International Commodization of Arms
According to the annual assessment, the United States supplied $8.1 billion worth of weapons to developing countries in 2005 — 45.8 percent of the total and far more than second-ranked Russia with 15 percent and Britain with a little more than 13 percent.
“We are at a point in history where many of these sales are not essential for the self-defense of these countries and the arms being sold continue to fuel conflicts and tensions in unstable areas,” said Daryl G. Kimball , executive director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association in Washington.
Over the long term this commodization of weaponry will provide incentive for systemic resiliency and change. But in the short term, the chaos will be deadly.
Open Source Center Runs Closed Intel Shop
Also from WaTech –
The OSC [Open Source Center] was established just a year ago, incorporating as its foundation the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a division of the CIA. Its mission is to mine “the world’s unguarded knowledge,” from all the channels available — the Internet, print, broadcast media, podcasts, anything that contains information, in any language, from any country — and glean all the data contained there. The data is archived, and OSC analysts can then draw upon it in response to queries from all levels of government; Naquin said that in addition to the intelligence community, the center fields requests from the Defense Department, civilian agencies and state and local law enforcement.
Someone doesn’t understand open source at a very fundamental level. Is there a real reason why this data and the associated analysis is not made open to the public?
Resiliency Over Walls
WaTech –
Plans for protecting the nation’s critical information technology networks and systems are focused on developing resiliency and quick recovery rather than on safeguarding against every type of threat, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO report provides an update on activities of the nation’s 17 critical infrastructure sectors, including IT, energy, food, water, transportation and health care, which are developing plans due in December to protect their sectors from terrorist attack. The goal is to coordinate with the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, which became final in June 2006.
Looks to be the right type of step forward. To make it actually work though, they need to stop trying to put in place centralized federal solutions and leverage local thinkers reacting to local environments. Make it horizontal, like a platform and feed the ecosystem.
DIY Helos
Via Defense Tech – Sounds like fun:
This $30,000, assemble-yourself “Gen H-4” mini-chopper relies on “two blades on the same axis and rotating them in opposite directions to counteract each other’s torque, eliminating the need for a tail rotor.”
The contraption meets “the FAA’s rules for ultralight aircraft: a top speed of just over 60 mph and a 5-gallon gas tank, for about an hour of flying. That means you don’t need a license to own or fly one.”
Also sounds like another step along the pathway to giving widespread autonomous groups their own air support.
Boom In Black Liquid Explosives Industry
Israel’s military and intelligence services said Thursday they have discovered new suicide belts are being made in Gaza that are undetectable.
A military statement said the belts use large volumes of liquid explosive for suicide bombings in Israel that traditional metal detectors wouldn’t identify, the Jerusalem Post reported.