Rapid Fire 2/20/07

* Gitmo detainees get no appeal

* Stennis sprints to Gulf

* Shipbuilding plan making sense?

* Raptors arrive in Japan

* North Africa: new Al-Qaeda home?

* STRATCOM chief: cyberwar strategy "dysfunctional"

* Asteroids! Run!

(Big ups: RC)

Rapid Fire 02/14/07

* Centcom targets bloggers

* Blogger arrested for terrorist ties

* Google Earth, Iraqi lifesaver

* Bad turn in Beirut

* 222 "chipped"

* Atmospheric comms field-tested

* Roger Morris vs. Rummy

* WWI's "Tin Noses Shop"

* The "Circus of Detention"

* Joel Johnson 1, gadget geeks 0

* Flipper to the rescue

* Quantum 'puter demo

* Nick testifies

* Raptors break Axe's heart

(Big ups: BP, RC, AT)

Rapid Fire 02/12/07 (Updated)

* Nork nuke pact?

* Must read #1: Iraq's four wars

* Must read #2: NSA cyber-hunter, losing the scent

* Illuminati selling Q-branch stock

* Iran unveils stealthy drone

* FBI's secret laptops gone

* Fallen soldier is a new dad

* Turbine on a chip

* Ospreys grounded

* The science of Godzilla

* New camo: gravy!

(Big ups: EM, BB, RC, MO, JQ)

Rapid Fire 02/07/07 (Updated)

* Sea Knight down; 5th copter in 18 days (background)

* Double the IEDs in Iraq

* Air war picks up; 10K CAS missions in '06

* Early, bad "signs" for would-be killer astronaut...

* ... her sudden descent

* Yikes! Giant cyberattack

* Israel talking up Iran strike

* All kinds of fraud at spy sat agency

* Missile shield growing

* Shady NSA spook caught

* Shocker! Max Boot making sense

* Next-gen body armor, yours for only $10K

* Hellloooooo, Miss Atom!

* 2nd chance at space

* "Tactical assault hand signals"

(Big ups: PG, AT, JQ, RC, Drudge, Blackfive)

Rapid Fire 02/06/07

* Astronaut kidnap!

* "Pimp my cascade"

* Africa Command stands up

* MRE = malnutrition?

* Friendly fire cockpit vid

* GoogleMaps spies Blackbird

* NYT eyes orbital debris

* Contractors gobbling up the gov't

* "The briefcase that changed the world"

* Raptor to Japan?

* "La la la la la! I can't hear you!"

(Big ups: RC, MA, Dad)

Rapid Fire 02/05/07 (Updated)

* Pentagon's tank-sized budget (more to come, later today)

* McMaster, Kilcullen in Petraeus "dream team"

* Troops uncover uniform stash in Iraq

* Anbar's "baking tray" bombs

* NYT flies Iraqi air (background)

* Milblogging king deploys, again

* Welcome home celebrations cut

* Surfers' nuke tech

* Plea deal in MySpace murder (background)

* Mars too far for people?

* Dodgy reports on space station

* "Big Barda's" purse stolen (background)

* Israel's new spysat

* Saudis ban the letter X

* More mercs for Iraq

* Arms control wonks cry in their mojitos

(Big ups: RC, AG, AT)

Rapid Fire 02/02/07

* Pentagon budget $30B short

* Gloomy intel estimate for Iraq

* DHS won't give locals terror info

* $10K rewards to dis global warning

* Israel picks rocket defense

* DoD finagles casualty count

* Boston, city of wimps

* Conventional Tridents, extra dead (background)

* Spec Ops' pack mules

* Tax man kills space dream

* Blackfive vs. Arkin

* Pic: comet, Southern Lights

* Flying car just around the corner... for the 384958736479th time

(Big ups: RC, EH)

Rapid Fire 02/01/07

* House GOP: space weapons, please

* Sat-killer history

* Bush: "That satellite that was blown out of the sky... The Chinese didn't do it. Cheney was out hunting again."

* Security woes at NSA listening post?

* Nuke cage match: Wonk duo vs. Weekly Standard

* "Richter Scale for the Information Revolution"

* Pic: F-15s, MiG-29s duel

* Fallon flunks testimony

* Suuuuuuuuuuure... G.I. Daddy dolls "ease burden"

(Big ups: TH, Wonkette)

Rapid Fire 01/31/07 (Updated)

* AQ big offed in Madagascar

* Gonzales turning over domestic spy docs?

* Vid: Sea Launch explosion

* Tehran behind G.I. kidnapping?

* ...Roggio had the story last week

* More Iranian bombs in Iraq (background)

* "Rogue U.S. attack on Brit convoy?"

* Big corruption in Iraqi police training

* Sadr's rope-a-dope

* Congress slams Los Alamos...

* ...Deepwater cutters up next (background)

* Cold-case cops turn to YouTube

* Plea deal in MySpace murder

* 1672 "folding camera" comes to life

* Inside Putin's jet

(Big ups: BB, DG, RC, EM, Hambling)

Rapid Fire 01/29/07 (Updated)

* Massive battle in Najaf

* Another U.S. copter down

* G.I.s in last week's crash, remembered

* Audio: Reporter's Iraq heartbreak

* Tehran closes in

* 770 contractors dead since invasion

* Pentagon's trash = cops' treasure

* China hits target... on 43rd street

* Remote pilot crashes Predator

* THAAD hits again

* "Homebrew AT-ST walker teaches itself"

* Israeli military blocked missile-finder?

* USAF chief protects his purse

(Big ups: RC, AMP, Haninah)

Rapid Fire 01/27/07

* Wonder of Baghdad, snuffed out

* Abu Ghraib LTC charged

* Roggio vs. the Fobbits

* Iraqi Army getting U.S. gear

* Small-town soldiers bear the brunt

* 63 things to bring when you deploy to Afghanistan

* Murder-by-teapot

* The real hafnium breakthrough

(Big ups: DJE, BK)

Rapid Fire 01/26/07

* U.S. troops nab Iranians; take DNA, retina scans

* Sadr's rope-a-dope

* Russia tracking IDF

* Jamming GPS is easy

* Iran's centrifuge explosion, explained

* Natick's new MREs, clothes on display

* Animated ASAT test

* "Decider," take two

* Rocky spooked by NSA power lack

* Darpa: Ice, ice baby

(Big ups: GG, AE, MP)

Rapid Fire 01/25/07

* Georgia's uranium sting

* NYPD won't use $140M radios

* Tijuana police trade guns for slingshots

* Note to self: don't fly Air China

* Look out below! 35 more Ospreys

* Dems target Iraq contracts

* "Beirut in flames"

* Army IM = "killer app?"

* China hawks strap on space wings

* Store data... on a photon?

* Bonfire of guns

* Defense energy lowdown

* Marines oust medicine man

* Who dares question me?!?!?

(Big ups: BB, JS, RC)

Rapid Fire 01/24/07

* Singapore's street-fighting 'bots

* Sailor Playmate speaks!

* Senate smacks surge

* Armored vehicles in short supply

* Spec Ops loves pack mules

* Army loves open source intel

* Chris Cuomo dodges IED

* Battery breakthrough?

* Hooray! No Kerry '08

* Lame online quizzes were just the start: CIA recruits on Facebook

(Big ups: RC)

Rapid Fire 01/23/07

* Al-Qaeda in Iraq targeting U.S.?

* Insurgents behind copter crash

* Google Earth disappears Iraq bases (background)

* Blackwater buying 767s

* Homeland security tech pageant

* Exploding robots vs. asteroids

* UK cops hack gov't PCs

* "Facial skin signature"

* Spider ship sails thru San Fran Bay

* Inside Darpa's IT push

* Petraeus testifies

* First JTRS radio deploys

(Big ups: RC, NW, /., Kris, Stephen)

Rapid Fire 01/22/07

* Iraqi gunmen impersonate G.I.s, kill 5...

* ...pushes weekend death toll to 27

* WWI echoes for "surge"

* Military dropping out of drug war

* Iran's new missiles

* Vid: Royal Marines swoop in

* Blackwater to Sudan?

* Spycams get lip readers...

* ...ID radioactive poison suspect

* Army vehicles, picked apart

* New ammo for '07

* Gas drone gets jet fuel burst

* B-2 gets super bomb

* "Gonzales' Trojan Horse"

(Big ups: ACE, RC, IM, JF)

Rapid Fire 01/19/07

* Wired 1, DHS 0

* Pentagon made up spy coin story

* Spy oversight shenanigans

* AG hasn't read the Constitution

* Sadr aide nabbed

* Vid: cruise missile formation

* Financial database plan falters

* FedEx's missile-fighter takes off

* Rail gun demo'd

* "The Rebbe and the rocket scientist"

* Predator crashes in Iraq

* Palestinians learn from Hez, make better bombs

* War on Terror scorecard

* Mmmmmmmmmmm... candy

(Big ups: Eric, Hambling)

Rapid Fire 01/17/07 (Updated)

* NSA's cash crunch

* More peaceniks in Pentagon database

* Bush: Iraq policy was "slow failure"

* Afghan attacks was up

* Gaza's tunnellers-for-hire

* Escaped Green Zone prisoner back home

* SpaceX set for second launch

* Apache rescue

* Airport "EZ Pass"

* "Exoskeleton Olympics"

* Iran shoots down U.S. drone?

* Big ripples from LCS shutdown

* Frank D. Hargrove, scumbag

(Big ups: JQP, Hambling, Drudge, JQ)

Rapid Fire 01/16/07

* War spending: borrow now, pay later

* Iran, China buy U.S. gear...

* ...and Russian missiles

* Ousted HP chief now CIA advisor

* No more 'bots for Future Combat?

* JSF production line goes back to the future

* Paintball warriors

* Kidnapping vic's online trail

* Iran nuke program stalling out?

* "Grizzly Suit" maker outfits soldiers

* "Bob Gates' flying fortress"

* Poker cheats go high tech

* FEMA hack in space

* New intel big, former DIA flop?

* Raptors to Japan

* Israeli missile shooter, coming soon

(Big ups: HT, PG, VS, RC, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 01/14/07

* Cheney cops to financial spying

* SBX heads for Alaska (again)

* Patriot destination: still a mystery

* Pentagon: Somalia = blueprint

* Gunboat diplomacy?

* Residents of Earth recruited to Iraq

* Sadr plays possum

* "The jihad now is against the Shias, not the Americans"

* Germy Judy

* Duuuuuuude.... spiders

(Big ups: AT, JC)

Rapid Fire 01/12/07

* U.S. embassy in Athens shelled

* Inside the anti-Iran raids

* Everyone hates the surge

* Where are those Patriots headed?

* DIA: Iraqi forces can't "stand alone" vs. insurgents
* 1 year at war, 1 million damaged vehicles

* Reserve, guard? You're going back to Iraq

* U.S. troops in Somalia...

* ... don't forget the missiles

* $1.4 billion for spy blimps

* Bad ideas in cyber defense

* Hull issues in Littoral Combat Ship?

Rapid Fire 01/11/07 (Updated)

* "Gated communities" for Baghdad

* Afghan surge, too?

* Carter: "As an Army captain, I learned to take risks, not gambles. And this really looks like a gamble. One where the odds are really long."

* Ricks: Surge "could put U.S. military commanders in exactly the sort of tough urban fight that war planners strove to avoid during the spring 2003 invasion."

* Kaplan: If Bush had delivered the speech "two years ago, he would have deserved praise for candor, equanimity, and breadth of vision. But given its actual timing, one can only wonder about his grip on reality."

* More speech reacts, rounded up

* "Hallucinogenic weapons" Doc speaks

* Canuck coins bugged?

* Privacy showdown looming in Congress

* Gitmo detainee's YouTube defense

* Israeli arms sales: $4.4B

(Big ups: BB)

Rapid Fire 01/10/07

* Bush overrules generals

* Limited role for surge troops?

* "Most intense fight" yet in Iraq...

* ..."Groundhog Day on Purple Heart Blvd."

* iPhone = I.E.D.?

* Stealth fighters to S. Korea

* Insurgent TV coming to America?

* "Homicidal" G.I. returned to duty

* Darpa mini-sats launched

* Grand Challenge 3: real tough

* D'oh! We lost the moon landing tapes!

(Big ups: BWJ, PM)

Rapid Fire 01/09/07 (Updated)

* Surge = guard, reserve? Or more mercs?

* Troops out of Afghanistan for Iraq

* Microsoft, NSA team up on Vista

* Vid: mighty morphin', flying, crawling 'bot

* Creepiest. Poster. Ever.

* More on the Somalia strike

* Israel's giant drone

* Raptor, rockin'

* Liquid armor for sale?

* Sub, ship collide

* Iran's newest 'net crackdown

* Darpa goal: supercomputers for everyone

(Big ups: MA, EM, RC, Eric, NS, BB)

Rapid Fire 01/08/07 (Updated Again)

* Supremes neg ID suit

* U.S. gunship hits Somalia

* Spy chief ousted over Iran?

* Taser's stylish stun gun

* "Surge" picks up steam...

* ...Top general, ex-commanders skeptical

* Missile radar's secret mission

* GPS airdrops about to take off?

* 50 more years for B-2?

* Help us, Japanese laser-men!

* Vid: Warthog gets nasty

* All-seeing blimp moves ahead

* Wikileaks!

(Big ups: Haninah, RC, AT, EM, Ben, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 01/03/07

* Iraq poobah behind Saddam death vid

* Diyala is FUBAR (and Phil Carter is pissed)

* WH: Troop surge "political decision," not "military one"

* Bad data: actually good!

* Worldwide coilgun arsenal

* "Pre-Crime Eye-in-the-Sky"

* Murdoc visits Ford

* Philly spycam 1, serial killer 0

* Vid: Vietnam dogfight

* Open source intel, c. 1945

(Big ups: ACE, RC)

Rapid Fire 01/02/07

* Behind the Bangkok bombings

* Iraq "surge," then a long stay

* Mogadishu starts recovery...

* ...Islamists in retreat

* Russia wins space race

* UFO over Chicago?

* Locals team up on crime data

* New guns for killer drones

* Active duty troops down on Bush, Iraq

* Wanna get cleared? Get in line

* Nuke lab scientists fight polygraph

* Your 50,000,000 horsepower Internet

* Mixed-up "moon dirt"

* 3,081 vials of botulinum toxin? No sweat!

* Oldest spy dies

(Big ups: /., EM, RC, TP, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 12/27/06

* 'Invisible electronics' coming?

* 70 year-old plane still flies

* Semtex, knives smuggled onto planes

* Nuke trafficking doubles

* Pak agents assault NYT ace

* Ethiopia 1, Islamists 0

* Tires = snitches

* GD, Force Protection team up

* Fed agencies move out of DC blast zone

* How quick could Japan go nuke?

* Guide to your neighborhood meth lab

* Daily Show does homeland tech

* Gauss pistol

* Mindball!

"Man convicted of stealing Teddy Roosevelt's gun"

* Duhhhhhh

* RIP, President Ford

(Big ups: BP, RS, HLS Watch)

Rapid Fire 12/26/06

* Dems don't spook defense contractors

* Tons of nuke missile tests

* Hot Hornet vid

* Meet the Swiss Jet Man

* "Rosetta phone"

* Scooter of doom

* Nanotech armor

* Ultrasonic mine fighter

* Noonan's close call

* Roggio vs. Muj TV

* Defense Dep't bans HTML e-mail

* U.S. blocks Israel arms sales?

* Sea-Based Radar to set sail? (background here)

* Goodbye, Godfather

(Big ups: AE, RC, KR, MO)

Rapid Fire 12/19/06 (Updated)

* Iraq's economic boom...

* ...and electrical war

* Attacks at new high

* MySpace dealer, caught

* Skype lie detector? (background here)

* 4th time's the charm for spacewalkers

* Sat, jet in laser link

* Ol' Virginny spaceport opens

* Scots forced to share kilts

* Uranium secretly stashed (sweet!)

* DSB hearts nukes

* Insurgent TV

* Big naval buildup to spook Iran?

* What's an Air Force to do?

* 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds

(Big ups: RC, EO)

Rapid Fire 12/18/06 (Updated)

* Spy planes' rescue mission

* Taser vs. snake

* Whistleblower jailed in Baghdad

* Reining in Spec Ops

* "When computer profiling goes bad"

* YouTube vs. crooks

* Spy's $10M poison dose

* One step closer to invisibility cloaks

* Google Earth saves NASA

* Navy intranet flops

* AFN: WTF? (background here)

(Big ups: RC, HuffPo)

Rapid Fire 12/16/06

* Iraqi police get armor

* "Hobbits" vs. insurgents

* Syn-fuel bomber takes off (background here)

* Gates to shake up intel?

* Best. Patents. Ever.

* Ravezooka!

Rapid Fire 12/15/06

* Blair blocks BAE corrpution probe

* Pantex nearly detonates a nuke

* RC tank?

* JASONs loves alt-fuel

* On patrol in Fallujah

* Spy cams wising up

* What every kid needs: toy atomic lab

* NSA construction boom

* "Data spills: 100 mil served"

* Beyond technicolor

* Now that's a tinfoil hat!

(Big ups: AL, War & Piece, RC, Pogo Nick, Haninah)

Rapid Fire 12/12/06 (Updated)

* Hezbollah's URLs

* Joint Strike Fighter deal

* Poisoned spy worked for Brits

* Where'd that polonium come from?

* Israel's wants to hit long-range

* Olmert's nuclear slip

* CSM vs. Roggio

* Sunni, Shi'ite cyberwar

* Personal blimp

* Heisman trophy, blocked by TSA

* Los Alamos #2 gone

* Better late than never

* NSA Di spy deny. Sigh.

* ESPN shows the love

(Big ups: Haninah, EM, MB, RR)

Rapid Fire 12/11/06

* Iraq pullback = lotsa air support?

* Big risks in military switch

* F-16's no-engine landing

* Holy utility belt!

* Nano knife

* Best of Bond's gagdets

* India's IED-bot

* Sedan = LCS?

* Navy's new trimaran (background here)

* Inside the Islamo-hacker bible

* See through walls! (sorta)

* Brits' giant killer drone

* Nuclear consolidation

* Bad news for China's spacemen

* Cash back in Grand Challenge 3

* Chertoff vs. Shane Harris

(Big ups: Murdoc, RC, EM)

Rapid Fire 12/08/06

* Coastie fleet sinking

* Missile interceptor grounded

* More cargo nuke scans

* Saudi military shopping spree...

* ...and insurgent donations

* Iraq HUMINT still sucks

* Naval War College site still down

* Army's new e-warriors

* Flying canister drone takes off

* Darpa vs. wireless hackers

* Itty bitty SAR

* Air Force JAG investigated

* MySpace murder: inside Spokane killer's mind

* Real-time 3D on the way?

* Reading the NSA tea leaves

(Bigs ups: RC, EM, Gizmag)

Rapid Fire 12/07/06

* Ten more GIs dead

* Iraq violence underreported

* Talks with insurgents?

* Senators spank FBI chief

* How secrets left Los Alamos

* "Terror score" illegal?

* 1,000 gov't workers nabbed for corruption

* Rocket patents see light of day

* Pearl Harbor, revisited

* Water on Mars

* Unabomber's code

* How much broccoli does it take to poison a spy?

* Darpa on bees: zzzzzzzzzzz

Rapid Fire 12/06/06

* Poulsen produces: MySpace boots predators

* Martial law gets easy

* Pentagon v. ebola

* Brits' new nukes

* PTSD soldiers dissed?

* JSF ready for first flight

* Giant kites propel boats

* Sandia's cheap sensor array

* Pentagon's junk science confab

* "Electromagnetic Pulse of Doom"

* How many tapped by NSA? White House won't say

* CNETer, found

(Big ups: RC, SW)

Rapid Fire 12/04/06

* Memory drug eases PTSD pain?

* Autopilot vs. terror

* Israel close to deploying RPG shield

* Portable nuke plants for the battlefield?

* "How to tell if your cell is bugged"

* War photog speaks

* No need for new nukes, but build 'em, anyway

* Inside spy blogs

* Snooping on bloggers

* More cash for next-gen carriers

* Fake passport fools Brits

* MPAA = evil

* Future of Soviet space (1987)

* Zombie chickens!

(Big ups: RC)

Rapid Fire 12/01/06

* Spy buddy, radiation-positive...

* ...Spy-wife, too

* Cyber attack warning

* NASA hacker indictment

* Travelers' 40-year "risk assessments"

* F-15, flying with one wing

* CNET editor, family missing

* Translation tech stepping up

* Threat intel - Vegas style

* RFID vs. friendly fire

* Forecasting murder

(Big ups: EM, JQP, RC, Schneier, Drudge, HuffPo)

Rapid Fire 11/30/06

* 9/11 caused cancer?

* PS3 super-computer

* Nike + iPod = surveillance

* Army's golf ball scam

* $77.5 M more for aerostats

* Atomic license plate

* "Democratic Bomb," blown

* Sailors win right to hook-up online

* Chertoff admits screwing NYC

* Only one terror suspect caught by US-VISIT

* Dems break key 9/11 pledge

* Ex-NSA chief: Iraq war supporters "traitors," "full of shit"

(Big ups: VR, RC, EM)

Rapid Fire 11/29/06

* Three words: rocket launcher bong

* "Kimstock 2007"

* No iPods for Norks

* IEDs' secret sauce

* Los Alamos flops another security test

* Bush-Maliki confab cancelled

* War chewing up $2B worth of gear, every month

* Ancient computer, super-smart

* Chem-bio bowling

* How our foes get our tech

* Secrecy News vs. NBC

* Carter's 10 Iraq commandments

* Tons of armor pics

* UK grand challenge online...

* ...Brits' helmet-cam footage, too

(Big ups: GK, RC, ACE)

Rapid Fire 11/28/06 (Updated)

* Troops out of Anbar?

* Itty-bitty machine gun

* Unmanned jetliner

* Cyberspace Navy?

* Boarding pass hacker off the hook

* Nukes in the classroom

* Martian space mirrors

* Lasers paint it black

* Swarmanoids assemble

* Iraq's $20M "optical backbone"

* DOD spooked by foreign coders

* Dick Destiny vs. bomb-sniffing bees

* "Groom for the march up"

(Big ups: RC, EH, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 11/27/06 (Updated)

From London, the home of Polonium Sushi

* Was former Russian spy poisoned over false flag terrorism?

* ...did poisoners use nuclear nanotechnology?

*...and how dangerous is Polonium anyway?

* Unforeseen UAV problem: crows attack Raven, with video

* Space Drive Shanked

* Why the US loses small wars

* UK pulling troops out of Iraq?

* RAND say ferries and cruise ships are terrorist targets

* Video of land-based Phalanx in action

* Game 'proves' Army can't lose

(Big ups: Ron, Larry Kahaner, George)

Rapid Fire 11/24/06

* Baghdad under curfew

* Former Russian spy dies of 'radiation poisoning'

* Brits in Afghanistan 'forced to borrow ammuntion'

* ...and short of vehicles, night sights and grenades

* DARPA plans ultra-fast supercavitating submarine

* Pakistan and China to collaborate on AWACS

* IDF face anti-aircraft missiles in Gaza Strip

* US Naval legend located (...almost)

* Bioterror sniffers get sensitive

Rapid Fire 11/22/06

* Iraq: tough going for snipers

* Flight suits = IED defense

* $500 mil for new super-computers

* Eat DT's dust: rocket-repelling parachutes

* Fire-fighting tank

* Bionic hornet: 70 years old

* Costa Rica's cocaine sub

* Milsat work slowing down?

* Defense bill scramble in Congress

* MIT's indoor air force

* Shelton vs. slides

* Wear it with pride, Fobbits! Powerpoint patch

(Big ups: RC, EH)

Rapid Fire 11/20/06 (Updated)

* Joint Chiefs settling on new Iraq strategy

* Russian spy poisoned

* The war over a war with Iran

* Israel wants bionic hornet

* Canada wants killer drones

* Aberdeen's mustard gas accident

* London's dumb-ass dirty bomber

* Enterprise wraps up double-war duty

* X-37, back from the dead

* Global Hawk over US

* Truth serum? Don't believe the hype

* Blogger facing year in jail

* Robot adapts to injuries

* "Cop codes are history, 10-4?"

* Beauty queen heads to battle

* New tool of war: silly string

(Big ups: tFoD, EM, Drudge, MHH, RC)

Rapid Fire 11/17/06

* Nuke data in Detroit nab

* "Secure" passports hacked

* Iraq: everyone piles on

* War costs higher than Vietnam

* WTF? China's land-locked aircraft carrier

* Stealth fighter retires

* Ancient swords made of nanotubes

* Robo-copter back in the air

* Video: UK drone

* C-130s get zapped

* Wacky UAV design

* "Mini-city for terror trials"

* Shopper shot in PlayStation theft

* Quick chem demil? Yeah, right!

(Big ups: JH, HT, JQP, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 11/16/06 (Updated)

* G.I.s turn detective in Iraq

* Guess everything's dandy: Abazaid negs troop increase, decrease

* Tilt to Shi'ites?

* Trouble for border tech push?

* China denies sub hunt

* U.S. submariners talk

* Su-35s get funky

* Camel spiders 8, Marines 0

* "Countering the Mother of Satan"

* Soldiers' software buddies

*Brits' badass new grenade launcher

* TOW replacement tested

* Super-radar heads to Alaska - in January?!?!? (background here)

* Esquire eyes Starfire (background here)

(Big ups: JH, JQP, RC, AT, Blackfive, TP)

Rapid Fire 11/15/06 (Updated)

* No terror "strategy," says ex-Rummy advisor

* Hez's jihadist troops

* IDF's new training: paintball

* "Hobbit air force"

* Dems love missile defense?

* And the DD(X)?

* Prefab spaceship

* Wireless power?

* Amputees get VR limbs

* Space tour tickets sold out

* Columbus comes up for air

* Top ten battle rifles

* 20,000 combat hours for Scan Eagle

* Obviously! Clairvoyant caught Saddam

(Big ups: /., RC, FT, Blackfive)

Rapid Fire 11/14/06

* Big changes for DOD intel?

* Pak links to Afghan violence

* Shoulder-fired missiles spread

* Darpa chief speaks

* Video: Korean robo-sentry

* General's 1984 death still shadowy

* China loves Wikipedia

* New look at ASW

* Brit alleges dirty bomb plot

* Iraqis get Baghdad 'hood

* Israel used cheaper, unsafe cluster bombs

* Olmert on crack

* Debunking space war hype

* Fingerprints for UK car rentals

* MySpace's death row diaries

* Northrop's back-of-the-envelope drone

* Dems = more F-22s?

* Tankers = flying cell towers?

(Big ups: RC, JQP, HuffPo, IC)

Rapid Fire 11/13/06

* Osprey 2.0?

* Badass target drone

* Boat-borne IED hits Brits (background here)

* Hypersonic team-up

* China spy worked for Israel, too

* Astronauts chuck junk

* Czechs foiled Nork nuke plot?

* Carter: don't call me a hero

* Rummy's weapons

* Will his reforms last?

* Army builds mock Mid-East village - in Mid-East

* UXO treaty kicks in

* Sweet Super Hornet gallery

* Warthog upgrade

* Just in time for Thanksgiving: flavored ammo

(Big ups: RC, JH, NM, Axe)

Rapid Fire 11/10/06

* Assrocket injures soldier

* Rummy's greatest hits

* North Korean ghost ship

* Social security vs. terror

* France's new ICBM

* Darpa wants better snipers

* Lame ducks get eavesdropping bill?

* M15: 30 UK terror plots

* "Alien attack," ex-MoD chief warns

* "A factory of one's own"

* Rummy deputies out, too?

* Marines: "Who's Rumsfeld?"

(Big ups: Hambling, Dupont, JQP, RC)

Rapid Fire 11/09/06 (Updated)

* Senate shifts

* Laser surgery caused Tillman death?

* Norks gave Beijing 20 minute warning

* GPS sats detect nuke tests

* More on the atomic meth lab

* Snipers vs. body armor

* Attack of the perv trackers

* 80 mph bionic dolphin

* All aboard the Underwater Express

* Rerouting brains with implanted chips

* Lasers heal tendons

* Inside information war

* What the election means for sci, tech

(Big ups: RC, Ryan, Gyre, NW, Schneier)

UPDATE 2:59 PM: At PW's suggestion, I've just gone back and re-read the AP's story about the Tillman investigation. It's nightmarishly awful. "Key evidence including Tillman's body armor and uniform was burned," the AP notes. "Three of the four shooters are now out of the Army, and essentially beyond the reach of military justice".

Worse still, "One investigator told the Tillmans that it hadn't been ruled out that Tillman was shot by an American sniper or deliberately murdered by his own men -- though he also gave no indication the evidence pointed that way."

Rapid Fire 11/7/06

* Silent plane on the horizon

* Drone firefighters?

* Airborne electronic warfare a big dumb mess; background here

* Recruiters are liars; recruiters meet goals

* Secret wargame predicted Iraq quagmire

* Super weather-sat launch successful

* Astronauts roller-coast to safety

* Misbehave and die

* Computer got big brain

(Thanks: Ron, Haninah, Wonkette)

Rapid Fire 11/6/06

* Trailer trash swipes nuke secrets

* Energy giant flees Iraq

* Blue Angels turn 60

* Korean robo-gunner: scary!

* From the WTF files: a $2.5 trillion sun umbrella

* Air Force is broke

* Handheld translators are stupid

* Saddam sentenced to hang; cycle of violence continues

* BSG -- kickass TV show + Iraq allegory

(Thanks: Ron, Roland)

Rapid Fire 11/03/06

* Classifed Los Alamos Docs Found in Meth Lab Bust Include Nuclear Secrets

* Google Denies Spook Connection

* Feds Nab Cyber Credit Card Gang

* Air Marshall Sues, Says Fired For Pointing Out Security Flaws

* Oklahoma School Superintendent Candidate Wants Bulletproof Textbooks

* Iraqi Patrol Catches Donkeys with 54 Land Mines, Frees Donkeys

* Russia: Iran Too Backwards to Make ICBM

* U.S., Britian Worst Western Democracies for Privacy

* Preorder Your Military Babe 2007 Calendar (NSFW)

- Ryan Singel

(Big Ups: Xeni)

Rapid Fire 11/02/06 (Updated)

* Kroll Pulls Bodyguards From Iraq and Afghanistan

* Boston Can't Block Free Airport Wifi

* Kidnapped Soldier, Now Named, Believed to Be Alive

* Marines Get New Vest Armor, Army Sticks With Interceptor

* Kim Jong-Il Condemns Sunrise As Aggression on Eastern Border

* Bush: I Would "Understand" Israeli Attack on Iran

* Bechtel's Work Done In Iraq

* British DNA Database Pioneer Says Database Full of Innocent People

* Iran Fires Shahab-3 Missile With 1,200 Mile Range

* Asteroid Could Smash Earth in 2029: Russian Scientist

* Third Chinese Spacecraft Under Construction, Spacewalk in 2008

* German Soldiers Decorated Vehicle in Afghanistan with Nazi-era Insignia

* U.S. Border Database System Left Vulnerable to Virus, FOIA Shows

- Ryan Singel

(Big ups: TPM, EG)

Rapid Fire 11/01/06 - Updated Again

* Newark Screeners Miss 20 of 22 Fake Bombs and Guns

* More X-48B Blended Wing Shots

* Rogue Cosmic Ray or Email Could Bring Down Quantum Computer

* Intelligence Community Tries to Open Up

* New Al Qaeda Video Starring Bagram Escapee Coming Soon

* Put Your Name on Mars

* NASA Refurbishing Hubble in 2008

* Kalamazoo Shoppers Unaware Guinea Pigs for Box Store Tracking

* UAV Operators Get The Halo Treatment

* Book: Houdini Spied, Fought Counterfeiters

* Poison Peas Upgraded to WMD in Terrorism Exercise

* Russia #1 With Bullet(s) in Arms Dealing

(Big ups: JH, RH, PWR, BeSpacific, EG)

- Ryan Singel

Rapid Fire 10/31/06 - Updated

* Military Officers: Set Deadlines

* Google in Cahoots with Spooks?

* No-Fly List Snags Another Congress Critter

* Kerry: Study Hard Or End Up in Iraq

* Milbloggers Strive to Get Voice-Activated Laptops for Amputees

* General: Military Must Be Open To Press

* X-48B Ship 2 Blended Wing-Body pr0n

* Homeland Security: What Would Dems Do?

* The Italian Connection: Weldon, Daughter, Friend, Marine One, Earmarks

* Anti-IED Buffalos Charging to Iraq

* Police Stun-Gun Kills Bible-Toting Teen

(Big ups: RC, Xeni)

- Ryan Singel

Rapid Fire 10/30/06

* Airborne Anti-Missile Laser Actually a "Light Saber"

* From Barbary War II to Iraq War in 90 sec Flash

* Gov puts RFID in IDs, Despite Damning Report (shameless self-promotion)

* Letter From Iraq Goes Viral

* U.S.-provided Weapons Untraceable in Iraq

* Blair Outsourcing Iraq War?

* Ahmadinejad to Sanctions: Bring It On

* Pakistani Gunships Attack Radical Madrasa, Kill 80

- Ryan Singel

(Big ups: RC, Michael Wilde)

Rapid Fire 10/26/06

* OMB disses Army

* NASA launches Sun-spotters

* Net gambling vs. port security

* Border fence approved...

* ... or is it?

* Military e-voting FUBAR

* Brits test stims

* Nuke security worse than you think

* Russian missile flop

* When spy sats were young

* New views through drones' eyes

* Shallow water mine fighter

(Big ups: RC)

Rapid Fire 10/25/06 (Updated Again)

* Tenet becomes Q-branch chief; conspiracy theorists' heads explode (background here)

* $7 billion more for Army

* More troops to Baghdad?

* Iraqi army, still lame

* New cameras for spy sats?

* Return of the exoskeleton

* Joint Common Missile: unkillable

* FCS' new playground

* Secrecy vs. net-centric ops

* JSF's modelling career

* CIA can't retrain spies

* Face recognition: fake?

* Stanford's big-ass laser

* Robotic paint ball gun

* Waaaaahhhh!!

* Look out below!

* Chavez helping border-crossers?

* Iraq contractors sit on asses, collect checks

* Super-radar still stuck (background here)

(Big ups: EG, JQP, AT, JH, RC, Haninah, Kris, Xeni)

Rapid Fire 10/23/06 (Updated)

* Amputated arm moved to groin

* WH "rooting" for Nork nuke test?

* 18 grunts fed - no kitchen required

* "The mother of all heists"

* Hitler's cheap gas

* Return of the killer drone

* NYT's 180 on bank spying

* Real risk vs. fake

* Hez rearming?

* Bush: I use "the Google"

Rapid Fire 10/22/06

* New U.S. "timetable" for Iraq

* DC's gunshot detectors

* Afghan tour for every Canadian soldier

* DHS bill all porked up

* Interior Dep't blocks blogs

* FBI kids' site breaks law

* 4th look at Tillman death

* Rocket truck!

* Robotic "Lion Driver"

* Ol' skool night vision

* Triangle gun? WTF?

(Big ups: Dethroner)

Rapid Fire 10/20/06 (Updated)

* Sadr seizes city

* Kim regrets nuke test?

* Blair: out of Iraq in 10 months?

* Urban challenge field fills out

* Eat DT's dust: microwave invisibility cloak

* Brits want netwar

* Border drone flights restart

* Bogus castor oil killer

* "How to catch a MySpace creep"

* Garwin eyes Norks

* Nuke umbrella's holes

* Milblogger in need

* ACW vs. Arkin

* Los Alamos weed bust

* Hez's cluster bombs...

* ...and tank-killers

* New U.S. nukes

* Gore vs. Bush... in space!

(Big ups: RC, DD, Hambling, Haninah)

Rapid Fire 10/18/06

* Iraq: 10 G.I.s dead

* Secret police chiefs sacked

* Trouble for Army's cop trainers

* Kiwi heroes get U.S. medals

* Witness threatened by blog

* 3D X-rays vs. liquid explosives

* Robo-swarms' heavy lifting

* Gamers = scientists?

* $1B for nuke propulsion

* Brits' own urban challenge

* The truth is out there... and should stay out?

* "N. Korea Detonates 40 Years Of GDP"

(Big ups: MB, RC, Haninah)

Rapid Fire 10/17/06

* CSI: Baghdad

* Norks' plutonium bomb

* New door buster: "tiny missile"

* Airborne re-arming

* Sat sees whole Earth at once

* Space elevators going up (background here)

* Only 11 embeds in Iraq

* Mystery catamaran

* Anthrax shots return

* Costs rising for LCS

* Taser bandit on the prowl

* Noah and the Beeb

(Big ups: ACE, RC, MB, EH, Digg)

UPDATE 1:17 PM: That mystery catamaran? Not so mysterious now, thanks to KH.

Rapid Fire 10/16/06

* Training Iraqi cops ain't enough

* Lotsa action for Global Hawk

* Unmanned U-2?

* Anti-tank missiles smuggled into Gaza

* Rand: keep insurgents inside Iraq

* RPG fishing

* Radioactive snails

* Floating nuke plant?

* Next-gen WMD

* Darpa's biochem-battlin' building

(Big ups: Noonan, EM, RC, JQP)

Rapid Fire 10/13/06 (Updated)

* Brit chief wants out of Iraq

* So does Blair!

* NATO makes deals with Osama's pals

* "First light" for laser gunship

* Warthog radios FUBAR

* Pace: no "precision" if U.S. fights Norks

* Nuclear volleyball

* Atomic spadework

* Korea test clues MIA

* Crappy bomb? Still a problem.

* Uranium warehouse fire

* Real-time translators in Iraq

* Defense bill, all porked up

* Everything you ever wanted to know about spy sats

* Lunar lander 2.0

* "Tax collector's ultimate weapon"

* Sorry for the snooping, peaceniks

(Big ups: RC, JQP, MF, POGO, Hambling)

Rapid Fire 10/12/06 (Updated)

* "U.S. government using LSD for interrogations?"

* Pentagon's WMD-fighting war plan

* Chicago: Panopticon, please (background here)

* Baghdad violence at "all-time high"

* Mortar starts big base fire

* Same troop levels 'til 2010?

* 650 gun-for-hire deaths

* FBI has only 33 Arabic speakers

* How to spot a nuke test

* Norks threaten more trials

* More than enough blame to go around

* Russian bomber buzzes Alaska

* Over 335 hot zone labs (background here)

* "Army STRONG! Army SMASH!"

* Dick Destiny vs. cyberterror scares

* Thumbs up for Dragon Skin

* New tools for counter-IED

* Israel's "magic shield" vs. rockets?

* Contractors rooting for Murtha

* Energy Dep't slashes polygraphs

* MIT gel stops bleeding, instantly

* Trojan tracks VOIP calls

* Oh no, Cory

(Big ups: SF, RC, Hambling, Haninah, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 10/06/06

* Border fence? Never mind

* "Decisive moment" in Iraq war

* Warner wants to bail

* Israeli bomblets still deadly

* Congress "turning the screws" on FCS

* Change your name, Gary Smith, John Williams and Robert Johnson

* How to wash your ass in space

* Iwo Jima Lego

* Space shot: 1935

* Those annoying robots

* Congress wants border drones

* By your command

* No bats for Moose, part 42751874569142

Rapid Fire 10/05/06 (Updated)

* Spybitch indicted

* Counterinsurgency by the book?

* Air Force's new "Cyberspace Command"

* Hez hacked reporters' comms, too (background here)

* Iran opens nuke plants to tourists

* Pop Mech breaks on through

* Chicago spycams get sneaky (background here)

* Why we don't know jack about the anthrax attacks

* Shaw, McEntire get all the JSFs

* Ward, Ricks pow wow

* Recycled laser

* Russia gets carrier back...

* ...celebrates "Space Troops' Day"

* New bomber goal: self defense

* Software tracks U.S. sentiment

* How big is that Pak reactor?

* 2 down, 20 to go for Subway Series

(Big ups: JQP, RC, NOSI)

Rapid Fire 10/04/06

* Nork nukes loom

* Afghanistan's tat man

* "Marines in the Garden of Eden"

* Magnetic space launch (background here)

* $20M for victory party

* DJs vs. Taliban

* Rocket monopoly approved

* DC spycams: useless

* Army's vehicle fleet resets

* Lehman spooked by China's navy

* Nuke lab brain drain

* Icky potato salad (watch 'til the end)

* MVP goes 5-for-5

(Big ups: EH, RC, JQP, MA, WH)

Rapid Fire 10/03/06

* Norks ready for nuke test?

* South Korea troop cuts?

* Teams picked for Grand Challenge III

* Israel-Hez fight: see it from space

* Next-gen cannon debuts

* Uh oh... robots think we taste like bacon

* Single complaint shelves sweet radar

* Less gas for new Humvee

* How the U.S. would attack Iran

* Osama: made man?

* Taliban 1, Frist 0

* "How To: Dismantle an A-Bomb" (sorta)

* See ya in the Bronx

(Big ups: RC, JQP, GP)

Rapid Fire 09/29/06

* 12,000 G.I.s under NATO command

* Satcomm lowdown

* Bush buddy: WH war disarray

* Saudis plan Iraq fence

* Everyone wants high-tech soldier get-ups

* $10M more for giant spy blimp

* Space Command's "Cosmic" R&D

* 5 year plan for drones in national airspace

* "Rocketmen unite!"

* "Be careful what you ask for"

(Big ups: RC)

Rapid Fire 09/28/06

* Sadr militia splintering

* Raptor 1, Congress 0

* U.S. vs. Sudan?

* Spybitch whines

* Wynne's wife gets zapped

* Gun-mounted face recognition?

* New anti-tank missile blasts away

* Spaceship dream revived

* Rutan/Branson ship revealed!

* Drones' indoor swarm

* Raven goes British

* Scorcher! Marines running marathon -- in Iraq

* "Synthetic vision" for copter pilots (background here)

* Just give up now

(Big ups: EH, JQP)

Rapid Fire 09/27/06

* No NSA spy bill, for now

* Marines trying out new body armor

* Road tests for hydrogen cars

* AWOL schmuck gives up

* "What the FBI needs now"

* Shocker! Iraq fueling terror

* Aging software: sleuth's friend?

* New bird for GPS

* Judge: come clean on border cyber attack

* Firefighting plane soars, finally

* Your very own fembot

* Schwag, beautiful schwag

Rapid Fire 09/26/06

* Everyone is an "enemy combatant"

* Secrecy News: show the love

* DIY rocket crashes

* Nuke inspector spills

* USAF chief: slash training, buy more planes

* More cuts for milspace?

* What could go wrong? Zero-G operation

* Invisibile drone?

* Eagle eyes for flying 'bots

* All real men read Dethroner

(Big ups: Haninah, RC, JQP)

Rapid Fire 09/25/06

* Army, Rummy war heats up

* Ex-general: he's "incompetent"

* No gear for 3rd ID

* Anthrax attack not so slick

* Robots' soft skin

* Orbiting nuke-watchers

* Tamper-proof RAM

* Only nine embeds in Iraq?

* NASA's peek at China's space program

* Brits' sat-equipped coasties

* 78 year-old detainee leaves Gitmo

* Airport security's future

* Blogger boobiethon!

* Spinach = bioterror? Not!

* 5,000 years in 90 seconds

* Fighting nuke terror: "Why do better?"

* Obviously

(Big ups: GP, TP)

Rapid Fire 09/22/06

* Only 10,000 troops ready to go?

* River rats get set to bite

* Army's new hydrogen car

* Pentagon vs. ebola

* Grow back lost limbs?

* Super solar cells

* Bad data slowed 7/7 response

* "Able Danger" didn't spot Atta

* Tainted Torture deal

* So long, Tomcat

* L'shana Tovah!

(Big ups: EH)

Rapid Fire 09/21/06

* No '08 Joint Strike Fighter for Navy

* Kurds, Israelis team up

* Lotsa guns for Iraqi army

* Atlantis comes home

* Border tech doomed to fail?

* Kitchen sinks vs. IEDs

* Chinese, Iranian weapons spread

* Special agent: semi-secrecy sucks

* Teens invade SOCOM HQ

* Engine on a chip

* Open source, artificial limbs

* 50 years in, no AI

* Get ready for ATM crime spree?

* Laser JDAM: quick, deadly

* "Tactical Daddy" vs. diaper bags

* Nine in a row

(Big ups: JQP, JH, PG, Dan, JA)

Rapid Fire 09/19/06

* Meet the new cybersecurity czar

* Chinese warships dock in San Diego

* 25 mph boots?

* Sign here for NSA spying

* "Dumbest Weapon Decision of the Decade"

* Air & Space Power Journal: "Space Power" stinks

* Brits: we underestimated Taliban

* "Hollow Army" redux?

* Loooooong range cruise missile

* Ready for "NASCAR with rockets?"

* SpouseBuzz takes off

* Seitz gets bloggy

* "Environmentally friendly fire"

* Bomb-makin' burg

* Magic number is three

(Bigups: JQP, JH, /., RC)

Rapid Fire 09/18/06

* Worst of the worst? US has 14,000 detainees

* FedEx fights missiles

* HP spying: even creepier

* CBP vs. "those motherf***ing snakes"

* But what about the motherf***ing snakebots?

* Don't fear the Predator B

* Bicycle bomber hits Afghanistan

* Syria airbrushes terror scene

* More shenanigans in tanker deal

* Stealth bombers over Manhattan

* Robo-refuel

* Video: secret drone flies

* Too little, too late

(Big ups: RC, JQP, JH, JA, /.)

Rapid Fire 09/14/06 (Updated)

* Barnes: "Emphasis on bin Laden doesn't fit with the administration's strategy for combating terrorism."

* DHS pays $266K for free news...

* ...and flunks cybersecurity test

* Free baseball tix for terror drill victims

* Bad news for Army missile defense

* Nuke watchdog vs. US over Iran

* Powell vs. Bush on torture

* Indian army gets wired

* Space station's new solar panels

* Senate screwy over spying

* Haninah vs. IEDs

* All hail the bionic woman

* Happy birthday, tank!

* No pitching? No prob vs. Devil Rays!

(Big ups: RC, Dan, TP)

Rapid Fire 09/13/06

* Peaceniks' Raptor dance

* Euros wimp out on Afghan troops

* NSA bill "major disaster"

* Chertoff in chem security "peanut gallery"

* Pentagon pissed about Pred pics

* Darpa, DuPont form titanium bonds

* Atlantis astros dodge a bullet

* Bad military name of the day: "Future Battle Dress"

* Pop Sci for sale

* Oh no! It's Godzilla!

(Big ups: JQP, RC)

Rapid Fire 9/12/06

* Exaggarrrrrration

* Shocking: DHS sci & tech starting to make sense

* Hot: "Flags of our Fathers" trailer

* Bizarro 747 mod

* Strategic software

* Hijack-proof plane

* Moonwalking robot

* Spybitch steps down

* Jeter unstoppable

* 18 months, NATO's Afghan call "unheeded"

* Iraq casualty count shenanigans

* Better body armor, maybe

* Still no checks for fertilizer buys

* Nuke lab safety gets lamer

* Pop Mech 1, 9/11 kooks 0

* What Gulf War Syndrome?

(Drudge, /., JQP, RC)

Rapid Fire 09/10/06

* "How 9/11 changed the Army"

* NSA, still a mess

* Big, big cuts for Joint Strike Fighter

* Welcome home, Phil Carter

* Generals' new Iraq tactics

* Rummy negged post-war plan

* UK Army's new chief

* 40,000 deserters since 2000

* Drop the Fobbits

* Is cyberterror for real?

* DHS' data-mining

* Inside HP's spying

* How the press blew the torture story

* Big medal for EOD hero

* Cheney: no Saddam, 9/11 link

* Rebuilt: the box that broke Enigma

* Area 51's planes, maybe

* Navy blimp, unearthed

* Go Atlantis, Go!

(Big ups: RC, JQP, Eric, Ben, DC, JS)

Rapid Fire 09/07/06

* Pentagon lawyers vs. White House

* Big toll in Baghdad

* Iran's new jet: "pig with a rolex"

* Olmert: send U.N. navy

* 10,000-year nuke warnings

* Fallujah '04 = trap?

* Whistleblower chief: scumbag

* 9/11 flick's big fight

* Osama and 9/11 'jackers in vid

* iRobot goes Euro

* NSA learns to share

* Nuke sub catches fire

* Mine attack, caught on tape

* $54 billion for drones?

* New training for "remote Red Barons"

* Fish vs. terrorists

(Big ups: Digg, JQP, CD, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 09/05/06

* Pak gives up on Osama

* U.S. terror strategy backs off Al-Qaeda

* "Little America's" Taliban resurgence

* Congressman goes to war; senator returns

* "Marine unearths nukes, cocaine and $25m"

* Navy's iPod secret

* Sats' x-ray guidance

* SOCOM's new marching orders

* Space planes, revisited

* Stun from afar

* IDF: regressed?

* L.A. Times flunks chem-bio test

* "Is this Bush's secret bunker?"

* "The supersonic future" (1975)

* 10 runs, 1 inning

(Big ups: FT, GP, RC)

Rapid Fire 09/04/06

* Feds reject 91% of terror cases

* Newsweek discovers Hez drones (background here)

* Puffers: not so fast

* "Get enriched or die tryin'"

* 20 more years for Warthogs

* Stryker's big new gun

* DD(X): "Dead aim, or dead end?"

* RFID, fooled

* We still got mustard gas

* IDF's blown chance vs. rockets

* FBI's bazillion-record database

* GM enters Darpa challenge

* Regiment's 4th Iraq tour

* Cash cut for vets' brain rehab

* Nazis' fashionable secrets

* Army for hire

* Double the defense budget?

* You gotta be kidding me

* Sawx death-spiral continues

(Big ups: NB, RC, BB, Drudge)

Rapid Fire 08/30/06

* New CEO for CIA fund

* Israel war probe pushes on

* GIs' cute robot rescuer

* NASA's fire-fighting drone (background here)

* Predators wanna crash your party

* More missiles for Iran

* Hack trouble for robo-sensors?

* Ray gun chief's stock shenanigans?

* Martian traffic jam

* Cruise missiles for everyone

* "Calling BS on modern physics"

* "Genetic trophy hunters, beware"

(Big ups: Haninah, RC)

Rapid Fire 08/28/06 (Updated)

* Rummy: Korea no threat

* Nork nuke test site? (more here)

* Yoga vs. IEDs

* "Hacking the Himalayas"

* Holes in Heathrow case? (more here)

* Forward air control's big upgrade

* "Fissure-guided missile"

* Drones + cluster bombs

* Sleek, stylish pepper spray

* Hummer on steroids

* Total war, RIP

* New nuke sub debuts

* Cheney biographer: 9/11 nut

* Hamas big: we suck

(Big ups: ACE, RC, CP)

Rapid Fire 08/25/06

* Israeli use of U.S. bombs under investigation

* And Israel beefs up its submarine fleet

* Again: Sound familiar?

* More training, less parading for Army troops

* VoIP as crime-fighter

* Boeing's pay docked for GPS program problems

* The 'Hanoi Taxi' comes home

* Whither Rumsfeld the poet?

* 'One of the most highly publicized and scrutinized weapons employments over the last decade'

Rapid Fire 08/24/06

* 'Crate-ology' 101 (hat tip: Wonk)

* Sound familiar?

* Fear of Iran, North Korea good for Lockheed and PAC-3

* Implanting RFID chips in soldiers?

* What scares Wired

* 4,000 hours in an F-15

* What does the war cost your city?

* Listen to an F-16 escort of a suspect Northwest Amsterdam flight

Rapid Fire 08/23/06

* Arkin: Where have all the soldiers gone?

* A timely report on the threat from Iran

* Good luck with that

* Nano-armor?

* Whither Marine Corps equipment post-Iraq?

* Crash of the Titans

* 'War propaganda' on the net?

* Psyche 101

Rapid Fire 08/22/06

* Has occupation dulled the effectiveness of the IDF?

* Worries over 'brown-outs' in Iraq and Afghanistan

* Do-it-yourself nuclear detection

* Tigers in our midst?

* Fish on the front lines

* Pilotless Joint Strike Fighters?

* That's a lot of paint

Rapid Fire 08/21/06

Greetings, earthlings. Back for another round of guest-blogging for Noah, who reports the following: "My honeymoon has been a blast... Pristine beach towns, 2,500 year-old temples, active volcanoes, swimmable grottos, etc. etc."

Sounds terrible.

Anyway, I'm the editor of InsideDefense.com and its companion NewsStand, for which I write the Insider. I'm also working on a new project, Inside Green Business, and I write regularly for Scientific American.

A little Rapid Fire to start things off:

* Now even missile totals are being kept secret (more on this trend later this week)

* What's next in 'the new Middle East?'

* Hezbollah's cruise missiles 'reshaping global realities?'

* More money for the Army?

* Write as you fight!

* 'Radiation Belt Remediation' plans cause a stir (note: related to this)

* It's StrongAngel III time this week, in San Diego

Finally, kudos to Eric Umansky, a.k.a. the guy who write's Slate's "Today's Papers" column. Eric is a good guy, a fine journalist and a longtime friend of this blog. (He's also one of the great practicioners of the mini-headline: This is the guy who once used "Hand Jab" to describe stories on a limp handshake involving George Bush and Jacques Chirac -- the kind of headline you can get away with when you publish hours before your editors wake up.) Eric is moving on to a fellowship at Columbia, where he'll study national security and human rights. Then it's a year studying Arabic abroad. More here.

-- Dan Dupont

Rapid Fire 08/17/2006

*Plug pulled on Boeing Broadband

*NSA told to stop snooping

*For your ears only

*Judgment day for C-17

*Taser enlists big guns

Rapid Fire 08/15/06

* Morphing success

* Missile Defense Agency helping Israel

* Small arms, big money

* Green light for FCS prototype

* TSA takes on shoe doubters

* To disclose, or not to disclose

* Fearless leader back again

* UAVs to track Maoists

Rapid Fire 08/14/06

*Bad Doggies

*Bush Drops In

*Raytheon Bets on Dirty Bombs

*Batmav drone unveiled

*Business Week visits an IED War Game

*Lockheed protests C-130J exclusion

*Famed spoon bender lends a hand

Rapid Fire 8/10/06

* Standing up to the FBI

* Kidnapping Jill Carroll's kidnappers

* Curing JTRS' jitters

* Lebanon war is expensive

* BS alert: video games make us numb to violence

* U.S. to train Lebanese Army?

Rapid Fire 8/9/06

* Blimp as sensor

* Active protection moves forward

* Latest bad idea: Army theme park

* Iraqi F-16s? Not so fast!

* Air Force "angels" protect satellites

* Israelis on missile defense

(Thanks, EH)

Rapid Fire 8/8/06

* Newsweek dissects "the new Hezbollah"

* Remember the crazy mirror/laser weapon in the movie 'Spies Like Us'? Well, check this out

* Conventional Trident on ice

* Robot kayaks?

* Israeli Air Force tackles Hez rockets (background here)

* Future Combat Systems unaffordable ... no kidding

* Army has no idea what's happening in Iraq

Rapid Fire 8/7/06

* Cuba girds for U.S. invasion (heh)

* So much for surgical airstrikes: 40 die in Israeli attack (Updated: never mind)

* Hypersonics!

* New radars for old birds (background here)

* Reuters fakes Lebanon pics

* Guard hurting

* Uh-oh: hackers clone "secure" passports

Rapid Fire 08/04/06

* More bombs over Beirut

* Iran admits supplying Hezbollah

* US troops=war criminals?

* Violent day in Kabul

* Congress wants more DoD accountability

* Terrorist bombings in Turkey

* Iraq civil war: possible?

* Baghdad: anti-US, anti-Israel protests

* So much for nuclear detection

* DoD wants older recruits?

* Bees=land mine detectors?

* "Trophy videos" banned

* Campaigns distract from security issues

* Power, water, fridge in one



(Hat tips: RP, TP)

-- Eric Hundman

August 4, 2006 05:25 PM | Rapid Fire | Discuss (0 comments)