Maybe I’m a little biased, considering I had a friend get his face shredded by an IED while he was working with the Army Corps of Engineers.  Consider as well that in less than two years, I’ll be training to deploy myself.  My chances of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan within my first five years of service (not including time at the Academy) are pretty darn high.

But I firmly believe that I can be forgiven for thinking these guys are frigging unbelievable.

Here’s the short story: Next year, 48 Foreign Service Officer positions come open to serve in Baghdad.  In the Green Zone- the air conditioned heart of the city, working in one of the most protected embassies in the world.

48 positions.  There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 FSOs eligible for the positions.

They can’t find 50 men and women to serve their country in theatre when the chips are down.  What.  The.  Hell.

We’ve talked before on this blog about how dangerous it is for the Armed Forces to be clearing rubble and performing other tasks that aren’t normally considered Army-proof.  Now we have an inkling as to why: No one else wants to go.

In the interests of fairness: there are a few military personnel who have denied service in Iraq.  One is currently on hold before his court martial.  Another got a bad conduct discharge and was busted a few ranks.  In the UK, a doctor was put in prison for refusing service.

Someone else who thinks this is ridiculous.

As you read this, I’m off the computer and on the road, heading out to the Coast Guard Academy.  It’s the first of two trips in as many weeks, both to compete in a debate-like academic event called Mock Trial.  The site isn’t very well designed, but the basic gist is that I’ll be pretending to be a lawyer in a few trial simulations this weekend and a few more next weekend.  Any of you collegiate-like folks out there, take a look at it.  It’s fun stuff.

Anyway, that’s why posts have been sparse and will continue to be for the next two weeks- I’ve been getting ahead on coursework and prepping for the tournaments.  I’ll be back on Monday.  Until then, I leave you with this:

From xkcd.

August 31, 1978:
19 year-old Steven Morrissey first meets guitarist Johnny Marr,
the one who will launch Morrissey’s career several years later
by aggressively enlisting him to co-found a band: The Smiths.

August 31, 1997:
19 years to-the-day since Morrissey met guitarist Johnny Marr,
Princess Diana is killed under circumstances foreshadowed
in Morrissey’s work, beginning with an album by The Smiths.

And that’s just the beginning.

Here we are at Wednesday again, and you know what that means. Once more into the depths, my friends, exploring the strange coincidences and conspiracies that form the underbelly of our suburban existence. This week: a precognitive musician.

For your own safety, heed carefully the following standard boilerplate:

DISCLAIMER: I make no guarantees about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of any of these posts, but true believers (or virulent skeptics) are welcome to discuss politely in the comments. Below statements do not represent my beliefs (necessarily), nor are they meant as an endorsement of any sort by Wingman NewsWire (unless I specifically say so).

So. Go watch the video. Then come back and tell me that ain’t freaky stuff.

Morrissey predicted Diana’s death. I mean, that’s the only logical explanation. How else can you explain that Diana died by smashing into a pillar, huh? Or the Diana on the deathbed? I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t quite follow that particular train of logic, but it must be legit.

But in the end, the question everyone who ever loved the Queen of People’s Hearts must ask themselves it this: Does Alma really matter?

Fellow conspirators and conspiracists (there’s a difference), I’d love to hear who you know was behind the Princess’s death. Who knows? Maybe your comments will make it into a future edition of Way-out Wednesday.

Via Swallowing the Camel.

I like flying commercial.

It gets frustrating sometimes. Long lines, too short transfer times and the fact that airplanes eat my cell phones all put a damper on my fun quotient. For some reason, though, I still like it. I like the expensive crappy food. I like the feeling of takeoff. And I sleep like a baby in those narrow, cramped seats.

There’s another reason for me to like to fly. Since I fly out of Denver International Airport, the more I fly, the better the chances that I’ll be under those huge white pavilions when the world ends. When the Illuminati who really control the world take their refuge in the sixth underground level of the caverns beneath the Airport, I’ll just knock on their door. How could they refuse a guy with my disarming smile?

That’s right folks, it’s Way-out Wednesday, and today’s expose is a doozy. Before we take one more step, refresh your memory of this disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: I make no guarantees about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of any of these posts, but true believers (or virulent skeptics) are welcome to discuss politely in the comments. Below statements do not represent my beliefs (necessarily), nor are they meant as an endorsement of any sort by Wingman NewsWire (unless I specifically say so).

It’s legally binding.

So what on earth am I talking about? Just this.

If you can’t be bothered to read the whole thing, here’s an overview:

Denver International Airport may or may not be run by the Illuminati, child-eating reptile-resembling aliens or a more sinister organization.

Why? Because it’s:

A: The largest airport in the United States (bigger than San Francisco proper).
B: The site of a mural which shows three dead minority women: a Native American, an African American woman, and a Jewish woman.
C: Has a network of fiber optic (not counting plain copper wire) cable that is longer than the Nile River.
D: The inside is supposedly invisible to infrared and RADAR detection.
E: Reportedly has 8 subbasements (who needs EIGHT basements?)
F: Is “the most inconvenient airport in America”, ranked by its distance from Denver proper.

And the Big One….

That’s a MASONIC SYMBOL that you see there, folks, with what looks like a KEYPAD above it! The entrance to the super secret catacombs?

One can only hope. Here’s a closer image.

Note the title beneath the date: New World Airport Commission. I rest my case.

That’s it for this week, folks! Here’s a compendium of links for further information:

“An Open Letter to the New World Order Denver Airport”
An article from Westword on the subject.
An almost reasonable account of the conspiracy.

Keep digging, and always- if you come across a conspiracy that you think needs airing, you can send it to me.

Send a congressman into space.  There.  It’s solved.  So why do we need this?

From the site:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will conduct the largest and most comprehensive counterterrorism exercise to date from Oct. 15-19 in Arizona and Oregon, and the U.S. territory of Guam. Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4) is the fourth in a series of congressionally-mandated exercises and involves various federal agencies as well as the governments of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom…

TOPOFF 4 will involve more than 15,000 participants from all levels of government, international partners and the private sector in a full-scale, simulated response to radiological dispersal device attacks.

Our “premier terrorism preparedness exercise” is based on a dirty bomb threat?  And has been based on a dirty bomb threat for the last 8 years?

I’m only halfway kidding.  The United States has a lot of problems that, while they might not look as big as a “dirty bomb” going off, are a bit more pressing.  Case in point: 11 September was not a radiological, chemical or biological attack.

Future devastating attacks will be “black swans” (as John Robb calls them in Brave New War), attacks coming out of left field that are cheap and unexpected and targeted at infrastructure.  Why were the attacks of 11 September genius?  Hijackings had been around for decades by that point.  Dealing with them had become fairly old hat.

They were brilliant because they connected two things that people hadn’t connected before.  Who thinks of turning an airplane into a guided missile?  No one- until someone with great synthesis skills started turning over airplanes in their head.

The attacks on the Trade Center probably caused less casualties than a radiological attack would.  Why was that message chosen then?  Because it made people afraid to fly.  Because no one was thinking about defending against that kind of attack.  We’ve been preparing to respond to radiological emergencies for better than thirty years.

Wargaming programs like TOPOFF would be better off confronting “top officials” and first responders with something that they’ve never seen before.  Hit them with something like an attack on a power plant, or an oil refinery, or a bridge.  Attack the infrastructure.  This isn’t a new idea- it’s been around since John Warden’s The Air Campaign and we used it to toss Iraq in DESERT STORM.  Why do we assume that our enemies won’t be that smart?

The junta in Burma has killed more than ten of its citizens while they were involved in peaceful protests. This is a call to action and a statement of my solidarity with the brave ones.

And every pop hit for the last 35 years.

Welcome back to Way-out Wednesday , when we bravely venture into the realm formerly reserved for crackpots and Robert Ludlum. As always, please read carefully the following disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: I make no guarantees about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of any of these posts, but true believers (or virulent skeptics) are welcome to discuss politely in the comments. Below statements do not represent my beliefs (necessarily), nor are they meant as an endorsement of any sort by Wingman NewsWire (unless I specifically say so).

We’ve already talked about just a few corporations controlling what we read and see on TV, but what if it was more sinister than that? What if- now bear with me, because this is a what if- what if one man, one single, solitary man with a creaky voice and a vaguely communist splash page was responsible for all of the music you listen to?! Watch the video below, and tell me it’s not scary.

Well? Yeah. That’s what I thought. Reason #3,713 to listen to music that’s off the beaten path.

Via Essays and Effluvia who got it from Super Deluxe.

If you’ve been following this blog you know that I’m writing an undergraduate thesis about the future of asymmetric warfare.

If this is your first time to this blog, I’m writing an undergraduate thesis about the future of asymmetric warfare.

I recently took my research prospectus to my course professor and he loved it- except for one part- the title! After thinking about it for a while, I’ve got to agree with him. The one I’ve got now is pretty clunky.

Here’s what I came up with: GLOBAL CONSPIRACIES OF ONE: ANONYMOUS, ISOLATED, COORDINATED TACTICS.

And here’s what my teacher and I tentatively agreed on in our sit-down: GLOBALLY INDIVIDUALIZED INSURGENCIES: OPERATIONS OF AND AGAINST ANONYMOUS, ISOLATED, COORDINATED AGENTS.

Kind of clunky, huh? Yeah, I’m not too hot on it either. So it’s time for a Wingman NewsWire first: a contest!

If you can come up with a title that:

A: I like
B: My professor likes
C: Describes the work

and finally

D: Isn’t utterly uncool

You’ll be getting a $20 AMAZON.COM GIFT CERTIFICATE. The contest will run until the end of October or until there’s a winner, whichever comes last.

For some more details about the paper, check out these posts.

This is the initial prospectus for my research project, which I mentioned here. As always, it is released under a creative commons license and I more than welcome your comments, questions and advice.

1. WORKING TITLE: Global Conspiracies of One: Anonymous, Isolated, Coordinated Tactics.

2. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is the National Security Organization optimized for combating widespread conspiracies which use cell isolation and anonymous communication?

3. PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE: Operations Security is the most important consideration for any combatant force today. This is especially true for asymmetric forces such as terrorist organizations or insurgencies. Organizational leaders try to minimize leaks by compartmentalizing forces into semi- or fully autonomous “cells”. Sometimes these cells owe allegiance to a philosophical leader in name only, operating on their own with no knowledge of any other cells. Occasionally, the name is the only thing these cells share—even end goals might differ between two “affiliated” groups. A conspiracy where one master cell, perhaps only one individual deep, manages hundreds or thousands of independently acting individuals, none of whom even know their partners exist, could have amazing security. This means great difficulty for organizations defending against this globally-individualized conspiracy. With the only mastermind using anonymizing technology to be indistinguishable from a friendly citizen, tracking down and preventing attacks could be nigh on impossible.

4. METHODOLOGY: Begin with a definition of the problem and its elements, including a brief primer on anonymizing technology, asymmetric combat, and terrorism. Continue with a literature review. Next discuss current terrorism and anti-terrorism model briefly, providing step-by-step process for prevention/defense. Then, discuss theoretical model and back it up with case studies, including Neurocam. Lay groundwork for technical feasibility with more detailed information on anonymizing technology. During theoretical model, show how it would defeat current anti-terrorism strategy point-by-point. Conclude with suggestions for a more effective model and recommendations for further research, including friendly use of this strategy.

As I mentioned before, the purpose of this paper is to “red plan” a method of organization and attack, and point out how the current security model is inadequate to fight it. I just picked up Robb’s Brave New War, which I have a feeling will influence the direction of this paper quite a bit. Just looking at it, he’s thinking along the same lines I am.

Like most, if not all, of the milestones I’ll post, this one has already been reviewed by my professor. The only thing he had to quibble about was the title- think you guys could help me?

Questions for Readers: Do you have books, journals or article you think I should read? Have you thought along these lines? Do you know of an organization which might be a case study of this sort of organization? Do you think you have a better title? If you’ve got anything that might be of ANY value whatsoever, post it to the comments! I look forward to discussing this with you.

Now this is a funny turn.

I knew there was something shady about that place. I guess this explains the Black Knights mascot. Don’t worry, America- November 3rd, the terrorists lose!

In all seriousness, this is a pretty lame move on Iran’s part. Tit-for-tat when we did basically the same thing, but I don’t see too many people clamoring to be part of Iran’s financial network. It’s just one more tick upward on the thermometer of U.S.-Iranian relations.