Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3704-1004534260-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Wed, 31 Oct 2001 05:19:08 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 26590 invoked by uid 510); 31 Oct 2001 13:16:55 -0000 Received: from n7.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.57) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 31 Oct 2001 13:16:55 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3704-1004534260-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by n7.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 31 Oct 2001 13:17:41 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 31 Oct 2001 13:17:40 -0000 Received: (qmail 81175 invoked from network); 31 Oct 2001 13:17:39 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 31 Oct 2001 13:17:39 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3 with SMTP; 31 Oct 2001 13:17:38 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id f9VDHll11597 for iwar@onelist.com; Wed, 31 Oct 2001 05:17:47 -0800 Message-Id: <200110311317.f9VDHll11597@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 05:17:46 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Pentagon.Seeks.Tinkerers.Against.Terrorism] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Washington Post October 31, 2001 Pentagon Seeks Tinkerers Against Terrorism By Richard Leiby, Washington Post Staff Writer In peacetime, the press release might have passed without much notice. "Pentagon Seeks Ideas on Combating Terrorism," it said. Please submit a one-page description of your idea to the Department of Defense by Dec. 23. But as a jittery populace watches a weird new war unfold, perhaps it isn't the most reassuring announcement to emanate from the Pentagon: Help. Specifically, the military wants to know about technologies that might assist U.S. troops hunting for terrorists hiding in caves -- or, as the press release put it, "conducting protracted operations in remote areas." It turns out you can do more to help Uncle Sam than remaining calm and going shopping. "We've got a new kind of problem here, so if anyone's got good ideas, that can be helpful," notes James Kurtz, a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses who spent 32 years in the Army. "They're looking for the guy in the basement of the high school science building who's got a new idea. Nobody has a lock on all good ideas." The Pentagon, as reported last week, is seeking anti-terrorist "concepts" in 38 categories, including "countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction." These might include, say, air samplers to sniff out germ agents, sensors to detect small nuclear devices and gizmos to identify truck bombs. The announcement left some defense observers puzzled. "You read that list and wonder: What have they been doing?" asks Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and author of "Fighting for the Future: Will America Triumph?" Perhaps, in the midst of increasingly dire pronouncements about "credible" terrorist threats, you have personally felt confused, helpless and driven to drink. Well, buck up: Haven't you heard there's a war on? It's time to put on your thinking cap and repair to the workbench in your garage. Visit the Web site www.bids.tswg.gov and pick a category. Got an idea for "lightweight personal armor that stops both weapons and knife penetration with full body protection"? Fire away. Are you handy with cameras? "Develop high-fidelity through-wall imaging capability." Let's see those terrorists hide from American X-ray vision. "Unconventional surveillance and reconnaissance systems are desired," the Pentagon says. Especially one to "detect, locate and map underground/concealed cavities that may serve as secure havens for terrorists." Your ideas can help protect the homeland, too. "Develop a deception detection device for use with counterterrorism-based structured interviews for passengers in various modes of transportation," the Pentagon requests. In other words, a portable lie detector. Finally, ticket agents will have a way to verify the answers to those important questions, "Have you had your luggage in your possession at all times? Has anyone unknown to you asked you to carry anything on board?" If Messrs. Hewlett and Packard could launch a high-tech behemoth from a garage, then why can't you invent an algorithm-based software that can identify and analyze voices -- specifically to "incorporate Pashtu, Urdu, Farsi, Arabic dialects, and other minor Middle Eastern and central/south Asian languages into an existing Automated Speaker Recognition System" that can be used by "selected intelligence and counterintelligence agencies"? The Department of Defense says it wants concepts that can be "developed and fielded" in 12 to 18 months. Pentagon officials express confidence that the call for ideas will produce rapid results, given the ingenuity of Americans. "We're trying to find every possibility, to find everything to make us the best equipped and give our people the best protection, which they deserve," says Air Force Maj. Michael T. Halbig, a Pentagon spokesman. These new products, he says, will keep America "ahead of the bad guys." Paul Taibl, assistant vice president for policy at the nonprofit Business Executives for National Security, applauds the Pentagon for casting a wide net for anti-terrorism tools. "I'd like to think that if anyone's got access to this technology, it ought to be the government, but that's no longer the case," he says. "The Department of Defense is not the technology leader that it was during the height of the Cold War." In recent years, untold sums have been poured into studies by the Pentagon and various congressional commissions to identify terrorist threats, including a $45 million brainstorming effort by Hollywood writers and directors under the Army's Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command. But concrete solutions aren't so readily offered. "Maybe somebody's got a better idea out there," Halbig says. Remember to send in your idea by 4 p.m. Dec. 23. Better yet, beat the Christmas rush and get to the post office early. 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