Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Satphones in Iraq

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:08:14 -0500

Satphones in Iraq
Sun March 30, 2003 04:41 AM ET
CENTRAL IRAQ (Reuters) - U.S. military commanders in
Iraq have banned the use of certain satellite phones
carried by journalists attached to their units, apparently
fearing the signal could give away their location to Iraqi
forces.

Several Reuters reporters with U.S. forces in Iraq said on
Sunday they had been told to switch their Thuraya satellite
phones off. One said his phone was being confiscated.

"Officers have ordered me to hand my phone in and I am
giving it to one of the officers," correspondent Matthew
Green said. Other journalists traveling with the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force were also having phones taken, he
said. "They say it's for security, that the Iraqis can use it to
triangulate the signal and fire missiles," Green said.

Several journalists traveling with non-Marine units said
they were still able to use their phones, although they had
heard about the order.

Questioned on the new rules, Major-General Victor Renuart told a news briefing at
U.S. Central Command in Qatar on Saturday the order was not meant to restrict
media coverage.

"On the battlefield operational security is critical and there are times and places on
the battlefield in which you need to make sure no communications go out," he
said. "We want to make sure nothing gets out that may tip the hand of the Iraqis."

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said the restrictions on Thurayas were not
"a theater-wide prohibition."

Written guidance issued to journalists by the U.S. Central Command before the
start of the war says commanders in the field "may impose temporary restrictions
on electronic transmissions for operational security reasons."

Thuraya handsets can work on normal mobile networks or as satellite phones.

They use a Geographical Positioning System (GPS), which could be one reason for military
concern.

Thuraya's location-finding system is highly accurate -- a user can be identified to within
100 meters
(yards) of where he or she is standing. Rival Iridium satellite phones, which appear to
have escaped the
U.S. military clampdown, have a less accurate location-finding system, experts say.

But any long term ban on Thurayas would cripple the ability of journalists to file real
time reports from the
battlefields, one of the most notable features of the first week of war.

Several technical experts said they were unaware of any field-level technology that could
be used to locate
GPS users placing calls.

Iridium satellite phones download their user location and billing data to the United
States. Thuraya
location data is downloaded to Thuraya headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Iridium handsets are used by the U.S.
military.http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2472817

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