European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 28, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 28, 1993 the stars and stripes b Pago 3 of gets Tough with property carriers from Page 1 finding missing items Babbitt said. Less than 10 percent of the suspended carriers have refused to change their methods and remain sus Pended. Carriers that repeatedly provide poor service can be barred from doing business with the department of defense Babbitt said. Safe officials can recommend such a step against carriers that Are suspended three times within six months. The military traffic management come can disqualify any Carrier. And that would be tantamount to putting some of these Guys out of business Babbitt said. Transportation officials at the receiving end of a shipment must immediately notify Safe officials of losses allowing swifter action against carriers. Previously transportation officials in Europe Learned of theft or loss through a paperwork Trail which some times took up to a year. Now the originating transportation management offices Are notified by fax or by electronic mail. That gives us the Opportunity to pursue the Situa Tion in a timely manner while there is a greater possibility that the agents who were involved in the move Are still around Babbitt said. Babbitt said some household goods carriers were unhappy about the policy particularly the $100 figure that can be used to suspend a Carrier. However some mov ing firms have responded by sending letters with suggestions. Other sent representatives on visits to Safe logistics offices. We Are seeing what we had hoped to see Babbitt said. The Industry is concerned about stopping this problem and they Are behind  in most cases we believe the policy has been fair said Donald h. Mensch president of the household goods forwarder association of America inc. We Babbitt have been Given the Opportunity to respond to sus pension notice get the facts  an official at Allied freight forwarding a com Pany that handles Many overseas moves for the air Force agreed that the Mili tary transportation offices have been cooperative. In one Case a service member reported that some figurines were miss ing from the shipment. When i got the suspension notice i called him and he said they were found in another Box he unpacked later said Lucrucia Sikora who manages Alfred s International military and government ship ments. I called the transportation office and was re instated  Carrier Industry also can be a victimized when agents hired by a Carrier engage in theft Mensch con  arc opposed to any kind of theft and Are inter ested in doing everything we can to prevent it he said. We would Hope that agents involved  thefts would investigate and prosecute to the fullest  the $100 limit docs Point out if you have a recur rence of this coming from the same agent Mensch said. It docs no Good to suspend the Carrier and not go Back and review the  the $100 cutoff on theft is reasonable Mensch , a Good pair of High top sneakers is Worth $100," he said. Sikora says Allied is willing to do whatever it is going to take to Stop thefts. To ransack a shipment is almost inhumane Sikora said referring to the two extreme cases of the air forces officers last fall. I feel very bad for them she said. It must be horrible to lose possessions that can never be  Mensch s association has sent a proposal to the department of defense detailing special handling proce dures for highly Milf Brablc items. Suggestions for handling Pil Scrable items include switching from paper to Metal seals with tamper resistant screws. Using Transfer receipts whenever shipments change hands such As from truck Driver to port agent. Random inspections by both the Carrier and Mili tary officials at different stages of shipping. Low Cost insurance for shipments. Allied soon will begin using Metal seals and Chain of custody documents Sikora said. Also Allied will soon offer insurance for $20 per $1,000 of insurance for full replacement value of lost property. The military traffic management come Europe has established a personal property working group with representatives from the army air Force and Navy Headquarters in Europe. The group will meet several times a year to discuss policies and make recommendations. The group has proposed increasing Carrier liability from. 60 cents to $1.25 per Pound. Providing information about additional private insurance to . Creating a Dod policy mandating suspensions in cases of vandalism pilferage and theft. Testing containerized Van Type moves for urn Europe to the United states. Document High value items Genera adv ses by Crystal Laureano staff writer Ramstein a Germany hiding High value items among other goods in an attempt to keep them from being stolen is a big mistake according to an air Force logistics official. Make a detailed list of High value highly pilfer Able items Brig. Gen. George t. Babbitt or. Suggested. Babbitts the . Air forces in Europe s Deputy chief of staff for logistics. It still could be stolen but with documentation making a claim will be easier he said. Proving that an item was packed for shipment is critical to receiving reimbursement if it is lost he said. Valuables should be dispersed he said. It is easier for a Box or two to disappear than for thieves to pick through Many boxes looking for items. According to a list compiled by Safe officials examples of High value highly Pil Scrable items include stereo equipment televisions Vars compact discs furs cameras firearms silverware jewelry coins Stamps tools calculators China Crystal personal computers com Puter games leather or suede Coats Bicy cles and expensive figurines. Hiding valuable and treasured posses Sions is common and will Abate Only through a change of attitude Babbitt said. People have to believe that the Best Way to protect their property is not to hide it he said. Careful documentation of items including Complete descriptions and serial numbers can also be complemented by photographing or videotaping the prop  items that arc difficult or impossible to replace Antiques figurines or jewelry people should consider ship Ping those separately and buying insurance he said. Russians fear inflation Over crime Survey says Moscow a the crime rate is soaring but most russians fear inflation More than Crimi nals according to a Survey published Friday. The inflation rate last year hit 2,000 percent wiping out life savings and pushing Many people into poverty. The Ruble was 170 to the Dollar a year ago but inflation has driven the value of the currency Down to a record 592 to the Dollar. During the same period russian police dealt with a record 2.2 million crimes a 33 percent in crease Over 1991, according to the Interior ministry. Nearly one third of All men and one fourth of All women polled said they had been victims of crime this year the daily Izvestia reported. The Survey of 1,578 people was conducted in mid february by the All russian Center for pub lie opinion research. The poll gave no margin of error but that sampling would be consistent with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent. Forty percent said they were concerned about rising crime. Twenty six percent of the men and 14 percent of the women said they favored the legalization of firearms to protect their lives and property Izvestia said. But 65 percent of Blue Collar and 70 percent of White Collar workers said their no. 1 fear was Ris ing prices it said. Overall crime ranked third on respondents list of concerns the newspaper said. Doomsday predictions spurred soviet . Arms race in 80s Princeton . A doomsday assessments from . And soviet intelligence agencies a decade ago closely mirrored each other and were major Factor sin the massive arms buildup by both superpowers for Mer top officials of both countries said Friday. A newly declassified Cia assessment issued in february 1983 portrayed the soviet Union As very serious about pursuing defense and about developing the capability to fight and survive a nuclear  the report was discussed at Princeton University at a conference on the end of the cold War. Former soviet foreign minister Alexander Bessmer Nyoh said that at the time the Cia was Mak ing that assessment the Kab was telling soviet leaders almost the same Story about United states intentions. Bessmer Nyoh who became foreign minister in1991, was a member of the soviet defense Council in 1983. He said soviet officials believed Ronald Reagan was pursuing an enormous military buildup that indicate the United slates was serious about overwhelming the soviet  other participants in the discussion included former Secretary of state George p. Shultz former defens Secretary Frank Carlucci and Paul Nitze who was an arms negotiator during Thi Reagan years. Lawrence Gershwin author of the 1983 Cia Esti mate said that construction of a huge radar installation at Krasnoyarsk in blatant violation of the abm treaty was seen As evidence of soviet intention to develop a War fighting  Bessmer Nyoh said the Cia View of the radar was an exaggerated  he said the installation was an attempt to close a Gap in the soviet air defense system. Of course the radar violated the treaty he con ceded i when foreign ministry officials pointed out the Viola Tion to their defense counterparts he said the response was when the americans Start crying out you la find an  the major . Defense Effort of the period was the strategic defense initiative the space based missile defense system proposed by Reagan. Shultz said the system was very much driven by Ronald Reagan. It was  he described a briefing Reagan received at the air defense command Center in Colorado. There Are All sorts of consoles keeping track of Ev-1 Grything in All sorts of places he said. It s very impressive. He went there As a presidential candidate having also been briefed on the heavy soviet intercontinental ballistic  a Reagan aide asked the general in charge what would happen if a soviet nuclear warhead hit some where nearby. The general said it would blow us away " said Shultz. Reagan said Well what can we do about it the general said nothing the future president concluded that was a hell of a state of  Shultz said that was Reagan s motivation to pursue ski rather than any calculated plan to Force the soviets to spend themselves into bankruptcy