News Briefs
April 25, 1996
Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EDTPeacekeeping troop departure from Bosnia delayed
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon said Thursday a "significant number" of U.S. troops are likely to remain in Bosnia a month or more past the December 20 end of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission. U.S. troops, which account for 18,000 of the 60,000 NATO-led peacekeepers in Bosnia, had originally planned a slow but steady withdrawal beginning in late summer.
According to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon, U.S. and NATO commanders want to keep a substantial number of troops in place until Bosnian elections are held in September, and possibly through the end of the mission. They are concerned that a smaller force may be vulnerable to attack, Bacon said.
Some U.S. forces may remain in Bosnia until February 1997. However, the withdrawal could take less time, since troops should be able to leave faster than they came in. "We won't have to build bridges; we won't have to put navigation aids into the Tuzla airport," Bacon said.
- The war's over, so why can't Bosnian refugees go home? - April 23, 1996
Navy enlisted man accused of trying to sell secrets to Russia
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Accused would-be Navy spy Kurt G. Lessenthien, 29, was trying to sell information classified as "secret" and "top secret" to the Russians, U.S. government sources told CNN Thursday.
The machinist mate first class repeatedly tried to make contact with the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., in an effort to sell the information, which was related to U.S. submarine operations, sources said. According to an unnamed source, the FBI intercepted his calls and traced them back to Lessenthien, then worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to catch him. They posed as Russian agents interested in buying the classified materials, arresting him after he reportedly accepted an undisclosed amount of money from the agents in exchange for his documents.
Lessenthien enlisted in the Navy in 1984, and has served on nuclear submarines as well as holding other assignments. He was a teacher at the Navy's nuclear power school in Orlando, Florida, until his arrest Monday. If found guilty of espionage under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he could be given the death penalty.
- U.S. Navy enlisted man arrested on spy charge - April 23, 1996
Military aircraft safety upgrades may cost a billion
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon sources said Thursday that Defense Secretary William Perry is considering proposals to install new safety and navigation equipment on more than 2,000 military aircraft. The upgrades, which would affect at least 600 planes, could cost in excess of a billion dollars. Perry is expected to announce his decision on the upgrades next week.
Perry ordered the armed services to come up with a plan to outfit all military planes that carry passengers with cockpit voice and flight data recorders and Global Navigational Satellite systems. His order came in the wake of a military plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 others.
Sources say the Air Force submitted several proposals. The minimum cost was put at $250 million dollars to outfit only "operational support aircraft" -- the planes that normally carry passengers. Upgrades to hundreds of additional planes, such as cargo planes that could theoretically carry passengers, would push the price above $1 billion.
- Latest F-14 crash cause not yet determined - April 17, 1996
Report: Unabomber victim's family sues suspect for damages
SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- The family of one of the Unabomber's victims has filed a wrongful death suit against Theodore Kaczynski, the FBI's main Unabom suspect, the Sacramento Bee reported Thursday.
The Bee said that Unabomber victim Gilbert Murray's widow and son filed the suit Wednesday in Superior Court in Sacramento. Murray, the most recent victim of the Unabomber, was a timber industry lobbyist. He was killed at his Sacramento office a year ago when he opened a mail bomb.
The suit named Kaczynski as the main defendant, but also listed a number of other "John Does," apparently as a hedge against the possibility that the FBI might find another suspect. Kaczynski has not to date been charged with any crimes attributed to the Unabomber. The family seeks more than $50,000 in general damages and reimbursement for the funeral, legal expenses, and loss of earnings.
- Judge rejects Unabom suspect's appeal - April 25, 1996
Six-year-old charged in infant's beating
OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- A 6-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder and burglary Thursday in the near-fatal beating of a 6-week-old infant who is now in intensive care.
A pair of 8-year-old twin brothers was also charged with burglary. Police say the three boys broke into a house Monday night to steal a tricycle. When they saw the baby boy in a bassinet, police believe, they tipped it over, then beat the infant several times, possibly with a stick. The baby's parents were out shopping, and had left the child in the care of his 18-year-old stepsister, who had stepped out of the room.
The infant, Ignacio Bermudez, remained in very critical condition at Children's Hospital in Oakland. He had skull fractures and bleeding in his brain, and was on a ventilator and anti-seizure medication. Doctors say he might survive the beating, but will probably have physical and brain damage for the rest of his life.
State officials talk to Freemen again
BRUSETT, Montana (CNN) -- State officials spent about 90 minutes in more negotiations at the Freemen ranch Thursday as the standoff between the separatist group and the FBI entered its 32nd day. State Rep. Karl Ohs and Montana state special prosecutor John Connor Jr., two men who met with the Freemen a week ago, spent a second day this week in talks but gave no hint if there was any progress.
After the two left, the Freemen released a 19-page document citing the reasons they say federal, state, and local laws don't apply to them.
Meanwhile, two figures from the Ruby Ridge FBI standoff -- former Green Beret James "Bo" Gritz and Randy Weaver -- drove to the Freeman compound in hopes of persuading the Freemen to come out, but federal agents would not allow them to enter.
At Ruby Ridge, Idaho, Gritz helped persuade Weaver to surrender, ending a standoff with federal agents in which Weaver's wife and son were killed.
Freemen seminar grad arrested in bogus check scheme
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Elizabeth Broderick, a California woman who was a student of the Montana Freemen's controversial philosophies on banking, was arrested Thursday morning along with four other people on federal charges of mail fraud and counterfeiting, sources said.
The sources said a sealed federal indictment charged all five in connection with a bad-check scheme involving people who attended seminars Broderick gave at a Lancaster, California, hotel. It is alleged that seminar attendees were told they could use bogus checks to pay off debts. Broderick charged $125 per person to learn her technique.
Sources told CNN the indictment of Broderick suggests that she was taught the scheme in lectures by the Freemen leader, Leroy Schweitzer, in Montana.
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