Comments on: Air Force on Directed Energy Weapon Safety http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/dew_safety.html Secrecy News from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:31:30 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: George Smith http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/dew_safety.html/comment-page-1#comment-2075 George Smith Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:34:17 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2030#comment-2075 The ADS has been a chronic source of exaggeration, embarrassment and bad publicity for the US military. Over the course of almost a decade, it pitches itself as a good idea to stupid people who know very little about the technology and science involved. And stupid journalists, too, many of whom have consented to be stung by it in the equivalent of strapped-down chicken tests, in return for good p.r. on it. During this period it's been on television at least twice -- once on 60 Minutes, advertised as a miracle weapon which cowardly and timid generals are withholding from use in Iraq, and on the Military Channel, where it's used as fodder for a segment in an entertainment show called Futureweapons. The ADS has been one of a number of miracle (or farcical, depending on your point of view) weapons promised for the war on terror. <a HREF="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/29/moab_pain_ray_remembered/" rel="nofollow">See here for a brief synopsis.</A> It's the weapon that's always coming but never arriving. And it seems certain that a substantial number of responsible people in the US military no longer wish to see their careers go down in flames over it, perhaps one in a number of good reasons explaining why it never seems to do anything but burn journalists and "volunteers" from the armed services. The ADS project also passes as an automatic IQ test, of sorts. If you raise your hand to be part of the program, you flunk. The ADS has been a chronic source of exaggeration, embarrassment and bad publicity for the US military. Over the course of almost a decade, it pitches itself as a good idea to stupid people who know very little about the technology and science involved. And stupid journalists, too, many of whom have consented to be stung by it in the equivalent of strapped-down chicken tests, in return for good p.r. on it. During this period it’s been on television at least twice — once on 60 Minutes, advertised as a miracle weapon which cowardly and timid generals are withholding from use in Iraq, and on the Military Channel, where it’s used as fodder for a segment in an entertainment show called Futureweapons.

The ADS has been one of a number of miracle (or farcical, depending on your point of view) weapons promised for the war on terror.

See here for a brief synopsis.

It’s the weapon that’s always coming but never arriving. And it seems certain that a substantial number of responsible people in the US military no longer wish to see their careers go down in flames over it, perhaps one in a number of good reasons explaining why it never seems to do anything but burn journalists and “volunteers” from the armed services.

The ADS project also passes as an automatic IQ test, of sorts. If you raise your hand to be part of the program, you flunk.

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