European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 15, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday May 15, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Arthur Ash time has come for National service program once again Seething residual anger has burst Forth in an american City. And the riots that overtook los Angeles were a reminder of what knowledgeable observers have been saying for a Quarter Century America will continue paying a High Price in civil and ethnic unrest unless the nation commits itself to programs that help the Urban poor Lead productive and respectable lives. Once again a proven program is Worth pondering National service. Somewhat Akin to the military training that generations of american males received in the armed forces a 1990s version would prepare thousands of unemployable and undereducated Young adults for Quality lives in our increasingly global and technology driven Economy. National service opportunities would be available to any who needed it and make no mistake the problems Are now so structural so intractable that any solution will require massive Federal intervention. In his much quoted Book the truly disadvantaged sociologist William Julius Wilson wrote that a Only a major program of economic Reform will prevent the riot prone Urban underclass from being permanently locked out of american economic life. Today we simply have no Choice. The enemy within and among our separate ethnic selves is As daunting As any foreign foe. Families rent apart by welfare dependency Job discrimination and intense feelings of alienation have produced minority teen agers with very Little self discipline and Little Faith that Good grades and the american work ethic will pay off a military like environment for them with practical Domestic objectives could produce startling results. Military service has been the most successful career training program we have Ever known and american children born in the years since the All Volunteer army was instituted make up a Large proportion of this targeted group. But this Opportunity May disappear forever i too Many of our military bases Are summarily closed and converted or sold to the private sector. The facilities manpower traditions Ana capacity Are already in place. Don to dismantle it rechannel it. Discipline is a Cornerstone of any responsible citizen s life. I was taught it by my father no was a policeman. Many of the rioters have never had any at All. As an athlete and former army officer i know that discipline can be Learned. More important it must be Learned or it does no to take hold. A precedent for this approach was the civilian conservation corps that worked so Well during the great depression. My father enlisted in the acc As a Young Man with an elementary school education and he Learned invaluable skills that served him Well throughout his life. The key was that a Job was waiting for him when he finished. The certainty of that first entry level position is essential if severely alienated Young minority men and women Are to keep the Faith. We All know these Are difficult times for the Public sector but Here a a Chance to add energetic Ana Able manpower to americans work Force. They could be pref it ared for the world of work or College a an offer Simi a to that made to returning gis after world War ii. It would be a Chance for 16 to 21-year-Olds to live among other cultures religions races and in different geographical areas. And these Young people could be taught to rally around common goals and friendships that evolve out of Pride in one squad platoon company battalion a or commander. We saw such images during the persian Gulf War and during the Mcaa final four basketball games. In military life and competitive sports this camaraderie does no to just happen it is taught and Learned in an atmosphere of discipline and earned Mutual respect for each other s capabilities. Ethnic hatred like that portrayed in los Angeles is also taught and Learned. A National service program also would help overcome two damaging perceptions held by americans disaffected youth that society just does t care about minority youngsters and that ones personal Best efforts will not be rewarded in our discriminatory Job Market. Harvard professor Robert Reich has opined that Urban social ills Are so pervasive that the upper 20 percent of americans a that a fortunate fifth As he Calls them a have decided quietly to a a secede from the Bottom four fifths and the lowest fifth in particular. We cannot countenance such estrangement on a permanent basis. And what better Way to answer sceptics from any group than by certifying the technical skills of graduates from a National service training program now we must act decisively to forestall future Urban unrest. Republicans must put aside their aversion to funding programs aimed at certain cultural groups. Democrats must forget labels and nomenclature and recognize that a geographically isolated subgroup of americans a their children in particular a need systematic and substantive assistance for at least another 20 years. The ethnic taproot of minority americans Are deeply buried in a soil of Faith and fealty to traditional values. With its accent on discipline teamwork conflict Resolution personal responsibility and marketable skills development National service can provide both the training and that vital first Job that will reconnect these americans to the rest of us. Lets do it now before the fire next time. Author and to mar Tennis Champion Ashe is a Iraq font contributor to the Washington poet c the Washington Post William Saf Rebush should Send spook policy to graveyard the worlds espionage agencies Are busily re tooling. Military intelligence is no longer the hot Model a technological Trade secrets Are what the customer wants. You might think with foreign economic spies intercepting our global data transmissions faxes and phone Calls the Bush Justice department and National Security Agency would be helping american businesses defend communications from prying eyes and ears of overseas competitors eager to steal our scientific advantage. The opposite is the Case. In a policy Blunder ranking with the adoption of the Smoot Hawley Tariff As depression loomed the Bush administration sent Fri director William s. Sessions to Congress to argue for a weakening of the devices . Citizens use to encode and keep confidential the information our Competition would love to see. Why on Earth would president Bush want a new Law preventing americans from using the most sophisticated techniques we can devise to Stop economic espionage because you see the new defences against stealing information a coding software already available All Over the world a work All too Well. Our spooks and Law officers Are worried that they will no longer be Able to listen to what americans and their computers Are saying to each other. Therefore say our Law officers lets insist on a system of electronic locks that can to be Jimmie by Low level thieves but Are not Strong enough to Stop the heavy hitters a a Good enough but not too in that Way Federal wire tappers and so called comp tappers supposedly can continue to break into data networks to help catch bookies drug smugglers and terrorists. This is a classic Case of falling off the Pace of change. In the name of Law enforcement we Are making ourselves technologically vulnerable to International criminality. To preserve the huge investment in our old eavesdropping facilities we Are abandoning the Field to modern organized crime. Does anyone seriously think that state terrorism cannot afford the Best encryption and penetration software or that drug cartels cannot buy the latest encryption devices for their Money movements sure old fashioned wiretaps got Gotti. But not three years ago with Federal Reserve computers whirring and the National Security Agency a big ear sucking up global Telephone Calls a and with no serious encryption working for him a iraqi president Saddam Hussein was Able to run $4 billion in 3,000 illegal transactions through an Atlanta Bank to finance his nuclear missile development. The trouble with both our Federal Law enforcement and intelligence services is that they have become hooked on yesterdays technology. Electronic surveillance for police and satellite photography for spooks have become Central to their lives. Their reaction to the inexorable improvement in encryption is to say to the world of science slow Down. It wont. In trying to sweep Back the tide of change King Canute style the Fri is the front for the intelligence Community which hates to be forced to go Back to the difficult Days of running human spies. The Asa no such Agency is obsolescent because its expensive eavesdropping is an offensive weapon in the coming age of digital defense. Bush is on the wrong Side of this Issue and h. Ross Perot will take him apart on it in debate because his mind set is toward old fashioned Spoo Kery and against personal privacy. C the new York times
