Panama Ports Company –
PPC is a Hutchinson Whampoa subsidiary that manages the Panama Canal Zone and the entry ports of Balboa and Cristóbal. PPC has a 25 year management lease with an option to manage the Canal for an additional 25 years. This effectively grants control of the Panama Canal to PRC controlled company until 2050. This relationship is derived from congressional testimony and forms the basis of the security threat depicted in Reap the Whirlwind.

Pasdaran –
When Islamic fundamentalists seized power in Iran, one of the complaints echoed throughout the western press was the repressive SAVAK. The Khomeini regime assimilated the portions of SAVAK they wished to keep and added Islamic nutcrack zeal to the mix. The result is the Pasdaran.

Pave Low III -
The Pave Low's mission is low-level, long-range, undetected penetration into denied areas, day or night, in adverse weather, for infiltration, exfiltration and resupply of special operations forces.

Range: unlimited

Speed: 165 mph

Armament: 3 x .50 MG or 3 x 7.62 mini guns

PEACE FOR GALILEE –
This operation was the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. It occurred in June 1982. After numerous provocations climaxing in the attempted assassination of Israel’s ambassador to Great Britain by Abu Nidal and a massive shelling of northern Israel by PLO units in southern Lebanon, the IDF moved across the border in force. The Syrians got the bright idea to challenge the Israeli Air force, and in a single day they lost 88 aircraft. This operation prompted the ill-conceived peace keeping mission to Beirut by United States Marines, who were not allowed to have loaded weapons (another bright idea!) After the October 23, 1983 bombing of the battalion command post, the gloves came off and every Marine had loaded weapons. This was a stupid foreign policy decision, it got 241 Marines killed and accomplished nothing.

Penguin -
The Penguin missile has an indirect flight path to target. It is also operated in "fire-and-forget" mode to allow multiple target acquisition. The Penguin is fired from a launcher.

Speed: Mach 1.2

Range: 21.7 miles

Warhead: 265 pounds, semi-armor piercing

Pershing II –
The Pershing II missile was a counter force IRBM missile deployed in Europe starting in December 1983. The Soviets had been deploying the mobile SS-20 through out the Warsaw Pact. This was a highly controversial policy (it was the right policy), but most of the hubbub died down after flight KAL-007 was shot down. The deployment brought about the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that effectively eliminated this class of weapons on both sides.

PGP –
Pretty Good Protection is a public domain public/private key encryption system. It basically drove the NSA nuts, because this little program was very hard to break. It was offered in 64, 128 and 1024 bit schemes (the bigger the number, the better the encryption). It provides for secure data and messaging transmission.

Phalanx -
Fast-reaction, rapid-fire 20-millimeter gun system. Phalanx provides ships of the U.S. Navy with a "last-chance" defense against anti-ship missiles and littoral warfare threats that have penetrated other fleet defenses. Phalanx automatically detects, tracks and engages anti-air warfare threats such as anti-ship missiles and aircraft, while the Block 1B's man-in-the-loop system counters the emerging littoral warfare threat.

Phoenix –
The AIM-54 missile is the Navy's only long-range air-to-air missile. It is an airborne weapons control system with multiple-target handling capabilities, used to kill multiple air targets with conventional warheads. Near simultaneous launch is possible against up to six targets in all weather and heavy jamming environments.

Speed: Mach 4+

Range: 100+ nautical miles

Warhead: 135 pounds

Phreaks –
A fictional, clandestine group for hackers working for the FBI. The idea behind this group is that it might be more judicious to leverage their obvious talents against national enemies rather than have them send time in reform school or prison.

Pine Gap –
Name of the base near Alice Springs, Australia that houses the Joint Defense Space Research Facility.

PL-9 –
Primarily a SAM weapon that has been modified to perform as an AAM for Chinese J-7 and J-8 fighters. Uses infrared seeker technology and mounts a 10 kilogram warhead.

PL/SQL –
Procedural Language SQL: Oracle’s protocol to produce stored procedures, packages, functions and triggers for database operations.

PLA –
Chinese People’s Liberation Army is the main ground force for the communist People’s Republic of China.

PLAAF –
People’s Liberation Army Air Force.

PLAN –
People’s Liberation Army Navy.

PLAN BLUE SPOON –
Original war plan designation for offensive actions to protect the Panama Canal. This plan was reworked at the direction of President Bush in February 1989. Obviously, President Bush was well aware of the problems Panama posed the previous Reagan Administration, and he was aware of the Reagan Administration’s efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Noriega problem. Hopefully, we have an updated plan to deal with the Chinese para-military units currently controlling the Canal.

PLO –
Palestine Liberation Organization was formed in 1968 and has been headed by Yassir Arafat (he’s the greaser whose Ramallah HQ has been steadily reduced to kindling by the IDF, and he was the most frequent foreign leader to visit the White House during Bill Clinton’s tenure). Western politicians have this fantasy that Arafat is a statesmen, in reality, he is a thug and a terrorist who has troubled this world far too long. The PLO is also known as Fatah. It is the driving force behind the Hamas homicide bombers plaguing Israel, and whenever they have gone toe-to-toe with the IDF they lose. They have links to both al Qaeda and Iraq.

PRC –
People’s Republic of China. These are the fun folks who have stolen American nuclear secrets and are targeting American, Russian and Indian cities. They have a one child policy and exercise forced abortions. They charge the family for the cost of a bullet when executing political prisoners. Their leadership reportedly cheered when the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001. These are the bad guys and anyone who thinks they have not assisted al Qaeda or North Korea or Iran or Iraq needs to open their eyes.

Predator –
Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle designed to augment precious satellite reconnaissance resources. It has a range of over five hundred miles, and loiter time over target in excess of twenty-four hours. The conventional sensor package consists of a variable zoom (16-160mm) day camera, a 955mm spotter camera and an infrared camera. The fourth sensor is an imaging radar package called a Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR). It was controlled using the Army’s TROJAN Special Purpose Integrated Remote Intelligence Terminal (SPIRIT II) to issue commands and receive intelligence using a consortium of secure military and commercial satellites. Predator was further enhanced to mount 2 Hellfire missiles, which was used to marvelous effect in Afghanistan. Whoever came up with that idea deserves a raise.

PROM –
Programmable Read Only Memory.

PROMIS –
Prosecutor Management Information System developed for DOJ by INSLAW. It was modified and marketed by the NSA to secretly monitor banking transactions worldwide. Initially it was used to target Colombian cocaine cartels, but the targets expanded to include terrorist organizations, foreign intelligence agencies and friendly governments. It is believed that PROMIS is still operational.

Puma –
This a transport helicopter that had been modified in Point of Honor (the addition of 1 chain gun) for Jonas Benjamin’s night flight across southern Iraq.

Range: 550 km

Speed: 258 km/h

Douglas De Bono / DouglasDeBono.Com Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota E-Mail readermail@DouglasDeBono.Com