an individual found guilty of phone abuse must pay Tor the Calls and could face disciplinary action depend ing on the frequency of abuse. People need to realize that abuse constitutes fraud and larceny against the us government and May subject the offender to criminal prosecution Toms said. We Don t like using this system to catch folks. We d rather have people know that we can do this and then set them make the Wise decision on whether a Call i official or  worldwide Security advisory issued linked to arrest of hijacking suspect from staff and wire reports the defense intelligence Agency has issued a worldwide advisory that . Personnel should be Alert to a possible period or increased risk a Neucom spokesman said thursday. The advisory sent out saturday is tied to the arrest in Germany of a lebanese Man suspected of participating in the1985 hijacking of Twa flight 847 from Rome o Athens a Pentagon official told the associated press. The hijackers killed . Navy diver Robert Stethem at Beirut Airport and held 39 american passengers hostage for 17 Days. The United states is pressing Germany to extradite the Man for trial. The Assumption Here is that there could be a terrorist response against the United states particularly if this Man is transported from Germany to washing ton the source told the a. The order just advises everybody to increase surveillance and  terrorists in Lebanon responded to Germany a arrest of the suspect Mohammed Ali Hamadi by seizing two German businessmen in Beirut. Hamadi was arrested at the Frankfurt Airport when liquid explosives were discovered in his Luggage. He was later tied to the Twa hijacking through fingerprints. German television reports wednesday said Germany probably would not extra Dite Hamadi As Long As the first business Man was held hostage in Lebanon. Ger Man officials As of late thursday still had not confirmed the second kidnapping. Also on thursday a prosecutor in Frankfurt said the extradition could take weeks the a reported. The German newspaper Bild reported an Anonymous caller telephoned its Frankfurt office wednesday and said that if Hamadi was not released by . Friday All americans in Germany will die lie a reported. We Are laying bombs in Frankfurt Manau and Nuernberg Bild quoted the caller As saying. Officials refused to comment on the report the defense intelligence Agency he issued a Dod wide advisory that All personnel should be Alert to a Porobic period of increased risk to . Personnel and that increased personal Security and vigilance is in order the Neucom spokesman said the . European come constantly evaluates the potential Security threat to its installations and people and adapts individual Security programs to Safe guard . Interests with specific area the Neucom spokesman said. While declining to discus specific Security measures being taken tie pokes Man said the command encourages common seme precautions by All Neucom personnel and their  missile launch pod covers fixed ohm wwwa4m  Don a mall ohm u Mound i � 41 whom do i is. 14 37 flu him a a a r 91 a it 41 17 for. Cut Watfy Birtty Dnay Nam Oft Etta for to to Heidelberg is modifications to tube covers on Usa eur s multiple launch rocket system were completed in 1986 and Cost s 264,200, a Usa eur spokeswoman said thurs Day. Thirty percent of the modification costs $67.37 per launch pod of six tubes was paid by the army and the rest was paid by the contractor Ltd missiles and electronics group sgt. Elayne Mcnema said changes in the covers were made to decrease the possibility of fragments de electing the rockets fired from the Mars pods. The old covers haphazardly Dis Persed in the air when rockets were launched. The modification allows the cover to split in the Middle and open out of the Way like a trapdoor. Usa eur artillery units have launched 1,470 of the rockets on Grafen Woehr ranges since the first firing by 3rd in 16lh Field arty in september ls83. On those ranges the deflection prob Lem was not Senous Venema Laid. No rockets have landed outside the safety fan allowed for errant rockets she said. Repairs on the tube Covert began in Usaj eur in june 1986 and were completed by dec. 22, Venema said the mrss in Korea also were repaired by army and Ltd experts