From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #33 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Sunday, 13 March 1994 Volume 05 : Number 033 In this issue: lifting the veil of secrecy Popular Science April-94 - Eternal Airplane - mentions Groom Lake See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: TRADER@cup.portal.com Date: Sat, 12 Mar 94 14:11:04 PST Subject: lifting the veil of secrecy LIFTING THE VEIL OF SECRECY ___________________________ I've been trying to track secret U.S. military spending (i.e., the "black" budget) for about a year. I've used various sources for my research, particularly some obscure military and Congressional documents. In fiscal year 1994, the U.S. government will spend about 44 billion dollars in secret, with about 26 billion dollars going to our spy agencies such as the CIA or NSA. Although we keep hearing about aerospace workers losing their jobs and defense cutbacks, the U.S will spend 261 billion dollars on defense this year. The big question is: where is the money going?? Using what I know, I will try and inform you about some of the secret programs that I know about. While some people will claim that I might be helping foreign governments, I am releasing this information because I believe that American taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent. I believe that secret military spending violates Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution. Since the military uses capital letters when giving code-names (i.e., such as the SENIOR CITIZEN aircraft), I will follow that convention. Any mistakes in the information given are due to my own misunderstandings of these programs -- the Pentagon takes a number of actions to conceal their secret programs. Oddly enough, as an engineer, there are some programs I approve of, but I don't approve of the excessive secrecy surrounding them. * Although the Cold War has ended, large sums of money are still being spent on -new- ways of fighting and winning a nuclear war. The U.S. Air Force seems to be the worst offender, spending 3 billion dollars this year on programs such as OLYMPIC or MERIDIAN (the next generation of ballistic missile re-entry vehicles). * Artificial intelligence (AI) methods such as neural nets and expert systems are receiving a lot of funding. While there is merit to technologies such as using neural networks to identify radar signals (i.e., to identify aircraft based on their radar signature), there are real problems I see in using AI to make strategy and policy, instead of humans. * Nonlethal warfare technologies, such as using lasers to blind optical systems (and probably the person behind them), chemical incapacitating agents, and the use of infrasonic sound and high power microwaves to cause illness are popular. * Experiments are under way to see if genetically altered micro-organisms can be used to detect chemical or biological warfare gases. * Computer simulation technologies, such as virtual reality, are being pushed for training. For example, the Department of Defense has a program underway to tie up to 100,000 participants in simulators together, over high speed computer networks. These participants will participate in battles shown on their high-resolution computer displays. * Stealth technology is constantly advancing. Along with new aircraft, such as SENIOR CITIZEN, research is underway in other areas, such as a new radar absorbent material (RAM) that contains microscopic ceramic spheres, and a Navy program to design a stealth submarine. * Unmanned military vehicles are quite popular. These are small vehicles, controlled by a computer "brain". Along with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as SPRITE or THIRSTY SABER, there are even Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, such as a Navy vehicle that crawls along the ocean bottom looking for mine fields. I think it is a bit weird that future U.S. wars will be fought by robots, with strategies created by Pentagon computers (see above). * A key priority of the DOD, seems to be the upgrading of intelligence gathering technologies. SIGINT (signals intelligence) and electronic imagery "platforms" and "assets" seem to be getting the most funding. This includes spy satellites of various types and aircraft. Even the venerable U-2 (TR-1) spy plane has been getting upgrades under the SENIOR GLASS program. There are numerous programs to find missile launchers and track missiles such as HAVE DUNGEON or WAR BREAKER. Some of the advanced technology, particularly in imagery gathering, has interesting commercial applications if the Pentagon chooses to release the technology. For example, U.S. Air Force spy planes can record digital imagery they collect at up to 480 megabits per seconds on digital tape recorders, and then ground users can see the imagery on high resolution computer screens. This data can also be encrypted and sent over satellite links while the spy plane is still in the air. There is a drawback to intelligence technology though - vast amounts of data are collected, but there appears to be inadequate processing of the data by intelligence analysts or linguists. Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: steveje@videocrash.tv.tek.com Date: Sat, 12 Mar 94 22:02:02 -0800 Subject: Popular Science April-94 - Eternal Airplane - mentions Groom Lake The latest issue April-94 of Popular Science - article on The Eternal Airplane (solar-electric) mentions Groom Lake: Pg: 75 The airframe now called Pathfinder has a mysterious past. It first flew in 1983 under the name HALSOL (high-altitude-solar-energy) as part of of a classified program sponsored by an unnamed agency to explore the feasibilty of long-duration, solar-electric flight in the calm air at altitudes above 65,000 feet. HALSOL flew nine times...... ....... Sources outside the program have revealed that testing took place at the unacknowledged air base at Groom Lake, Nevada. ... Steve Jensen =========================================== E-Mail: I speak only for me..... Stephen.P.Jensen@tek.com ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #33 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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