Items by Danger Room
Wired: Top Stories
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The Microwave Scream Inside Your Skull
Posted: July 6th, 2008, 12:30am EDT by Danger Room
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The U.S. military bankrolls early development of a non-lethal microwave weapon that creates sound inside your head. But in the end, the gadget may be just as likely to wind up in shopping malls as on battlefields.
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Bosses Delete Outspoken Army Blog
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 8:17am EDT by Danger Room
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An soldier who wrote one of the most brutally honest blogs chronicling life in the Iraq war zone has been forced to shut down his site after criticizing his superior officers once too often. The pseudonymous "LT [Lieutenant] G" had written "Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal" since December 2007.
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Pending FISA Spy Bill Redefines WMDs
Posted: June 25th, 2008, 12:30am EDT by Danger Room
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The new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act update (the one that lets telecom companies skate for snooping on your phone calls and e-mails) includes a new definition for "weapons of mass destruction." The definition is a lot more broad -- and vague -- than the atomic-bomb-scale weapons originally described by the United Nations.
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Nation's Spies Say Climate Change Could Spark War
Posted: June 23rd, 2008, 5:30pm EDT by Danger Room
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Environmental groups have been warning for years that global climate change could make already-tense parts of the world even worse, and even spark whole new conflicts. Now, in a classified national document, the nation's spies are saying pretty much the same thing.
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Super Antennas, Made From Invisible Stuff
Posted: June 21st, 2008, 9:30am EDT by Danger Room
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The Pentagon is using "metamaterials" for revolutionary new antennas with obvious commercial spin-offs. These bundles of carbon fiber might be used to create an invisibility cloak, or even a cloak of silence -- some day.
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Darpa Chief Slams Pentagon's 'No Accountability' Money Men
Posted: June 19th, 2008, 5:30pm EDT by Danger Room
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In an exclusive interview, the head of the Defense Department's premiere science and technology arm blasts the Pentagon's higher-ups. It's part of an unusually public spat over tens of millions of dollars for cutting-edge research.
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Darpa Brain Drain Costs Agency $32 Million
Posted: June 18th, 2008, 3:32pm EDT by Danger Room
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Due to Darpa's shortage of qualified staff, the Pentagon says that the premiere research agency "continues to underexecute" and reassigns $32 million of its funding to other defense projects.
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Top Pentagon Scientists Fear Brain-Modified Foes
Posted: June 9th, 2008, 3:30pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Pentagon's most-prestigious scientific advisory panel is spooked about "enemy activities in sleep research," neuro-pharmaceutical performance enhancement, "brain-computer interfaces," and other ways adversaries could "exploit advances in Human Performance Modification, and thus create a threat to national security."
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Bosses Nuked, Some Air Force Missileers Cheer
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 3:20pm EDT by Danger Room
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn't just kick the Air Force's two top leaders to the curb yesterday. He signaled to the rest of the service that the long, slow decline of its nuclear corps is officially over.
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Video: Stealth Bomber Crashes
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 9:22am EDT by Danger Room
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You don't see this often: Here is just-released video of a Stealth bomber crash that occurred last February in Guam.
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Air Force Chief, Secretary Forced to Resign
Posted: June 5th, 2008, 3:08pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Air Force's top civilian and uniformed leaders are being booted out of the Pentagon. Blame a series of nuclear weapon mishaps -- and clashes with the Defense Secretary over stealth jets and spy drones.
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Army: Sun, Not Man, Is Causing Climate Change
Posted: June 3rd, 2008, 1:46pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Army is weighing in on the global warming debate, claiming that climate change is not man-made. Instead, Dr. Bruce West, with the Army Research Office, argues that changes in the Earth's temperature are caused by "longer-term solar cycles."
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Comcast Is Hiring an Internet Snoop for the Feds
Posted: May 30th, 2008, 4:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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Wanna tap e-mail, voice and Web traffic for the government? Here's your chance. Comcast, the country's second-largest Internet provider, is looking for an engineer to handle "reconnaissance" and "analysis" of "subscriber intelligence" for the company's "National Security Operations."
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Military Recruits Thousands More Warbots for New Unmanned Surge
Posted: May 29th, 2008, 6:05pm EDT by Danger Room
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Up to 4,000 more bomb-handling robots could be headed to Iraq and Afghanistan in a new, unmanned surge. It's part of a $400 million deal that's the biggest military contract of its kind, ever.
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Mercenaries Sue San Diego
Posted: May 29th, 2008, 11:14am EDT by Danger Room
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San Diego doesn't seem to want Blackwater to build a training facility in their fair city. The firm many think of as a bunch of mercenaries -- but which calls itself "a great American company that provides innovative private sector solutions to US Government and non US Government clients" -- is fighting back, with a lawsuit. We hope this doesn't, er, escalate.
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Robot + Super Gun = 'Crowd Control'
Posted: May 27th, 2008, 5:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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Electronic-gun developer Metal Storm has been working with iRobot to develop a rapid-fire bot capable of firing up to a million rounds per minute. Such advanced technology could be applied to border patrol or crowd control.
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Robot Boats, Sonic Blasters Come Ashore for NY Fleet Week
Posted: May 23rd, 2008, 1:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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It's Fleet Week in New York, which means Times Square is filled with sailors and leggy retro-pinup models. Oh, and there's a robotic boat (complete with gun detectors and sonic blaster).
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Air Force Bails Out on Social Network Ban
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 12:50am EDT by Danger Room
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Calling it a security nightmare when banning a military-themed social networking site in January, the Air Force now relents. But it may be too little, too late for the site's operator.
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Air Force Aims for 'Full Control' of 'Any and All' Computers
Posted: May 13th, 2008, 4:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it "access" to -- and "full control" of -- any kind of computer there is. And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their "adversaries' information infrastructure completely undetected."
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Army Yanks 'Voice-to-Skull Device' Website
Posted: May 9th, 2008, 10:35am EDT by Danger Room
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Why did the U.S. Army pull its web page on a "nonlethal weapon" that sends "microwave transmission[s] of sound into the skull[s] of persons or animals?"
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War-Funding Bill: $50 Billion for Robo-Planes, Gear
Posted: May 8th, 2008, 2:30pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Defense Department is keeping plump war-time budgets fat to fund a "longer war on terrorism" with lots of new gear. A new $165 billion House defense-spending bill goes well beyond what troops need on the ground in Iraq -- $50 billion is allocated for the latest manned and robotic aircraft, as well as new aerial and weapons systems.
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Air Force's Scare-Mongering Space Ad Shoves Facts Out the Airlock
Posted: May 7th, 2008, 5:20pm EDT by Danger Room
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A new Air Force ad warns of a "single missile" that can take out "your cellphone calls, your television, your GPS system, even your bank transactions." Luckily for us, not a word of it is true.
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Pentagon Wants Cyberwar Range to 'Replicate Human Behavior and Frailties'
Posted: May 5th, 2008, 8:30pm EDT by Danger Room
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Congress orders Darpa, to put together a National Cyber Range, part of a massive, secret $30 billion government-wide effort prep for battle online. Contractors running the Range are supposed to be able to "replicate realistic human behavior on nodes."
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Stealth Fighter's Secrets are Safe, Contractor Insists
Posted: May 2nd, 2008, 11:30am EDT by Danger Room
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A DoD study reported exclusively by Danger Room Thursday alleges that "the advanced aviation and weapons technology for the JSF program may have been compromised." Not so says defense contractor BAE Systems. "There is no basis whatsoever for that conclusion."
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Cyberwarfare: Darpa's New 'Space Race'
Posted: May 1st, 2008, 6:10pm EDT by Danger Room
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DARPA was created 50 years ago, in response to the Soviets' launch of Sputnik. Now, the Pentagon's premiere researchers have been given new marching orders: to help America prep for fighting and winning battles in cyberspace.
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Stealth Fighter Security 'May Have Been Compromised'
Posted: May 1st, 2008, 4:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Defense Department hasn't kept close enough watch over the contractors working on its most important aircraft program, the Joint Strike Fighter. And as a result, "the advanced aviation and weapons technology for the JSF program may have been compromised," the Department of Defense's Inspector General notes in a newly-unearthed report.
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Video: 'Forever Drone' Contest Heats Up
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 3:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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DARPA chose three companies for the second phase of its competition to design a drone that can stay aloft for five years. Watch video of the contest entry from Aurora, one of the finalists.
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Is the U.S. Army Reading Your Blog?
Posted: April 11th, 2008, 10:40am EDT by Danger Room
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The Army freely admits reading the things its soldiers have to say in their personal blogs. But there's also a chance the brass is having a look at what you post, too, Mr. Civilian, if you're blogging about their GIs.
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How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
Posted: April 3rd, 2008, 12:30am EDT by Danger Room
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What happens when zombies try to take over the world? Here's what you should know.
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GIs Turn Filmmakers in Bad Voodoo's War
Posted: March 29th, 2008, 12:00am EDT by Danger Room
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Soldiers in the Bad Voodoo platoon stationed in Iraq carry high-def videocameras and shoot the raw footage for a new documentary, Bad Voodoo's War, by director Deborah Scranton. The film airs Tuesday on PBS' Frontline.
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Charity Battles Imaginary Killing Machines
Posted: March 28th, 2008, 5:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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Another group has joined the ranks of academics and ethicists who want to save our society from blood-thirsty armed drones that are preparing to gun down our puppies and children. Too bad they don't exist outside of science fiction.
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High-Tech Soldier Suit, Crawling Back From the Dead
Posted: March 27th, 2008, 4:00pm EDT by Danger Room
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The Army's soldier suit of the future, once left for dead, appears to be crawling back to life.
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A Quarter-Billion Later, Navy Scuttles Weapons System
Posted: March 26th, 2008, 10:45am EDT by Danger Room
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The U.S. Navy decides that a Raytheon-designed, GPS-guided projectile meant to provide offshore support for infantry was more trouble than it was worth.
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Spies Come in From the Cold With Own Vid-Share Site
Posted: March 25th, 2008, 3:35pm EDT by Danger Room
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The nation's spooks and soldiers get a video sharing site to call their own, a kind of secret version of YouTube. In Danger Room.
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'Star Wars' Turns 25; Is It Worth $120 Billion?
Posted: March 24th, 2008, 12:00am EDT by Danger Room
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It's the 25th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's stunning announcement of a techno-plan to knock enemy missiles out of the sky. Many doubted its feasibility then, and many still doubt whether what got produced really works.
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Israelis Sue Government for Laser Cannons
Posted: March 12th, 2008, 3:30pm EDT by Danger Room
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Residents of a southern Israeli town want real-life laser cannons, to protect them against Palestinian rocket attacks. And they're suing the national government, for failing to provide the ray gun defenses.
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Hamas Replaces Rocks With Rockets
Posted: March 4th, 2008, 3:00pm EST by Danger Room
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Hamas leaders borrow Hezbollah tactics, stocking up on rockets to use against Israel in a "ballistic intifada."
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Spy Sat Shootdown Shown on Navy Tape
Posted: February 21st, 2008, 9:00am EST by Danger Room
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A Navy missile blasts a dying -- and potentially poisonous -- spy satellite just above the atmosphere. Watch the footage.
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Inside America's Satellite-Killing Missile
Posted: February 15th, 2008, 4:00pm EST by Danger Room
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The weapon that the Pentagon wants to use to shoot down a failing satellite is well-tested. But its one weakness could pose a problem, as the military tries to take that satellite out.
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Experts Scoff at Satellite Shoot-Down Rationale
Posted: February 15th, 2008, 3:00pm EST by Danger Room
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The Pentagon says it has to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite because of the threat of a toxic gas cloud. Space security experts are calling the rationale "comedic gold."
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Darpa Nabs Big Bucks for Mach 6 Planes, Giant Blimps, Next-Gen Networks
Posted: February 5th, 2008, 4:30pm EST by Danger Room
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Darpa, the Pentagon's mad science division, got a $324 million boost in the Defense Department's new budget -- a 10 percent increase. Which means lots more cash for giant blimps, next-gen wireless networks, Mach 6 planes, shape-shifting drones, and improvised bomb-beaters.
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Top General Says Let Soldiers Blog
Posted: January 31st, 2008, 6:00pm EST by Danger Room
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Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who became the face of the American military effort in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, begs the armed services to let troops blog and post to YouTube. But Army rules squeeze military bloggers hard and military nets ban the video site.
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NYC's Subway Spycam Network Stuck in the Station
Posted: January 24th, 2008, 3:14pm EST by Danger Room
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New York City's plan to secure its subways with a next-generation video surveillance network is getting more expensive by the second, and slipping further behind schedule, according to a new report. Now, questions are being raised as to whether the spycams can work at all.
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Pentagon Explores 'Human Fear' Chemicals
Posted: January 18th, 2008, 12:00am EST by Danger Room
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Military researchers are working to uncover and harness a "human fear" scent. The pheromone could lead to smell-based terrorist sensors and new means to harness "contagious" stress. -
How China Loses the Coming Space War
Posted: January 10th, 2008, 8:00pm EST by Danger Room
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A year ago, China blasted a weather satellite out of orbit, and threw the international community into panic. But despite fears of a "space Pearl Habor," MIT's Geoffrey Forden finds, the United States could withstand China's worst assault above the skies.