peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (06/26/84)
The "satellite surveillance is so incredibly good that we don't need spy planes" theory of why KAL 007 couldn't be a spy plane was discounted pretty quickly at the time of the incident by all manner of intelligence experts interviewed by the media. Apparently, planes are not needed quite so much for optical surveillance, but are still very important for radio surveillance. And a little bit of thought will reveal that the RC-135 is indeed a spy plane, right? So they *are* still being used. Both the Defense Attache story, as is, and the possibility that the story was a plant seem plausible. Still, it should be easy to check independently. That is, if the flight paths of KAL 007, the RC-135, and the space shuttle are public domain, which I imagine they are. A shame none of the big league media outlets want to do the work involved in ferretting out such information. p. rowley, U. Toronto P.S. I thought it was a nice touch on the part of the State Department to claim that the RC-135 was on a mission monitoring compliance with the various arms control treaties. All *perfectly* honourable.