US military 'spreading death' & meeting its recruitment goals

from russia today: Death rather than nation building - that's what the U.S. army brought to Iraq and is bringing to Afghanistan according to former army sergeant and anti-war activist Matthis Chiroux. He shared his views on the U.S. military campaigns with RT's Marina Portnaya.

bleak US job market boosts military recruitment
from reuters: Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year. The United States already has 67,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 119,000 in Iraq. Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

10/15 warwhores updates:
whew, glad we didn't elect a guy like this... oh, wait
mccain: big troop buildup needed in afghanistan*
US to send 'up to 45k more troops to afghanistan'*
retired general: mcchrystal should resign if denied troops*
rep holt wins congressional approval for measure to mandate videorecording of interrogations*
bomb-stopping drone team off to slow start in afghanistan*
rush delivery for mother of all bunker busters*
gordon brown pledges 500 more uk troops to afghanistan*
saic awarded $32m task order to support space & naval warfare systems center atlantic*

air force fires nuke commander, finally
from danger room: It took a failed nuclear inspection, two missile trucks crashing, and junior officers literally dozing off with launch codes. But finally, the Air Force has canned Col. Christopher Ayres, the leader of the bumbling 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

warwhores: northcom, nato & the death of women soldiers

who wants to work at northcom?*
US & nato poised for most massive war in afghanistan's history - and the 'left' will love it*

'bin laden' demands europe withdraw afghanistan troops*
saic awarded $29m task order to support naval air systems command*
flashback: army coverup of rape & murder of women soldiers?*
asgarda: new tribe of ukrainian women-warriors fight back against sexual trafficking & oppression*

warwhores: spy surge, drones, dirigibles & future wars

what can americans do to oppose the warfare state?*
military growing impatient with obama on afghanistan*
cia launching spy 'surge' into afghanistan*
mcchrystal troop boost comes friday 9/25*
reading the mcchrystal report: interesting times*
air force crashes out-of-control drone in afghanistan*

inside bob gates' overhaul of the pentagon*
science behind US coercive interrogations missing in action*
US to deploy 'optionally manned' hover-dirigible in 2011*
army wants ideas on future wars*
district 9: smart guns that read your dna*
saic moves corporate headquarters to mclean, virginia*
the untold story of saic, network solutions & the rise of the web*

police state int'l: plans, provocateurs & the 'peacemaker'

fema says: september is national preparedness month
(just don't tell new orleans)*
ghost troop warns of 'vigiliant guard' peril*
'thunderbolt' exercises for fema:
'no notice' events loom*
'vigilant guard' quake drill set for tonawanda, ny*
montana 'vigilant guard' 2009*
fort lee, virginia training to protect solders & families*
northcom interoperability brief*
saic awarded contract to support dhs & fema*
video: dhs/fema's napolitano/fugate unveil new propaganda psa's*
crime after crime: homeland security used to investigate bank robbery*

video: elderly couple forced into state custody*
preparing for a riot: tx agencies receive crowd-control training*
splc's second wave of fearmongering*
a primer on 'martial law'*
provocateurs at 'end the fed' rally?*
video: security goon crushes free speech: ‘this ain’t america no more’*
batten down the hatches: newport beach gets 'peacemaker' apc*

warwhores: mercenaries, afghanisurge & lewd behavior

state dept extends blackwater/dyncorp contracts in iraq*
flashback: dyncorp/halliburton sex slave scandal won't go away*
blackwater prince accused in US district court of intent to kill*
poll: most americans oppose more troops for afghanistan*
US afghan strategy 'not working'*
US to boost combat force in afghanistan*
ray mcgovern: afghanistan for dummies*
pentagon terminates controversial contract with rendon group*
military cancels controversial reporter-rating contract*
cia secret prisons organized from germany*
cia doctors face human experimentation claims*
boeing’s new death beam zaps vehicle*
trucks carrying nuclear weapons around the country revealed*
saic announces financial results for 2nd qtr of fiscal year 2010*
video: 'lewd & deviant' behavior by guards at US embassy in kabul*

warwhores: cia, saic, certified & embedded

journalists' recent work examined before embeds*
pentagon reporter-screening crisis deepens*
aftra joins outcry over allegations of pentagon embed vetting*
pentagon probes war-reporter screening*
video: report says cia faked executions of terror suspects*
cia used gun, drill in interrogation of alleged cole mastermind*
saic awarded $49m task order by naval surface warfare center*
2009 now deadliest year of afghan war*
video: worst abuses redacted in cia report*
cia releases its instructions for breaking a detainee's will*
cia spies 'certified' with 2 weeks training*

warwhores: killing hope, sowing terror, torture tech & force protect

mcchrystal preparing new afghan war strategy*
cia/media war on 'conspiracy theorists': invisible history, afghanistan's untold story, is no theory*
civilian toll rising in afghanistan, un report says*
killing hope, sowing terror:
the assassination bureau*
more innocents caught in afghanistan’s crossfire*
air force in a-stan: still dropping bombs*
christians largely mum on torture*
landing gadget could let drones see like pilots*
cia drone targeting tech revealed, qaeda claims*
raytheon's rise in profits reflects new world order*
raytheon pain ray's first commercial sale looms*
saic awarded US air force contract to provide worldwide force protection security services*
US wants to make 30k pound bomb*
photo gallery: inside alaska's answer to area 51 - haarp*
think tank: china beats US in simulated taiwan air war*
senator says army failed to protect troops from 'deadly poison' in iraq*

cyber/space\war: attacks & anniversaries

world wide wiretap: cyber attacks traced to the uk & US
from threat level: International fingerpointing in the recent cyberattacks against U.S. and South Korean web sites has widened to include the UK and U.S., as researchers examining the attacks trace them to a server in the United Kingdom. But the UK company that owns the server says it, in turn, traced the attacks to a VPN connection originating in Miami, Florida. With hawks in Congress and the press urging President Obama to launch an all-out cyber war in retaliation for the website outages, things are looking bad for the Sunshine State. Though it should be noted that the Miami connection was likely just another proxy used by the hacker, who could be based in the U.S. or anywhere else. Researchers at Bkis Security in Hanoi, who reported findings about the UK server on their company’s blog, say that the denial-of-service attacks that struck more than three dozen government and commercial sites last week were launched from more than 166,000 computers in 74 countries controlled by a server in the UK. The IP range for the server is 195.90.118.xxx, which is registered to Global Digital Broadcast, which streams digital TV content from Latin America to consumers. A company representative was unavailable for comment. But in a July 14 press release, the company indicated that it had traced the attacks to a VPN connection from Miami controlled by Digital Latin America, a Buenos Aires-based company that provides technical services to providers of digital content.

3 reasons why US cybersecurity sucks

internet attack propaganda increases as cyber bill approaches
from kurt nimmo: Earlier this week South Korean intelligence (a creation of U.S. military intelligence) blamed the enfeebled Stalinist regime in North Korea for a series of cyber attacks on the U.S. government and commercial websites. As numerous observers have noted since the attacks, it is unlikely North Korea was behind the attacks. “Some analysts have questioned the North’s involvement, saying it may be the work of industrial spies or pranksters,” reports Reuters.

Instead of North Korea, the Korea Communications Commission now claims the original attacks were based in Germany, Austria, Georgia, the United States and South Korea. The location of the hackers behind the attacks is still unknown, according to the KCC.

The cyber attacks will now enter a new phase by attacking personal computers and wiping out hard disks, South Korea claims. South Korean web security firm Ahnlab, which has closely examined the attacks, said the new phase would target data on tens of thousands of infected personal computers. Ahnlab sells antivirus software, online security solutions, and network security appliances such as firewalls.

The new alleged threat and accompanying propaganda comes as Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller prepares for a July committee vote on cybersecurity legislation he introduced in April with Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. One of the bill’s most controversial provisions would give the president the power to effectively shut off the Internet during a cyber crisis similar to the one now threatening PCs, according to South Korea and its U.S. created intelligence agency.

saic acquires cybersecurity product testing firm atlan, inc.

obama would endanger privacy with nsa cyber security plan
from latimes: Cyber security is a real issue, as evidenced by the virus behind July 4 cyber attacks that hobbled government and business websites in the United States and South Korea. It originated from Internet provider addresses in 16 countries and targeted, among others, the White House and the New York Stock Exchange. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has chosen to combat it in a move that runs counter to its pledge to be transparent. The administration reportedly is proceeding with a Bush-era plan to use the National Security Agency to screen government computer traffic on private-sector networks. AT&T is slated to be the likely test site. This classified pilot program, dubbed "Einstein 3," is developed but not yet rolled out. It takes two offenders from President Bush's contentious secret surveillance program and puts them in charge of scrutinizing all Internet traffic going to or from federal government agencies. Despite its name, the Einstein 3 program is more genie than genius -- an omnipotent force (run by the NSA via AT&T's "secret rooms") that does the government's bidding - spying. The last time around, this sort of scheme was known as the "special access" program - "special" being code for "unconstitutional."

nasa release unseen moon landing footage &
nasa refurbishes video of moon landing


space shuttle headed for international space station
from russia today: The US space shuttle Endeavour, with its seven-strong crew, reached orbit and began a flight to the International Space Station, NASA said in a press release. The launch was Endeavour's sixth attempt: previous tries were cancelled due to gas leaks and, more recently, bad weather.


moon landing: fake or fact

cyber/space\war: well-timed attacks, nasa, nsa & saic

US suspects north korea was behind cyber attacks
from dpa: The United States believes North Korea was responsible for a massive cyber attack on government and other websites during the past week, Fox News reported Wednesday. An unnamed US defence official told Fox the attack targeted dozens of websites, including the ones for the US Defence Department and the Department of State.

The attacks were also directed at South Korean websites, the Yonhap news agency reported. South Korean intelligence believes the attacks originated in North Korea, the report said.

The attacks involved ordering a huge number of computers to visit the websites simultaneously to overload the system and shut down ones not robust enough to sustain the traffic. US officials emphasized there was no security breach. "It's just overloading the system," the defence source told Fox.

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly confirmed the department's website came under attack Sunday but the site was working fine. "The attack is still ongoing, but it's much reduced," Kelly said.

The New York Stock Exchange confirmed it had been informed by the government that its website was also subjected to the attack. Other targeted websites included those of the National Security Agency, Homeland Security Department, the Nasdaq stock exchange and the Washington Post, Fox reported.

The Homeland Security Department said there were 5,499 known breaches of US government computers in 2008, up from 3,928 in 2007.

Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would not discuss the details of the case, but told reporters Wednesday that cyber attacks were an increasing threat and the Pentagon was devoting more resources to counter them. "We need to have this as a big part of our focus with respect to the threat now and in the future," he said.

The South Korean government said the websites of the Presidential Office, the National Assembly and Defence Ministry were simultaneously bombarded with access requests.

update: US state dept under cyberattack for 4th day*

the launching of US cyber command*
hackers exploit facebook's fake sense of security*
nsa's power & money-sucking datacenter buildout continues*
saic awarded $13m contract to support darpa's machine reading program*
fema plans consolidation of IT support contracts*
questions as dhs plans to upgrade cybersecurity system*
bill would grant president unprecedented cybersecurity powers*
here's a cybertest from time*
who is neil armstrong?*
nasa developing internet in outer space*
wary of naked force, israelis eye cyberwar on iran*

warwhores: expansion, growth & refusal of oath

US launches major afghanisurge op: 1000's of US marines move into the world’s largest opium production area*
obama’s 1st major military excursion: marines launch huge op in south afghanistan
ron paul: 'fight them over there vs. over here' a false choice*
cia crucified captive in abu ghraib prison*
did toxic chemical in iraq cause soldiers illnesses?*
ranchers attempt to hold off army's expansion in colorado*
air force tests missile in launch from california coast*
report: major growth ahead for minot afb*
saic conducts critical emergency info sharing demo w/ new national architecture*
saic awarded $30m task order by US army director of info management*
spy agency, the national reconnaissance office (nro), may face ax*
court to defendant: stop blasting that man's mind!*
npr ombudsman refuses interview w/ salon regarding 'torture'*
the suppressed fact: 100 deaths by US torture*
bomb-detection ceo named new darpa boss*
lawsuit accuses xe (blackwater) contractors of murder, kidnapping, child prostitution*
new veterans group video features henry rollins*

warwhores: alcohol, ambitions & future combat systems

alcohol abuse by soldiers soars since '03*
neo-nazis are in the army now*
video: corps of engineers used internet to attack katrina critics*
it’s official: fcs cancelled*
pilot in utah f16 crash dies*
stars & stripes embed booted by army*
US army corps of engineers awards $10m contract to saic*
US lawmakers pass $550b pentagon budget, ignore veto threat*
prince william hints at combat ambitions*

warwhores: suicide, cia secrecy & sorry soldiers

lynddie england: why the hell should I feel sorry?*
marine reservist pleads guilty to leaking intel docs*
suicide rate among soldiers continues on record pace*
saic awarded contract by US joint forces command*
killer mcchrystal, new US commander in afghanistan*
afghanistan's operation phoenix*
audit finds that US overpaid blackwater*
soldier's crime met with clemency, or another murderer goes free*
feds want secrecy over alleged torture flights*
obama administration attempts to block suit against cia*

4/16 newspurge

obamessiah & the apostles of war:
jesus missing from obama’s georgetown speech -
nice pyramid symbolism, though*
obamadvisor & cfr vp says 100k+ troops, 10yrs+ needed in afghanistan*
obama to release reagan records kept secret by bush*
obama half-brother 'linked to uk sex attack'*
gordon brown's plan for army of teen volunteers*
obama taps 5th riaa lawyer to justice dept*
the nsc's invisible man*
1st dog, bo, arrives at white house*
peaceniks target killer drones*
aclu fears obama admin may destroy evidence at cia 'black sites'*
naomi klein on obama & the rhetoric of hope*
obama's car czar, steven rattner, involved in ny pension scam investigation*
obama unveils high-speed rail plan*
kansas city figures in obama's high-speed scheme*
(the future 'port city' for the north american union)

police state int'l:
saic to train fema emergency responders*
saic awarded $104m contract by dhs & fema*
dhs issued report on extremism despite concerns*
'rightwing extremism' document created under bush*
dhs predicts violence in response to new gun restrictions*
dhs warns of right-wing radicals*
concerned resident aims to form armed militia to patrol stockton*
self-righteous neocons complain about dhs report*
nsa broke new eavesdropping law*
nsa spied on congressman*
nsa spied on member of congress and broke new laws, report says*
nsa intercepts exceed limits set by congress*
pentagon closes office accused of issuing propaganda under bush*
secretive US prison units used to house muslim, animal rights & environmental activists*
emergency crews test skills during attack drill at toyota park, chicago*
second 9/11 envisaged by homeland security: prepping chicago*
bouncers hired by schools as 'crowd control'*
portland, maine police boost arsenal with 'tank'*
billings police get military vehicle to 'fight crime'*
guns & drugs seized from homeland stupidity officer*
york hospital drill simulates terror attack*
philpott dam drill enacted in virginia*
federal judge sexually assaults 2 women gets off free*
the easiest way to destroy a movt is to become it*
video: alex jones on the alan colmes show*
celente says 'revolution' the only solution*
uk police arrest 114 for planning coal plant protest*
g20 death: fresh attempt to overturn ban on photographing police*
russia & iraq call for a fair new world order*

cyber/space\war:
cybersecurity act of 2009 - federal authority over the internet?*
obama breaking promise for online transparency*
cyber act would give prez power to 'shut down' internet*
'no one is ready for this'*
using linux may be a sign of criminal activity*
'operation juniper cobra':USrael to hold missile intercept drill*
USrael holding major military exercise*
china denies cyberattacks on US power grid*
1 dead, 1 injured in russian military exercises*
pentagon fights the global war on bugs*
robotic gardeners: mit droids tend plants*
military spending up, carbon bootprint down?*
concerns about chemtrails given fresh impetus*
saic awarded $12m contract from US air force weather agency*
obama advisor backpedals on geo-engineering announcement*
holdren calls for geo-engineering the atmosphere – again*
'pirate bay' found guilty*

history/mystery:
reagan was an fbi snitch*
khmer rouge jailer says US contributed to pol pot rise*
california returns 2 paintings nazis stole, hearst bought*
US 'set to detain' nazi suspect*
US court halts demjanjuk deportation*
swastikas painted on french memorial*
ex-cia operative tied to cuba bombings: jury*
bombing victim's brother applauds posada indictment*
is a cia murderer living free in virginia?*
symposium to whitewash cia's air america heroin smuggling*
fidel castro on the bay of pigs: days that cannot be forgotten*
prince bernhard was deeply involved in weapons trade*
inbreeding caused demise of the spanish habsburg dynasty*
coke & sex at bush's dept of interior*

media/memes:
it's springtime for hitler in germany*
US media & the memory hole*
newspapers go green... in a manner of speaking*
porn star marilyn chambers found dead in los angeles*
phil spector convicted of murder*
spector found guilty in slaying*
local community radio act of 2009: hr1147 is dead*
snakes on a muthaf#ckin' qantas plane trigger landing*
video: guest passes out during live glenn beck show*



murder/mayhem:
fbi: many murder victims on highways were killed by truckers*
3 dead in california hospital shooting on apr17*
2 killed in michigan college shooting on apr10*
man, woman dead in murder/suicide at michigan college*
2 dead in michigan college shooting*
college shootings: greece & michigan on apr10*
rotterdam shootings on apr11*
examiner.com repeats poplawski slander against alex jones*
tornados & wildfires leave eight dead in US on apr11*
woman, two kids shot dead in new orleans suburb on apr11*
california sunday school teacher booked in child death*
sunday school killer shocks california town*
huffington post on copycats*
killer who tore out own eyes fuels texas debate on insanity defense*
US soldier says he saw sgt chase & shoot comrade*
virginia tech reopens site of US school massacre*
marketing columbine & virginia tech*
a decade after columbine, gun laws lax as ever*
10yrs later, the real story behind columbine*

...and let's not forget the pirates of the arabian: at world's end...

miltech: biolabs, spysats, germs & cern

cern atom-smasher relaunch delayed to september
from afp: Researchers announced Monday a new delay for the restart of Europe's Big Bang atom-smasher, saying the faulty multi-billion dollar machine would now be turned back on in late September. The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) had planned to relaunch the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this spring before delaying it to the summer. But CERN management decided to aim for a September restart to reinforce protection systems. "The schedule we have now is without a doubt the best for the LHC and for the physicists waiting for data," CERN Director General Rolf-Dieter Heuer said in a statement. "It is cautious, ensuring that all the necessary work is done on the LHC before we start-up, yet it allows physics research to begin this year."

flashback: 'end of the world' machine breaks down again

who'll be the next darpa chief?
from danger room: Tony Tether, the long-time chief of Darpa, is stepping down. So who'll be the next to head up the Pentagon's premiere research agency - and become the country's most visible defense geek? Several different names keep coming up. In no particular order, they include:

• Dr. Lisa Porter, physicist, head of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity ("Darpa for spies"), and former NASA associate administrator;


• Retired Rear Admiral Jay Cohen, DHS' science and technology chief, former head of the Office of Naval Research;


• Dr. Mark Lewis, aeronautical engineer, University of Maryland professor, and former Chief Scientist of the Air Force;


• Dr. Michael Goldblatt, CEO of Functional Genetics, former head of Darpa's Defense Sciences Office, former science and technology chief at McDonald's Corporation;


• Dr. Jane "Xan" Alexander, physicist, former deputy director of Darpa and the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency;


• Dr. Regina Dugan, mechanical engineer, former Darpa program manager;


• Zach Lemnios, electrical engineer, Chief Technology Officer at MIT's Lincoln Lab, and former director of Darpa's Microsystems Technology Office;


• Dr. Amy Alving, aerospace engineer, Chief Technology Officer at SAIC, and former director of Darpa's Special Projects Office.

saic awarded task order to support US joint forces command

boeing says spysat-spying spysats on track for launch
from register: US aerospace colossus Boeing says it has conducted successful ground testing of America's planned "space surveillance" satellite system. The idea, essentially, is spy satellites to spy on other spy satellites. Boeing and the US Air Force refer to the new watcher-watcher kit as Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS). "The SBSS team is making good progress on the path toward launch," said Colonel James Jordan of the USAF Space Superiority Wing in Los Angeles. The colonel was speaking of recent tests in which a space-command ops centre in Colorado successfully sent control signals over "the encrypted Air Force satellite control network" to an SBSS spacecraft on the ground. The plan is for the first SBSS sats to be launched this spring. Once in space they will be able to monitor other objects in near-Earth space using optical sensors. America would like to be able to do this primarily because keeping track of opposition spy satellites is difficult from the Earth's surface... SBSS watcher-sats high in space can monitor a large part of an entire hemisphere, unaffected by weather. Not only can they keep tabs on opposition spybirds as they orbit, they can also watch what happens after things are launched into space. "The importance of a space-based capability to monitor space assets cannot be overstated," said Craig Cooning, Boeing veep in charge of space monitoring stuff. Well, maybe it can be just a little.

amerithrax lab halts research after toxin-tracking scare
from danger room: When the Pentagon needs to handle the deadliest biowarfare threats, it turns to the labs of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Maryland. It's the only place in the American military complex equipped to handle the worst of the worst diseases -- those that have no cure and are transmissible by air. Which makes it extremely unnerving, that the place had to suspend biodefense research on Friday, "after discovering apparent problems with the system of accounting for high-risk microbes and biomaterials." That's the scoop from the new ScienceInsider blog, which notes that "the lab has been under intense scrutiny since August, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation named former USAMRIID researcher Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks." The concern this time is that the lab may not be accurately tracking the use and storage of all of its biological organisms in an internal government database - leaving the door open to misplacement, mishandling, or worse. According to an internal memo obtained by ScienceInsider, "any materials found without a corresponding record in the database must be reported to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army." "I believe that the probability that there are additional vials of BSAT [biological select agents and toxins] not captured in our … database is high," institute commander Col. John Skvorak wrote. This is not a good thing.

nerve agent may be missing from utah depot
from deseret news: Is the Army missing some nerve gas? Pentagon auditors concede that is a remote possibility because of discrepancies in records between how much chemical weapons agent was initially stored and how much of it was later destroyed at Utah's Deseret Chemical Depot and other bases nationwide. But officials believe all the nerve agent in question was destroyed, according to a partially censored U.S. Army Audit Agency report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Auditors list in it several reasons that could have caused apparent-but-unreal variances in those records. But auditors concluded, "The (Army Chemical Materials) Agency didn't have complete assurance that amounts recorded in the system were accurate, which increased its chances for heightened levels of program scrutiny by federal, state and international organizations that have a vested interest in the elimination of chemical weapons." Such words can cause shivers among Utahns who remember such things as the death of thousands of sheep in Skull Valley in 1968 that were blamed on nerve gas tests that went awry at nearby Dugway Proving Ground, and Skull Valley residents who have blamed mysterious illnesses on exposure to tiny amounts of nerve agent from such tests.

police state int'l: fema camps, biofuels, cyborg kill-bots & dhs

new legislation authorizes fema camps in US
from paul joseph watson: A new bill introduced in Congress authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to set up a network of FEMA camp facilities to be used to house U.S. citizens in the event of a national emergency. The National Emergency Centers Act or HR 645 mandates the establishment of “national emergency centers” to be located on military installations for the purpose of to providing “temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster,” according to the bill. The legislation also states that the camps will be used to “provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations”. Ominously, the bill also states that the camps can be used to “meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security,” an open ended mandate which many fear could mean the forced detention of American citizens in the event of widespread rioting after a national emergency or total economic collapse. Many credible forecasters have predicted riots and rebellions in America that will dwarf those already witnessed in countries like Iceland and Greece. With active duty military personnel already being stationed inside the U.S. under Northcom, partly for purposes of “crowd control,” fears that Americans could be incarcerated in detainment camps are all too real.

saic awarded $25m biofuels contract by darpa
from prnewswire: Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) today announced it has been awarded a prime contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to help develop an affordable alternative to petroleum-derived jet fuel (JP-8) from agricultural and aquacultural feedstock materials. The contract has a total value of up to $25 million if all phases of the development program are completed. Work will be performed primarily in Georgia, Florida, Hawaii and Texas. DARPA's BioFuels program explores energy alternatives and fuel efficiency efforts in a bid to reduce the military's reliance on traditional fuel. For an alternative to be viable, the fuel must be produced at a cost that is economically competitive with current supply costs. Under this contract, SAIC will lead a team of industrial and academic organizations to develop an integrated process for producing JP-8 from algae at a cost target of $3/gal. SAIC and its team will develop technologies and processes to help achieve DARPA's goal including integrating algae strain selection, water and nutrient sourcing, farming, harvesting, separation, triglyceride purification, algal oil processing, and economic modeling and analysis.

update: saic awarded $85m contract by the library of congress

will 2009 become the year of the kill-bot?
from techradar: Robot maker iRobot announced its 2008 financial figures today, but more interestingly predicted that sales of military robots would soar in 2009. The cybernetic manufacturer revealed that its government and industrial business grew more than 50 per cent in the last quarter compared with the same period a year ago, taking its revenues for the year to over $305 million (£210 million). Domestic robots like the robo-cleaner Roomba 500 and the gutter-scouring Looj helped international sales double year-on-year, but it's in the military sector that iRobot predicts the greatest growth. iRobot has already been awarded $2 million (£1.4 million) by the US Congress to develop the Warrior 700: a powerful and rugged robot for use in danger zones and inaccessible areas. The Warrior 700 will perform a variety of critical missions, including providing real-time video, audio and sensor readings to combat troops and local law-enforcement SWAT teams. The robot features an advanced digital architecture and a multi-mission chassis that supports payloads of up to 68kg (roughly equivalent to a skinny adult or fat kid). The company expects more military sales in 2009, which should supplement the fall in US consumer sales as they slacken off due to the recession.

pentagon's cyborg beetle spies take off
from danger room: Perhaps you are not particularly worried about the idea of remote-controlled insects spying on you, on behalf of the Pentagon. Darpa-funded researchers at the University of California, Berkeley would like to disabuse you of that notion. They've succeeded in "controlling a live rhinoceros beetle by radio," Tech-On reports. Researchers hooked a series of six electrodes up to the brain and muscles of the insect. Then, during a demonstration at the MEMS 2009 academic conference in Sorrento, Italy, "they equipped the beetle with a module incorporating a circuit to send signals to the electrodes, wireless circuit, microcontroller and battery. The university has so far succeeded in several experiments of electrically controlling insects, but it used a radio control system this time." ... It's one of a number of Darpa-backed experiments, to develop insect spies. The University of Michigan has its own cyborg beetles. University of Georgia researchers are implanting mini-machines into larval moths, so they can live to a ripe, old, remote-controlled age. Then there's the idea to use sex-starved insects to follow bank robbers. Seriously.

flashback: darpa to create brain-chipped cyborg moths

dhs publishes 315-page book honoring chertoff’s ‘select speeches'
from thinkprogress: The Department of Homeland Security recently sent out an entire book honoring former Secretary Michael Chertoff’s “Select Speeches” from 2005-2008. The 315-page book contains 36 of Chertoff’s speeches and press conferences (many of which — if not all — are most likely available online). ThinkProgress recently obtained a copy of the book and contacted DHS to find out how much taxpayer money was spent on the book’s production. However, we received no response. But Michele Nix, a former top official for former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, told ThinkProgress that this homage seemed to be exclusive to Chertoff, as the department did “nothing” similar for her former boss. Let us know in the comments section if you remember any of Chertoff’s speeches being particularly memorable.