Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Russian general confirms submarine patrols near US

According to an AP news story just released minutes ago, a top Russian general says two nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines that have been spotted off the U.S. East Coast are part of regular patrols.

Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, says the patrols are not newsworthy.

Nogovitsyn said Wednesday Russia resumed the submarine patrols after restarting strategic bomber patrol flights in 2007.

Nogovitsyn said the patrols were "a normal thing" and suggested the U.S. also has submarines patrolling near Russia.

When I read about this I reflected back on my visit to Cheyenne Mountain several years ago for a VIP tour of the NORAD Command Post in the mountain. I remember in one of the control rooms looking at a map of North America and seeing an orange icon off the East Coast of the US. This was a major oops on their part since they were suppose to scrub the map before we came in. Orange Force = Russian intel trawler in this instance. Shades of The Hunt for Red October?