StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

At a time when 1.8 million veterans and 3.8 million family members are without medical insurance coverage, President Bush has nominated retired Army Lt. Gen. James B. Peake to head the Dept. of Veterans’ Affairs. This is a brilliant appointment.  He will be the 1st physician and the 1st General to be Secretary of the Dept. And there’s lots of “fixin’ to do.”

Here is the text of President Bush’s announcement.  He has a lengthy career as a medical professional and an impressive background as a military man (you don’t get 3-stars for nothing):

• graduate of West Point
• Vietnam veteran ( platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division)
• Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
• Twice wounded
• EVP, COO of  Project Hope, a nonprofit international health foundation
• chief medical director and chief operating officer of California-based QTC Management, which calls itself the largest private provider of government-outsourced occupational health and disability examination services in the nation

Man o’man.  The “nasties” are already out.  Senator Murray of Washington worries that Peake may have had a role in the crumbling of the military medical system that was recently shown to be so shoddy when conditions at Walter Reed Hospital were disclosed.  Others like  David W. Gorman, executive director of Disabled American Veterans worry that while he has experience in caring for in-service military that he might not understand or relate to the needs of veterans.

What concerns me, beyond the state of military medical facilities like Walter Reed (there is a reason why it is closing and will be replaced by the military medical system in San Antonio Texas)…is that the report that covered the period through 2004 showed:

 “Over 1 million veterans have no health insurance and no access to veterans’ hospitals,” Woolhandler added. “I think that’s shocking to most people. It was certainly shocking to us.”

Many of these veterans were members of working families that earned too much to qualify for programs such as Medicaid or Veterans Administration care, Woolhandler said. “Yet, they earned too little to be able to afford private coverage,” she said.

Woolhandler noted that the Veterans Administration health-care system is not open to all veterans. Many uninsured veterans can’t get any VA care because the Bush Administration stopped enrollment of most middle-income veterans in 2003, she said.

“Any veteran with a service-connected disability can get access to the VA,” Woolhandler said. “That’s a minority of veterans. For everybody else, VA care is means-tested — veterans earning more than $30,000 a year will not be eligible for VA care.”

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Web site, the financial income threshold is $27,790 for a veteran with no dependents and the range graduates upward to $38,948 for four dependents. Each additional dependent raises the annual income ceiling $1,866.

First of all, who can live on $38,948 per year with 4 dependents…or even $27,790 as a single?  In fact, for the first time in my long business career I needed to get private (individual - not corporate) medical covergae for the first time two years ago.  I realize that I have “decent” coverage, but the premiums are almost $6000 per year and there is a $1000 deductible.  Even if you claim that my covergae is “richer” than someone might need, consider that these men and women have given to our country what many, including myself have not…their military service.  There is something wrong with this picture.

 Surgeon to Be Nominated to Head VA,  Bush Picks Peake as Veterans Affairs Secretary; Hearing May be Weeks Away

Wait a minute, why would the hearing be “weeks” away?

But it could be weeks before Peake gets his hearing because the U.S. Office of Government Ethics must complete its background check process, Senate aides said. Veterans’ groups had pushed the president to announce a replacement for departed VA Secretary Jim Nicholson.

I refuse to politicize this issue. Maybe one of the Veterans who read this might wish to add some context here.  This is not a debate about insurance for free, or anyone pundit’s rage about the “nanny state” and entitlements.  This is about our veteran military.  There is a difference.

Read Spree’s post,  Bush Slams Congress With Some Harsh Truths: GOOD FOR BUSH

Disabled American Veterans, general peake, veterans administration Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

Talk about timely.  Don’t be tempted to download the latest scam the World’s largest bot net!  Whether a “worm” or a Trojan Horse, this malware sucks people in by a spam email inviting them to visit a Halloween-themed URL to download a dancing skeleton…instead you get a version of the Storm malware that turns your PCs into a “zombie.”

Cyber threat watchers really haven’t figured out who or what is behind this Storm bot attack…

“Storm is a very aggressive worm,” says John Levine, president of consulting firm Taughannock Networks and co-chair of the Internet Research Task Force’s Anti-Spam Research Group. “It’s interesting because it uses a [peer-to-peer] control structure that makes it hard to kill.”

 • European storm — Spam tries to send recipients to a Web site with more news on the results of winter weather. 

 • YouTube — Spam message tells recipients there’s a video of them posted on YouTube.  

 • Account confirmation — Spam messages ask recipients to click on an embedded link to confirm their account with a bogus organization.

 • Happy Labor Day — Spam message tells recipients a holiday greeting is waiting for them at the linked site.

 • National Football League — Spam attempts to lure football fans to a Web site that promises a free game tracker, among other things.

• Free games — E-mail tells recipients to click on link for free computer game downloads.

“F-Secure also says that Storm is the largest botnet in the world with just more than 1 million infected PCs; however, other researchers say there’s no way to know how many PCs have been infected…”

How Storm Attacks - The way Storm secretly installs itself on PCs is via spam, but typically Storm is not carried by the message; instead the message attempts to get the recipient to visit a Web site that downloads the malware. It’s hard to avoid Storm-related spam, which was particularly active in late summer and shows no sign of stopping. These spam blasts take advantage of whatever the malware’s owners think would most entice recipients to click on the embedded link to a Web site purportedly related to the e-mail’s subject — be it a recent event such as the Labor Day weekend or the start of the football season or pop culture items such as computer games or a YouTube video clip.  

A word to the wise.  Beware.  Its Halloween and the night is just beginning.   All I know is that whoever it is, whenever he/she is caught, he should be stung up from the highest tree by the short hairs.

Doesn’t matter…if you’re not careful, it’ll get you.

dancing skeleton, Storm bot Sphere: Related Content

3 Comments »

Its Halloween.  When I was a kid it meant dressing like a hobo or one year, to the horror of my Dad, Fidel Castro (cigar and all).  Oh, sure, I’ve done my crazy silly pranks, just like any kid does (even though I did a few when I was a “not kid”).  Its a day (and night) for people to play “dress-up.”  Most of all, its a time to be safe.  There are animals in this world who do bad things to kids and they all come out on Halloween. 

 

And when it is all said and done, the scariest of them all all the real life goblins who plague this Earth today.  These guys are the bad guys!

Don’t ever forget that!

bin Laden, Halloween, Zawahiri Sphere: Related Content

3 Comments »

When it comes to analysis, you and your conclusions are only as good as the information you use.  There’s also a huge difference between commentary, opinion & reporting…and analysis.  Generally, if it doesn’t show up as an item on one of the truly reputable sites like the Counterterrorism Blog, Investigative Project on Terorrism, Threatwatch, Global Terror Alert, The Long War Journal or such (and there is a long list of others), I look at a “claim” with some degree of suspicion (especially if its the Northeast Intelligence Network, NewsMax or World News Daily…or worse, some egotistic self-published pundit).  On 4/1/07 there were hysterics about a planned “sneak attack” on Iran based on faulty Russian intelligence.  Now, another “reliable” source predicts an al Qaeda 11/11/07 cyber attack.  Watch your calendars!  But don’t hold your breath.

UPDATE from Network World:  Security experts are saying that a reported al-Qaeda cyber jihad attack planned against Western institutions should be treated with skepticism.

 The attack was reported by DEBKAfile, an online military intelligence magazine. Citing anonymous “counter-terror sources,” DEBKAfile said it had intercepted an Oct. 29 “Internet announcement,” calling for a volunteer-run online attack against 15 targeted sites, set to begin Nov. 11. The operation is supposed to expand after its launch date until “hundreds of thousands of Islamist hackers are in action against untold numbers of anti-Muslim sites,” the magazine reported.

This “stuff” must be a pandemic of misinformation flooding the Internet and especially the Blog”o“sphere.  Aside from the likelihood is that once again, Debka is wrong (like they say, a bad clock is right once in a while), people are believing this drivel.  Before I believe stuff like this, I want to know the source(s), and not just that Debka “says” because, like many other dubious sources…well, they’re dubious.

Turns out that the “sneak attack” stuff was spread by an equally unreliable source, Webster Tarpley (Webster), who among other things, contends that the events of September 11 were engineered by the GWB administration.  Yesterday, I had a “debate” about whether the “source” of the rumored Global Islamic Media Front report about bin Laden’s plan for an American Hiroshima had any credibility (some guy who I didn’t know about before, Paul Williams).  Aside from the fact that the “news report” tracks back to 2005 and earlier (see my earlier post, Assessing the Threat of a Nuclear al Qaeda - considerable discussion of the “American Hiroshima”)…as was expressed by one of my “CT”friends…

“Does bin Laden have nuclear ambitions? Of course he does…He did not seek and get a Fatwa justifying the killing of thousands of Americans with such weapons as a propaganda stunt.  The matter is availability.  What those who constantly report or conflate is a very real desire with a very doubtful capability - yet.  And their way-off-the-mark assessment of the here and now been saying this for years on US nuke attacks, yet no attacks is why they cheapen the effort to educate and thus act on the threat that does exist…”

Somehow lost on many people is the lesson taught by our parents (or at least my parents to my siblings and I), don’t believe everything you see, hear or read.,,maybe an even better lesson is to not repeat things derived by unreliable sources (you only need to witness the wildfire of anti-Mexican hysterics that came from the repeating of the hoax from “cnnheadlienews.com”  IMO, the same holds for the growing legions of self-publishing egoists (I could name one or two but don’t want to offend anyone).

Is the United States prepared to deal with a cyber jihad?  Of course it is.  Could it still happen?  Sure!  Both China and Russia have recently been responsible for cyber-war on a still limited basis.  But what of the Cyber Jihad?

An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers

When Osama bin Laden issued his videotaped message to the American people last month, a young jihad enthusiast went online to help spread the word.

“America needs to listen to Shaykh Usaamah very carefully and take his message with great seriousness,” he wrote on his blog. “America is known to be a people of arrogance.

”Unlike Mr. bin Laden, the blogger was not operating from a remote location. It turns out he is a 21-year-old American named Samir Khan who produces his blog from his parents’ home in North Carolina, where he serves as a kind of Western relay station for the multimedia productions of violent Islamic groups.

In recent days, he has featured “glad tidings” from a North African militant leader whose group killed 31 Algerian troops. He posted a scholarly treatise arguing for violent jihad, translated into English. He listed hundreds of links to secret sites from which his readers could obtain the latest blood-drenched insurgent videos from Iraq…

…Mr. Khan, who was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Queens, is an unlikely foot soldier in what Al Qaeda calls the “Islamic jihadi media.” He has grown up in middle-class America and wrestles with his worried parents about his religious fervor. Yet he is stubborn…

…While there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Khan is operating in concert with militant leaders, or breaking any laws, he is part of a growing constellation of apparently independent media operators who are broadcasting the message of Al Qaeda and other groups, a message that is increasingly devised, translated and aimed for a Western audience…

…Militant Islamists are turning grainy car-bombing tapes into slick hip-hop videos and montage movies, all readily available on Western sites like YouTube, the online video smorgasbord…

Is there a cyber risk? Of course there is.  In fact Cyber Warfare was predicted by the Rand Corp. as long ago as 1995.  Are the Islamists using things like Google Earth and Second Life?  Of course they are.  Its a valid concern.  Rep. Steven McCaul of Austin Texas fears that the U.S. is open to cyber attacks and is forming a blue-ribbon panel to propose ways to improve network security.  The U.S. Air Force also recognizes the potential threats of cyber-terrorism.

Recent pronouncements by U.S. Air Force officials about their view of cyberspace as a war-fighting domain have attracted little attention. But the questions they raise for U.S. military policy and doctrine are profound.

“Cyber(space) is important to the nation,” said Gen. Robert Elder, the military officer in charge of the U.S. Air Force’s day-to-day cyberspace operations, acknowledging the dependence of U.S. commerce and banking on the Internet, “But to the Air Force, it’s really important.”

Added October 31, 2007:  Why not read about the Cyber Warriors at Lackland Air Force Base?

Deep in the heart of cyberspace, something new called a Network Warfare and Ops Squadron fights battles 24/7 from a building in a nondescript office park here at Lackland Air Force Base.At one end of the room, a crew monitors the cyberspace highways for the first signs of a hacker infiltration, spreading virus, or network-jamming wave of spam. A second crew rapidly investigates every problem and scrambles other crews to counter each incursion with an armory of specialized software. And all of it is under the watchful eyes of a pyramid of officers and officials that ascends through the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice and eventually into the Oval Office.Every day, every hour, the squadron reacts to myriad trivial or significant attacks on some of the 650,000 computers that allow the Air Force to pay its personnel, manage day care centers, buy fuel, direct fighter-bombers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and launch nuclear-tipped missiles should the order ever come.

Read more about netcentric warfare here and here.  But an al Qaeda cyber jihad launched on November 11, 2007? Mark your calendars and watch…its only 12 days away.  As for sources and stuff like opinions, commentary and analysis…to “paraquote” another of my friends, if you lay down with ”mongrels” you’re going to wake up with fleas (or something like that) - -

cyber jihad, cyber terror, Lackland Air Force Base, Network Warfare and Ops Squadron, predictions, Shaykh Usaamah, Steve McCaul Sphere: Related Content

2 Comments »

While the World has myriad problems, clearly sometimes people take things and themselves too seriously.  Now is one of those times.  I just received this piece from someone I know.  And it raises an question that people like Pelosi, Reid, Limbaugh and bin Laden and Ahmadinejad probably don’t think enough about.  What is the most important thing going through your mind right now?  Okay, you ask…how does this relate to counterterrorism?  While this primarily comes under the heading of a sense of humor post, there is some truth to the premise.  Well, after (or if) you read the post, then scroll down to the comments and you’ll see the actual intent of this silliness (and no, I am not making light of the War on Terrorism - just some of the players).

Philosophy of sex

“You know that look women get when they want sex?….Me neither.” — Steve Martin

“I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.” — Tom Clancy

“Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you’d better have a good hand.” — Woody Allen

“See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.” — Robin Williams

“Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.” — Rodney Dangerfield

“There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL.” — Lynn Lavner

“Leaving sex to the feminists is like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist.” — Matt Barry

“Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope.” — Camille Paglia

“Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation. The other eight are unimportant.” — George Burns

“Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships.” — Sharon Stone

“My girlfriend always laughs during sex — no matter what she’s reading.” — Steve Jobs (Founder, Apple Computers)

“My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch.” — Jack Nicholson

“Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is.” — Barbara Bush (Former US First Lady — and you didn’t think Barbara had a sense of humor)

“Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet.” — Robin Williams

“Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only time of the month that I can be myself.” — Roseanne

“Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” — Billy Crystal

“According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful.” — Robert De Niro

“There’s a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause severe swelling. So what’s the problem?” — Dustin Hoffman

“There’s very little advice in men’s magazines, because men think, I know what I’m doing. Just show me somebody naked.” — Jerry Seinfeld

“Instead of getting married again, I’m going to find a woman I don’t like and just give her a house.” — Rod Stewart

“See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.” — Robin Williams

Now of course, the topic can’t be all as simple as these people make it, can it be?  Plato for example seemingly, at least according to this article…

Plato was the first feminist. Only, he was concerned not with women’s rights, as modern feminists are, but with their usefulness (Republic 451b-457b.). Like a modern planner, he felt it was a waste of woman-power to seclude women in their homes, when they could be performing useful tasks in the factory or the office. Women should be used, just as men were, for the benefit of the community. There were no fundamental differences between the sexes which unfitted women from useful toil. Admittedly, women were on average less strong and generally less good than men, but that was only a generalisation, which did not hold in every case. Some women were just as good, indeed better, than some men (Republic 455d). Whether a particular woman was suited to a particular task should be decided on the merits of the case, not on any general assumptions about woman-kind as a whole. The Guardians were to rise above their sexual prejudices. They might feel that the sight of old women exercising in the nude was ridiculous, but that was only a matter of custom, and should be overcome (Republic 452). Women should exercise the same as men, be educated the same as men, go to war the same as men, and generally be treated exactly the same, except that not so much should be expected of them (Republic 457a10). Differentiation in treatment between one guardian and another should be based on difference of talent, not on difference of sex (Republic 540c5-9). The only function sex was relevant for was the breeding of children (Republic 454de). In modern terms Plato holds that while a guardian’s chromosomes are highly relevant to his suitability for various social roles, the possession of a Y-chromosome rather than a second X-chromosome is not.

Of course, the article was written by a Brit, and we all know that Plato was a homosexual.  Maybe another place to look would be from a university.

OBJECTIVE, MULTIPLE-CHOICE
FINAL EXAM
PHILOSOPHY OF SEX AND LOVE

1. Why are there no good movies about sexy, exciting, friendly and durable relationships?

• a. Forget the movies–why are there no such relationships?
• b. See Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage–that’s why.
• c. There have been plenty, but no one’s seen them.
• d. The question betrays a confusion and lack of understanding on the part of the questioner.
• e. none of the above.

2. Is love a lie?

• a. Freud: love is projection onto the beloved of our own desires, so yes.
• b. Firestone: love is a trick played on susceptible women by patriarchal systems to keep women submissive, so yes.
• c. Jung: love is projection onto the beloved of our own next desired stage of development, so yes and no.
• d. Probably yes, but so what?
• e. None of the above.

3. Using the definitional method of genus and differentium in answering the philosophical question, What is love, really? which is the genus?

• a. Love is a feeling.
• b. Love is a way of being.
• c. Love is a wanting.
• d. Love is an ideal .
• e. None of the above.

4. Using the same definitional method, genus and differentium, what is the differentium?

• a. without feathers.
• b. an ascent of the soul toward mystical union with truth, goodness and beauty.
• c. doom.
• d. being cut in half as one cuts an egg with a hair or wire. [Plato]
• e. none of the above.

5. How are men and women different?

• a. Men are stupider; more rational; more direct; more interested in sex and less interested in love; more worried about control, power, competition; less manipulative in covert ways, less affected by relationships, more desperate for justification for their existence.
• b. Men are always mooning around because of love while women just want sex.
• c. There are no differences that make a difference except those systems and cultures construct.
• d. Women just know and men try to know.
• e. None of the above.

6. How are your experiences of sex and love (”mine,” for short) different from other peoples’ (”your,” for short) experiences of sex and love?

• a. Weelllllll, yours are yours and mine are mine.
• b. Language gets in the way of my understanding your experiences but does not get in the way with mine.
• c. “Experiences” are mythological beasts–all that’s real is just nerve endings and friction.
• d. The names of my experiences (e.g. “orgasm”) are also the names of your experiences, so they aren’t.
• e. None of the above.

7. Why won’t love stay? (Tom Robbins’ question)

• a. We screw up.
• b. All too often, lover and beloved spend time together and find out about each other.
• c. Time keeps mucking things up with changes.
• d. It was a mistake at the beginning.
• e. None of the above.

8. What is the relation between sex and violence?

• a. I mis-heard during the review session and thought it was sex and violins. I’m not equipped for this question. (apologies to Gilda Radner)
• b. It’s love, not sex–lack of love, especially from parents, leaves us wounded and morally numb–perpetrators are victims of lack of love and often worse, with the most atrocious perpetrators those most atrociously abused, and for them violence is a sick substitute for sex and love, but all they have available to cope with this universal need.
• c. Pathological violence and pathology in sexual matters are two sides of the same coin.
• d. Whatever it is, it is all men’s fault.
• e. None of the above.

9. Upon what are moral judgements in matters of sex and love properly based?

• a. “There’s no right or wrong; what’s right’s what’s right for you” (Oscar Wilde)
• b. “Is that right?” (Socrates)
• c. There have to be standards which apply to all everywhere, rules or ethical sytems or commands, or else morality is just chaos.
• d. Every example justifies the moral judgements it justifies, regardless of cultural acceptances or absolutist rules.
• e. None of the above.

10. What is the most important thing you have learned from this course?

• a. Hide.
• b. Always use a condom.
• c. Thinking and happiness are not necessarily correlated.
• d. I’m not alone, maybe.
• e. More than the above.
  
  –Copyright (c) J.W. Powell. All Rights Reserved.–
  –Right to reproduce for free personal use is granted provided this notice is included.– So, do we have the answer to this great philosophical question yet? I sure hope so, because my lunch break is over.

Ahmadinejad, bin Laden, philosophy of sex Sphere: Related Content

6 Comments »

In one of the dumbest moves ever, former FEMA PR director Pat Philbin etal staged a phony press conference last week with no media in attendance (FEMA employees asked the questions).  While its funny but normal for Congress to make speeches to an empty Chamber on C-SPAN, this “flub” violated public trust and put the troubled agency in further “poop.”

Even Mike Brown wouldn’t have been this stupid.  Even though it was a last minute press briefing on getting help out to the victims of the Califrnoia wildfires, and media didn’t show up, there is no excuse for staging a farce!  Saying that he should have cancelled the press conference, Pat Philbin said that he should have stopped the press conference that the agency held last week without any media present…

●  “I should have cancelled it quickly. I did not have good situational awareness of what was happening…”

●  “I can definitively tell you that there were no discussions or conversations about setting up a fake news conference.”

●  “I am not aware that he (second in command, Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson) knew what was happening and all of sudden staff were asking questions,” Philbin said. “When the staff began asking questions I should have intervened and I didn’t.”

Even though old Pat was intending to retire from FEMA last week and move to another job, its looks like his future employment prospects got quite cloudy:

Philbin had long-standing plans to retire last Friday and begin a new position today at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But the ODNI is distancing itself from Philbin and said in a statement today, “We do not normally comment on personnel matters. However, we can confirm that Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the Director of Public Affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.“Asked what’s next for him, Philbin said, “I have lots of experience, I know how the government works. I have credentials in government and academia and I am looking at my options.”

Just like Mike Brown, this guy will prove that there is a life after “effin” up at FEMA (see Former FEMA Dir. Brown Proves Afterlife (and the Peter Principle)…[ya know it just occured to me that this is my blog and if I wanted to curse like a seaman...sort of like Rudy Giuliani does behind closed doors...I could...but then I'd have to put an "R" rating on some of my posts!]

It does look like DHS Secretary Mike Chertoff is beyond being pissed off about this travesty though!

“I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I’ve seen since I’ve been in government,” Michael Chertoff said.

“I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment,” he added.

Asked specifically if he planned to fire anyone at FEMA, which is part of his department, Chertoff declined to say, citing personnel rules.

“There will be appropriate discipline,” he told reporters…

Dumb, dumb and dumber!  Other links to more explanations of this federal stupidity (and no, I am not blaming President Bush for this):

FEMA PR chief loses new job after fake news briefing and Former FEMA official explains role in phony news conference and FEMA LETTERS OF REPRIMAND

This comes on the heals of the hoaxed news report that who knows how many blogs reported and then thousands of ninnies believed last week – Hoax Claims Responsibility for California Fires and that was preceded by the always dependable Fox News repeating a four year old report that terrorists might have been responsible for the fires – California Firestarters Killed & Arrested - Idiots at Fox Spread Rumors and worse, following my own editorial decrying Standards of Responsible Journalism?

Chertoff, FEMA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Pat Philbin, Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

Storm Note:  I suspect based on some of the comments by Steven that the use of the words “Force Field” to describe the Trophy system is wrong.  In fact, based on his comments, it looks like the Trophy system is more like a luanchable countermeasure.  Thanks. 

We saw force fields on Star Trek and Star Wars.  In 2006, the Israeli Defense Research & Development Directorate developed a force field generator to repel things like Rocket Propelled Grenades that kill more soldiers than anything but IEDs.  The question of why the DoD opted to spend millions on a Raytheon System when the Israeli system was more advanced.

The Trophy Active Defense System (ADS) was developed by RAFAEL under an Israel Defense Research & Development Directorate (DRDD) support, aiming to provide armored vehicles with a new level of protection against most current anti-tank threats.

Initially developed by a group called RAFAEL ( Israel’s Armament Development Authority) in partnership with General Dynamics, to protect armoured vehicles from “most current anti-tank threats,” the Israeli’s have deployed it on their Merkava Mk4 main battle tanks, and it is also a candidate for integration into the Namer, the future Merkava based Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

The Trophy active protection system creates a hemispheric protected zone around the vehicle where incoming threats are intercepted and defeated. It has three elements providing – Threat Detection and Tracking, Launching and Intercept functions. The Threat Detection and Warning subsystem consists of several sensors, including flat-panel radars, placed at strategic locations around the protected vehicle, to provide full hemispherical coverage. Once an incoming threat is detected identified and verified, the Countermeasure Assembly is opened, the countermeasure device is positioned in the direction where it can effectively intercept the threat. Then, it is launched automatically into a ballistic trajectory to intercept the incoming threat at a relatively long distance…

…intercept any incoming HEAT threat, including RPG rockets at a range of 10 – 30 meters from the protected platform…

For an 2007 update, read Trophy Completes Integration to Retrofit the Merkava Mk4 Tank. Also read Wired Danger Room, Independent Report Backs Israeli Defense System. One of the things that comes out of the Danger Room article is a link to an MSNBC article in which what is referred to as NBC’s continued campaign to shoot holes into some of the intended purchases by DoD, claiming that the DoD may be playing contractor favoritism, perhaps choosing a system by Raytheon over the Trophy system….Experts contradict Pentagon on anti-RPG tests - Independent report cites Trophy system as tops in class:

Last September, NBC News first reported on a fierce debate within the Pentagon over Trophy, an Israeli-made weapons system, that literally shoots down rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and even more deadly anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). There were plans to battle-test Trophy in Iraq, but the U.S. Army blocked them and instead hired a favored defense contractor, Raytheon, to build a system from scratch.

Now, a new congressionally-mandated review — obtained exclusively by NBC News — raises serious questions about the Army’s decision and what Army officials have told Congress.

And here’s the kicker for me. They hired the Institute for Defense Analyses, an FFRDC (y’all can look that one up). The IDA, after analysis determined that the Trophy TRL (again, y’all can look that one up) was significantly higher and more advanced than the Raytheon system. The Trophy was found to be “in an advanced state of development” with a TRL of 7-8. Meanwhile Raytheon’s Quick Kill was judged a 3 for threshold capabilities (RPGs, ATGMs).

The fact is that this isn’t the first time that the media (both times if I remember correctly, MSNBC) has revealed contractor favoritism. The last time, if I remember correctly was over body armor. Based on this article, it may have been that DoD program managers came to see the success of Trophy as a threat to the biggest procurement program in Army history, the $200 billion Future Combat System (FCS). So the FCS became a program of controversy. And was even the topic covered by a GAO Report in March 2007, Defense Acquisitions - Future Combat System Risks Underscore the Importance of Oversight:

“FCS technologies are far less mature at this point in the program than they should be, and they still have a long way to go to reach full maturity. The Army only sees the need to reach a technology readiness level that requires demonstration of capabilities in a relevant environment by 2011. This does not assure that these capabilities will actually perform as needed in a realistic environment, as required by best practices for a sound business case.”  Further: In our March 2007 report, we found that despite the investment of $8 billion already made in the FCS program, it still has significantly less knowledge—and less assurance of success—than required by best practices or DOD policy. By early 2009, enough knowledge should be available about the key elements of the FCS business case to make a well-informed decision on whether and how to proceed with the program. If significant doubts remain regarding the program’s executability, DOD will have to consider alternatives to proceeding with the program as planned. Central to the go/no-go decision will be demonstrable soundness of the FCS business case in the areas of requirements, technology, acquisition strategy, and finances. Our specific findings in the areas of requirements, technologies, acquisition strategy, and finances are summarized below.

For a live look at this system in operation, click here to see one of the videos. Another, different video can be viewed here.The system was validated by General Dynamics in March 2006 “…in support of OFT’s Project Sheriff, or the Full-Spectrum Effects Platform (FSEP). FSEP program officials seek to meet urgent operational requirements for a range of lethal and non-lethal technologies on a rapidly deployable platform…”

As reported in April of 2006, “The US is to field test an innovative Israeli set-up designed to act as a “force field” around armoured vehicles, protecting them from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and anti-tank missiles, according to a Fox News report.

The system, dubbed “Trophy”, uses radar to track incoming threats and then destroys them when they’re in range by attacking the warheads with an “invisible force”, according to Fox. Quite how it does this is, unsurprisingly, classified, but Defense Update understands Trophy is “designed to form a ‘beam’ of fragments, which will intercept any incoming HEAT threat, including RPG rockets at a range of 10 metres to 30 meters from the protected platform”.

More information can be found at the TechEBlog and Anti-RPG Success - Reactive Armor Effort Slows U.S. Army Push for Active Defenses.

Disclaimer: OK, this is somewhat “old” news, and certainly a tip of the hat is offered to Wild Phil of Captain America who posted on of the video links on Right Truth’s post, Israel does good work. What isn’t quite clear is why the Department of Defense would choose to continue funding a TRL 3 when an existing TRL 7-8 was ready for deployment.

Just in case someone wants to know a bit more about me…go ahead, it won’t hurt you…I won’t bite - - -

Also see Spree’s  Sunday Headlines: A Smorgasbord of links and Snooper’s Weekly Round Up For News Passed

Institute for Defense Analyses, Israeli Defense Research & Development Directorate, RAFAEL ( Israel’s Armament Development Authority), RPGs, TRL, Trophy Active Defense System

Sphere: Related Content

4 Comments »

My “interests” include the potential crossover of today’s technological advances to terrorist threats.  While the reality of this crossover is often debated, evidence suggests that laboratory successes could well lead to their use against us.  All too many people seek reassurance by painting al Qaeda etal as “camel jockeys” when they are well educated.  That is as dangerous as the next pathogen.

But despite the controversy, this is a very real threat…not only does this issue raise scientific and technical issues, but also those of an ethical nature.  Prior to September 11th and then the subsequent and currently unsolved anthrax attacks, almost every American in our insulated society thought that terrorism was something that would never happen here, and was something that we saw on the late night news when they showed footage of a bombing by the IRA or a bus explosion in Israel.  Today, most folks still focus on the large events, the “kabooms!!!” if you will…or the misattributed terrorism of the California wildfires (I still cannot get over how the misinformation was spread like a - well - like a wildfire)…or a dirty bomb (ala the TOPOFF 4 exercise - and no I haven’t commented on that to date, and probably will not given the sensitive nature of the information).  Anyway, the focus on the “BIG ONE” loses sight of the very real possibility that some of the deadliest weapons for terrorists, however, might be so tiny that the human eye cannot even see them.

Unlike traditional warfare, bioterrorism, a terrorist attack that deploys viruses, bacteria, or other germs as weapons for the intent of massive human destruction, can be quietly insidious. With preparation, the worst biological agents could spread through air, water, and food supplies. Days might pass while germs spread rampantly without anyone knowing.

Among the many steps being taken to be prepared for these “miniature biological powerhouses” is the new National Bio Agro-Defense lab and the ongoing work being performed by places like the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.  The development of counteragents and vaccines and the development of antibodies is encouraging, and yet, the advances on the threat side can be equally discouraging.  One of the major issues is the ability to speedily ramp up for the manufacturing of a constantly morphing biological threat…in fact, for a threat that could be unknown right up until the moment it appears.

The history of bioterrorism goes back to the 1930’s when it was reported that the Japanese had done human experiments with biological weapons, the British performed tests with anthrax spores off the coast of Scotland in 1942…until the program was renounced by President Nixon, the U.S. had a biological weapons and countermeasure program.

The critical thing here though is that unlike dealing with a flu outbreak, protecting against bioterrorism requires unique insights…Genetic Medicine Strategies to Protect Against Bioterrorism (the summary):

Biologic terrorism, the use of biological agents to intentionally produce illness or intoxication in a target population, presents major challenges for protection of the civilian population. Unlike traditional public health vaccination strategies, where there is time to initiate effective protective immunity against limited numbers of known pathogens, there are large numbers of potential pathogens for use as bioterror agents, and it is impractical to prophylactically immunize the entire civilian population against many agents. The focus of this review is a strategy to use adenovirus gene transfer vectors as a platform for rapidly acting vaccines that can be stockpiled and used to immunize a susceptible population in response to a bioterror attack once the pathogen has been identified.

There are a great variety of biological agents that could potentially be used for biological warfare. The optimal properties of pathogens that make them suitable for bioterrorism include high lethality or moderate lethality with persistent morbidity, simple production, stability, aerosol transmission and antibiotic resistance. In consultation with other federal agencies, infectious disease and national public health experts and law enforcement officials, the Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, GA has generated a list of three categories (A–C) of bioterror agents based on the potential for harm if deliberately released in an act of bioterrorism (www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp). Of these agents, the Category A agents are of most concern, including anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia and the viral hemorrhagic fevers (1). These agents can be disseminated easily or transmitted person-to-person, cause high mortality and/or have the potential for a major impact on public health, will likely cause public panic and social disruption, and require special action for public health preparedness. Category B agents are less of an immediate bioterrorism concern because they are only moderately easy to disseminate and cause moderate morbidity and low mortality. Category C agents include emerging pathogens that could potentially be engineered for mass dissemination, but are not presently likely to be used as a bioterrorist weapon.

Wow! That’s a long quote…sorry!  But it gives a good background on the subject.  So now, lets go back and cover the issues.

Bio-Engineering and the Threat of Bioterrorism - For some time now, I’ve maintained an interest in the ever accelerating science of bio-engineering and DNA modification, and the potential threat of bioterrorism.

As background, here is a paper from 2003 titled The Darker Bioweapons Future.  Bullet points:

• National Academy of Sciences - advances in biotechnology, and the difficulty in detecting nefarious biological activity, have the potential to create a more dangerous BW threat.

• Unknown effects of some of these engineered biological agents could be worse than any disease known to man.

• The genomic revolution is pushing biotechnology into an explosive growth phase.

• Detection of new bio-engineered pathogens will depend increasingly on more specific hum-int and require a closer and qualitatively different relationship between the intelligence and biological sciences communities.

In the same timeframe, there was an article, Bioterror Researchers Build a More Lethal Mousepox that highlighted the very scary situation of researchers created a genetically altered strain of mousepox virus — a close relative of the smallpox virus – so potent it kills mice vaccinated against the mouse disease…Dr. Mark Buller, the lead researcher said, “We want to be sure that the new vaccine will protect against a smallpox challenge as effectively as the old vaccine did.“This raised concerns that some biotechnology research may be generating lethal knowledge useful to bio-terrorists…and further, raised questions about whether the results of federally financed and supported should be published without filtering…National Research Council considering creation of a new layer of review on similar, sensitive research.

A bit more than a year ago, an article in the Washington Post, Custom-Built Pathogens Raise Bioterror Fears brought shudders to my body.  If you are not yet scared enough by what terrorists might do next, then read this:

Professor Eckard Wimmer teaches in the Department of Molecular Biology at the State University of New York in Stony Brook. Four years ago he became famous for creating the first live, fully artificial virus in his lab. It was a variation of the bug that causes polio, yet it was different from any virus known to nature.

Wimmer, moreover, built it from scratch. The virus was made wholly from nonliving parts, using equipment and chemicals on hand in Wimmer’s lab. The crucial part, the genetic code, was picked up for free on the Internet.

Hundreds of tiny bits of viral DNA were purchased online, with final assembly in the lab.

Wimmer’s purpose was to show that science had crossed a threshold into an era in which genetically altered and made-from-scratch germ weapons were feasible. In the four years since his breakthrough, other scientists have made advances faster than Wimmer imagined possible. This means that while the U.S. government invests billions of dollars to find vaccines and treatments for known biological pathogens –from anthrax to bubonic plague — terrorists may be spending a few tens of thousands of dollars creating pathogens for which there is no vaccine or treatment because science does not even know that these pathogens exist (because, until produced in the lab, they do not). “The future,” Wimmer says, “has already come.”

Steven Block, a Stanford University biophysicist and former president of the Biophysical Society, offers this grim assessment: “The biological weapons threat is multiplying and will do so regardless of the countermeasures we try to take. You can’t stop it, any more than you can stop the progress of mankind. You just have to hope that your collective brainpower can muster more resources than your adversaries’.”

And finally, before taking an extreme left turn to make another commentary on the coming bifurcated evolution of the human species, please read and review the debate on Synthetic Biology and Terrorism that appeared in the Technology Review a few months ago.

Keeping Synthetic Biology Away from Terrorists
Scientists want to adopt a set of declarations to improve the security of research that uses DNA synthesis…

Synthetic biology is the attempt to design novel biological devices to improve life, such as bacteria that can produce energy or drugs cheaply or new biological therapies. But the field also has a potential dark side.

Scientists can order expressly designed chunks of DNA from a number of DNA synthesis companies around the world and then fuse these bits together to create new biological “parts.” And the same technology that could lead to valuable inventions can also be used to make deadly bioweapons — hypothetically, terrorists could order DNA to recreate the smallpox virus or design an even more deadly pathogen.

While most experts doubt that fringe groups currently have the ability to pull off such a feat of biological engineering, scientists worry that, as DNA synthesis technologies quickly become cheaper and more accessible, the possibility of nefarious use will grow...[Please read interview that follows]

Related Articles:
The Knowledge
Biotechnology’s advance could give malefactors the ability to manipulate life processes — and even affect human behavior.  Mark Williams
March/April 2006

Assessing the Threat
To predict the effects of bioweapons, we need more data.
Allison Macfarlane
March/April 2006

The threat of the future is a threat of the unknown and yet in development.  Believe what and who you will.  There are those who know only what they read.  Others know what they know, and more importantly, what they do not know.  It is the unknown that will eventually be the greatest threat.

A note on science and evolution…A recent intercourse on another blog revealed my opponent’s view that mine were “overthought ramblings of a ninny.”  Of course, this person’s inability to communicate intelligently (evidence typing in all CAPS and using a “,” instead of an apostrophe) suggests a misdirected accusation of “ninnyhood.”

It is clear that one of the real threats to humankind is that of the unevolved “pig farmer” who, unbeknownst to him, fails in the very basic and yet greatest knowledge…”knowing what it is that you do not know.”

If the reader will indulge this writer for a few moments more, perhaps you will be amused by these previous posts, Standards of Responsible Journalism? and Editorial Privilege - Boycotting Abuse.  Also see Spree’s

Failing to know or see the unknown, or even to contemplate that which is not known will lead to the bifurcation of human intelligence and evolution as explained in the post at the Right Truth,  Human race will ’split into two different species’.  By the way, it is my opinion that it is out of extraordinary ignorance and outright proof of a higher order and the splitting of the human race that anyone would deny that humans continue to adpat and evolve…just wait until the day that we are forced to shield ourselves from the rays of the Sun…and further, perhaps not in our time, but possibly in the future, as the Earth’s population continues to expand (exponentially) and its resources dwindle, there is likely to be a splintering of the human race…a higher and lower order if you will. It doesn’t take much looking to find evidence of that splitting already occuring.

Just in case someone wants to know a bit more about me…go ahead, it won’t hurt you…I won’t bite

If you wish, you can also find this post at Real Clear Politics (and “vote”) - I need the traffic :)   Besides I worked hard on this one…

Also see Spree’s  Sunday Headlines: A Smorgasbord of links and Snoopers’ Weekly Round Up For News Passed

bioweapons, countermeasures, National Bio Agro Defense Lab, synthetic biology, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Sphere: Related Content

5 Comments »

Two months ago, Republican Senator Larry Craig found himself in a compromised position after toe-tapping his way to a guilty plea on disorderly conduct charges.  He now blames the judge, and is claiming “insufficient evidence” as well as Constitutionally protected behavior in an effort to remove his guilty plea.  As if the disgrace wasn’t enough, there is proof of what really happened.

Hilariously funny video: Larry Craig: I Am Not Gay (I wish I knew how to embed it)

●  Craig is arguing that the judge erred by not allowing Craig to withdraw his plea, that the judge who sentenced Craig to a fine and probation never signed anything saying he accepted the guilty plea, and that Minnesota’s disorderly conduct law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction in a men’s restroom sex sting.

●  Disgraced Republican Sen. Larry Craig will argue before an appeals court that gay airport bathroom man on man sex is a protected right under the US constitution and the Minnesota law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction for soliciting gay sex, according to a new court filing.

At least when I spoof you, you know it.

“Gay Airport Sex is a God Given Right“

Previous serious posts regarding the erstwhile Senator from Idaho (does that mean that Craig has a “spud?”):

Commentary on Stupid People: The Senator and the Cyber-Threatener and Keep it in your pants dammit! - UPDATED.

Senator Larry Craig Sphere: Related Content

2 Comments »

It started with an innocent trip to Northwestern University to recruit students…then the Travelocity Roaming Gnome was kidnapped and went missing for 10 days.  Its ended with the Gnome being trashed…well, found in the trash.  The “gnomenapping” was an unprecendented crime in University history.

Travelocity gnome abducted from NU’s Transportation Center (10/16/07) - Travelocity’s two-foot tall, inanimate spokesperson - the Roaming Gnome - was delivered to the Transportation Center on Thursday. It sat in the lobby Thursday and Friday while Sabre Holdings, the company that operates Travelocity, held interviews in the center…

…The Roaming Gnome was snatched from the lobby of the Transportation Center…and was last seen around 11 a.m…he was noticed missing at around 12:30 p.m…At around 3:20 p.m., University Police responded to the call placed by Marek earlier in the day. The crime was identified as a theft in the official police report. As of yet, there are no leads or suspects.

Gnome found unharmed, center ‘euphoric’ (10/23/07) -  Case closed.  After an agonizing week during which no leads or suspects arose surrounding the disappearance of Travelocity’s Roaming Gnome on campus, employees at Northwestern’s Transportation Center, located at 600 Foster St., can breathe a little easier: The Roaming Gnome was found late last Friday. The “spokesgnome,” a two-foot tall figurine and star of Travelocity’s ad campaigns, had been missing since Oct. 12.

I like it better when he plugs an appliance into the electric outlet.  The Gnome Home.

Mor’on Gnome Napping:  Gnome-napping catching on in U.S.

gnomenapping, Northwestern University, Roaming Gnome Sphere: Related Content

3 Comments »

The California fires showed many things including the effects of irresponsible journalism, lack of fact checking and the resulting scurrilous hatred and bigotry that pervades America.  Frankly, in many places, the concepts of responsible journalism and blogging may, in themselves, be incongruous.  Standards of journalism in blogging…that is the question.

Do you trust what you read?  Just look at how many people jumped on the hate bandwagon and were sucked into a scam/hoax when a pseudo-website posted that MECha, a Mexican student organization promoting political organization and education.  Now, I open myself up to bigots who will immediately, without reading my body of posts, jump to a conclusion that I am a “liberal” in favor of illegal immigration, when the truth is that my opinions on illegal immigration make most of my friends cringe.  But it doesn’t mean that I abide by empty headed anti-Hispanic bigotry either.  There are no standards of integrity or fact checking on the Internet.  To expect responsible journalism to coincide with blogging is often ridiculous.

I think that I made myself pretty clear in my post on the hoax, Hoax Claims Responsibility for California Fires.  I also think that Ortho from Baudrillard’s Bastard covered what I am about to write on a very well-written example of what is right about blogdom in his post, wildfires, terrorism, and a “state of exception”.  He and I noted how a commenter to one of the posts spreading the rumor, even after the post was retracted (not really retracted but “corrected”), write “You know…maybe the important thing here is that even though the site is a hoax, the threat was believable. Consider _that_!”  Ortho’s words: The fact that the “hoax” and “the threat was believable” illustrates that many Americans live within a state of perpetual fear that occasionally expresses itself in a xenophobic fashion.  My less delicate words were: “Ladies and gentlemen, we need to be afraid for this Country if people, even after being told that hoaxed information was spread (inadvertantly, if albeit sloppily), then go on and justify it based on their own prejudices.”

By the way, even though the source is the Huffington Post, they have some information on the hoax URL:  A domain name search for “cnnheadlienews” shows the site is registered to a company with a Nashville, Tennessee address called Bleachboy Heavy Manufacturing Concern. The website associated with Bleachboy, BBoy.net, is a homepage that cycles through four different logos.  But remember the source…truth may be elusive.

One of the things I have found today is that people, even after learning that the initial post was a hoax, and even after being told that the information was incorrect, continued to rail on in their bias toward Hispanic Americans.  Especially now, I have many friends of Hispanic heritage.  The difference is that I can separate American citizens from illegal aliens.  The difference is that I do not see a problem with MECha teaching their heritage, so long as they never actually revolt against the government.  While I am not at all familiar with the movement, it appears that their’s is not unlike the striving to reclaim the identity of the Native American culture (see this explanation - I am not offended in any way by the writings here).  But I stray from my purpose.  Prejudice pervades the Internet.  And people, often those who reside on the far left of the intelligence bell curve, are able to find writings that coincide with their ignorant opinions.

Through no fault of their own, some blogs attract a narrowband, others attract a wider band.  Its very likely to be a random selection.  But if you want to read what I really think, you might be willing to read this one through to the end: Editorial Privilege - Boycotting Abuse.  And as I wrote in comment to Ortho’s blog post:

In the context of today’s America: - people are quick to attribute bad things to terrorism (e.g., the first impulse when the steam pipe exploded was “oh no, its a terrorist bombing.” When the I-35 bridge collapsed, the first reaction was, “there goes the first terrorist attack on our infrastructure.”)- as for the hoaxed report, I attribute that to the result of the Internet (along with cable news, there is an urge to scoop everyone else - and with that comes the sloppiness that newspaper people long ago knew how to avoid by “fact checking.”).Beyond fact checking, there is a question of credibility of the sources themselves. That’s probably a lengthy discussion about ethics in journalism and whether or to what extent Internet, or so called, “citizen journalists” should be held to any standard of being factual.The truth is that right after the first repeat of the hoaxed MECha report, who knows how many bloggers sprung onto it, and spread it…the worst part of that was the attribution of terrorist or separatist motives of the organization itself. At least two commentors at one of the sites immediately jumped at the opportunity to let everyone know how bad “these people” were…one made some snide remarks about Azatlan, and I’ll bet without ever checking to see what that word even meant.These are sorrowful times in this country. Words are expressed and meaning is attributed to them when the sources are not questioned. The result is chaos in communication and misinformation being spread simply by the push of the “send button.”The state of exception indeed. You are so right. In many ways the attacks of Sept. 11 transformed our country in very negative ways. In some ways, the terrorists achieved their goals.

Are there standards of journalism in the blogsphere?  Of course there are.  Perhaps too inconsistently…here and there…but not all the time.  It doesn’t make any particular blogger any less a person or one better than the other, that’s for sure!  But it does mean that the least common denominator on the Internet will seek out “information” that confirms or validates their own beliefs.  Given the theory of the bell curve, then there is a responsibility.  The question is who to believe?  And what do you believe when you read it?

The objective of this blogspace is to provide readers, not only with headlines and endless direct quotes from sources that you could access by yourself or even contributions from self-proclaimed experts, but also to lend a perspective that is based on my personal experience.  You, the reader can either agree or disagree with me.  But you don’t need me to cut and paste paragraphs from someone else’s written work (just as you don’t need me to provide you with someone else’s complete works).  What you get here is my experience and exposure to thing