[iwar] [fc:Pentagon.Seeks.Tinkerers.Against.Terrorism]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-31 05:17:46


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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 05:17:46 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Pentagon.Seeks.Tinkerers.Against.Terrorism]
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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. That is, if you can find a
functioning post office . . .

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