All right folks, you're about to get a true "first."
Over the last several months, Ward and I have been brain storming, kicking, screaming, cajoling, whining and moaning to put together a new product for Military.com that focuses heavily on investigative reporting of the defense industry.
Well, our temper tantrums have paid off and we're going to launch the new online blog/newsletter in May (which will remain nameless until launch). But in the meantime, I'd like to introduce the product's new editor, Colin Clark.
I've known Colin my entire career and we've been good friends out on the hustings as we both kicked over rocks for the next big story. He's a powerhouse in the defense industry news business, with a resume that sports stints at Defense Week, Defense News, Congressional Quarterly and, more recently, Space News.
While we're putting together the final design and wrapping up marketing plans for Colin's new gig, he's going to keep the engines turning and post his content here. He knows he's being thrown into a pot of boiling oil head first with you guys, and I don't expect you to pull any punches.
So please welcome Colin and we all look forward to his kick butt reporting.
-- Christian
Off to the Sandbox
Alright folks, here's the deal.
I'm headed back to Iraq after about a two year hiatus. It was pretty violent and crazy the last time I was there and I'm interested to see how things have changed for the better -- or worse -- first hand.
I go with a different mindset this time, however. Though it's my third trip there, I'm much more cautious this time around. Don't be expecting rip roaring firefight dispacthes and daily raid and QRF debriefs from me. I've got a kid now, so running into the Humvee at every sound of an IED or small arms ain't gonna happen, sorry.
But as you probably imagine, I can't stand sitting around the FOB picking my nose. So, I'll be "oscar mike" quite a bit, seeing the lay of the land and getting into operations.
I plan to travel first to Anbar and hang out with the Marines for a week. I'll get a gander at some of the "awakening" progress and hopefully take a stroll down Route Michigan in Ramadi after spending a violent month there in '05. Then I'm off for a few days to the MV-22 squadron based at al Asad. After that, I chop to the Army in Diyala and hook up with a unit employing the interim Land Warrior suite of technologies.
Ward will be honchoing the blog while I'm gone, so try not to give him too hard a time. I'll be throwing blog posts, pics and videos his way, so I'll stay in touch with loyal DT readers. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any buddies over there you want me to give a shout out to, or if you have any coverage ideas where I'm gonna be.
So, for now, adios. I'm hopping on a United flight to Kuwait tonight, then off to "the suck." I'll be back in DC in a month. Keep in touch!
“This holiday season, America Supports You is giving you a new way to send your thanks to the troops - by text message! When you send your message of thanks to 89279 (TXASY) between November 17th and 22nd, you’ll receive a special thanks in return. Also, we’ll be displaying those messages on our ASY Giving Thanks widget far and wide across the internet. Just another way that you can support our brave military men and women serving in 177 countries around the world.”
Click on the widget above to link to the ASY site. And Happy Thanksgiving to all of those serving the nation away from home this year.
The second annual Milblog Conference kicked off today in Arlington, Va., with a surprise intro from President Bush.
Speaking via a pre-recorded message before a roomful of eager online pioneers, Bush stressed the importance of success in Iraq and thanked the inhabitants of the blogosphere for their efforts in getting their personal stories out.
Beaming smiles and giddy claps greeted the president’s virtual address from the largely patriotic crew of cutting-edge blog authors. Index fingers tapped furiously as the milbloggers produced live updates for their sites, no doubt showing off their new clout in this brave new virtual world.
The Bush address was followed by a similarly cheery update from Rear Adm. Mike Fox, who helps honcho the public affairs shop in Baghdad. He explained to the bloggers eager for war stories that the new counterinsurgency strategy is beginning to push back the “evil and diabolical” enemy America faces.
“We’re the good guys in this,” he said to whoops and claps.
Keep a closer eye on the Milblogger conference with updated feeds and live streams at one of several links, including:
The New York Times' Dan Mitchell was kind enough to give our little site a shout-out over the weekend, in his "What's Online" column. It's second time in about a month he's given Defense Tech a nod.
Meanwhile, Jewcy -- a smart, new online magazine for members of the tribe -- spends an inordinate amount of bits profiling me. The piece is way, way too generous to me. "Whiz Kid of Warfare?" Hardly. And it doesn't give nearly enough credit to Defense Tech's real heroes -- guys like David Axe, David Hambling, and Haninah Levine. But the story, written by Michael Weiss, does get at the heart of what makes this site cool. And for that, I am extremely grateful.
Old Crows, Nest Here
If you're an "Old Crow" -- or a friend of one -- drop me a line. I'm trying to learn more about the fine, fine work y'all are doing. All conversations will be off-the-record, naturally.
Vegas!
Any Defense Tech people in the Vegas area? I'm headed out to Sin City tomorrow for the weekend, to catch a little family entertainment.
If anyone wants to share a beverage, the first round is on me. We'll even pour out a little for Anna Nicole. E-mail me if you're down.
DT's Biggest Hits, Best Posts of January
January has been a hell of a month for Defense Tech: traffic is through the roof, reader participation is way up, and the quality of material is at an all-time high. So here are the top five most popular posts for the month.
The Law Catches Up To Private Militaries, Embeds Since the start of the Iraq war, tens of thousands of heavily-armed military contractors have been roaming the country -- without any law, or any court to control them. That may be about to change, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow P.W. Singer notes in a Defense Tech exclusive.
Navy's Deadly New Darts David Hambling reveals a fearsome piece of hardware: a modified satellite-guided bomb, releasing thousands of darts, each carrying a payload of a powerful chemical called DETA.
Electric Lasers Shoot Mortars, Gain Strength Real-life laser weapons continue to inch closer to reality. Two recent examples: Raytheon says its "prototype solid-state Laser Area Defense System successfully detonated 60-millimeter mortars." And Northrop Grumman is opening up a new "directed energy production facility" for building high energy, solid-state lasers.
Second Nork Nuke Test Coming? I was skeptical when I heard the news that "senior defense officials" now think North Korea has "put everything in place to conduct a [second nuclear] test without any notice or warning." But the wonks over at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies are warning us: believe the hype.
China Space Attack: Unstoppable China has shown it can destroy a satellite in orbit. What could the U.S. do to stop Beijing, if it decided to attack an American orbiter next? Short answer: nothing.
And here, in no particular order, are ten posts that didn't get quite as many clicks, but really show off the best of the work being done at Defense Tech HQ:
"Non-Lethal" Viruses to "Neutralize" Cities Inside a Cold War plan to develop "biological agents" -- including ones that can lead to "inflammation of the brain, coma and death" -- for "incapacitating" enemies on the battlefield or "neutralizing hostile cities."
Cop Tech Key to Iraq Fight? All the talk is about more U.S. troops. But if there's going to be a shot in hell of winning the war in Iraq, it'll be up to the Iraqi police. And those cops will need to be equipped with the latest crime-fighting gear.
Mr. Plow Eagerly Awaits Nuclear War Step off, Al Gore! Eric Hundman has found a quick fix to global warming. All we need is a handful of nuclear weapons.
Behind the Ethiopian Blitz
David Axe examines how Ethiopia's tiny air force, which just four years ago was in danger of implosion, spearheaded the effort to drive Islamist militias out of southern Somalia.
Real Iraq Surge: Electronic Attack? Any U.S. military surge in Iraq will be far more than a troop increase. It'll include a slew of new technologies to interrupt and infiltrate insurgent networks.
New Army Camos: No Place to Hide? The Army's new uniform was supposed to blend into every environment -- from deserts to jungles to cityscapes. Has it lived up to the promise?
Merc Chopper Shot Down Blackwater should've seen it coming, that one of their copters in Iraq was bound to get blown out of the sky. David Axe explains.
Behind China's Sat-Killer Test Six posts, covering everything you wanted to know about Beijing's strike against a satellite, more than 500 miles up.
200 Years of "Mind Control" Countless thousands of people complain today about the government taking over their minds. But the problem goes way back -- to 1810, David Hambling explains. And not all of the claims are completely crazy.
Get Listed for Your Defense Tech Fix
There have been a whole bunch of fresh faces visiting the site, lately. So I want to make sure y'all know about my weekly-ish, insiders-only, e-mail newsletter. It gives folks a first look at articles I'm writing, and lets 'em know about updates to the site. If you dig Defense Tech, I'd strongly recommend you sign up here. (You'll need a Yahoo ID, which is a bit of a pain. But it'll be worth it, I promise.)
UPDATE 01/25/07 11:27 AM: Reader MS says "one doesn't necessarily need a yahooID to subscribe to your newsletter. Sending a mail to defensetech-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then confirming it by replying to the following mail does the trick, as well."
Enough with the popularity contest. Here are my picks -- in more-or-less chronological order -- for the 50 best Defense Tech posts of 2006.
"Q Branch's" Stock Market Shenanigans Killer robots, cheeky Brits, cute marine mammals, shady government officials, insider trading -- plus, a gratuitous reference to James Bond -- all in one post.
Laser Weapons "Almost Ready?" Not! If you’re into military technology at all, somewhere in the back of your mind, you want laser guns to happen. That doesn't mean they will.
Kneel Before the Centaur Like a lot of us, former Navy electrician Dennis Buller is worried about our troops over in Iraq. But he's actually built a machine to do something about it.
The Best Weapon David Axe attends a tanker's memorial service in Iraq.
Real-Life Ray Gun: Say When? I was skeptical, when I first heard about the idea of using lasers and man-made lightning to detonate explosives at a distance. Now, a little less so.
Be Mickey Mouse's Spy Here's your big chance, junior spooks: the Walt Disney Company needs an ""Intelligence Analyst."
The Enemy is Me Last summer, a U.S. Colonel in Baghdad told me that I was America's enemy, or very close to it.
Mini-Sensors for "Military Omniscience" The Pentagon's new way to spot insurgents: a set of palm-sized, networked sensors that can be scattered around a war zone. It’s part of a larger Defense Department effort to establish “military omniscience” and “ubiquitous monitoring.”
Stealth's Radioactive Secret There’s a simple technology that could transform civil aviation -- slashing fuel consumption, reducing greenhouse emissions and cutting noise. The problem, David Hambling explains, is it's a military secret.
New Detectors Sniff Terrorists' Scents
The Pentagon's fringe science arm wants to keep track of potential enemies-of-the-state in every way imaginable: not just by sight, or by sound, or by their e-mail; but by their smell, as well.
Laser Labs Go Back to the Future George Neil and Bob Yamamoto don't remember exactly where they were when they found out that the Pentagon was canceling their laser cannon project. But they remember how they felt.
Air Force One Scare; Real Security Sacrificed The headline sure seemed scary: "Web site exposes Air Force One defenses," Steven Schwartz notes. Too bad the article didn't mention that the site is a firefighter safety manual, to help rescue passengers.
Iran's Kooky, Incendiary Arsenal Super-fast underwater missiles ain't the half of it. Iran's armed forces are rolling out a slew of new military hardware.
China's R&D: Don't Freak China is about to pass the U.S. in the development of defense and commercial technology, Matthew Tompkins warns. And they're gonna take our lunch money, too.
Giant Slingshot: New Way to Space? All space projects get into orbit pretty much the same way – by burning lots of rocket fuel. But what if, David Hambling asks, we could throw something so hard, it would wind up in space?
NSA Sweep "Waste of Time," Analyst Says It'd be one thing if the NSA's massive sweep of our phone records was actually helping catch terrorists. But a leading data analyst says that "it's a waste of time... let[ting] the real terrorists run free."
The Tech That Took Out Zarqawi Ten years ago, taking out Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi with F-16s would have been an impossible task. Not any more, David Axe reports.
Enter the BomBot One of the nice things about being editor of Defense Tech is that people occasionally show up at your apartment with military robots.
Superbomb - or Crapshoot? A panel convenes, to assess the not-quite-dead controversy over a phantom superbomb. Sharon Weinberger wonders why she wasn't invited.
Clowns Sabotage Nuke Missile On Tuesday morning, a retired Catholic priest and two veterans put on clown suits, busted into a nuclear missile launch facility, and began beating the silo cover with hammers, in an attempt to take the Minuteman III missile off-line. Seriously.
Semper Fi Sauvignon From the halls of Montezuma to Fallujah, the United States Marine Corps have proved themselves to be the most resourceful warriors on the planet. Now, a single test remains: Make a rich, smooth red wine.
CIA's Wacky, Online 'Personality Quiz' These are tough times for the CIA. But can things have grown so dire at Langley that the it has to resort to gimmicks like a wink-wink-trying-to-be-ironic-and-cool- but-instead-looking-even-more-dorky recruiting website?
Area 51: Hype vs. Reality A veteran aviation journo writes about secret airplanes he believes might be under development at Area 51. David Axe wonders how much proof he has.
Robotic Frisbees of Death The Air Force thinks it has an answer to the most vexing problem in counter-insurgency: frisbees. Not just any frisbees, mind you. Robotic frisbees. Heavily armed robotic frisbees.
High-Tech Uniforms Finally Heading to War A collection of high-tech soldier gear, 15 years and half a billion dollars in the making, will finally make it into battle.
Spyboys Go Web 2.0 How the military keeps tabs on overseas TV channels, 24/7 -- and what it means for the future of intelligence.
Cash-Poor Army Pays Big to Pimp Pricey 'Future' The Army is quickly going broke, its leaders insist. But there's one Army account that the generals are still managing to keep packed to the brim: marketing.
Bush: Space is for Soldiers Theresa Hitchens explores the President's new space plan -- and finds a martial bent.
NORK Nuclear Test: It's A Dud Jeffrey Lewis is the first to figure out that Kim Il Jung's nuclear test isn't all it was cracked up to be.
BattleHog Drone's Story Stinks David Hambling asks: Could a home security consultant operating out of a Manhattan apartment have built the latest and greatest killer drone?
"The Deadlies" Defense Tech's search for the most insanely hazardous gear, ever.
Mechanical Mole Men, Attack! Throughout the ages, bad guys have loved bunkers. Which is why the Air Force wants teams of tunneling, foot-long "subterranean vehicles."
Pentagon Plan: Hit Anywhere on Earth, in an Hour The secret connection between Nordstrom's toddlers department and the Pentagon push to "strike virtually anywhere on the face of the Earth within 60 minutes."
Bump: Def Tech's 20 Biggest Posts of 2006
Out of the hundreds and hundreds of technologies, tactics, and political maneuvers Defense Tech highlighted, here are the twenty you guys clicked on the most in 2006. Thanks for another great year, everyone.
1) Clowns Sabotage Nuke Missile On Tuesday morning, a retired Catholic priest and two veterans put on clown suits, busted into a nuclear missile launch facility, and began beating the silo cover with hammers, in an attempt to take the Minuteman III missile off-line. Seriously.
2) Look Out, Pyongyang? Rail Gun in the Works One of the big selling points of the Navy's new destroyer is that it can rain a whole lot of hell -- 20 rocket-propelled artillery shells, in less than a minute -- on targets up to 63 nautical miles away... But really, that's the start. The ship's real power will come when it moves away from chemical powders to shoot its projectiles -- and starts relying on electromagnetic fields to shoot projectiles almost six kilometers/second, instead.
3) SEAL Ship: Silent But Deadly Every shipbuilder in the Navy these days talks about how his hulking destroyer or Cold War sub is now going to sneak SEALs onto shore... Military.com overlord Chris Michel was down in San Diego, and saw a pretty cool new prototype ship that's been designed from scratch to handle the mission.
4) Air Force Plan: Hack Your Nervous System The brain has always been a battlefield. New weapons might be able to hack directly into your nerve cells and neural pathways.
5) Marines Quiet About Brutal New Weapon
War is hell. But it’s worse when the Marines bring out their new urban combat weapon, the SMAW-NE. Which may be why they’re not talking about it, much.
8) Robotic Frisbees of Death It ain't easy, picking out evil-doers in the urban canyons of the Middle East; there are so many places to hide. Taking 'em out can be even harder, what with all those noncombatants hanging nearby. But the Air Force thinks it might have an answer to this most vexing problem in counter-insurgency: frisbees. Not just any frisbees, mind you. Robotic frisbees. Heavily armed robotic frisbees.
9) David and the Inflatable Goliath Inside the Darpa project to build a humongous blimp that can haul 500-1000 tons' worth of soldiers and gear halfway across the world in less than a week.
10) Falcon Fills Blackbird's Shoes A decade after the final retirement of Lockheed Martin's Mach-3 SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, the Air Force is preparing to test a plane that flies more than three times as fast. Two Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicles, built by Lockheed Martin with input from NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), will take to the air in 2008. The $100-million program aims to field a Mach-10 unmanned aircraft that can spy on foreign powers, drop bombs or even lob satellites into orbit.
11) Giant Slingshot: New Way to Space? All space projects get into orbit pretty much the same way – by burning lots of rocket fuel, a spaceship powers itself past the sky. But what if there was a different approach? What if we could throw something so hard, it would wind up in space?
12) Facial Armor Rears Its Ugly Head No matter how many times soldiers and marines say they're not interested, there's always someone trying to wrap them up in heavier, hotter, more uncomfortable armor. The latest culprit: MTek Weapon Systems, which is pushing Stormtrooper-esque "facial armor" for our troops.
13) Air Force's Secret Drone Program Revealed A new, $1.7 billion, "Penetrating High Altitude Endurance" drone is thought to be able to cruise at 70,000-80,000 ft,soaring high above defended territory.
14) CIA's Wacky, Online 'Personality Quiz' These are tough times for the Central Intelligence Agency. But can things have grown so dire at Langley that the CIA has to resort to gimmicks like this wink-wink-trying-to-be-ironic-and-cool-but-instead-looking-even-more-dorky recruiting website?
15) Pain Ray, Sonic Blaster, Laser Dazzler - All in One For a while, now, I've been hearing about the Defense Department's plans to outfit a fighting vehicle with a pain ray, a sonic blaster, and a laser dazzler, too. I never figured they'd actually send the thing to Iraq, though. Project Sheriff, I assumed, would just be the military equivalent of a concept car -- a chance to see if some whiz-bang gear really worked together. But the Pentagon may wind up deploying this straight-outta-sci-fi jalopy, after all.
16) Battle Ball for Sailor Training Check out the Navy's nine-foot plastic ball. It sits on wheels, enabling unlimited rotation in any direction -- making virtual reality feel a whole lot more real.
17) Chinese Laser vs. U.S. Sats? Was it just China Hawks' hype? Or did Beijing really blind U.S. satellites by firing high-powered lasers at 'em? And what does that mean for the future of America's eyes and ears in the sky?
18) The Tech That Took Out Zarqawi Ten years ago, taking out Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi with F-16s would have been an impossible task. Not any more.
19) 'Invisible' Boomerang 'Bot It's nice to have a set of robotic eyes in the sky. But surveillance drones tend to be loud, and rather obvious, as they keep watch above a Middle Eastern city. That's why a small company out of Minneapolis, VeraTech Areo, has built a hand-held spy drone that it says is practically invisible.
20) Area 51: Hype vs. Reality A veteran aviation journo writes about secret airplanes he believes might be under development at the Air Force's remote Groom Lake test facility in Nevada, a.k.a. Area 51. How much proof does he have?
...is Noah Shachtman doing? Find out in the March issue of Wired magazine.
"Give Back to Those Who Give It All"
Good stuff. The Overlords and the Military Channel are teaming up to raise money for charities that support servicemembers and their families.
Beginning this holiday season and continuing throughout 2007, the Military Channel and Military.com will spotlight a different military-focused charity through monthly on-air and online promotions. United under one banner, www.ReconnectAmerica.com will serve as a portal to all charities in the program, and provide the tools people need to make a difference in the military community. Visitors to the site can make online donations, send e-cards to servicemembers, post their thoughts on message boards, watch video postings from the frontline and access a "military-buddy" locator database.
Operation Gratitude is the first of 12 national charities that will be highlighted as part of Reconnect America. Founded after 9/11 as a means to lift troops' morale, Operation Gratitude brings a smile to servicemembers' faces by sending care packages overseas.
Following Operation Gratitude, the following charities are scheduled to be spotlighted on ReconnectAmerica.com in early 2007:
* Armed Services YMCA: The Armed Services YMCA has provided services to the military community for over 140 years, offering essential programs such as childcare, hospital assistance, spousal support, health & wellness services, holiday meals and many others.
* Fisher House Foundation: Since its inception in 1990, the Fisher House Foundation has provided over 2 million days of lodging to military families in need, offering a "home away from home" that enables family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful time---during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury.
* The National Military Family Association (NMFA): NMFA is dedicated to providing information to and representing the interests of family members of the uniformed services. NMFA sponsors a military spouse scholarship program, the NMFA Very Important Patriot Award, and the NMFA Family Award.
* The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc. (TAPS): TAPS is a one of a kind non-profit Veteran Service Organization offering hope, healing, comfort and care to thousands of American armed forces families facing the death of a loved one each year.
In addition to the support received from visitors to ReconnectAmerica.com, the Military Channel and Military.com will make monetary and other in-kind donations to each organization throughout the year. Furthering exposure and penetration for the Reconnect America program, the Military Channel will also work with its distribution partners in communities nationwide to build customized local citizen involvement in this charitable effort.
DC Drink Debrief
When Jeffrey Lewis and I suggested the other day that some folks should meet us in a bar in DC, I figured maybe 10 geeks, wonks, and bloggers would show. 15, tops.
So you can imagine how psyched I was, at 8 o'clock or so, when our little nerd soiree have become a full-fledged throwdown. I'd say there were at least 50 people jammed into the Big Hunt's attic. Among the whiskey-inhalers were hitters from DHS, State, the Hill, the Pentagon, and some, uh, "other government agencies." Bloggeratti like Matt Stoller (thanks for the shoes!), Swift Cat, Buckethead, and Spencer Ackerman made their presences felt. And pretty much the entire Defense Tech crew was in effect: Imaginary Sharon, Axe, Spooky Shane, Ryan 27B, AC Wonk, High Tech Haninah, T-Hitch, Pogo Nick... I'm sure I'm missing more than a few.
The last thing I remember was Greg Grant and one of my old college buddies punching me in the chest. Repeatedly. I can't wait to get hit again.
Paging Mr. CVN-21
Speaking of the Big Hunt party, I promised to get a card from a particular nuclear engineer... and then spaced on it. So if you worked on designing the CVN-21, drop me a line.
ABC of Pain
ABC News follows up on Hambling's pain ray report... and quotes both him and me in the process. Which is mighty kind of them.
And while I'm giving my horn a honk, here are two other recent press hits I forgot to mention:
Thursday, December 7th is "a day that will soon live in infamy for a whole bunch of [new] reasons," says the Arms Control Wonk.
That's the day he and I are hosting the 3rd annual Defense Tech vs. Arms Control Wonk soiree, in DC.
Come debate the finer policy points of military robotics, nuclear proliferation, and Irish whiskey with us, upstairs at the Big Hunt, 1345 Connecticut Ave., NW.
The affair will be strictly off-the-record, of course. It'll kick off around 5, and -- if history is any guide -- go real late. C'mon down.
Inside Defense, the invaluable suite of military-related newsletters, is live-blogging the Gates confirmation hearings. And there's already a bunch of great stuff up -- from whether we're winning the Iraq war to whether we can afford Future Combat Systems. Go check it out.
UPDATE 12:04 PM: One thing that jumps out at me is how realistic -- and pessimistic -- Gates is about Iraq. The status quo there is "not acceptable," he says. But, at the same time, there are "no new ideas" on Iraq.
Get Your News On
I almost always forget to announce it. But I've got a weekly-ish, insiders-only, e-mail newsletter, to give folks a first look at articles I'm writing, and let 'em know about updates to the site. If you dig Defense Tech, I'd strongly recommend you sign up here.
Hooray for Hambling!
I'm not sure exactly what the blog equivalent of a standing ovation might be. But whatever it is, let's give it to Defense Tech's London bureau chief, David Hambling.
David did an absolutely amazing job with the site, while us Yanks were busy stuffing our faces. If you haven't gone back and checked out his posts on items like man-made earthquakes, pimped-out gunships, military holograms, and atomic automobiles, click on over, now. They'll make you want to stand up and cheer for our man in London.
Noah vs. Fox News
I'll be on Fox News Sunday morning, around 9:20 am eastern time, to talk about my latest piece for Wired. It's a true crime story, centered around a triple-homicide in Tacoma, Washington.
Last February, Ulysses Handy murdered Darren Christian, Daniel Varo and Lindy Cochran. The killer and his victims were friends -- both offline and on. The aftermath of the crime played out equally in real life, and on the MySpace social network, too. Which made for some awfully strange twists and turns.
The story's not online, yet. But I'll definitely let you know when it goes up.
Reader Steve Weintz starts us off with a fine, fine suggestion: the steampunk jetpack.
Resembling a cast-iron uterus with whirring, razor-sharp dentata more than a jetpack proper, Andreas Petzoldt has spent the last decade perfecting every rocket lad's dream on his own dime...
It hasn't been tested yet, but... it's hard not to imagine the test flight. With great ebullience, Andreas soars into the heavens. He sneers at gravity with contempt, a spurned mistress, a whore who embraces all but him. But suddenly he hears a horrifying choke and shudder and a sickening vertigo creeping up from his genitalia and into his bowels as he plummets back down to the ground, strapped to over 200 pounds of highly-explosive rocket fuel and whirring metal blades.
Oh hell, yeah. This is the best idea the Overlords have had in a while: Kit Up! is Military.com's new gadget blog, devoted to "the stuff you weren't issued but that you couldn't have done without during your military life."
Written by ginormous Iraq vet Eric Daniel, the site checks out "the items that made things bearable during a deployment or that allowed you to accomplish your mission. Maybe your gear even saved your life. Kit Up can be new or old, expensive or cheap. It just needs to have mattered to you."
This watchband saved my wrist from being split in two during a high seas covert ship boarding. We were attempting to board a vessel carrying illegal cargo during the most unpleasant sea conditions... As the seas began to swell up we were stuck bellow the curve of the hull and were pushed up into the vessel. When this happened my arm was pinned between the console railing of the RIHB and the hull of the vessel. Had it not been for this watchband my wrist(arm) would have been split between the two bones... This band differers from many others in that it is a single piece of nylon that wraps around the wrist twice and is secured with Velcro. Others only use an inch or so of Velcro to secure the band or include plastic rings where the band loops through to tie back to itself - both of which are far from being really safe. Heck, I've been known to take a $692 watch off of the metal band and use one of these babys instead!
Vet's Day Bump: Laptops for Injured Troops
There are worse injuries to have, of course. But for a guy like me -- who makes his living by typing -- there are few things more terrifying than the idea of losing the use of my hands.
That's the situation Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss found himself in the summer of '05, when the tank company commander (and blogger) was wounded by an IED in Iraq. He felt humbled, humiliated, broken. "Being fed, bathed, taken care of like an infant — not exactly a fitting role for a warrior who's used to being the one who helps others. It sure as hell wasn't a role that I wanted," he noted.
But that began to change, when the Soldiers' Angels charity provided him with a laptop, and a buddy got him voice-controlled software to operate it. Suddenly, he was able to connect to the outside world. And he was able to take up his blog again, too.
"I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt, after[wards]," he writes. "I can't wait to do the same, to give that feeling to another soldier at Walter Reed."
Now, you can help the Captain out. He's inspired Project Valour-IT, which has distributed nearly 600 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country.
There are a bunch of ways to pitch in. The first is to click this button here:
Another way is to bid on Air Force memorabilia, by clicking one of these twolinks.
Give or bid as much as you can. I just kicked in a C-note. You do the same. This is important, people.
Axe Takes Charge
Yo. This is David Axe hailing. I'm in charge for a couple days while Noah relocates to sunny California for a hard-earned six months of drink and debauchery. Send all your tips, gripes and salutations to the same old address. On a sidenote: I've just joined the staff of Defense Technology International, edited by regular DT contributor and mad scientist-lover Sharon Weinberger. We're still an Aviation Week insert for the time being, but beginning in '07 we relaunch as a stand-alone mag. Check us out.
Singel Signs In
Ryan Singel has broken some of the biggest privacy and security stories of the last few years -- like AT&T's cheek-to-cheek cooperation with the NSA's domestic spying, and Jet Blue's fishy use of customer records, to test a federal passenger-screening database. These days, he heads up Wired News' horribly-named, must-read security blog, 27B Stroke 6. And he's still scooping folks on the regular; check out his coverage of the roll-your-own boarding pass generator.
So I am really fired up to have someone with this strong a track record blogging for Defense Tech. He'll be taking over the site this week, as I pack up for -- and drive out to -- Los Angeles, where I'll be spending the next few months.
Be good to my whiskey buddy Ryan. Send him tips. I'll see y'all on the other side.
DT in SF: It's On
I'm getting together with a bunch of folks from the Bay Area chapter of the Defense Tech gang on Friday. If you're in the neighborhood, come on down: 7pm, at the Hotel Utah Saloon, 4th and Bryant. Should be a blast.
New Space Policy? No Way!
I'm sure a bazillion bloggers are going to squeal in paranoia about thisWashington Post story, on the Bush Administration's new space policy. But, of course, they could have been squealing a full week earlier, if they had just read Defense Tech first.
Thanks to Haninah Levine and Theresa Hitchens, this site was on top of the more martial space plan on October 11th. Other elements of the story -- the Air Force's "Counterspace Operations Doctrine," the Chinese laser supposedly that's targeting U.S. satellites -- have all been addressed here, too. A long time ago.
And so, with that, I'm ushering in a new category: "Eat DT's Dust" -- stories that the mainstream press takes up, long after this site has dealt with 'em. I'm posthumously inducting Jeffrey Lewis' post, "NORK Nuclear Test: It's A Dud," into the club, too. The Wonk beat all the big papers to the now-universal conclusion.
There are plenty of times, of course, when Defense Tech just points to, or comments on, stories that have been broken by outlets like the Times, the Post, or ABC News. But when it's the reverse -- well, I figure we ought to strut our stuff just a little bit more.
DT in SF
I'm in the Bay Area this week, researching a couple of stories. If folks are interested, maybe I'll put together a little Defense Tech drinking session high-minded military policy debate. Drop me a line if you're down.
Woodward, Overlords Chat
Over the last year, Military.com editor Ward Carroll's podcasts have featured such high profile guests as Joe Galloway, Tom Ricks, CNO Mike Mullen, and, uh, me. Today might be Ward's biggest "get" yet: State of Denial author Bob Woodward. Go listen up.
So it's only natural, in the wake of the tragedy at the West Nickel Mines Amish School, that the MSM is turning to him for analysis. Here's an NBC Nightly News segment from last night, and a Newsweek Q&A, posted this afternoon.
NEWSWEEK: Has the Amish community ever had to deal with anything like this?
Tom Shachtman: No, this is terrifyingly unique. That’s not to say they haven’t faced tragedy before. On a regular basis you do hear about events where a truck hits a buggy on the road and kills four or five people. Less occasionally, you’ll hear about a fire in a home that can’t get put out. But in terms of multiple deaths as a result of this kind of violence, this is incredibly unusual. I can’t think of a similar incident.
How familiar with violence are a lot of these children?
Not at all. This is a total shock to these kids because they have no experience with violence. We do, and our children do. We watch violence all the time. We’re not impervious to it, but we are familiar with it whereas these Amish children are not at all. They don’t watch TV; don’t watch movies. These are the most vulnerable children you could imagine. They’ve been tremendously sheltered all of their lives against depictions of violence. They are naïve, but they’re very nice. You’ve never seen a group of more polite people in your life than some of these Amish kids. And they’re very vulnerable because of it and in our society, vulnerability gets taken for weakness, and that’s what happened here.
UPDATE 10/04/06 12:47 AM: Here he is in the Times, the New York Post, and the AP.
Repent!
Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, starts in a few hours. Which means I probably won't post anything until Tuesday morning. Have an easy fast, all you repenters out there.
Whisteblower Takes to YouTube
ABCNews.com is running a story on Michael De Kort, the Lockheed whisteblower that's drawing abunch of attention. for airing his complaints about the company's shoddy Coast Guard work for on YouTube. The network website was silly enough to quote yours truly about the subject.
Noah Shac[h]tman, editor-in-chief of DefenseTech.org, which monitors military happenings both at home and abroad, says it's necessary to ensure the public's ability to blow the whistle.
"I think it's never been easier for people to call B.S. on the shenanigans of their employers or their government," said Shachtman. "Whether it's soldiers from Abu Graib slipping out pictures and getting them to the press, or whether we're talking about bloggers reporting from the front lines. Digital media has really made it incredibly easy for people who want to get their message out and bring questionable practices to light."
Shachtman says there are many examples of these kinds of defense contract scandals -- though he says he's unsure if this is one of those cases. He says the promise of digital media is fulfilled when people like Michael De Kort can be heard.
"There are plenty of honest people working at the nation's defense contractors and there are a lot of very hard working, very smart people," Shac[h]tman said. "Unfortunately, when there are abuses, it can be awfully difficult for someone to penetrate the corporate walls and the government walls that surround them."
Tell that to Michael De Kort -- if you can catch him in-between interviews.
"They [the people] need to know the level of incompetence and the decisions that were being made," De Kort said. "Your ethics -- especially after 9/11 -- cannot be decisions of convenience -- they can't be decisions of economics."
Smoooooch!
Maybe I'm still in a touchy-feely mood, after my honeymoon. But all I want to do right know is give big two-arm bear hugs to Dan Dupont, David Axe, Sharon Weinberger, and the CDI Three. Their guest-blogging stints were even better than I hoped they would be -- and my expectations were pretty darn high. Thanks guys, for letting me have some peace of my mind while the wife and I wandered around Italy.
See Ya!
I'm getting married next week. Then, it's off to Italy for the honeymoon. Which means no blogging for me until late August -- my biggest break, I think, since the site started.
But Defense Tech will be in good hands, never fear. An A-team of guest bloggers is lined up to take over while I'm in the Mediterranean.
Week of 7/31: Haninah Levine and his wonkalicious buddies from the Center for Defense Information.
Wish me and Elizabeth luck. And if you're looking to send us a wedding present, you can make a donation to fine charities like Soldiers' Angels, through this website right here.
Axe at Comicon
Hey comics geeks and defense nerds, I'm at the San Diego Comicon this weekend promoting my graphic novel WAR FIX. Come by booth 1429 to relieve me of my boredom ... and to check out some of the sweet offerings from my publisher NBM!
I'll be at the NBM booth on the following schedule:
The Nation magazine is hosting the chat, at the venerable Strand bookstore (12th & Broadway), starting at 7pm. It promises to be more fun than a nuclear hand grenade. And, who knows, an ol' fashioned Defense Tech drinking session might develop afterwards. Hope to see you there.
Snoop-a-palooza
If you're interested in the NSA domestic eavesdropping story, and you live in the New York area, you might want to make your way to 41 East 70th Street, tomorrow around 12:30. The Century Foundation is holding a little roundtable on the topic, featuring three of the top journalists on the NSA beat... and me. Register beforehand, if you're planning on coming.
Amish Gone Wild!
Defense Tech Dad Tom Shachtman spent the better part of the last few years, hanging out with Amish teenagers. Not just any Amish teenagers, mind you. Drinking, smoking, fucking Amish teenagers.
You see, when Amish kids turn about 16 or so, their folks send 'em out of the buggy-and-barn world, and into ours. The period is called Rumspringa. And the idea is to let the teens choose for themselves how they want to live their lives. Remarkably, nearly 80 percent come back, and pick the plain path.
Dad's book on this time, Rumspringa: To be or Not to Be Amish, has just been published by North Point Press/Farrar Straus & Giroux. It's already getting rave reviews.
"Shachtman is a sensitive and nimble chronicler of Amish teens, devoting ample space to allowing them to tell their stories in their own words. And their stories are fascinati
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Defense Tech Dad