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In Arts/8
James Woolsey,
CIA Director
from 1993-95,
speaks about
Ui. foreign poli
cy during the
first LN.
Thompson
Forum of the
semester.
Woolsey said he
was concerned
about the con
dition of nation
al security.
Scott Mcdurg/DN
Ex-CIA director warns of new threats
Boom could become bust, Woolsey says, ifU.S. squanders prosperity and ignores history's lessons
BY JILLZEMAN
Former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
James Woolsey said Wednesday that history can
sometimes repeat itself.
For example, the United States now resembles the
“Roarin’ ’20s,” he said.
But whether the United States will face a crisis
such as the Great Depression in the 1930s depends on
how prepared the country is, he said.
Woolsey, who served as CIA director from 1993 to
1995, appeared as part of the E.N. Thompson Forum
on World Issues.
When the United States has something difficult to
da it takes time for it to get mobilized, he said.
Woolsey referred to this as organizing a “wagon
train.”
The United States performs well under pressure,
but it doesn’t deal well with times in between wagon
trains, he said.
“We roared in the ’20s, and while we were roaring,
we blew it,” he said.
And the current times bear many similarities to
the 1920s, he said.
“As we roar into a new millennium, full of our
selves and prosperous, we need to stop and think a lit
tle bit,” he said. “This time, my friends, let’s not blow
it”
Right now, the United States faces problems such
as the threat of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass
destruction, he said.
Another problem is that railroads, oil and gas
pipelines are all dependent on computer connec
tions, which are vulnerable to hackers from foreign
countries, he said.
“We are not prepared,” he said. “And none of these
problems existed in the 1920s.”
Woolsey named three major threats facing the
United States.
Problems could come from a major state, such as
China or Russia, or a rogue state, such as Iran, Iraq or
North Korea, or terrorist groups, he said.
At first, terrorists wanted to attract attention to
themselves, "to get a seat at the table,” he said.
“They’re not interested in any place at the table at
all - now they want to blow up the table and the peo
ple sitting at it,” he said.
Woolsey also spoke to a political science class after
his lecture Wednesday.
Woolsey said students could gain a greater knowl
edge of what’s happened in the past and how that
affects the future.
"We need to realize that people have been in this
kind of situation before,” he said.
“It’s important for people to try, when they can, to
learn from history.”
Woolsey was introduced at the forum by his for
mer junior high and high school classmate fromTulsa,
Okla., Mary Nefsky.
Nefsky is the wife of Bob Nefsky, a Lincoln attor
ney and member of the E.N. Thompson program
committee, which chooses speakers for the forum.
“He is truly an expert on national defense, foreign
affairs and intelligence,” she said.
In an interview conducted before the lecture,
Woolsey said he often has to remain tightlipped about
certain CIA information.
But Woolsey did let a controversial piece of infor
mation slip.
Woolsey, an Oklahoma native and son of two
University of Oklahoma alumni, admitted he was
rooting for the Sooners in Saturday’s NU-OU football
matchup.
“My parents would turn over in their graves if I
didn’t (support OU),” he said.
The New Campaign: 'Did not, did too'ads
■ Canned soundbytes replace
debates and town halls.
BY BRIAN CARLSON
Senate campaigns ain’t what
they used to be.
Long gone are the days of
whistle-stop campaigns and
Lincoln-Douglas debates. In
Nebraska, there have been hardly
any debates, period. This is the era
of the 30-second TV ad.
Such is the nature of
Nebraska’s Senate race. Democrat
Ben Nelson and Republican Don
Stenberg debated only twice, with
the last one held more than a
month ago.
Their first debate was held at
noon on Aug. 17, the day Vice
President A1 Gore was scheduled
to give his acceptance speech to
the Democratic National
Convention, and most
Nebraskans probably paid little
attention. The candidates didn't
hold the traditional State Fair
debate.
This has left voters to get their
information from TV ads that, to
many, may appear as nothing
more than, "Did not Did too.”
Many of the ads - whether
paid for by the campaigns them
selves or by the parties with unreg
ulated “soft-money” contribu
tions - have been negative.
Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, a
political science professor at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
said negative TV ad campaigns
don’t elevate the political process,
but they are smart politics in this
media age.
"Negative campaigning turns
people off, and it makes them less
likely to vote,” she said. “On the
other hand, it tends to work.”
Some research shows TV ads
help educate the voters, Theiss
Morse said. Many voters who
wouldn't take the time to watch a
debate may form impressions of
the candidates based on ads, she
said.
“Basically, they walk away
with a feeling of what they like
about a person or don’t like,” she
said. “A lot of it will end up being
based more on past experience
with the candidate and candidate
image than issues."
Ben Kiser, executive director
of the Nebraska Republican Party,
said the ads help educate voters
on a range of issues.
"I think it’s important that vot
ers hear about all the issues, and
TV is an important media,” he
said. “I think what is important is
that we continue to talk about the
records of the candidates and
their positions on issues.”
But Anne Boyle, chairwoman
of the Nebraska Democratic Party,
said the trend toward TV ad cam
paigns was “regrettable.” She
attributed it to cutbacks in media
coverage of political campaigns.
“People would be much better
served if candidates just straight
up addressed the issues, but that
may be impossible now,” she said.
Many of the Nelson-Stenberg
race’s controversies have arisen
from TV commercials.
In early September, Nelson
criticized Stenberg for a
Republican Party ad that encour
aged voters to call Stenberg at his
state attorney general’s office
number and thank him for his
Please see ADS on 3
Web site gives campus crime rates
■ Security amendment allows
students to find statistics about their
college of choice online.
BY GEORGE GREEN
Colleges and universities had to meet an
important deadline Uiesday so prospective
college students can choose safe schools.
Every university and college that receives
federal funding had to file statistics about
campus crimes with the Department of
Education by midnight Uiesday, said Rodger
Murphey, a spokesman for the U.S. education
department.
The education department, he said, posts
the statistics for parents and prospective stu
dents to look at on its Web site at
http://www.ope.ed.govl security.
Ken Cauble, UNL Police chief, said the
reports include crimes such as murder, rape,
robbery and arson.
Ironically, he said, the reports don’t
include larcenies - or thefts - which are the
most common crimes on many campuses.
Nevertheless, he said, the statistics will
help parents and students choose safe col
leges.
Murphey said parents deserve some type
of protection when they pay for their chil
drens’ college educations.
“It’s a great consumer-protection system,"
he said.
A 1998 amendment to the Campus
Security Act of 1990 mandated the filling and
posting requirements, which went into effect
this year, Murphey said.
Students who check out the Web site,
though, will find several blank slots under
many school listings, he said.
As ofTtiesday afternoon, more than 1,600
of the 6,700 schools required to file a state
ment had not completely finished reporting
campus crimes, Murphey said.
Universities that don’t file statistics can be
fined $25,000 per violation, he said.
But most of the unreported schools
weren’t disobeying the rules, he said, but were
running into computer problems that
stopped data being transferred to the Web
“It’s a great consumer
protection system."
Rodger Murphy
U.S. education department spokesman
site.
Technical problems plagued the
Department of Education’s computer system
last week and caused the original deadline of
Oct. 17 to be extended by a week, he said.
UNL had its crime statistics filed on the
Web site in mid-October, Cauble said.
Despite these glitches, Cauble said the
system will help improve campus safety.
Cauble said he used to receive phone calls
from parents and prospective students asking
about campus safety.
Now, he said, these people can access this
information on the Department of Education
Web site and on the campus police Web site,
http://policeMnl.edu, which includes addi
tional safety information for students.
Please see CRIME on 6
UNO Chinese classes
may be boon to UNL
BY VERONICA DAEHN
The University of Nebraska
at Omaha has given hope to
Radha Balasubramanian, vice
chairwoman of UNL’s
Department of Modern
Languages and Literatures.
Balasubramanian has said
Chinese could be dropped from
UNL’s curriculum if enough
money isn't found to pay a full
time lecturer.
But because of a program
that began at UNO this semes
ter, Balasubramanian said a
door remains open.
Via satellite technology,
UNO is offering two courses in
computer science and one in
English as a Second Language to
50 students in China.
The classes are being
administered through Fudan
University in Shanghai.
“At least Nebraska can keep
Chinese flourishing on one
campus,” she said. "This may
end up opening doors for
Chinese being taught in Omaha.
This is good.”
Derek Hodgson, UNO vice
chancellor for academic affairs,
said the university began the
classes to build its research and
development program.
"We’re testing our ability to
participate in global learning
activities,” Hodgson said.
Administrators chose China
because of its large audience of
interested students, he said.
Please see CHINESE on 2
Seattle
is source
for tissue
BY JOSH FUNK
The University of Nebraska Medical Center
approved a new fetal tissue provider after losing
contact with its current provider, Bellevue Dr.
LeRoy Carhart.
The new tissue source will allow the Medical
Center to continue its neurode
generative diseases research
without interruption, officials urnr ,,c
said Wednesday.
“We’re not expanding the choice
(research),” said Dr. David \Atnc tn
Crouse, UNMC associate vice
chancellor for academic affairs, provide
“This is just an attempt to
replace the source.” . .
The Medical Center's material
Institutional Review Board or give in
approved the University of f
Washington’s Birth Defects LU
Research Laboratory as a new who Say
provider at its Oct. 19 meeting. f y.. _
Crouse said that the Medical 1
Center had not received any should not
new tissue from Carhart since tn]sp
mid-September. . „
That would have been place.
around the same time Carhart LG. Blanchanr £
received a letter from the University of :
Medical Center seeking to Washington
remove him from its volunteer , s
faculty. _spokesman
Carhart declined to com
ment Wednesday, and lawyers from the Center for
Reproductive Law and Policy, who have represent
ed Carhart in the past, did not return calls.
This move does not mean the Medical Center
will not receive fetal tissue from Carhart in the
future. Crouse said that Carhart remains an
approved provider.
This also will not change the type of tissue used.
The Birth Defects Research Laboratory, which will
provide tissue to the Medical Center, collects non
viable fetuses and embryos from elective and
spontaneous abortions, said L.G. Blanchard,
spokesman for the University of Washington
Please see FETAL on 5